Max, Penny, & Maple

It is true what they say: there is never enough time.  I am one that will focus on time in an abstract way such as, "in two weeks this stress will be behind me", or "three more days until vacation".  It is always on the forefront of my mind, but never the actual focus.  

This time, there just wasn't enough time and there would never have been enough time.  We lost Max on December 10, 2023; two days shy of his 10th birthday.  We woke up that morning and took a walk like we always did, and after the walk he acted a little strange.  Given the fact that he had ACL surgery January 4, 2023, Max acting strange post walk was not unusual.  Sadly, we wouldn't know until it was too late, but a tumor had ruptured on his spleen.  

I often joked that Max was my support dog as no one understood my moods quite like my boy, but it was true.  After we let him go it felt like I was off balance for days, my constant was gone and I was feeling overwhelmed by grief.  He had helped me through 3 deployments, countless field times, 5 moves, fertility struggles, teaching, school, the works.  His loss felt like a tangible entity, a companion that I was not happy to have.  Penny would sit on the couch and just look sad and to be honest, Phil and I weren't much better.  We arrived at my parents house for Christmas looking like the lost souls we felt like. 

But, the saying, "time heals all wounds" is also true and we began healing day by day, little by little.  After she got to spend time with my parents dogs, it was clear that Penny really needed a friend.  Penny is not meant to be an only dog, she has never been one, and that adjustment was not going smoothly.  I probably overwhelmed her with my love and devotion, but what can you do?  

We brought Maple home January 27, 2024 and boy what a fun time this has been! She is the sweetest, cuddliest, goofiest little girl around and we just love her to pieces.  She gets into enough mischief and butt wiggles so big, that I think Mr. Max has been dropping a few hints to help her handle her new humans ;)

She adores Penny and we are in a constant state of canine chaos in our house and I could not be more grateful.  Thinking of Max always gives me a pang (that whole time thing again), but sweet little Maple is definitely helping all of our hearts heal and love fully again.

Doggie Daycare, Weather, & End of School

It is finally that time:

SCHOOL ENDS THIS WEEK!!!!

I am not excited.....or at least not too much ;)

Penny is losing her mind over it too clearly:

Speaking of school, I am the club sponsor for our Military Child Club and we had our end of the year event!  We had a formal Dining In for the students complete with dinner and a guest speaker.

Phil was not only my date (and doesn't he look handsome!), but he also helped me configure the script, the program design, and he also MC'd the event.  I am lucky he is on my team!

We have a doggie daycare in town and so the puppies go play with their friends when we both have nighttime events.  I love that this place cares for my puppies like I do, they get to play, and they are tired when they get home:

The four of us sat on the couch in companionable silence after we all got home from the Dining In...it was lovely.

It is storm season here and to be honest, this is my least favorite part of living in Oklahoma.  I loved the movie Twister (still do) and that is the closest I ever really wanted to get to a tornado...yet here I am, sweating through storm season and coping by eating Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Oreos (if you haven't tried them, that needs to change immediately...or don't do it because you won't be able to stop!).  As I prep for the upcoming storms this week, I realized that I have no idea why Bill and Jo get such a kick out of chasing the twisters, or why people sit on their porch and WATCH THE TORNADO....maybe I am not cut out to be an Okie after all.

I hope everyone has a great week!!!

Anyone else have a guilty snack like my Oreos??

Renewed, Refreshed, & Ready

It has been an impossibly long time since I have written and I have no idea where to start!  It feels as though I am beginning again.  Life in Oklahoma has been very good; most people do not like getting stationed here, but honestly, it has been nothing but great to Phil and I!  The people we have met here have been such a blessing!

I had mentioned last time that I was training for a marathon, and I conquered the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon last April!

First Full is in the books!  No immediate plans for another one at this time....

However, Penny and I enjoy getting some miles in together:

Penny is always pretty smiley when we get our runs in!

Max, while he enjoys walks and wrestling with his sister, is currently very content in his favorite place:

It is so satisfying to tucker out my puppies...not sure why, but it always makes me feel so accomplished!

I had the privilege of watching my husband take battery command in February:

That man never ceases to make my heart explode with love and pride!

Those are some of the major highlights, due to my extra long hiatus, there are too many to really fit into one post.  I enjoyed taking a break from blogging, it became something "extra" I was trying to fit into my schedule and I needed to let it go for a bit.  The distance did make the heart grow fonder as I have found that I miss writing and do enjoy the creative outlet it provides.   

Anybody else feel as though they need to take breaks from things to gain fresh perspective again?

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! :)

Friends, Leaks, & Life

People often say, "When it rains, it pours" and that was definitely the case here in Oklahoma for the past week.  Rain fell out of the sky every single day.  It was insane!  I of course was not super prepared because I did not have rain boots or a rain jacket (that was rectified this weekend...I now have amazing Hunter Rain Boots!).  All was well until I woke up to this disaster at 5am....

I was not excited to say the least, and Phil was still out of town at that particular moment.  Isn't that always the way?  He leaves and everything decides to start a mutiny and add chaos to my life.

But, we are getting that assessed on Monday (Phil is back and scheduled that appointment, woohoo!) and it has stopped raining (so far) so it can actually get fixed!  You cannot fix a roof leak while it's still raining, makes sense right?  It only stopped raining today...

Max was super stressed about the rain:

As you can see, he was completely beside himself about the leak in the roof...

I am super excited that my friend Maddy and her husband are moving here to Oklahoma!  They are getting stationed here and will be in the same brigade as Phil! Maddy and I met at a Family Fun Day in Colorado Springs and have been besties ever since! So I am super excited that we are going to be reunited!  You can check her blog out here!

I am super proud of Phil as he did the Bone Frog Obstacle Course Run while he was home and took home first place in his age group and placed 9th overall!

He and I are signed up for a 10k race next weekend (probably should start running a little for that...) and he is searching for obstacle course runs for us to do as a couple....definitely need to continue hitting the gym to find my upper body strength.

I am so glad he was able to go home and visit his family, but boy am I happy to have my man back!  Not just because he had sweet tea waiting for me when I got out of work/practice on Friday, or that he is meeting with the maintenance guy this week, or that he's taking Max to the groomer on Tuesday (he is pretty amazing!!), but because it just feels awesome to be able to go on our "adventures" and have him by my side (and driving) like normal

I like nothing better than to just ride around with him and Max enjoying the day :)

Note sweet tea cup...addiction is still holding strong.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! Happy first day of October!

Does anyone else have any experience with obstacle course runs?  I think I will actually need to put in some training time for those...


Linking up with Bianca!

Reflections, Musings, & Thoughts

As summer comes to a rapid close, I always like to reflect on summer: what I've done, what I forgot to do, and what I will miss most.  I do not sit still very well, or at all really, so I am very excited for school to start; too much summer is not a good thing!  Unfortunately for Phil, I also cannot sit still for very long over the summer either...this usually ends up with us going on a sweet tea run at various points in the day (addiction still holding strong)

Phil and I actually got to spend the entire summer together!  This is a concept that was completely unheard of!!  In our almost five years together, we have finally managed to do summer fun activities: we went hiking, walking, boating, on rides, spent our first Fourth of July together, moved into a house, enjoyed the RV, played corn hole, etc.  It was so awesome!  With that, I also made him take a crazy amount of pictures with me!  He was such a good sport:

With school starting for me and his training coming to an end, I find myself a little sad to let all of this time together shift, but such is life and life is actually pretty awesome.  He will go to his new unit in October and the crazy long work days and the questions of deployment will start again, but this summer has been what we have both needed: a chance to relax and enjoy being together!

And enjoy our energetic, high strung, crazy dog!  

I feel rested, relaxed and ready to take on the Middle Schoolers this Friday (yikes!) and am excited to see what comes next!  Life after all, really is the most incredible ride.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! Phil and I are celebrating our 2 year Wedding Anniversary next month and he will (in theory) be here to celebrate with me this time!  

Does anyone have any suggestions on good anniversary gifts????  Help would be greatly appreciated! 

Linking up with Bianca!