Life Of An Army Wife

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2010-07-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

Why do i even have this thing anymore? I never write here, but i do read everyone elses. Find me on facebook, i actually update that every once in a while!

so much to catch up on

2010-01-12T16:36:00.001-08:00

Wow it has been so long since i have posted! Facebook has kind of replaced blogging for me, but i know there are some people who read this that dont read my facebook and i would like to start the whole famile diary thing again. so here we go...

Landon Blake Boettcher was born on November 29th at 12:07 pm weighing 7lbs 8oz. He is now 6 weeks old and weighing close to 11lbs (is that to much weight gain?). He has acid reflux and currently has a stubborn case of thrush that we cant seem to get rid of. Matt and i are both exhausted.

Tomorrow matts family will be coming to visit for a week and the day after they leave my grandma will be coming for a week. Maybe we will be able to get some sleep while they are here!

Elusive Hamsters

2009-11-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read the title right. Anyone ever heard of a zhu zhu pet? I have been chasing these little creatures (who are supposedly hamsters, though i have yet to see one) around this island for the last 2 weeks! I have probably been to 20 different stores. No hamsters. At this point i am not even convinced they exist. At every store there is an empty spot where these hamsters are supposed to be, but of course they have always "just sold the last one" and they "might be getting some in the next shipment". I dont believe them! I think it is a marketing scheme to keep you coming back in the store and looking for a toy that they never had and are never going to have! I did however find the hamster ball and the hamster house at 1 store, but that does me no good without the dang hamsters! It is to the point where i had a DREAM last night that i found these hamsters. :) just call me determined because i will find them!!

Weekend

2009-10-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

It seemed like a really long weekend.

Friday night Matt had some friends over to play poker and i went to dinner with a friend.
Matt had to get up early Saturday morning to do PT and when he was done we laid down to take a quick nap and ended up sleeping for 4 hours! Then we babysat our friends 6 month old twins and 2 year old for a few hours.
Sunday morning we had a 3D ultrasound and then we came home and matt worked on some shelves he is building and a bookcase and dresser he is staining for Landons room, and i printed all of our ultrasound pictures and put them in an album.

We have been really tired around here. No particular reason, just worn out. Matt is working hard and doing PT alot. He is also doing physical therapy 3 times a week, but it seems to be helping. He was able to take his walking boot off and is so excited to be wearing a regular shoe. I havent been feeling great. My throat hurts, my nose is running and ive had a constant headache for the last 3 days. No fever though so im hoping its just sinuses. My back and my hips are still hurting and i still cant sleep. At our ultrasound yesterday they said Landon weighed 4 pounds and 9 ounces. Im not sure if thats about normal or not. I havent been to the doctor in 2 weeks and i dont have another appointment until the 26th! That is the longest ive gone this whole pregnancy without going to the doctor.

Sweet Tea Blues

2009-10-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

The only thing i have consistently craved throughout my pregnancy has beeen sweet tea. And of course here in Hawaii they dont believe in sweet tea. Theres mango tea, or rasberry tea, but no tea with just plain sugar. Yeah sure i can make it myself but then i have to wait for it to make, and then wait for it to get cold (because i HATE it when tea melts the ice). I miss just being able to drive through somewhere and get some sweet tea. I guess i will have to resort to making it myself and waiting. I bet we have used 2972358 pounds of sugar in the last 8 months.

Im pretty sure the really not fun part of the pregnancy has started. My back hurts, my hips hurt, i cant sleep, im tired all the time and dont even get me started on the mood swings! Poor matt. He gets up at 5am and goes to PT and then to work and then to PT again, and then he comes home and does the housework that i didnt do because i was too tired...all while walking on pins and needles, never knowing when im going to start yelling at him for no reason. He never complains or anything. He just apologizes and tries not to laugh. I can truly say that i am blessed with an amazing husband. And i owe him big time once this pregnancy is over!

babies!

2009-10-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

As most of you know i was not the only one in my family that was pregnant this year. My cousins Shanna and Nikki were also expecting. Shanna was due mid October and Nikki was due towards the beginning of November.

Well i am happy to say that i am now the only cousin who hasnt popped! Shanna gave birth to Hayden Reed last Thursday, and Nikki gave birth the Grey James today. We are all so happy for both of them and i cant wait to meet my new 2nd cousins.

greeat...

2009-09-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

"A tsunami watch has been issued for the state of Hawaii, following a 7.9 earthquake in Samoa. The earthquake happened at 7:48am Hawaii time. An investigation is underway to determine if there is a tsunami threat to Hawaii. The Pacific Tsunami W...arning center says if a tsunami wave were to be generated, the earliest it would arrive to our shores would be at 1:11pm Hawaii time."

Update

2009-09-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting back into a routine around here. Matt has been back to work for a few weeks. He had his 6 weeks post op appointment last week and they said he is healing and its time for him to start physical therapy. So now he will be doing that twice a week. Because of my dizziness and my asthma, i was transfered to a doctor that handles complicated OB cases. Instead of once a month, i have to see her every 2 weeks. The dizziness seems to be pretty much gone unless i get into a room thats hot and has no air circulation, but my back has been hurting so bad that it makes me feel sick.

Other than that nothing is really going on around here. We are jelous of the cool texas weather, it is still in the high 80s here.

Back to Reality

2009-09-11T18:10:00.001-07:00

Matt went back to work today after a month of medical leave. He was glad to go back and see everyone and get back into the swing of things.

We have had visitors constantly for the last month! My aunt was here when matt had surgery and about a week after she left my sister and nick came to help out. It was great to have everyone here, the house seems very empty now.

My dizziness has been way better the last few weeks. Ive only gotten dizzy a few times, when it hot or there is no air circulation in the building i am in. I got a new OBGYN, which i like my better than my old one. She is focusing on controlling my asthma to make the dizziness stop and it seems to be working.

I am also in the process of enrolling in school. If all goes as planned i will attend Chaminade University aka The University of Honolulu, and get my associates in childhood education. There is still alot of paperwork and stuff to get sone, and then the matter of getting accepted to the school (which my councelor says shouldnt be a problem) but i am hoping to start after Christmas. I will only take night classes a few times a week, so the baby can stay with matt, and there is a satelite campus on base less than a mile from my house that i can go to instead of driving all the way to the actual campus.

Simce we are under the 2 year mark of time matt had left on this tour of duty, we are exploring options other than him re enlisting. Of course nothing has been decided for sure, alot depends on what the economy does in the next 2 years.

Well matt just walked in the door and hes starving so im gunna go make dinner!

Rest In Peace Colter

2009-08-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, August 20th, Marcus High School lost one of its greatest baseball alumni and the class of 07 lost one of its best friends. Rest peacefully Colter. You brought joy into every life you touched. You will be missed so much.

Chaos

2009-08-15T00:23:00.001-07:00

The last week and a half have been total chaos. Last sunday we picked my aunt and her friend up from the airport. They were such a big help, we cant thank them enough. They even cooked and froze us some meals for the next few weeks.

Matts surgery went really well, they accomplished everything they wanted to and hopefully he will be able to run again soon! I was up at the hospital all day on tuesday but they wouldnt let me spend the night because he was in a room with 2 other people. We went back early wednesday morning and luckily he was discharged by noon. He has a follow up appointment on the 24th to take his stitches out and get a more permanent cast.

I have been getting really dizzy for the last several weeks and 2 weeks ago my doctor told me it was because i needed to eat more. Well i started eating more and the dizziness didnt go away. Wednesday as we were leaving the hospital with matt i passed out in the elevator. I found it odd that they didnt want me to go to the ER so when i got home i made an appointment with my OB. She did a bunch of tests and decided i was orthostatic, which means my blood pressure drops when i stand up, usually because i dont have enough fluids. Im drinking a gallon of water a day and cant drink anymore so she made me stay and get IV fluids. In the middle of the whole testing/IV fluid thing we had a major dissagreement which i wont get into but i am really considering changing doctors. I dont feel like i was given the care i should have been, and i think she was really unprofessional and just down right rude.

So im on partial bedrest again, im only allowed to be on my feet for about 5 minutes at a time. And with matt on crutches that presents a problem. Fortunately i am very blessed and have a wonderful family and my sister and nick are coming this weekend to help out. We just need someone around to do the little things like grocery shopping.

On top of all this crap, our new downstairs neighbors seem to think its ok to turn their radio ALL the way up. People are so incosiderate. We can hear every word of every song and it shakes our floor. Im waiting for it to be 11pm so i can call the police on them. This has happened ever night this week and im getting really sick of it!

he cracks me up

2009-08-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Matt and i just had this conversation

Matt: i have a weigh in tomorrow and im under weight on our scale but i think its a few pounds off from the scale they weigh me on and i need to know how much i weigh on their scale

Me: so why dont you go weigh yourself on their scale

Matt: oh i didnt think of that

Long Week

2009-08-01T02:49:00.000-07:00

We celebrated matts 21st birthday last sunday. We went to hardrock with some friends and then everyone came back to our house for cake and drinks. We ended up playing electronic monopoly (you have ATM cards instead of money). Unfortunately matt got sick around 10pm and spent the rest of the night in bed throwing up. We were both up all night, he finally stopped throwing up around 7am. Luckily he took monday and tuesday off, so we both had a few days to recouperate before we had to get back on schedule.

I had my 22 week doctors appointment yesterday and everything seems to be fine. All of my genetic testing came back negative, so no reason to do an amnio, thank goodness cuz that is a big needle! She looked at my ultrasound results and he is right on track with his growth. She did say that i am not gaining as much weight as she wants, i have only gained 2 pounds. She also thinks that might be why ive been getting so dizzy. She said im not eating enough and the baby is taking all my nutrients and not leaving any for me. So i have to start snacking more.

Matt has his pre-op appointment next thursday morning. Hopefully we will find out all the details...wether he has to stay in the hospital over night and things like that. His surgery is the following tuesday, the 11th.

My aunt will be here next sunday, the 9th. She is coming to be with me when matt has surgery and for a few days afterward. I wish she could stay longer, but i am just grateful that i wont have to be in the waiting room alone while matt is in surgery. She is hoping to make it to the beach and to pearl harbor while she is here.

Hopefully after that things will start to settle down. We are getting the nursery set up...its a slow process, but it would be alot worse if we were allowed to paint. All we can do is hang stuff on the walls, so that saves a little bit of time. We are also already planning our trip home early next year. There is so much we want to do while we are there, but matt is taking a month of leave so hopefully we will be able to get it all done. We already have plans to go to a family reunion and my mom has already rented a cabin in arkansas so we can all spend a few days on the lake.

Landon Blake Boettcher

2009-07-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

sorry the quality of isnt great. i couldnt get the scanner to work, so i just took pictures of the origional pictures. ill go to walmart and scan them this weekend and get better ones up asap.

Picture Time

2009-07-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

20 weeks and 4 days.

i put some ultrasound pictures on my facebook...the quality is horrible but you can still see him.

feelin better

2009-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

after 5 days in bed im finally starting to feel better. my nose hurts from blowing it 5 million times but atleast i can breathe again. my fever broke last night, thank goodness. unfortuantely matt wasnt feeling so good last night, so hopefully he isnt getting it too.

and for those of you who havent heard, we picked a name for the baby...landon blake.

light at the end of the tunnel

2009-07-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

i took some sudafed and started feeling a little better. i managed to eat some scrambled eggs and toast.

worst night ever

2009-07-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

last night was terrible. there was very little sleeping involved, for both me and matt. several times my temperature got up to almost 102. once i even had to take a cold shower to get it down. tylenol would help for a little while, but about 2 hours later it would wear off and the fever would be back. i managed to keep it under control enough that we didnt have to go to the emergency room (im not supposed to let my temp get above 100.5). it hasnt gotten above 100 today so thats good. but i cant keep food down so we may end up back at the doctor anyway before this is through.

diagnosed.

2009-07-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

well, i have a viral infection. which im pretty sure is just a fancy doctor way of saying a cold. not that the doctor would know considering he didnt examine me at all during my appointment. he didnt listen to my lungs or look in my ears or anything. he basically just told me i have to suffer. he doesnt prescribe medicine to pregnant women. unfortunately there were no appointments available with my regular doctor, who im sure would have been happy to give me sudafed or something. as of now my chest is burning, im coughing so much it makes me throw up, my throat hurts, my nose is running, i have a headache and i have a fever. of course i didnt have a fever when i went to the doctor. but it has been staying around 99.7 all day. the list of pregnancy approved medicines i have says i can take sudafed, so i may go get some anyway. my sweet husband was able to stay home from work with me today since the doctor did suggest partial bedrest...only getting up to eat, go to the bathroom and shower. i think he enjoyed it, i slept pretty much all day so he played video games and relaxed. i only sent him out once to get crackers and 7up. unfortunately i dont think they will let him stay home until i get better lol.

not feeling well.

2009-07-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy week and i am not feeling well at all. At first it started out as just tightness in my chest, so i assumed my asthma was acting up. But i used all my inhalers and its been about a week now and it seems to only be getting worse, ive been coughing all day. Hopefully i can get to the doctor on monday.

I have also been getting really dizzy if i stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time. Did anyone else have this problem when they were pregnant? I can barely make it through a trip to walmart without sitting down or feeling like im going to pass out. I thought it might be my blood pressure, so i bought a monitor and ive been checking it and it has been normal.

Anyway i think im gunna get the vicks shower stuff and take a shower, hopefully thatll help me breathe!

Its a boy!

2009-07-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

i will try to get ultrasound pictures on here sometime today but if you want one printed let me know.

correction

2009-07-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

in my last post i said we get to find out the babys sex on tuesday...i was wrong it is actually monday morning at 8am.

long week

2009-07-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

i got back from texas last monday, and then my grandma and cousin came to visit on wednesday and have been here for a week. thanks to my amazing husband i came home to a spotless house, so i didnt have to worry about cleaning before they got here. we have had an awesome week with them and will be sad to see them go tonight.

i had my 18 week doctors appointment last week, she said everything looks good and we will be able to have our ultrasound and hopefully find out the sex next tuesday.

we will have just enough time to recover from this round of family visitng before my aunt will be here on august 7th. she will be staying a little over a week and is coming to help out when matt has his surgery on august 11th. we deffinately have had no shortage of visitors since we moved here!

is there anyone out there...

2009-06-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

who actually likes flying?

i am so not one of those people. i still have a good 40 hours before i have to get on a plane and i am already stressing out.

on another note, we got to hear the babies heartbeat this morning. everything sounded fine. all my labs came back fine and everything looked good.

heading home

2009-06-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

I will be heading home saturday morning, arriving in texas about 10pm. I have a wedding shower, a graduation party, and a birthday dinner all to go to the day after i get back. I am going to try my hardest to make it to all 3, hopefully i wont be too jetlagged. I will also be attending 2 graduations, another graduation party, my own baby shower, another birthday dinner and a family reunion while im home. Its going to be a very busy trip.

* if youre coming to my baby shower please please please RSVP, even if you think its obvious that youre coming! We are doing something that requires us to know exactly how many people are going to be there.

Random Thoughts

2009-05-13T17:35:00.001-07:00

ive tried to post this 3 times and it keeps saying ive made an illegal request. ugh. well sorry its been so long, my computer has been broken for the last month. we had to completly erase the hard drive and reload all the software.

we are going to a marraige retreat at the outrigger hotel in waikiki this weekend. i hear its a pretty nice hotel so im excited. ill post pictures next week.

im hoping to be home june 5th through 25th. these dates are by no means set in stone but im hoping everything works out.

we get to hear the babies heartbeat june 4th

its hot. really really hot. i dont think its been this hot since we moved here. i wish we had a pool.

i think im getting a cold. i have a really sore throat and ive been sneezing alot. i really hope it goes away on its own because i cant take any medicine.

4th picture

2009-04-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

1. Choose the 4th folder in which you store pictures in your computer.

2. Choose the 4th picture.

3. Explain that picture.

4. Tag 4 people.

This is a picture of Sarah, Madelyn and Emma at my wedding! Arent they adorable!

I tag:
Kim
Michelle
Shawna
Amy

Catch up...

2009-04-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

Lets see, alot has happened since the last time i posted. Valerie had 2 beautiful baby boys, Nycholas and Trynt. They are doing well in the NICU just growing and doing their thing. I was able to go back and see them for a few minutes on thursday and there were tiny! Valerie was a little sick from the surgery but is doing better now. She will be released from the hospital on monday and hopefully the boys will be released on thursday

Matt started working nights again on friday. I hate this. It messes up our schedules so much, and it is no fun to sleep when the rest of the world is awake, and to be awake while the rest of the worls sleeps. It seems like i miss everything when he is on nights, and sometimes i go several days without talking to people. They are talking about moving him to a different shift, so im hoping that happens pretty soon.

I will be going to Texas for a few weeks in June. I dont know the exact dates yet but we are thinking it will probably be somewhere around the 8th to the 30th. I will get back here the day before my grandma and cousin arrive. Matt has a consultation on the 17th to schedule his ankle surgery so that will be a big factor in deciding the dates.

Anyway matt will be home from work soon so im gunna start breakfast...

Babies and mice

2009-03-28T01:30:00.001-07:00

We went to the hospital tonight and had a nice visit with our friends Brandon and
Valerie. For those of you who dont know, Valerie is pregnant with twins and was hospitalized almost 2 weeks ago because the babies heart rates dropped. They pretty much have it under control now, but have kept her there to monitor her anway. She is having a c section on thursday, she will be 34 weeks. Please pray for her health and the health of the babies (2 boys!).

We have mice. I know, it could be rats. But mice are bad enough. I hate mice.

Nothing else has really been going on. We have cleaned out and organized every closet in our house this week. Matt starts working nights again next friday, i never look foward to that. My grandma finally bought her plane tickets and her and my cousin will be staying with us july 1st through 8th.

well i guess i dont have anything else to report!

Annoying.

2009-03-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Matt bought me a new laptop for my birthday...and its already broken! I called my mom and she thinks the video card went out. So i guess now i get to deal with warranty people and not have a laptop for a while. I am using matts old laptop now, it works but its pretty slow and freezes alot. And you have to mess with the charger for like 10 minutes to get it to stay in. Not fun.

Back on my feet.

2009-03-21T21:46:00.001-07:00

I am finally feeling better. I know i was only sick for 6 days but it felt like forever! I got a burst of energy and have been cleaning like a mad man all day. The whole house is clean, i redecorated our balcony and i got all the pictures from my families visit onto the computer. I painted my nails and my toenails and now im about to make cookies and decide what to make for dinner. Matt wont be home for 2 more hours and im out of things to do already!

Sick!

2009-03-19T16:39:00.001-07:00

This will be a quick post because im sick! My family left on tuesday and i started feeling sick that morning, little did i know it would turn into this! My nose is running, my throat hurts, my head hurts, i cant stop coughing. Im just glad it waited until my family was gone so i was able to enjoy my last few days with them. However i havent had the energy to clean the house since they left, which is a little messy from having so many people in it for 2 weeks. I havent been out of bed much in the last few days.

Please pray for our friends Brandon and Valerie. Valerie is 32 weeks pregnant with twins and was hospitalised on monday because both babies heart rates have dropped. I dont have all the details but we need to lift these people up in prayer!

Well im off, back to bed and to some dayquil with vitamin C.

My family is here!

2009-03-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well they have been since last monday but i havent had time to breathe, much less get on the computer, since then. We have been soo busy.

Monday- we had to go to the airport twice...once to pick up nicks dad and once to pick up everyone else. they would have arrived about 10 minutes apart but my moms plane got delayed like 2 hours in denver.

Tuesday- we chilled...got some errands done and then spent a few hours on the beach.

Wednesday- we went to the dole pineapple plantation and then to the beach to snorkel but the waves were HUGE so we couldnt. me and katha decided we still wanted to swim even though the waves were taller than we were. bad idea.

Thursday- we went to sea life park and SWAM WITH A DOLPHIN. this was by far the coolest thing i have ever done. ill post pictures later!

Friday- my mom got married! and then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the polynesian culture center.

Saturday- everyone else went to the beach but i stayed home and cleaned up the house...its amazing how dirty it gets with 5 extra people staying in it.

Sunday- we went to the beach and then to eat at this amazing mexican restaurant and then we took nicks dad to the airport.

Monday- we went shopping and then took my moms friend to the airport. then we went to eat at bubba gumps shrimp.

Today- kevin and nick rented mopeds and are cruising down waikiki. matt and greg are hitting the museums. katha and my mom are shopping and i stayed home again to clean the house.

they will still be here another week! its insane, i have had atleast 5 extra people sleeping in my house for the last week. thank goodness katha and nick and his dad stayed in a hotel the first week.

anyway i better get back to cleaning! but first...congrats to my cousins Tobin and Shanna who just found out they are expecting their second child! I love you guys!

Happy birthday michelle!

2009-02-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Michelle! I love you!

We had a very productive day yesterday. We cleaned the house from top to bottom...bathtub, toilet, junk drawer (yes i have a junk drawer, dont judge me!), floors, EVERYTHING. I think we finally got all of the dog hair out of the house...of yeah, i didnt tell yall we got rid of the dog. I felt bad for him because we didnt have a backyard for him to play in and you could tell he was going out of his mind sitting in the house.

We stopped cleaning long enough to go to chilis for lunch. I have a new love...the bottomless express lunch. You get chips and salsa, soup and a salad for $11.99 and you get free refils on everything. It is so good. And it is a really good deal, each of these things alone would be over $6 a peice.

My family will be here on monday! Matt managed to got several days off, he only has to work 5 of the 15 days they will be here. So far we have plans to go to the polynesian culture center, deep sea fishing and swim with the dolphins at sea life park.

I got a new purse! We went to the navy exchange (kind of like the military mall)a few weeks ago and they were having a HUGE unadvertised sale! i got a $378 purse for $119. Score. Matt got a bicycle, id love to tell you about it, but i know nothing about bikes! He is really excited about it though.

Matt has been going to physical therapy for his ankle (he has a torn ligament) since it isnt really an imprtant ligament that is torn, they are trying not to do surgery. Matt and i both just wish they would do surgery and fix it for good so he isnt in pain anymore. Well yesterday he was at physical therapy and his ankle kept popping and they said if it was popping next time they were going to refer him to an orthopedic surgeon. We really hope they do...we dont want him in and out of physical therapy for the next 10 years just because they dont want to do sugery. Its a very minor surgery with a fairly quick recovery time.

He goes back on friday and then has a consultation with the doctor on monday, so we will see if they refer him to a surgeon.

Weird

2009-02-21T02:39:00.000-08:00

matt is working nights this month so even on his days off we try to stay up at night and sleep during the day, just to keep his schedule pretty regular. so last night around 1am we decided to go to jack in the box. we got back around 1:15 and came inside and watched some movies and hung out. at 4:30am matt went outside to get in the car and go to PT...this is where things get weird.

he got in the car and everything from the glove box and the center console was sitting in the front seat and the passanger door was open. obviously someone broke into the car...but the camera and the GPS were sitting in the front seat with everything else. the only thing thats missing is matts ipod (which could have been taken, or could be lost in our house somewhere). who breaks into someones car and doesnt take anything?

the police came and fingerprinted the door and took pictures. they said the fingerprints were pretty small so it was most likely a kid. we still dont know how they got in the car, we ALWAYS lock the doors, but there was no pry marks or anything.

it kinda freaked me out...but atleast they didnt take anything (except maybe matts ipod, which someone gave him anyway).

Texas Stadium

2009-02-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

Nicks dad (who works at texas stadium) just sent me pictures. it is so sad! the turf is gone and so are half of the chairs. some of my best highschool memories are in that staduim and i didnt get to say goodbye.

it makes me very sad.

i told him to save me a peice of concrete.

February 16th

2009-02-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

Matt and i have been married for a year tommorow!

Happy Birthday Trey!

2009-02-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today is my brother-in-laws 17th birthday! Happy birthday trey! Sorry we couldnt be there to see you ride the saddle...send pictures!

Things have been pretty busy around here. Last weekend we went to the probowl. It was fun but nothing like what i expected. It never occured to me that they actually stop playing duriing the commercials. We took tons of pictures but they take to long to load on here so if you want to see them, give me your email address.

Matt has to work for half the day on valentines day :( and most of the day on tuesday (our 1 year anniversary). Im hoping they will let him leave a little early on our anniversary so we can atleast go to dinner or something.

My family will be here in 2 weeks! i am already starting to get the house cleaned...scrubbing the bathtub and toilets and things like that. we will only have 4 or 5 of them staying with us, but there will be 7 or 8 here total. its going to be pretty crazy. matt was able to get off work a few of the days they will be here so we can go do stuff with them.

gotta make dinner :)

Catching Up...

2009-01-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

we have been so busy lately! my great grandmother passed away on january 2nd and thanks to a guardian angel matt and i were both able to fly home for the funeral. matt stayed a week and then had to come back to work but i stayed an extra week ans visited with my family. unfortunately i was sick the whole time and i still have a serious cough.

this weekend we are dog-sittting for our neighbors. they are about to move and cant take the dog with them, so we may end up with it...but i wanted to try it out for a weekend first and see how it went. it worked out really well because they went camping this weekend and needed someone to watch the dog anyway. he seems to be behaving and i know matt is going to like him...atleast i hope he does, since he doesnt know about him yet :) he will find out when he gets home from work.

next weekend we get to go to another marraige retreat! i love these things. this one is at a resort that i havent been to yet, but supposedly it has lagoons with hammerhead sharks in them. then on sunday we are going to a friends (who is pregnant with twins!) to watch the superbowl.

February 4th is my mommas birthday! happy birthday mommy! i hope you like your present.

we are going to the probowl on february 8th. im really excited about this, it is a really good oppurtunity and from what i heard this is the last year its going to be in hawaii.

and then on march 2nd my whole family plus some extras are coming to visit for 2 and a half weeks!

we are going to be so busy for the next few weeks!

wow...

2008-12-15T04:36:00.001-08:00

it has been a long month.

-i tried to put pictures of our new house up, but it isnt cooperating.
-it has been flooding here for the past 5 days
-matt has to park a mile away from work and walk the rest of the way because a bridge washed out
-our neighbors keep putting their trash in our trashcan and then theres no room for our trash
-matt has to work nights for the next month, even on new years eve
-im looking for a job...not so successfully
- im thinking about taking 2 week classes they offer on base that allow you to take tests for college credits
-matt and i have been married for 10 months on tuesday :)
- people keep blocking us in our parking spot
-we finally got our cable installed
-my family will be here in less than 3 months!

well...i think thats it

Very Sad News

2008-11-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Oscar the beta has died.

Rest In Peace Oscar

Happy Veterans Day!

2008-11-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

I dont have much to report, thats why i havent written in so long. I fell/slid down the stairs on saturday night and ended up in the ER on sunday morning. My foot is swollen and bruised. It isnt broken but i have to wear a boot and walk on crutches for atleast a week. We are going to have thanksgiving with some friends. Somehow Matt and i got roped into making a turkey and a ham. And various other side dishes. Honestly im not looking foward to it. The people we are doing it with want to do the sit down at the table/tablecloth and centerpeice thing. Ive never done that before in my life. My family is so big that people sit on the couch or the floor or wherever there is room. Its more relaxed that way. Sitting down at a table just seems so formal to me. I guess watching to football game during dinner is probably out of the question...

Prayers Please

2008-10-24T01:20:00.001-07:00

We need to move! We are number 26 on the list but it just isnt going fast enough. Matt is exhausted! Between work and Pt and driving 30 minutes to get to and from work, he is almost never home. Its starting to catch up with him. He never gets a day off. Even on the days he doesnt work (including the weekend) he still has to do Pt. There is seriously not a day in the week where he gets the whole day off. I know moving wont fix it all, but it would atleast make it where he doesnt have to leave an hour early for work.

And im going bored out of my mind. I want to get a job, which i cant do until we move because right now matt has the car all the time. When we move, we will be close enough for me to take matt to work so i can finally get a job.

Also, they screwed up matts leave days. He should have 10 days but they messed up the paperwork and they have him negative days right now. People keep saying they will get it fixed but its just not happening. It would be nice if he could take a day off!

So please pray that they get all of this stuff fixed...and please pray for matt.

Busy...

2008-10-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Things have been BUSY around here. Matt is always working or doing PT. When he does finally make it home, we use that time to catch up on sleep. I was never one to wake up early (or even before noon) yet here it is, 6am and ive been up since 4:30.

Our friend Ron, who we know from highschool, is deploying to iraq today. We got to spend some time with him last night and say goodbye. Please keep him and the rest of his unit and their famalies in your prayers.

For those of you following the housing list, we are number 31. We havent moved on the list in the last 2 weeks and it is starting to get old! We have been on the list since May 1st. Im not looking foward to the actual moving part. We accumualte more stuff every day and for some reason the government isnt assisting us with our move (they move your stuff for you most of the time, but not this time! why? who knows...) So we have to deal with the issue of finding a vehicle big enough to move all of our stuff, which isnt easy because you have to be 21 to rent a UHAUL.

A new way to look at a deck of cards

2008-10-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.

The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk

.Just then an army sergeant came in and said, 'Why aren't you w ith the rest of the platoon?'

The soldier replied, 'I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord.'

The sergeant said, 'Looks to me like you're going to play cards.'

The soldier said, 'No, sir.You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards.'

The sergeant asked in disbelief, 'How will you do that?'

'You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments

The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cle ansed of leprosy He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for.'

The sergeant just stood there.After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, 'Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?'

please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our servicemen and women all around the world. Of all the gifts you could give a Soldier, prayer is the very best one.

PT sucks

2008-10-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

Matt failed his PT test, which means he has to do PT twice a day now. Which wouldnt be such a big deal if he could do it on the base we live on, but he has to drive 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back 2 times a day and he does PT for 2 hours each time. So this takes almost 6 hours out of his day. And on days he works he has to go to work almost 4 hours early to do
PT. That means he is gone for 16-17 hours on the days he works and 6 hours on the days he doesnt work. It also puts him driving almost 600 miles a week. Yeah i know, thats alot of math.

We are number 32 on the housing list and i am praying that the list moves along pretty fast. Especially since Matt will be using 2 tanks of gas a week to get back and forth to work and PT. A bunch of people deploy in a few weeks and we are hoping some houses open then up then because alot of those wives will move back home when their husbands deploy.

And congratualtions to my friend Valerie who just found out she is pregnant with her second child!

Not much going on...

2008-09-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

Things are pretty boring around here. Matts work schedule is crazy. On the days he doesnt have to work, he has training or PT. We have been spending alot of time with out friends Ron and Providence (we went to highschool with them, and now they are here). Ron deploys to Iraq in 2 weeks so we are trying to spend as much time with his as possible before he leaves. We got a fish, his name is oscar. I was cleaning out his tank yesterday and i accidentally dropped him on the kitchen counter. He started flopping, I started screaming and Matt was laughing too hard to help me pick him up. Oscar survived the ordeal, in case you were wondering.

Missions and Windows

2008-09-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

Matt got to ride in a helicopter yesterday. They had to do some kind of mission which involved spending most of the day circling the island in a black hawk. Of course i spent the whole day worried that he would crash. However, he came home safe, looking like a kid in a candy store. He had a blast. He also informed me that he got "blown up" by a fake bomb, which is why he came home covered in baby powder. He was supposed to have to work from 9pm to 9am after spending all day on his mission, but his supervisor was nice enough to let him take the night off.

I have also come to the conclusion that my house is not safe, which is why i lock myself in my room when matt leaves for work and only come out to go to the bathroom (since he works 12 hour shifts, my inability to go downstars alone leaves me starving by the time he gets home in the morning).

Why is my house unsafe, you ask. Many of you may not know, but most houses in Hawaii do not have central air conditiong. Since the trade winds blow pretty strong most of the time, some genius (and i use that term loosly) decided to put windows made out of slats of glass in the houses so they can be twisted open and air flows through the house. I guess in theory it was a good idea...except the slats come out. Yes, you can stand outside and literally take my windows apart.

I decided to remedy this problem by closing the windows...which didnt work because the slats still come out when the window is closed. Now, i dont really think someone is going to go through the trouble of taking out 20 slats of glass so they can climb though my window, but these slats of glass are also on the back door. Remove one slat of glass and you can reach through and unlock the door.

I realize i am being paranoid (im on an army base, how much safer can you get?)...but my windows come apart!!

Today we organize

2008-09-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Matt and I decided to clean today. We have spent the last 4 hours organizing and scrubbing and all that good stuff. I can think of other things i would like to do today instead, but its nice to have a clean house. We are taking a break and watching Speed Racer and then we are going to tackle the car. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Pictures?

2008-09-11T02:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of august Matt and I were lucky enough to get to spend the weekend at Turtle Bay Resort for a marriage retreat. We spent alot of time in seminars learning how to communicate (they even gave us a magnet that looks like a floor, and when youre holding the magnet during a discussion you have "the floor" so youre the only one who can talk), we did the 5 love languages and heard testimony from couples who had been married for 14+ years. They taught us how to deal with deployments and explained how some things that apply in normal relationships have to be altered to fit military relationships. The overall message was good and i think matt and i both got alot out of it. We also got alot of free time to spend together on the beach and in this gorgeous hotel. The parrots were just sitting on rings in the lobby! It was the time of the month when the jellyfish come to shore so we didnt spend any time in the ocean but we did take advantage of the hotels pools and hot tubs. It was nice to get to know some of the people Matt works with and their wives. The army does this every few months so hopefully we will get the chance to do it again.

Its official! My mom, Greg, Katha, Kevin, Nick, Nicks parents and my moms best friend will all be here in March! I dont know where we are going to put them all but i am just glad they have the oppurtunity to come. Hopefully Aunt Tina and Granny will be able to come later in the year.

Starting on the 19th Matt will be working only at night. His schedule is 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off. It going to be a little confusing at first. Supposedly he will work all nights for a month and then all days for a month but we'll see.

We are slowly moving down on the housing list. When we got put on the list to move to the other base on May 1st we were number 156 on the list, 4 months later we are number 44 on the list. I just hope we get moved by christmas.

Hard night!

2008-09-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

We didnt quite get our schedules switched back over to days in time. I can already tell that matt working half days and half nights isnt going to be easy. He had to be at work at 6am which meant he had to leave the house by 5:15. Poor matt didnt fall asleep until almost 2:30 because we have been on a night schedule, and someone with a wrong number called at 4 and he didnt go back to sleep. Which means that he is working a 12 hour day on and hour and a half of sleep. I got up and made him breakfast before he left in hopes of giving him enough energy to atleast make it to work without falling asleep while he was driving (he did).

Ive been doing everything possible to keep myself awake so that we will both sleep tonight. The house is clean, the laundry is done, my myspace is updated, the dvds are alphabetized and now i have run out of things to do.

I guess i can go make cookies :)

Lazy Weekend

2008-09-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

We havent done much this weekend, we are trying to get back on a nomal schedule (we have been sleeping all day since matt worked nights). He has to work during the day on monday so we have to get back to sleeping at night.

Matt cleaned out the lanai this weekend after we found that a stray cat had kittens in there. We called the hawaii cat foundation and they came and got the kittens, they will bottle feed them until they are old enough for someone to adopt them. The mama cat is a little sad that her kittens are gone, but i didnt want to leave them out there to become strays.

First nights alone...

2008-09-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

So i have never spent the night alone in a house...EVER. Well last week matt found out that he has to work night 2 out of every 8 nights. I, needless to say, was not happy. But what can you do? Last night was my first night alone, it was rather uneventful. I worked on my real estate classes and watched tv and tonight looks like its going to be more of the same.

So maybe staying alone wont be so bad. But i still havent gotten the guts to go downstairs :) im locked up in our room!