I'm taking another break from blogtember. It's been so much fun to this point but I would be ungrateful if I didn't pause today and remember. Thirteen years ago today. We all know what happened. A national tragedy, a terrorist attack, an unthinkable act. Did your world stop turning? I remember the feeling so well. The feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same. And I was right.

My husband enlisted in the Air Force three years later (as soon as he was old enough) and he sites the 9/11 attacks as the fuel for his fire. Before he'd wanted to enlist and serve his country. After he was even more determined. He was inspired to join a cause, to fight for something, to make a difference.

The world we live in, a world at war, is a scary one. The world Everly is growing up in is very different than the one I grew up in. But it's because of brave men and women, the everyday heroes, that we can carry on without fear. The way to let them win is to stop fighting. And we will never do that.

We will always remember. We will always fight on.

Today is the day (we're in Tokyo right now). Our bags are packed. Our household goods have shipped. Our passports are ready. We're moving! Aaron has lived here for three years now and I've lived here a year and a half, although I came here to visit for the first time almost exactly two years ago. What a whirlwind this has all been! We've been lonely sometimes, living so far from our family and friends, but together we've grown and learned so much. When we were first married it was just us here. No one else to help or hurt our relationship. Aaron and I learned so much together and built our marriage to be strong. I am so grateful for those first days of ours and that we spent them alone and in love.

A few weeks from now marks the day we found out we were having a baby. That was an exciting day! When we got married and I moved to Japan I never thought we'd be having a baby here. Ask anyone, I was against a Japan baby. I wanted to be married for a few years and really enjoy each other before we added another person to the mix. Life (and Everly) had other plans and I will forever be grateful for that. The day she was born was the happiest of this beautiful life.

And our home, oh our happy little home. What a beautiful place to spend the first year and a half of being a family! As we watched the movers pack our entire life into six wooden crates we talked about all the happy times we've had there. It was a great way to say goodbye to our happy little space.

Now we're in Tokyo, waiting to board our plane back to the States. What a fun experience this has been. We've laughed and cried and said our goodbyes. We're ready for a new adventure. We're so excited to see where life takes us next.

xo Sue (and Aaron and Everly)

Lets talk about fears. What truly scares you? For me, losing my husband or my daughter. Right below that is losing another member of my family, my parents or siblings. But that's not what I want to talk about today. Today I'm going to tell you something that we're going through right now. And it's scary. But I think it's a good kind of scary.

Aaron is leaving the military. A few weeks ago he had a PT (physical training) test. These tests are mandatory for every military member but they vary between branches of what's required to pass them. The Air Force is the only branch that measures your waist line and has a max limit of how "big" you're allowed to be. Aaron passed the push-ups, sit-ups, and run portions of the test with flying colors. He is in great shape. Recently he was asked to give a blood sample to be an example of what a perfectly healthy 27 year old male should be. I'm not exaggerating when I say he's in good health. But he's 1/2 an inch over their max waist limit. And because of that extra 1/2 inch he failed his test. And because he failed the test he's being separated from the military. He's being given an honorable discharge, but it's still the equivalent of losing his job. And that's scary.

When Aaron called me after his PT test and told me he'd failed it I felt so sad for him. He worked so hard to pass and he was SO CLOSE. I'll be honest here. I was expecting to be angry and terrified if he didn't pass. But I wasn't. I felt very calm and accepted the news easily. Aaron and I have always talked about "one day" when he's not in the military what we'd want to do. So when he asked me the BIG question of what do we do I said "everything we planned!" I got excited. Excited over my husband losing his job? I know. I was surprised too. But I was excited. We decided we're moving back to Utah (!!!) and Aaron is going back to school. He's getting his degree in Art and Computer Science (he's incredibly talented in both areas) and he's going to design art for video games. It's his dream job and now he's going to chase his dreams.

It's scary, the idea of moving on and starting over. We have a 2 month old daughter to worry about. Aaron is getting a new job. We're moving across the world (but thankfully, back home). For the first time in 9 years my husband is moving somewhere because he wants to and not because someone gave him an order. We have no idea how long we'll be in Utah. We're taking things one step at a time. Life is going to be very different, but we're both excited. We're going somewhere new and wonderful and we're doing it as a family. Together we're facing our fears and coming out fighting.

Because we'll never have another spring in Japan, I went out today and took some pictures of the cherry blossoms. I have plans to do it again later this week because I definitely didn't get enough. Aren't they beautiful? I'll definitely miss them.

xo Sue

Aaron and I went to the Air Force Ball this weekend. It was fancy and fun and I got to dress up. Plus my baby girl made for a cute accessory bump. Usually I'd feel self conscious about wearing a dress that hugs all my curves but with her popping out I felt pretty great. 

xo Sue

If I didn't write about my husband today I would feel very ungrateful. I know Memorial Day is the day to remember fallen service members, but it can also a day to honor all our service members. My husband is dedicated and hardworking and doesn't get nearly as much credit for pure awesome as he should. And so for the first time on my blog I'm going to properly introduce my him.

This is Aaron.

He's a member of the United States Air Force.
He doesn't usually get this dressed up, but our wedding was a special occasion.
He looked so handsome that day.

Usually he looks more like this, which suits him well.

Aaron Loves

Sue

Twink

Iced Tea

Video Games

Drawing

Aaron Likes

Grilling

Snowboarding

Being a Nerd

Coke Zero

Singing

Aaron Doesn't Like

Working Crazy Hours

Doing the Dishes

Waking Up Early

My Aaron is such a genuinely good person.
Today and every day, I am PROUD to call him my husband.

So here's the thing. I don't talk about the military much on my blog. I'm not an expert who can tell you the ins and outs. Aaron has been in the Air Force for 8 years now but until we married I'd never had the influence of the military in my life. Sometimes I look at people weird when they call me a "MilSpouse." It's still such a strange concept. When people visit my blog they don't know we're a military family unless I mention it casually or they read my about me page. But today I'm joining the MilSpouse Appreciation Day blog hop (even though it was yesterday here... silly time difference) so I thought I'd bring it up.

To anyone new here, I'm Sue. 

I'm married to Aaron. 

We have a puppy, Twink.

We live in Japan.

I love to read big books, dance instead of walk, and take lots of pictures.

Aaron loves to play video games, grill KC BBQ, and make people laugh.

Twink loves to run around crazy, chew on squeaky toys, and eat from our plate.

We try and take cute pictures like this.

But usually they look more like this.

These are my favorite shoes & pants.

And this is my favorite place in Japan.

I'm a reader, dancer, dreamer, lover. And I'm a MilSpouse.

It's lovely to meet you all!


Visit Houshold6Diva and Riding the Rollercoaster to meet more friends.

It's official, I'm a military girl. Haha, kidding, I have been for a while. Melissa Jaine does a fabulous interview series for military girls on her blog that I've been reading for months now. Today I'm being featured on it and I'm so excited about this! Go check it out and tell me what you think!

Since I am a soon-to-be (36 days!) military wife I decided to do a little research. I spent a good part of this evening reading (stalking?) milspouse blogs- their words not mine! I found some spectacular blogs by some incredible women. Some made me laugh, some made me cry. I was truly inspired. 

I'm not choosing the Air Force. I am choosing Aaron. The Air Force just happens to come along with him and for better or worse I'll do it all. It was never a concious choice I made. Once I realized I truly, deeply love him I knew I'd never be without him. So now I'm just along for the ride. Do not worry though, I won't get lost in his identity. I will always be myself. Speaking of such silly things, Aaron told me that none of the people I meet on a military base will ever know me as or call me Sue. To them I'll always be "Mrs. Aaron." Wow, I just said that out loud. What fun! But also strange. Isn't that supposed to be my MIL? I wonder how long it will be before I actually start to respond when called that.

There are 34 days and 5.5 hours until I get to see my lover again. I'll get to feel his arms wrap around me and his sweet lips kiss mine. When I close my eyes I can almost feel it now. It's coming slowly... it's almost here... My Aaron is worth every second I wait. 

Source: pinterest.com via Sue on Pinterest