The US Army!
Love this sign!

I asked Michael from UltimateBasicTraining.com to guest post with some information for those with a loved one in basic training.  My husband went to basic before I met him so I no nothing about the experience.

Sending Mail to Your Recruit at Basic Training

I don’t like being overweight. I love cookies. This is a problem.

When I was in high school I was on the swim team. I woke up every morning and had to be at the pool at like 5:45 am and would swim for 1.5 hours. By doing this I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted to eat. I didn’t have to count calories because I was burning so many of them each day. Now I would love to get back to swimming like that but with my husband’s schedule, our budget and not having all my kids in full-time school yet, it just really isn’t possible. I was thinking about what I could do to burn more calories. I have always loved to walk but just can’t do it every day for the amount of time I would need to do it.

I figured out that I needed to do something that 1) I could do even if Ben is working late or gone and 2) Doesn’t cost any money. I decided I was going to start running. I looked at my backyard and realized that although it wasn’t super ideal, I could run around my own backyard. It isn’t super huge but it works. This means I can do it every single day. I don’t need my husband home to do it, I don’t need to pay anything to do it and some days my kids can run with me too. They did on Sunday and had so much fun!

I also figured that when it starts to get lighter for longer I could run in my neighborhood when my husband gets home from work. I could also do it when I just have the baby. I could put him in the stroller and run with him. I would like to eventually get a jogging stroller.

I started on Saturday morning and I am starting pretty slow. I decided I was going to run for as long as I could and made it 7 minutes, Sunday I did 8 and today I did 9. Tomorrow I will do 10. Baby steps, baby steps. I would like to be able to run for up to an hour eventually. That would be a big goal of mine.

I have to make running apart of my life so coming up with something that will work without having to depend on going anywhere else is really going to help.

I hope that when I have 2 in full-time school I can start swimming again.

How do you like to exercise? What works for you? How do you exercise with little kids around?

We just bought a house in September. I love my house, love my neighborhood and overall I am happy we live off-post. I like that I can get away from Army post life for a bit. I know my husband likes the distance. We like my son’s school and we enjoy the city we live in for the most part.

Sometimes though, I wish I lived on post. It isn’t even so much wanting to live on post here but it is more what I miss about living on post. When we lived in Germany we lived on post for a little over two years. This was nice for a few reasons. #1 is that I could walk everywhere. I could walk to the commissary, I could walk to the CDC, the PX, the thrift store, the post office, the park and if I was up for a longer walk I could go get the mail, walk to where Ben worked and visit the downtown. I didn’t need a car. We only had one car because we didn’t need two. Even during the deployment I walked a lot because it was easier. I had two little boys who fit in a double stroller and it just made life that much easier.

I miss that. A lot. I can’t walk anywhere but around my neighborhood right now. Clarksville doesn’t believe in sidewalks for some reason. It is pretty annoying. There is no safe way to get to the local stores by my house. And even if I lived on post here I might not be able to walk to most places.

So maybe I don’t want to live on post. Maybe I just want to be able to walk to things. Where I grew up you could walk to a lot of different places. You could walk to the pool, school, park and local shopping areas. You could walk for hours and always have a sidewalk. I miss that. Even though I hated that my parents made me walk home from school, it was nice that I was able to do it.

One reason I do wish I lived on post here is that I keep finding all these activities on post. But driving there everyday is killing my gas budget. I have to pick and choose.  And the gate closings drive me up the wall.  I can never remember what gate is open when and always find myself at the wrong gate at the wrong time.

Do you prefer living on post or off? Where are you stationed? I know that can make a difference too.

PS: Don’t forget to enter my Amazon giveaway!

Last Friday was my 33rd birthday. It wasn’t the best birthday ever. The day was pretty stressful. We went to talk with the doctor about Drew’s diagnosis. I think that just kinda made the day difficult. Friday night the boys wanted to take to me Chick-Fil-A for my birthday so we did that. Love their peppermint shakes.

On Saturday Ben and I were able to get out for a date night which was nice. We went to Outback which is one of my favorite places. Sadly we left our gift card at home which was frustrating. After dinner we walked around a bit, went to a bookstore and went computer shopping. We really need a new computer and plan to use some of our tax refund to get one. I am just not sure what I want to get though. I need to do some more looking around. I would love a Mac but just can’t swing that right now. It was really nice to get out without the boys. Although we did talk about them a lot. We just can’t help it.

So I am 33 now. I feel pretty okay with that. I am pretty much doing what I wanted to do in life. When I was 20 I always said I wanted to have kids by 30. Here I am at 33, been married 9.5 years with three little boys. Although I never thought I would be an Army wife, I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be.

How about you? Do you feel like your age? Have you done everything you thought you would by the age you are now?

PS: Make sure to enter my American Armor Car Cover Giveaway :)

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

You Know You’re a Military Spouse When….

-Someone asks when your Spouse will be home, you say July or August instead of 5 or 6pm.

-You live on your own and by yourself more after you’re married than before you were married.

-You know all of your Spouse’s co-workers by their last name…and rarely know their first name.

-You say “I’m going to the commissary” instead of “grocery store”.

… … -You need your I.D to buy groceries.

-You really want something but you say , well I’m going to have to wait for the 1st or 15th for it “.

-Half of your wardrobe has some kind of Military insignia on it and once belonged to your Spouse.

-The sounds of helicopters, and Jets flying over your house shaking your windows, surprisingly soothes you!

-Your Spouse’s work and dress clothes cost more than yours do.

-You only write in pencil because EVERYTHING is subject to change.

-You know that a 2 month separation IS short, no matter what your civilian friends say.

-You know better than to go to the commissary between 11:30 and 1:30 or on a payday unless it’s a life or death emergency.

-You know that any reference to “sand box” describes a deployment, not your kid’s backyard toys.

-You don’t have to think about what time 21:30 is.

-You pick apart uniforms on TV and in the movies for being inaccurate with your Spouse.

-You are asked to stop talking in acronyms and translate it all to English

-When your Spouse says they get to “Sleep In” and is referring to 0630

Saw this on Facebook and thought it was cute

We have all heard about how deployments can cause divorce. How the stress of going through it all can cause people to break up. But do you think that deployments can also make some marriages stronger? I think in our case they have. We have been through three of them. Each one has been hard it its own way. They were something in our past (and likely future) that we had to get through.

Communication has never been good while he has been deployed. Some of that is because of the logistics of where he was and all of that. The other part of it is something we as a couple struggle with. It makes life really frustrating when I can’t talk to my husband for days and days. I usually was fine going 4-5 days but then I would start to get really frustrated and annoyed by it. I just wouldn’t feel like myself. It was like hearing his voice or even receiving a letter from him rebooted me. I was able to continue on along that deployment road a little bit longer after I heard from him.

I think whenever a couple has to go through a challenging time, they either grow stronger or apart. Every time he has been gone, through all of the difficulties of the separation, we have grown stronger. We know that these deployments will make us stronger people. That is the way we have to look at it. If he is going to be in the Army, he is going to be deployed. There is nothing I can do to change that. I don’t have control over that part. I do have control over my actions and how I respond to him when he is gone. I have to remind myself that he loves me very much, loves our boys very much but that he is also in a very stressful situation. When I remind myself of this, the deployment becomes a tiny bit easier.

We will be celebrating 10 years of marriage in August.  I have been thinking a lot about our life and what we have done the last 10 years.  I have been thinking about what has made us a stronger couple.  And the number one thing that comes to mind is the deployments we have been through.

I am not looking forward to the next deployment.  But when it happens I want to make sure that we see it is as another chance for us to grow as a couple.

What have your experiences been? Have you been able to grow stronger through deployments and separations?

The more I am on there the more addicted to Pinterest I get…:)  Here are some Military finds I have pinned that I think are pretty cool!

Source: google.com via Julie on Pinterest

I love this cake! How cool is that?

 

Source: weheartit.com via Julie on Pinterest

 

Love this!

 

 

Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest

 

So sweet!

 

Source: birthstoriesondemand.com via Julie on Pinterest

 

This just hits you!

 

What a sweet but sad goodbye.

I can’t believe we only have four more days of 2011! It has been a great year overall. We got through a five month deployment, bought a house and just enjoyed a lot of time together.

Here is a list of my 10 most popular posts for the year

#1 The first day they are gone- 2/13/11 I wrote this one the day after Ben deployed for the third time. That was such a hard day. The first day always is.

#2 This is for them- 5/6/11 I wrote this about all my friends who are also going through this Military life.

#3 Civilian Husband vs Military Husband- 2/7/11 Ben and I were married almost 3.5 years when he joined the Military so I wanted to highlight some of the differences based on my experience.

#4 Life as a Military Child- 6/8/11 I have three boys who will be raised in a Military family. I wanted to write about that.

#5 Can I really make it through this deployment- 8/29/11 I wanted to talk about getting through a deployment even when it doesn’t feel like you can.

#6 Things I miss during a deployment- 3/23/11 This post I talk about the things I miss when Ben is gone.

#7 I could never do it- 10/24/11 I had to write a post responding to something a lot of us Military wives hear.

#8 Deployment is over- 7/14/11 This is the best kind of post to write. Ben is home from deployment!

#9 Are Shorter Deployments Really A Good Thing?- 8/8/11 Thinking about the length of deployments.

#10 What is so good about a deployment anyway? 1/25/11 This was a pre-deployment post about seeing the good in a deployment.

Looking forward to a lot of new posts in 2012! It should not be a deployment year for us. We also will not be pcsing anywhere. The first year in a long time that we are not going to have any big changes. It should be a good one.

What are you looking forward to the most in 2012?