Double Digits...What?!?!

Wow it's been a long time since I've been on here. Guess it's been a busy 2 months. Well that's right we are down to double digits until Aaron gets home. I'm getting very anxious. Everyone told me to stay busy and that's what I'm trying to do. I'll just mention some of the fun things I've been doing while trying to pass the time. One of the most recent events was a bunch of us renting a boat and going to the lake. We had so much fun. I will post some pictures up soon. We had so much fun spending the day out there and grilling. Oh yeah I and got to meet another new wife that day too. She seems nice. Like I said in past blogs families are moving in and out all the time. Wait I guess I met two new wives. Sam and Bre. They are both really nice and will be great in the "wives club." Everyone has been great inviting me to hang out, go out, or just have dinner at their house. I'm still working, that's always fun and a time passer. And most importantly I've had several vistors since Aaron has been gone. My sister of course was the first to visit me, we always have a great time. Maybe it had to do with all the food we ate but hey we had a great time! I can't wait til she comes back soon I hope. Aarons mom, my favorite mother in law came! She came here over Mother's Day weekend. So for her gift we went and got a pedicure. It was her first and I'm pretty sure she loved it! We had a lot of fun just hanging out and doing little projects around the house. Then my dad and Memaw! I was so shocked that she came but we had a great time. And she got us a new kitchen table. That's right friends we don't all have to crowd around that little breakfast table anymore to play scattergories! A little furry visitor came to stay with me for a while too and I loved her company. Trinity is the Carpenter's dog. She is wonderful. We have been bonding. She loves going for walks, and what they say is true, dogs are great company. I talked and cried to her and she just sit there and listened. I look forward to her staying more this summer! This week Debbie (Aaron's 1 of 6 sisters) is coming to visit me! I'm so excited about that. I'm trying to plan stuff for us to do. She will be here during the 4th of July so there will be lots of shop festivities going on I'm sure! And swimming will be a must. It's supposed to be over 100 degrees this week! Oh I can't forget, Aaron bought me a necklace! No, it's not from Iraq that's the first thing everyone asked. It's really pretty and pink. I'm sure you'll see it sometime. Well I think that's going to be it for now. I will try and post up pictures asap. I have so many!!! Well for now 96 days to go....

Lindsey and Casey's wedding!

Oh man almost forget June 6 Lindsey got married!!!! I was so happy for them. I flew down Thursday night and stayed til Sunday and had a great time. The wedding was beautiful of course. I got to see some old friends from college. It's great hearing how everyone is doing now! Yes I was a little sad during it....ok maybe a lot sad...but I miss Aaron. During the "first" dance of the bride and groom I was sitting at my table crying my eyes out and Casey said to Lindsey "ummm I think you should go check on your bridesmaid, she is crying and cried during the whole wedding!" Sorry about that. But I don't think anyone noticed, well except Casey but it's ok. Lindsey looked beautiful well you can see for yourself in the pics. Can't wait to see them again soon....

Me & Kaye

See I told you!

1 down- 5 to go

Well it's been one month. And I'm not going to lie, it is still really hard. People have told me all along, "oh it's gets easier after the first month. Once you get into your own habit." Well they lied. It's not any easier and honestly I don't want my own habit. I don't want to get used to being without him. I'm not going to! That's why I married him! So until he gets home I will live in my empty house full of "stuff" and count down the days til he gets home. I know I can do this. Sorry I don't have a lot to say. There's not a second that goes by that I'm not thinking about him. I see something and it reminds me of him everywhere I go...

Here's a really good song recommend by Christina.
The song is called Wait for Me
http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.artistalbums&artistid=12142970&ap=0&albumid=8803399

Sad

Well it's been a few days and still very hard. I'm staying very busy at work. And despite all the things that have broke since he has been gone I would say I'm positive for the most part. I have had some communication with him and I know he is ok. I just can't wait for October to get here! For now I will just write notes to him, send boxes, and prepare for when he returns!!!! I can't wait to see Aaron...

He's gone- But back in 6 Months!!!

Well Aaron left yesterday. I really don't have a lot to say. I'm having all the typically feelings. One minute I'm ok and then next I'm a wreck. I took off the last 2 days so I could spend time with him. But it went by so fast. We were at the shop at 4:00 am on Thursday to say goodbyes to all the guys. MOST of the guys were really nice and told me if I needed anything to call anytime. Terria was there and talked to me about somethings. And took some pictures, which I don't want to look at yet but when I do I will put them on here. After that it was off to Alexandria! It was hard, he kept telling me not to say "goodbye", just I'll see you in six months. So we did. I stood there and cried for a while then went back to Fort Polk. Where my friends, Jennie & Doreen were there waiting for me. They are great. After lunch I went home and took a nap. Once I walked in it automatically hit me. I saw all of his stuff sitting out (like always) and it made me cry. I know it's good to cry every once in a while. So for now I'm leaving everything out. It's not a bad thing to remember all the things that make you happy! OK I feel like I'm rambling and not making sense. Maybe I should go for now. I'm meeting Christina in Hammond and she is coming here for the weekend, YAY! So I'm going to try and take my own advice, I can't worry about things that haven't happened. Just looking forward to him coming home. I love him so much...

Last Trip

As most everyone knows Aaron will be leaving soon to go to Iraq. He took his week leave and we headed to Ohio to see his family. You think by now we would have learned our lesson but apparently not. A small bit of advice when traveling home to see everyone don't try to go to everyone. Make them come to you. It was an exhausting trip but well worth it. We got there around 11 on Saturday and had lunch with M & D Kimmel. But first when I got off the plane I wanted to cry because it was so cold, I was afraid my tears might freeze. We made it home and got settled in and went to get the rental car. Which they could not find. Haven't figured out how you loose a car but these people did. Well I guess I can say that was the start of a very busy week. I don't know if I can even remember everything, it went by so fast. The first few days we spent with the family, playing games, hanging out, and throwing the little boys! Sunday we went to Kevin and Shelly's and got to see some of my cousins and my Aunt, which was a lot of fun and great food as always! During the week in between hanging out with the family we got to see a lot of friends.And of course do some crazy things (see video). Friday night we headed out to a small town just outside of Toledo to his friends house. It was surrounded by fields, and they had a really nice barn with horses. We had a bonfire and just hungout with everyone. The next day we went to his friends wedding, which was really nice and met some very interesting people to say the least. That ended as a very sad night when his friends told him bye. I'm usually ok but when I saw the guys crying, that's when I couldn't take it. Sunday was our last day there and man was it not a good day. We went to church, had lunch, hung out for a while then said our good byes. I cried but Aaron was strong, that's how it usually is. We thought we had left early enough to catch the plane but we did not consider that it was the beginning of spring break. We checked in our luggage and found out that military didn't have to pay so we waited for them to refund our money. Then we got in the VERY long line to pass through security only to realize our plane was supposed to leave in 20 minutes and we were only half way through the line! That's when we started to panic! Aaron decided to ask the TSA lady if we could go ahead because he was active duty and had to catch the plane, she then informed us that active duty miltary could go through the first class line. She eventually let us ahead. So your probably wondering if we made it. Our plane was at gate 17 and we were walking by gate 37 very fast when we thought we heard our name called for the final boarding so we broke out in a run NOT a jog. I couldn't make it. From what I remember I yelled to Aaron " go on without me I will catch the next flight!" So he ran ahead and was going to tell them I was coming (I know I'm out of shape, you can laugh at me). Once we made it there we found out the flight was delayed due to weather. I decided after that I needed to go to the gym more.

As much as I would love to have seen my family too it was great to visit with all of Aaron's family, well my family too now. It's so crazy there but so much fun. I can't wait to go back this summer and visit them again! Since we have been back it has been nonstop craziness for both of us. We met with Terria and Chris (the commander) Monday and got a lot of useful information about the deployment. I dread it so much. It's finally happening and he really is leaving...

Shelly, Me, Aunt Sissy & Tammy

Aaron & Coen

D&M Kimmel & us

To see the video of Aaron and his friends click on the link below. Ummm this might explain some of the burnt marks in the front yard. Sorry you had to find out this way.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53960310

Madri Gras

Aaron & I learned our leason last year! Madri Gras in New Orleans was too crazy for us to go to a second year. So this year we decided to go to Galveston TX. There is an ok beach there and several things to do! We headed out early Saturday morning with Gary, Maribel and Brian. We got there in time for all four day parades but decided to go out to the beach and some of the shops and small fair. We did get rained on a little but we decided to make the most of it and stuck it out. Later that night we headed out for the Madri Gras parade which was fun. My favortie part was all the high school bands playing. Of course the floats are nice too and watching people fight over cheap beads.

I never really knew what Madri Gras was or how it got started. So I asked people here at work that are from Louisiana and got the same story from them all. So here it goes, a little FYI: Basically back in the day people (Catholic) fasted for 40 days also known as Lint. Obviously they didn't have a lot of money so all the food they had grown and raised could not go to waste so the weekend before they would eat and drink everything. Also known as gloutney which is a sin. I guess that's also where they got the name Fat Tuesday!?!?! Fat Tuesday was the last day before the start of lint. I'm not sure on all the facts I guess I should Google it! But thats where it got started and like most holidays has lost it's true meaning. I'm not sure where the beads, parades and drunks came in but they did. Some people just say it's a time to get out all your sins before you give up something for Lint, I'm not sure about that though!

So back to Galveston. After the parade we went out for a very nice dinner (something we don't get often being in Leesville). The next day we got up and headed to Rain Forest Cafe which was a lot of fun. We even went on the little boat ride and Maribel got scared by the snake that jumps out at you! Haha that was fun to watch! After that we went our seperate ways. Aaron and I went back to the beach and walked around and looked at everything. I think I mentioned in an earlier post Hurricane Ike, well that's the one that hit Galveston! It was crazy seeing everything. The little town we went through before getting on the Ferry was completly gone! There had previously been beautiful houses all along the coast and they were all gone! But there were tons of people out working cleaning up and ready to celebrate Madri Gras. Once we crossed over the Ferry you could hardly tell a hurricane had hit. Until we started looking for some of the shops we liked and realized they were gone too. But I would say the place was up and going very fast seeing how the storm was just a few months ago! Maybe because it was in Texas and Bush only likes Texas so he helped them! HAHA I'm joking! You can tell when people really care and aren't lazy, they actually get up and clean and build back themselves! They don't wait on others to do everything for them (New Orleans)! Man I like Texas more everyday! After exploring the beach we headed over to Moody Gardens and checked out the aquarium. It was fun. After that we started back to Fort Polk. And was refreshed and ready to go back to work....ok not really. Next week we are off to Ohio...

This is where the houses were!

On The Ferry

The Rain Forest Cafe

Moody Gardens ^

Happy V~DAY!

Normally I'm not one to celebrate Valentines Day but I thought I would festive and do it this year. Aaron knew from the start he better not buy me flowers or candy. I think that's part of the reason I dislike the "holiday" so much. It's always expected from the guys to buy expensive flowers (that will die in a few days) and candy in a heartshaped box. There's never really thought that goes into it. There are those few guys out there that will come up with something original like writing a song and singing/playing it, or maybe even a proposal! Aaron did very well this year! He got me a VERY pretty ring from Tiffany & Co. I was very excited. We spent the day in Lake Charles shopping and eating! Don't worry I didn't forget about Aaron's present. I'm waiting for some xbox game to come out!

The next week my parents came in from Florida and spent a few days with us. I was really happy to see them. Especially with all that's been going on with Aaron's deployment. It was good to spend sometime with them. Of course I had to work but they had lunch with me and I got off early to hangout with them. And my mom played Cinderella. She did some house work for me, that I really appreciated! The last night they were here they got to go to one of Aaron's basketball games, which is always interesting and enjoyable and meet the guys. That night we had a large crowd (for us anyway). Doreen and Jennie brought theirs girls out and Maribel and her son were there as well. I think all the Army people were shocked when we all walked in and they asked who we were there for. And we won again! It was a lot of fun and my parents really enjoyed seeing everyone. I'm sure they will be back soon!

Well

I don't even know what to title this one. There has been a lot going on here. Aaron just recently got back from GA for a TDY. I was so glad to have him back here. I stayed busy every night hanging out with friends, and yes even going to the gym!

We decided to go to Toledo Bend last Saturday and spend the day with friends. I'll get pictures up here asap. 17 of us went and had a great time! The little girls spent most of the time playing with John Wayne (Bartles new puppy) and I attempted to help watch them. I think I did ok considering I only lost Zoey once and she only ate a little sand ( the other girls made a "birthday cake" for Emma) and did I mention she squeezed one of the little fish?!?! Sorry Jennie. I think everyone else did some fishing. Gary was the first to catch one. I threw out the line maybe 5 times before I gave up. We also packed a picnic and played some frisbee. Overall it was a very good trip. We are planning to go to Sea World next month and I can't wait.

Saturday night when I got home it finally hit me that Aaron was actually leaving next month. I just got our tickets to go to Ohio at the end of the month and I guess I really haven't taken the time to stop and think about it all. It was a very long week when he was gone on TDY, but 6 months? How am I going to do that? It's easy to say "oh six months is no time, it will go by fast." But to actually be gone that long, am not too sure. I know I can do it, I just know it's not going to be easy. I'm sure there will be lots of lonely, sad nights that I will call our families crying. And you can bet that I will be making lots of trips to see them. So what will it really be like when Aaron deploys??? I guess I will find out...

One year down...

It's finally been one year since we move to Fort Polk. It really has went by fast. It seems like everything is moving so fast these days. We have met so many great people that will be long time friends. We had a little mourning period but then realized we should be celebrating! We had made it through one year here! We try to look at all the positives! At least we were not just moving in like most everyone here! People are coming and going and believe it or not the town is actually grown just a little. I work at a real estate company so I see all the people coming in and out. (Lucky ones going out!) We just had a huge group (Army) get back from deployment and around 800 more come in from Fort Riley in Kansas. So with all the people getting here we hope that more businesses will come into the area. BUT what we REALLY hope is that we only have one more year here. Hey one can hope, can't they? With married couples they try to keep them at a base for at least two years because of the expense of moving a family as opposed to one person. I'm sure year number 2 will go by somewhat fast. Aaron is coming up on deployment, you will hear lots about that in the future I'm sure. And he will also be going on several TDY's. I have decided to stay here throughout his deployment. We have both talked about it several times and it just makes the most sense to stay here. If I were to go home we would possibly not have a house to come back to and I would lose my job that I really like. I will be going home as much as possible and going to Ohio to visit the Kimmels! We would love to go to Germany, Hawaii, Italy, somewhere great! And Korea as a last option, but that would only be for one year! Hopefully we will be seeing everyone before he leaves. But if not we will when he gets back!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Wow I'm having a little trouble with this! There is so much to say! So it's been one year since Aaron and I have been married! It seems like it just happened yesterday but at the same time it seems like it has been forever! They say the first year is the hardest. Well I don't know who "they" are but "they" are right! You learn so much during this time. You learn how to live with each other, learn that is's not all just about yourself, find out each others' habits (good and bad), and basically grow up together. I can honestly say that it has been very hard but I wouldn't change it for the world! I know there are going to be many more rough times to come but we will get through them. It's been exciting, scary and the most wonderful time of my life. I don't know what I would have done without those late night calls to Christina! I save the day calls for mom and mom Kimmel! But what is even better, are all the good times to come. We have so much ahead of us, I can't wait!

Aaron and I spent New Years in Florida and had to leave the day before our anniversary so we decided to combine it all and celebrate both! Aaron picked out the condo and it was so nice! We met so many wonderful people, almost all were retired from the Air Force and had moved to Florida! We heard many interesting stories. We were at the nice outdoor mall and Aaron was giving blood (I know) so I sat out on one of the benches to wait. The man next to me starting talking to me and told me that he was retired from the Air Force and went on to tell me about all the places he lived: Japan, Korea, Italy, Germany, Hawaii. He loved it and so did his family. They got to see so many places and things that most would never have the opportunity to do. He told me it would be rough but to hang in there and support Aaron, because his job is not always easy. Stick it out twenty years and it will all be worth it! And that's what the plan is now anyway. The rest of our trip we spent a lot of time out on the beach. And in the heated pool! And we met another retired guy who talked to us about selling one of his condos to us! Hopefully next year we can do it! We got to hang out at almost all our favorite spots including McGuires and the Crab Trap! I can wait to go back! It was a wonderful trip!

New Years!!!

New Years...what FuN! We spent bringing in 2009 in Florida! We had so much fun. We left at noon on New Years Eve and got there just in time for all the excitement! And with no speeding tickets might I add! Between me, Aaron and Bartle I think we did ok! We tried to go to some of our favorites but being "snow bird" season most of them closed early. So we hit up Hard Rock and had a good time there. Then decided to head back to the condo to watch the ball drop and the fireworks over the ocean. I can't think of a better way to celebrate! We spent the rest of the weekend shopping, hanging out....well you will see in the next blog!