Okay part 3 of 3....

So I am officially 10 days behind on this post!  Part 3 of 3

We celebrate two very special birthdays in the month of January and this year was no exception.  My Trav turned 38 and my baby girl turned 10.  This year felt sort of bittersweet in a cliche kind of way.  My husband is slowly inching towards 40 and my girl is inching slowly closer to her teen years.  How did my baby come to me a decade ago and where has the time gone?

Regarding my Trav, to sum him up as he starts another year of life is not easy.  Words don't come easy for me when I try to describe him.  He leaves me speechless.  He is another year older, wiser and more the man I need then ever. 

For my girl, she is well, just stunning!  I see her face and I am starting to see windows into the woman, mother, wife and friend she will be as she grows and matures.  My days of babies are long gone and my relationship with my girl reflects that.  

The two of them together have something very special.  Taylor looks at her daddy in a very unique way and there is no question that Taylor can not be paralleled in her fathers eyes. They have a bond and share something more then just the same birthday.  There personalities and behaviors mirror one another most of the time.  They are both subtle and quiet yet can laugh and be boisterous with the best of them.  She is thorough, meticulous and precise just like her father.  He is humble, loving and a good friend just like his daughter.  One in the same!

This year, Trav wanted things low keyed and in vast contrast, Taylor wanted a party, a big party.  For any of you that know me well, I don't love slumber parties or birthday parties all that much.  I don't thrive in loud and in chaos but I felt like this was the year to give my girl her party.

So as you will see from  the pictures below, we threw a sleepover party with as much fun, laughter, girls and pink and purple as we could muster.  We have very limited options here in Sitka so entertaining 7 little girls in the dead of winter can seem daunting.  I survived and my girl LOVED every second of her day.    

Its hard to believe life has progressed so quickly.  

The still take their annual date night on their birthday.  I made Travis' favorite cake this night

 

Here is my gorgeous 10 year old.  This one captures her light eyes, wispy hair, subtle smile and natural beauty. 

Okay...part 2 of 3

This is part two in a three part mini series that is our life these past few weeks.

The process of our (PSC) pending transfer started last October.  For you none military people who don't understand the acronyms that explain our life I will attempt to break it down.

Last fall a list of available openings throughout the Coast Guard that my Trav could fill was made available to us.  We reviewed the list, selected locations and put them in order from our first pick falling into the "We want this one"category.  Next came the "We could survive here" locations, to the  "Please God No" locations and then lastly the " Oh F*ck No" locations!  Honestly our list sucked.  We disliked most options on the list for various reasons.  

We submitted that list in mid October.  As November and December past I was not surprised to hear nothing.  In came January and I began to think we might here something soon.  

Well, we finally heard!

If you haven't guessed, we are staying put. We were granted a one year extension here in Sitka.  We have never asked for an extension and were granted one this time .  We will be leaving Sitka in 2016.  We asked to stay for numerous reasons.  The first being, we really enjoy Alaska.  Living in this beautiful place suits us.  Secondly, the kids.  They are settled and happy.  Its very hard to pull your children from their lives time after time after time.  This allows Travis to finish junior high and Taylor can finish elementary school here in Sitka.  When we transfer they will both be taking the next step in their educational career.  He will be entering high school and she will be entering middle school.  Lastly, Travis is trying to promote on two separate fronts and it just made sense to stay here and see how and if his advancement plays out.  I would have hated to leave this summer and then Trav promote and us have to move again in 2016.  This allows us one more year of comfort before we make another huge move and enter another transitional period in our lives.  Not to mention that for me, moving has become so daunting over the years.  Packing, living on air mattresses and in hotels for months at a time is not appealing.  Eating out or out of a cooler sucks and I just don't want to unpack an entire house again just yet.  We only just got here 2.5 years ago.  

So we are staying put for 18 months until June of 2016.  I am at peace with these orders.  They feel right for us.  This fall in October we will receive another list with new locations that my Trav can fill.  We will review the list and put the options in order.  We will enter the waiting phase again and then this time next year Trav will receive an email with the next spot for us.  I just hope its not in the "Oh F*ck No" category.  

***p.s. as I write them I am entering the most difficult time of year up here in Alaska for me.  The middle of January through the middle-end of February is a tough time.  Its very dark, its very wet and its very dreary.  The holidays and birthdays are over and summer and sunshine are still many months away.  I really have to dig deep these next weeks to not allow myself to completely fall apart.  This time of year I tend to dream of sunny locations, warm beaches, flip flops and wearing my sunglasses.  Its very hard not to question the fact that we requested to stay.  I know it was the right thing to do but.....it gets really tough.  Now is usually when I plan a vacation to somewhere far from here.  I'm off to research hot locations in the summer for a two week retreat!

Okay...part 1 of 3

Okay....

So January is quickly flying by and I am just feeling like I am failing in the update department.  I think that rather than try and fill this post with tons of information and a hodge-podge of pictures I will make these past weeks a mini three part series.

My parents just left after 3 weeks with us, my Trav and Taylor had a birthday, I am hosting a 10 year old girl slumber party this weekend(I dislike slumber parties with every fiber of my being), it feels like everyone in Sitka is committing felonies, coming to court and making my days feel extremely...blah, blah, blah!!

I am going to attempt to back fill the blog a little bit and add in some pictures.  

This is part one!

Like I mentioned, my parents where here or 3 weeks.  As always it was wonderful to have them in our home.  The kids adore them, Trav and I love having them and it fills our house with an unfamiliar but pleasant chaos of family.  We laugh, yell at three wiener dogs(they bring their dog up), we cook food, go shopping and just get to have that sense of company and family that others get year round when living by loved ones.  There is something to be said for coming home and seeing your parents sitting in your living room.  Their familiar voices, their unfamiliar habits, their favorite snacks in your fridge.  These are things that my family do not have the ability to partake with any frequency.  Visitors to Alaska are few and far between so it is always nice to have the house filled with the warmth of parents.  

Mom and Dad are back at home now and our house had gone back to the quiet abode that just the four of us fill.  We have settled back into a routine, the kids started back to school, I don't have my dad offering to pick up or drop off Travi at the pool and he is definitely not here offering to head to the grocery store for me.  Life has definitely settled back down and while the schedule and routine of our lives is comforting, I miss my parents presence.  The smell of my mom's perfume or lotion when I sit next to her on the couch and the banter between my kids and their grandpa.

Also, while my parents where here something great happened.  Well, actually lots of great things happened but only one thing brought me to tears in a proud parental moment.  By baby girl competed in the Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary school 2015 Geography Bee and WON!!!

If you have been reading this blog for a while you will remember that my little Travi took this honor last year at his middle school.  If you don't remember click here!  Anyways, I seriously could not have been more proud for the second time.  The morning of the Bee I had a little girl, in tears in my living room, anxious and scared to participate.  Worried she would be the first person to be eliminated from the competition.  I gave her my reassuring motherly pep talk and off we went.  In usual fashion I was beyond nervous for her, foot shaking, frantic texting of updates to her dad who was unable to attend.  In the end, she nailed it beating out all other fourth and fifth graders.  I cried, she got embarrassed and then I took 50 pictures of here.

She qualified to compete on the state level in Anchorage but she has no desire to do anything like that.  She is honestly timid, mildly shy and not comfortable in a huge setting like that.  Personally it doesn't bother me one bit.  This accomplishment speaks volumes to her high excellence and her ability to step out of her comfort zone and succeed.

See back for part two....

2014 and on to 2015

When I reflect back on this year, one word comes to mind.  Content.

This year has had its ups and downs for me and my family but here I sit, pondering the last 365 days and I know that I am stronger and better then when I stepped towards 2014.

To reflect~

• My Trav graduated from the Chiefs Leadership Academy 
• My Travi won the Sitka Middle School Geography Bee
• My beautiful grandmother Jewell Alexander met her Lord and Savior and was reunited with her love, my grandfather who had been waiting for her to come home for 7 years.
• We spent two weeks in Maui soaking up the sun and enjoying 14 magical sunsets over the south Pacific
• My parents retired to the Pacific Northwest after over 40 years in the desert
• We met my sisters family at my parents new home and had a mini family reunion
• We spent our summer hiking, running, camping. boating and fishing under the midnight sun of Alaska
• My nephew came to Alaska for the first time in June
• We learned valuable lessons about the continuity of friendship and family
• My cousin Heather and her boyfriend/our friend John spent a week with us
• I accepted a new position within the Alaska Court System which has brought both exhaustion and accomplishment
• Travi qualified for 10 events at the Southeast Championships in Juneau, AK
• Taylor became a gymnast
• Travi killed it at Southeast Championships in Juneau
• My boys successfully hunted and took 4 deer this year
• We had another beautiful holiday season 
• We are still waiting on word of our pending orders for a transfer that is coming in summer of 2015.  We have asked to stay for one more year, keep your fingers crossed for us that we are here in Alaska until 2016.

As always, I feel blessed and happy to have enjoyed another year in this gorgeous place we live with my little family.  I feel blessed to have such wonderful parents, extended family and friends.  I hope that everyone feels the same overwhelming happiness that I have had this past year.  Sunsets with friends on the dock, rainy days on the couch snuggled up, sipping box wine by a fire in the Tongass, running the trails with my honey, sushi at the Ritz Carlton in Maui,  oysters on the grill in mom and dad's new backyard, finding sea glass in 3 different states, and to much more to even mention.

Here is a small look back from my iPhone...

                    

                         

Regarding 2015, we are not making any resolutions.  We plan to continue on our same course.  We do always try to make goals for ourselves that we know we can attain and keep. 

If we are staying in Sitka, we plan to take the kids on a great summer vacation.  Not sure if we are heading north to interior Alaska or if we are heading south to the lower 48 but we do intend to rent a motor home and take the kids on a road trip and check the box on some of our travel goals.

We plan to continue working hard towards our financial goals as well.  We will be car payment free in 4 months (Hallelujah) and plan to continue to sock away more and extra money for that forever home we dream about.  We dream of an early retirement and financial freedom so we have to steady the course in that regard.

We intend to continue to raise great kids who are strong-willed and diverse.  Out of necessity and out lifestyle, Trav and I take pride in the fact that our children have lived all across this country, interacting with different cultures and are very tolerant and accepting.  We plan to continue to foster a homefront that molds our little people into well rounded citizens who are not afraid or ignorant.  

As for me and Trav personally, we will celebrate 15 married years together in April.  I have said many times on this blog that as a young girl in high school who had a crush on "The Class Heartthrob" I could not have imagined that boy would be the father to my babes and soulmate for myself.  Trav gives of himself so freely to family and country and I am just so happy to look forward to another year with him.  I think we make each other better human beings and in true active duty spouse status, I currently have no idea at this point what this year will hold for us.  Things change quickly for us but we are prepared and ready.