Wife & Life: Choosing Not to Have Children.... Even When You Desperately Want Them

So, after two years of marriage, baby fever has set in in full swing.  With so many married couples having children, being pregnant or are trying to have kids, it's hard to not want to join them.  Especially with certain parents putting the pressure on!
To be honest, my marriage is amazing! And if it weren't, we probably wouldn't feel so ready to have children.  But the worst part is, we aren't having children because of me. As much as I want them and feel ready, I am just not at a point in my life where children are an option.  choosing to be in the Army has made that difficult.

Now, I am not saying women in the military shouldn't have children, because the Army does some amazing things to help take care of their children.  But as an officer, I know that my days can be incredibly long regardless of my intent to get out on time.  And the longer I stay in, the longer days I will work.  When you work 11-14 hour days, babies don't fit in well.  Ignore the whole not being able to sleep part (though that is a deterrent as well), by the time I get home, my baby would already be asleep.  I would rarely get time with my child and even when I did, I would be too exhausted to truly enjoy it.

And though I could get past all of this, because most days aren't that bad.  But joining the Army is a commitment.  So long as I am in the Army, I need to expect deployments.  To join the Army and hope to never deploy nor fight for your country is saddening.  Even if we weren't at war in Afghanistan (as soon we won't be), you never know when America's Army will be called upon again and as long as I am in the Army, I want to be ready and prepared for that moment.  And I couldn't be a woman who leaves my children and husband at home to go and fight a war.  My heart wouldn't be in it, and I owe it to my Soldiers to want to be there with them.

So, I plan to serve my four years and get out.  I figure as I am close to my contract being up, we will quit preventing children and shortly after start actually trying.  Then I will get out when I have our first child.  At that point, I will be a stay at home mom, work on my MBA and start my own business from home, but that will come in a later blog.

As for now, I will live vicariously through friends and family (and I really look forward to being an Aunt!)

Wife & Life: To Facebook or Not to Facebook

So, over a year ago now, I decided to deactivate my Facebook account.  To be honest, I didn't miss it at all.

My reasons were many and ones you have probably heard before. My top concern was privacy.  About a year ago was the final straw when I learned that stuff I had made private from my beginning on Facebook was available for everyone to see.  I had decided that I didn't want others to see things I was tagged in, since I cannot control what other people post or say.  I don't need to be associated with anything hateful or stupid or mean or whatever and instead of worrying about untagging myself and creating drama ("why did you untag yourself? We're not friends anymore. blah blah blah") I decided I would just make that private for only me to see and not have to worry about offending anyone.  Then I realized that somewhere in the five years I had had a Facebook account, all of that stuff went public, which wasn't a huge deal in itself.  But not knowing this, and having my settings changed without my knowledge, made me mad.

The truth is, Facebook has always played dirty.  And with beliefs like nothing is private anymore, its not surprising the way they deal.  But, that wasn't the only issue.  I am a relatively drama free person.  I like truthfulness and honesty, so backstabbing and infighting are sort of pet peeves for me.  And amongst friends, that isn't really an issue for me.  But in my family, this stuff is pervasive.  There is so much digging and trying to upset people and taking things personal that aren't.  And I was tired of that.

Two other smaller reasons included using Facebook to evade real social interaction (like Facebook stalking could make up for actual conversations) and the way people find themselves in trouble with work and everything else.

So, I still hate Facebook, and don't really miss it, so why am I blogging about it...? Because I find myself in a situation where I am going back.  As much as I hate what Facebook is about, there are definitely upsides.  Facebook makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family and does so like no other social network on the market.  And with a NTC rotation and a deployment coming up, I find that it will make keeping in touch much easier than trying to email everyone I want to stay in contact with.  Especially since I won't have a cell phone and quick texts are completely out of the question.  However, after I get back from Afghanistan and finish my block leave, I intend to deactivate my account once again.

I intend to continue blogging and using Facebook as a way to share my blog posts.  It will be easier to keep everything consolidated in one place and I want to continue using my blog to share longer posts with stories and anecdotes.  Plus, since I intend to leave Facebook again, I want to make sure I do most of my posting in a place I intend to keep.  But, I will use Facebook as a way to send personal messages and receive them in easy ways.  To cut down on drama, I will delete or block anyone who creates it.  For security reasons, I intend to make it so no one can tag me in anything. (Unfortunately, terrorists have Facebook too and they have used it in the past). &nbsp

So there it is, I am coming back to Facebook and I am sure my parents will be thrilled!

Health & Exercise: Climbing Pikes Peak

So, we finally did it! We hiked Pike's Peak.  And it was... it just was.  It was awesome and difficult and long and crazy and so much more.
Let me explain, Pike's Peak is one of many Colorado 14-ers (A mountain over 14,000 ft).  The difficulty with Pikes Peak is that it is the greatest altitude change in Colorado.  It gains ~7,300 ft in elevation from the start of Barr Trail and is almost 13 miles up.  The average person takes around 8 hours to complete it.

It is broken down by most hikers into fourths.  The first fourth is the second most difficult which sucks since that is the start of your hike. We started at 5:50 a.m.  (before the sun was up) and made it a point to stop and take breaks even though we had energy.  We didn't want to burn out.

The second third is like just walking through woods, super easy and it comes out at the halfway point, called Barr Camp.  This was where we did our fastest miles was really enjoyable.  We spent much of our time enjoying the beautiful White Aspens and their brightly colored leaves.  It was a perfect first day of fall.

The third fourth is the third most difficult.  It doesn't involve much climbing over rocks, but it was a steady grade up the whole time.  By that point, all you want is to hit the tree line and feel like you are close to the top, since you know you are only halfway.  The White Aspens started becoming more scarce, but we could look down the valleys at them.

 

The fourth part of the journey was just terrible.  We
still had over 2,000 ft in elevation to gain and it was all climbing over rocks and staring down gorges.

But once we got to the top, we decided that are joints wouldn't handle the decent well, plus it would take hours more.  Doing a marathon length hike sounded awful and we were already tired. So we decided to take the Cog Railway down to the bottom.

  

Ultimately, we hiked 13 miles up in 7 hours 23 minutes and burned somewhere over 3,000 calories.

Army: Deployment Update

I realized I haven't really explained my upcoming Army schedule.  So here it is:

View from our last FTX (preparation for NTC)

I will be deploying to the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, CA from the end of October to the end of November this year.  It is a chance to prepare for deployment before actually deploying.  My unit will be training for a more decisive action environment.  Our current deployments are more long term, where deploying units fall-in on already established FOBs (Forward Operating Base) and pick up where other units left off.  Our first week will be spent preparing for moving into "theater".  Then next two weeks we will be "in theater" where we conduct our operations.  Then we redeploy back to the "rear" (which is just where we will spend our first week), out process and then come back to Fort Carson.  That's the basics of what NTC is.  I am not allowed to bring a cell phone, but I am hoping to be able to continue to blog.  And even if I can't post online, I will write my blogs and just post them when I get back.

Then, I will go home to visit my family in Illinois in December while I am on block leave.  That will be my last chance to say good-bye to family and friends before deploying.

Early next year, I will deploy to Afghanistan.  There are two different bases I will likely be stationed at and both are pretty large.  But even that may change once we get there and see where we are needed most.  It is not atypical to get into the country and then move around.  Our mission is likely one of recovery.  After 11 years of war, a lot of Army stuff has been left behind in country.  Our job will be to help identify equipment that isn't on anyone's books and get it put back in our systems and send it back to the U.S. thus putting probably millions of dollars worth of equipment into the Army's books. We are supposed to be gone for about 9 months.  My goal is to post blogs with pictures weekly to help keep my family and friends up-to-date on everything that is going on.  

Life: Bringing Home a New Puppy!

So,  after a last minute decision, Kevin and I decided to buy a new puppy!

Lewis

We decided to get another puppy, in part, to keep our dog Hoeffer company.  While I am deployed, Hoeffer would have been quite lonely so we got him a friend.  He is a Havanese (just like our dog Hoeffer) which means he is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed.  So our house doesn't always smell like dog!

Hoeffer

His name is Lewis.  Let me explain the name: Hoeffer is named after Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  This is a tradition that started with my stepmom, Jill, and my Dad naming their Havanese Ravi, after Ravi Zacharias, who is a relatively well known Pastor.  Then my sister, Heather, got a Havanese named Piper after John Piper, another famous Pastor.  So Kevin and I wanted to continue the tradition and name our dog after famous pastor's we respected and at the time we got Hoeffer, Kevin had just finished listening to the audio book of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's biography.

Hoeffer and Lewis playing

When it came to picking Lewis' name we went through a lot of options.  Eventually we picked Lewis because of C.S. Lewis, who, aside from writing The Chronicles of Narnia, wrote some of the best works on God, Jesus Christ and the Bible.

Kevin and Lewis

So there it is.  I will add a picture of all of us soon!

Recipes: Easy Taco Dip

So this recipe, I pretty much made up on the fly.  It takes some time, but the amount of work required is minimal.

Ingredients:
1.5-2lbs Hamburger
2 packets of your favorite taco seasoning
2/3-3/4 c. water
1 Tbs garlic powder (I love garlic powder!)
1 jar your favorite salsa
1 can of diced tomatoes
20 oz cubed Velveeta
1 jalapeno
Tortilla chips

Directions:

Begin browning hamburger meat.

In a crockpot, add tomatoes, Velveeta, salsa (i prefer medium) and jalapeno.

Brown and strain hamburger.  Mix in taco seasoning and garlic powder and add water (use more or less based on amount of meat).  Bring to a simmer and add meat to crockpot.  Mix well.  Leave crock pot on low for a couple of hours at least until the cheese melts.  The amount of time it will take is based on how warm your crokpot it and how frequently you stir it.  But if you give it 1-2 hours by itself, it will be ready to serve!  

*If you don't like hot foods, you can get a mild salsa, mild taco seasoning, and no jalapeno

Recipes: Easy Peach Cobbler

This is a great one and always a hit! And just in time for peach season...

Instructions:
Prepare 3-4 cups of fresh/ frozen or canned fruit.  Drain frozen and canned. Just make sure the bottom of your 9-10" pie pan is covered but not overflowing. 

1c. flour                          
1c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1 egg  well beaten
Mix all this together with a fork.  It will be lumpy and partly dry. 

Dump over you fruit and level slightly with your fork.

Melt 1 stick of butter and pour over crumbs.

Now get a hand full of brown sugar and sprinkle on top.
 
Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes (when I use lots of fruit and a 10" pan, it can take as long as an hour). 
 
 The time can vary greatly depending on the amount of fruit. 
 The crumbs should be browned on top.

 
***A couple of suggestions for this one. I like using 8 souffle cups instead of a pie pan. If you use a pie pan and try to serve the dish warm, your cobbler will loose its shape and get all runny. The souffle cups make for perfect portion size and you can put a scoop of vanilla ice cream right on top and it will melt into the dessert. (Souffle cups can easily be bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond).

Second suggestion is just make sure the bottom of the pan is covered in fruit, but not layered in it. Especially if you use canned fruit. Otherwise the mixture will bubble over and create a big mess in your oven.

If you use canned fruit, buy the light syrup variety and rinse the peaches after straining makes for less of a mess.

A dash of cinnamon in the mix makes this so good!***

Health & Exercise: Yoga Update

So, after a week of doing yoga, I thought I would give a brief update.

I am already finding my flexibility improving.  Aside from missing a couple of sessions, I have been pretty good about staying consistent and I am already noticing an improvement.  Now, obviously, it hasn't been miraculous and the splits are still totally out of the question, but I can already feel myself being able to reach farther and stretch more.  I am also at a point of having both the Sun Salutation and Moon Salutation completely memorized.  Last week, I did 2 Sun Salutations and 1 Moon Salutation daily.  This week, I will do 3 Sun Salutations and 2 Moon Salutations daily and see how that goes.

After more work with my Parker, my massage therapist who does my trigger point massage, she says that my muscles are much shorter than they should be in some places.  That happens after lactic acid builds up (from improper stretching after exercise) and then calcifies.  This pushes muscles fibers out of the way and causes them to shorten from the tension.  As those muscles shorten and pull, it is going to pull on the opposite muscles too.  So, for instance, likely my issues started in my pectorals (the muscles in your chest).  As they shortened, they pulled my shoulders forward causing my aforementioned shoulder pain.  My shoulders no being properly aligned pulled on my back muscles and my back muscles pulled on my hips and neck.  

Thus, part of my therapy needs to be not only breaking up the lactic acid and increase circulation, but also stretching and lengthening my muscles.  This is going to make it so that my recovery lasts longer and my body heals properly.  There are many forms of exercise that increase flexibility and give a good stretch but I chose yoga for one reason. It's all stretching! I work out to build muscle and increase endurance but what I really needed was a good stretch and so that is what I am going to focus on.  And so far... so good!

Health & Exercise: A Journey to St. Mary's Falls

Today, Kevin and I decided to hike St. Mary's Falls.  Originally, we wanted to do Mt. Rosa which is about 11,500ft and a 12 mile total hike.  Unfortunately, dehydration and a lack of sleep last night had me waking with an unfortunate headache.  (I have noticed that it is more likely for me to have a headache with this combination of dehydration and not enough sleep.)  I went back to bed and when I woke up my headache was much more subdued.  It wasn't as bad as some of my headaches have been, but it was definitely enough to give us a later start and change our plans.



We decided to take the same route but only go half way up.  One of the reasons we chose to hike this mountain is that at the halfway mark you will find yourself in a beautiful canyon with a very peaceful waterfall.  Today, it was where we stopped for lunch and took a nice break.  We were still debating at that point if we would try to keep going up, but we decided that we were already tired from rushing the first three miles and we really didn't have time to climb up three more and then go 6 back down.

So I guess it just means we will have to make some adjustments to our plans.  Next week we will probably try Mt. Rosa again and then Pikes Peak in the next couple of weeks.  You never know when the weather on Pikes Peak is going to turn on you, so we need to try to hike it before October.  The high at the peak this time of year is in the low 50's.  So they really aren't too far from some serious snows.  After we hike Pikes Peak, we will probably go back to hiking the canyons while the leaves start turning pretty colors until the snow becomes really thick and then we will starting skiing again! I love Colorado!