FINALLY... an update!

       Once again, it has been forever since my last post! I was just made aware of this by one of my best friends, Meagan. Has it really been a month?! Oops! There really isn't anything new to report. Brenton is still doing well in pilot training, it is still so very hot down here, and baby E or baby K is doing very well and growing like crazy. And mama is getting bigger.. I posted a belly pic below of me right around 16 weeks. And yes, I need a tan very very bad! I have never been this pale during a summer ever! It's already August and I still have yet to go swimming this summer.. I need to change that!

     Since its been a month already, I will catch you up to speed on what is going on in pilot training. Brenton took his last academic test this past week for the T-6 and he did excellent on it! Our half-way point in pilot training is just next month.. I can't believe it! This is also known as track select.. I have mentioned it several times in previous posts. Next month we will get to find out what Brenton will be training in next.. for the last phase of pilot training! And only 8 months until graduation and we find out where we will be going!! Oh I can't wait! This whole thing just seems like a dream. Just a year ago this time last year Brenton was getting ready to leave for two months to AL for ASBC and I was starting the process of moving all of our things down to MS. Crazy how fast time flies and how quickly life changes! Brenton and I have certainly have gone through a lot and it hasn't been easy, but oh we are so very blessed!

   While there isn't much new to report, we have continued to stay very busy in the past month. With Brenton in pilot training and me with school. I am so tired of writing papers I could scream! On a brighter note, we did have a special treat of Brenton's mom and step-dad coming down to visit us. They were here for 12 days and I honestly enjoyed every minute of them being here! It was so nice to have some one on one time with them! My mother in-law even cooked some meals while she was here, I can't tell you how much I appreciated that!

   So as of tomorrow I will be 16 weeks, I can't believe it! I am almost to the half-way mark of this pregnancy! Everything is going very well, morning sickness or all day sickness as I call it has pretty much receded completely now. I still have some minor nausea at night, but nothing like it was! Oh and... I can finally eat chicken again! That is something I never thought I would be able to do again. Baby looks to be very healthy and actually measuring a bit ahead. We have a minor issue going on right now but that is being closely monitored and no further interventions have been neccessary. I hope it stays that way throughout the rest of the pregnancy :)  We find out on August 24 (day before Brenton's birthday) whether we are having a boy or girl, ever since I found out I was pregnant I had a feeling it was a girl and almost everyone thinks I am having a girl. Also, while my mother in-law was here visiting she bought us this adorable yellow dress for a baby girl.. so it will probably be a boy! I honestly don't care what it is, just as long as he/she is healthy. And yes, we already have the names picked out but can't share just yet. I will say that baby E is for boy and baby K is for girl. I promise, there will be a blog post as soon as we find out!

   That is all to report for now, hope everyone is doing well and until next time.. take care and God bless!

Road Trip, Soloing, and 11 weeks?!

         It has been quite some time since I have posted and so much has happened! A few weeks ago we lost Brenton's grandmother. We ended up driving the 11 hour drive to be with family and to attend her funeral. Let me just advise any pregnant people in their first trimester: do not travel long distances unless absolutely neccessary! However, I would do it all over again in a second to be there and help support Brenton and his family.  Despite the circumstances, we had a really good time and much needed time spent with some family. Even in her passing, she will live on in the hearts of her family forever. She will be greatly missed.

        We have huge news in pilot training! Brenton soloed this past Wednesday and did very well! For those of you who are not aware of all the 'milestones' in pilot training, this is one of them. He flew without an IP. While this was certainly not his first time ever soloing, it was his first in the T-6! I am so proud of him and look forward to what lies ahead for him next! Cross-country flight and track select are next to come up. Oh I can't wait for track select.. you will be seeing the words 'track' and 'select' quite a bit in the next few months. Two more months and we will find out what route he will be taking in the flying world.. Let's just hope and pray that it's a place close to a major city  and a Target  and a mall and a starbucks.. oh and Olive Garden.. is that too much to ask? 
  Below I have put a picture of Brenton after his solo. He is being thrown into the infamous dunk tank by some of the guys in his flight. The water in the dunk tank is sooo dirty, it had algae and all kinds of things floating in it. This is a tradition after someone solos..

        Let me just say that the first trimester is flying by! I can't believe I am already 11 weeks!! I am almost to the second trimester and you have no idea how excited that makes me. Just this past Monday we had another dr appointment and got to see our baby again. Despite a couple of minor issues, everything looks great! And let me tell you, this baby has grown! It no longer looks like a little bean anymore, it now has a fat tummy, and fingers and toes!! In addition to seeing our baby again, we also got to hear the heartbeat again.. my favorite sound ever! The heart rate is going strong at 176. My doctor really thinks I am having a girl and so does almost everyone else, we will see in just 7 weeks! While my nausea is definitely starting to lessen, a new symptom is taking control.. crying. And no, I am not just talking about crying at commercials or crying at sad movies.. this is crying spells that last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and its for no reason! All I have to say is: poor, poor Brenton. Oh and another thing, I HATE columbus again. I feel like I did when I first got down here, just thinking about driving into the town makes me cry.. I really hope this passes soon! Some of it I think maybe has to do with the fact that I am definitely homesick. Going back to MO last week was amazing and I really enjoyed myself.. and coming back to Columbus MS.. well I think that would make anyone cry. Okay, that is enough complaining :) While I may hate where I live right now, I am so happy and thankful for where I am at in life. God is amazing and I am so thankful that he has blessed us with a healthy baby!
Below is a picture of our baby at just over 10 weeks! If you look closely, you can see the feet and the pudgy stomach.

      

      That is all to report for now. Until next time.. take care and God bless!

And the Two Shall Become One... One Year Later Expecting a Baby!

           Wow! It's already been a year, it's so hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday we were in a time crunch to try and get last minute things done for the wedding. I never thought I would say this, as it was such a busy and stressful time, but I wish I could go back and re-live that wonderful day of June 13, 2010. It all went by so fast! Married one year and been together for five years, it just doesn't seem real. A lot has happened in the time we have been together, and its made us closer than ever, it's truly a bond I can't explain. I love Brenton more each day and thank God every night for bringing him into my life. He really is my everything and I couldn't ask for anyone better to spend the rest of my life with. I included one of my favorite wedding pictures of us below.

             Like I said, a lot has changed, and a lot has changed just recently. I am now in week 8 of my pregnancy.. heck yes only 5 more weeks to go until the second trimester!!! We have had two ultrasounds so far and have heard/seen the heartbeat both times! It's a feeling like nothing I have ever felt and I already love my 'snowflake' so much!!  I am definitely feeling pregnant right now: exhausted, major food aversions, so moody and weepy, and ohhh the nausea. Who ever titled it "morning sickness" was an idiot! While I have not exactly been enjoying myself thus far, I try to remain thankful every day. Some people have asked us if this was an "oops" baby, definitely not the case people! This was very much planned, as planned as you can get really. This journey was not an easy one. We experienced a lot of heartache, loss, and many meds and shots.      A lot of people don't agree with taking medications and shots to achieve a pregnancy, and I will tell you I struggled myself with the decision. But, reality is reality, and when you are told you will not ever be able to achieve a term pregnancy and then experience that firsthand, we knew what we had to do.   Words can't express my gratitude right now, and to make it even better.. Brenton is beyond thrilled he is going to be a dad! It's an amazing feeling and really just one more obstacle we have overcome together!  We pray every night for our 'snowflake' and that he/she continues to stay nice and snuggled in its "home" until January!   Below is a pic of our 7 week ultrasound.. if you look close enough you can see the beginnings of little nubs! And a picture of me at 8 weeks.

            For now, thats all to report from the Jones household. Until next time.. take care and God bless!

       

Career Day!

       If you remember, about a month after we got here in November we had a career day and I posted about it. I will explain a little bit about it again. Career day happens twice a year here at CAFB and its a very informative day of planes, their locations, and their deployment schedules. Basically, it just shows us what we are in for.  This time, I decided I would go to the early morning briefing so I could learn more about the different planes, their locations, and deployment schedules.  Lets just say that every pilot acted as if the plane they flew was just the best ever..  except for the C-17 guy.. he said they deploy A LOT. Gone about 270 days out of the year and perhaps he chose the wrong plane because he misses his family and  is really missing his kids grow up :(  This was right after the briefing on the C-5 which NEVER deploys.  To make a long story short, like every briefing I wanted out of there 20 minutes into it, but I did learn a lot!

    While we love the locations of cargo planes, the lifestyle is just not family fitting. Well, except for the C-5.. but there isn't that great of a chance getting that one. I would love the C-5 and having my husband home all the time, oh and did I mention the locations? Travis AFB which is in CA (don't really like)  but the other is Dover AFB in DE. Uhm yes please! I would love to live in Dover, so close to DC, Philadelphia, NYC, and all kinds of big cities!  We have been flip flopping back and forth for a while now, but I think after speaking to some pilots and seeing what their lifestyles are like, we have finally decided to go fighter/bomber route. Their planes aren't in the greatest of locations and we may have to be stationed overseas at some point, BUT Brenton would be home a lot more, plus its kinda sexy having your husband being a fighter pilot ;)  Track Select is at the end of September (which is only 18 weeks away!) and its then that we will find out if we might have a future in the fighter/bomber world! You have to be a really good student pilot to get that track, I know Brenton can do it! It's going to be a lot of hard work, very stressful, and will take many prayers  but we can do it!   T-38s here we come!! Hopefully :)

Below are some pictures from Career day.

C-17 Brenton would love to fly this but C-17 pilots are gone ALL the time!

Inside the C-17. It's pretty big, but not as big as the C-5!

Oh my, the infamous F-16. In Brenton's words this plane is "sexy".

Brenton in the cockpit of an F-16 (pretty sure he was hot and bothered sitting in it) and me beside him, our future maybe? Only time will tell!

Tornado Relief, Spring in MS, and UPT update

             As everyone has already heard, we had some really bad weather down here the last week in April (thats really no surprise). As a matter of fact, I think I may have jinxed us.. in my last blog I mentioned that we have yet to have a tornado warning but it was only Monday.. well two days later was when the big tornado outbreak occurred. I seriously believe God was watching out for us as we were surrounded by tornados and two EF-5 tornados. The one in Tuscaloosa and the one in Smithville, MS (which is just 45 min north of here) We had trees up-rooted here and lost power for about five hours, but compared to our neighboring communities, that was nothing.  Ever since these tornados all you hear about is the Tuscaloosa victims and their damage, the media didn't really even pay attention to some of the smaller towns like Smithville, MS. My friend Jaime and I decided to take up donations on base and deliver them to the First Baptist Church in Amory. It was a HUGE success! My backseat and trunk were full of donations from spouses of the base! There are pictures at the bottom of the page just so you can see how full it was.  It was an awesome thing that so many people donated and it felt so good to be able to go to Amory and drop them off. One thing I was not expecting to see was a list of 'missing people' still from the tornado. There were probably 13 people on that list, it made me so sad for these people and our neighboring communities and reminded me once more just how blessed we are.

          Despite all of the storms that occur, spring in Mississippi is beautiful! It's not great for allergy sufferers like Brenton and I, but we are getting used to it. The weather is gorgeous! It is actually starting to get hot though, lower to mid 90s all this upcoming week.. summer here we come!  With the weather being so nice right now, we are trying to be outside as much as possible because once the hot weather gets here.. I really don't see myself suffering in the hot sun and humidity.  Yesterday we went to the Market Street Festival down town. For those of you in KC, its very similar to Santa Cali Gon in Independence. It was a lot of fun but so hot! We stayed just long enough to get a funnel cake and sno cone and browse the booths a bit.  After perusing the Market Street Festival we came home and planted flowers and veggies, now I admit I am not one who has ever liked to plant but the base housing office gave us a $25 voucher to a local nursery, I couldn't turn that down so decided to go with Jaime and we bought some pretty flowers! Surprisingly, it makes me happy and I think I might just be starting to care about flowers.

            Girls Night Out! This was the coolest event hosted by the Landings! (our housing office on base) All of the ladies that live on base were invited to a night of FREE pampering which included: manicures, pedicures, massages, facials, hair cuts/styles, and a glorious chocolate fountain with fresh fruit and marshmallows.. oh and there were sandwiches and chicken, but who cares about that when you have fresh pineapple, strawberries, and a chocolate fountain?!  Yes, that night was pure bliss. I enjoyed myself very much, especially all of the chocolate covered strawberries! I think it is wonderful that the housing office does this as well as the businesses from Columbus that come in to do this. We are all hard working women and definitely deserve to be pampered once in a while! I don't know if anyone has told you but, its not easy being the wife of a student pilot :)

            Quick update with pilot training: Brenton is doing outstanding so far! He is almost done with academics and starts phase II which is flying  on the 18th of this month! All of our days revolve around simulators/studying/and class right now. Saturdays and Sunday mornings are our times to spend together though. As I have said before, I am so excited for him and proud of him, I know he will be a great pilot! We still haven't decided what route to go though, we are on the fence of bombers and cargo. What ever he decides, I just hope its a good location! Although I did tell him earlier this week that no matter where we go, I think I will end up finding something I like about it. For example, take this place: Columbus AFB, MS. I cried and cried when I heard we were moving here, and now I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else but here for the time being. I guess its a good and positive way to look at it: no matter where we go, there will always be a new adventure and new experiences that await us!

Here are some pics of the donations

 Look at all of the water that was collected!

 My pretty flowers!

The guys having a study session. I had to take it through the window, didn't want to interrupt!

         
   That is all to report from the Jones family, we hope everyone is doing well and until next time.. take care and God bless!

Week 3 Pilot Training, Birthday Celebrations, and Giving Back

          Brenton is now in week three of pilot training and doing very well. He has received 100% on every test except his last one which was a 93%.. yay for academics!! He starts phase II in just a few weeks and that is when he starts flying and things will get tough.. I know he will do great though! I received the spouse calendar for UPT and found out that his track select ( this is when he finds out whether he is going fighter/bomber or heavy) is September 27. Only about 7 months off, its crazy to think about! And this time next year, he will be graduating UPT and we will find out just exactly what it is he will be flying.. fingers crossed for planes that are at good bases!!

           This post cannot go without mentioning the crazy weather we have had here. First let me tell you, two Fridays ago we had FOUR tornado warnings.. crazy!!! Four days later.. we had two more tornado warnings. This week, we have had none.. but its only Monday. In fact, we are supposed to have severe thunderstorms on Wednesday and another possible outbreak of tornadoes..  all I have to say is the weather is never boring here. Oh, and it is starting to get very, very warm.. its been in the mid 80s here for a while now and I expect the 90s to come at any time.. and then the triple digits..  needless to say, it is going to be very hot here soon!

           My birthday was amazing! We ended up celebrating three times, which was fine by me :)  The perks to lots of studying in pilot training. We celebrated early, the Saturday before my birthday and went out for mexican with friends. That was a lot of fun! Then, Brenton and I had cake and I opened gifts from him on my actual birthday. This past Saturday, we celebrated one last time by driving to Birmingham to go shopping! This was very exciting as I have said many times before, we have to drive an hour to the nearest mall and that isn't even that great. Birmingham was the exact opposite of Columbus. There were soooo many shopping areas and a huge mall.. we had a great time and even stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy cheesecake!
Below is a pic of us from celebrating by going out for Mexican.. I could have done without the sombrero..

I mentioned in our last post that we have finally found a church down here that we really like. We are still continuing to attend and plan on attending regularly for the rest of the time we are here. I found out that they serve at a soup kitchen every third Thursday of the month and last Thursday I went with them and helped serve. It was a wonderful opporunity and I met some great people from the church and it felt so good to be helping these people.  I also decided last weekend to volunteer to help clean up Columbus. It was called "Clean Sweep Columbus"  That was an experience let me tell you. I was assigned to a not so nice area in Columbus and had to pick up trash. There was so much trash it was ridiculous. Surprisingly I found little to no empty beer cans, most of the trash was drug paraphenilia, candy wrappers, and empty fast food cups and bags.. hmmm I think I have found why MS is one of the fattest states.     My next volunteering is this weekend with some other wives on base.. March for Babies. It is a great cause, the money raised goes towards funding programs to help moms have healthy full-term pregnancies, it also funds the research to help find answers to the problems that threaten our babies.. (miscarried babies, babies that are born stillborn, and pre-mature babies)  I haven't been able to raise a whole lot of money, but I guess every little bit helps and I will be walking.. I think it will be a great time and its such a wonderful feeling knowing that we are helping others in our community.

As of now, that is all to report from the Jones household.. hope everyone is doing well and until next time, take care and God bless!



UPT Start: Yes it is finally here!

            So April 1 marked six months of us living down here in MS. Thats half a year, how crazy is that?! It really doesn't seem that long. Well.. after six very long months Brenton will finally be starting UPT (pilot training) tomorrow. No more casual job of just locking and unlocking doors and getting to spend the rest of the day together, nope.. its back to reality. It won't be too bad as we are very accustomed to busy and hectic lifestyles. I think thats the reason why we have had such a difficult time finding things to do these past six months.. Before moving down here, our minds were constantly focused on only two things: school and work. I think we were actually too motivated and determined.  As I have said in older posts, we have learned a lot these past six months. A lot about life, one another, and our marriage. You have to make time for fun and relaxation, life is too short not to. While I am a little bit sad that pilot training is beginning and we will be losing the time spent together that we have been used to, I am very excited too! This has been Brenton's dream for as long as I can remember and it makes me so happy to see him get to fulfill his dream.  Take a look below and see just what phase 1 academics has in store for him..

                   While Brenton is fulfilling his dream, I am working on mine as well. Second session of classes starts next week. I am enjoying this break between sessions and trying to be as supportive as I can for Brenton. Pilot training is not easy, and I want to do everything I can to try to make it easier for him. If that means making mexican every single night for dinner, well.. then we will have mexican every night. But, I am still going to try and make time for myself.   I did start an exercising program today! I was supposed to start it in November, but due to some health issues wasn't able to. I am very excited about it and while I was very sore afterwards, can't wait until my next work out on Wednesday!

                  A year ago today, we had to bury our first pet, Kermie. It was so sad and we miss him terribly! I think he would have really liked it down here in MS. Lots of room to roam in the house. Not too sure he would appreciate all of the planes flying over our house all the time though. RIP Kermie! 4/20/1999- 4/4/2010 

                 I  think thats all to report from the Jones household. April is going to be a very exciting and eventful month for us and I can't wait!