Autumn is arriving soon and so are the movers...

Autumn is my favorite season. There's football, crisp cool air, leaves changing colors, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and of course all things pumpkin flavored or scented. And in the North Country that means apple cider and cider donuts. 

It also means a time of change and preparedness; back to school, animals prepare for Winter and the Army tells us it's time to head to another duty station. 

So after 3 years in Upstate New York, we're moving to Alaska. More specifically the largest interior city in Alaska, Fairbanks.

 It's population is roughly the size of Salisbury, NC, the birthplace of Cheerwine. There are no sit-down chain restaurants, just a few fast food options. Everything else is a locally owned restaurant, which is going to be kind of a nice change. Their coldest months are November and December, but here in upstate NY its January and February. Another welcome change is the amount of snowfall. Fairbanks averages 65 inches of snow all winter and here in Watertown, they average 106 inches each year. The winter of 2014/2015 we saw 181 inches. That's 15 FEET of snow! And I'll take sub zero temps over crazy amounts of snow anyday. 

My husband is over the moon and excited about all the hunting, fishing and endless outdoor activities and of course no silly NY gun laws. I'm pretty excited too, mostly for the opportunity to see the Northern lights in person, all the wildlife, ice sculptures and cooking all the wild game that makes its way into my kitchen. 

Our kids are slowly warming up to the idea of a new state, new city, and new friends. But we've made the best out of every duty station we've been assigned. Now we 'hurry up and wait' for the movers to arrive and enjoy one last fall season here in New York. 

Happiness is...

One of my New Years resolutions is to appreciate all things that I've been blessed with in life and to be grateful for them. Much like stopping to smell the flowers, I want to pause at the end of each day and jot down something that made me happy. I recently stumbled across this idea multiple times on New Years; first when a friend posted that she had just opened their '2015 jar of happy'. It was filled with random snippets of dialogue from her children, memories from living in Korea and other fun times throughout their year. The second time I saw a happiness jar scroll across my newsfeed was from the personal page of Elizabeth Gilbert.

I read through several posts from Elizabeth's fans and was intrigued by several of their stories of how they found happiness even on a horrible day or time in their lives. 

After seeing jars filled with gratitude and happiness, I knew that this was something that I really wanted to do during the year ahead. I want to remember one good thing that happened during my day when the rest of it might have been a bit more chaotic. I want to look back a year from now and see that even on my darkest day, it was filled with light. 

As I said in my first blog entry for the year....

I really want this year to be focused on happiness and not let any negativity seep in and destroy what I've got going on in my life. I've joined a new community of like-minded people that just want to be happy and I like that idea. 

So here it is.  Just a simple jar with a lid that I picked up at a local craft store. I wood burnt the tag and tied it in place with jute. Colorful things make me happy, so I picked up some 2x3 inch cardstock to jot my happy moments on. I had the word happiness leftover from a scrapbook and taped it to the bottom of the jar. For less than $10, I created something that will bring me joy in the year ahead and I think that's pretty neat. Along with writing down happy moments, I'm taking it a step further and including wallet-sized pictures of happy times with my family from throughout the year. I know when I see a picture of us having a family game night, it'll remind me of the fun time we had playing Catan on New Years Day. Another idea is to eventually compile all the happy moments into a scrapbook after we open the jar on NYE.  

I'm looking forward to 2016 and all the happy things it has in store for me. 

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Today my dog turns FIVE! 

My sweet Weimaraner, Hunter has turned five and is slowly going gray around his muzzle. He's been my deployment/hubby isn't here buddy since we rescued him almost 3 years ago. It's hard to believe that I wasn't a "dog" person until I got him and now I couldn't picture him in my life. He's already traveled cross country twice, once to the beach for the very first time and the second time when we moved from Kansas to New York. 

Hunter loves car rides, playing at the dog park, chasing squirrels on our walks, laying on the couch with his sister, Bella and cuddling with me while I read. He loves to steal potatoes and hide them around the house, catch frogs and bring them inside and even purrs when he's happy. 

Happy 5th Birthday Hunter! 

Happy New Year!

It's a brand new year & a brand new day. As I sit here thinking about all the things that I'd like to accomplish in the year ahead, I'm amazed at what the last year has bought me. I had been given a year where my spouse hasn't deployed, a year where my children were healthy, a year where we found an amazing church family to worship with, a year of new friendships and a year where we've been content with our lives.

A few things that are happening right off the bat in 2016; a happiness jar is in the works. I really want this year to be focused on happiness and not let any negativity seep in and destroy what I've got going on in my life. I've joined a new community of like-minded people that just want to be happy and I like that idea. :)

I'm slowly getting back to my fitness goals from last year and carving out some well deserved time for myself. I've saved a ton of self-care and motivational pins on Pinterest in the past week and I'm looking forward to putting those into action. I'm also making more time for a project of mine that's been in the works for over 6 long years. It's been pushed to the back burner far too many times. My spiritual relationship is also in need of some repair, so I'll be diving back into my weekly PWOC meetings here on post and striving to lead a more Christ-filled life. 

There are some big changes ahead in 2016. I'm working on myself from the inside-out and I'm excited about all the changes God has in store for me and my family. Hope you all have a fantastic 2016, filled with lots of love, laughter and joy! 

Here's to a new year!