Hello blogging, so nice to meet you

      After much feedback I decided to take the leap and officially start a blog.  I guess I should begin by giving a little background about who I am.  My name is Katie and I am not a blogger. In fact, I always thought it was an odd thing to do and never considered that I would have anything important/relevant enough to 'blog' about.  That was before June 19, 2010 when I married the man of my dreams and my entire world seemed to change.
      Before June 19, 2010 I had a very normal and average life.  I lived in Alexandria, Virginia and was a nurse at a large hospital in Northern Virginia in the CCU.  I had a wonderful group of friends that no matter what day of the week someone was always willing to get together and socialize and an extremely loving and supportive family.  I belonged to a gym that I loved and had access to shopping at any store that I could possible ever want to go to and was extremely content with having a routine and a sense of normalcy.  I started dating Pete in the fall of 2007 and quickly knew that my days of taking care of only myself were rapidly coming to an end.  He was a refreshing addition to my life that brought a lot of laughter, excitement, and love.  I still can't believe that I was so lucky to find my perfect puzzle piece.  Pete was in his residency at Ft. Belvoir and was excited about being in the Army.  He always says that he can't imagine anything better than helping soldiers and their families, and not being very familiar with the military or an army life I had no reason to question his career.  I just knew that I found my future husband and everything else would work itself out.
    June 19, 2010 I married my best friend and had the most incredible and amazing wedding any girl could ever hope for.  I was surrounded by all of my family and friends we celebrated the beginning of my life as a Dillon.

      The Friday after our wedding Pete graduated from his residency and then things started to get a little hectic.  Two weeks after we got married Pete left to go to Ft. Sam Houston for Officer Basic Training Camp for 9 weeks and would be stationed at Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska at the end of September.  Even though we would be separated for 9 weeks while he was in Texas I was excited about moving to such a remote location such as Alaska-what a perfect place to start our life together!
      After his first week in Texas he was told by his new command in Alaska that he was scheduled to get deployed to Afghanistan in November for six months.  Ouch.  Not awesome, and I don't think it will ever be something that I will be okay with hearing however eventually came to terms with this kink in our original plan.  As Pete always says, the needs of the Army come first, but what about when you are a newlywed?  Shouldn't that come first just this one time?
          We decided that rather than move me up to Alaska and have Pete leave for six months I would just keep my current job and when he came home I would make the move to the great north.  Throughout the summer I went to visit him twice in Texas, and then came up with him for two weeks when he first arrived to Alaska to scope out this place that would soon be my home.

I was excited about this odd but lovable city and was ready for the six month deployment to be over with so we could truly start our marriage together.  I left Alaska thinking that was going to be the last time I was going to see Pete until he returned....and then he was told two weeks prior to his scheduled departure date that he was no longer assigned to that deployment.  WHAT?!  Is that even possible to just change your mind like that?  The answer to that question is yes, and as Pete says, the needs of the Army come first no matter how inconvenient that may be.
           The very next day I put in my 30 day notice at my job and we started to make arrangements for me, our household goods, and animals to move to Alaska.  How exciting-I was finally going to be able to live in the same house and start my life with my husband!  I arrived in Alaska with Gatsby (my wonderful dog),  Winston, and Punch (my wonderful cats) at the beginning of December.  Let me start by saying that even though the military arranges everything for the move, it isn't as glamorous as it sounds.  I arrived to brutal -40 degree weather, darkness, and to an empty house that we had just bought due to the lack of on base housing and outrageous rent prices.  Our household goods were scheduled to arrive in 5 weeks so for the next 5 weeks we would be living in an empty house with whatever I was able to pack in my checked luggage-the most important thing that I packed was definitely the aerobed which at least gave us something besides the floor to sleep on.  A lack of furniture or belongings didn't matter, I was with my husband and I would have slept on the floor if needed (but I am definitely thankful for the aerobed, don't think I'm not grateful for the mediocre nights sleep it brought me).  We were able to celebrate our first married Christmas together in our empty house and with our borrowed 3 ft. pre-lit Christmas tree (thank you Joslins!!).  Fairbanks is a hard place to move to in December where there is an average of 4 hours of 'dusk like' sun each day and the temperatures did not get above 0 for the entire month.  I did not have my car yet and did not have a job but I was determined to make the most of this time the Army was giving me with Pete and we started exploring and creating an 'Alaskan bucket list' of all the things we wanted to do over the summer.
     I am not really sure how to end this 'intro' section however I think this is enough blogging for my first night, I don't want to overdo myself on day 1.  I just re-read this and it is exhausting for me to read however I want to remember all of the small detail of the ridiculous life that being an Army wife entails.  Goodnight to all.