New Year, New Chapter

As I look through a year of blogs and photos from 2011, I'm reminded how drastically life can change. This time last year my husband and I were closing in on our first year of marriage, living by ourselves in Stillwater, OK and starting our last undergraduate college semester at OSU. As of now we're closing in on our second year of marriage, living with his parents and working minimum wage jobs to survive. Oh how life can change. 2011 has had it's many challenges, but together we have met each one head on and became better for it.

We are looking forward to 2012 for many reasons. First, this will be the year we start our active duty military journey together! Secondly, the first reason will let us begin our financial plans that we have longed to put into motion since taking our money handling seminar back in 2009. Thirdly, the AF is moving us to Texas, where we can become completely independent as a couple and start really feeling like our own little family. This upcoming year may hold some fierce challenges (if the military has it's way), but I know we'll conquer and come out stronger because of them.

Of course, I must end with my personal expectations for the upcoming 365 days. In 2012 I will run my first full marathon (26.2 miles), tackle my final weight loss goal (only 8 lbs to go), become more involved with my dad and take the GRE for graduate school. Ready. Set. GO!!

New York City

My parents approached us this year around August with their usual question, "What would you like for Christmas?" Yes, my parents think about these things in August. We responded with the normal I don't knows, and that was that....until my cabin fever skyrocketed. 

My cousin recently moved to NYC to work for Apple, and I vowed that I would visit him before he began his next adventure elsewhere. I decided that I wanted an experience rather than a tangible gift, and asked for a plane ticket to NYC. My husband couldn't go due to his managerial duties at work, so I had a tough decision to make. We decided that this was an opportunity that I'd be crazy not to take, so off I went!

My cousin was the perfect tour guide and host. He weaseled his way into having the entire four days off while I was there. We took advantage of the time and hit every touristy site a visitor could imagine. Throughout our childhood we lived three blocks away from each other and together our first two years of college. We are very close. Even though I missed my husband greatly, I feel so grateful for the one-on-one time I got in with my cousin in the city that never sleeps! We toured the 9/11 Memorial, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5th Avenue, Statue of Liberty, Public Library, Grand Central Station, Central Park and even found time to eat at Serendipity 3 (best dessert I've ever had). I can honestly say the best thing about visiting NYC was just to see and chat with him in person rather than using the phone or computer. I'm really looking forward to returning with my husband and play tour guide myself!

DIY Vanilla Extract

With the holidays quickly approaching comes the annual brainstorming of ideas for homemade Christmas gifts! We have done homemade gifts every year since we've been together. We enjoy baking and crafting gifts more than shopping at malls and departments stores, and it's always much more kind on our budget. One idea we loved was do-it-yourself vanilla extract. The recipe is so simple that we couldn't resist, especially with all the holiday chefs in our families that could put it to great use!

To get started all you need is a kind of seal-able jar or container, cheap vodka and whole vanilla beans

We ordered ours from this website http://www.myspicesage.com/

For a pint sized jar we placed 8 whole beans in each jar, then fill with vodka

 This needs to sit for at least 2 months for the beans and vodka to do their magic. When you're ready to use the extract you can leave the beans in the jar, no need to remove them. The longer you wait the better and more potent it gets! Enjoy!

Sick as a Dog

3am

10 pm

We knew that living in the country we should expect to run into snakes, spiders and scorpions. We soon found out it's hard to brief our dog on the rules of not sticking your nose into big, dark holes or getting within stinging reach of scorpions. We're not 100% sure on what exactly stung him in the face, but we're thinking a scorpion. There has been a severe drought here this summer, so the scorpions are continuously on a hunt for water sources which brings them into our house on a daily basis. On this night, I came home from work about 9:15pm and Zeus was fine, greeted me as usual. Around 10pm I noticed his muzzle had these hard bumps beneath the skin, and they were popping up at a scary rate. We gave him some children's benadryl then tried to call the vet. Of course it was a Saturday night and the vet didn't have an emergency phone line. I woke up about 3am to check on him and his poor little face had swelled to the size of a cantelope! As you can tell, he was miserable. We pumped him full of more children's benadryl and other drugs to help him with the pain and swelling. Luckily around noon the following day his face began to go back to normal, and then we got that return call from the vet. He said there was really nothing they could have done except give him more expensive versions of the medicine that we gave him. Thankfully Kit's mother is a nurse and knew what drugs a dog can have and what drugs can be taken with others. Funny thing is, when Zeus comes across scorpions now he veers far away from them and no longer has an uncontrollable urge to shove his nose at them. Old dogs can learn new tricks!

E.M.T.

My husband and I knew our marriage would face some unique challenges and situations. We knew at some point my military career would dictate where we would live, when we could do things, and quite possibly limit or hinder my husband's career choices. Thankfully, I have one amazingly understanding partner in life, and he knew better than I did what all of this would mean. He has gracefully accepted that he will have to put his dreams of becoming a firefighter/police officer on hold (for how long we don't know), but it doesn't mean he has to take it laying down.

For our first assignment we will be at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo TX for eight to ten months. Eight to ten months is long enough to get a temporary, insignificant job or be a stay-at-home hubby. He definitely doesn't want to play house hubby for that long, and I don't blame him. If the role were reversed, I wouldn't want to stay at home when I knew I could be contributing to our family by bringing in some extra, much needed income. He wanted to work, but he wanted the job to be meaningful and useful for the future. He did a little research and discovered people are more inclined to get hired onto a fire house if they have had some previous paramedic or E.M.T. experience. He was accepted and classes start August 15! The classes run until the beginning of December. We will have to spend a couple months a part, but it is a small sacrifice to make to be able to see my husband still follow the path that he wants so desperately to pursue. I'm one proud wife to see my husband further his education and still chase after his dream. He will make one helluva E.M.T.!

Nature Calls

Hiking

My husband and I are currently living with his very loving and supporting parents in Sulphur, awaiting orders to move to Goodfellow AFB in Texas! Since we've been here we have re-kindled our love for nature and being healthy. We both love being outdoors, but with the 100+ degree heat we plan our time outside carefully. We live five minutes from the Lake of the Arbuckles and twenty minutes away from the Chickasaw National Park. The park has numerous challenging hiking trails, a chilly creek that is perfect for swimming and a wonderful lake that features a 3-mile cemented running path around it. Every week we usually run 12 miles, hike 6 miles and bike 16 miles. With my in-laws and I on weight watchers, we've all been very conscious about what we eat and focused on everything having a nutritive purpose. This new love affair with mother nature makes us feel stronger, but also has given our minds a much needed reprieve. We've even inspired my in-laws to start bike riding again, which has led to all of us exercising together 2-3 times a week. Even though October can't come soon enough, it will be a little sad saying goodbye to the mountains, hiking trails and lakes!

Baby You're A Firework

I love that time of the year when for two weeks I smell everyday of gunpowder and sweat, spend hours outside selling my expertise on the knowledge of firepower, and guzzle up to 120 ounces of water a day. Firework Selling Season!  My uncle owns the stand and has had me selling fireworks since I was about twelve years old. I absolutely love it. I love the manual labor of hauling boxes, working outside and playing saleswoman. The best part is seeing and working with family that I haven't seen since Christmas. One of the benefits of working there for so long is knowing everything there is to know about fireworks, still deciding what to do with all this now useless knowledge stored in my head!

Sadly, this is my last year to work with the family.  I had the opportunity to live in Enid with my parents for 2.5 weeks, and focus on working the stand. Every 4th of July the average person usually cooks out, relaxes and shoots off fireworks. My normal 4th of July is working a 12 hours shift in the heat, and catching tidbits of the local displays in the distance. Wouldn't trade it for a thing. I have had some amazing times, great memories and made some great money! Even though I will always miss the stand every year at this time, we're definitely looking forward to next year engaging in a normal 4th of July!