The Decade of Love

So looking back, I had a pretty amazing decade!!  After all, it was the decade that started off meeting the love of my life.  Here is the breakdown for you!

 2000 - In February, the day after my birthday, I met David and we were pretty smitten from the get go.  We were engaged in August and he left for Basic Training in October.  I flew for my very first time in November with David's parents to see David graduate Basic Training.  In December, he got leave for Christmas and came home to spend the holidays with us.  A few days before he left, we found out he got orders to Japan.  The next day, the orders had changed to England.

2001 - I rang in the new year with the love of my life!!  We both turned twenty-one.  They hype of 21 was pretty much over after you turn 21!  David graduated tech school mid May and we had our beautiful wedding on May 26, 2001.  The next weekend (June) we flew to England to start our journey as a married couple and life in the military.  Our first niece was born in August.  In July I started working for a bank on base that September 9 or 10th I went to another base close to London for training.  I was there on September 11 and was unable to get ahold of David for several hours.  He picked me up the next day and our life in the military was forever changed.

2002 - We celebrated our first anniversary in London.  It was an amazing weekend and one that we will never forget.  In July, we found out that we were pregnant with our first child.  We did not find out the sex.  I was dying for it to be a surprise.

2003 - David sewed on Senior Airman on March 17 and later that day we welcomed Leslie Tyler Pierce to our family.  That night, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to get out of Iraq.  The day we left the hospital, war was declared.  Less than a month after Tyler was born, David went TDY to another base in England to guard B-52s.  He missed her first Easter, but we were beyond thankful that he was not deploying.  That summer, Tyler had her first international flight to Arkansas to meet her family. My parents and brother and sister came up for Thanksgiving and we also celebrated Christmas.

2004 - We celebrated Tyler's first birthday with our amazing group of friends in England.  In June we PCSed to Hill AFB in Utah.  I started working at the Child Development Center on base.  David's parents celebrated Christmas with us in Utah.

2005 - We love Utah and bought our first home in July.  David deployed to Iraq in September.  I have an amazing group of girls and all of our husbands are deployed.  We had a great time considering the circumstances.  Tyler and I had visits from my parents, my sister, and my mother-in-law while David was deployed.  David sewed on Staff Sarg. in December.  Tyler and I spent Christmas alone.

2006 - David came home early February!  We survived our first deployment!  We found out on our anniversary that I was pregnant with our second child.  A few months later we found out we were having a boy.  We went to Arkansas in October and I took David to his first Razorback game!  We welcomed our 2nd niece into the family. We spent our first Christmas (together) in our new home.

2007 - We welcomed Landon Allen Pierce on January 25.  My parents were there for his birth!  In April, I flew to Arkansas, by myself with a baby and a four year old, for my sister's wedding.  When we got off the plane, I had a text from David saying that he would not be coming home for the wedding, that he would be in Texas cross-training.  We spent a month in Arkansas and welcomed my new brother-in-law into the family.  In May we found out that we would be PCSing to Missouri.  I had to sell the house by myself!  Luckily it sold in a week!  SCORE!!  In July we were at our new base and 7 hours from our family in Arkansas.  In August, I started back to school. In November, David's dad died.  It was a shock to everyone.  Landon's middle name is after David's dad.

2008 - We celebrated Landon's first birthday in Arkansas and Missouri.  Tyler had her first dance recital in February.  My grandfather died in April.  Tyler started kindergarten in August.  We took the kids to their first college football game.  No, it wasn't the Razorbacks, but the Mizzou Tigers.  We had a blast even though it rained the whole time.  We spent Christmas in Arkansas for the first time as a married couple.

2009 - David and I celebrate our last year in our twenties!!  This year we really got out and explored Kansas City and the surrounding area.  Tyler played indoor soccer for the first time.  She learns (we learn) that she is more of a dancer than into sports!  LOL!  Tyler finishes her first year of school.  How did the year go by so fast?  The kids spent Memorial Day weekend with my parents and David and I had a little getaway for our 8th wedding anniversary and to have alone time before David deployed.  David deployed in June.  The kids and I headed down South for a month.  We threw my sister a baby shower and tried to hang out until my niece (first on my side) made her debut.  We headed back to Missouri after 4th of July.  My niece was born a week later!  We tried to stay busy through swim and dance lessons and all of Landon's therapy sessions, but we missed David like crazy.  We met my mom in Branson for Labor Day weekend for a weekend of fun and shopping.  David got back home in October!!  We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas in Arkansas.  And we rang in 2010 at home as a family!

What a decade!!  I hope the next 10 years are as exciting as the past ten!!  Happy New Years everyone!!

Don't forget about my giveaway.  Check out the post below!!