Merry Christmas!

Well this year has been a very great and crazy year. So instead of a Christmas card, which I really didn't have time to do this year, I thought I would put together this blog and I can email it to people to read. SO here is our year in a glance.

January- cold month in Prescott Valley- We watched our new puppy grow at my parents house, and 8 months till CJ leaves for boot camp.

February- We brought "Abby" (our new puppy) home to be with us.

March- CJ left the Good Samaritan to work at a green house till he left for boot camp.

April- One year in our house and I have to find a renter for the fall...

May- My last month of teaching here in Prescott Valley. My sister graduated from high school, I can't believe she is going to college next year!

June- My sister is 18 (where did the time go!), and I am teaching summer school till the end of the month. 3 months till CJ leaves.

July- CJ leaves the Green house so we can square things away before he leaves and we "start" packing. We took a much needed trip to CA to visit friends and my brother, who is now stationed in Nevada (yeah!). Oh and my BABY brother turns 17 AHHHH!

August- Oh one month till CJ leaves and we have to pack the entire house and move it into a storage unit! Ok whirl wind you have arrived and I am not to happy! We did find a renter to stay at the house and everything starts to work out. CJ and were lucky to get to visit my step sister after she gave birth to a beautiful boy! My nephew Brogan! At the end of the month I turned 25 and for a birthday present my husband left for boot camp :(

September- On the first day I was in a daze the entire day while CJ traveled to Great Lakes IL to start boot camp. This was a long month, I finished leaning out the house and moved into my parents house. It was filled with prayers for CJ and waiting for the letters to come in on Wednesdays.

October- Moved like Molasses- CJ graduated Boot camp on the 28th and my mom and I and my in-laws went to IL to watch him and spend a few days with him. Now we wait for final word to get our stuff moved.

November- Well CJ flew to Goose Creek SC to start the first week in Nuclear training, and we racked up a pretty big phone bill because we can. On the 10th CJ flies home and we spend one last night with both of our families. The day before we left CJ, his parents and I were involved in a small car accident in Prescott Valley, Nedra ended up with some bad whiplash, and the rest of us had some soarness the next day, thankfully no one was badly injured. On the 12th CJ and I were off with the two dogs a full 16 foot moving truck and a trailer with our car. We drove over 2100 miles to reach our new home in Goose Creek SC.

MY BROTHER WAS MARRIED! Welcome Jes to the family!

The rest of the month CJ and I unpacked and CJ began his classes!

Thanksgiving was a little lonely and hard to be away from family!

December is here and another year has gone by. We have made some huge changes to our lives but we are so thankful for our many blessing and the opportunity to travel and see new things in life!

We are glad to bring in a new year that will not be so crazy, CJ will finish A-school and start a 6 month power school. Hopefully we will finish unpacking any remaining boxes.

CJ and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope that the new year will bring many new adventures and memories that will last a life time!

When your not looking...

My dogs are my life, my children right now. We spend a lot of time together, so much that I know when they are sick or upset. I love watching them play and do well weird stuff...

Abby is quite the show dog, she loves cuddling and she has the cutest face and you just can't say no to her.

Well yesterday I found her and Gage on the couch... She was looking at my laptop, but when I stood in front of her she looked at me.

This morning I was decorating inside the house and came outside to see if she was ok and I found her basking in the sunlight. She loves the sun!

No Family Thanksgiving!

I was sure this year was going to be the worst holiday season EVER. It all started by missing my BROTHER's WEDDING! I pretty much cried myself to sleep... I felt so bad and I know everyone understands us not making it, but I still felt horrible.
Then this year is CJ and I's first year being without any family for the holidays. No one to visit and no one to see.
But the Senior Missionaries whose job is to look after the military families on base asked if we would like to join some other families who are in the same situation. I of course agreed but still felt like it would be sad not having any one around.
We are so thankful that this opportunity arose and we went. We had met a couple that live a couple doors down and we rode together, they were our family. We were also able to meet other families and start hopefully new and great relationships.
Thank you missionaries and members of the Crowfield Ward.

Our house is just a little house... but God knows where we live!

I have lived in many different homes and each one I have tried to make my home. When CJ and I were first married we lived in a two bedroom duplex, which is when I bought a sign that says "Our house is just a little house... but God knows where we live!" It reminds me everyday that no matter where we are God knows we are here and he is there to help. This move did not mean anything different. We got used to our house with four bedrooms and a fenced in back yard and tons of space. I miss it tons, but this little duplex will have to do.

We like the neighborhood, but how could you not like it we are on a base and I feel very protected.

Our duplex has two bedrooms and one bathroom. We also have a screened in porch and a small outside storage closet. I am enjoying making this house a home as well, we are starting to hang up pictures and boxes are getting unpacked (slowly).

I am enjoying the change and trying hard to find my way around the base and around town. I can't believe how much traffic backs up around here and all the rude drivers. I thought California was bad they have you beat out here!

Coming up on Thanksgiving it is hard not to be thinking about what you are thankful for, well I am thankful for my husband and his new career that will help us grow and give us new adventures!

Traveling Across the United States

For those of you who did not notice, CJ and I moved to South Carolina. It was an AMAZING adventure that we really don't want to do again.

We rented a Budget truck (don't use this company) and a tow hauler for the car and we packed up, threw the dogs in and drove 2100 miles to the Naval Weapons Station.

To start our trip I called and asked if the truck had a bench seat, I was told yes, but it was not so my poor doggies ended up in a whole between the seats. They were squished, but it was half the time they were both down there and the other half Gage was on someones lap. He freaked out about everything, rumble strips and windshield wipers. We gave him Benadryl, but it really didn't seem to work. He was a complete wreck. Abby on the other hand would lay down and fall asleep with no issues at all.

Along the way we saw so many interesting things and I only took pictures of a few. Along the way we tried to take pictures of all the welcome signs, but we missed New Mexico's and Georgia's and Oklahoma didn't have one! I know you really could care less, but I thought it was fun.

In New Mexico not much happened, it just took forever to get across the state. Oh we lost the gas cap in this state somewhere. Then at dusk we entered into Texas and stayed at some no name motel in Amarillo TX.This picture was outside of Amarillo TX, they claim it to be the tallest cross in this hemisphere. We also saw snow on the ground in TX.Like I said before no sign for Oklahoma. I was bummed. Our second night on the road we stayed in Little Rock Arkansas, It did not take very long to get across the state and thankfully nothing took place here either.
Tennessee was a short trip all of about 10 minutes. We had to change major highways here and we just missed downtown Memphis by a couple miles. We did drive over the Mississippi River here, the bridge was huge and daunting in a truck.

After Driving across 3 states we finally made it to Georgia, which brought the only rain we saw the entire time. We stayed just outside of Atlanta and relaxed to think we had only one more day to go. We missed the Georgia sign.

Finally we reached South Carolina! We had finally made it and we did it with only one issue, losing the gas cap.

This trip was quite an adventure and we tried hard to stay kind to each other instead of being negative towards each other. It seemed we were only pains to each other when we were trying to get to our hotel.

We are so thankful to be blessed with a great and safe trip! We could not have asked for a better uneventful travel!

Ode to Arizona

Arizona is my home state. I have lived in almost all the regions and have loved every minute. My life did not begin here, but it grew up here.

When I was 2 my parents moved back to AZ after being stationed in ENGLAND (where I was born)and we lived in Apache Junction for many years, till half way through kindergarten.

Then we moved to Show Low for about a year and met my step dad there.

We moved back to Apache Junction for another year. My mom managed Village Inn so we moved where they needed a manager.

Our last move was to Prescott Valley. Back then there was no movie theater, no Albertsons, pretty much the only thing as you drove in was the post office, Safeway and Better Built Window oh and Ace Hardware. All the roads around my house we dirt and we could play in the road all night long.

We had a neighborhood game of tag every night and hung out for hours at some ones house to cool off during the day.

I met great people here who have turned my life in different directions. I have so many good friends that I will miss.

here in PV is where we took the missionary lessons to convert to LDS, which in turn made me a better person.

I met my husband here and had my first teaching job here.

I love Arizona and will never forget all the fun. I won't forget the beautiful Sunsets and Sunrises.

I will miss the cactus landscapes ( um really I wont!) and the rock gardens (not!).

I will miss 100 degree weather (haha!) and the freak hail storms (nah!).

I will miss my family who mostly resides here.

I love Arizona, but I need a new adventure.

South Carolina or Bust!!!

Saying Good Bye to a Great Friend

Well my time here in AZ is coming to an end... I am sad and very happy all at the same time. One sad point is I am leaving a great friend behind and moving across the country from here.

Here is our story...

I was in my second year at NAU and Karisa was in her first year at NAU. It was the first Sunday back at the institute ward and all the new girls were introducing themselves to us. Karisa had stood and said her parents just moved to Apache Junction, which is were my biological father lives and what do you know I was headed that way the very next weekend. So I went and introduced my self and asked if she wanted to ride down for the weekend, She wanted to go see her family and decided to come with me.

Well after a three hour drive you can talk about a lot of things and we found out quickly that we had a lot in common.

So after our weekend we spent a lot of time together and met other girls to join in our fun. We had multiple trips to Phoenix with so much laughter involved that our cheeks hurt for days afterwards.

There are many times we laughed the whole way home, or the time her and I and another friend got stuck in my sun roof. New Years eve when we laughed the whole night and into the next day. We can talk for hours and never get bored. We talk about everything and share so many secrets.

Well weeks turned into a year and she moved back to phoenix, we still visited each other as often as possible, went on a few trips to California and discussed ways to be close all through out life.

She has been a great companion through lonely times before our husbands came along and after.

We were at each others weddings and luckily our husbands enjoy each others company as well.

Even now we still go and visit each other and we WILL stay in touch.

I love you Karisa and I know we will stay Friends forever!

Pass In Review

This past weekend was CJ's Pass In Review. It was a great trip and we had tons of fun!

It all started Thursday morning at 2am when I could not sleep so I decided to get up and get dressed, we had to leave at 3am for the plane any ways...

So my mom and I flew out of Sky Harbor at 6am and landed at O'Hare airport at 11:30.

We rented a car and headed in to down town Chicago looking for the train station, the gentleman at the rent a car place said there were signs on the freeway telling us how to get there, well we found out the hard way there was no such thing!!

So my mom and I asked for directions and finally found it...

We had some time to kill so we walked around the station looking at all the buildings and

waisting time.

Thursday was just a traveling day and it was a long day, but I was so exited I barely slept that night.

Friday!!! We woke up early again and had to catch a shuttle over to the base, we were in our seats by 7am, and the Review didn't start till 9am... To say the least I was starting to get restless.

It took another hour till the guys actually walked in. They had the performing divisions go first and then the others.

When CJ's division marched in he was the last row and walked right by the bleachers, bummer part the woman in front of my mother-in-law was up and down and pointing and had her hands in the photo. Oh CJ looked so different, he lost about 20 lbs and of course he had no hair any more. It was so great to see him, I just wanted to run to him.After the ceremony we had to wait till they were put on Liberty, I then ran to him!! It was so great to see him. He had to be formal with me on base, rules while in uniform, but when we were back at the hotel I got my husband back.

The next day we went into Chicago and went to Willis Tower (Sears Tower). We went all the way to 103 floor, it was really cool to see all the amazing buildings.

Then we went and had a REALLY good stuffed pizza. Our day was cut short because CJ had to get back for watch and I hated watching him walk back alone...

CJ then flew to South Carolina on the second to start getting us a house and make sure paperwork was ready. It was a great trip and even though being without him was hard, we grew closer as a couple and we are thankful for this opportunity!

South Carolina here we come!

I HAVE NINE DAYS!

I only have, well now, 8 and a half days left! I am getting really excited to go and see him. We have so much to do, but I could care less what I have to do! I will have to say that time has gone by so quick and I really didn't think it would.

We have a lot of plans. My In laws will be taking a train from Flagstaff and will be meeting us in Chicago. My mom and I fly out EARLY Thursday morning and get into Chicago where we will rent a car and the four of us will drive to Great Lakes, IL.

On Thursday night someone is throwing a meet and greet at a hotel for the families of the Sailors.

Finally on Friday we will get on a shuttle at 6:45 and head to the base and sit for about an hour and a half, then the Performance In Review begins. My mother-in-law and I just made these cute ribbons to wear to the graduation.

After graduation we get to spend a couple hours with CJ and then he has to go back to base. On Saturday we will be headed into Chicago with CJ to see some sights. We have the whole day with him. Then it is back to base for Cinderfella. On Sunday we will go to church with him and then I will fly back home.

It is a short weekend and full of time with hubby, then the real fun begins. Moving!!!

Details to follow at a later post!! Just let me say I don't like it at all!

I only have Two weeks and 3 Days!

In two weeks and 3 days I will be meeting my husband at hi Performance In Review at Great Lakes IL. This has been the longest two months in my life! I love you baby and I am so proud to be your WIFE!!
Can't wait to see you!

Projects while CJ is gone

While CJ is at Navy Boot Camp I have to keep myself busy. So to start I packed our house and moved into my parents house. Then Thanks to a good friend I made a ribbon wreath. It is very tedious work and took randomness to place the ribbons (which I can't do). It turned out really cute though and I hung it on my parents front door.

Then I decided my mom needed a new key hook, Yes my projects all help my mom, because I can't take anything else with me!
Next, this week the Young womens president wanted to make magnet boards for all the Young women. So I went to her house and she had the boards pre-made and then i took Modge podge and glued the scrape book paper to the boards. They turned out really cute and she is going to make one for me too!

Chapter Two: Moving Forward

A chapter in our lives is coming to an end and I new one is beginning.

Here is a quick refresher for those of you who missed the last chapter: In April 2009 CJ and I bought a house, four bedroom two bath with a nice fenced in yard. I taught Second Grade ELD for a year and CJ decided in October he no longer wanted to be a nursing student. Then in November he joined the Navy. In December we added an adorable puppy to our family.

Now the start of our new chapter:

Soon our three years of living in Prescott Valley as a married couple will end. CJ has been waiting for this day to come and finally it has. Since November of 2009 CJ has been waiting to leave for Naval Recruit Training. On September 1^st of 2010 CJ flew out to Great Lakes IL for two months of rigorous training and learning Navy life. For two months I have to resort to living out of a storage unit

and my parents home. As of September 15^th 2010 I officially reside in a small bedroom with a twin mattress at a home I thought I would never live in again.

My mom and my In-Laws and I will go to Chicago on October 29^th to watch CJ graduate from basic training. At that point we will find out when we move to South Carolina for two years, where CJ will do schooling for Nuclear Propulsion. There is so much to be done between now and then and I have a great friend whose husband is in the Airforce who is really helping with information.

I write to him everyday and so far only one phone call has come through. All I have received from him is a box with his clothes he wore to boot camp, so hopefully in the next few days I should be receiving his information about graduation and how to get my military ID.

I am so grateful to have a husband that is willing to serve his country and be strong enough to be away for two months. He is going to be a great Navy Sailor (and very Handsome too!). I can't wait for the next section of our chapter to start!

Going to Boot Camp

Yesterday was our big day. CJ left for BOOT CAMP!

CJ had to be transported down to a Sheraton hotel where he checked into his hotel room, and we checked in about an hour behind him. Then we met our family at Old Country Buffet where my sister-in-law brought two cakes for us. The first cake is obvious for my birthday, she did an amazing job! The cake tasted great!
This cake Meghan (sister-in-law) and her sister-in-law made for CJ. If you notice in the bottom left you might be able to see where they put CJ in a life ring surrounded by sharks. It is really cute.
The next day My mother-in-law, grandma and I went down town Phoenix to the MEPS station.

Then we met him over at the airport. I did so well with not crying until I had to leave him behind. I lost all control!
Now it has been one day and I am realizing I miss a lot of little things he does for me. Just reaching over to touch his leg when we sleep, or waking up to him and a kiss.
I love you CJ with all my heart, you are going to be the best Naval Sailor ever!

Summer time FUN!

Well one week till CJ leaves and I am in a tizzy trying to pack the house and move back in with my parents. We have found a renter and hopefully the family will take care of my house.

But besides the rush of moving we were able to get away this summer and go visit my Best Friend and her husband in Oceanside. We decided we would go camping instead of renting a room. It was fin and was in a beautiful part of California. We had a good camp site and well had a new adventure for the Warrens.
On the second day Karisa and Ivan stayed and had breakfast, the boys had a lot of fun playing with the fire. My brother came up from San Diego and spent the day with us as well. After breakfast we went to the Wild Park, it was hot but we saw some amazing creatures of Gods Earth.
Then we went to Camp Pendelton to there beach, we let the boys play in the waves and then we had a BBQ down on the beach. It was a lot of fun..
I am going to miss spending time with them and well we hope to be stationed lose by soon.

When are you an adult?

This last couple months has been less than great. So much has happened that has given me reason to question when society THINKS I am an adult.
So I pose the question; when is a person considered an adult?
Is it when you turn 18?
Is it when you go to college?
Is it when you live on your own and pay your own bills?
Is it when you have a degree?
Is it when you get married?
Is it when you live so many miles from home?
Or finally is it when you have your own children?

I am not sure which of these are correct if any...
Let me plead my case, I am 25, went to college and received two degrees and lived away from home and payed my own bills. I was married at 22 and we own our own home. So did I pass?
My brother recently told me that I am not an adult, his argument well is that since I live in the same town as my parents I am not an adult. He just got done with four years in Japan. He is 23 and well still acts immature, he is very stubborn about even trying to understand the religion that CJ and I have chosen to live our life by, he has decided that living in PV well isn't where we should be since our parents live here. So he has decided he is the adult and we are not yet. Is he an adult?

My step sister is 22 and is pregnant with a little boy. She has some college under her belt and lives with her 21 yr old boyfriend. She has never said anything to ever effect my not being an adult, but my step mother and my dad are treating her as though she is an adult. This may just be my ranting and my strong beliefs, but it hurts to see this.

I rant about being an adult and well just because I say I am an adult does it mean I am. What do I need to do to help make my parents understand that their adult children are tired of being treated like they are 12 years old? What can I do to make me feel like I have been doing what is right for me and my husband?

I am growing impatient as I stay here and get treated as a child, I hope that moving across country from our parents will then remind them that we are old enough to make the decisions that are appropriate for my family and not be second guessed by everyone!

Am I Really Ready??

OK I am getting scared about up coming moves.

Since October of 2009 CJ and I have been waiting to finally start a real count down till his ship date.

He is leaving September first and I wont see him for two months.

So since November CJ has installed a gadget in his phone that counts down the days till he leaves. So it was always on 250 days or 200 then 100, but then CJ went in to the office yesterday and had to take his final Urine test and tomorrow he has to take his final Individual Fitness Test.

Which means he is in his last 45 days! Can you believe it he has six weeks till he leaves!

When we move we are only allowed one car to take,

so we talked and mine is the oldest and gets the worst gas mileage.

So we just did some word of mouth selling and found a family who needed a car for their sixteen year old. It felt so weird to see my car drive off.

Then today the boy who has my car pulled up to the church and all of a sudden I felt so sad that I didn't have my car any more.

Then this last weekend we took a trip to California to see my Best Friend and her husband who is also good friends with CJ.

This will probably be the last time we are all together for a couple years. We had a lot of fun!

This week we have been planning a Temple trip with my padres and a

BBQ after with my side of the family. We want everyone to see us probably for the last time for a while.

I just got an email from my MIL and she wants a final Temple trip for CJ's side of the family before he leaves.

This part of our lives is coming to and END!

So 42 days till CJ leaves and I am trying to make sure I will not loose it while he is gone. Can't wait for our new adventure!

Change

So I have been the same since I was in high school, long red hair. I never minded. A couple times I even layered it and I have high lighted it. But this time I was ready for something to change. It was hot outside and well my head was hot. So I went from this:To this:
I love my hair, I was going to go shorter, but I chickened out at the last minute, so this is how short I could go. But It is thinner for the time being and I am so Excited to have a cool head!

California Trip with the Warren Clan

So in April the Warren Clan consisting of Mother-in-law and Father-in-law, Sister-in-law and her hubby, and little brother-in-law, and CJ and I, went to California for a little trip. The rest of the family went for a week, but CJ and I could only swing four days out there, but we packed them full of fun things. First we went to Sea World. I am only posting a few pictures, cause well between my Mother-in-law and brother-in-law we had 100's of photos. My mother-in-law also had shirts made for each of us, matching for couples.

This is the view from a balcony at our hotel. We were right on the beach, very beautiful everyday!
One of the many great creatures at Sea World, this Otter was so happy just swimming around his tank all day!
I don't know if you can see it, but yes that is water coming out of Shamu's mouth and well it reached us. We were completely soaked after his performance.
This is called a strawberry anemone. They were so pink, I wanted to take one home with me!
OK so this walrus was very LARGE! He swam right up to the glass and was spitting his food into the glass and then eating it again, it was quite disgusting.
Then there was the shark exhibit, this was last on our list of things to do, we had the whole place to ourselves. We went through the shark tunnel once but kept walking back to the beginning and watching the sharks swim over us.

Then on Friday CJ, Meg, Colton, and Jordo went sea kayaking, I felt like getting a major sunburn while chatting with my mother-in-law on the beach. The burn didn't hurt till the next morning when my skin was tight. CJ said they saw Seal Lions on a booey, and another nest of them on the rock out cove they passed.


The next day we went to the San Diego Temple and did an endowment session. It is so beautiful in the Temple, I could have spent years in there just sitting in the Celestial room pondering.

All in all it was a great trip with tons to do and well I needed a vacation from my vacation. Thanks Nedra and Stephen for our trip!