Seriously!

It has been way too long since I have blogged. A LOT has happened since my last post.
First, Max came home from Iraq on September 27th!! His first weekend home, we stayed at the CDA Resort again.
We have also moved out of the house we have been in the last few years, and have put an offer on a house that has been accepted! We are now going through the underwriting process. As of right now our closing date is December 2....Max's birthday! We thought it was a good date to pick! So until we close, we are living with Max's sister and her family.
In a few days we are going to be headed of to Jamaica! I can't believe it's finally here. Time has gone fast. We will be gone for a whole week. It will be amazing, but I am not excited to leave Allie for that long! I've never been away from her for more than a night....and I couldn't even make it tht whole night without shedding tears about it. I'm just hopin all the activities we will be doin will keep my mind off of it.
We have also purchased a new addition to our family. A female black lab. We are gonna name her Mia. We can't get her until we move into our new house.
So as you can tell, we have been and will be super busy for a while! Pictures to come of everything!

Teasing

Allie thinks it is SO funny when I tease her with food or drink. This is a video of her last night. I was teasing her with yogurt and she thought it was hilarious!

Smart Girl

Allison is so smart! Sometimes she cooperates and sometimes she doesn't. I am so grateful to have her in my life. Here is a little video of her the other night. Side note: the only reason she knows where her "cha cha" is, is because she was always touching it when I would change her, so I taught her what it was. haha.

2 Weeks and Counting!

Max will be home in just over 2 weeks and I just had to share!!!! I am so excited, but let me tell you, these last few weeks before he comes home have been THE SLOWEST weeks ever! I know he will be home before I know it, but I'm just so impatient. In 20 days Max and I will be going to stay at the Couer D Alene resort and spa & enjoying couples massages...and in 67 days, we will be headed to Jamaica for a week full of relaxation and fun!

Sausage-Cheese Balls

You will need:

1 lb ground sausage
1 lb shredded cheese
1 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 small can green chiles

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Roll into sm/med. size balls and place on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 mins on 300 degrees, then for another 5 minutes on 350 degrees.

These are AMAZING. You can omit the chiles if you don't like them, and you can use whatever cheese you want. They are seriously so good. A great crowd pleaser...a great appetizer. Enjoy!

1st Day of School!

Today was my first day of school. I had 3 classes today: Chemistry, Anatomy & Physiology, and Math. Tomorrow I have English. I have the first 3 classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week. I have English Tuesday/Thursday of every week. I'm pretty dang nervous about all of it, but especially math! I hate math, and it has been 4 years since I last had a math class...in high school! Today in math class, the teacher showed us some "simple" math problems to start the year off. I was so lost. I remember being very good at doing them in high school, so I am hoping that eventually it will all come back to me. I definitely do NOT want to have to drop this math class to go down to an easier one. I am gonna work my butt off to get good grades this year! Books are going to be SUPER expensive. Like around $500. Yikes! Not so excited about that. Thank goodness for school loans. They will help me be able to pay for books and daycare, and any other costs that arise. And what's great about school loans is that I don't have to pay them back until I graduate school.
So as most people that know me know....I am one of the MOST indecisive people you will ever meet. Now that I have decided on getting a nursing degree, I am now re-thinking that! I still want to stay medical, but I am wondering if I should just go beyond nursing and go to medical school to be a doctor. I know it is way more schooling...like double, but I definitely think it will be worth it! So I just really don't know what to do. I am thinking the pre-requisites are the same for nursing as they are for pre-med. So I may have a year or two to decide what I want to do.
On a different note, Maxwell will be home in AROUND a month!!!!! I am SO excited, I can't even stand it! I got a HUGE welcome home banner made for him for when we are at the airport waiting. He will be coming home later than the others, so I wanted his welcome home to feel extra special. I have all of our families coming to greet him at the airport. I am having Max's aunt make Allie another little miniature uniform to wear at the airport to welcome her daddy home. We can't wait for daddy to be home with us again!

Here are a few pictures of boo boo and I.

Nerves

School is going to be starting for me, next Monday! I am so nervous/excited. I just want to do good. I haven't gone to school for 4 years. And 4 years ago...that was High School. I did really good in High School. I was almost a straight A student. I just hope that I have retained the knowledge, and that I will do very good in college!

Exciting!!!!

So I have planned a vacation for Maxwell and I for when he comes home. He deserves to relax and have a break from everything. We will be going to Ocho Rios, Jamaica! We will be staying at the Sandals Grande Riviera Resort. I booked us a butler suite. That means that the butler will wait on us hand and foot. We won't have to worry about a thing. That is what I wanted for Max. He shouldn't have to worry about anything. The butler will put our clothes away for us, bring us food/drinks, book tours for us...among many other things! We will be leaving on the 17th of November and return the 24th of November. People keep asking us if we will bring Allie. The answer is....NO. We need some quality "us" time. Not that we don't love Allie, or don't want her to come, we just need some time with just the two of us. This will be the longest time for me to be away from her. I am hoping I have plenty of things to do to keep the sadness away.
While at the resort, we will be able to get scuba certified, and go scuba diving as much as we want! That is one of the things we are most excited about. We've both always really wanted to scuba dive...not just snorkel. We will also be interacting with dolphins! We will get to touch, kiss, dance, and ride bottlenose dolphins! Also we will get to watch a shark show(not exactly sure what that is, but seems very interesting!). Also included is interacting with exotic birds, petting stingrays, and glass bottom kayaking! Next on the list of activities we will do is riding horses on the beach, and in the jungle! How romantic. Then we will do some zip lining above the canopy of the jungle....then on to do some river tubing. When I booked our stay, we got a spa credit! So we will also be getting some couples massages, and pedicures.
There are sooooo many things we are going to do. So much fun. It will be like heaven on earth. We are super excited and just with November was here already!

Our Lil' Cutie!

Allison has won second runner up in a "Lil Cutie Contest" run by our photographer. We are so proud of her.

I was also told today by a woman I do not know(over the phone)that is making a quilt with pictures of Allie and Max on it, that Allie is the most beautiful baby girl she has EVER seen. She now wants to use Allie's pics in an ad campaign she is doing. We couldn't be more proud of our little girl.

Play Date

This play date was a little while back, and I know I am slacking in the blogging department, but here are some pics from the occasion. The little girl in the pics with Allie is a little younger than Allie. She belongs to my choir teacher from High School!

Braces

It's been way too long since I have posted on here! I just have a little update. This last Monday, I got braces. Oh boy do they hurt my mouth! I hear the pain should only last about a week, but I am hoping it goes away sooner. All of my gums and every tooth in my mouth is killing me. No pain, no gain. Right?

CNA Clinicals

I started my CNA clinicals yesterday, and I was so nervous. Practicing on other students is one thing....actually doing it on elderly people is another. My second day was today, and I was way more comfortable. I was comfortable enough to help some residents with things without having another CNA there. I am gaining more and more confidence every day. The residents I have been working with are super sweet. I am kind of sad that I will only be there for 3 more days, but I don't think I could ever work in a center for the elderly. I would grow too attached to the residents, and I know I would be so sad all the time. There has been a couple times in the last 2 days I had to tell myself not to cry. I have such a big heart, and I really care about people and their feelings. It's just so sad!! I am enjoying my clinical time though!!

Some new deployment pics!

This is what Max does in his spare time...other than going to the gym.

Max is the one in the shades.

Promotion ceremony.

Max being promoted to Corporal!

They are standing on the hood of a HMMWV

Kuwait.

Saddam built things on water because he believed anything that was on or below water, Allah could not see.

Army birthday run.

After doing the 4.5 mile run for the Army's birthday. And not a drop of sweat on Max!!

They stopped to have some Iraqi food and glass bottle coke.

Sand storm!

Those poor puppies in the nasty Iraqi trash!

Max.....just being Max. haha. He's so silly.

By the crossed swords.

Sweet like sugar

Allie has got to be one of the sweetest babies. I recently taught her to rub her chest to say "I love you". She wouldn't verbally say it, so I wanted to teach her that so she could tell me she loved me whenever she wanted. Sometimes she'll rub her chest to say it, and other times if someone is holding her, she'll rub their chest.
Well yesterday was a rough day for me. And I was sitting with Allie by her toys, and she could tell I wasn't very happy. So she walked over to me and gave me a kiss, and then rubbed my chest. She did all of this without my asking(normally I would have to ask her for a kiss, and I would have to say "love" to get her to rub her or my chest)Then she gave me a hug.
Also, this last weekend we went to see my little sister, Brandi, in her group home. She has a disease that makes her almost bedridden now, blind, and she can barely talk. Well I had set Allie on her lap, and Allie reached over and rubbed her chest. This was the FIRST time she had ever done that without me saying anything to her. Talk about a tear jerker! My mom and I both cried.
Allie just melts my heart!! I am so excited for Max to come home and get to know her again. I don't think we could have asked for a sweeter baby!

4th of July weekend

Allie and I had a pretty good 4th of July weekend. We went to Oregon to visit my family there. For the first couple days, we went to Richland, Oregon, to visit my grandparents and my aunt who was also visiting. She had her 2 kids with her and her boyfriend. I always love going to my grandparents house. It's so relaxing, and they always have the BEST food! It was really good to see my aunt. I haven't seen her in years!
Then for the next couple days, we went to Haines, Oregon, to visit my mom and step-dad. We had a BBQ, went to the parade, and then to the rodeo. It was so much fun! I'm so glad I went to my mom's this last weekend because I got to see the very first dog we ever got when I was a kid. She was getting older and had bad arthritis. She was ALWAYS a puppy at heart. She passed away not even 2 days after I came back home. It was a sad day, yesterday, after finding out what happened to Katie. She's in a better place now, though. She's not in pain anymore. I love & miss you Katie dog! You were the best.

Our little princess

I know I'm not the only one who thinks that Allie is the most beautiful baby girl I've ever seen....I hear it ALL the time...."Your daughter is seriously the most beautiful baby I have EVER seen." I feel so proud when I hear those words. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

What's New With Us?

Not a whole lot, actually. I started my CNA class last Thursday and had my second class last night. So far, it's fun. I love learning about something that I am interested in. I'm excited to get my career on track!
Allie can walk pretty darn fast these days; she can almost run! She doesn't really say any words yet. But she can speak baby jibberish really well. She knows what she is saying!
My house is pretty much infested with daddy long leg spiders!(ok...not infested, but there are a TON)Every single day I find a new one in my bathroom...and at one point I found 2 in Allie's room. They are so gross. I don't care if they can't bite us, they are disgusting. I'm pretty sure I have arachnophobia. The other day I walked in the bathroom to find one of the biggest daddy long legs I have ever seen. It's leg span was probably big enough to fit the palm of my hand. I started crying a little bit. It probably sounds so pathetic, but I seriously am TERRIFIED of spiders. I needed to shower, but I didn't wanna do it with a HUGE spider staring down at me. So I went and grabbed the vacuum. I vacuumed the spiders up(there were 2 in the bathroom at the time, but one of them was tiny)and then put my vacuum in the garage so that they could crawl out back into my house. The very next day after vacuuming them up, I found another one in the same spot!! I'm thinking I'm going to need to hire a professional to come spray for me. I'm tired of going to bed scared that there are spiders in bed with me.
Max is supposed to be coming home really soon(I can't say exactly how long because of security reasons, but very soon)! We are on the home stretch. People ask me all the time how I do it...how I can live without my husband for a year. The answer is...I just do it. I don't have any special power that makes me more capable than anyone else. When you are put in a situation like this, you have to make a choice. You can either mope and feel sorry for yourself-not get anything done, OR you can deal with it. Go on with your life; do the things you need to. There are days that are harder than others, but I support my husband in what he does. I am beyond PROUD of him. He is an AMAZING soldier, and a great leader. He does what he needs to do to take care of us. I struck gold when I found this man of mine. He's the best. He even refuses to take off his wedding ring over there. They ask them to take them off because they could lose a finger...he told them he'd rather lose his finger.

Isn't he so handsome?!

Precious Moments

There is absolutely no denying that our little girl loves her daddy! And there is also no denying that she has NOT forgot about him. Whenever I say daddy, she runs to the computer to see him. Whenever she hears the Skype ring, she gasps, and then giggles with glee. She loves him SO much. I can't wait to see how she reacts to seeing daddy in person when he comes home. I'm excited to see my husband when he comes home, but even more excited for the 2 of them to reunite.

Summer

I am so excited for this summer! I'm also excited for it to be over...only because that makes is closer to my hubby being home from Iraq! I am glad it is finally staring to get hot over here. It's been raining a lot lately. While I love the rain, it can get depressing after a while!
This summer I plan on taking Allie to the local swimming pool and maybe even the beach! There is also a theme park a couple hours from here, and they have some smaller rides for small children...I'm thinking maybe Allie would like that, too.
I start my CNA class this next Thursday. I can't believe it's finally here! It will last all through the summer. 1 night a week. And right after that class ends, I will be starting my first year of college. SO excited for this summer and fall!

A day at the park

Allie loves the park. She had a blast. We went with some of our really good friends and their little boy. He's a year older than Allie. They are so cute when they hang out together. I have a feeling they are gonna be good friends when they get older.

She takes a second to show us her muscles. You can see the intensity in her face. haha

Yes, she is walking BAREFOOT in those woodchips. They didn't phase her a bit!

The day after we went to the park, Allie and I went over to our friend's house and they got to play in the pool. Allie wasn't a real big fan of it at first, but she started to like it...but only a little.