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Showing posts with label military life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label military life. Show all posts

Friday, March 16, 2012

Update on the Big Move

So remember when I wrote this and let you know that Jesse got orders to New Jersey and we would be moving in June? And how happy I was for him to have a new job that would have him home most of the time? Well, a lot has changed since then. Bear with me while I explain...

The job that Jesse got was offering support for something called the WIC program (Weapons Instructor Course), it's a pilot training course. So Jesse got orders in September that we would be reporting to NJ by June 30, for him to take that new job. A couple months ago, we found out that they are in the process of trying to get it approved for that whole program to move to a different base by January 2013. But... not just any base... they are trying to move it to McChord (where we are right now!).

That left a lot of questions for us and at the time and there were no answers for us at the time. Would we move out there and then move back six months later? Would we move out there and then Jesse would have to take a different job there after the program left? Would we just get new orders somewhere else? We had no clue.

A couple weeks ago we got a big answer, even though it still left uncertainty. We will be going wherever the WIC program goes and will not be moving at all, if it gets the final approval on moving out here. It is just waiting on one more signature (so we've been told). We will not know for sure until the end of April or beginning of may. So here are the two scenarios:

1. It gets denied. The week program stays in NJ and we have roughly 6 weeks from finding out to move there.

2. It is approved. Jesse will act as a local liaison at McChord to help them with their move (July-December) and then they will join him out here in January.

Jesse feels about 90% certain #2 is what will happen. That means we will be "home" for another 4 years! I'm really excited about this possibility. It allows our children to spend their youngest years surrounded by extended family. We have also decided that we will be moving back to our house (which we currently rent out) in Lacey. That thrills me, it's home for us. While I feel extremely blessed to of been able to purchase this 4 bedroom condo near Auburn, it's just not home. With me not working anymore, we don't have to worry about such a long commute from Lacey, so it's an easy decision for us.

So there's the update! :) I'll keep ya posted.

Here are some pictures of what I hope to be calling home again in a couple months!!

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Oh man, I haven't looked at these pictures in a couple years. It makes me so homesick. This is the house Jesse and I bought a couple weeks before our wedding and where we found out we were expecting our first baby. I so hope that we can have our kids grow up running around in that backyard.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Guest Blog

Hi all! I'm a day late, but I wanted to send y'all over to Nicole's blog to check out the guest post I did for her over there about being a military mom. I was so flattered when Nicole asked me to write a post for her Words of Wisdom series. So go check it out! :)

Monday, November 14, 2011

New Zealand Wrap Up

So, I haven't finished blogging about our trip to New Zealand, and so I felt like I wasn't ready to move on the regular ole blogging. So here is a recap of the rest of our two and a half week trip to New Zealand. :)

You already saw pictures from our trip to Willowbank Wildlife Refuge and also some from Hanmer Springs and the wineries.

Here are a couple more pics that I love from the winery. Hunter and Jesse were just hamming it up for the camera.




Our big activity while we were out there was a road trip to Queenstown! It's about a six hour drive from Christchurch to Queenstown, but we were excited for a little time on the road!

On the way there we stopped at Lake Tekapo. It was stunning!








We scored on finding a place to stay in Queenstown. The Pepper's resort where we were staying in Christchurch, called their resort in Queenstown, and got up a 1 bedroom lake view apartment, for only... $140/night. We looked it up online and they were going for around $400! We got there and were amazed by the room but mostly the fabulous view from the balcony!







We soooo enjoyed our time in Queenstown. We walked around the town, went on a steamboat to an island where there was a farm tour, went up the gondola, and then went on the luge ride down!

















I probably have a few more cool pics I'll want to share, but these just got a whole lot of them of my shoulders. Maybe now I can move on the some regular blogging :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Staying Positive

So, as you know, if you have been following my blog recently, our family will be going through a lot of changes in the next 6-8 months. Most of them stem around Jesse getting orders and deciding to reenlist in the Air Force. It may just seem like one change, the fact that we will be moving to New Jersey, but to us, it will involve a lot of things being different.

We are both feeling extremely optimistic about our future, even though it seems like we have been kind of bombarded with negative comments. Some of them have hurt my feelings and others just make me question why people are so pessimistic and why they would want to drag us down when the decision has already been made and it’s what we want.

Obviously, we are moving to a new area of the country and will be far away from my family and our friends. These changes are major and the ones most people realize, but there are a couple more that are due to a move.

Jesse will be home so much more! I am absolutely thrilled about this and would move to the other side of the globe to have this. So don’t you dare tell me that his new job isn’t as exciting, a good career advancement move, etc. We feel strongly that is an AMAZING family advancement and that is our priority in having a young family. I am over the moon excited to know that Jesse will be home every night and every major holiday. Many families may take this for granted, but this will be a huge change for us. I’ve spent far too many Thanksgivings and Christmas’ without my husband.
I will most likely become a stay at home mom. Jesse and I really want to have a second child soon and the idea of not being at home with them makes me sad. The 4:45am alarm is getting old and it is getting increasingly harder for me to leave my little guy to go to work. I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to try out my domestic skills by taking care of my family, cooking, cleaning and whatever else staying at home entails. I’ve never done it, so I will have to learn! J
But this is where the most hurtful comments have come from. I’m getting a little teary even thinking about them. “You won’t last staying at home.” “You’ll get bored.” “You just don’t seem cut out to be around kids all day.” I cannot tell you how many people have said these things to me. I know I am looking beyond the words actually spoken, but these things shoot straight to my heart. What I hear is that I am not enough.

I feel like most women pride themselves on being a wife and a mother. Some put just as much pride in being successful in their career and that’s great. But I am not one of them. I have three days a week at home with Hunter and I can honestly tell you I dread going back to work every single Monday. I never feel like I am in need of getting a break from ”. I do get impatient at times when Hunter is not behaving, listening, etc. but not enough to make me want to get away.

I understand that I have never stayed at home, so I cannot compare the two. But, Jesse and I agree that we will be moving and starting our lives in New Jersey with no expectations about how long I will not work for. It might be for years or it could only be for six months. But come on friends and family; don’t speak negative thoughts over our lives when we are doing exactly what we desire to do. If I didn’t want to try staying at home, I wouldn’t!

It is an amazing blessing that we are in a spot where we will be able to live off one income and see how it goes. I feel amazingly fortunate to be able to have this opportunity and cannot wait until I can spend my days solely with my boys. :)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Lots of Changes Around Here!

If you are one of my Facebook friends, you probably have heard that there are a lot of changes going on in the Doyle family! Where to begin....

Let's start with the biggest change... we will be moving to NEW JERSEY in the next 6-8 months. We decided that it would be best for our family for Jesse to stay in the Air Force as his career. His eight years in will be complete at the beginning of the year. We weighed the pros and cons and him staying in just kept outweighing the other options.

Therefore, it would just be a matter of time before we would have to move to another base. Jesse said that he would rather have a say in where we go, rather than just waiting for orders to wherever. So, he volunteered for two positions: a four year commitment in NJ and a 2 year commitment in Papa, Hungary. Both would ensure Jesse to be home with us more than he is now. Well, last Monday, Jesse received orders for McGuire Air Force Base.

We have some split emotions. We are thrilled to know what are future will involve, the unknown was becoming a little difficult. The biggest reason that we are happy for the change is the amount of time Jesse will be at home with us. For the last 5+ years, Jesse has been gone for 200-250 days a year. With this new job, he will only be gone up to three weeks every six months and he will be home for all holidays. That is HUGE for our family! We also have good friends stationed there already, Ryan and Stephanie, and they have a daughter who is only two months younger than Hunter. That will be amazing when moving across the country from my family and all our friends!

We are sad to be leaving where we both consider "home" now. My entire family is here and the majority of our friends, as well. I do feel some guilt taking Hunter away from my parents, who have been such a huge part of his life. But I just need to remind myself that we will be back to visit plenty and anyone is more than welcome to come visit us!

The base is only about 45 minutes from Philadelphia, a little over an hour from NYC, and three hours from Washington D.C. Jesse's mom and sister are both living in DC right now, so it'll be such a blessing to be close to his family for the first time! We are excited to explore the New England states for the first time.

These are the places I want to see:














So that's our biggest change/news around here. But some other exciting things have happened this week:

I booked Hunter and my tickets to New Zealand for 17 of the 30 days that Jesse will be down there for work. Christchurch is amazing and I am beyond excited to take Hunter back there now that he's a little older. Check out the pictures from our last trip, here. I am a little nervous to be traveling there and back on commericial flights with Hunter all by myself. But... worse case, I'll cry all the way there, but I'll still land in NZ, right?! We leave in less than a month! :)

Also, last night we traded in my Honda Accord for an Acura MDX. I am in love with it! I've always liked my cars, but I have next had a "luxury" type car, and man, does it make a difference! :)

Here's a picture of it from the dealer's website:

Saturday, September 3, 2011

He's Home!



Jesse got home on Thursday evening, on our 4th wedding anniversary. I don't think the timing could of been any perfect. Hunter was so excited to see his daddy and has not let Jesse out of his sight since he got home. Love having my family back together again!










We are just spending the long weekend enjoying our little family and relaxing. :)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sometimes You Just Gotta Cry

I cried for the first five minutes of my drive home after work today, and I have to say, I feel better. Why did I cry?

Well, it doesn't help that I was just plain tired. But, Jesse is coming home at some point in the next week or so. What?! Why would I cry over that?! Of course I am thrilled by that! But... there is a date and a time for his arrival planned, so of course, I'm thinking about what it will be like when he comes home, what should we do, how amazing it will be.

And then the wave of emotion hits me. It makes me so homesick for having my husband back. For the last couple of months, I didn't allow myself to think about what it's like to have a complete family at home. I haven't allowed myself to miss having someone to come home to at the end of a rough day. You just put one foot in front of the other and go through the motions of living life with what is in front of you. But now I am remembering what having my other half in my daily life is like. To have someone someone to hug you when you walk through the door at night, someone to wake up to on a lazy weekend morning, to share the joys of parenthood with when Hunter does something funny or new, or snuggle up to while dozing off to sleep. It seems almost unbearable to make it another week.

So after staying nearly tear free for the last four months, I just needed a good cry a week before my husband comes home because it just feels like a week too far away.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

I Need Change.

I've really come to the conclusion, over the last couple of weeks, that I am a change/adventure seeker. I get so bored doing to same thing, in the same place for years. I jump at the chance to seize any opportunity. I need a sense of adventure in my life.

For example, Jesse told me about a job opportunity for him in Hungary back in February. It involved us moving to a place where there is no housing on base. We would live in the town, see the local doctors,shop at the local markets, etc. I told him immediately that he didn't have to tell me anymore, he should volunteer to go if he wanted. I was all for it! Didn't happen... I was slightly bummed.

Jesse went down to New Zealand/Antarctica when Hunter was six weeks old for a month long trip for the Air Force. I decided on the day he left, a Thursday, that I wanted to take Hunter and go, too. We left that Sunday. (Talk about a stressful 2 days trying to get an infant a passport asap!)

I am leaving tomorrow to go visit Jesse while he's deployed in Turkey. I am so excited to see my husband, I can hardly contain myself. I am also really looking forward to experiencing a Muslim country and such a difference in culture. I cannot wait!!!

Jesse's enlistment is up the beginning of February. He could get out of the Air Force at that time. My vote is for him to stay in. There are so many different factors that go into that opinion, but one of them is my desire to live a life of adventure. I want to move around, experience new places, meet new people, and not know what the future holds. The idea of that excites me.



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Friday, July 8, 2011

3 Weeks From Today

I will be on a plane headed to Turkey to visit Jesse while he's stationed there during his deployment! Hunter will be staying with my parents for the 8 days that I'll be gone. I'm super excited to see Jesse, get away for a week, visit a country that I've always wanted to go to, and enjoy some hot weather!

This will be the first time that I've left Hunter for more than one night. Jesse seems to think that I have some sort of issue leaving him and says that he thinks I'll have a breakdown when I'm gone. Go ahead and think I'm a bad mom, but I am actually looking forward to getting away. It's probably because for the last two and half months I have been the only parent around. This momma has got to relax a little! :) I'll tell you if I still feel that way after it's been more than one day.

I'm hoping to be able to just really enjoy spending some alone time with Jesse for the first time in almost two years. I think it will be really good for us. I'm also thinking it'll make the transition easier when he gets back home in September.

When in Turkey these are a couple things I hope to see:









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Jesse is active duty Air Force and is originally from southern Minnesota. He has also managed to become a follower of just about every hobby known to man (which drives his wife crazy!).



Henry was born on July 4, 2007. His hobbies include playing with his squeaker toys, barking a little girls, dock jumping, going to the dog park, and being spoiled rotten by his grandparents.

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