Trekkie Anniversary

Sometimes it's funny what marriage does to you. I mean, everyone changes over a period of time - even just a year. Before we got married (and even for a while after), I was very anti-Star Trek and anti-sci-fi. I was very much a chick-flick, sometimes an action flick kind of girl. And then one day....it happened.

Joe started out getting Star Trek: Voyager DVDs from Netflix sometime during the first year we were married. Most of the time I would just read while he watched them. I really couldn't have cared less. Sometime between the first and seventh season, I started paying more attention. Catching a story line here and action scene there. While not hooked, it was definitely something I could tolerate. And I'll admit that I was a little sad when the series ended. But wait! There's more, he said. ;-)

I think we started another Star Trek series before he left for basic...and then watched some more while he was in AIT. I was still not totally sold, but I didn't hate it. When he came back from Iraq (at some point), we started watching Next Generation. And somewhere in there, this conversation happened:

Joe: So what do you want to watch tonight?

Me: Star Trek sounds good.

Joe: *look of shock* Woohoo!

And that was it. So far the only series I haven't seen is the original. I've watched a few of the original movies, and most of the newer ones. Safe to say I'm hooked now.

When we saw the first new, new Star Trek movie I was impressed. I knew nothing about Star Trek or even the original series when I saw it. So the fact that I liked it was kind of a big deal. When we heard about the 2nd one coming out? We knew we HAD to go. Thankfully, Amanda and her hubby babysat for us so we could go see it for our anniversary. 

Hard as it was to leave this cutie, we definitely enjoyed a baby-free evening!

I won't give any fellow trekkies who haven't seen it any spoilers, but it. was. awesome! And if you're a girl who cries, bring some tissues. I know I could've used them! Also, my husband got me probably the biggest ICEE ever. Seriously you guys, I don't think I've ever seen one bigger. When I asked him why on earth he'd get me the biggest one they had when all I wanted was a small one, he said, "it was only $.75 more!" LOL. Boys. ;-) At one point, my straw fell down inside it and I couldn't get it back out. I mean, seriously! Why do they even need to be that big?! Anyway, the movie was awesome. I loved every second of it (although I will say that I thought the "new" Klingons looked kinda weird). I don't think they could've cast the movie any better. So...you should probably go see it. Just sayin'.

...Never in my life did I think I'd be going to see a Star Trek film for my anniversary. Ah, marriage. ;-)

P.S. I really wanted to find a way to rhyme "trekkie anniversary." So...sorry for the lame-ish title.

FIVE

I can hardly believe it.

Today marks 5 years since this happened:

The second one is still my favorite. =)

Sometimes it feels like we've been married forever (in a good way). Other times it seems crazy that we've been married 5 years.

Just a year after our wedding, he enlisted in the Army. Since then we've gone through:

Basic

AIT + a PCS

PCS to Hawaii

12 month deployment to Iraq

"Homecoming" Pregnancy

Promotion

Becoming parents

Surprise pregnancy & miscarriage

PCS to Georgia

Buying a house

It's been a crazy, scary, fun ride these last 5 years. No matter what we've been through, I can absolutely say there's no one else I'd rather be with! Tonight we will be celebrating by having Amanda and her hubby babysit while we go see Star Trek. 

(Oh, yeah. Livin' on the wild side! ;-))

Happy 5 years, babe! 

Four.

{This was supposed to post yesterday. On our actual anniversary. Sigh.}

Four years ago today, I was doing this:

Marrying the man of my dreams. =)

Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been four years. On the other hand, it feels like we've been together forever - in a good way.

We've been through a lot in four years...

We moved to our first home.

One year later, Joe enlisted, went to Basic and graduated.

6 months later, we moved to Hawaii.

And just two months later, I said "see you later" and set him off to Iraq.

{I still hate the sight of these buses.}

Then there was R&R.

And FINALLY, there was homecoming last year.

And 10 months later, we became parents this precious little girl.

It's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!

Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband! I love you so much!

Happy Day

I really thought that today was going to be the hardest day of this deployment. You know, celebrating our anniversary solo for the first time ever. I must have had a bunch of people praying for me because it turned out to be an amazing day! 

I went to bed last night feeling all sad about our anniversary and really missing my husband. I think it had more to do with the fact that it was night time {when I'm always the loneliest} and that I'd just seen some Army related stuff on TV. 

I was woken up by my sweet hubby {via the cell phone, of course} at 0200. =) I was soooo happy to be getting a phone call! I'd hoped he would call but I had sort of given up on it. It wasn't a very long call, but it was so nice to hear his voice. He's been very busy trying to get everything done there and hasn't been able to call or email me for 3 days. On top of that, the poor guy has a cold. =( I repeat, he has a cold. In 130+ degree weather. I wish I could give him a hug. Colds in the summer suck enough as it is without adding in the extreme heat of the sandbox and, well, the sand. Not to mention he has to be awake for probably 2 days straight. My poor hubby. But the good side of this is that he's coming home when we thought he would!!! No more guessing!! Well, as much as is possible with the Army. =P Talking to him made me feel so much better about celebrating our anniversary apart. 

This evening my deployment sister, Annie, took me out! I told her that I was sort of sad about our anniversary a few weeks ago and she offered to go to dinner with me. =) How awesome is that?! So tonight, she picked me up and we went to Cholo's on the North Shore for some yummy Mexican food! Mmmmm! 

After dinner, she decided that she wanted to show me one of her favorite beaches here. Since I still don't know where all of the best ones are, I thought it'd be a great idea. But of course, we couldn't get through Haleiwa without stopping for shave ice!!! Unfortunately Matsumoto's was closed, but we found a place that was open. =)

I big, pink, puffy heart shave ice. I have no idea what in the world I'm going to do when we PCS. I've been spoiled and shaved ice from the mainland just is not the same. *sigh* After a quick stop we got back in the car and spent the rest of the evening here:

It. was. beautiful. It's been a while since I've seen the sunset on the beach. Add in a ton of sea turtles {aka honu} and I'm a very happy girl. =) There's really nothing like being at the beach. Even if there's a bunch of people around, it's still very peaceful.

And I really can't get enough of these guys!!! How cute are they?! I may have to get a honu tattoo before we leave here... Hmmm... ;-) We also did an impromptu sunset photo shoot. I'm a little excited that I have a photographer {professional or not!} for a friend. LOL!

It was a really gorgeous sunset. And I had a fantastic evening with a great friend. I'm so thankful she took the time to hang out with me and make sure I had an awesome day instead of a sad one. The only way this day could have been better is if I'd been able to spend it with Joe. Until then, I'll take more awesome days with great friends. =)

Three

As of today, I have been married to my best friend for 3 whole years. =)

Still my fave wedding day pic. =)

While I am absolutely thrilled to be celebrating another year of marriage to my best friend, hero and man of my dreams, I'm also kind of sad. This is kind of a big deal...and he isn't here for it just like he hasn't been here for any other holiday or big event for the past year. 


I got a card in the mail from Nana the other day... Inside she wrote exactly what I needed to hear. My grandparents aren't their old cheerful, encouraging selves these days but every once in a while they say something that reminds me of why I need them in my life. This is what she wrote:


Sorry you can't celebrate together; but just remember how blessed you both are that you found each other.


Short, sweet and to the point. And she's right. No matter how upset I am that we can't celebrate this together, I have to remember that we're still celebrating. Separated geographically or not, we're still together, we're still married and we still love each other. Not everyone can say that they're married to their best friend and that they'd much rather spend all their time with their husband/wife than anyone else. Not everyone met their spouse at a young age {though we weren't quite teenagers either} and just knew from the beginning. 


The past 3 years have been quite the adventure. Looking back on our wedding day, I know for a fact we had no idea what the future held. No one does really, but I could never have even thought that just 1 year into the future I'd be sending my husband off to basic. And then to AIT. And then to the sandbox. Even our first year was quite the adventure. Even though Joe lost his job that year and we were way beyond broke for 5 months, it's safe to say that was our easiest year so far. A month after we celebrated our first anniversary, he went to basic. 2 months later, he was at AIT. 2 more months later, I moved to GA to be with him though we never really lived together while there. About 6 months later, we PCS'd to Hawaii. 2 months(ish) later, he deployed. Like I said...year 1 was the easiest.


Despite this craptastic deployment, I am incredibly thankful for my husband. He is one of a kind and I am always amazed by how sweet and caring he really is. I'm also thankful that he's a big goof like me and I can just be silly with him. I'm thankful that he takes care of me physically, emotionally and financially. I'm even more thankful that he loves me when I feel awful, wear the fat pants, haven't fixed my hair and didn't bother to put makeup on. I'm really thankful that he understands that I don't handle bugs well and that I must put on some form of makeup before leaving the house. When he's home, the man puts up with a lot. What am I talking about? He puts up with a lot even when he's not here!! All of the "where are you?!" emails, dropped Skype calls, extremely pixelated and garbled Skype calls, iChat messages, Facebook messages... 


Why God wanted to bless me with a guy like Joe, I'll never understand. But I'll always be thankful.

Lucky Girl

We may not have had the typical anniversary day, but it was still pretty nice. Joe got to come home for lunch, which was surprising and nice. =) Turns out they were supposed to have the day off, but it didn't happen because the dude in charge didn't get the memo. It was ok, though because he got off work early too! I'd sent him to the commissary for some caesar dressing for dinner, and - among a few other things - he came home with these!

Yeppers, I'm spoiled! He's so sweet. =)

It was a low-key evening of chicken caesar salad and garlic bread for dinner, Season 6 of LOST for our entertainment, and a little bit of Mario Kart on the Wii. Simple, fun, perfect. =) It may not have been fancy, but I got to spend it with the love of my life. I consider myself pretty darn lucky.

Our rings still look pretty good after 2 years of wear and tear. I *heart* my rings. =D

 I love these kinds of pictures.

***

Well, since our HHG still haven't arrived, we're still using furniture from ACS. *big, huge sigh* I absolutely hate this furniture! When I thought of borrowing furniture, I pictured furniture similar to my own. Ooooh, was I wrong!! This is by far the ugliest, crappiest furniture I've ever seen in my life. And I'm stuck with it until our HHG get here. Don't get me wrong, I don't wanna be sitting on the floor but they could have picked better furniture for us. Seriously. I feel like I'm sitting in a crappy Hawaiian hotel. Can't picture it? Allow me to show you...

Oh yeah. Craptastic, isn't it? There's an extremely large, ugly dining table to the right of the picture that you can't see. It matches the furniture. As does the coffee table that we're using to hold up the TV. Doesn't it make you wanna vomit a little bit? Bleh.

This is the bed we're sleeping on. 

(Accompanied on either side by nightstands and then 2 dressers.)

It's actually pretty decent...until you sit/lay on it:

Yes, that's plastic. Yes, our mattress is covered in it. No, we can't take it off. Why? Because it's unsanitary. Ever slept on a plastic-covered mattress? No? Don't! It's annoying as all get-out! Every time you or your hubby moves, not only do you feel it, you hear it. *sigh*

Needless to say, I'm ready for our HHG to get here.

Before I go...remember me telling you about the little "accident" our car got into when it was shipped over here? I still don't understand how it happened, but this is what it looked like when we got it.

I can't figure out for the life of me how it happened like that. Whatev. It's fixed now. =)

Sorry for the complete randomness of this post! I've actually been meaning to share pics of our crappy, borrowed furniture for a while now. ;-)

Hope y'all had a good Tuesday!!

I Can't Believe...

That it's been 2 whole years since this day:

 Definitely the best day of my life so far. Though, seeing him after BCT does make a really close second. =)

Like our first year, this year was marked with its own happiness, sadness, ups and downs. Looking back, it's almost hard to believe that we made it through the trials of the last year. This time last year, I was getting ready to ship him off to BCT. This year it's deployment. Sometimes I wonder how many years we're actually going to be spending together. Despite the time that I'm most likely going to be husband-less, I wouldn't trade him for anyone else! He's my best friend, soul mate, the one I want to start my family with. It feels like we got married just yesterday...and then again, it feels like we've been together forever! I think that's the way it should feel, don't you? =)

1st anniversary at the same place we had our honeymoon: Sunset Beach, NC. Love [and miss] that place! {Please excuse my awful sunglasses. My good ones disappeared before this trip.}

Recreating the Jack & Juliet kiss from LOST [in the same place!].

Happy Anniversary, my love!!

 Now, I'm off to get this house cleaned up and get ready for a semi-romantic homemade dinner tonight!