Well hello there, old friend. Yes, I am still alive. And yes, I am still the proud owner of this blog. It’s been a long 9 months since my last post, so it feels like it’s time for a little update post, with a bunch of photos from the last 9 months sprinkled in. Buckle up, Buttercup.
What we’ve been up to the last 9 months
Missed Miscarriage
I guess we’ll get the most unpleasant item out of the way first. In October I had a missed miscarriage. For those who don’t know what that is (I sure didn’t), it’s basically when you have a miscarriage, but your body doesn’t recognize that the baby has passed away. We went in for what should have been a routine ultrasound to learn that our baby had passed. A couple days later I underwent a D&C to remove everything and then I was on the mend. The whole experience was hard and the months that followed were filled with a lot of pain, sadness, and confusion. There were many blessings along the way as well. The baby’s due date came and went (not without some significant pain) and overall I’m doing a lot better these days.
Job Change
In a really ridiculous turn of events, Brandon has officially left the Army and switched over to the Air Force. Funny enough, when we first started looking into the military, the Air Force was where we’d planned to go. But we ended up with the Army for many different reasons that made sense at that time. Now, almost a decade later, we’re officially an Air Force family. It would take me so long to explain the entirety of how this came to be. Truthfully we weren’t planning on making a branch switch ever. But I’ve found life rarely ends up the way that I think it will. In addition to a branch change, Brandon also made a significant change to his job. He was a CBRN Officer for the Army, but he is now stepping into his role as a Chaplain in the Air Force. This change has been a LONG time coming and something Brandon has been eager to start. I’m so excited to see his growth through this job. He’s going to be amazing!
The Move
Perhaps the most chaotic thing that happened in the last 9 months is our move to Texas. Originally we had orders to move to Wyoming with the Air Force. But then Army decided to be really dumb neat and cute and wouldn’t work with the Air Force’s timeline. Because of that, the orders to Wyoming were canceled (which we were actually SUPER sad about) and eventually new orders were issued for Texas.
I’m sorry to say we were really disappointed to learn we were moving to Texas. There was a time when we thought Texas would be our dream location. Maybe it’s just because we were so excited for Wyoming (like more excited than anyone should probably be to live in Wyoming), but the change to Texas was hard. We planned to move in September when the Air Force pulled the ol’ 360 McTwisty and altered the orders for us to move in May… with three week’s notice! It was crazy and exciting and absolutely nuts. Even though we weren’t OVERLY excited about Texas, we were ready to move on from Missouri. Missouri is a great place, but I needed to move on. I struggled for the entire two and a half years we were there and I was ready to go. I WASN’T ready to say goodbye to all of our friends there. Seriously some of our very favorite people were there and that goodbye hurt.
Probably the funniest part of this whole move was that even though Brandon is in the Air Force now, we got stationed at an Army installation. So I guess we aren’t abandoning the Army totally yet. Brandon works with the small Air Force unit here and I think the job is going to be amazing for him. We aren’t totally mad about being near an Army installation (after all, the Army will always have a special place in our hearts).
Random Adventures
Silver Dollar City
Along with all the military craziness, we have managed to have a few adventures over the past 9 months. We spent a long weekend at Silver Dollar City in Branson and immediately regretted not having gone as a family sooner. They’ve got a KILLER wooden roller coaster that goes UPSIDE DOWN and has a CORKSCREW. I’ve been on my fair share of wooden coasters (remember the one at Everland?), but I’m not sure I’ve ever been on one that goes upside down. So that was a… neat surprise. In addition to the crazy wooden coaster there are so many amazing metal coasters as well. Time Traveler soon became a family favorite and we rode that one again and again. And, of course, the food was top notch. I’m sure I’ll make a full post about Silver Dollar City at some point. But suffice it to say: GO!
Nauvoo
We were also able to spend a long weekend in Nauvoo, Illinois. For those unfamiliar, Nauvoo is a very historically significant city for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s where the Saints were living at the time of the prophet’s (Joseph Smith Jr.) martyrdom. Old Nauvoo holds a special spirit and the missionaries that do the tours and demonstrations are amazing. We had a great time exploring the area, as well as seeing the beautiful Nauvoo Temple. The temple was first built and dedicated in 1846, but was destroyed by arson in 1848 and finished by a tornado in 1850. In 1999, church leaders announced it would be rebuilt in the same spot it had originally been and in the same style. The new temple was dedicated in 2002.
Unfortunately (due to poor planning on my part) we ended up in Nauvoo on a weekend when the temple was closed. Even more unfortunately, Brandon and one of our kids came down with a stomach bug on the trip. But, despite the temple closure and the puking we managed to have a good time. It helped that my parents flew in from Idaho and my brother and sister-in-law (along with my darling niece) drove over from their house in St Louis area to join us.
For now those are the big updates, along with a couple of our random wanderings. It’s been a crazy time in our lives. Truthfully, the last two and a half years have been exactly 15 years long. Even so, we’ve been so blessed as a family and we are hopeful and excited about all the adventuring to be done in Texas. Now here’s hoping we can survive the summer because it’s only June and we’re already dying!
’til next time…
Ash
