Refrigerator

Exactly two and a half years ago I started life with my very best friend. It was a beautiful and fun day, but not without it's mishaps. No wedding can be perfect, right? If you weren't there or were sitting too far in the back to really hear what was happening, let me enlighten you.

We got through the first half of our ceremony without a hitch. Then came the vows. Nate's grandfather, sweet and loving as he is, is getting old and not as mentally on top of things as he used to be. So for our vows he says to Nate, "Repeat after me" and then proceeds to start reading the entire paragraph that is our vows. "I, Nathaniel, take you, Jaime, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold..." It should have been, "I, Nathaniel, take you, Jaime" (pause while Nate repeats), "to be my wedded wife." (pause while Nate repeats), and so on. My dad is sitting in the front row really impressed that Nate's memorized the whole thing. Um, no. So while Nate looks like a deer in the headlights, I lean over to Poppy and say, "Poppy, he's not going to remember all that." To which Poppy replies, drum roll please, "That's alright, we'll just put in on the refrigerator." *Badum-CHI*

Um, did that really just happen...?

In the middle of my wedding ceremony?

My dad is about to pee his pants he thinks it's so funny.

I'm not sure weather to laugh or cry.

It makes me sad not because my wedding wasn't perfect, but because that's supposed to be a special moment where you look into your husband's eyes and promise to love him forever. You hear the words given you and you repeat them with all the love in your heart while lost in the depths of his eyes. At least, that's how I imagined it.

I couldn't exactly stop the entire ceremony to explain to Poppy where he had gone amiss and how to do it correctly. So in an effort to salvage what was supposed to be a special moment, I just turned the paper in Poppy's hands toward Nate so he could read it. Then, turned them toward me so I could read them. Once in a lifetime, fairy tale moment lost.

At any rate, in retrospect, Poppy's response was hilarious. And several times over the past two and half years Dad has commented that something is missing from our refrigerator. Most recently it was directed at the picture I posted on here of the kitchen in our apartment. Apparently, it was missing something. To rectify the problem I got this for Nate and Dad for Christmas.

It's a magnet.

When they opened them we all laughed. Hard. I laughed so hard I cried. And my dad ran to the refrigerator so he could have his up before Nate.

It was a special moment in it's own right ♥

Christmas tree, Christmas tree

Sing to the tune of "Jingle bells, jingle bells". It's short, sweet, and expresses my complete happiness at having an 8 foot real tree in my living room. Oh how I adore Christmas!

And my husband who helped decorate it ;)

Winston-Salem Snow Day

This past weekend Nate and I made the 4 hour trek to Winston-Salem to visit one of my best friends, Cat, and her fiance, Clay. Nate had duty Thursday night so Friday he had an "easy day". So we were able to leave Jacksonville early afternoon to be in Winston early enough for me to make it to Cat's first wedding dress shopping trip! She has honored me by asking me to be a bridesmaid so I was able to try on dresses too. The trip was surprisingly successful. Cat picked out the bridesmaids dresses AND HER WEDDING DRESS! I was so glad I was able to be there :) We spent the night with her and had plans to go tour Wake Forest (where her and Clay both went to school) the next day but our plans changed due to SNOW!!! Since we're not likely to get snow here in Jacksonville, it was a nice surprise. Daisy LOVED it! She was absolutely hilarious to watch. And our plans changed to include playing the Wii, a game of Life, and watching Duke basketball. It was a wonderful time with friends made all the better by the wintery wonderland. And, of course, here's some pictures :)

Cat and Clay

Daisy figuring out this wet cold stuff (real quick - see snowball about to hit her)
Me and Daisy running around

Crazy Daisy

Daisy attacking the snowball in Nate's hand :)

River Court

We made our first trek down to Wilmington this past weekend. Jacksonville isn't exactly a booming metropolis and, while it has most everything you need, some things you just have to drive to Wilmington for. This time it was NY & Co. Everything was 50% off this weekend and I needed some new winter clothes, so to Wilmington we went. We had great success shopping and the shopping center we were at was decorated with "reindeer". We decided to make it a photo op :) We definitely turned a few heads, but the pictures are amusing.



After shopping, we decided to go see the USS North Carolina Battleship. It was dark, but Nate had heard on the radio that they put Christmas lights on it so we decided to go check it out. Definitely not nearly as cool as it sounded and taking a good picture was pretty well impossible. We'll probably go back to monkey around on it sometime, but the location is great because right across the river is downtown Wilmington complete with a Christmas tree and lights!


I wanted to get a picture of the tree and lights so we walked across a grassy area to the edge of the river. Once we were finished taking pictures and walking back to the car I looked to my left and saw something that looked suspiciously like a basketball court with a set of bleachers (which was the give away). Once we were in the car I had Nate shine the headlights on aforementioned suspect area and sure enough, basketball court. Many of you probably think I'm crazy for ranting about some basketball court on the side of a river next to a battleship. But if you've ever watched One Tree Hill (which is filmed in Wilmington), you'd understand my excitement at stumbling across the River Court. All things important on that show happen at the River Court and it was just funny to find it without even trying (yes, at some point my sister and I will drive around and take pictures of all the locations on the show - don't judge).

However, I must say that a scene at the River Court will never be quite the same. I'll forever be seeing the battleship they're filming next too.

Arkansas Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we took a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit with Nate's family. It was wonderful to have a break from work, moving, and the general craziness that is our life. We stayed with Nate's grandparents (aka Nana and Poppy) who live less than 5 minutes from Nate's uncle. Nate spent some time hunting with Uncle David and playing ultimate frisbee with his cousin Whitney, while I enjoyed catching up with Aunt Vanessa and reading a couple books. Overall it was a very relaxing time of playing board games, going to the movies (twice), watching football, shopping, and eating delicious food. We were very blessed to be there.

Nate took his uniform so we could get some pictures with the family. Here are a few:

The two of us

Us with Nana and Poppy

The whole gang

As an aside, if you could pray for Uncle David, Aunt Vanessa, Whitney, and Cameron (their son who's studying abroad in Austria and will be home in a few days) it would be greatly appreciated. We had a fire going in the fireplace Friday evening and got a call from Aunt Vanessa after she had dropped us off at Nana and Poppy's for the night that their house was on fire. Apparently the chimney caught on fire and the second story of their house was all burnt up. I'm not sure how much from the first floor was salvageable, but the house was a loss. Praise God that no one was hurt. Thank Him that they are resting in Him and leaning not on their own understanding. They truly have their eyes set on eternal things. Pray for wisdom as they work through moving forward, that they and others would grow closer to the Lord, and for continual peace and trust in their Savior.

Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our First Jacksonville Home

I promised pictures, so welcome to our home :)

In love with my kitchen

Not in love with Puma's favorite place

Looking from the living room toward the kitchen. The door on the left is the pantry, the middle is the front door, and the one on the right is the laundry room.

A grown-up laundry room with big girl washer and dryer :)

Looking into the living room from the kitchen

Our dining room table from the living room

Left side of the living room

Right side of the living room

Not the best picture, but I love seeing the pool lit up every night out our living room window :)

Daisy's favorite past time

Our bathroom has a garden tub! It's huge and I love it :)

Walk-in closet

Our bedroom

Thanks for visiting, come again soon!

Our last days in Quantico

After 6 long months of training, TBS is finally over!!! They finished out with a few field exercises that you can read about in the final newsletter, Warrior Day, and Graduation!

Warrior Day was basically family day for TBS. Nate's brother, Zach, came down for the festivities and we had a blast shooting the M16, SAW, and grenade launcher! I thought the grenade launcher was the coolest :) We also got to watch Nate demonstrate the obstacle course and monkey around in different vehicles the Marines use (helicopters, amphibious assault vehicles, mine resistant ambush protetcted vehicles, etc.). It was a really fun day and a great way to wind up TBS. I can't get the pictures to upload right now, but they're all up on my facebook page so check them out there!

Novemever 4th was the much awaited graduation day!!! After 6 months of late nights, earlier mornings, hours of weekend work, and weeks out in the field we were both happy to see it come to an end. We're going to miss everyone who isn't headed to NC and it'll take some adjusting to be farther from home, but we're glad to be moving on to our next adventure...the "promised land" of the fleet.

After graduation we were crazy with finishing up packing, spending time with our families, enjoying the En-Tice-Ment annual bonfire, and finally loading up the truck and driving to Jacksonville. We arrived at our new apartment safe and sound Monday and have since been getting settled in. Nate checked into his new unit Tuesday and our apartment is pretty much put together. I'll post pictures of our new home soon! Hopefully we'll go exploring this weekend and figure out this new place.

All our love, from NC ♥

Busy Busy Busy...

We've been a bit busy.

To say the least.

I should have some solid updates on our move in a few days, but for now another edition of the Delta Co. newsletter.

October should slow down...

Nate's plans for the next several months are set. He will report to his unit in North Carolina no later than December 3rd, 2010. He's going to try to check-in earlier since he doesn't have a month of leave nor would he want to use it simply because they have nothing for him to do. We assume his unit will send him to the Aviation Supply Officer course that starts January 31st, 2011 in Rhode Island.

As for my plans... well I'd like to go to Rhode Island. I've never been to part of the country and I have the freedom to do it. However, it will be a logistical pain and there are several advantages to just staying put in North Carolina. So here's a list of the advantages.

Advantages of going to Rhode Island

• Being with my husband
• Experiencing the Northeast
• Not having to decide right now if we want to rent/buy in NC
• No pressure of wanting to find the perfect long term home in just a few weeks
  

Advantages of staying in North Carolina

• Able to settle into and get connected to a new church/community
• Won't have to deal with long term storage
• Won't have to find a furnished apartment that accepts pets for our move in a few weeks
• Won't have to find the same housing arrangement in Rhode Island (though I'll have more time to look)
• Cheaper (assuming Nate lives on base in Rhode Island)
  

I guess it depends on if I want to put in the work to go to Rhode Island and don't mind being in a transient, homeless kind of state for a few months. It would be nice to just make a last minute decision or even have some time to think about it since school doesn't even start until the end of January. But, alas, the housing arrangements I'm attempting to make for moving in a few weeks are dependent on if I go to Rhode Island or stay in North Carolina.

Too many decisions to make too quickly. What to do, what to do...

In case you haven't heard...

We've received some great news over the past few weeks!

We finally found out Nate's MOS! He's going to be doing aviation supply, which was his second choice so we're pretty excited.

We also found out our duty station! Nate's going to be part of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron (MALS) 29 at New River Air Station in Jacksonville, NC! I'm excited to be staying close to home (at least comparably), baby steps. And Nate, we'll he would have preferred to go further and live somewhere new, but he's excited about the benefits of still living near friends and family.

MALS-29 insignia

We're still not sure when all the moving will take place so stay tuned. His MOS school starts Jan. 31st in Rhode Island. He could be sent there immediately after TBS or he could be sent to his unit in NC for on the job training until he goes up for training. Hopefully we'll have a better idea in a few weeks so we can figure out our living situation. We're excited for this next stage of our journey in the Marine Corps and are looking forward to TBS graduation! 31 days!

Cherokee National Forest

For the second year running we spent Labor Day camping with the McMurphy's. Last year it was Pilot Mountain in NC and this year was Cherokee National Forest in TN. We had a wonderful time visiting with our friends and relaxing in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

We hit up Checkers on our way out Thursday evening since we had Daisy and could east outside

We drove part of the way Thursday night and spent the night in a hotel about halfway. Daisy wasn't quite sure what to make of her first night away from home, but she slept well once she settled down. We arrived at our campsite Friday afternoon and were thankful that it was a 4 day holiday for us (thank you USMC).

We tied a long rope on two trees and created a run for Daisy. We hooked her leash to the rope with a carabiner and she enjoyed the freedom to move around our campsite at her leisure.

Daisy attach to her run, but enjoying the softness of her bed

So regal

She can swim!

The beautiful lake

We really didn't know there was water this blue in the continental US

Saturday Leandi and Kevin arrived and we spent the afternoon just hanging out and being lazy. Sunday we planned to go on a 5-mile hike. The 5-hour hike which was supposed to be a loop, turned into 7 hours of us getting slightly lost and just turning around. If we had tried to make a loop we would probably still be walking because we didn't start where we thought we had and it was a much longer "loop" if you didn't want to retrace your steps. Once we were back to the cars and eating lunch (we were so hungry) it didn't seem as bad.

We had to cross a stream 20 times! Nate going over on the cable.

Kevin's turn! Way to go!
(Leandi and I crossed over jumping from rock to rock)

And my foot feel in.
They feel in a bunch more times after that so I just started walking through the water with the dog (who wasn't a big fan).

Nate with his pup

The group (minus photographer Nate) enjoying the falls

Leandi and the falls

We should have turned around here, but went another mile or so before we did. Fail.


Daisy looking pensive
(She was so sleepy after our hike)


Our well earned dinner of steaks and grilled vegetables

Daisy Mae

We finally got a puppy...8 and a half weeks ago. Terrible bloggers, I know. But we figure you'll forgive us when you see how cute she is :)

On July 31, 2010 we welcomed a rescued beagle puppy into our home. She was between 10 and 12 weeks old and we named her Daisy.

Our first day with her

She is very sweet and loves absolutely everyone. Definitely not a guard dog. And her adoration for people is very much second behind her love of other animals. So, if anyone is ever looking for a puppy playdate she'd be thrilled.

She was so little!

She has been such a joy and has surprised us in so many ways. We had her housebroken in about 2 weeks. She knows to go to the door and hit her leash (which hangs on the knob). She'll start whining and jumping around like a crazy dog if you ignore her and if you're out of the room, she'll come and get you. She rarely chews on things that aren't hers (though she did wreck havoc on several XBOX accessories) and loves all of her toys. We figured she'd only like one of her toys or prefer an old sock, but we were wrong. The first time we threw a ball for her she brought it right back. The older she gets the less she brings things back, but hey I guess she can't be perfect. She absolutely LOVES to be outside and chew on sticks.

Daisy's first hiking adventure ~ she loved it!

The drive home ~ she didn't like cars at first, but she's getting better. She prefers to be going fast and whines if you go slow (like 25 mph). I guess she takes after her mama ;)

Post-hiking Daisy aka our little beached whale

As for Puma, well they can co-exist. Daisy loves Puma and follows her around like the proverbial puppy dog. At first all Puma did was hide. She was definitely not a fan, but thankfully she wasn't mean to us. Now she'll play with Daisy, but on her own terms. Puma's favorite way of playing is to hide behind a wall or a door and jump at Daisy as she's looking for her. But, Daisy will just walk right up to Puma, which generally elicits a hiss from Puma. They're pretty hilarious to watch, but overall are doing well together.

Proof of coexistence

Other random facts about Daisy:

• I'm her favorite person and this makes Nate sad, but I'm with her all day so what do you expect...
• She has the longest tongue ever!
• As of now she understands "Sit", "No", "Not yours", "Come here", "Shake", "Lay Down" (if you touch the floor), "Go get it", "Bring it here", "Drop it", and "Let go"
• Her following said commands is all dependent on if she thinks she has too. For example, if she's running around loose in the tennis courts she doesn't listen to anything
• She likes to lick hands and feet, which is a great improvement over liking to bite
• She steals dryer sheets out of the bathroom trash

In a nutshell, that's our pretty pup. We like her! As a friend of ours put it, if our children are as well behaved as our dog we'll be in good shape :)