Our life in Georgia...

As most of you are aware, we have been living in Georgia for the past 4 months while Ethan completed his Officer Course in the Signal Corps school. While it may have seemed like an abrupt move, it was actually in the works for the past year. However, as most military spouses are aware, we didn't get our exact moving dates until a month in advance. I'll be honest in saying that these past 16 weeks have been the most challenging + rewarding weeks of our life together so far! Buying our first home, expecting/delivering our first baby and surviving our first Military move together were just some of the obstacles we've had to face during these past 16 weeks.

On August 10th we packed up our car and drove 2,056 miles to live on the Army base at Fort Gordon, Ga. We left our families, our jobs (Temporarily), got a renter for our new home and started this first real adventure just the two and a half of us. First of all, it wasn't all bad. In fact, I really will look back and miss our time here in Georgia. We've grown closer as a couple, explored more towns than ever, and welcomed the biggest (little) blessing into our family, our little Georgia Peach, Gracie Mae! 

 One of the fun things about living in the South has been all the traveling/exploring we have been able to do. From Savannah, the oldest city in Georgia to the colonial streets of Charleston. From wet swamps to the open ocean, alligators to antebellum mansions. The Southern states are home to great travel destinations rich in history, cuisine, culture, music and so much more. And even better than all that, is the people of the South. Never have I met nicer, more welcoming people and I'm from Utah!! Speaking of being from Utah, I was born and raised in the red rock desert of Southern Utah which means moving to the thick green south has been a real change. One that I'll never forget.

Daily Life:

I am often asked about our schedules during our stay here in Georgia. Ethan's was fairly similar each day. 

5:45am PT (Physical Training)
7:30 Shower, eat breakfast and get ready for class
8:30 Morning Classes
11:30am Lunch at home with the wife (plus a nap)
1:45pm  Afternoon Class
3 - 4pm Home for the day

Coming to this training as a Luitenant has been a real blessing because they get treated so well. Not to mention he's home with me for breakfast, lunch, afternoon naps (because the pregnant lady needs them) and home by 4 most days for dinner. I have been so lucky to be able to spend so much time with him here.

My schedule, on the other hand, took some time to create I guess you could say. I came more for moral support meaning I had nothing I was obligated to do each day. At first, that might sound pretty enjoyable and relaxing, to just hang out for 4 months, especially the last 4 of your pregnancy. But for me, I was dreading the lackadaisical lifestyle. I have always been the type that craves a schedule to keep me feeling productive and help the time pass. 

Luckily, I was able to have free access and attend classes at any of the gyms on base. I usually did Zumba 3 days a week and your basic lifting and cardio the other 2 days. It was the perfect way to get me going each day both physically & mentally and stay in shape with my ever-changing prego-bod. I am positive I am now addicted to gym life and already can't wait to be able to start working out again post-baby.  

One of the harder things to leave behind was my job at St.George Dental Care. However, because they are so awesome and I wasn't ready to be done working for them, we worked out an arrangement for me to work remotely from GA helping with insurance claims, breakdowns and their overall social media accounts. It has been amazing to be able to devote so many hours to work each day and helping them with their business all while helping me to pass the time each day. I love this company and love that I can still be apart of their team from home while being a SAHM. 

Along with the gym and working, I was able to stay busy with your typical stay at home wife responsibilities such as laundry, grocery shopping, and cooking. Can't forget, the baby prepping and doctors visits. And occasionally trying to stay caught up on my blog. I'll admit though, I wasn't the best at the cooking one. Cooking can be pretty dang hard to be creative and motivated when you live in a hotel room. That's right, we lived in a hotel!

Housing:

To be fair, I knew before agreeing to come with Ethan, that we would be living in a hotel or studio apartment of some sort. We just never really knew the details until we arrived. I pictured some sort of mini kitchen, a living area and maybe a bedroom. This was not the case. That first day we pulled onto the base and got all checked in to be given a hotel key card and a room number, #206 @ Stinson Hall. I literally fought back tears as we walked into our single 600sqft room that held the living room, bedroom, bathroom, closet and kitchen all in one. Literally, the bathroom sink was also known as the kitchen sink. The kitchen consisted of a 2' X 4'countertop, a microwave and mini-fridge. After the initial disappointment and shock of understanding that we would be living here for the next 16 weeks wore off, I did my best to make it feel like home. I went out and bought baskets, containers, and plastic storage drawers for the kitchen and bathroom. A skillet, mini crock pot, rice cooker, and toaster for the kitchen. I bought real utensils and a set of 4 real plates, bowls, and mugs. In my opinion paper plates and utensils would have saved us a lot of clean up time but I just had to have something that gave the illusion that we were home for meals. And surprisingly, this all worked. We had free breakfast each day and a maid who took out our trash changed our bedding, vacuumed and brought new towels daily. I sure will miss having her around when we get home ;) Dare I say, we even came to enjoy our stay in a small hotel room for 4 months. It kept us close both figuratively and literally. In fact, we found out that had we been stationed there just 4 weeks longer they would have issued us a house. However, we realized had they given us a real apartment/house I would have felt the need to somewhat furnish and decorate and spent unnecessary amounts of money. And that by staying at the hotel they provided for free instead, we were able to pocket our housing allowance Ethan was given each month. Thanks to being able to have a renter back home for the majority of our time in Ga, we were financially blessed by living in a hotel. And now after living in a hotel for the last 4 months, we will really appreciate our new house we bought before coming out here that much more!

I'm grateful I came with Ethan, not just because I could and didn't want to miss him at home, but because of the support and companionship I know I was able to give him daily here. Watching some of the other men here struggle for 4 months being away from their spouses and families was, for some, brutal. I tried every day, especially the stressful ones, to be a supportive wife and discuss his day with him. I tried to come up with fun places to go, things to do and yummy food to eat. Mostly I was just grateful I was here to be able to hold his hand, go on walks and cuddle with him daily! With all the traveling we were able to do, it has felt like somewhat of an extended babymoon for us. Can't complain about that. 

I did have a lot of family and friends question our decision to have me come with Ethan, especially with the timing of our baby landing right during the last two weeks of his training here. To that, we just explained our decision that we came to by prayer. That this is where we were supposed to be and that we would be blessed and get through this together, as husband and wife. Yes, we were aware of how hard it would be, especially this being my first time away from home and during my first pregnancy and delivery. But I knew without a doubt, that I was supposed to be here, sharing this experience with my husband. Starting our family, with my husband. It was worth it for him to be able to experience the whole 9 months of pregnancy, doctors appointments and all the milestones & growth that our daughter made, especially her arrival in this life. And now that it's all said and done, I wouldn't have done it any other way.

Things I've learned while here at Fort Gordon:

"So far your track record for getting through really hard days is 100%." - Al Fox

• You can be happy in any situation, you just have to put in the effort. For me, that came through prayer, the love of my husband, support & love from family and friends back home and MANY skype calls.

• Sunday music, LDS talks, the scriptures and uplifting podcasts can start you off on very productive days. Working from home, aka my hotel room, each day was hard enough to stay focused but with a nice podcast in the background, I was able to work work work. 

• My love and appreciation for military families has really grown. The wives and children need our prayers and good thoughts just as much as their servicemen.

• Seeing the bigger picture of life always helps. Like the fact that after this course is complete, we aren't being shipped off to our next base for the unseen future, we are going home! Ethan is enlisted with the National Guard, so he's a weekend warrior. One weekend a month he'll go to guard in Spanish Fork, other than that he's like any other person with a real civilian job.  Unless otherwise informed. 

• You don't always have to share your testimony word for word, you can do it by example and the way you live your life. Being one of very few LDS members here on base and the only one in his class, my heart was happy to watch Ethan be that light to his friends, one of whom really needed it. This group of 5 or so that always hung out, just gravitated towards him. 

• One of the biggest things that we both learned while living 2,054 miles away from home was that there truly is "no place like home." Sure, all the traveling and exploring we got to do was incredible. The new people and lifestyles we met were eye-opening. But none of it is better than being close to your family to share it with. I can say this without a doubt that we have been blessed to come from two of the best families in the entire world. With supportive siblings who actually enjoy spending time together and parents who really taught us what eternal marriages looked like. We are incredibly blessed to live within 15 miles of both of them and after this experience, I don't think we will ever take that for granted. They were all so supportive and helpful during our time away from home. Even though it was just a "short" 4 months we always heard from them weekly. From phone calls, penpals in the mail and weekly Skype sessions, they really helped this time fly by.  

Moving across the country has been the most challenging & rewarding thing we've done together so far. And now we are ready to come home, as a family of three, to see what's next!! Southern Utah we're coming for you!!