The baby of the family...

(Family trip to Yosemite)

This is my youngest, the baby of the family, and the oddball of the bunch.  We say that with love.  Really. 

Emily is 10 years old, and an incredibly smart fourth grader.  She herself claims to be the oddball of our family.  Why, you ask?  Emily is the only member of our family of 4 (besides the dog, who was born in Mississippi), who was not born in Oklahoma.  In fact (cover your ears, fellow Okies), she was born while we were stationed in Texas.  For those of you not Okie born and bred, you should know that no self-respecting Okie uses the word "Texas" in civilized converstaion.  Unless, that is, it's used in conjunction with:  "Longhorns suck".  We can't help it.  It's a rivalry thing, and as such is acceptable. The other oddities about my lovely little blonde haired, dimpled child is that itself - the blonde part.  She is also the only person in our family that does NOT like Pepsi.  Who doesn't like Pepsi?  Even the dog likes Pepsi. 

That being said, we love her anyway.  In spite of her self-proclaimed oddities.  Here are a couple more pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

(Halloween a couple years back)

(Long Beach, CA)

(My favorite Emily picture of all time - Emily in a mud puddle)

Not bad for a Texan, huh?  ;-)

An introduction...

First off, if anyone is actually reading this, thank you, and welcome to the blog!  And I'm so sorry - you must be REALLY bored to have wondered over this way.  ;-)

If you've read my profile over there on the right of the page, you'll know that our family is preparing to go through deployment.  We've been incredibly lucky on this front, as my husband has only been on one previous deployment in his storied 17 years of military life, which spans the Air Force, Air National Guard, and finally the Navy.  The military has been good to us. 

But, now we're back to doing the whole cruise thing.  To those who aren't familiar with a Navy deployment, let me give you some input: 

1. First and foremost:  it is not a ship.  It is a boat.  If you ever call a carrier a ship, any Navy member within earshot will correct you.  I think they have the military equivalent of a police scanner running in the back of their minds at any given moment, and hone in at certain keywords, such as military, politics, cheese fries, and ship. 
2. While commonly known as deployment to non-mils, it is mostly referred to as a cruise to those of us immersed in this life.
3. Work-ups start months before an actual deployment.  This is often the most difficult part for some families, as the military guys and dolls leave for weeks at a time each month leading up to the cruise.  This is broken up by a few weeks at home between each trip out, and each of those few weeks is typically filled with lots of extra hard work and longer than usual hours.  The frequent goodbyes, disruption of schedules - it's like if you're scared of going to the dentist - the escalating fear of going is usually worse than the actual appointment.

So, since I personally am not in the military, nor are our two kids, and since fab husband isn't just a mil-guy, let me give you some input on us. 

1. Fab husband and I have two daughters: Emily, 10 and Ashlee, 15.  These two beautiful girls are the meaning of my existence.  They are kind, caring, and strong military kids.  I won't go into much detail on them in this post, but will instead have a post dedicated to just my two girls.  They at least deserve their own post, right?  :-)
2. Fab husband is indeed fab.  We've been together since I was 15.  15!  He didn't always have the easiest life, but it made him into the amazing, dedicated, strong man he is today.  He is the love of my life, and my heart still stutters every time he walks into the room.  He'll be getting his own post on here soon, as well, but for now let's just give a little tidbit of info on him:  he can do anything.  You could likely set him in front of the space shuttle and say "it isn't working", and he'd come back with "did you dingle with the doo-hickey?" (though not in such girly terms. usually) and then proceed to fix it.  Really, his only downfall is a seemingly insatiable appetite for beanie weenies and scrambled eggs.  Yeah, I just threw up a little in my mouth at that one too.
3. We have a dog that you will likely see mentioned here often.  Jasmine is a rottweiler who thinks she is a lap dog.  She's a big, cuddly, bear of a dog with a penchant for barking (loudly and terrifyingly) at anyone who happens to walk past the house, and harbors a secret desire to trip me down the stairs every morning when she suns herself on the fifth step down, thus forcing me to try to step over her.  What the heck - a post dedicated to her, too?  Why not.  ;-)
4. We are originally from a little town in northeast Oklahoma called Sand Springs.  I lived there the entire time I was growing up, but my fab husband Shon also lived in other areas of our great state.  Really, it's awesome there.  Very beautiful, people are friendly and down-to-earth, and we have the OSU Cowboys, Eskimo Joes, and Stoops and the Sooners.  Just avoid Oklahoma during specific time frames, such as allergy season.  And tornado season.  Oh, and let's not forget our winters, which are well known for massive ice storms.  This pretty much leaves you free to enjoy Oklahoma the first week in September.  I'm just kidding - we love Oklahoma and will always consider it our home.
5. We currently live in the Virginia Beach area, and love it here!  This is only the second home we've owned (the first since I became interested in decorating), and we've done a lot to fix it up and make it into our own vision.  I love to talk about the house, projects we've done or are planning, share photos, etc., so don't be surprised if it becomes a big part of this blog.

The reason I started this little blog (with a not-so-little first post) is for a variety of reasons.  First off, I love to talk.  Chatty Cathy here.  With no other adults in the house for fab husband's time out to sea, I hope that this will give my Facebook friends a reprieve.  I'm a stay-at-home mom to two girls who are in school all day, so I've got a lot of free time to fill.  I'm a creative person who enjoys creative outlets, and I love writing - two birds and one stone and all of that.  Biggest bonus is this:  when I've got something that keeps me happy, I'm a better mom to my kids.  I can give more of myself to them.  And lets face it - with their dad being gone for so long, they'll need me at my best.  That's what it all boils down to.

It's all for them.