Whata trip

Today started out as a normal day, I woke up, took a shower, got ready and spent some time with Rylan… It gradually got more weird. I packed my suitcase, with only my stuff alone. It made it much lighter. I packed a small travel bag for Rylan, not his normal huge diaper bag with tons of snacks, bottles and other misc items. We got in the car and I started thinking. We were on our way to Phoenix to drop me off. Me all by myself without my little man. My little shadow that I take everywhere, that cries when I leave the room. I tried not to think too hard about it, because I didn’t want to upset myself. We played “I spy” while we drove down the highway.

As we pulled up to my terminal, Nicole unloaded my giant suitcase with hardly anything in it as I unbuckled Rylan from his carseat. I had to get him out to get my fix of hugs and kisses before I had to leave him behind. As I was holding him I started crying. I trying not to make it too obvious but Nicole noticed and hugged me and I thought to myself that this is probably going to be the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do. I didn’t want to let go, knowing this is going to be my longest trip away from my little guy. With deployment time and travel time together, it’ll add up to approx 7 months. I tried to get myself together because I didn’t want to be walking through the airport and people looking and me like I’m crazy with makeup running down my face. Nicole took a few pictures of Rylan and myself and It was time to put him back in his seat. As soon as I reached to put him in the car he immediately started crying. He knew. He had to. Tears streaming down his face made it harder for me to say goodbye. It’s not forever, but it’s sure going to feel like it. Not only have I been away from Chris for 7 months, now Rylan. My two biggest loves are about to be thousands of miles and time zones away. I gather myself and my thoughts and waved to Rylan through the window and was off. Time to go find my terminal.

This airport is definitely larger than the one in Valdosta that I’m used to. The VLD airport has all of one terminal, it makes things easier. Throughout my adventure to find my way in the airport I kept thinking about my little partner in crime. I should be frantically rushing to go through security with all of his things and mine, the airport personnel normally checking the water for his bottles, the removing of not just mine, but his little flip flops as well. Hustling so I don’t annoy the other people trying to go through. It just seemed too easy without him. I didn’t like it. Looking at my boarding pass, there was nothing that said “infant in arms”. I know this sounds dramatic, but this is how I felt. I was leaving my one and only baby for months and months while he stays back and changes so much. It’s a horrible feeling knowing I’m going to miss so much, he’ll be a year old in a little less than two months. I’m going to miss his first haircut, his first steps. Those two other teeth that are about to come in. It feels like so much. Now I know just a little of how Chris felt. I’m sure he felt worse knowing he was going to miss so much more.

As I finally made it through security and found my terminal I stopped for a magazine and a book to keep my mind occupied on this almost 4 hour flight. Crying on the plane is the lastthing I wanted. I walked passed a bar and decided to drop in. I ordered myself a nice “Long Island Iced Tea” and boy was it good. After that I went to my gate and waited patiently to board, trying not to be sad.

Finally my zone was called to board and I headed to my seat. Three whole rows from the back, lucky me. There’s not even any t.v.’s on this plane, wtf… but that doesn’t really matter. I read my magazine from front to back within probably the first hour. As I was reading it the stewards(ests) or whatever they’re called, they were selling food. I didn’t plan on getting anything because it’s normally way over priced, and I wasn’t really feeling up to eating. So the steward?? Stops at me and asks what I would like because a lady in the front offered to buy me something of my choice. I was shocked really, so I got the fruit and cheese plate. I told him to thank her, but I didn’t know who she was. I hadn’t even made conversation with anyone, who was she? He tried to point her out, but I couldn’t see and he asked if I was military. I guess the backpack gave it away because my hot pink shirt sure didn’t. haha It was a nice feeling, that’s never happened to me. I’m glad to know there are still people out there who don’t take us for granted and still appreciate us and the things that we do. That lady made my crappy day turn a little more brighter, and she didn’t even know it. She didn’t know my story, all she saw was the ABU backpack with my last name on the back. She didn’t know I just dropped off my 10 month old son for the next seven months to go “fight for her freedom”. I know I’m not going to as dangerous as a place as some, but it doesn’t make leaving my son any easier.

I’m thankful for people like her, hopefully I’ll get to see her and thank her, I only got her description. If not, the lady on flight 612 from PHX to ATL with the reddish hair and light blue shirt on who bought me lunch should feel good about herself. She’s obviously a caring person.

Anyway, so here I am, on my plane, I was told we have about 40 more minutes? I hope they’re right. I’m tired of sitting still. I can only imagine how long the flight overseas will be. I had a short nap, and I read about 4 pages of my new Nicholas Sparks book, lol I was took tired to read anymore. Now that I got my power nap in I should be set. I have some packing to do tomorrow morning, as the movers are coming after lunch.

I have so little time left, and so much to accomplish but that is why I took Rylan to AZ when I did. I have packing and moving and more outprocessing to do. I’m glad I stayed in AZ for a week. I got to see how the Basham household works and I like it. Jason, Nicole and all 5 girls are great. They’re very welcoming, even little Maddie who is the youngest baby. She rubs Rylan’s back and is constantly offering him his bottle. The other girls are great too, a little wild but I wouldn’t change a thing if I could. They’re fun and sweet and Rylan is going to have a wonderful time with them. I see it already. I cannot wait to see the pics no matter how sad they make me.I’m just trying to think of this as Rylan’s little summer vacation. He’ll have his birthday party and be chasing those girls around in no time. He’s already trying to stand and let go, until he gets excited and falls to his butt. He’ll get it though, and I can’t wait.He’s going to be so different when I come back. I’m just glad he’s a baby so he won’t really remember.

Even though I know he won’t, I’m still scared he’s going to forget about me and not know who I am. That fear is probably going to be there throughout my whole deployment. I’m sure Chris knows what I’m talking about. Well I didn’t mean for this post to be so emo, but oh well, if you didn’t like it you wouldn’t still be reading. :) Time to put this away before they cut me off to put up all electronics. You know how it is on those dang planes.

Memorial Day

So It's Memorial Day. What a great day to spend with family and remember the ones who gave some and the some who gave all.

I'm still in Arizona with my newest family, and I'm having a blast. I'm spending my last week with my little man before I have to head overseas for 6 months, and my 5 new nieces and sis & bro-in-law. I'm dreading June 5 when I head to the airport in Arizona to fly back to GA to complete my finishing touches before Kyrgyzstan. My fiance Chris is in the desert for a whole year, hopefully he'll be back in Oct sometime. I cannot wait for him and I to both be back with our little guy. Rylan is our son, and he's going to turn a year old while both of his parents are gone. Luckily his aunt and uncle are more than happy to throw him a little shindig to celebrate. It's going to be a sad day for me. :(

On the upside It's nice not having to go to pt and work for a week. This vacation is freaking sweet! I love this part of AZ! What I want to know is why the hell it's hotter in Georgia than in Arizona?? hmm. Oh well. The time change has been kicking my ass. Rylan has been waking up at about 630am every morning because that would be 930am GA time. ugh. Oh well, I'm just going to cherish the time I have with him because he's my favorite little monster and I'm going to miss him too much. Alright time to go hang out, more to come...

Alright Alright!

So it seems like ages since I last posted! So much has happened. I recently decided I wanted to make a blog about my first deployment, and being a new mommy and such. I came here to start a new one but surprise surprise my email was already registered to a blog. So I retrieved my password, and voila! Here I am!

Currently I'm in Arizona on a type of vacation. I'm deploying soon and my fiance's family has opened up their home to our little man. Yeah btw I had a baby awhile back if you didn't already know.. Oh and I'm engaged. It's awesome! I'm really happy, happier than I've ever been, so it's great.. But that's not the complete reason I'm here typing it up on this keyboard.

So anyway right now my fiance/baby daddy is deployed for a year. He is in Iraq, and now I've been tasked for a deployment as well. Eek! So now I'm getting ready to go in a few weeks. I traveled all the way from Georgia to AZ to visit and get my little man situated with my future sister-in-law and her family. They're awesome. So far the trip is great, we've just been hanging out and visiting. Rylan is loving being around them and I'm pretty sure they are too. I'm about to have 5 more nieces!

So I'll end up being gone for 6 months, and Chris will be back right before I am. I can't wait for us all to be back together again. It's been too long. R&R was NOT long enough. I miss him. Chris and our little man are my world. I don't know how I ever survived without them. :)

Anyway I apologize if this is unorganized and random, I'm just getting back in the swing of things. I'm going to use this to write about my deployment and family ordeals and being a mommy of a almost 1 yr old away for 6 months. It should be interesting.. Or so I hope :)

It's been awhile...

So I know I've been slacking big time. It's been over a month since updating my blog. I've been crazy busy in the last month. I went home for Christmas which was wonderful. I came back and work was hectic. I finally finished my end of course exam! YEAH! So now I can start college classes. I'm so excited. The year 2009 is already a very good one but it's going to be a busy one. I have training almost every month,

Feb not much going on
March my best friend in the whole wide world is coming to GA to see me for a week during her spring break
April I MIGHT be goin to Disney world if my friend Jen will make up her damn mind. lol
May nothin really is goin on
June got nothing
July I'm flying to Vegas for a 2 week class on my job
End of July early Aug I'm heading home because my cousin is havin a baby!
Sept is my 22 birthday. Not as exciting as 21.
Oct/Nov is around the time I should be deploying! I'm kind of excited! I'll be gone for about 6 months. I'll definitely try and keep this updated but it all depends on where I get sent.

Well I have some major cleaning to finish and 6 loads of laundry to fold so I better get this show on the road. More to come asap.

6 days until home sweet home!

When I joined the Air Force I knew I was going to be away from home basically my whole enlistment. I'm dealing with that but sometimes I can't help but to get home sick.

When I went to Basic Training it was basically 10 minutes from my house that I grew up in. I wasn't scared, I wasn't sad, I was just nervous. My mom cried, shhh don't tell her I told you. haha

After I graduated Basic, I got to spend the weekend with my family. Luckily my whole family since they were already in town :D

That Monday I was ready to go to Tech School at Sheppard AFB, TX, 6 hours from home. That was in November. That was also the first time I ever missed Thanksgiving with my family. It was tough. My mom came to see me that weekend so that helped a little. I also got to go home for Christmas which was nice. But of course, I didn't want to leave. A few months later, one weekend I snuck home because my grandma was sick. She ended up passing away while I was on the road to come see her. That broke my heart.

In May of 2008 I graduated Tech School and took leave and headed home before heading to my first base. It was an awesome time. I ended up surprising my mom right before mother's day. It was awesome. At the end of May I was all packed up and ready to head to my first base.

June 1st I got to Moody AFB in GA. It was a ghost town! It is a small base and there are rarely any people on it on the weekends. I guess everyone takes that time to escape. Don't get me wrong, Moody is a nice base, It's just small. I got all moved in and have been here ever since. I haven't been home since I left at the end of May 2008. That is a little over half a year. I miss everyone so much. Not to mention I missed Thanksgiving again, for the 2nd time in a row.

I do enjoy living in Georgia though. I use my free time to get involved in the community and volunteer with CERP. I mentor an 8 year old, Emma who's dad is deployed to Afghanistan, I put in many hours with our haunted house, all kinds of stuff on base and this weekend I spent my whole Saturday getting stuff ready for our Christmas Party that was Sat night.

I also found out I'm up for Airman of the Quarter! I hope I get it. That would be such an honor. I have busted my butt at work and with my voluteer work. I would much rather spend my time helping people than going out every night getting blitzed.

I get to go home this Saturday. In 6 days. My flight is at 1145am and I'm so excited to get home. I miss them so much! Today is my cousin Braydens Birthday. He turned 4. I'm getting him a fish for Christmas since I missed his birthday. :)


I'm so excited to see my mom, and my family and of course my best friend ever who didn't forget about me when I left. It's going to be a good time.

Some Me Time

So the last few days have been halfway eventful. I upset the guy I'm seeing because I basically need some me time. I spend all of my free time on the weekends away, with him in his town. Honestly I don't know what I want right now. So I came home early from my Thanksgiving out of town and sat around doing absolutely nothing.



I finished "New Moon", I am basically obsessed and addicted to the "Twilight" series. I spent approximately 24 hours per book. They are amazing. Not to mention like every other girl in the world I'm in love with Edward Cullen. So I planned on spending the rest of my long weekend being entirely too lazy. Did a little grocery shopping and watched a movie. Then my friends invited me to Hooters to watch the USC vs. Notre Dame game. Not too bad but The Fightin' Irish got their asses handed to them. haha And it wasn't like watchin' the Aggies (:

Anyway did that, got home late and passed out. Super tired. I'm not used to staying out late anymore! So today, I wake up at 1...Yes that would be 1PM and remember I told my friend Corey I would go shopping with him to get his gf a Christmas gift before she gets back to town. He texted before I woke up. Surprisingly I woke up on my own like 5 minutes after the text. Boring I know.

So we get the the mall and I know he wants my help shopping so we walk into a jewelry store and I ask, "What type of jewelry you lookin to buy?" His response, "a ring." Then I get this feeling so I ask, "what kind of ring are we talkin here?" Completely joking when he shoots back, "you know, a RING." WTF! I was shocked! No way. I then say, "an engagement ring?!?!?!?" Completely excited for him because I just KNEW I was correct. And of course he admitted, I was indeed CORRECT. yay! So we shop around and apparently she's a simple gal so he didn't want to get anything too flashy. But honestly in my opinion, no matter how simple you are, you're going to want something halfway flashy. I mean c'mon, it's a freakin engagement ring! So we look and look and look and finally I show him this white gold heart shaped diamond engagement ring. Perfect! Long story short he gets it, and a necklace. haha The necklace is the Christmas present though.I'm honestly so excited for him. I know how much he likes this girl. So we eat some cracker barrel, gotta love southern cookin and we go to a few book stores looking for book 3, "Eclipse" to the Twilight Series and everyone is SOLD OUT. :( Depressing. I guess I'll have to wait! grr

But that was my very uneventful day, I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. It's so dang boring. But I have about 12 days until I fly home for Christmas! I'm so excited. I haven't been there since May and I just missed my second Thanksgiving in a row. Plus I'm getting a new car when I get there. Sweet!

But that's all for today, gotta go get a bite to each. For some odd reason I'm already starving. :)

Yes I know, Thanksgiving was 2 days ago...

I haven't been on in a few days to enable myself to update my blog. I figured this time would definitely be a good time to mention some of the things and people I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for my lovely Mom. Where would I be without her? She was basically a single mother all my life. Working long night shifts and still making much time for me. Supporting me in all that I do. She was at my Soccer practice and games in middle school, my day long tennis tournaments in HS supporting me and my team, my special events, my graduation and she moved me up to college. That's only a few. She wasn't too excited when I told her about my plans to join the Air Force, but really what mother would? Especially if it was her only child.. Her only daughter deciding to join in a time of war? Even then I got her support. She wrote me tons of letters in BMT and so much more. I'm trying to keep this short though :) But I'm very thankful to have a super mom. She hasn't had the easiest life.

My Aunt Nene & Daddy Michael. Those are my aunt and uncle if you couldn't figure it out. Nene is my moms younger sister. Her younger and much intimidating sister. haha Her husband, my uncle is Daddy Michael. He was more of a father and dad to me than my real one was so he earned this name and it stuck. :) They helped my mom out alot when I was younger and my mom had to work. They are so awesome. They let me ride their horses too when I'm in town :) I know my aunt hates this picture, but she doesn't like taking pictures! I swear! I even have one of her hiding behind a restaurant menu haha

My BFFF! Leslie! Honestly, and she knows this but I hated her. haha She was so mean to me in HS! Like a huge b!t**. Or maybe we were just too much alike? When I was a sophomore and she a junior we quickly became friends. And that hasn't changed. She the best friend anyone could ask for. I remember we got in a fight before I left for basic training.. Well a day before my graduation my mom was allowed to come see me and we could go hang out on base. I was playing with my mom's cell phone since mine was still in lock-up and Leslie texts my mom! She was trying to come and surprise me for my graduation even though I didn't invite her because we were mad before I left. I called her and she was shocked it was me. I guess she thought I was still mad, but I got over it quickly in basic because I didn't have time to think about it really. I still missed her, and I miss her like crazy now! I'm so proud of her. She's going to college at Texas A&M University GIG 'EM! I'm definitely going to have to fly home for her graduation :) Since I'm 1,000 miles away from her. PS. I get to see her in 13.5 days!

Ah my favorite cousin Amanda. Who was so mean to me growing up. haha She's so awesome. I never thought we'd ever have so much in common and get along so well. I guess we didn't because I was a kid, in elementary when she was just in high school. Now we're both old in our 20's. :) So this is my bad influence of a cousin. She knows what I'm talking about. But actually she isn't bad at all. Just fun. She has a little boy Brayden, who is and will always be my #1 man. And she is married to Chad! Who is pretty cool as well. They Have 2 dogs, Hummer and Pixie. Pixie gets on my dang nerves though. haha I never had a thing for small dogs really. So Amanda & Chad & Brayden. They are one awesomely awesome little cute family. I'm thankful to have them in my life because they are just so dang awesome! I talk to Amanda almost as much as my best friend. I would say she is kind of one of my best friends but she's still my favorite cousin ever! & she's so pretty!



Since this month was exactly a year since I graduated Basic Military Training, I most definitely have to mention the girls from Flight 002. They were my life in those hellish 6.5 weeks. We helped each other out. That was honestly the only way to survive. We went through alot of stuff together that alot of people will never understand. I'm thankful I didn't have to do it alone. Hua wolfpack!



I'm trying to keep this halfway short so I'm going to mention Dana, then Jen & Lauren together. While in tech school my wingman Dana and I were practically inseperable. Me and her had gone to BMT together so it was no surprise as to how close we were. We ended up in the same class and we were even going to the same base! She was awesome and we had so many good times together. Then I got reclassed and she moved on to her Phase 2 schooling. I stayed at Sheppard AFB but moved to a completely different kind of Squadron. While my medical squadron was mostly girls and I had so many friends I moved down to 366. Mean Machine. Not much of a feminine squadron. When I got there I was the 9th girl out of about 400 guys. Heaven? Not so much. A bunch of pains in the asses if you as me. :) Then I met Lauren! She was so welcoming. I was so nervous to move out of my bubble. She invited me to IHOP with her and some of the other girls and we were all soon inseperable. Honestly how far could we go? All 9 of us shared 1 hallway. lol Anyway, well I hadn't started school yet so I had to do CQ duty where I met so many new faces. Honestly I don't remember half of their names. I was "the new girl". I got so tired of being called that. Could they not read my last name on my uniform? haha anyway, so a few weeks later word got out that we were getting new girls. I was excited! That's when Jen came. Me, her and Lauren hung out all the time! To this day those are the only 2 I really keep in touch with. Nothing against the other girls. We just got along so well. I miss them so so much and I wish we got stationed together! Dana is now at Eglin AFB in Florida, Lauren is at whatever base is in South Dakota and Jen is at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. and me? I'm in Southern Georgia at a tiny base called Moody. I hated tech school but I miss the fun times we had. Thanks girls! I miss ya'll!

My G-PA! Papaw. He has done so much for me. I'm so thankful. Right now he's putting up with crap for me while we try and get me a new car. He rode with me to Georgia from Texas and rode a bus back. I wasn't too thrilled about that. Then he offered to drive my new car here from Texas since I'll be flying. I'll definitely be treating him to some amazing Italian food when he does. Papaw used to take me to car races. He used to walk me around his and my grandmas home when I was little and tell me who everyone in every picture was on their walls. Papaw served 20+ years in the USAF. I look up to him. Don't think I'm not thankful for my g-ma as well, I just think my Papaw deserves to have his own paragraph. I'm very much thankful for the both of them. Oh and they adopted my cat Ariel when I left. I miss her so much! The picture is of us hugging at my graduation from BMT. :)

Alright so those were the people who came straight to mind when I thought of who I'm thankful for. I don't want to offend any others because I don't think I could mention every one of my friends and family without spending more than 24 hr's straight on this thing. I'm happy my family is who they are. And I'm happy I have the friends that I have.

Now on to materialistic..
I'm thankful for:
my cell phone
my laptop
my car
photographs
restaurants
Starbucks
the color pink
music
movies
and so much more. :)