I was on a year lease which expired last month. The lease does state that after one year it will default to month to month, no problem. I am in the military and I found out last month also that I finally got base housing. The move in date is July 7th, due to the wording in my lease it says I must move out before my next months rent is due, rent is due on the 1st. Since I won't have a house until the 7th I have to stay until then so I agreed to pay the full month rent for July, even though I gave more notice then what is required of me. I know I could have moved to temporary housing or even a hotel but I had no way to store my household goods, TMO will not put in storage because I am moving from town to base for convenience, not on orders.

Now the real problem. I am moving out and want to change the utilities to the owners name since I will be starting another household and not living in the rented house. I think simply paying the rent is enough, but the utilities too seems a bit ridiculous. The lease does not specifically state I would have to pay the rent and utilities if I vacate in the middle of the month, but I did agree in the lease to take care of the yard. Due to being in the Arizona desert this requires water and electricity to run the automatic sprinkler system. What is my obligation, if any, to keep the utilities in my name? Thanks in advance for the help.

When you are in the military you are not required to give as much notice under some conditions and your lease has a military clause in it.
Military Housing Clause
My daughter has used the military clause to move twice in the past few months and she didn't even have any orders.

Unless they are going to rent the home earlier, you are required normally to keep it in your name. You can ask the landlord to allow it into their name,