At the same time 600 miles away Justin graduate high school and started college at the University of South Carolina. After his freshman year he transferred to Marshall University and lived with his Dad.
Over the next two years we may have seen each other in passing but never met. That all changed in the fall of 2007. I was sitting in class with my best friend, Dina when Justin walked in and sat right next to me. He still to the day says he always sits next to the prettiest girl in class on the first day since that is usually where you sit all semester. Justin and I did not talk for the first few weeks. In fact I actually gave Justin a hard time for mistakenly sitting in my seat one week forcing Dina and I to move back a row. A few weeks later Justin after watching Dina and I struggle with our calculators offered to help us. Of the next few months Justin turned into the smart kid in finance, to our study partner, to our friend.
The next semester I eagerly waited to see if Justin and I would have any classes together. The first week came and went and I did not see Justin. On the second week Justin walked into one of my classes and I had him sit next to me. I knew I was in trouble! Of the next few months our feelings grew for each other. The middle of February we started dating. After a spontaneous trip to Acapulco with 3 of our friends we were officially together. We both graduated from Marshall in December 2008.
At that time we spent 3 weeks traveling and then moved to South Carolina to go to graduate school. After a month of living in SC we got engaged & Justin decided to join the Army. We got married on April 4th, 2009 & Justin left for basic on May 7th. After spending 9 weeks at basic, 12 weeks at OCS Justin came home. We spent the rest of 2009 & all of 2010 together. In September of 2010 we welcomed our first born Alexa into the world & then moved to Kansas 4 weeks later.
2011 started out with Justin deploying to Iraq for a one year tour. I started working full time for the Army and Alexa was put into daycare. Life has been crazy to say the least. Fortunately Justin returned home to us 1 month early in December of 2011 in one piece. We have been learning how to be a family of three with two full time working parents ever since. We love our life and would not have it any other way.
Looks like I need to fill in a few years worth of details. In 2012 we had an unexpected pregnancy. Unfortunately we lost her just 2 months later. Baby Lily will always have a place in our hearts. After the lose of our second child we both eagerly wanted to try again. We got pregnant just after Thanksgiving 2012.
Addison was born on August 2nd, 2013 after a quick induction. She came into the world screaming and hasn't quiet down since. She was the answer to our prayers. After Addison was born I cut my work hours down to part time so I could spend more time with the girls.
2014 was a year of changes. Justin decided to close a chapter in his military career. He left active duty and accepted a job with Intel in Chandler, Arizona. Unfortunately after being forced to move to Oregon he resigned from Intel. All the stars aligned and Justin was able to start a new job just 3 days later in San Diego. We all made the move at the end of 2014.
2015 is looking sunny and bright. The girls and I are enjoying our new life in busy schedules. Justin spends his time working with a company he loves and some weekends traveling for the National Guard.
In 2016 we bought our first home in Carmel Valley. Alexa started kindergarten and Addison continued preschool. Not much changed from spring of 2016 to August of 2018. Oops, cant forget that Justin medically retired from the military in September 2017. No more deployments or weekends away in our future.
August 2018 I started back at work. Starting a full time job 3 days after my baby start kindergarten and Alexa started second grade is a lot at once. We have been trying to find our balance ever since.
2019 was a smooth sailing... 2020 we decided we want to move to a "forever home." Fingers crossed its in the cards when Covid-19 becomes a things of the past.
Thank you for taking this journey with us
