Summer rain?

It has been hot here. Record temperatures, virtually no spring this year except for the pollen and blistering sun. We have wildfires here, quite a lot. I can't remember the exact statistic, but we are in the top 7 or something with states with wildfires. We experience very humid, very dry temps here and we go through a lot of periods with no rain, or very little (the sidewalks stay dry as it rains). We have had a few times that rain has been heavy, which is always a blessing from God!

We have had a tornado in April, which caused damage and a ton of heavy and fast rain. We had a windstorm Saturday, with really no rain (ok, maybe a few drops). And, we had a huge storm last night. When I say huge, I mean that we had quarter size hail, showers, sideways blowing rain, drifts of water and a second bout of hail that was dime sized. Our road (we live on a cul-de-sac) was completely under water, my back yard was drenched and my house once again flooded. Not a huge flood, but standing water in the dining room and the master closet and bathroom.

I cleaned that up, at 10:45 when it happened, then I called the housing office and left a message. They showed up as soon as they opened today, the carpet cleaner came shortly after and then the contractor right after that! Hopefully they will fix the issue tomorrow and no more heavy rain will come unless it trully does get fixed!

God Bless (and thank you God for the rain)!

June is almost over?

Where has the time gone? You think that with one less person in the house, we would be less busy and I would have more time to update this, but that is far from the case. I usually go to bed at 10:00pm, and still get the blog done, dishes and chores finished, relaxing time and more... But, lately I haven't been hitting the hay until 11:00 or so, and not accomplishing everything I want! Having Bruce home for the summer, when he has been at school since August has been an adjustment! And having Matthew gone for the last 5 weeks has also been an adjustment! We have only had a few days here and there where we haven't been busy, but that is changing! Today, we ran to check on my friends house while she is out of town, and grab an APO box from there, and that is all! We got to stay home, even though I planned not to. That is what I need to do more often! I am a planner, an organizer and a well thought out person most of the time, but I am learning to be more flexible! That is something good to be able to be when you are a military wife. In this life, we never have set in plans until they are already in motion, but even then they can still change!

My goal is to update this blog with pictures and/or text at least every other day. And, I want to start a food blog! I will see how that goes!

God Bless!

What can I say?

I love updating this blog, I love writing and getting things out, even if nobody reads it. But, Matt is a soldier and he is deployed. Without talking about him and that, that takes out a big chunk of my life and a big chunk of what I would write about. He doesn't want me to write about the deployment, no year in the life of... or anything to do with it. He is very much about Opsec, and so am I. He is so strict with it, even if it isn't really a violation, he still doesn't want to talk about it on the internet.

The boys are a big part of my writing the blog too, but it also requires talking about the "D" word a lot...

Either way, I will still update, put up pictures and videos and share stories, but I don't know if it will be everyday like it was... I will try harder to update a few times a week though. And I am starting a food blog; healthy and easy recipes!

The life we live.

Matt was in JRTC the month of March. I was lucky enough to have him here on my birthday, he left a few days later. He was home the entire month of April, and we had block leave and a few extra days to have family time. Then, we had 2.5 weeks in the month of May to have him home with us before he left.

He landed in Iraq his time Wednesday morning. This is his third deployment. This is mine and the boys first. We told him goodbye at midnight, on our third anniversary. It was a hard goodbye, but we know that he is doing his job, he will be back sooner than it seems and we knew this day would come. I am proud of Matthew and Bruce and Levi are proud of their dad.

God bless all of the troops, regardless of branch, rank, gender, etc. Watch over them and let them know that they are ALL being thought of.

May flowers.

I love life, I love nature, I love all four seasons, I love beauty and I love that all of that came from God.

May is one of my favorite months, not just because we got married this month, but also because of the beauty. March winds bring April showers and that brings May flowers. The flowers are so pretty, the bushes, the trees with buds, the random wild flowers that grow on the ground. I smile every time I see a pink, red, blue, purple, etc flower blooming.

God bless

Fun times in a cabin in the woods!

Our vacation was last week, we went to Bryson city, NC, which is where the Smoky Mountain National Park is located on the NC side! We went there last Monday and stayed until Thursday. We woke up early on Monday morning and finished packing our things, loaded up the car and went on our way. 6 hours later, after passing and driving through/on beautiful mountains and scenery, we arrived to check in. We got the information for the key and the directions to our cabin and headed that way! After getting lost due to the signs being labeled wrong, we finally got to our cabin. It was better than the pictures and my imagination! We pulled up and saw the hot tub, the wrap around porch with a swing and rocking chairs!

We walked in and the smell of woods and the feel of the cabin was just wonderful! Skip to the next morning after breakfast, we drove throught the town of Cherokee and saw some waterfalls. Then we headed to the SMNP and started on our first hike! It was easy and straight, and we got to see 3 more waterfalls. Levi rode in his new backpack carrier and Bruce did a great job walking the whole time! We rested up and ate a snack and headed back to the cabin! We made our plans for the next day and then we all got in the hot tub. The boys spent a few minutes in it only, but they loved it!

The next day we headed to Piegon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN. It was raining and we were sure that we wouldn't get to hike, but after we ate lunch it cleared up completely and we still got to hike! Gatlinburg was a wonderful little town, but we didn't know that and had no time to stop and check things out, but we plan to go back again. This time, the trail that we decided to go on was busy! The parking areas for it were filled up so we had to walk at least .5 a mile up the hill on the pavement to get to the trail. The whole trail was bumpy, steap and next to an overhang so we had to stay on one side and be careful. It was tough, but we made it all the way to the waterfall! On the way down, we saw a bear! A real and big black bear, but he was in a tree and we got a picture, it was neat and the boys loved it!

We also took a ton of pictures of the mountain, it was breath taking and beautiful!

We had a wonderful time, and we miss the cabin and can't wait until we go back!

God Bless!

Vacation

Matt is currently on block leave and we are enjoying our time relaxing and just doing very little but spending time together. Bruce is in school this week, but he has spring break next week, so we are starting our family vacation Monday!

Easter is Sunday and we are planning on getting dressed up, going to church and then coming home for dinner! Then we will hide eggs and find them and give the boys their Easter treats. Then we will work on the finishing touches of our packing for our trip! We are heading to Bryson City, which is in the Smokey Mountains! I am so excited for the breathtaking beauty of the mountains, the seclusion of the cabin and the celebration (early) of our third wedding anniversary! Plus, I really enjoy our drives, we get a lot of quality talking done! We will arrive early evening/late afternoon time on Monday and stay until Thursday afternoon. Fireplaces, hottub, grill, deck, views and fire pits! I am so excited and the boys are too!

We are looking forward to some family time outside of our neighborhood for once!

God Bless