An unposted post from last year: A change will do you good

 At the beginning of the year (2014) Tyson and I had to make a very serious and grown-up decision. Do you ever feel like you're not qualified to make some of the decisions you have to make? Like, I know I'm 30, but I don't feel like I'm equipped to be making decisions that impact my life and the life of our family.
  It can be daunting, but T and I work well together making decisions. I'm not bragging or anything, because there are some things we don't do well together (please don't ever invite us over to play Trivial Pursuit or any other trivia game. or any game. and do not put us on the same team), but making big decisions is something we do well together. We can talk a decision to death, play devil's advocate,  and then put the decision away. We can pull it out days, weeks, and months later to talk about it again, to reexamine what we have each been thinking and see where life has led us and put the decision in that new context. Because some decisions require months and years to make. Some decisions need more than a good night's sleep. And those decisions are the big ones. The ones you'll look back on and remember the day you made it.
  We had to decide if T (and our family) wanted to continue the military life or if we were ready to get out and become part of the real civilian world. Yeah, big decision. He wasn't being forced out. He had just come to the end of the time he owed, which was ten years. We also had to make the decision before he was written another set of orders and before he was up for the 04 promotion (Lieutenant Commander). So this decision had to be made 18 months before we would actually get out. So big stuff here. No waiting around to see what would happen; we had to be proactive about this decision. So after lots of deliberation and so.much.talking. we decided that getting out of the Navy is what would be best for our family.
  The Navy has been all we have ever known as a couple and as a family. We move when they say, go where they send us, and he deploys when he's told. We've celebrated birthdays and anniversaries apart. I've bought a car without him, taken my 13 month old to the ER without him, evacuated with a toddler and a puppy, and completed my Master's degree with a 2 year old while pregnant. All while he was gone. We have done so much of life apart. And we are just ready to do the rest of it together. We uproot our family, leaving behind new friends, schools, homes, and memories to begin again. and again. and again. Although this life is not easy, I wouldn't change a thing about it.
  But it is a new season for our family and the idea of being able to choose where we live, have a husband who doesn't leave 6 months out of the year, a home our family can grow up in, and making friends we don't have to say goodbye to two years later sounds pretty good right now. And yeah, I know the grass is always greener on the other side...but that grass looks pretty darn green right about now. And it's a risk we are willing to take, even if it turns out the grass is exactly the same on both sides of the fence.

Oh, how do I feel about all of this? Excited. Anxious. Hopeful. Scared. Ecstatic. And all of that at the same time. For New Years this year I wrote down one word that I wanted to own this year. The word was adventurous, and I feel like if anything else, this decision will give us one heck of an adventure.



Mom hacks:

-I absolutely love This coffee mug! I just think every mom should have one. Like, give me 10 minutes to drink my coffee in silence. and peace. shhh.

-If you don't feel like being addicted to cocaine, you should become addicted to this candy corn bark instead.

-I'm currently obsessed with this highlighter for my face. It makes me look shimmery and youthful and well rested. yes please.