Farewell Furniture

Monday we had the movers come and pack up/move all of our stuff.  Tyler stayed home all day to supervise but I had to work.  It was so weird leaving for work in the morning with a house full of things and then coming home to pretty much nothing!   I still felt like I was a little involved because Tyler sent me pictures and texts throughout the day to let me know what was going on.   Lucky for us, my boss let us borrow their super comfy air mattress (not being sarcastic… it really is comfy!).  So for the past few days we have pretty much had nothing but a blow-up mattress, our armoire, and sofas.  Today, a guy came and bought the last of the furniture and now we’ve got nothing but an air mattress.  It’s weird sitting on the floor and eating or hanging out but I suppose we need to get used to it because that’s what the Japanese do, right?  Haha.  All of the blogs I have been following that post things about restaurants in Oki have pictures of tables and chairs so I am sure we won’t sit on the floor too often (although it would be a cool thing to start doing while living there….noted!).    Seeing our furniture go has been a little bittersweet.  It was our first set of furniture together and hated to get rid of it but we had to.  Tyler moved up to the area with almost 8,000 lbs of stuff but the Marine Corps is only allowing us to take 2,500 of that with us to Japan.  We have had to sell pretty much ALL of our furniture (with the exception of a full size bed, desk, dining room table, and futon) and both of our cars.  Thankfully the military lets you borrow furniture while living there since they don’t allow you to bring much stuff.  I’m looking forward to getting new things, just worried about them being mismatched, worn from other people using them, and ugly haha.   We will take what we can get and make do with whatever we are given.  Now comes the fun part, cleaning the apartment!  We have to be out of our apartment by June 30 and are going to live with some friends on base until we head to Texas on the 7^th.  Guess I should get to cleaning and stop blogging.  Here are a few pictures of the movers moving our stuff: 

 

I didn’t get any pictures today but wish I would have.  It was pretty much impossible to get the couch out of our front door because of the way our entry way is shaped.  It took Tyler a very long time to get the couch inside of the apartment when we moved in so we were worried about getting it out.  When we moved in, you could look over the balcony and see a couch on the ground.  Since it is nearly impossible to get a couch out of the front door, we assumed that the last tenants just tossed their couch over the balcony haha.  Well we were unsuccessful at getting the couch out through the front door today and decided to try the backdoor thing.  We pulled the truck around to the back of the building and had one person upstairs and one down (and me supervising since there wasn’t much I could do).  I didn’t think it would work but surprisingly, it worked like a charm and we were able to get the couch down without any problems….. so I will swallow my pride and say that TYLER WAS RIGHT AND I WAS WRONG (better take note of this because you won’t see me writing this a whole lot ;)  ).  Thanks for all of your hard work babe!!! 

Love My Marine

Just have to give a little shout out to my wonderful husband, Sergeant Tyler Prior.  When we were at the wedding rehearsal on Friday evening, we were all standing in the parking lot talking and a bugler sounded “Attention” and began to play “Evening Colors”.  Immediately, all the service members in our group turned to face and salute the flag (or the direction it was in) while the song played.  I had never seen that done before and since we were on base, we were surrounded by the Arlington Cemetery headstones.  The whole thing gave me goose bumps and made me so very proud that I am married to my husband, a Sergeant in the Marine Corps.   I tell him that I am proud of him for who he is and what he does for our country, but not enough.  I sure hope he knows how proud I feel when I say that I am married to a Marine and that I love him for everything he does.  I love you Ty!  Oorah!  

Todd and Christine’s Wedding

     Man oh man, what a day!  Anything that could have gone wrong on a wedding day did…. and then some!  The day started out bright and early when the girls met up at 7am to get on a shuttle bus to go to a salon to get our hair done.  We went to a salon called Aveda Circe Salon in Old Town Alexandria and I must recommend that anyone in the area should stay away from the place if you are wanting to get your hair done!  First of all, Christine had asked the salon a few days before the wedding how much they would charge to curl everyone’s hair.  They told her $35 a person and that it would be extra if anyone wanted an up-do.  $35 sounded reasonable but for a salon in Old Town, it is also pretty unrealistic.  You may get one or two curls for that price but that’s about it.  Anyhoo- she made an appointment for us all and we went in to get all dolled up.  The first two girls just got their hair curled and let me just say, a five year old could have done a better job.  I was really nervous that mine would turn out the same way so I decided to pay a little extra and get an up-do (half up half down).  My stylist was super nice and did a great job with my hair; I was very pleased.  I walked up to the counter to pay and was told my total was $90 *GULP*.  I thought “Surely an up-do wasn’t THAT much more than plain curls” but didn’t want to argue so I handed over my credit card.  The rest of the girls (except one) looked like they had curled their hair the night before, went to bed, and then woke up and had a hair-do for the wedding.  One girl went to pay and was charged $125!  While all of this mess was happening, Chrissy was in the back getting her nails done.  The nail tech totally screwed up her ring finger and that upset Chrissy a little bit because the photographer wanted to take pictures of her ring.  Luckily he said he could photoshop it and make it look nice so it was no biggie.  After we told Christine what we paid for our hair she threw a fit.  She told the receptionist that we were told it would only be $35 and that it needed to stay that way… yada yada yada.  The lady called her manager and after a long time of negotiating, the manager finally said that we each needed to pay $50.  Ok… $50 wasn’t too bad, but my hair was actually o.k.  I felt so bad for the other girls because they pretty much wasted $50.  Chrissy doesn’t own a curling iron so luckily Tyler came to the rescue.  We live right down the road from the salon so he rushed up there with my curling iron and hairspray so all of the girls could fix their hair when we got to the house to have our makeup done. 

                Once we arrived back at Christine’s house, her dad realized that his tux didn’t fit because Men’s Warehouse gave him the wrong size.  There wasn’t enough time to go up there and get another one so he had to make do with a suit.  After we got ready everyone but the bride, maid of honor, and father of the bride headed to the reception hall at the Navy Yard because we were going to take a 30 passenger bus over to the Church on Fort Myer.  We pull up to the reception hall and I’ll be damned if we didn’t see a little tiny car hooked up to a giant bus trying to jump it. The dang bus wouldn’t start and the jumping was not helping.  Since the boys needed to be there by 1:45 (the wedding was at 2:30) they all jumped in regular cars and headed out.  The rest of us waited back for a mechanic from the bus company to come.  We couldn’t decide whether or not we should find some other way to get there and then after a few minutes the truck had jumped the bus and finally got it running.  We all rushed to the bus and hauled ass over to Fort Myer.  Once we got through the gate we had to go through a security check point (because the bus and driver didn’t have access to get on base).  The guards did a quick search and we made it to the church at about 2:45.   Once we got to the church we found out that the limo driver was having issues getting onto base to pick up the bride, maid of honor, and the bride’s dad because he didn’t have the proper clearance.  I still have no freakin clue as to how he managed to pick them up because they didn’t have a car to meet him up at the gate.  Somehow he was able to pick them up and made it to Fort Myer around 3:15.  Soooo the wedding finally started about 45 minutes late but it turned out to be beautiful. 

                Once we were done with the ceremony, the bridal party jumped back onto the bus (that the driver kept running so it wouldn’t break down again) and headed out to D.C for a photo shoot.  It was a wonderful idea and a beautiful place to take pictures but there was a ton of walking going on and nobody (expect the bride) thought to bring flip-flops.  So after a ton of walking in our cute heels, we all had cuts, scrapes, blisters, etc. on our feet.  A few of us decided just to walk barefoot because we were in lots of pain and just couldn’t take it anymore!  Aside from the heel issues, the pictures were so much fun to take and I cannot wait to see them!  After pictures we headed back to the Navy Yard for the reception (which was in a different room than the one they had picked out and paid for) and had a great time.  Food was good, dancing was fun, and the chairs were oh so comfortable.  Most of the bridal party (including myself) sat down and relaxed because we were EXHAUSTED from the eventful day we had.  When the reception was over there were a few people that needed rides because no one thought to figure out how people were getting home haha.  After calling a cab company and being hung up on about 40 times we finally decided that Tyler and I would take a car load to their hotel and a groomsman would do the same.  Then we would return to the reception hall and pick up the rest of the group and head home.  What a crazy and eventful day!  Looking back on it, we laugh because it was something that would definitely happen in a comedy flick…. I didn’t know wedding days could go so badly until I actually lived it haha.  The wedding turned out to be beautiful though and Chrissy and Todd looked wonderful!  They both seemed to have had a great time and that is all that matters.  Congrats to the two of you!  Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day :)  

              

Itinerary

We received our itinerary for our trip to Okinawa yesterday.  We fly from Dallas to Seattle at 4 p.m on August 3 and then we fly from Seattle to Okinawa bright and early the next morning.  Wow.... this is really happening.  Since we found out not too long ago, we haven't had much time to sit and let the thought and feeling of moving overseas for 3 years sink in.  It still doesn't seem real and probably won't until we are about 6 hours into our flight to Oki haha.  We have been selling furniture left and right and that hasn't been too bad but I am sure Monday is going to be super weird.  The movers come and take all of our stuff and we will be living in an empty apartment for about 10 days.  Luckily we have a lot to keep us busy.  Our friends Chrissy and Todd are letting us stay a few days with them so we can be out of our apartment by June 30.  We plan on going down to Raleigh for the 4th of July and spending time with my brother-in-law and his family.  Then we come back to D.C for a few days and then head "home".  We can't wait to head to Texas to spend almost a month with our friends and family!  Super super excited about all of the things we have coming up!

Fun at the Zoo

Seth, Jenn, Morgan and Ava decided to come up from Raleigh and visit us for the weekend.  They arrived around noon on Saturday and we relaxed and chatted a bit and then headed to the Metro station.  Lucky for us they were doing repairs on the Metro all weekend and there were tons of delays.  Thankfully, the kids did great and they enjoyed riding the train (it was their first time).  After the long metro ride and lots of walking, we FINALLY made it to the zoo.  Tyler and I were watching our friend’s son, Noah, and he had a hard time keeping up with everyone while walking (he is 3) so we decided it was probably best that we rent a stroller.  He and Ava had a great time riding together, sharing cotton candy and even holding hands….<3 haha.  The kids had a great time at the zoo and even enjoyed getting rained on (more like sprinkled).  We headed home and ate homemade tacos and watched Finding Nemo.  Everyone was pooped and the girls fell asleep during the movie. 

 Sunday we watched some t.v. and then they hit the road because they had to get ready for the work week.  It was so good to see them and we are so glad they were able to come up to visit.  We have decided we are going to spend 4^th of July weekend at their house so we can see them one last time before we head to Japan L 

Noah was so excited to be on the train and headed to the zoo!

Ava looks thrilled to be holding Noah's hand haha

Zoo!

Kids running through the mist

Jenn, Seth and the girls

Seth and Jenn's Wedding May 14, 2011

Tyler’s older brother, Seth, was graduating from NC State and being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.  We were planning on going down for that and Ty’s family from Texas (mom, sister, 2 brothers, nieces and nephew, and grandparents) were going to fly up for the occasion.   Since we were all going to be there, Seth and Jenn decided to throw a wedding into the mix that weekend too J  We decided to stay a little longer than just the weekend because there was just so much going on and not enough time to relax and spend time with everyone.  We stayed from Thursday to Tuesday and still didn’t feel like that was enough time but hey, we were grateful for the time that we had.  I’ll break everything down day by day because there was A LOT going on! 

Thursday- We got there that afternoon and Tyler immediately had to go with Seth to the commissioning ceremony practice (Tyler was Seth’s first salute J ).  Jenn and I went to the mall to get a few things and got our nails done while we were waiting for all of our Texas kin to arrive (they were all flying in at separate times that day).  We all got everyone where they needed to go and everyone got checked in to the places they were staying.  We all met back up and had dinner at a pizza place in Cary.  We had a great time catching up with everyone, playing with our nieces and nephew, and meeting some of Jenn’s family.

 Friday- Friday morning was the commissioning ceremony and that afternoon/evening was the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Very busy day but it all went great!

Saturday- Saturday was a very busy day that started out early.  We went to Seth’s graduation at NC State, and then we headed back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding.  We met back at Seth’s house because Tyler was riding to the wedding with Seth and Seth’s brother in law, Will, and I was driving my mother in law and brother in law, Ethan, to the wedding.  There were terrible storms throughout the day and the drive out there was horrible.  We got where we needed to be and about 10 minutes before the ceremony (it was outside) the rain stopped and the sun started shining.  It could not have turned out any better.  Seth and Ty looked so handsome in their tuxes (Ty was Seth’s best man) and Jenn looked absolutely beautiful in her dress!  Morgan and Ava did wonderfully as flower girls and minded me very well (I was in charge of keeping them still during the ceremony).  The reception was held at the same place and was so much fun.  Ty and I danced the night away with each other and our nieces and nephew.  We had such a blast! 

Sunday- Mom, Ethan, Morgan and Ava all flew back to Texas because the girls had to get back to school.  We were bummed that we only got to spend a few days with them but had a great time with them when we were together.  The rest of the bunch (Ty, Me, Jenn, Seth, Kirstie, Ryan, Ellie, and Tyler) met at the mall and walked around for a little while.  Afterwards we all went out to dinner and that was that.

Monday- The same bunch met up for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (it was a first for a few of them) and then Seth, Jenn, Ty and I double dated and saw Bridesmaids (freakin hilarious).  My cousin Doug, his wife Lynette, and their two girls, Ada and Harper, live in the area too so Ty and I had dinner with them at their house that night.  It was great seeing them and we enjoyed eating a delicious home cooked meal (since we were in a hotel and every meal was at a restaurant).  Thanks guys for having us over!

Tuesday-  We all got up and checked out of our hotel (Ryan and Kirstie were staying at the same place we were) and met up with Seth and Jenn at On the Border.  We said our goodbyes and Tyler and I drove home while Kirstie and Ryan flew back to Texas that evening. 

We are so thankful that we were all able to make that trip together.  It was so much fun seeing everyone and just being able to relax.  It is times like those that make us wish we lived closer to family because we always have such a great time together.  Luckily we will be spending most of July back home in Texas with everyone before heading off to Japan.  Can’t wait to see them again! 

Ty and Ellie Belly

Pizza

Me, Jenn, Morgan and Ava

Ty and I waiting on pizza

Ty, Kirstie and little Tyler

Seth and Ellie

Ty at the NC State Bell Tower

Seth reciting the Oath 

Jenn, Morgan, Ava and Les (Seth's dad) pinning on his 2ndLt rank

Second Lieutenant Prior & Co.

First Salute

The girls provided the entertainment with American Idol on Wii

Chowin Down

He couldn't get enough of her :)

Kirstie, Ryan, Tyler and Morgan

Me and Ethan

Mr. and Mrs. Prior :)

Connie, big Ty and little Ty

Ty, Kirstie, Ellie and Ethan

Ryan and Kirstie

Combing Ellie's hair :)

Drum solo!

Okinawa News

When Tyler had his braces put on he had to get special permission to stay in D.C until March 2012 because that is when he is supposed to get them taken off.  The Air Force does all of his dental work because the Marine Corps doesn't have a dental program.  He had to get permission from the orthodontist and his monitor saying that he was allowed to extend his stay in D.C until March 2012 (his 3 year mark in D.C will be in July).  Well around the second week in May Tyler contacted his new monitor because the old one had left (the monitor is the guy that is in charge of sending Marines to different places around the world to live).  He wanted to introduce himself and let him know that we were scheduled to PCS (Permanent Change of Duty Station) in March and wanted to talk to him about the possibility of certain places that he may send us.  The monitor looked up his file and saw that Tyler's 3 year mark is in July and told him he needed to get his family ready to move because he was sending him somewhere else.  Tyler told the guy his dental situation and the monitor told Tyler he needed to get his orthodontist to write a note stating that Tyler was his patient and that he needed to stay with the orthodontist until his braces came off in March.  The orthodontist wasn't allowed to do that and told Tyler that because it wasn't a special case, he could see other military orthodontists anywhere in the world.  Tyler reported that to his monitor and the monitor told him that since it wasn't a special case then he can see an orthodontist out in Okinawa, Japan.  Tyler called me and told me that there was a huge possibility that we would be heading to Okinawa soon but didn't know any details.  He went into work the next day and had web orders waiting for him stating that our next duty station will be Okinawa, Japan and that we were scheduled to report there in August.  We were both in complete shock when we found out because that was in mid May..... meaning August was only 2.5 months away.  Most people know about their PCS' months in advance so they have time to prepare for a move.  I think that has been the most stressful part of this all is just not having a lot of time to get things in order that HAVE to be done.  Lucky for me the family I work for is moving overseas in August too so they know what I am going through and have been very flexible with my schedule and letting me off to get things done. We are super excited about living overseas and we have both heard nothing but GREAT things about Okinawa.  I have not heard one negative thing about it and that makes me so pumped to get over there. 
      We have got a TON of stuff to do before August.  Our movers come and pick up our stuff on June 20, we have to be out of our apartment by June 30, we will be staying with a friend until we head to Texas (me July 7 and Ty July 8), and then we are planning on heading to Japan from Texas on or around August 1.  We have had to sell most of our furniture because we have about 8,000 lbs of stuff and they are only allowing us 2,500 lbs soooo that has been fun trying to narrow it down to the things we absolutely need!  Luckily since they don't allow you to move a ton of stuff they rent furniture out to people for their time spent living in Okinawa.  I'm not too crazy about hand-me-down furniture but hey, I gotta deal with it because I have no choice.  We also aren't allowed to take any cars with us therefore we needed to get rid of the 2 that we had.  We sold our jeep to a dealership and are selling the other car to my parents.  I know we are dealing with a bunch of stress right now but luckily it is all coming so quickly, we don't have much time to sit and think about things.  We are just soooo ready to be there already and get all of this crap over with! 

NYC Trip

A ton of stuff has happened in the past few months and our life is going to get even busier in the months to come.  Back in March we went to NYC for Ty’s birthday and had a wonderful time.  I was a little worried he wouldn’t be too fond of it but he LOVED it!  We had a short but fun weekend and I am so glad we were able to do that together at least once since we live so close (we are about 4 hours away).  We did the double-decker tour bus and saw most of the “must see” places in the city (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, etc.).  We walked around and checked some places out in Times Square.  We ate at some good restaurants (Juniors for cheesecake and a NY pizzeria because that is a MUST when visiting NY) and even saw a show.  We went and saw Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, which was great!  I was a little worried because I had heard mixed reviews and they were having a lot of problems with their cast members getting hurt and shows being cancelled but thankfully ours was still on and there weren’t any major accidents (there was a minor one when a set prop fell onto one of the actors but nothing serious).  We really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone!  We were planning a trip back there in the fall/winter time but sadly won’t be in the area (or even the United States!) so will have to plan a trip for another time :( 

Juniors in Times Square

T-Rex at Toys-R-Us

Just for our nephew little Tyler

Daily Bugle

Statue of Liberty

Ground Zero

Radio City Music Hall

Waiting for the tour to start

Rockefeller

Times Square

NYC

Us

Ready for the show

Super excited!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY TY!

Terrible Blogger

Ok, well obviously I am a terrible blogger.  I have not blogged in months but ya know, nobody knew I even had a blog so therefore no one was actually reading it….making it perfectly fine that I didn’t write….right?!?  I promise that will change since we will be moving far far away and will need a way to keep everyone in the loop with our lives.  For now, I will fill you all in with the crazy things that have gone on in our lives in the past 3 months.  Enjoy!

~M