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In hopes to pick up on my blogging again, I just switched over the bloglovin.

Some exciting things are coming up and I want to start blogging again so I can look back, years from now, and relive them :)

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Family weekend recap 11/9-11/11

I have wanted to recap about my brother's family weekend and I finally have some time to do so!!

We had a great weekend, and it was soo good to see Matt. At this point we had not seen him since the middle of August when he was loaded onto a bus and shuttled to bootcamp.

He has done SUCH a great job, they even made him a squad leader and he has about 8 guys under him. Hearing him tell us stories and refer to those in the group as "my guys" made me even more proud. The boy was born to do this, even though it makes his older sister nervous and sad about him leaving.

My parents went up the day before we did, which was Thursday, but since my husband and my sister both had to work, we left on Friday. Mom and dad went to the base and after a short ceremony finally saw Matt and took him for a big breakfast!! (We did alot of eating that weekend, Matthew was taking full advantage. Ha!)

We arrived later that evening and went to a big BBQ dinner. It was great to see him, and he looked so grown up in his camis. The next day we all got ready and headed to shop for some of the things he needed to pick up. New boots, flash light, things like that. We went to Ranger Joes, which is a great military store located in Fort Benning, and took our time looking around. Then we went to the Infantry Museum. It was incredible. If, for any reason, you are ever in the Columbus area, please do yourself a favor and go to the museum. I promise it won't disappoint. Here are a few pictures from the museum, and me and Matt outside the museum.

Wahhh he is so official!



Infantry!!!



My bud! He's single ladiesss :)


The rest of the weekend was spent eating, shopping, and laughing. He had to return to base with a fresh hair cut, so that was one of the last things we did.

We had to have him back on base at 6pm, but we got him there a little early so he wasn't late. They were told they don't want to know what would happen if they were late getting back!

This goodbye was harder than the first. I think it was because it all became so real this trip. He is really in the army, and he is leaving in January for Air Assault school. This is right before he left for the barracks. In a letter he wrote me he said that they did 1-2 hours of PT that night...poor guys!

There he goes :( This photo makes me want to cry.


Well, since I am so late getting this recap done.....it is already time for us to leave for his graduation! We leave tomorrow, he has a turning blue ceremony on Thursday (where my dad will pin his blue cords on his dress uniform and he will officially be an Infantryman) and then graduation on Friday morning.....bring on the tissues!! Can't wait to share pictures from this weekend!





Slacking to the max

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth. I have been keeping up with blogger, but have not had the time or energy to form a complete post.

I have a lot to tell y'all about, though! We went to visit my brother for his family day and it was so so good to see him. He is doing an outstanding job with infantry boot camp, and that makes me the happiest sister ever! Although, I wish someone would have warned me about what a proud, emotional moment it is to see your baby brother in Cami's for the first time. Yep, I'm a sap. I'm going to do a post all about family weekend & introduce you to my soldier :)

Work has been tiring. I have picked up extra shifts for some extra Christmas spending money but, unfortunately, we are so busy right now. I work in a level 3 NICU and it breaks my heart that these babies won't be home for Christmas. I cannot imagine what that feels like as a parent. Please keep these precious preemies in your thoughts and prayers!

We got some EXCITING news this weekend regarding my husband's schooling......he was accepted into the police academy!! He starts in January. I am SO proud of him!

Also, I won a giveaway!! Heather from Live.Love.Laugh had a thirty-one giveaway and I was the winner. I'm excited....I never win anything :)

My plan is to get back to blogging more regularly, and I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Things will settle down soon!

Choose to be happy

There are times when I get so stressed out, feeling pulled in different directions, and just plain over it all. I know other people have to feel like that too, right?

To say this past month or two has been overwhelming would be an understatement. Between trying my best to balance a budget, my husband losing his job, school, work, you name it....I was left feeling exhausted and worried. Just not knowing what the future looks like for us is weighing on me, but I have made a decision and I'm sticking to it!

I am choosing to be happy.

I am choosing to have a positive attitude towards everything I do in life. Whether it is working out, getting back into school, spending time with friends and family, or anything else, I will do my best to have a smile on my face and joy in my heart.

There is too much good in life to be a Debbie Downer all the time.

So here is to counting to 10 before I respond/react, aching cheeks from smiling so hard, living in the moment, and making lasting memories :)

"Who you are ain't what your going through. So don't let it get the best of you"
(No clue who wrote this, but it was a song I heard on the radio driving into work yesterday...instantly felt connected)

Such a proud sister

This past Tuesday was a very emotion filled day.

My baby brother was sworn into the United States Army.

It was a day full of pride, sadness, and love. He left around 3pm and was shuttled to boot camp where he will be until a few days before Christmas. (It is extra long for him since he is going into Infantry, so he has a few more weeks than just regular boot camp).

My brother, Matthew, has worked very hard to get where he is today and because of his tough work and dedication I know he can do anything he sets his mind to. You see, a little over a year ago Matthew was very unhappy with himself weight wise and decided to do something about it. Through running, P90X, Insanity, and completely changing his eating habits Matthew has lost over 50 pounds and looks like a totally different person than before. He is strong, fit, and ready to take on whatever life throws at him. I will have to dig up some before pictures, but you can see what a skinny minny the boy is now, in the pictures below.

The actual swearing in. (Matthew is in the back)

So proud.

Me and bud :)

My older sister, Jenny with Matthew right before he was loaded into the shuttle bus.

I know we will miss him terribly while he is gone, but I canNOT wait to attend family day and graduation day in the next few months.

I love you, bud and I am terribly proud of you :)

Hello again!

Oh, man. I did not miss work at all the past 2 weeks. We had SUCH a great time on vacation and it has been so hard settling back into our normal routine and not seeing each other as often.

Plans changed as soon as we got to Topsail Island. The reunion was awkward and we really felt unwelcomed from a majority of the people there. So, after lunch we got in the car and drove straight to Virginia Beach and spent the rest of our vacation staying at Stephanie's (Brian's sister) house and visiting with all of our Virginia family.

We had a relaxing, do whatever whenever time and I am already planning our next vacation which will be in November. Our plan is to take a cruise for our one year anniversary. CAN. NOT. WAIT :)

I have pictures to post and a more detailed re-cap of our time away, but I am at work so it will have to wait for another day. Well, I am off to work (try not to fall asleep) until 7am. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

It's almost vacation eve!

Seriously, y'all....I feel like a kid on Christmas eve. I am so excited! We are going out of town on Friday and tonight is my last night at work for 14 days. Yes, 14 glorious work-free days full of laying on a beach sipping a bud light lime-arita.

My husband's family has a reunion every year in North Carolina and this is our first year going together. B hasn't been in 5 years, and not counting the stop we made 2 years ago for an hour, I have never been. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to the reunion that much, but we have plans to go stay at my grandad's beach house in Virginia and I cannot wait.

Our plan is to leave Friday, stay in North Carolina Saturday and Sunday, and first thing Monday morning drive into Virginia for the rest of the week. We actually just decided to for sure go about a week ago. We are both in school so I am missing one class while he is missing 3. Unfortunatley, poor timing occured and I have a test in my Monday class, but the teacher is working with me so instead of a zero, my final exam will count twice. That can either help me or come back to bit me. (Did I mention the final is the Monday after we get back from vacay? Yeah...terrible.)

Even though the school aspect stresses me out just thinking about it, what made me decide that it would be 1000% worth missing an important class? All of this time with my hubby. We work really weird schedules and on certain days don't see each other at all. For instance, this past week I have spent one night with him and at most 4 hours together during the day. He works late nights (up to 4 a week) has a morning class twice a week, and one night class. I work one day, one night, and I have a morning class once a week. (I know, we are lucky that we see each other at all....I have alot of friends and family who are military and have spouses that are deployed.) So a week with basically nothing but being together....hurry up Friday!

We have been on a few road trips together before. For our 2 year dating anniversary I bought tickets to an Atlanta Braves game so we drove to Atlanta for that.

A random roadtip where we ended up in Siesta Key, FL. For B's 29th birthday we packed a weekend bag, got in the car, and just drove wherever the road took us. This might have been my favorite weekend trip!

(If you are ever in Siesta Key, look this place up. Then thank me:) )

We drove to Virginia about 2 years ago and spent a week with family at my Grandad's beach house.

(sadly I don't have a picture of this on my phone or this computer. I will put one in later, for sure)



And one of our favorite things (that we havent done in a while, actually) is to wake up early on a Saturday morning, drive to Orlando and spend the day/night on Universal's City Walk. Normally this isn't a planned trip, just a spur of the moment 'Let's get out and do something' decision.

(One of many daquiri's we have enjoyed on city walk!)

Well, I am off to finish my night at work. 4 hours down, 8 hours to go. I think I can, I think I can.......