Retired Blogger

Finding Fitness Motivation

October 16, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments Military Life, physical health

Health and fitness are an important part of life, especially when you are in the Army or any other branch of the military.

I know for me, staying in shape in order to pass the Advanced Physical Fitness Test (or APFT, for short) is especially important to me. Although it has now changed to the Advanced Combat Fitness test (or ACFT) as of Oct. 1, 2020. However, the ACFT that is for the record will not count until 2022. For more information on the ACFT go here or here.

That means that it gives soldiers more time to train and prepare for the ACFT, and that’s great for me as I am in the Reserves. For my Reserve unit, up until recently, we did not have access to the equipment needed to train. Now that I do have access to equipment, I am lacking the motivation to train and workout. So what do you do when you have lost motivation and don’t feel like working out?

Experience Military Life OCONUS

Regain Motivation

October 14, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments Military Life, OCONUS

How are we already into October? Where have the last seven months gone?

This is our final year in Germany, and we were going to go out with a BANG! Big plans for traveling and exploring things we couldn’t easily do before because the triplets were less independent. However, here we are, seven months after the pandemic first started to cripple normal life as we knew it.

And to be honest, I don’t think I have recovered.

Experience Household 6

The Worst Case

September 25, 2020November 13, 2020 Retired Blogger 0 Comments advice, resilience

This might actually surprise those of you that know me, because I’m a generally outgoing and funny gal, with a pretty positive attitude even in crappy situations.

But are you ready for a secret? Here goes…

During the course of a typical day, I will think about and plan for horrible scenarios that will likely never, ever happen.

Experience Travel

Summer of Staycations

September 17, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments travel

If you’re like me, you look forward to taking a vacation at some point in the year. I know that it’s always my favorite week out of the year. However, with COVID, travel restrictions, and social distancing measures in place, it has made vacationing this year a challenge.

Experience Household 6

Be the Change

September 15, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments community, encouragement

I distinctly remember the first time my dad chose to use a moment as a teachable moment.

I’m sure there were others, but I vividly remember when I was 6 or 7 years old and had a piece of gum or a lollipop in the car. I took the wrapper, cranked down the window (it was all hand power in the old days) and flippantly tossed the wrapper out onto the street. I’m sure I didn’t know any better (it was the early ’80s after all), but my dad caught me.

Experience Household 6

It’s Okay to Not Always Like Them

September 12, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments military family, military kids, parenting

I don’t know about you, but the weeks leading to the upcoming school year were stressful.

Somewhere between the mad dash of shopping for supplies with nothing but empty shelves at the stores, because “oh, school is actually happening,” and trying to prepare my 7-year-old for his new normal for school, it was a nightmare.

The whole house felt it—even the toddlers were oddly on edge, constantly fighting with each other and not getting along. When the madness within the house reached an all-time high, I soon realized that I can love my children with every single ounce of my being, but I do not have to like them.

Not even a little bit at that moment.

Experience Household 6 Military Life

The Hike That Was Worth It

August 28, 2020March 31, 2021 Retired Blogger 0 Comments Military Life, military marriage, resilience

He told me we were just going on a “little” walk. It wouldn’t take that long. We’d be back in plenty of time for the sit-down dinner at the cute, little Italian restaurant in Aspen, Colorado that we had reservations for. But at the look of how things were going, that didn’t seem likely. I was halfway up a huge mountain, so exhausted, and just wanted to be done.

My husband and I were enjoying a much-needed weekend in Aspen thanks to an Army-sponsored Strong Bonds retreat. (If you’ve never attended a Strong Bonds weekend, I highly suggest going!) We were in between sessions, and my adventurous, pilot husband decided it would fun to do a “little hike” before the dinner session started.

Career & Education Experience

Homeschool Hacks

August 26, 2020November 13, 2020 Retired Blogger 0 Comments education, military kids

Needless to say, the last few months have been full of a lot of crazy unknowns about school and how it’s all going to go down..

Some states are going full time in-person, some states are opting for all distance learning, and some states are doing a hybrid of the two. Heck, some states (like mine) are still having 4-hour parent/teacher conferences trying to figure out what the heck they’re going to do! I’m hoping this blog post might offer a tiny bit of hope and information in what might seem like a hopeless situation.

Experience Military Life National Guard/Reserves

My Army Journey

August 16, 2020February 16, 2022 Retired Blogger 0 Comments Military Life

Hey, I’m Dakota. As y’all might be able to tell, I’m new to Army Wife Network. I’d like to tell you a bit about my journey into the United States Army.

Joining the military wasn’t something I planned on doing—actually, it was the last thing on Earth I thought I would ever do. No one in my family is associated with the military, and up until I joined I knew next to nothing about the Army. Serving in the military had never even crossed my mind until one day, during the last few months of my senior year of high school, I was talking to a friend who was joining the Army, and they said, “Have you ever thought about joining?”