Happy Anniversary Part 2

So yesterday I was in a hurry to get the pictures posted and to say a little about the day...so here is a little more!!
My day was busy busy yesterday! I had a field trip with Tyler to a farm in Vellejo in the morning and we had a blast. I will post pictures of our trip later. Then it was a busy day around the house...not sure what I was doing, but it seems I never have time to sit down. Well, then Steve and I went out to eat for our Anniversary. Let me tell you, it was FABULOUS!! We went to my second favorite restaraunt in California....Johnny Carino's!! Yummy Italian food! Everything you get there is just delicious! I love it there! My first favorite place is Bubba Gump's down at Fisherman's Wharf, but we didn't have enough time to plan for that!! I am holding out until Mindy gets here to go and get some delicious shrimp!! So, it was a nice time alone for a couple of hours. We usually don't do much on birthday's and Anniversary's because we know we will have plenty of time for that when the kids are out of the house!



So, I thought I would share a little about our relationship before we got married! Steve and I met in April of 1997, at Denny's where I was working. Yes, I was his waitress! He was sitting with a bunch of friends and one of them I knew from school. So, one thing led to another and we ended up meeting out on Park Ave (that was the happening place to hang out when we were younger) so he could give me a ride on his motorcycle! The ball kept rolling there, we went to the movies and bowling, out on motorcyle rides, and hung out at my house watching movies often. It was so much fun! We met in April (Spring Break) and continued our relationship through the summer. One thing he forget to tell me when we started dating was that he was already signed up to leave for Boot Camp in August!! We had a long talk and I promised him that I would wait for him no matter what and that is what I did. Six LONG weeks later, I joined his family on an adventure down to Texas to see him graduate from Boot camp. He then took off to Tech school and then got orders to England. It was rough for him to be away, but I believe it made our relationship stronger. We were able to say things to each other in letters that maybe never would have been said in person. Things are sometimes easier to write than to say face to face! Looking through my pictures, I found tons of cards and letters from Steve when we were dating and engaged. It was so sweet to re-read these letters after all this time. He was such a sweet and compassionate man....and still is!! I plan on holding onto these letters and passing them on one day to my children. I think it will be fun to see how "in love" we were in our letters!

Anyways, we dated for a year and then when I went to England to visit him in May of 1998, he proposed- as you saw in yesterday's pictures. We set a date a year from that moment....May 29th 1999 would be the magical day!! It has been blissful and awesome ever since. I wouldn't trade one moment for anything in the world!

So here are some pictures from our wedding day. I finally got them scanned and it actually didn't take very long at all!! I am going to start scanning alot of pictures cause they just sit in this big huge tub not doing anything. It is amazing how many pictures a person accumulates over the years! I can't imagine how many I will have ten more years from now!!

Enjoy the pics!!!











This is me getting ready! Can you tell in my face that I am a little nervous here??

The girls getting ready!!

My mom and me! My mom came up from Savannah, Ga for my wedding. It was a special day for me to have both my mom and my dad at my wedding and also getting along! It wasn't as stressful as I thought it was going to be!

My dad walking me down the aisle. This was very special to me because it was one of the last moment's I got to spend with my dad before I left for my new life in England. The funny thing is right before we all walked down the aisle, my sister Holly and I were arguing, and he actually had to tell us to stop! Just like back in the day!!! Don't worry, we weren't arguing about anything too important!

The wedding party. If you look at the little girl in the picture...it is Chelsea!! She was so young and little then! My maid of honor is my sister, Holly, and my real sister Elissa is on the end of the girls.

Me in my wedding dress! I loved my wedding dress even though it was so hot on my wedding day, but I didn't care one bit! I knew I wanted a long sleeve dress from the get go!

So in love....

Arriving at the Reception Hall!!

Feeding each other cake! Everyone was shouting to shove it in each other's mouth, but we knew we didn't want to do that. It would have been fun, but I loved my dress and my hair too much to mess them up!

Taking off the garter. Ok...so the reason I am laughing so hard is because right before this Steve started taking off my garter and out came.......BIG HUGE panties instead!! I was so embarrassed, but laughing so hard I couldn't stop. Everyone's faces were priceless! Leave it to my husband to do something like that on our wedding day! That's one of the reason's I married him!

Having a blast on the dance floor....

The Happy couple dancing the night away!! We had so much fun and spent hours on the dance floor that night with family and friends!

Happy Anniversary Steve and Brandy!!!!

Today marks eight years that Steve and I have been married and it has been the most wonderful eight years of my life! My wedding day was the most exciting day of my life (besides our children being born) and I would absolutely do it over again and again! We had so much fun that day with all of our family and friends (except Kris who was in Saudi Arabia)!


I love my husband and couldn't imagine my life without him. He is a special man and is a great father. There isn't much I can say about him that I haven't said already, except thank you Steve, thank you for being the man of my dreams and making these past TEN years the most exciting, eventful, and never-boring time of my life. Thank you for my three beautiful children that God so graciously blessed us with, thank you for teaching me how to grow up even though I am older than you!!! Thank you for sacrificing some of your dreams to make mine come true. And most of all....thank you for leading me to the Lord. If it hadn't been for you, I don't know where my life would be right now and don't want to think about it. I thank God everyday for bringing you into my life and letting me be so lucky to have a man like you, love me as much as I love you. I just pray that our next eight years are as happy and eventful as these have been! I am truly a lucky and blessed lady!

Here are some pictures of the past ten years. Let me tell you, it is hard to pick and chose pictures of a DECADE!! I am waiting to post pictures of our wedding until I get them put on to a CD, so check back in the next couple of days cause I am going to post them!




This is us in Ely, England touring the cathedral. England was awesome because in every town or villiage they had a cathedral. I loved seeing the history there. Hopefully one day we will go back.....but on vacation!!

We had an audience when we got back from our walk that Steve proposed to me on. This is Steve's mom and dad....I guess everyone knew but me what was coming!!

Here is the cathedral in England that Steve proposed to me in front of! It was the most awesome moment in my life! He carried the ring around in his pocket all day long waiting for the right moment to propose to me and boy did he pick the right time! It took him all day though to get up the nerve and to find the right time to propose.

I look horrible here, but this was one of our first pics taken together as a couple! We were at the bowling alley in Mansfield and Steve was leaving in a few weeks for boot camp...sniff sniff.

This a picture taken right while we were saying goodbye...that's what the red eyes (me) is all about! That was one of the hardest times of our relationship, being apart. I believe with all of my heart that is what has helped us be a strong couple that we are today.

Some more "old" pictures of us! This is us in Texas....

This is us in Texas in a photo booth. Steve looks like a baby looking at this picture!!

Six bruises, a day at the park...and Happy Birthday Uncle Kris

Well today was our first day at home...all five of us under one roof for the whole day and it was wonderful!
Three years ago our Church bought an old movie theatre for our Church building. When we first started going to this Church, they were meeting in a gym of an Elementary School, so this was awesome for our Church. But can you imagine a movie theatre as a Church building? So, we have been doing some major remodeling to our Church for the past three years! Well Thursday our small group met and for four hours we worked on the re-modeling of the teen room. Since we didn't finish it that night, Steve and I decided to go back and finish it up yesterday morning. We thought we could be in and out of there in about three hours....WRONG!! TEN HOURS later we pulled into our driveway last night. Yes, we got there at 8:30 and didn't leave until after 6 last night! It was a long long day. So for the past two days I have been painting, pulling soundboards off of walls, and climbing a scaffold!! Yes, a scaffold! That is how I got six bruises on my legs! They look horrible and NO this has not helped my shoulder one bit, in fact it has been worse. I am just taking some Motrin until I get to the doctor sometime next week!
So today we took time to just stay at home and hang out. We decided to go to the park and take our poor neglected dogs with us! They had a blast! Even though my body is aching in places I never knew had muscles, we had a great time! I am finding myself taking my camera everywhere we go now just to share pics on my blog now! I love it!
Also our family wanted to send a "shout out" to Uncle Kris back home.....

Happy 30th Birthday Uncle Kris!! You are getting old!! Ha ha!!
Love,
Chelsea, Tyler, and Jaelyn!!!


Hope you had a great Birthday Kris!! We sure do miss you guys!

Here are some pics from the park today! Enjoy!
Also, please keep our troops in your prayers! Even though it's Memorial Day weekend, we should always be praying for our men and women over there everyday!!!


Happy Memorial Day!!!!!!




Isn't she cute?

Look at her go!! She is quick like her daddy. Thank goodness she didn't get my running genes!!

Jaelyn loves running after her daddy! We had a good time just running around today.

Having some fun at the park with the dogs. They tired out quickly....even the kids!!

Here is Daddy giving his girl a flower...well a weed, but she didn't know any different. He taught her how to blow all the fuzzy things off of it!! I am so lucky to have a husband that is so good with all of his kids. He is awesome at helping Chelsea with her Algebra (cause I am horrible at Math), he loves to play any kind of sports with Tyler especially basketball out front, and he will sit and snuggle with Jaelyn after a long day at work! He is the best dad ever!!

My two "heart throbs!" Don't they look so cute together!! Samson is the best dog ever and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. Samson adores Steve and can't wait to go hunting again with him this winter!!

Chelsea is getting more and more beautiful everyday! I can't get over how much she has grown in just the past few months. She is turning into a woman right before my eyes. I know she has great potential for anything she puts her mind to!

My little man is so handsome! He has the sweetest smile ever. His hair is still messed up, but he cut his bangs so short that we can't even them out with chopping all of his hair off. I will probably take him to the barber shop later this week to see what they can do!

"Mommy I just want to go home!" This is Jaelyn pouting to me about her daddy. She loves to tattle on him all the time. It is so cute. She has done it since Steve got back from Iraq.

Look at how adorable my two kids are! Jaelyn wouldn't sit and pose for any pictures..she was ready to go home.

Things I'll miss.....

in California if we ever leave here. No, we aren't going anywhere for a while even though I am ready to leave, but I thought I would share a little bit of my world that I live on so far away from my family back in Ohio!! There are so many things in California that a person could so easily fall in love with. They have hot summer days, with no humidity, and sunshine most days out of the year. Winter is usually rain and this winter wasn't even that wet! There are beautiful palm trees all over the place and rolling hills too! It is just a nice place to live and there are so many opportunites around here too. If you go a little north, you have snow and Lake Tahoe, and if you go a little west (not very far at all) you have the Ocean...which I LOVE! If you go south you have Disneyland and Hollywood! You don't even have to leave the state of California for a thing! We have still yet to explore all the different places in California, but plan to do more things this summer. My favorite place so far would have to be Redding, California. It's about two and a half hours north of here and the most gorgeous place I have ever seen. There are snow capped mountains around and not a flat road in the area! We went up there a couple of years ago to see some friends of ours. If I could afford to live anywhere in California, that would be the place to be!!
So I am done with school for the summer and so excited!! It has been a long semester it seems and I am looking forward to our summer vacation! We are heading out to Ohio in about four weeks (maybe longer) or so and can't wait to catchup with family and friends!!
Well, here are some pictures....I looked like a dork driving around taking pictures today, but had a blast!! Thought I would share some things I would miss if we ever leave here!!! Keep your fingers crossed.......










I would miss taking my kids to school every morning!! This morning Chelsea surprised me and didn't wake me up. She went and got Tyler
up and dressed, got them both breakfast, and even had Tyler's snack ready! She is
growing up way too fast!! It was the best surprise and the best way to start my day today!!

Notice anything funky about Jaelyn's hair?

Yep...you guessed it...snip snip, she decided to cut her own

hair yesterday while I was writing my Final Paper!!

I have to take her to the salon and see if they can fix

it...

Same with Tyler,except he did his at school!!

They both did it on the same day though....

anything to give their mommy a heart attack..

I would also miss seeing all the animals all over the place.

I am a true animal lover and adore horses, and they are

all over the place here!! How in the world do you think that these trees stay

so green in the summer when everything is soooo brown?

It is the funniest sight ever in the summer! I love the fall/winter

when we get some rain and everything turns green for a little while,

it doesn't last very long though!






I would miss this view everywhere you turn!


When we first got here I was in awe of the


rolling hills all over around here, but now I


forget that they are even there sometimes!!


Steve and I argued about these when we first got


here. He said they were mountains....I said they


were hills...who do you think is right??

I would miss the wonderful fruit stands everywhere

on the side of the roads...and they have the best fruit ever!!

Today I stopped at this one and bought some

blackberries and strawberries!! Yum! Eating

the blackberries took me back to my childhood!!!

We use to pick them all the time when I was

a kid in our backyard! We never even thought

about taking the time to wash them, we would

stand right there and eat them!!

The Palm trees at the front of the gate. Every

year at Christmas they put lights all over these

trees all the way down the road and it looks

gorgeous!! I would miss this wonderful sight!!

I will definitly miss our neighborhood!! It is a very kid friendly neighborhood and there

are always kids running around in the road. That is the best part of living in base housing!!

Finals...Finals..and more Finals

Another busy day here in the Ousley household!! Today was my last day of class for two of my classes, so I had two finals today! Wow!! I love being in school, but am usually ready for a break by the end of the semster. I am just thankful that I can go to school and work towards a higher education because I know there are a lot of people out there that think they can't afford college. I am here to tell you that anyone can do it if they put their mind to it!! I worked hard during this semester to get scholarships and grants, so I can help pay for my college because there is no way that we could afford it at this point in our life. I am just praying that when I am done next Spring I will be able to get a decent job! It will be nice though because Jaelyn will be going into Pre-school and Chelsea and Tyler will be in school full-time, so it will be less money going out....and hopefully more coming in!!!
Today I had a doctors appt because I did something to my shoulder. Not sure what I did...but I am in quite a bit of pain. I can't remember the name of what I have, but it's swelling in between the muscles. So now I am on some medication to help with that. I am just hoping that I can sleep better at night. I can't even sleep on my left side at night (which of course is my favorite side to sleep on) and sleeping has been miserable for me!
Well, I need to get back to my last final! It is an English essay and I really dispise writing! I am not good at it and I find it hard to write six pages about one subject!! I just want to get through this class and be done with it! I will never take an English class online again...
Please keep us in your prayers. We actually really have our homestudy tomorrow!! I am excited, but nervous because I am not sure what to expect. I just will feel like I am being scrutinized and I don't really like that feeling at all, but I am glad it is part of their process because it hopefully prevents kids from going to bad and dangerous homes. Anyways, please keep us in your prayers and I will let you know how it goes....GOOD NIGHT!!!
P.S. No pictures today...to busy!! I will post more tomorrow...sorry.

"Stand and Be Counted"

Hello! What a long day today!! Wow!! We had a busy day and these pictures are of course out of order, but you at least can enjoy them! First we had a birthday party today at Kidz Gone Wild...a huge room with about five different kinds of bouncy houses and slides in them! The kids had one full hour in there and were pooped after we left! We came home and was re-joined with daddy! He came home today from his retreat looking all refreshed and tan!! He had a wonderful time in the woods with all the guys.
Jaelyn took a nap and then we headed out to the "Stand and Be Counted" concert tonight! All I can say is WOW!! What a blast. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Lincoln Brewster!! He was soooo awesome and man can he play the guitar! My husband was drooling the whole time...just kidding, but he did love watching them jam! Then came Todd Agnew and it was awesome. I was hoping he would sing "My Jesus" but he didn't, oh well, I guess I will just have to try and get to one of his concerts!! There were actually many other bands that played before these guys, but we didn't get there until late afternoon! Our small group from Church met up there and enjoyed the concert together. What an awesome time we had. Lincoln Brewster actually leads the Praise and Worship in a Church not too far north of here and we are actually thinking about trying to get up there to see him! Wouldn't that be great!
Well, it is late...for me. We get up at 6:30 every Sunday morning to get to Church by 8:00!! So I need some sleep. It will be so nice to get a peaceful night of sleep since Steve is back! I don't sleep very well when he is not here. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!



Todd Agnew
Todd Agnew Jammin....
Chelsea and Mommy enjoying Todd Agnew!!

Me and my hubby....

This isn't even half of people there...
Lincoln Brewster ........
Lincoln Brewster praising God!!
Tyler trying to nap in the middle of a concert!!

Today we went to a birthday party at Kidz Gone Wild..

it is a place with about five different bounce things in one room.

They had a blast and were ready for a nap afterwards!!!

Chelsea with Jaelyn and Tess.....one of her twin friends.
Mommy and Tyler before the concert today!!