My parents' visit...way late!

Mom, Dad and I had a great visit! I truly loved having them here and am one of those freaks that wouldn't mind them living within a mile radius of us. They did, however, have to go home eventually. We did so much that I"m not sure I can recap it all, so thank goodness for pictures. I will try to do things as chronologically as possible.

Dad said they needed a picture here to prove they were in San Diego. Little did he know we'd see a lot of things that were unique to the area!

Some really sweet older women offered to take our picture as we walked the bay at Seaport Village. What's crazy is that these women were in San Diego by mistake. They were on a flight to Florida for vacation that got canceled. The airline put them on a flight for the next day, paying for their hotel room in San Diego and offering a day of sight seeing, and extending their Florida trip for two extra days!!

Of course the dogs got in a trip to the beach.

Yeah...Bailey just loves the public eye.

We all had a great time, God knows how long it's been since Momma and Daddy hit the beach.

We spent nearly a whole day at the USS Midway. It was actually really informative and entertaining. Trying to think about people 40 years ago, working in every space we saw, reminded me to think about Hubbers, sleeping in his rack, working around the ship. I also learned a lot about what he does on his ship, which is nearly as large as the Midway.

Of course there had to be pics in all the planes and helos.

We spent the first part of my birthday down at Belmont Park, on the Mission Beach boardwalk with the Harvey family. We had such a good time, and the place was really relaxed. My favorite part was taking my godson Jude on his first carousel ride!

Birthday dinner at my favorite resturaunt, BJ's. The big 2-0 haha!

Besties Frank and Emily of course had to join us!

The big finale to the trip was the Harbor Excursion. We did a two-hour boat ride that took us up to the northern and southern-most points of the San Diego bay. It was really informative and just a lovely time. But something beautiful happened on that Harbor Excursion, also.

I have read a lot of stories about Military Spouses. The prideful moments they feel when some stranger buys them dinner, or randomly comes up and thanks them for their family's sacrifices. Of course I never expect to experience these things, they happen spontaniously and are beautiful moments, but not for all to share. And I am perfectly okay with that. However, I did share a moment similar to that.

My dad is a motorcycle finatic. On the second leg of the tour, he noticed a man in a shirt from a Harley shop in Australia. On my birthday, Hubbers' ship arrived in Australia for a four day port visit. My dad started making conversation, the people asked about what Hubbers does and how proud I must be.

They even took a picture with me.

Then, as the boat stopped and people started to unload, the man put on that sweater tied around his waist, came over, shook my hand, kissed my cheek, and handed me the shirt he is wearing in this picture. He said how lovely it was to meet me, that I should enjoy the next ride I have with my dad, and that he hoped this shirt made me feel closer to my husband. I shook his hand and thanked him over and over, and he just said "No worries, mate". What a wonderful experience! I definitely classify this as one of those once in a lifetime moments of thankfulness, kindness and pride.

If any other milspouses are reading this, do you have a similar story to share?

A Mother is the Truest Friend We Have (this one's for the ladies)

Today, my mommy had her first ever surgery. A week ago today, she had some stomach cramps and a fever. She went home early from work and didn't feel better the next day. My dad says he knew then that it was more than the flu. Sunday, when he called me, I knew that something was wrong. As casual and calm as my daddy tries to be in my presence, I read him like a book. He'd taken my mom to the ER (my mother has never been in the hospital, my entire life. When she had me, her stay lasted a long 13 hours.) and they drew blood to find infection. They did some sort of MRI or CT scan or something and found a cist. They found cists when I was two and removed them in an outpatient procedure, and back in August of this last year, she was having some cramping and whatnot and they never found this cist. The reason I tell you that is that this cist, since August, has grown to 9 centimeters. It amazes me how quickly these things come to be.

Anyways, they admitted her to the hospital for a few days to run out the infection. She was supposed to go home Wed, but that didn't happen. 12 different anti-biotics didn't work, her white blood cell count was back up, with her fever. After talking, they decided to take out the uterus. So this morning she had a hysterectomy, and explored to make sure that the infection didn't spread anywhere else. The surgery went quickly and problem free.

I'm gratefull that my mommy is ok. She never got sick when I was little, and would wait 19 years, until I move half way across the country to have something this dramatic happen. My dad is in the hospital or ER once a year at least. He's always the one I worry about, I never thought my mom was even capable of catching a cold. I know she's a strong woman, but I know that she was scared, and I know that the pain in the coming days will be some of the worst she's experienced. I know that I really wish I could've been there for her through all this. I guess that's a part of growing up that I never thought about. I never thought I'd even live in a different town than my parents. This was another realization I had to have to come to in my quick bout of being a grown up.

This also makes me scared. I don't know why my momma has had these problems. I know that people go through a lot more than she did, as far as recurring cists and whatnot, but I still have to wonder why she got them. It doesn't seem normal to me. I'm glad they fixed the problem, but I wish they'd look further into the source of the problem.

Hubbers might kill me for saying this, but we really want kids. It's one of the first things that attracted me to him- how he acted with his nephew- and being a mommy is what I've always felt I was put on this earth to do. Of course since we are 19 and 21, we are by no means ready to start our family now. We do, however, want to be young parents. Mike wants to be able to go outside and teach our kids how to play soccer, I want to be able take our kids to Disneyland, and actually still enjoy it myself. I want our kids to have the best years of our lives. If it weren't bad timing, you could hand me a baby, all bundled up, right now, and I'd mother him/her in a heartbeat. We are excited to share our love with a baby some day.

But. I've always thought that there was something wrong with me. I hit puberty early and of course everything about it made me feel like a freak. Just after we got married, the stress of all the changes effected my cycle, and I had my first lady exam. They found cellular changes, which I was told was "no big deal, it SHOULD take care of itself". Now that this has happened with my momma, I have an intense urge to to go the doctor. I'd like to know now, 100% that there is nothing wrong with me. The most devestating things would be to start trying for a family, only to find out we couldn't.

On that note, I've decided that the military treatment facility I was being seen at is no longer suitable. It takes me ages to get an appointment, and I had to research for myself what cellular changes were, because nobody seemed to care to explain it. So sometime next week I will be getting a release form and switching to a local civilian doctor. Woohoo! I'll have an ounce of normalcy in my experience as a military wife!!

Anyways, this blog was to inform some friends about my mommy, and to vent a little bit about my worries and concerns. To end it, here's a picture of my pretty mommy and her first grandson, my brothers little boy.

It is the fear of one's own self that haunts the lonely.

I am proud to say that today I came to realize that i'm actually rather used to this occassional living on my own situation. Which is good, because it's nowhere near it's end haha. The last week has been hard on Mike, since he's working shifts between 12 and 14 hours a day, and he will be underway for most of the next two weeks. So i've taken to hobbies and cooking again.
Tonight I decided to make something up, since I saw an attractive recipe that didn't QUITE fit my needs. So I took a single boneless skinless chicken breast, butterflied it, and filled the inside with swiss and parmessean cheese, and crumbled bacon. I took vegetable oil (olive oil would have been better), and made a baste with oregano, basil, lemon pepper, minced onions, a little bit of garlic salt, and pepper. I baked it in the oven and had pasta with a jazzed up alfredo sauce as a side. MM! I wasn't sure if the lemon and garlic would go well, i'm just delving into new tastes, but it was great. Next time I would like to cut the lemon pepper and mix lemon juice with the olive oil. Here's what it looked like.

I also got a really great 'family photo' of us and our tree and I wanted to share that even though the holidays aren't so close as i'd like.

The 1st Voigt Thanksgiving :]

Well Thanksgiving turned out great! We woke up this morning with Willow in time to catch the Thanksgiving day parade, which we watched and flipped around channels for a while. I skipped breakfast because I just knew that we were going to get stuffed at dinner. After talking on Skype to my family in Texas, I started getting hungry and bored with not cooking. Since it was just the two of us we decided hey- we can eat whenever we want! So I put the last few things in the oven and it turned out loverly.
I thought I showed pretty good restraint, waiting until the evening to start puttin the tree up, but Mike still thinks it's a little early. Well I didn't need his help, haha, I put the tree together and decorated it and I think it's a great first Christmas tree! I'm just goint to put a few of the pictures up because it's not even December yet and i'm sure we are going to have a bunch more pictures throughout the month. Happy holidays :]



Oh- I also wanted to share a picture of my side of the family, who we really missed today but are so glad to have in our lives!

Getting ready for a long few weeks.

First I wanted to show everyone our first [succesful] jackolantern together!!
Mike will be going out to sea for another underway this week. That wasn't the original plan, but since the last week got messed up they have to be gone this week, and the next three. He does get to come home on weekends but his duty days kind of clash with those. Unfortunately he has duty on his birthday also, so he will be gone for over an extended period of time that week. I have to say this underway really snuck up on me and I am not in the right state of mind at all. I'm not so prepared as I was the last time but when we are done with this one, we don't have to worry about it again until deployment, and I KNOW that won't sneak up on us since I have plenty of time to prepare.
I also want to share a photo of my nephew and I, sort of together. This was his mom's idea and I thought it was really cool. Since we can't be together, this is our way of bonding when he goes over to my parents house for time with Gramma and Grampa.
Micah and Aunt Mikey

Bittersweet

This blog isn't about food of anything like that. Today I was cleaning the closet, so I of course I had to go through all my old photos. I picked out a few...a lot, of the ones that really reached out to certain memories, or just made me realize how great my life has been, and how much it's changed. So I thought i'd put them up, for my piece of mind, and maybe for you to enjoy. :]


Daddy daughter girlscout dances.

WOW! First trip to six flags in junior high.

When Charles was younger

The good ole days.

A friend and I at my junior prom.

First trip to the beach since I was a toddler. Obvious by my sheet white legs.

Headed to my first trip away from my parents, back when I was skinny[er].

My beautiful momma sharing some of all that love she has.

Chopper and Blizzard, my pups in Texas.This picture almost made me cry, I can't believe Chopper was that big.

Lots of important people in this picture.

When I first learned to tattoo, in our kitchen.


Probably my favorite, my daddy and I when I was cute and snuggly.