An Award?! Yes please!!

So I was casually reading my comments today on my last post, and I got another lovely comment from one of my favorite bloggers, A Marine's Wife at Flip Flops and Combat Boots. After commenting on my blog, there was a little sentence at the end that said "I have an award for you over at my blog". EEP! First one haha. So this is called the Sugar Doll award. To accept the award, you write ten things about yourself and then give the award to ten other bloggers. So here is my ten things, and then there will be my list of award winners!

1. I treat my dogs, Willow and Bailey, like children. I talk to them all the time and cuddle them like babies. I refuse, however, to dress them unless it is cold and they need a sweater.
2. I am never satisfied with how my apartment looks. I always think there is room for improvement.
3. I'm big about smells in a home. I don't care too too much about other people's houses, but I can't stand a little stink in my house and have air fresheners, carpet cleaner, fabric freshener, reed diffusers, candles and plug ins on hand pretty much all the time.
4. During the week when I'm home, I pretty much stick the TV on TBS all day because I love Saved by the Bell, According to Jim, Home Improvement, House of Payne and all the other cute shows that come one that nobody watches haha.
5. The only reason my dishes get done is because my husband is usually on my a** to do them. Without him home it's VERY hard to get motivated enough to get them done.
6. I'm fairly obsessed with Italian food of any kind.
7. I never thought I would be a military wife, nor did I see myself married at 18, living in San Diego, playing the housewife role...and loving every second of it.
8. I now truly believe that deployment is just another bump in the road- one that we can get through without a doubt!
9. I'm really lucky to have the most supportive parents a person could ask for, and I love that my husband loves them and vice versa. 
10. I am so proud of myself for finally doing something about being a weight that digusts me! 

So now to pass it on!!

• Emily @ The Longley's in San Diego
• Samantha @ Navy Doll
• Mrs. Gambizzle @ Life as a Sailor's Girl
• Michelle @ The Girl Can't Help It
• Mrs. G.I. Joe @ ACU's, Stiletto Shoes, and Pretty Pink Tutus
• The Sawyer Bunch @ Confessions of a Sailor's Wife
• Hellcat Betty @ Hellcat Betty
• The Mrs. @ Mr, Mrs, & Little Miss
• Jennifer @ My Sailors Mistress
• Wife on the Roller coaster @ Riding the Roller Coaster

FRG

So this afternoon I was able to attend my first FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting! It was the second meeting all together, but many of our first chances to attend. I was a bit nervous because I know so many of them either have children or are expecting. I love kids, and pregnant people (ha!) but I didn't want to be the only 19 year old childless person. Still, I think I was, however there were other women a few years older than me that didn't have children. Regardless, the kids were all really entertaining and not those annoying, disruptive, needing to be the center of everything sort of children. There was a craft table and they could all make fathers day frames, cards, or other gifts. Then they took pictures to send to their daddies on the ship. It was wonderful to see everyone keeping on and enjoying the day.

We talked about a lot of the resources available to us as military spouses. We also talked about a needs tree, where we can all put our needs or services together and help one another out. They are putting together a softball team, doing a few bbqs and raffles, and a group baby shower.

There were some wonderful women there and I'm really looking forward to getting to know more of them.

One of the women is a crafty one (she may be my favorite ha!) and she brought a camera to take some pictures. They set up a little area with a flag and boots and took photos. One of the women brought a set of coveralls and the kids were able to dress up and hold little flags. I'm going to ask if I can borrow a picture to post on here, but I may forget, so don't hold your breath. After another of the girls (the only one I'd actually had conversation with prior to the meeting), took a picture just herself to send to her hubby, I decided to do the same. I was really happy with how it turned out!!

If I get to a weight I feel comfortable with, I'd love to do some sort of patriotic pin-up style modeling! Hopes and dreams, people, hopes and dreams haha.

On another note, my mommy and daddy are coming to visit this week! There will be lots of pictures and updates! I swear to be a better blogger now that I'm taking an itty bitty break from work haha.

Thursday Five

It's that amazing day of the week, where I look back to what helped me get through the week!

Target giftcards coming in the mail literally minutes after I fell in love with shoes in the store!

My momma's strawberry pretzel desert

Nancy's Taco Shop around the corner- a taco shop that is comparable to Mr. Taco, the most amazing mexican food in my home town.

Meeting new friends and spending hours at Starbucks just chatting.

Ending a phase of life along with a job, knowing that everyone involved will be better for it.

Time again for that wonderful day of the week that the Mannland5 convinces up to stop, and look at all those wonderful, beautiful, enlightening experiences life throws at us every week.

Here are mine :]

1. I accidentaly bought an extra lamp for the spare bedroom before I found that we had one, and this spare lamp is now the sole lighting in my living/dining area after a rambunctious 10 mo old destroyed my other one.
2. I have discovered that lean ground turkey can be insanely tasty when seasoned correctly.
3. I have lost FOUR pounds since starting the gym two weeks ago!
4. After growing up, moving out, starting my own life, and taking on new responsibilities- I can still call my mommy and vent at the end of a bad day.
5. I reconnected with an old aquantence that just might become a great friend!

So it's your turn to stop and think about the good things in what may be a rough week!!

Deployment Lessons Learned So Far

So in the very small amount of time that my husband has been away on the big grey ship, I have already learned a few things.

What works for some wives, may not work for others.
There are many women that choose to keep everything that is happening at home to themselves, so not to burden their husbands with more stress than they are already experiencing on deployment. While I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY respect how every wife (minus the cheaters) deals with the stress of handling all the affairs, I've found that this isn't for me. No, I will not tell him every time the dogs make me upset, every time I have a disagreement with a friend, if I have a tummy ache or if I had to call and argue with the cable or phone company. But not disclosing any of the stressful situations I made deal with just isn't realistic for me. And I've learned that that's okay. Some days it may be one thing after another after another. And some days, while you're busy kicking-deployment's ass, it may get in a good punch and land you on your ass for a second. I tried to be strong for my husband, so much that I pretended things on the homefront were nearly smoother than they were when he was here. There wasn't a problem in the world. And that ended up hurting me in the end, and it made me end up being the bad guy, because I was strong and there was nothign wrong, but I was taking something out on him, and that hurt us as a couple. I have also learned, however, that trying to get away with keeping all my stressors from my husband is impossible. He knows. Just when I started to feel the brunt of everything at once, he called. And with a lump in my throat I said "Hello", and without skipping a beat he said "It's not what you expected is it? It's harder than you were prepared for, isn't it?". And it made everything better. :]

Even if you think that everything is squared away before he leaves, power of attourney is vital
All bills not under both of our names were paid off and squared away before my hubbers took off. And then some debt that some company thinks he owes...from 2007....showed up in the mail. On our anniversary. Thankfully we had a few copies of power of attourney drawn up, because it's obvious now that there's not way for hubbers to deal with this on his own, or at all.

Keeping busy is very important, but keeping TOO busy is not a good thing
Being my first deployment, it was already a transition to go from sharing many responsibilities with my husband to having them all on my plate alone. I wanted to keep busy while hubby was gone, but I decided to hold off on taking on too many activities before he left. Thank god. Before he left, work school and housework didn't see like much. Now, suddenly, I'm realizing that he must have helped me more than I ever noticed, because even those things sometime overwhelm me. I did try to take on some other crafty projects and what not, but it sent me into a whirlwind of pressure, deadlines, and just plain stress.


Doing things like this may not make him too happy, they make me feel a lot better about things!::

Getting to Know You #1

Well Sunday is almost over but for the sake of fun I'm going to do the Getting to Know you from the Mannland 5!!

1. If a person has a booger in their nose. and you can see it, do you tell them?

It depends on where our relationship is haha

2. What are you passionate about?

My family and friends!!

3. How long have you been blogging?
8 months

4. What is your favorite "summer" drink?

Strawberry Lemonade

5. What is your favorite type of music?

Oh it depends on the day!

6. Something I do before I go to bed is......?

Check my email and brush my teeth.

7. My Summer vacation plans are...?

Maybe a day trip to LA/Hollywood, and late summer a trip home to Texas

8. My favorite must have, can't live without, beauty product is?

Just face moisturizer...does that count?!

The Anniversary Blog

Well, the day has finally come! Well, in my time zone, it is still only June 4, 2010. However, wherever my loving hubby is, it is officially our one year anniversary.

June 5th, 2009, I woke up in the morning, knowing that that very afternoon I would become Mrs. Voigt. I dressed nervously, met with my bridesmaids, stopped at Sonic, and headed to Lockhart State Park to tie the knot. Absolutely the most wonderful day of my life.

This is Hubbers and I the evening of our first date.

Needless to say, it's been an amazing, crazy, scary, and wonderful year.

In June, we celebrated my 19th birthday, realized as a married couple we needed our own home, and started looking.

In July, we planned a move, and executed it in one day. We now had our very own apartment and all the responsibility that came with.

In August, the military finally caught up with us and awarded us some BAH, and we got our first puppy, Willow Marie.

In September, we had to deal with a new stressor of paying rent on an old lease. We moved from a two bedroom to a one bedroom apartment, and loved it...for a few weeks.

In October, Hubbers began week long underways. With the exception of three seperate weeks, he would now be gone every weekday, and home only on weekends, until mid April. We missed our first Halloween together, and I experienced my first true fear as a military wife when there was a jet collision over the waters Hubbers was doing his training in. He was out for three extra days, leading a search crew trying to recover bodies. This was also the first time I felt such an intense pride for what he did.

In November, I cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner. We had ham, potatos, devilled eggs, scalloped corn, regular corn, green beans and pumpkin pie. We also decided we'd take our first road trip and started saving for the holiday vacation. I sprained my ankle a day before one of hubby's underways and hobbled around on crutches. The following underway, I contracted what I swore was swine flu. Hubby came home to find me in bed, sicker than i'd been in almost a year. He was home for two nights. That first night was his birthday. He spent his birthday in the ER making sure I was okay rather than party with his friends.

In December, we got to actually spend our holidays together, rather than living across the country. We packed up the truck, and drove 19 hours, Willow in tow, to Texas and had an amazing holiday with our families. We met my nephew for the first time, and really bonded with our new in-laws.

January brought more time apart, but a closeness when we were together.

February marked one year from the day Hubbers proposed to me. It was also the first time I hadn't been "alone" on Valentines day. He brought me tiger lillies, roses, the most perfect stuffed giraffe and Carlos, the huge stuffed bear that I snuggle with now that he's deployed.

In March, we added Bailey Rae to the family. Bailey was infested with fleas and had worms, but Willow welcomed her to the family as warmly as she could.

April was finally the end of underways, and the begining of the deployment countdown. Hubby started a special school and was home every night with me. We got tattoos together and got to lotion eachother's new ink. We also finally had the means to move into a two bedroom apartment again.

In May the real stress began. We relished in our final weeks together, becoming closer than I thought possible. We made final arrangments, and when Hubbers was on leave, he spent the days with me and the baby girl I watch, making me eager more for the days that he'll be with our own child, years down the line. He's going to be an amazing father.

Eventually, hubby got on that big grey boat and left. The remainder of our first year together has been lived together via emails and facebook. Now hubby's dog-tags hang around my neck, and that is how I kiss him goodnight before I turn to sleep every night.

I put a lot of work into this post. Actually more so in the video to follow this paragraph. This is because to me, this post is my celebration of the past year. I haven't decided yet if I'll spend the day quietly lounging around watching movies and ignoring what it is, or if I'll try my best to make it an amazing day, go out to the beach, celebrate with friends, and rejoice in my anniversary. But what I do know is that inevitably, these photos will be playing in my head, as will every little conversation, every night we fell asleep in eachother's arms, every time he wiped my tears away, and every single memory we will make when he returns to me. So I want to share these beautiful memories with all of you, and I hope that you all have the happiness that I have in my life, with this man, in this world.

Thursday Five

It's time again for the Thursday Five!!

I love this time every week too look at the good in life.

5. Boy Meets World on ABC Family in the mornings

4. Netflix on the X-box 360 to get me through the weekends!!

3. Zumba!!

2. Getting to hubby's soft side via email

1. Passing Political Science with an 87!!!!

A Great List for the Week- Why I love My Husband

This week is week two into my first deployment, my hubby's third. So perhaps it's not super great timing for our first wedding anniversarry. We knew he'd miss it when we picked the date, but it was more important to get married than to celebrate an anniversarry together. None the less, I'm very excited and also kinda sad that we aren't together to really celebrate an amazing first year, full of ups and downs, and a billion first-times.

So when I hopped on over to Riding the Roller Coaster, I thought it was funny that her top ten list was "Top Ten Reasons I Love My Husband". Okay, that's not the funny part. The funny part is that she chalks up her mushiness to the fact that her tenth wedding anniversarry is this week, and her husband isn't here to share it with her. I'm not sure if it makes me happy to hear I'm not going through it alone, or sad that even after ten years, the same thing will probably be happening to me. Regardless, Happy anniversary to that wonderful couple!! And here's my list.

Why I Love Ya Baby!

10- At any given moment he can quote one stand-up comedian or another, word for word, even when it's least appropriate.

9- He can sense when something isn't right, and won't let me go on until he knows what it is and tries to fix it.

8- He is a proud member of the U.S. Navy and sacrifices much  to do what he actually loves- serving his country.

7- Though his methods may be off sometimes, he is still insanely encouraging to anything I want to do. Or things I don't want to do, like homework.

6- He is great with children.

5- He puts family above all else.

4- He loves that I play cook every meal and clean up ever mess- but he never stops thanking me or showing me his appreciation.

3. Some intuition of his allows him to always say the right thing at the right time- even if I'm having a bad day, I will probably receive and email that says "Smile, it makes your butt tingle".

2. He simply holds my whole heart.

1. He is nothing but himself. Himself happens to be a loving, passionate, hard working, thoughtful man with a very handsom inside and out.