17 Years!

Today is our 17 year wedding anniversary!  Sadly, it was a very uneventful weekend.  Tj was in D.C. for his school meetings, so I was home alone with the kids.  I taught BodyPump in the morning and then the kids and I just hung out.  Tj got back late Saturday night and we celebrated with cupcakes.  I love this guy with all my heart.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to spend eternity with!

Germany: June 15, 2012

For our 15 year anniversary and the end of our 4th deployment, we celebrated by taking a trip to Germany.  We shipped the kids off on the airplane to Colorado to spend time with their grandparents.  It was awesome - seriously an amazing trip.
We left on June 14, we flew from Jacksonville, FL to Philadelphia, PA.  We had a few hours there and then left for Munich.  It was over 8 hours of flying from PA to Germany.  When we arrived in Munich it was June 15.  

This is how I felt after all that flying and traveling:

 This was our room at the Edelweiss Resort in Garmisch, Germany.

14 years!

Happy 14 year anniversary to us!  Because of TJ's crazy work schedule, we really don't get to celebrate things much around here.  But, we did have some fun reminiscing about the past and our wonderful lives together.  I'm looking forward to next year, because we might actually be able to make some plans and finally get to do something I've been wanting to do forever!

Brena loves to hear our story of how we met, and for a while I was having to tell it to her every night.  I love being in love, being married, and our crazy life together - even if the NAVY does control every aspect of it!

12 years!

Happy Anniversary honey! 12 years ago today I was barely 19 and T.J. was 18. We were married on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I can't believe how much I love this guy. I can't believe how much we have been through together. I can't believe the things we have coming up to go through together, but not together (does that make sense?), but I know we will be able to handle it. T.J. will be missing Thanksgiving (probably), Christmas, all birthdays and our 13-year anniversary. Because of the change of plans that have happened in the last few weeks, I have to take a rain check on our trip and I'm trying to be ok with that. But, I'll really be looking forward to it next year! After a year apart, we will really deserve it!!

Happy Anniversary - late

TJ and I celebrated - well, not really, our 11th anniversary on May 10. My Grandpa's funeral was on May 10, so we weren't even in the same town on our anniversary. That's ok. I am married to a wonderful guy if you don't know already. I know 11 years isn't too long in the grand scheme of things, and to us it really seems like it has flown by. This is the first year we weren't together on our anniversary. All the NAVY deployments never interfered with it for some reason (unlike birthdays and Christmas!). I love him so much and I still can't believe at the age of 14 I knew he was one special guy - pimples and all :) I wish I had some pictures to post - I am still in Colorado. So I will have lots of pictures to upload when I get home next week - and hopefully we can celebrate our Anniversary then. Just a little reminiscing now... I know some of you have heard this, but for those of you who haven't here's the story. I saw TJ for the first time right after 8th grade ended - we were watching our sisters play in an all-star little league game against each other. He was sitting in the bleachers in front of me with his parents. I told my friend I was going to marry that kid although I'd never seen him before. I never saw him again that summer, until school started and we ended up at the same High School. We have been together ever since. Fast forward to April, 1996 - TJ calls me and tells me he's joined the NAVY - I say "what's that?" Colorado isn't a very NAVY town! I now know all too well what the NAVY is - and I LOVE it!! I know it was the best thing that could have ever happened to us and I am so grateful to the NAVY and all the opportunities it has given us. TJ can retire from the NAVY in 8 years! Although I am hoping we end up staying in for longer than the 20 years required for retirement. So TJ went to boot camp in Great Lakes, IL in October, 1996. He came back on May 9, 1997, for us to get married on the 10th, then left again on May 11, to go back to IL. He was gone for like a week and he came back to get me and we drove off to San Diego, where he was stationed for the next 10 years. But, when we got to San Diego in May 1997, he left for 6 months in August 1997. He came back in February 1998, and left AGAIN for 6 months in June 1999, and returned in December 1999. I like to tease him that he hasn't done a real day's work since sometime in 2000, and he hates it when I say that! But, since starting flight school, he has definitely been putting in his time. I love you so much honey! I'll see you next week - do you think you can pick us up at the airport??? And, I think I need a little vacation from our wonderful children when I get back from this vacation with them!