So much to update from the past year since I blogged last in August 2008. :o)

I will keep this updated more frequently and hope you all enjoy. The last time I updated this Alexis was almost 9 months old and we were back to Iowa visiting and getting ready to move to our new duty station in Maryland.

Well here we are a year later and Alexis is just shy of 21 months old by two days. She started walking at 11 months and has never stopped for a break, or to give me a break :). Then she turned the big "1" on November 12th! She shares her birthday with her Great Grandpa Dale Smith. There are pictures on here of her birthday :o). Once she turned a year old, we took the bottle away, went straight to a sippy cup, and didn't have any problems. She still got milk in her cup before she went to bed for about a month and then after that didn't need anything besides being rocked to sleep. Man would she throw a fit when we would try to lay her down for a nap or bedtime. Finally we got her to fall asleep on her own at bedtime first around the first of December, then a month or so later she would also go down at nap time by herself. Heaven for me! I then knew I could clean house, do homework, take a shower or do whatever I needed to do while the little peanut was peacefully sleeping.

At this time I have been back to school for just over a year and am almost done with my break from school. I will be done with my Accounting degree November 2010. I am looking forward to be done and finding my dream job.

Christmas 2008 came and Ryan's Mom, Dad, and brother came out to spend it with us. What a Christmas it was with almost everyone getting sick. It was nice though to spend Christmas with family and Alexis really enjoyed her Christmas. The tree had many gifts under it for her. We also sent a video home to my family as we couldn't be with them for Christmas, and I hear they really enjoyed it. It really is wonderful how advanced technology is for us to be able to send the video. During the month of December we also were informed Ryan was being deployed. I sure didn't think that would happen so quick, we had only been in Maryland a month and a half and already had orders.

Then came the New Year. Ryan was promoted to Sergeant (E5) and we are so proud of him. We were also preparing for our trip back to Iowa before Ryan left as well as the upcoming deployment Ryan received orders for. We had a going away party for Ryan and had such a great turn out. We are so thankful for those who came and to support Ryan. We had a great trip back in Iowa but it went by so quickly and we headed back to Maryland.

Once we got back to Maryland Ryan finished packing his gear for the deployment and we spent time together as a family. Ryan left the day after Valentine's Day. Alexis and I then stayed in Maryland for a month and Heather and Dana came to visit while on Spring Break. Once their visit was over, Alexis and I flew back to Iowa.

During Ryan's deployment we stayed in Iowa which helped the deployment go by ever so quickly. We celebrated Easter with our families, my and Ryan's wedding anniversary, and my 24th birthday. Everyone made each of those days as special as they could be. There is always happiness when visit home but occasionally there is going to be some heartbreak and sadness. My Grandpa Zingg passed away from cancer May 30th. I was happy and sad all at the same time. I wanted Ryan there, but yet he couldn't be and for that I was able to spend time with my family and see my Grandpa before he passed away. I am very thankful for those who were there for me and my family during that time. I also must give thanks to all of our family and friends for helping me and keeping me busy while in Iowa. It means a lot to Ryan, Alexis and I.

Then 4 1/2 months later Ryan came back to the States from is deployment and it has been great to have him home. We stayed in Maryland for the first two weeks, then Ryan was granted two weeks of leave so we came back to Iowa. Everyone was so excited to see him! :o) Now we are back in Maryland and can get back to being together as our happy little family. We have been back a week and Ryan is out of the state for a week for work. They sure do like to keep him busy, but he was looking forward to it since it is a class that will improve his "resume" with the Army.

We plan on coming home in December for Christmas and we will keep everyone updated as to when those dates will be. Ryan's company will let us know when those dates are. So we will go more than a couple of months before coming back to Iowa, lol. I have attached some pictures too from the past year. I also will keep up to date on this blog more frequently.

Have a great day!
Love, Ashley