6 month check in

Hey everyone i know its been a while since i wrote but so much has happened!! We settled into our apartemtn in the beginning of november and we love it here december came and went...we went home for block leave over christmas break and we loved getting to see family and spend time with everybody but january brought a new year full of chaos and strees and emotional highs some good some bad....when we got home we decided we wanted to get a puppy so we did and named him chance and him and zulu are the best of friends...In february we celebrated our first wedding anniversary together and it was amazing and with that brought the first bump in the road for the year the beginnning of march brandon left for ntc wich is predeployment training and has been gone all month..emotions have been running high for the two of us but thats just a short summary of whats happened..he will be home soon and we will start on our first summer in Georgia!!!!

fort benning...a whole new world

Hey everybody sorry its been awhile we are finally settled into our new home here in Phenix city Alabama because we are stationed here at fort benning georgia. We love it here even tho it was a change of lifestyle we went from a world where people said wuzz up and hey to a world where people say yall and mam and sir. We love it any questions feel free to ask more to come

Natural Disasters and ...God's timing!

Well its been quite a while since i updated you guys sorry been busy! We found out our duty station will be Ft. Benning, Georgia! As with everything there are postitive and negative...so here are the negativies it is a basic training unit for the infantry and is maily and infantry base that deploys alot, the weather in the summer is going to be like death for us california people, its near the coast so it gets lots of hurricanes and tropical storms!! Now the positives....out of 54 people in brandons ait company 34 are getting stationed in Korea..my hearts go out to these soldiers ladies for havving to be away from there men but fortunatley brandon was not one of these 34 sadly he is the only one going to ft.benning. Ft.benning is 6 hours from DISNEYWORLD!!!!!! and we are only 4-5 hours from one of our closest cousins on brandon's side and we are only a plane ride away from our home in california. Life these past couple of weeks tho here in virginia have been no easy task first an earthquake hit and while it didnt really bother me because im from california it was quite intertaining to see east coast people's reacton to it...then later that week hurricane irene hit and it scared me alot!!! The actual hurricane was not even that bad just lots of wind and rain the bad part was the aftermath lots and lots of people were without power for quite some time...me personally had no power for about a week wich also means no water becuase im in the country...lukily for me i had a friend an hour a way that i could go stay with until i could at least see brandon and stay in a hotel!! So it was one crazy week yet it took a big turn even more downward becasue when i got back to where i could have contact with people i found out that my amazing Great Grandma Guiterrez was in the ER back home for the 2nd time in two weeks and this time they were admitting her to the ICU becuase she lost consciousness and has not regained it..she had a stroke and has become progressivley worse and now we are just waiting for the Lord above to take her peacfully..this is a hard situation to imagine my great grandma not being there every christmas eve anymore...growing up she is one of the strongest fighters i know as far back as i can remember everytime something happened she always fought and came out fine but i think shes now at the point where she feels she can leave this world a happy woman...She rasied 7 amazing children (i think thats how many hopefully i didnt leave any out) who have grown up to be a leader in one way or another..the one closest to me happens to be my "papa" med who is also her oldest kid who also had the first grandkid...my mom... hurts me that i am not home for either one of them right now grandma has many grankids and great grandkids and its always puts a smile on my face to see how much she lights up when we all come around! The memories i have with her are ones i will cherish forever and keep in my heart...two that happend most recently was when she met brandon at christmas this past year and we told her we were getting married in february and he was going into the army..my grandma lit up so much hearing that it was almost like she remmembered back to when her own sons were in the military she looked proud! The second was the honor of having her prescencce at our wedding in february...most people never even get to meet there great grandparents and i am fortunate to have two still alive one of wich is grandma guiterrez i loved that she was there to see it! I pray and hope that a miracle happens with my great grandma but if its her time to be young again and running the streets of heaven then it time and we cant control it but know this she will be forever remembered and missed in our hearts!! This Christmas eve will defintley not be the same if shes not around! On a postitive note we will be returining to california on sept 22 for about two weeks and we cannot wait to see our family!!!

My wonderful great grandma on our wedding day!

2 weeks of AIT....Virginia

Hey everybody so I've been in Virginia for two weeks now and I'm loving so far! Its beautiful here and the weather is so nice. Brandon started class on Monday and if everything goes well he will be done mid September. I'm so excited and blessed to have the husband i have he wants me here in Virginia with him and i love it. he is so amazing! Looking back i cant believe basic was really 10 weeks it seemed so much longer but i know i can make it i am a strong army wife and i refuse to be anything less. well nothing exciting has happened in the last two weeks hopefully Saturday i will have more to write about because hopefully i will see Brandon!!! Well that's all for now.

Finally.....One week after graduation/4th of July

Hey everybody sorry  havent updated in a while it was quite heck-tick for a week of my life. Family day and Graduation was an amazing experience and being back in brandon's arms was a feeling like no other!! He sadly didn't get a weeekend pass like we originally thought but i did get to spend 4th of july up here in Virginia with him and i am now getting to stay here in virignia until he is done with ait!! He missed me alot. its crazy what 10 weeks apart will do for a relationship but it was a good thing for us!! Its crazy i have a couple of friends who just went through graduation yesterday and to hear about their experience was awesome to think how far me and brandon have come in this time! These last 10 weeks sucked but i wouldnt trade them for anything as i have said before. now we are on to the next chapeter of our army liife AIT oh my...he hasnt even started ebcuase there are so many people with his mos hopefully he will start on monday! The weather is here beautiful!! Well im off to relax somemore while i wait for my phone call from brandon! 

relazxing on family day

formation on to field

our 4th of july

he loves me...he was kissing me in the rain

can you see the fireworks

Army Strong Marriage 

38 hours left....packing and Reflection!!!

Hey everybody so its finally time for me to pack my suitcase actually its basically packed but i still have my other carry on to finish! I figured id take a break and update you all as i sit here eating a Zero candy bar (my hubby's favorite) as i sit here and reflect on the past 10 weeks of my life! It has been one emotional roller coaster for sure. I knew it was going to be tough i handled it a lot better then i thought i was going to. It sucked being away from Brandon for this long but honestly i wouldn't trade these last 10 weeks of my life for weeks with him...why you might ask let me tell you... Our love is stronger than ever we both will tell you that the age old saying " Distance makes the heart grow fonder" is definitely true. I don't know necessarily if it grows fonder but it grows appreciation and realization. we both have said to one another that really being apart like this makes us really appreciate all that the other one did for the other when they didn't have to. We both realized how much we need each other in our lives because without each other our hearts hurt. we are missing the other puzzle piece that makes  our masterpiece marriage. We look back and valued the time spent with each other constantly as a blessing and will continue to value it a lot more in the years to come because as we all know living as a military relationship time is a valuable thing because you never know when your gonna hear the words...deployment! Those words still are terrifying to me but we got through basic and when the time comes we will get through deployment....i pray to God i never hear pr see those orders  in the next three years  next to my husbands name but it can happen and I'm just going to have to accept it and go about life because i signed on for this lifestyle, it has its own prides that come with it for one when people ask me what my husband does for a living i get to say he's an American soldier and he fights for our country!!! How awesome is that! But hey I'm not trying to be arrogant but any military wife will tell you its hard work being the wife of a military man weather he be in the Army, Navy, Air force, or Marines we all know its hard work but what helps us get through is our friends and family and other military spouses!! This has been a wonderful experience thus far and I'm excited to see where the next chapter of our Army Adventure will take us but you'll get to hear about it every step of the way...Till next time  HOOAH!!!

8 days to go!!!!

                                          
Hey everybody sorry its been awhile since i blogged. Well i have about 8 days left till i actually see Brandon and about a week till i fly out I'm super excited. our love for each other has grown so much and i cant wait to tell him about everything he has missed and fill him in on it. Hopefully the powers that be will let him have all weekend off and ill get to spend the weekend with my wonderful husband in what i consider to be one of the most beautiful states ever...Virginia!!! I have missed my husband so much and it is definitely hard to appear happy to the world and happy to him when I'm not really because reality has set in that the next time i am away from him this long with out talking to him and having to write letters he will be deployed!!! I will make it through a deployment that i am sure of but i have so many fears and worries Brandon is my world my everything if anything ever happened to him i don't know what i would do. it makes me sad to know that he had pink eye at basic and that i wasn't there to tend to his every need like i would have had he been home. Being an army wife and a military spouse in general is definitely a lifestyle where you can't do anything but put your trust and hope in God to keep your soldier safe!! Everyday we get stronger and stronger but nothing compares to the feeling i will feel when I'm back in my soldiers arms hearing the words "i love you" instead of seeing them in a letter or hearing them over the telephone. I will be updating my blog while I'm on the trip so make sure to check in and ill post pictures.

                                                  shooting his M-16 "KAYT"

                                                 Gas chamber day