Happy Anniversary

I thought this deserved it's own blog post today.

Today is my 4 year anniversary with Matt.  It has been a great four years, and I look forward to many more years with you!

 

We have been through a lot more than most people have in four years, but I think we have triumphed when we had excuses to fail.  We make each other laugh and treat each other with respect. You are my best friend!

WWF announces it's next fight: Chelle's Car versus 4X4

Bright and Early Monday morning we started the second half of our PCS from Georgia to Arizona.  

Matt was right when he said that PCS stood for Pretty Crappy Start.  We weren't more than 4 1/2 hours into our trip when BAM!  I hit the 4X4.  I saw it happening, my life flashed before my eyes.  I had about 2 seconds from the time I saw Matt drive over it to when it was going to be resting with me in my passenger seat. Okay so it wasn't going to come through my window, but I sure thought it might.  In those two seconds I had to made one of two decisions:

1. Try to center it and ride over it in my car.  I knew that the clearance of my car to the ground was not enough to comfortably do this.  I was afraid I would end up dragging it underneath.  NOT GOOD.

or

2.  Try and swerve and miss it, but I was pretty sure I couldn't swerve enough.  Not enough and I would center it with my right tire, too much and I would definitely be down the steep median.  Again, NOT GOOD.

Do you see my dilemma, I did not have a good choice either way, it was lose/lose, so I braced for the swerve and a millisecond later I was on the walkie talkie to Matt.  

"Um, I think that popped my tire", I said.

Matt was not surprised by this because he had watched this entire scenario play out in his rear view mirror.

" Yeah, I am pretty sure I saw your hubcap go flying down the other lane," he told me.

Oh, no!  No hubcap?  That's right folks, I am now driving across the country in fine redneck white trash fashion, with only 3 hubcaps.

After we pulled over and inspected we were relieved to see that my tire wasn't messed up at all, but that is where the relief stopped.  Can you see on the right side were my rim is busted?  As they say in this part of the country, "No Bueno!"

I know that the lack of a hubcap may be painful to your eyes, Lord knows it is to mine, but try to be okay with it...for my sake.

Knowing we needed the spare, we ventured off to my truck, where the spare has sat untouched for the last 5 years.  Together with Duece we prayed that it would be in working condition. 

This left me feeling even more ghetto.  All of the belongings we were moving across the country in my truck, now were staged in the parking lot of the liquor store we found refuge in.

Matt was my savior and worked his magic on my lugnuts.

Duece administered his advice from the sidelines.

Want to know how hard it is to find a rim for a 2006 Mazda 6 at 4:45 in Ruston, LA is?  

I'll explain...

You basically have a better shot at winning the LA PowerBall lottery.  Thankfully a dear friend in the auto parts business in Petal helped us track one down at a salvage yard in Longview, TX.  So I limped down the interstate on my spare the 3 hours to Longview were we waited till open of business.

First thing Tuesday morning, we were back in business and on the road.

I have forever learned my lesson about 4x4's in the middle of the interstate.

The Day I Turned Twenty-Six and realized I was only 4 years away from 30!

Yesterday was my birthday.  I felt weird blogging about my birthday on my birthday...a little to self serving if you ask me.  So I decided to just wait to do it today.  I mean, my mom did go through a lot of trouble to get me here 26 years ago so the least I could do is acknowledge it on behalf of her.  

Matt kept asking me, "we aren't really doing anything special for your birthday, are you sure you are okay with that?".  I most definitely was okay with that, it isn't every day that I get to watch the nieces and nephews play softball and soccer, see a movie with Matt in the middle of the day, eat cake and ice cream with both of my families, and have my sweet sweet pup sing me a birthday song.  

Some snapshots of the day!

I got to see Cooper score a goal for his soccer team, and take it from me, he is a bad-a on the soccer field!

Addison hit the ball TWICE.  She is a little softball super star in the making.

I shared a cupcake and kisses with Avery.

Matt took me to see the Lincoln Lawyer.  Def not the best movie of the year, but it was good, and the eye-candy made up for whatever it lacked.

 Then the cake...

My favorite thing about birthday's is the cake, for sure, hands down, no question about it!

Do I look excited?

Matt even talked me into giving Duece his own little plate to help celebrate my b-day!

Thank you to all of our families who made the day special and for thinking about me.  

One Week Closer to Arizona

When I think about living in Arizona, it makes me smile.  We are ready for a new adventure as a family, and Arizona seems like the perfect place to start.  Are you tired of me talking about it yet?  If you are, you are in for a lot of eye rollin' cause I have a lot of talking about it left to do.

I have shared about the move itself, but I haven't really told y'all much about why we are going there and exactly where is AZ the casa del Langford will be.

See that green star?  That is where we are headed.  See that darker gray space?  For all you non-geography savy people...that is Mexico.  We are muy close to the border.  Don't worry, I can speak a little Spanish, we might be able to manage.  Our parents are kind of worried about the proximity to Mexico, but we tell them not to worry.

The Landscape.

Sierra Vista or Fort Huachuca is situated at the base of the Huachuca Mountains.  It should be very interesting to be in proximity to something so different then the landscape you find in South Mississippi.

I will have to invest in some hummingbird feeders because Sierra Vista is the Hummingbird Capital of the World.  How random is that?  

Kinda worried about these little guys.

When I think about living in AZ, I always think about living in a adobe style home.  I know I probably won't but, it is what I picture.

We are going to be about 8 hours from everything.  All within a days drive we can find: The Grand Canyon, Ghost Towns, Wineries, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and More. 

We will call Arizona home for approximately 6 months while Matt attends the advanced course for Military Intelligence (oxymoron anyone?) 

We can't wait to explore the area with each other and Duece and I look forward to being able to update you all on our journey!

Knock Knock. Who's There? Fed-Ex!

I have arrived.  It has arrived.  The day has finally come.   Ready for me to tell you yet?
I am no the proud owner of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I love her.
Matt ordered me one for my birthday and it came in early.  He couldn't keep it from me till Saturday.
I haven't made anything yet.  I opened it up and have been admiring it ever since.
Now you can admire it too!

Citrus Yellow.  Doesn't she just make you think about sunshine, summer time, and baking?

In all her glory, just waiting, and begging me to mix something.

I might can see if I can whip up something this weekend.

What it looks to like to move like an adult...

I have moved in the past, but never in this fashion.  It was always a few loads in a friend's/parent's pick-up truck, maybe a u-haul truck here and there, but definitely a sketchy ride down the road in which you had to watch out the back window to make sure your mattress wasn't falling off the truck.

Compared to what I have experienced in the past, moving with the Army is moving in style.  They showed up bright and early...30 min to be exact and they worked continuously for 6 hours (sorta).  I had visions of big bulky movers coming to load our stuff up, so I was really REALLY surprised with the driver and his helper climbed out of the cab coming it at 75 and 63 years old respectively.  Ernie, the 75 year old driver, had worked for Bekins Moving Co. for 30+ years.  I trusted that he knew what he was doing, but I did not trust his ability to not have a heart-attack while trying to lift our one ton buffet.  Thankfully he stuck to just writing stuff down on his clip board.

I also have a few comment about his two helpers.  I don't know their names because 1.  The 63 year spoke with a heavy French accent and may or may not have been missing teeth and 2.  The second helper mumbled every time I asked him his name.  I do know that Mr. 63 served in the French Legion.  It is slightly (but not really at all) comforting to know that I have a former French special forces juggernaut watching over out stuff. And Mr. Mumble did managed to tell me that he loved "The Notebook" and admitted to crying at the end, so for that I respect him and trusted him to load my belongings onto the Bekins truck.

So now, as we speak our stuff is floating across the country somewhere and I can only hope and pray it all makes it's way back to our new Arizona casa in one piece.

They arrived and started carting our boxes outside.

I had never been inside of an eighteen wheeler trailer before so I took every opportunity to climb inside and look around.  Who knew they had wood floors?  Tres' chic.

Duece was the faithful watcher.  He spent all day perched in the window.  I think he also sensed Ernie's frailty and wanted to make sure he survived to the end of the day.

They were very methodical and staged everything in the drive way before they loaded it on the truck.

See the open door there?  Well our stuff only took up from that door to the front of the trailer.  I was so surprised and how they fit it all in there, it was like a jigsaw puzzle piece.

Bye Bye Stuff, see ya real soon! (I hope)

Where O' Where have you been?

I have been moving...Duh!  I told you that.  But we finally safely arrived in Mississippi to spend the next couple of weeks before we head West to Arizona in search of gold for the big move.

So after spend a night on the air mattress, 2 nights in a hotel, and 7 days worth of fast food restaurants, both Matt and I are welcoming the next two weeks of just hanging out at someone else's house, eating their food, and taking up room on their furniture.

Hang in there...I will be back.

Ready or Not Here I Come

Deuce might not always be the sharpest crayon in the box, but he is our little unsharpened crayon.  Sometimes he surprises us, and tonight he roped Matt and I into a game of hide and seek with his pig ear.  Yes, pig ear.

You see what happened was...

I made Matt drive me all the way to Savannah last night to get Duece's dog food.  I could feed him normal dog food like everyone else from Walmart, in fact I did feed him Beneful for a long time, then one day I was in Petsmart and I let the worker convince me that I was not providing my dog with a level of food equal to my level of love for him.  I explained to him, that while I wanted what was best for my dog, I was not going to pawn my jewelry to be able to afford it.  So we upgraded dog food by a smidge.  The upside, Duece's coat really is shinier and he doesn't go #2 as much.  The downside, you can only buy it in Savannah.  Hence why we ended up driving 45 min to Petsmart for dog food.  

Enter the pig ear.  Long story short, the first time he had a pig ear, he went from being sweet snuggly beagle puppy to rabid dog.  While not so good for the dog trying to take it from him, it provided classic entertainment for all around.  After giving him the treat we picked up for him on our 2 hour long adventure to provide him with a full belly, he did not want anyone to get the treasured pig ear.  

This started our game of hide and seek.

The first place I found it, was in the guest bedroom, tucked in next to the mirror and boxes.

We thought it was funny, so we kept waiting for him to hide it and we would then go find it.  It would take it from me and hide it somewhere else.

Next, it was underneath this mattress that had been stood up on it's side.   

Not so creative here, but behind the chair, I think we might have caught him trying to put it under the recliner. 

Behind the TV 

In the couch cushion.

He actually tried to move my computer cord with his mouth to cover it up. 

Looking for another good hiding spot amongst all of the "moving debris". 

Behind the bike. 

After that he gave up.  I think he was aggravated at us.

One a side note-

Not much going on today on the moving front, but I do have to admit the following:

Everyone else was right, I stressed way to much about the packers.  Okay, there, I will give you that much about the packers.  The movers come tomorrow to pick everything up, and my verdict is still out.  The phone call I had today with Ernie, the driver, left me feeling less than confident about their abilities to safely transport our worldly belongings across the United States.  I have my eye on you Bekins Moving Co.

Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards

If that is the case I will have one satisfied sweet tooth.  I am stressed.  I know it, my husband knows it, and anyone who is on my Facebook probably knows it.  Today officially marks the beginning of our first big Army move.  I am waiting on the movers to show up as we speak, you know the drill...they give you a time span of 8 hours and say they will be there sometime in that period.  So you have to be ready for them by 8, regardless of when they decide to show up.

I am really hoping that I can keep up with updating my blog throughout the entire move.  It will take us from Southeast Georgia, to Mississippi, Oklahoma, across a variety of western states, and God willing we will end up in South Arizona by the end of March.  All of this is only possible if Matt and I don't kill each other first, I kid, I kid.

This is the look I keep getting from him.  This look says, "My wife is stressed and it very confusing to me.  I wish she would take a chill pill."  Bless his heart, he is being very patient with me, but if I am worried said patience might run out somewhere between West Texas and New Mexico.  Let's hope not...keep your fingers crossed.

We had to have everything pulled off the walls.  Check!

 Stuff that we don't wont them to pack sectioned off.  Check!

Rumor has it that if I left the trash can full of used kleenex's and didn't specifically say, "Don't pack that trash." The I would be welcomed in Arizona with a bag full of packed used snot rags.  No thank you!

 The rest of the house is in various states of disarray.  This is what stresses me out.  I feel like I should be doing something, packing something, cleaning something, etc...  Matt keeps trying to reassure me that I don't have to pack and clean for the movers whose job is to come here and pack for me.  

I recognize that my biggest problem is also my biggest fear, relinquishing control.  Ah, just typing it made my skin crawl.  I know I will survive.

Hopefully tomorrow I can report back and say that I stressed out for nothing.