Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

             First of all, Merry late Christmas! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We had a very good Christmas. We were fortunate enough to be able to go back and visit family in KC. It was nice to be back and visit and be around things you are familiar with, but we were definitely ready to come back to good ole MS. We may hate the area, but this is home.. for now.

            I can't believe it is already the last day of 2010. This year has been full of changes for Brenton and I. I think back to a year ago today, and it is just crazy how different everything was. It almost seems like we are completley different people now. This year has been one of the best years in my life. While it was not easy by any means to accept so many new changes in such a short amount of time.. So just for fun and for my excuse to take a trip down memory lane.. lets review 2010. We found out in early February that we would soon be calling MS "home".   Our beloved family pet, Kermie died on Easter. Brenton graduated college and was commissioned in May. We were married in June. We went on an amazing honeymoon in late June/early July. Brenton left for ASBC in August and moving day was fast approaching. We bought our first car together in August. Moved down to MS late Sept/early Oct. Celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our new house in November. Had family come visit and also went through a bit of a rough period, but in the end all was well. Now, here we are at the end of 2010 as somewhat different people with new goals. It is amazing how life changes you and the goals you once had, just don't really seem that important anymore. It has been a great year, now bring on 2011!

RIP Kermie!!!

Military Health Care, B-1s, and the Anticipation of January!

          So I have decided that all of my volunteering last week is to blame for me getting sick as I was fine up until Saturday evening. (Oh and I still have to mention that I haven't been sick up until now for over a year or more! So this was kind of upsetting, I felt like I let my body down.) By Monday morning I knew something was very wrong so called the on base dr only to find out they had no appts! Oh the joys of military healthcare. So off I went to an urgent care place only to sit there and wait in a crowded waiting room with tons of other sick people. I am telling you, if you weren't sick before you went in there, my goodness you would definitely be when you left. So after the torture of waiting I finally got to see the dr. He asks me if I had my flu shot this year.. yep sure did and now look where I am at. After speaking with him he decided I needed a blood test and throat culture... the blood test I could deal with, but the throat culture.. yeah well I am  not even going to mention the fact that a toddler could probably behave better than I could during that horrific 30 seconds. Okay so to make a long story short, flu shot paid off.. not the flu.. instead strep, sinus, and ear infection. So antibiotics it was and I am still trying to recover, but my awesome husband has been wonderful at helping around the house and taking care of me!

         On to more exciting things now..  we have finally came to an agreement on a possible plane for Brenton to fly! Yes, I know.. I can't believe it either! We are really leaning towards the B-1.. we like the locations and it is still "sexy" enough for Brenton to fly.. at least that is what he says. Now I have learned from the past not to get my heart set on anything as usually it just doesn't work out the way we planned. But I am not going to lie, we have already taken a glance at base housing in SD and TX.. yeah its not as good as what we have here at all! Better locations.. but the housing.. well lets just say it isn't the greatest. But only time will tell if Brenton even has a chance at flying that plane..  for all we know he may be flying a fighter..  I hope not!        More exciting news! After having this semester off and being extremely bored out of my mind, I finally get to go back to school starting in January! Wahooooooo!!  While its not for what I have been going for the past four years (nursing) its very similar.. bachelors of science in health education. Hospitals need educators just like they need nurses, so I am hopeful that this will work out. i may not be graduating on time (may '11) but by Jan '12 I will have my BS in health ed!

Operation Cookie Drop

   So as I had mentioned before in a previous blog entry, I have been trying to find volunteer opportunities with the extra time I have on my hands. After receiving an email about a cookie drive and asking for cookie donations, I decided not only will I bake cookies I will volunteer to help as well! Since I was one of many wives that didn't have kids and lived on base, I took the early shift.. 6:30!! Yeah I know it may not be too early for some of you, but for this woman.. thats early! Despite it being only twenty something degrees, I really enjoyed myself and couldn't believe all of the generous people that helped contribute by baking cookies and dropping them off. I have never seen so many cookies in my life! The whole operation turned out to be a huge success, Col. Seguin as well as Col. Ross even stopped by to see how the whole ordeal was coming along. The best part was delivering the cookies to people. I was assigned to deliver to the gate guards and the fire department. Everyone was really appreciative and it really made me feel good to know that I was a contribution to a great annual tradition here at CAFB. I can't wait for next year!

       

Catch Up

This is the first post I have made on this blog and I think I need to catch people up by posting some pictures of our house and new car!! We have been very blessed in our lives and Mississippi and the Air Force have taken continued to treat us very well. As you know we moved down here on 1 October 2010 and we were unsure how we would feel about it all. Well, we have a wonderful house that has made it much easier for Darcie and I to live down here and we have made lots of friends that also help us enjoy our new endeavor. We have already done quite a few things around here that we have particularly enjoyed; including the pumpkin/cotton patch, hiking trails, parks over in the wood mill area, picnics at the Waverly ferry recreation area, the wassail festival, shopping trips to Tuscaloosa and Tupelo, and spending town around base with our friends. Anyways, here are some pictures from around our house.

Thanksgiving and the Future

     Wow! It has been quite a while since I have posted anything. Well we had a great Thanksgiving despite some minor issues, but not bad for our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple! My turkey along with all of the sides and pies turned out great! My Thanksgiving breakfast that I made, well you all can just ask Brenton about that. This woman doesn't cry over spilled milk, I cry over monkey bread. In the end, the day turned out to be great and we learned that we need to be thankful for the good times, as well as the bad. We were so fortunate to have family and friends come to visit during this time and see our new house. We very much enjoyed it and really appreciated it.

     As of right now, we still have not started our exercise program due to some minor health issues we have had. I don't think Brenton really needs to get on an exercise program anyway, he had a PT test yesterday and scored in the nineties...  yeah I don't think I could do that! Hopefully we can start the exercise program before Christmas, but if we can't, that just creates a goal for us for the new year.

     We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to spend time with family and friends. I still can't believe we have been down here for two months already, and married for almost six months! It just doesn't seem like it has been that long. Brenton's IFS date has been moved up a month, which more than likely means that he will start pilot training a month earlier.. but also means that he is going to be gone for Valentine's Day.. so it looks like I will be enjoying chocolate covered strawberries with our cats. Oh well, that is the Airforce for you! I was thinking the other night and a year from now we will already be thinking about moving again.. it just doesn't seem possible! Our time that we have had here at CAFB is going by so fast and we have made some great memories and wonderful friends, I can't wait to see what the rest of our time here brings for us!