Military Life

The 10 Most Memorable Moments of Our Marriage

June 20, 2012 by Julie 14 Comments

On August 3rd we will celebrate 10 years of marriage! 10 years! A whole decade! During the last 10 years we have done things and lived places we never thought were possible. We have been through tough and challenging times and been through some pretty awesome times. I thought it would be fun to make a list of the top 10 most memorable moments from the last 10 years! I am not going to count our wedding day since it is a given that was pretty awesome 🙂

1. Finding out we were having a baby boy! In May of 2004 we had just gotten back from a really fun trip down to San Diego and Orange County. I still remember walking out of the hospital after the ultrasound with the name of our first child. As soon as they told us it was a boy, we knew he was going to be our Daniel.

2. The births of our 3 children. Having a baby is amazing, it really is. To know that we created these 3 little boys is amazing. I have always wanted to be a Mommy and will always remember the days that a new little boy join our family.

3. The homecomings. Over the last 6.5 years Ben has been deployed three times as well as a bunch of other times he has been away for different reasons. The homecomings are always so wonderful! Just to see him again and know that he is done being away from us for a while is so nice.

4. Packing up everything and moving from California to Kentucky. In 2005 we decided it would be best to head to Kentucky because of the high cost of living in California. It was so hard to say goodbye to family and friends and I do wonder what life would be like if we had stayed but I am glad we did it. Ben quit his job, we packed up everything and drove east to our new home.

5. Our Mediterranean Cruise. This cruise was amazing and our family got to see so much! I am so glad we decided to do this. It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

6. Our trip to Catalina for our 7th anniversary. Sometimes the Army does crazy things…like giving Ben his R&R over our 7th anniversary even though he didn’t request it and it was pushed back from his original date 3 weeks earlier. We were able to get away just the two of us to Catalina Island were we went for our honeymoon. It was amazing and we had such a great time! It was so different from when we went the first time. I would like to go again sometime and take the boys. I think they would like it too.

7. Buying our first home. We bought our first home in September of last year. When we were looking at this house we just looked at each other and knew it was what we wanted. It was perfect for us and our little boys.

8. Moving to Germany. It took Daniel and I 4.5 months to get there but once we did it was amazing to think about us living there for a while. It was one of those, “Are we really living in Europe?” moments when Ben finally took me to our new apartment.

9. When Ben join the Army. When I met Ben, the Army was apart of his past. It wasn’t something we even really talked about until we had been married a few years. He didn’t join until we had been married 3.5 years. Making that decision changed the path of our lives.

10. Our 15 month deployment. This was probably the hardest period of time during our marriage. We didn’t see each other for 11 months straight as the deployment kept getting extended. I still think about how odd it is that we lived apart for so long without seeing each other. During that time our marriage looked very different because it was long distance but we made it through and became stronger because of it.

Service: A Navy Seal at War by Marcus Luttrell Book Review

June 15, 2012 by Julie 1 Comment

I was asked to do a book review of the book, Service: A Navy Seal at War by Marcus Luttrell. Now I don’t normally read books about war. I guess I just never felt drawn to them but this book looked interesting-

After coming home from a fateful, star-crossed mission in Afghanistan, Marcus Luttrell recuperated and nursed his body and heart back to health. Throughout this time, he wondered why he and others, from America’s founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything—including themselves—for the sake of family, nation, and freedom.

Then, in October 2006, Luttrell did what any SEAL would do. He went back to war, this time as part of SEAL Team 5. Luttrell spent six months in the most dangerous city in the world, Ramadi, Iraq, in Anbar Province—Al Qaeda’s self-proclaimed capital in the Middle East. Full of high-intensity urban fighting, the battle for Ramadi was perhaps the most perilous U.S. military undertaking of the Iraq war. The epic battle ran from 2005 into 2007, and the fighting crested at the time Luttrell arrived, in 2006.

Luttrell fought fiercely, and by the time he left, the city was virtually becalmed. Ramadi was the bookend success to Operation Redwing’s disaster and has been called the greatest victory in the history of U.S. Special Operations forces. In SERVICE, Luttrell walks us through this unbelievable battlefield and also offers new insight about his time in Afghanistan, Operation Redwing, and his awe-inspiring rescue.

Returning home and leaving military life, Luttrell began a quest to understand why a rare few choose to risk their lives to serve their country. Now married and a father, Luttrell also looks at the women who marry SEALs. The book features four women who discuss in their own words the challenges and rewards of being married to a serviceman. Luttrell also shares stories of brave warriors who served with him all over the world, including:

· The legendary SEAL master chief who showed him how America’s greatest warriors must put their lives on the line for a mission larger than themselves

· The Afghani tribesman who gave him shelter when his hopes were dimming on a distant mountain—and traveled to America five years later to deliver a powerful message

· The dedicated Air Force pilots who took part in the epic combat search-and-rescue mission to find his teammates in Afghanistan, searching relentlessly night after night until the last sliver of hope disappeared

· The ex-Mormon missionary and his five-man team who flew a helicopter on the impossible midnight rescue mission to take Luttrell off that mountain

· The SEAL senior chief petty officer who helped Luttrell kill the stigma of being the lone survivor

· The decorated 89-year-old Marine Corps veteran whose example of peace and grace helped Luttrell get past his conviction he wouldn’t see age 40, and past his regrets after going through the crucible of close combat

Reflecting on what it really means to take on a higher calling, about the men Luttrell has seen lose their lives for their country, and on the legacy of those who came and bled before, SERVICE is both a war story for the ages and a moving and heartfelt tribute to all who have served.

Marcus Luttrell became a combat-trained Navy SEAL in 2002 and served in many dangerous special operations assignments around the world. He was deployed to Afghanistan in the spring of 2005. He was awarded the Navy Cross for combat heroism in 2006 by President George W. Bush, and received his discharge from the Navy in June 2007. For more information, please visit www.marcusluttrell.com.

James D. Hornfischer is the author of the New York Times bestseller Neptune’s Inferno, as well as Ship of Ghosts and The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, which won the Samuel Eliot Morison Award and was a Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. He lives in Austin, Texas.

I have to say that I learned a lot about being a Navy Seal through this book. I realized that I have heard of Navy Seals before and thought I had a general idea of what they did but there was a lot I didn’t know. This book let me into his world and I got to see about what it is like to be a Navy Seal. I also found it interesting that he was in Iraq when Ben was the first time and even worked with another unit in Ben’s Brigade.

The author gets into the missions he went on and what happened to some of the men during the missions. Some of it was hard to read but I thought it was so important to his story. At the end of the book we get to hear from some of the Navy Seal wives. I could relate to some of what they were talking about when it came to deployments and supporting someone in the Military.

After finishing this book I wanted to read more about others experiences in the Military and overseas so I will be reading more books like this one in the future.

I was provided a free book for review from Little, Brown and Company.

After Two years and Three Months What Do I Really Miss About Germany

June 8, 2012 by Julie 9 Comments

It has been 2 years and 3 months since we got on an airplane and left Germany after being stationed over there. A lot of people come back from Germany missing it like crazy. They don’t enjoy being in the US and want to go back. We were not like that. We were so ready to not live in Germany anymore. We were so ready to be back in the US. We were so happy to have that chapter close in our lives.

Well now it has been a while. It can be common to miss certain things about places you didn’t fully enjoy after time passes. With Germany, I can’t stay I really miss it but there are things I do miss about it. Sometimes when I am talking to others who have been there or about my experiences in Germany something pops into my head and I realize I miss it. There are a lot of things I really love about the US but here are a few things I miss about our four years in Germany.

1) The close-knit Military community. There is just something about it you can’t find in the US. You are all in a foreign country together. You have to make friends and you spend a lot of time together. Not that I don’t here but it is just different there. I bet you know what I mean if you have ever been stationed there.

2) Their pools. Germans have awesome pools. The one I remember the most was in Schweinfurt. It was a huge complex with the coolest children’s pool I have ever seen. Lots of fun!

3) Their baked goods. There is a German bakery in town that has yummy German baked goods but it isn’t too easy to get to. It is more like a treat. In Germany these types of places are everywhere.

4) Walking. I miss how easy it is to walk everywhere there and how so many people do it. Here it is not easy to walk anywhere. Frustrates me.

5) Sunsets. I am not sure if it is because there are so many more grey days in Germany (which I do not miss at all) but Germany seemed to have such nice sunsets when it wasn’t grey. I remember I could look out the window of our apartment into the sunset…so pretty.

There are other little things I miss like the flowers or the trips we went on. As nice as those things were I am not sure I would want to be stationed there again. Ask me again in a couple of years 🙂

Have you been stationed overseas? Where? Do you miss it? What do you miss?

DinoTrek at the Nashville Zoo

May 27, 2012 by Julie Leave a Comment

On Easter we went to the Nashville Zoo and I took the two older boys into DinoTrek! I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it since it cost $3 each to get in. After hearing my oldest say it was the coolest thing ever I think it was worth it.

It was pretty cool how they had the Dinosaurs set up with sign that told you where their bones were found. Then they had a place the kids could dig for bones in the sand. Perfect for my Dino kids!

On being a mom

May 12, 2012 by Julie 8 Comments

I am sure by now you have heard of the Time article going around the internet. Tons of bloggers have blogged about the article already. The front cover of Time shows a mother breastfeeding her four-year-old child with a caption that says, “Are You Mom Enough?” Now I haven’t read the article but it sure is offending a lot of people. From my understanding, the article is about Attachment Parenting and Mommy wars.

Before I became a mom I did temp work. I usually sat, answered phones, did some data entry and was able to read when I didn’t have anything to do. I started reading a lot about mothering, children, parenting, and childbirth. I started to feel very drawn to Attachment Parenting. I loved the idea of it. It seemed to fit my personality very well. I had a ton of ideas of how I was going to raise my children. I felt very strongly about them and wasn’t going to parent any other way. I joined online forums with other people who were parenting that way.

In September 2004, I gave birth to my first son. That was when reality hit!

You can plan, you can say you are going to do x, y and z but when a baby comes, you parent. You do what is best for your child.

You do what is best for your family and sometimes that doesn’t fit in a parenting camp. I took some time away from those online forums and books and started figuring how the best way to parent my own son. Not the child I had planned on having but the child that I actually had. There is a big difference between the two.

Here I was a new mom trying to figure everything out. I wanted to be that Attachment Parent. And I was in some ways. With all three boys, we co-slept until about 4-5 months. It was a sweet time in my life and I will always cherish the memories of co-sleeping. It was also the only way I made it through the first few months. I breastfed all three of them too. One for 17 months, one for 9 and one for 7. I wanted to breastfeed all of them for about 18 months. That was always my personal comfort level. It didn’t happen. Life happened instead. And although my ideal was 18 months, I am still happy with how long I did breastfeed them.

I never felt comfortable letting a baby CIO. I never wanted that to be a part of my parenting and I was able to stick to that. All three of my boys starting sleeping through the night by about 9 months of age. That worked for us.

I had slings and different carriers I wore some of the time. I usually didn’t wear them at home, just when we were out. Baby J probably got worn the most because I literally needed two free hands with the other two.

I have had two natural births and 1 epidural birth. If I gave birth again I would probably go naturally.

I love my stroller! Love it. It’s funny because before I had my oldest I thought I would wear him in a sling all the time and barely use a stroller, but you know what? I loved it from the beginning.

I vaccinate my children.

I used cloth with #2 but haven’t been able to get into it with #3.

So now here I am, a mother of 7.5 years and I don’t have a parenting title anymore.

I could say that I lean towards Attachment parenting but I really don’t like parenting labels. I have friends who parent similar to me and friends who don’t. As my children get older, the baby stuff becomes less and less important. I have my views and beliefs, other people have theirs. I have my ideals and then I have my reality.

As a newly pregnant woman reading all about pregnancy I never in a million years thought I would be going through any step of this without my husband right by my side. I never pictured long nights alone. But that was what my reality was and I had to adjust. And I think with any mom, you have to adjust. Some of the things you say before parenthood stick and others don’t.

And when it comes down to it, I may have ways of parenting that I think are best but most Mothers out there are doing what they think is best too. And most children are going to turn out alright.

I just want to be the best mom I can be to my three boys and not worry what all the other mothers are doing.

What have you changed your mind about since you became a parent?

10 Things I Have Learned About Marriage During The Last 10 Years

May 7, 2012 by Julie 12 Comments

In August, my husband and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage! 10 whole years, a decade! We were 10 years younger when we decided we wanted to spend our lives together. We have been through a lot of things I would never have imagined. We have spent about 3 years of those 10 apart. That seriously breaks my heart but at least it wasn’t three years in a row. We have both grown and changed over the years. I can now look at my husband and instead of saying, “I want to grow old with you” I can say, “I love growing old with you.” Because let’s face it, when I look at our wedding pictures I see two younger versions of ourselves and it is very obvious that time has passed and that we are in the process of growing old together.

So what have I learned about marriage the last 10 years?

1) What works for one couple might not work for another. You hear a lot of advice about what a marriage should look like or what you should do about x,y or z. From TVs in your room to how often you go on a date! It’s nice to get advice about marriage but it might not all apply and that is okay.

2) Deployments can make a marriage stronger. I believe this can happen because it happened to us. I feel very lucky for this because I know how hard deployments can be on marriages. I am just thankful that deployments have not pushed us apart but made us stronger.

3) Kids change your marriage. They do. From what you do on a daily basis to how you view your spouse. When we had kids I got to see my husband in a new “Daddy” role. He gets to see me as a “Mommy.” It is different from our “husband” and “wife” roles.

4) Laughing together is good. My husband loves to make me laugh. Even when I am mad he can seem to make me smile. It’s good for us.

5) Let the little things go. I can find myself getting frustrated about the littlest things but I have learned it is best just to let them go.

6) I can do things without him. When he is gone, I can function. I can my kids and I halfway around the world without him. I can give birth without him. I can do a lot on my own. Doesn’t mean I like to do things this way, but I can.

7) Sometimes life gets really really hard. Sometimes it just isn’t the way I would have planned it. That can be so frustrating but in the end, I am glad we have each other to get through it.

8 ) When you were raised differently you will see the world differently and that might be challenging. We were both raised by parents who loved us and loved God very much but the overall our childhoods were very different and we sometimes see things very differently. This can be frustrating but we just have to take a step back and realize where the other person is coming from.

9) I made the right choice. Way back in 2001 when I said yes to marry this man, I made the right choice. He is the right one for me and I am the right one for him.

10) Trust goes a very long way. We both trust each other. I trust him, he trusts me. I can’t imagine going through what we have been through without it.

How long have you been married? What have you learned in that time?

Fort Hood, Texas

April 27, 2012 by Guest Writer 6 Comments

I wanted to have some guest posts about different duty stations. The first one is by Daneilia who is stationed at Ft. Hood with her family. She blogs at Anchors Away. She is about to join the Military herself 🙂 If you would like to do a guest post about where you live, please send me an email at soldierswifecrazylife@gmail.com. I would love to have you 🙂

Hi, everyone! I’m Daneilia, my family and I are currently stationed at Fort Hood and if you didn’t know it is the largest Military installation in the United States. I think its just one of those things that make it really neat and interesting. At the gates when they say “Welcome To The Great Place”, it is true at least I think so. There are an unlimited amount of resources at this base for Military families. When I say unlimited, I mean it. I had no idea about support groups for Autism, Cancer, Diabetes, and so on until I arrived here. There are so many resources I know about and am still learning about many more. There are an extreme amount of housing sections, there are a couple of Commissaries and PXs’. Also, Fort Hood has so many resources for Religions, Finance, Parenting (there are classes and groups), any kind of assistance you can think of. Of course, many duty stations have this, but being the largest installation to thousands of Soldiers and families they have to provide much more.

Every year Fort Hood hosts a couple of handfuls of free events for Military families. Every now and again you’ll catch Sesame Street performing because of our wonderful USO on post. Sesame Street works in coordination with the USO on providing things for the Military Children. Ah-MAZ-ing right?! The United Service Organization provides Soldiers and families with so much. Soldiers always have access to free internet and computer services as well as other services. Not only do they work with Sesame Street but they work with Fort Hood and famous music artists to come and do performances at large events on base.

Do you like to exercise? Well you’ll never have to go off post for a gym and if you like to Run 5ks or 10ks they have a 5k every month and every so often host a 10k as well. They have more than a handful of gyms on post. If you need childcare some of them provide it. But there are plenty of Child Care buildings if you can’t get your child in the ones at the gym. All child care is really great and I can vouch for that because I’ve used plenty of the child care resources with my daughter. They don’t just watch them and let them play. The providers do crafts as well as other fun things too. If your child is of a certain age they are eligible to attend Head Start on post which is a preschool for your little ones. If you are unable to get your child to the day care on post you can go off post and there is a program called NACCRRA which you may be eligible for too. It would help with the costs.

If you think you are missing out on something don’t be afraid to ask people for help. There will always be one good person who will give you the ins and outs.

I think maybe one of the frustrating things about being at this post here is the City of Killeen. Its a very small town and traffic is awful. But the good part is Austin is only an hour out. There are outlets in Georgetown which is right before Austin. There are fun parks and museums for older kids. There is the Austin Children’s Museum which is pretty fun for little ones. But if you want to get farther out Dallas/Fort Worth area is about 2 1/2 – 3 hours out and there is a Six Flags up there. Then down South you have San Antonio and the Alamo and all other sorts of fun things to do. There is good and bad wherever you go so don’t be discouraged.

I’m hoping that some of this information can assist you as you make your journey here or if you are already here. I’ve mentioned some resources below.

Daneilia
Anchors Away

Resources
Hood MWR
U.S. Army Fort Hood

Fort Hood Community Resources
Fort Hood Area Resources
Post with the Most: Fort Hood, TX | Army Wife Network

Facebook Resources:
Fort Hood Area Events
Fort Hood Army Wives
Fort Hood MOPS [Mothers of Preschoolers)
Fort Hood MWR
Fort Hood Living

Ft. Campbell Air Assault Graduation

April 15, 2012 by Julie 5 Comments

I was SO happy and proud that Ben graduated from Air Assault school on Friday! I always say I am never going to cry but when I hear a bunch of Soldiers sing the Army song I always tear up…

“Then it’s hi! hi! hey!
The Army’s on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong;
For where’er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.”

Ft. Campbell Air Assault

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