Country Roads, Take Me Home!

Danny's Long Awaited Return to Cali

So finally after a year of being gone, boot camp, A school, deployment and work its time for danny to come back to California to visit his friends and family!
Of course everyone has been pestering me about when danny will be home, when he will be back and when he is gonna visit so now its here and the excitement is all very flattering.

I know Danny appreciated being missed while he was gone too! Unfortunately he was only able to be home about a week and a half before return to the sea but we managed to fit in so much fun stuff.

Family dinners and friends gatherings, wine tasting and even an 80's concert we love to go see when possible....

It seemed like we didn't stop moving the whole week and a half, but we managed to see everyone who made an effort to contact us. Overall I think it was a very productive home vacation trip.

I love you so much honey and Im glad that you got to come home!!

Homecoming has arrived!

Finally after a 7 month deployment

Long deployment and over a year of on and off separation due to training, boot camp and deployments the wait is finally over.

It really feels so nice for him to be home... seriously now its time to start workin on the move out to the east coast.

So when the day arrived and we got up early in the morning, cold norfolk morning and got ready, did the make up, hair, picked out a cute (but warm) outfit and set out to find a spot on the pier to wait for the ship.

And as expected the two hour wait in the cold seemed multiplied by the prolonged slow chug of the tug boats pulling the ship into the bay to dock at the pier, and the icy wind that blew upon the enthusiastic families who await the reunion.

My sister and I had our eyes locked on the sea of soldiers passing by at the edge of the pier waiting to see our loved ones. I think we were so focused on the big crowd that I didn't see Danny and Andrew coming up near us until they were practically at the base of the bleachers. They had slipped through a break in the fence and were coming up on us from a different direction than the main crowd.

Overall it was an exciting and heartfelt experience.

Halloween Tradition

Halloween Tradition

End of An Era
I know I had this same picture and title up last year but halloween is coming up fast and its strange to be uncertain of what my plans are. It seems like since forever I can remember having the halloween parties at the ranch (My moms old house out in the country).

Halloween is one of Danny and my favorite holidays, so it makes things even harder that he is not here and we dont have the ranch to have our parties.

Seems like EVERYONE is asking me already if what the plan is for halloween and the ranch. Even people I dont know. The other day I was at the bookstore at the JC and the clerk at the counter ended up asking me if there was going to be a party out at my house. This actually made me laugh that the parties have hit so many people, but also made me a little sad and reminiscent.

Over all it seems unfair that Danny has to spend ANOTHER halloween away from his friends and family here at home, but at least he is not in bootcamp this time! :)

I miss you honey!! Love you so much!!

Halfway Home

Phones Down, Time Difference and Anticipation

Its about that time now, the halfway point and my feelings are mixed. Yay we are halfway there, only the second half of the deployment to go and it seems like things are in reach. On the other hand it means I have to go through what I just did, waiting just as long as I have already waited... hmmm....

Well either way I look at it everyday we get closer and closer to his arrival home! I dont have that much to say this time just wanted to say that :) So Yay... hope everyone else is as excited as I am to hit the halfway point.

Coping with Life

So I thought that I was used to the navy life, Danny joined last October and we were apart on and off for months at a time. I was beginning to get used to things that way, flying out to Virginia, or driving to Florida and seeing him, living in different states for a month or two at a time. Actually the whole thing was more like long vacations sprinkled with a month or so apart from each other.

Overall things were good, somewhat unsettling at times but we got to see new places and experience different things. Then comes his deployment... and its way different. He only left about a month ago or so, but it just feels different. I know I have been apart from him longer than this, however it seems like things are dragging on, and knowing the next time we can be face to face is such a long stretch away makes things feel so much more distant.

Luckily he is not in the army, or marines or something where he has NO access to phone or computers, so I am holding on, but this is way harder than I could have imagined.

Wish me luck :) I have a good 6+ months left.

The Windy City

Love at first Sight

Ok, so maybe its not first sight as in the first time I ever saw Danny, even though I did have a huge crush on him then, but its our big reunion after boot camp! The best part was that he didn't barely recognize me, since I had gotten my hair done and lost about 12lbs while he was away. Ill tell ya the best motivator to go to the gym is knowing your husband is working his ass of 7 days a week in boot camp and he will be coming home soon! Haha got me to the gym 5-6 days a week while he was gone (lets just hope that keeps up).

So this is my first trip so far away from home since, well since I ever. Before this trip the furthest I had been away from home was Hawaii back in 8th grade. Its the middle of the winter and Im from California, heading to Chicago scared about the snow and freezing temperatures. I ended up buying a whole new wardrobe and two Pea-coats (got them both for 70% off at Old navy) just for the occasion.

When it came time to see him, I was so close to crying I was so happy! Ugh... two whole months of no contact was rough I tell ya, but oh so worth the wait to get to see him again. We ended up staying in Chicago over the weekend and visiting the sears tower and eating Chicago style pizza and doing all the fun touristy stuff (as much as you can in two days) before he was whisked away again, flown off to florida. Talk about a change in climate ;-) Overall the trip was great though, it was so nice to see him, and neat to explore new places.

Halloween Tradition

End of An Era

So for about 4 or 5 years now I have had a halloween party out at my parents house in the country. It was the perfect venue, secluded with enough room for many people, also no neighbors for days. This year is bitter-sweet. For one Danny wont be here, and its one of his favorite holidays, and for two its the last year we are going to have a party out at my parents. Hence they are moving and we are forced to find another location next year or something else to occupy our time on halloween.

With that being said I am still pretty excited, I love planning the party, shopping for ideas and decorating the house. Its so thrilling and fun to come up with cheap, fun decoration ideas to make the house look spooky. On the other hand its not gonna be the same without Danny here.

Leaving for the Navy

So its getting down to the wire and time for my husband Danny to leave for navy boot camp. Up until this point we have rarely been apart for more than a few days at a time and now things seem so hectic, scary, and new. We have both been trying to stay calm, while fitting in the canyon sized lists of 'to dos' growing more and more rapidly as D day approaches. Boy, I know that he has to leave, but as time gets closer it seems more and more like a bad dream and the two months seem like an eternity.

We sat down one day about a month ago and talked about how he had a whole bunch of things he wanted to try and do before he left, like another round of wine tasting, camping and hiking at certain places. Two of our close friends helped us brainstorm different things that were part of what made home, well home. So we each got our work/school schedules and we worked out a calendar of what to do when, a prospective look at what we wanted to accomplish.

Looking back that seemed to be a great idea. In both our eyes we feel that it helped him with coming to terms that he was leaving home for a long time, and got to do many of the things that he has been wanting to, and saw all the people he could; and for me it helped greatly because it kept us spending quality time together in his last month here. I hear many couples tend to fight nearing the date because added stress and worry about the loved one being in boot camp, but this idea we came up with helped keep our minds off him actual departure and focused on what we had next on the list.