These struggles are only going to bring us closer

The date has been set: Friday, October 29, 2010.

The day our Hero is set to deploy.

I was hoping for Halloween but I will take this date over Friday the 22 which is when it was supposed to be. Halloween week has been quite busy. I started my middle school practicum but thats for another blog post :) lets just say I LOVE IT!

We came down to the Lehi area in the later part of the week to spend some time with our family before Brandon left. It's been crazy but we feel so blessed to have the family we have. Friday morning Todd Brandon and I made our way to the airport at around 5:45 am. We got Brandon's boarding passes and bags all checked in. Then made our way to security. I felt a little silly to be sharing such a private moment with everyone else in the airport but what other choice did we have? I didn't want to say goodbye at home, I wanted to spend every moment I could with him. After lots of tears and lots of hugging and kisses we watched Brandon make his way through the airport security. Watching him walk away was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. All I wanted to do was run up, wrap my arms around him and not let him go. But this is all part of our life. God has set a plan for us. This is just a tiny portion of that plan. My new motto: "Everything will be okay. It has to be." I won't let it be any other way! He made it safe and sound to Dallas and from there he made it safe and sound to Columbus, Georgia. From there he hopped in a cab with some other guys and carpooled to Fort Benning, Georgia. We aren't positive how much time he will spend in Georgia but from there he will be heading to the middle east. Once I find out more information I will post it. 

Don't forget RED FRIDAYS, until the last soldier comes home. 

Even Disney inspires me

"just keep swimming"

~finding nemo

 "reach for the sky"

~toy story


"nothing's impossible"

~alice in wonderland


"hukuna matata! it means no worries for the rest of your days"

~the lion king


"even miracles take a little time"

~cinderella


"they say if you dream about something more than once, its sure to come true."

~alice in wonderland


"if you live to be 100, i want to live to 100 minus a day
so i never have to live without you"

~winnie the pooh 


"all it takes is faith and trust"

~peter pan


"ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind"


~lilo and stitch

stress, waiting, more stress, more waiting:  It's a never ending cycle for a military wife I swear!!
Even though we technically got married on the 9th of October, we decided to go ahead with the ceremony and reception on the 15th of October because we had it all planned out and we really wanted to share the moment with everyone that couldn't make it the week before, especially Brandon's mom (my new mom now =] ). So we kept our ears trained on the phone, just waiting for a phone call to come and ruin all our plans (again) but we didn't get a phone call so by Wednesday we were home free, everything was going to happen as planned. Brandon was called to go down to Camp Williams to get SRP'd (all his shots and checkups to make sure he is "deployable ready") on Thursday but we were promised it would only take 3-4 hours and he was starting at 8 in the morning so we didn't have a worry in mind. Thursday was a day full of running around, last min. details, decorating, greeting family as they trickled in and rehearsing for the next morning. Friday came and the wedding (yes the second one haha) went perfect. As we were trying to get the rings off the pillow I somehow got the bow tied in a knot and it took us 5 complete min to get it undone but as we figured later, it just wouldn't have been a real Brandon and Jessie wedding if something like that didn't happen. If it wasn't the rings it would have been something else! Everything went perfect, lots of slip ups, cake in the face and happy, joyous feelings. Everything a wedding should be. Or a second wedding at that!

As I look back now I wish it would have lasted longer, not the wedding part that was long enough but the family part. There is nothing like being surrounded by family, especially members that you haven't seen in a while. I'm not sad that its over, quiet the opposite really, two weddings is enough stress for me, add in a freak deployment and the stress levels just shoot over the moon. I've had my stress limit for the next 8 months, but this is my life were talking about. the stress isn't about to go away any time soon. I want to thank EVERYONE that was apart of our wedding. It just wouldn't have been as special if every single one of you wasn't there. I especially want to thank Annaliesa. Girl, I honestly don't know what I would have done without you. You were there through everything and never said "ya know.. your too stressful and crazy for me." You stuck it out and I can't thank you enough. You are truly amazing and I love you so much!

10-9-10
Mr. and Mrs. Prince
<3

Beauty in the Madness

Finally they call with the good news (?) well I guess it all depends on who were talking about. It was good news to Brandon, the worst news for me. But at least it didn't come as a surprise to me. The epic phone call that we had been waiting and waiting on finally came and told us that Brandon was one of the "lucky" two that are boarding a plane to Afghanistan. We just don't know when that plane is going to take off. Great. Our wedding is 9 days away, let me say that again NINE DAYS AWAY! We were also informed that because he had technically been given his "two week notice" when they told us he might be going that they could easily call up and in 48 hours he would be flying away. As you all know, I'm a worrier. A huge, horrible worrier. Now Brandon is the exact opposite of me. Brandon is not a worrier, he's a fly by the seat of my pants kinda person. (which seems to always work for him which completely baffles me!) But after hearing this news we were both convinced that he was going to be called up and would be on a plane before our wedding date. So being the planner I am (or at least try to be =] ) we planned how we were going to make sure we were going to be able to get married no matter what. The compromise we came up with was to hold a very small ceremony with the family that could make it on Saturday October 9, 2010. We got to have the church ceremony (no courthouse weddings for us!) and some of our family was able to attend. Unfortunately not everyone we really wanted got to come but I'm beginning to find that this is EXACTLY how our lives work. Rarely things turn out the way they are planned and surprisingly I'm beginning to be okay with it. The ceremony was perfect, we rushed through it a little too fast, spoke a little too soft, and our nerves showed a little to much, but for planning everything in 2 days, it was amazing. Besides nothing matters except our joining together with God as one. And I've got to say, it's the best feeling in the world to know that I'm married (finally!) to my best friend and that God is with us in our union and will be forever more.

waiting games

I don't think I've had a more stressful week in as long as I can remember, and let me tell you I've had some pretty stressful weeks in the past! I should probably clarify: when I say week, I really mean from last Thursday morning at 8 until now, Tuesday night at 7:15. And my "week" won't stop there, oh no it will keep on being stressful until we get that wonderful, horrible phone call. I should probably start off by giving some background to my story. It's Sunday night and we are in bed attempting to fall asleep when all of a sudden "Forever Young, I want to be forever young...." starts blaring out of Brandon's phone. Brandon switches into military mode the second he answers the phone. When he finally hangs up he explains to me that there is a massive wildfire that started at Camp Williams and everyone might be getting called back down to help fight it. Not even 5 min. later Forever Young starts playing again, this time a different person calling for the exact same thing. We waited patiently for the next day or so to hear word and for Brandon to get called to come and help out. Now its Thursday morning, I am just about ready to head out the door to my 2nd grade classroom practicum and Brandon is just about to get out of bed to get ready for school when yet again his phone starts ringing. It's the military, at this time we are both expecting it to be about going to fight the fire, we couldn't have been more wrong. I could tell it was something more serious by the tone of his voice, all rough and deep. When he got off the phone Brandon informed me that the 144th (his unit that is currently deployed to Afghanistan) is in need of two more medics and there are only 4 medic to choose from. Whoever is chosen will be deploying in the next two to three weeks. Great! Our wedding is in 22 days and he very well could be leaving before then :( Needless to say I was a wreck, here I am about to go into a classroom full of second graders and I've just had my whole life shaken up turned upside down and dumped off a cliff! As soon as I got out of class we met up and started talking about the pros cons and the possibility of him actually leaving. I was thinking okay our chances of him staying are kinda good until he informed me that one of his friends just finished his chemo treatments and he is un-deployable for 6 months. Wonderful, now he has a 33.3% chance of staying. My hopes are dwindling but there is still a little light in my heart. Well there was until he tells me one of the other kids has a messed up leg and doesn't move very well, perfect. And then he continues to tell me that he is the ONLY one of the remaining three that passed his pt test during the past drill, and not only did he pass it, he KILLED IT! 300 is a perfect score and Brandon (being the stud he is) passed with a 319. Thursday was a day filled with tears, frustration, anger, excitedness (for him!), confusion and eventually acceptance. We made lots of phone calls to family and friends letting them know the possibility of the situation which ended up with more questions than answers, tears, and love. During his phone call we were told that we would know final decisions by Monday at the latest. Perfect, a whole weekend of wondering and not knowing. We made plans to go down and see some of our family. Surprisingly the weekend was mostly positive we got to be with family, hold the baby, play with the kids, wrestle and fight with siblings and have a good relaxed time for the most part. Finally Monday came around. We woke up and got up to school by 5:45 for Brandon's first class. We spent the whole day waiting, looking at the phone, begging for a phone call. I'm pretty sure we even yelled at it a couple of times. Brandon finally got a call and all they had to say was, "we have no information".  Back to the waiting games for us....