Friday, October 19, 2012

I'm really bad at maintaining this blog. I vow to try better and try to post more from now on. Therefore, I'm going to start with what Jalen and I did at the beginning of this month.

Jalen was able to get about ten days leave and during that time we took a vacation to Utah and Las Vegas. I was glad to spend a couple of days in Utah with my family. Then on to Las Vegas for the TOUGH MUDDER!!!

The Tough Mudder is a 10 mile "race" full of 20 obstacles designed by military professionals. Some of the obstacles include but aren't limited to below freezing water, mud, and electricity. It is said to be the hardest run to complete. The key to it is teamwork.

This year Jalen and five of his siblings participated in this run in the middle of the desert about two hours from Las Vegas. My in-laws and I had the privilege to watch these six amazing individuals work together and complete the entire run without skipping any obstacles on the way.

 
TEAM H2O!
 
 
 
Together before the race

 
Taking the plunge

 
Trying not to get wetter

 
Monkey Bars


 
Electrical Wires

 
VICTORY!!
 
I'm very proud of my siblings and next year it's my turn to earn my headband and spiffy t-shirt by finishing the race with this amazing team and even more team mates.
 
 
More later...
 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Sorry I haven't posted something new for a very long time. So this new post will be a sum up on everything that has gone on since my last post.

After BMT graduation and I went back to Utah life went on like it had been for the previous two months except that Jalen got his cell phone back and I could actually talk to him every night and we changed the wedding date from May 17, 2012 to December 23, 2011. That was three weeks away from when I got back to Utah. At the time our families were skeptical about the drastic change, but we made the decision that was best for us. Jalen and I realized that there was no way that he could definitely come home in May but we knew he would be home for Christmas exodus, so we decided to change the date instead of hope he would make in home in May.

So we got our families on board and started planning a wedding in three weeks. Luckily, I already had my dress and the maid of honor dress. Jalen's older sister Brita offered to do a dutch oven dinner for the wedding. We did fake flowers for my bouquet and my maid of honor's bouquet. My maid of honor was my sister of course and Jalen's best man was his older brother Jake. The biggest obstacle for me to overcome when we made the decision to change the wedding was that I thought the rest of Jalen's siblings wouldn't be able to come. Luckily all of the were at the wedding; it was the first time all seven had been together in one place at the same time for five years I think. Anyways...going along with the fact that the wedding was in December we used fake Christmas trees and poinsettas as decorations for where we stood during the ceremony and snowglobes for the centerpieces. Once we got all the wedding plans set all Jalen had to worry about was getting home on time. That was where tragedy hit. Jalen was scheduled to fly in on the 20th but on his flight home another passenger had some sort of anxiety attack and the plane had to make an emergency landing making it so Jalen missed his connection in Denver. He had to stay in Denver for the night and hope to get on the first flight home the next morning. I was only a little worried. To make a long story short, he got on the next flight home in the morning and the wedding with on without a hitch. Brita did my hair, our pictures, and the luncheon after the ceremony. Everything was perfect.

After about two weeks of being a newly wed couple that actually got to be together, Jalen went back to Texas to finish his Tech School; which was going to take until March and I went back to school full time and working at the campus library part time. We spent three months without seeing each other. We bought a car together; which was a huge pain because he had to sign the loan papers and I got about an hour phone call to ask him if he thought this car was a good buy and how much we could put down for a down payment. We bought an orange Subaru Impreza. The auto body shop we bought it from thought it was a 2008 but it turned out to be a 2009. They found that out after we had already made the deal so we got the car for a steal, probably about three thousand dollars cheaper.  When Jalen finished Tech School he moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming where he got based. A week after he got there my parents and I drove up to see him (and to drop off the new car so he had a way to get from our apartment to base). I spent five amazing days with my husband most of which I spent looking for a place to live because the housing office told us it would be 30-60 days before we could get housing on base. After finding an apartment, buying a new couch, and leaving Jalen to sleep in an apartment with no furniture for a month I went back to Utah for finish my semester.

In April I finished my semester, packed up our stuff and moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Eight hours from our families we started our lives together. Now June the apartment is finally settled with all of our stuff. Jalen has actually started working instead of sitting in a classroom and for the first time in years I actually had a summer break; which is about to end. I am going back to school Monday to get my CNA here in Wyoming and in August I'm taking Anatomy and applying for the Nursing program at Laramie County Community College. I just have to take a test that is similar to the ACT/SAT and hope that my application is good enough to start the program in the Spring semester.

Our chaotic lives of being a military family has started and I'm loving every minute of it. I miss the mountains and my friends and family but I'm happy to finally be with my husband. I can't wait for everything else to fall into place. I'm taking a deep breath and plunging head first into my new life. Here we go!

Friday, February 17, 2012

BMT Graduation

This was taken the first day that I saw Jalen after two months. It was Thanksgiving Day in San Antonio, Texas. I was absolutely jumping with joy, of course you can't tell if he was happy or not because he never smiled in like any of the pictures that were taken while we were there. However, the fact that he was in uniform in public and I couldn't hold his hand was driving me insane, so I stood as close as I could without actually touching him.

I was trying really really really hard not to turn around and never let go of him ever again. See the control...we stood like that for a good 45 minutes before we were seating in the resturant. I swear nobody in San Antonio cooks.

To make a long story short I spent the best four days of my life with my now amazing husband (he was my fiance at the time). San Antonio is beautiful and I would love to go back if I ever get the chance. However, I would rather be there when Jalen could be out of uniform so that I would be able to hold his hand, hug him, and kiss him without him potentially getting in trouble with his superiors.