Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Bars

My good friend, Jess, made this for dessert one of the first times she and her husband came to dinner. Her husband is my husband's sergeant and they quickly became friends through work, and introduced us, and we quickly became friends. She has introduced me to some of the best recipes, and I figured I'd share this one with all of you. If you are a peanut butter fan, this one is a must! I made it Saturday night for my grandmother's birthday lunch on Sunday...that is one of the greatest parts about this recipe, it's easy and you can make it early! Here ya go!

Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Bars

24 Nutter Butter Cookies (crushed)

5 Tbs. Butter - Melted

Mix together and press into square dish or pan (I use an 8x8 or a 9x9)

Filling:

1 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese

1 cup Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

6 oz. Cool Whip (will need a bigger size, will use what's left for topping)

Mix together and spread on top of crust.

Top with remaining Cool Whip.

Place in freezer 2-4 hours before serving, remove 1/2 hour before serving. Drizzle chocolate syrup over top right before eatin' time!

I hope ya'll enjoy, we did! Here's a couple of pictures of the yummy treat.

Good News!

Tonight they discharged my grandfather from the hospital, he's resting at home and seems to be in good spirits! They did the pill camera test and will know the results from it on Monday. It's like a complete turn around for him. The doctors did a repeat hemoglobin test and his levels are back up, therefore permitting his release this evening. Prayer is powerful!!! Thanks to all of you beautiful women for keeping him in your prayers and for being such wonderful friends. I'm so thankful for all of you, even though we've never met, I treasure you all.

Some random things about me

I have seen a few people do these, so I figured I would fill one out due to the lack of something to write about today. And I wanted to just take a second to thank all of you wonderful ladies who have been praying for my family and my grandfather, for me and for Jason. You have all been such a blessing and I truly appreciate and value each and every one of you.

01. What time is it? 9:30 a.m.
02.What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Premonition
03.Diamonds or Pearls? Well, I don't have any pearls, so diamonds.
04.What is your favorite tv show? Heroes
05.What did you have for breakfast? Oatmeal, Milk
06. What is your middle name? Michelle
07.What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese (eggrolls, fried rice, etc.) and American (meat and potatoes)
08.What foods do you dislike? Spaghetti...I know it's strange!
09.What are your favorite chips? Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
10.What is your favorite CD at the moment? One that I made with different country songs on it.
11.What kind of car do you drive? Jeep Grand Cherokee
12.Favorite Sandwich? Turkey Club, or a Spicy Chicken
13.What are characteristics you can't stand? Lying, Cheating
14.What are your favorite clothes? Jeans or capris, cute t-shirts, and flip flops
15.If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go? Back to Boone, NC where we went on our Honeymoon.
16.Where would you want to retire? The mountains of NC.
17.Favorite time of day? Evening time, when the kitchen is cleaned and everybody can sit and relax and visit.
18.Where were you born? High Point, NC
19.What is your favorite sport to watch? Definately Carolina Panthers football!!!
20.Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi, or Diet Coke
21.Beavers or ducks? Beavers, I've been chased by ducks, never been chased by a beaver.
22.Are you a morning person or a night owl? Definately a night owl.
23.Pedicure or manicure? I keep my fingernails short from years of working in a daycare, but I love a pedicure!
24.What did you want to be when you were little? A famous singer. I had a little record player and microphone and I would get up on the fireplace and perform for my family and anyone else who would listen.
25.What is your best childhood memory? I don't have just one!!! But, family trips down to the lake when my dad had a ski boat sticks out in my memory. I learned to water ski when I was 7 years old.
26.Ever been to Africa? Nope, never felt the need.
27.Ever been toilet papering? Can't say that I have.
28.Been in a car accident? Not a big one, been bumped a few times.
29.Favorite day of the week? Fridays, the start of the weekend.
30.Favorite Restaurant? Olive Garden, or Red Lobster
31.Favorite flower? DAISIES!!!
32.Favorite ice cream? Breyer's Cookies 'n Cream
33.Favorite fast food restaurant? McDonald's
34.How many times did you fail your drivers' test? I passed first time:)
35.From whom did you get your last E-mail? My sweet husband.
36.Which store would you chose to max out your credit card? American Eagle, Old Navy, or Gap Outlet
37.Last person you went to dinner with? My buddy, Mandi
38.What are you listening to right now? My noisy computer that needs a new fan.
39.What is your favorite color? Pink
40.How many tattoos do you have? Not a one.
41.How many are you sending this e-mail to? Not emailing it.
42.Favorite Magazine? Any and all scrapbooking magazines.
43.Coffee or Tea? Coffee!!!
44.Do you tan easily or burn easily? Tan easily
45.Do you color your hair? Sometimes, I get bored with my hair easily, I change color and styles very frequently.
46.What was the first car you ever purchased without the help of your parents? The one I have now.
47.What is your most dreaded household chore? I hate to sweep and mop hard surface floors, hate it b/c it seems like as soon as you get it done, it needs to be done again!
48.Do you like life? I love it.
49.Is there anyone that you just can't stand? There are people I don't particularly care for, but I can "stand" anyone as long as I'm not stuck in a small space with them...lol.
50.Are you anxious about tomorrow? Yes, quite a bit, my grandfather's procedure is tomorrow.

He's crazy!

Just a quick story behind these pictures. This is a story from this past summer, we are stationed on the coast, so it makes for some good fishing. Problem...we started going fishing at this park on the river (salt water), murky water, and the first thing I see when we enter the park is a "Do Not Feed the Alligators" sign. Hmmm... I was not very comfortable with this. We proceeded on and went half way down this board walk looking thing where every so often is a little jut out to sit and fish. Well, on the day these pictures were taken, I did not go along. Thank goodness, I probably would have had a small panic attack. My husband threw out his line near a patch of brush. No sooner than it hit the water, a splash from the brush! Two little eyes, and hook, line, and sinker. No fish, yes..you got it, an alligator. And the hook was snagged in his mouth. So what does Jason do, he reels him in. He gets tangled on the edge of the water in some weeds, so Jason jumps in the water and picks him up, PICKS HIM UP!!! No, he wasn't that big, but still he is an alligator and he has teeth, LOTS of teeth. Here are some pictures of my husband and his alligator. He just may be the next Steve Irwin:( Now, I may be wrong, but this alligator does not look happy to me. I'm just glad Jason still has all his fingers. Oh, how I love this man. Crazy as he is.

My Bears

I got this idea from my friend, Candy's blog at Candy and Roses, it seems we share the love for cuddly teddy bears. She wrote about some of her bear collection and I want to tell a little about a few of mine. The first one is a bear that I've had since I was 12 years old, I got it for Christmas that year. My mom and I used to visit this little store called Vine Designs. They always had hot apple cider and cookies there so of course I loved it! I spotted this precious find several months before Christmas and my mom went back and got it for me soon after. I like to think that I saved this bear because that cute little shop burnt down soon after.This next one is one I've had for almost 3 years now. My husband (at the time he wasn't my husband just yet) went to Build-a-Bear workshops and built this one for me. The significance of this bear is that after he made him, he dressed him in just a cute little baby blue t-shirt...the reason, I had just found out that my sister was having a boy! He knew how excited I was about my sister having a little boy and me getting a nephew:)
And the last one I'm going to tell you about is my newest bear, I've only had him for about 2 months. It has become tradition now that Jason builds me a bear to remember certain occasions, or for certain circumstances. This one was another one that Jason made for me. He gave him to me for Valentine's Day so that when he left, I'd have this bear to squeeze at night. He dressed him in the Marine dress blues uniform and he even came with a hat (that is still packed b/c it kept falling off and I didn't want to lose it in the move). Now if you've never been to a Build-a-Bear, you need to try and visit. It's so neat. You get to pick out the heart that goes in them and stuff them, pull the stitches to seal it up, name it, print out a birth certificate, and pick out it's outfit(s). Jason picked out the purple heart for the diabetes foundation, it donates $1.00 for every heart. He named it after him, of course, and added the heart that he is holding to be a little reminder that he loves me when he can't tell me himself due to being gone.
I have lots more, but many of them are in our storage unit. So, therefore, I figured I'd just share my 3 favorite ones that stayed with me during all the moving from there to here, from here to there. Aren't they just sweet?

Momma's Birthday Dinner

Tonight we celebrated my mom's birthday with our traditional birthday dinner. Usually when one of us has a birthday that falls on a weekday, we celebrate it the following weekend. I got up this morning and made our family's favorite homemade chocolate cake, baked some HUGE potatoes and threw together a salad to go with the steaks (my mom's favorite) that my dad grilled out. Of course, we washed it all down with our southern sweet tea! Our recipe for the cake is:

Chocolate Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

6 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup oil

2 Tbs. vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease cake pan(s). In large bowl combine first 5 ingredients (dry ingredients), then add the remaining ingredients and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean, and center of cake is springy to the touch. Let cool on rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool for remaining time on the rack. When cool, frost.

Frosting

Mix:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup milk

Our place settings:

Me and Momma
Frosting the cake:
Alaina straightening up for the dinner:
A mound of baked potatoes!
Almost time to eat:)
My dad, the grilling king
Momma opening her presents

New Glasses

I've got new glasses! I love them. I was in 7th grade when I first got glasses, but quickly switched to contact lenses. You know how mean kids can be. I've had a backup pair of glasses just in case a contact ripped, but the prescription in them was old and they weren't the prettiest frames. Let me tell you, without contacts or glasses, I'm pretty close to being blind. If I try to read anything without them, the paper has to be right in front of my face. VERY nearsighted. I couldn't even tell you what my eye doctor looks like because when she came in, I didn't have my contacts in or glasses on!!!

Just a silly late night picture that I took to send to Jason so he could see what they looked like:

Starting to pick up a few things for the next house

Well, as most of you know, I'm back at home with my parents for the time being while Jason is deployed. Mostly for health reasons, but I'll post about that some other time. We put most of our stuff in storage, but sold our old living room set to my sister and her husband to prevent from having to get a much bigger storage unit to store all of that furniture as well. So, our plan is to buy a new living room set when Jason comes home or right before, if we can decide together through pictures and the internet. With that being said, I think we are leaning towards a set by Ashley furniture that is microsuede in a color that closely resembles coffee with creamer in it. Overstuffed and just so inviting. I like the solid color because I can dress it up with different pillows and bring out the colors in several wall plaques that I've been eyeing. Today my mom took me to a little store not too far from where we live that has all kinds of home decor, and alot of their stuff is right up my alley...style wise. I love love love Willow Tree figurines and decorations. I'm working on collecting the whole nativity scene right now. To me, they are just so simple, yet each one says a multitude of things. I've received several as gifts and never tire of getting them because there are just so many different ones that fit so many different situations and relationships.

Ok, ok...what I'm getting at is that I found a Willow Tree pillow at this little store. It has the brown and cream colors that we are wanting to go with in our living room. So of course I had to snatch it up. And the price wasn't bad either! And I absloutely adored the words written on it, they stay true to the style of Willow Tree items...
Then, we made a quick stop by Wal-Mart and found the cutest candles. Just a few pennies short of 7 bucks made this decision a quick one. The fragrances of these candles are so fresh and the container it comes in also fits in with my country kitchen style. The container is really thick glass, good quality stuff. I plan on using the container after the candle is long gone for storing rock salt, or maybe tea bags. My mom and I both got the sugared pears scent. It smells yummy!So, just a couple of purchases, but ones that made me happy. I'll be posting pictures as I go of the new furniture and whatever wall decor I decide on, etc., etc. if anyone is interested:)

One awesome kid

I love my nephew, he has brought us all such joy. He is 2 years old now, and is just the sweetest little guy. He knows when somebody is sad, and jumps to fixing the problem the best way he knows how. He does not like to sit still for long, but when he can tell someone is a bit down, he will become Mr. Cuddlebug. I was the lucky recipient of his precious cuddle time a few nights ago. He just sat and sat while we watched a movie.

I have three main men in my life, besides my number one being my Heavenly father, they are Jason, my Daddy, and Austin. Since Jason's been gone, Austin has succeeded in keeping a smile on my face most days, one way or another. He is such a goof and will do anything for a laugh...already...at age 2! And he loves giving his family kisses. The little guy will just walk up and tilt his head (that means he's going to give you "kisses").

And he LOVES his cars/trucks. Jason left one of his truck magazines here for Austin and he has looked at that thing probably a million times by now, pointing out the mirrors, lights, windows, wheels, etc., making the vroom vroom and squeeling tires noises. He likes to sit on your lap and turn page after page, and when you comment on a "pretty" truck, he agrees with a "uh-huh!" I have really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with him lately. I've missed out on alot by not living close by, and I want to try and make up as much of that time as I can while I have the chance.

I guess the reason of this post is to brag a little on what a precious boy he is becoming, but to also let you all know one of the things helping me through this deployment is the love of that little boy. Ashley is one lucky woman to have such a beautiful son. And even though I have no kids yet (hopefully he will have some cousins before long:)), he is the next best thing to it.

Oh, and in case you were wondering...he's not being spoiled one little bit. Yeah right :p Here's a picture from tonight when we had dinner at Ash's house, you can just see how much he is adored, as well as how much he adores his Grammie and Papa.

The last couple of days...

Hey everyone. Sorry I've been a little MIA. After helping my mom with our little surprise for my dad, I've just been tired. And a little down. I have these "times" every few days it seems, now that Jason is gone. Times when I don't sleep well at night due to restlessness, the empty half of the bed, and bad dreams. The times when missing him gets too great for me to handle and I just have to cry. Today was one of the harder days. I decided I'd take a nap to catch up a little and maybe pass some time. It helped a bit. I then had dinner and caught a movie with a long time friend (we go back to elementary school). Her fiance is in the army and is presently in Iraq as well. So it helped to talk to someone else going through a similar situation. Even though they aren't married yet, she knows the reality of loneliness and can relate. We saw the new Sandra Bullock movie, Premonition. It made me cry. So, maybe it wasn't the best one to see tonight. But, I'm back at home now and trying to settle in for the night. I'll be going to church in the morning with all my family, and that always helps with the sadness and reminds me that God is still there, still listening, and still reminding me to lean on Him. But, if you don't mind...maybe say a little prayer for me, and as always, for Jason's safety.

Taken 8 days before Jason left, one of my favorites. Sweetheart, if you get to read this one, I miss and love you.

Forgiveness and Appreciation

A friend of mine emailed this to me, and I thought it had such a good message!

Two friends were walking through the desert.

During some point of the journey, they had and arguement, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one that got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.

The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After recovering from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

Today my best friend saved my life.

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend, asked him:

"After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone, why?"

The friend replied:

"When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone.

I know there's been certain situations where I've been very slow to forgive, and I know that it's a sin to hold a grudge. There have also been times when I haven't given credit where credit is due, for good deeds that have people have shown me. So, for me, this was a simple, yet effective reminder.

My Man's Best Friend

I was pleased to hear today that my husband has been able to read my blog almost every day! At his sweet request, I agreed to post on our favorite pet ever, Patches.

We bought Patches from a breeder in California (while we were living out there) who also ran a horse rescue farm. We had done our research online as to what breed we wanted, we were both in quick agreement that we wanted an Austrailian Shepherd, which are known for their faithfulness and high activity level (one thing my hubby wanted), as they are farm dogs/sheep hearders by nature. We happened to find the breeder in the newspaper and she was not even 10 minutes away from base, where we were living in on-base housing.

We went that night and about 30 minutes later, we had our puppy. He was the only one left in his color (which is called Blue Merle) and we immediately fell in love. Like with all puppies, adjustment took a few days. The first night, he had to sleep with Jason's clothes because they had the scent of his siblings still on them from where we played with all of the puppies. The next day, after Jason headed off to work/school, I took little Patches out to pee, ate breakfast and fed him, and went up and got in the shower, taking him with me since he was still so new and little. Oh my, what I didn't expect is for him to cry and moan and whine the second that the shower curtain closed! I was trying to hurry so that he would stop crying, but as I was washing my hair, I heard the wimpering stop. I look down to see my precious puppy sitting in the tub right at my feet with his eyes closed to keep the water out, but just as happy as he could be that I was back in his presence. It was like that from then on, always wanting to be right by our side. He did eventually stop taking showers with me, but everytime one of us got a shower, he had to be lying right outside the tub.

He learned fast. I knew Aussies were smart, but my goodness! He was house trained within the first week! He learned how to shake hands, sit, lay down, roll over and play dead, speak on two different commands, stand, wait patiently for the treat that we would lay on his paw, and he would even push me from behind to make people laugh. We even taught him how to bring items to us. For example, if I was upstairs and Jason was downstairs and I needed my phone from down there, he'd give it to Patches and tell him to go find "momma" and within a few seconds, I'd have my phone. We were working on the military low crawl with him when we left California. He loved it out there, so much land and so many open spaces for him to run. He even went rock climbing with us one weekend, and was better at it than me! Jason would play frisbee with him in the field at the end of our street for hours, just running and running. In the desert of California, it gets HOT during the day, close to 120, but the evenings and nights were so nice. We'd take him on walks almost every night. If there was any way to take him to wherever we were going, we would. He LOVED the car and loved to ride. Any time we let him out the front door, he'd run to the car door and wait. He even rode across country from California to NC and loved every second. He had become part of our little family.

On the long car trip home from California...

I say these things in the past tense because we no longer have our sweet Patches.

A cruel someone took him from us, we don't know who, we don't know why, but they did. He was stolen and we never found him. We haven't since gotten another dog. It was very hard for both of us because we just loved Patches so much. All we can hope for is that he is ok and that whoever went to the trouble of taking him treats him well.

We plan on finally getting another dog soon. Both of us have grown up with dogs as pets and can't stand not having one around. Once Jason gets back, we are going to get another Aussie puppy. We are stuck on the breed, Patches spoiled us to his good nature and peppy spirit. We already have a breeder picked out who is helping us by trying to have a litter around the time of his return. She has even promised us first pick and a discount to show her appreciation for Jason serving our country. We will again get a little blue merle boy. His name...Taz.

It was time for another dreaded haircut!!!

So, a quick background on my nephew and haircuts...he hates them. More than anything, he hates them. Somehow, my lovely sister started recruiting me to do his haircuts. She says that I did just as good of a job as the ladies at our local hair studio, and that I don't charge! But with Austin, I didn't think anybody could do his hair justice, he just won't allow it.

When we try to cut it the normal way, you know, with scissors, he absolutely freaks out. I don't know if it is the sound of his hair being cut or what, but he screams, and screams loud. Big alligator tears fall freely, and ultimately leaves Aunt Tee-Tee (as I've been fondly renamed) feeling horrible.

So, on Friday morning, Ashley decided it was "that time" again. He needed another haircut. (Big sigh from Aunt Tee-Tee) Well, this time, we decided to go get hair clippers, maybe that wouldn't be so bad? We got him used to the buzzing noise and thought that he might just think we were brushing his hair, since we put one of the guards on it. Well, as soon as I put those clippers next to his head, he realized our plan. He started blocking me with his arm, balling up his fists, screaming and shaking!!! I've never seen this little fella so angry! Well, at that point, Ashley knew I needed reinforcements, so she held his little flailing arms and steadied his head that he kept trying to shake back and forth. Funny how moms seem to be able to grow extra arms when needed:) We buzzed his head with a hair guard so it wouldn't be too short, but at the same time we could get it even all over. 30 minutes and 4 Advil later, it was complete and he looks precious. Needless to say, I was NOT his favorite person for the rest of the day, but by Saturday, all was forgotten and he loved me again.

Pictures taken with me before most recent haircut (when I was still one of his favorite people):

Pictures taken after said haircut (when he wasn't so pleased with me):

Looks like the events of the day wore him out a little, huh? They wore me out too! Who knew giving a haircut could be so tiring! But, all is well in Austin's world again, that is until next time.

An Update

I have come to realize that several of you are keeping up with me and my husband and our journey while he is deployed to Iraq. I so appreciate all of your support and prayers. It is so comforting to know that he is covered in prayer during his time away.

Thanks to modern day technology, I get to instant message with him every night. Around 10:30 here, but 6:30 a.m. there! Plus, I have a good man that treks down to the phone center about every other day, and stands in the lines with 1+ hour waits just to talk to me for anywhere between 15-30 minutes, depending on how busy the center is. He gets to email me pictures, which is ALWAYS exciting and I figured I'd share some with you so you all can have a peek into my husband's job and for 6 months or more, his life.

I will try to explain briefly what the last week and a half have been like for Jason. He left our base on Monday afternoon, from there was taken over to another base by bus, where they caught their first flight up north. After a brief layover where they played in the snow, they hopped on a plane to Germany, from there, to Kuwait, and from Kuwait...their final destination in Iraq.

Now, I have to brag a little on my sweetie. He is so smart. His job in the marine corps is to fix and build field radios (the big radios that the infantry/grunts use out in the field to communicate back to base). I'm a firm believer that every job in the military is vital to it's troops survival. Since we've been over in Iraq for what seems like eons, they have set up better living quarters for our guys (and gals). Jason lives in what looks like the trailer off of a tractor trailer truck. It is divided into 4's, I believe, and made into rooms. Two to a room. I will post pictures of his living quarters another day. He goes to work 7 days a week and his only down time is in the evenings. He says he can't complain about the food, and that it's not too awfully hot yet. They issue bikes for them to ride to and from work each day. But being the Marine Corps, they also have to run for their physical fitness to get to and from alot of places.

I sent out his first care package on Tuesday. It will take approximately 2 weeks to get to him. We loaded it up with his fave goodies from home. It was really neat, because when I went to send it, the lady behind me in line picked up the bill for the postage. She said she once was a military wife and she was just so thankful for mine and my husband's sacrifices. It's the little tokens of gratitude like that one that remind me how many supporters still are out there. He also gets to send out mail as often as he likes, so we already have some in route! It will be so good to see his handwriting.

He has not had to go on any convoys yet, and doesn't expect to have to. Those are when they travel off base in military vehicles for all different reasons. This is when alot of "accidents" happen. Just last week, a humvee ran over a field mine. I've asked him not to tell me the bad things that go on, as it will just give me an ulcer. I'm not sure if this is fair as I know he needs to talk about things to other people, outside of the military. I just thank our good Lord that he doesn't have a job that puts him on the front line. That fact helps me sleep a little easier at night.

Today is the 13th day that we've been apart. It still isn't any easier, but it helps that I have contact and know that he is a little safer as long as he's on base. Again, thank you to all of my new friends here in blog land for your prayerful support.

A day to celebrate

Okay, so at the direction of my dearest mommy, I am writing my second post.

Yesterday, March 5, was my wedding anniversary. 2 Years!!! Yay for us. Not up into the double digits or anything, but still an accomplishment. I think we've grown so much in our two years of marriage, not only maturity wise, but we've grown in our walk with God and our love for each other has grown and blossomed. You love somebody when you marry them, or you wouldn't get married. But isn't it awesome how you can continue to fall in love even more over time. I am so blessed to have found my soul mate, some people don't believe in soul mates, and I find that so saddening. I truly believe Jason is the person that God meant for me to be with for my lifetime and that he is the one man that can complete me and make me whole. Now I'm not saying that the past two years have been completely "bump in the road" free, but I am saying that we made it past those trivial things that I couldn't even recall if I tried. Because we love each other and God with a passion.

Our first year was hard. Mainly because right after tying the knot, we were stationed in California, almost 2400 miles from home!!! I have NEVER, ever been that far away from my family, and let me tell you, I am a daddy's girl and my momma is my best friend. Not to mention the close relationship that I have with my 2 sisters and a nephew who at the time was only 4 months old and had me wrapped around his tiny finger (well, he still does!). I didn't get to see my family for 8 months. Jason was in training for the job he was preparing to do in the Marines and couldn't take any time off. And we all know how expensive it is to fly one person across country, let alone 5 or 6! But, on the positive side, we really learned about each other, learned how to live together, learned how to work through things without running home to complain about what the other one had done or said. And we both grew up...alot. We became independent as a newly married couple and learned to stand on our own. We learned to depend on each other, we had to, we were all each other had out there. And that was enough to get us through.

That November, a year after Jason went to bootcamp, we got relocated to the coast of NC, those of you who are familiar with military bases can probably take a good guess at where we are now. We are closer to home, MUCH closer and it's alot easier now that we can see our families on a regular basis. But, let me tell you about our first anniversary: Trying to be sweet, my dearest love decided it would be neat to drive out onto the beach since we have an SUV (NOT a 4-wheel drive). Yes, I was leary, yes, I told him that it probably wasn't a good idea, but my sweetheart has a mind and ideas all his own and drove out there anyways. Well, attempted. Yes, we did get stuck, then we see a sign that says "No driving on the beach without a pass. Absolutely NO vehicles allowed unless equipped with 4 wheel drive." Well, guess what...we had neither. Thank the good Lord above that 2 guys with a Jeep and a tow strap came along before the cops had a chance to! We would have been slapped with 2 tickets! He made up for not listening to my "womanly intuition" later with a sweet dinner and a very nice gift and backrub...he knows my love languages!

This year, I was alone on my Anniversary due to Jason's deployment. But being the sweet, thoughtful man that he is, he just prepared an early celebration before he left. We had our dinner out the night before he left, went to a movie, and my gift was this gorgeous ring:

He also bought me this charm bracelet for me to use as my medical alert bracelet. You see, I have had insulin dependent diabetes for almost 13 years now. A practical gift, but yet it let me know just how much he cares by getting me something that he still knew I would like but that would serve it's purpose in an emergency.


So, on the day after such a special day, I have a little time to reflect on how special my marriage really is and I am so thankful that I have Jason to walk beside through life. Now that he's deployed, and I don't get to see him every day, I have thought several times about how I at times take him for granted. I always just assumed that he's going to be there at the end of each day, yet we are never promised that. I don't want to be that way anymore, I want to always make sure he knows that I love him with all of my heart and never let him forget it. I don't want to get in that old routine when he comes home of just being used to him being around each day. We should never take our time with the ones we love for granted. Funny what time away from your spouse will make you realize.

So, to wrap this one up, Happy Anniversary to...Me! And especially to my husband, that may or may not get to read this due to varying schedules during his days in Iraq, but thanks to modern technology, I got to talk to him on the phone and computer yesterday and we got to make our anniversary wishes to each other then. Here's to looking forward to next year's anniversary...YEAR 3, and getting to spend that one together! I love you darling!