Only 4-5 months to go!

Hi everyone! Things are going great. I've been staying very very busy with work the last couple of months, and exploring Nashville further with my girlfriends! I also squeezed in a visit with my parents, Marshall, and Court and my parents and I took Casey down to Cape San Blas, FL and stayed at the beachouse. It was a nice getaway after our most recent helicopter crash. I really can't wait until the guys are home. We're over the time hump now though, so hopefully the holidays will fly by like they usually do! Here are some recent pictures! Enjoy!

Anna and I went out with four other of my friends to celebrate my birthday! We went to Virago for dinner, and followed up with drinks at the Patterson House, one of my favorite places!

Casey looooved the beach! Here she's getting crashed by a wave because she tried to chase the fish dad threw back in the ocean!

Anna and I took our pups on a 4.5 mile hike in the woods at Land Between the Lakes. The pups held up well (Casey won the best endurance award), and we also saw bison and elk on the prairie.

The fall colors are so beautiful in Tennessee right now! I hope it lasts!

Anna and I at the Belle Meade Mansion.

The indentions in the columns (Belle Meade Mansion) are bullet holes from the Civil War (Battle of Nashville).

Me holding John Rich's guitar inside the Fontanel Mansion.

Anna and I on the helipad in front of the Fontanel Mansion. Maybe one day our husbands will get to fly famous people here. Haha.

Catching Up...

Oh gosh, I feel like so much has happened in the last month or so! I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'll start with the car accident. Yes, I was driving Tundrika (you all know Chris has a love affair with his truck!) and we got in a wreck. About $3000 worth of damage. It was scary, but I was just fine and only walked away with a gross scrape across my neck from my seatbelt. Don't freak out if you didn't know, I didn't tell many people because I was fine and honestly, with Chris gone and all, I didn't wanna talk about it. So that's all behind me.

August has been a month of home improvement! I had the TV mounted above the fireplace. It looks awesome! I also bought a recliner, and rearranged our living room furniture. I still have to buy a coffee table, and my friend Heather is making me a bookcase so when those are finished I will share pictures!

Mom came and visited for a week, and it was SO amazing having her around. I really loved the company. We hung out at the house, went out in Clarksville a little, and explored some of Nashville. She even went out to the wine bar in a trendy part of Nashville with me and my friends! Mom is an awesome motivator, and with her motivation and expertise, we did some relandscaping of my front yard. It looks great! We also painted the hall bathroom--her idea. I need her around more often to motivate me!

Ft. Campbell hosted the "Run for the Fallen" on post. Myself and a few friends participated in this and chose to run for our fallen soldier, SSG Silk. It was an amazing experience. Although emotional, it was wonderful to meet people and see people come together for all of our fallen. Brandon (Silk)'s Aunt Connie even joined us. It's something I want to participate in every year.

Work is going well. I took on another nursing home, so I'm contract with home health and two nursing homes now. It's been kind of slow lately, so I'm happy to take on more. I do realize I could get slammed at anytime though! I still enjoy not working the typical "full time" because I'm able to make my own schedule.

Chris and I celebrated our 2nd year wedding anniversary on August 30th. He was so thoughtful, and showered me with several surprises, including my favorite flowers (tulips) and he even sent me surprises from Afghanistan. My favorite gift was a clutch he stitched himself when he was on night med for 2 weeks. Whenever he had a night off, he was bored because everyone was sleeping! It turned out awesome, and I thought it was the sweetest ever! My girlfriends took me out to dinner for our anniversary and they gave me flowers too. I'm thankful for such fun and caring friends!

Mom, Me, Anna, Katie, and Jill at Rumors Wine Bar in Nashville.
Part of the new front yard landscape.
Part of the front yard landscape.
Me in front of the Hermitage in Nashville, Andrew Jackson's old home.

Mom with a water source on the Hermitage property. Imagine that! Haha.

The Phantom reps running for Brandon: Stephanie, Anna, Me, and Katie.

My BFF's at the Looking Glass for my anniversary.

My beautiful tulips from Chris! They are even out of season!

Pics of the clutch Chris made from cut out elbow pads from his uniform. Haha.

Katie and I hanging out in the Gulch in Nashville.

Girls Night Out!

Hi everyone! Not a lot going on here...just been trying my best to stay as busy as possible. I've been keeping myself busy with the girls, had a sushi dinner with our Best Man Mike on Tuesday, and visited some friends I haven't seen in awhile. Here are some pictures from the last two weeks!

Anna and I at the Frist Center in Nashville. That's Union Station behind us.
One of the exhibits we saw. Couture dresses from the 40's and 50's...fabulous! We also saw a Chihuly glass art exhibit.

Katie and I out at a the Front Page Deli, a local bar in Clarksville.

Girls Night Out in Nashville!

Anna, Katie, and I taking a picture break on the dance floor!

Finding my MO!

I hope everyone is doing well! As you all know, the last few weeks have been pretty blah for our Phantom family. Days after the crash, our guys held a memorial in Afghanistan for Brandon and the Aussies attended as well. The crash is still under investigation. Our injured soldiers are doing well. Two of them are still at Walter Reed, and the other is home in Ft. Campbell, KY. I visited this soldier at home with his family, and they are doing well, all things considered. The crash brought everyone back to reality, and I find myself having much more anxiety than before. I also find myself less motivated to do things....I'm looking for my "get up and go"!

So, with that said....what better to get me out of the house? A family trip! I met my family in Auburn, and we went to St. Augustine, FL to visit with my aunt and family friends. It was a nice, relaxing trip. I definitely needed to get out of Clarksville for a little while! I'm still working and hanging out with my group of girlfriends. We had a big 4th of July party at my house earlier this month, and we've got plans in Nashville this weekend. Just trying to keep busy!

Thanks for the emails of encouragement and support! Chris and I both appreciate them!

My neighbor's fireworks spread. It was insane, and better than the public fireworks displays...and in our front yard!

Me, Courtney (SIL), and my bro MarshallDad and I

Casey!!!

R&R

Chris came home for R&R on May 26th, and left on June 11th. We had a wonderful time! I knew to expect him around May 29th. My friends Ashley, Anna, and I all went to the Governor's Mansion in Nashville to attend a forum on deployments and military families on May 25th. Anna and I knew at that point our husbands had started their journey, but they were doing so much waiting, we actually thought they'd be later than expected! Imagine our surprise when we had voicemails leaving the event telling us they'd be in town 7:30am THE FOLLOWING MORNING! The three of us went to dinner, and Anna and I got back to Clarksville around 10pm. Needless to say, we pulled an all niter...house cleaning, laundry, etc to prepare for the boys!

They arrived in Atlanta the following morning, and landed in Nashville around lunchtime. Anna and I were both able to restructure our work schedules to accomodate the boys' early arrival. Chris and I stayed home and relaxed for the first week. It was perfect. Then we headed to Destin, FL. We dropped off Casey in Auburn while my parents were at work, and continued our drive. We stayed in Destin for 3 nights. The weather was gorgeous, and we were able to get a lot of beach time in--no oil. Our condo was on the 13th floor, and it was so relaxing sitting on the balcony and drinking with that view. The day we left, we stayed in Florida until lunchtime, and then headed to Auburn to cut our drive in half. We were exhausted. My parents hosted a small cookout since we were going to stay the night. The following morning we met Sarah, Chris's sister, for breakfast. Then we were on our way back home. Our final week we hung out with a few friends, took a day trip to Nashville for some shopping, and just spent time together at home. It was a perfect R&R.

So now we countdown 9 months. Saying goodbye this time was much harder than the initial goodbye. Anna and I are lucky to go thru this together though, and we've been trying to keep each other busy in an effort to keep the tears at a minimum. I'm lucky to have such a great friend.

This weekend I'm heading to Atlanta to meet my friend Laura who is stationed in Savannah. Her husband is also deployed. She's bringing her kids, and we are all going to Six Flags. I have a St. Augustine beach family trip planned in July. Trying to stay busy! Hope all is well!

Ashley and I at the Miro District in Nashville after going to the Governor's Mansion.

Chris and I leaving the airport!

Chris and I at home

Chris and Casey before he left. Saddest ever :(

Busy Busy!

Hi everyone! I hope all is well. May has proved to be a busy month so far, and I think it's just gonna get busier! The first big event in May (other than the flood) was Steeplechase in Nashville. My friend Ashley, who lives in Nashville, invited me and my friends to come out to her tailgate and enjoy some drinks, food, and horses. It was a lot of fun!

About a week ago, I found another lump on Casey. This lump is on her neck, directly on/in her throat. I took her in for a biopsy on a Friday, and got the results the following Monday. It's a FATTY TUMOR! It was very stressful and emotionally draining thinking Casey could have something worse than that, but thank the Lord it all worked out.

I've spent the last few days painting the extra bedroom--from yellow to gray. It's exhausting because it required two coats of paint. I'm not quite finished because I need to go back over the entire room for small touchups, but two coats on all four walls completed!

As you all may know, Chris's birthday was Thursday. My friend Anna came over, and we (along with Chris on a stick) had a cupcake in Chris's honor. Haha.

The girls and I just continue to keep busy and entertain each other. We did shopping damage in Nashville yesterday. I feel very lucky to have fallen in a company with such wonderful people. It's definitely not like this for everyone, so I'm very thankful, especially during this time. We are just a couple of days short of two months completed.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Clarksville girls L-R: Jill, Me, Katie, Anna, and her friend Lindsey (from Chicago)

Casey Lou in her dead bug pose.

The extra bedroom BEFORE. It was a baby's nursery.

The room AFTER. I haven't moved the furniture yet.

Chris on a stick and I and his birthday cupcake.

Shopping damage. Can you find Katie?

Tennessee Flood of 2010

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the thoughts, emails, and phone calls the last few days. Casey and I are just fine. Our new house and neighborhood are fine, but our old house and neighborhood is suffering. They were evacuated by boat on Sunday night. The old house looks okay from pictures, but the road is flooded and closed, so Casey and I would've been stuck!

The heavily flooded area begins about 10 miles down the road from our current house. The only way I'm personally affected is I can't work. My patients, for the most part, are either evacuated or unreachable at this point. I attached several pictures for you guys to check out. There are many more on my facebook page.

I've never been through anything like this. The city is panicked, and it's really weird seeing a place you frequent completely under water. I drive Riverside Drive at least twice a week, and some of our favorite sites and restaurants in Nashville are ruined. Some small businesses aren't planning on rebuilding. It just devestating no matter how you look at it.

As of two hours ago, the Cumberland River in Clarksville was still rising. Hopefully it has started to recede by now. They opened the Cheatham Dam and some others barriers to relieve Nashville, but its causing our waters to rise. The sewage treatment plant has flooded, and raw sewage is being dumped in the Cumberland now. They think our water supply will be okay, but we're supposed to be using as little as possible. We were on a county wide curfew last night! It's been really weird.

Downtown Clarksville.

Riverside Drive in Clarksville, TN. This is a major roadway connecting the River District to Ft. Campbell. I use this road a lot.

Hooters in Downtown Clarksville.

Our Riverwalk in Clarksville.

Our Riverwalk in Clarksville.

Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN. Chris and I stayed in this section on our first anniversary.

View of Downtown Nashville, TN and the ATT&T/"Batman" building. LP Field (where our Titans play) and the Bridgestone Arena (where our Predators play) were also flooded nearby.

The old neighborhood either Saturday or Sunday.

Our old neighborhood, about 5 houses down from the old house.

The old neighborhood, toward the end of the culdesac.

We've been in Clarksville a year now. We've experienced 8 inches of snow, tornadoes in VERY close proximity, and now a flood. What's next Clarksville?? Haha.