I saw my husband

Well in pictures at least. =)

The OCS facebook page posts pictures of all the different classes currently in Rhode Island during different events.  I have been waiting to make sure my husband rolled back into the program on Friday August 9.  Now I have my proof!!

My husband is on the right about to jump off the platform

Treading water, I think

These pictures made my day week.  I love getting to see him.  He looks so handsome!  I am extremely proud of him and everything he is doing!  Love Him!!!

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. =)

I'm an AUNT!

This is very exciting news.  This is the first baby in our family.

On August 14, 2013 at 7:48 My sister Brittany and brother-in-law Malcolm welcomed 

Malcolm Lavon Bryant Jr

He weighed 5lbs 11oz and was 18in long
He is beautiful!

Here are a few pictures from the wonderful day.

Holding MJ for the first time

Mommy and Baby 

Brittany saying hello to her son =)

The whole family

On the phone with our mom "mema" unfortunately She and my Dad are in Maine right now so they weren't able to be at the hospital. 

Daddy holding MJ for the first time

Proud Daddy

Aunt Beth, my other sister holding MJ

One more of MJ looking cute

It was a wonderful day.  I wish I had taken a picture of me holding the baby.  =(  I am so happy I was able to be there when baby Malcolm joined our family.  It was amazing to be apart of something so special and look forward to watching MJ grow!

Harvest Sign

 I am beyond ready for Fall to get here.  It is the beginning of my favorite time of the year!  Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  Oh I can't wait.  I decided to get ready by crafting a little.

I created a Harvest Sign!  I love how it turned out am excited to pull out the rest of my Fall decor very shortly. 

It was pretty simple to make.  All you will need is:

-mod podge

-scrapbook paper

-wooden circles (5in)

-ribbon

-hot glue

- foam sheet

-paint

-foam brush

I started by painting the back side of the wooden circles orange using a foam brush.  I gave them 2 coats just to make sure they were completely covered even though no one will see the back (make sure to paint the edges those will be seen).  

 I had selected 6 different patterns of scrapbook paper to cover my wooden circles with.  I traced the wooden circles on the scrapbook paper and then cut out the circles.  Use a foam sponge to apply Mod Podge to the wooden circe before placing the scrapbook paper on top.  Once the paper is one apply another layer of Mod Podge on top of the paper.  I allowed the Mod Podge to dry for a couple of hours before I added the letters.

I printed letters out from my computer and placed them on the foam sheet I had purchased to create the letters.  I cut them out using scissors and an X-acto knife.  (If you have another way of cutting out letters I'm always open for suggestions)  I was happy enough with the way the letters turned out, but they weren't perfect but thats ok =)

The last step was to attach the ribbon that the sign is hung on.  I chose a 1 1/2 inch orange ribbon with a wire edge.  I hot glued the top of the ribbon to create a loop to hang the sign.  Then I hot glued the wooden circles to the ribbon.  Finally I added a bow around the top loop.  

 

And here is the completed sign!

Happy Crafting! 

Hope fall comes soon...

Let me know of any fun crafts you all are working on!

Newport

For the past 5 1/2 weeks my Husband has been up in Newport, RI.  Out of those 5 1/2 weeks, 4 1/2 of them have been spent with Christopher in Med-Hold due to him getting sick at the end of the first week of OCS.  One of the few benefits of Chris being in Med-Hold was getting to see him over the 4th of July Holiday.   After finding out on Friday June 28th that Chris was going to remain in Med-Hold for another 3 weeks I quickly booked flights and a hotel room on the Navy base planned my trip.

I'm not sure how to express my excitement on getting to see Chris after having been away from him for over a month. (Before leaving for OCS I think the longest amount of time I had been away from Chris was about a week in the 5 years we've been together.)  We had a great time just relaxing, enjoying the amazing New England weather and spending the time together.

Finally together again!

Our room on the Base.  I was really happy with it, Looked like a dorm from the outside, but inside was really nice.

When I went to visit I didn't rent a car so Chris and I had to walk everywhere we went.  The base is close to downtown Newport so one the 4th Christopher and I decided to walk the 2 miles and enjoy the historic area and watch the fireworks over Newport Harbor (later figured out we could have stayed on the base and maybe seen the fireworks a little better, but we had fun just the same)

After walking 5-6 miles on the 4th I quickly realized I am out of shape as I woke up to my calf muscles screaming in protest of all the exercise.  We decided we would probably not be making the trip back into Newport for fear of Chris having to carry me back.  Ultimately we decided to hang around the Base and explore (being that I am new to the military life I was just as excited to be able to go to the Commissary and the Nex using my military ID)  We found a little cafe on the base to have lunch at on Friday and enjoyed yummy new england clam chowder and a nice view!

One of the ships at the base, pretty neat to see!

Since the only options for food were a few restaurants located within walking distance of the base Chris and I decided to take our chances with our grilling skills (we've never used a charcoal grill before so it was fun)

Grilling was a great success! We grilled corned, peppers, onions, mushrooms, peapods and steaks!!

Beautiful sunset =)

On my last day in Newport I was excited to wear the my new anchor shirt I bought just to wear on the trip.  

Then we were off to take a few pictures and visit the Navy War College Museum.  

Getting to spend those 3 days with Chris were wonderful.  Having to wake up at 4:00am to catch my flight home and return to a life without him for another 12 weeks was very hard.  I feel as though he has been gone forever already and I have 3x as long before I will see him again.  Most of what I think about is this is just a taste of what life will be like when he is stationed on a submarine and out on patrol.  

Hope everyone had as wonderful a 4th of July as I did and was able to spend it with those you love!   

Starting to get lonely

Missing this man right now! Chris has been gone now for 1 week and 5 days and we have many more to go.

Chris sporting my sunglasses so I could play cornhole a little better, the weekend before he left

Chris left for OCS on June 1st.  OCS lasts 12 weeks and Chris was supposed to graduate August 23.  Unfortunately last friday Christopher got sick and had to go into the hospital (thankfully he is fine and doing much better now)  The rigorous schedule of OCS caused too much protein to be in his body and his kidneys couldn't handle it.  Thankfully he is fine =)  The benefit of him being in the hospital was phone privileges, so the past 5 nights I've been able to talk to my wonderful husband.  But today he was discharged from the hospital and now we are back to no phone privileges.  OCS is so fast paced and rigorous that anytime out of the program requires the person to "roll" (get pushed to the next class), Chris will roll back in on June 28 and Christopher will  now graduate on August 23   September 13.  

So let's get this count down started 13 weeks and 1 day to go!!!

And so it Begins...

As I mentioned earlier Christopher was accepted into the Navy Nuke Officer program (I couldn't be more nervous excited).  Well on Saturday June 1 Chris and I loaded into the car around 6:00am and headed to Orlando so Christopher could catch his flight.

Off to Orlando

When we made it to the airport all we needed to do was check his bag because he had already checked into his flight, but the only problem with this was almost every person at the airport seemed to be flying SouthWest.  (I attribute this to the fact that SouthWest is the airline that Disney uses.  There were a lot of families in line that looked like they had just spent a wonderful time either at the Disney parks or on a Disney cruise)  Needless to say the line to check his bag was insanely long.  

Waiting in the long long line to Check his bag

Poor Chris ended up having to carry on his bag, meaning I got to bring home his: shampoo, razors, shaving cream and toothpaste.  

Chris is now in Newport RI and he'll be there for 12 weeks.  He is at OCS and at the end he will be an Officer in the United States Navy!!  I am so proud of him.  I can't wait till the end of August when I get to go to Newport for his graduation.  

 I pray that Chris stays healthy and the time goes by quickly for him.  Now I am just anxiously waiting for the phone call from him to let me know he checked in, then there will be no phone calls for 4 weeks.  

I would love to hear from anyone who has had  a spouse go through this or who's spouse is there now.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week!

In the Navy...

So something very exciting, a little scary, and ultimately life changing happened this week.  My husband interviewed for and was accepted into the Naval Nuclear Officer Program!  This has been a long process and I could not be prouder of my husband for all the hard work he has put in (and all the hard work he has to come)

So as we transition our lives somewhat into the scary unknown world which is the Navy I hope you will come along with me.  If there are any Navy wives out there with advice on what is to come, what to expect, and what life is like as a Navy wife I would love to hear it!  I am excited to start this adventure and I know God has a plan for our lives and this is what we should be doing.

Well Happy Almost Friday (the weekend is almost here)  Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday night!