This one's for Brooke!

My girlfriend Brooke informed me I need to update this. I reminded her that my life is boring and I have nothing to write about... although I know you are all dying to hear about my lastest discoveries in linear algebra! She suggested that I just post some more pics of the dogs... so with the excitement of knowing there is at least one person out there not already sick of me talking about my adorable little puppies... here are some more pics of the babies!

Winston likes to sleep in the funniest positions! They have both been enjoying the beautiful spring weather and getting to play outside a lot. They really are the best company for each other, I can't imagine only having one dog again... Bella is so much happier now that she has her little brother!

In other news, Sam and I are both starting to count down till he returns home! Although we don't know the exact date he will be back, it should be sometime in early June. I recently scheduled our movers to deliver all our stuff to our new apartment. On my way up to move in I am going to get to see some girlfriends in the RI/CT area which I am excited about. We also have some fabulous vacation plans for his two weeks off after deployment. I recently booked a 5-night all-inclusive trip to Punta Cana, DR so we can just relax and he can get some sun after being stuck in a tin can for 6 months! We honeymooned in Punta Cana so we can't wait to return... plus it will be right around our 2 year anniversary.

After we return from the Carribean we are treking down to my favorite place in the country... Charleston, SC! We've been missing all our good friends down there like crazy ever since we left so it is high time for a visit. We are so excited to meet some of our friend's babies that we haven't had the joy of meeting yet; Millie Morris and Tyler Shippy:) And we are also excited to be able to make it to our friends Matt and Heather's wedding!

*This is an old picture of some of our wonderful friends, the Morris's and the Surratt's, we are anxious to visit soon!

For now... I am just trying to finish up my term... I could definitely use all your prayers to get everything done in time to apply for student teaching beginning in January 09! I am having trouble securing a placement for my pre-clinical experience in the fall which is a critical part of my student teaching application due in only a couple of weeks! I'll keep you posted how things work out:)

Crazy Week!

It has been a crazy week for our little family! It has been a week of allergic reactions and emergency room visits unfortunately.

My little sister is severly allergic to peanuts and the ignorant servers at her college cafeteria assured her a dish did not have peanuts in it when in fact it was made with peanut sauce! So poor Megan took the food back to her dorm and ate it there alone where she obviously had an immediate reaction. Fortunately her roommate took her to the hospital when she got back to the room where the doc gave her two bags of fluid for her extremely low blood pressure and a shot of epinephrine. Megan is doing fine now, and I didn't even find out about this till it was all over... but what a scary ordeal! I thank God that He protected her through this situation that truely could have killed her.

Then, Saturday evening Winston started having a difficult time breathing and next thing I knew his poor little face was super swollen, especially his lips. Sam's grandmom and I took him to the Pet ER where he got a couple shots of steroids and benadryl which at least helped him breath. The poor little guy's lips stayed swollen and very sensitive for another day though so he wouldn't eat or lay his little head down because it hurt him. It is so hard to see a poor little animal in pain that you can't do anything about. I am just glad he is getting better now.

On a more positive note, a wife of a guy that was riding Sam's sub but got off early did email me a picture that her husband brought back from his underway. It was so good to see Sam's face since I haven't seen it in almost four months! For those of you who don't know, you can't send attachments to emails to or from subs... so that means no pictures. Anyway, I thought you might like to see Sam "in action." It looks like they're really busy down there doesn't it? haha! I am happy to see my husband is still clean shaven though! Even though I guess I am going to have to re-teach him to smile in pictures when he returns :-D

Way to go Sam!

Sam passed his final board for qualifying back aft this week! It is a huge accomplishment that he has been progressively working on his entire time out to sea so far. Now he is qualified to stand watch in the engine room and is moving on to working on qualifications for other areas of the boat. I am so proud of him, he is working so hard and accomplishing so much!

Recently he has also told me that being out to sea feels "normal" now and that it will actually be weird to be home and see me again. I agree that it seems normal for him to be gone and it will be weird to be together and have our own place to live again... but we both can't wait! It is sad when it feels normal to be away from your spouse... I find myself looking at pictures of us together and wondering what it will be like to actually see him again and be able to touch him. I guess I'll find out in about two months!

Since I obviously don't have any cool pics from Sam's submarine since he can't send me attachments... I will just post a cute one of the dogs... cos I know you are all just dying to see more pics of them! haha! They miss their daddy too... that is if Winston even remembers his daddy since he only meet him for a week!

In this picture they are sitting on this little platform Sam's mom made for their massively fat cat to sit and look out the window. Bella and Winston have pretty much claimed it as their territory and love to sit up there and watch people and cars go by.

Going to the Chapel...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of making a trip back to Sam's Alma Mater to the Naval Academy chapel to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Ben and his brand new wife Diana! She was gorgeous and had he most beautiful dress... and well, Ben looked pretty good too in his choker whites! Congratulations you guys, we couldn't be happier to have Diana as a part of the family now!

Now, let me tell you all about their amazing reception... they had it at the Westin in Annapolis which is brand new. The venue was the best indoor reception venue I have ever been to... it was very elegant, sophisticated and simple, very much like the newlyweds themselves. They also had the best wedding music I've ever experienced... a massive band, I guess technically an orchestra... and they were wonderful! We enjoyed lots of swing and Latin music. Not to mention the fabulous dancing... Diana's family is Cuban and they can cut a rug! Diana has even somehow managed to teach Ben to dance, something I am very jealous of. If I could ever get Sam to come home from sea I would love to take dance lessons and become as accomplished as them!

Events such as these really make me miss having Sam around... attending momentous events alone is definitely one of the toughest parts of deployment for me. Only a couple of weeks ago my grandmother passed away and it was hard not having Sam around for that too... but I guess I am really a true military wife now... the only big event that I can think of that he hasn't missed would be the birth of a child... and Lord willing, we will never have to do that. I had a wonderful time anyway because I got to spend time with the rest of my family and catch up with cousins that I don't see very often. The picture on the right is my cute family... I think my momma looks so pretty! I am so lucky to be able to live with and near family while Sam is gone... it is really a blessing!

Very First Blog!

Hey everyone! Welcome to our blog! It seems like all our friends now have these so we decided to jump on the band-wagon too! Although most of you have cute little babies to post about... and we've just got our cute little dogs that I might be a little too obsessed with... hehe. (Bella is on the left and Winston on the right... enjoying one of their favorite activities... rawhides!)

An update for those of you we haven't talked to in awhile...

Sam is currently deployed for (almost) 6 months with the USS Norfolk. He is riding along with them because the boat he is assigned to is actually currently not floating... it is in the shipyard in New Hampshire where we will be moving when he returns from this deployment. I'll let him tell you more about his feelings on deployment... but basically... it's not too fun.

I am currently living with my wonderful in-laws here in Maryland while Sam is gone. I spend all day working like a mad woman on school attempting to complete the equivalent of about 50 credit hours in about 5 months. I'll let you know how that goes later... but basically... not too fun.

My greatest concern though is that I will never be able to take my dogs away from here when we move again... little Winston is really attached to Sam's grandmom, as you can see!

Okay, okay... so I have had a little fun while Sam has been away... I did enjoy a wonderful two weeks in Hawaii visiting a good friend from college and fellow navy wife. Molly showed me all around Oahu and I got to check out some of the housing we could be living in a year from now. The picture is from a hike we took up a cliff on the South Shore of the island... breath taking! I can't wait to move there and further explore the islands with Sam!