Making friends

I don't have the easiest time making friends, but the friends I do have I cherrish a great deal.  The friends I've made over the last few years I feel like I'll have for a long time.  So I'm trying something new: New Friend Friday.  Who knows what will happen.

Came home to earthquakes

So over the weekend we went to Ut for 4 days to be able to attend my cousin's wedding.  The trip was good for the most part and we are so glad to be home (I'll post pictures from that trip later on).  However not 2 hours after being home we got hit with 2 back to back strong earthquakes.  Both regestered at 5.7 and those suckers just unnerved Jay and I.  We had our back patio door open to air out the house when we heard this loud rumbing sound.  Seconds later the house started to shake and we knew we were being hit with an earthquake.  Right as we thought it was over the second 5.7 hit.  Again making us a little more unnerved.  We were far enough away from the epicenter to have any damage but that doesn't make what happened any less frightening, especially for the kids.

The moment the shaking was officially over we quickly went to check on the kids, as they had been asleep until it hit.  Kaden was shaken up and a little scared and Annabelle just seemed to need a hug.  Luckily this morning they are completely over what happened.  This morning the news called the earthquakes from last night aftershocks from the Easter 7.2 quake.  Yup that is right, we're still getting aftershocks and some of them are quite strong.  I am hoping that this will be the last of them for a while, but this is California and that likelyhood is quite high that there will be more.

Re-enlisting Ceremony

Yup that title is correct.  This morning Jay re-enlisted for another 6 years with the Navy.  The last few weeks have been a bit on the stressful side as we waited to see if everything related to him re-enlisting would go through or not.  Luckily, Jay has an amazing Chief who worked really hard to make sure that everything went through in time.  So this morning we, the kids and I, watched Jay re-enlist in front of his normal division.

Currently, and for the last year, Jay is TAD (temporary assigned duty) with a different job on the ship and has not been with his normal division, which is something we've both missed a lot.  The Chief over his normal divison, when not TAD'd, worked really hard on getting things set up and even going as far as to personally make sure all of his paperwork got signed by the right people and then personally turned it in.  So it was really nice to see the people he usually works with for both of us, since I do personally know quite a few of them.

Here Annabelle stood by Jay while we waited for everyone to show up for his ceremony.

Jay being honorably discharged from the Navy.  This is protical that before you re-enlist, usually 24 hours prior, you get honorablly discharged from the navy.  They forgot to do it yesterday so they did it this morning.

Jay and his Warent Officer with his honorable discharge certificate

The really nice thing is that for the wives they give a certificate of appreciation for my "unselfish, faithful, and dedicated assistance" during Jay's time in the navy signed by his Warrent Officer.

Jay saying the oath of the military.

Continuing to say the oath.

Getting his list of rewards for re-enlisting from the captian and his certificate for re-enlisting.

The certificate of re-enlisting

Annabelle had to attach herself to Jay more than once during the time we were there.

Shaking his Warrent Officer's hand at the end of the ceremony.

He got some really nice gifts for re-enlisting including a nice congrats pen from the ship.

If you are wondering why there is white out on Jay's uniform that is for security reasons.  His name is right there in normal times, but when posting photos I must  remove it to keep him and those around him safe.  Now that he has re-enlisted we're waiting on word as to when he'll be leaving for 2.5 months for C school which is part of him re-enlisting.  Once he complete's the school he'll become a Petty Officer 2nd class, which is going to be very nice.  He's missed the cut off for advancing by taking the advancement test every time he takes it so this is quite honestly the best way for him to go up in rank. 
The other thing we're now working on is getting extended with the Nimitz for the 2 years of required sea duty.  Due to going to the C school he is required to remain on sea duty for 2 years more than normal.  After those 2 years we'll go to shore duty for 4.  Hopefully we'll get to extend with the ship since later this year it will be going to WA to drydock for at least 18 months.  Only time will tell with that.  So this is the big news that our famiy has been waiting to share with all of you.

Life in general

Today the advancement results came out from the test Jay took back in march.  He didn't advance, but that is okay with us we expected it.  At the time the test had taken place he had been insanely busy and had no time to study.  In fact we'd been making jokes about him advancing this way.  Luckily we've had plan B set up for weeks and that is the route we'll be going for him to advance.  Plan B is a program where he'll go to school for a few months and at the end of the school he'll advance to Petty Officer 2nd class.  So by the end of this year he'll be a 2nd class.  The approval has already gone through, had to for him to put in for his re-enlistment, and so now we're just waiting on word as to when he'll be gone for the school.

The other good news (yes we consider that good news) is with Kaden.  Last week we had an IEP meeting with Kaden's teacher and the staff he's been working with during this last year at school.  This was to determine what help, if any, he would need for kindergarten.  We got FABULOUS news at the meeting.  Kaden gets to fully intergrate into a regular kindergarten class and will only require speech therapy!!!!!!!!!!!  We are so happy and proud of him.  He'll have speech therapy every day for 50 min once school starts in the fall.  He has come such a long way in the last year that wouldn't have been possible without all of the help we got through the ABA people and school.  Kaden is so excited about going to kindergarten and keeps asking when he gets to go. 

Life has been good for us and we've had many blessings come our way.  Next week will be truly an exciting week for us.  Jay will be re-enlisting and the kids and I will be attending the ceremony.  I can't wait to see him do this, we know its the right decision for our family.  It was a decision we made together, like all choices we make in life, and I support him to the fullest. 

Upcoming changes

A lot of things have been going on in our lives lately and things have been completely up in the air at the same time.  We're in for some big changes in our lives here in the next few months starting with Jay re-enlisting next month.  We are going for a career in the Navy and it of late its been a little stressful not knowing what was going to happen.  Due to flooding in TN we, along with the rest of the navy, got told that EVERYTHING was on hold.  Orders, C-schools, Advancement test results were all on hold.  That flood affected us because Jay has been working to get approval for a school where at the end of the course he would get to advance automatically. 

Well two days ago the good news started pouring in.  Jay got approved, through his command, for the C-school of his choice and we got word that he will get to re-enlist next month just like we planned.  This school is a huge opportunity for him and will do him a lot of good in his career.  We don't know exactly when he'll be going to school, but when he does go it will be for almost 3 months.  We couldn't be more excited for this move, even though it is almost 3 months of us being apart.  Once he is done with the school we'll know if we're extending with the Nimitz or going to another ship.  Doing this school requires that Jay stay on sea duty (being assigned to a ship) for 2 additional years.  We kind of want to stay with the Nimitz though that does mean going up to WA when they head up for dry docking later this year.

On top of these major changes in our family I've been doing some changes of my own.  I've known for some tme what I am meant to be doing with my life at this time, besides being a mom and wife, but of late have been hesitant to take that next step.  Not any more.  The fear and hesitation that prevented me from being willing to take the risks to say and do what I must is gone.  There are things going on in this country that I've seen coming for a while now, but stayed silent.  That silence is gone.  I have a duty and obligation to warn others of the things that are coming that will affect us all.  I am constantly gaining more knowledge and information as to whats coming, but I'm also taking the time to lear our history. 

Right now I'm doing all that I can to learn about the Founding Fathers and who these amazing men truly were.  On top of that I'm striving daily to learn what is coming and how to prevent it from happening.  Only with the truth will things be restored in this country the way they are supposed to be.  All I can speak is the truth with non-violence and not in anger.  It wont be an easy taks for me to take on, but I can not ignore the Lord or His purpose for me.  As long as I look to Him and seek out His help I know that the choices and words I will say in the weeks and months to come are what I am meant to say.  All I know right now is I have to do this and its going to be one amazing experience. 

Family Photos

Right before Jay came home from the deployment I ended up winning a drawing for a free photo shoot done by a fellow Navy Wife who is also a professional photographer.  The timing was perfect because we were already talking about getting some family photos done.  So a few weeks ago we went and had our famiy photos done.  They turned out amazing!  We also got a free cd of all of the photos so I picked a few of my favorites for here.

 This is one of our favorites.

 My favorite shot of us as a family.

 We also got some of just Jay and I, which is something we do each time we get a family shot done.

This one was taken just as we finished up.  The kids were such characters as usual.  Of course as usual they also did great with the whole thing.  I love the photos that we got done.

Mini Trip to Ut

A few weeks back we made a suprise trip to Ut for a baby blessing of our newest niece.  We didn't tell many people so it came as a suprise to most of the families that we were there.  It also happened to be the same weekend as my sister and grandpa had their birthdays so it was quite the fun filled weekend. 

 The trip to Ut as we were nearing Southern UT.

 Sunday Morning before the baby blessing.  Jay bought these two outfits in Hong Kong during his last deployment.

 Story time with Grandpa T.

 Story time with daddy

Our new little niece.  She was such a great baby all day long.

 Our 2 nieces the big sister and little sister.

 On Sunday after the baby blessing we went over to my folks for dinner.  It was for celebrating both Becca's and Grandpa's birthdays.  The kids just had to ask Becca to find the cat so they could torture (pet) her. 

Becca and Annabelle.  I think Becca's got a new friend.

The trip was great and really busy for us, but also something that Jay really wanted to do.  We're looking at possibly 2 more trips out to Ut later this year, if things work out the way we want them to.