First Family Photo!

If you know me, are friends with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or follow this blog, then you'll know I'm obsessed with photos.  I love to document everything.  I'm also pretty obsessed with my husband and dogs, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I take a crap ton (official measurement) of photos of them.

So I'm sure when I tell you that we haven't had a family photo taken, you would call me a liar face.
But it's true.  Since we got our little Vino in September 2011, we have not had a photo taken of the four of us.  Sure, we've a few random (and awful) photos snapped on Christmas morning, but I'm talking a real, posed, looking decent "Let's take a family photo" photo.

So when my sister came to visit, I decided this would be a good opportunity.  After a day out and about, right before they hit the road to head back to Alabama (the car was packed and her pups and fiance were already in the car waiting), I asked her if she'd snap a few quick photos.  And I mean quick.  This was all done in about 2 minutes times.  I'd say it was pretty successful for it being so quick (and let me add, I set the camera up on manual mode.  Sure, they aren't perfect but I messed with all my gadgets, didn't cheat with a flash, and produced some pretty decent photos!!!)  So thanks, Little Leah for taking these!

We also realized we didn't ever get a photo of us taken in front of our house when we closed back in October.  Here we are, five months after being first time homeowners, taking a of my adorable little family in front of our first ever gorgeous home!

And because I love bloopers, here are two.  Some ask how we get such great photos of the dogs.  Lots of calling their names, "watch me",  and "stay".  We usually end up with more outtakes than good photos, but this time, we only ended up with two duds and about 10 decent photos!

Weekend Recap: Sister Time & Cardinals

I'm so bad about these weekend recaps.  But last weekend just can't not get a post.  It was one of the best I've had in a long while.  Why you ask?  Simple.
Family.

My sister and (almost/practically/pretty much) my brother-in-law came in town.  They live in Enterprise, Alabama where Kyle has been going through flight training with the Army at Ft. Rucker to fly the apache.  (yes, my sister and I are both with helicopter pilots.  Didn't you hear it was the cool thing to do? No?  Well it is.)
Anyway, they live in Alabama.  When we lived in Pensacola, it was only a two hour drive to each other.  It was great.  We saw each other often and life was great!  It made this military life and the homesickness much more manageable with my sister so close.
And it wasn't just my sister and I who benefited from this.  Nick and Kyle have quite the bromance going on.  They love when we get together because Leah and I go shopping, or craft or do our girly thing while they geek out in Call of Duty, staying up consuming Mountain Dew and Doritos until 5am.
Even the dogs benefited from the proximity.  Leah and Kyle have their own two fur babies, Zoey and Rogue.  These two happen to be Yadi and Vino's BFFFEAE (that's "best friends for f***ing ever and ever).  Yadi and Vino don't mind other dogs, but they don't buddy up, wrestle, etc with other dogs.  They're much like they're father; it takes a lot of quality time to warm up to people...or dogs in this case.  But with Rogue and Zoey?  They wrestle and play together every second they're awake.  It has been far too long since we've all been together.  I'm sure it was July.  Which is FAR too long (we humans have seen each other, but it was July that the 8 of us were together.)

But this weekend, we were all reunited.  Kyle is graduating and getting his wings in early April and then they'll be moving to Ft. Riley, Kansas (which makes me a very sad panda).  They haven't seen our house yet, or visited Jacksonville, so they decided to come visit us...one last time.

So what did we do?  Only the thing Nick and I were most excited about when we found out we were moving here....CARDINAL BASEBALL!!!
The St. Louis Cardinals spring training is in Jupiter, Florida.  And this weekend they were playing in Orlando (well, Kissimmee) in the Astros spring training stadium. So we headed down the afternoon.  And it.was.awesome!!!!!  It was packed with Cardinal fans.  I'd say 90% Cardinal fans, 10% Astro fans.

Nachos and beer just taste better at a ballpark.  

 Leah and Kyle practiced wedding poses between innings.

 Wacha Wacha Wacha!!!  Amazing pitcher!!!

I'm pretty proud of these shots below.  Not because the quality, but because that first picture is the pitch coming in and the second picture is the ball going out, after the hit....that went well over the wall for a homerun.

It was so awesome getting to see Wacha pitch.  WACHA WACHA WACHA!

That is Adron Chambers batting for the Astros.  I really loved him last year when he played for us.  We had NO idea he was no longer with us until they announced him at this game!


How freaking cool is this cane?!  Nick and I have decided if we ever need a cane when we become elder, THIS will be the one we get!!!

 And that's a winner!!!!  

Matt Adams, who hit a bomb out of the park while we were there.  He stopped by us after the game to give autographs.  I was so freaking close to him that I could have rubbed that stubble!

The rest of the weekend was normal.  You know, dying our hair...

The pups playing...

Taking Leah and Kyle on a quick tour around base...

Going out to eat (Poe's Tavern), being goofy, and video games...

And game night with friends...(we taught them our favorite, Hand and Foot)

Leah and I also did some bridesmaid dress shopping.  I don't have pictures of that because she took them all.  But we found one we love as do the other bridesmaids (we were texting pics).  I really, really wanted Leah to try on wedding gowns.  It was killing me to be in a bridal store and not have her in them. But she hasn't tried any dresses on yet.  She's waiting for her first experience to be with Mom and Grandma, rightfully so.  Sadly, this means I won't be there and it really upsets me.  These are things that make this lifestyle hard; missing out on important moments.  But at least I got this experience with her.  Gotta keep finding those positives!


And then they were gone.  Way too soon.  Hopefully we'll see them at Kyle's graduation.  Fingers crossed.  The weekend was short but sweet.  Oh so sweet.  Gosh dang, I just love family time!  Now excuse me while I go cry tears of missing my Little Leah and the rest of my family.

Please Read Before You 'Share' a News Story

I'm sure you've been this being shared on Facebook.  Or maybe you haven't, and I just feel it's being shared by everyone because I'm a part of the military community and more than half of my Facebook friends are as well.
For that reason, I'm going to share it on my blog.

I'm sure you all remember a few months ago hearing about the helicopter crash in the Red Sea.  I heard the news, and my heart broke for the loved ones of the crew.  We learned that two of the pilots were killed while the remaining crew survived.  One of the pilots left behind a wife, Theresa and children.  The blog that has been shared on Facebook is an important one, discussing the events the day of the crash, and how Theresa found out.  I encourage you all to read it HERE.

Although I cried for Theresa a few months ago when the news of the crash broke, I cried again reading this article.  As if the entire situation wasn't awful enough, to learn of it all via Facebook just makes it so much worse.

I will fully admit to being guilty of what this article is urging us not to do.  I, too, will read about a crash and share the article.  I mean no harm in doing this.  In fact, I do it for the very reason this article states, "In the naval aviation community, we often share posts about plane crashes or other mishaps because we want everyone wrapping their arms around the people involved."  I share the article so that others can begin praying that the pilot is found, alive and well.  Or that everyone can offer up thoughts and prayers for the loved ones and squadron left behind.  
Never had the thought crossed my mind that this news report had been released before the family was notified.  But now..now I will think twice.  I will "say a silent prayer."  

My heart breaks for Theresa, her boys, and their loved ones.  My very own husband is a helicopter pilot so it's easy for me to imagine myself in this role; reading a report online and suddenly wondering if this could be my husband's helo, while pacing my house.  It sickens me.  I worry about Nick every single day he's out there flying.  But when I think about how hard this would be if it were us, it's just me.  We don't have children.  I don't have anyone that I would need to remain strong for.  To continue to care for.  To continue to wake up, make breakfast, play with, smile, and somehow explain that Daddy isn't coming home.  Knowing that Daddy will only be stories to our newborn.  I just hate reading these stories.  And this one really got to me, knowing just how Theresa found out.

I will never share a story until I am 100% certain the family has been notified.  And I urge you to do the same thing.  Error on the side of caution and offer up a silent prayer.

Nick's Birthday Gift Reveal

As promised, I showed up to class today to show you all what I got Nick.

This is what he saw when he walked out of the bedroom this morning:

TA DA!

I'm sure you're sitting there like, "what.the.crap? That's your awesome gift? I came here thinking you had some fabulous gift idea that I could steal". Well you're wrong. (But feel free to steal this one.  I guarantee it is awesome).

I promise, this gift isn't lame to Nick. You see, in 2012 and 2013, while Nick was going through Primary flight training, he was a part of the VT-3 Red Knight squadron. In their squadron bar, they had a giant popcorn machine. And they always made jalapeño popcorn. Always. Nick loved it (the flavored popcorn, not jalapeños themselves. He threw those out).  Ever since he left VT-3, he hasn't stopped talking about how he misses the popcorn. Always talking about he wants real jalapeño popcorn. Everything we tried just isn't the same. You see, he wants fresh popped, with the jalapeños in there with it. It really is heavenly. No bagged or flavored from a shaker are even remotely the same.

(Doesn't he just look thrilled that I'm making him pose for photos?)

So, I decided to get him a giant fancy popcorn machine so he can finally make it!! Now I don't have to hear him whine about it. We consume a lot of popcorn. A lot. So this bad ma'am-a-jama (totally made up my own spelling there) will get a lot of use. (Late last week, he took our car to Honda for an oil change. They always have fresh popcorn there and I got a text from Nick saying "it's not the same :(" When I asked what the hell he was talking about, he responded "the popcorn :( ". I giggled to myself knowing that in less than a week, he could have that glorious popcorn anytime he wanted.  (And let me tell you, it's been very hard keeping a secret!)

Of course to go with it I got the jalapeños (we already have popcorn kernels), popcorn scoop, measuring scoops, bags, and buckets.

The pups couldn't let their daddy's birthday go by without getting him a gift either. Nick has been eyeing these Craftsman drills for a while so each of the pups got him one. Now he can take the birthday money from Mom and Grandma and buy some more attachments for it.

There was going to be one more gift but it was nixed.  A few weeks ago, Nick told me for his birthday I should get him and I membership for a year of couples massages (or to use individually if we wanted).  I didn't want to make such a large purchase or commitment without his input, so I asked him about it last night. We decided that it would be best to wait until April (for budget reasons), and then we're going to go ahead and do it and I'm more crazy excited. April 6th is our dating anniversary so we'll just say it's a present to each of us for that. I mean when your husband suggests monthly couples massage, can you really say no?  I ain't no idiot!

But I think he was plenty spoiled with these gifts.  And he definitely loved them :)

As I said in yesterday's post, Nick's actual birthday kinda stunk. I woke up him up early so that he could open his gifts before I left for work because I knew I wouldn't see him the rest of the day. Then I helped him study all his EP's before I left for work. 

I worked 12 hour day ( no surprise ). Nick had a flight that took off at 11pm and he didn't land till around 1am, so that was pretty much all we saw of each other.  

However, I took it upon myself to make sure his birthday wasn't wasted. When I got home from work, I gave myself a little facial. You know typical girl things like removing that mustache (hashtag dark featured girl problems) and applying a mask. Then I filled up the bathtub with some lavender, Epsom salts, and bubbles,  lit some candles, grabbed a glass of wine, and my Kindle. (with the occasional interrupting Weim).  I'd say it's a damn good night.

So don't worry, babe, your day might have stunk and the majority of mine did too, but I made up for tonight for both of us. You.Are.Welcome.

Since the birthday sucked and all that really happened was gifts, I wanted to do something else.  I love giving gifts, don't get me wrong, but days (important or mundane) are all about the experience and memories, not the gifts.  So what shall we do?  Not too much.
As of now we have tentative plans to go out to eat tonight but we all know that Nick's schedule could prevent that. Actually, you probably don't know that so I'll fill you in. Being a pilot, Nick receives his schedule for the next day the night before. Meaning that tonight around 5pm or 6pm, Nick will check his schedule for tomorrow, and if he has something early in the morning that he needs to study and/or prepare for, that means no dinner plans for us. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but thus is the life of a pilot's wife.

Hopefully this weekend we can have some fun. A few months ago I saw commercial for the Harlem Globetrotters, and I told them I had never been to a game. Fast forward to a few days ago and he tells me that he got tickets for Friday night!  (I love that he listens and makes mental notes of the things I say.)  Other than that, I told him for his birthday that I'll go see that stupid Lego movie with him and play pool.  He's been nagging me to see that movie and I just don't have any desire to see it, let alone spend $10 to do so.  Likewise, Nick is obsessed with playing pool and I...well I am not.  I suck.  Downright awful.  But for my sweet husband, I will.  

And that is the recap of Nick's birthday.  

NYE and The Not-So-Serious New Years Resolutions

Yesterday, I was a little serious on the blog.  Nothing too scary, but it's out of ordinary for me to be serious for too long.  If you know me well, you know I'm rarely serious.  So to make up for that post, I've created a post to lighten the mood.  I've created a list of my not so serious new years resolutions.  I'm really hoping to accomplish these by the close of 2014.  Who's with me!?

And as a super quick recap, my NYE consisted of Vizsla puppy snuggles, wine, friends, and Cards Against Humanity.  Nick couldn't drink (he was on-call for duty) and no one popped any champagne so we kind of had our own little NYE champagne toast the next morning.  And then made mimosas.  In which we each consumed about 5 mimosas.  Happy New Year!

 And Nick loved his glittery headband so much, that he kept it on for about 3 hours while playing video games!

Anyway, on to the list

Convince scientists that teleportation needs to be figured out asap.  And not the current teleportation where they only move a few molecules a tiny amount of space.  And where it kills them and replicates them.  I want my entire body, without my cells being killed and replicated, to be relocated in an instant to somewhere else, such in my loved ones living rooms.  Or a winery in Napa.

Perfect the Mary Poppins snap.  You know, *snap* "The job's a game!"  Just snap my fingers and have things magically happen before my eyes.  *Snap* dinner begins making itself.  *Snap* My hair is brow-dried, flat ironed and makeup is on and perfect.  *Snap*  Laundry is folded, hung, and put away.  *Snap*  Dishes are done, dried, and put away.  *Snap*...okay, you get the point.  I covet her snapping magic so badly.  I seriously think about this at least once a day.  The lady is a friggin genius!

Find a money tree.  I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Create more hours in a day, but still keeping the workday hours the same.  I want to only increase the number of sleeping hours and at-home hours.  I work such long days five days a week and it'd be nice to actually have time to do something other than sleep, shower, eat (maybe), and work out.

Own a wine cellar.  That suppliers donate wine to.  Unless of course I find a money tree, then I can stock my wine cellar without donations.  And drink it by the bottle.

Learn to read my dogs' minds.  (Just theirs, not anyone else's.  It could be a dangerous power.)  I can only imagine the crap Vino thinks, mainly in response to the stupid shit her sister does.  And Yadi is already so vocal, sassy, and downright crazy so Lord only knows what that beast is thinking.

Learn how to control the climate.  I'm over this cold shit.  I know, it could be worse.  I could be "home" where it's below zero.  Regardless, it's still cold as balls here (windchill in the 20's).  The perk of me having to live so far from my family is the Florida warmth.  Umm....yeah, I'd like that warmth back.  Asap.  Not to mention, if I could control the climate, I could whip up a nice little rain storm for naptime.  (Wait...naptime?  What is a nap?  I don't think I've had an opportunity to take a nap in ages!)  And almost as importantly as the warmth, I could create thunderstorms.  I'm talking a REAL midwest thunderstorm.  I so badly miss them.  The insane lightning, the booming thunder, the whipping winds.  I always thought Florida would get crazy storms but nope.  I've yet to experience a storm here in Florida in the past two and a half years that's even one quarter as severe as a storm back home.  (Don't worry, I'd keep the damage away.  Just the lightning and thunder.  No tornados destroying homes and lives).

I could seriously go on and on with this list.  But I won't.
I guess I should have called this the "fat chance resolutions" since they're pretty much damn near impossible.  One can dream right?  What are your fat chance resolutions for 2014?  Anyone want to go in on one of these with me?

a 2013 Recap

(Why is blogger changing the color of my image?!  I've uploaded this image, in varying forms, multiple times.  It should be white.  I finally got fed up, yelled a big eff you blogger, and just left it this way.)

And now I'm too frustrated to write a proper introduction so how about I just jump right into my we recap the year of 2013 in blogland?  I figured this would also be good because I have a few new friends reading my blog and in my last recap was done in very poor blogger fashion with zero links or photos.  You know, all the things that make a post interesting.

I will be completely honest is telling you that I thought 2013 was going to be a crappy year.  It started out that way so why I think anything differently?  First of all, it started with an injured dog and a huge vet bill to accompany it.  In addition to that, I started the year out sick.  Hooray for 2013!

But the end of the month started looking up for as Nick finished Primary and we attended his platform selection where we found out his fate (complete with a cute video) in the aviation community (hence the "rotor blades" part of my blog title.)

In February, I found out if I ever wanted to stow away in Nick's seabag, it was possible.  I dealt with another impending diagnosis anniversary date and ended up having a good day and added another wonderful Valentine's Day celebration to the books.

Sadly things took a huge downward spiral as I encountered my very first cancer scare since being in remission.  I realized the hardest part of everything isn't anything pertaining to yourself, but instead, to you family.  It was a difficult time and my poor brain was all over the place.
Thankfully I had Nick's birthday to focus on and the start of his helo training and the next phase of our military life.

My health issues continued into March, unfortunately as I underwent some testing to get answers.

But again, there were some good things to happen to take my mind off the fears.  For instance, I got a new job and  we celebrated Easter.  I also finally wrote out why I blog and wrote one of my more popular posts about not being an asshole and thinking before you speak.

April started out wonderfully as I learned it was all, in fact, a cancer scare and I was still cancer free.  Nick got to take his first solo in his helicopter and I attended another Relay for Life in Pensacola Beach.  My crazy honey badger celebrated her 2nd birthday and I share my thoughts on whiny babies on social media who are just unhappy with their lives.  I also tried out a couch cleaning method that just so happens to be my most popular post thanks to Pinterest.

It seems to be a pattern of partially good months and partially shitty months.  May started out as great as it could because family came to visit us!!!  My dear sweet husband also celebrated MSAD and Mother's Day with me.  I also got to do some DIY and help throw a beautiful bridal shower for my dear friend.  Sadly, the month ended horribly as my Grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and it quickly turned into the hardest thing I'd ever have to deal with.

At the beginning of June, I traveled home to be by Grandpa's side during his surgery.  (During this time my best friend also showed me why she is more than a best friend.)  I had to say goodbye to Grandpa and head back to my home in Florida.  We were cancer buddies and it was hard to not be there with him.  I didn't mention it in the blog because we were keeping things private but it was now that we learned the severity of his cancer.  It was this surgery that the surgeon told us, worst case scenario, we'd have Grandpa another one to two years.  However,  by mid-month he was doing great and we were confident he would win his battle.

Thankfully upon returning to Florida, I had my anniversary to look forward to even though the real celebration had to be postponed.  But I recapped my 2nd year of marriage and page views suggest that was popular for some reason.  We ended the month with a trip to Meridian, Mississippi to see one of our best friends, our little brother (from another motha, obviously) be winged!

This was  MUCH better month!!!  Mom came to visit (woman is seriously my best friend) and later that month, Nick's family visited (which ended with my first ever allergic reaction).  The highlight of the month was when Nicholas and I finally got to celebrate our anniversary...in the most magical place on earth!!!  I was no longer a Disney Park virgin!!!

And although they aren't talked about too much on the blog, the doggies were still doing well and we actually enrolled them in more training.
July had one tiny hiccup as Grandpa started treatment and experienced a few complications but I was looking forward to seeing him the following month.
We ended the month with one of our favorite things, the St. Louis Cardinals!  We took a quick trip to Atlanta where we watched them take on the Braves.

This was by far the worst month of my year.  Actually, the worst month of my life.  It didn't start out too badly as I underwent another endoscopy, but that all came back clear and good bill of health!  I recapped my trip home to St. Louis, which had some fun parts to it.

Sadly though, the anticipation of Grandpa receiving his gift from us never happened because everything took a huge downward spiral as Grandpa got sick, ended up in the hospital and passed away.  It was the hardest thing I have ever experience and now, 5 months later, I'm still struggling.  His wake and funeral were like an out of body experience and I didn't truly believe it was happening.
I took the longest and saddest plane ride of my life back to Florida but was able to put a smile on my face and feel the most pride I have ever felt in my life as I witnessed my amazing husband accomplish his dreams.  Only our wedding day can compete with the joy I felt as I pinned those wings onto his uniform.  The month ended with us officially getting our orders to report to our next home.

The month started out with some nostalgia as we had our two year anniversary of living our first real home as a married couple.  The home we were just weeks away from leaving.  We packed up our life and moved to Jacksonville (after house hunting for a week and putting in an offer, which I didn't talk about on the blog just yet because I didn't want to jinx our contract).  After moving in with friends, I went to stay with my sister while Nick was at SERE and I talked about what I learned while living in Pensacola.  I also poured my heart out about my thoughts on missing my Grandpa.

This was a good month.  It started out with what every blogger has, an obligatory post about how fall is now upon on.  We spent half the month living with friends and I talked about why being homeless suck but on October 17th we finally closed on our beautiful home and officially became homeowners.  A few nosy people questioned why we bought and I shared those reasons, which has prompted so many of my friends to begin looking into buying as well!  Hooray for homeownership and being a good influence!  We bought the girls Halloween costumes and tortured them for some photos and of course made them wear them on Halloween as we handed out candy.  I joined my first blog link-up and wrote about all the things I will do someday.  Ironically, the second and third to last things have been done!!!  Pat on the back for Melanie!  And because I loved that first link-up so much, I participated in another Halloween related one about all my sins.

I started the month out promising you all a home tour.  I provided you one of my beautiful kitchen but sadly, I failed and that's the only one I've given you since!  But along the lines of a new home, our dogs got to see how awesome their new neighborhood was when they hosted a doggie swimming party for them!  The biggest highlight of the month was landing a dream job and then buying a new car!  And just like every November, we celebrated my remission anniversary (what we cancer survivors call a Lifeaversary) and my 29th birthday ... twice!!  We ended the month with a short but sweet trip back to St. Louis for Thanksgiving.

And now we're recapping current events.  At the beginning of the month, I blogged about Nick finally beginning training on his new helicopter (and I ended up lying in that post).  I wrote two blog posts that were pretty much just getting to know me and one was done in a fun fashion.

Pretty much every other post was about my meth-like  addition to Christmas.  We put up the tree, celebrated St. Nick Day, baked cookies, built a gingerbread village, went on a Christmas sunset sail, and didn't send out Christmas cards. I also had two dog posts in one month!  Of course one revolved around my honey badger dog and the other was about how impossible photos with them are.  Of course, this blog wouldn't be a true representation of a human being if I didn't dig inside my mind and heart and write something raw and not all sunshine and rainbows.  Which is when this post happened.  Of course I didn't stay down as I recapped our visit at home for the holidays, gave you a glimpse into our Christmas celebrations, and blogged about our own Obie little Christmas back here in Florida.