Yadi's 2nd Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Yadi's 2nd birthday!!!

And by celebrated, I mean tortured her with a birthday hat to get some photos.  Thankfully she's really well-trained and will do anything for a treat.  Put the hat on her, tell her to "leave it" and "stay" and she's locked in on the treat, without moving.  (She might be crazy but she's very intelligent and well-trained.)

Of course she got a birthday present.  Just one.  (I mean, she might be my "child" but I'm not one to completely spoil my dogs).  She loves balls, especially catching them when we throw them, so we picked up a frisbee thinking she might like this change in "fetch".  She had a Kong one but she easily destroyed that the day we got it (ironically last year on her birthday).  Not to mention, that one doesn't float and we want one we can take to the river and beaches.  So we took her out in the yard and played with her.  Except, she wouldn't give it back...she just kept running around with it, making Nick chase her.  I guess that means she really liked it.

And as a bonus, Vino loved it!!!  She's not really a fan of balls, unless it's simply a ploy to get Yadi to chase her, but she loved running around, tossing the frisbee in the air and catching it.  Not really it's true purpose but who cares as long as she likes it.  In addition, Vino got a toy.  She's not usually into the same things as Yadi so she never benefits from her gifts (whereas Yadi loves ALL toys) so we bought Vino her favorite toy, a stuff animal.

After some frisbee fun, per Nick's request, we let Yadi go to town on some balloons.  I blew up 28 balloons on Nick's birthday, and Yadi attacked them.  She had so much fun that Nick decided this would be Yadi's birthday present as well.  So being a good wife, even though I DESPISE blowing up balloons, I blew them ALL up while Nick worked so that when he got home, we were ready.
Of course Yadi loved every second of this fun.  And of course the noise scared Vino so she hid in our bedroom.  (Do not worry, she did not consume ANY bits of the balloon.  She simply bit to pop and that was it.  Surprisingly so since she's consumes anything else she can.)

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Her birthday then ended with pup cakes.  I mean, what's a birthday without cake?!  What's nice is this recipe makes a dozen, so after they each get one, I freeze the other 9, and leave one out for treats throughout the next week. When we train, I just break off tiny pieces and use it.  They tend to listen better when it's a new and more delicious treat ;)  So now I have 9 more pupcakes waiting in the freezer!  Should last about 2 months or so.

And that was her birthday.  I'd like to say that now that she's hit two years old, she's calmed down.  Usually this is true of most dogs.  But not Weims.  They (well all pointers such as our Vizsla) are known as the most energetic breed.  Some people say they call down around 4-5 years of age but others said their Weims NEVER lost their energy.  I don't know that I can deal with her craziness for 10 more years!  Nick said to her, "Yadi, I didn't think you'd make it to 2 years old."  (Because of her anxiety but also because she's so clumsy.  I said, "Yadi, I didn't think I'd allow you to make it to 2 years old."  Joking, obviously, but boy does this girl drive me up a wall.  I'm sure if I didn't color my hair you'd see the gray. (She's already caused Vino to gray!!)

Pooped out after balloon popping and frisbee time.

I posted this on Facebook and it's most definitely an accurate description of this completely insane  yet completely adorable pup.

Happy 2nd Birthday to the most crazy, sassy, vocal, back-talking, too intelligent for her own good, button-pushing, nosey, high energy, crate destroying, ball obsessed, anxious, Chewbacca sounding, gray hair causing, bruise inducing, busted lip giving, ADHD, toy destroying, food obsessed, crazy eyed, bug catching, curious, persistent, mom-obsessed, hilarious, Houdini, adorable, Wildcard, beautiful, can't help but love her and laugh at her, dog on the planet, YADI!
She might have too much personality for a dog, (let's be real, too much for a human even), but I wouldn't trade her crazy, high maintenance ass for anything!!! She definitely keeps life interesting and always has us laughing. Love you, Yadi Girl!!

[To view more photos and a video of her popping balloons, you can check out my SmugMug page HERE ]

Relay for Life 2013 : Pensacola Beach

Last night I attended my second Relay for Life down here in Florida.  And I can honestly say it was my favorite location!!!!  This Relay was literally right there on the beach!!!!  There is a giant pavilion and that's where it was held.  It was so awesome to hear the waves crashing, smell of salty air, and have the view of the beautiful beach while walking laps or sitting at the campsites.

My husband is awesome at paying attention to detail (said with complete sarcasm).  Hence my sash that you can't even read!!!  

Elizabeth!  A great friend who understands the importance of organizations that help out research for cures and advancement in medicines.  The Betes and Sarcomies pair!! (Diabetes and Leiomyosarcoma that is)

With my every patient and loving supporter and encourager.  I could not have asked for a better husband.

The event started out as it always does, with the Survivor Lap.  But this was a little different than all the other Relays I've been to. Normally, the Survivors and their Caregivers walk together.  During this Relay, just the Survivors walked in the Survivor Lap.  As we came back around, our Caregivers joined us for the Caregiver Lap.  Once that lap was completed, all other participants were welcome to join us.  It was also pretty awesome because the McGuires bag pipe band led our walk!!!

Our campsite view (water is to the left)

Made a new friend who was diagnosed around the same time as me and is also largely involved in ACS and RFL!  These are awesome friendships and great connections to have!!!!!

Caregiver Lap!!

Nick and I joined the HT-28 Hellions team (another helicopter squadron at NAS Whiting Field that our friends are in.)  Of course we each bought of their kick ass shirts.  Why not?  They are awesome, helo-related, and the money goes to a great cause!

Unfortunately, my "something I ate isn't agreeing with me" feeling turned into a full on "I'm sick".    I fought the feeling for far too long and eventually had to sit down because I was too dizzy to stand.  A little while later, I had to excuse myself to the restroom and threw up.  Closing time.  The flu has been going around our elementary schools and I know I am far from immune.  I'm not shocked I got sick but I was really disappointed because this also meant I wouldn't be driving to Mobile to partake in Noelle's bachelorette party :(  I was an emotional mess over it all.  I loathe being sick.  Quite honestly, I should be used to it.  Ever since I got cancer, my immune system sucks.  It's inevitable with the drugs I had.  I now eat very healthy, I exercise, drink only water (98% of the time anyway), and I get a good night's sleep each night.  But doesn't matter.  I can do everything right and I'll still get whatever is going around.  Just the life of cancer survivor I guess.

Anyway, Nick took me home.  I was bummed that we missed the Luminaria Ceremony, especially because my mother and a few others had purchased some for me.  But I just couldn't take it anymore.  I needed my bed.  Nick assured me that we'd attend the Milton Relay for Life and as he always does, he'd get a luminaria for me.  While I appreciated, I was still being a sick, whiny baby.  Good thing I have a patient and loving "nurse" who got me all tucked into bed and took care of me the rest of the weekend.

[To view more pictures, visit my SmugMug site HERE.]

Nick's First Helo "Solo"

Today Nick completed his first solo in the helo.  Although, this "solo" varies from his last solo.  If you remember that in Primary training, during Nick's solo, he flew the T-6 without an instructor.  Just his lonesome in the plane.
But in the helo, there must be two people at the controls at all time.  So this "solo" is actually Nick and another student (Dallas, his partner throughout the past few weeks....pretty much his mistress.  The one he spends all day and night with), without an instructor.  Thus the helo solos have been nicknamed brolos....flying with a "brother".  {Such clever aviators, huh???}
Essentially, one student flys from NAS Whiting Field to an outlying field and switch positions (which is more complicated than just switching seats because someone must be at both controls AT ALL TIMES) and then the other student flies back to NAS Whiting Field.

The coolest part of it all was Nick texting me giving me notice that he'd be flying over our house!!!  The main street that they fly along, runs alongside our neighborhood is part of their "course rules", which means this is the route they take back to base when flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules).  So of course I headed outside and waited for them to fly over the edge of the neighborhood.  I always see helos flying over and of course, hearing aircraft overhead is just a typical noise in my life.  But today I was thankful that they're always flying over because I got to see my husband flying over my very own house.  It was pretty awesome!  Sadly, all I had on hand was my crappy iPhone camera (which isn't crappy for normal photos, but for photos that you'd like to zoom, it sucks.)  No judging this photo, it's iPhone 4S quality =/  Maybe one day I'll get better ones of him flying over.

Of course after landing, per my request (and my Grandmother's), I got some photos of the guys and their helo =)

Just another milestone in Nick's career and I couldn't be more proud of him.  I'm so happy I'm able to share in these exciting milestones and I'm even more happy that my husband has a career that he absolutely loves...and might even be safe to say he's obsessed with.  Not many people can say that!!!

Now that he's soloed, I get asked quite frequently, "so does this mean he's almost done?"  No, it doesn't.  In the grand scheme of things, he doesn't have that much more to go (compared to how long Primary took) but, as of now, his winging date is August 23rd.  By the time he wings, we will have orders to our new duty station and be moving shortly after.  This is just a tentative date seeing as it's all subject to change due to weather and other factors.  But that's the date we have now so that's the end goal!!! Of course, I'll try to update on Nick's training more often than I did in Primary....try being that key word.  Sometimes, it's just pointless because my update is "Nick flew today.  He still loves it.  He's on track to wing in August."  Not too exciting lol

If you liked to check out a few more photos from his solo, click HERE.


EDIT:  I received this in the mail.  I'm such a proud wife and happy they think about us for these milestones.