About Me-Military Wife and Mom

My name is Laurie Hallbeck, but some of you may remember me as Laurie Davies. I am married to Rick, a US Air Force Officer. We currently are living in Signal Hill, CA (right smack in the middle of Long Beach) with our 2 children, Andrew who is 7 and Jenna who is 5. Oh yeah, and our super laborador, Bill O'Reilly, or Reilly for short. By the way, we did not name our dog. Reilly was given to us as a gift from our Republican friends in Ohio.



We are forced transplants from the east coast, counting down til Rick retires from the Air Force at age 43! That's right, a mere 43 years of age and he will retire! I have recently found myself unemployed, as I found out pretty quickly after my husband was deployed to Iraq, that corporate America really did not support our military families. So, here I am trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, while trying to be a great military spouse and SAHM. One thing I do know, I love to find bargains and find new ways to save a buck. I think I am thrifty, but my husband says I'm just cheap!



My formative years were spent living in Frederick, MD which used to be a wonderful farming community. Now unfortunately Frederick has grown like crazy and you will find lots of townhomes on all of the old farms. Not the charming little place to raise kids like it used to be. After graduating from University of Maryland, I met my husband who was stationed at Site R in Pennsylanvia and living in Maryland. The AF Officer he was replacing at the time made a strong suggestion, that if he wanted to meet a woman, he better live in Maryland. Luckily he met me! Remember, I'm the one that gets to write this blog, so it is the world according to Laurie.



We started dating, got engaged, then married VERY quickly. But hey, we have been married 13 1/2 years, so we must have known what we were doing, right? So, since getting married, Rick has dragged me back and forth across the country more times than I would like to count. Of course, we would love to be living closer to the east coast since our families and friends are there, but no, we are stuck here in CA. We originally thought that we would be here 3 years, but will end up being here almost 6 years by the time our Air Force journey is over. I've come to understand that the military is just not as predictable as I would like it to be. So, for now I cannot make long term plans. All I do know is that Rick will retire February 2011. Then and only then, can I make our life plans. So, if you ask me, "Where are you moving after Rick retires?" I would answer with a definite Ohio, and Rick would say North Carolina. So for now, here we are in Signal Hill, CA (in our totally overpriced house that we made a stupid decision to buy at the peak), counting down til the day we can move. Wherever that may be! Remember, I can't make long term plans yet!