Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Dance...

So this weekend, one of my Army wife friends Heather & I decided to head to CO Springs/Pueblo to have some girl time along with our other friend Megan.  On Saturday we got down there in the afternoon, and headed to the State Fair.  It was ok, but it was super hot and the girl's kids were getting hungry and uncomfortable (so were we).  So after an hour we decided to leave, grab some dinner, then head back to Megan's for the night.  After the kids went down to bed, the fun began :)

First of all, let me discuss the app's on cell phones that show you which star constellations you are looking at.  Megan lives out in the middle of nowhere Pueblo ( Heather & I are convinced that this is how bad things happen to good people in scary movies!)  So at night the sky was very clear and I decided to play with this app on Megan's phone.  You know a phone is smart when it can tell you where stars are located through the Earth.  IfI pointed it at the ground it still told me which constellation would be there.  Impressed much?

Secondly, I want it to go on official record that I am awesome at the Wii game "Just Dance".  Yes that's right, you are hearing from the 3x just dance Champion (my last name is fitting!). At first I was tired and said "No, no I will just watch"  But after much insisiting I got up and gave it a shot.  Heather & Megan immediately regretted that decision.  So much so that I swear they purposely gave me a bad remote so that when it died in the middle of a song, I suddenly started to "suck" at the game.  After realizing it, I quickly called for a rematch!  So we ended up moving & grooving until about 2:30 in the morning.  Not only have I proved my mean dancing skills, but I think we all sweated off a few pounds!  Who needs cardio when you can Just Dance?!?!  So I have decided to purchase this game, and my all time favorite dances to do last night were "Pump it Up" and "Hot & Cold"...Oh yeah!

Then today, Heather came with me to visit my cousin.  He is in the Army and happens to be at Fort Carson for a few weeks teaching an ALC course.  We went and got Greek food at a restaurant in Old Colorado City called "Jake & Telly's".  I would highly recommend it...the food was delicious!  Then we went to the Zoo.  I love Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, it is just so neat every time I have gone.  Today my mission was to face my fears and actually pet the giraffes (you are able to walk right up to them and feed them!)  After I did so, a person then held a cracker right by my face for the giraffe to eat.  I swore he was going to lick my face (and they have really weird, long, creepy purple tongues!)  Luckily, it did not lick me.  But I was all done after that. The MONKEYS are still my all time favorites here!  They are hilarious!  The ones with really long arms who swing around & show off are the best.  They look sooo funny walking around because they have adult size arms with child size bodies.  One of them put on a fabulous show for us...swinging to and fro and then stopping to spin on his back/head.  All in all, great weekend and much needed.

It's Friday!

Whew....I thought it would NEVER come this week. A long week all in all.  A lot happened! Where oh where to even begin!

Starting with work...we moved to the new school this week YAY!   It is cute, it is perfect!  We set it up exactly how we wanted, and I think it screams "Acasha & Angela" all over it. We even have our own teacher area that's decked out with black, white, and lime green :)  It is absolutely wonderful to feel at home, when you are at work.  PS our boss is awesome!  This week she gave us gift cards to a restaurant called Texas de Brazil just for working hard.  And I have heard it is a delicious restaurant.  As excited as I am to try it, I decided to save it for when Chris comes home on R&R.  Also, I grow to love my kids (at work) more and more each day.  They are awesome and have the best little personalities.  And I must add they are extremely observant.

Example:Today at work, I have a little boy who has "brown" skin as my kids say.  He was hugging me, and examining me when he looked up and said "Ms. Angela you are brown like me.  Well, kind of.  Actually we're diffrent kinds of browns".

In my attempt to describe the reasoning for this I responded "Well yes you are right.  That's because my daddy is brown like you, and my mommy is white like your friend (I pointed to another child in the class).  So when the two mix you get a 'diffrent kind of brown' like me"

Then another child chimed into this very insightful conversation saying "Yeah actually Ms.Angela is kind of like Pocahontis.  She is more of a like creamy peanut buttery brown."

I just had to laugh. Yes yes, I am officially a creamy peanut buttery Pocahontis type brown person :)  Gotta love kids!

On another note I would like to say I loved my pizookie night with Acasha, Cassie L, Kim and her daughter on Wednesday night.  In case you have no idea what a pizookie is, I HIGHLY recommend going to your nearest BJs Restaurant and ordering one!  It is a warm, cookie baked in a small pizza dish and topped with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream that slowly melt into the warm cookie and make you think for a moment you died and went to Heaven!

And lastly but most importantly.  Chris got his care packages.  He highly approved of my fabulous box decorating skills :)

Care Packages & Bronco Games

These two things will define my fall I have decided.   Sending my husband care packages makes me feel a little bit closer to him, knowing that he will touch the very things that I am touching.  Silly, but you learn to find meaning in the simplest and strangest of things when you're husband is deployed. 

As you can see...I love to put a little extra into my care packages.  1) Because it makes it special for hubby. 2) Because, hello I NEED HOBBIES....lol it is like scrapbooking onto a box I suppose.  And you would be surprised how much time it can take to add these little extras. So on the weekends it helps pass the time, and is worth while for me to do so.







**As a funny little side note, I have verified that I have lost my mind a bit.  Just a few days ago I was feeling lonely.  I found my self sitting on our couch, crying as I smelled the back cushion because I swear it smelled just like my husband!  I am ok with sharing a piece of my insanity to bring a good laugh and smile to lighten your day :) **

Anyways--  I am so excited that football season has begun.  I am a die hard Broncos fan!  Regardless of how good or bad we may be doing I will support my team to the end.  Every game day I am wearing my gear and ready for the game.  I could possibly get into the football game more than most men.  And I am proud to say it :) So you can imagine how completely ecstatic...thrilled...just plain happy I was to attend the Broncos Vs. Lions game this weekend.  Yes it is only preseason....however when you are attending for free and sitting in a suite (the suite next to the Broncos owner's suite infact), eating delicious food (for free), and drinking whatever you want (for free) then it does not matter what game it is!  It was a great time. My friend Heather's birthday was the day before, so I had her join me :) -- We barely lost by 5 pts in the last few minutes of the game...but it was still a great game.  I still have hope for my boys this season.

Sleep Talk :)

So last night in the midst of back and forth facebook comments, myself and two friends got into a conversation regarding the sleeping habits of our soldiers.  Looking back on it today I had to giggle, and post it on my blog.  And this is what the life of an Army wife is like at night!!!

•  Me: i miss him but i can do without the snoring/humming in my ear and getting elbowed in my face

   
• Megan: lol I never got any of the elbows :P

   
• Me: oh u lucky lucky gal

   
• Rosalin:  angela i totally feel ya about getting elbowed in the face and the head and the back...i feel much better now i know i wasn't the only one under attack at night lol.

   
• Me: haha yes by all means. and once he leaped out of bed except he chose to leap over me so he put his hands on me and leaped over me putting ALL his weight on me. yeah was not happy that time lol

   
• Rosalin: oh god lol...i would not have been a happy camper either. we just end up boxing it out...cause i wake up and he stays passed out.

   
• Megan:  one night Jamie told me he loves me more... his reason why.. "spaghettios... tomorrow" He always says the weirdest things while sleeping.

   
• Me:  ha yeah. chris woke up once stared at the tv watched the mascara commercial then started blabbering about cake. and i was like "shut up and go to sleep you dont know what you're talking about" and he yelled back "No you dont know what youre talking about!" then passed out again

   
• Rosalin: haha oh can you just imagine them all together having the funniest sleep conversation! i'd pay to hear that

   
• Me: haha that would be awesome!

What a Week!

So this week began my first full week without the husband.  It had it's ups and downs, but overall I am doing alright.  I must say that I am holding up better than I had anticipated.  Granted, I was able to still talk to my husband fairly frequently so it made it easier.  Now that he will be heading to his COP (combat outpost), it will get tougher not being able to hear from him nearly as much.  I plan to just keep busy with friends, family, and hobbies to keep my mind off the loneliness and pass time more quickly. Already wanting to countdown until R&R!!!

On the bright side...I began working at a new preschool this week and absolutely love it!  The kids are great and warmed up to me quickly, I work with one of my best friends,and our boss treats us great!  It is so amazing how working somewhere you love and being in a positive environment makes every other aspect of your life that much better!  We currently are running the school out of our owner's home but are moving to a new house, designated solely for the school, and we can not wait!  We have been working hard to get everything set up!

Oh and I have discovered my perfect little house!  It is down the street from where I work. Every day that we take the children to the park, we pass it and I admire it.  There really is nothing special, or spectacular about it.  But it is just so perfect to me!  It's painted gray, with dark blue shutters, a bright red door, and flowers galore in planters that run along porches on the main and upper level of the home.  I just had to take a picture to share with everyone ( silly I know, but you don't understand how much I love this house!) And it looks even better in person.

Deployment Begins...

  A year in Afghanistan is not my favorite thing.  It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  On his last day we went to The Garden of the Gods and enjoyed looking at all the neat rock formations.   I swore that one rock looked like two hands, palms together, like they were praying.  He laughed because apparently my imagination is so fabulous since just a few weeks ago in Mexico I swore I could see Scooby Do's head in a rock formation!

That night we went to the Texas Roadhouse for his last meal, along with my mom and Jamie (his first line supervisor/friend).  I must say that my steak medallions and loaded mashed potatoes were yummy :)

Then it was off for a long night of waiting to tell him good-bye.  I felt like I was in a fog all night, constantly holding back tears every time I felt them coming on.  I was pretty proud of myself for how well I held it together.  It wasn't until the guy came up and announced "Five minutes and then you need to say your final good-byes" that I began to cry uncontrollably.  It was the worst feeling in the world knowing that as I held him it would be the last time for a long time.

And here is a poem I love that fits this time in my life perfectly:

I hate to watch

Each time you leave

And I hide from you

How much I grieve

I know it’s your duty

And you will go

But once you are gone

I will miss you so

I know you’ll come home

As soon as you can

But right now you’ll deploy

Like an honorable man

So I’ll keep things together

Till you can come back

But, this is where you belong

Not somewhere in Afghanistan

Yet, I do understand

Why you risk you’re life

For that’s a Soldier’s job

And I’m a Soldier’s wife.

Here I go...

So I decided the other day I want more hobbies. And blogging popped in my head as a fabulous idea :) My husband and I just had our wedding on June 5th, followed by our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It has been a very busy summer, and it's quickly coming to an end. He is getting ready to leave for his second deployment, the first was Iraq and this time Afghanistan. He leaves in just a couple days and this blog is one of many efforts I am making to keep myself sane while he is gone. I hope to keep it up to date and hopefully everyone can enjoy it, and perhaps take something away from the things I say and post. I welcome you all into my life, my world, and all the adventures of being an Army Wife!!!