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