Happy Independence Day!

Happy New Year

I've started writing this post several times, only to wind up getting frustrated with my words and ultimately deleting the post altogether. Now that I've had some time to let the "new car scent" of a new year full of uncertainties fade a bit, I think I can finally publish this post.

The second day of 2011 left me feeling as though my world was crumbling around me. My eyes burned from tears shed, my throat ached from gasps of air, and my head yearned to seek the comfort of my pillow. When I finally laid down to take a nap, I prayed that I wouldn't wake up until the year was almost over. Just two days into the new year, I had already given up on 2011. The afternoon passed and turned into evening. I laid down once again to sleep and vowed to wake up on Monday morning with a better outlook and renewed confidence.

Although I still felt the waves of aftershock in the morning, I forced a smile upon my face and stepped back out into the world. Slowly, as the hours passed, I realized that life was going to move at the same speed as it always had before despite my heart's wishes for time to bend to my own terms. Focusing on each day and remaining in the present moment is the only way to survive - if I look too far ahead to the future, I'll just continue to stumble and fall from blindly running along. I am a strong, confident, and very blessed woman. My new year's resolution is to simply remember those three truths. With God, my family, and friends by my side, I'll be just fine. I can now say I welcome the new year with joy. 

Christmas 2010

Sayre and I just got back from our awesome Christmas vacation during which we got to spend lots of quality time with our entire Alaskan family :) Yep, that's right, everyone was in town to celebrate! What a rare and fantastic treat!

We jam-packed the week with family, friends, and adventures. When we arrived in town Saturday morning we hit the ground running - fortunately we managed to get a fair amount of sleep during our evening flights so we were ready to play as soon as we landed in Fairbanks. The temperatures never really seemed too bad to me... I suppose my fingers and toes felt frozen at one point or another ;) but I think I was a little more prepared this time for the frigid air. (Plus, my wonderful in-laws always find new ways to bundle me up) Anyway, our adventures ranged from taking over coffee shops with family & friends, chasing away a pesky moose who was trying to steal hay, snowmachinging, sledding, and hanging out in hot springs just to name a few.

I think my favorite day, for more reasons than just the obvious, was Christmas day. Even though it was our last day to spend in Alaska, we managed to stretch it out and enjoy every little last bit of holiday cheer that we could. We lounged around in our pjs for awhile, had breakfast, opened presents, had loads of fun outside (it even warmed up to 0!!), and had a delicious Christmas dinner. We spent the evening getting in as much time with family as we could and then ultimately had to say our goodbyes - Sayre had to report back to the ship Monday morning so to make it back in time we had to leave Alaska at 1:30am Sunday morning. Although it's hard to believe Christmas is already over, we really enjoyed our time up there. It was so hard to leave, but we were so happy knowing we had taken advantage of each day.

As 2011 draws near with each passing day, Sayre and I continue to appreciate the moments we have together. The new year is sure to bring about many new adventures for us... we're just looking forward to all of the new experiences and lessons we will learn. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & God Bless!

Thanksgiving

This year, since we weren't able to go visit my family for Thanksgiving, my parents drove over to visit us instead. It was so nice having them here with us for a week. We really do enjoy having visitors come & stay with us :) It gives us an excuse to make the apartment look all nice & pretty & it's always fun coming up with new things to cook and desserts to bake.

Unfortunately Sayre was on duty on Thanksgiving day, so we had our nice big turkey dinner on Friday instead. On Thursday, since Sayre had to be there anyway, I took my parents on base so that he could give them a tour of the ship. The ship is always seemingly impressive to outsiders, but trust me, I don't think anyone that's had to stay on that thing for more than a day finds it to be like a floating mansion by any means haha.

On Friday we drove around a bit - I tried to give my parents a tour of my office but failed to obtain a working key to the exterior door.. oops! Eventually we ended up back home and enjoyed our delicious Thanksgiving dinner :) thanks to mom & dad who brought pretty much everything... I only made pumpkin pie & sweet potato casserole - they brought everything else. Oh & since we won't be heading to Louisiana for Christmas this year, we also managed to squeeze in a little Christmas celebration as well and swapped presents. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable, but much-too-short visit.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Sayre and I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to participate in "Trunk-or-Treat" at church like we did last year because he was in Rhode Island for SWO school up until the night of the event. I did, however, still have a lot of fun this year :) I managed to get some of my fellow co-workers to dress up for the occasion with me, which of course made the Friday before Halloween that much more entertaining - especially since I, of course, took the opportunity to continue the friendly feud of LSU vs Florida. I dressed up as "Tiger Bait" and wore a Florida tshirt that I tore on the back to look like a tiger paw had gotten to it & iron on the words "Tiger Bait" to the back. It took a little while for my co-workers to get it (I guess it makes more sense to LSU fans who yell "Tiger Bait" at the opposing teams). I was still proud of myself though ;) Overall, it was a really fun day in the office. When Sayre got home later, we had fun carving our little pumpkin and then I roasted up the seeds :) mmmm yummy! I love fall!

Continuing the Celebration

Ok, so maybe not everything went according to plan for my 4th of July holiday, but I'm making the most of the situation and celebrating in true patriotic-style :) Who knows... more fireworks may be in my future for the weekend too. After all, it's still only Saturday!

May, where did you go?

Is it really June already? How in the world did that happen? Time is just zooooooming on by! Last weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) we had the pleasure of visiting Pensacola, where a bunch of the good old USNA gang is currently living. It was great to see everyone, catch up a bit, and tour around everyone's new places. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there, and we only stayed through Sunday, but it was still a good trip overall. I think it was especially great for Sayre since he missed seeing everyone at Brandon & Ginny's wedding. Pensacola is only about 5 hours away from us, so I'm sure we'll make our way over there to see everyone again sometime in the future.

Hippity Hoppity...

Can you believe that Easter is this weekend??? I sure can't! Where did the time go? This year is just flying by! Anyway, last weekend Sayre and I spent some time at the Big Bunny Party. It was a great event, similar to the Trunk-or-Treat party that we volunteered for during Halloween. We heard that about 4,000 people showed up! Out of those 4,000, I'm pretty sure I painted at least 3,000 faces ;) I was amaaaaaazed by how many people wanted their faces painted... oh my gosh! After it was over, I was exhausted, but I had a great time! Fortunately, Sayre walked around a bit with our camera and took some pictures of some of the other activities going on because I didn't get a chance to go and see anything else. They had a "Big Bunny" performance complete with an awesome balloon backdrop, tons of inflatable bounce houses, egg drops, egg hunts, etc. There are some more pictures in our picasa webalbum if you want to take a look.


Last weekend we also had an opportunity to see Memaw and Jack. Memaw is the sweet mother of Karine - Sayre's "sponsor mom" from the Naval Academy. It was so wonderful to catch up with them while they were in town visiting some family! We definitely need to make it back up to Annapolis sometime in the future to see everyone. We sure do miss our Naptown friends and family!

Well aside from "Big Bunnies," we've been keeping ourselves busy lately mostly with work. Sayre was gone for awhile with his ship. He's back for now, but he'll be off on some more adventures here and there soon. Now we're just looking forward to some new springtime adventures that the warmer weather coming our way will bring. Happy Easter everyone!

Christmas Re-cap

It's taken me a little while to get around to writing about our Christmas vacation. I'm not really sure why... I haven't been particularly busy by any means, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging. Although I've been glued to the computer most of the day working away on my business site, I thought I'd take a little break from that to write up a re-cap of our adventures.

Sayre and I drove to Baton Rouge the Saturday before Christmas and spent 10 wonderful days there visiting with family and friends and relaxing. It really was nice just to get away from daily life in Jacksonville for a little while. We went ice skating in downtown Baton Rouge, saw a few movies (Avatar and The Chipmunks movie ;)), shopped, ate, visited with people, and ate some more. Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas.

Most of my extended family was in town, so on Christmas Eve we all got together just like we always have at NaNa's house, ate lots of delicious food, and played the present swap game. That evening we went to Church, and then Christmas morning we enjoyed a long lazy morning opening gifts and playing with all of our new gadgets and toys before eating a great meal once again. (I swear, every time I go home I feel like all I do is eat.)

It was so nice to have some time to reconnect with old friends while we were in town. Some I had seen just a few months prior, but others I hadn't seen in years. You know, we all have grown up quite a bit and experienced lots of things, but generally speaking, we're the same old girls we were back in high school and I'm so happy about that! I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time while just swapping stories both old and new!

As always, the end of our trip seemed to creep up on us and come too soon, but now we're settled back in Jacksonville and looking forward to what 2010 has to offer us. Since returning here, I've been focusing on launching my business. It's exciting but pretty nerve-wracking at the same time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyway, here's a link to some more pictures from Christmas week.

Christmas Blessings

As the holidays are quickly approaching, I want to take a few moments to reflect upon how abundantly God has blessed us over these past few months and years. We are in good health, have incredibly supportive and loving families, and wonderful friends all around the world. We truly could not ask for more.

Being a new Navy wife, it's hard to ignore the sense of pride and admiration I have for all those serving our country and their families. Sayre and I are so blessed because it will be awhile before he has to deploy; however, there are so many others out there right now who will not be able to spend this holiday season with the ones they love. Since I have not yet experienced a deployment firsthand, I can only imagine how hard and painful it must be at times only relying upon those precious moments when contact is possible to get through those long months apart from one another. My prayer this Christmas is that those brave men and women out there who won't have the privilege of being home this year can come to realize how truly grateful we are to all of them for giving us the best present one could possibly give: the gift of freedom. May God always watch over this beautiful country and protect it from those who seek to break apart the basic morals, principals, and ideals that our great forefathers established it upon.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Here comes Santa Clause

Time seems to be flyyyyyying by these days! I can't believe that Christmas is just 2 weeks away! Yaaaaaay!! Sayre and I have been getting into the Christmas spirit recently with a few fun activities. Last Thursday night we went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas concert. It was sooo awesome! Their stage is an amazing array of lights, moving parts, and lasers... combine that with their rockin' renditions of classic Christmas songs and you're in store for a very memorable evening! We had a great time!


To top off last weekend, we made another trip to Disney World to make use of the last few days on our military passes before they expire at the end of the month. Once again, we had an amazing time, despite a little bit of rainy weather. This time we went to MGM Studios (now referred to as Holywood Studios) on Saturday which included the Rockin' Roller Coaster, the Tower of Terror, and Lights Motors Action Show to name a few. That night we went to the Magic Kingdom to see all of the pretty Christmas lights as well as the fireworks display. We were also thrilled to get the chance to ride the newly refurbished Space Mountain while we waited to see the fireworks! On Sunday we went to the Animal Kingdom. The main attraction there, and our absolute favorite ride: Expedition Everest! Also, before leaving, we tried out the Rapids ride even though we knew were going to get soaked... and we did! It's ok though because we were about to leave to drive back to Jacksonville and we had a change of clothes in the car. Overall, it was another great weekend!

Now we're eagerly awaiting the start of the Army/Navy game! Sayre invited a few guys from his ship over to watch it, so it should be a good time. Go Navy!!

Click here to see some more of our Disney trip pictures.

Thanksgiving

Sayre and I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but we'll be back very very soon for Christmas festivities! Although I really wanted to spend some time visiting with my friends while we were there, we just didn't have enough time to try to round up the troops this time around, so instead we spent those few days gobbling down some turkey with family and enjoying the great outdoors since the weather was so incredible.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to my cousin Elke's house. It was so nice to be able to actually sit down and chat with everyone. Last time we were in Louisiana, we were in the midst of Hurricane Wedding and our heads were spinning in too many different directions to be able to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the good company of family and friends. The food, of course, was scrumptious! Oooh I can't even begin to tell you how long I had been dreaming of turkey and stuffing before Thanksgiving finally arrived :) We were both gloriously full once the day was over!

Aside from stuffing our faces with food, we spent a lot of time fishing in the lake in my parents' backyard. Sayre's really been missing that lately, so he was happy to be able to cast a bit out there. Unfortunately, the only two fish that were caught the whole time were tiny little brim fish that my mom happened to reel in. Regardless, we still enjoyed ourselves relaxing by the water. Dad also took us out to a shooting range one day which was pretty fun. We shot his .22 shotgun as well as my grandfather's old handgun from WWII. Well, technically the boys shot the handgun... mom and I just stuck with the shotgun :) Handguns scare me. Anyway, overall, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.