Our story

Hey everyone! Welcome to my little slice of the big ole internet!

I'm sure you're wondering who the lady is behind this awesome blog so I'll tell you a little about me, my family and our story

If you don't already know my name is Kendra! I'm the mom to an amazing, energetic, smart and rowdy 4 year old boy named Logan Ray, our new little love named Jameson William coming March 2016  and wife to a handsome, awesome, supportive, hilarious and did I already say handsome man in the Air Force from Tennessee named Isaac. I'm a Dave Ramsey following, obsessive picture taking, decorating ability lacking (I'm starting to try though!!), music loving California girl (though after 4 years in the south I'm convinced I was raised in the wrong part of the country) who loves the color pink, no i think the word obsessed is appropriate again here, who is all about making the best out of the experiences and obstacles life throws my way. As long as my little family is in tact i know we can get through anything!! 

(Photo Credit: Joyful Life Photography)

(Photo Credit: Samantha Lovett Photography)

(Photo Credit: Veronica Ellerman Photography)

(Photo Credit: GinaMarie Photography)

I was in the Air Force for 8 years, which is how I met my awesome and yup you guessed it...handsome husband. I had just relocated from South Carolina to Vandenberg AFB, California and he worked in the same building as I. It turned out he was fairly new as well and has just relocated from Germany. We ended up in the same group of friends and we all hung out together every other weekend for some time. I had to take a class in Texas for 6 weeks and while i was gone one text message saying "our building is much more quiet without you here" turned into nightly hours long telephone conversations. When i came home from the class we went on a date and have been together every day work will allow since. We married (but no wedding....yet...10 year vow renewal is coming) in Santa Maria, California in 2011 and welcomed our bundle of joy later the same year on October 7th. It has now been 5 blissful years of marriage and I am more in love with that man than the day I said "I do" despite the fact that at times he drives me absolutely crazy

For a while the dual military parent thing worked for us after we had our son but when he was 6 months old we both had to leave him for work at the same time (only for a week as I went to Utah and Isaac went  a couple hours down south to Oxnard, CA for classes but I almost died from anxiety and frustration) and even though we had a great support system who stepped up and took care of our little guy like their own while we were gone we knew right then that someone had to sacrifice their career so we didn't have to leave him with anyone ever again. My enlistment was up first and I had already finished my degree so I decided to leave the Air Force and try my hand at something else. I got an amazing job as a banking center manager for Bank of America and just as i was settling in (2 months after starting) my dear husband called me at work to tell me that he had orders to South Korea for a year and we couldn't go with. I was crushed to say the least but what he said next would make it all a little easier. We would get an input in where we wanted to go next. We knew that we wanted to live overseas since I had never been and Isaac fell in love with Germany during the 4 years he was there. We put a bunch of overseas bases on our dream sheet and waited to see what would happen. After a month of waiting and getting all of the paperwork done we finally got our next base........Yokota AB JAPAN! That's right JAPAN Like Asia, I just threw it on the dream sheet to fill up space, a whole day ahead in time, they don't even speak English, drive on the other side of the road, I don't eat seafood but that's what they're famous for, Japan. I was excited and shocked and scared and excited again. I honestly thought we would get London, Hawaii, Guam or Germany but never Japan  I had to wrap my head around it . Luckily I had a year to prepare.

After a month and a half of traveling and staying in Nashville, TN and North Pole, Alaska  (Yes literally the North Pole and we were there during Christmas and it was everything amazing and wonderful for both my son and I) the kiddo and I settled in Southern California where i grew up and my friends and family were while my husband spent the year in South Korea. We saw him once in person for a month during that year and it was the best month of the whole year obviously. The other 11 months we spent with family and friends and exploring Southern California. We lived in a high rise right on the beach for that whole year because if we had to be apart for the year I might as well make it awesome right?

Now finally after a year of being apart we are trying to get settled at our next base and beginning a new adventure, taking tons of pictures, traveling all over the country, making new friends and reconnecting with old ones who we have run across here. Many people don't move as much as we do but being in the military That's Just Our Life (see what i did there) so I thought hey why not just start a blog and use it as a way to keep in touch with the friends and family we have all over the world, make new friends and nurture my inner writer while we live this chapter of our lives in Japan.

 So I did it and now we have "That's Just Our Life"

Enjoy exploring with us!!!!!

- Kendra -