well, it's true isn't it?

halloween 2011

stagecoach...here we come!

how else would we want to spend our 1 year wedding anniversary? 
since our anniversary is during deployment, we have to celebrate it BIG. 
and stagecoach is the perfect way to celebrate! [and if you know us, you know we're country fanatics. literally.]
and some of our favorite country artists will be there!

- brad paisley

-jason aldean

-miranda lambert

-blake shelton

-justin moore

-alabama

-martina mcbride

-eli young band

-the band perry

-kenny rogers

-luke bryan

-the mavericks

-sara evans

-steve martin & the steep canyon rangers, chris isaac, the jayhawks, the janedear girls, the dee mccoury band, brett eldredge, aaron lewis, ralph stanley & his clinch mountain boys, uncle mark, jd crowe & the new south, sara watkins, sunny sweeney, dave alvin & the guilty ones, the unforgiven, greensky bluegrass, split lip rayfield, elizabeth cook, jd souther and old man barkley.

awesome country music for 3 whole days. 

we. are. SO. excited!

now if only april would hurry the heck up!

the longer the waiting

the sweeter the kiss.

our official deployment song is "the longer the waiting, the sweeter the kiss" by Josh Turner.

this song brings tears to my eyes every. time.

my latest care package was inspired by this song of ours :)

and i can bet you money our second first kiss will be the sweetest ever. [not as sweet as our wedding kiss, but a close second :)]

time's a flyyyyin!

because i've been so busybusybusy!
i got a second job at hobby lobby to..
a) earn more moola. and b) to keep me as busy as possible!
and that's exactly what it's been doing! feels SO weird to have a work schedule [i've been used to creating my own schedule for my clients for the past 3 years..ahhh the life of a freelancer :)]

in other news, charlie is still doing great out there! [considering the circumstances]
he's keeping very busy out there, too. barely any downtime!
we're a little over 1/4th DONE with this dang deployment! hallelujah!

my weight loss update: i'm on week 7, and have lost 11 pounds! wahoo!

so in a nut shell, not much is new. just BUSY! :)

and here's my latest care package to charlie. he probably got it sometime this past week. this one was the "inspirational" care package.. :) i hope he loved it!

the other side of the world

charlie's battalion downloaded a TON of pictures of his company today! [and by a TON i mean 119. yup, told ya. a ton.]
i only found one of charlie, so of course i'll post that one first :)
but there's a few other pictures that i liked that gave me a better idea of his surroundings for the next 6 months.
enjoy!

[charlie's the one in the sun glasses. he looks oh-so-handsome, doesn't he? :)]

here are the other pictures, mind you charlie isn't in any of these.

[a few locals]

[this is charlie's "base"]

[charlie's living conditions]

[more locals]

[green! in the afghanistan desert?!]

[i love this picture. the aircraft is HUGE!]

[laundry day!]

[home sweet home...kinda]

[this picture speaks volumes. as we are comfy cozy in our beds at night, think of our troops who sleep on rocks for our safety, and say a little prayer for them :)]

updates

hello, all!
i have a few updates to share with you. :)

update on charlie in afghanistan:
he is doing GREAT! i've been lucky enough to hear from him every 1-2 weeks for about 30 minutes each [makes for one happy wife!]
every time we speak, i can hear in his voice that he is doing just fine out there. [he can't hide much from me- i can read him like a book!]
his spirits are high and he's keeping very busy with standing post, doing 6 hour foot patrols, cleaning, working out, writing letters, etc. which is making his days FLY by. i'd much rather his days fly by than mine- he's the one sacrificing everything!

charlie mentioned that it's a lot greener than he thought it would be. his main area he's in is obviously very different than what anyone is used to.
in one of his letters to me he mentioned "this place is biblical. everything is like a story you would read in the old testament."
he might be in for a culture shock when he gets home..
he's been getting mail and packages regularly and he is LOVING it! he is so blessed to be loved by so many friends and family. i know he's very thankful. :)

and the next update is on my weight loss!
since i've started my weight loss goal last month, i've lost 10 POUNDS!
i'm so proud of myself. all this hard work and dedication is definitely starting to pay off! gotta keep up this motivation because i've got 25 more pounds to lose. [and for those of you questioning if i have 25 more pounds to lose, the answer is most certainly YES.] i've had a few people come up to me asking me that...i can't tell if they're just being "nice" or they aren't paying attention to my thunder thighs...

so in a nutshell that's what has been going on in our lives lately!
when i receive pictures of charlie out there, i'll be sure to post them on here. :)

and speaking of pictures..what's a post without them? here are the last two care packages i've sent to my man out there..

:)