Thanksgiving Weekend.

**I would have posted pictures but blogger sucks! **

I have had busy couple of days! No kidding. We had 3 extra people in this house this weekend. One was P's friend from California, one was P's friends from Fort Riley, and the day after Thanksgiving one of my Best Friends from Fort Riley flew in to surprise her husband. We pulled the surprise off it was pretty cool!

So then all weekend it was entertaining and making dinners and a little bit of shopping. It was pretty fun!

I'm so glad my friend Cassie flew in with her little baby boy. You'll never guess who wanted to hold him all the time....Evelyn!! She reached for him and she'd pet his head, she stole his binky, she gave him toys. She was so cute! I thought having a baby here would make me less baby hungry, but seeing Evelyn like that was just too cute for words! Oh how I wish it was the perfect time.

I'll admit I dreaded this weekend because P and I would be doing pretty much everything, which ment much MULAH! I hate spending money on other people that can be ungratful. But everyone was offering us gas money, cleaning their messes so it really made it so much nicer and easier on P and I...but I am so glad that we wont be inviting anyone for Christmas, it will be nice to have it be just us 3 on Christmas morning. Seems like we share so many holidays with other friends latley, and we're ready to be alone.

**I'm also sorry I'm posting this 5 days late...photos wouldnt upload and I finally gave up, but it was a wonderful weekend**

 

Why we can't wait to leave Ft Bragg..

I really thought I would never say that.

Before we got here...before we even knew we were moving here, I wanted to come here. This was my dream duty station. I have always wanted to come to the Carolinas, and see this beautiful place. To live here would be a dream.

I really do like living here. I enjoy being near the coast, all the trees and the beautiful sunsets.

However, this post has seemed to have its major downsides.

Now I am not speaking for everyone, or even this whole post. Fort Bragg might be the place for certain people. I honestly sometimes wonder if Fort Riley just spoiled us...but that being said, P and I cannot wait to get the eff out of here.

I used to hate when P would say "I cant wait to move!!" But no, I get it now.

P is constantly working late...and I mean late hours. Sometimes he leaves at 5 AM and wont be home til 7PM and then he'll come home and tell me he was so busy he didnt even get to eat all day. Seriously who does that? Maybe its in his control, I do not know I am not at work with him, all I know is he is sick of it.

I am getting sick of it too. He comes home, late or not, and his phone goes off constantly, he goes to bed at 8 or 9 and at least 4 times a week someone calls at 10 to change something else. Its getting rather ridiculious.

I understand that this is his job, and I "signed up for this too", but really? some days he gets zero time with Evelyn. I don't care if you say "the army comes before families", this is bullshit. I can handle getting only a few hours a day with him. I can text him and interact with him some how. Evelyn, gets that 1 or 2 hours a day with him and its not fair.

I've mentioned before that I am not 100% sure if P is reenlisting or if he is going to get out. We still have 6 months to decide. But we do know if he is able to get out of Fort Bragg...we are going to do it. Hopefully get stationed somewhere closer to home. Until then...I guess we just got to buck up and deal with this type of work he is doing. But I honestly cannot wait for it to be over.


BTW...dont give me comments about how "at least he is home"..."my husbands deployed be glad yours is"...I've done deployments..I know the difference. My thoughts dont change.

Woman Connect 12 -Who Is Liz?

Im linking up with Mrs to Mama on this fabulous day! What  better way to connect with more writters. Click this link to join.

So here we go!

Hi I am Liz/Elizabeth/Lizzie...most people just call me Liz.

 

That man in that photo making the goofy face. Thats my husband...in this blog I call him P/hubby/hubberkins/hubs you know the works.

This little girl...this is our daughter Evelyn. She's 16 months old and the light of our lives.

I am a stay at home mommy and an Army Wife. I am a Utah Native, I love my homestate but I would never know that until I left. I have done 2 deployments with my husband and we have been together 4 years and married for almost 3...say what? Yes its true. I am the middle child out of 6 siblings! I am an Auntie to 3 boys and 1 girl!
My husband is Airborne Field Artillery and has been in the US Army for over 6 years! We have had the pleasure of meeting and living in Kansas and this last year moved over to North Carolina, and we are hoping to leave NC as soon as possible! Nothing against the South...just a little far away from home.

But really other then the basics this is who I am.

I am funny. I know I am...its hard to not think I am not funny when I always make people laugh. Its a big joy in my life to make people laugh. But you wont see me as a stand-up comic anytime soon because I am shy..being in front of crowds terrifies me. As well as, Car crashes, heights and cockroaches.

People think I am nuts for not liking to work...but I am grateful the Army does pay my husband enough that we can afford for me to stay home with Evelyn. I very much enjoy raising her and taking care of my own home.

I stuggle with weight loss....I am at the heaviest I have ever been and I blame deployments and pregnancy on that. Why cant diets and exersice work for me...I dont know if its me not trying hard enough...thats probably it since I like fast results and when I do see results its like....ok?

I compare myself to too many other Mom's out there..why cant I afford to be like this or that? how can they be all carefree and I cant? How can they be raisng their child so well when I feel like I stuggle with doing the right things with Evelyn sometimes?

If you stopped by let me know in the comments so I can follow you. Happy Tuesday everyone!

Our Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving at our house was a hit! I was in the kitchen all day and I loved it! The boys are here and they will be here till Sunday, and its not been as bad as I thought it would be.

I dont have much to write because I do have something I got to do...which is probably going to cause no post on Monday...I'll explain later. But heres just a few photos :)

Evelyns little outfit...she actually really does love this hat.

She loves the Pine Needles all over the place! Shes just watching the boys play Football.

I think this might be my favorite picture!

Our spread!!

Evelyn actually didnt like anything but her green bean cassarole.

Little stinker!



Thanksgiving Menu!

I'm so thrilled for Thanksgiving. Last year for some reason we didnt hardly make anything from scratch....it will be different this year! I am making everything from scratch.

First for Breakfast we are having Pumpkin French Toast Bake! I have been loving doing all these breakfast's for holidays! So one more pumpkin breakfast for us...5? yes 5 people this year.

For appitizers we have having Jalapenos stuffed with Cream Cheese and wrapped in bacon, a Sweet Pumpkin Dip, and Oysters, Cheese and Crackers (that last one is P's request...I dont get it)

I am doing a brine for the turkey, just oranges, lemons, salt, chicken broth, ice and probably a bunch of other things I have in the pantry.

We are also having Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, I love homemade mashed potatoes! I'm so excited for this!
I've never even made Frenchs Green Bean Casserole so another excitment!
I got one request from all the men (3) who are coming tomorrow and its for Candied Yams. I am not too sure how I feel about it... I've never had it..but ehh I'll do it.
Also I'm just doing cresent rolls.

For desert we are having Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes.. my Dad made this like 6 years and its now a Thanksgiving request in my house, and it my belly!! Its by far my favorite!!


Thats my menu for the day tomorrow! Whats on your menu?

Stressgiving.

Is what this holiday should be called.

I am one of those types of people who over-react, over think, and then cry because I cant help it. Yeah...Its largely pathetic but its who I have always been.

I wouldnt normal worry about this Holiday but this year is very different. This year one of our friends from Fort Riley is at Fort Jackson, SC doing recruiter school, so we have asked him if he wanted to come up for Thanksgiving...at this time we thought he had a car, but he actually doesnt. So we have to drive the 3 hours there and back to get him and take him back a few days later. Not too big of a deal, but then P invited another friend who lives 2 hours away in the opposite direction that we would have to pick up and take back...so I automatically see $$$ adding up.

Luckily P's friend thats still in NC bought a bus ticket to come here, which makes life just a tad bit easier on our end!

This year we also have a special guest showing up to surprise her husband the day after Thanksgiving that I am also going to have to drive to pick up. I'm excited to surprise her husband, since they have a 7 week old baby and he has only had a week with the baby so it will be way fun.

I've been going through all my stresss emotions with this Holiday and I am just so glad that its not Christmas, and we are inviting no one for Christmas.

But can I mention that the thought of Black Friday stresses me out?! I only need 3 more gifts....well technially just one but I'd like to do 3 more, and I am going to do my Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping ONLINE cause I am not brave enough to go to the store. But It stresses me out with all the money being spent of gas, and then a little shopping needing to happen.

Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully I am overreacting and its going to turn out fine. I stress out way too easy.

Married To The Army...My thoughts.

I know there has been a ton of wives upset, mad, excited, nervous, you name it alot of wives felt it about this show. I like to give things the benifit of the doubt.

My reaction to the show was clearly...Ehh. I liked it, and I understand that series premires are kinda of lame. I do however like that they showed the real personalities of the wives right away. No guessing who is the worst, who I'm going to like less. Nope it was clear who I wasnt going to like from the beginning.

Lindsay. I have my own opinion on her, but I felt like she was very disrespectful. All of us wives met our husbands in some way or another, no shame in saying how you met them. Everyone wishes and hopes that they met there love in some magical Cinderella way....well that doesnt always happen. No shame in it. Lindsay had no right to tell someone that they cant be proud of how they met their husband. Now thats been said and thats all I'm saying.

I am really excited to learn about the wives, and see the challenges they face. I hope this show shines some light on what we all really go through. I dont concider what I do as a Military Spouse as a job, or a way to serve my country. I serve my husband and I stand by my man. But one of my biggest hopes for this show is to show people that the show "Army Wives" is not realistic, even if I do love the show. That what we go through really freaking sucks and is not some wonderful fairy tale. Hopefully this show will show the world how much our soldiers and their families go through.

What was your reaction to the show?

When you feel done..

I've wrote before about P's and mines feelings about re-enlisting. His window opens in May, and for the most part we have been ready to re-enlist, move away from Ft. Bragg (he hates it here), and start a new adventure. But yesterday our minds started to change.

Obviously we have a while before we have the option to make anything offical, but it still crosses my mind on a daily basis.

Yesterday I had an appointment with a dental surgeon to get my wisdom teeth looked at..and no surprise with lack of sleep and lots of other things on my mind, I totally forgot and missed my appointment. They called me and rescheduled for another day and I picked a day that P said he usually is good with coming home for a bit. As soon as I told him he reminded me this week will be busy and he has a jump this week, so it wont. I'll admit that I still get super annoyed and act a little teenagerish when I get upset. So I went into Evelyns room (where she was), and procedded to tweet some frustrations and I'll admit I cried a bit.

P had no idea I was crying or upset, but thats because I dont like him to see me cry. So he came in to talk to me, saw me upset and we procedded to talk. I admitted how frustrating it can be to not have family around and friends that stay home to baby-sit. I know I can register Evelyn for hourly care, but everytime I bring it up with P he says "ya lets do it", and thats all that happens.

After a while I finally just said..."Lets get out"...and he said "Ya? Seriously?" and I said "Serious as a heartattack."

I am not sure how we really are going to make the decision to get out. Getting out scares me, but my parents have offered us the basement in their house until we can buy a house and get jobs, which is fantastic. So I'm not worried, my old job in Utah has been offered back to me anytime we come back to Utah, and with P being a Veteran, it shouldnt be too bad to find a job for him. Especially since he is concidering becoming a Cop.

We have our options, but P is 100% sure on one thing, we are moving away from Ft. Bragg ASAP.

Who knows what the decision will be, but latley I feel done. I love this life and living in so many cool places, but honestly, living near family always seems more appealing.

Evelyns Christmas List..

This year for Christmas, Evelyn is going to get much more involved...I'm hoping. I know she'll be all over tearing up presents and seeing the toys. I just hope she'll move on to another present needng to be opened before throwing a tempertatrum trying to get the one toy she already unwrapped.

I started Christmas shopping early this year. Last year I did alot of black friday shopping, but I decided to do it earlier and slower and I am glad I did. I got plenty of things on clearance and it was much nicer on my bank account.

This year we have been looking at these things.

The Minnie Mouse Ride on Toy which can be found on Amazon. We bough it already from Toys R Us for way cheaper and got $10 off of it!

The Princess Shopping Cart. Evelyn loves her toys that she can walk around the house such as, the rocking horse ad her walker. This would be fun for her to have even if she doesnt use it for "shopping" and just uses it to bring out her toys. This will be on sale on Black Friday and I will be buying it :)

If you dont know what Melissa & Doug is, its a company that makes wood puzzles. My little sister uses them for therapy, and I have always loved them! We got Evelyn 4 puzzles this year from Amazon and Toys R Us.

This Princess Tent I really love! I have been wanting to buy Evelyn a fort for a while. I am not sure she'd be very interested in it too muh right now, so I doubt I'll be buying it unless I see an amazing deal, but I love the thought of her having her own tower. Maybe for her Birthday.

The Minnie Mouse Bow-Tique Flipping Fun Kitchen...We plan of re-doing Evelyns room when she gets into her Toddler bed, and it will be Minnie Mouse/Princess themed. Can you tell her Mom is a Disney freak? None the less Evelyn loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so this Minnie Kitchen would be perfect! However...probably not this year. Maybe her Birthday. She's already got lots of big toys, and Even though she's in a bigger room, I'd like to get rid of the smaller toys before I buy bigger things.

 

 

Thats Evelyn's Christmas Wish List! I'm sure Santa will spoil her rotten!

 



While P is away...

Us girls are at play!!

P is in the field for the next few days. But no complaining from me here. I am perfectly happy with having plenty of girl time. So far its not bad.

I had to put Evelyn in her first ever time out. And by time out I mean, her in her room and the gate up while I calmed down from my freaked out self. (she unplugged something and almost got the cord in her mouth) Call me an over reactor if you want, but I am terrified of everything. No joke. Having a child made me think everything is a devil object out to hurt my baby.

But Evelyn and I got the chance to have a girls night. We went and got her some Chocolate Milk, and rented movies at Redbox. We got One for the Money, The Hunger Games (because I still dont own it and I'm craving it), What to Expect When Your Expecting, Magic Mike and Katy Perry movie. No worries...Evelyn will not be watching Magic Mike with me....I'll be watching that with a bottle of Moscato.

The bad thing about P being gone, is our bed is so big, it makes me uncomfortable to sleep in alone...so usually I end up on the couch waking up every hour seeing how much time I have to sleep. You know you've done it!

What do you like to do when the husband is away for a short period of time?

Christmas Liz-t

Haha I am cleaver. Did you catch on?

Anyways. I am a die hard bargin shopper. I shop sales, I shop them often, its also often a down fall on my bank account. But that being said this is my dream list...I do not at all expect to get whats on here...but I am dreaming and wishing and hoping and praying :)


1. Hot Pink KitchenAid Mixer
Why? Because its every girls dream, and also I have been baking and cooking my ass off all year hoping and wishing for this. I'd love to have a stand mixer at least! But this is my dream.

Source

 

2. I'm dying for a Ruby ring.

Why? Evelyn was born in July, so her birthstone is a Ruby. Red is also my favorite color! P got me a beautiful Ruby heart necklace last year, and Evelyn broke the chain on it. I haven worn alot of necklaces latley since then. But a ring, I would wear everyday, just like my wedding ring. This one is the fantasy!

source

 

 

3. Baking Sheets

Why? I have had one baking sheet since I got married. I have been baking alot more this year, my current baking pan looks sad. So a baking pan is not such a big deal. It would be nice to get at least one more :)

 



source

 

 

4. Gift Cards!

Why? Because I would rather have a day to myself to shop and buy what I want then have people buy it for me. What can I say...I'm an adult :) (BTW if family or P is reading this I'm talking, Old Navy, Target, JC Penny, Bed Bath and Beyond, Bath and Body Works.)



 

5. Hair Cut/Dye

Why? I havent got my hair cut or dyed since January. Yepp. Freaking not my cup of tea. My roots are grown bad. I dont mind the longer hair, but the roots are driving me nuts!!

 

 

And that is my list!!

 

Whats on your musts for Christmas ths year?







Why I Couldnt Vote.

NO...do not come on this blog prepared to give me crap. I have a VERY VERY GOOD reason why I couldnt vote.

If you followed me on Twitter (@lizsdiary), you saw me tweet though debates, and struggle with my decision on who to vote for.

4 years ago I was registered and voted in Utah for the 1st time, and I concidered myself a well informed voter.

When I got married turned 21, my licence expired and I had to get a new one in Kansas, at this time I didnt know I could keep my licence from Utah even if it was expired. So the DMV asked me if I wanted to unregister to vote, and I said yes. Not because I dont want to vote, but because I had just voted, and I knew I could register to vote again. Little did I know!

I do not have a North Carolina licence. So technically I am concidered a Kansas resident, so registering to vote in NC wasn't an option. A few people gave me the link on where to register to vote for my absentee ballot, and I did. I even got my card in the mail saying I was registered to vote!

My absentee ballot.....never came.

I kept thinking I needed to call the office in KS to find out what was going on, but I had life going on too.

Sadly this ended with my not being able to vote. I'm very bummed.

I am telling you now, I do not care if you dont vote. Honestly, I think thats your right as an American to not vote, or to vote. I do however think if you chose to not use your voice by voting, you do not have a right to complain about what happens in the next 4 years.

I am bummed to not have voted. I will not reveal who I was going to vote for, and I still struggled with knowing if that was who I really thought I liked, but to be honest this election is like cake and pie, one canidate is cake and one is pie. You cannot compare them. Its hard to decide.

If you got to vote today. I think you are amazing!

If you didnt, I hope that one day you will decide to vote.

God Bless America :)

I love you guys.

I can't believe how many of you wrote on my last blog post and offered me comforting words and said how much you loved my honesty!

It made a huge difference in my weekend if you can believe it or not.

I am very much a homebody and I have a really hard time going out by myself and making friends, which is not the best quality for a military wife on the move to have. But I went out for a few hours and left the baby at home with P and had lots of time to think about blogging, make a Christmas list, and just be me.

I feel refreshed!!

I have some blog ideas, but today isnt going to be a big one. Infact this post is about to end. But I couldnt not say thank you to you all who have been so nice and understanding to me.

You guys are the best!!

Much love!!

Its Ok...

I know there is an "Its OK Thursday"..or Tuesday...but this blog has been on my mind for a while...and I dont care too much to link up or find who hosts it. So I am just gonna write it.

Its Ok for me to be baby hungry. I have been for a month, but its not the right time, and it kills me to wait.

Its Ok to not want to wait. I really wish we were at that time to be ready...but we're not.

It Ok to miss my little baby Evelyn. She is very much a toddler now, and I denied it for a long time. But doing a 16 month check up, it has finally opened my eyes to my little toddler. I'm beyond blessed to be her mommy, and I enjoy an deeply love every hug, every cuddle, and every laughing moment we have together.

It Ok to be deathly scared of another deployment. I am a military wife after all. But the thought of a deployment terrifies me! No deployment has been scheduled, but P's 12 month mark has come and gone...so deployment #3 could happen...but I am praying so hard that it doesnt.

Its Ok to be furious with P sometimes. Sometimes I really honestly want to punch the man in the face. Then I remember he is a guy and needs to be told to do things...but really P would it kill you to change a diaper once in a while? Or even to put your dirty knife in the dishwasher.

Its Ok for me to be annoying it happens. I want to go home in May for my Grandmothers 80th birthday party, and instead of getting a "We'll See"...I get a "NO!" like really? not even think about it?! He does this with everything. It annoys me!

Its Ok to not have time to blog or read blogs. My life is filling up fast, and I am trying. I am a horrible commenter. I have been a horrible writter. I dont want my blog to diminish into cyber space, I love blogging. But if all I can write is 2-3 posts a week then thats what I can do.

Its Ok for us to have a small Christmas, its not in our budget to have a big one. Its just not gonna happen, no way no how. But I am grateful to be able to have one when most can't.

That felt much better.