Time of my life...

I would have to say that the best time of my life would have to be the 3 years my family and I spent living in Hawaii. We moved there in 2009 from Southern California. My husband received orders there for the second time throughout our marriage. The first time we lived there it was for two years and we didn’t have children at the time. This time our girls were 4 and 7 years old.

            We had so much fun! Everyday was like a vacation. The weather was wonderful year around. We spent most of our time being beach bums. The water is so clear there, and snorkeling is amazing. We also did several hikes through the tropical forests. The scenery is indescribably beautiful.

            Unfortunately my husband was deployed most of the time we were there and we missed him terribly. However, it was so nice when he came home and we were able to celebrate in such an awesome place. There were several other wives whose husbands were deployed at the same time as mine. I can’t say that I’ve ever met so many incredible friends in all my life. It made the time go by so much easier knowing that I wasn’t alone. We all had so much fun doing different activities and staying busy, passing the time together. It was so rewarding to share the experience of rejoining our families together. My family and I are hoping to go back someday. We all loved it so much, and it is very hard to find a place we all can agree on :)

Important to me....

            My dad has been such an inspiration to me throughout my life. He is such a hard worker and is more devoted to his family then anyone I’ve ever seen. He has an amazing heart and would do anything for his kids and grandkids. My dad always taught us to do the right thing no matter the situation. He has very strong values and has always led by example. I hope I can be at least half the person he is.

            My mom has been another inspiration to me throughout my life. She is the most hardheaded person I’ve ever delt with. She is very strong willed and stands up for what she thinks is right, no matter the cost. There were times when I was a teenager that I thought we would never see eye-to-eye. However, now that I am a parent myself I can totally understand her actions while I was growing up. There was never a time that she didn’t have my best interests at heart. She is my very best friend and I know that I can count on her no matter what. She is an amazing grandmother. She loves my girls as much as I do, and as a parent, that is the greatest gift in the world.

            Another important person in my life is my older sister. She is a lot like my mom. She is very hard headed and doesn’t back down if she thinks she is right.  We are less than two years apart, and I absolutely love her to death. She has taken care of me in so many different ways, even when I didn’t deserve it. It was great growing up with an older sister to share everything with. We defiantly had our fights, but we had a blast doing it! We both have children of our own now. We still fight, but she is my favorite person in the world to fight with J

Review of my car

I recently purchased a 2012 Hyundai Tucson. I was driving a 2004 Lincoln Navigator, and it was literally draining my bank account on the money I was spending on gas. I drive about 75-100 miles everyday and couldn’t afford it much longer. We decided it was time to look into purchasing a new car. We have a family of four and like I said, we spend a lot of time in the car. We wanted something a little larger than a car, but not as big as the navigator. We wanted something along the lines of a small SUV. We did a lot of research and we weren’t able to find many vehicles that were with in our price range. We didn’t want to spend more then $30,000. My husband had a friend who had recently purchased a Hyundai for his growing family. He had several good things to say about them. We started doing our research on them and found that since the brand if fairly new to the market, the reviews were limited. However, finding that they were within our price range and getting a good review from a friend, we decided to go check them out. When we arrived at the dealership there were several different styles and colors to choose from. The prices ranged from about $15,000-$40,000. We decided on the Tucson model. The Tucson is a little larger then a four-door car and gets great gas mileage. We were able to purchase it for almost $10,000 less then our budget. It has been about 6 months since we purchased it, and I don’t have a single complaint. We have taken about 5 road trips to Arizona, and the car has run great! The amount we spend on gas each month has literally been cut in half and the gas lasts twice as long. I am very happy with the car and would strongly recommend them to anyone!

FFN

When we were first assigned to read Fast Food Nations, I was a little interested in its topics, but also thought the book would be very boring. As I started to read the book I became more and more interested in it. Some of the topics were a little graphic and I tried not to read the book before dinner. I had no idea how disgusting some of the procedure was in processing the meat. I also had no idea of what the animals we are eating =were being fed themselves. I have not eaten fast food in a long time because of the fat content, but now I have a whole knew outlook as to why I won’t eat it. I learned though that even the meat we purchase in the regular grocery stores aren’t much better then fast food meat. My brother has a farm in Arizona and has offered in the past to house a cow for my family if we want him too. After reading this book I think I will take him up on his offer. We will be buying a cow soon, to raise and butcher it, knowing that it hasn’t been fed anything crazy like the cows in the slaughter houses have been fed. 

This Semester for me....

The correct answer to my last post is #3! I have been swimming with sharks in Hawaii two times. It was a great experience, it was so unreal to be in the ocean so close to them in their natural habitat. They scariest part about it was actually the jellyfish! They were everywhere!

This semester for me, is my first, and is a lot more time consuming then I thought it would be. I have always worked up until this point, and I was looking forward to the much-needed time off. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I have a considerably less amount of free time now that I’ve started college.

I am enjoying the learning part of this college thing very much. I feel like I have already learned so much. I have had a few research papers and have enjoyed looking up information and studying it. I do have to say though, math is my favorite subject so far. I love problem solving and in math there is a lot of that. I’m also enjoying English. I always have a lot of fun attending class! There is never a dull moment J.

When I feel overwhelmed with my workload, I just remember that I have wanted to do this forever and I finally have my chance. I know it will be hard, but I also know it will be worth it. I am learning to manage my time and I think it has helped in other areas of my life as well, so that definitely keeps me motivated to continue.  I know I have to continue going and finish my degree now, because, lets face it, I’m not getting any younger. I have my second chance to finish this up and nothing is going to stop me. I want a better future for my family with more opportunities.