Anthony update...

Well, Anthony has been transferred to the Wounded Warrior Battalion finally. This new opportunity should be a very beneficial change since WW is able to help us in more ways with many different resources which are specific to our needs whenever needed.

Once he gets better and can run a PFT (Physical Fitness Test) or a MPFT (Modified PFT) he’ll be able to reenlist and do another 4, 8, 16, or 20+ years! We’re very anxious as you can imagine for when these series of events arrive but for now it’s Hurry Up and Wait! :)

The latest big news is that Anthony has been able to twitch his foot to the inner left a little bit and the nerve doc said the next step will probably be the curling of his toes in a month or so. The nerve only grows about an inch a month so it can be painfully slow but it is all promising and inspiring. 

At the moment we’re waiting for our appointment for a 2nd opinion appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I’ve found out very recently that this hospital is quite a bit like the television series House. When I called to schedule his appointment they asked for his records and once the specialist reviews his records then they may or may not offer him an appointment. Thankfully they want to see us so we’re preparing for that big event! The receptionist said at that moment they were having a warming trend and it would get up to 20* there. I laughed pretty loud but got nervous when I realized she was serious and then she followed it up with the low there would be about 5-10*. I was so pumped up on adrenaline from getting this appointment I didn’t realize the matter of fact in her voice until afterwards. So 10 minutes after I hung up with her I am on WeatherChannel.com and pacing my house with laptop in hand. We’ve never experienced the cold and snow like what I am researching about Minnesota! What are we going to do?!?! The lady said to bring hats and layer up. Okay well I can do the layers with the thermal underwear somewhere in storage but HATS?! As ya’ll know we’re from Texas, I have a multitude of sizes and shapes for baseball hats, cowboy hats, and maybe even a hard hat or two. Thank goodness for friends’ advice in helping with this and that are pitching in their winter gear to help us out and keep us WARM! I would be lost and frozen without these ladies! So I am thinking the pictures will be hilarious! I took a virtual tour of the Mayo Clinic and it says they have underground tunnels they call subways in order to get around over there without going outside so that makes me freak out even more! Thanks virtual tour! I’m assuming there will be much more snow than that small city on top of the Los Angeles Mountains or Big Bear Mountain. Oh goodness this will be an interesting adventure! LOL!

Anthony has a really awesome brace right now it goes up to his knee to support it and helps his walking ability. He got it during Thanksgiving and they told him to not worry about pushing it to its limits since he wouldn’t be able to break it. Well he has proven them wrong four times by breaking it in different places by running. The doctor who made it is one of the best in San Diego so I’m thankful for his ability to help Anthony get back to almost 100%. He actually sent in the joint to the last break Anthony did on the brace to show the manufacturer what happened and they said it hasn’t ever happened on a person and only once or twice on a compressor machine. Anthony had the biggest head that day and we now refer to him as the Terminator!

After the Minnesota trip we’ll head to San Antonio, Texas to get him a running brace. We aren’t sure what this brace will be able to do since it is a study the Army is doing. If all goes well he will have the other brace for daily wear and the new one specifically for running. Then maybe we won’t have the issue of him breaking his current brace. The doctor who made Anthony’s current brace said that the only thing he can think of is that the Army is trying to develop in their studies could be some sort of mechanical device or motor onto a brace so it can replace the two or three muscles his nerve signals aren’t connecting to. This will be motivating to see. The only catch for us is that the Army’s study is 2-4 weeks long so that would mean we would have to take the girls with us doing home study. Our family is only about 3 hours away from San Antonio in Houston so it will be just the best medicine for us to see familiar faces in familiar places. We get homesick from time to time so the BBQ, my mom’s potato salad and a highway full of Chevrolet trucks will make me a happy girl at this point. We also will get to see Jackie and Cody who have just gotten their contract orders out of the Marine Corps and don’t live too far away from San Antonio. It will be great to see them! After these two trips we’ll head back home to have the nerve surgery and begin recovery. We wish for the best but if it doesn’t work then at least we know with this brace he can still run and jump and work at getting back to being the best Marine I know he is! Let me say that for what we've been through Anthony has shown great composure and strength in the face of nothing but stress, frustration and red tape nonsense. It makes me more motivated in being his advocate to these doctors and specialists to help him get to where he wants to be. Get some Magneto!!!

Big Bear Mountain 2011

Gaby came up with the idea that we should go and see the snow.  It can be challenging to get our schedules to mesh but was very thankful that we could make it happen!  We’d never been to the mountains here before and never saw snow like we were about to see.  Gaby had been to Big Bear Mountain before so we picked a weekend and found a beautiful little cabin that fit all of us.  We crammed all of our stuff into my truck and started on the 3 hour drive!  The sights on the way there are pretty bland.  Not too much to see other than the change of climates by going from the Pacific Ocean to hilly inland to desert to the mountains.  It is true that living in Southern California you can go from Snowboarding to Surfing in one day which is pretty awesome. Big Bear is absolutely gorgeous!  I didn’t know if my old truck was going to get up there since it is older than my oldest child but it was fine, we didn’t get stuck in the snow or on the mountain incline!  This was another intense learning experience as far as driving conditions for me.  My instincts were to just keep the truck in the middle of the road as best as possible.  Gaby’s husband is from the North so he knows how to drive where there is ice and snow probably better than anyone in the truck!  I don’t know why I didn’t have him drive but I hear him tell me from the backseat that I should watch for the ice that builds up on the side of the road which can sometimes be black ice which is bad and not always seen.  WHY did he tell me this while I was on my way up and just past an elevation sign of 4500 feet!?!  Anyways, after some white knuckle driving at 10 and 2 we made it safely up this mountain.  I am becoming jack of all trades with this driving in different climates thing and pretty stoked about it. I wonder if I can use that on my resume or figure out a way to bring it into every important conversation from now on.

We weren’t at the cabin more than 10 minutes before snowballs were being thrown.  All of us were all out there in it and played for quite a while before we wanted to venture out a little bit.  A local bait shop clerk said that there was a hill close enough so the kids could sled for free.  We took them to do that for a little bit and they had a lot of fun!  Anthony even went down the hill!  The Sizzler was decided as the place to eat dinner.  Let me tell you they make it seem pretty glamorous and awesome on Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby but it wasn’t as great as we thought it was going to be.  In Texas steak is generally the size of the plate and at this Sizzler it looked more like a slice of bacon!  No seriously it was and I was like WOW okay and immediately knew we weren’t ever going back and definitely weren’t going to be walking billboards for this restaurant.  The salad and my baked potato were the best part of the dinner!  It was highway robbery for us for that small amount that we ate.

The next morning we got up, ate at IHOP then set off to find a place to fish.  Anthony was hell bent on this one activity so I couldn’t withhold him from doing what he loves and tries to share with the kids.  So we find a good spot on the lake that doesn’t looked completely iced over and pretty away from a lot of tourists like ourselves.  We wouldn’t want the loud noises to scare away the fish!  Well let me tell you that I don’t think noise was an issue that day because any fish in that lake are probably frozen for the winter!  Anthony and Josh had to throw rocks on the surface to break the ice so they could cast their lines in the water.  Even when they did they didn’t always hit the spot where the ice was broken up so the lure would glide along the surface until they were able to drag it to the open spot! Hilarious for us wives!  So they’re ice fishing now! LOL!  These men were serious about this fishing situation apparently!

Gaby and I took pictures of the area, she made a snowman and we both got stuck in the deep snow a few times.  It’s very strange because it all looks the same on the top and when you go to step it can be solid or allow you to sink in deep without notice so after about 5 times of sinking all I could do was laugh.  We only stayed one night but it was a fun and event filled weekend.  It is something that I can say we did on the spare of the moment but it wasn’t hectic or stressful or planned really in any way. It was nice to spend time with family and the kids got to do stuff they’ve never done before.  All we have is each other and Gaby is a big part of me being able to be me here.  She is one of the few Marine wives whom I’ve gained a lot of respect and adoration for these past few years and have come to consider like a sister after all we’ve been through together.  The whole point is enjoy the little things in life and make friends along this journey because they'll always stick with you as best they can.  They are a large part of what keep us motivated to be here and be the best we can be for our families.  Thank goodness for good Marine friends & especially Marine wives like her!

Afghanistan 2011...

Well our friends and some very close people which we consider family recently found out their deployment schedule has been altered to have them headed to Afghanistan in a few short months. Personally I'm apprehensive and nervous as any loved one would be whenever finding out this kind of news. 

After Anthony and I have both talked about the subject we’ve come to the conclusion that it is what it is, he wishes he could go with his brothers (typical Marine) and we will always be around to help with whatever the wives or Marines need to get through this battle ahead. I told Anthony it is going to be extremely hard for me to not be 100% in the Family Readiness program this time around so I will help where I can via MarineParents.com through forums and chatrooms, Facebook pages, and my personal emails. I am sure that there will be Town Hall Meetings, Meeting Minutes posted online, Seminars, and other information passed on through the Battalion Facebook page but I know not everyone has a Facebook page and sometimes even internet access. 

I do know that the greatest thing that my families always had was each other though. Last few deployments together we have created an outstanding web of information that because of dedicated wives and parents have grown to include families, friends and supporters nowhere near Camp Pendleton. I do hope this connection continues since everyone will need this level of support now more than ever. We want to help put together care packages, buy these guys the best socks from Covert Threads and any other gear or comforts from home they’ll need. 

We’ll be at the send off and homecoming events for the guys and support for the parents and wives as well. If it’s only for picture takers and huggers we’ll be there. We will be here to keep our families spirits as high as possible to try and ease any tension and anxiousness. Let us know if we can help with any advice such as postal regulations, deadlines for special dates, addresses, care pkg ideas, the latest innovative gear, battalion events, ect.

I encourage everyone to cherish this time together and make as many happy moments as possible before these guys leave our great country to do the hardest jobs known to man in some of the worst conditions imaginable.  Take care of yourself and take care of each other...

Sacramento for the New Year!

I hope everyone had very blessed past few weeks! It has definitely been a roller coaster of emotions, expectations, and events on this side! We didn’t do too much for our Christmas. We stayed at home and did our own thing then went to the movies to watch True Grit and Gulliver’s Travels. True Grit by the way was as good as it was going to get without John Wayne in it. Anthony and I liked it and it was pretty close to the original one.

We decided on a whim to head to Sacramento to see family for the New Year. Overall the trip was fun and we had a great time! The weather didn’t cooperate and it rained almost the entire time but it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone nonetheless. Sometimes California can be wetter in some months than others and also I hear (now that we are home) that we are in an El Nina climate so it will be an interesting next few months. We left rainy and windy Oceanside at 0430 on the Thursday before New Year's to head up the I-5 North; we stopped only 3-4 times and made record time by getting there around 1130! It was a quick trip, I was psyched about the drive and I couldn't believe it was so fast! It was almost identical to traveling to Texas except the gas stations are a lot higher priced and there are less cow farm smells. I found out along the way that there is this one huge mountain that goes on and on and weaving in and out of these huge inclines. As I continued up this massive thing the thermometer on the rental car continues to decline. The kids were oohing and pointing because there was snow just a few hundred yards away from them. I noticed I was about at a half of a tank and so I decided that we should stop since I haven’t ever made this drive and don’t know when I’ll be able to stop again. At this point I didn't know if we’d ever get out of this mountain! It seemed like forever but I saw a sign for a city called Gorman and stopped at a Shell station. On the dash it said it was 27* outside and I am wondering whether we should get out to use the restroom or should we wait until it’s warmer on the other side of the mountain. I knew the dog wasn’t going to get out in that weather so I left him there in the car, open the door to step out and almost bust my arse getting out of the car trying to stand up!!! OHHHH MAN! Okay so I couldn't believe this country girl almost ate it hard on very slippery ice!!! REALLY! UGH! I know I’m not in Kansas anymore. Oh well Anthony thought it was funny! He'd already gotten out of the car but I didn’t want him to slip and hurt himself though. We got in the building and the attendant graciously informed us that we were NOT out of the mountain and not even to the summit just yet!!! I knew we had to get out of that cold ass place as fast as possible! HA HA!

Sacramento is beautiful! It has a lot of history and one way streets! LOL! We had a lot of great food and I learned a few things! For instance, who knew about these buildings called thrift stores and did not tell me about them and how awesome they can be for interesting and unique things?!?!! Also, I’ve thrown and gone to pretty decent garage sales but apparently I’m not going to the right ones to get the right stuff! We just great time and enjoyed seeing everyone for the New Year! It was too quick of a trip so we’ll be going back very soon! We didn't get to go by Travis Air Force Base to check out their base or even go to Oakland, San Francisco or anywhere where Man vs. Food went! A friend also told me that in San Fran there is a Marine Corps hotel that gives deep discounts for active duty so that would be awesome to just get pictures of!

Getting back from our visit on 01/02/11 was a completely different story! Coming back we knew the weather still wasn’t going to be the best of conditions so we bought snow chains and had blankets and food in case we got stuck or had to sleep in our car. We drove on the I-5 South until we saw a sign that changed our plan of action. At Coalinga about 2 hours away from the massive mountain (about half way home for us) one of those large “Weather Alert” signs displayed that the Grapevine aka the Los Angeles mountains was closed! So we called his Aunt in Sacramento, who’d been tracking our progress and there if we needed her assistance, to let her know the latest development. We agreed with her that it might be best to spend the night and gather a new game plan. The trick was finding a place to stay at. I was almost positive that everyone on the congested I-5 had the same idea as we did and so I wasn’t very hopeful that we’d get a bed for the night. Well, thankfully I was wrong! Good ol’ Motel 6 was vacant and we were able to get our next plan together. We decided that even though we were off of the JCT 198 that it would kind of be back tracking so we would try to go further down the I-5 to the JCT 41. It wasn’t something that I was happy about considering that I’d never driven this road and didn’t know what to expect on top of the fact that just fear of the unknown can be stressful when driving with some of the most important 2 and 4 legged people you know in the car! Nonetheless it had to be done so here we go on the road again like Willie Nelson at 0430 again the next morning. Surprisingly there was no traffic and not even really any rain to slow us down so I was almost overly optimistic! After about 30 minutes on the I-5 South I see the exit for the JCT 41 and exit. I saw lots of lights, gas stations, restaurants and even cars. I continue on the JCT 41 which is only a two lane road and slowly but surely everything starts to disappear. I see even less lights and less gas stations, less restaurants and only the one set of brake lights in front of me. I realize that I am driving up a large hill of some sort but cannot see anything really because it is pitch black! No street lights, highway lights, or anything oh and I notice going up this great incline that there are NO shoulder guards or even a real shoulder on this very narrow stretch of road! JUST GREAT! Just when I thought it couldn’t get more nerve racking on this unknown road I start seeing upcoming signs. The first was “High winds” which wouldn’t be too bad if I would have been in the day time able to see the oncoming car and descending drop off to the left and right of the road but I’ve dealt with those conditions before so no biggie. Then I saw “Flooded” and I thought okay well that’s promising. I don’t know if it was a sign left over from the previous rains or if it is a caution to watch out for huge puddles that I couldn’t see if I wanted to because it was completely dark! The next one was “Dust Storms”. This was when I realized how insane I was for driving on an unknown road to me so early in the morning for the first time ever. I told Anthony to start keeping track of them because honestly where were we that we could possibly encounter all of these weather situations at once! We then came upon “Falling Rocks” which was another AWESOMEEEEEEE in my book because once again I couldn’t see said ROCKS falling from who knows where! One of the last I remember was this amazing obstacle course looking sign. I had never seen anything like it and felt like I was in one of those arcade games playing the car game in the Indy 500! That was a trip that we will never forget coming back that unknown and mysterious way. I feel more confident in my abilities now and will be looking forward to our next adventure very soon! It’s always good to experience or learn something new but hopefully we’ll have a little more time to better prepared next time. We’ll let you know how the next trip goes!

The Marine Corps Wife poem...

The Marine Corps Wife

By: Billy Bagget; a retired Marine who wrote this for his wife in the 50's while on duty

No stripes on her arm, but she's no boot

A squared away gal who's really quite cute

She takes her order's as a real "salt" should

And takes care of her job as a good Marine would

She want be promoted, though she deserves to be

She's happy with the life the Marine Corps gave me

For the years to come and throughout her life

She'll proudly bear the title of "Marine Corps Wife"

Baby Birth Marine Corps Orders...

Sorry it has been a while..holidays! LOL! I found this and thought it was too cute not to post! It would be super cute framed and put in the baby's room..For all my moto prego friends..enjoy! LOL!

From: Chief Angel
To: Private (Insert Baby's Name)
Subj: BIRTH; ORDERS FOR
Ref: (a) NAVMED6320/20

1. In accordance with the reference, you will proceed and report to Naval Hospital in (Camp Pendleton), California for further assignment to (husband's name and rank) and (wife's name) herein after referred to as Father and Mother for duty as on.

2. Your duties will include, but not be limited to sleeping, eating, crying, wetting, and being lovable.

3. You will initially report to your Mother at (time of birth) on (date of birth) and will make yourself available as soon as possible for inspection by your Father. Your height and weight limits for reporting for duty are established as (length of the baby) and (weight of the baby)

4. No uniform or baggage is authorized or permitted in your travel to Naval Hospital in Camp Pendleton, California. Initial issue will be made prior to your Mother's viewing. Supplemental and 782 Gear will be issued at Marine Corps Exchange upon the presentation of these Orders.

5. Upon completion of your temporary duty at Naval Hospital in Camp Pendleton, California you will proceed to your permanent address at (address) for duty.


By Direction