August 2011- Cody deployed. Probably one of the hardest days of my life. I made a promise that I would stay busy and focus on positive things while he was gone. I kept that promise to myself and it made the year go by quickly...at times. I found new, lifelong friends because of this deployment and I cherish those friendships. Cody and I have a great support system of family & friends and I'm thankful to have them.
Also in August, I was able to go on an amazing vacation to Europe. Went on a Carnival cruise and got to see parts of Italy, Spain and France. I'll have to do a blog in the future about the trip.
We made it through the holidays. Christmas morning was spent over Skype and although it wasn't the most ideal way to celebrate, we made the best of it.
Cody had R&R in May 2012 and amazingly arrived home on our anniversary! I couldn't have planned it better. We had a great 2 weeks of a quick weekend trip to Gatlinburg, lots of time with family/friends and just being lazy. Time went by at lightening speed during those 14 days!
Homecoming came just as quick and in August 2012, Cody was home! As I stood in the armory yard, waiting to see those buses pull in carrying our soldiers, I couldn't help but think back to the day they left. This was the day we had all waited for for so long and it was finally here. If you've never been to a homecoming ceremony for our military, I urge you to go. You will see and feel the excitement in the crowd even before the soldiers are there. Go and thank those men and women and their families for the sacrifice they've just made for this country. I couldn't be prouder of our military!
Cody started back to work in September and we decided to begin looking for a home closer to his job. We looked about about 8 homes before we decided on one. We closed a few days after Thanksgiving. Lots to be thankful for this year! We love our home and have slowly began making it our own. A few weeks after we moved in, Cody was able to transfer to a shop in our town. It's so nice to have him home for lunch!
The holidays were much better this year with Cody home and we got to spend our first Christmas in our new home. Before we had moved everything in, I already had the Christmas tree up and ready. I wanted to be able to enjoy the tree as much as I could.
We celebrated the New Year with Cody's sister, brother and their families. We played Minute to Win It games, ate good food and rang in the new year at midnight! We toasted to the new year and looked forward to seeing what the year held.
Towards the end of January, I began to feel like I might be pregnant. I had found myself crying at television shows that weren't sad or even commercials had me tearing up. I decided I would take a test just to see and was shocked when it came up PREGNANT! What a year 2013 is turning out to be!
