Questions and Answers

Thanks for the questions girlies. Sorry I've been slow about answering but this is the first moment I've gotten.

So Aishlea asked me a few questions. The first was:
What made you choose your dental career path?
When I little I was always fancinated with everything they used to clean my teeth. I think I'm one of the only people who really doesn't have a problem with going to the dentist. It was a career that I always went back to wanting. Originally I wanted to go into Fashion Merchandising. I love clothes! The older I got the more I started to change my mind on that career choice because I knew that one day I wanted a family and there was tons of traveling involved in that job. So after being a stay at home mom for almost 3 years I was ready to head back to school and start a career. Dental assisting just seemed like something I would enjoy. After doing the schooling I was very interested in the oral surgery part and then after doing my internship at my current place of work I knew it was for me. I love all the grossness and I enjoy helping people. I also love how fast pace everything is too. But working in a surgery center makes my hours perfect too. I'm home on the weekends and every night. No shift work like what some nurses do.

What is your favorite place to shop?
I love to shop anywhere that has great clothes at great prices. My favorites are Ross, Marshalls, TJMaxx, and Forever 21

What makeup are you most loyal to?
My make up is a mixture of a lot of different things. I will buy whatever eye shadow I find that I like. One thing that I always buy the same brand and color of is my blush. It's Rimmel. It's just the perfect color. My favorite mascara is Definicils by Lancome but right now I'm using just the basic Cover Girl one that's pink and green. It works great and is super cheap! I'm more picky about my face washing stuff and it's Clinque.

If you could have any kind of car, what would it be?
Well if money wasn't a problem I would have either an Infiniti QX-56 or a GMC Acadia. But money is an issue!!! LOL We are actually getting ready to purchase a new car. We haven't had a car in years. I've had my durango for 3 years and before that Aaron's truck. So I'm kind of excited. I want an Altima and have for years. It's big enough for us plus will still be good on gas which is something we are wanting since we plan to take A LOT of trips once we are back south and can actually drive to visit family...and the BEACH!!!!

What are some things on your Christmas list this year?
I honestly haven't even thought about this! This year I will have everything I could possibly want. Aaron is home, the boys will be overly excited, I will be near my family, and we have a brand new house to celebrate in! I guess this year I just mainly want stuff for the house. I'm finally going to have shelves and a nice entertainment center where I can set cute things! But of course clothes and shoes are always on my list!

Melissa asked me this:
How did you and Aaron meet??? And when did you know you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him?
A couple that I went to school with got married and were stationed at Ft. Campbell. The girl was good friends with my best friend Karey. Karey begged me to go to Campbell with her to visit. I honestly did not want to go! But she talked me into it and me, her, and another friend, Jamie, headed off to Campbell. We got there to find we were the only girls among about 20 Army guys. The first time I laid eyes on him I thought he was the most handsome thing ever. He said he just couldn't take his eyes off me. We spent that whole weekend getting to know each other. Everyone called us husband and wife after we had only been together for two days! I knew after that first weekend that we would be together. He was the one. I even told my mom I would marry him. The next two weekends I went back up to see him and he even took me to Michigan to meet his family on the 3rd weekend we were together. After only 8 weeks we got married. He just asked me one day while I was up visiting if wanted to get married that next Sunday. I said yes and off we went to get our marriage license!! Yes everyone thought we were crazy but we knew it was meant to be...and the rest is history!

Ask away!

My cousin Aishlea just did this over at her blog. I thought it was a cute idea.

So here's how it goes...for the next few days I am going to be accepting your questions (just leave a comment on this blog) and then I will answer them...yes all of them! So go ahead and think hard and ask away. No limits here!!! Feel free to ask about me, Aaron, the boys, Army life, motherhood...geeezzz....this list is endless!

On another note, Mr. Lane has an appointment today for his pre-op to get his tubes. We should be setting up the surgery date and I am guessing it will be soon since they want to get this done well before we leave. So say a prayer for him...and me! I know this is a common surgery and I've been told my mom after mom how great it is but I'm still nervous. He's my baby!

Hello Ya'll!!!!

Yep that's right, I'm working on getting back my southern drawwwwwlllll back! Since moving to Alaska more than one of my southern friends have told me that sweet southern accent of mine that of course made my hubby fall in love in me (hehehe!) was fading away. NOOOOOOOO! I love southern accents and I WANT mine. I know it won't take long...just a few days back home and all those ya'lls are right back in every sentence where they belong.

Things are going good with us. Aaron hasn't been too busy and work is pretty normal for me. Today Aaron and I are going to try to sneak off to a movie while the boys are at school. He and I have been enjoying our alone time together on Thursdays and Fridays. We locked in our morgage rate yesterday morning! Rates had dropped since we got pre-approved for our loan. Yay!!!! We talked with the realtor and he informed us that the house would be done on November 15!!! We are planning to have things lined up to close on November 24. So we should be home owners before Thanksgiving. We have sooooooo much to be thankful for. I also found out that I'm getting new shutters. I can't remember if I mentioned this before but my shutters were suppose to be a very dark redish/brown color. Well the builder thought they looked black in the picture...men!...of course no woman would put black shutters on a house with a brown roof!!! Yes I'm that picky! So after a little discussion between the builder and realtor I'm getting to pick out my new shutters once I get there. Which is perfect because I want to make sure they are just the right color! I can't wait!

I have to share a short little story about Lane. He's not a big talker but does have a few words he will say. With NO being the one he uses the most! But lately when we say "I love you" he says "too." I think it's adorable. It just melts my heart. So I'm off to get ready and get our homeowners insurance set up. Oh I can't wait to be a homeowner!!!!!! God is truly great!

Dates are set

This week has been busy in our household. Aaron went to a lot of appointments and stopped in quite a few different offices and set up everything for us to move. It's all set and ready. My last day of work is November 11. On the 14th we will go to our last 5-1 Cav function. The Redeployment Ball is that night so I get to get all dressed up. I can't wait. I ordered one dress only to have it not fit right so I just ordered another one. I'm so excited about this one. It's custom made for me!!!! I'm just crossing my fingers that it gets here in time! If not...well I'm not going to think that way!

The middle of November is jam packed with busy days. Movers, nights in a hotel, shipping the car, and then the big day...we step on plane and head to Bama. We will be arriving on November 21st!!!! After we rest up that weekend we will be off to close on our house!!!! Once it becomes ours...oh did I mention we will be purchasing a car during this time too...we will head up north to visit Aaron's side of the family. I'm so excited to see everyone. We have two new little nephews that we will be meeting for the first time. It will be the first time Aaron's brothers and sisters have seen Lane. So it will be a wonderful visit with all of them.

Once we return...HOPEFULLY...our stuff will have arrived and we can actually move into our new house!!! Of course I will busy for days...weeks...getting everything set up but I really hope to have things set up so we can enjoy Christmas at our new house. After Christmas we are hoping to do some visiting in Bama and see all my family. And then Aaron will sign in at Ft. Campbell after the first of the year. Ahhhhh...it feels so good to know we get to see our families so soon. 3 years has been way to long!!!! Love you guys...see you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures that were taken since I came back from Bama.

Last Saturday Logan went hunting with Dad. Here he's wearing Daddy's shoes but notice his knife and knife case he's carrying on his belt. (He can only carry it when he's with Daddy!) He's so proud of that thing!

Lane and I stayed home that day and watching the Bama game. Afterwards Lane was wired. Here he is running at Aaron and I yelling Roll Tide. I call him my little linebacker. He already grabs Logan around the waist and drags him down. It's in his blood!!!!

Aaron bought Logan a bow and arrow while I was gone. He was showing off his skills here. He is doing a great job!

Me and my little bug.

The boys playing with the surprises I bought home with me. Some from Mommy, Grammy, and Papaw...yes they are a little spoiled!!

Blog award from Aishlea!

My cousin Aishlea tagged me with a blog award. Thank you girlie! Your so sweet.



Here are the rules:

1-Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2-Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4-Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5-Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6-Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.7-Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they’ve been nominated.



So on with my 7 things....

1) I love houses. I could walk door to door and just walk around peoples houses. I love to see how houses are layed out. I love to see different decor styles that people have. I'm obsessed with it and have been since I was little. I would never want to be a real estate agent though.


2) I love surgeries. That's another thing I could watch/do all day. The grosser the better. My favorite surgeries to do at work are fixing jaw fractures or incise and drains. The first involves sticking metal wire through peoples gums and the later involves lots of puss and even sometimes nasty smells! Yes I'm sure I have a problem...but at least I'm helping people!!!


3) I make list for everything. Grocery shopping, packing, christmas presents, menus for dinner parties. But 9 times out of 10...I lose the list or don't bring it with me when I need it most. Aaron teases me endlessly about this and of course makes a huge deal when I actually remember to bring the grocery list with us to the grocery store!


4) When I get in cleaning moods I usually make things look worse before I make it look better. Or I worry about cleaning things that don't really matter. Or at least don't really matter to other people. Like when I was on a major cleaning spree before Aaron came home from Iraq, I actually worried about cleaning and organizing the pantry rather than vacuuming or doing laundry. I mean does he really care that I created a lunch, snack, baking, sides, canned veggies, drink mixes, and breakfast section in our pantry! I'm sure he doesn't even realize those "sections" exsist!


5) I love starting IVs. I could poke people all day long!!! Hahaha! I don't mean that in a mean way!!!!


6) My favorite meal ever is homemade fresh from the garden fried okra, turnip greens, fried potatos, pintos, corn on the cob, corn bread, and a homemade pickle that my grandmother made!!!! Oh my mouth is watering!!!!!!!


7) Most of the people who have known me my whole life know this but people who have met me in recent years probably don't know this. I LOVE to sing. I love to sing in public too. It just has to be in a large crowd. I'm terrified to sing in front of 10 close friends but it doesn't bother me a bit to sing in front of 50 plus people.


So now I'm going to break the rules a little. I don't have a lot of people to tag so I'm just tagging 4. Enjoy ladies!
Angela, Jessica, Brooke, and Becky

Our house visit

One week ago today I got to walk through our brand new house for the first time and I got to meet our builder. That's me there on the front porch!!!! I was beyond impressed! The house is looking amazing. Seeing the house in person is so much better than seeing it in pictures. The builder informed me that the house is almost 2700 sq ft plus the garage. Way bigger than we planned!

When you walk in the front door this is what you see. This is an area I had not seen prior to last week. In the picture I'm standing in the dinning room and looking into the kitchen and then the breakfast area. There will be a deck off that back door as well.
Me in my kitchen! This is the back of the house. I love all the windows!
This is the downstairs guest bathroom.
Here is mom checking out the guest bedroom. This room is pretty large! The playroom is by far the largest room in the house. It is massive! The vaulted ceilings make it seem enormous. I can't wait to see the boys playing in here. I have so many plans for this room. I hope it turns out like the vision in my head. It will take some time though.
The laundry room is a little room off the playroom. I can't wait to do laundry! Not really...hahaha! By the way, these guys were fearless walking around on those things. They were walking next to the stairs which have no railing up. Scary!
The tray ceilings in the master bedroom are going to be so nice.

In this picture I'm standing in the closet and looking into the master bath and then the master bedroom. The jacuzzi tub has jets in it!!! I can't wait to relax in that bad boy!!!!
The boy's room ended up larger than I thought it would be. Yay!!!! I love decorating! I can't wait to fix it all up!

I have a ton of pictures. While walking through the house I snapped pictures of everything. I can't put them all on here but I wanted to share the ones of places you might not have seen in other pictures. While I was there I got to go pick out my flooring and then went and checked out my cabinets and counter tops. Also I picked my paint color. Right now the whole house will be one color but I plan to do a little painting all in time! The flooring guy gave me samples of all my flooring choices to bring home to Aaron. Aaron laughed so hard at me when I started unpacking my bags. I was pulling out pretty large squares of carpet and even a 12 inch piece of hardwood! No wonder my bag got inspected at the airport! Grandmother and Mom got to be with me while I checked out the house. I'm so thankful they got to go with me. We ladies had a wonderful day. I even got to enjoy a tasty meal at Captain D's! I love that place!!!!

Unexpected Trip Home to Bama

I know I haven't been posting much lately but things have been very busy around here. Last Sunday, September 27 ended up being a very emotional and heart breaking day for me. My mother called me that morning to let me know that my uncle Jim, father of Matthew (my cousin who had the 4 wheeler wreck) and Paige, had passed away. Jim was an amazing man who I loved just like a father. Words can not begin to describe what a wonderful man he was. I love him so much and there will always be an empty place in my heart for him. I knew that I had to go home. I needed to be with my family. Aaron, being the amazing husband that he is, offered to stay home with the kiddos since tickets were crazy expensive. So late Sunday night I jumped on an airplane for a long, sad trip home. I didn't arrive until 6pm Monday night thanks to a long delay in the Atlanta airport. But after my mom picked me up we headed off to see Pam, Matthew, and Paige. Pam is such a strong and amazing woman. I think she comforted me more than I could have done for her. Just her hug and sweet words about how much Jim loved me mean more to me than she will ever know. That night we went out to see Matthew whom I had not see in over a year. He looked so good. He had gained so much weight since I had seen him. His face looked like Matthew. He was very congested that night and seemed to be under a good deal of stress. Matthew is very alert. He will look you right in the eye when you talk to him and even tries to talk. He said "mom" plain as day. I could have sat by his side and talked to him for days. He and I have so much time to make up for. He even smiled at me twice...but when Grandmother asked him if he smiled at me he shook his head no! Just like him! Tuesday was the funeral. It was beautiful. Pam and Paige planned the whole thing and I believe Jim smiled down upon it. Matthew had a rough night that night. Pam, Paige, and Matthew have a long road ahead of them. Matthew has a long road of recovery ahead but he now has a new guardian angel looking over him. His daddy wanted more than anyone to see Matthew walk, talk, and be himself again. And I believe that he will continue to push Matthew even harder as he watches him from Heaven. Jim, I could never say thank you for all that you are. I miss you more than I can ever describe. Please continue to remember them all in your prayers.

The good part of the trip was that I got to see my family for the first time in over a year. My grandmother has had a rough year but she looks amazing. I can't thank God enough for being with her through every step of her fight. My mom, well she is just the most wonderful person ever. Being able to spend so much time with her was wonderful. I love you mom! I got to have an evening just me and little bro. Even though he's bigger than me now, I can still beat up on him! Time with my step dad is always fun. I've missed him so much! It was so good to see everyone. I am soooooo looking forward to our move. I can't wait to see everyone more often. This 3 years has been the hardest 3 years of my life. You all have made me what I am today and I am forever grateful for each moment I have with you all. I'll see you soon!

Family pic...

Me and my beautiful Aunt Sharon
Trevor and I the day I left.
I forgot to take pictures when I was with everyone else. I was kicking myself in the butt the day I left because I had no pictures with Pam, Grandmother, Paige, or Matt. Soon though!

I returned home late Saturday night. My handsome hubby and boys were waiting to pick me up. Lane ran right up and hugged me. Logan was next. They became Daddy's boys during the week I was gone! We all talked over the webcam as much as we could. Technology is so amazing and definitely helped keep me sane while being away from my boys. I missed them so much. I can't thank Aaron enough for being the man he is. He had only been home for two weeks before being thrown into full time Daddy duty. He thought nothing of it but most men would tremble at being home by themselves with two small children and to top it off...he had been away and out of the Daddy routine for a year! Everything went perfectly and the house was even cleaned when I got home! I was very impressed! I'm such a lucky lady!