What did we do while we waited an hour and a half?
READ!
Collin said we should all get a pair of these special ear phones. He can't hear a thing! And it might make the drive home this summer nicer.
:)

Christopher wanted me to take pictures of him on the rock wall doing some of his spider man poses.

It was already 70 degrees by 11:30. What an absolutely gorgeous day!

Coming back after the landing.

Evil looks happy!

Sam.......not so much.

He isn't looking as good here as he did when they taxied out an hour and a half ago!

Kaitlynn, offering her Daddy some sympathy.

Getting his ground legs back.

I knew how loud it would be. We were right next to the jets when the engines turned on, with special earplugs in our ears covered my extra duty earphones, and I knew Kaebrie would freak, so we left her playing with a friend this morning. Christopher did really well, but he hung on to me when those engines started up and I could feel his heart pounding he was so nervous.

Here he is with Evil. Who was GREAT by the way! When we got out to the jet, he spent a good 10 - 15 minutes giving us a tour and showing the kids how the missiles are released, and showing them the guns and where the ammunition is loaded and all the parts of the plane. Collin ate up his every word, he was fascinated! It was so much better seeing it in person then watching it on the Military Channel. :)

Here he is with other pilot friends.

One of the other pilots that flew, Sampson, had his fini-flight. That means it was his last flight at this base. It is tradition to douse them with water, champagne, or whatever else. He walked over to Sam and handed him his last few sips of champagne that was still in the bottle. :)

Here they are! Next to Sama and Evil is Fist and Sampson, the pilots of the two other jets that flew with them.

He doesn't feel well at all, but that is a genuine smile on his pale face!

You don't want to know what was in this bag. :)

The kids wanted to try on the real helmet, so then they got into the ejection seat in the Boar Bar.

Wow. WHAT an exciting morning. I would rate that as one of the top field trips of the year as well. I am going to ask Sam to blog the morning from his perspective later, right now he is sound asleep! They all told me he would be pretty worthless the rest of the day. I say he deserves a great nap.
I am so thrilled that he got to do this. It is an honor to be chosen. Most people will go through their entire military career without this opportunity.

One video is below, if you want more, let me know and I will email them to you!

Here he is getting off the plane. :)

Prom Night

What a beautiful evening to take some fun Prom pictures.

It was back to Legacy Park in town to meet Julie and Garret before their dinner reservations.

Brought back memories of my own senior prom, especially since my dress was SO similar to Julie's. My mom still has it, maybe now I could sell it for a lot of money as a genuine vintage antique!

Speaking of my prom, and my mom, I thought about something on my drive back to base tonight.

20 years ago next month was my senior prom (yikes) and I triple dated with my date and 2 of my best friends and their dates.

We all met at my house for some group pictures and then my parents said I couldn't leave just yet. They were waiting for somebody.

Well, it turns out that they hired a videographer to follow us around the ENTIRE EVENING, catching every moment on tape. He stood there while we ordered and ate dinner, he was at the dance, ect.

Mom..................... WHY?

That was REALLY weird.

Did she do that to my sister 2 years later, NO.

Dad...............any explanation?

Just curious!

Love ya both!

Yet another prom side note:

Sam is 2 years older than me. We are both from Air Force families. On our second date we talked about where all we had lived growing up, and we basically followed each other around the country our whole lives, living at the same time in about 5 different states.

Also, I was at Sam's senior prom with a date/friend of mine. It wasn't my high school so I didn't know a lot of people. We also ate dinner that night at the SAME restaurant! An old converted train.

So, I am sure at SOME point we laid eyes on each other, but we weren't planned to meet until about 5 years later.

:)

Too bad I don't have that prom on video, I could go back through the old tape and see if he is in it!

Well, Sam and I went with 8 other adults last night to see this movie. Well, this documentary.
I would highly recommend it.
I was very surprised that the theater was packed, and it wasn't even opening weekend.
And I can NOT remember the last time a movie ended and the entire theater applauded, some giving a standing ovation.
It really was eye opening, and a bit scary.
And very sad.
There are a lot of misinformed, misdirected and lost people out there. The fact that some of these scientists can be so intelligent, be in charge of major universities, and they refuse to even consider intelligent design as an option, but have no trouble believing in mutating crystal proteins or that life came on earth from "scattered alien seed" was mind boggling.
Go with a group.
It makes for some GREAT discussion.
We sat at a Mexican Restaurant until 10:30 last night talking. And then continued to talk for the hour drive home.
Late night. But it was fun and worth it.
Let me know what you think after you see it.

Well, that isn't as clear as I would like it to be, but I think it is readable.

Two months have flown by, and it is time this weekend for Collin and I to pack for our

CALL TO CONGRESS

trip!

Next week is also a nationwide effort by the ADA for everyone to reach congress. So, while some people are there in person talking to the senators and legislators ( smile ), they want people at home to call the above number between April 28 - May 2nd as well. Thanks for your support!

Collin had his regular appointment today with his pediatric endocrinologist and it went great! He gained 3 pounds and a half inch in the last 4 months. Everything in his blood work was in the absolutely perfectly normal range as well. For years now I kind of give myself a pat on the back because I have been his pancreas, but for several months now he has been doing it all by himself. He doesn't even ask anymore, he just figures out the carbs on everything he eats and programs the pump. So this time, the blood-work report card was all his doing.

WAY TO GO COLLIN!

We are just so proud of him!

Sam and I are off on a quadruple date this evening to go see Ben Stein's movie, EXPELLED. I will give a report on it later. :) Tomorrow, is the only day I have to shop for groceries and get organized in the house for Sam. I am also doing some Prom pictures tomorrow evening. Sunday is church, then dinner at some friends house. Monday is F15 day, Tuesday morning at 6 am, off we go!

More later - gotta go get picked up a bit before the babysitter arrives!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

.

  PLUS

EQUALS

SAM'S INCENTIVE RIDE IN AN F15!

He just came back with his required medical clearance. I am TRYING to be happy for him. Well, I truly am happy for him, I am just so green with jealousy!!!!!!! The base commander cleared him for the ride about a year ago, but the planes have been grounded, or broken or gone and now the wait is over.

A good pilot friend of his will do the honors. Except one thing has me worried. This pilots call sign is "EVIL!!" Do I want my chaplain husband pulling who knows how many G's in a fighter jet with a pilot named Evil??????

EVIL and ADAM (Sam's call sign) in the same jet? Anyone else drawing any parallels here? :) Hopefully SNAKE won't be flying as well! That would just be to much!

Well, the old saying goes that Good Overcomes Evil! :)

The kids had their dentist appointments scheduled 6 months ago for Monday morning, but I had NO choice but to cancel. They will let us out on the runway to take pictures and video, and there is no way in this world I would miss that.

So, check back Monday for some pictures, videos and stories. I am off to buy large amounts of Dramamine and over sized barf-bags for Sam. :)

The best laugh I have had in weeks!

I laughed so hard I think I pulled a muscle in my back. My friends who are married to a pastor, this is so funny! I think everyone else will find it funny too. And you will remember it the next time your pastor mentions his wife in his sermon again! :)

Last night, I had another job, team and individual pictures for the 5th and 6th grade girls soccer team in town. I knew about half the girls and that made it even more fun. That beautiful blue sky didn't last long, about 15 minutes after I left a huge storm blew in.

They wanted a silly picture, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at making a pyramid, this one below is what we ended up with.

On the drive home, after the storm blew through while I went to Wal Mart BY MYSELF, the sky was just amazing. The photo below was taken from the side of the road when I was almost back to the base.

The photo doesn't do it justice. Without any trees here, the landscape and the sky are huge and that piece I was able to photograph just doesn't look like the real thing.

I loved the different layers of the clouds and the varying cloud colors with the snow still on the mountains.

(click picture to enlarge)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

A Family Portrait....

...from the left hand of a three year old. :)
(click on it to open it up big)

Daddy is the "Big Guy" in the middle. :)
Collin is on the bottom left, then Kaitlynn, then Mommy, with the long hair, and the only one without a body (???) then Kaebrie, glued to my side as usual (and the only one without hair). Christopher is in green. The two small four legged bug things are the two cats.

I wonder how this would be psychoanalyzed?

Backyard Campout

The big boys decided that tonight was a good night to try out Daddy's new tent in the backyard.
There is only a 50% chance of rain/snow and the temps will only drop to 25 degrees.
I guess if that is their idea of fun, then go for it.
It is my idea of torture.
Kaebrie wanted to try it out after it got all set up.
I think I am in love with this picture.

Then she had to try out the twenty-below mummy bag.

This is a few minutes after they got in, Sam is making hot chocolate on their home made stove, made from cat food cans!

CHEERS!!!
I will leave the backdoor unlocked just in case.
:)

These pictures will open big if you click on them.

I am so thankful that I married a man who is such an incredible daddy.

:-)

Fire pit

Here are two of my favorite pictures from our four and a half hour fire pit night last night.

Sam goes to the wood pile to make sure we have enough wood for these fire nights, which have been pretty frequent lately. Neighbors bring over lawn chairs and something to drink and we talk for hours.

He likes to get the ammunition boxes because they burn well. For weeks now I have been meaning to get a picture of the explosive sign burning up in the fire. :)

Above is the last of our cut up Christmas tree. It smelled so good! The fire lasted so long last night we used up all of our wood supply, including all the branches and twigs that last week's wind storm blew down. Time to stock up so we can do it again!