Well, Charla had the idea for "Gettin' Fit Friday's" and I think that is an excellent idea. I, too, have struggled with my weight for most of my life. I believe that I started gaining weight when I was around 10 or 11. Ever since then it's been a big factor in my life. I've always hated my weight, but I definitely am not coordinated in any way, shape or form. So, I didn't play sports. My brother was a big athlete, he played baseball and football. He just couldn't understand why I couldn't (or wouldn't) play sports and be active in that way. It wasn't for me, at all. It still isn't. I can't catch or throw to save my life. When I was a Senior in high school, I joined weight lifting as an elective, and I slimed down a little, but after that was over, I went back to doing pretty much nothing. Then I got married and I really stacked the weight on. I'm really ashamed at what I let the scale get up to, and when I'm down to my final goal weight, I'll tell everyone what it was. So, when Eric left to go overseas, I decided to do something about my problem. It is, after all, my problem. Nobody can take care of it for me, that's for sure! I pray a lot that the Lord gives me the strength that I need to continue to do what I have to do to get where I need to be with my weight. Anyways, when Eric left I just decided to do what I have to do to be healthy for myself and him and our future babies. That's one of the main reasons that I decided I had to do something. We've tried since we got married (almost 4 years ago) to have a baby, with no luck. I know that it will come in the Lord's timing, but I'm sure that my weight isn't helping matters either. I have to do my part for God to do His. So, I've lost 51 pounds since last November. I've given up pop. I haven't had one in about 7 months. I also don't eat sweets. I exercise twice a day too. I started out walking on the treadmill, and going for 2 miles. Now I ride a stationary bike for 30 mins, twice a day. Then about every other day I do Tae Bo. I love Tae Bo. I think it helps me a lot because Billy Blanks is a Christian, and he's very encouraging on his tapes. I've been doing "Billy's Bootcamp", it's tough, but if you just do what you can, you will eventually work your way up to being able to do the whole tape. Oh, and I also drink a ton of water everyday.

Thank you Charla for getting this started. I know that I would love to be able to find new ideas on how to keep up with my exercising. It's difficult at times to keep up the motivation and keep going.

I'll be gone for a while. I'm going tomorrow to see my cousins and uncle that are in from Washington. Then, when I leave there, I'm going up to Kansas to move into our new apartment!!!! I am so happy to say that. I've had my Jeep loaded up since Tuesday, just sitting there waiting to go and unpack it at OUR OWN PLACE!!!! I need to get away and this is a big answer to my prayers. I can't wait until Eric's home too. Just him and me alone, in our own place. Aaahhh, that's music to my ears.

My sister and mom decided it would be funny to play a joke on my brother and me yesterday. Meagan (my sister) is 15, she'll be 16 in Sept. I'm 7 years older and my brother is 9 years older than she is, so we are super protective over her. Well we were all sitting and eating dinner last night and my mom says, "So what time will he be over?" Meagan says, "Oh about 7." I was wondering what they were talking about and I asked but they wouldn't tell me who was coming over. So, mom asks her what time the movie starts. She says 9:30. I started freaking out. They were talking about a boy that she has a crush on and her going on a date with him. Matt (my brother) got so mad, he can go from zero to pissed in about 2 seconds. So, after griping at my parents for letting her go to on a date at 15, he got up and threw his food in the trash. Well, while he was in the kitchen they told me they were just kidding with him. Matt comes back in and grabs his keys off the table. He was so mad at this time, he was red from anger. He tells me to hand him his wallet, he was leaving. I told Meagan she better tell him she was just kidding because he was ticked off. They told him they were just kidding, he didn't think it was funny at all, but he didn't leave. I asked him where he was going to go, he said he was going to go find out where that kid lived! LOL Ok, my brother is not a small guy, by no means, and he's very protective of his sisters and I know for sure that he was seriously going to find the kid. I would definitely be afraid if I was any guy that ever comes around her! (The picture is of my brother & sister)

Well, today I was talking to my dad and he said that he couldn't believe that Matt thought he would go along with letting Meagan go on a date, before she was 16, with some kid he didn't know. He said he's going to have a heart attack when it comes time to let her start dating, just like he about did when it came time for me. He said that I did good though, except for one guy I brought home. LOL... Let's just say this guy was not their cup of tea. I think he was part of my "rebellious stage". Thinking back I honestly think I was just trying to get a reaction from them with the guy. I told him "yeah, but you love Eric." He said, "Yeah, I do. I think I fell for him faster than you did." I'm not sure about that but they certainly did hit it off fast!

I love my husband, and I am so thrilled that we have the families we do. His mom drives me crazy but I know she loves me, and that's all that matters. She raised a terrific son, and I am forever grateful for that. He's a believer in God, such a hard worker, always true to his word, loving, kind, generous, faithful and trusting. I could go on forever about what a wonderful man he is, but I'm sure it would bore everyone except me, lol. I love him with every ounce of my being. I thank God for him every single day and I thank God that He gave Eric a mom that raised him to be all of those things.

(Ok, sorry, I rambled so long, lol.)

Yesterday was a horrible day for me. I was so bummed, I spent half the day just crying. I hadn't heard from the apartment I applied for and it was stressing me out. I was missing Eric like crazy, and I couldn't get over the fact that we still have 3-4 months left. Hasn't he been gone for an eternity already? Well after we talked last night I felt better. I know I can do this, and I will, but I certainly don't want to. Oh well, I know he doesn't want to be over there just as much as I don't want him there. About the only thing we can do though is do it and pray. Prayer is a big part of my life, and I'm so thankful for that. So, after lots of prayers, I woke up today feeling much better. I called about the apartment that I put the application in at. I decided that it wasn't worth losing my sanity over and waiting for an answer. After a couple minutes of the lady looking up the status of my application I found out that we were completely approved. She said that the only thing that we have to do is wait until the first, switch over all the bills to our name and schedule a move-in inspection date. YAY!!! Talk about a big weight off my shoulders. God definitely answered Eric's and my prayers (is that good English? Oh wait, I'm from OK, it doesn't matter!).

Also, when I thought we were going to rent the house I paid the guy $600 for the first month's rent. Well, he told me at the time that he wouldn't hold me to anything until I signed the lease, he was supposed to send it to me. So, I mailed the keys back to the guy, and told him to send my check back to me. I still haven't received it. I called him today too. I asked him if he had gotten my letter and he said yes. I asked him if he had sent my check back, he said no. He said that they cashed the check the day I gave it to him, but he would send me my money back. However, he told me that he was going to deduct about 5 days worth of rent because I cost him about a week's worth of rent money. I said, well you told me I could get out if I wanted. He said, "I did?" I said "yes, you said you wouldn't hold me to anything until I signed the lease." So he agreed to send me back my money.

My parents and uncle took my grandpa to a neurologist on Wednesday. They told him they wanted to completely start from scratch. The doctor automatically adjusted most of his medications. The Dr said that he doesn't think he has Alzheimer's, he thinks it's his diabetes that's the problem. He said that his blood vessels are getting clogged so it's making it to where he's not getting enough blood to his brain. So he gave him medicine to open them up. That was such awesome news. Of course he still has to run some tests and do some more adjusting of the medicine's, but he said that Grandpa should get almost 100% better. He just doesn't know how long it will take. He said it could takes months, but we'll take that over knowing that over the months he's going to just get worse.

Ok, so I think I may be a little flighty or maybe it would be called indecisive, but that's ok, right? Well, after talking to Eric about the house that we were looking at we decided not to rent it after all. I don't think I would be comfortable staying that far out of town, away from everybody, all by myself. I figured that even if I stayed in Oklahoma until he comes home I'll eventually be there by myself. I mean he'll have to pull 24 hr duties and maybe go to the field and such, there's not getting around it. I hadn't signed a lease yet, the guy was supposed to mail it to me, so I just let him know we wouldn't be taking it after all. So the weekend was all about going to find something we COULD live in, where I could be comfortable staying alone. You would not believe how tough it is getting to find a place up there. Geez, I called 17 different apartment complexes and they were all filled!! So, thankfully I had an appointment to see an apartment up there. I loved it! It was so wonderful. I felt really really good about this place. I filled out an application so I'm praying that everything goes good and we're able to get it. She said it would take a few days to get it processed so I should know by the end of the week. I went ahead and signed the lease and paid the deposit so if we get approved we will be the one's to get it. I am definitely praying about it!

My husband is the sweetest man to me! I love him so very much. He told me about a week ago that he had ordered me something, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. I was very surprised too, he's usually really terrible about being able to keep secrets (that's not a bad thing, lol). This time though, he kept it. Well, it arrived today and I was so surprised to open my package. He's the most thoughtful man in the world. It even came with a message for me from him, "I love you with all my heart and soul. Thank you for being so wonderful. I love you!!" I love him so very much! It's not for anything special, just because he wanted to get me something. What a present!

Eric hasn't heard anything about his NCOER yet. He said that it would take a while for the guy to get it done.

I lost the ring that Eric gave me for our anniversary one year. When I realized it was gone I was in the shower and I searched everywhere in the bathroom (and I mean everywhere!). Then I came out and had my mom and dad searching too. I finally found it in the room I'm staying in. Thank God! My fingers are getting smaller and it's getting harder for me to keep them on, lol. I don't want to get them re-sized until Eric comes home though, because I don't want to take them off while he's gone. I guess I'll just have to keep a very close eye on them from now on.

My cousins and uncle are coming in from Washington at the end of the month. It's going to be nice to see my girl cousin, I haven't seen her in about 4 years. We keep in touch by email every once in a while, but we're both real busy so it's hard to stay in contact. We didn't grow up around each other, but every time they would come down we would be inseparable. She's such an awesome person. We have definitely been blessed with such a wonderful family. Almost every one of us cousins are like best friends. Although the past few years we've grown apart, which is to be expected, it's always nice to sit and talk and catch up on "the good ol' days". Geez, I feel old!

Eric's getting his NCOER done today. I'm really excited to hear what the NCOIC has to say about the job he's doing. It's his first one since becoming an NCO and I'm so proud of him.

Every single day I fall more in love with my husband. He's so wonderful to me and I can't thank him enough for the love that he gives me. Please be careful Eric, I'm praying for you!

My sister and I made the long trip up to Kansas yesterday. I'm so tired right now, but we made it back safely. The trip went well. I talked to Eric yesterday before we left, and we got out of here at about 10 yesterday morning. We made it up there at about 5:30 p.m., and checked into the motel. My sister truly is a blonde. We were driving down the road and she says, "Are we staying at a hotel?" I said, "No, we're staying at Motel 6." She says, "Yeah, but isn't Motel 6 a hotel?" She was as serious as could be too. I said, "Meagan, it's called MOTEL 6!" She cracks me up.

Anyways, we went by the house yesterday to make sure I could find it. I didn't know the actual address, just how to get there, so I hoped that the house I came across was the right one. Then we went back to the motel (not hotel) . Then this morning we went to the mall, my sister is a huge shopping fan (me, not so much). We stayed there until it was time for my appt. When we got out to the house (the one I found the night before was the right one) the guy was mowing the yard. Well, it only took about 20 mins of talking to the guy and looking around and I made my decision. I wanted more than anything to be able to talk to Eric and make a decision with him. It's hard to make those kinds of decisions without him, but I did. It's out in the country, but I factored in the drive for Eric to work. In fact, last night I clocked it to see how long it would take him to get there. It's only a couple miles more to drive from this house to work then it was from our apartment in town. If you look at the fact that there shouldn't be as much traffic from this house, it'll probably be a shorter drive. That's a good thing. The other good things are that it's just so cute. It's really big for the price, a lot bigger than our apartment, and $30 less a month. It has everything we wanted, it has a washer/dryer hookup and he'll allow pets. The downside is that it's pretty much in the boondocks, so I'm not so sure about staying out there too much by myself until Eric's back. It's also right next to a cornfield, lol. But, in the end...I got the house! It's so adorable! That's one thing I can cross off my list of things to do. (Also, if this doesn't make any sense, please forgive me, I'm really tired!)

I went to the post office today, like I do every Friday. I went up to the counter and the lady says, "She's back..." She then told the other lady working there, "This guy is so lucky, he gets more packages then I get bills." That cracked me up. I am a huge fan of care packages. Thank God for flat rate, free, boxes.

I have an appt to go look at a house. I'm really excited.

My grandpa has been staying with us for about a week. His wife went to see her family for the 4th of July and she got sick. She's been in the hospital and had to have surgery. My mom invited her to come stay here for a while. Up the household count to 6 adults and 1 teenager.

I bought a new book the other day through Amazon. I love Amazon. I bought "The Excellent Wife." So far, it's a really good book. I also bought a nintendo. The first one to ever come out. I'm so excited to get it. Call me old fashioned, but I'd much rather play that then the XBox or something of that sort. Maybe it's not me being old fashioned, maybe I'm just video game challenged.

Watching the fireworks was definitely different this year. I didn't stay for all of them. Just long enough to take some pictures to send to Eric. I guess the good thing about him being gone this year is that it really made me stop and think about what today is all about. It hit me hard while I was driving home. I miss Eric like crazy, but I am so glad that he's doing what he loves and it's something that I respect and support. I pray that he's safe and that time goes by very quickly.

I tried my best, but it was extremely difficult to catch the fireworks as they went off. I did get a few good one's, or at least I think they're good, lol.


There's a page on myspace that is about a couple soldiers overseas. They write and sing songs. They wrote one and dedicated it to their wives, it's so sweet. The group is "Hearts n Minds", they have a video to that song in the middle of their page. It's really a good song. They have other songs on there that they've written as well.

God Bless our troops!

In Honor of Spc Jonn J. Edmunds

God puts people on earth to fulfill his works; a few are chosen to give everything to save the many. Spc Jonn J. Edmunds, of Cheyenne, Wy, was one of these special people. Edmunds was born Jan. 3, 1981. He graduated from East High School in Cheyenne in 1991. Edmunds knew that he was called to serve his country. While in high school he told the school newspaper of his future plans, "I will be contributing to myself as well as the defense of this country and the betterment of the world." He did just that by enlisting and becoming an Army Ranger.

He was a driven man, who expected nothing but the best from himself and those around him. Mike Belomyzy, Edmunds high school PE teacher said, "He was an intense individual. When he competed, it was just fierce. He didn't accept failure by himself or anyone else." Getting an education was very important to Edmunds. He had plans of getting the GI Bill that the military offers to pay for college. Although he had dreams of going to college, his former teacher said, "He fit the mold of someone in Special Forces. He pressed hard. When he got in the heat of things, he held his own."

Edmunds enlisted in the Army in July of 1999 and five months later his dreams of being a Ranger became reality. He became a member of Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Rangers of Ft. Benning, Ga. In 2000, while stationed in Georgia, he married his wife, Anne. Less than a year later he was sent to Afghanistan in support of the War on Terrorism.

On Oct. 19, 2001, at age 20, SPC Edmunds was killed in action, when the UH-60 Black Hawk he was on crashed. He is survived by his wife, Anne; his parents, Donn and Mary; his brother, Seth; his sister, Alyssa; and his grandfather Joseph Edmunds Sr. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Henry and Vera Harms and Maxine Edmunds.

SPC Edmunds sacrificed everything to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. I am forever grateful to him and his family for these freedoms. I will always remember, and be thankful for, the sacrifices SPC Edmunds and his family made for my family and me.

To help remember the fallen troops, click on the icon of the boots located on the sidebar at the right. God Bless America and all who serve to protect it, both at home and overseas. (Thank you Emily for providing the information to the wonderful website that is dedicated to remembering these wonderful men and women.)