She's Walking!!

I am behind on blog posts and will try to catch up as soon as I have time. For now here is a short video of Bryanna walking. She took her first steps at 11 months exactly and has progressed to this.

Its Been 2 Years!

2 years ago today I was sealed to my wonderfully Amazing best friend in the Las Vegas Temple and we began our own version of Happily Ever After. I have to say that I feel so blessed to have met and married my match. Bryan is everything I could have hoped for and more as a husband to me and father to Bryanna. My life never had as much joy and happiness as I have had in the last 2 years. I tell Bryan all the time that he spoils me because he keeps surprising me with gifts out of the blue. He is so thoughtful and caring and takes such good care of Bryanna and I even when he is away from us. I just wanted to publicly express my Love and Appreciation for my wonderful husband and let him know how much I Love and Care for him. He means the world to me and more. I am excited to be reunited with him after him being away for training and anxiously await his return.

I LOVE YOU BRYAN ROOK !! Happy Anniversary My Sweet Knight In Shining Armor. I look forward to many more wonderful years spent by your side.

Eternally Yours,

Anna

North Carolina Here We Come!

I am long overdue on updating the blog. I am sorry It has been a little hectic with me trying to be Super Woman and do everything by myself. As some of you know we found out that we are being stationed at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina. We are so excited for this new adventure we are about to embark on. I am excited because I have never been to the East Coast and I have always wanted to Travel. We will be driving there which is about 2344 miles away from where we live here in Vegas. Since we found out I have been making lots of plans, I cleaned out our storage unit and spent a few weekends at my Dad's house reboxing and organizing everything. I had to go through a lot and evaluate whether or not some stuff was worth taking all the way to North Carolina. It is a lot of work to do all by myself while keeping Bryanna out of trouble. I am very grateful to my sisters and nephew who were very nice to me and let me sleep in a few times while we were spending the night. It was very much appreciated. On top of all this I am trying to finish a blanket that I started crocheting a while ago for Bryanna and I just finished making her a tutu....plus I really want to make matching PJ pants for the three of us for Christmas. Didn't I say I was trying to be Super Woman? I have a lot I need to get done and want to get done. Plus after I got back from Bryan's graduation I read the whole Harry Potter series for the first time ever. Those books were soo good and kept me up way past my bedtime for lots of nights. Now that I have most of what I wanted to get done accomplished I should have more time for blogging. I promise that when we move to North Carolina I will blog more often since we will be going exploring a lot. I am also excited to go to North Carolina because that is where some of my Ancestors are from. How cool is that? I plan on going grave stone hunting and trying to find their gravestones. Does that sound creepy to you? Another plus is that we will only be 2 hours away from the beach. I predict there will be lots of weekend trips to the beach in our future. We do not know the exact day that we are moving yet. We did know and then Bryan got approved to stay in Vegas for 12 days and be his recruiters assistant before we leave. He is still waiting on getting his orders which I am hoping he gets real soon since he graduates on Tuesday and can't leave until he has them. I want my hubby back! It has been really difficult without him but I believe that I have handled it rather well. I am just ready for us to be reunited as a family and in our own home. I need to be a little more patient I guess. These last fews days seem to be suddenly going by really sloooow. Well I better get my patootie to bed it is past my bedtime.

Texas and Air Force Boot Camp Graduation

Bryan did it! He graduated Boot Camp on August 14th. On the 11th I waited all day for a phone call and never received one which according to Bryan and I's previous arrangement meant that no phone call means he passed. So I didn't have to change my flight and I called the hotel on base to see if I could get a room. I had to wait until 3 days before he was graduating to book a room. They said that they had a room available for Wednesday and Thursday night but none for Friday but that they would find a place for me. To stay on base at the Inn was a huge price difference...Lets see 27 dollars a night compared to 60 dollars a night off base which one to choose? Duh the one on base...lol. So I booked it. I finished packing and got everything all ready. I figured Bryan would call me on Wednesday to let me know what flight he was going to be in so I would know where to look to find him. He called me at 6:30 am on Wednesday he scared me a little because he said that he didn't pass on Tuesday, and then he said that he had just barely passed moments ago. He said that on Tuesday he was off by 6 sit ups and they let a group of them retest the next day and he passed. It was music to my ears. I asked him what flight he was going to be in and he said he didn't know yet that he had to go pack up all his stuff and move to his new dorm. I got off the phone with Bryan and took a shower and got Bryanna all ready to go and then we left for the airport. We left a little early and it was a good thing we did because when we got to the airport we had to wait in line for 45 minutes. My sister in law Cecily was going to go through security with me to help me out but we didn't plan on waiting in line for so long so we didn't put enough money in the meter. So I went through security by myself which wasn't so bad there was a nice TSA employee that helped me with everything and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I bought a bottle of water for Bryanna's bottle so I could give it to her at takeoff. While I was waiting at the gate I met a nice couple that offered me help if I needed any. The plane ride was amazing. Bryanna slept for the first 20 minutes and then was wide awake. She did really good until the last 25 minutes or so she wanted to get down and crawl which she couldn't do. I forgot to put my gum in the diaper bag so I didn't have any available and my ears felt like they were going to explode. When I got off the plane in Texas the humidity hit me hard. I felt sticky and icky all of a sudden and weighed down. I had to go outside to wait for the shuttle to take me to the rental car place. My plane had gotten in at 5pm and by the time I finally had the rental car, GPS hooked up and getting on the road it was about 6:15 I think. As soon as I got on the road and was driving to get on the road it started raining. It wasn't just a little sprinkle. It was drizzling like crazy. I quickly learned that driving in Texas when it is raining is a nightmare especially when I don't know my way around. I went in cirlces listening to the GPS trying to tell me where to go and then I just kinda gave up and parked on the side of the road in a parking lot. I called the hotel to make sure I was still going to have a room and they assured me I had till midnight. I told them at the rate I was going I wouldn't be there until then. I sat in the car with Bryanna for about 20 minutes praying that the rain would stop and that I could get to Lackland. Then I changed the GPS to avoid all freeways and highways. I drove out of the parking lot and turned onto a street. The GPS then let me know I was heading in the right direction. It was the direction I was going in to begin with and the dumb GPS kept telling me to turn around earlier. I started feeling a lot better when I saw that I was getting closer to Lackland. I finally arrived outside the gate of Lackland at about 8:45ish. Except it was the wrong gate. I swear I drove around Lackland 20 times before I finally found the stupid gate that had the visitors center. Lackland is Huge! I went inside the visitor center to get my pass and I won't say how irritated I was at the person that was working there who treated me like a moron. I finally got my pass and he gave me a crappy faded map and told me how to get to my hotel. I drove the way he told me and after 25 minutes of driving in circles realized he gave me the wrong directions. So I had to drive around in the dark with a crappy map and try to find it myself. Hallelujah! I finally found the Inn and got my key to the room. The time was now like 10pm. I was starving and everything on base was closed. Just my luck! I had packed 2 containers of the Velveeta shells and cheese for Bryanna luckily. So I ate one for dinner. I was so incredibly exhausted and needed to be up at 5:30am to go to a briefing at the reception center. Luckily Bryanna was so exhausted that I gave her a bottle and she went right to sleep. Here are a few pictures of her that night.I tried to go to sleep I closed my eyes and counted sheep to no avail. I was so excited to see Bryan that I just could not sleep. At about 1:30 in the morning I finally was able to fall asleep. I woke up at 5:45am which was 15 minutes later than I wanted to but I was still so tired. I took a quick shower and got dressed. Woke up Bryanna which she was not very pleased about gave her a bottle and left. I drove out of the parking lot and tried to understand the map and where I was supposed to go but drove the wrong way. Then I had an idea...how about I just follow all the cars that all seem to know where they are going...lol. So I did and lo and behold I found the reception center. I found a parking spot and unloaded Bryanna and walked across the way to the reception center. I got inside and found out that I was too late for the 7am briefing and that I would have to go to the 9am briefing. I grabbed a bite to eat at the snack bar inside and went and bought Bryanna a shirt from the little gift shop. Then I went out behind the reception center to line up for watching the Airmen's Run. The Airmen's run is where all the Airmen run by with their flights singing Jodies. I forgot to mention that Wednesday night Bryan sent me a text from someone's phone letting me know which flight he was going to be in. I got the run on video and when I have enough time I will put it on here for you all to see. In the meantime here are a couple more pictures of Bryanna.After the run I went inside the reception center for the 9am briefing. I had to leave towards the end because Bryanna was being fussy and people kept giving me the evil eye to make her be quiet. So I went and changed Bryanna and got her a bottle. I went to the snack bar to grab a hot dog and a drink and then went back outside for the coin ceremony. The bleachers were packed and Bryanna was cranky so I ended up sitting behind the bleachers on a picnic table that was on a covered patio. It was nice and cool but I couldn't see Bryan :( I pulled out my binoculars and tried to get a glimpse of him but couldn't find him. It didn't help that I couldn't read the map they gave us that had where he would be standing I couldn't tell which was the front or the back. After the coin ceremony they were released for base liberty but they had to stay standing in place until their family came and found them and tapped them on the shoulder. I searched and searched and could not find Bryan. After about 10 minutes I heard a voice behind me and turned around and Bryan was there. He had to come find me. I had to have walked past him 5 times I just didn't recognize him. He lost 30 pounds and 3 pants sizes. Bryanna was so happy to be reunited with her Daddy. She knew exactly who he was. Here is a picture of their happy reunion.Bryan needed to go get his orders for Tech School so we walked over to the building to find out we had to come back the next day because they still had him listed as being in fit flight. After that we went to the hotel room to hang out. We tried to order a pizza but every time we called no one answered the phone so we went to grab Burger King. After about half an hour of driving in circles and not knowing where the heck I was we found one of the two Burger Kings on base. We got some food and went back to the hotel to eat and watch a movie. I had to take Bryan back to drop him off at 7pm so he could walk to his dorm and sign in. Then Bryanna and I went back to the hotel. I called the office to see if anything opened up for Friday night and they said no and to keep checking. Bryanna really missed Bryan because she was not happy when we dropped him off. She didn't go to bed until 1am and I tried giving her bottle after bottle to help her to go to sleep. Here are a few pictures of her being miserable missing daddy.
On Friday morning. I woke up and packed up everything since I would be checking out of the hotel room. We got dressed and stopped in to check out and see if a room opened up. The front desk told me that they were in the negative and gave me a number to call to see if any of the other Inns on base had a room available. No one had even mentioned that option to me before and I didn't know there were other Inns. So I was a little ticked off. I called the number and was told that all of the Inns were completely booked. So instead of dwelling on the matter I drove across the street to the parade grounds and found a parking spot. Parked and unloaded the stroller and Bryanna. Of course all of the bleachers were full which I expected. So I ended up standing on a covered patio. I still had the same view as from the bleachers I just had to stand. It was such a neat experience watching Bryan's flight march across the bridge and into the parade grounds. I was and am so very proud of him. I tried to take as many pictures as I could hoping to get a picture of Bryan. They were more than a hundred yards away so I couldn't really see very good. So I just zoomed in the camera and took pictures of where his flight was standing. After the ceremony I walked over and found Bryan pretty fast. He was like "You didn't take forever to find me"...lol. I don't think I will ever live that one down. We walked around for a couple of minutes and I took a couple of pictures of Bryan then he said we needed to hurry and go to the gym. He wanted to go and visit the other people that were still in fit flight. He said it is good motivation when people that were in the flight get to graduate and they come visit, plus everyone wanted to meet Bryanna. I told Bryan that I tried to get as many pictures of his flight hoping he was in them he then told me that at the last minute they had him stand with the last flight since they didn't have as many people. So all the pictures I took were all for nothing. We did find one where I moved over a little bit and you could see his ear...lol. Here are a few pictures...Bryan is in at least 2 of them..lol.
We spent the rest of Friday driving around in circles, going to get Bryan's orders, trying to find a building so he could go to a briefing since he was going to go to an army base for tech school, getting food, going back to the building to find out it was the wrong one so I played chauffeur and gave rides to 2 other people, waiting for Bryan while he went to the briefing, finding a hotel off base right outside the gate, going to the BX and window shopping, going to the Commissary and buying snacks and drinks, going back to the hotel and ordering a pizza, waiting over an hour and a half for the pizza to be delivered, and eating and then having to leave to go drop Bryan off at the ball field by the dorms. It was a busy day. Bryanna was not happy that daddy had to leave and couldn't stay with us. Luckily she wasn't too bad and we both took an hour nap after we got back to the hotel room. Then later she went to bed for the night. The hotel was $90 which stunk. I would have rather preferred $27 dollars a night, but it was literally right outside the gate of the base. Here are a few pictures of the room. I forgot to take pictures of the room on base. It was very nice compared to the second one.
On Saturday we picked up Bryan and drove to Best Buy to look around and window shop. We grabbed a bite to eat and then drove back to base. We went to the mini mall and Bryan bought a garment bag thingie for his blues for taking to Tech School. Bryan ran into a few guys that were in his original flight that were going to Tech School at Lackland and was able to talk to them for a few minutes. We left the mini mall and it was the dreaded time to say goodbye until I see him again after Tech School. I hated saying goodbye and wished I could stay longer but I needed to get on the road so I could return the rental car and I wasn't sure how long it was going to take me to get there. Bryanna was not happy at all that we had to leave daddy. She cried and screamed for about 25 minutes in the car until she finally fell asleep. Luckily I found the rental car place pretty easily and only got on the wrong road once. I took the shuttle to the airport and got through the line and security easily. Bryanna did not do very good on the plane ride back. It was about 3 hours which I think was the same amount of time as the ride there. She got a stinky diaper and then peed all over my leg. It was Fantastic! Note the sarcasm. Finally when there was about an hour left she fell asleep on me for 35-40 minutes. It didn't help that the guy sitting next to us kept giving me the stink eye because Bryanna kept trying to grab his little bottle of booze. He was the one that sat next to us. We finally arrived back in Vegas. I was so happy to be home, yet sad that I had to leave Bryan in Texas. It was quite the adventure filled with lots of firsts for me...flying for the first time, renting a car, driving in Texas, it was very challenging and stressful at times, but being able to see and spend time with Bryan made it well worth everything I went through. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I am so proud of my Airman and I Love and Appreciate him with all of my Heart.

Update on Bryan

I received a phone call from Bryan today. I had actually missed yet another phone call from him on Saturday...go figure with my luck. He told me that he may not be graduating on Friday because he didn't pass on push ups and sit ups. He passed the mile and a half and he took the written test and passed that. He said that other guys lied on their numbers and he has integrity and didn't lie. I am so proud of him. He takes the test again tomorrow and he said if he passes then he will graduate and if he doesn't he just keeps testing every Tuesday until he passes. He is almost there just 7 more to go. He told me that he has lost 19 pounds so far and 2 pants sizes. I jokingly asked if he had a six pack of abs yet and he said he is just about there...lol. I pray that he has the strength and endurance to get those last few that he needs so he can graduate. I miss him so much. It has been very challenging taking care of Bryanna all by myself. I really can't wait until Bryanna can see her daddy again and show him all the new stuff she can do. Bryan told me that he will call me if he passes tomorrow and if he doesn't call then I need to reschedule my flight. Please pray for Bryan. I would greatly appreciate it. On a more positive note. Originally when Bryan and I were talking about potential places to put on his list for where he wants to be stationed we thought Utah wasn't an option because he will only be and E-3 well apparently the Internet is outdated so he was able to put Utah as his number 1 choice. I have a lot of family in Utah and it would be nice to get to see them all more often. I hope the Air Force agrees with me..lol. Actually I am excited for wherever they send us...Hmmmn, maybe Italy...that would be cool. We will have to see we won't find out until about his 3rd week of Tech School. I will keep you all posted!

A Lot of Pictures

Okay so none of these are in order because well....I'm tired and don't have the energy to do it. A few weeks ago we had a photo studio set up in our house. My sister in law got a free follow up photo shoot at home from when her daughter was born. When the photographer got here she told me that she would take some pictures of Bryanna too for free. I didn't know that she was going to offer it otherwise I would have been more prepared. Like for instance making sure Bryanna had a nap before she came. These first few pictures are from the photo shoot.

When Bryanna got a cupcake she calmed down and actually smiled.
A collage
My favorite of Bryanna and her cousin Lexi



I absolutely Love this one!
Bryanna at the beginning. She was not happy. She just wanted her Mama.
Bryanna and Lexi in a Sam's Club cart at Walmart. I Love Sam's Club carts because of this.
Finally enough hair for a tiny little ponytail.
Exploring the coffee table
Sound asleep for a nap.
How she looks when she wakes up in the morning and wants a bottle
The other night she was fighting going to sleep and I went to check on her and this is what I found...she would sit like this and fall asleep, wake up and stand back up and cry then get back into this position and fall asleep again. She did this about 3 times until she finally went to sleep for good on her tummy.
Biter biscuits are yummy
And Messy
Haha I stood up again. If you look close enough you can see the remnants of her carpet burn on her forehead.
Standing up in bed
Going after Tink and stopping for a quick picture
getting some loves from Lexi
Drinking her bottle all by herself like a big girl. She finally can hold it all by herself. Makes my life easier :)

Updates!!!

Okay So I have been really bad about updating on here. I am sorry for anyone that looks for updates daily ;) . Anyways I missed a phone call from Bryan on July 2nd. Can you believe it? I have the worst luck! I felt so horrible. It was only because I had my phone on vibrate and forgot to switch it back. Well the next day on Friday I was waiting for my sister to get to the house since I was taking her out for dinner for her birthday and Bryan called again! I did not miss it this time. He was calling me to let me know that there was a change in the schedule for one of the days for graduation. I got to talk to him for about 10 minutes. He told me that the gas chamber wasn't that bad and that the obstacle course was fun. I personally think he is crazy only because I know I would not be able to hack it. It was so good to hear his voice and talk to him. He told me he wanted me to send more pictures which I am trying to work on getting printed for him. My computer got a nasty virus on it that my wonderful brother in law fixed for me. So I had to wait to get my computer back up and running. He is working really hard and he said that time is going by fast which it is. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I am so excited to go and see him. I am no longer driving to Texas which I know a lot of you had to have thought I was off my rocker to even consider driving that long with Bryanna in the car. I am now flying and have all my arrangements made. I have to admit I am a little nervous of flying, not because I have never flown before in my life but because I am flying all by myself with Bryanna. The flight isn't that long so I don't think she will do to bad. This is a completely new experience for me. Flying, renting a car, and visiting a state I have never been to. I am taking our GPS unit AKA Rosalita ( Bryan gave her that name...lol) so I am hoping that I won't get lost. Pray for me...lol.

My Baby is Now 9 Months!!

Bryanna is now 9 months old. I still can't believe it. A couple of weeks ago I laid her down for bed and heard her crying a little bit later. I went to check on her to find her Sitting Up in Bed...My first thought was "How did you do that and Don't Ever Do It Again"...lol. She figured out how to sit up from laying down on her own. It is the cutest thing to see. She would lay on her belly and scoot her butt in the air and drag her head along the floor until she was sitting up. Which resulted in her having carpet burn on her forehead. From there she just suddenly decided that she could do much more. A couple nights later she learned how to stand up in her crib...Oh Joy! Not Really! So I would lay her down for bed and she would then stand up and cry until she was too tired to hold herself up. At first I thought I could change that because I was leaving the rail down on her bed. So I started raising it up all the way. Wrong! She still found a way to pull herself up. She is quite persistent. And this happened all in a week. She then decided that she wanted to start pulling herself up to standing position all the time. She would scoot herself over to the couch and stand up and hold onto the couch and walk the length of the couch. From there she decided that scooting wasn't getting her very far and she wanted to try the army crawl. So she kinda did the army crawl/throw herself forward as far as she could to grab something. She did that for a day and the next day she started full on crawling. She is getting faster each day. Which makes me wonder. Why did I want her to crawl again? She sure is keeping me on top of my toes. Lately she wants to eat anything in site. Including paper, plastic and stickers which scares me a lot. I now have to go through and put away all the little toys so she won't shove them in her mouth and constantly scan the floor for anything I don't want her eating. I can feel the gray hairs appearing already. Bryanna now has 5 teeth and 2 more that are cutting through. She is going to have a mouth full of teeth before she turns one. She is an overachiever. She still has a little ways to go before she is walking on her own, but who knows she could suddenly decide to walk tomorrow the rate she is going. She learned the signs for More and Milk from her cousin Lexi which I think is the cutest and she is getting better at signing it to me when she does in fact want more or formula. She says "Ma" for more and she just does the sign for Milk. She is such a joy in our lives and brings us so much joy and happiness. I can't believe that in less than 3 months she will be turning 1!! Where did the time go? I have a gazillion pictures to add for all to see in the next couple of posts.