a weird trip home.

I have been in Utah the last two weeks and I gotta say...this is weird. I usually am all about being here, even though it's not technically home anymore, I still get a sense of peace being here.. suddenly like my life is normal again. Living on an Army Post, which I love BTW, I basically live and breathe Army life, so coming back to my hometown just makes me remember that not everyone's lives are crazy and hectic like mine.

This go around even though I have felt some peace and quite at home... its still weird. I am not even sure if its just because I haven't heard from my husband in a few weeks, or if its just the atmosphere. I am here and thinking of my sister and my good friend who have passed away. Thinking of my Grandpa who's Alzheimer's is getting worse, thinking of what life would be like if I ever really did move home ever again. I usually say that I will move back home if P ended up deploying again, especially since the kids are young... or unborn, and I would be so far away from family support... but the more I am here the more I realize that I don't think I want to. I like being treated as a guest anyways, so why live here when I could randomly visit and get all that attention.

I guess our lives just change so much while we are away and growing up into our own adulthood and parenthood. I've outgrown the idea of living at home unless I really needed to. I love my life in NC, still not a fan of P's unit but hey I am finally finding some good friends and its been a long time coming. I'm really growing up.

4th of July!

Hello everyone! We had a perfect day celebrating America's birthday! We have seriously not taken advantage of the beach too often this summer, and we decided that the 4th would be the perfect time! We headed down to Atlantic Beach and picked up P's friend who's in the USMC along the way. It was perfect!!

Evelyn loves her Uncle Preston, I mean seriously.. she thinks he's her boyfriend. Preston is happy to go along with it too. Before we went to the beach we checked into our hotel which was on the USMC Base, it was $30 a night, so no way we were passing that up! We got Evelyn down for a nap while the boys went to the grocery store and got stuff for a BBQ at a park. As hot as it was,  Evelyn didn't play too much at the park, but she had a blast running around under the covered patio. After that everyone went to their rooms and got ready to head to the beach!

We got to the beach at about 4. I was worried it was still going to be super hot, but it really was nice and cool. The water was perfect! Evelyn loved the water! I was so surprised how much she played in the water. After about an hour we all got out and decided to eat dinner, Evelyn ate fruit and made sure she got plenty of sand too. I had forgotten I can't eat lunch meat, and while I was just going to do it anyways a man selling Chick Fil A was walking around and P jumped at the chance to "save his unborn child's life" and bought me a sandwich. I wont deny it... it was pretty yummy!

We let Evelyn play in the sand while we all dried off and watched the sunset, when Evelyn wanted to go for a walk... as we walked around I noticed she was taking me straight back into the ocean... I was glad I brought an extra outfit at that moment because there was no stopping her from climbing right into the water. So I let her get soaked!

After she had ventured into the ocean again.

 

As soon as the sunset, we waited around for the fireworks show. It was kind of exciting, thinking about watching fireworks on the beach. I just thought about how romantic it would be! I mean sure Preston was there... but that's ok. It was everything I thought it would be!! Evelyn loved it! Perfect 4th of July!





Evelyn's Zoo Day!

I knew while I was in Utah I wanted to take Ev to the Zoo. The Zoo here isn't too big, but isn't very small so its almost perfect to try her out and see how she'll do outside, in the hot sun for a few hours. Plus Ev is a big visual learner, the first time she saw a cow up close she said "Mooo" for hours!

Ev had a blast at the Zoo and barely spent any time in her stroller. She saw Monkeys first and all she could say was "EEE's!!" and "AH AH!". But once she saw the Seaotters it was all over for her, the Zoo has the cage where you can see them underwater and Ev got the biggest kick out of watch them swim around and play!

At the Zoo this summer they have a Lego exhibit, where there are all sorts of Lego animals everywhere its pretty cool to see!

Also my nephew Ashton joined in on the fun with us, and he is just the cutest and pushed Ev all over the Zoo in her stoller when he wasn't in it.

It was a pretty great day! Now I really want to take Ev to the Zoo in NC, but we will see..its so hot there!

I'm heading to Utah.

Not right now though. I booked a flight back home to Utah for a few weeks. I'm super excited and I'm super not!

Don't get me wrong, I love going home and seeing my siblings, niece and nephews. But a full day of traveling with a almost 2 year old who can't move all day long...ya right! Count me out! But this time I'm not coming home just for pleasure. I'm coming home for my Grandma's 80th Birthday!! Pretty much every single one of my cousins is coming in for it, so even though I live the farthest away and I'm dreading the flight there and back...I'm going! Heck I'm not missing out on seeing some family!

I've flown with Evelyn a few times now, and I know how bad it can be, I also know it can be enjoyable....but then again she was one last time I flew with her. So I have so much anxiety about it.

My tips for flying with a toddler for my friends is usually. Have a birth certificate (just incase they check), bring something to pop their ears (binkies, bottles, sippys), new toys to keep them busy, snacks (who cares if they are healthy or not, your keeping them busy and distracted.), and whatever else you need. But I'd recommend not bringing yourself something, if you have a toddler like mine, you wont get to listen to your music or read your book, even if they are sleeping you can't risk moving and waking them up.

This time, I'm still taking my own advice, but this time not bringing one thing for me, besides my cellphone. Also over loading is not happening. I bought a new light weight stroller so I don't have to bring my huge giagantic stroller. New toys, your freaking bet!! Also my Mom is sending me her Kindle, because I'm not chansing breaking my ipad, and my otterbox for it makes it just huge.

I'm only going for 2 weeks, and its a month away but holy crap, I feel like I need to be getting ready now! New outfit for Evelyn for family photos, new shirt for me, new stroller, new toys, snacks and so on and so forth...there is a lot to do!

...I kinda miss just getting on a plane and listening to music and not worrying about Evelyn. Those days were kinda nice.

Washington DC pt. 1 (Arlington National Cemetery)

I can't even begin to tell you how long I have wanted to go to DC. If you grew up in America, or even have a huge passion for History like me, you have probably wanted to go to DC. Let me tell you, it was so worth every penny and every moment shoved in the backseat of a van.

We stayed outside of DC about 40 minutes away just because we got a better deal on a hotel. By the time we got in the first day we decided the trip to DC was going to be a little much. So we gave Evelyn a break. But the next morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Arlington National Cemetery.

The feeling I had at Arlington was unbelievable. I always knew that it was a cemetery, hollow grounds and so on and so forth, but the peace you feel there, surrounded by men and woman who died for our country, its amazing. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Your in a peaceful spot.

 We did just about everything you could do at Arlington. We saw JFK's grave site, which was very cool. I had no idea he had an eternal flame there. One thing that bummed me out is that the security meant to keep the grounds peaceful, were yelling across the cemetery to make people shut up. While I understand what they are doing, they were really making the noise a little worse.

 Behind us is Washington DC, you can see the Monument in the background kind of.

 In front of us was JFK's gave site.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was once again another great feeling. Everyone was so quite, and the soldiers standing guard really are on spot. P knew more about this then me, and we made it in time to see the change of guard. I didn't get to watch because Ev was a little restless and I had to take her aside, but P said it was pretty cool to watch.

Meeting family.

My Grandfather, who I don't really know, is from North Carolina. My Dad used to spend some summers here and I know that I had some 2nd cousins from here...when my Mom was here in October she went to visit the family and I stayed behind and watched my sister for her, but since my Dad was going this time I decided it was the perfect time to go and get to know more about my Grandpa and about my Dad as a young boy.

It was another 3+ hour drive and when we got there it was a go go go.

Evelyn did really good. But no kids and no kids toys left Evelyn very restless. This photo was taken when we first got there, and she was watching Cinderella and had decided this was the best place to watch her movie.

This is in a barn my Dad used to play in as a kid. It is over 100 years old! There were cows over by the barn and Evelyn started saying "cowwww" and "mooooah". She must be a visual learner.

This church is the families church that everyone goes to. It's newly rebuilt since the old one burned down, but in this cemetery is a bunch of family members of mine.

Its been kinda cool to learn about the family and see where my Dad spent time as a kid. If you can ever do trips of visits like this I highly recommend doing it!

Outter Banks.

The plan was when my parents first got here that we had two trips planned, and maybe one to the beach for a day. My parents landed, the next day P and I were out on a date and when we got home they had booked a hotel room to go to the Outter Banks in Northern North Carolina. I had never heard of it, and I wasn't too excited to go.

On the way up there we learned that we were going to Kitty Hawk which is where the Wright Brothers used to test out the planes they were inventing...pretty cool huh?! Well the trip ended up being really good! I'm glad my parents rented a rental van so we could watch TV while P and I were shoved in the backseat. So the drive wasn't too bad :)

 Ev tried our fresh crab

(P and my Dad at the top of a lighthouse.)

 we just got out of the car when we took this photo so my posture is horrible.

My parents.

Spur of the Moment.

Since P is now offically on Christmas Eve he has been begging me to go somewhere for his leave. We have been trying to be very careful with our money which hasn't been easy with Christmas, New Years and ou Anniversary in the same month. But something must have been in the air because P's Grandpa, who never talks to us, sent us money for Christmas. Say what? So we had money to go somewhere. We knew we were cutting it close, and probably going to have to dip a little but with all the crap going on this last year with P leaving for trainings for 3 months and having late work days all the time we decided a little mini vacation would be perfect.

P has been trying to talk me into going to DC for the last few months and I have always been a little off about it. I think I am off about it because Evelyn is so little, I want to do and see everything I can, and I just don't see her being good in a Museum right now.

I suggested going to Charleston, SC. If you dont know what Charleston is you shoul google it. Its one of the top 25 citys in the states to visit. Its beautiful and full of history! And since I am a sorta history buff that stuff is right up my alley!

So one day we booked everything and the next day we left! We stayed at the Charleston AFB because of how cheap it was...and if your an Army Wives fan...you know they film on the base! We ended up not visiting the locations but the Airplane Hanger was right across the street from our hotel!

Another place we had to visit was Boone Hall Plantation. You've seen The Notebok right? They filmed bit of it there! Its a beautiful place! I was glad to see it and so much history!! Although everytime they talk about slaves I get pretty sad.

Heres just some Photos from our little vacation!

The drive up to the Plantation.

It takes 100 years for these trees to get that tall and an extra 50 to get that arching

The Boone Hall Plantation

Evelyn was having a blast running around!

P and Evelyn checking out a tree.

Cool huh?

The Slave houses.

Sorry its blurry my phone camera sucks.

The Hanger from Army Wives...I was excited!



Peace out Utah!!

Evelyn, My Mom, My Sister and I have jumped on a plane and are freaking out of here!!

(excuse me for taking the picture)

I have been waiting for this day for 3 months (technically 3 months and 3 weeks!) and in a few days my hubby will be back at Fort Bragg with me!

My Mom is going to be a huge help so P and I can go out on a few dates PLUS she is going to help me decorate for Halloween for the 2nd year in a row! Which I will show a picture when its done cause I love Halloween so much!!

Welp Blog world I will see you all another day!!

My Trip to OK

I didnt take too many photos. I mainly went for Labor Day weekend. P was supposta have a 4 day weekend, well technically we assumed. But he got a 3 day weekend. Sucked but you know thats really how it goes.

I got to do one bloggy meet up with Jamie @ This is Me; Consequently. It was fun to go eat at a local resturant! I thought the food and fries were to die for!! Evelyn even ate her Grilled Chesse which is seriously impressive with her pickyness. Jamie has a daughter a little older then Evelyn and we took them to Jamies house to play for a bit, and it surprised me so much how much they enjoyed eachother! Evelyn is never around kids her age very often, so when she is she usually doesnt like them...she thinks she is a big kid. But they had a blast playing with the Elmo Guitar and taking and giving toys to eachother! It was too funny!!

If you didnt know Fort Sill is the Home of the Field Artillery...and thats what my husband is! I love learning about what he does! So we had the chance to go check out the Field Artillery museum!

The museum was pretty empty so we let Evelyn run around while P and I checked out everything. The man working at the Museum gave Evelyn her first political figure doll...Abe. She loved him.

My Husband was pretty much in heaven at the museum! So many cool cannons all over the place, and he has been to Fort Sill for training before but he hadn't ever been to the museum so it was fun to check out together. Across the yard they had a huge field of tanks and cannons, but Oklahoma is still in 100 degree and above weather so we avoided it. Although I am bummed we didnt check it out.

Like I said yesterday a few of our friends from Fort Riley were doing training with P here and a few had just moved here. So we got to hang out and reminice on old times at Fort Riley. I'll probably always miss that place...I made some great friends there.

We drove to OKC to eat at our favorite resturant in Manhattan, KS called HuHot! Mongolian BBQ! Oh its delish! Evelyn loved it! Then we went to Jamba Juice! The things the East Coast doesnt have astonishes me! I love Jamba Juice!!

P came back to the hotel room for lunch the day we left, and we got to take a million and one pictures. I got a new phone since the last time we were together so I needed some. I love to show Evelyn pictures of her Daddy so it was needed!

P left me with the car so I could run to the Commisary and get a few things for the plane. What he didnt know was I went and got him a ton of treats and drinks for him to enjoy himself. I usually like to assume that he is sad when I leave...and by that I mean like in the movies where they cry and cry! But my husband isnt like that. He is sad we left but he knows we only got a few more weeks left. But he got comfort food anyways!

I put sushi and dr. pepper in the fridge for him.

 

Now Evelyn and I are back in Utah...finishing up our final weeks of this 3 month seperation. I'm very blessed to of had a Mom who paid for Ev and I to go see P for a few days! I seriously have the best parents ever. I'm super glad she's coming back to NC with me for 10 days! because we recently found out that P will be going to the field right after he gets back...so yay for another week seperted. I love the damn army. LOL. But I am glad to have someone there to keep my company and someone to show around! 

Oklahoma!!

**scheduled post**

I arrived in Oklahoma yesterday to see my hunny!! I have seriously missed the hell out of him and I just want to sqeeze him all day! But sadly while I am here P is working! So I thought I'd leave lunch dates open in case anyone wants to have a bloggy friend meet up!

Let me know! Comment below this and I will be able to respond to you through email or get ahold of me on twitter! @OptimisticArmyW

I'll be back in Utah for my final weeks finally on Tuesday and at the end of September I will be going back to Fort Bragg!! I am too excited to go back to my home and live my normal life again!

Sweeping Down The Plains

The Hubs left this morning...back to being apart. For now. It sucks. I wont denie it...it sucks 10x's worse then I thought it would. Not deployment suck though. At least its only 7 weeks.

I came home from the airport just bawling my eyes out. It sucks. I think what sucks more is he will be in North Carolina for a week before he actually leaves for Oklahoma. So I am not super happy, it feels like alot of unnessesary time apart. But my Mom is the best thing ever!...Because!!!

She booked me a flight! She has a ton of Southwest Reward points and she offered them to me. So I booked a flight!!

I'll be there for about 6 days. 2 of those days Hubs will be in school so if anyone at Fort Sill wants to get together let me know!

Cannot wait Cannot Wait!!! Home of the Field Artilery Here we come!!

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Over the Weekend

I feel like even though its been 5 days without blogging, its been 40. I must really like to blog. :)

As I said before we went to a family cabin on Wednesday with just Hubs, Evelyn and I am it was AMAZING! It was so nice for us to have some family time and do what we wanted with no one around! Shortly after Hubs gets back to Bragg he will be packing up to leave for Fort Sill for 6 weeks for ALC. Needless to say this summer kinda sucks. As much as I know a deployment is much much worse, I also find it really hard when your husband is in the states and you are seperated...although the fact that he has his phone and a computer with no service cutting out is very much a HUGE plus!

We got up there on Wednesday just after lunch and spent the day litterally doing nothing...oh and baby proofing the whole cabin from Evelyn. Pine cones as decor is not super bright with a one year old.

We also let her run through the sprinklers! Which was new for her and she didnt really enjoy it. But she kept doing it anyways...more because I think she wanted to check it out.

A few days later we went to a waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls...amazing once again!

It was a really fun relaxing weekend!!

MIA

I am MIA for the next couple of days with the Hubby and Daughter in the mountains at a family cabin!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Sunday we are getting family pictures done and I cannot wait to show you all!

Hopefully I'll have a post on Monday :)

I'm Backkk!

...Again. Yay clap for me!....Ok enough enough.

Disney World was amazing. I was surpised how much Evelyn could really do! While we couldnt do the bigger rides there was plenty of other things to do! We stayed in a pretty good budget and didnt over spend too much. I am the type of person who loves to buy family members gifts, and Disney is not the perfect place to buy things. Although because of Star Tours at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I did buy some gifts for my nephews.

Evelyn loved the Characters! We let her watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the mornings (on Disney Junior) and I think she might have caught the hint that these were real things. That or she thought these things were too cool!! Either way she seemed to have a blast at the parks! She really loved the carosel, she acted like she was really riding the horses.

I did really good at sticking to my diet with the acception of having a few treats. I let myself have some Diet Coke, which was horrid and tasted like Salt Water, same with the water. I had a cake pop and some ice cream. Nothing too bad, but it was Disney World and how often do you go to Disney World? Not very often at least for me. But When we actually had meals I did great!

I have to say that if your planning on a Disney World/Land Vacation get the Undercover Tourist app for your iphone! It came in handy so much! We knew what days were good days for which parks and how long the lines were.

Another recommendation I have is to go to Magic Kingdom twice! The first time we went we saw the fireworks and the parades, the next time we went during all the fireworks we rode all the rides, because no one was there! It was awesome to walk right onto rides!

Anyways heres some photos from our little adventure...