My husband is so good to me. He got me a few gifts, but he also MADE me an amazing gift. This is just one reason why he is so good to me!

Oh how he loves me! Let me list the ways!

1. You have a great smile
2. You give the best hugs
3. You’re beautiful
4. You laugh at (most of) my jokes
5. You love me unconditionally
6. You’re a great cook
7. You’re great at bargain shopping
8. You’re a Godly woman
9. You’re an awesome sister
10. You’re an awesome daughter
11. You’re an awesome niece
12. You’re an awesome granddaughter
13. You’re my best friend
14. You’re my “Nerd Herd”
15. You’re very passionate
16. You have beautiful eyes
17. You share my love of music
18. You allow my love of Stryper
19. You love my daughters like your own
20. You keep me grounded
21. You’re learning to like sports
22. You’re a great stamp carver
23. You’re extremely smart
24. You’re sexy
25. You’re what I can’t wait to come home to every night
26. You’re very creative
27. You’re very loving
28. You’ve got a pocketful of sunshine
29. You’re my Disney Princess
30. You want to grow old with me
31. You’re my Proverbs 31 wife
32. You stole me from the nursing home
33. You light up my life
34. You make me want to be a better husband
35. You make me want to be a better father
36. You tickle my back
37. You’re a safe driver
38. You ARE an Army wife
39. You have an angelic voice
40. You want kids
41. You’re a great friend
42. You’re funny
43. Your gentle touch
44. You’re my better half
45. You make me wanna be your man
46. You love to Letterbox
47. You love to snuggle
48. You love to spend time with me
49. You like to drive
50. You LOVE Starbucks
51. You Complete Me
52. You said “YES!”

I am so blessed!

This past weekend we got to go to an amazing resort in Gatlinburg! Yes, this was the 3rd trip we’ve taken there in the past year. But we love Gatlinburg!

We went for the Strong Bonds Marriage Retreat. We had SO much fun! For the retreat, we went through the 5 Love Languages book and videos. I really enjoyed that. We learned a lot about each other and us together. We also got to watch some videos from Mark Gungor. He is HILARIOUS! I want to see the rest of the videos!

The resort we stayed at was like a giant log cabin community! Gorgeous. I thought we would be staying in a normal hotel room, since the Army was paying for it. (The last retreat we went to, we had a room with two double beds! Not the best for a marriage retreat!) We were pleasantly surprised! We had a one bedroom suite! There was a living room/kitchenette, a bedroom with a KING size bed, and an amazing bathroom with a huge shower and a washer/dryer combo, as in ONE MACHINE! It was pretty impressive.

We also had the chance to do some more letterboxing! All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

We didn’t take too many pictures this trip, but here are the ones we did take! Enjoy!

That’s right ladies and gentlemen! After many months of being alone, my beloved husband is going to be home for good. PRAISE THE LORD MOST HIGH!!!

I love celebrating my birthday! Even though I’m getting older, I cherish each year. This birthday is bittersweet for me, since my husband is still deployed (but coming home SOON!) and because my sweet Grandma is not doing well at all. Thankfully my sister and our best friend Cara are here to help cheer me up! Last night we spent time making dinner, with our new pampered chef stuff! Then we watched a movie. Today we are going shopping, maybe letterboxing, and going to see a movie. I’m excited! Here’s some pics from last night.

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My sister gave me a $25 gift card for my Fave place! Starbucks! YUM!

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I got money from my grandparents, my aunt and her roommate. The stack of $1′s is from my Aunt. LOL!

And today I got some beautiful flowers from my deployment support group! These girls are amazing! I love them so much!!! (I’ll post pics tonight. I’m about to go shopping!) So far it’s been a great day. Especially since I got to talk to my sweetheart for a couple of hours, online AND he called me! Oh how I love that man!

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Today marks the 60th anniversary of my grandparents’ wedding day. That’s a rare thing these days! I have been so blessed to know them and see how loving and solid their marriage is. They are such an example to me. Even now, after so many years, you can clearly see how in love they are with each other. They still flirt with each other! It’s so sweet. I pray that my marriage will be that good and that long!

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I love my grandparents so much. They have done so much for me over the years. But nothing as important as the love they have shown me. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.

If you grandparents are still with you, please tell them you love them. Life is short.

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I hope you all have a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cherish the ones that you love. Make sure you tell them you love them today!

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Going through deployment can be a very depressing time. You’re separated from your loved one, trying to get through life day by day. So I wanted to list some of the things that always make me smile.

1. Emails, Facebook, Twitter, or Skype messages from my husband. Any kind of communication from him is a blessing!

2. Friends. I have some of the most amazing friends who know just the right thing to say to me when I need to hear it the most.

3. Spending time with my amazing sister. She makes me laugh daily!

4. Watching a funny movie. While it’s not as fun without my hubby, they still make the time go by faster.

5. Blasting the music in my car. 99% of the time it’s Christian music, so I just praise Jesus while I’m driving down the road!

6. Chocolate. Need I say more?

7. Making new friends. I had lunch this week with a new friend who is also a military wife. It was so great for both of us!

8. Talking about the future with my husband. We love to dream together. Even from halfway around the world, he makes my heart beat faster.

9. Starbucks Mochas. Oh yeah!

10. Thinking about how incredibly blessed I am. I have the most amazing husband ever. He is so good to me. I am so in love with him. I think about him constantly!

What makes you smile?

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One year ago, (and a week & a half now!) I married the love of my life. What an amazing year it has been! I am blessed beyond measure. My husband loves me so much. He takes care of me, respects me, and makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. I couldn’t have asked for more. He is my love, my partner, my best friend.

As you know from yesterday’s post, we spent several days in Gatlinburg to celebrate our anniversary. However, we also went on a date on our actual anniversary. We went to Olive Garden, where we had our first date. We both love that place! It’s so yummy. Then we went to see Tron: Legacy. We both really wanted to see it. He has seen the original movie, from the 80′s. Well, he loves all things from the 80′s. Haha. It was a great movie!

We got home around 1 am. When we opened the front door, this is what we found:

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My sister had decorated our room for our anniversary!!! She is the best ever. While The Sarge put our leftovers in the fridge, I got my camera to take these pics. Then we heard the music playing in our room!!

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Rose petals, cake, chocolates with a “love monkey”, candles, music, etc. She did good! We were definitely overwhelmed.

The night was perfect. We enjoyed our dinner and the movie. We were surprised by my sister. And we had an amazing time just being together. I am so blessed.

Now, since I missed last weeks’ MilSpouse Friday Fill-In and I really liked the questions, I decided to post them today. So here goes.

1. What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?

It depends. If it’s a military spouse, I ask how long they’ve been married (to the military), where they’ve been stationed, if they have any advice for a new milspouse. If it’s anyone else, I usually just start a conversation and see where it leads.

2. Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?

Big things are a must know. And we know the big things about each other. But he surprises me regularly. Just part of getting to know each other even better.

3. If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?

Nashville, TN. It’s home. I was born and raised here. It’s Music City, USA. It’s beautiful. I love my Nashville.

4. When you go out of town, what one material thing do you ALWAYS take?

My phone and my laptop. Especially while M is deployed.

5. Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.

Milspouse, wife, daughter, sister, friend, creative, faithful, listener, patriotic, christian.

This is my first post of 2011. I honestly didn’t mean to wait this long! But as you should know, my husband was home for R&R this month. It was so amazing!! I figured all of my loyal readers would love to hear the story of when he first arrived. So here we go.

The night before he arrived, my sister and I picked out the perfect outfit. It was my black halter top dress that falls a little below the knee. It has a black & white polka dot belt that is super cute. I also wore my sister’s black and white checked jacket (see picture) and black boots since it was FREEZING outside!

He called me when he landed in Atlanta so I would know about what time to be at the airport to pick him up. I got there about 30 minutes before his plane landed. There were several other military wives and families waiting. We were all standing as close as we could without having to go through security. The plane was delayed about 15 minutes, so we just waited. We saw on the screens that the plane had landed and then I got a text message from him saying he was getting off the plane! I was so excited. Even nervous, but a good kind of nervous. I started getting glimpses of soldiers making their way towards us.

One by one, soldiers were passing us. I kept thinking “Ok, all these women are here for their men and none of them have gotten to us! Where are they?!” Then they started arriving. One of the ladies had her 2 little boys with her. They had each made signs for their daddy. It was so sweet. They got so excited as their daddy came up to them and gave them big hugs.

I kept watching. Looking at each face in uniform, looking for his face. “Nope. Nope. Not him. Where is he?” Then, as far away as I could see, I saw his walk. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I knew it was him. My heart started beating so fast. “Oh my love!” As he got closer I had to move to the side for him to see me, because of all the other reunions going on. It seemed like he looked over me and didn’t even recognize me because I was in a dress! I’ve only worn a dress a few times since we’ve been together. I waved and caught his eye again and he smiled so big. We hugged and kissed and made our way to the car. We were ready to start our time together!

Here is the pic I took right after he got to me!

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Check back tomorrow for pictures from our anniversary trip!!

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Today is a day to thank our Veterans. Men and women who have fought for our freedom. Who have spent time away from their loved ones, gone to dangerous places, seen things that no one should ever see.

Veteran’s Day has always been special to me. My grandpa served in the Army during the Korean War. Now my husband is serving in Afghanistan. This year it means so much more to me. I understand the sacrifices that military families have to make. I understand the fear, the loneliness, the waiting.

If you know someone who has or currently is serving in the military, please take the time to thank them today! It will mean so much to them!

On another subject, two years ago today was the first time my love called me. We met online 2 days before. We talked for hours. It was great!

I love you baby!!