A Bloggin' Scogin...

Bold New Move

2009-06-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, after over 8, 000 hits on this beloved blog, I've made the difficult decision to call it quits.

My reasons are numerous and too lengthy to explain here... but not too lengthy to have explained in my first post on the NEW BLOG!!

http://www.thescogins.wordpress.com/

I hope you like the fancy new space and that you'll continue to join me as I share news, stories and thoughts with all of you.

Blogspot has been good to me, but I'm looking very forward to my new relationship with Wordpress :) Of course, should it let me down, hopefully Blogger will welcome me back with open arms.

Rejection--How Much of it Can One Person Handle?

2009-06-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

Reject: –verb (used with object)
1. to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc.: to reject the offer of a better job.
2. to refuse to grant (a request, demand, etc.).
3. to refuse to accept (someone or something); rebuff: The other children rejected him. The publisher rejected the author's latest novel.
4. to discard as useless or unsatisfactory: The mind rejects painful memories.
5. to cast out or eject; vomit.
6. to cast out or off.

None of the above definitions are particularly lovely. My job search here has also not been lovely and has led to me feeling FAR too familiar with the definition of the word "reject." Someone refused to have me. Someone refused to accept me. Someone discarded me and regarded me as "useless." I was vomited! Cast out! Cut off! (See above definitions)..

I am just being melodramatic to be funny...BUT, in the past two days, I have been turned down for two jobs that I really thought I would/could/should get. And I didn't. I'm not used to that. Before now, there had only been one time that I had interviewed for a job that I wasn't subsequently offered. I tend to perform well (better even) under pressure, so interviews typically go quite well for me. I'm also not very shy and feel like I'm a pretty friendly gal, so I tend to get along well with the ones interviewing me. But something has happened to me here... and it's causing me to not get a job. I know it's a tough time to be looking, and thankfully, Aaron and I aren't in dire need of the money- but I would like something to do. SOME sort of structure to my day. A routine. Even though it is nice to be able to wake up and have a "mommy morning" everyday (minus the little ones running around calling me "Mommy" over and over again...ha).

Sigh. Will someone hire me? Anyone? Anyone? Um.... please? :)

Less Than a Month...

2009-06-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

... I haven't really talked much about the deployment on here. I'm not sure if it's been due to the fact that there's just been a ton of other stuff going on, or an effort to avoid the topic altogether, therefore making it not really "real." BUT then I get emails from the squadron like the one below, which are always a nice dose of reality:

"With the upcoming deployment we all have a lot on our minds and on our agendas. To help break down the sometimes daunting deployment preparation, we have dissected a deployment checklist into a timeline. You can expect to receive these in your inbox 2 months prior, 1 month prior, 1 week prior, and 1 week after the deployment. We hope that this breakdown helps alleviate the stress of it all so you can focus on spending quality time with your loved ones before they leave.

1 month prior to deployment

Medical

*Prepare/Update Family Care Plan

*Prepare an emergency contact list and phone numbers

*Verify family enrollment in DEERS

*Review insurance policies (medical, life) and make sure they are current

*Discuss medical/dental/eye care and review insurance coverage

Home Safety/ Management

*Review/discuss home & personal security measures

*Check smoke detectors and replace batteries

*Discuss emergency exit procedures

*Ensure appliances are in working order, serviced, and in good condition

*Review/Update vehicle maintenance record

*Know where utility shut offs and breaker boxes are

*Make arrangements for household repairs

*Complete property inventory

*Arrange for lawn care/ snow removal

Miscellaneous

*Notify creditors, service providers, cell phone companies of deployment, they may offer deployment benefits

*Collect important documents (Will, POA, Marriage Certificates, Birth Certificates, Social Security cards) and put in a fireproof box

*Insure vehicle title, registration, insurance and warranty papers are current and safely stored"

Their projected date to leave is June 24th... which is only about 3 weeks. I've been prepared (by Aaron and also a few wives who have been through deployments before) that the date can and probably will change several times before they actually leave. Maybe even the week of- pushing it back a day, forward 2 days, back 3 days, etc... JUST enough so that you're completely emotionally unstable and ready to just push them out the door to get it over with. The good news is that the squadron said they'd quit taking missions in June and it's looking like they're actually doing it- though I realize that, too, can and probably will change. But for now, I'll bask in the fact that Aaron and I may actually get to spend 3 consecutive weeks together... for the first time since early February.... who knows, by that point we may be ready for 4.5 to 5 months away from each other :) Ha...

I'm not sure how much information I'll be able to put up here about where he is or his mailing address for y'all to send him care packages, etc... if you so desire, but I'll find out. And I'll try to use the blog to keep everyone as up-to-date as possible on his life and times over there.

Until then, stay tuned for the Deployment Countdown!

Aye Aye, Captain....

2009-06-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last night, I fell asleep beside a First Lieutenant, but I woke up this morning next to a Captain. He looked the same, for the most part, but there was a little twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there before ;)

The promotion ceremony was this morning and Aaron pinned on Captain along with another girl in the squadron named Molly. I thought it would just be Aaron and me and the commander, etc.. in a little room, but unbeknownst to me, they invited the entire squadron. Scary. I never knew how hard it would be to work a button and slip something on someone's sleeve in front of a bunch of people... after some haggling, I finally was able to get it done. Much to Aaron's relief, I'm sure....

I'm still learning the protocol on lots of different things--like rank and who does what and who to not make stupid jokes around. But I still manage to have SOME sort of clumsy interaction with those in leadership positions at least once everytime I'm on base. I am, after all, me.

For example, when a Lieutenant Colonel (their new Director of Operations) told me that I could step over him to get a better picture, I thought he was telling me that HE would be able to take a picture. So I just gave him my camera and said thanks and proceeded to watch the ceremony. Yes, I saw the little emblem on his shoulder and I knew it meant something, but I couldn't remember exactly what. For all I knew, he was a loadmaster or something (note: officers are not loadmasters.. I learned this recently...). In any case, he stood up and took a few shots for me and handed the camera back. It wasn't until I was holding the camera again that I realized what he said, but it was too late-- he thought that I intended for him to become my personal photographer. Oh well, he took it like a gentleman... And he did, afterall, have a much better angle than myself. He can just consider that another way that he served. Do they give out medals for good picture taking?

I've only been in this for about 8 months and realize everyday how little I still know about all of this military stuff, so I've got a ways to go... Luckily I've got about 16 more years to figure it all out.... But I am very proud of my Aaron and that shiny new rank he gets to wear around. His work ethic and discipline still never cease to amaze, convict and encourage me. And I also just so happen to think that those two attributes are quite handsome on him :)

Aaron and Molly with the Commander... as mere Lieutenants...

Shig got to pin on one side, and I got to do the other... Because Aaron's so tall, it got tricky, so we each had to wait our turn.

I'm not sure what I'm laughing at, but it looks like something must've been hilarious...

The oath...

Spring Has Definitely Sprung...

2009-05-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

We have some amazing flowers blooming in our yard as of late and they're just gorgeous. Sometimes I walk by a plant, go inside for a few minutes, come back out and another blossom has exploded with another beautiful and brightly colored flower. I feel much more "well versed" in the language of flowers since living here and thus having this "accidental garden" in my own backyard. I now know what a poppy is (and I've also been told that opium is made from poppies... who knew?). I now can say that I have my own rose bushes (yep- plural...). And I can also now say that I have not yet killed my hanging plants AND that my petunias are actually blossoming!

I feel like.... like.... AN ADULT!!

My babies that I've raised from birth... :)

STILL alive... (although we got into some dangerous territory where their future was questionable for a little while there...)

Our first rose blossom!

Poppy in front of our house

(Noteworthy: This photo has not been edited at all... this is the actual color... so bright!)

One of the huge ferns that have popped up in our backyard

Our grape arbor grew some leaves seemingly overnight... it's so pretty now

Our happy, colorful, flower-surrounded house

Update on Eloise

2009-05-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest email update from Adam:

Hi all, I apologize for the lack of updates. There hasn’t been much to say after our initial visit with the hematologist, but today’s appointment gave us a little more to report.

Since leaving the hospital, Eloise has seemed like any other baby. She’s eating, sleeping, gaining weight, is alert and having a great time with her sisters. Aside from monitors for her heartbeat and breathing, everything is normal and we are very thankful for that.

While various disorders continue to be ruled out, some tests needed to be re-taken for various reasons. This morning they, again, checked her hemoglobin and found that it had returned to very low levels and also determined that her body is producing fewer red blood cells. In turn, this has caused her heart to have be slightly tachycardic (meaning, it’s beating faster, trying to do more). In response, the doctors have recommended that she be transfused in the morning in order to stabilize her hemoglobin and prevent any further over-working of her heart. Obviously, this is not the news we were hoping or expecting to hear, but we’re hopeful the transfusion will bridge the gap and give her body time to correct itself.

As for a diagnosis, we’re still unclear. The one test that has come back as a possibility is for a G-6-PD deficiency. This would be a little odd because it rarely takes place in females and almost never in Caucasians – so we’d be 0 for 2 on those. However, it remains a possibility and we’re told that she could live a normal and long life with proper monitoring if that’s the case. We continue to hope that her little body will simply heal itself, but we’ll take a little extra monitoring any day over some of the worse things we’ve heard about.

We continue to be grateful for your encouraging words and prayers.

Adam

They also found out that she has to have a bone marrow biopsy on Thursday morning at 8... Please continue to pray for their family and little Eloise.

Race for the Cure

2009-05-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

A few friends and I have decided to run the Race for the Cure which is next weekend in Seattle. We've formed a team to run in honor of my mom, a breast cancer survivor, and named it Runnin' Easy for Joan Veazey (Emily Culbert thought that one up!). We each have individual fundraising goals--mine is $150, which I'm sure I can raise in a week and 2 days!! (With your help of course...)

Please feel free to click HERE to view our team's page and HERE to see my own personal page and check out our progress. Any little bit helps!

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-05-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

This was my first Memorial Day weekend as the wife of an active duty service member... And I'll say it: I was proud...

Apart from celebrating and remembering the lives of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our country, I was able to spend a few days in Charleston and meet my newest niece Eloise (and hold her a lot), visit with Lucy and Mary Beck (and play with them a lot) and fall asleep accidentally (a lot). I've been so tired... I'll blame it on the time-change, even though I had been on the east coast for a while by that point. Ha... However in my defense, it had been a very crazy week.

Onto the pictures.

Rach and Weezy

Me and all of the Temple girls

Me and Weezy

Punkin'

Adam and Maybay

First time holding Weezy

Officially Michelley Kelley

2009-05-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

Woah, it's been an entire week since I blogged. Things have been busy, though. I haven't had a chance to just sit and breathe. Until now...

I got into town late Tuesday night and spent the night with Matt and Mary Neil and Diana... (no matter how many times I asked, Diana wouldn't scratch my back like Aaron does, nor would she spoon me... sigh... meany). We woke up early, ran to the airport to get my bags (because of course they lost them at Dulles...typical) and then met JoBeth and Bo at Gourmet Shop. Nan and I were both overwhelmed with his cuteness.

Mom picked me up and we drove up to the lake house where Marcus, Emily and Marjorie were waiting and we cooked out and hung out all night. So fun.

When I finally got into Columbia Friday, we had the bridesmaids luncheon, followed by the rehearsal dinner and then a little "out on the town" in Columbia--my ole pals Jeff, Jay, Madden and The Don came out to meet us- I hadn't seen them since the wedding and they were all in town (Madden was because he lives there, but the others had come from Charlotte, Charleston and Virginia...good times).

And then my camera died... way to go, Becca. So sadly, I got no pictures of the wedding itself or of the beautiful bride and her handsome husband. I'll steal some from others to post so you can see the cute couple. And evidence that Michelle Parsons has officially become Michelle Kelley... Such a fun weekend and such a fun wedding!

Goin' to Carolina...

2009-05-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

...not even just in my mind. I'm actually going there.

I fly out of here in about 3 hours (if all goes well), connect in DC, and should arrive in Columbia around 2340 (there's a military wife for ya ;) ) I'm being picked up from the airport by Matt and Mary Neil and Diana, who just happens to be in town and will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. After a late night IHOP run with Nan, like back in the good college days, I have brunch tomorrow morning with Nan and JoBeth so Nan and I can meet Bo (JoBeth's baby who looks like one of the cutest kids around) and then I head to Augusta where my brother and sister-in-law will be arriving with Marjorie to visit! I head out of Augusta on Friday morning to start Michelle's wedding festivities, am there until Sunday and then head to Charleston Sunday to meet Eloise and then I fly out of Columbia early Wednesday morning.

Sheesh... I'm exhausted just thinking about it- but also so excited! Because of the wedding, so many of my friends will be in town and in one place so it will be fun to get to see everybody and of course to watch Meesh and Jay tie the knot.

Now... if I could just get over this paralyzing fear of flying, then I'd be well on my way to a good day :)

Heading Home

2009-05-18T08:30:00.001-07:00

Less than 24 hours before I head to the airport to fly back to the most beautiful place on earth--the southeast. :) (I claim the entire region because I feel equally from Georgia and South Carolina and am indecisive...) I've got a lot to get done because this trip sort of snuck up on me. I think I was so distracted by the fact that Aaron "might" be getting home today that that was all I could think about. In a bizarre twist that almost NEVER happens (insert freakishly thick sarcasm here), Aaron's crew isn't making it home today. Maybe not even tomorrow. Which means I definitely won't see him before I leave and, with our great luck, he'll probably have to head out on another mission while I'm gone. Such is our lives... Only about 16 more years of this, so I guess I should just accept it, huh? ;)

Anyway, I have so much to get done before I leave. And I have a picnic to go to today at a house that's about 40 minutes from mine... which I need to make something for... which involves going to the grocery store... and I haven't even run yet today... and I need to leave here in about 2.5 hours.... therefore, I need to quit slacking and get started on this crazy day!

Weezie

2009-05-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

The latest:

Hi all –

I’m happy to be writing you from home with Eloise right next to me. Although they haven’t been able to diagnose her condition, the doctors felt she could come home until the hematologists at MUSC begin caring for her on Tuesday. So, we were able to bring her home with heart and breathing monitors that make hideous noises when things get out of whack (which hopefully won’t be often).

As of this morning, her H and H numbers remain unchanged (good that it’s no longer declining, but still too low for comfort). Her PKU (newborn screening) came back normal which rules out a lot. More tests results are pending and more will be taken beginning next week. Unless something changes or we get a diagnosis, I’ll probably hold off on updates since we will probably not have anything new until Tuesday. Eloise continues to do everything normally – eat, sleep etc. so we’re hopeful her blood will begin healing itself soon even if that means we never find out why this happened.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers,

Adam

SURPRISE!!!!

2009-05-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

A house that was bustling with activity just hours ago is now totally silent (except for my iPod playing on the speaker system....) and Howard snoring (yes... he's only 4 months old and he's taken up snoring). Today was Brittany's birthday and we had a surprise party for her at our house tonight. It was tough just bold-faced lying to her about all of our friends and whether or not they'd be coming to her birthday dinner (which she thought would be at a pizza dive down by the Tacoma Dome with only Kim, Jill and myself in attendance). Brandon (her husband) left for a trip yesterday so he couldn't be here, but most everyone else that we contacted attended and after calling her to tell her that my car wouldn't start and I'd need her to come pick me up, she showed up at the door to a huge SURPRISE!!!! (and Brian covered in the alpaca fur on the floor, pretending to be a rug... and it actually looked sort of real).

We ate pizza and beer (the answer to her "If you could have any meal in the world, what would it be?" question Brandon had asked her last week to do a little P.I. work for us), ate yet another one of Kim's famous cakes (DELICIOUS) and concluded the night with hours of Rock Band. Yes.... hours.

All in all, a successful surprise party :) I love love love having people over to my house (most of yo know this....). Hosting guests is one of my absolute favorite things- not to mention that it definitely was fun to have so many bodies in a house that's otherwise been empty so much lately (apart from Howard and me).

Tomorrow night is the Taylor Swift concert. My sweet sweet husband surprised me with FLOOR SEATS to the concert and now has to miss it since he's still off on a mission, so Brittany is going in his place. It's at Key Arena in Seattle and should be a great time... per the usual, pictures to follow :)

Weezie Update

2009-05-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

So many of you have been so sweet to email and call to ask for the latest on the newest little member of the family. I hope it's not too impersonal that I just keep copy and pasting Adam's email updates here - it's just easier to keep everyone informed and I post them as soon as I get them. Thank y'all for praying for them- I know they appreciate it!

Hi all,

I don’t have much new to report today so I’ll keep it concise.

As I previously wrote, yesterday was a good day for Eloise and we were hoping to be taking her home soon. Unfortunately, the blood tests that came back this morning showed that Eloise’s blood (her hemoglobin and hematocrit) had returned to the approximate levels as when she was born. While it’s a discouraging development, we remain hopeful that they will begin trending in the right direction. The hematologist that will see Eloise has ordered some more tests (more stuff we’re hoping to “rule out”) and those results should be coming back over the next week. They also decided to re-take some of the previous tests to see if there were any false negatives.

If you could see her, Eloise appears to be perfectly normal – she’s feeding, sleeping and doing all the other things a baby should do. We’re very thankful for that and continue to hope that her blood will simply remedy itself and we can bring her home soon.

I know I say this every email, but we are unspeakably grateful for your prayers and encouraging words. We know it makes a difference.

Thanks,

Adam

A Good Night

2009-05-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

This weekend, we had some pretty nice weather and so Saturday night, Tyler invited us over to his beach (yes... he has a private beach at his house) to sit by the water (and by "the water" I mean the Puget Sound) around a fire and have some s'mores. How could we turn that down? We hung out outside for hours. Since it doesn't get dark here until around 9 pm, we were able to enjoy watching the sun set and then hang out for hours, just chit chatting and relaxing. What a great idea...

Not a bad view...

Let's all let out a collective "Awww......"

Kim, Brittany and Brandon...

Fire starters...

Just representin'...

Creepy...

Marshmellow caught on fire and fell off the stick... Tyler decided to put it out with his foot... best of intentions, but a messy decision.

Not Enough of Howard?

2009-05-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing from several folks that I haven't been putting up enough of Howard... this, even though I told Aaron that I feel like we've turned into one of those couples that ONLY talks about their child--both to each other and to other people. What did we talk about before Howard? What did I post pictures of before Howard? Well, ask and you shall receive. And... to add yet another post from my pops (that may or may not be a "spin" off of a Bible verse...):

"You have not because you ask not. And when you ask, you ask amiss. So next time, ask a Mrs."

And it just so happens that I AM a Mrs... so, without further adieu, here are some of the latest pictures of him in all his glory:

Playing with his mom.

And with the mailman (not THE mailman. Our mailman Vic is the most awesome guy that's ever existed... very happy and loves to give Howard treats. This man? No treats. But I'm sure he's very nice...)

Howard Moon, mid-air... LEAPING over my legs...

I'm sure I've told several of you that Howard is a different creature altogether when Aaron is out of town. And it just so happens that Aaron is (wait for it..............) out of town. He knows that when he sees Aaron put on that flight suit and walk out the door with a giant bag , he won't be coming back for a while. So he turns into... how should I say this?.... a demon.

Okay, demon is a strong word. But he turns into a different dog. Im sure it's normal puppy stuff. But Howard is no regular puppy. He's a GIANT puppy. So the regular puppy stuff he does brings about bigger results. Barks at me incessantly. Chews on things. Jumps very high. Runs in circles biting his tail... sigh... I suppose it's his coping mechanism for missing Aaron. And it seems to work for him...

I miss Aaron too. Perhaps I'll try those things....

Update on Weezie

2009-05-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

The latest email from Adam--

I can’t even begin to thank you all for the kind words, prayers and offers of support. I know I haven’t responded to some emails, but please know they have been a huge encouragement to Rachel and me. That being said … here’s the latest from the world of Eloise:

Yesterday they conducted the ultrasound on the head to determine if bleeding on the brain was the source of the problem and it came back negative (meaning they found no bleeding). We had great meetings with Dr. Goldstein, Eloise’s Neonatologist, who explained in detail the course of action moving forward. First – let me say that we are really, really fond of this doctor. He was very patient and took time to walk us through every possible scenario that this could involve. This was both scary and encouraging, but the bottom line was that Rachel and I were both greatly comforted by knowing the situation more fully and having a better understanding of what’s wrong with Eloise’s blood.

After ruling out bleeding in the head, an ultrasound was conducted on the abdomen to see if that was the source and this, too, came back negative. So far, all cultures taken to diagnose a blood stream infection have come back negative. If this remains the case, they will stop the IV antibiotics. Many of the blood tests sent off to diagnose the most serious viral infections are still pending, but other tests that have been taken cause the doctors to think they will likely be negative as well. We are encouraged by the fact that the blood (hemoglobin and hematocrit) is trending in the right direction.

We’ve been told by Dr. Goldstein that if the “really bad” things are ruled out, there is a chance we might never know what is causing this, but that Eloise will live a normal and healthy life. While part of me wants closure and to “know what’s wrong” I’ll take that option in a heartbeat. We feel really blessed to have had wonderful care during this time. The doctors and nurses have been incredible and we’re very thankful for that.

Thank you again for all your encouragement,

Adam

Maaaaaybe Far Awaaaaaaaaay....

2009-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you ever visit the Veazey blog but sometimes, my siblings will put hilarious pictures/videos, etc... on there of their kids. Of course I woke up to rain this morning and I don't know about you, but that instantly makes me just feel "blah" for the day... So since I had a little inkling of homesickness, I clicked on over to the Veazey blog to see if they had updated so I could see my cute nieces but, because they have more of a life than I do, they hadn't updated in a while. So I started scrolling down through older ones and came across this video. Makes me smile so big everytime and now I'm feeling better :)

Thanks, Luce.

Update on Eloise

2009-05-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

From Adam:

We just met with the pediatrician and the nurse practitioner for the neonatologist.

Unfortunately, the Kleihauer Betke test (the test to determine if Rachel and Weezie had been sharing blood) came back negative. We were hoping this was the diagnosis. This now means that it’s either some kind of internal bleeding or any number of blood disorders. At this point, they still have not had to give her a transfusion.

The blood tests continue to come back with consistent results (no significant increase or decrease in blood cells). We’re told that’s good from the standpoint that she’s not doing worse but at the same time it means she’s not “improving.” I’ll keep you posted.

Wedding Pics

2009-05-10T11:22:00.001-07:00

I still haven't ordered a photo album... I can't narrow it down from 1200 to 75... toughy. But I did finally compile some that friends sent us and edited them a little (well some of them) and decided to just order a few of these for now. In any case, here they are in slide-show fashion- they're also on the right but they're so tiny I figured I'd put it in a post as well :)

Weezie Pics

2009-05-10T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Eloise that Adam took with his phone... Rach is being released from the hospital today but Eloise is there for at least a week or so until they find out what's going on. I'll post more pics as I get them..

How cute is she? I can't wait to hold her!!

Prayer Needed

2009-05-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

I don't usually use this blog for anything serious- it's usually just little snipets about our lives here- funny anecdotes, pictures, etc... but I feel like I need to share this with you and ask you to pray for the newest little addition, Eloise, and the Temple family. I'm going to spare you any clumsy attempt on my part to explain what's going on and just copy and paste the email that Adam, my brother-in-law, sent out earlier today and I'll update as I can.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friends,

As many of you know, we welcomed our third child yesterday afternoon. All went well with the labor and delivery, but this morning the doctors found some concerning results after doing Eloise’s blood work.

I am not the medically inclined person in the family, but from what we understand, her hemoglobin and hematocrit are low. This could be caused by a number of things so they are in the process of conducting further tests. The problem is that to conduct these tests they must take more blood from her meaning she will need a transfusion tonight. At this point, we’re told she will be in the hospital for at least a week.

Obviously, this is upsetting news and not how we wanted Eloise to start her life, but we trust the doctors are doing everything possible to get to the root of the problem. As things progress, I’ll send out periodic updates. If she’s anything like her Mom and sisters, she’ll back in action in no time. Please keep little Eloise in your prayers.

Thanks,

Adam

Eloise LeMaster Temple

2009-05-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Adam and Rachel welcomed baby number 3, Eloise LeMaster, today. Baby weighed in at 6lbs, 8oz, and she and her mother are doing great.

For the record, this brings the Veazey-family grandkids tally to---

Girls: 7

Boys: 0

That's a lot of hair bows, tutus and princess costumes...

Post Mis-hap...

2009-05-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

I was trying to post on here (per my usual) and posted here instead, and because I'm too lazy to take down and repost, if you get curious enough, take a ride on over to Veazey Come, Veazey Go. It's a pretty happenin' blog in and of itself anyway...

Turning My Thumb to Green

2009-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

The weather today has been unbelievable... it's days like today that make me grateful to be living where I'm living. Maybe back home it's this pretty when the sun is out and I just appreciate it more here because the sun is rarely out. But I really do think sometimes that this is the most beautiful place in the world on a pretty day...

Anyway, because spring is (finally) in the process of... well... "springing" and everything is turning green and flowers are blooming, I ran down to the little nursery up the street and chatted with my pal there (he helps me everytime I'm in there, which has been a lot lately... mostly just looking) and I told him simply that I am where plants come to die. But I'd like to not be that anymore. And I was interested in some "hangy down plants" as I so eloquently called them and also something to stick in a big pot that I had. And I needed them all to be very resiliant- for it to be tough for me to accidentally end their pretty little lives.

He suggested petunias for the pot on the porch. So I planted them. Here they are. So cute. (He said they'd grow and be flowing over the sides of the pot soon...).

He also suggested these for the "hangy down plants"...

I think they're so pretty.

And, due to no effort on mine or Aaron's part, our yard has started blossoming some gorgeous flowers.

These:

Not sure what they are? They almost look like tulips but in the sunshine, they open up really big like this, and after the sun goes down, they close up and look like tulips again. Or is that a tulip? Is that what tulips do? I don't know. If you do, please tell me.

Then the Rhododendron. Native to Washington state. So so pretty- we have about 6 of these plants in our front yard alone and this is the first one to bloom so big. We've also got some pink ones.

Anyway, if all goes well, and I don't do the impossible and kill my new plants, I'll post pictures of their progress... As my pops would say (I've been quoting him a lot lately!) "I'm just tryin' to make this little house a home..."

Maiden Voyage of The Supper Club

2009-04-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

That's right: The Supper Club (capital "The")....

Last night was our first supper club. We started it so that we'd have something to look forward to every couple of weeks, and we opened it up to husbands (when in town...). As of last night, only two husbands were in town, so they came (only because they'd have each other, I think). We decided on an Italian theme, and everyone brought something. We had lasagna. We had dover sol (is that how you spell that?). We had pasta salad. We had italian zucchini pie. We had garlic beer bread. And of course an italian cake made by Kim, The Pastry Chef Extraordinaire. All-in-all, it was a success. I'm pretty sure during the deployment (that's rapidly approaching... only about a month and half or so...) we'll be having supper club every single night! We say the more the merrier, so if you're reading this and didn't get the memo, give me a shout- we'd love to have you.

And now? Pictures, of course.

Kim, Emily, Brittany, Kim, Amy and Erica (sad, the photographer never gets to be in the pics...sigh...)

The cake. (That's cream-cheese icing...mmmmmm....)

The lone men and fearless defenders of our country...

The ladies sitting down to eat...

Can't wait till next time...

New Bathroom!

2009-04-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

... Okay, so not really a new bathroom- no new major pieces were purchased for this redecoration I did over the past 2 days but, it still excites me greatly.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting the Scogin household yet, the color in our bathroom before was a pale purple. Lavender, really. It was very emasculating for Aaron... but he had a great attitude about it-rarely complained about it. Along with this lavender on the walls was a blue and white striped dingy looking shower curtain (mine from home...) that I'm sure, back in its prime, was a lovely addition to any bathroom. But now? Here? In this setting? Yeesh. Not a good combo but, as my dad says, "poor folks have poor ways.." ;) Fixing up the bathroom wasn't one of our first priorities- the shower curtain was a shower curtain, the walls were painted, great!

Since Aaron's been gone and I have YET to get a job (regardless of my constant pestering of those whom I've sent my resume to), I got an itch that only fixing that bathroom a little bit could scratch.

My original plan had been "a light turqoise and brown accents..." Pretty simple. Until it came time to pick the actual turqoise- YEESH. TOO. MANY. CHOICES. I'd get so confused, my eyes would cross and I'd forget what turqoise even looked like anyway. So finally I just made an executive decision and went with it. It turned out sooooorta bright. Like, hurt my eyes bright. I was sad at first. I'd liked it while it was still wet but once dried, I wasn't as excited. I'd spent hours on it (painting a wall behind a toilet in a bathroom the size of a shoebox proved difficult...) and it had been my first real pet project inside the house. What a bummer.

So I slept on it. And decided I DID like it, and now was just going to go a different direction. Black and white accents. Baskets for the lopside shelves. And a little rack to go over the toilet. I assembled the rack but our drill is broken so I have to wait until Aaron gets home to hang it over the toilet, and though I don't have any before pictures, here's what it looks like so far.

Not so sure it's any more "manly" than it was before... but at least now we have more of a theme going :)

New Neighbors!

2009-04-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Brittany bought a house that is only about a half a mile from our place. We are thrilled! Brandon was still in Spokane topping off some training so Brittany had to do the closing all by her lonesome but Aaron, Howard and I walked up to the Chinese place up the street, grabbed some food and walked the rest of the way to their new place to eat dinner and help Brittany paint the den. We got one good coat that night and were surprised with Brandon arriving home a little early.... Here are some pics of our fun night of painting...

Brittany so excited about the new house...

The professional travelling painters

Doing a little edgework (with no tape... pretty big time...)

Some spackling

Taping up the ceiling (he IS so tall afterall...)

After the first coat!

Cleaning the brushes...

After we got home and opened up the door to let Howard out, we found him sitting in the backseat like a human... on his fanny

Tuckered out after a big weekend...

Someone Looks Tired

2009-04-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I just dropped Aaron off on base to leave today on yet another trip- this time, he'll stay in The States for some type of airdrop joint exercise... After I got home and settled into the chair to read up on the news and catch up on some celebrity gossip (Heidi and Spencer got married?), I looked over and saw this...

In case you can't tell, that's our fearless "guard dog "who has helped himself onto the couch and made himself comfortable-- flat on his back, legs spread wide apart, out cold.

He's got a hard life.

Home Improvement

2009-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

We finally got rid of that monstrosity in front of our house and planted a new little tree. Granted, the tree is little- it will take it a couple of years to mature to full size but we feel like it's already made a world of difference not having that giant and seemingly deceased disaster in the very front of our house...

See really ugly plant to the right of the picture here:

And towards the left of the picture here:

And now GONE!!!

Our new little Mexican Orange bush... so tiny and cute...

Aaron said he was fairly certain that the other plant, after having been dug up and the giant leaves cut off, still weighed about 90 lbs. Yuck. Thank goodness for having my big strong husband back to perform some serious manual labor on Saturday.

Mariner's Game

2009-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday night, Aaron was the only boy yet again as we ventured into town for our first Mariner's game... it was fun. We got there a little late and then of course couldn't find a parking space so we didn't even get in until the 5th inning, but it was Armed Forces Appreciation Night so our tickets were only 10 bucks and they did little things between the innings to recognize the different military branches there. Don't worry- we got there in time for Air Force.

It almost reminded me of that Cubs game I went to... but not nearly as fun :) RIGHT, Emily (Purnell) Huensch?!

Back Into the Swing of Things

2009-04-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

We've had such a fun few days--way better than sitting around by myself with nothing to do :) Ha...

Thursday night a few of us grabbed dinner for Emily's birthday. Everyone's husbands were gone, so Aaron was the lone male, but he handled it nicely. And when Liz's husband came late after his flight, I know Aaron breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Friday, Aaron went to work until about 2, and as soon as he came home, we left for Portland to meet our ole pals Ben and Kelsey for dinner. They were in the area for a conference that Kelsey had and we were so excited to get to meet up with them even for just a night to hang out and catch up before they head back to Florida and Kelsey moves to Korea...

Now for tonight, MARINER'S GAME!!!!! Pictures to follow...

Dinner down on the Tacoma waterfront...

Our friend Kim is a pastry chef... yeah... that's right--a PASTRY chef... we are happy to ask her to bring desserts for various social occasions. This is the cake she made for Emily's birthday. DELICIOUS...

Thai restaurant in Portland...

Reunited and It Feels So Good...

2009-04-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

...Reunited never understooooood.....

Oh sorry, I got distracted singing. Where was I? Oh yes. Blogging...

Well, Aaron's back. The family unit is together again. Aaron and Howard.

And me.

I'm not sure who was more excited to see who that night. Was I more excited to Aaron? Was Howard more excited to see Aaron? Was Aaron more excited to see Howard? Was there anyone excited to see me? After Aaron and Howard's reunion, shown here:

... we hit the hay and woke up early the next morning thanks to an excited pup. We then took a family "stroll" down to the water. For those of you who have never been to our house, the water is "close" but not THAT close. Adding to the distance is the fact that it's also down what appears to be a 90 degree hill that's about a half a mile long (even steeper and longer when you're walking back up...I mean, our CAR can barely make it up that hill). Anyway, we grabbed coffee on the way down, ran by a seafood market on the way home to get some stuff to cook for dinner, came home, went to lunch, came home and took a huge nap, grocery shopped, cooked dinner, watched a movie and fell asleep. It's basically my typical day... but this time, I wasn't doing it all by myself- which makes an undescribably big difference. It was so fun to just be together again after over a month of military-required separation.

He's back at work now and I'm about to tackle an 85 lb bag (not exaggerating- seriously 85 lbs according to the scale at the airport) full of his dirty laundry. And all I can say is that I've never been so happy to do so much laundry :)

TONIGHT!

2009-04-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

Aaron and his partner (FLYING partner) Tony land at SeaTac at 10:10 pm. I'm so excited that this may call for a "Run-Jump-Tackle" in the airport. I better wear some good shoes...

Big Day

2009-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Aaron has his checkride tonight- if all goes well, he could even be on his way home tomorrow! I am so excited I can't even concentrate on things I need to get done. I may ACTUALLY get to see my own husband within the next 36 or so hours. Too good to be true :)

Top Fives

2009-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

TOP FIVE MOVIES OF ALL TIME
1. Annie
2. Return to Me
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. Steel Magnolias
5. Love Actually

TOP FIVE DREAM JOBS
1. ANYthing for People Magazine (I'm WELL-qualified for something with them...trust me)
2. Owning a bakery (I'd have to learn to cook really well first...)
3. Owning a stationary store (I'd have to acquire some great taste first...)
4. Mom (I'd have to have some kids first...)
5. Professional Gardener (I'd have to learn how to garden first...)

TOP FIVE FAVORITE SONGS EVER
1. Somewhere Only We Know-Keane
2. Shy That Way-Tristan Prettyman (with Jason Mraz)
3. Modern Nature- Sandre Lerche
4. All I Want Is You- Barry Louis Polisar
5. Hot In Herr- Nelly (I'm not embarressed...)

TOP FIVE PEOPLE I WOULD WANT TO SPEND DINNER WITH - DECEASED (and not in any particular order...)
1. Patsy Cline
2. Winston Churchill
3. Mr. Bob
4. Granny AND Grandma
5. Bethany

TOP FIVE PEOPLE I WOULD WANT TO SPEND DINNER WITH - ALIVE
1. Aaron
2. Any of nieces...
3. My sister
4. Reba
5. Jason Segal (of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I Love You, Man fame...)

TOP FIVE PLACES I’VE VISITED (disclaimer: I've not been many places so let's just change this question to Five Places I've Ever Visited...Ever...)
1. Jamaica
2. Chicago
3. Seattle
4. Flagstaff
5. La Jolla

TOP FIVE PLACES I WANT TO GO
1. Austria
2. Brussels
3. Italy
4. Victoria, BC
5. New York City

TOP FIVE BOOKS OF ALL TIME
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (my absolute favorite book ever...)
2. Diary of a Mad Bride (HILARIOUS)
3. Diary of a Mad Mom-to-Be (ALSO HILARIOUS)
4. Saving Milly- written by Mort Kondrake (sp?) about his first wife's battle with and then death from Parkinson's Disease... it made me love him... and I read it in one sitting
5. Marley and Me (which I did actually love before the movie was a big hit... and book is far better than the movie anyway)

TOP FIVE ITEMS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
1. Cell phone
2. Laptop
3. Gum
4. Camera
5. Coffee

TOP FIVE THINGS I REALLY NEED TO WORK ON
1. Patience
2. Understanding
3. Coming up with better cooking ideas...
4. Decorating
5. Did I already mention patience?

TOP FIVE COMFORT FOODS
1. Anything with peanut butter- or just peanut butter by itself
2. Mom's Biscuits
3. Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk (best. icecream. ever)
4. Mighty Bites by Kashi (a kids' cereal... but I LOVE it none-the-less)
5. Anything with goat cheese

TOP FIVE PHYSICAL MISTAKES/MISHAPS
1. Falling down on the concourse first day at Auburn
2. Falling down my auditorium classroom first day at Auburn
3. Walking around with my zipper down first day at Auburn (is it any wonder I transferred?)
4. Falling out of a 2 story window at the age of 2 when my brother was supposed to be watching me (thank you, Marcus)
5. Busting my head open on the trampoline when my brother double-bounced me (thank you, Marcus...wait... I'm seeing a pattern)

TOP FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY HUSBAND
1. He is unbelievably thoughtful and romantic
2. He has a work ethic like nothing I've ever seen
3. He thinks I'm funny (even though sometimes he pretends not to)
4. He encourages me
5. The man knows his way around a kitchen

TOP FIVE FAVORITE MEMORIES
1. Getting married
2. The drive across the country
3. Absolutely any roadtrip involving my sister
4. Pratically anything from college, sophomore year and up--memories which no doubt involved the likes of Mary Neil, Michelle, JoBeth, Diana, Emily Purnell, Kelly Clark, Kelley Kirker, Paige Orman, Carrie Zaepfel, Lorrie King, Julie Ratchford... and also probably involved a LOT of laughter
5. Trip to Chicago with Emily (which also involved Kristin Rochester!)

All done... yikes-thinking of all of this stuff hurt my brain. Now I just need to get on that learning to cook, getting good taste and learning about plants stuff so I can start a few businesses...

He Is Risen!

2009-04-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

This is the first Easter morning in 27 years that I have awoken without an Easter basket waiting for me downstairs (I'm not ashamed that I was receiving them until I was 26 yrs old... who doesn't love some free good candy and toiletries no matter how old you are??) This is also the first Easter I've woken up all alone. It's okay though because whether or not I got some good candy or was with my family or not, He is still risen of course...

I WAS able to see my family, who is together in Augusta (except for the Veazeys in Mississippi, having just added to their brood)- They Skyped me into their Easter brunch! Granted it was only about 7:30 am here, so I was still in my pj's - not my Easter best like they were. But I would say the highlight of the conversation was with 3 of the nieces... here are a few snapshots from that hilarious few minutes...

I miss them pretty big time...

It Wasn't Going to Mow Itself...

2009-04-07T19:51:00.001-07:00

Aaron and I purchased a lawn mower not long before he left for airdrop... not just any lawn mower--a PUSH lawn mower. We don't have a ton of grass and we figured it will save money- it cost less, we won't have to buy gas for it, AND it's a better work out as they are harder to push. I had never used one before... Aaron had and said they get the job done--or, "make the cut" if you will (baha...). Before he left, we had at least opened the box it came in but had to assemble it. Today, in my boredom and hysteria over the 3rd day in a row of beautiful weather, and after having examined our blossoming and plush lawn over the last few weeks and considering the fact that Husband is gone and some things you just have to do yourself, I decided to roll up my sleeves and tackle my biggest project yet. The yard.

I put on my shorts (yes... SHORTS!! GHOSTLY white legs and all), t-shirt and my duck shoes and I headed out to the garage. The assembly of the lawn mower was not as taxing as I thought it would be and once put together, I tackled the back yard and I was so proud of myself, I hit the front yard, too. It had the highest grass and I saw the greatest results. After the grass was nice and neat, I decided the heeping piles of... "surprises"... that Howard has left all over the yard had to go, too. So I found the new hose that Aaron and I bought and I knocked those suckers out too.
After my job well done (if I do say so myself) Howard and I took a moment to reflect together on the porch. Go us, go us, go us...

Much better looking yard...

Howard, wondering where all of the "things" he had deposited all. over. the yard had disappeared to...

Guarding the homestead...

Buddies...

Haha...

Daffodil 5K

2009-04-07T07:57:00.001-07:00

On Saturday (the first of the absolutely gorgeous days) Brittany, Emily and I ran in the Daffodil 5K downtown. Brittany's husband Brandon was kind enough to drive us around and take care of Howard while we ran. And then he even drove us to breakfast and sat around while we chit-chatted some girl-talk :) Anyway, the race was fun and the weather perfect (though very cold that morning)....

Pre-race...

At the beginning...
Finishing up...
Almost done...

Yippee!!

All done...

Finish line...

Howard waiting patiently...

On the way home, resting his head on my shoulder...

It's a Sunshine Day

2009-04-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

For the 3rd day in a row, we've had sun--gorgeous gorgeous sun. One thing I love about this place is that when it's sunny outside, people REALLY appreciate it and REALLY take advantage of it- and it's usually gross outside, but when it's pretty, it's really really pretty. I wouldn't be surprised if employers let workers out early... or even just gave them the day off. Since Brittany and I are unemployed anyway, our schedule was flexible yesterday and we were able to go check out a couple of parks- and it seemed like the rest of the city did the same. First we went to Wright Park which is right downtown. I've heard that on the second Sunday of every month, there are free concerts there. Our realtor told us that it used to be a really dangerous park, but that Churches in the area really started pouring some money and TLC into it and it's really turned around.

After that, we went over to Point Defiance Park - probably the most "famous" of the parks here in Tacoma (and there are a lot of them...). It's right at the most northern part of the city right on the water. It's pretty huge- there's a 5-mile loop that you can drive (or run or bike) and there's also water/beach access. We decided to drive down there and it was absolutely packed with people. Not that anyone could get in the water since it was still freezing, but the sun was enough for people to at least have on tank tops, flip flops, etc... trying to catch whatever little bit of Vitamin D that they could.

Howard loved it- and got to step into the water for the first time. And then of course proceeded to drink it -- salt water is not good for dogs... or humans either...-- he was a little afraid of the waves coming up on shore though. But he was so cute. Here are pics from our day in the sun!!

Getting some much deserved praise...

Learning fetch... he did great!

Not so sure about this huge water bowl...

The view on a pretty day. Sometimes I can't believe I get to live in a place this gorgeous...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-04-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I received this in an email from my sister yesterday and it made me laugh pretty hard that I had to share:

"hey,i just had to tell you the cutest thing that lucy said today. she was telling me what the word "shy" means. and i asked her if she knows anyone who's shy, and she got a big grin on her face, and looked up at me and said, "uncle aaron's a little bit shy." it was so cute. and i was just getting dressed for church. i asked lucy how i looked, and she said i looked very "astinguished." translation: distinguished. i have no idea where she's heard that word. anyway, it was so cute."

Lucy is 3. And obviously, has an advancing vocabulary...

A picture of Luce in case you've forgotten what she looks like... :)

I'm missing my nieces today... can you tell?

Mary Charles Veazey

2009-04-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here are pics of the newest addition to the Veazey family...

With her mom...

And with her dad...

With her proud and new oldest sister of two...

The newest member of the Big Sister Club

The Veazey gals....

About to head home...

In her first car ride...

Tidbits...

2009-04-02T07:58:00.001-07:00

Several little things to report:

First of all, Aaron has his first air drop flight today- not in a simulator--in the actual plane. The thought of him flying so low at such a high speed makes me nervous, I won't lie, but I'm sure he'll do great. Pray for him if you get a chance :)

I took Howard to the vet the other day- his second appointment in about 2.5 weeks-- and he had gained 10 lbs. TEN. He's just over 30 lbs now... and only 12 weeks old...

Rod and Betty have a new daughter-- Mary Charles Veazey-- My dad texted me a picture of her (how in the world he figured out how to text a picture is beyond me...) but I still haven't been emailed any- I'm SURE they're busy. But when I get some, I will, as always, be happy to share. She was 8 lbs 8 0z and she and her mother are doing great...

Brittany, Emily and I are hastily throwing together a diaper shower for a girl who's about to pop with twins and it is this Sunday. Any great ideas for baby shower games? (Or good menu items?)

And finally, speaking of the name "brittany" (but let's spell it "Britney for this)-- some girls came over yesterday for some coffee and biscuits but more importantly, to purchase tickets to the Britney Spears concert here in Tacoma next week. Yes. I'm going to a Britney Spears concert and I'm not even a little bit ashamed. I'm rather excited.

Wedding Highlights Video!

2009-03-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to figure out how to upload the "highlights" portion of our wedding dvd to the blog and can't for the life of me figure it out... I did however find out from our dvd guy that he had already put the highlights portion on youtube... While he did have to take down the original music that accompanied it because of copyright stuff and add some almost-depressing sounding violin music, here it is, in all its glory. BUT if you mute the youtube volume and just play it with the music I recently added to the blog, it makes it a little better--happier, not quite as depressing :) This video is especially great because it shows Dad knocking my veil off which, other than the actual getting married part, was probably the most memorable event of the night :)

Another One???

2009-03-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to remind everyone to keep the "Charles Veazey, III" Veazeys in their prayers... this handsome little family of four is about to become a family of five. Betty is being induced tomorrow (Tuesday) morning and we should have a new little Veazey baby girl sometime tomorrow (bringing the grand-total to six)!!

I'll post pictures as soon as I get some...

What Is That Bright Thing In The Sky?

2009-03-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd be so excited to see the sun... Over the past 2 weeks (since Aaron's been gone), the weather has been TERRIBLE. We've had one or two peaks of the sun for about 30 minutes at a time since then and it has definitely been wearing on my disposition. But this morning, after the snow melted, I saw this beautiful sun outside so I had to take a picture. And since I've shown you pics of the house in the snow, I figured I should show you some of the house in the sunlight too - even the house looks happier :) It's going to be a good day...

Junior Daffodil Parade

2009-03-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Howard and I got to experience the 48th Annual Junior Daffodil Parade in our neighborhood. We woke up to the parade participants lining up in the field across the street from our house and the sounds of marching bands practicing their tunes. Of course it was raining. Isn't it ALWAYS raining here? Ugh... but Howard and I loaded up- me with a rain jacket, gollashes and camera, him with the leash, and we headed up the street in the downpour. Even with the bad weather, a LOT of people still came out for it- I suppose they're used to it. Howard, of course, was a hit. He waltzed through the crowd like a paid professional... he might as well have been shaking hands and kissing babies. Someone was handing out dog treats for free, so of course I grabbed a handful. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of Howard enjoying the show (Had I let go of the leash, I'm pretty sure he would've jumped in to join them) but here are a few I got from mine and Howard's big date this morning...

Perfect Timing...

2009-03-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

When my mailman Vic knocked on my door this morning, I just figured that, yet again, I'd forgotten to put postage on an envelope.

Nope. It was a package. From Columbia.

I wasn't expecting a package from Columbia and figured perhaps it was just a late wedding present, but when I opened it up, it was so much better. Homemade cards (made with markers and construction paper). Luna and Kashi bars (I am addicted to them). Candy (What's there to say?) Magazines (Or as I like to call them, "The news..."). Coloring books (Perhaps they want me to improve my artistic abilities?) Laura, Mary Neil, Michelle, Meg, Lorrie and Jaimie had put it together to brighten my day and "give me something to do" while Aaron is gone. I thought it was so sweet that I may or may not have cried. I can't even WAIT to see what I get when he's deployed this summer! Ha, just kidding...

I have the nicest friends in the entire world. Miss you guys :)

They Came, They Saw, They... Conquered

2009-03-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

Or something like that...

We had a blast. I picked them up Saturday night and piled them (and all of their bags) into the truck. The four of us...squeezed into the Extended Cab Toyota Tacoma. Was it tight? Yes. Did we have a choice? No. Luckily, it wasn't raining, so all of their bags went into the very back of the truck (of course, we didn't have the same luck when I brought them back to the airport tonight... more details on that a little further down). I will say that Joyce, the first time flyer, packed the best-- only a couple of outfits (appropriate, since she'd only be here for about 2.5 days) and she packed it all into a bag that she didn't even have to check. I was impressed...

Sunday, we ventured out to the base and drove around a little bit. We then took in some lunch at a cute place not far from the house and drove over to Gig Harbor after that so that they could see it. After a run to Tacoma Boys with Mom (a local market) to pick up some seafood, Emily came and over and we cooked dinner and Joyce and I showed Emily how to play Gin Rummy. Because she totally started kicking our tails after just a couple of games, we came to the conclusion we'd been hussled and vowed privately to never play with her again... (We take cards very seriously in the Veazey family...)

Monday involved another lunch outing and another trip to the base--but this time we went to the BX. Once inside, I thought I'd never get them out. Again, Joyce (a former military wife who regularly visits the base down in Jacksonville) was the easy one. However, we lost Aunt Joan in the purse and wallet section and Mom set up camp in make-up and perfume. After grabbing a few souveniers for everyone back home, Mom and I made it to the check out counter and when we couldn't find Aunt Joan or Joyce, mom went to "look for them..." It was then that I heard an announcement for them over the loud speaker in the BX... yeesh... Anyway, we finally made it out of there and back home for a lovely southern meal cooked by Mom (including pot roast, collard greens, pea salad, etc... you get the gist...).

Their last day in town involved a trip into Seattle. But it was raining. This begged the question, what do we do with all of your bags? (I won't say whose bag was the biggest... but her name was Joan...and since there were two Joans on this trip, you'll just have to use your imagination). Well, we somehow managed to get everything in the cab of the truck. But it wasn't comfortable for anyone involved (except really the lady with the biggest bag who somehow wound up in the roomiest seat--the passenger seat) This was the result (it doesn't NEARLY do it justice):

Like sardines, we packed into the car and headed into Seattle to look around, eat some seafood and then I dropped them off at the airport. There were some funny things that happened, but I won't publish those for the world to see on the blog- they'll be reserved for a Veazey-family mass email to go out tomorrow. But we had so much fun, ate some good food and laughed a lot and I was sad to see them go.... it's definitely too quiet around here. But I AM exhausted-- did I mention the fact I haven't slept in days? A certain someone refused to transition to West Coast time and woke up every morning around 3 or 4 am and began banging things around (not even sort of quietly) in the kitchen making coffee.... Guess who it was! (Hint: not me...)

Howard took quite a liking to his Aunt Joyce...

As all women should, they spent most of their time in the kitchen cooking... I hope *all (all 2 of you) of my faithful readers know I'm joking...

Seafood feast at the Crab Pot in Seattle...

All-in-all, a VERY good time with The J's...

On Second Thought...

2009-03-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's only 9:30am here on the West Coast, and I've already received 2 phone calls from what we'll call "concerned" family members asking me if I'm sure I'm "ready" for this visit from "The Golden Girls..." I had been feeling like I was ready... like I'll be able to handle them all on my own. But because of all of the attention it has brought from Veazeys around the country, now I'm beginning to second guess myself. Am I really ready for this? And more importantly, is the Pacific Northwest itself prepared for this invasion of 60-70 yr old southern women who don't fly often, one whom has never flown (all carrying what I'm sure are bags which have been packed way over capacity for their only 3 day visit), their often loud southern accents and their unfamiliarity with a culture unlike what they may find in GA/FL? Brace yourself, Tacoma/Seattle area... this could be a very bumpy and yet thrilling ride... one which I'm sure none of us will ever forget and yet will thoroughly enjoy! :)

Stay tuned for pictures, hilarious stories, and if we're all lucky, some video documentation of this historic visit...

**Disclaimer** All of the above said in jest, of course, as I am obviously thrilled and flattered that the matriarchs of the Veazey family are travelling all the way across the country to spend a few days with me and keep me company in my husband's absense. But you must admit: it will still be hilarious...

Fun Recipe

2009-03-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

I don't fancy myself to be a great cook... I'm getting better, but I still have a hard time thinking up things to cook. Which is why I depend on my friends to give me ideas :) At the Training Day chili lunch thing at the squadron the other day, my friend Emily (who is a GREAT cook) made Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili. It was delicious... and healthy! So, courtesy of Emily (and Cottage Living), here's the recipe--I felt I had to share:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1585321

The recipe says to serve it over rice or chicken or something, but we had it just by itself and it was perfect that way as well...

Enjoy!

Again? Really?

2009-03-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 5am to let Howard out to use the restroom and there was just a trace of snow on the ground. "Hmmm... that's weird... I didn't know it was supposed to snow at all" And I check the weather very faithfully since living here since it changes so frequently. Fast forward to about 8 when I woke up for good and I looked up at the skylight above my bed and it was covered in snow. For some reason, I didn't think much of it. Then I let Howard outside again, and this is what I saw:

Thanks for the heads-up, Weatherman...

On A Brighter Note...

2009-03-14T16:50:00.001-07:00

... Aaron and I ran up the street to Metropolitan Market yesterday to pick up some paninis to grill. We went as soon as he got home from work so he was still in his flight suit (and new leather flight jacket! I like it so much better than the green one... and he got it for free after completing his dollar ride). Let me preface this story with the fact that I had some preconceived notions about the people out here in ole Washington State prior to moving here that I'm not very proud of... in the same way that I'm sure people here have some interesting ideas about us good ole cousin-kissing southerner's ;) (insert THICK sarcasm there...we southerners don't really do that... at least not where I come from) But a good ole traditional patriotic appreciation for our troops and what they do (some on a daily basis) was not a characteristic that I had attributed to Pacific Northwesterners when I was stereotyping them to prepare myself to move here. Coming from Enid, Oklahoma where you can't walk into a grocery store without someone seeing your military i.d. and offering up the discount you didn't even know was available to you, Aaron and I weren't quite expecting hospitality like that around every corner of Tacoma. And while I'm sure not everyone here is like this, just like not everyone in the south is like this either, while standing in the panini line at this "posh" market in the Proctor District, a lady in front of us otherwise minding her own business (and who looked, from mere appearances, like she may lean a little to the left politically) turned around and said to Aaron simply "Thank you for serving..." and smiled politely and turned back around. Out of all of the kind gestures I've seen since I've been here (and there have been many- from compliments on my rainboots just about anywhere I go, to some of the friendliest neighbors just walking down the street in front of our house stopping to say "hello" and "welcome to the neighborhood"...) that was by far the one that made me (and Aaron) smile the biggest. And it made me so proud to be out in public standing there next to him. Definitely one of my biggest ever "Proud to be an American" moments (cue Lee Greenwood)....

Going, Going... He's Gone

2009-03-14T13:54:00.001-07:00

Woke up at 6:15 this morning to take Aaron and another guy from the squadron to the airport. Aaron says he'll be back "hopefully" (emphasis on that word) by April the 18th. Wow. That does seem like a long time... Not sure how exactly to keep myself occupied enough to not get too sad while he's gone... I almost feel like I need to ration out some chores and activities over the next several weeks to even it all out. And the weather here is really not cooperating- it's rainy today and is supposed to stay this way all week. That's just not helpful when you're already trying hard not to be so sad. Thoughts/ideas on how to occupy myself? Feel free to contribute... Or you know, to come visit me... whichever... :)

Never A Dull Moment

2009-03-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

The weather is beautiful outside so I have the front door open while I've been folding laundry, drinking coffee and google chatting. While I was sitting here at the dining room table, Howard took off past me to go outside...only he had one of my flip-flops in his mouth. Have I mentioned he's gotten quite a bit more comfortable in his new home? :)

In other news, Aaron's 15-day trip got pushed back a day to Friday. I was SO excited- it's rare (I feel ) that you ever are surprised with GOOD news. So we had a nice relaxing night and went on a date to a little restaurant up the street. This extra day together was so unexpected, it definitely put quite the spring in my step.

Then came Thursday. I left for the squadron to bring some chili I made to a Training Day lunch while Aaron stayed home to pack for his trip. Then I got a phone call from him that now he wasn't leaving on Friday at all. I was so excited. Until I found out that he'd instead be leaving Saturday for Air Drop school in Oklahoma for 4 weeks. Yeesh. Nothing like a violent shove back into reality. So I'm getting ready for a month or so without him--he, in Oklahoma while I'm in Washington taking care of the house and Howard. Luckily, Mom, Aunt Joan and Aunt Joyce are all coming out on the 21st for a few days. Golden Girls come to town!!

The Couch

2009-03-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I finally received our first big home purchase (other than the house itself): OUR COUCH! We bought it a few weeks ago and it was delivered yesterday. I even convinced the guys who delivered it to move our other (gross) couch out to the garage until the Salvation Army can come pick it up. This "southern" accent (which is not southern AT ALL but people here think so because I say "y'all" alot) really comes in handy out here sometimes :)

And that gracing the back of the couch is our alpaca blanket... Howard loves it ("loves" = chews on it) and it's actually pretty warm. And the chest in front of it is Aaron's great-grandfather's WWII chest... Please pardon the mess around the couch...

What'dya think?

More updated pics of the house to come one of these days for you family and friends far away...

Smile, You're On A Web Cam

2009-03-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

I feel like I've officially joined the 21st century with my recent purchase of a web cam (as if Facebook, MySpace, the blog, etc... hadn't already put me more-or-less "up with the times"). Aaron is leaving tomorrow for a 15-day trip and since we are about to purchase a new laptop with a built-in webcam, we figured that we'd get a webcam for this (rather slow) laptop so that he and I can Skype while he's gone. I'm very excited. So if you're on Skype, email me your Skype name and we can chit-chat "in person!" :)

Big Week

2009-03-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

I had a VERY busy week last week:

The movers and the ADT installers showed up on Wednesday (the 4th) at the exact same time. It was overwhelming enough to have several people saying "Excuse me, Mrs. Scogin? I have a question..." at the exact same time. But then Aaron, who was supposed to have the "day off" (if there's such a thing for him right now) got called into work to mission plan for a flight the next day, thus leaving me, the movers and the ADT man alone together to get everything installed and moved in and set up by the end of the day because our very first house guests (Rach and Adam) were arriving the next day (also my birthday!). Cue a very stressed Becca. Luckily, my friend Brittany called and offered (OFFERED!) to come help me get everything put away since she remembered we had family coming the next day. I was SO glad. So since I last blogged, we now have furniture, I'm an entire year older, and it's snowed twice.... (and is snowing as we speak...er, type... and both boys--Aaron and Howard--are napping).

We had a blast with Rach and Adam and tried to shove a lot of fun into just a few days. I think we managed okay :) I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Anyone who knows me well knows that one of my favorite things to do at night time is to fall asleep on the couch... well, we haven't had a couch for so long that I haven't been able to. So the very first night we had one, guess what I did... (and lured Howard into doing with me)

Yep, fell right to sleep. Howard took to it nicely. Luckily, the angle from which Aaron took this picture didn't show my mouth GAPING open which it was evidently doing it (I may or may not have woken up with drool falling down my face...)

Rach and Adam got here Thursday and we grabbed lunch, took a tour of the base, had a few impromptu games of bowling and then went out for my birthday dinner. Friday, we went into Seattle...

Even in the Pacific Northwest, some things never change. Here, Adam glued to his Blackberry...just this time, there's a Starbuck's Coffee in his hand (not just any Starbuck's--the first one ever... so we justified it...)

Howard had had a biiiig week and was just plain tuckered out... so he passed out in his new favorite spot--right by the door... and in his new favorite position--flat on his back.

Friday night, we cooked the tuna that we'd gotten at the market that day in Seattle and Tyler came over to hang out...

We decided to do a little "On Demand" Karaoke and included a few instruments we had laying around. Adam had really taken to the mandolin and the organ, while I had made a remote control into a microphone...

Adam and Howard did some bonding...

And Rach and Howard did some bonding...

Saturday, we drove out to Gig Harbor so Rach and Adam could see it and we stopped by Tyler's house. He has a rediculously awesome house right on the Bay. This was taken on one of his decks...

And these down on the beach in front of his house... (anytime you see one of these bands in my hair,, it most likely means I either didn't blow dry my hair OR I didn't wash it...just puttin' that out there... )

We've had a prett snowy few days--yesterday and today anyway... we were excited for Howard to see his first snow, so we took him outside when it started to let him play around.

I tried to get him to take a picture with me, but instead he decided to use my body as a shield from the snow...

We went to the field at the school across the street and kept calling him back and forth between us, and because he's so smart, he's learning his name and kept running to us when we'd call. He knew he did well :)

Howard had his first vet appointment today and he did great- he was quite the hit with the ladies in the office and strutted his stuff the entire time he was there. Wednesday, we get our chimney fixed AND they are delivering our NEW COUCH!!! I never knew I could be so very excited about a couch... but I guess it's just a sign of the new maturity I've reached in my old age :)

Dog Day

2009-02-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

Well, he's here. We actually got him yesterday afternoon (a day early) so we've had a full 24 hours with him and so far, we're pleased... and smitten. He's rediculously cute, rediculously fluffy and rediculously cuddly. Who could not like this guy?

Here is sitting beside Aaron like the noble hound he is, while Aaron is touching up our first official home project..

Which was making our pantry cabinet into a chalk board :)

We were finally having a gorgeous day... this is a view of our back yard and garage...

Howard and me

He loves a good belly rub... who doesn't?

Getting comfortable in his new back yard...

Hanging with Aaron

Getting acquainted with the chiminea...

And the new chalkboard cabinet back up in the kitchen... :)

Back Where I Come From

2009-02-24T08:52:00.001-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Aaron is currently on his first trip. It came up pretty abruptly, but at the same time, it's been something for which we've been planning for a few years now. By that I mean we knew it was coming--that one of these days, he'd actually be done training and would finally be put to work. Even when we got here, we knew that once he was mission qualified, he could go anywhere at just about any time. Well, on a Wednesday he was officially mission ready and by Thursday he would be going on what was to be a 4 day trip. By Friday, the 4 day trip turned into a 9 day trip. And now, 10 days later, he is "hopefully" getting home sometime late tomorrow night. Guess I should get used to it... It really hasn't been so bad, but that could very well be because I went home for an entire week of it. It was so fun, but busy. I didn't take quite as many pictures as I had hoped, but I did whip out the camera a time or two. Not the best pictures ever but I didn't feel like editing them so here they are in their most pure form...

Monday and Tuesday I was in Charleston visiting Rach and Adam (but they're coming here to visit next week, so let's be honest: I was really going to visit the girls...) Rach had a doctor appointment Tuesday morning and Lucy had school, so Mary Beck and I had a little "catch up" quality time together while I babysat. We watched "Booty" (Sleeping Beauty) and chit-chatted (which for Mary Beck includes words like "Uh huuuuuh" and "thirsty"... the kind of heart-to-heart that a little girl can only have with her very cool Aunt "Becky"), and as you see below, we got all prettied up...

After Rach got home and then picked up Lucy, we went downtown to grab lunch and go to the park. The girls quite literally SQUEALED with delight as we pulled into the parking lot... they knew exactly where we were...

I looooove when Lucy does this facial expression...so concerned and sincere and hard at work playing (an oxymoron? I think not...)

This was after Mary Beck climbed up the side of the jungle gym and was obviously very proud of herself...

Punkin after having conquered the same jungle gym... she's not as proud of herself as Mary Beck was... her look was more of a "What? I've done this a million times... no big deal..."

Me with the girls...

Wednesday and Thursday I was in Atlanta with Mom, Marcus and Marjorie (Emily had to work). Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures... Marcus did, so maybe I will get a few from him.

Friday I was sick, but Saturday, Dad took me down to the pond to go fishing. The final score was 2-0. I won't say who caught all of the fish and who caught none... all I will say is that the fish my dad is holding in the pic below was not one that HE caught.... the hook was caught in its mouth and he had to get it out with the pliers...

And this is another one that I caught. Trying to explain to Dad how to take my picture would've been way too complicated, so I took a little self portrait of me with my tiny little brim... (the second and final catch of the afternoon...)

The end.

Howard Moon, Dog About Town...

2009-02-22T22:20:00.001-08:00

We don't get him until this Saturday, but our lovely breeder has been updating us with pictures. Here he is, at 7 weeks old...

We can't wait!!

While The Husband's Away..

2009-02-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

...the wife will travel.

Aaron is on his first trip... where, I don't know... when he'll be back, I'm also not sure about... so the day before he left, my mom came up with the idea that I fly home. We don't have our couch. We don't have our bed. We don't have our dog. And I still don't have a job. I thought there was no way I'd find a cheap enough plane ticket but I took a chance anyway and found one! So Aaron left on Valentine's Day morning, I came home and packed, went to the grocery store to rent a couple of movies (girly movies of course), made myself breakfast for dinner to get rid of some eggs we had left, poured myself a glass of wine, and settled in for a Valentine's celebration all alone.

My VERY kind friend Emily picked me up Sunday morning at 4:00am, and after having gotten one hour of sleep the night before (I was a little nervous to stay in the house alone) I was very tired all day. I fell asleep sitting up all over the place that day, the most shocking place being in the plane. Why is this shocking? Because I hate flying. And I mean HATE it. And I had a four and a half hour flight ahead of me. I connected in Atlanta and proceeded onto Charlotte where Mom and Dad picked me up. We grabbed dinner and headed home, I woke up Monday and drove to Charleston, where I spent the night and hung out with Rach, Adam and the girls. Then I drove back through Columbia for dinner with friends and back to the lake house. Mom and I got up Wednesday to drive to Atlanta to hang out with Marcus, Emily and Marjorie and we're still here in Atlanta...

Hopefully there will be pics to come...

Honey, We're Home

2009-02-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

We officially became homeowners this afternoon when we got the keys to the new place! To say we were "excited" or "happy" would be a bit of an understatement... I'm pretty sure we were both giddy on the ride over, smiling from here to here (I'm holding my hands far apart in a demonstration you can't see) the whole way home. Our VERY kind friends helped us bring the stuff over from base--it took 3 cars full and 5 people but we got it all (including the piano) in one trip. Aaron and I are staying on base one last night since we already had to pay for tonight and tomorrow, I get up early, pick up Emily and we head over to the new house to wait for the movers to deliver the first round of our belongings while Aaron goes to work to mission plan for his first flight on Wednesday.

And of course, as promised, here are a few pics of the new place. We'll call these the "before" pics (For some reason they loaded a little funny) And like an idiot, I forgot to take pics of the outside of the house. Until I can get those up, just use your imagination--and include in the picture a white picket fence... because it has one of those :)

When we arrived, the woman who sold us the house had left us a very sweet and informational note--it talked about the flowers we'd see blooming, the grape arbor in the back (that really grows beautiful red seedless grapes!) and our favorite part: she told us about the cool, hole-in-the-wall restaurants in our new neighborhood. She also left us a bottle of wine... it was all a nice surprise.

Pete showing Aaron how excited he is for him!

Me with "the movers"

Our bedroom

The Guest Room

Our kitchen!

Another view of the kitchen

And yet another view of the kitchen... (it's my favorite part of this house)

The Dining room

Some different views of the living room

And a couple of very happy homeowners :)

Getting Closer...

2009-02-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I are supposed to be closing on our house this Friday and will take posession of it on the following Monday. We'd really appreciate your prayers that it all comes together... they're pushing our closing up so that we aren't homeless come Monday when we're kicked out of TLF :) We've actually had fun living across the yard from our friends Pete and Emily and being on base has made our lives as a one-car family a little easier than it would've otherwise been... but we're so ready to be "home" and settled. By the time we actually get moved in, we will have moved 4 times in the month that we've been here. Argh... it gets old. My stuff is being delivered Tuesday (which includes our wedding presents!! FINALLY WE GET TO USE THEM!! Who here is excited?) and our beds/sofa, etc are supposed to be delivered two weeks later. Looks like we'll be on an air matress for a bit, but at least we'll be on said air matress under our very own roof. We may not have the furniture essentials, but at least we'll have access to our cute dishes and our coffee pot... I guess it really is the little things in life, eh?

Hopefully I can get up some pics of the house soon. I tried to jack some from the real estate's website but it wouldn't let me... darn rules... :)

PS I went on a bit of a posting frenzy today... 3 in one sitting...woah

A Little Fishy

2009-02-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about living so close to The Sound is the seafood. Not that I'm particularly talented at cooking much of anything, but seafood is one thing I definitely am clueless about, so thus far, it's been a learning experience. We took great advantage of the wonderful, vast and tasty array of steaks we were privileged to eat while living in Oklahoma, so while we're here, we want to take advantage of being able to purchase oysters, scallops, etc... for rediculously cheap amounts of money (at least moreso than what we were used to back home). On one of what has become our "routine" trips into Seattle every Saturday (at least the 4 Saturdays since we've lived here), Pete, Emily, Aaron, Tyler and I decided to each purchase a type of seafood and cook it together later that night. So we ventured into Pike's Place Market to make our purchases. Pete and Emily bought salmon. Tyler bought a bunch of oysters. Aaron and I bought a bunch of the largest scallops I've ever seen. We all gathered at our "house" on base (plus Emily's cousin and our friend Brittany) and we cooked. Emily roasted the salmon. Aaron and I made bacon wrapped scallops and we steamed the oysters (and left some of them to eat raw). It was a seafood FEAST. And it was a blast. I would be okay with doing this every single weekend... too bad the boys will have to start actually going on trips and doing their jobs soon.

Here's Pete and me, pretending to be involved in the fabulous cooking that was going on...

Mmmm....bacon wrapped scallops...

Aaron hard at work on the scallops...

Tyler working hard to open an oyster...

Me, watching Emily clean my kitchen... haha

How Do You Say "Impulse Buy?"

2009-02-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

In order to get settled into our new home (once we are actually in posession of it), we need a few items. No need would qualify as "desperate"... just a few things we need to improve on. One of those would be a better bed. Another example would be a good over-stuffed chair. Perhaps more art for the walls. And an important one would be a couch. So the other night, Aaron and I decided to peruse Craigslist for a good and inexpensive couch. Instead, we found this.

The family who owned it was moving and needed to get rid of it and they were selling it for only 200 bucks. A piano...for 200 bucks... and more importantly, a piano that actually works. True, it needs to be refinished (which we can do ourselves) and it needs a bit of a tune-up (which shouldn't be too hard to schedule), but we couldn't pass it up. That's pretty typical, right? You go to find a couch and instead come back with a large musical instrument. For now, I'm sure the maid service on base is wondering why in the world we have a piano planted in the middle of our living room... at least for the time being, we can use the bench as coffee table :)

Things I Love About Staying On Base

2009-01-28T13:50:00.001-08:00

There are several advantages to being on base. Granted, we're only here temporarily, but I can see why people would want to be here for good. You're close to everything--the BX, the commissary, the medical clinic, the car place, the golf course, there are constantly people in uniform walking around all over the place, which one can't help but think is sorta sweet and that our country is pretty awesome. But my favorite part is the National Anthem.

Everyday at 4:30 pm on the dot, the loud speakers on base play the National Anthem. You can hear it from everywhere on base -- especially when you're outside. And if you're outside, you stop everything you're doing. If you're walking to your car, you stop. If you're walking on the sidewalk, you stop. If you're driving, you stop. If you're in uniform and you can see the flag, you face it and salute. If you're in uniform and you can't see the flag, you face the music and salute. If you're like me, just a little ole civilian walking among these great men and women who serve our nation, you just stand still (and I may or may not sometimes find myself singing along a little... I can't help myself).

When I was leaving the commissary the other day and a sweet older gentleman who works there had bagged my groceries and was helping me to my car, we walked out just in time for the music. Some people think it's annoying... how frustrating to stop what you were doing... especially if you're in a hurry... or if you're standing out in the cold. When I first got to Vance and learned about this tradition, I loved it. I figured it was just because I was new to it. On this day however, I was in shorts and a fleece, having just come from the gym and it was dark and cold outside. I was trying to rush home and actually have dinner cooked before Aaron got home. And literally the very moment we walked out the door, the music began.

As I was standing there, freezing to death in the 20-something degree weather, wishing that this pre-recorded orchestra version of the National Anthem would hurry on along so that I could give this man his tip money and get into my warm car, out of the corner of my eye I could see him standing proudly--literally, his posture changed at the sound of the song--and he threw up his little arthritic hand in salute of the flag. He didn't move a muscle... and he even had a little smirk on his face. And I found myself sort of convicted... and even got a little teary...

I ended up standing beside my car chatting with him for a while--it turned out he was a WWII vet, and after having served his country for years, he was back in WA state, serving these younger military men and women and their families by packing up their groceries at the commissary and working only for tip money. After his many many years of service to our country, he still gets so proud when he hears that song and he has no problem stopping whatever it is he's doing to pay respect to that song and to the country he fought for and continues to serve. There's something very special about that song and I find myself tearing up when I hear it at the beginning of a football game or when I'd hear it at county Republican meetings when I worked for the State Party. I would always get frustrated when I'd hear people chit-chatting during that song and wonder why in the world they couldn't stop talking JUST long enough to cross their hands over their chests and sing along? And I here I was complaining about having to start dinner a minute later than I had planned because of it...

When you think about it, there really is something so neat that on a military base, when these people hear this song over and over and over and over and over again--literally everyday-- they still stop and pay respect when it plays... that it's still special... I hope I never find myself getting frustrated or annoyed again to have to stop what I'm doing to pay my respects to our nation. All things considered, that is the very least I can do...

And don't worry--I'm pretty sure that's the only "sentimental" post I'll ever make on this blog... but I had to :)

Paradise

2009-01-22T13:49:00.000-08:00

I think in the insanity of all that's been going lately, we all forgot that Monday was MLK Day and that, among the other important meanings of that day, the boys wouldn't have to go into work. So, the usual crowd--Aaron, me, Pete and Emily-- plus our new friend Brittany decided to take a trip to Paradise, which is in Mt. Ranier National Park just about at the base of the mountain. We had no idea what to expect as far as weather except that it was supposed to be a gorgeous day (finally). Gorgeous it was... the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and as we got closer to the park, the snow in the fields we passed and along the side of the road got higher and higher and once we were into the park itself, it was up over the speed limit signs.

Once we got to the top and stood face-to-face with this gorgeous mountain that you can see from just about anywhere in Tacoma and Seattle, we didn't even know what to do with ourselves. There were people walking around with skis, snow pants, snow shoes, tubes, etc... And we were in long-sleeve shirts, jeans and hiking boots. Obviously, because of all of the snow they'd recently gotten, there was no hiking to be had that day. So instead, we popped open the tailgate and ate the lunch we'd packed in the parking lot.... and then left. It was about an hour and a half drive there--only to eat lunch in a parking lot, but what a beautiful parking lot it was. And it was better than sitting around in our room all day...

Standing up in the mountains with an even larger one behind us (Mt. Ranier)

Eating lunch in the parking lot...

Me, Emily and Brittany

Some weird angle of Ranier while driving up the mountains...

Almost back to Tacoma, the view of Ranier on one of those rare crystal clear days...

Sleepless In Seattle...(And by "Seattle" I mean "Tacoma")

2009-01-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

A lot to catch you up on....Pete, Emily, Aaron and I arrived in Tacoma, got checked in on base only to find out they didn't have room for us in their hotel, so they put us up off base at the Hampton Inn (fine by me... I love Hampton Inns... and this also meant free breakfast everyday). We enjoyed their comfy cozy king sized bed, maid service, free breakfasts and vast cable channels, as well as the in-room wireless internet. And for the first time since we've been married, we finally were getting sleep---we're both pretty tall people... there's not a ton of room for the both of us on a double bed, which is what we had at Vance. Finally, at the Hampton Inn, we had room to move. We were actually getting good night's sleep for the first time in months... .

Then they ended up with room for us on base.

And now, we don't sleep again.

So that's where we are now. No king sized bed... no free breakfast... and an okay selection of television to choose from. But the worst is no wireless internet. So we use the BX for that (it's free). And that's where I am right now. Uploading pictures, editing pictures, catching up on the Drudge Report and eating some sesame chicken from Manchu Wok, all while Aaron plays the video game I got him back in our room. Tomorrow we move into TLF (temporary living facility) which means we'll have a living room (complete with a couch.. .I don't even know how long it's been since I've even sat on an actual couch), an entire kitchen WITH pots and pans (meaning we can stop eating out for every single meal) AND a bedroom--like... a bedroom that's separate from the rest of your living space. We haven't had this the entire time we've been married--which was exactly 3 months ago from today, by the way. We're waiting to close on our house which should be at least within the next month (evidently the VA is backed up a little with this stuff since it's such a great time for military folks to buy...) and I believe the BIGGEST news we have is: we've officially put a deposit on a dog. He's a Bernese Mountain Dog, he's a boy, and he'll be ready to come home with us on March 1st. We are THRILLED to be "expecting" this new bundle of joy, whom we've named Howard Moon Scogin (any of you Old Greg fans will immediately know where we pulled that name from). We'll call him Howard.

Aaron is really starting work this week, which means I'm really starting to look for work this week. I've met a lot of really nice gals who have made me feel really welcomed already and we were formally introduced to our new squadron last Thursday. It's really starting to sink in that this is really our home for the next four or so years but while we're pretty overwhelmed (and one of is maybe a little homesick from time-to-time) we're really excited to get settled. And you know, to not be living in a hotel room for the rest of our lives...

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

Farva, Aaron and Tyler and I took a trip into Seattle last weekend- here they are walking down to the market place...

We ate lunch at this little lunch counter in the market that served fish sandwichies--I got the salmon sandwich and it was absolutely delicious. And we shared a cup of the best clam chowder I've ever had...

This thing terrified me- and as I was getting close enough to take this picture, it reared up and I screamed. It was dead... but it was tied to a string that the man behind the counter pulled just as I was getting close... sneaky punk....

Biggest most enormous most delicious cream-filled donut....

Yesterday was Pete's birthday so we decided to head into Seattle again for the day--but first, we went by to check out the puppies and meet our new son.

This is Maya, our surrogate mother. She's so pretty...

And all four of her little boys eating...

A little mother/son bonding...

Father and son, planning their hike up Mt. Ranier...

These two little guys fell asleep just like this... so cute...

Then we headed into town and hung out at the waterfront...

Self-portrait at the Market

We went to a wine and cheese tasting....

Then we were lurred into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory by the delicious fumes shooting out into the street... we got a Mudslide Caramel apple....

Aaron and the apple having a staring contest....

Aaron beat the apple, so he got to eat it...

This is the look of bliss after having eaten the best "apple" I've ever had....

Living on Pacific Coast Time

2009-01-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

Lots of pictures to share... it's probably best to break it down by day:

Monday-

We woke up early and finished packing up the car...

The finished product

We made our way out of Oklahoma and into Texas

Along the way, we must have passed about one million windmills... We thought this was neat because it was an "old fashioned" windmill in the front with the new ones behind it, seriously as far as the eye could see...

On our way through Amarillo, we made it a point to stop by The Big Texan, which if you are a fan of the Food Network's Man Vs. Food, you've heard of...

Though I didn't eat the 72 oz. steak, I did make it a point to sit in the giant rocking chair--how could I not?

We finally made our way onto New Mexico and into Albuquerque...

Stopped at the Visitor's Center for a little break...

Tuesday-

Got up bright and early to hit the road and made it to Arizona...

We could see this mountain range probably up to 150 miles away--we had no idea it was basically smackdab in the middle of Flagstaff...

Flagstaff TOTALLY shocked me- I had no idea what a precious little town it was... and it was covered in tons of snow...

After eating in Flagstaff, we hit the road for another hour or so to make it to Grand Canyon, AZ to spend the night. Of course we got there after the sunset... so we grabbed a bite to eat with Pete and Emily and then hit the sack (separate from Pete and Emily :) )

Speaking of Emily, here she is bringing up the rear of the caravan...

Wednesday-

We got up early enough to spend some time at the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking... literally huge and made me feel dizzy (of course... I practically got motion sick just standing along the railing)

Self portrait at the Canyon...

Then we had a bit of a haul to make it to Vegas, but we pushed hard. We stopped at the Hoover Dam because it's the Hoover Dam. Had to get a little snapshot. Sweet moment happened when we had to stop at the checkpoint to go over the dam--which makes sense. Pete and Emily were behind us and as we came through the checkpoint, because we had the car filled to the rafters, they asked us to pull aside. We were both dreading having to unpack everything to assure them we didn't pose any danger and as Aaron showed them his drivers' license, the policeman noticed his military i.d. He asked to see that and through the course of conversation, discovered that Aaron's a pilot. He then proceeded to thank Aaron profusely (seriously...PROFUSELY) for what he does for our country and sent us on our way. We were SO GLAD we didn't have to unpack it all... thank goodness for that military i.d... ANYway, picture at the dam... (you might call this "a dam picture" and that behind us is "the dam road", etc, etc, etc... ha.......ha.......sigh)

This one is pretty self explanatory...

This was cool- they're building a new bridge there and it is REDICULOUSLY high and huge. There's not enough money in the world to get me to work on something like that... but that's because I'm afraid of heights. I wouldn't even want to drive over that thing...but it was neat to look at from below.

So we had been pretty excited that we'd gotten pictures of every state sign while we were driving past... then we passed the Nevada sign:

Of course now we have a picture of THIS lady... but that's okay... that was just to wet our appetite for the people we would run into in Vegas on New Year's. But that's for another post.... Happy New Year!

Heading Out

2008-12-28T10:29:00.001-08:00

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!!!

2008-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-11-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T08:24:00.001-08:00

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...

2008-10-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

...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!

2008-10-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

... 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

2008-09-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

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)

Augusta, Georgia Is No Place To Be

2008-09-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

I've always wondered why the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band decided to add that line into their song American Dream... I personally like Augusta, Georgia. It is, after all, where I was born and raised, and where I have returned (yet again) until I get hitched. Since I've been home, I've gotten to spend a lot of time with old pals that I grew up with. Tucc and her husband Emmett have been nice enough to let me spend many a night at their place. And while there, what's the number 1 activity that takes up a majority of our time? Rockband. For those of you who think that the target audience for that game is more in the 10-16 year old range, think again. Just come on over and give it a try--we'll show you how it's done. The band we formed (affectionately titled "Bek"--B for Becca, E for Emmett and K for Kathryn--it also happens to be the first half of my name--and there's always that other band named Beck) added a new singer a few nights ago. Though it started out rough, she improved greatly- scoring a 99% once, and even beating those of us who are old hats at Rockband. Kudos to you, Victoria.

I bet that if our band were to actually write a song (and not just pretend to play fake instruments along to old garage band tunes like Celebrity Skin by Hole and Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet), it would be called "There's No Place I'd Rather Be Than Augusta, Georgia... and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Can Eat It".... Or....something like that.

Hurricane Go-Away-Fay

2008-08-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you've been looking so forward to your annual family beach trip, where you had big dreams of planting yourself beside the pool and/or beach with a good book (or multiple People Magazines you needed to catch up on) and never moving... but then... a hurricane comes and lands very south of you, and your beach manages to catch the outer bands of heavy rains and heavy winds for half of your trip?

I'll tell you. You play multiple games of Nertz with your sisters (and a few times your brother decides to join and despite the fact that he's 36 years old and the father of 2 children, he insists on cheating), you go to Boulevard Diner and the SC Aquarium with your nieces, sister, brother-in-law and dad, you obsessively check Facebook (not that that's very far out of the ordinary) and Drudge Report (VP picks time) and you take multiple walks. In the wind and rain. (We were desperate to get out of the house...)

I've taken somewhere around (ballpark guess here) maybe one million pictures with no way to upload any until tomorrow, so until then, use your imagination of how happy and tan my face is. And how much better I am at Nertz now (even though I thought that wasn't possible...)

Nowadays...

2008-08-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

...one will most likely find me staring at this from the dock..

whilest laying out on the boat getting some sun

and playing fetch with this...

(My parents' fetch-obsessed dog Dixie)

I really can't complain. It's pretty much the life, and it seems almost like we've got the entire lake to ourselves -- or maybe that's just the way it is in the middle of the week when everyone is at work. Who knew?

"Turn" (Tucc) is coming over tomorrow to lay around on said dock, go out on said boat, swim in said lake and accompany me in my desperate quest for some sort of "wedding tan" lest I have to resort to getting one from a bottle.

Ya Never Know How Ya Look Til Ya Get Yer Picture Took

2008-08-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have the best fiance in the entire world. It's true. I've said this many times before... the latest example? We (mostly by my begging) decided that we do need to have a digital camera. As a young married couple just starting out, we'll want to have photos of all of the fond memories to look back on one day. SO, in lieu of this revelation, he bid on (and won...for a great price, might I add...) a new Canon Digital Rebel just like my old one (minus the lense, since the thieves were not able to take that with them) and so now, once it arrives in the mail, I'll be able to shove yet another camera in peoples' faces all the time and document any and every second of my life and the lives of those around me.

Who here is excited?

Battlefield Surgery

2008-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Scoreboard:

Flower pot that fell, broke and stabbed Dad in the leg- 1 point
Dad- 1 point (the fact that he was able to perform surgery on himself and repair the wound inflicted by said flower pot evened out the score...)

I didn't take these pictures. I was hiding inside with Marjorie with a sick feeling in my stomach from the sight of the blood. Marcus, however, overcame his queasiness long enough to walk outside and capture the exciting moment on film. Can't wait to see these shots printed out and framed in the living room...these are some pictures for the ages...

Winning Back My Identity

2008-07-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Progress Made:

Received new copy of drivers license? Check.
Received new copy of credit card? Check.
Received new copy of debit card? Check.
Received new copy of savings account debit card? Check.
Received pin number for debit card? Check.
Received new copy of social security card? Check.

Over two weeks later, identity is officially back (though I can't be sure that I'm not now sharing it with someone else...)

The good news is that I'll get to do all of this again when we get married and I change my name. Unless I make him take my last name... now there's an idea...

Makeover...

2008-07-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

As you can see, the blog has undergone a drastic makeover. It's like Extreme Home Makeover...only with a blog. And I'm the host (not Ty Pennington...thank goodness...). AND more than likely, this makeover won't make you all emotional like that show does. Or is that just me?

Anyway, I digress. I stumbled upon this SEATTLE template while I was working hard at the office, and decided that while we're not moving to Seattle and are in fact moving to Tacoma, the two DO share an airport. And the airport is named Setac...(Seattle + Tacoma = Setac), so they're basically the same place. Plus, when everyone comes to visit us, we'll drive over to Seattle since they're close. (Less than an hour apart). We'll visit the Space Needle. We'll go to that place where they toss the fish around (once I live there, I'll be down with all of the local lingo and not have to preface the names of popular locations with "that place").

While this new look was very exciting to me (I'm a simple minded gal... it doesn't take much to make me happy), this template could not accomodate me keeping the countdown clock on the right, SO it had to be moved down to the bottom of the page. I know, I know... who scrolls down to the bottom of a blog? The new stuff is always at the top. BUT, just know that when you're wondering "Man, I wonder how much longer until the most fun weekend of all of our lives?" just scroll all the way to the bottom and it will tell you how much longer (down to the second) is left until the big day.

That being said, I have only 3 days left of work. Which means only 3 days until I move back home to prepare, as Michelle has said, "for matrimonial submission and bliss." I'm heading to Atlanta this weekend to babysit Marjorie - yes, for the entire weekend- and I hope to borrow my mom's camera so I can get some good shots. Then after that, it's less than 2 weeks until the Annual Veazey Beach Trip...that which I like to call Veazothon... I plan to never move myself from the beach or the pool and get as tan as is humanly (and safely) possible. Until I write to you all again, I wanted to draw your attention to a new blog: www.emmettandkathryn.blogspot.com. Tucc and Emmett have officially begun a blog to keep everyone up to date with Emmett's golf tourneys and Kathryn's exciting day-to-day life as the wife of a golfer (and that of a pharmaceutical sales rep...). When I move home, I'm sure it will be updated regularly with tales of our nightly viewings of Law and Order over a pitcher (or 2) of sangria... stay tuned...

Gig Harbor Anyone?

2008-07-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

I found a new website that I've been pouring over this morning... When I get distracted at work, I tend to do a lot of things. One is scour the internet for pictures of Seattle/Tacoma, etc... houses, jobs for when we move, etc... During my research (and in talking to a few folks about the Seattle/Tacoma area), many folks have recommended we look at living in the Gig Harbor area. So today I found www.gigharborundressed.com. It's the blog of a real estate agent out there, but he has up a lot of neat pictures and it shows a lot about the festivals and different areas of town and what nots that go on in the area. Needless to say, I'm now hooked on the idea and will be spending a majority of the rest of my day googling (and google imaging) Gig Harbor. You should too. It looks absolutely beautiful out there.

Also, stay tuned: I'm going with friends to a Snoop Dog concert in Charlotte tonight (Yep. Snoop). If I still had my camera, I'd say that some new funny pictures will be posted later. But alas, I am camera-less. But I'm sure there will, at the very least, be some hilarious stories. More to come on that later...

A Good Samaritan

2008-07-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

This morning, I received a call from one of my credit card companies... she said her name, where she was from, and then asked if I had "lost" my wallet recently. I told her it hadn't been lost as much as it had been stolen--and that the wallet was still in my posession but everything in it had been taken from me by some lower-than-slime coward in the night. (Oh, do I still seem a little angry about it?). Anyway, Karin said she had a man on the other line who called them because he said he had found one of my credit cards. At first, I thought it sounded a LITTLE fishy (as did she... she didn't want to give the man my number, as she shouldn't). She tried to connect our calls to each other but couldn't, so she took down his name and phone number and gave it to me so that I could call him.

When I did, a sweet sounding older man answered the phone. His name is Sheldon. After we get through some formalities (and I'm treating him as he may or may not be the suspect who now is just trying to get some of my information), he says "So are you in Hilton Head too?" (Going through my mind at this point is: "Hilton Head? Hilton Head. Those PUNKS broke into my car and then took a vacay down to Hilton Head?"). I explained to him that I am not... he tells me that he owns a business in a strip mall in Hilton Head and that he had found several of my belongings in the landscaping beside the parking lot, including 2 credit cards and a savings account debit card. I gave him my work address and my work phone number (JUST in case this "Sheldon" was trying to pull a fast one). He ended up calling me back a few minutes later because he said he had gone to take another gander around and was able to locate my check card as well, asked if I wanted him to cut them up before he put them in the mail AND told me he would UPS them to me. What a nice guy...

Thanks to Sheldon, I now have a SMALL bit of my faith restored in the human race. Having a complete stranger find my credit card and going above and beyond to call the company to alert them (and me) that he found it was such a sweet thing to do and made me realize that not ALL people are yellow-bellied worthless creeps who break into cars and take other people's things as if they are their own. I am very grateful to Sheldon for reminding me that there ARE in fact nice people out there... that people can (and do) still watch out for their "fellow man."

Now if only I could convince him to recruit some folks to search the entire island of Hilton Head for my camera and my social security card, I'd be one happy camper...

I Mean, WHO Does That?

2008-07-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning (late of course) and went flying out of the house with Emily to Church. We decided we'd drive and as I opened up my car door, I realized that I was not the last person to be in the car. My purse (which I had stupidly and accidently) left in my car was no where to be found...however, many of the items once contained in my purse were in a pile in my seat and in a pile in the passenger seat. I also saw that my console had been rummaged through (luckily, I hadn't opened that thing in years... the only things the prowlers found in there were some old school Reba tapes and an old leather change purse that didn't have anything in it. Luckily they left me my wallet... which they had totally emptied of EVERYTHING. My drivers' license, my credit cards, my debit card, my savings account debit card, my social security card (yes, I had it in my wallet since I am homeless and didn't have a good place to keep it lately). Most terrible in all of this: They took my camera. My pride and joy. That camera has become famous... mostly because it is constantly in peoples' faces. Aaron had lent me his telephoto lense (which is probably worth more than the camera...) and that too was taken. My only comfort is that the battery was dead and the charger was in the house... take that, car thieves.

The poor cop who first responded didn't know what to do with me. To say I was "crying" is putting it pretty lightly. I'd say the word "inconsolable" is more like it. I immediately began calling credit card companies, banks, Equifax (to put a fraud alert on my social security card) and my car insurance company to make a claim and just to see if they would possibly cover that camera (I'll find out tomorrow when I talk to the claims adjuster...). It really freaks me out that someone was IN our driveway--that they were THAT close to the house. And the crime lab guy came by and dusted for finger prints and told us that there had been a rash of break-ins the night before in our neighborhood- in fact, a car had even been stolen the night before. That made me feel SORT of better. You know, misery loves company. I'm pretty sure I'll never see that cute purse again... nor the camera for that matter. And while that still just about brings me to tears, I'm trying to remind myself, it's just "things." They were just things. I can (one day) hopefully replace them. But like the cops said, we'll probably never find the people that did it... ugh...so frustrating.

So, my morning in a nutshell:

I awoke to something that looked like this:

Saw something later that looked a little like this:

BUT, sadly, don't think any of it will result in anything that even closely resembles this:

Progress of a Slacker Bride-to-Be

2008-07-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

What is "proper" wedding planning anyway? Aaron and I have been engaged for the past 7 months and only in the past couple of weeks have I realized that the wedding is only 3 months away. That's really not far. If I think about it in terms of what happened 3 months ago, that was just April. I was travelling to Congressional District Conventions every weekend then and going to Lucy's birthday party and Mary Beck's baptism... really, that doesn't seem like long ago. It flew by. Which leads me to believe the next 3 months will fly by as well. And I haven't really been... well, as "on top" of things as I perhaps should've. Good thing my mom really has. But, as this dawned on me yesterday, I went on a rampage. Mom, Aaron and I had a VERY productive wedding planning day:

Hotel reserved for wedding night? Check.

His and Her wedding bands? Check.

Communicated with travel agent regarding honeymoon location? Check.

Decided on engagement announcement photograph? Check.

Filled out engagement announcement form for newspaper? Check.

Proofs for wedding invitations? Check.

Phew... I feel better. Emily Post would be proud. Now, only about a gazillion things left to do....

Happy Birthday, America...and Dad and Uncle Ron

2008-07-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

I'm writing today from a very quiet house that, just hours ago, was bustling with activity. We had in attendance the matriarch and patriarch of the Veazey clan (Mimi and Doc), 2 aunts and 2 uncles (Joyce and Tommy, Aunt Joan and Uncle Ron), 2 cousins (Glen and Philip), 4 Veazey "kids" (Rod, Marcus, Rach and Becca), their spouses (Betty, Emily and Adam... there in spirit was husband-to-be, Aaron), 5 "baby girls" (Anna Gresham, Fran, Lucy, Mary Beck and Marjorie) ranging in age from 3.5 years old to about 8 months old and 4 dogs (Dixie, Gus, Duke and Greta). Needless to say, there was never a dull moment. There were a lot of little pink high heels, play jewelry and even a tutu laying around. Here is our 4th of July weekend in a nutshell... (a larger, pretty detailed nutshell):

Thursday: Doc and Uncle Doc's (dad's twin brother) birthday celebration. Highlights include a fabulous cookout, a lot of time out on the deck, some great bluegrass music playing on the loud speakers and a long night of Nertz with Becca, Rachel, Betty and Emily and a couple of glasses of wine, as the tradition goes. Lowlights include: losing Nertz to Rachel. I'm gettin' rusty.

Friday: Out on the boat, Lucy and Anna Gresham got to go tubing with their parents. Low point being the interube cover breaking while Rach and Anna Gresham were on it, Anna G almost being sucked down into the hole and Rach almost losing her bathing suit bottoms. High points being all of the kids ("kids" meaning those of us ages 26-35 and spouses) swimming "out on the point," some lounging in intertubes and some wearing their life jackets like diapers, reminiscing about back in the good ole days when we'd swim in that very spot as youngsters, mom watching us from the kitchen window, me sitting on the shore making "mud pies" and the boys and Rach begging dad to be able to take off their life jackets--the condition being that if they were able to swim across to the other side of the shore, they were then allowed to swim without their life jackets on. I'm not sure I ever made it to that point, but the shore and mud pies were fine with me; That night, going out on the boat with Doc as our fearless Captain, watching the fireworks alongside many other boats, and then our boat leading the other boats (and probably inspiring them as well) with our renditions of God Bless America, America the Beautiful and The Star Spangled Banner; Finishing off the night with..... another Nertz competition.

Saturday: Rach and Adam headed back to Charleston, so that night, those of us remaining made the 45 minute drive down to Soap Creek to eat; Teaching our parents at dinner about "that's what she said" jokes, and Doc then using that line the rest of the night... for everything.

And did I mention that Mimi and Doc slept in a pop-up camper in the driveway? Classic.

Marcus, Marjorie, Mary Beck and Adam

Marcus, Rod and Dad

Mimi and Doc

Marcus and Me, out on the boat watching fireworks

Me holding Lucy, Betty holding Fran and Anna G, Rach holding Mary Beck and Emily holding Marjorie.

Anna Gresham, me and Lucy

Check out that profile... She looks like her Doc :)

Tommy and Marjorie

Fran and Rod

When In Rome...

2008-07-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days that just didn't quite turn out the way you had planned? When I woke up yesterday morning, I was still exhausted. I hadn't really slept well and I was still pretty worn out from the busy weekend. I thought to myself "Just get up. Get through the day... you can come home and just relax..." I had visions of CWT class after work, cooking myself a little dinner and relaxing with an episode of Law and Order. Sounds good, right? Right.

OR, you can somehow find yourself spending your night at a Dave Matthews concert at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Charlotte because your friend Michelle won free tickets and somehow convinced you, Matt and Mary Neil to take them and join her. And then you end up not getting in bed until 1 am. Worth it. Right?

Well, Dave was okay. The concert was okay. Coulda been the fact that we were about 6 miles away from him at the top of a hill. Coulda been the fact that for the most part, the only songs that most of us knew were the ones they played on 104.7 about 19 times a day back in 1999. Coulda been either of those... But the entertainment surrounding us couldn't have been better. Drunken, dancing hippies, without a care in the world. We kept our eyes on a few in particular that provided the most laughs throughout the night, staring in awe and amazement at the energy of these people and the total lack of embarressment on their part.

There were times we just couldn't fight it... We couldn't stop our toes from tapping. We couldn't stop our hips from swaying just a little bit from side to side...We couldn't even keep our heads from moving back and forth. And eventually, we decided that if we couldn't beat them, we must join them (if it was possible to move like that as sober as we all were)... and so we did. And I have the pictures to prove it. As always.

On the top is Mary Neil and Michelle practicing what they had learned from their hippy friends dancing down in front of us. Below, we are immitating the others' typical dance moves: I'm doing the Mary Neil, Michelle is doing the Becca and Mary Neil is doing the Michelle.

Michelle went to the bathroom. And came back with this. I'd call that an impulse buy. And then Mary, dancing her little heart out...

Me and Meesh, emulating the moves of our FAVORITE resident dancer, flower dress girl.

Me and Matt, really meaning it...

On top, Mary and Michelle feelin' it. And below that, more friend dancing immitations. Mary Neil is doing the Bill (famous kick), Matt is doing the Abe (the runner) and I'm doing the JoBeth (presenting yourself).

OH, and Dave Matthews was there, too.

Lorrie and Kathleen's Travel Blog

2008-07-01T07:27:00.001-07:00

Lorrie and her sister Kathleen depart today for Europe for 3 weeks and while they're gone, they've set up a travel blog. I've posted a link to it on the right, but here it is again for those of you who want to keep up with Lon and Kathleen's travels while they're gone... I'm sure there will be hilarious stories with those two on a 3 week backpacking excursion in a foreign land.

http://travelpod.com/travel-blog/katking222/1/tpod.html

Lucky #13...

2008-07-01T06:01:00.001-07:00

This weekend I was a bridesmaid for the 13th time (and 4th time just this year...). The next time I walk down the aisle however, it will be at my own wedding :) But what a way to end my run--as a bridesmaid in Katherine's wedding (my friend since literally birth). We had a great time. The weekend was literally jampacked with activity and everything was beautiful--especially the bride!! And a nice surprise was that Aaron was able to come to town and go with me--we found out Monday he could get leave and bought his plane ticket that day (thank goodness for that voucher I had). It was so great to be with all of our pals from high school. We always have such a blast together and it seems like just about nothing has changed (except a few have husbands now...). Here are some highlights from the weekend:

Lorrie was nice enough to go pick up Aaron from the airport in Charlotte since I had to work, so as soon as he got to town, Lorrie, Aaron and I went to Earth Fare to get some stuff to cook out. Here are Aaron, Emily and Lorrie with a few of the items on the menu:

On the way home Friday, Aaron and I saw something a little bizarre: Bo and Luke Duke cruising down I-20. So of course we took pictures...

Not far behind was a Hazard County Sheriff:

We honked at them, and when they honked back, we both squeeled like little school girls...

Then onto the rehearsal, with Victoria, Kathryn and Jo:

The rehearsal dinner at the Pinnacle Club with my handsome fiance... (check out the cute bowtie)

Then with my pal Mary Neil:

Here's Katherine, looking so pretty and excited before the wedding:

Me and Kat at the reception (which was HUGE by the way... great food, too)

Rach and Adam were able to make it to the reception after a previous engagement.

And last but not least, Rach and I wanted to get in a pic with the Coleman girls, whom we've grown up with. From left to right:

Mimi's husband Allen, Mimi, Mary Charles, Me, Aaron, Sarah, Rach and Adam