R&R

It's been awhile since I last posted a blog. A lot has been going on since then.

As most of you know, Ben came home on Monday August 3rd for his two week R&R. I'm very grateful that work let me take off the entire time he was home so that I could spend time with him. I missed him so much.

While he was home we visited friends and family. The first Friday night that we were home we went to Bones, a bar in town, so that Ben could finally drink. The bar bought him a shot since he was home on leave from Afghanistan. Everyone was buying him drinks! He had a great time. The next day, Saturday the 8th, we took his sister, Kari, down to the lake. We went shopping and we all got something new, had ice cream, went Go Kart riding, and Miniature golfing. We all had a lot of fun. That Sunday, the 9th, Kari left to go back to Alaska and me and Ben got our pictures taken that morning! You can check them out at capturestudios.zenfolio.com. Pam is a great photographer and did a fantastic job!

The 10th we went to our first Cardinal's game together. It was his anniversary present from me. We sat behind home plate in the 7th row behind the green seats! Amazing view!!! And of course what made it even better was that we won 4-0!! Go Cards!!

Tuesday that 11th, we headed down to the lake with Erica and Matt. We were out on the boat almost all day, headed down to the Horny Toad, and Coconuts. Wednesday Erica and Matt left and Ben and I had the condo to ourselves. I made him his favorite meal, spaghetti, and we ate it outside on the screened in porch!! That was probably my favorite part! I can't wait until we have a house and can do that all the time once he comes back. Thursday, his dad came down. We went fishing all morning off my aunts dock and caught lots of fish. Ben and his dad cleaned them and I fried them up and made some mac and cheese and we had them for lunch. Yummy!!

Thursday night we headed home and went to his aunt and uncles house and had some yummy Alaskan fish and what made the night even better was, we watched Big Brother!!! Jason, Shana and the kids came over and Ben got to meet his 2nd cousin Cole for the first time!! He is such a cutie!! (Cole, but Ben is too).

Friday we went back down to the lake with Betsy and Allen. But before we did that, we went and got our passports so that we can go on our honeymoon in Feb!! Yay!! So Friday afternoon we headed down to Betsy's mom's friend's cabin for the night!! We went on a boat ride and then next day spent most of our time on the Jet Ski!! I had a lot of fun!

Sunday we came back home, and enjoyed another night of just me and Ben. Monday we went over and saw his grandparents one more time before he left. We also bought a Wii that day!!! I love that thing!! It was Ben's early Xmas present!

Tuesday the 18th we went up to St Louis, got our hotel room and then headed to the Casino for our first time. I didn't have that much fun so we didn't stay that long. After that we headed back to the hotel, watched some Big Brother, and ordered our favorite pizza, Domino's.

Wednesday morning, the 19th, we got up early and headed to the airport. I got a security pass and went and sat with him until his plane came. Seeing him get on that plane was the hardest thing that I have done so far. Even harder than when he left the first time. Thank goodness there was another Army Wife there that was sending her husband back to Afghanistan as well.

He has been gone for a week and a half now and I must say that after R&R is harder than before. I didn't think it would be since we don't have that much farther to go but it is. I feel more alone than I ever have before. I am trying to stay positive but sometimes it just doesn't work. I'm glad that Tuesday is September so that we only have 2.5 to 3 months left. Also, I will be going down to TN sometime to go and look at houses!!! I can't wait!! I'm hoping to get the paperwork starting on one by the end of the month!!! Hopefully it will be ours by the first of November and I'll get to move in by the middle of that month!!! I can't wait! I'm so ready to get out of this damn town!

Well that's about all I have for now. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!

Just Need to Vent

Okay so here it goes. Before my parents got divorced my dad and I had a great relationship. Right before the wedding (around the time they divorced) our relationship starting going downhill. I thought that maybe it was with all the stress with the wedding so I didn't think too much of it. Well I moved away to go live with my husband in TN but come August of last year Ben and I decided that it would be the smarter decision if I moved back home to finish my last semester of college. So the middle of August rolls around and I move back. That was the point that my relationship with my dad started going downhill fast. I got the feeling, and still get the feeling that he is upset that I would rather be with my husband than be living in his house. Also, ever since my parents divorced I feel like I have been the one in the middle. I feel like I am being blamed for their marriage not working, for my dad having to sell the house, and I feel like my dad doesn't want me talking to Cheryl anymore. Well Cheryl has been my mom since I was six so there is no way in hell that I am ever going to quite talking to her. I have tried telling my dad that I am sorry that he has to sell the house. If I could of done something to stop it I would have but I couldn't. He keeps telling me that I don't understand what he is going through. Well he is right, I don't understand and I won't understand because I am not the one that got divorced and I am not the one that had to sell my dream home. Plus, I am his kid, not the parent so the house, and all the bills that went along with it were not supposed to be my problem. IDK... I just want the relationship I used to have with my dad back. I don't have that good of a relationship with my real mom and not having one with my dad hurts even worse. I want all of mine and Ben's parents to be in our kids life when we do deicide to have children. IDK... I just hope that my dad see's the light at the end of the tunnel and see's that the more and more he drinks, and acts the way that he has been lately he is pushing me away. Everytime I talk to him we argue and I don't like it. He gets all mad and hangs up and then won't call back and won't answer my calls when I try calling back. I just pray that God knows what he is doing and that soon I can start getting my relationship back with my dad.

Chicago!!!

This weekend was a blast. I ended up going to Chicago... by myself!!! I never thought in a million years I would go to a city like that by myself but I had so much fun! I was supposed to go with a friend but something came up last minute so she couldn't go. So anyways, here is how my weekend went:

Saturday morning I got up early and took Rascal to the Vet Clinic so they could board him all weekend for me at 8am. Then I started my journey. Just me, the radio and Veronica. (Veronica is the GPS unit my friend from work let me borrow, and thank goodness she did because otherwise I would have gotten lost!) First I went to the hotel to see what time check in was. I got up there about 11am and check in was until 3pm, therefore I headed to Schaumburg to go to the Woodfield mall. That mall was huge! Three floors! My whole point in going to the mall was to find some new outfits for mine and Ben's pictures next month and I succeeded! I found me a tube top coral color dress and a navy blue tube top shirt. I bought Ben two polo shirts, a white one with small gray horizontal strips and a navy blue one with small white horizontal strips. I can't wait to wear them for pictures! yay! I left the mall about 3 and headed back to the hotel. After paying the tolls to get back I ended up back at the hotel around 4pm. I went up to my room with the intention of leaving and going down the street to see what was there, well, I fell asleep until about 6:30 and after that didn't really fell like getting up. The movies "The Break Up", and "Holiday" were on and I couldn't turn them off. So about 9pm I ordered some pizza and read my book, then finally went to bed around 11:30pm.

Sunday I got up about 10:30, got ready and headed to Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Veronica did really well until we got into the city. Then she was telling me I was off route and needed to get on the nearest street when I was already on Monroe! lol So finally after driving around and avoiding the crazy taxi drivers I found the Millennium Park parking garage and pulled in. the drive up the parking garage reminded me of the movie "Bad Boys 2" (I think it is that one) where they are going up the parking garage and it's a big spiral drive all the way up! Felt kinda cool. I was pretending I was in the movies! lol

Anyways, I finally made it to the park! Wow, was a beautiful place. I love parks but this one is my second favorite, coming in behind Central Park in NYC. I loved all the cool 'things' they had. I'm not sure what you really call the things but they were really neat to see. There was also this water play area for kids. It's really hard to describe so just take my word for it when I say it was something that I have never seen before.

After the park I went back to my car to drive to Navy Pier. After turning the wrong way, I finally turned around and made it to the pier. I loved it there! I love the water and anything that has to do with water. There were a lot of different boats there you could ride, (Active military servicemen, not their families, gets to ride for free). I made my way to the end of the pier and watched these two people jet ski for about a half an hour. I wanted to just hop on with them! lol At 4pm I went on a site seeing boat cruise around the pier. That was really neat. While we were on the boat two CH-47's (what Ben flies in) flew overhead. I was hoping Ben would parachute down from one but of course, wishful thinking. lol Most of my time on the pier I just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the view.

Around 5ish I made my way over to the trolley to take to the red line subway. I have ridden a subway in NYC before with my aunt, but never by myself so that was an experience. I was a little nervous but I made it out alright! I rode the subway to Jackson street and then walked four blocks to Sears Tower.

While I was in line for tickets for the tower I started talking to these people that were behind me. The one I talked to the most was Wendy. She was from South Dakota. She used to go to school in Chicago and her and some of her friends from work came to the city to site see. Well by the time we got to the top she offered to pay for my fast pass ticket, which was THIRTY DOLLARS!!! I told her that was very nice of her but I would pay for mine. She wouldn't let me. I just stood there in shock. I thanked her the whole time. It is truly amazing that there are still people out in the world that are like that. I mean, she didn't even know me. I know that I will probably never run into her again but "Wendy, thank you so much. May God bless you and congrats on the baby boy on the way." I'm still pretty much speechless that all I can say is Thank you. The view from the top was beautiful. I personally liked the Empire State Building better because you were actually outside looking around. The top of the Sears Tower was all closed in so you couldn't really get the whole experience. It was very neat though. The new "Sky box" was pretty neat. It's a plexi glass box that you can stand in and while looking down you can see the street beneath you. After looking around and taking some pictures, we all headed back down to the ground. I thanked Wendy one last time and wished her good luck with the baby. I then bought my picture that they took of me before I went up and headed back to the red line subway back to Grand street to go back to my car near Navy Pier.

After getting lost in the city, thanks to Veronica, I finally made my way back onto the highway and back to my hotel. I made it back in time for Army Wives too! I wanted to stay and see the sunset from the tower and see the fireworks from the pier but since I was by myself I decided that I didn't want to try to find my way back in the dark and in all the traffic.

This morning I woke up about 9:30, went downstairs for some breakfast, and then headed on my way back to Springfield to pick up Rascal. I never thought that I would miss that puppy so much but I did.

Now, me and Rascal are enjoying the rest of our afternoon before I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Enjoy the rest of your week! :)

She's back!!

So this weekend was the 4th of July. I had an amazing time!! It's nice to be 21 and able to get into the beer garden uptown and listen to the good bands they have. The part that made it even better though is that Betsy was there. After the wedding I probably only talked to Betsy once or twice because Steven, her boyfriend at the time, would get jealous if she was with anyone but him. Well they finally broke up and now she is back!! Her and I have hung out more in the past month than we have in the past year. I love it!! And I love her new boyfriend Allen. He is awesome! He treats her so well and we can all see that she is much much happier now! We were all on our way to Steak n Shake Friday night and Derina rode with me and was like "I can tell that Betsy is more herself now and a lot happier" I told her "I know!!!" Bets, if you are reading this, I am so glad that you are back to your normal self and that our friendship has picked up where it left off! I have missed you in my life so much!!! Allan, if you are reading this, THANK YOU sooo much for treating Bets the way that you do and for bringing my friend out of hiding and back into the real world!!!! I will never be able to thank you enough!!!

I also have many other great friends; and like Katy, I am blessed to have not one, but many best friends.

Erica and I go way back. Back to middle school actually. We lost contact there for a while during high school but once I started working at Central Bank, and she worked there as well, our friendship picked back up and we have been close ever since. She is now married to a wonderful man and has two cute puppies! I couldn't be happier for her.

Katy and I used to work at Central together. Well not together but for the same company. I actually worked with her mom. Her and Erica were friends and that's how I met her. She is def the life of the party and likes to have them! Katy is def one of a kind and loves to travel. That girl has been on more 'vacations' in one year then I have been in my whole life! lol She is now with a great guy named Kenny! It is good to finally see her with someone that makes her happy! You deserve it Katy!

Laurenn and I just met not that long ago but our friendship grew fast. She is an amazing person to be around and she is a great listener. She has been there for me when I needed someone the most. She is someone you can call when all you want to do is cry, and by the end of the call she has you laughing. She also has an amazing little boy! Keitan is the cutest and I love him to death. He's going to be president someday!!!

Kelli and I have been friends for 4 years now. We have never been close, close but we know that if either one of us needs someone to talk to that the other one is there to listen, no matter what and I love that about our friendship!

Chrissy is more like family than anything. We have known each other for 6-7 years now. She has been there for me when things got rough. She has always given me great advice on how to handle the things that I was having trouble with. I love her as if she was my blood sister and hope that our relationship never ends. She has the most precious little girl who I have the privilege of calling my niece! I love Sophie as if she were blood as well and am very honored that Chrissy and Brad have let me be apart of her life. Thank you guys so much! You are the best!

I have saved the best for last...

Ben! He is my number one! He is not only my husband, or my best friend, he is my hero! Ever since he was joined the military I have stopped taking so many things for granted. I cherish every moment that him and I get to spend together and every second that I get to talk to him on the phone. Every time I am with him or talk to him, he makes me smile! I know that I can talk to him about anything. I am so glad that we found each other. We are def soul mates and I look forward to all the wonderful years we have ahead of us!

Now back to this weekend, (sorry, got a little side tracked). I had a lot of fun! Friday night I went uptown and saw Aaron Tippin. He wasn't the greatest, but hey, it was a free concert! Then after that Betsy and I went up to the Beer Garden and got free drinks from Derina all night long! We also ran into Regan and her boyfriend there so we all just sat around and drank. After Derina got off we walked down to Bones. Only stayed for about 30 min and then left to go to Steak n Shake.

Saturday I spent the afternoon with my grandparents who were in town. At 6 I went back uptown and met Betsy, her mom, Erica, and Matt. We walked around and then went back to the Beer Garden. My friend, Katy's mom, was working the stand that night so she was giving us free drinks as well! Man is it nice to have hook ups! She got off at eight so she came and gave us some tickets so we could go up and get more drinks later on! lol Rose, you're the best! The Str8 Arrow was the band that played that night and man were they good! Me, Erica, and Rita (my dad and step mom's friend) got out of the dance floor and did the slap leather line dance! It was a lot of fun! Regan and Matt, her bf, and Allen, Betsy's bf, met us there so we had a pretty good group going! About 9:30 they started the fireworks so we watched those and then ended up going home because it started raining as soon as they were over. We had a lot of fun though! The most fun I have had in awhile!

It's weird to think that the next time that I will be back in Jeff, Ben will be with me!!!!! I cannot wait!!! 29 more days!!! The day could not get here any faster!

Well that's all for now! I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

The Countdown Continues...

The countdown is now at 40 days!!!! I am getting so excited I can hardly stand it!
Not a whole lot is new. Ben is still flying all the time and I'm working and... well... working! I'm enjoying my apartment as much as I can. I'm counting down the days until I can move out and move back to TN.
The one bit of news that I do have is that I did get me and Ben pre-approved for a home loan!!! I am not going to start looking and visiting houses until after he has left to go back and finish his tour though. I have been doing my homework and found out that the military has some really good tools to help you in buying your first home! The one thing I found that has been the most help is the VA Loan! I knew being apart of the military would bring great benefits, even when it comes to buying houses! We are really excited! We are going to first look at foreclosed homes, and to our surprise there are a lot down there, which is a good thing! Hopefully we can find something we like and in good condition for cheap!
Well, that's all I have for now! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

One Year

I cannot believe that I have been married to my best friend for a whole year already. I wish I could say that it has been the best year in our relationship but I can't, not since he left 6 months after we were married. I will say though, the that first six months of our marriage were the happiest times in my life... I can't wait for the next 6 months to hurry up and go by so that we can finally be a real married couple!! We have been through a lot together this first year but it has all been good. We have learned a lot about ourselves and about each other over the past year and our love and respect for one another just keeps growing. According to a lot of people, in their eyes, Ben and I got married too young. I honestly don't think that we did because we both know that we were made for each other. I love him so much.

On a lighter note, Friday morning Ben called me and told me that he just got his box. We got on web cam and I watched him open it. He loved his gifts especially the Cardinal tickets I got us for when he comes home! We have never been to a Cardinal's game together and he hasn't been to the new stadium yet so I thought it would be the perfect gift!!! I can't wait to go!!!

At work later that day I had a special delivery arrive for me. He got me a dozen roses, a teddy bear, chocolate truffles and a card. I loved it!! Was not expecting all of that at all!!! The roses are sitting right beside me now and they are really blooming!!! They are so beautiful. Hunnie, thank you so much for being so wonderful!! I love you and that will never change!!!

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This weekend I decided that I wanted to go home. Ben's mom ended up getting into town late Saturday night so on Sunday Ben's uncle Dan, had a BBQ at his house and everyone came over. We had a lot of fun. He ended up letting me drive his 1999 Corvette!!! I couldn't believe it!! We also played poker and for the third time in a row I took Dan out of the game! I had to leave by 5 to start heading back to IL and by then we still weren't done with the game so I ended up cashing in and got my dollar back and made $3.50!! I was excited!! It was a fun game!

Well, that's about all I have for now.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and is enjoying the summer!

Summer is finally here!

Where to begin?

First off lets start off a few weekends ago. Laurenn and Keitan came up to see me. Friday, when they got up here, there was a tornado or 'potato' as Keitan calls it! So we went downstairs! Then Saturday we watched movies and went to Chucky Cheese!! Now I haven't been there in a long time but I must say that their pizza is still one of my favorites!! We had a lot of fun!

The next weekend, the 22nd of May, I got off work early and went down to Jeff City to see my sister graduate high school. I feel old! lol Of course, like always, there were a lot of kids. My stepmom and I only stayed until they called her name and then we left. Cheryl ended up going home but I went out to Bones and the to "The Spot" with Erica and Katy!! That was a lot of fun! I missed hanging out with them. And it was nice seeing Erica drunk for once! lol

Saturday I went over to my mom's for a bit, Erica and I went shopping, went to my aunt's to see my new baby cousin, and then went to Rochelle's. Laurenn and I ended up going to Bones. Saw some people I hadn't seen in awhile and had a lot of fun!! I love being 21 now!

Sunday I was going to drive back to IL to move into my new apartment but I couldn't get myself to stop feeling like I was sleep walking, therefore, I went over to Cheryl's friends house and had Taco's and watched the movie, Taken! Good movie!! Monday, I got up early, went to Ju-Ju's house to see Brayden and so she could see Ben's Afghanistan pics and then headed back to IL.

Let me back up the train just a tad. I decided to get my own apartment for the next six months, until Ben comes home, because me and Stacey were not getting along. I was not agreeing with the stuff she was doing and didn't want to be in that situation any longer so me and Ben decided it was best for me to move out. I got the keys to my new place on Friday, and moved in on Monday! I love it! I live about 10 min from work, and am just around the corner from a major street here in Springfield. I have had a lot of people ask, "Why don't you just move back home?" The answer to that is because I love my job. If I didn't love my job then I would have no reason to stay up here and I would move back but this job opens up so many more doors for me and my career and I don't want to give that up!

Today, 5-28-09, was a pretty amazing day!! My wonderful husband sent me part of my one year anniversary gift!! its a diamond bracelet in the shape of hearts! I love it! He claims that he has more tricks up his sleeve, so we will see what else I get! I sent his box off today!!! I can't tell you, just yet, what I got him but I know that he will LOVE it!!! I can't wait until he gets it!!!

Can you believe that our one year anniversary is next weekend?? I'm in total shock. Where has the past year gone? I do miss my wedding day very much! It was one of the best days of my life! It went by way to fast!

Well, that's all I have for now. I will try to update more often!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Time to put the swim suits on and go swimming!!! Yay!!!

Mother's Day Weekend!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!
Now that that is out of the way let me tell you how my weekend went. First of all, my friend Laurenn came up to Springfield!!!! I was so happy that she came!! We ended up leaving town and going to a friends house for the night. Of course we go out, I get drunk, come home, and stub my little toe, ending up breaking the darn thing!! It's pretty funny now but at the time, man did it hurt!!! lol
Saturday we went to the mall and walked around, came back to my house, rested, went tanning, and then went and saw the new movie "Ghost of Girlfriends Past" Man that was a great movie!! I loved it!!
Then this morning came and she went home to spend mother's day with her little boy!!
It was a very good weekend!! I loved not having to drive down to MO for once! lol

On Friday, however, I got the best email of my life!!! I went to lunch, came back and found that I had an email from my wonderful husband!!! I'm not going to tell you what all it said but it was a very very sweet email!! Like a love note but only in email format since he is half way around the world!!! It brought tears to my eyes!!

Anyways... I think I'm done writing for now!! Have a great week everyone and GO CARDINALS!!!

Finally 21!!!

I have finally made it!!! After waiting 21 long years, I can now order a drink with my dinner!! The feeling of having that option is absolutely awesome!!! My actual birthday was on a Monday. My friend, Dustin, came home for his R&R that day so that was awesome!! After that we all just went out to dinner and grabbed a few drinks!

My birthday bash was this past weekend on the 2nd of May!!! It was alot of fun. First we had dinner at Chili's in Jefferson City. Family and friends were both there. After that my friends and I went out to Bones! I must say though that my favorite part of the night was when my friend Betsy showed up!!! I hadn't seen her in almost a year and I have really missed her! Bets, thank you so much for coming out!!!!!!!

My first shot of the night was a shot called 'Wet Pussy'. Weird name but man did it taste good! I really liked it!! I also had a 'Girl Scout Cookie', 'Three Wise men' which by the way was disgusting, 'Tequila Shots', and some bombs! After we were done at Bones we headed to the Lake of the Ozarks and went to the Blue Room!! Even though it was hot in there it was alot of fun!!!

I must say that that was the best birthday by far!! Thank you to everyone that came out and celebrated with me!!! I love you all!!!

{My Girls and Me}

Two Become One!

There is only one word to describe the wedding between Erica and Matt... BEAUTIFUL!!!! Erica was the most gorgeous bride I have ever seen, besides myself of course! It was an absolute beautiful day and I am so happy for the two of them. They are like two peas in a pod! The complete each other!!

Matt and Erica... I am so happy for you guys! You guys have been the best friends that everyone wishes they had!! I am so honored to have that type of friendship with you two!! Every time I see you two together all I can do is smile! You both remind me of Ben and I and that only makes me happier! I am so glad that you two finally tied the knot!! Matt, take care of her and Erica do that same for Matt!! I love you both!!
Also that weekend, Laurenn, Beau, and I went to Ben's cousin, Kiley's wedding. Her wedding was also very beautiful! Her dad made her a gazebo in the backyard just for the event.
Kiley and Mick... Ben and I are very happy for you two! Ben really wished that he could have been there to be apart of your special day for you, but he sends his love and his blessings. We love you both very much and we know that you two will have a long and happy life together!