Chet and Ashley and Four Little Admirals: What Weddings and Moving Have in Common

***This is me pretending like three weeks haven't passed since my last post. And that this isn't only my third post of 2017.***

Well, I'm not even sure what to say first. Happy belated St. Patrick's Day? Happy spring? All I know is that since I last posted on March 1st, Chet's parents came to visit from Florida, we celebrated Ruthie's 1st birthday, we spent Spring Break in New Braunfels (March 13-17), and Chet received his official orders to Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA. We're not exactly sure when we're moving: sometime between Chet's May graduation and the start of the kids' 2017-2018 school year in August.

I have decided that military moves are much like weddings. Here's how:

1. Receiving official military orders is as anticipated and as exciting as receiving an engagement ring. I wish I could say, "just kidding!", but it's true.

2. As soon as you are engaged, you quickly notify your family and closest friends, as well as your 614 Facebook friends (some of whom you've never actually met), and you set a date. Same with military orders: excitedly notify family, closest friends, and update Facebook status (not necessarily in that order), then start looking at the calendar and calculating when exactly your life might be upheaved. UNLIKE a wedding, military moves don't always happen on the day you plan, but at least you don't lose your deposit on the band (although having a band play while all of your stuff is getting put in boxes sounds pretty fun, now that I think about it!).

3. There are tons of initial details that need to happen when planning a wedding: securing a venue, choosing the perfect picture for your "save the date" cards, creating your guest list so you know who (and who not) to send the save-the-date cards to, dress shopping, booking the perfect photographer/videographer (do those still exist?)/caterer/wedding planner/flower grower/celebrity baker. Same goes for military moves: as soon as possible you need to decide if you're going to live on base or off base, register for school (Sydney will start 2nd grade at her THIRD elementary school), get on preschool waiting lists, and dive into the seemingly never-ending and suspiciously repetitive paperwork that will pair you with a moving company. A company that will hopefully get you moved CLOSE to the date you were originally hoping for.

4. Depending on the length of your engagement, there is usually a lull between all of that initial planning and the tasks that can't really happen until the wedding date approaches. For example, you COULD scour Pinterest for tons of DIY crafts to make your wedding event the most special experience on earth, but you don't HAVE to. Much like a move, you COULD purge every single unnecessary belonging and organize your kids' craft materials into see-through, carefully labeled storage tubs, but you don't HAVE to. It might make the wedding day/moving day more magical/a teensy bit easier to deal with on the other side, but does it HAVE to happen? Nah.

5. Wedding week has arrived! You're now buried in a mountain of last-minute details, wondering why you didn't just elope. Military moves (heck, ANY move) are just the same. You can try to control every detail, but you eventually have to throw up and your hands and let the chips fall where they may. Probably potato chips, because 'moving' and 'junk food' are synonyms.

I can't think of any more wedding/moving analogies. I had Chet read this before he had his morning coffee, and all of my dry humor went right over his head. I think he was trying to remember if we had actually hired a flower grower or a celebrity baker for our own wedding (for the record, we did NOT).

In case you too haven't had your first cup of coffee, or just plain aren't in the mood, here are some random, hopefully redeeming pictures to make visiting this blog worth your while:

Sydney and Lorelei like to dress up Ruthie in their clothes. This is my payback for doing the same to my little brother, and our family cat:

Sydney and Uncle Grant after Tuesday night gymnastics (he coaches at the gym where she and Lorelei take classes):

Tulips (and gloomy weather) are my favorite:

A few weeks ago there was a tornado warning just as Chet and I were going to bed. We normally don't freak out over weather, but we both felt like it would be safest to take cover. It was a fun 45 minutes in the downstairs half bathroom (the kids were super annoyed, ha!) (Sydney's orange knee barely pictured):

In Februrary I participated in a kids' consignment sale that doubled as a fundraiser for the MOPS group I attend. The front room of our house was the staging area for a couple of weeks, and Chet and I agree NEVER AGAIN: