Rollin' with the big Devill Dogs

Its official, my husband is in recruiting school now. He is doing SO well; He's getting A's on all his test and presenting his speeches with ease. I cant tell you how proud I am of him! On Thursday he found out where is RS/RSS is (Recruiting station/recruiting substation).

We got.... drum roll please....

Vancouver, Washington!!! We are so excited! All Zack's aunts, uncles and cousins are in that area, so we will be very close to them. Zack wanted Fairbanks, Alaska because that's where is family just moved to; Don't tell anyone but I was hoping that we didn't get AK. I love Alaska but Fairbanks..... it is WAY too cold for me, it not only gets 0* but it gets to like -20* or below and I'm not equipped for all that nonsense!

We started looking up houses for rent but we cant call around or really do any in depth, incase next week he gets switched to another station. He was told that after next Friday they will know for sure!

In other news; My brother in-law Jack will be staying with us for a while. He will get here late evening on the 12th, and stay with us for our move to WA. From there, Jack will enlist to the Air Force and will continue to stay with us till he ships out! Zack's cousin Savannah will also be moving in with us, along with her Doberman pinscher named Lucian. We are very excited to have family living with us and expanding our in house family :D

We will be moving in the middle of September which is only a little more than a month away. I am super nervous because I know how stressful this is going to be, but I also know that Zack wont be deployed for another 3 years, so that makes it all worth it.

We are having movers that the Marine Corp provides for us (TMO) so they will pack up everything for us, deliver it to where ever we are moving to and they put it in a storage unit for us until we have a place to live. The only thing we would have to pack up is the items we will need for the drive up and a for a few weeks incase we cant find a house. We will pack it all in my tiny little Hyundai with 3 adults and 2 animals, not too hard... right?

No matter what, I am ready for this next adventure and I know that everything will go smoothly... it has too! Oh man I crack myself up!!!

Wish us luck

Love you all,

50 Random Facts About Moi

   I am trying to get more in touch with other bloggers out there and to get my blog out there as well. So I felt that I should do a "50 random facts" so my viewers and potential networkers can get an idea of who I am. So, here I go...

1. Hate my knee caps being touched while my leg is extended. Don't know why it just freaks me out or when people can wiggle their knee caps ::shiver::
2. Don't like being talked to before my coffee. I feel as if I cant function or be my happy self with out a cup of warm sugar-y coffee
3. Get grouchy when I'm hungry. Really only towards my husband or family, not sure why but I do. when I get mad at my husband he always says go get a snack and then we will talk haha
4. Don't like fast food, only Taco bell and Wendy's.  Since I'm going Gluten free I cant go to either one :/
5. Cant fall asleep without the sound of a fan or the feel of one blowing on me. I have to either have a ceiling fan on and a plug in fan or a ceiling fan on and the fan app on my phone going.
6. Favorite You Tubers consist of Jenna Marbles, Nat, and Shaytards!
7. Wear flip flops everywhere... even in the snow in Alaska. Guess you can call me a true FL girl
8. "When I know stuff, I say stuff" Kinda my catch phrase. I used to play trivia every Wednesdays at Applebee's  with my brother, sister in-law and some friends back in the day and most of the questions I didn't know the answer to, but when I actually said an answer without hesitation they knew to listen!
9. NYC is my favorite city. I wouldn't want to live anywhere close to it but I love love love visiting it!
10. Don't like when people tell me to "calm down". I very rarely get passionate about something or know enough about a subject to actually go in depth with it. When I do, let me go on because Lord knows when you know something you can go on for days. don't get me wrong I do know a lot of stuff and im smart I just don't like to open my mouth and debate about it quite often.
11. Love roller coasters... seriously, like, LOVE them! I cant go to a theme park and not ride every single ride one after another after another without any breaks.
12. Princess Bride and Labyrinth are my all time favorite movies. My family and I can quote both movies.
13. Lost my last tooth in the 8th grade, I liked to baby my teeth and never really pulled them out when they were loose
14. Favorite color is pink! My husband makes fun of me and says that Aqua and sea foam green are my "secret favorite colors" because I am drawn to them as well.
15. Don't like alcohol. Don't really like to be around it, or smell it. I don't like the way people act while drinking it, I could spend my whole life avoiding it and be perfectly fine. I actually don't mind going out to clubs or a bar with friends but I cant sit by the bar for long or stand to close to someone who is drinking if I can smell it. I used to do the whole "hey, I'm 21 lets drink" but that got boring extremely fast and now I cant stand it. Luckily my husband is on the same page with me and he isn't a drinker either, but every once in a while he will have Disaronno and coke at a party or something but that doesn't reek of the smell.
16. Love Tow Mater. I have  a plush toy of him on the top of my dashboard as my mascot :)
17. Had a job the weekend after I turned 14. I was a bag girl at Publix supermarket. Worked my way up to cashier, front desk, back office, pharmacy, deli, then to bakery where I fell in love with cake decorating.
18. To snowball after the last one; I have had many jobs since I quit Publix after 5 years. I've worked at Payless as a Asst. manager, waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings and a local restaurant, front desk at Quality Inn, a counselor at a year round camp in the Four Seasons of Palm beach. Same job as the counselor I also did face painting, juggling, air brush tattoos, helped out with their petting zoo full of tons of weird, creepy, cute and cuddly animals. I also participated at many dance parties and black light parties for after school programs with a WONDERFUL crew named Glass Productions or visit their website here! Amazing people!!! I also worked at subway and was a manager at the one in NJ, a floral and gift shop, a health food and coffee shop, a babysitter, a cake decorator at Food Lion  and as a promoter at a radio station in FL
19. And to snow ball after that one as well; I knew from kindergarten I wanted to be in broadcasting. I did the morning announcements from elementary till 8th grade. In high school I took journalism and photography and helped out friends who were in the announcements as a guest speaker a few times. After I graduated from high school I went to Connecticut School of Broadcasting (which was actually in FL) I graduated and from there worked (interned) at 97.9 WRMF of Palm Beach for about 6 months. I quit due to, they had "my" job as a paid position open up and they still wanted me to do it for free and not apply. They were wonderful people and I got to do a lot of amazing things, but I wanted to get paid, so we didn't see eye to eye :/
20. Harvest moon and Sims are my games!!!! Love 'em
21. Don't like Chocolate, fish or Nutella.... yea I said it!
22. Very outgoing growing up, had tons of friends. As I grew up I got very shy and now only have a few good friends; I find it difficult to make friends because of my shyness. Once you get to know me I open up and im crazy but you have to really get to know me.
23. My height: 5 foot 2... yea... I'm short
24. While working at Glass productions I helped for a month as a farm hand. I had to feed and water all their animals, including the chickens. Now, I like chickens, I grew up with several in my back yard but not anything like "Diablo". I was feeding the chickens one day and I got attacked.... yes attacked, by a rooster. Not my proudest moment but it happened... and I cried, like a baby, to my manager and told him that I was never going in the chicken pen again... I was 19 years old :/
25. 1st concert I ever went to was in the 5th grade and it was a Spice Girls concert
26. I am a night Owl. I can stay up super late, but I cant wake up earlier than 10 am without being a grouch.
27. Hate hate hate casseroles! Nothing about them is appealing. Whose bright idea was it to take a good meal like meat, cheese, noodles and sauce and combine them all together in a nasty mix of nastiness and eat it? No thank you
28. Never seen... are you ready? Harry potter (except the 1st and last one), Star Wars, Star Trek, Godfather, Sopranos, Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones (except that alien one because Shia LaBeouf was in it), Dr. Who, or Scarface. I know im not American but it happens :P
29. Hate doing the dishes. Something about old watered down food makes me want to puke. I will take toilets any day, which is kind of ironic if you think about it...
30. I sing everything I do, no matter if people are around or not... I have to make a song about it.
31. I talk to my animals about 90% of the time that im home. There could be people over or even my husband and I still talk to them. ::ashamed:: :)
32. Love Taylor Swift. I dont care what she does or who she dates/fake dates or what ever. I love her! The 1st time I heard "Tim McGraw" I knew she was going to be big! I went to her concert before she was well known and it was the best concert (besides Rascal Flatts, NO ONE is better than Rascal Faltts in concert)
33. Cant deny a good chick flick, especially anything by Nicholas sparks... he's my favorite and I don't care how cliché it is.
34. I never go a day without laughing. Laughter is the best medicine! They say that laughter is good for you and is a good ab workout.. well I should have a 10 pack by now! :)
35. Love dinner. My favorite time of day. as soon as I wake up, after my cup or two of coffee I'm already wondering what to have for dinner. I could go hungry all day but don't mess with my dinner
36. I like to try every food at least once, so when I say I don't like a type of food, I've actually tried it, probably many times and I just don't like it.
37. I sing LOUD in the car, and usually dance too
38. 74 is my favorite number. I have no idea why or how I got that number but it is!
39. Lacrosse is the only sport I will watch on tv. I only watch the super bowl if its at some ones house for a super bowl party, and I only do it for the commercials. I also played lacrosse for 3 years in high school
40. I randomly break out in a British accent, not sure why, but it started when I was obsessed with the Spice Girls and I watched Spice world religiously!  My dad would yell at me because it came to a point when I only talked in the accent so they sat me down and gave me an intervention. Yet, even till this day it comes out!
41. Never finish my whole sandwich. For some odd reason I always leave the last bite, even with a hamburger. Maybe its because its the soggy part..? I don't know.
42. Always in my pj's. When I lived in FL I even went out in jammie pants... I would live in them if only it was socially acceptable. I only get changed into normal clothes if I leave the house, and as soon as I come home I go straight upstairs and put them back on.
43. When I take a shower I have to listen to music
44. Never had braces
45. Have 7 dimples on my face. 3 on my left cheek, 2 on my right, and one on each side of the upper part of my cheeks (below my eyes) if I laugh really hard
46. Don't like swimming in public pools. I don't mind water parks, even though that's probably more gross. When I was younger I swam in the public pool at my fathers apartments and I put on goggles, went underwater and looked up and saw boogers floating everywhere... from then on I refuse to go in them. Luckily, my mom bought us a underground pool growing up so I never had to witness that again
47. Last year I went to the audition to be in a extra of Iron man 2. I didn't get a call back but I did meet two girls that were extras in the Hunger Games as one of the capitol people.
48. Growing up I watched Harriet the Spy... a lot. So much so, that I thought I was a spy. My friend and I went around her neighborhood and took pictures of "suspicious" activity and their license plates, so when we caught them, the police could find the getaway car when they tried to run away. Yup, I was a winner back then :D
49. I have 5 siblings but only grew up with 3 of them; The other 2 are my fathers kids. The youngest I saw often growing up but now I have no contact with her, and the oldest I never really saw but now we stay in contact a lot. While I lived in NJ for 5 months, I visited her 3 times and I am now a part of my little niece and nephews life :)
50. Last one... The past few years I have grown closer and closer to God. Growing up, yeah we went to church on Sundays and I loved God but I wasn't close to Him. Now since I've been on my own, I feel closer to Him. I need Him more and more; especially since my husband deploys a lot and I have been diagnosed with a few serious medical issues. I feel as if I was put through these difficult trials so I could grow closer to God and I thank Him everyday for that! I am much happier with Him in my life, and I feel more at ease in knowing that everything I go through, I just need to put it in His hands and He will take care of me. Now I have hardly any stress and no regrets.

If you want to know anything else about me I have a link on the side, at the top with the title "About me" just click on it and you can know a few more things :)

I hope you have enjoyed and now you know a few more things about me and my "corks" :)

P.S My husband just informed that I need to tell you that I have an obsession with Swiffer ( I have every swiffer that was ever made), that I have to eat popcorn almost every night, and I love kitchen appliances... that is all :D


Love you all,

Welcome home boys

  Yesturday, sitting in the Hyundai waiting room for 2 hours while getting our oil change and tires rotated, an older gentleman was in the room with us waiting for his car to get washed. When the service sales man came into the room to show us how dirty our filter was, I heard the older man smirk to himself as Zack sat back down next to him, and continued playing on his phone. The older man looked over at Zack and proceeded to say a comment which sounded like it was going to be on eof those "You know in my day...." converstaions *insert eye roll and awkward smiles*.  The man begun to tell us about when he was younger how he had "one of them pickup trucks" and said it was so funny that one day, he took it in to get it looked at and the repair guy said his filter was so bad that he had to take a vacuum to itand behind it just remove all the dust and junk that had built up. Zack and I just nodded and said the usual "oh really? wow!" Then somehow he started talking about WWI, WWII and Vietnam, like most of them do. After a long pause he says "From one veteran to another, Thank you.... I think that's why the older veterans are so focused on giving you all such a wonderful welcome home; Ya know?...they never got one...." That right there hit me!

 

  When we were in Alaska last month, we went to a movie called Honor Flight, its about sending hundreds WWII vets to DC on one flight, to see the memorial before they pass away. When they fly back to the airport, they walk into the terminal and see a few people with signs saying welcome home we thank you; As the walk further into the airport, they see more and more people all around. All these strangers begin hugging them, smiling at them, shaking their hands, until they walk into the middle of the airport where they are bombarded with smiles, tears of happiness, a loud band playing, confetti everywhere and their families; Its a real welcome home that they deserve. If any one wants to see an amazing movie, I would hands down recommend this movie by far! There wasn't one person in the hole theater with dry eyes! This is the Website telling you all about the organization.

 

 I decided to dedicate this blog post to all the men and women who came home from over seas; You all did a job well done!

 

 I know Zack got home over 2 months ago and this post is long over due but I think we had a great welcome home and I would like to share it with you.

My friend Kate and I did these one afternoon. I'm happy

 how they came out. My friend Denise and I put them up on my

garage with Justin Bieber duct tape lol



 

With window Chalk I wrote "Welcome home Sgt. Scribner.

I recommend using the window markers rather than chalk because

the chalk washes off with even the littlest rain (and it poured)

 

Welcome home event it was beautiful

 

The band was amazing and kept us busy because Lord knows

I was anxious as all heck :)

 

He's finally home! Excuse the hair... like I said, it POURED!

 

 

 

  My friend Denise came up a few days before they got home and she got to see her (soon to be) Husband come home from the same deployment. This was her first welcome home she ever went to so I came as support and as her "photographer"

 



This was the best experience that I've seen. I was so happy that

I was invited along to take pics.

  I believe that now a day we are truly blessed when our significant others deploy. Back in the day they had to write letter, yea I still ask for Zack to write me letters once in a while because its more personable, but I usually get them in like a weeks time frame; back then it would take longer. That's all you had to know your loved one was alive, a letter; No emails, phone calls, no pictures or even Facebook. I got worried when Zack took a few hours to respond to me, let alone if I had to wait weeks. I was just talking to Zack about that the other day, being a military spouse is hard, but I give props to anyone who had to do that without the technology.

One of my best friends greeting her husband in the Army coming home to HI

  Lets continue to help out or fellow military men and women; lets give them the best welcome home we can because not everyone gets one!

WELCOME HOME BOYS!

 

 

Love you all,

The few inbetween

It's getting closer and closer till Zack comes home. Oh boy am I ready. In the beginning I felt excited because that's money to pay off our credit card (which is only for emergencies or plane tickets) our TV,  mattress and my student loan (which we did... cue the happy dance) but there is a lot of anxiety, what if's and the unknowns (HATE the unknowns) that you feel before they leave. I know for Zack and I, the past 2 deployments we would kind of distance ourselves a month before he left, and we would get into fights about silly things. This deployment I had to pack up the house pretty much by myself. He work 12 on 12 off (12 hrs of working straight, sometimes 13hrs) which meant when I got off work of my part time job I had to go straight into packing up our 2 story house, which was a fight all its own. On the weekends him and his friend would fix up his truck so he could sell it, which seemed like a month of them taking it apart, cleaning everything and rhino lining the bed of the truck. I was getting very annoyed, sometimes I even caught myself saying "will you just deploy already?", then leave to go to the gym or work. That sounds horrible but the hole situation was very stressful and this was his 3rd deployment; I was over him leaving me for 10+ months at a time... I just wanted HIM! The last week was emotional on another level... kind of felt like a break up. I was packing my stuff, he was hauling it all away, and we were hardly talking. My heart ached. After he left I was at the house cleaning up everything... again I was stressed out because not everything got done the night before and I felt like he left me with EVERYTHING, I just broke down and started crying while cleaning. It wasn't fair I felt, I had to clean the hole house, I had to make the last minute storage unit runs, I had to sign back over the house, I had to take care of the animals now by myself, and I had to move to another state that I've never been too (I was moving to NJ with my dad). I felt alone and miserable and no one in the world could ever possibly know how I was feeling.

*Let me tell you, everything you feel is perfectly normal even if you feel alone, there are thousands of spouses and significant others who are going through the same thing as you.

After I got on the road I was doing ok, I got to see my family and I was ready for this new adventure! As the months progressed I got a job, made a friend or two and hung out with all my family up here in NJ. I was having a good time, hated my job, but having a good time. I got on a new schedule day to day, visited my sister in CT a few times, and met up with a few military friends who were in NYC, so, we got to hang out all day and have dinner. I went on a train for the first time, went on the subway, took a million pictures, met a few celebrities, went to a live showing of a tv show, and saw time square... life was good

Such a beautiful city

Kelly Ripa

Michael Straham

 1st subway ride 

 Grand Central Station

 Christmas tree

 Time square

 My friends I met up with

 Fathers girlfriend and I on the FAO piano floor

Family friend works as the manager so we got to try all sorts of goodies :D

 

*Sometimes I felt guilty that I was having fun and couldn't email Zack right off the bat but that's perfectly normal too. They want you to have a life while they aren't there, they love hearing stories from you... they are living through you!

 I felt a few times I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs... I tried to pay the bills and one time I needed to talk to the company and they refuse to talk to me because I'm not on all the accounts just yet, So I couldn't get anything done that I need to because its a hassle driving 20 minutes to the library or staples to fax over my POA in a busy town. His 2nd deployment I was trying to buy a car and I faxed over the wrong POA (I faxed the housing POA first) and I got red flagged, so even when I faxed over the correct POA they wouldn't help me. When calling navy federal, your POA only last 24 hours so I had to constantly send them the POA. Finally, after yelling and screaming and calling them a thousand times I gave up and just drove with my sister in law to Miami (3 hrs away was the nearest navy fed from my house in FL) walked in, showed them my ID and POA and then got the loan right then and there.... I wish I would have done that first. That was a ruff week and my husband wasn't able to call because he was on a boat with 3,000 people and 2 working phones.

Coming up to the last couple of months of deployment is ruff again. I miss him like crazy and we only have a few months standing in our way. Today was my last day of work. My mom and sister are coming up from FL to help me move back to NC. Im so excited... the quicker we move back the quicker he comes home. I am so irritable right now; Everything makes me mad or upset. I am such a happy person so this isn't in my character to act like this. I just want to sleep all day and never get out of my bed.

Sister and I in central park

 

On the way home to NC we stopped at Washing DC for a few days. It was A LOT of fun!!

 



 

 

 Easter egg hunt at the White House

 Science museum

 Hope Diamond

 My beautiful mom

Pretty church with all the Cherry blossoms

 



*It is crucial to keep your self busy; the busier you are the less time you have to think about your situation. that's the key... ALWAYS stay busy, time will go by fast and you'll spend less time thinking about him. Its ok to not think about him every two seconds, I promise!

*Don't ever feel guilty for any of these feelings. This is all the process of deployment. When he comes back, its normal to say things like MY stuff, MY house, MY kids etc. you spend the last X amount of months fending for yourself, making a new schedule/routine, and doing things by yourself. Just remember that it will pass and you'll have a new routine INCLUDING your significant other. Remember he will be stressed and not the same when he comes back, just as you wont be the same to him either. It will take some time but everything will be ok! Keep your chin up and there are numerous way to fix that and people who are willing to help you and talk to you after deployments. Talk to your FRO (family readiness officer) and they will help you with any feeling that your feeling or any thought that you have. They've heard everything, don't be afraid to express your thoughts and feelings, they will help! Also, if possible try and surround yourself by family and friends during this time, even though they might not know what you are feeling, they will listen and that's what you need to do, talk about it, be open with yourself!


I found this online and it breaks it down for you

If you have any question, comments, or a story please let me know :)

Love you all,

Vacations where I wanna be....

Vacation is suppose to be relaxing and rejuvenating right? well not in this house hold. My husband and I got back from a week long vaca last Saturday. We went to the Outer banks in NC, Gatlinburg TN, Nashville TN then Clarksville TN, all in a week. We met up with family friends in the outer banks, my family in Gatlinburg, and stopped by Nashville and drove around on the way to Clarksville to see my best friend. Every day was packed full of fun. We were definitely exhausted by the time we came home, but it was well worth it.

Highlights:

 The Taylors, and us going for a jeep ride

 We took the Jeep onto the beach...

...where we saw wild horses

We got super close, it was amazing! 

We drove 27 miles to the VA boarder.

I'm in 2 places at once :) 

Sunday we saw the Taylor's Dad become a Pastor

of his church. It was very touching!

After church we took the boat out and went tubing.

It was our 1st time. I think we did pretty good :) 

Monday early morning we drove 9hrs to Gatlinburg, TN

for my family reunion

 Beautiful Gatlinburg

We rode on the ski lifts and rode on these cart

things down the cement slide. Surprisingly it went fast 

We went to "Dicks" for lunch one of the days.

Pretty much you pay for the waitress to be rude and make a fool out of you,

then you have to tip them lol. it was pretty funny. Zacks hat said

"She calls me speedy". 

Mine says "I'm like a turtle flip me on my back and im screwed" 

Went hiking. It was stunning!!!

Friday morning we drove to Nashville. It was completely packed... little did

we know it was CMA week and there was a ton of free concerts

all over the streets, so we quickly got back on the highway to head 45min

to Clarksville

Last night, Brit put together a BBQ and we got to meet a few of their close friends.

Overall we had the best time you could possibly have. It was nice to see my family. My husband finally got to meet my uncle and cousins, which was cool. We took loads of pictures and had even more fun! I recommend going to Gatlinburg for a vaca, there is shopping, putt putt, food, free testing of moonshine...which was a highlight of our night :) its very family oriented, something for everyone :)

Love you all,