The Age Of Computers

You know, sometimes i dont like living in the technology age. Don't get me wrong, i love that i can speak to all of my friends that i have around the country and in other countries even. I love that when i get to the store i can call my husband to remind me what i was supposed to be picking up. However, i think that sometimes we go too far. Temptaion is much higher with the world that we live in. Its not easy to trust people. There is always a loophole it seems with this world. Cell phones, facebook, myspace, email, twitter...all of it. There are secrets that we can keep from each other on every forum. Im grateful that it is easy to get in touch with someone when there is an emergency...or even when you just need a friend. But i wish the world wasnt so wraught with sin and deception.

More Moving Moving Moving

So now......we are moving ourselves....get to pack everything...then unpack and pack it up again in Rexburg because we are staying for 2 weeks and we dont want to pay for the Uhaul for 2 weeks for it to sit. Oh so much fun.....The next two weeks are sure gonna be interesting.

Kinda a Rant...

Im really frustrated today with Colorado, I'm glad we are moving! I got fired today because i gave my notice to my boss yesterday. I told her that when she hired me i had no idea that i would moving this soon (although i had warned her that we were trying to move) and that i was sorry but my last day would have to be the 26th of this month; 2 weeks from yesterday. I get a TEXT MESSAGE today explaining that i am no longer needed and that the paycheck i got yesterday should make us even. I am extremely upset because im not sure how we are going to pay our car payment next month....we really needed that money. I also think it was quite rude of her to not even call me. She told me that i didnt do anything wrong and she was thankful that i watched her kids for us but that she needed stability for her kids. I don't understand how firing me (without even letting me say goodbye) 2 weeks earlier than im quitting would really matter too much. Its not as if i was coming back for 3 days and leaving. And now her kids are thinking that i will be coming back, they hugged and kissed me yesterday and said that they would see me on monday....now i will just never come back. Is that better for her kids? To think that i just abandoned them. I am going to miss those kids, and it sucks for me too, to not be able to say goodbye. I thought that because she was military she would at least understand that i dont exactly like moving and getting a new job and i really needed that money. The sad thing is, this isnt the first time that this has happened in Colorado. When i quit my tanning job i gave my two weeks notice and they just asked me not to come back again. Both situations i did nothing wrong (in fact at One Sunsational Tan their records showed that i was their highest selling employee). Apparently in Colorado people dont have a problem being extremely rude for no reason.

Move Move Move Move Move Move Move

Sometimes i feel like the only thing that Dane and I have been doing since we got engaged was move! I moved out of my parents house after high school ended. Only 4 short months after that i moved back for 2 weeks to their house...waiting for my dear husband to come home from his deployment to Iraq.

Then started the military moves; I rode the bus (quite a long ride at about 45 hrs) from Salt Lake, Utah to Killeen, Texas where a friend of Danes let me crash at her house for a few days (even tho she had never met me before, for which we were exteremly grateful) while Dane made the trip home. We were lucky in Texas; Nadine let us borrow her husbands car, since he was deployed, while we were there without ours. We got our apartment leased very quickly, and even getting a majority of our "first apartment furniture", mostly from Goodwill, in only 2 short days. But then came the hard part...moving all of my things and some of Danes from Idaho to Texas.

Just 3 months later we started our Trek to Colorado. I have to say that move was very hard for me because i had a very good friend there, a mentor of sorts, that showed me the trade of a military wife, and i didnt know if i would ever have the chance to see her again. One of the things i must say military life is that you get to meet many people, but you also have to leave them behind. Its hard. I think the more moves i have the more i will get used to not being able to take my friendships/relationships with me.

We arrived here in Colorado in June of last yr. I have been to Denver before and i remembered that Colorado has wonderful scenery, which Texas was lacking. It seemed more like home...to be by the mountains, but it is a much higher altitutde and that threw me off for a good month. I love our life here. A cousin of mine, Josh, whom i hadnt seen in 8 years lives here. I got to meet his wonderful wife, Laura, and we have spent many nights together just hanging out. It was nice to have an instant friendship once we got here...it was easier to adjust. It felt like Texas where I had made a connection with someone very fast and i was never alone. Soon after we moved a couple with a young daughter moved in downstairs. I was on my way out to look for a job when i noticed the moving van. I went in to say hello, never knowing that the decision to stop and welcome a neighbor would change my life here in Colorado. I ended up staying almost all day, helping my new friend, Kori, unpack. I went downstairs nearly every day after that until i found a job, and even after getting my job i stayed close to my neighbor. She has been my best friend here, and its going to be difficult to leave again. I know that she will always be my friend, just as i beleive Nadine always will be, but i hope that our paths cross sometime in the future.

Now here we are.....getting ready for the 5th move since September 2008, having been here for less than a yr. I have to say that this is the fastest move me have made. We found out just yesterday that Dane will be reporting to Joint Base Lewis-McChord on May 10th and that we will be leaving here (because he has alot of leave days given to him to move) in 28 days or less. I am extremely grateful that we do not have to pack most of our belongings. I have heard my fair share of horror stories about military moves but i have decided that if this move is like the last one was we should be fine because i found that as long as i quadruple checked our inventory list and serial numbers of our tvs we would be ok. Hopefully, nothing gets broken; but hey if it does...at least we didnt pay much for it.

As many of you know, we are making this move to be closer to Danes son, Omen. I am glad that Dane had the chance to reenlist so that he could make it possible. Dane has been a wonderful daddy since he found out about his son and i am so proud of him. I cant wait to see him with his son for the first time, and many times after that, because i know he is going to be the best Dad ever. Once again when we get up to Washington, i will be able to have an instant relationship with not just one person but 3. 1) Danes son, 2) Omen's mother Sara & 3) Sara's mother Wendy. Already Sara and Wendy have been helpful to the moving process. I am one of the lucky ones. I get along very well with Sara and she gets along well with me, even tho i am the step mother i am involved and that makes things easier for me, if not for all of us.

I know this post has been long...sorry. But i feel the need to say that this is the best move we will ever make. Although we have moved alot i would not have asked Dane to give up this move, because he did have the choice. This move is all because of one little boy, that Dane and I love very much. This move is worth it, more than any of the rest of them will be, because Omen is extremely important to both of us and he deserves to have a mommy & a daddy (& a mommy ;) ) and Omen will always come first in our lives.

Camping in March.....Intriguing

Dane and i went camping last night with a friend of mine. We just recently bought a new tent. Dane has been dying to get out and go camping again since it has been quite a while since the last time. Our new tent is much bigger, but that didnt change the fact that it was freezing outside. We got up there and we saw that there was 6 inches of snow on the ground. Had my friend, Kat, not come with us i would have seen the snow and just turned around and left, but i knew that they both wanted to stay. It was a fun night until we went to sleep and our toes started to freeze. My friend and i finally went to sleep in the Rodeo around 2 30. I told Dane next time we go camping it will be in our living room....at least until it gets a bit warmer outside!!

Fun photos from the past

This was in Rexburg while i was waiting to get my hair done last May. I thought it would be funny if he sat in the chair...he was the one that put the heater over his head and picked up the magazine. Priceless.

We were at "Mom Hollingers" for this picture. They invited us for dinner and we arrived a little early. We were all just joking around and somehow Dane came up with this....like Erkle. He looks so silly

That same night Mom was making homemade milkshakes. She asked what kind we would like and Dane said strawberry. So she started to make it and she put it in a cup. Well his was really think and when he tipped the cup up to drink it it spilled out on his face. He tried to tip mine up on me but i had better luck than he did! I guess thats what he gets for being impatiant.

This was sometime while Dane was deployed...i think right before he came home last Feburary. I was bored one night and my friend was taking pictures and i was like WAIT! and i grabbed this had that i got on a trip to Lagoon in Utah with my Dad a while ago. She thought it was so crazy that she took several pictures so i finally started posing for them..this one eneded up the best. (Yes the flag on the window is the Army Flag)

This is an arrangement i made while i was working at The Rose Shop. It just happened that every flower i put in there was bending to the left. I tried to fix this and i was working on trying to make it look striaght when my manager came over to see what was taking me so long with a simple arrnagement. I showed her the problem and she thought it was hilarious. She said it looked great and that she wanted to send it out like that. I thought it was so funny i took a few pictures...I really thought Misha was going to be mad. I was glad she thought it was funny.

This was in New York when my chior went there to sing at Carnige Hall. He was just standing on the sidewalk in front of the mall. I thought it was funny and couldnt figure out why they needed a big Elme there so i asked for a picture.

I want you! To be a US ARMY WIFE!

 

I dont know if you have seen "The Notebook" but my favorite line in that movie is the one on this picture "If you're a bird....I'm a bird" basically the point they are trying to make is that wherever we go, we go together. I will follow Dane whereever the military takes him and i will try very hard not to complain. I love you Dane. Thanks for the great years....hopefully there will be many great years to come.

I have nothing to write for my title...so here it is.

Feburary has been a pretty hard month. We learned of the results of the paternity test in the end of Janurary. Dane has a son. His name is Omen Shade Foster and he will be 3 in April. He is the cutest kid in the world (im not partial at all am i)? We are lucky, more lucky than most people, because Omens mother, Sara, is working with us to come up with an agreement outside of court that wont break us but will lend her the support that she needs. Dane is looking to move up to Ft. Lewis, WA very close to where they live. I have not met Omen yet but i love him already. He looks alot like daddy. Sara has been very good to us under the circumstances, and for that i am very grateful. I am not looking forward to moving the 6th time in less than 2 years but this move wil be very much worth it. Hopefully, Dane can get stabilization or something that will make it so that we can stay at Ft. Lewis (actually its Joint Base Lewis McChord, a combined Army/Air Force Base) for longer than we have at other posts. He was at Ft Hood for almost 3 yrs so hopefully we will get that lucky, or even more so. We are going on a trip in April to see him on his birthday and im starting to get really excited for that.

 I started my new job on Feb 1st. It is a fun job and i love the kids i watch but it is exhausting. I watch a 2 and 3 yr old from 8 to 5, Mon-Fri. I work for an LDS couple. The husband is in the Airforce and the wife works at an apartment building as a leasing officer and goes to school. They pay me well and i am thankful. In March he is leaving for a month and i will be coming at 6 30 instead of 8. I am not looking forward to the long days but i know that i am doing something that saves the family alot of time and problems. They have been very understanding and they are giving me 2 weeks off to take the trip to Washington.

Dane and I made a deal that when we paid off the Rodeo we could start trying to have children. We had not been preventing pregnancy previously but we decided to officially try, take tests and figure out why we have not gotten pregnant this year. We still dont know. Getting a drs apt for those tests takes a long while. We paid the Rodeo off a few weeks ago. For that i am extremely happy, now we only have to pay my car payment. I am starting to get frustrated with getting pregnant. Im sure the time just isnt right, but it seems like every week i get another call about someone who is pregnant. Especially in Danes family. He has 11 siblings in all with the full and step siblings and alot of them either are pregnant or just had a baby and i feel a little out of the loop in that respect. I feel like i am not fullfilling my wifely duties. I know that we are still young and we have time, but it has been over a year since Dane came home from Iraq and im very worried about if i can actually get pregnant. Dane keeps saying that there is no rush because he already has a son! I think its funny. I told him one day that i would get him a puppy if he would give me a baby. ;).

A friend of mine on Facebook commented that Feburary has been especially long considering the fact that it is the shortest month in the year. I completely agree. Hopefully March wont be as long...or at least feel as long.

Soldiers Angels

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Charity Soldiers Angels. This is a fantastic program that sends all kinds of things to soldiers that are deployed. Its a wide variety of things like blankets, cakes for birthdays, calling cards, and even Mary Kay products. You can become a Soldiers Angel for free. If you want to adopt a soldier and be given personal information for them, so that you can send letters or baked goods to a certain person its a donation of 1 dollar or more to become a "Verified Angel". If you are a Mary Kay consultant or know one i would reccommed signing up with your distributor to be part of Operation Mary Kay. This is a wonderful charity, I love being a Soldiers Angel. I hope that you will become one as well. The website is pretty clear. http://www.soldiersangels.com/. Please. Adopt a soldier today.

Valentines Day

It has been just over a year since Dane came home from Iraq. Last year he got home 4 days before Valentines day, and we spent Feb 14th eating takeout on a tablecloth that i spread on the floor of our apartment we had rented out 3 days earlier. It was magical to have him home and im not saying that last year was bad....however, this year was better.

First of all, we went a Army Marriage Retreat. It was at a beautiful resort called The Timbers in Denver. I would recommed this hotel to anyone who happens to need one in Denver. The food was fantastic and the rooms were great. The entire weekend we focused on Dr Chapmans "Five Love Languages" We watched Dr Chapman personally explain his book and how much it can improve your marriage. We got to know alot of couples but a few of them we got to know really well and we came away with the phone numbers of two of them.

On Saturday night Dane surprised me with Chocolate Covered Strawberries. It was extremely romantic and i thought that was my Valentines gift....but then on Sunday i also recieved 2 books from 2 of my favorite authors, gorgeous flowers (11 red roses and 1 orange rose. He got the one rose becuase he says "I brighten up his life"), a dancing stuffed animal, and Thin Mint girlscout cookies. I never imagined he would get me such things, especially because 2 weeks ago he bought me Valentines PJs.

To say the least i have been spoiled this Valentines day...and i hope everyone who is reading this was as well. I hope all of you had great Valentines Days. If any of you have memorable stories, please share them with me here.

Valentines is coming!!!

I am starting to get really excited for Valentines Day. Anyone who knows me well knows that Valentines is my favorite holiday. One year in high school i even dressed up with Red/Hearty tinsel around my wrists, neck, and my belt loop. I love everything about Valentines Day. Flowers, Chocolates, and Love. I like that the day is all about loving other people. Now i know what people say about "every day should be Valentines Day" and im not discounting that fact. I think that Valentines day should remind you of all the other days that are special to you.

This year we are going on an Army Marriage Retreat. We don't know where we are going yet, we are soon going to find out. All we know is that it will be at a little resort in the mountains. This is our first marriage retreat but i have been told by many people that they are good. This time the last day is actually Valentines day so i am especially looking forward to that!!


I hope all of you have a Happy Valentines Day!! Even if you are single....know that i love you ;)

Long Time No Blog

Its been quite a while since i have updated the blog. Life has gotten away from me. Since my last post i have had 2 different jobs and i am getting a new one on monday. I worked at a tanning salon...I found out about some illegal things that were going on and i quit. I worked at the Safeway Deli as well. I recently quit because i was working all nights and would hardly be able to see my husband or go to church. My new job will be nannying for an lds family in the area. They are 2 kids; 2 and 3 yrs old. It ends at 5 every day and no weekends so we are hoping that this will be a good job and i can have it for quite a while.

Dane is doing well. In november he went for a month long tdy to Yuma Arizona. It was hard and he missed our anniversary but we were happy to have him back just before Thanksgiving. We both ended up working on Thanksgiving but we came home to a nice dinner prepared by my wonderful neighbor and all had a good time. Christmas was a fun time...just me and the hubby on Christmas morning. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas night with my uncle that lives about 1 hr from our home. Luckily i did not have to work either days.

In Febuary, just before Valentines day we will have had Dane home from Iraq for a year. Last year on the 10th he came home to Ft Hood, Texas from Bagdad, Iraq. We are not sure when his next deployment will be but it should be sometime in the next couple of months. We are hoping to move up to Ft Lewis Washington before he has the chance to get deployed. However, if we do not get the chance to go to Ft Lewis, we will be lucky if he is here until my birthday on August 8th.

The Army is a hard life but its a good one. I am greatful to have my husband home. I love that he fights for our country. The life that we live with deployments and leave and returns home is very much worth it. He is my hero. I am thankful that he is alive and well. I pray every day for soldiers and for the families. Especially families of fallen soldiers.

Hopefully i will remember to update my blog so you guys acutally know whats going on. Sorry Mom!! I saw your message from September...i am not dissappearing...ive just been busy.