Is there really anything better?

I'll take two, please. Scotts, that is.

Field Training Graduation

Earlier this month Scott graduated from a difficult and exhausting six weeks of specialized field training for his squadron.  On the day of the graduation, they flew in on a C-130, having finished a week out in the field that left them all dirty, smelly, and exhausted.  We (their families) were waiting for them on bleachers that were set up in the hangar.  

Getting a pep talk before the actual ceremony began.    

After the ceremony, they finally got to greet their families.  Yay!

Scott with a good friend of ours from church.  Jared completed this same training about six months ago so he especially appreciated what Scott had been through.  P.S. That's Bart in the background.  We love Bart.

The entire class looking tough.  I wouldn't mess with them.

Scott noticed I was zooming in on him and so he flashed me a smile.  Joe (next to him) did not.

Posing on the Huey

Congratulations, Scott!  I'm very proud of you!

To celebrate finishing the course we headed to the beach for the afternoon...

...where Scott promptly fell asleep and took a very long, well deserved nap.  Luckily, no major sunburn ensued.

It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it!

Scott came home from work the other day looking like this:

What on earth does he do all day?

Escaping the Minnesota cold

Scott's parents, Ian and Vicki, came down to visit us for a few days earlier this month.   We weren't very good about taking pictures but here are a few to document the trip.  I know Vicki took more on her camera.

Vicki trying on some of Scott's gear

The weather was beautiful long enough for us to enjoy one afternoon at the beach.  Only Scott and Ian were brave enough to venture out into the water, which was still a little cold.  Vicki and I were content to just sit in our chairs and read.  

Yes, Scott is wearing ranger panties.  He loves them and wears them all the time.

The next day we went to the Air Foce Armament Museum.

And one night we did a taste testing courtesy of Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink.  We did blind tastings of Coke, Pepsi, and Walmart brand cola to see if we could correctly identify each one.  This proved to be a much harder task than we anticipated.  We also did it with Sprite, 7Up, and Sierra Mist, as well as a variety of bottled waters.  P.S. Fuji is my new favorite water.  

My favorite part of the visit was that Ian and Vicki were able to come to church on Sunday and hear Scott sing an arrangement of "Abide With Me; 'Tis Eventide" in sacrament meeting.  It was beautiful and I'm glad he had more family than just me there to enjoy it.

Thanks for coming to see us in Florida!  We hope you had a good time!

Water, Water Everywhere

A little taste of Florida for you:

Weekend Warriors

Our guest bathroom was looking a little stale so we decided to take a weekend and freshen it up.  Step one: paint the walls.  Turning the ivory walls into light blue/gray walls made the room look bright and clean.

Step two: Add a fancy new curved shower rod to create more space in the shower.

Step three: add a new shower curtain and rings.

We also put some artwork up which you can barely see in the picture above but it's got a lot of blues, grays, and oranges in it.  We'll be adding some cool orange decorative items as soon as we find ones we like.  

Next up for this room: tiling the floor!

A couple months ago a friend of ours from the ward asked Krissy if she'd like to train for a 15K with her. Krissy in turn invited me and we set about preparing ourselves. Krissy had done a 5K before and technically I had too, but it had been about 19 years since my last race. Long story short, Krissy and I both went through the training regimen, and here we are after finishing. We both really enjoyed it and plan on doing the double bridge run again next year.

From the website:
The annual 15k run will start in historic downtown Pensacola, hug the waterfront, cross two bridges to the finish line at spectacular Pensacola Beach, the same location Spanish explorer Don Tristan DeLuna landed on August 15, 1559 establishing the first European settlement in America.

The weather was spectacularly good: low 60s and not a cloud in the sky. The views were excellent and you almost forgot you were running over 9 miles...

For those who think it's all fun in the sun in Florida...

This is what we woke up to this morning. Florida is awesome, but it can actually get cold every once in a while. Luckily, we are seasoned winter survivors (Minnesota, Boston, DC, Utah) and it did not stop us from going out and exercising. Scott went rucking with his PT guys and I went running. I have learned that I actually run faster when it's cold outside.  Plus, I secretly was dying to try out my sweet new running hat with the ponytail hole in the back. Normally my hair causes a regular hat to slide up leaving me with uncovered ears.  This guy, however, worked like a charm! Thanks, Mom!

A touch of Minnesota

Scott's sister, Amelia, came to visit us for a few days to get away from the Minnesota cold. We did a puzzle while she was here so of course we had to take a picture. Unfortunately, this is the only picture we have to remember the visit.

Other memorable events during her visit: 

• playing an excellent card game called Bang! with some friends of ours two nights in a row (we're only slightly hooked)
• eating at the East Bay Crab House which was a restaurant stuck in 1994 -- this restaurant deserves its own blog but first I want to go back so I can take some pictures.
• eating at Waffle house and then going out for a run (note: don't try this at home)
• introducing Amelia to Dr. Horrible
• watching a few funny movies -- Tropic Thunder & Burn After Reading
• playing our new fancy version of Clue. If you haven't played this game in a while go out and get it. The updated version has lots of added twists that make this classic a favorite again in my book.
  

Good to see you, Amelia!

New Year's Eve

Here we are on New Year's Eve with my family in Maryland. After we ushered in the New Year, Scott decided he wanted some pictures of his "Christmas beard" so we took out the camera and had a little photo shoot with my youngest brother, Bradley.  The beard was shaved off the following Monday, but its memory lives on.

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Christmas 2008

A few pictures from our trip to Maryland.  It was wonderful spending time with my family and relaxing after a somewhat stressful holiday season.  We filled our days with games, Rock Band, Wii, sodokus, eating, and my personal favorite, sleeping.  We were also able to go to some stores that aren't near our home in Florida.  We hit Crate and Barrel to use some gift cards we still had from our wedding, Road Runner Sports to buys some new shoes for Scott and running gear for myself, and a Lazare diamond specialist to have my ring checked and cleaned.  But our favorite stop was at the IKEA in Atlanta where (with the help of some Christmas money) we bought a kitchen table and chairs to replace the card table and folding chairs we had been using.  

Last night we had the missionaries from our church over for dinner and we all fit around the table comfortably. 

 The house is slowly starting to come together. :-) 

Tim the Toolman grunt

This is what happens when Scott decides to clean the back patio with the pressure washer. :-)

Tis a Puzzlement

Sometime back in my college days my friend Kyle warned me to never work on a puzzle with the guy I was dating because it would inevitably cause the relationship to fail. His logic was reasonable enough: I had dated many guys and worked on puzzles with many guys and I was still single. So I actually started to believe that maybe this was true and avoided puzzles for several years. Jump ahead five years and here I am married to a man who works on puzzles with me and still loves me. I think we've finally debunked Kyle's theory, as creative as it was.

Scott picked up a dozen or so puzzles at a yard sale one day and we've been trying to crank through them. We usually just keep one out for us to work on as we feel like it. Visitors even get roped in and can't help placing a piece or two when they stop by. We have now started a tradition of taking a picture of every puzzle we finish. This way we get to remember all of our hard work and we don't feel guilty about breaking it up, putting it back in the box, and perhaps even getting rid of it.