Crazzzzayyy weekend!

Long weekends around here always make me a little nervous! Stephen has some close friends that he made in Tech school that luckily got stationed about 30 minutes from us. They're single and live on base so any time there's a long weekend, I can expect a party at my house. Literally. For the whole weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I love these guys! I love the fun, the camaraderie, the silliness that ensues when this bunch gets together. It's like having brothers I never had(or really wanted, but that's ok! HA) What I don't necessarily love is the havoc that is wreaked on my liver by the alcohol consumption or the mess that ends up strewn across the house. But livers recover and messes can be cleaned, right?

Friday the guys all got off early so they were at my house before I was off work. Once I finally made it home and got ready we all headed over to Stephen's parents' house to celebrate his sister Brittany's, 22nd birthday! We love that girl and it was a fun night with family and friends to celebrate another year! We all got an extra surprise when Stephen's little brother Shawn was home from school for the weekend for Brittany's birthday!

Brittany, Stephen, Shawn at our wedding

Somehow we ended up taking the party back to our house when the whole gang decided to come play beer pong, flip cup, and just hang out. It was a lot of fun, but we were up later than anticipated and consumed a few more cocktails than planned as well!

We were all a little tired, groggy, and hungover on Saturday morning. I had switched my work schedule to have the whole day off and we were supposed to spend the day in Mobile celebrating Mardi Gras(one of my favorite times of year!). But unfortunately, the weather had other plans. It was a monsoon from here to New Orleans! I had 4 bored guys on my hands, and they had one thing on their mind. Road trip. I gave in and off we went to Malbis to Bass Pro Shop.

Seriously, that store is amazing. We spent probably an hour and a half walking around looking at everything. Including this little beauty that I legitamitely want!

After they finally bored with Bass Pro, they managed to convince me to continue our trip to Biloxi to do a little gambling at the casinos. We headed to the Beau Rivage. I'm pretty sure we spend less time in the casino than we did in Bass Pro! No one was particularly lucky. I, in particular, managed to lose money extra quickly and was ready to leave before they took any more of my money!

We started the road trip home. We stopped on the way for way too much food at Mellow Mushroom. Then somehow on the way home got the idea to build a pillow fort, bake cookies, and watch movies for the rest of the night. So that's what we did. The movie watching didn't last too long considering how tired everyone was, but it was fun nonetheless!

Sunday was supposed to be a recovery day. I had to work 10-4 again and I figured the guys would head back to base. Nope, not the case. I got a text from my husband shortly after I got to work suggesting we head to Mobile when I got off work to catch the last parade and go out for a little bit.

So that's what we did. They met me at my parents' house when I got off. I stole some clothes from my sister's abandoned closet upstairs(since my husband forgot the clothes he was supposed to bring me!) and we headed over to Mobile.

We lucked into a good parking spot and caught the last parade. We drank wayyyy too much while waiting for the parade to start, and then kept it going after the parade when we hit up some of the bars in downtown Mobile. We had a blast and we can all say we had our fill of Mardi Gras for this season!

However I can't wait til next year! I'm determined we're going to make it to New Orleans to celebrate. Something about Mardi Gras just makes me happy! I'll leave you all with some pictures of our crazy Mardi Gras night.



Happy Fat Tuesday y'all!

Is this thing on???

Hello, is anyone still out there??

I can't say that I blame you if you've jumped ship by now. I have turned into the world's WORST blogger as of late!

Not for lack of logging in, because I admit I've been a bit of a stalker. I still sign in and keep up with my favorite bloggies. I just haven't felt I had much to write about lately.

Boring, I know!

We've both been working. A lot.

We enjoy every second we can steal with friends and family these days. (Poor hub's days off are few and far between over the last couple months). We've enjoyed our backyard and fire pit to the fullest with dear friends on our few weekend nights off.

Last Saturday we even went to the Professional Bull Riding competition with an exceptionally fun group at the civic center. (Much more exciting than it actually sounds!) We went to our favorite Pensacola restaurant(McGuire's) after for snacks and a few beers. Sunday we both had to work, but after we got to enjoy an incredibly fun Super Bowl party with some awesome people we hadn't seen in a while!

Other than that, we've been trying(rather unsuccessfully as of late) to figure out life.

We finally got all of Stephen's paperwork in order for the recruiter. We're just waiting on the word from the recruiter(*Fingers Crossed* for this week) to send him up to MEPS for a quick "inspection". Basically they just have to look him over and make sure he's still one piece since they sent him to BMT almost 2 years ago.

Hopefully we can get that done end of this week/beginning of next and then we'll officially be in the "waiting" stage.(I know, if you're like me, you're thinking what would you call what we have been doing??) My thoughts exactly! Once the MEPS trip is done we wait anywhere from a week to 4 weeks for word back. So long as everything is approved(which is most likely) and there is still a crew chief position empty(currently there are 2 open in the country), we will get his orders for a report date to his new PCS(permanent change of station).

I'm hoping this means a move for us!! I'm ready for a change of scenery. Also hoping it's nothing too crazy(i/e: Alaska, North Dakota... anywhere this southern girl would turn into an ice cube!)

I've kind of put my plans on hold for the moment as I feel it would be a waste to get too involved in a job here right now since a move is looking pretty imminent. I'm still working my serving job, ticket selling job, and occasionally subbing.

Once we move, if it is near a big city I will attempt to give this PR/marketing thing another go. If not, I'm seriously giving some thought into going to ultrasound or radiography school. I've become fascinated with the medical field and think I would enjoy either of these paths.

In the mean time I've just been praying my little heart out that God puts us exactly where we're needed. Also, that he gives some clear signals since sometimes we can be a little dense on these things! I know he has plans for us, we just have to figure them out.

Since the holidays I've been in work out mode. Being in Florida, bikini season is coming VERY quickly! (As in now. We've had days warm enough to sit on the beach in a bathing suit already!) With my erradic schedule, it's hard to be too intense about it. I've just been trying to make healthier choices when eating, doing my zumba on the Wii almost daily(at least 4-5 times a week), and walking 2 miles almost every night after work with Stephen(this is my favorite since it's turned into something we enjoy doing together). This last week I've started adding in crunches, bridges, push ups, and dips at night to start working on tone too. I admit I haven't been at it very long, but I'm already feeling good! My clothes are starting to fit better, the exercises are becoming easier, and I just feel better. It's definitely not always fun, and some days after work I really have to convince myself to to, but it's good for me and that's what counts.

That about sums it up for us these days. Did everyone have a fun Super Bowl Sunday? Any career advice to either of us at this stage in the game? Prayers are always appreciated for our little family as we navigate all of this craziness! And as always, Happy Monday y'all!

Out with the old, in with the New

I'm a little behind with this, but in fairness, I've been sick since New Year's Day. We had a wonderful holiday season this year. I found my Christmas spirit and quit being a Grinch. We enjoyed 2 days of family, friends, food, and presents. It was wonderful and drama free! The way we like it.

New Year's Eve we went downtown to watch the Pelican drop. It was fun, albeit quiet. We were home by 1:30.

The last few days being sick I've had some time to reflect. I wasn't going to do the quintessential new year post, but I've enjoyed reading everyone else's so much I just couldn't resist! So we'll start with our year in review.

2011

January

Stephen headed back to tech school in Wichita Falls, TX to finish his training after a wonderful Christmas holiday. I was working on wedding plans and finishing my last semester of undergrad.

February

We spent Valentine's Day apart as Stephen finished training. Stephen graduated tech school and finally (after 9 long months) moved home. We celebrated Stephen's sister, Brittany turning 21. I continued to work on school work and wrap up our wedding planning.

March

March was a fun month for us. I enjoyed my last spring break as a college kid, it was finally warm enough to spend time on the beach, we ran our first McGuire's 5K, we saw Corey Smith (again!) with friends, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day...

April

April was a BIG month. I had my wedding shower, I graduated college, got a "real" job, my cousin, Mandy turned 21, I finished wedding planning... It went by in a flash!

*MAY*

This month was even crazier! We enjoyed an awesome Cindo de Mayo party at my parents, we both celebrated our bachelor/bachelorette parties, had our rehersal, celebrated our wedding for an entire weekend, got married on the 21st!, then enjoyed a wonderful week in the Bahamas for our Honeymoon :)

June

You would think we slowed down in June, but actually... Stephen ranked up at work(He's now Senior Airman!), we moved to a new house, and enjoyed all that summer has to offer.

July

We threw a slip n' slide party at the new house, celebrated 4th of July, went tubing on the river, and enjoyed some more Florida summer time!

August

We didn't do a whole lot in August.. got ready for football season, hung out, worked, and I saw Jason Aldean with one of my best friends!

September

We went to our first FSU game of the season!!

October

Was another busy month for us.. Stephen went to Orlando to go to Halloween Horror Nights and visit his brother, I went to the Gulfarium with the cutest boy ever, we went to New Orleans with my family for my beautiful cousin's wedding, we celebrated Stephen's birthday..

Stephen's 25th bday jello "cake"

November

We went to another FSU game! We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family, and even did a little black friday shopping, and we took pictures for our "first married Christmas" card pictures(that we never ended up printing)

December(finally!)

This was a wonderful month! I met my life long hero, Bobby Bowden, we decorated for Christmas, shopped til we dropped, celebrated our "first married Christmas", celebrated my 23rd birthday, enjoyed a new year's eve downtown watching the pelican drop!

It had plenty of ups and downs but 2011 was a wonderful year for our family! Definitely one we'll never forget. But boy am I ready for 2012 to kick it into gear! We both have been sick all week, but we're starting to feel better. We're meeting with his recruiter next week and hoping to find out more definite information about his AD career. I'm dyingggg waiting to find out where we'll be and when. Prayers are still appreciated as we move forward.

I hope all you wonderful readers will stay with us as we head into this new adventure of 2012. I wish you all nothing but the best this year! Here's to a year of health, wealth, and happiness to all!

Happy 2012 y'all!