this is what its like....

You wait for days to hear some type of communication from your husband. It could be a phone call, skype, Facebook chat, email, or a letter. It has been 18 days since Eli left. He has been able to call 4 times, write on my FB 4 times and has skyped with me Twice!! I feel lucky. I havent receieved any letters from him and he hasn't got any of the letters or packages that I have sent. This deployment is already so different from the others but no two are just alike. When he went to Iraq I didnt hear from him for the first two weeks he was gone. Then he called and emailed frequently and skyped. And letters took about 10 days to get. After the Easter 2008 attacks we were able to talk every day until he came home. He was at an old palace in the Green Zone. Here is a link about those attacks. I dont want to forget. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544373,00.html
This new Company he is in is very....inexperienced (age and deployments, lots of boots aka never combat deployed) and seems to me to be unorganized and like everything was just throw together a few days before the deployment. Eli was previously in bravo and then 7 days before they left was put into newly formed weapons company. So that is a really scary feeling that the men in charge are going to learn from trial and error.. This past week a marine from C co stepped on an IED and then yesterday my girlfriend told me that her hubbys (b co) humvee hit an 60 lb IED. Luckily all of his guys were doing ok. Well anyhow... needless to say lately has been super emotional for me. I dont know exactly why (no im not pregnant so no need to ask)but it has been really emotionally hard having him gone, He just got back. We were only able to see him for a few weeks. We had an amazing few weeks though and I am soo thankful for them. I know I know I married a Marine, you knew what you were getting into, but ya know what I KNOW. It doesnt mean that I cant be sad or miss him because I do. Well onto another subject I am still having issues with my back and hip so im scheduled to go back to the chiropracter on thursday. I just want to be fine and get over this nonsense. I dont have time for this back pain im not old enough :). I finally downloaded all my pictures from my cell to the computer. I was VERY disappointed though. My pictures are all small and when I tried to enlarge them they were pixlated. (is that a word) any its so frustrating because its over a years worth of pictures... lets say over 1300. But now I can check that off my list. Tori and I went to Fayetteville let me say you arent missing anything if you dont go. It was a nice sized city but everywhere I drove seemed a bit run down and old... not a vintage awesome charcter either. We finished Tori's school shoppng and headed home. We had a great thunderstorm this morning and for about 3 hours this evening. My garage is full of water (again) but luckily all of my stuff is in plastic tubs! I am still going through boxes but I did 5 today. Medal please. haha. just joking. I am find that I do not have enough storage space. I thought that the cubbards were small and not enough but now I know I do not have enough room. So I am going to down size in the kitchen stuff department. I mean who needs a smoothie maker when you have another smoothie maker. haha. Eli bought a lot of stuff when he was living in his apartment and now we dont need it. I felt that i did get some stuff done today which is a nice feeling of accomplishment. I am sure that when our lease is up in June I will be finished decluttering and downsizing! Yahoo. well i guess you can call that my goal! Ok well adios. here are some more pics

Hello 4:47 am....

So since Eli left I have become a night owl. Well I think it was actually before he left. Anyhow, at first I blamed it on the time zone changes. Well i've lived here for over a month and I still am awake at 5 am.. So Im pretty sure its just me. Eli has been gone for 10 day now. This deployment has been hard already. Nothing horrible has happened and nothing that I cannot handle. Just I miss him... a lot. He had been able to call me 3 times. He has also been able to write on my facebook 2 times. I fell lucky. But the days inbetween are lonely. If he told me "Les I can't call for 3 weeks" then I would plan in my head to not expect a call. It is the uncertainty that makes it hard. I want to keep my phone on loud and vibrate just incase he happens to call or text or fb or email me. It is crazy. I sleep with my phone right by my ear because I hate to miss his calls. For some reason tonight my mission was to find songs related to military or deployments. Well there are actually quite a few. Needless to say I was bawling listening to all these songs. Then I heard about a SSGT Thomas Dudley who had been killed in Afghanistan July 7, 2011. His family is from Jacksonville so I browsed over and read her blog. Wow I dont think a person in the world could read her blog without bawling. http://thedudleyfamily.wordpress.com/ It was so touching, heart-wrenching. My heart aches for her and her family. Her husband was supposed to come home on monday, but he didnt. I cant imagine what she is going through and its always in the back of your head when your husbands away you just pray and hope and pray and try to not dwell on it our you would go insane. ok... thats depressing on to other news.
Tori is officially registered for 1st grade. We will be getting a card in the mail letting us know who her teacher is. She is getting very excited. We have been doing a little school clothes shopping here and there, well today we went through all of her clothes and took out the old or small clothes to donate and I went to the chiropractor again! haha, this is the 2nd one and a massage theraphist for my back, I hurt it somehow. I sort of think it was progressively getting worse until it was just very mad and hurtful.. I moved a overstuffed couch and it wasnt the best idea. Anyhow he said my discs are good but I have to much arch in my spine and my last vertebra is pinching some nerve and thats whats causing all the pain. So I get to know this chiro good... for the next month. Oh well as long as it quits hurting. um... oh I had a copperhead snake in my back yard, two frogs take up residence inbetween the glass and the screen of my sliding glass door.

Oh on guess what sucks news, So i went to drive Eli's truck the other day and the batteries dead (just bought a new battery 7-6-11) so i go to open the hood... what do you know I cant get it open... So i go to open my hood also cant open by myself. (you have to have one pull latch while other lifts to get it to open... so anyways I cant charge the battery anyways... ya. Stupid heavy old vehicles. 98 chevy truck and 99 nissan altima. Oh I made some awesome salsa and took it to the Military spouse wives group that it at church. So that was really nice to get out. I for some reason volunteered to do the next activity, im an idiot. I dont have any creativity in me anywhere. So luckily my mom is going to help me come up with a cool idea. Ok well its now past 5 So I better get off try to go to bed. good night. miss you Eli.

Hi I am still here.

Hey so Kim my cousin was saying Les are you going to update your blog.... Ya I am... Then I was like I guess a lot has been going on. So I moved from AZ to NC. I live in this cute little town called Richlands, NC. It is a farming community and I love it. Jacksonville (where camp Lejeune is)is about 15 minutes aways but the base is on the other side and it takes30 minutes on a great day to get there. If it is 6am or 4 to 6 pm it will be closer to ahour and a half. Well Tori and I have gone to the beach a few times once on base and to Topsail. It is about an hour away. It is gorgeous. I love the water so much. I has been awful hot here lately and it hasnt been raining so everything is not green. The corn fields are burnt and look so sad. I will have to take a picture next time I go to Richlands. I am actually right inbetween the two towns but luckily in the Richlands school district. Tori has made a new friend from the park (her mom is a really like lady too) and a friend at church. I have made a few new friends. Eli got back from Mojave Viper training june 26. He had a week of leave and he deployed July 19. He is going to be in Afghanistan until late febuary at the earliest. So here's to another deployment. While Eli was home we got to go to dinner for my birthday at my FAVorite resaraunt in Beaufort. So good. Anyhow we also went camping for a few days, went fishing, actaully got a row boat and rowed around a few lakes (my idea, ya it was a bad one). Eli was promoted to Sargent!! Deserved and we are so proud of him. (we went to Texas Roadhouse for that too) We went to Wilmington and toured a battleship we also toured an amazing old home. We walked around the old downtown. went shopping. Saw the beach and had a wonderful time hanging out together. On well almost all of these pictures are on my camera and I cannot find the cords.. so I will try to download some picuters from my phone.
Eli at Cax (mojave viper)

This is going to be interesting...

Hi I have not been on for quite a while. Life has been crazy so I will just give the quick run through (atleast everything I remember to talk about).
Since february 2010. March I puppy sat Kara and Billys Cavalier Spaniels, for a week it was so much fun Tori and I went to the zoo and had a great time. We then went to Melinda and Scott's house and spent time there. Tori and I went to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. She absolutely loved it! We also went to Walnut canyon near Flagstaff with Melinda, Jake and Matt. It was a really fun day. June Eli came back from Japan... (ill just leave it at that) Tori got her Tonsils taken out!!! Haleeluah!! (i cants spell) Since she was two we have tried to get a dr to take then out but didnt happen until we came to DR. Cox's office. He was great by the way. Any how Chandler got to come and stay at grandma's (Beckys) and it was a lot of fun to get to spend time with her. When my parents took her back to Texas I snuck in and surprised Amy and KC. It was so wonderful to get to see them. We had a fun few days out with the Hanks. July :(... it is my favorite month but it was extremely sad and hard. I did take my CNA class at Coconino in Flagstaff, Melinda and Scott were so awesome to let me and Tori stay with them when I was doing that. August :( I came back to Snowflake and took my test and passed. Sepetember :) I got a job for the Snowflake Intermediate as a health tech. I loved it, I only worked 4 hours but it was really nice. In november :) Tori Turned SIX!!!! wow it was fun she had a huge birthday party with 15 kids!! (im insane) at Bits and Pizzas. It was so much fun she had a great great day!! also in November an opening came for me to transfer to Taylor Intermediate and now I am the health tech and attendance clerk. I love this job sooo much. I love everyone that I work with and I have made some really great friends. In november I also started taking classes online at Univ of Phoenix. It has been really working well for me. I have completed two 9 week cycles and I have quite a few to go. March :) (I can not do a bigger smiley face sorry I would if it were possible) Eli and I were remarried. amazing! April :) Eli and I decided that I will be moving to North Carolina after I finish this year at my job and Tori has completed Kindergarten. We have come to this decision because..... Number 1 reason, We want to be together. He will be deploying but when he is home we want to be there with him. Secondly I do not want Tori to be that military kid who changes schools 3 times in one year. I know it is sometimes impossible but right now for us we can decide. Tori will be going to 1st Grade in North Carolina where Eli is currently living. I am going to try to find a part time job and really concentrate on my classes. I have been doing pretty good but I just want to do my ultimate best! We have many many many other reasons for making this decison but anyhow it is made. I will update again. I am very happy that for some reason I want to blog again. I feel really warm and fuzzy about it :) sorry for so many smilely faces... it is just how i feel inside.

february post

Me and tori have been having a great time in Snowflake, the snow has definetly been a change from 29. We love being so close to family so far we have been able to see most of the family. hopefully next month we will see more also. Eli has been gone 6 weeks friday. so luckily it hasnt been draging by, though i know for him it hasnt been very fun. he says the ship is small and cramped! Tori loves her clogging class and i like being in school again. Tori has been sick most of this year with a cough runny nose. i took her to her dr here and he wants her tonsils taken out. We have an appointment scheduled in show low for march 22. ill let ya'll know how it goes. well i need to get back to homework hope your all enjoying the olimpics! (sp) and this warmer weather!

i am not a slacker... ok maybe a little

So this past month has been pretty busy! In december John (Eli's dad) and Ivan (Eli's brother) came out to Cali with the horse trailer and moved me and Tori back to Snowflake. We appreciate it sooo much! Eli didnt want us to stay out there because he knows I am not very fond of it and we are hoping to pay off some debt!! woohoo. Im living close by my mom and dad. It has been so nice. Especially during Christmas because we were able to spend a lot of time together but also Eli Tori and I got to spend time with just the 3 of us. We had an awesome Christmas and New Years was spent packing Eli's gear for the deployment. On the 1 we were able to go out to John's while they were branding cows. (totally new for me)And he got to say bye to the family. Then we stayed with Jake & Jessica (Eli's bro and Sis in law.) Eli got to spend some time with Jake at work and me and Jessica and the kids did a lil shopping. We had a great time and were totally unexcited to go to 29palms. Well we got back Eli was busy getting all of his guys ready to go. For all but a few this is their first deployment and some guys/wives/parents were really confused about what goes on. On friday afternoon we checked out of our base housing and then said goodbye to some friends. Eli, Tori and I got our last lunch together and went to the barracks so Eli could check on some things. We said our goodbyes at about 5 pm. Tori and I left with a truck packed full of the last of our things and drove away. I called him about 15 mins later Tori was bawling and wanted to talk to her daddy. So we had a really sad 7 hour drive back to Snowflake. We are doing ok adjusting to life. I have enrolled in 2 classes at NPC (the local community college) and Tori is going to start clogging next week. Eli has been able to call a couple times. He is doing good, just getting use to being in a foriegn country (Japan for right now). well i promise ill do better now that life settling down a bit. Thanks to everyone who's called and checked on us. love ya. here are some pics from the past month.










Hey Tree, remember this one. hahhaa love you

So I have a busy week ahead of me... I have a family fun day on fridayfor the 2/7 families for a couple hours then we are going to Las Vegas for the NFR (national finals rodeo.) We are meetig my parents there. Eli and I are soooo excited. And of course its all Tori can think about cuz Grandma invited her to come stay until we get there next week. So i have been packing and getting rid of things that i dont need/want anymore. i guess thats one good thing about moving so much i dont think i have to much crap. i have to go thru it pretty often. well I am so happy that Christmas is so soon but i also hope this month never ends... Eli is deploying early Jan. So he will be gone for 6 months atleast. He is going on a MEU.(Marine Expedetionary Unit)its a ship) They are going to Japan and other asian ports. and are ready if they get called in for something else. so anyhow we are happy that he has leave so we can do lots together before he goes. hopefully we will get to see most family before he goes.

I love this pic


and i love this one