Heading Out

Aaron and I leave tomorrow morning with Pete and Emily to start our drive. Since we got back on Friday from home, we've been packing up the room (which somehow looks like a went off and nothing appears to actually be packed). They come to check it at 8:30 AM, then we're driving by Little Bit of Seattle one last time (which, if you ever talk to us, you know is a coffee shop that we go to daily...) and heading out. Our itinerary (barring any major catastrophes) is as follows:

29th: Albuquerque, NM
30th: Grand Canyon, AZ
31st and 1st: Las Vegas, NV
2nd: Sacramento, CA
3rd: Eugene, OR
4th: Arrive in Tacoma, WA

I tried to upload a map of our route and I'm not sure if it's going to work, but try this:


View Larger Map

Once we get there, Aaron starts in-processing stuff and I have a meeting with our Realtor to find us a house on the 5th. We'll be staying in temporary base housing until we get a place, so our hope is to find something good, not super expensive, and in a good part of town--and to do so quickly.

Hopefully we'll be able to blog some pictures along the way of our adventure, since it looks like we'll be seeing some cool stuff. So far, the weather looks like it has calmed down a little out that way, though so far, the forecast is calling for snow showers in Tacoma on the day of our arrival... nothing like a little baptism by fire into this crazy weather they've been having out there. Wish us safe travels and good luck!!

For now, I'm signing off to go and pack up some more of our things...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

No no... not me. I am not expecting. However, as most of you know, my sister and Adam are and they've found out that baby number 3 is in fact a girl--that's to add to the 2 other little girls they already have and to the total of 5 granddaughters my parents already have... girls girls girls, so many little girls. But girls are fun and sweet and cuddly and say the most tender little things. Like when I was talking to Lucy on the phone the other day and she said "I miss you Aunt Becca"... be still my heart... Anyway, here's a picture of niece number 6, yet to be named--and please notice how she already has her momma's little natural frown--so weird!! And we've got yet another baby on the way from Rod and Betty due in March- perhaps there's a boy in there???

Good Times in Enid

This is just a picture to show you where we have been living for the last month since I'm pretty sure we haven't shown anyone pics of our place yet ("place" aka "dorm"). In the left corner, you see our cute little Christmas tree and on the right hand side, you see a tribute to "our" homestate (since I consider myself an honorary South Carolinian)...



Last weekend was a weekend of celebration- from one friend's last night in town, to another friend's birthday, to a sort of "byebye Pete and Emily/Aaron and Becca" party, there were many reasons to get together. On the left you see Aaron practicing some dance moves, while I don't look so ready to cut a rug. And on the right, Aaron and me with our friend Pete (who is also being stationed at McChord and in Aaron's squadron... and we're driving west with he and his wife, Emily)....


And a celebration is no reason to forget about "artsy" photography. These were pics we cropped and edited a little that would've been deleted, but we salvaged something... they turned out pretty cute...

And here's Emily of the "Pete and Emily" duo...

In the crazy weather that has been this week (snow to ice to sunshine and the 60's--seriously today I'm not wearing a jacket), we took an opportunity to bring the camera around town. We ran into these guys, who were more than eager to run up to the fence to greet us.

They lived on this beautiful street... the one street in Enid that we've found that is surrounded by trees as opposed to fields...

And last night, we took to downtown with Pete and Emily for a little double date. They had the square decorated with Christmas lights so we of course decided to take a family picture. Here it is.

Only 10 days left in Enid... I never thought I'd say it, but it's sort of bittersweet...

Winter Wonderland

I had no idea how cold Oklahoma could get... I knew it was windy, and even though I knew that, I was not prepared for just HOW windy it could get. But on an already cold day--say a day where it's 12 degrees outside, like yesterday--it can make it FEEL like it's -6 degrees outside. Yes. NEGATIVE 6. Last week, it snowed on Tuesday, stuck around Wednesday and by Thursday it was in the 60's again. Yesterday, it was 12, today the high is in the 20's and it's snowing and I think this weekend it will be in the 60's again. I wish it would make up its mind. Anyway... there's more to talk about than just the weather...

Our time at Vance is winding down. In one week, we leave to head home for the holidays. It will be a quick few days but we're excited to get to see everyone one last time since we don't know when we'll be home again--especially Aaron since he'll be working all the time, so we hear. As soon as we get back, we pack up the car for a day or so and then start the drive to Tacoma. We're going with our friends Pete and Emily and we've decided on what should be a pretty neat route, including a swing by the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, Sacramento and Eugene, Oregon before arrive in Tacoma around January 3rd or 4th. We've had a good run in our little dorm room on base here, and we do like the smalltown thing here in Enid, but we're definitely looking forward to having a home to put our own furniture in and just to get settled in Tacoma. It's hard to believe it was 6 months ago that we found out where we were going. Time absolutely flies...
Here are some pictures to update everyone:




A cute shot of the grandgirls that Aaron got when we were home for Thanksgiving...


Aaron and me before heading over to his family's Thanksgiving celebration...



The day after the snow in Enid last week...

Aaron and me playing in the snow...

Home Again, Home Again...

Aaron and I had to separate again after just about two and a half weeks of marriage. We were both flying out of the same airport on the same day--him to WA and me to GA, not to be reunited until the 23rd of November. I was so proud of myself when I told him goodbye- not a tear (which, over the last couple of years had become my M.O.)--only just an ever-so-slight trace of sadness. "We're each other's home base now... it's different this time..." I told myself.

It's true. It is different now. But it's almost been harder! That could be because I've been packing up all of our wedding gifts, all of my stuff from the house in town (or "The townhouse" as Lucy calls it) and the lake house, packing it all into boxes and moving it (via multiple trips to and fro) to Aaron's parents' house in North Augusta because "they" (being whatever company the military contracted our move out to) are coming Monday to get our stuff and move it on out to WA--all on my own. Talk about baptism by fire. This is my first military move. It's not even been a month since we've been married. And Aaron will (when they finally show up) be essentially unreachable. And you know what? Even if he was reachable, I wouldn't want to be calling him every 50 seconds asking him what to do and what this or that means, etc... I'm going to need to get used to this and I want to do be able to do it myself, even if I make a few mistakes here and there. He's been so sweet, walking me through bits and pieces of what to expect and the paperwork and the bureaucracy of it all and I've been pushed (or violently shoved) out of the nest and I'm officially on my own with it now. But, how hard can it be?.....right? Ahem...anyway...I'll just be glad when it's over, regardless of where our stuff actually ends up!

My time at home so far has been fun. I thought I'd feel different now that I'm married- I don't. Same Becca. Same Augusta. Same parents' house. Same parents. Same sweet friends. I got the chance to hang out with a few of them this week- some in Columbia at my old watering holes--Hunter Gatherer and then Jake's--with Matt, Mary Neil, Lonnie, Michelle, Laura, Madden, Kristi, Meg-- and also with some Augusta pals at my hometown watering hole--Bees Knees-- with Victoria and Joanna...It's good to know that I still have good friends "back east" (as "us westerners" call it). A few highlights:





Siiiiiiiiiigh....Good times.


Where was I? Oh yeah, so only 9 more days until Aaron and I are reunited and he's done with the training he's been finishing up in WA. Also, not long until his birthday--November 25th. He'll finally be my age :) What to get your husband for his first birthday as... well, as your husband??

Where The Buffalo Roam

That's where I live. Sort of. Actually, about 3 hours south of us is where we spotted a few buffalo on our way home from hiking. Said buffalo was just standing on the side of the road, like it was no big deal that he was a buffalo and he was standing on the side of the road. It was to me. So I took pictures. Like these...

Buffalo spotting isn't the only change that I've adapted to over the last couple of weeks. First of all, I'm living on a military base. (Here's a pic from just outside the gate):

My first Monday morning here, I awoke to men outside yelling "Left, left, left right left..." and one of those "I don't know but I've been told" songs. I assume they were running in some sort of formation but I don't know. Since it was still dark outside, I didn't bother to get out of bed (like any normal person) to take a gander. After I was almost settled back into sleep, I was almost blasted out of bed by Revelry playing on the loud speakers all over the base. And sadly, that also happened while it was still dark outside. Needless to say, I've started to wake up a little earlier--at least when we sleep with the window open.

My favorite thing about living on base (apart from the Commisary- can we say savings?) is the flight show I get everyday. True, it's not the blue angels. It's student pilots flying little sputtering planes for the most part--with the exceptions of T-1's (the trainers for the heavies--like C-17's--they look like private jets) and the T-38's (the trainers for fighters--like F-16's--they're very fast). It's still pretty cool to see planes constantly flying overhead- sometimes low to the ground, sometimes taking sharp turns, taking off or landing. In this picture, you can see one in the very background.

That's all I've got of the planes so far...

This past Saturday, we took a trip south to go hiking like I said earlier. It turned out to be a really fun day. It was beautiful in this part of Oklahoma with these pretty large rocky mountains, covered in huge boulders. Who knew that was in Oklahoma? We hiked most of the time (and boulder hopped... yes, I did that... and I didn't even fall)

and then headed towards one of Aaron's favorite restaurants. It's actually famous. It doesn't look like much:

But, they grow their own cattle (so they don't feed them any hormones--just grass), grind the beef in house everyday (fresh!), make their own beer. All in all, pretty awesome. They've been on the Food Network a few times and are named one of the top 8 burgers in the country. A little gem in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. We decided to go all out: He got a huge burger (the seismic), I got ribs and we shared one of their beers. With all of that, we had managed to save room for their homemade icecream and peach cobbler, which we also shared (we were hungry--we'd hiked all day). And then we began the 3 hour trek home.

Unfortunately, not long after we arrived home, we both weren't feeling so well. We thought we'd just eaten too much and vowed to never do that to ourselves again. It turned out to not be that so much as it was food poisoning. Now, I'm sure this is a rare happening for this restaurant- like I said, it's very well known and very reputable. The only thing we shared was that icecream... but we were SICK. We didn't get any sleep all Saturday night and we made a Wal-Mart run at 6 AM on Sunday to get OJ, Gatorade, Tylenol, etc... that would be the only time we got out of bed all of Saturday- both of us were completely out of it all day.

But my sister made a very good point: At least reason we got food poisoning together wasn't because of my cooking. So we've still got that to look forward to...

It's Been A While...

...and my apologies for my lack of posting are sincere (to you two or three faithful readers!), but as you well know, things have been sort of busy.

First of all, I got married. YES, those grueling ten months of engagement have finally passed (looking back, rather quickly might I add) and we are officially husband and wife. Which means I'm officially a military wife. More on that later...

Second of all, I moved halfway across the country--to Enid, Oklahoma to be exact. We're living on base in his efficiency apartment until we make the trip out west to Tacoma sometime soon after Christmas.

The wedding, to us anyway, was so fun. I never wanted the night to end. Our band was above and beyond anything we could've hoped for (The Tony Howard Band- if you're getting married soon or know of anyone that is, I would HIGHLY recommend this band... they made the night!) We also were lucky enough to get a photobooth at the wedding, which was seemingly a little unconventional, but it turned out to be so fun. People loved it! (If you're getting married soon or know of anyone that is, I would HIGHLY recommend Oh Snap Photobooth... seriously...)

Okay, so enough advertisements for our vendors... highlights of the wedding include (but are not limited to):

Waking up to a torrential downpour the morning of the wedding before the sun came up and talking myself down from a breakdown because of it... "I knew this was coming" I told myself... "It's going to clear up by 1 pm..." (And it did...more or less...though the temperature was about 30 degrees cooler than it had been the day before) And then eating breakfast with friends who had come over that morning...

Hanging out in the fellowship hall at the Church with my bridesmaids and Kelley Kirker and her twin, Kristin Rochester (hair and make-up extraordinaires) for hours before the wedding, getting made up and eating little teeny sandwiches and just relaxing.

After my Dad gave me away and was making his way back to sit with my mom, he tripped over my veil and subsequently ripped it from my head. The pastor even laughed and whispered "That's okay..." My sister put it back in...backwards.... haha... and we proceded with the wedding, me having to put my money where my mouth was the day before: "I don't care if everything falls completely apart. We're getting married. And that's all that matters..." I had said...ha...

My subsequent father/daugher dance with my dad at the reception... we'd been practicing... and though he did step on my dress a time or two, he did a great job :)

Seeing my cousin Glen dance all night long with every girl on the dance floor, sometimes joined by my niece Lucy, both of whom were having the time of their lives.

Aaron, his dad and Tufik getting up on stage with the band to sing My Girl.... at times while harmonizing.... not too shabby

Hanging out with TONS of my old friends from college and high school and Aaron's friends from high school and college...

Running to the car at the end of the night, waving goodbye to everyone out of one door, and Aaron's pal Ben running up to the other side of the car to give us one more hug :)

Lowlights from the wedding.....

Absolutely none.

It was a perfect weekend to us and we could NOT be more appreciative to our family and friends who gave up their weekend to travel to Edisto and make it so special for us. We hope y'all had a blast and we miss you so much already!!

He's Done!

It's official... as of yesterday, October 7, 2008, Aaron is an Air Force C-17 Pilot!!! He had his check-ride yesterday and passed with flying colors, and today will be heading back over to Vance to make some final preparations before he heads to the Southeast on Monday to pick up his bride. He has worked so hard these last couple of years-- so many hours of studying, in simulators, making himself ready and able to be in command of such a big plane, and I could not be more proud of him. With everything else he's had to deal with (namely, dating, getting engaged to and being engaged to me) at the same time he was going through the most rigorous pilot training the world has to offer, he has done everything to the best of his abilities and become the best fiance AND pilot that a girl and this country could ask for.

Aaron in his class picture, standing with his training aircraft

The Last Days

These last couple of months have flown by so quickly -- and everyone told me they would but I didn't believe them. Now, here we are, 10 days from the wedding, 5 days from seeing eachother for the first time in months, less than a week from what will be one of the busiest weeks of our lives. I feel like I've tried to fit months of living into a couple of weeks so I can make sure to get all of the good stuff out of my last days with family and friends.

This weekend, Marcus and Emily and Marjorie, and Rachel and Adam and Punkin and Maybay came into town so that Rach and Em could come to my kitchen and linen shower. After the shower, all of the kids went to WPS for Homecoming... it was literally like stepping back in time. We took a stroll through the old S building and checked out each of the old classrooms. Of course we got there late so we didn't get to see a lot of the teachers we were hoping to see, but the little ones were able to play around where their parents spent most of their formative years, so that was fun...

Sunday, Rach and Emily and I drove over to Edisto to check out the beach house for the rehearsal dinner and it looked great... we were even able to sneak in a little lunch over at Folly Beach before dropping Rach off at home on James Island...

And then Monday, I got a day with "the guys"-- Marcus, Dad and I went hunting. I had been begging my dad to take me hunting and found out that he was taking my brother, so I piggybacked on their hunting trip. We hunted right outside of Statesboro, so we packed Dixie and Duke into the truck and made the trek down to South Georgia for a day of quail hunting. It was so fun... I'm glad we got to go before I leave.

With Rach and Mom at the kitchen and linen shower
With Dad and Marcus before we left for Statesboro
Me with our guide Dustin, looking for some birds
Little photo op mid-hunt
And after with some of our kill

Bachelorette Extravaganza 2008

This past weekend, my dear friends brought me on a whirlwind weekend in Atlanta to celebrate the soon-to-be death of my life as a single gal. Coming from many different places in many different cars to check in at the Westin on Friday night, the girls arrived tired, but all ready to celebrate.

The first present I got to open was in the form of my good pal Diana, who flew in to Atlanta in SECRET to surprise me, all the way from Missouri. I had NO idea she was coming but she had gotten there early on in the afternoon and checked into the hotel. The plan was working until Tucc and I arrived to check in and Edgar, the man working behind the counter, totally blew the surprise by saying in broken English "Oh, yes, Diana is already here...eehh..." And I said "No no no, my name is BECCA..." And when I saw his face, I knew something was up- I said to him "I think you blew it, Edgar." And in more of his broken English, he said "IIIIIIIIII still don't know what is going on...ha...so...."

It then turned into a fun game of who was going to be able to keep the joke going the longest, everyone denying the fact she was actually there until they could come up with a clever way for her to show her face.
While we were waiting on the others to arrive after Di had finally showed up at our hotel room door, Tucc, Diana and I grabbed a bite to eat at a cool Mexican place in town, courtesy of Kevin, the friendly Westin shuttle driver. Later in the night, after most had arrived, we hit a little restaurant/bar beside our hotel for a lowkey outting that turned out to be so fun. Saturday, we slept in, ate a brunch at the Flying Biscuit, shopped around a little across the street at the Lenox and then rested. 5pm started the lingerie shower portion and then dinner and DANCING... all night long. I never wanted it to end :)

All-in-all, I'd say it was a very successful bachelorette weekend and I'm pretty sure that everyone had some funny stories (and plenty of funny pictures) after all was said and done. Here are just a few of the PG rated shots from the weekend.



Here I am with Nan after the surprise...

Di was also able to surprise our pregnant friend JoBeth (we had a baby shower for her that Sunday, thrown by her sister Sally). Here's the first part of the group to arrive:

From left to right, Meg, Julie, JoBeth, me, Lorrie, Diana, Laura and Mary Neil

With Kel on our first night out...

And then with Lon...

The only present I can show in public was the mousepad Mary Neil got me (along with some other things) that had my favorite saying... I was very excited.

A few of my gifts before I opened them...

Our entire group...Michelle and I, just practicing for the big-time dancing we'd get to later in the night...

More of the gals-- Michelle, Lon, Julie, Jen, me, Tucc and Jaimie

It was so fun. You gals wanna do it again next weekend?? :)

When Your Brain Quits Working...

... The other day I was going to put a shirt in the dryer to dewrinkle it and when I was completing this mission, I realized that instead of placing it in the dryer, I started to place it in the toilet. An open toilet. Whaaaaaaaat?

And yesterday morning, I poured me a bowl of Kashi and right before I took a big bite, I realized that instead of adding milk to my bowl, I had filled it up with half and half. Whaaaaaaaaat?

Hhmmm....

This begs the question: What's happened to me?

Cypress Trees Plantation

When Mom and I drove over to Edisto and met with the folks at the reception place, I was able to take a few pictures... I wish they were better and did it justice, but alas, my photography skills aren't what they once were. Anyway, here's just a preview of where we'll be for the reception on October 18th--just seeing it got me so excited...

Here are the ladies taking a look around...the woman on the left lives there (must be nice!). It's a working soybean plantation... she said the property has been in her husband's family since the 1700's...yeesh... he must be old, huh?


Beyond those pretty trees is the creek

The beautiful driveway to the house

View around the side of the house...
I would NEVER LEAVE that swing if I lived there...


Let's hope no hurricane decides to attend the wedding as well... because if so, I've got a feeling this place may end up looking a LITTLE different than it did the day I was there :)

Worth It

Joan (that's my mom) and I have had a very productive couple of days. First of all, we got up early Monday morning and made the drive into town from the lake house to pick up my dress from the house in town. The two of us attempting to get the dress into the car without letting it touch anything and without wrinkling anything almost became our first tiff of the day... With one of us holding one coat hanger, one of us holding another coat hanger, one of us trying to go up this way, the other trying to go over this way, etc... we definitely both worked up a little sweat. Could've been the fact no airconditioner was on at the house and it was already about 95 degrees that day...Which leads me to my next highpoint of the day...

The weather. We got to Columbia on what was supposed to be (or so we thought) a relatively mild September day. The portrait shoot didn't begin until 4 and we had gotten there early enough to run by the Governor's Office to drop off a couple of things, grab Mary Neil and Lorrie to go to lunch with us AND go by the tax office so I could get a little reimbursement for selling my car, all to be done before heading over to Cline's for my hair appointment. After getting to the hair appointment 30 minutes early because we just wanted to be sitting down in some air conditioning, and therefore getting done with said hair appointment about 30 minutes early, we walked outside into a torrential downpour. Did I mention that my portrait was going to be taken outside? Which leads me to my third point...

The gnats. (Or as some of us liked to SO confidently call them during a mad game of Scattegories in college... "pnats"...ahem...anyway...) The portrait was taken [in a van] down by the river. (You Chris Farley fans will recognize that throwback and the fact that there was in fact no van involved) By the time I got outside in my dress and to my appointed spot on the tarp beside the river, my veil and dress were full-on gnat traps, and the sweat that had formed on my face combined with my make-up to form a nice little pasty gnat trap of their own. So the sweaty pasty face plus me constantly swatting at almost-invisible little bugs coincidentally ONLY around MY face, not to mention my constant fear that the granddaddy longleg who had tried to get fresh with me and make a fast move up the back of my dress was going to return for round 2 made for, at the very most, perhaps one useable picture for the portrait... Worth it. Or something.

Following that experience up with a roadtrip to Charleston that night and Edisto the next morning to meet with the wedding planner, the florist and the folks at the reception site, I'm one tired puppy. So I'm going to bed. But I'll rest easy knowing we're almost done with this planning NON-SENSE and we ARE in fact 32 days closer to finally being together. Phew...I can't wait.

Winding Down

And by "winding down" I of course mean time is. I'm not winding down. I'm actually doing the opposite of that. As it gets closer and closer to the wedding, I get more and more..."uppity." I'm not sure if it's anxiousness (that everything comes together and works out...which I'm sure it will) or nervousness that he's not the one.

haha... just kidding- good one, me.

Anyway, after a bit of a situation with our original organist, we were able to replace him with our trusty organist from home, who is a genius, and after our meeting with him yesterday, I feel much better about everything. Really all that there is left to do is order the programs (we're waiting on a few details to unfold before we can do that) and pick out the flowers.

In only 38 days, we'll be married and living on a base in Oklahoma for a couple of months before our trek to live out on the West Coast. It is insane how quickly time is flying...

Weekend Festivities

This weekend turned out to be a little bit more activity filled than I thought it would be.  There was of course the regular Friday night activity:  Rockband.  Then Saturday, Tucc, Emmett, Victoria and I were able to go over to the AWESOME and HUGE house of a friend of Tucc's (they've moved to Charlotte and told her she was free to use the pool anytime while they've still got their house) so we listened to some tunes and laid around on floats in the pool while Emmett tried to tune into the swimming abilities of Michael Phelps and did a few laps. Or maybe it was just one lap.  Anyway, it was more than the rest of us did.  

Later that night, we went to an engagement party for a friend we've known since we were very little--maybe even babies?  Caleb and Amber are getting married October 4th, and we were so excited to go and celebrate with our sweet friend "Cleb" and his wife-to-be.  They definitely racked up on some goodies.

Lonnie ended up coming to town for Labor Day and so the usual suspects (Tucc, Emmett, Victoria and Tyson) came up to the lake house.  There wasn't a whole lot going on over on our side of the lake for some reason.  I don't even think we saw one boat.  Maybe it was because the day started out cloudy, but it turned out to be a really pretty day.  We laid around, swam and had a nice little cook out.  And of course after a long day of fetch (thank you Emmett and Tyson) Dixie is having a hard time walking... she knew the costs but she's dedicated to her craft.  It's admirable.  

Tyson playing fetch with Dixie... 

The spread
Enjoying the spread

Me and my pink float... and my distorted right leg

Tucc, Cleb, me and Victoria at the engagement party

Lon and Tucc, lakeside on Labor Day...(notice the empty lake in the background)

"ET" clearly enjoying himself (with the universal thumbs up sign)

Victoria and Lonnie...

Me, desperately trying to be a part of the Turner family.... (I'm going to write a book about their life and call it "Turner and Tucc"--get it?  Sounds kinda like the movie "Turner and Hooch" yes?  No?  Too far?  You chuckled a little)