Thursday, October 23, 2008

New Hairdo

First I want to give an update on Mike's going away party. It was exceptional! I could not believe the hospitality and kindness of all the POW*MIA members and they introduced themselves as our new family :-) We didn't realize how official it was going to be. They had a little mini ceremony producing Mike with a certificate from the County Commissioner and a few little gifts from the POW*MIA. You guys would have been proud to see how well I held it together!! Someone from the group was taking pictures all night so I'll have to find out how to get a hold of them and then eventually post a few up here. It was really nice and especially for Mike to know how much the community supports him!

Moving right along.

So I chopped my hair off again!! I've been dying to get my hair cut like this since I chopped it off the last time, but Mike says he hates that style so I didn't do it. But I told him I was cutting it like that since he's leaving :) lol but I wanted to do it while he was still here so he can see it for himself and give me his honest opinion. So I finally did it last night, and I LOVE IT!! And Mike doesn't hate it afterall :-) YAY!!




Friday, October 17, 2008

I = Lame

The local POW*MIA guys are throwing a going away party for Mike this weekend. I think it's very sweet and thoughtful of them. I had already sent out the invitations to everyone and after talking to Mike realized we hadn't included any of our neighbors.

Well...this is where I am lame. In the 2.5 years we've lived here, I've only met one of our neighbors. And the only reason I know them is because their dog used to run away and come to our house all the time and when Hubie kept running away last winter he'd go over there. So we became friends over the doggies :-)

Mike, on the other hand, has met several of our neighbors. Funny really, considering he's the quiet one and I'm the social one. Actually I get really shy and intimidated when I meet people for the first time. Or if I'm forced to introduce myself. I know it's silly, but you can hear my heart beating a mile away.

SO. Last night I went to the neighbors that Mike's gotten to know fairly well and had to introduce myself so that I could invite them to this party. AND They are THE nicest people. Ever. I ended up sitting at their house for over an hour just finding out all the things we have in common. So now I'm sad that I didn't introduce myself sooner, but seriously they were so incredibly sweet. And I'm SO glad I sucked it up and did it because I feel so much better knowing them and knowing how nice they are since Mike will be gone. It's nice to have nice neighbors!

There are a couple of other neighbors, right next to us and diagonally to us that are younger. Our age or even maybe a few years younger. They both have a toddler and a baby, both cute skinny blondes and I'm too chicken to introduce myself. So go ahead and agree that I. am. lame. :-)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Flowers and Knitted Hat

I thought my bouquet was huge the first day, you should see how much more it's bloomed after sitting in water for a couple of days!! These pictures just don't do it justice. Even Mike was surprised by the size when he came by and saw it.

1st Day
After 2 days

I made this hat for Mike and gave it to him last night. I just brought it to work because I left my camera here and wanted to get a picture of it. I'll try and get one with HIM in it and not me. This was my first project working with 2 colors. I have a couple of other projects still in the works, but I needed some instant gratification and made this. :)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Anniversary

Today is our 2 year anniversary! I know that may seem like nothing to some of you, but I cannot believe it's already been that long.

I think it is incredibly important to celebrate your anniversary. A lot of people sort of blow it off and just think it's another date that your obligated to buy gifts and a card. My whole life is what it is because of my anniversary. That's a huge deal! At least it is to me. I value my marriage and my relationship with my husband and am excited that we've made it to 2 years and have so many more to come. I think it's an important day to take time and celebrate each other and your life together.

I'm really big into celebrations. Special Occassions, holidays...we need a reason to celebrate, a handful of days throughout the year to keep us refreshed and reminded of how blessed we are.

Monday, October 6, 2008

The Bestest Husband Ever

So I have the best husband ever! Which I'm sure by now everyone knows! :)

We were in SLC over the weekend to get some good quality time together and have some fun. He took me to a COACH store and said "Go pick out your anniversary present." Now I have to tell you, that's a pretty brave thing for a man to do! It did take me a little longer than he probably liked, but there were too many choices!!! And I was struggling between 4 items. He finally asked me to please pick out a leather purse this time because it seems senseless to him to pay that much money for a (signature) purse if it's not even leather :) So I agreed. He and the sales lady helped me pick this one out. Apparently, it fits my personality :)

And THEN!! I got a huge surprise around 3pm today when a HUGE bouquet was delivered to my office!! I mean seriously, the hugest bouquet I've seen outside of a funeral! And it is beautiful!!!! Every flower is fresh and gorgeous and I can't believe not ONE of them is bruised. Look at the size of that thing compared to the door. It's huge. I almost cried as soon as she put it on my desk, then my office was bombarded with all of my coworkers and scared the tears away.

It's okay if you're jealous. I would be too :-) tee hee!




Thursday, October 2, 2008

FRUSTRATED

So I receive a packet in the mail with a family resource guide and instructions on what to do to receive military benefits and I.D. card.

I call the number they provided to "ensure" that dependents are enrolled in the DEERS program and found out you can't actually get enrolled just by calling. For one, the information provided is very misleading as it only provides this phone number to "ensure" of our enrollment and nothing about the fact that this enrollment has to be done in person. So after I discovered this, I asked if any of these offices were open on the weekend and she provided phone numbers to the 2 nearest facilities so that I could call and get their office hours.

Office #1: She is helping a customer but if I want to wait one moment she'll be right with me. So she comes back and I ask what their hours are and explain that we live FAR. She said they're only open Monday through THURSDAY!!!!! Thursday people and only from 7-4. So I mentioned to her that I was also provided a phone number to another office in Utah and have no clue where it is and asked if she happened to know their hours. She said "Oh, we all work 4 10s, so they're only open M-Th as well."

Nice. 4 10s and they're only open 7-4. So let me recap my frustration here.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Warren.
Welcome to the army! Mr. Warren is being called back, most likely to deploy, and in order to receive your benefits you must enroll in person, both parties present. Our family readiness programs will do everything they can to assist you; however, you must travel 200 miles to the closest location in order to receive their help and only during the hours of 7-4 Monday-Thursday. We will do our darndest to provide as much inconvenience as we can while we understand that your emotion levels are off the charts.

Sincerely,
THE FREAKIN ARMY


Let me explain here people....it's not taking much to make me cry these days and this. Well, this was just all I could take for today. I should have waited till I got home to call.

OH BUT WAIT! Then their offices would have been closed.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008