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

latest happenings about all of us...

I can’t help but be a little sad at this time of year. So much change is going on. Some is very good and some is just typical change and it may be good for that family but it’s just once again the Marine Corps way of life. It’s always changing and evolving.

We aren’t going home for Christmas to see our families. It’s simply too hectic, stressful and a lot to have to handle in such a short amount of time. We decided to stay here but we’re sacrificing our normal routine of seeing our parents and siblings so that’s a little sad. We get to see our Marine Corps family which is always an awesome event!

We recently attended a Christmas party at a local country club honoring Marine Corps families which was very inspiring and emotional. We realize most Americans care about and support our men but seeing it firsthand is purely heartwarming and brings tears to my eyes every time. The unit Christmas Party and my friend’s unit Christmas parties were fun! It’s always great to see friends and coworkers we haven’t seen in a quite a while. My friend’s Air Wing Holiday party was absolutely amazing! The beautifully decorated hanger bay with the helicopters all around, kids’ bouncy, toys everywhere and all the different stations for people to do arts and crafts at was amazing! We loved it all!

On my birthday last weekend we threw a Christmas Party and played the White Elephant/Yankee Swap game among others. It was fun and we found out a lot about each other that night! LOL! The San Miguel’s brought games for all of us to play and it was hilarious! I swear we had almost every dessert known to man over here. If I see any more cookie dough in the near future it will be too soon. The pasta and the gumbo were great! I always make too much and even after giving away a lot of cookies we still have a lot at our house! LOL!

So here’s the latest on everyone out here. The good news first is that some of our closest friends the Doyle’s are proud owners of a house and new puppy! We helped them move so we’d know how to get to their house in case they cook dinner or throw a party! LOL! Jk. Thankfully the house isn’t too far away from Camp Pendleton so we can visit often and it is amazing and suits them perfectly! I really do love it and so does Anthony apparently he already picked out a sitting spot on the porch!

The Norris’ have been through a lot of trials and tribulations to say the least here in the past few weeks and I think they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. There are so many changes that have happened to them and so many more coming up but we just have to roll with the punches. We never know a lot of things that the Marine Corps has in store for us so a lot of things are ‘go with the flow’. This is the sum of their and our life right now and it can be discouraging at times. We have no real control of how our outcome will turn out and even though we want to stay in the Marine Corps may have a different view of our situation. 

We went to four different doctor appointments on Monday alone. It has been pretty crazy around here. We may be getting a new brace very soon and going through surgery. If any nerve surgery is going to work we need to do it in the next 8 weeks or so. We are just trying to get transferred to a Wounded Warrior unit who specializes in our situations and recovery which has taken longer than expected. We also need a lot of very important paperwork turned in and situated since its all on a very short time limit so that is pressing right now. If it isn’t one thing it’s another right? On a positive note; Anthony’s foot is twitching when he tries to move it! We didn’t know if that was going to happen before the surgery but it has! YEAH!

To top off all the craziness some of our family is moving! The San Miguel’s are moving in just a few hours and we don’t know what to do with ourselves. We didn’t think it was going to bother us and their moving on is just something that we take and deal with like anything else with the Marine Corps. It has bothered us though and we are bummed. Their moving will affect and change almost everything we do around here. We support each other in every way possible not only because the husbands were pretty close friends at work but we genuinely all love hanging out with each other. When Cody had football games or Jackie wanted to have us over or anything; we’d be there. If Anthony had an awards ceremony, when he came home from Afghanistan, when I needed him to coach the wives football team or if any of us needed anything we would all be there to support each other. It’s very sad to see friends go and they are both two very special people to us. They’ve always been there and we always will be as well. We’ll see if I cry my eyes out on Friday when we go see them off. I told Cody today; what are we going to do without Jackie’s jokes and hilarious statements she doesn’t realize are hilarious until after she’s said them?! It won’t be the same around here without them but we’ll always have a room for them if they want to ever make the trip to SoCal to visit! They are both going to be missed greatly!

Hope everyone has a great time this weekend! Enjoy your holiday and time alone with your family and friends. Slow things down a little, try not to get frustrated and upset over everything, take a deep breath and just look at your family. How hilarious they are, how they bicker over the silly things, how they make each other laugh. Enjoy it all now and memorize everything..people come and go very quickly from our lives but we cling onto the memories they give us. Thank goodness for memories! I can only hope my Dad and Granny Little are hanging out with my other relatives who’ve passed just watching us with smiles on their faces proud of all of us. Remember those in harm’s way, who are injured and have fallen. Dangit I am crying now! Semper Fi!

Merry Christmas ya'll!

Marine Christmas Poem---by me :) a little silly, a little serious..

Tis’ the time of year yet once again

When we soon gather our family and friends

To round the tree with laughter and hugs

And to wish this season never ends

Please this Christmas if you will

Say a prayer and have a silent moment

For the men and women in harm’s way, who are injured and the fallen

And also for their families who stand by their hero’s and always will

We all are a proud breed and never ask for much

Yet our men are out there fighting so that you can Christmas shop and such

So please be patient these days with those you zoom past

For their husbands and sons maybe in places civilians can’t imagine where their lives pass before them very fast

All these men serve and sacrifice without hesitation

With pride, dignity and a very humble obligation

To the citizens of the United States

I care not your political stance;

Just know that we all owe these people admiration so very great in advance

After getting on that plane many of these men and women may not be coming back home…

So love a little stronger to your family this time of year
Since some Marine wives and moms are very much feeling all alone and wish not for presents only for their Marine's voices to hear...

So this Marine Corps Christmas I think of the guys in the sandbox Grunts and all
I want to wish them a Merry Christmas and good night

I wish for many secure and humorous moments and a watchful eye from the man on their left and right

Be aware Marines but even more important be accurate and observant

And when the time comes I wish them sweet respite and a care package from home and many long lost ‘cousins’…

For the fallen Marines who have gone to be with the angels in Heaven

Their story is of heroic tales Americans should always remember

We all owe a lot to each and every Hero

So the least we can do is show our support and pride

Through this devastating 2010, during 2011 and on and especially every 25th of December.