New Ornament

I am so excited to hang this beautiful ornament on our tree this year:

I found it at the PX today and it's perfect!

 Have a great day!!

A girl and a Hammer

The last few days have been crazy busy!!! Here is a run down of what I have been doing:

Monday:

grocery shopping

cleaning marathon (after being gone a week the house needed it)

laundry

wrote up an inventory list of DVD's and Video Games

got rid of 3 old computers, I never thought busting up old hard drives could be such a blast. Kyle was laughing at me the whole time. By the way don't take apart the hard drive because there are little glass discs inside that will shatter everywhere (I learned the hard way lol)

Tuesday:

more laundry

addressed and stamped Christmas cards...is it normal to have 94 cards to send???

pulled weeds and swept outside

went through the spare room/master bedroom and got rid of a ton of junk

Wednesday:

vet appt for Emma (also got the animals records)

went through the office and got rid of more junk

busted up the old desk with a hammer, that was fun!

I finally feel like I have gotten rid of all the useless junk that we don't need. Our poor garbage man must think we are crazy haha. This morning I am sitting here waiting for the packing company to come do a pre-move survey. They need to see how much stuff we have so they know how many boxes and how much packing paper. I know these next few weeks are going to fly by.

Besides all this moving prep Kyle and I did do something pretty exciting last night. We went out and bought something that we have been wanting for a while:

A GUN!!

We have always wanted one and now that we have bought a home we want to have another means of protection (we already have an alarm system wired in the new house). I have always loved shooting and it will be nice to get some more practice. A good friend of mine was joking and said we are real Texans now haha.

I am excited for this weekend as it will be spent relaxing and we are also going to Kartchner Caverns (we went a few months ago but only 1 room was open) it is so much fun! 

Look how awesome this is!!

It is still an active cave so we can't bring cameras in with us but I got this picture of their website. 

I hope you all are having a great day!!

Wednesday Walkabout!!!

 I love being a part of this blog hop. It's so fun and you get an opportunity to follow some pretty awesome people. Enjoy!

<a href="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.taingamala.com/">http://www.taingamala.com/</a>" target="blank"></div> <div> <img src="<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc422/JaneAdensam/WednesdayWalkabout.png">http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc422/JaneAdensam/WednesdayWalkabout.png</a>"/></div> <div> </a></div> <div>

What is a Walkabout? It's a blog link-up party, every week here and with our co-hosts! Simply put your blog address or a specific post in the linky, visit some other people, and make some friends. Easy at that! I can't wait to talk to everyone!

PS: You only have to link up with ONE of the co-hosts!

The Rules:

1. Please follow at least ONE hostess, and let us know you're a new follower and how to follow you! To be entered as next week's Mystery Host, follow all hosts from this week.

Mystery Host Jen- http://kyleandjensmith.blogspot.com/">The Adventures Of Our Army Life

Chantal- http://www.scatteredseashells.com/" target="_blank">Scattered Shells

Jane- http://www.taingamala.com/" target="_blank">Taingamala

Sarah- http://gijoeswife.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">G.I. Joe's Wife

Jamie- http://www.handlingwithgrace.com/" target="_blank">Handling with Grace

2. Try to visit 3-4 blogs that interest you. Take some time and let them know where you came from.

3. Grab the button and spread the word! (Not required, but just cool if you do). The more, the merrier.

Holiday in Review

I had a great time visiting with family for a week! Last Sunday we celebrated our niece Kylie's 6th birthday, it was a small get together at my sisters which was perfect. We also surprised my sister with a birthday cake since hers birthday was 2 days later.

Keira and Kylie (our niece)

Surprising Lisa with her birthday cake

About 1am Thursday morning Kyle made it to Vegas after driving for 8 hours, he was wiped out. We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family and had a blast! My sister and I cooked (it was our first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner together) and everything turned out amazing. Friday we spent the day with Kyle's parents, we went out to lunch, to see our sister-in-law and then back to their house to relax. It was a nice day with them.

The Spread

Chris, Dad, Kyle, and Grayson

Me, Lisa and Kylie

Saturday was our last full day there so we mostly relaxed, but we did take the kids to the park and then put up my sisters Christmas Tree. Overall it was an awesome trip!!!

My Mom's Tree

We got up bright and early Sunday morning and headed home. It is nice to be back home after a week away. I spent yesterday running errands and getting more things set in stone for our move. We were assigned our packing/moving company (so glad that hurdle is done), it is so crazy to think that the packers with be here in 2 weeks!!! Ahhh!!! I think we have finally gotten rid of all the junk in the house, it feels so good to have that done. I just have to say that it's incredibly fun to take a hammer to old computers lol. I let out a lot of aggression. I did an inventory list of all Kyle's video games and our DVD's so glad that is done my back is killing me now.

I think today is most definitely a pj's kind of day, lol. 

 Yup, this just might be me today.

Oh and I just have to say that to everyone who has already decorated for Christmas I am JEALOUS!!! It is killing me that I can't decorate yet lol. 

I hope you all are having a great day!!

Sweet Music!

This morning while I was getting ready this song started playing on my ipod and I immediately burst into tears. From an early age my Mom instilled in me a love of oldies music. This was one of her favorite groups (most of all she loved Frankie) and she had the chance to meet him at a car show about 6 years ago. Every time I hear their music, I can still hear her singing along. I sure hope she heard me singing at the top of my lungs.

 Love you Mom!!!

Home Sweet Home!

We just made it back safely from our time in Vegas! It was great spending time with family. Now we are in full move mode and things are going to get crazy!

I will be back tomorrow with a full update.

Hope you all are having a great day!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you all have a very special day filled with family, friends, food and laughter!

I am also saying a special prayer for our service men and women who cannot be home to celebrate with loved ones. You are not forgotten!

We are going to enjoy this time with ours families as we will not be home for Christmas. 

 Have a wonderful day!!

Finally...a honeymoon!!!

A few weeks ago I had posted about wanting to have a vow renewal ceremony. The more we talked about it the more it gave me anxiety. Instead of having that we decided to finally go on a honeymoon!!!! I have been waiting for this for almost 5 years haha. When we got married we packed me up and moved me cross country to NC the next day. We have taken small trips here and there but nothing that we can call a honeymoon. 

We are almost decided on where and I think we are leaving towards:

MAUI!!!!! 

I spent 10 days there in 2005 with my family and I have always wanted to go back. We are hoping for sometime in June when he will get block leave. A week there would be absolutely amazing. 

I can't wait to get back to these beautiful beaches!

I hope you all are having an amazing day!!!!

Giveaway Winner!!!

First of all thank you so much to everyone who entered this giveaway. I think it was a complete success and I can't wait to have it again next year. 

The winner is:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats!!!!! I will be emailing you to get your information!!

Thank you again for entering.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving!!

Quick Update

I am still alive!!! I just wanted to check in really quick, I made it safely to Vegas yesterday morning. It has been nonstop since I got here but I love it. 

Today we celebrated our beautiful niece's 6th birthday and it was a great day ( I will post pictures soon). We also surprised my sister with a birthday cake (since her birthday is Tuesday) she loved it.

Don't forget there is about 2 days left on my giveaway, share it with your friends, tweet about it, whatever you would like! :)

giveaway

I hope you all have had a great weekend!!

Reminder!

Hey everyone! Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! :) Share with others on your blog. 

Giveaway

On another positive note, I had a great experience with transportation this morning (it was a new lady haha) and we have our move dates scheduled! Oh happy day! We are less than a month away from our stuff being packed up and moved.

I'm off to dinner with my hubby, hope you all have a great night!!

Please, Please!

Please pray for me as I have to deal with transportation office on post today haha. Thanks to their limited customer service hours (7:30am-11:30am, really?!) I have to be up early to deal with them. I just want to be in and out of there quickly, long enough to schedule the dates for our move. Yes we can finally do that because he finally got orders yesterday, HALLELUJAH!!!! Here is the funny thing about that, Kyle's orders were cut on the 5th but he just now got them, obviously someone dropped the ball there. Thank you to whomever caused that issue, you gave me some serious anxiety.

Pray that whoever is working there is friendly (the odds of that happening is pretty slim) and that they let me do it (my POA tells me I can haha). If it is the same lady Kyle dealt with when we got here I know I'm in for a treat.  I have a feeling this will be me:

Wish me luck friends!

Addiction

I have come to the conclusion that I have an addiction. I am addicted to Starbucks shaken iced black tea (unsweetened). I guess the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem lol. :)

Yum!!!! LOL!!

It's not really a problem but I realized that I was addicted when the lady at Starbucks has my drink ready as soon as she sees me get in line haha. Now here in Sierra Vista we don't have an free-standing Starbucks. We have them in the PX, Target and Fry's. I always go to the one in Target because they have a scanner (I refill a gift card on my phone, plus you can't go wrong with Starbucks and Target) and it's quick and easy. I can imagine that they see hundreds and hundreds of people a day so the fact that she remembers my face means that I am there far too often.

I'm not a coffee drinker at all so this is always what I get, it never changes. I am really going to miss this lady when we move (I should probably look at her name tag lol). The Starbucks in El Paso have a lot to live up to. :)

I hope you all have a great day! I'm off to start packing for my trip to Vegas.

Good Laugh

I am really excited for all the interest in the giveaway I am hosting. If you haven't already entered go here and check it out Giveaway

We are 1 month away from moving and it seems like the last 6 months has flown by! We said goodbye to a few people tonight that have already graduated CCC. Kyle plays football with guys from the class and it's always a blast watching them play, except I do not enjoy the freezing cold at 8pm. I was an ice cube by the time we got home.

Everything is going smoothly with our new home...things are getting scheduled and we are right on track. Yay! We are also starting to close things out here, inspections on our house here are set up and next is getting transportation set up as well. Now we can focus on enjoying time with family next week for Thanksgiving. 

I'm going to leave you with this hilarious clip from The Big Bang Theory (how can you not love Sheldon)...it goes along with the holiday season:

1st Annual Holiday Baking Extravaganza Giveaway!!!

I was going to post this giveaway tomorrow but I am just too excited to wait!

It's no secret that I absolutely love to bake, especially around the holidays. I wanted to have a giveaway that involved something that I love so very much.

If this giveaway is a success I would love to have one every year. 

 So without further ado here is the 1st Annual Holiday Baking Extravaganza Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone!!

Pardon My Frustration

Many of you are familiar with our struggles to have a baby. For some reason I felt that this month was different, it felt like it was finally our time. I was rudely and painfully corrected as the evil P made her appearance!

Once we move to El Paso we hope to find a good RE doctor and hopefully find out once and for all what is really wrong. I just want my body to cooperate and do what it was made to do.I hate feeling like I am broken.

Every now and then I will browse someecards and these ones for sure say how I feel regarding this situation.

I laugh at this one because clomid made me a hormonal nutcase. I'm sure anyone who has been on it will completely agree.

I think some of the reason I am feeling this way today is because today would have been our 1st Angel Babies 3rd Birthday. Crazy to think how time flies. 

Thank you all for letting me vent today!!

Oh and on a side-note stayed tuned tomorrow, I will be having another awesome giveaway!! :)

Speaking of giveaways in the last few days I found out that I won 2 giveaways (I have never won anything before!!!), the first was from the wonderful duo of Semper Wifey and chambanachik. The 2nd was from the AWESOME Kristin @ Kristin's kNook- a blog of food and thought. Thank you ladies!! Please go check out their blogs and show them some love.

Weekend Fun

We had a great day Saturday in Tucson. I had no luck getting my phone fixed which is no big deal but I did get my ring inspected so it was a successful trip. We decided to have dinner before we headed back home and of course we went to one of my favorite places:

We always splurge when we go here, appetizer, dinner and dessert. I'm not a cheesecake fan (shocker I know!) so I always get the hot fudge sundae:

DELICIOUS!!!! It was so worth ruining my calorie counting for the day. LOL!

Yesterday we did some cleaning around the house but mostly spent the day watching football and drag racing. I made homemade pizza and wings at Kyle's request. It was a great day with my Veteran.

Today we plan on spending the whole day going through the house and getting rid of stuff we don't need. We did this for a little bit yesterday and were surprised to already find a ton of stuff that needs to be donated or thrown out. Crazy since we just moved 5 1/2 months ago and I went through everything before that move haha. I see several trips to the dumpster in the next few days. I will also be making my list of what needs to happen in the next month, I'm sure it will be a mile long by the time I'm done. Time is going by faster than I expected, this move will be there before we know it. Yay! :)

We also have come to the conclusion that our cat, Fishy, is really a dog! I have never met a cat that loves to play with dog toys as much as he does. He rolled around with, chewed on, cuddled with, and flipped this toy in the air for about 30 minutes yesterday. He is constantly making us laugh.

I hope you all have a great Monday!!!

Veterans Day 2012

Today is the day that we honor all of those amazing men and women who have served and continue to serve this amazing country. They sacrifice so much and it seems that they don't get the recognition that they deserve. I know for certain that they don't serve to get recognition. We shouldn't just honor them today but each and everyday for the selfless sacrifices they make each and every day.

I am blessed to be a part of a very proud military family! My Grandfather, Dad, 4 Uncles, Cousins, 2 brothers, and my sister-in-law have all served/ or are currently serving. They are outstanding people and I am proud that they are my family!!!

I also cannot forget the man that I share my life with, Kyle. I am so proud to be married to a man that serves his country with such amazing pride. He loves being in the military and he knows that it's what he is meant to do. 

He is a very real American Hero!!

Please take a moment to think about all these amazing people who serve/served and protect us all!

Fun Finds!

A few weeks ago I had to throw away my cell phone case (stupid Otterbox) because it had fallen apart. How does a $50 case just fall apart?! It's beyond me. I went on ebay this week (finally) and ordered this case, I got it today and I LOVE it!!!

It is a mirrored case which I thought was awesome and I only paid $6.29 for it, score!!

While I waited for this case to arrive I had a little accident with my phone...slipped off the table:

Really?! We are heading up to the Tucson today so hopefully I can get someone to replace the screen for me.

Yesterday, I made a trip to Ross to browse and got these cute shoes for $12.99

They are incredibly comfortable and I love the bow! I may have to go back haha!

Now that we have our new address I wanted to order some moving announcements. Well thanks to Vistaprint.com and signing up for a new account I was able to get 25% off and free shipping for these:

(yes I used a mustache to cover the address haha)

Aren't they cute?! I got 100 announcements (includes envelopes) and 240 return address labels for $30. I love when I can find a good deal.

Today we are off to Tucson for the day, I need a big city day haha. We have to make a trip to Zales so I can get my ring inspected and cleaned so the warranty doesn't expire. Isn't it pretty even though it's dirty:

I hope you all enjoy your day!!!! Hugs my friends!

The Great Pumpkin Swap Reveal

A while back I signed up for the "The Great Pumpkin Swap" hosted by the awesome Kristin at Kristin's kNook- a blog of food and thought and Allie at A Day in A Joyful Life

I always love signing up for swaps because it gives me a chance to be put in touch with new bloggers and get to know them.

For this swap I was paired up with Miranda from All Things Lovely. If you have a chance stop by her blog she is pretty great!! :) 

I had the best time shopping for her and the great part about the whole thing is that we both sent gifts for each other's pets! :) I sent her the same type of toy for her pups as she sent for mine. 

She also sent me wonderful baking items and pumpkin candles/air freshener yum!!! I already have the candle lit in the house.

Thank you so much Miranda!! I loved everything. 

Thanks again to Kristin and Allie for hosting such a fun swap.

Awareness

November is Pancreatic and Lung Cancer Awareness month. Unfortunately my Mom lost her battle with both last year. Pancreatic Cancer is truly a silent killer. Most people don't even show symptoms until the cancer is advanced stages. The estimate for 2012 is that 43,920 people will be diagnosed and 37,390 people will lose their battle. In 2012 it is estimated that 226,160 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 160,340 will lose the fight. The American Cancer Society website has a lot of great information. They support research, patient services, early detection, treatment and education. So if you have a chance to support either of these amazing causes this month....or any month for that matter....I really encourage you to do so.  

Two years ago Kyle and I had the honor of participating in a 5k to raise money for pancreatic cancer, we raised over $1,500 and ran in my Mom's honor. It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget:

Educate yourself on these horrific diseases because you never know when something like this could strike you or someone you know and love.

I miss my Mom so very much and think about her every second of everyday.

 

 

PCS/Moving Tips

I know that a lot of my followers are military spouses and have to deal with constant moving. I decided to write a post and give tips that have helped us have a successful PCS move.

source

* We have had the Army move us 3 times and we are about to have them do our 4th. A lot of people are hesitant to have the Army move them but having done it a few times I have to say: LET THEM DO IT! I absolutely hate packing so to have someone else do it is a dream. You will supervise them every step of the way to make sure that things are packed to your liking, if you don't like it make them re-do it. It's your stuff so make sure it's secure.

*As soon as your service member gets orders set up transportation. The earlier you do it the more likely you are to get the moving dates that you want. 

*Keep a binder of ALL important documents, this is mine:

In this binder I have every piece of information that I need: POA's, copies of orders, vehicle information, birth certificates, etc. Anything that I know I will need along the way. When you are not using it make sure it is locked away in a secure place. 

*If you already have a place to live at the new duty station, make sure you send in change of address forms to the DMV. It is amazing how military friendly the majority of them are. They just want a copy of the servicemembers LES. 

*Make sure you have your mail forwarded to your new address/or to a family members home until you are settled. Then when you are settled submit the change of address forms to the Post Office immediately. Also make sure you change your address with your banks and any other place you receive mail from (magazines, etc)

*If you plan on living on post at the new duty station you can typically get on the wait list up to 90 days from the report date. Contact the housing office immediately after getting orders.

*If you have pets, get copies of their vet records and keep them with your important documentation. I can't tell you how many people I know that have forgotten to do this and it was a huge hassle for them at their new post.

*Make sure you have copies of vehicle maintenance records, this may seem trivial but it really helps to have if something goes wrong.
 

*Take pictures and write down serial numbers of electronics. If anything is missing or broken you can prove you had it. 

*PURGE!! Get rid of stuff that you don't use or don't need. I didn't think I had anything to get rid of this time around, but I was very wrong.

*Take any valuables or any items that you do not want the movers to take. 

*Contrary to what people say you will make money even if you have the Army move you! You get travel pay, dla (dislocation allowance) and mileage. We made quite a bit of money on our last move. Just make sure you keep all the gas receipts for the mileage.

*Shred old documents that have lying around the house, no reason to take them with you and you definitely don't want the movers to get their hands on them.

*Notate any items that may already have damage on them. That way when you get your household goods you will know what was damaged during the move and you can file a claim.

*Request all medical records to be sent to your new duty station, this can take a while so be prepared.

*Make sure to get rid of all trash, believe it or not the movers will pack it. 

I think this pretty much covers everything that I recommend for a PCS move. I absolutely love it and I get a rush out of making sure everything is handled.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me:

theadventuresofourarmylife@yahoo.com

Have a great day!!!

the holidays are upon us!

I can't believe that we are well into the month of November. This year is absolutely flying by. I am excited that we are going to LV for Thanksgiving to see family. My husband is absolutely amazing and agreed to me (and our pup, Emma) flying up a few days early so I can be there for this sweet girls 6th birthday:

 

Our niece, Kylie.

I will also get to be there for my sister, Lisa's birthday as well (it's 2 days after Kylies). We are going to see the final Twilight movie together (already bought tickets haha), it should be a great girls night out. 

 Sisters! :)

This week I am going to be finishing up some Christmas shopping (I know you probably think I'm crazy lol), since we won't be in LV for Christmas I want to make sure that the shopping is done really early. I am excited to spend Christmas in our new house in Texas. We are going to try and go to LV for maybe a week after the holidays and before Kyle starts work but we will see how everything works out.

With all the talk of holidays and food, I had the urge to bake something yesterday, this is what I came up with:

Spice Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting and Caramel Drizzle (cupcake and frosting are homemade)

They are delicious!! If you want the recipes keep an eye out on my food blog 

Army Wife in the Kitchen

I hope you all are having an amazing Wednesday!