Just Because

Look at my adorable husband!!

But you have to admit, when you usually see pictures of men in military uniform, don't you agree that they are usually stern faced and serious looking? Don't you think it is all too fitting that for Topher he has a grin from ear to ear? I love it. It is so like him to be thrilled like a 5 yr. old that he gets to dress up as a Navy Officer. Only it's not dress up, so even better! He had to pay a pretty penny for his uniform and even had it specially tailored to him. I think he looks rather dashing.

I just wanted to post pictures of our house thus far. I think the exterior is done now! :) I couldn't be happier with how it looks!

Here is our backyard. See all that pretty fluffy looking green grass?? Yeah, they'll most likely get rid of all of it and replace it with 'landscaping' sod that is stiff and prickly and not soft to walk on at all. :( That's the way S.C. grass is: stiff, and prickly. *sigh*

But I am so excited about our house and about Topher! He is doing great at ODS and as I said before, he is enjoying himself in many ways.

He sent me these beautiful tulips on Valentines Day, what a sweetie!! I sent him a pkg. as well. I cut out tons of paper hearts and stuffed a flat rate envelope with them. I wrote love notes on them and made him a card. Well, as it turns out, any and all mail has to be 'inspected' by Topher's commanding officer. So, Topher's commanding officer had to inspect the hearts and make sure there was no candy in the pkg. When Topher stood up to leave some hearts fell out of the envelope, completely straight faced his Commanding Officer barked "Don't forget your hearts, sir."

LOL!!! I don't know why, but for some reason that REALLY cracks me up.

Anyway. We are doing all right. Grace still has 3 or so viruses fighting for top spot in little Grace's system. She has strep, a cough, a cold and a fever that just won't go away. She's had all of those for almost a week now!! Not fair!! This poor girl gets sick too easy already, its just sad how much this little girl has to take at once. And yet, do you think she is sad? Do you think she is pouting or whining about being sick? NO! Nothing keeps this little spitfire down. She is happy as ever and wouldn't believe you if you told her she was sick. Granted when she has coughing fits, she always looks at me and says very matter of factly "Mommy, its no fun to be sick". So, I guess she has an idea that there is something not right. But, she doesn't mind enough to slow down at all. :)

I'm so grateful for her strong, fighting spirit. This little girl is a trooper, and it amazes me, because she could easily be a wilting little flower that can't handle it...but she takes everything in stride and with a smile.

Thanks for checking in on us!

I miss my Hubby

I know that there are thousands of women whose husbands have been, will be or are deployed. Some of them more than once, and ranging anywhere from 6 months to 1 yr. or more.

But just because it is so, does not mean that Topher being gone for only 6 weeks is easy.

Gosh darnit I love that boy and even 11 days without him sucks!

I have so much more respect and admiration for women whose husbands leave for months at a time. You are all strong, amazing and courageous women!! Whether you are suceeding, progressing, failing or floundering in your husband's absence, it makes no difference to me...If you and your children are still alive and breathing, I see that as a huge success.

(Isn't he handsome??!)

Anyway, I am not falling apart or anything without Topher...it's just the little things that I miss and its just occasional moments during the day where I just really miss his companionship.

I suppose that's a good thing though, I could be grateful he's gone and be living it up without him I suppose. So I'll be grateful that our relationship is such that I miss him and am not thriving in his absence.

Thinking about him though, I wanted to post a couple pictures of him cuz I love him so darn much.

If you don't care, then don't look at them! If you aren't interested, then you shouldn't have read the blog when you saw it was titled "i miss my hubby"!!

This is MY blog and I'm using it as MY journal entries, so I will post whatever pictures and sappy phrases that I want.

So there. :)

Isn't he cute? This is our little nephew Moroni and I happen to be smitten with him. I also love how adorable Topher is with him. He is such a sweet and kind Uncle, I love watching him with his neices and nephews.

Real quick, I also wanted to just update people as to how Toph is doing out there in frozen Newport.

It sounds like the first week was pretty intense; waking up at 4:15a.m., doing P.T. exercises, having several classes a day, having routine room inspections, getting yelled at continuously, , taking midnight watches in full uniform, having to stand in the back of the classroom if you start falling asleep, being timed while eating, having drills and salutes mandatory to sitting and being able to eat, having to make the bed with a ruler, getting in trouble for doing things correctly if he was one of the few who did so...

Now that he is 2 weeks in it sounds like he is actually enjoying himself in a strange boyish way. He marches everyday and does drills and salutes, listens to Naval History lectures from very dedicated Chiefs and Officers of the Navy and tonight he even got to go out to dinner at the Officer's Club, (a club for Officers ONLY). So he is somewhat enjoying himself, but he is very grateful its only for 6 weeks and not 13 like the guys in Officer Candidate School.

A funny story from his second week, they were having room inspections one day, so their rooms needed to be in tip top shape. They also had to have paperwork filled out for the room inspection to be done and this needed to be placed neatly on their desks. Well, Topher had everything done, filled out and ready for room inspection, but because out of the 51 men in his division only 6 of them did everything right, (including him), HE GOT IN TROUBLE!! I guess that if 6 of them fail, they're all supposed to fail, together as a team! So he got in trouble, for doing it RIGHT! To me, this seems ridiculous, and so unfair. But Topher said that the drill they put his whole division through because of the "failed" room inspection drill, was "kinda fun!". Silly boy. The commanding chiefs THRASHED his room for doing his room inspection properly. They overturned tables, beds, chairs, put his mattress on top of his closet, I mean seriously trashed his room. Then his whole division had to set up a mock room in a large hall, mess it up and then prepare it perfectly for a "inspection", when they didn't perfectly situate a chair, they had to then change into p.t. clothes and do it all over again...I don't see how any of that can in anyway be considered fun, but Topher swears that is was actually sort of entertaining. Such a boy.

So, as much as I would hate it, I guess it's a guy thing. Because he seems to actually be enjoying himself to some extent. Sure he misses us, but I think he is secretly enjoying himself too.

What's especially funny about all the stories he's told me is this: As I said, If I were in his shoes, I would be miserable. I would be hating life. Really. I would. But, I was reading emails from him to his Dad and writing about them to his little brother, and whaddya know? THEY WERE JEALOUS!!! They both thought it sounded like great fun, in fact, I think Toph's Dad's words were something like this "that is so cool! it's like he gets to play Army all day long!"

Anyway, we miss our Topher very much and are looking forward to see him in 25 more days.

Month of Change

Aside from March 2008 when Grace was born, February 2011 is turning out to be the most overwhelming month since the beginning of our mini Andersen family. On January 30 Topher left the Salt Lake Airport at 1 a.m. bound for Rhode Island for his 5 week training at ODS (officer development school). He was to be there for 5 weeks, come home, be with me for a week, say goodbye to his family and friends, help us pack up and move out and then March 15th we would be in Charleston, SC closing on our new house.
That was the plan on January 30th.
Now, not even a week later, Topher isn't coming home anymore. He is flying straight to Charleston to close on our house earlier than anticipated and be there for the final walk through and signing.
I am moving without him now. He no longer gets to say goodbye to our house, our ward, our friends, his family, UTAH in general...
We are probably going to have the Navy just move us nowrather than doing it ourselves, and I'm just a little flustered.

Flustering aside...the end of January was also really neat. Topher got commissioned as an Officer in the Navy. He is now officially Ensign Christopher Andersen, (pronounced Enzin btw).

Yes, I did indeed notice Grace's hand is down her pants...it's lovely don't you think? I've raised such a charming little lady.

Topher also received his Diploma right before he left, so he is now a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering.

These were both such neat things and I am so grateful I was able to be a part of Topher's life for both those awesome occasions. I am so impressed by him, and you can say you hate the word "proud" but DARNIT I am PROUD OF MY HUSBAND!! He has worked hard, and I think he is so amazing. I'm so grateful to be married to him.

Before he left I also threw him a "Birthday Day". His birthday is actually on the 3rd, so our party was a bit early, but since we can't talk or be together or anything I wanted him to have a Birthday before he left. I woke up early, made him his favorite breakfast, set him up on the couch with his baby and a movie, later made him a yummy lunch, and his favorite dinner and a peanut butter ice cream pie. I figured he needed to fill up on my cooking before he was stuck with military food for 5 weeks. They're not allowed to have ANY SNACKS or food of any kind in their room, AND "there will be no desserts of any kind for the first 4 weeks"-as quoted from the manual. :) hahah!
We also went out to dinner with his familiy for his and his little sister's joint Birthday celebration, and I am so so glad we did that now since he won't be back to say official goodbyes.
Here is a picture of the progress on our house in Goose Creek, S.C.

Anyway. I am excited and nervous for this upcoming change in our lives. We will be in Charleston, SC as of March 11th and in our new house, and I couldn't be more mixed with my emotions.
Change, here we come!