Well, it's official, my brother's a married man now. That's the weirdest thing to say lol. Things went great though, it was a beautiful wedding. The rehearsal was long and a little sketchy, but the wedding went off without a hitch and everything was great. I put a slideshow together for them that they played before the ceremony started, and it went over well. I cried pretty much from the time I got to my place through the whole ceremony. Although my brother told me thanks for not blubbering like he did during my wedding lol. They couldn't get the unity candle lit, but they didn't let it bother them and we got a laugh from that. So, a word to the wise, make sure the wick is actually sticking out of the candle before the wedding lol. When the ceremony was finished, and we were walking out, the groomsman that I walked with said, "well you held it together good." lol... I said, "yeah I did, didn't I?" geez. Anyways, we had cake there at the church and then they had a dance reception at a opera house museum thing. It was beautiful. They had a dj there and they had a mother/son dance and a father/daughter dance. Then they had a $1 dance. I hadn't ever heard of that, but you pay $1 to dance with either the groom or bride. So, we did that and I don't know how much they made in total, but quite a bit. Plus, one of our cousins came in from Montana and was an usher, but he bought my new SIL a camcorder and my brother a guitar! Well that blew our gifts out of the water that we got them, lol. Anyways, I think they did pretty good and we had a good time. My poor baby was kicking me cause the music was so loud lol. I don't think he/she liked that very much. Several of my brother's friends had come down from where he used to go to college, so after the dance they went to the bar. Somehow, Eric and I got roped into being dd for my cousins, brother and SIL. I'm glad they asked though, because I'd much rather do that than them drive and something happen. So, I was exhausted by the end of the night. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a bed. Things went great though and I'm just so thrilled for both Matt & Brandi (my brother and SIL). I wish them a lifetime of happiness together and may God bless their marriage.

This pic is me, my mom, brother, dad, sister

me, brother, sister

brother and new sil

whole wedding party, those in very front were ushers

new sil, I love this pic

brother and sil

mother/son dance

Glo left me a message asking if I was feeling ok since I hadn't been on in a while. I am so appreciative that there are people who care, and I just love all you ladies! You've helped me through a lot, even though I've never met any of you in person.



I felt the baby kick today, which was such a neat feeling. I was so thrilled and can't wait until it's strong enough for Eric to be able to feel it too.



My brother's wedding is Oct 6, and I'm a bride's maid. I'm pretty excited about that too, just because I know that she makes him very happy and that makes me very happy. I wish them a lifetime of happiness together.

Courtney is so sweet. I seen that she gave me my first blog award and I want to thank her very much for that! It means so much to me.

The awards says: "The thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell,and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with.I wanted to create something special for ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.Although there are MANY people I want to give this award to at this very moment, I am going to choose ten bloggers:Please grab your badge and wear it(with a smile) proudly, and pass it on because you inspire and encourage me, thank you.So, now it is my turn to pass it on. "

So, I know that most of these ladies have already received at least one, but they are very special to me and so I'll give it to them again. Thank you all for the support you've shown me. I couldn't have gotten through last year without you!

Courtney (Beside My Soldier)

Michelle (Learning How to Deal)

Charla (Standing By My Man)

Glo (Young At Heart)

Kbug

Andrea (Sgt and Mrs Hub)

Monica (Always My Soldier)

Vanessa (All That I Am)

My little baby sister turns 17 on Friday (21st). It's the last year she's technically still a kid. I'm pretty bummed about all this "growing up" stuff. Seriously, next thing I know it's going to be Eric & my baby that's turning 17. My sister, Meagan, is 7 yrs younger than I am. We're really close. Actually, my whole family is close. We call each other Bisty, and she's so funny. She's really a cool person to hang out with. The night she was born, I was so thrilled. My brother and I were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital by ourselves, the rest of the family hadn't made it there yet, and I was bouncing off the walls (literally). I was so excited to have a baby coming into the family. We didn't know what she was, and when my dad came down the hall with the nurse and told us it was a girl I was beyond thrilled. My brother, on the other hand, was not. He wouldn't even come out in the hall and see her before they took her to the nursery to clean her up. He sat in the waiting room pouting. He wanted a brother. He even called her "It" for a while after she was born. Of course, they are best friends now too though.
Our whole family is super close and I'm so thankful for that. My sister completed the puzzle to that part of our lives and I thank God that she was put into our family. The age difference could have been one that separated us, but I think that it made us closer. I've always had the instinct to protect her first. As my mom has said, I was a very clumsy child, but even when I would be holding her and I would trip and fall (lol) I always made sure to land with her up, so she didn't get hurt. She's not just my sister, but a wonderful friend and I'm proud of the young woman that she's becoming. So, to my beautiful, talented sister, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEAGAN! I love you!

We had another appt yesterday. Everything is going good. The baby was moving alot, so she wasn't able to get a good heartbeat lol. What we did hear, she said was between 140-150 though. My next appt is Oct 17, but we are scheduled for an ultrasound Oct 12 (which just happens to be our 5 year anniversary!). I'm so excited, I can't wait to see our little one again. My brother is getting married Oct 6, so this weekend is their wedding shower. We are going to my parents this weekend so I can go. Eric's not even slightly interested in going (for some odd reason lol) so he's going hunting with my sister's bf. I even let him off the hook of going to our baby shower, he wants to go to an OU game since I did that. I figure I made him suffer through our wedding shower, I'll let him slide on this one. They don't seem to be geared towards the men anyways lol. Who knows when it will be though, my sister is planning it and won't tell me anything. She says it's a surprise. I think I should at least get time to plan when I need to be there lol. Oh well.

In other news, school is going ok. My journalism teacher is one of the most slanted people you will ever meet and his "teaching" leaves a lot to be desired. My economic geography teacher thinks he's teaching 3 yr olds (seriously, he stopped class after myself and another person sneezed back to back and said "I guess everyone has the sniffles huh?" and then he got irritated when a girl asked a question and asked if it would be on the test). I don't think he realizes that if we don't learn what's being taught, it's at our own expense. Oh well, I guess everyone can't be pleasant, otherwise we'd have nothing to complain about lol.

Ok, I'm a little slow, but I finally took the time to take some pictures of our house. I haven't taken any of the outside yet though. I have some of before, but I'm just going to post the one's of now. I love this house, I'm already dreading the thought of having to sell it one day lol. We got some baby stuff the other day. We got the crib, changing table, and dresser. Eric put it together and it is so cute! I'm thrilled. It looks neat having it in the baby's room. We still have to paint and stuff, but I have no clue what color to paint, so that will have to be later.

Here's our cute little kitchen, I love the cupboards! My mom made the curtains for the kitchen. They are so cute!

And the living room

The spare room is a mess still, we have lots of work to do to get this one in order!

Our bedroom

And our cute little baby's room! The dress hanging on the dresser is something I had picked up for a friends baby. Turns out, she's having a boy lol. Oh well, it might come in handy if we have a girl!

I came close to dropping journalism, but after thinking and praying hard about, I decided not to let an arrogant teacher run me off. Besides, I'll know better next semester! lol...



I've had a head cold the past week and I'm so ready to get over it. It makes things more difficult not being able to take medicine. A small price to pay though.



We have tickets to go see OU vs North TX this weekend. I don't want to go, I'm not a big fan of football, but Eric wanted to and my sister and her bf want to too, so I'm going too. We also get to go see my sister's bf play his high school football game Friday. So, as much as I don't like football, that's where I'll be all weekend, YAY!



I miss Hawaii. I want to go there again and just relax and do absolutely nothing but goof off for another week. Sounds so good to me right now! Too bad that takes money, and quite a bit of it. First, we have to fix the air conditioner and then eventually we need things for the baby. Vacation will have to wait. The baby is definitely worth it, and with the heat, the air conditioner is too, but if things weren't so expensive we could have all three and then I could forget school and be relaxing in paradise. Ahh, dreams.

Classes started Monday, I'm taking Economic Geography, Intro to Journalism, Methods in Social Research and Social Statistics. You know which one I dread going to the most Monday, Wednesday and Friday? Intro to Journalism. Would you like to know why? On day one the teacher called us out on our political views. I am not an outgoing person, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't go around spewing my views, but I also won't sit back and let others bad mouth my side either. So, in answer to his question of who we supported, I was the only one to raise my hand. I felt out of place, sure, but also proud of myself for sticking up for what I believe. Then today, another dose of making a point to draw out those who oppose his views. Luckily there happened to be another lady in class today that shared my point of view, and she's a talker :) You know, I would understand the point to this type of teaching if the teacher wasn't so biased. If he drew out both sides to open a discussion for the students to choose their own beliefs, that's one thing. However, It's a completely other thing when the teacher puts his point out there and makes the student feel like they are totally wrong for their beliefs. He flat out said, "I'm anti..." and proceeded to name the things he hates. Isn't the point of teaching to teach all the angles and give the students the information to choose their own path, not to try and make them take the path already chosen by the teacher? Aahh, ok that's enough of a rant for today, and it's only the second day of that class. It may be a very long semester! Sorry if this doesn't make sense.

I don't know why the picture wasn't showing up. I'll try again to post it. Sometimes blogger is frustrating. We had another dr appt today, and we got to hear the heartbeat! It was 156. It was amazing and so neat!

Ok, sorry this took so long, but here's the picture of our baby. The cute little one even had it's tail still lol. I have another appt on the 15, so hopefully we'll get to hear the heartbeat then. I'm excited! Eric's mom bummed me out when we went and visited her this past weekend. She looked at the picture and just went on talking about her stupid cell phone. We might as well have shown her our big toes for all she seemed to care. Oh well, that's her loss if she's not going to be excited with the rest of us. My family is estatic and Eric and I couldn't be prouder parents already lol.

I know I referred to the baby as he in my post, but that's only because I've always figured I'd have a boy first lol. I always wanted to have the older boy so he could look after his little sister. Kinda like my brother, I guess. Although my brother was such a butthead to me for a long time. When it came down to it, though, he stood up for me and protected me when I was being threatened. My brother's rules were that I was to never look at him, or talk to him in public. The only reason I could talk to him was if something happened to mom, dad or our little sister. He was very adament about this, and in fact he told me if I seen him in school I was to look the other way and act like I didn't see him. I always complied to these rules, and I developed a very bad habit of starring at the floor, and playing with my hands. Anyways, we went to Falls Creek Church Camp one year, and I stayed away from him. Some of the people from our group were going to play in a volleyball tournament, and so the whole group went to watch. Well, one of my friends and I sat up higher and away from the rest of the group. These three guys came up to us, one had a camcorder, and stood in front of us. The other two sat down on either side of us and started putting their hands on us and saying stupid things like, "Hey baby, wanna go with us?" and just being really dumb. Well, we were both taken aback and didn't know what to do. Out of the blue, standing in front of me, my brother appeared. I didn't see him come up, but he was there. (He's always been very stocky for his age, and everyone was always intimidated by him) He was standing there, flexing his muscles and he said, "Michelle, are these guys bothering you?" I told him yes and he said, "Leave her alone!" The guys started stuttering saying, "Hey man, we were just playin around." My brother said, "Leave her alone!" The guys were stumbling all over themselves, and my brother wasn't backing down. Anyways, they left and left us alone. My brother turned to me and asked if I was ok, I told him I was, and he turned and walked back down to his seat. Everyone was talking about it, they said that as soon as he realized that the guys were touching us, he flew up the steps. From that day on I knew my brother loved me and would be there when I needed him. Up to that point, I had no clue, I figured he'd be the first to throw me to the wolves lol. Anyways, I've always wanted a little boy to give his little sister that kind of security. (Minus the whole making a rule where she can't look at him part)
On the other hand, though, my mom and grandma both say it's a little girl lol. It's kind of funny though, because my mom says things like, "They got a picture of her today," to my dad and my dad responds with, "You mean him?" lol. I guess only the Lord knows though, whatever we have, it's our little blessing and I'll be so happy to have him or her.

Things have been hectic around here. We signed for our house last Thursday and our household goods were delivered yesterday. I had Eric deal with the movers since I had dealt with them when they took it lol. Gave me a chance to rest anyways and I even got a little reading done :) My mom and sister came down today and helped us get things unpacked. I was so grateful to them for that too. It made things go so much easier and faster than doing it alone for sure. They are definitely lifesavers. Thank God for good family! I wish they could have stayed longer, but mom said maybe in a couple weeks her, dad and my sister could come and stay the night with us. I hope so. I'll post pictures when I get some taken lol.

I also have to post our baby picture, I haven't forgotten, just haven't had the time.
You know, I never realized how tired a pregnant lady gets lol. Eric, my sister and her bf kept making fun of me for always being so tired. They were trying to get me to do something and I just wanted a nap lol. Eric even told me I could be tired when I was big and pregnant. I know he was playing, but I don't think that was the wisest thing to say lol. Men.

We are finally back in our home state! YAY! We came down yesterday, and in the process stopped by and seen my grandma. She looked so lonely when we told her goodbye. I felt bad for leaving. She seems to be doing good though, but of course still has her good days and bad. We're staying with my parents until we sign for the house on the 2nd! I can't wait. Just over a week and we'll be put for at least two years! I haven't got to say that since we got married. It's so exciting to know that we'll be in one place for two years. Aaahhh, those are sweet words lol.

Ok, well I have a prayer request. One of my old high school friends', she was a year below me, brother died on Saturday. He was in my grade, and was only a year older than I am, so he was only 25. They're not sure what happened to him, they had an autopsy done, but won't know the results for 6-9 weeks. His funeral is Thursday, and I would appreciate it if you would all keep his family in your prayers. They're not taking it well, and I worry about the mom in the family. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this difficult time. Thank you!

Today was my appt. It went really well. I got my physical today, the dr said everything looks good. I was a little disappointed, because I didn't think they were going to do an ultrasound. But after the physical they took me to another room and did an ultrasound. It was so neat! They said the baby is still too little to hear the heartbeat, but we could see it beating in the ultrasound. It was the neatest thing! The little baby isn't even an inch long, but we could see it's little arm moving around. He's so sweet! I love him already. I'm 9 wks and 1 day, according to that ultrasound, which is only a day off from where they had me at the first appt. I'm so excited! We don't have any of our stuff, except the laptop really, so I'll scan the picture when we get to the new place and get set up!

We've been living for a week without our stuff now. I hate it. It really stinks having to sit on lawn furniture and sleeping on an air mattress. They also took our microwave, so I'm having to do the old fashion warm ups lol. Oh, the joy. My mom finds it funny, I'm not in the mood to find it funny. I'm just ready to move, Monday can't here fast enough!

My dr appt is tomorrow at 3. I'm ready for it, although I'm not a fan of physicals lol. It's worth it though for sure.

Eric called me while he was on his way to formation this morning for accountability, at 5:40 a.m. and said he had been rear ended. I guess the guy told him that he had just dropped his kids at daycare and was having a coughing fit and he didn't see him slow down. It took over and hr for everything to get squared away before Eric could leave. He called the cops, and when the cop got there they found out that where they were was not his jurisdiction, it was the forts jurisdiction lol. So they had to wait on an MP to get there. At least the guy has good insurance. I think State Farm does an excellent job when it comes to getting things taken care of. I got rear ended once too and the lady had State Farm and before I even got to my mom's house they had called to tell me what to do. It was awesome. Anyways, they've already called Eric too, and told him to take it wherever he wanted and it would all be taken care of. Awesome customer service. We leave on the 23rd from here, and the packers are coming tomorrow, the movers on Friday, so Eric probably won't be able to take the truck in until Monday. Hopefully the body shop will be able to get it done within the week. He's going to take it today so they can tell him how long it will take to do the job. He can't drop it off until Monday though, because we have to have the truck to put the things we don't want them to take in the move. Oh well, if they can't get it done in time, we can always do it when we get where we're going. At least nobody was hurt!

I can't wait to get out of here. It seems like these last two weeks will never end!

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Thank you to all those who have made sacrifices for us to be able to celebrate our freedom today!

I had my first appt today. It was just us talking to an ob nurse. My first real appt is July 19. We told her we were moving next month, so she put us in before we have to leave. She said that she really wants us to get that done before we leave so that they can make sure everything is going good. So that's when I'll have the first ultrasound and what not. She said based on the dates I gave her and everything that I'm about 6 weeks already and that my due date will be around Feb 19. The did my lab work today, and took 5 vials and I had to do a urine test. Fun fun lol. It's still pretty unreal to me at this point, but I'm excited. My sister and her bf stayed the week with us last week, and she bought the baby it's baby book, first piggy bank and a cute little onesie already. She's already spoiling it and it's not even here lol.

We had our house inspection yesterday. I guess there were a few things wrong with it, but nothing major. So, we're requesting they fix a few things and then we'll get the rest. It's just a few things, so I'm excited about that. We also had it appraised and they said the asking value is very reasonable, so that's good too. Our closing date is Aug 1, so just over a month. My mom said she wants to paint the mural for the babies room, and I'm so happy about that. She's such an awesome artist.

Eric should be getting his orders in the next couple of days so he'll be able to start clearing soon. He has 24 hr duty tonight and on the 4th of July, which sucks, but what can ya do? Oh well, no big deal.

Last week was pretty terrible, with my grandpa passing and everything. However, God blessed Eric and me in two huge ways, and I would like to share with you ladies :) We put an offer on a house down in OK Saturday, and found out yesterday that the sellers accepted out offer! YAY!!! So exciting, I love that house! Now, for the best news ever, I found out Sunday (Father's Day!) that Eric and I are going to have a baby! I took two tests and then that afternoon we told my family. They were so excited. I signed Dad's card Eric, Michelle & Baby, and while he was looking puzzled about that Eric laid a baby bib that says, "I love Grandpa" on him. They went nuts, they are so excited. My sister about busted our eardrums with her screaming. We went and told his mom yesterday, she's excited too. Then I went to the hospital today and they drew blood and about 30 mins ago called and told me it is for sure positive. My first appt is the 28th. I am SO EXCITED!!! The best news of all is that the last time I posted about our problems with getting pregnant I said that the dr gave us pills to help, well I took them for two months, but last month I told Eric I didn't want to take them anymore, I felt like the Lord was telling me to just put it totally in His hands and we would be blessed for it. So, I did, and the very next month, I'm pregnant!!! Thank you God! :)

My grandma asked me last Friday morning if we would be able to come down to where my Grandpa was in the hospital and stay with her if she needed us to. I, of course, told her yes. Well she called later that day and said that she was going to stay so if we could come down it would be appreciated. So, when Eric got off work we went down to the hospital. When we got there my grandpa wasn't doing too well. He had to have surgery before we got there, because they had to put a tube in his chest to drain the fluid that was building on his heart. Well, we stayed and talked to him for a while, but when he was getting tired we decided to leave and let him rest. So, we went to a motel for the night. The next morning we got up early and went in to visit him. He was up, but his blood pressure was really low it kept falling to about 55/46. It went up a few times to normal, and towards the afternoon Grandma was tired and asked the nurse if he was stable enough for us to leave, he said yes. Well, we took her back to the motel and went and piddled around town for a while. When we got back, she was up and we sat and talked a while before heading to the hospital again. When we got there they had the curtain in his room pulled and a ton of people were in there working on him. A guy asked if we were the family, and then said that somebody would be out to talk to us soon. Grandma kept asking if something had happened, but he wouldn't answer. Well, a lady did come out and gave Grandma the phone, and the person on the phone told her that Grandpa's heart was trying to give out. So, they had us go to the waiting room so we couldn't hear everything that was going on. A few minutes later the dr came out and said they had one option left, to put in a pace maker and see if that would work. Grandma said to do it and try and give him every chance. Well, they had to put him on a respirator and when tried to put the pace maker in. They didn't even get the pace maker in before his heart gave up. It was so sad being there with Grandma when the dr told her that her husband of 32 years was gone. I'm glad, however, that we were there, because at least we were there with her to give her a little bit of comfort and so she wasn't alone in her time of need. I had the task to make the phone calls to tell everyone he was gone. Grandma asked me to call Grandpa's son. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I don't know the guy and I had never talked to him, and it was so heartbreaking to have to tell him his dad wasn't with us anymore, but at least it took some weight off of Grandma's shoulders. We were with Grandma all week, they let Eric off for the week too. We had Grandpa's funeral yesterday, and it had military honors. Eric got to present the flag to Grandma, which was very special to both of them. I've lost both my grandpa's in a 9 month period. I have one left, my mom's dad, but he has never been in our life and so this Grandpa was my Grandpa. I loved him so much, and he will be missed.

I got a new haircut the other day. It's quite a bit shorter than it was before, but I wanted a change and I'm so glad I did it. It's so much easier to handle and cooler. Yay!
We went to church last Sunday. I'm always nervous trying a new church, but we went to one on post and it was really good. I'm really glad that we went, and we will definitely be going back.

My Grandpa is in the hospital for the second time in two weeks. They're not sure what's wrong with him, his blood pressure keeps dropping extremely low and his blood sugar keeps going high. He has cancer, and being in the hospital is keeping him from his treatments, so hopefully they will get him lined out so he can go back to getting chemo before his cancer spreads. So if you could please keep him in your prayers I would appreciate it.

Eric got accepted into the Green-to-Gold Active Duty program that he put his application in for. I am so very proud of him. That means that he gets to go to the ROTC program in Oklahoma and still be considered active duty Army, so we get to keep the same pay and all the benefits. It was definitely an answer to our prayers. Otherwise it would have been extremely tight for the time he's getting his bachelor's degree. There are only 100 slots for the entire Army so he definitely earned this and I couldn't be more proud of him!!!

Well, we had a very eventful weekend. Eric and I went down to OK on Thursday. We stopped by his mom's work on the way down and gave her the mother's day present we bought for her. We got to my families around 4. My brother proposed to his girlfriend that evening. They don't live in the same town, but he called and told us about it. They are getting married Oct 6 of this year (which happens to be 6 days before our 5th anniversary).


On Friday, my sister had her first prom. She was a sophomore server, and so was her boyfriend. I took her over to get her nails done that morning, and then my mom and I ran her over to get her hair done. She hadn't ever been to the place she went, and the girl who did her hair acted like it was the first time she ever seen hair before. I couldn't believe how slow she was, and in the end she did a not so good job. The curls were cute, but she left big rats in the back by her ponytail. I went over and tried to give Meg the opportunity to say something, but she didn't take it. She couldn't see the back, so she didn't know. Anyways, that cost $40, and in the end when we got home, I had to fix it. Here's the before and after.


Here she is in her servers outfit and then her and her bf, Colter. He got to use his grandma's 66 Mustang to take her to the prom. It was so sweet!


Here they are after they served and got ready for the dance. They are so cute! His mom made her dress for her! The other picture is my dad and sister "waltzing" lol.



Saturday was my birthday. I turned 24. I can't believe I'm 24. It was a good birthday though. My mom and I got up early and went and got my brother and brought him over after he got off work. Eric and I went and seen Shrek 3. It was funny, although I swear the rudest bunch of people I've ever come across where in the theater, sitting right by us. It was packed in there, and this lady comes in, on her cell phone, with 8 kids. They were loud and so rude. Eric had went to get some popcorn, and so I was saving his seat. The lady sat in the seat next to his, and I had to tell them 3 times that someone was sitting in the seat next to me, because she kept letting the kids sit there. Then, she answered her phone 4 times during the movie. Why can't people go 1 1/2 hrs without talking on their phone? I don't get it. One of the kids kept getting out of his seat and coming and standing right in our way, and stepped on my foot 3 times. She got up several times, never saying excuse me. Good grief! Anyways, the movie was funny and I'm glad we went to see it. The rest of the day went really well too, and I'm glad we were there to celebrate my birthday.

Here's my "nephew". My brother bought him for his fiance for her birthday in April. He's a yorkipoo his name, I kid you not, is Ozzie Yorkie Pooholes T-------. Both the Ozzie and the Pooholes part are after names of baseball players I guess, so my brother said.
On Sunday, we had the second fundraiser. It was a lunch, and it went really well. It went from 11-1, and we made $1700. Jon gets out of rehab the 26th. Him and my dad are going to be my brother's best men, and he told my brother he will be walking by then. I hope he keeps that attitude, even if he doesn't end up meeting his goal.

Anyways, that was my weekend, sorry for the long post.

Eric had lasik eye surgery done last Friday. It went really well. He had a little trouble with his eyes the first two days after the surgery, but mostly just with them itching and being a little blurry. Other than that, though, they are healing well, thank God! This is the last picture of him with his glasses, and then the first picture without them.



Since he had surgery, they gave him 7 days convalescent leave, so we're getting to spend the week together. He also is taking four days of leave the 17-20, so we can go down to Oklahoma. We would go sooner, but of course you have to sign out before going on leave, and so we can't. That's ok though. My sister's first prom (she's a sophomore server) is Friday, and she wanted me down there to help her get ready. Then my birthday is Saturday, and the fundraiser is Sunday. We went fishing yesterday and half my body got burnt, I look a little lopsided lol. Oh well, I'm planning to go stand in the sun to get the other side tomorrow lol. Hopefully the sun will cooperate with me. My brother (Matt) texted me yesterday and said he got the ring to propose to his gf (Brandi). I'm happy for him. They've had a long road getting to this point. They dated in high school, I believe they were in the 10th grade when they started dating. They were homecoming king and queen. He was the captain of the football team, she was a cheerleader. He was very much going to make her his wife. When they graduated though, it didn't go that way. She said she needed space and he moved to Nevada. She called him while he was there, but my aunt, who my brother was living with at the time, thought it was doing more harm than good, so she told her not to call her house ever again. When Matt moved back to OK, 2 yrs later, he was angry at Brandi, and wouldn't talk to her. She got engaged to a guy, and before she married him, she came to Matt to try to talk to him. He refused, and she married the guy. Well, long story short, she got a divorce after 2 yrs, and after a total of 7 years, they are back together. I'm not sure when he's going to propose, but I'm hoping while we're down there this weekend :)

It's Official

I'm a college graduate! One degree down, one to go!

My sister got me this shirt for my birthday (May 19th), isn't it pretty?

Well, we are home now. We had a wonderful visit with family and everything when we were down there. Sunday was my dad's birthday, and we all pitched in to buy him a new stereo. It stormed from Saturday night until Monday morning. It flooded where my parents live, and there were 4 tornado's in Oklahoma at one time. There was one that was 15 miles west of my parent's house, and then another that was about 20 miles south of there. It was crazy. The electricity went out for about 3 hrs, so we had to have dad's party in the dark. It was fun though. Mom bought party hats, and blowers and bubbles. My dad has a really hard time just about every birthday. He hates getting older, but this year he was actually in very high spirits and had a wonderful time.

After the party my brother and his gf left because he had to go to work that night. My sister, her bf, Eric and I played hide-and-go-seek in the dark, lol. It was pretty fun. Anyways, I could not believe how bad it rained. When we came home yesterday there was a town in KS that we had to pass through and it was so flooded, I couldn't believe it. I took a couple pictures. There are billboards that are covered with water to the bottom of the sign.
The water was so high it was touching the bottoms of the bridges. It was crazy. The whole town looked like it had been flooded. Thankfully it didn't do that here where we live.

Anyways, Sunday night my brother's gf called me and said that Matt (my brother) had left to go to work and she had gotten a call from a cop saying they were taking him to jail and to come down and get his car or they were going to impound it. So, she had to walk down to get the car. She was so shaken up when she called me, she was asking what to do lol. I had no clue what to do, but told her to find out how much bail was going to be and then we'd see what we could do about getting the money together to get him out. He has NEVER been arrested, and I felt so bad for him. He got pulled over because he had expired tags, they ran his license and found that it has been suspended because of a ticket he didn't pay. So, that was a lesson he learned the hard way. PAY YOUR TICKETS ON TIME! Anyways, his gf said she was going to call my uncle (my brother works for my uncle) and tell him Matt wouldn't be at work that night. So, we decided I should tell my parents so they didn't hear it through the grapevine. Well, I was just telling my mom and she calls me back. He was getting out, they only needed $218, and she was going to get him. He told her not to call our uncle, he was going to work. Anyways, so I told my mom for nothing. Which made me feel bad, because I don't want to be a rat, but I didn't want it getting back to them from my uncle. So, overall it was a very eventful weekend lol. It was a good weekend though, for the most part and a valuable lesson was learned.

I graduate tomorrow, and this is the last week of school for the semester!!!! YAY!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

We're still in Oklahoma, today is my dad's 50th bday. We have to go home tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to that, but I was so excited about yesterday I just had to get on here and update. On Friday night I was a little irritated and a bit skeptical because things didn't seem to be coming along with the fundraisers, but I prayed and put it in God's hands and He definitely came through for Jon! Yesterday Eric and I went to the car wash to meet the guy who owns it. He came and cleaned it up and then opened one stall and one vacuum for us. Eric went and put up more signs and my brother's gf (Brandi), her sister and I stayed there. Well, the guy who owns the car wash, not only let us use the car wash (for free!) he gave us $5 and then washed his own bike! Well, the very next guy who came up was an old farmer. Eric washed it and his truck was so muddy he came out covered head to toe in mud. I'll have to post pictures later. Anyways, the price we set was $5 for the outside, $10 for outside and vacuum and $15 for outside and detail. Well, he gave Eric $5 and said "You earned your $5." Well, Jon's gf's mom was there and she had been talking to the guy while his truck was being washed and she told him what we were raising money for and he said, "Oh" and walked over to his truck and got out a $100! Then the next guy came in and gave $55 plus another $50 for a second truck he was having washed! Within the first 3 hrs we had made $500! It was so amazing to see how God worked it. We had the car wash from 9-5 yesterday. You'll never guess how much money we made on the combination of the car wash and bake sale! The bake sales were sold out by 12! One of the bake sales made $460, the other made $238! Plus, to make it even more awesome, there's a group called The Down Biker's Association and they are supposed to match us! So, the grand total that they will have to match us is.... $3568.31!!!! Can you believe that from a car wash/bake sale?! God showed Himself in a major way yesterday, and it was so amazing to see it all come together. Everyone here was so supportive and generous. Eric told me, "I LOVE small town people!" lol... Me too. We were all thinking just a few hundred dollars, and that this would be the smallest profit from the fundraisers that we do. It might be, but if the other's do as well as this one does, how amazing would that be?! We're planning a lunch on the 20th now, and my sister's bf is helping with that one, and she said they always make quite a bit of money on those. Anyways, I'm pretty excited, if you can't tell. I just can't stop thanking God for all He did yesterday. Brandi called my brother and told him when we were at $3100, and he screamed, "Thank you Jesus!" Which was the recurring theme in the phone calls we made, that's what my mom and dad said too. Anyways, just thought I would share the blessing that we received for Jon. I hope you're all having a good weekend.

We are going down to Oklahoma tomorrow. I'm really ready, but not looking forward to the trip lol. I baked all day long today. I didn't sit down until around 7 tonight. I had a time too. My dad's 50th bday is Sunday, so I told my mom I'd make his cake. I bought a cake mix and a brownie mix for the bake sale. I make the brownies, I separate them into two different pans. I put nuts in one of the pans. I bake them, they turn out great, a little fluffy, but great. I cut one of the pans into squares. After a while I go to make the cake. I put the mix in the bowl and look to see what I need to do. I see it says, "Mix brownies" lol. So, half my dad's cake is already cut up, the other half has nuts in it. I ran back to the store to get another cake mix. I get it, bring it home, then start to make it. I put the mix in the bowl, look to see what I need. I need 3 eggs, I have 2, lol. So I had to run back to the store, but that's alright. I called mom both times so she could laugh with me/at me lol. At least we have the ability to laugh at ourselves, otherwise we'd be pretty miserable people :) So, all in all I made, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, rice crispie treats, banana nut bread, and two cakes. Now, I just hope it all sells!

I appreciate all the prayers and input! Jon had his surgery and everything went well. He got his neckbrace off and he was able to eat that night. My brother went up to see him yesterday and they were going to take him out of ICU last night, which is awesome, cause they said he'd be there for at least 10 days and he was there for 6! We are going down next weekend and we have put together a fundraiser, car wash/bake sale for Saturday. The guy who owns the car wash where I'm from is going to let us use it for the day, and we've got lots of people making baked goods to sale. Everything is coming together and Matt (my brother) said that since Jon found out we are doing things to raise money his spirits have lifted again. I guess it was really bothering him knowing he couldn't get up and go out and get the money he needs. Then we're planning on doing some sort of lunch fundraiser around the 19th, and we already have a location that we were told we could use anytime we need. So, just pray that people come together and we're able to raise enough money to keep him going and to get him into a good rehab so that he can focus totally on his recovery!

Thanks again, everybody's prayers and nice thoughts are so appreciated!

We are trying to get some fundraisers together to raise money for Jon, if you have any ideas as how we could do this, I would appreciate them! He's having his surgery today, and yesterday he got news that things looked worse than they originally thought. He's in the Air Force Reserves, but he has no insurance, so things are going to get really expensive, really fast. Any input would be appreciated!

I would like to ask everyone to PLEASE be praying for my brother's best friend Jon. Yesterday was a pretty sad/uneasy day for our family. My sister called me yesterday morning and told me that my brother's best friend, Jon, was in a motorcycle accident and they had mediflighted him to OKC, and he could possibly be paralyzed. I told her if she heard anything let me know. I hung up and prayed. My dad called a couple hrs later and told me basically the same thing, except by then he had been told that he had cracks in 3 of his vertebrates. My sister called me back a while later and said that my brother had called my dad and was crying so hard (my brother and Jon have been friends since before Jr High) he had to hand the phone to the preacher (who just happened to be up there visiting someone else, and ran into my brother) so he could tell him that Jon was paralyzed and the dr said he didn't think he would walk again. I told my sister that drs are often wrong and that we just have to keep praying. They said that my dad was going to die when he had liver failure, and the dr sent him home so he could die, and it's been 4 years and he's alive and kicking and his liver is functioning just fine. I called my brother to check on him, and he said that Jon was in really good spirits about everything, which I think is a very important thing. I believe attitude has a lot to do with how well a person fairs in any situation. Well, I didn't talk to my brother long because he was in the room with Jon, and I didn't think it would be appropriate to ask a bunch of questions with him being right there, and my brother is not the type who likes to answer a bunch of questions anyways. Well, I found out a few other details from my mom, but then I texted my brother's gf and asked her exactly what happened to she called and told me the following story:
Jon and a couple other guys rode their bikes to another town, about an hr from where we're from. They had a few drinks and decided to go home. One of the other guys took off somewhere else, and Jon and the third guy rode together. Well, when they got closer, the third guy turned off to go to his home, and Jon kept driving. Well, a deer ran out in front of him, he swerved to miss it, got the bike under control, but then hit a bump and ran off the road, hit a sign, and from where his bike was laying he was 30 feet away. It was around 3 in the morning, and a guy getting off work from an oil rig was driving by and seen the headlight from the bike in the ditch, stopped, seen the bike and then went looking for him. He found him, called the ambulance. They took him to the hospital, where they checked him over, and then mediflighted him to OKC. He had actually cracked 9 of his vertebrates, one of which a piece broke off and is now floating in his spinal column, which is the reason he's paralyzed. He wasn't wearing a helmet, but thank God he didn't sustain any brain damage. He blacked his eye, knocked out several teeth, has a partially collapsed lung, a bruise on his kidneys (they don't know if the bruise is from the accident or because he had just passed kidney stones), and he dislocated his leg. He was paralyzed from his belly button down. The drs said they can't say for sure what will happen, they said they're not God (I'm glad they know that) and that only time will tell if he'll walk again.
My sister called this evening and told me that my brother went back up today, and Jon already has feeling an inch lower then he did yesterday. THANK YOU GOD! I know that drinking and driving is one of the stupidest decisions that you can EVER make but we are praying for his full recovery and for this to be a learning experience for both Jon and everyone else around him. So, if you could all be praying for him, Jon, his family and my family would be very appreciative. Thank you!

I got my cap and gown today, so I'm all set to graduate. I am even going to graduate with honors! I'm pretty proud of that. Just a few weeks left and I'm done with these stupid classes and I'll have my associates. I know, I'm only going to be half way done with school, but I'm still pretty proud of myself. I was talking to my mom yesterday, she's in college too, and we were discussing how the professors make the assignments and tests so different from each other, it makes no sense. Then with all the things they make you learn, it makes you wonder if it's worth going through all that for a degree. I told my mom, that to get into the system and make a difference it's going to take us getting by and learning the crap they teach. That's about the only way you can get a job that will make a difference, and try to make changes to a system that could definitely use some changes. My mom is having a hard time, dealing with some of the things they are making her learn, it's definitely in opposition with the way she believes. Her convictions are telling her this is wrong, but there is no way of getting a degree in what she wants to get a degree in without taking the classes she is in. I'm looking to go into the same field she is, which means that I will have to face the same dilemma's she is, and it makes it definitely difficult to make it through, or even want to attempt to make it through. The only thing that makes it worth trying to get through it, is that the Lord needs people in place to do His works, and this seems to be the only way. That's the only reason it would even be remotely worth it to go through what the world is trying to indoctrinate into the heads of students these days.

We had a good Easter weekend. We went down to Oklahoma and spent it with my family. We had a really good time. It was freezing cold though, I couldn't believe it. On the way down there it snowed until OK and then it rained a good way through there too. Eric, my sister, her bf and me dyed eggs on Saturday. My mom asked when my sister was going to grow out of wanting to do that, lol....I still want to do it and she's 7 yrs younger than me. Then on Easter we hid them and hunted them lol. There are no little ones around, but I think it's pretty funny to see two 16 yr olds and a 23 and 24 yr old out hunting eggs on a freezing cold day while it's spitting snow. My brother had to work all weekend, but he came over for a few hrs on Easter and spent some time with us. We drove over (it's an hr away from my mom's) to my brother's house on Friday and my brother, his gf, my sister, her bf, Eric and myself went bowling. That was really fun. It was a great time and I thank God for the time we got to spend with them. I am in awe of how the Lord died for our sins and rose again and that we are here on earth and able to celebrate such a wonderful blessing. I thank God for all the blessing that He has given us. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend too!

Thank all of you ladies for the sweet comments. I appreciate each and everyone of them! You're all such a blessing to me and I thank you for your continued friendship and support!

I'm not a pleased person as far as the mgmt company for our apartment complex is concerned. Apparently they don't know that the landlord/tenant law says that you can't just come into a person's place without giving notice first. They are supposed to come every other month to spray the place, they hand out a calender with the dates marked, but the past two times they haven't come on the days that they said they were going to and then they show up, unannounced. It's very irritating. Once I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed when they came. Then the other day the manager called and said the plumber was coming the next day to do some work on the outside, but he may need to come inside, that's fine. Well, I was working out and I thought I heard someone at the door, so I stopped to see if I had, and next thing I know the plumber uses a key (the manager wasn't even with him!) and just comes in. For pete's sake. Then yesterday (this is the second time this has happened) the electricity went out, for no apparent reason, but only in the front half of the apartment. Well, the last time it happened we called out the electric company to make sure it wasn't the outside lines, it wasn't. They told us to call the manager and tell him that it was inside and he'd need an electrician, so we did. He didn't come last time, and the electricity just came back on by itself, and it worked fine until yesterday. Eric called yesterday at 1 and told him were having problems again, he said he couldn't do anything until Monday. Eric said, well the fridge it out and we have an aquarium that needs to be plugged in too. He told us to run an extension cord from the back and plug them in. That's fine, but it peeved me because he made no effort whatsoever to provide any kind of assistance to us. So, we went out and bought an extension cord and ran it from the back to the front. The electricity as out for 9 hrs, came back on for 2 hrs and then went out again. It was halfways on this morning when the electrician showed up. He fixed whatever it was, so hopefully we won't have any more problems. It just irritates me that we pay our rent here but get treated like they have free reign over the place. I did my homework and looked up the laws and it says that a landlord must give "reasonable time" before entering the premises, and reasonable time is defined as a time set between the landlord and tenant. So, I'm going to send a letter and let them know that we don't appreciate them thinking they can come in whenever their heart desires and hopefully it won't happen again.

Alright, there's my rant for the day lol. I feel better.

I have lost exactly 100 pounds. I'm so embarrassed about the first picture, but it's where I've been and I'm proud of how far I've come, so, here's my before and after pictures.

Eric and I had such a wonderful weekend. He had a four day, and it was so nice just staying home and spending the time together. Friday Eric changed the oil in the Jeep, and we just spent the day relaxing together. On Saturday we went to the shooting range and he did the trap shooting thing. It was pretty neat watching him do that, and he loved it. He got to use the new shotgun I bought him for Christmas. Poor guy hadn't had a chance to use it until then, and he's been itching to shoot it. After that we went bowling, I love bowling, but I suck, lol. Sunday we went to the movies and watched "Premonition", it was pretty good. Confusing at times, but overall I thought it was pretty good. After the movie we went and played racquet ball. That is so much fun, although again, I suck. The wall we played on is divided into three parts, we use all three lol. Monday we did the same thing, went to the movies, watched "Wild Hogs", it wasn't the best movie in the whole wide world, but it did provide a few laughs. Then we went and played more racquet ball. I loved this weekend. We just enjoyed each other's company and it was the most amazing time. I love those times when it's just me and him, doing piddly stuff, but enjoying every moment of it. I do believe that is the first time we've spent a four day at our own place with just the two of us. We usually pack up and go to see family when we get a chance, but we're going for Easter, so we thought we'd just hang around. I'm so glad we did. I really hated for it to end though. I went over and had lunch with him yesterday. I also got signed up for graduation. I graduate May 9 with my associates. I have a dentist appt tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that, I hate the dentist, but it has to be done. Or so they say, lol.

I wish that everyone could have the Grandma's that I've had. They are both so different, yet would do anything for their families. I was fortunate enough that both sets of grandparents lived in the same town, so I seen each of them the same amount while I was growing up. The weird thing about them living in the same town is that my mom was born in Wyoming, my dad in Oklahoma. They both ended up in New Mexico, living in trailers that were end to end. They met when my mom's dog had a seizure (the one and only seizure it ever had) and my mom's mom ran over to ask if my dad's mom could help. My mom made friends with my dad's sister and then eventually started dating my dad. My dad and mom got married (my mom was 16), and them and my dad's family moved to Oklahoma, to find work with the oil rigs. My mom's family eventually ended up in Oklahoma too. Then my dad's parents moved to a little town in Kansas, and eventually my mom's mom and stepdad moved there too. Both sets lived there the rest of the time. My mom's side is still there, and unfortunately my dad's both passed away. Now, if that wasn't fate, I don't know what is.

My dad's mom, Grandma Shirley, was the type of person who didn't care what anybody thought of her. She was herself, no matter who was around. I always admired that in her. She was the type of person that didn't care that she couldn't carry a note, she loved to sing, and sing she did. She also didn't care that she lived in town, with neighbors around her. When she dyed her hair, she sat out on her front porch in her bra with a towel around her neck (seriously, she did that one summer when I was staying with them, I thought I was going to die!). She didn't care that people might think she was weird or crazy, that was who she was, and she didn't try to cover it up. She passed away on March 27 (the day after my brother's 18th bday), 8 years ago, and I miss her so much. She had one of the biggest hearts, and would do anything for anybody. She was a very compassionate person and I'm so thankful that she was in my life, even if for only a short time. I don't have many pictures of her and what I do have is packed away, so you'll have to excuse the repeat of this picture, and the horrible quality.


My mom's mom, Grandma Jean, is the storybook grandma. She's the one that's baking the cookies and she's forever giving all the granddaughters knick-knacks. She makes the best chocolate chip Grandma cookies ever. Whenever she makes them, the family fights over who gets them. She even has to make my brother his own tub (yes, tub) or else the rest of the family doesn't get any, at all. She's so cute, and has an innocence about her. She hilarious and she's so sweet. She got a computer a little over a year ago, and we email each other pretty much on a daily basis. I love communicating with her that way, because I get a laugh just about every time I get an email from her. She knows only the basics, and throughout her emails, she'll realize that she made a mistake, but instead of going back to correct it, she just tells me what mistakes she's made. It's so cute and funny. Here's an example from an email that she sent a couple days ago, "hi michell, i dont think you got my last email. sorrry i didnt get an e put on your name. lol i finally talked to your mom, she was telling me the sad news about sister jimmy. that isto bad. well ill see if this will go through, i hope. love ya gma" Ahh, Grandma, lol. I was so blessed that God put these two, very loving women in my life. I just pray that when the time comes our kids love their Grandma's as much as I've loved mine. Eric and I always tell my mom that she's going to have to be the Grandma Jean Grandma, because we already know that his mom's going to be the slightly crazy one, lol. Here's a picture of Grandma Jean, and then one of my mom and Grandma Jean from when they were here for my surgery.

Thank you ladies for all your support and encouragement. You are all the best, and I'm so grateful to have come across you all. I feel much better. I think I was cooped up for too long in this place. It was beautiful outside and I think I wasn't getting enough sunshine, lol. I really do feel better and I've been thinking alot about what everyone said. I know it will happen for us when it's our time. I also know that we're both healthy, young, and have plenty of time. There is absolutely nothing medically wrong that's keeping us from our dreams, and that is a HUGE relief. It's all in the Lord's timing, and I am thankful that it is in His hands. You know, I absolutely love the weather that we're having. Yesterday was a little chilly, but today is in the 60's and it feels so wonderful outside. I went and had lunch with Eric today, and that was really nice. I also had a wonderful talk with my mom when I got home. She called and we talked for about an hr.

I have to say that a lot of what I was feeling that made me not really want to talk to my family so much for a little while was from the last time we went and visited. I think it really hurt my feelings that my brother and sister didn't really make the time to hang out with and talk with us. I know they're busy and all, but it just irritated me cause we don't get to go down nearly enough. But, I also realized that I have to remember that they're getting their own lives and I went through the same stages as my sister is now when I was her age. My brother is older than I am, but he's never been married and hasn't had a serious relationship (at least not one he's brought to our attention) since he dated the same girl he's dating now in high school. He said that some of the girls he dated wanted to come home and meet us, but he said no, because he didn't think they deserved to meet his family. So, now that he's back with this girl, he spends alot of time with her, of course. So, even though I'm younger than he is, I've already been through the stage that he's going through of always wanting to be with that special someone. So, I get it. I just have to let it roll off me a little easier. I have a problem letting things roll off me sometimes. I think it's a middle child symptom, lol.

While I was talking to mom today, we were saying how wonderful it is that we are able to laugh and joke around with each other as a family. She said she thinks that's an important part of a family staying together. Anyways, she was saying how all three of us kids have such good senses of humor. She was saying how she just loved my laugh and I laugh "with my whole self", lol. I used to get compliments on my laugh at school all the time, and it made me so self conscious. Try laughing when you know that people are listening to the sound of your laugh, lol. Aahh, alright I think I've rambled enough for one day. Sorry about the length of this, I just feel chatty and Eric's still at work, lol.

I've been in a funk lately. I don't know why, I just really don't feel like talking to people. My phone calls to my family have been farther between and when we do talk it's not for very long and I'm struggling to figure out what to say to them. I love my family and I love talking to them and spending time with them, but lately it just feels like I don't have anything to say. I guess it's normal to get into funks now and again though.

Eric and I went on a 5 mile walk yesterday. It was beautiful outside and I really enjoyed the time we spent walking. I got woke up this morning by a phone call from him. He locked his keys in his truck and I had to go on post to bring him the extra set. Oh, what would they do without us? lol

Eric and I want to have kids so bad. It's always been my dream to be a mom. I've always said, I don't know what I want to do, degree wise, but I've always known that I wanted to be a wife and mom. We've actually been trying to have kids from the beginning of our marriage, but have (obviously) been unsuccessful. (I really don't like talking about it, so don't ask me why I'm writing about it now, I think I just need to get it off my chest.) So, while Eric was gone a big motivation for me to lose weight was to try and help it be a little easier for us to have children. Well, I did lose the weight, but still no baby. I know it's all in God's timing and it will happen when He sees fit. We went to the dr the other day and everything's normal for the both of us, but she gave me some pills to try and help us out, and I pray that the Lord gives us a baby. I know He will, I just have to trust in the Lord with all my heart.