Playing Catch Up

Sometimes I want to update my blog and then I just forget. Other times I just have way too much going on to sit down and hammer out an update. Then other times I just don't think there's enough to say. The past 4 months would be one of those times. Now, however, I think it's finally time for an update...

bye bye first home!!

Since my last REAL entry (not a SUYL), Mr. L has come home from survival training (good news: he survived!), we packed up our house, the movers came and we left Mississippi. It was exciting, chaotic and even a little sad. Though Columbus was not my favorite place we've lived, it holds a lot of sentimental value to us. First, it was the first home we lived in together during the first year of our marriage. Second, it's the home where we got Lily. Third, it was our home while Mr. L went through pilot training, which was by far the most crazy, interesting and exciting year in our lives thus far. So I had a few tears as I walked around the empty house before we left. Though I can tell you, Columbus looks pretty awesome in the rearview mirror :)

2011 Hyundai Santa Fe

After a 14 hour drive to PA, we spent Christmas split between my family and Mr. L's. While there, we bought a new vehicle (RIP Kia Spectra, you'll always be my first baby), took a trip to Dover to scope out a new place to live and tried to spend some time together since we'd be separated for a while. At the beginning of January, Mr. L started his own road trip and arrived in Altus, Oklahoma for his C-17 training.

Marc, Dad, Mom (with Riley) & me (with Lily)



While he was away, Lily and I spent January through the beginning of April living with my parents. I realize that at 28 years old a lot of people might not be able to do this.  However, I just don't ever have an issue living in a bedroom in my parents house. My parents are two of my best friends and my mom and I like a lot of the same things - tv shows, books, clothes, etc. I lived there for free while Mr. L was away and we were able to save up our money to put towards our new home. My parents are pretty amazing and they always make room and time for us whenever we need it and we could never say thank you enough to them for letting us crash their house at any time :) Also, I got to spend a lot of time with my extended family, which is great because while we lived so far away, I didn't get to see them as much.

The model of our townhome end unit :)

In those 3 months, we also bought a house in Dover. I stayed in PA so that I was able to make trips to Delaware to pick out our counters, cabinets, etc. and to sign the millions of papers. The house should be ready in mid-May and we cannot WAIT to move in and start our next adventure.

Finally made it!

This past Sunday, I packed a small bag, left Lily with my parents and flew to Oklahoma to finally see Mr. L after 3.5 months. Delta tried to make this impossible, with delays, employees who didn't show for work, and other nonsense, but 23 hours after waking up, I finally made it. It was awesome to see my hubby again, I'd missed him too much :)

C-17 Globemaster

So now here we are in Oklahoma. Altus is...small. That seems about the nicest thing I can say about it, but we're here only for a short amount of time. We're living in TLF, which is actually a lot nicer than the last one we stayed in and I'll be reading my Nook and watching a lot of Netflix while Mr. L finishes up his training. In fact, today is his FIRST flight in the C-17...first time ever going up in one in the pilot seat...and actually flying it. Crazy. I can't wait until he gets home so I can hear all about it!!

We should be starting our half cross-country trip to Delaware sometime late next week, as long as the weather here cooperates. We are hoping to visit Joey in LR and make it to Pittsburgh (for the first time since we graduated) for a day. However, we don't really make plans (because we've learned the AF lesson quite a few times), so we're just going to see what happens. 

Thanks for reading friends. Be back soon!

Annnnnnnnnd, she's back!!!!

Hello blogger-land!  So yes, it really did take me this long to get better.  In fact, I'm still suffering from a runny nose, but I can pretty much deal with that.  I finally finished all the medicine last night and am hopeful that with all the huge things the hubby and I have coming up soon, I'll be 100% in no time.

Just a fraction of what was prescribed to cure me!

So what's been going on lately?  Well, Mr. L left the first week of November for water survival in Pensacola.  Despite rough seas and some really terrible weather, he had a great time and survived!  He came home and we had 12 days to figure out our lives for the next 6 months...seriously.  Everything in Air Force-land is happening much more quickly than we anticipated and we had to figure everything out before he left for more training!  Mr. L left again for SERE training on November 18 and I won't see him again until December 11. 

My silly hubby trying out his new headlamp and water bag for training.

This week has been the no-contact week and it's been 3 days since I've spoken a word to my husband.  In the 5 years we've been together, we've never gone more than 24 hours without at least saying a quick goodnight on the phone.  Not even the night before/day of our wedding...we chatted on the phone that afternoon!  You really don't realize how much you can miss someone until it's absolutely impossible to talk to them.  I obviously support his training and think it's awesome that the Air Force prepares the aviators (and others) for this possible life-threatening scenario (and it's super great to know that, despite being terribly uncomfortable, they are actually really safe), but it's really tough.  Simply put, it's tough.  I love hearing his voice, I tell him everything and I don't really have many others to share my day with.  My mom called me last night and I kept her on the phone for 3 hours!!!!!!  Now, I'm a talker by nature, but even that is a little crazy for me.  I'll be thankful for Thursday night when he finally gets to call :)

Our first date (halloween on campus), 5ish years ago.

While he's been gone, it's just been me and the Lily-monster.  She's acting out like a teenager who's daddy left and she's pushing all her mom's buttons.  I remember doing that.  Well, now my dog is doing it too.  She's biting (she NEVER bit anyone), growling, chewing on things she's never chewed on before, and overall acting like a brat.  Not cool.  



Do not let this picture fool you, she's a monster...sometimes :)


Since Mr. L was away for Thanksgiving, I spent the holiday with my super great friends, the Duncan's.  Chris and Amy have been amazing to me and Mr. L since we moved to Columbus (Chris was Mr. L's class leader) and Amy has become one of my very good friends (I'm not looking forward to moving away from her and her adorable daughter Elli).  Our friends Christy and Jeff also had Thanksgiving at their house, plus Amy's dad and it was a great way to spend the day.  I'm so thankful that this crazy military life has given us all these extra "family members" with whom I can spend holidays when Mr. L is off serving his country (or getting lost in the woods!) and I'm far away from my parents and other family members.

Jeff, Christy, me, Elli, Amy & Chris on Thanksgiving

When Mr. L was stationed in Florida, we didn't make many friends.  His job didn't allow him much social time and I was away in Pensacola getting my Master degree, so we didn't really live the "military life".  When we left Florida, we had a hard time saying goodbye to a few friends that we had made at my school, but not really anyone in the military.  Over the past year, the opposite has happened in Columbus.  I've made several friends that helped me get through this year and they are some of the most amazing and strong women I've ever known and I can't imagine not knowing them.  The other spouses in our UPT class became my close friends and I've already had to say goodbye to a few (not fun).  Such is the life in the military though...constantly making friends and then leaving, many times going across the country from them.  I've known for a long time this was the way it goes, but I don't love it.  Last week and yesterday I had to say goodbye to two ladies who I've been close to and shared Assignment Nights and graduations with and it was hard, to say the least.  The upside to all this? Having friends all over the country!!  The Air Force is actually a small world and I know I'll see these ladies again.  It's just not really great in the meantime when you have to say "see ya later".

Erin, me, and Brooke...the ladies I said "see ya later" to in the past week.

Due to our impending move (so soon!) and all the travelling and craziness in between now and when we finally get settled in Dover, I decided not to decorate for Christmas at our house.  Putting up the tree would be troublesome by myself and stringing up the lights outside alone would probably be impossible.  Not to mention that as soon as I get them all up, I just have to take them down again because the movers come in two weeks.  So I'm leaving the tree in the box (yes, we do artificial...it's awful, but easy), leaving the lights tangled and leaving all the decorations stored.  It's been very sad when I walk Lily around the neighborhood and see all the lights and see all the twinkling Christmas trees in the windows.  So I decided to give myself a little holiday cheer and decorate my office at work!  Okay, so I didn't really decorate, but I got a tree!

Alright, it's a little tree.  I got it from Hobby Lobby (it's called A Tree For Me!).  There's a huge wall full of itty bitty decorations, tree toppers, tree skirts, etc and it's just too cute.  I bought silver garland, multi-colored balls and a sparkly tree topper.  You probably can't tell from the pic, but I also bought patriotic ornaments.  They are angels, snowmen, and santas that are decked out in red, white, and blue flag patterned ensembles.  Not only are we a military family, but I also work on the base, so I thought that would be a nice touch.

So now, I'm just spending my time cleaning out all the closets, tearing the office apart trying to figure out what papers stay and what papers get shred, running last minute errands and separating our household goods from our DITY stuff (this is my 3rd move and I still don't like doing that).  The movers will be here super soon and we'll be spending Christmas with our parents in Pennsylvania and then more training and finally to Dover! 

And I'll be doing it all while blasting Christmas music through my non-decorated house.  A girl's gotta have a little fun :)

Silver Shiny Wings

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,

Climbing high into the sun;

Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,

At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! (Give 'er the gun now!)

Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,

Off with one helluva roar!

We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!

Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force!

Today was one of the proudest moments I've ever had.  Mr. L graduated from pilot training today and earned those silver shiny wings :)

The day started out with a nice sit-down breakfast, followed by the Vice Wing Commander giving us a bit of history about pilot training.  Then, an IP showed a slideshow of the history of Columbus Air Force for all the guests.  We sat with Mr. L's parents (who made the 16 hour car trip down for this momentous occasion).  We also sat with Kyle, his parents and Jen.  They're our closest friends here and it felt really nice to share the day with them. 

After breakfast, we all headed to the auditorium on base for the actual ceremony. 




Mr. L receiving the Distinguished Graduate Award!  He worked so hard :)





Here he is receiving his wings and aeronautical rating.  So exciting!!



Mr. L and his class getting ready to break their first pair of wings, per AF tradition.

  After the ceremony, we walked to the Smith Plaza (it was a gorgeous day!) to do the formal pinning of the wings.  Due to time, magnetic wings are secured on the jackets and the real wings are handed to them as they leave the ceremony.  Then, family members can actually pin the wings on and it can be photographed and you can take your time.




It's not as easy as it seems, that jacket is really thick!





He's pinned!

 The rest of the day passed like a blur.  We took his parents to the simulator, where both were able to "fly" the T-1.  We were able to go to the flight room, talk to the instructors and purchase some really cute flight and plane memorabilia.  I got a set of wings and a C17 charm (both hang on a necklace) while Mr. L got a shot glass and a coin.  After a serious dress crisis (I had to go out shopping 1.5 hours before the formal dinner!!!) it was time for the banquet...the total end of pilot training.



Mr. L in his mess dress and me in my last minute purchase!



The Air Force has some wacky traditions, including kissing your wife (crazily) in front of everyone!



The class spouses...we've stuck together through a hard year, I'm sure going to miss them!

  Mr. L walked away with two more awards (4 in total, including the prestigious Commander's Trophy) and we had a wonderful time meeting everyone's families and reminiscing about the past 54 weeks.  Then it was time to leave and say goodbye to the most crazy, hard, long, exciting, and memorable year we're sure to have in our lives.  It was fun, but now we're ready for the next adventure.




CONGRATULATIONS 11-01!!!! YOU DID IT!! :)



 

Drumroll Please...

We have been waiting for a year, a very long year, to find out what plane Mr. L will be flying for his career and what our first base would be with that plane.  Mr. L trained for a year, worked so super hard, and we filled out the dream sheet.  Then we waited...and waited...and waited...and we finally know!

THE C-17 GLOBEMASTER

to

We are SOOOOOOO excited!  This was the number one choice on Mr. L's dream sheet and getting your number one choice doesn't happen a lot!  First of all, Mr. L has wanted to fly the C-17 for such a long time.  he loves the mission, loves the crew airplane, and loves airdrop.  He didn't want to jinx himself, so he kept it to himself most of the time, but he wanted this plane soooooo badly.  I'm so happy that he will be flying it.  Moving to Dover is going to be awesome.  It's 2.5 hours from my family, about 3 from his, and we have lots of friends in the area. 

We've lived in the south for about 4 years and have enjoyed it a lot (especially the no snow part), but we miss the NorthEast and being able to go to our neices and nephews birthday parties, game nights with my family and spending the holidays with people we love.  We are thrilled that these things will be possible for the next 3 years.

We have no idea when we'll actually be going yet (remember, we here in the L family don't hold our breath for Air Force timelines), but we definitely still have some time left in Columbus.  Mr. L has to attend survival school and then go to Oklahoma for C-17 training...this will be about 4 months of time.  Add in some upcoming holidays and just the pace of these transactions and we could be here for another 6 months.  But trust me, Mississippi looks a LOT better when you know you're going to say goodbye soon!!!!!!!!

The List Is In...

So, as of today around 6:00pm, our dream sheet was turned in to Mr. L's flight commander.  This has been in the works for a year, since the day pilot training started and it was finally time to turn in the list.  We worked on the list for about three days, making sure everything was in the exact order we wanted it to be and it's finally in the hands of the one guy who can make it happen...no pressure :) :) 

We find out on Friday the 8th and I couldn't be more excited!  Not only do we find out where we're going to live for the next few years, but Mr. L  finally gets to find out what plane he's going to fly for his career.  I'm so super proud of him and all that he's accomplished and I can't believe that this year of training is almost over.  It hasn't been the easiest year (really long days/nights for Mr.L, unemployment for me), but he's doing what he loves and I love being there to support him and build this life together.  I'll bring news of Assignment Night to the blog as soon as I can :)

Okay so I just realized that I missed Lily Sunday last week and I totally forgot to do Kelly's Show Us Your Life Dining Rooms this week.  I'm going to skip last week's Lily picture and just start again tonight and the computer is being silly and won't let me upload any pictures at all, so I'll be skipping Lily again his week.  I'll catch up on the dining room pics this week sometime.   

One last note: Way to Go PITT!!! My panthers kicked butt this weekend :)

Mississippi UPDATE

Today, the Air Force decided to change our plans and we will now be moving to Mississippi a month early. This means we will be leaving Florida and moving on September 15, 2009 instead of late October. This will most likely affect our honeymoon, but not the wedding, thank goodness! However this does mean we will be strapped for time in the upcoming month to get everything ready to move. Pardon us if we seem extra crazy for the next two months!