Crazy Life!

New blog

2010-02-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

I have decided to start a new blog since I am starting a new chapter in my life. You can find the new blog at http://kristie-lifechanges.blogspot.com

Weekend off!

2009-11-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yes I finally have a weekend off. But yesterday I went to Watkins to get a truck load of my stuff. I was hoping to be on my way today already but the guy came to measure windows for an estimate on replacing them. So I still have to shower and get on the road.
I have the weekend off because I was going to go to the cabin for deer hunting but figured moving my stuff and getting it all unpacked was way more important. Really no fun but will be worth it in the long run.
I still don't have my whole house cleaned as I have been cleaning as I unpack. Hopefully I will get settled in soon so I can just take the time and clean the whole house top to bottom and then in the future it won't be so much work. There is about an inch of dust on everything as my house sat empty for about 3 years. Talk about dirty and disgusting!
Well I better get moving so I can get to Watkins!

update

2009-10-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Grand opening went good for the bar. Was busy but not as busy as I thought it would've been.
I had drill this weekend. Was another waste of a weekend as my company didn't have anything ready for us. Very disorganized. But my transfer did finally get approve so now I will be attached to the company here in St. James.
Yesterday was my birthday. It was pretty good even though my day didn't go quite as planned.
Hopefully by the end of the week or the beginning of next week I will be closing on my house!!!!

Grand opening

2009-10-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Grand opening for the bar is this weekend! Sure will be nice when it is over. hopefully then things will calm down a little again! Festivities start on friday and go thru sunday.

Wow time flies!!

2009-09-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well it has once again been a while since I have posted anything.
All seems to be going good with the buisiness here in st. james. Mom of course works way to much and doesn't take time for her self. I have been lucky to take some time off for various things but usually just a day here and there. It is pretty fun and is getting better as we get to know everyone down here. Have met some pretty awesome people!!
I have been looking for a house to buy. I finally found one that I really like. It is in town but that is all I can afford right now. It also needs work but has tons of potential. I put an offer in today and should find out Thurs or friday if they accept it!! I am so excited to finally be able to buy a house and not have to rent anymore!! I will try to keep everyone posted about it!

It's been a long time again

2009-08-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ok since it has been so long I will just do a short and sweet version of an update.
Since the last time I posted I went on state active duty for the flood fight in Moorhead, MN. I did that for about 3 or 4 weeks. After that was spring field work. Then I went to Vegas for a vacation and my mom and Larry got married while I was out there. After that was my MOS school in IL for the guards. Just got back from IL on the 15th of Aug. Had fun since I know some people that live out there. Went to the rodeo in Clearwater Saturday and Sunday with friends. That was a lot of fun. Monday I came down to St. James, MN which where I am moving to. I have met a lot of nice people down here. Will be heading back to Watkins today for the weekend. Then I will come back sunday or monday to st. james. Will head back to watkins on wed then back to st. james thursday with steph. Hopefully she likes it down here and will move down here with me!!
That is all for now

quick

2009-03-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Just letting everyone know that I will be flying home on Thursday. I am flying into St. Cloud. Will be there about 430 in the afternoon. Shorty is going to pick me up and bring me to dad's to get my truck. I have to go to guards Friday afternoon. So I won't be home for to long before I am gone again.
When I find time I will have to do a real update on here again.

In OK city

2009-01-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

Just made it to OK city. will be heading to Ft. Sill soon. Hope all is well with everyone. will update when possible.

Waiting!!!

2009-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

I am still waiting! Got up at 430am and went to MEPS at 515am. Then waited til 730am for a brief. Then waited for lunch at 1030am. Then brief at 1100am. Then came to airport about 1130am and still waiting at the airport. I am just hanging out at the armed forces service center (is like a USO but caters to enlisted military). My flight leaves here at 355pm. I go to Chicago. Layover there for hour and half or so. Then I fly into Oklahoma city. Someome says it is like 3 hour drive to Ft. Sill from there. So will be a really long day for me. And too much waiting!!!
The reason I had so much waiting at MEPS is cause I didn't have to do any of the medical stuff as I have done it all when I joined the guard.
Hope all is well with everyone!! Take care! I will try to update the blog as much as possible. will have to see how it goes!

I am really bad at posting

2009-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Well I was in Iowa for new years. It was fun. Vicki, Gary, Courtney, and her boyfriend came to mom and Larry's for supper and playing WII. I had to get up early in the morning for work so I didn't make it to midnight. Oh well! It was still fun!
Then Jan 2nd me and dad started hauling and hauled until this week. Dad was gone for a week so I house sat and dog sat for them and still hauled. Gary came to help which was good cause it was really cold and had lots of trouble. Was good to have someone there to help. While dad was gone I had to go and accept an award for him for Farmer of the Year from the paynesville chamber of commerce.

I came back to Iowa on tuesday night after work and will head home this afternoon as I have to bartend tomorrow and get everything ready to go to my transition training for the guards. I leave tuesday night to go to the hotel. Wednesday morning I will go to MEPS then to the airport. Then I will be going to Ft. Sill, OK for a week. Then off to White Sands, NM for about 4 weeks. I will stay an extra week in NM to go to TorC to stay with Bill and Christie (ex inlaws). Then back to MN for spring field work!
Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the winter as it has been mid to upper 70s in White Sands!!!

Back in IA again!!!

2008-12-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

Well I was supposed to come back to IA yesterday but the roads down here weren't plowed so I had to wait til this morning to come down. So I will work down here this week and then back to MN. I have to bartend on saturday night so will be back in MN by then. Not really sure yet when I will be back for sure yet.
This past week I had to drive semi one day and bartend 3 nights and one afternoon. Also in there I was busy. Had to make part of dad's christmas present and go buy the other part of it. Hope he likes it!!
I also went to Mini's birthday party. She was so cute opening her presents! I had a good time visiting everyone.
This week I am sure me and mom will go running around after work. Will have to try to make it to the dent and bent tomorrow after work as they will be closed until after new years.
Think that is all I have to write about for now.

Leaving IA

2008-12-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

I will be leaving IA today heading back to MN. It has been a good time hanging out with mom and the old man and also learning all the stuff on the pig farm. My main job the last couple/few days has been farrowing. So I get to deliver all the babies!
I will be heading back down here on the 21st to work again, so yes that means I will be in IA for Christmas. This coming week I will have to work for dad and also bartend at shorty's.

another long update

2008-12-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well once again it has been forever since I have posted and Mom has been after me to post again. So here I will try to make it as short as possible.
Don't really know what to blog about this time. Since I blogged last time, I've had a birthday which was a fun time, Thanksgiving came to Iowa, and now am in Iowa again, oh and field work.
Well guess I will start with my birthday, Me, Steph, and chad went shopping and then met mom, larry and grandma for supper at Red Lobster. Red Lobster is one of my favorite places to eat. Then we all headed to Watkins, We went to MT Plates for a few drinks and tought Larry how to play 7-14-21. Then Mom came and got us to go to a house warming party. After that it was back to town to Shorty's and Buds. Then it was time for me to be in bed.
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Rose, Dennis, and the kids and I were all here at mom and Larry's for thanksgiving and of course we had way to much food for us. Then Linda and 2 of her kids came on Saturday to see us too!
Now I am in Iowa again. Mom and Larry offered me a part time job. So now when I am not busy working for dad I will be coming down here to work on the pig farm. Today I learned how to breed the sows and this week I will also learn how to farrow. It is always fun learning something new. And gives me something to do when I am not busy with dad.
Field work seemed to last forever this year but we did finish the thursday before thanksgiving but still had stuff to do after that and get equipment put away but all in all field work went good. they kept me really busy cause I was the only truck driver this year but being busy is best! Maybe next year I will let dad teach me how to combine!
Oh yeah. So at guards they did decide finally that I can not be a bradley mechanic until Oct 09 so I decided to change MOS. So now I will be a truck driver instead. At January drill I will be with my new platoon. Yes I will still be in the same company but maybe it will be better if I have new leadership. But then the end of Jan I go to New Mexico for my transition training! I am excited so I can get my training going. Once I am done with that I will be able to go to school for my MOS and then to NCO training so I will be eligable for advancement again finally.
Well I think that is all for now

Here you go mom!

2008-09-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

So since I blogged last time I went to my 2 weeks of annual training and have a couple pics from it but they will have to wait for another time. The 2 weeks seemed to last forever but wasn't terribly bad. I learned a lot and learned how to drive a really old dump truck for our engineers. they needed help one night and asked if anyone would drive for them. so I said sure why not. Well little did I know that none of the engineers that were driving the dump trucks had experience driving so when the guy loading found out that I had experience, he started loading me with at least twice as much dirt as all the other guys. It made for a very very long night as we started with the engineers at about 2230 and I got done about 1330 the next day.
I have come down to Rose and Dennis's house a couple days last week and a couple this week. Somehow last week I got talked into being a sub on Rose's bowling league.
Monday I will start helping dad on the farm to get equipment ready and we also have corn left to sell and haul.
I found out on friday that I will be going to my transition from the navy to the army in Jan. of course I will be in the guard for a year and two months by this time but at least they will finally be able to send me to schools then. I should be gone for 5 or 6 weeks. It will be like a condensed version of boot camp. With out the transition course they couldn't send me to any schooling. So I have just been pretending like I know what is going on when I go to my monthly drills. The next feat will be getting them to figure out my MOS (my job) as they say I can't have the one I signed up as since I am a female but we will see once I get my transition course done.
Last night Rose and I went to free bowling as league starts next wednesday. Tonight Rose, Dennis, all 4 kids and I went to meet Matthew's teacher then to sonic for supper and McDonalds for ice cream (Dennis even let me have ice cream!!) and then we were off to the park to watch the Killer Hayseeds for a bit. It was a fun time!

I know I am horrible at blogging!

2008-07-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well it wouldn't be so bad for me to blog if I had internet. But maybe soon I will get it.
So a lot has happened since I blogged last so I will just make it a quick overview of what I have been up to.
My grandpa passed away the end of February. So that was very hard on the family and took a bit for dad to get all of the important stuff taken care of so we could start hauling again.
In June I went to Winstock with Steph again. It was a lot of fun! Steph and I always get our own campsite but always hang out at our friends' campsite, which is way closer to the music area. This year we ended up spending 2 of the 3 nights there too. Would rather stay there than walk a mile to ours. And our friends always tell us just to camp with them. So this year they were telling us to just camp with them from now on and if it makes us feel better we can still set our tent up even though there is plenty of room in the campers for us to sleep. Then the decision was made that we will just be camping with them from now on.
After that I started bartending a little more. I have been picking up shifts for the full time bartenders when I am not trucking for dad. It is pretty nice to make a little extra money on the side.
I went to River Lake Days in Richmond last weekend on saturday. I watched the parade then went to the street dance. It was a very good time. I got to hang out with Steph and her mom even came from Wyoming and hung out too!
Now I am at Rose's. We had a fire last night and tonight. Tonight Lisa, Allen and the kids were here for the fire. We had Salmon on the grill for supper! It was awesome! So tonight we sat by the fire and drank beer and visited! Then Rose and Lisa decided they were walking to the gas station to get marshmellows to roast on the fire so I figured I would go with to make sure they made it ok. I am telling you they weren't walking very straight!!! It was good for a laugh!
Tomorrow I have to go back to Watkins as I have to bartend tomorrow night and then I will be back down here for a trip to Valleyfair on Thursday. It should be a blast as I haven't been there since a few years before I joined the navy. But then I will have to go back home again as I have to bartend of Friday night and then have guards on Saturday.
There Rose you better love me now cause I finally updated a little!!!!

Quick post

2008-02-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

Well I am unemployed as of now for an undetermined amount of time. My grandpa Wegner is in the hospital so the trucking is on hold for now. Grandpa's condition will determine when we start hauling grain again. So I am at the Mayo clinic for now giving as much support to family as I can.
That is about all for now I guess.

Another Long time

2008-02-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

So I know once again it has been months since I have posted but I don't have internet so it is really hard to keep up on things. And nothing spectacular has really happened lately.
I have joined the National Guards and have started drilling with them. It is kinda cool but have no "army" training or training for my job yet so makes things a little difficult. But hopefully soon I will get some of my training. I am a bradley mechanic which we haven't worked on one yet and doesn't sound like we will anytime soon since our squad is kinda the all around squad. We work on everything. The last two months we have worked on a semi and trailer. We were also supposed to work on the two track vehicles on the trailer but ran out of time.
Other than that I have just been working for dad when there is work to be done and bartending at Shorty's whenever needed.

Pictures

2007-11-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so I haven't put any pics on here yet but I am working uploading them all to my Webshots site now. I should have them all uploaded tonight. They will all be in a new album and some of the pics will be doubles from the other folders as I still had pictures on my camera from Feb. But I know have have downloaded since then. One day I will get all of my pictures in order so I will know what is where but for now I guess it will just have to work the way it is.

Ok Here we go!

2007-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

I will try to get everything in here if I can remember it all.
I will start with leaving WA. My friend Jim flew to WA from MN to help me drive back. We left Oak harbor about half a day after we had planned but wanted to get all my good byes in before I left. I am sure I didn't get them all in but it is all good. I am sure everyone will forgive me. We left Oak Harbor and decided that we would take the scenic route rather than the interstate. So I got to stop in Lyman at the Tavern and say good bye to a few people up there. We had a pretty uneventful trip and the cats did pretty good with the whole trip. On the East side of WA we stopped in a hotel for the night. The cats seemed to enjoy the stay. The next morning we got up early and went out for breakfast then we got on the road. We had planned on staying in Montana the next night but we didn't seem to make very good time so we decided to keep driving. We got back to MN on Saturday evening. It was nice. We got to go to Shorty's and I saw a lot of people. Then next day I went to a Demolition Derby. It was tons of fun.
Then for the next week I just relaxed and visited a lot of people.
The following week I started working for my dad. He decided that I was going to drive the semi this year. So it took a while for me to get the hang of driving but I got it down after about a week of training. Once I was used to it it wasn't to bad but was nervous the farther away from the farm we got. Once all of the crops were in I helped dad around the farm and ripped a field. Then we started hauling beans to Mankato. I wasn't sure about driving all the way down there and with all the traffic. So I rode with dad the first load and then he rode with me the next. After that I was on my own. It was a little nerve racking driving with so much traffic but guess it wasn't so bad. Then we had to haul corn to Atwater. I rode with dad the first load then I was on my own again. Atwater wasn't so bad.
I also went deer hunting 1st and 3rd weekend. Well first was just the weekend. 3rd was Thursday to Monday. I only shot once and of course didn't hit anything but was worth a try. Opener day I saw two does and tow fawns but let them go. I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to shoot a buck and didn't want to shoot anyone elses deer the first day. then I saw a buck but only had one shot over my right shoulder but I missed. Third weekend I had to go to Camp Ripley on Saturday for a physical since I am trying to join the national guard. So that would be the reason for the extended weekend. I wasn't very happy about having to drive all the way down there and back to the cabin. But oh well. All in all I was glad I got to go up to the cabin during hunting cause it is always nice having time to visit with everyone and hear all the stories they tell.
In October one of my friends came out from WA to visit for my birthday. We didn't do to much since I still had to work a few of the days but we did go out to eat a couple of times and it was just really nice to get to visit with him again.
I also moved into a house in watkins that me and my uncle are renting together. its not to bad really.
Now I am at my sister's for thanksgiving. It has been nice to see her and my brother in law and finally get to meet my nephew. We had a really good meal today and have just been relaxing.
Ok so this post has been a little out of order and I am sure I have missed some stuff but at least I finally updated. I still don't have internet so everyone will just have to bear with me. I may put some pics on here before the weekend is over. but will have to wait and see how I feel I guess.
Hope everyone had a Happy thanksgiving!

Real Quick

2007-09-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know quickly that I will be pulling out of Oak Harbor tomorrow morning if I get all my stuff done today that I have to do. I have been extremely busy this week with packing and a cleaning the apartment and all that fun stuff. I even got an award yesterday from my command! If anyone needs to get ahold of me anytime soon you will have to call my cell phone. We should make it to MN by Saturday afternoon. I think we will be staying one night somewhere on the way to MN so will take a couple of days to get there.
Hope all is well with everyone

WOW!!

2007-09-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple weeks now since I have done a post. I have been so busy. Between the wednesday night BBQ's at the Fleet, scraping paint and primering at the Fleet to get ready to paint, painting Bill and Christie's house, and trying to pack and take care of all my stuff to leave I have been extremely busy. Last wednesday Christie came up to visit which was extremely nice but also just added to the busyness.
Last weekend we went camping in Lyman since it was Labor Day weekend and Christie was here. It was so much fun! We went to the Tavern then after closing time a few people came back to the field to hang out. Then we took about an hour nap and went to breakfast and sat around and visited for a long time. After all that we decided we would stay another night. It is always a good time to hang out in Mont and Deb's field. And also very relaxing (something I definately needed). I did take a few pictures but will have to wait to post some of them until I put them on my hard drive.
I think I have decided to get my Uhaul trailer a couple days early and just stay with Bill until I leave so I have time to clean and shampoo the carpets so that way on the 12th I can relax a little before I have to go to the airport to pick Jim up. He is flying in late on the 12th to help me drive back to MN so I don't have to make the trip by myself again. Probably a good idea to have someone with me.
This week it has really hit me that I am leaving. Everyone seems to be getting all sappy on me already. I will really miss all of my friends as I look at many of them as my Washington Family since my family is so far away. The boys started getting sappy on me last night and tonight when I went to the BBQ at the Fleet some of the old guys were getting sappy on me. I will miss them all very much and will definately have to come back to visit them.
Well I need to get going and pack some more before bed.

Update

2007-08-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well there really hasn't been much going on the last week and a half. Last week wednesday the Fleet Reserve did a patio party and I did the BBQing for it. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot more people than expected. Then on Thurday I volenteered to be the bartender at the Regional convention for the Fleet Reserve. It was a lot of fun to talk to all the people that were there from the region.
Then Friday night Bill and I went to the Rendevue in Coupeville. Would have loved to be able to stay but I had to work and so did Bill. It wasn't as big as the other one that we went to earlier this year but was still fun to sit and visit with everyone. Saturday night I had watch so that was no fun. Sunday afternoon Ray Ray and I headed to Lyman for a BBQ that the tavern was hosting. There was a live Blue Grass Band. It was a lot of fun. We ended staying up there way to late, well a lot later than either one of us planned.
Saturday my command headed to Nellis Airforce Base for two weeks so I have been working everyday but not to much work to do without the jets here. Tonight I am BBQing once again at the Fleet Reserve for another patio party. But this will be the last one I cook at since I really have to start getting all my stuff done to leave since I have only 3 weeks left here.
Well hope all is well with everyone!

Fun Filled Weekend!

2007-08-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was really fun. It start off on Friday. I went to my separation physical on Friday. Then came home and went to the Fleet Reserve (local bar I hang out at). They were having a band and it was the first time the band was playing up there so thought I would check it out. So I was planning on only staying for a bit to check it out as I knew on Saturday I had a lot of stuff to do. But I ended up staying pretty much all night and walking home. So one of my friends decided he would walk me home and crash on my couch. So we made the walk to my house which wasn't bad about 15 minutes or so.
Saturday morning we were up early and decided to walk back to our trucks. It was a rough walk but we made it. About noon me and 3 of the guys went out to lunch and did some shopping on the way to Lyman as we were camping Saturday night so we could all go to the Lyman Tavern and then Sunday morning go tubing down the river. So we had a good time sitting around telling stories all of Saturday afternoon. Then we headed off to the tavern for some music and some fun. Then back to the field that we were camping in. I went to bed early as I knew today would be a long day. The boys all stayed up til 4am drinking.
So this morning we all headed out to the river to start our trip on the tubes. It took us almost 8 hours to go down the river and it was freezing. I would say that it was only about 60 degrees out and the water was cold to. It drizzled on us a little bit but looked like it was going to rain all day. We stopped about three fourths of the way down and built a fire to warm up since we were all turning blue. But some how I still think I got a tan or maybe even a little burned. Then once we were finally done with that me and the 4 boys that I went camping with went and broke down our camp and on the way home stopped for supper. I always get a kick out of hanging out with them. They are all so funny.
So all in all I had an extremely fun weekend. It has been quite a while since I have had a fun filled weekend around here. So it is about time!!! And we all made it home alive and unhurt!!
Hope all is well with everyone!

Slowly

2007-08-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

I have slowly started packing stuff in my apartment to prepare for the move to MN. As it gets closer to time to move I will pack more than just a couple of things here or there.
My dad has offered me a job for fall harvest which will be nice for me as I will be getting to MN in time for harvest season and will make it a little easier for me while I am making my transition into civilian life.
Other than that there hasn't been much going on around here at all.
Hope all is well with everyone!

Starting!

2007-07-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well I am starting to get all of my final appointments made so I can get everything done for getting out of the navy. I have made the decision not to work on my VA claim until I get to MN but I am still going to go talk to the VA guys here to see how to do everything. I think it will just be easier for me to do when I get back to MN. I made my appointment for my separation physical. It won't be for a couple of weeks yet but that is one less thing I have to worry about. Then I also called to make a dental appointment for a check up as I know that they would have made me do it when I check out with them. So I went in for my check up today and go back in the end of August to get my teeth cleaned. You would think it would be easier to just do it all at the same time but they don't do that here. I also have to find time to go to the personal property office so that I can get my paperwork for advanced travel and see what I all have to do since I am planning on moving all my stuff by myself instead of having the navy do it. I hear a lot of horror stories about the navy moving your stuff and I don't really have all that much anyways.
Those are the major things that I have to get done before I can go on terminal leave. I am getting excited and know that these next 45 days are going to go really fast. So I am thinking about starting to slowly pack my stuff so that I am not trying to do it all right before I get ready to move to MN. The thought of having to pack all my stuff kinda stresses me out but yet it also excites me. I am going to try to minimize how much junk I keep and haul back to MN with me so that I don't have to move so much! I know I have a lot of stuff in MN still too. Hopefully it won't take me to long to find a house when I get to MN. I am not to big on having to sleep on a couch and having all my stuff in storage. I would rather have all my own stuff. My roommate I had before the navy offered me a room at his house again but he isn't keen on have two cats in the house so that won't work. I think I would be better off just buying a house and that way I wouldn't have to worry about it. I really don't want to live in town. Would love to have a few acres out in the country somewhere but I guess I will see what I can find when I get to MN!
Hope all is well with everyone!

Finally!

2007-07-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

Finally my leave paper has been approved but now they don't know where it is. So if all goes well I should be in MN around September 15th or 16th. My last day of work will be September 13th so hopefully everything will go well and I will be able to leave on the 14th early in the morning.
Now I have a ton of stuff to get done in the next 50 days. And sounds like I will have to be on night shift for a while so it will be really hard to get anything done.
Well just thought I would give yall a quick update!

Night Shift :( YUCK!!!!

2007-07-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

So I thought I was only going to be on night shift Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. But I got to work today and found out that I will also be night shift on Thursday :(. I am not liking it already. By about 2030 tonight I was ready to crash. I was so tired as I woke up at 0500 today and couldn't sleep anymore. Then to top it off there are only about 10 people on nights as our squadron is going through ORA (chemical and biological warfare) training and they only put a select few on nights to do an inspection on one of our jets. Well today they told us that we will have flights tomorrow and Thursday nights, and I think Wednesday night too. This is not a good thing as we only have a few days to do a pretty big inspection and don't really have enough people for that much less launching jets too. My squadron doesn't make any sense at all to me.
So about the whole computer thing. I decided I would hold off on buying one as I don't think I will have internet in MN, at least not until I find my own place to live. And I couldn't really justify spending the extra money right now. It kinda bums me out since my computer is sooo slow and I always get the blue screen of death but oh well I am sure I will live using this computer for now.
My leave papers still haven't made it all the way through my chain of command yet but hopefully by the end of this week they will. I talked to my CO a couple of times about it so he got it moving but as of Thursday last week there were about 4 people it had to go through and this whole ORA training this week I think will slow it down again.
Well that is about all that is going on here. Didn't really do much this weekend at all.

Blue Screen of Death:(

2007-07-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

So for about the last week at least twice a day my computer gets the blue screen of death. This really is starting to piss me off. And to top it off my computer is so slow. It takes about 15 minutes or more for it to even start up. So I think I will be buying a new computer. I really didn't want to have to spend any extra money for now as I would like to save as much money as possible for when I get out of the navy. I have way more than enough money saved up to cover all the costs of everything but it is always nice to have that extra cash on hand just in case. But I think tomorrow I will set out on a search for a new laptop.

DISCOURAGED!!!

2007-07-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well I was starting to get all excited about starting a new part of my life last week, but this week is another story and it is only Monday. I am totally discouraged about everything. I don't want to start any real plans until my terminal (separation) leave is approved. But for the last 2 weeks my paper work for it has been sitting in the same spot and that is just the beginning of my chain of command. I have become very disgruntled about it all. Why does it take 3 weeks for my paper work to make it no where??? Well the answer seems simple, it is all because they think the longer they hold off the more possibility that I will reenlist.
Well here is the deal. I have made up my mind!!! I terribly hate my job, I dread getting up and having to go to work, and I have no satisfacion in my job. So there is no way I will reenlist. I wanted to extend because for some stupid reason I have always wanted to do a tour in Iraq and I knew my shop needed as much help as they could. So yes some of it was selfish cause I just wanted to serve in Iraq but also I was thinking of the command and my shop. But the command couldn't figure out if I could extend or not or at least they were playing the game thinking I would reenlist instead. So they screwed them selfs so they should quit screwing with my life and either approve or disapprove my leave so I can make plans. I want to start working as soon as I get to MN and I will but not full time. I want to be able to find a full time job but how am I supposed to put in applications when I don't know when I can go for interviews or when I can start. I know I can start after October 29th as that is my last official day in the navy but I would like to start sooner than that. So now What am I supposed to do. I have tried my chain of command and that hasn't gotten anywhere. The guy running my shop doesn't want me just to walk in the MMCO's office and ask for my paperwork. He says we should use the chain of command. But as we were at work late on Friday and knew I had to work Sat and Sun I was not happy and so when I saw the CO brought it to his attention. But he must have forgot. so I was going to call him and was advised not to. SO now there isn't much left I can do. But I need to know when my leave is going to start so I can plan everything (the move, all my medical stuff, and finding a job, and all else that applies to getting out of the military). So hopefully in the morning I get somewhere with my Senior Chief or I think I will go on strike and cause some problems in my command (which is never a good sign)!!
I just don't know what else to do. I routed my paperwork early enough that if it didn't get approved I could've started leave this friday and went down to NM and visited Christie but I checked on tickets and they have gone up over $100 in the last week. I am not about to pay that much to go to NM or much less anywhere else. So they pretty much just dicked me over to put it nicely!
Ok sorry but just had to vent a little out this whole thing!

Back Tracking!

2007-07-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I know it has been another week since I have posted on here so now I have to try to back track a little. So this could be another long post. And sorry but no pictures again!
So the 4th was a very long day for me. I got off watch and went and did laundry with Christie and then helped to pack the rest of the moving truck. Then we were off to the Fleet for the picnic and fireworks. Well I lasted til the fireworks started and then decided that I really needed some sleep. Even though I had way more energy than I should have for being up for over 40 hours! So I came home and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning I finally checked my phone and Christie sent me a message saying that she was staying an extra day. So Christie, Ben (the babysitter/good friend), the two kids and I all went out for breakfast. Then Christie and I went to Coupeville to the courthouse so I could finally file my response to the divorce papers. Then again we went back and packed more into the moving truck as we didn't get it all done on the 4th. Then once Bill got off work we all sat and had supper (I made corn on the cob, pork chops, and chicken all on the grill) and then it was relaxing time. I made Christie 13 CD's to listen to on the drive to NM and in the process of that I fell asleep on the floor! And since Christie and the kids left I have just been working and hanging out with Bill. Most nights I make supper for me and Bill so that he isn't eating fast food all the time and that way I always have someone to cook for because if it is just me I don't usually cook. Tonight we had roast, potatoes and carrots. It was really good! I made it in the crock pot so it cooked all day!
Work has been stressful which makes for really long days. The command is threatening to put us on 12 hour shift and if we still don't get enough work done they are threatening to make us work weekends too. But we can't help that they pushed all this extra work on us cause they didn't want to do it in Afghanistan which would have been quicker and easier over there, so instead they are making us work our butts off here too and everyone is getting burned out on it all. So I still get the little talks from the higher ups about me not sticking around until after deployment and actually the other day one of my senior chiefs pulled me aside and told me that he really was hoping that I would be there on deployment to keep my shop running somewhat good in the whole maintenance aspect of things. So he told me that he wanted me to get my CDI and run a shift. He also said that he wasn't going to try to talk me into reenlisting but just wanted me to get him through this one deployment. I told him that I already made all my plans for getting out and that I wasn't going to change my mind. I also mentioned that I was thinking of joining the national guards when I get out. He said that I have proven my self more than once in the command and he knows the good work I do so why would I want to start over in the guards. I told him I like the challenge and also like being the worker not the supervisor. So he left it at that and said to just think about it. But I am still ready to get out of the navy.
So today I finally got my Division Officer to track down my separation leave paper since I haven't heard anything about it and it has been about 2 weeks since I sent it up the chain of command. So I found out that my Maintenance Master Chief has it sitting on his desk and that it has been there for over a week. I am not impressed about that at all. So tomorrow I will have my supervisor go talk to him and see why he hasn't done anything with it yet. I don't want to make any set plans for anything until I know my CO has signed it and approved it. But it would be nice to have that done.
So other than that I really haven't done much of anything. Tomorrow is one of my Senior Chief's retirement parties which I am sure I will go to show my face but won't stay long since I am on duty all weekend and can't party anyways!
Hope all is well with everyone!

Not much Happening

2007-07-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

So there isn't much going on here. Last weekend we all went out for Christie's going away. Friday night we went to the VFW and Saturday we went to the Lyman Tavern. It was all pretty fun but still sad cause Christie and the kids are leaving. I have become really attatched to them.
So since the last time I did an update I have learned that most of my command (mainly the higher ups) are pretty upset that I am not extending for deployment. They all knew I wanted to and then all of a sudden my separation leave chit showed up on their desks. But like I have told all of them that have asked me about it, I decided not to even try since everyone had different answers to whether or not I could extend which most told me I couldn't since I am a first termer still (never reenlisted, still on my first enlistment) and I have enough stuff going on in my life that I have decided to get out. They all say that they will do all my paperwork and make it so I can extend but like I told my maintenance officer today, it's to little to late. I have made up my mind and have plans for getting out already. Granted my plans rarely work out but they are in progress at least. So I am sure I will have to explain it to everyone some more as they inquire about it but for now I just do my job and try to avoid anyone of higher rank!
So today has been a long day and tomorrow will be almost as bad. Today I went to work at 0630 and left about 1530 (which is early for us to leave by almost two hours) and then went to the commissary to buy food to BBQ tonight. Then I went to Bill and Christie's to help pack the moving truck. I also had a bunch of the guys from work come help so it would be quicker and easier (that would be what the food and beer was for: to bribe them into helping). It went a lot smoother and quicker than expected. Then at 2300 I came back to work for watch. This is going to be interesting. I have watch (playing on the computer and answering the phone) until 0730. Then after that I am on the move again. I am going to go home and shower and get laundry together and Christie and I are going to the laundry mat to do all kinds of laundry. It should be fun as it will be our last day together. Then after all the laundry we have to finish packing the moving truck and by that time it will be time to go down to the Fleet Reserve (kinda like the Legion or VFW) for a picinic and fireworks. The fireworks probably won't start til 2200 so it will be a late night. As soon as the fireworks are over we are going to leave. Christie will need to get as much sleep as possible since she is leaving at 0400 on Thursday and I am sure by time the fire works are over the kids will be ready for bed. And I will need to get some sleep to catch up for missing sleep tonight. Then Thursday morning I have to go get my eyes checked out so I can get some new glasses and maybe even try contacts again. I haven't wore contacts since before I joined the navy, maybe high school was the last time I wore them.
So this will be a really long few days.
Oh and today I talk to Shorty since he has heard that I will be moving back to MN and he asked if I was going to wanna work right away or wait a while. I said that if I could find a job I would like to work pretty much right away. Maybe not full time but some extra money would be nice. So he asked if I would like to bartend again and I said yes if he had a job for me. So when I get to MN in September me and Shorty will sit down and talk about it and he said that he would give me as many hours as he could but couldn't promise anything. It is all good for the time being as I will still collect a paycheck from the navy til my November 1 paycheck (that should be the last one). So I guess things are starting to fall together. This really relieves a lot of stress for me. Now I have a place to stay when I get to MN until I find my own place and a job for some extra money.
Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe 4th!!

It Just Hit Me :(

2007-06-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

So today for some reason it just hit me all the stuff I have to do before I go on terminal leave and the short time I have to do it. So I talked to the chick that does all the paperwork for separations. Which was good cause she had no idea I was getting out. So she gave me a checklist with even more stuff to do. To top all of that off we are very short handed at work so it is hard to even start thinking about all the stuff I have to get scheduled and done.
I routed my leave request for my separation leave today. If they approve it I should go on leave the night of September 13th. I was going to make it earlier and come back to WA to get my DD214 (separation paperwork) but they will just mail it to me. So now I have to decide if I want to move everything myself or just have the navy move it for me. I would rather do it myself so I know nothing will get broke but would be easier to have the navy do it. I guess I will think about it for a while and then decide.
To top it all off Dustin called me today and wants to get together sometime to talk about how to get me to sign off on the divorce papers that he filed so it would be easier. But since I disagree with some of it and when he filed it he knew I would I don't quite understand his thinking. So of course I got pissed and told him he should've thought of it when he filed the papers or in the 3 months he was supposed to file the papers and never did. So after talking to Christie and thinking about it all I called and left him a message to call me after he got off work and we would discuss the whole thing. I guess if he doesn't call in the next hour that means he doesn't wanna talk about it and I will file my response tomorrow for the papers.
I don't know why all of a sudden I am so stressed out about everything but maybe it is because my plans seem to never pan out and so part of me just wants to sit back and let whatever happen that is going to happen and the other part of me wants to just get everything taken care of now so I don't have to worry about it later.
Not much else is going on here but figure I will try to keep everyone updated so everyone knows what is going on with everything and Rose doesn't send me emails telling me to update this thing LOL!

Just Quick

2007-06-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here is just a quick update on what is going on out here. Christie (dustin's step mom and one of my best freinds out here) has decided instead of moving to New Mexico with the kids on July 2oth, she is moving July 5th. This very much shortens our time together. It is going to be a hard time with out her as she is my shoulder to cry on and the one I look to to help lift my spirits when I fall down. But on the upside Bill (dustin's dad) will still be here when I leave to move back to MN. The two of them along with Christie's two kids have been very much my family. I will miss them when they leave and I am sure Bill will feel the same way when I leave in September.
I was supposed to go to NM the end of July but with not extending for deployment I have been getting tighter and tighter with my money as I still don't have a job lined up for when I get to MN. I am sure my friend I will be staying with when I get there won't mind if I don't chip in for rent but that would be pretty rude of me to do. So I am trying to save as much money as possible before moving to MN. So Christie said she is saving a lot of money moving two weeks early and would pay for my plane ticket to NM to visit the end of july so I could be there for her Mom and Dad's anniversary and meet the rest of the family as they have all heard so much about me. So tomorrow at work I will have to run a leave chit through fairly quickly to see if the command will even let me take any leave. I won't be able to stay down there to long but would be a fun little trip to make.
Now that her and the kids are gone I am definately ready to leave and move back to MN. I will still go over and make supper for Bill after work almost everyday as I love to cook but can't cook for myself. This way we all know I will eat one meal a day at least and Bill will have good food to eat for one meal a day.
So that is all that is going on here.
Hope all is well with everyone

Plans change again!

2007-06-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

What a suprise! not!!!! Well when I was in MN I decided I wanted to extend for deployment to Iraq and then get out. But I was informed this week that if I didn't reenlist I wasn't going to Iraq. So once again my plans have changed. I am starting to think that I should just quit making plans and let life happen as it will. But being me I like to know what is going to happen in my life and try to plan for it all.
I was served with divorce papers on wednesday which I knew were coming but for some odd reason still upset me but not as much as it upset Bill and Christie (dustin's dad and step mom). Then thursday I was informed that if I don't reenlist I won't be going on deployment. Well I don't think I can handle another 2 years here in WA so I will be getting out in October. I will go on terminal leave either September 11 or 21. Ironic how I joined the navy because of 9-11 and could possible start my terminal leave the same day 6 years later. Granted October will only be 5 years in but I did join because of 9-11-01. I will never forget that day!
So now I am left with the decision of what to do with my life. What a stressful week!!!
I have decided that I want to join the Minnesota National Guard when I am done with the navy. I have always wanted to make a career of the military but feel as though the navy is just not for me. Now the problem will be if the National Guard with take me or not. I know I have to lose almost 10 pounds before then since I gained almost that while I was home on leave but other than that hopefully I will be good to go. I will call the army recruiter on Monday to talk to him even thought won't be able to do anything til I get to MN.
I will be back some time in September then in October I will come back to WA for a weekend and a day to check out and get my DD214 form for my discharge from the navy. I was stressing yesterday about being so short on time and finding a place to live and finding a job. But one of my friends that lives in Watkins said I could stay at his place (with the cats) until I found a place to live. That takes a huge weight off my shoulders as it is hard to find a place that will accept pets. So now I am on the hunt for a job at least part time. And then when I get to MN I will worry about the rest I guess.
As far as being served with divorce papers... In the state of WA there is a 90 day waiting period for it to be final as long as it isn't contested. The papers don't say anything about money and I am going to file my response and ask for some of the money back from all the rent, cable, and electicity from when I was on deployment to afghanistan. Since the whole time I was there he said he couldn't afford to pay anything but all his friends said that when I gone he always had money. But Christie said that Dustin said that he knows I will file for at least some of the money back so he isn't going to fight it so that will make it easier. So hopefully in 90 days it will be done and over with.
So that is all that is going on! but hopefully life will get less difficult soon!

What a Day

2007-06-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well Today at work I found out that first term enlisted can't extend at all. I guess I could do a lot of paperwork and try to get my CO and XO sign off that I am essential to the mission in Iraq then it would go to Bupers to get approved or disapproved. There is a 50/50 chance that it will get approved especially since the navy is trying to down size still. So I will talk to my Career councilor on Friday again and then talk to an Army recruiter about joining the Nation Guard in MN. The way it is sounding it would be easier if I would just get out and join the NG. I do still want to go to Iraq but the chances would still be good that I would go over with the NG. Right now there is a few commands with the MN NG in Iraq.
So I guess I just need to sit down and decide what avenue is best for me. My councilor did tell me I could just reenlist for 2 years and then move on. But I would be on sea duty the whole time. That would mean I would go on 2 more deployments at least. And i don't get a bonus. I said if he could get me a bonus I would think about it as I really don't like my job!
Ok so enough about that since I really don't know what to do yet. After work today I got served with divorce papers. So hopefully in 90 days it will be over! I thought I would be happy since Dustin has yet another girlfriend. But I was actually pretty pissed. Christie and Bill (Dustin's dad and step mom) are also pissed which is understandable. But still I will be close with them no matter what.
Well that is all I have to share right now. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

The Marine! Thought this was good.

2007-06-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Please don't delete this until you send it on,

Let's send it around the world.

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad.

For those who take the time to read it,

you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom.

It makes you truly thankful

for not only the Marines,

but ALL of our troops.

THE MARINE

We all came together,

Both young and old

To fight for our freedom,

To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,

We stand our ground,

And we protect our country

From all terror around.

Peace and not war,

Is what some people say.

But I'll give my life,

So you can live the American way.

I give you the right

To talk of your peace.

To stand in your groups,

and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,

I don't bitch, I don't whine.

I'm just one of the people

Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,

Stronger than any machine.

I'm the immortal soldier,

I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,

And leave from your home.

Fight for the people who hate you,

With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,

Fight for the young.

So they all may have,

The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,

Fight for the poor

Fight for the cripple,

Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,

Do what I've done.

For if you stand up for freedom,

You'll stand when the fight's done.

By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps

USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003

Hey Dad,

Do me a favor and label this "The Marine"

and send it to

everybody on your email list.

Even leave this letter in it.

I want this rolling all over the US ;

I want every home reading it.

Every eye seeing it.

And every heart to feel it.

So can you please send this for me?

I would but my email time isn't that long

and I don't have much time anyway.

You know what Dad?

I wondered what it would be like to truly understand

what JFK said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country,

I do not cower from this responsibility.

I welcome it."

Well, now I know.

And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do.

Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife,

and I will miss the birth of our first born child,

I would do it 70 times over to fight for

the place that God has made for my home.

I love you all and I miss you very much.

I wish I could be there when Sandi has our baby,

but tell her that I love her, and Lord willing,

I will be coming home soon.

Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.

Aaron

Please let this marine (and all our military)

know we care by passing his poem onto your friends

even if you don't usually take time to forward mail...do it this time!

Thanks.

If this touched you as much as it touched me,

please forward it on.

Let's help Aaron's dad spread the word ....

FREEDOM isn't FREE

someone pays for you and me.

God bless you!

Frocked!

2007-06-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ok well I guess I will start with this weekend. We didn't do to much at all really. I had watch on Friday night. After watch I went home and took a couple hour nap then went with Christie to pick up Bill's father's day present. She bought him a motorcycle for father's day. It is a very nice bike. So we trailered it home and set it up with a bow and banner in hopes that he would be surprised when he got home from work. He was in total shock and don't think it really set in until Sunday morning that it was really his bike now since it was one of his really good friends. While we were all sitting outside looking at the bike when Bill got home from work there was a police chase in the trailer park right past Bill and Christie's house. They finally stopped right up the road. There were about 10 cop cars. That was pretty interesting.
Saturday night we went to the Lyman Tavern again as it was one of the guys birthdays (one of the owner's brother's). It was a fun night but i was sooo tired as I have been sleep deprived lately.
Sunday I layed on the couch all morning then I went to Bill and Christie's to wash my uniform as I am getting frocked this afternoon. Then we all went out for supper for father's day. We just went to one of the mexican restraunts in town. The food was good as always but the service was really bad. Then we went back and watched a couple of movies and of course I took a nap during both movies!
That brings us to today. I am finally getting frocked today since everyone else got frocked on May 31st and I was in MN for that. Frocked is pretty much where they give you permission to wear the next rank. I have been wearing it but now I will have permission to wear it and I will have the paperwork so I can get a new ID that says I am an E5. I am sure they will take pictures so if they do I will have to try and put them on here but for now I will just put the ones on here from the day we found out who made rank. Ok well I am not sure how to put the pictures at the bottem so they are on the top of the post instead

Pictures!

2007-06-16T05:03:00.001-07:00

I finally got some pictures up on the webshots site again. Here is a couple of them!

This is Jim in his derby truck getting lined up to do some hitting!

Here is mini playing in the back of grandpa's truck!

Here is Sarah and mini wandering around outside after the rain quit!

Here is mom and larry visiting in the garage at grandma and grandpa's.

Navy Decisions

2007-06-16T02:13:00.000-07:00

So as you all know I am trying to decide what to do with the navy. My contract is up in October. I really want to go to Iraq in September which means I would either have to extend or reenlist. I figure if I reenlist now I would end up having to do 20 years and retiring since I will have 5 years in October.
Anyways, this trip to MN I thought would help me make up my mind on what to do. I think I have decided that I will be going to Iraq no matter what. But I still need to talk to our Career counciler on Monday as he took friday off. I am leaning more towards just extending and then getting out and moving to MN. If I do that I still have to figure out fast what I want to do with my life outside of the navy. I know I want to go to school but also will have to have a full time job to help pay bills and support myself while going to school.
Well I guess I have an awefully lot to decide in a very short time.

What I all did in MN!

2007-06-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well I did an awefully lot while I was on leave. I will not bore you all with a lot of details in hopes that this post won't be as long as most have been lately.
Ok on the 31st I just kinda hung around dad and Sheri's during the day. Then in the evening Steph and I went to supper and then a softball game. After the game we went out for a few drinks. It was a lot of fun to finally get to spend time with Steph again!
Then came the weekend. I spent the days out at my grandparent's on the Nistler side since my mom and Larry were up from Iowa, My aunt, uncle and cousins were up from Kansas, and my aunt, uncle and cousins from Elk River were all at my grandparents. It was a lot of fun to see them all. Then the evenings I spent up town seeing everyone there. I had a great time! I was supposed to go to Farming for Goatstock but never made it out of Watkins. Then Sunday morning I was at Shorty's and an old friend of mine came in saying he was leaving to go to a Demolition Durby in Sauk Center. I wanted to go so he said I could ride with him and another girl. Him and his brother both ran trucks in the Durby. Jim took 5th and Bruno took 1st. I had a blast at the durby. I hadn't been to one in so long! Then we went back to Watkins after the durby to celebrate Jim and Roxy's birthdays.
Monday thru Wednesday I spent at the Nistler grandparents catching up with everyone. I went fishing almost everyday with my cousin Hannah. I had a blast. I didn't really fish. I sat on the dock with her and took her fish off for her since she didn't want to take any bullheads off and that seemed to be all she was catching. I spent the evenings in town hanging out with some friends.
Then comes thursday and time for Winstock!!! I went to Winstock with Steph. Her and I had our own campsite and it was quite a hike to the campsites of everyone we knew. It was nice and relaxing. In the mornings we would get up and relax by the fire for a few hours and make samores for breakfast. Then once we figured we had relaxed enough then we would wander around and visit everyone we knew before the music started. I wish I would have got some pictures but me and steph both forgot to take pictures the whole weekend. Oh well. We saw a lot of people we knew. One whole group that we knew niether one of us has seen for probably 3 or 4 years. So it was nice to hang out with them part of the weekend. Sunday morning we packed up and headed home in great need of showers!!!
Sunday night I was supposed to meet my old roommate (from before I joined the navy) at Shorty's for a drink but he never showed up so I ended up hanging out with a couple of guys I knew. It was fun to sit around an laugh about the weekend.
Then there was monday and tuesday. Monday I went to my grandparents on the Wegner side for a while to visit. It was really good to see that grandma and grandpa are still doing pretty good and to get to catch up and visit for a while. Then I stopped at the Nistler's again in hopes that my uncle John would've got there early so I could see him. But he didn't. Then I had to go to Watkins to make the guys supper and help work on the durby car that ran in the durby today and took 2nd! I promised the guys since I got home that I would make supper for them one night but it never worked out til Monday. They were supposed to let me help on the car but really they didn't. I got to vaccuum it out and fetch tools! But I still had fun. Then my old roommate came and had a couple of drinks at Shorty's with me since we still hadn't hung out since I got home. Then Tuesday. I went out to my Nistler grandparent's again knowing that John and Pam would be there and even though we live in the same state I only seem to see them when we are home at the same time. But now hopefully I will get to go see them once they return from MN and SD. Then Tuesday afternoon Jim picked me up so we could go pick up the rest of the parts for his durby car. I told him I would help as some of the things he needed would take 2 people to load. So he picked me up at Nistlers and we went and got the parts and he dropped me off. I had supper at the nistlers and visited then off to town I went again!
Wednesday was the day I was dreading most. I really didn't want to have to leave MN and all my family and friends. This was the first time I was in MN in 15 months and knew I wouldn't be able to come back til next year. I stopped at the Nistlers to say goodbye to grandma, grandpa, rose and the kids, and John and Pam. And of course I had to get my picture taken with Mini as she is my god daughter. Then I was off to my dad's to load up and head out.
I left around 10am and really wanted to stay for longer but knew I needed to get back to WA. I also knew I was going to drive through at least one bad storm before I even got out of MN. And it was bad. But all in all wasn't to bad of a drive back.
So I guess this post is a lot longer than planned but oh well. I will try to post pictures on my Webshots tonight or tomorrow!

Made it home!

2007-06-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ok well I made it home safe. I worked today and now I am on watch from 2330 to 0730. I am not to impressed about it but oh well. I will survive.
I know I have a lot of updating to do so I am sure I will do it later tonight. For now I have some other stuff to work on.

Finally in MN!!!!

2007-05-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to MN last night. I got here a lot later than expected but got here safe. It was a lot slowerer going through the mountains since I had the dirt bike in the back and the truck handled a lot worse with it. Then it rained from the time that I got to I-94 til after I got through Bismark, ND. It rained hard enough that we couldn't drive the speed limit and you couldn't see much at all. Then along with the rain came the really strong winds. So needless to say it took longer than planned to get here but got to my dad's late last night safe and sound.

Here I come MN!!!!

2007-05-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

So I am more than excited to go to MN!! I so can not wait to get back and see everyone! I miss everyone so much!
I am trying to pack and I have never packed this much stuff to go to MN before. I am to excited to actually think about what to bring and what not to bring so I am pretty much just packing everything in sight! I really don't want to work tomorrow but that is the way it all worked out. I think I will leave work early as I have some stuff to take care of before I leave then I will go back to check out on leave and then be on the road to MN!!!
It has been way to long since I have been in MN! You just can't find the kind of people out here as you can in MN and family is always nice to be around.
Since I have been going through everything with dustin I have found that people out here, with the exception of dad and mamma (Bill and Christie) just don't give me the kind of support I need. I have always been the type for hugs and kisses and just can't find that here.
This weekend has brought a lot into perspective for me. There are people I work with that I thought were my real friends then they say or do stuff to make me realize they aren't. Everyone tells me that since Dustin has moved on so should I, but I just don't seem to be able to. I go out and flirt but that is it. Can't seem to connect with anyone anymore but still people that say they are friends judge me on flirting and I don't think it is fair. He moved on before I even came home from Afghanistan and still I have been faithful and still I am the one they pass judgement on.
So I think this trip to MN will help me in realizing how unfair life is but at the same time how lucky I am to have an awesome family and friend support system. This will give me time to enjoy life without getting judged by every move I make!
I have to be to work early in the morning but should check out on leave about 1630 and hopefully be on the road by 1700. This will hopefully mean I will be in MN around 2000 Wednesday night. But that will all depend on how tired I am and how much I have to nap on the way. I can't wait to see everyone.
Sorry for the rant in the middle of the blog but it is just very upsetting to me!
Hope all is well with everyone!

Me and Dustin

2007-05-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't talked to Dustin in about a month or so. He avoids me more than ever. I have found out a lot in the last couple of months that put all of these problems we were having in to major prospective for me. I is alway hard when I am out and someone decides that they think I need to know what Dustin is doing and who he is doing.
Yesterday he gave his dad a copy of the papers that he is filing for the divorce so I could see them. I don't totally agree with them but we will see what happens. He still hasn't filed for the divorce therefore I haven't been served with any papers. I pretty much told him that since it was his decision not to even try to work things out that he would have to file the papers. So hopefully I will be served with the papers when I get home from MN. And then once the papers are filed there is a 90 day waiting period before the judge will sign the papers.
This whole this has been really stressful for me since I haven't done anything wrong and he won't tell me anything. But his family has been awesome and totally supportive of me.
So that is where that all stands.

I Made E-5!!!

2007-05-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

So it is about time that I made E-5. I have taken the test 4 times so now I finally made it. When they told us yesterday at work I was so wild once it really set in. Needless to say I didn't really get much work done. They are trying to convince me to get my CDI (colladeral duty inspector) qual. This would mean that I would inspect the work the other people in my shop do. This wouldn't be a bad thing but they also want me to get it so I could go to night shift and run the shift. This too isn't really a bad thing but I am not to sure if I really want to do that.
SO now I have run into a huge dalema. I was contimplating extending for deployment to Iraq since a couple of weeks ago we found out that we would be leaving a few months early for deployment and going to Iraq. For some silly reason I have always wanted to go. I think it is because that is where all the action is. The problem with that is that I have two cats and no one to take care of them. One of the girls at work volentold her roommate that if I decided to go to Iraq that he was going to take care of the cats.
If I decide to go on deployment I would be able to save up a lot of money as I wouldn't be paying rent or bills and the truck is already paid off.
So this leaves me with another dalema. Now that I made E-5 do I stay in the navy or do I get out of the navy???? I always said if I made E-5 I would stay in. This would crush all my plans I have already made for when I get out but that seems to happen a lot lately.
A very wise man told me once that the navy is good but not if you are married. And since I won't be married much longer and really don't ever plan on getting married again ever!! But now I don't know what I should do. I am hoping that my trip to MN will help put everything into perspective for me. Maybe I will be able to decide what I want to do with my life. I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up!!
My thoughts are if I stay in the navy I may as well stay in for a full 20 years. But also I don't really like my job all that much so I may decide to change jobs. If anyone has any insight on all of this I would greatly appreciate the input. Maybe someone can help me out with how to know what to do with my life.

Slacking!!

2007-05-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well I really meant to keep the blog more up to date especially since I was in California. But obvious that didn't work and I have almost two weeks to catch up on. So I will do my best to fit everything in!
So I will start with the day our jets got to China Lake. It was Wednesday May 9Th and our jets showed up late in the afternoon. We had a pretty early night since all of our missions were done for the day once the jets got in. So we did all of our daily work and fixed them then went to the hotel to BBQ. Every shop took turns BBQing so that was nice. We didn't have to go out to eat all the time. Thursday we had to be to work by 0600 and then didn't get out of work til after 2100. So we all went out for supper at Denny's and then went to one of the bars in town to hang out for a while. Friday we had a fairly long day then BBQ ed and went out again.
We had the weekend off so Saturday we went to Six Flags. It was so much fun!! Made me wanna go to Valleyfair when I get to MN! I miss when we were kids and would go ride rides all day and have a blast. So that was a very long day as we left at 0700 and got back to the hotel at 0100. Then Sunday was my shops turn to BBQ so I did all the shopping and preparing for that. We had corn on the cob (made on the grill) and hamburgers. We stayed up late that night hanging out and having a few beers as my chief had all the left over beer in his room and wanted to get rid of it.
So then Monday we went back to work and it was a fairly early day so we went back and BBQ ed again. Then of course went to the bar. Tuesday was a very long day for me! We went into work at about 0630 and then at 1100 me and one of the mechs had to go on a road trip to LAX (Los Angeles Airport). One of the jets was having problems for my shop and we didn't have the part to fix it. And it had to be fixed so they could fly it. So they were shipping us the part from Seattle to LAX. Unfortunately we thought when they told us we needed to go we thought the part was on the way to Seattle from Whidbey Island but it wasn't. So once we got to LAX which is about a 3 hour drive the part had just got to Seattle with no scheduled flight yet. So a little later we got another phone call saying the part would land at LAX at 2200. So we went to the air cargo people to double check where to pick it up. The air cargo people told us to pick it up at baggage claim but we wouldn't be able to pick it up til about midnight. This gave us over 10 hours to waste in LA. So the guy that I was with grew up an hour and half from LA so he knew where everything was. We went to Vennis Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, and then back to Santa Monica Pier for supper and pictures of everything lit up. By time we were done with all of that we went back to the air port and hung around baggage claim for about an hour and a half to get our part. By this time it was 2330 and we both decided that it would be a really go idea to get some energy pills and energy drinks. We both drank energy drinks on the way down there but after so long we were both getting a little tired. LOL He wanted to see if I would do the potty dance on the way home so he got me a huge energy drink. He wanted me to do the potty dance cause he did it twice on the way down there and both times I just laughed at him.
So we made it back to the hotel at about 0300. We were both beat from the extremely long day but for some odd reason I couldn't sleep. The next morning neither one of us had to go to work. I really didn't mind that as they all had to launch the jets back to Whidbey and then pack all of our gear and load it on the truck. So I just relaxed til about 1100 when we had to head to base to the air terminal. We ended up waiting at the air terminal for 3 1/2 hours for the plane to come pick us all up to head back to Whidbey.
I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the weather in China Lake but it is always nice to come home and not have to live in a hotel room with another person. I was really glad to be back home. So Wednesday I relaxed. Thursday I hung out with Dustin's Step mom (Christie) and the rest of the family. Friday I didn't do much during the day and then at night me, Christie and Ben (The live in babysitter at Dad and Christie's) all went out for a while. It was nice to get to see everyone again. It had been a long time since I have been out in Oak Harbor. Saturday I went to a friends wedding then took a nap. Then Saturday night I met Dad and Christie in Lyman at the tavern since they had a date before going out. We hung out at the tavern and enjoyed the karaoke. Dad and Christie ended up leaving early as they have been sick for two weeks now and were not feeling good at all. I ended up staying all night and spending the night up there.
Sunday was another relaxing day then I went to Dad and Christie's for supper and hung out.
So that brings us to today. I went to the gym this morning then to work. Then I have been relaxing. I did have to go pick up my dirt bike from a friend's house since he needed the garage space and still is waiting for parts for my bike.
Well I hope I didn't totally bore everyone with this incredibly long blog. I am way behind on pictures but will hopefully put them on the website soon. I will let everyone know when I do.
I should be in MN on May 30th in the evening and will be there for a full two weeks this time!!!

Our first couple of days in China Lake!

2007-05-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well our first couple of days here in China Lake have been really relaxed. Our jets have been in Las Vegas since this weekend and won't get here til tomorrow afternoon. So we got here yesterday morning about 1045. Then we unpacked all of our gear and set up our shops. Then we were informed that we wouldn't be working til wednesday afternoon. So I took this as a good oppertunity to sit in the sun since there really isn't any chance of that happening in WA. There has been some problems with our jets so right after we got here yesterday a couple of the guys left for a road trip to Vegas to bring parts. Then last night we found out that there were more problems so another couple of people left early this morning to go and try to fix them. They are still gone and late this afternoon they needed even more parts so another couple of guys left to bring them. It is really a hassle having us here and our jets there. But hopefully they will get here tomorrow so we can start fixing them and don't have to run parts 4 hours away!
So I spent all day in the sun and am starting to think that it wasn't such a good idea. But since I am not in the sun much anymore i burn then within a couple of days I am white again. So hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I won't look so much like a lobster. We had a BBQ today and decided that it is probably a lot cheaper to BBQ everyday than go out to eat so I think we will have a BBQ pretty much everyday before we leave.
That is pretty much all that is going on here. Hope all is well with everyone!

Races!

2007-05-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

So Saturday night me, Christie (dustin's step mom), her two kids and Ben (the babysitter) all went to Skagit speedway for the car races. It was a lot of fun. the track is clay and the ground is still really wet from all the rain we get so there was a lot of accidents. The accidents are the best part of it I think but thankfully no one got hurt.
Then today Dustin's dad made me Thanksgiving dinner cause I have been craving it since I was gone for the holidays. So Bill thought he would be nice enough to cook it for me!! They are an awesome family to be apart of. It was really really good!!!
Well in the morning I will be off to China Lake, CA for about 10 days so I am not to sure if I will have internet or not. If I do I will try to do some updates on here but if not I will do them when I get back!
Hope everyone is doing well!

Physical Fitness Assesment

2007-05-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

So today we did our PFA. We had to go to work first so I was extremely tired but I still passed. My back has been really bothering me for quite a while but haven't gone to the doctor yet cause the last time I went they told me it was cause my posture is bad. but I have good posture til my back really starts hurting and then my posture gets worse cause it feels better. I did good on my sit ups and push ups but the run wasn't so good. I was the the third to the last to cross the line in the command but I still passed and I guess that is what counts.
Hope everyone is doing well!

It's been a while

2007-05-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ok I know it has been a while. I have been very busy with work and all. So I will do my best to update you all on what has been going on here.
Here goes. I will start out with work. I started out on day shift when we got back from Afghanistan. Then they decided to move me to night shift since one of the guys on nights needed to get moved to days since he was having personal problems. All was fine with that except I couldn't sleep while I was on night shift. I would sleep about two or three hours and that is it. That in itself just made life stressful for me as I never had any energy and still couldn't sleep. So finally I got moved back to day shift. One of the guys on days had to have knee surgery and I got enough people to talk to my boss. So when he asked me about it I told him I really wanted to go to days so I could sleep again. So now I am back on day shift. We have been really busy at work since we returned to the states since all of our jets had to go through major inspections. In doing so we had to pretty much take the whole jet apart each time. Mind you we have 4 jets and about to get a 5th which will also have to go through the same inspection. Right now our last jet is still all tore apart but next week we should get the 5th one and have to tear that one apart. They are usually like that for at least a month so we have been over lapping inspections.
On a different note for work. I am leaving Monday to go to China Lake, CA for a week and a half. This is just a small detatchment. Basically practice for our pilots and air crew and they also work with other aircraft. It shouldn't be to bad as long as our two jets work good the whole time. There are only a few of us going. The other day we found out that it is 95-99% sure our squadron will leave about 3 months earlier for deployment than was planned and instead of going back to Afghanistan they will be going to Iraq. About the time that they are leaving I will be starting my terminal leave. Therefore I won't be going with. I have been thinking of maybe extending my contract so I could go with since I have an urge to go to Iraq but don't think I will. I would have to find someone to take care of the cats and don't think I really want to do my job any longer than I have to. I really dislike my job.
Now I will hit up the fun stuff we have been doing around here. There really isn't to much that we have been doing around here for fun just a few things. We were making a point to going to the Lyman Tavern about every other weekend for a while. This is just a small tavern but on friday and saturday nights they have kareoke and it is a really freindly little place to go. It reminds me a lot of home so I enjoy going even though lately I have been sober driver and I don't sing at all ever! It is always good company. This past weekend I went to Rendevous with Dustin's Dad, Step Mom, her two kids and a couple of other friends. It was so much fun! When I move back to MN I will have to get into these! It is where they camp like they are back in the early 1800's. So we slept in canvas tents, cooked on the fire, wore old time clothes, ect. The also had modern type camp sites set up but mostly old time. It was awesome seeing that and being a part of it. They also did black power shooting (long rifle and pistol), hawk and knife throwing, and archery. The kids also got to shoot and throw. I was amazed to see how many people are really into this and the age variety. This weekend I will post the pictures on my Webshots so everyone can see them. Sorry I don't have any of me but I am sure you will get the idea of what it was all about!
Alright now the last thing that I have to update about is Me and Dustin. We've been having problems since I got back to the states and we haven't been living together since March. He told me a couple weeks ago that he is filing for divorce. I had no idea what had gone wrong but it is almost positive now that he is getting back with his ex and that is why we started having problems and he refused to try to work things out. This has been a lot for me to deal with but I am dealing ok. On the other note, His dad and step mom are very disappointed in him and totally disagree with his decisions that he has been making. His dad and step mom have made it very clear that they still want me to be a part of the family no matter what happens and I fully intend to. We were planning on moving to New Mexico with them but now I am going to Move to MN and just go visit New Mexico as often as possible. Dustin's Dad has asked many times about coming to MN to go hunting and I told him anytime he wants he will be more than welcome to come visit! It is a little bit of a weird situation but they definately are my family too. I haven't told anyone about what has been going on with me and Dustin with the hopes that he would have a change of heart and want to try to work things out. It is very much so obvious that I was totally wrong in that hope. I know everyone is going to have more questions and their own opinions about it all but I really don't want to answer any questions or hear others opinions. I have beat myself up enough over all of this and still do as this is not the first divorce and I look down on that very harshly. Hopefully it won't be a horrible divorce and hopefully be over sooner rather than later.
Well now I will be gone from the 7th to the 17th in California and then I will be back for about a week and a half and then I will be on my way to MN. I plan on leaving the 29th of May and driving to MN. I will be in MN hopefully 2 weeks. I am very excited to come home as I haven't been home since march of 2006. It is well past due for a visit!!!
Hope this finds everyone well!

Dad's Visit

2007-04-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't been up to much since I have started night shift. It seems to take a lot out of me.
My dad came to visit last weekend. It was a very short trip but very much appreciated by me. I hadn't seen him in over a year so it was about due time for us to see each other again. We didn't do to much other than relax and went out to supper with Dustin's Dad, Step Mom, and her two kids.
Other than that I am just trying to get used to working at night and sleeping during the day which isn't working so well for me. I had forgotten how exhausting it can be to change shifts.

The Fun Of Navy Life!

2007-03-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I went to work this morning to find out that they are moving me to nights. So now I am at home and can't sleep cause I am not used to sleeping during the day at all. So it will be a long night at work tonight and for the next week or so til I get used to working at night and sleeping during the day.
But who knows I may not end up working tonight anyways. I have a doctors appointment today to get some moles removed from my back and that means I will have stitches in my back for a few days at least. I told the doctor that the last time I had moles removed I was milking cows and they never told me I couldn't lift anything and I tore all the stitches out the day after they put them in. So he said that he would recomend me not to lift anything for a few days. He is going to remove four or five moles today. I had gone in to get them looked at because a few of them have been growing and are getting really bothersome to me. While the doctor was looking at them he found a couple that are really dark or something along that line and said that he would just remove those too. The doctor is way better than our squadron doctor so I am going to try to keep seeing him instead. Today when I go in I am going to mention to him that my back is starting to really hurt again and see if he can order an MRI for me. I had gone to physical therapy for my back last year and they said that my posture was causing all the pain but all the exercises they made me do just made my back hurt even worse so that only lasted a couple of months.
Going to TAP class last week really brought on the reality of me being out of the navy in 6 months. I am really excited but really nervous at the same time. Getting out of the navy means having to find a civilian job that pays good enough to live and finding a place to live. I don't really think I will have a problem finding a job but I think I will end up having to buy a house since it is really hard to find places to rent that will allow pets. And since I have two cats I need a place I can have pets. Everyone tells me just to get rid of the cats but they have become my babies and I don't think I will ever be able to get rid of them.
Well that is all that is going on here.
Hope all is well with everyone!

New Pictures!!!

2007-03-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ok So I finally got new pictures up on the webshots website. So There are a lot of them from afghanistan and the trip home. Hope you all enjoy them. I will try to put more pictures up this weekend from around here in Washington so you all can see what we do in our spare time!!
Hope all is well with everyone.

Trying to keep up!

2007-03-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well I have been trying really hard to keep up with this thing but of course that hasn't worked yet. My internet quit working for about a week so now I think I finally have that working again so I can atleast use my internet.
I am trying to upload pictures to my webshots as I am typing this. hopefully it will work so I can get caught up with all of that too. I have so many pictures to add so hopefully I will get at least a few done tonight!
Well the last week has been pretty busy. I took 4 days off of work since I needed a vacation and Dustin's step mom's parents came up to visit from New Mexico. So The last week had been spent hanging out with them. We did some really cool stuff. We went to Coupeville and walked around all the little shops by the water, we went to Seattle and went on an Argosy Cruise, went out a couple of nights, and did just a lot of hanging out and relaxing.
Monday I started TAP (Transition Assistance Program) Class. In this class we learn a lot about transitioning to Civilian life from military life. A few things that we have learned about is our VA benefits, finding jobs, writing resume's, best way to transform our military experience into civilian terms, and how to do good in an interview. Those are just a small portion of what we have learned about so far and we still have two days left of class.
Other than that there isn't to much going on around here. It is still cold and rainy but that is no suprise for Washington. I am definately ready for it to start warming up so we can start camping and tubing on the weekends.
Well that is all for now. Hope this finds everyone well!!

Home!

2007-02-27T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well It has taken some adjustment to being home again but it is definately nice to be back in the states. I know I haven't updated this thing for a while but I have been busy busy busy. With work and trying to see as many people as possible I don't have much spare time to update this thing at all.
I had 4 days off work when I first got back then we were busy doing inspections on our jets so we worked a lot of hours including weekends. Things are starting to calm down at work now. But I started working at the VFW in town on Friday nights and may start doing a couple more nights a week here soon. It started off that I was just vulenteering my time to be a bar back (clearing tables, doing dishes and helping the bar tender). But now it is every Friday. I don't mind it to much because Dustin's step mom is the bartender and we have a lot of fun together. They decided I could be the bar back since I have my TIPS (liquor serving licence) Card already. Now they want to hire me on as a bartender cause their bartenders aren't very good and last Friday it was busy and me and Christie did good and can move faster than snail speed. So that has also been taking a lot of my energy since I work all day friday then go to the bar and work friday night. Normally I get home at 3am from the bar by time we close and clean. At work we have been having duty everyother day so even on the weekends we have to go in everyother day on our days off. And they make us go in to muster at 8am. so on my saturday duty days I get about three and a half hours of sleep before I have to get up and showered and go muster. It makes for a long weekend especially if I have a watch. But I am enjoying working at the VFW and the extra money is always nice. It seems to support my bad habbits pretty good.
The first friday night I was home a bunch of us went out and had a blast. We just went to the VFW but there were a lot of people there for me to catch up with. Then after that I didn't go out really until this past Saturday. Dustin and His dad went to Oregon for the weekend so Me and his step mom decided we would go out on Saturday night. So we took a bunch of the people I work with and we all went to The Lyman Tavern (The Horniest Tavern in the NW) LOL!!! We had a blast. It is about an hour drive but reminds me of the bars back home and everyone is so friendly and supports the military so much! It is a good change. Usually if we go there during the summer we camp at the owners house in their field but it is way to cold out for that still so we just had to have sober drivers. It was a lot of fun though and today at work that is all everyone could talk about.
Other than that there isn't much going on here other than work and adjusting to life back in the states.
Dustin and nicole are doing really good. I can't believe how much she has grown since I left but she is getting to the really fun age where she gets into everything and trys to be independent running wherever she can!
I am hoping to get some pictures up by the end of the week! (Everyone knows I am not good at this so hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get it done!!!)
Love and miss everyone!

I'm back

2007-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Ok i know I have not updated this for a while. I got back on Feb 1 but have been busy trying to visit everyone and trying to get my apartment back in order since I had so much stuff from afghanistan. I will probably update and add pictures later this week. I is so good to be back! Miss everyone!

Quick update

2007-01-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ok well this is going to be a quick one and may be the last until I leave here. Well it is getting to be time for our main groupe of people to leave here. they haven't left yet but are done working and getting ready to leave. All they are doing is waiting for a flight out of here. They are all taking their checked bagage through customs so once they find a flight they will be ready to get out of here.
So tonight along with them all trying to get packed and their stuff through customs we also had an awards quarters and safety stand down. I was supposed to be exempt since I have to be to work at 0500 and have to work all the way through our flight schedule and after to fix the jets so only god knows when I will get off work. I ended up having to go because I was getting an award but was able to leave once I got it. I got a Letter of Commendation for a bunch of work that I did since we have been here. Also we had a few guests there to talk to us before the awards quarters. There were two one star generals (one army and one air force) and a Colnol. They all said how much we appreciate all that we have done. Since our mission is pretty much secret can't get in to detail about it but our jets mission here is to support ground troops and in doing so we keep them safe and alive. One of the generals said that he is on the ground with the troops in the field everyday and Thanks for saving lives!!! That right there makes it worth being here!! Since we don't leave the base at all and all we do is work on the jets it doesn't really seem like we are contributing anything being here but when you have two generals and a colnol telling you thank you and the difference that you made here it makes it all worth while being away from family and freinds! It kinda is like a pat on the back! Also they said to pass the word to our families back in the states thank you for supporting us while we are out here so we can support them! So thank you all for your great support!!
Our relief (VAQ 134- my old squadron) should have all gotten here by now but they haven't all gotten here. there are only about 40 of them and 20 of us. So our command doesn't wanna have to use them unless necessary so they all show up to work just in case and we do everything. Hasn't really mattered that much since our jets have been flying good and we haven't had to do much work on them (knock on wood). Hopefully their main group of people show up soon (they were supposed to be here 3 days ago) and hopefully their jets show up when they are supposed to and in good condition. Today those of us that are following our jets home had a meeting and our senior cheif said that now matter what we are leaving when we are scheduled whether we have parts or not so hopefully this holds true and we leave as scheduled.
I have enjoyed catching up with the guys from 134 since I haven't seen most of them for quite a while. 134 was like my family and my squadron now (142) just doesn't have the family feel to it at all. So having the 134 guys here is almost like having family here (getting to catch up on everything and just kinda a homey feeling). I am really excited for the rest of them to show up! It will almost be like old times! I am also really excited to get home and have somewhat of a normal life again!!!!
Getting home will mean no more waking up seeing my breath while I am still in bed, no more having to walk across camp to shower, and no going to the bathroom where you smell everyone elses poop from 2 weeks ago!!!! Oh and I will also get to see Dustin and Nicole and cook my own food!!!!!!!!! :)
Ok so that wasn't as short as I had planned it but I really have to get my butt to bed.
Hope this finds everyone well.

Let it snow! Let it snow!

2007-01-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

So it snowed for almost a whole 24hours! We got probably a little over a foot of snow (Dad it seems to snow more here than in MN!!!!). Not really sure how much exactly. It quit snowing early this morning and cleared up for a while this afternoon which was nice because it also warmed up a little. But it is back to being cold again and is supposed to snow tomorrow and the day after! I say Let it snow Let it snow! But that is because I still have a week here and if it keeps snowing they will keep not flying. Today they did a few flights and had lots of problems with them all! So the jets seem to not wanna fly anyways. but if we don't fly will can fix them and get them ready for the long journey home. It wouldn't be bad for them to break down somewhere other than here! Now the guys that have only 3 days left here say that it needs to quit snowing so they can get out of here! I did go out and take some pictures so when I get home I can post them either on here or webshots for everyone to see. I have given up on trying to post any pictures on any websites while I am here since 99% of the time it doesn't work and is very annoying!
Ok now on another note! About 40 people from my old squadron are here now and I have been trying to catch up with as many of them as possible. I have lost contact with a lot of them but it is fun to talk about all the old times! The old times weren't really all that long ago but is still fun to tell stories! The guys I work with now call me a traiter cause I have been hanging out with the guys from 134. But hey when we aren't busy I get bored and didn't really feel like sleeping in the shop so I figured it was the best time to catch up. Hopefully this time I can stay in better contact with them all so when they make it back to WA I can hang out with them til I get out of the navy in October.
Well that is about all that is going on here lately. Hope this finds everyone well!

Getting closer!!

2007-01-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ok well today sometime our relief should start showing up. Today should be their advon group (people that come early to get everything set up). This is our first step to being closer to going home. I should only be here for about two more weeks! We are starting to get everything packed up that we can so far so that is also another step closer. The only downfall is that our jets have all decided to break! Some are in pretty bad shape but hopefully everything should be worked out before we leave.
Well there isn't much else to report at this time so when I have something else to let everyone know I will post again! Hope all is well with everyone!

What a crappy day!!!

2007-01-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

Well last night I went to mid rats (midnight meal) with a couple of people from work. One of the guys got a vehicle so we wouldn't have to walk to the galley. So as we were parking I looked in front of us and saw a vehicle with Minnesota plates!! I could hardly believe it as you don't see many licence plates at all here. Most the vehicles don't have plates or they have government plates so is seemed a little amazing to me that there would be a vehicle with plates from MN. Where it came from or where they got it I have no idea.
Last night I also had one of the guys put his pictures from here on my external hard drive. So while he was doing that he figured he would put all of his music and movies on it too. He said that he figured I could use more stuff on my hard drive since I just got it and it is 300 Gigs. So I have a ton of really good music now! I am pretty excited as I seem to have heard the 1400 songs that I have a million times by now!
So this afternoon when I woke up to go to the bathroom I ran into DC1 who runs maintenance and stuff around the camp. He asked me if I heard the news. So with my hopes I was thinking that maybe we were leaving early or that VAQ 134 would be here earlier than expected. But no I was wrong totally! He sad that the Command Master Chief wanted everyone out of the hut that I live in by the end of the day. I was a little on the angry side as it seems most people seem to have known yesterday if they had to move. I heard nothing about it. So I had to quick get all my shit moved and organized as they do random room inspections. And now I need to hurry and get ready for work and try not to be to late. DC1 said he would stop by and let my shop know that I may be late and why so I am not to worried about being late except that I don't like being late to work no matter the sercomstances.
So now I am wore out and still tired as I got 3 hours less sleep than what I should have got. I have been having a lot of pain in my joints and muscles lately. I think it is from the weather being cold and our huts that we work in and live in are just about as cold. So to add to that my back is killing me! Maybe at work I can get one of the guys to pop my back into place so it won't be quite so sore!
Well hope all is well with everyone and I can't wait to get back to the US so I can see everyone and talk to everyone!

Excited and Nervous!

2007-01-04T01:32:00.000-08:00

Ok so I found out that VAQ 134's Advon (early det), chase crew (follows the jets) and I think cargo (I am unsure about if they are leaving the same time) are supposed to be leaving WA this weekend and are scheduled to arrive here by the following weekend. I am very excited to see them! It will mark one step closer to leaving and I will get to see a lot of the people that I used to work with that I lost touch with. I am sure once they get here I will have a lot of catching up to do with them!!
Last night we had a chase det meeting for us. We found out that we will be working a lot the last two or three days that we are here. For the most part there are only going to be two people in each shop from our command since we will be the last ones to be leaving. We will still be doing our regular flights and will also have to do maintenance on the jets too. For my shop it shouldn't be to bad as long as nothing breaks but we will have to be helping all the other shops. To fly back to Whidbey a lot of things have to come out of the jets or off of them and somethings put into them too. So as this may seem like a small job I am sure it will take us until we leave to get it done and make sure everything works as it should. We won't be able to do this until our jets have flown their last mission here. so we will be working a lot on the last night. This is a large job but I am sure if we all pull together it should all be good!
We also learned our schedule for the way home. We are to stay 1 night in a place that I don't know how to spell and also don't really know where it is, then 1 night in Souda Bay (unsure if I spelled that right either), Crete, 2 nights in Spain, and 2 nights in Washington DC. Now if that is really the way it will happen we will never know! It all depends on if the jets break, if we have the right parts to fix them, how long it takes to fix them.... I am sure you get the hint. We are scheduled to stay on bases the whole time. Now if we actually get to see our rooms or not will also depend on how much maintenance we will have to do. If we get everything done and working we will get time to go out and have a few drinks!
So the more I think about going on chase det the more nervous I seem to be getting. I have never been on a chase det and don't really know what to expect. I thought I had a good idea when we left the meeting last night but then I got to thinking about everything and I really don't have any idea about what to expect and now I have at least a million questions running through my mind about it. I am sure all will be good though.
We also got the special speech about how we haven't drank for six months so when we do get liberty we need to drink responsibly. This will be a hard thing for most everyone to do because the alcohol will have a different effect than what it used to because it has been so long since we have drank. I plan on keeping on the down low most of the time. I will go have some drinks with everyone I am sure but probably only a couple. Working with a hang over is never fun!
They also told us that the temperature differance in some of these places is going to be another battle. As I have posted earlier it gets to be really really cold here. The lows have been in the single digits and the highs have been in the low fourties. They say that some of the places we stop it should be hot out! And some places we stop will be just as cold if not colder than here.
As our schedule could change in the drop of a dime it is not gauranteed that we will stop in the places that we are scheduled or for how long we will be there. The best bet on figuring out when I will definately be back is to wait for my call or another post on here! I am hoping that we can get on the internet along the way so I can post about our travels but it is not gauranteed.
I am sure once we hit Crete my cell phone will work but it is very very expencive to use so I won't start the phone calls until we hit WA DC.
The internet in my room should get cut off on Jan 22 so after that I am not sure if I will be able to do anymore posts from here. I know I can't from work but maybe I can find a computer to use. If not I guess we will just have to stick to emails.
I will do another post when I know more about what is going on or if anything changes!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Ok here is the website for family and freinds while we have been on deployment: http://www.naswi.navy.mil/vaq-142/familyandfriends.htm
I am not really sure why I never got the website address until now but it has a lot of pictures and other things on it too.
Here is a list to find out what time we are supposed to be in WA. If you call just remember I will be on Chase not Main body!!
For updated information on our return plan call:
1. Careline at 360 257-5852 for recorded message.
(Arrival times will not be updated until
approx 48 hrs prior to expected arrival)
2. Email or Call the Ombudsmen.
(Update your Email address with the Ombudsmen,
and they will add you to their list for updates)
sotofamily@hotmail.com 360 279-8780
luis_julie@comcast.net 360 632-0312
3. Lastly, call the Ready Room at 360 257-5843
Family and friends Website is:
http:/www.naswi.navy.mil/vaq-142/familyandfriends.htm
(Lots of new Christmas pictures have been added recently)
Here is our mailing address info:
CHANGE IN MAILING ADDRESS
Our APO AE Address is BAGRAM specific, and mail may
not be forwarded back to Whidbey.
We recommend that anything mailed within 14 days of our
departure be mailed to our FPO AP address instead. Mail
addressed this way will be returned to Whidbey if it arrives
too late!!!
NEW ADDRESS
Rate-Rank and name
VAQ-142
Unit 25416
FPO AP 96601-6426
Ok I think that is all the info that I have now!

Pictures!

2006-12-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

So I have found out a way to get my pictures on the web. It will take a while to get them all on the web but i will do my best to get them on there as soon as possible. I have to upload them to webshots from work, so I am only able to do it when we have all our work done and the computer is free for me to use. The address for the pictures is http://community.webshots.com/user/kristiedustinandnicole
I will try to post more through out the week and hopefully by the end of the week I should have them all up!
So starting next week VAQ 134's personnel should start showing up. At first it will be just small groups showing up and then sometime between the 20th and 25th they should all be here. I am pretty excited, not only does that mean that we are one step closer to going home but it also means that I will get to see a lot of the people that I had worked with for the first couple of years in Washington! I lost contact with most of them when I started working at base legal and they all came here last year. So I am very excited to see them all!
So New Years was once again just another day of work. Same as always. So I hope everyone has some extra fun for me!!
Well i will keep trying to update everything but we all know that I am not good at updating anything!
Hope everyone is doing good!!
Miss you all so much!!

No pictures :(

2006-12-30T02:31:00.000-08:00

OK so my internet was down for a few days and finally is working but still not loading any pictures. I thought I would get a webshots account and just post all the pictures on there like maria does but that doesn't work either. So i am thinking you all will have to wait for pictures until I leave here but it will only be another month!
Christmas eve we had our command Christmas party. It was a lot better than what I thought it would be and they even found a band to play for an hour or two. After the party it was back to work as normal. The CNO and MCPON both were supposed to talk to us before the Christmas party but showed up late due to the weather (I was snowing!!)
Yes we had a white Christmas which was pretty awesome! Christmas day we had a meeting with the CNO and the MCPON to hear them speak and have a chance to ask questions. Then once again it was back to work as normal.
We didn't fly for a few days due to the snow that we were getting but we still had work to do. We have one jet that had some inspections on it that we were doing so it became the jet to steal parts from so it is still tore apart waiting for new parts! This could be a battle lost as it seems to be taking forever to get the parts. But if we don't get parts for it soon we will have to steal parts from the next jet to come in for inspections to build this one up so it can fly.
Everyone is getting excited to leave this place as the time gets closer and closer. Our first group of people will be leaving in about a week! They are definitely excited about this. They are the ones that will get our work spaces all ready for us to come back. So with them leaving our relief squadron's first group will be getting here soon after they leave. Our relief is my old command so I am hoping to catch up with some of them since I have not seen most of them since I left the squadron.
I have found out that on the way home I should be spending a little time in Spain and Greece as I will be following the jets home. I am sure I will have fun and I will try to take a lot of pictures!
I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Hope you all have a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T03:06:00.000-08:00

Well today is christmas eve and I have to be to work an hour and a half earlier which didn't leave much time for sleeping today. I am not to impressed with that. We have quarters with our Commanding officer. After that the First Class Association is putting on a BBQ and we are having our Christmas party. Then we have quarters with the Chief of Naval Opperations. Then it will be work as usuall. It rained most of the afternoon and now has finally turned to snow! We might have a white Christmas after all.
I have some pretty good pictures to post but this dang thing won't load them once again. Once I get them to load you will get to see them all. There are some pretty funny pictures that I will post. Some are of what happens when you have a bunch of sailors with no work to do!!!
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Pictures!!

2006-12-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Yay it finally loaded more pictures! Well this first one is of my adorable nephew! I am so excited to see him!! I have a feeling that he will be very spoiled! But thats ok!

This is another self portrait of me but this time I figured out how to use the self timer on my new camera!! I also had to use photo shop to cover up all my zits on my face since I am having a really bad break out here. Thank God for photo shop and instructions! I don't think I would have ever figured out how to use it otherwise!!

Here is Nicole showing that she is getting to be a big girl and can walk to the truck! She is getting so big i can hardly believe it! I am excited to go home and see her and Dustin!
The next picture is of nicole shopping with her daddy!

And then there is the Big Girl in her high chair showing how she doesn't need daddy to feed her any more!

I hope this finds everyone healthy!

Nothing really new!

2006-12-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Well there isn't a whole lot to write about now, but here we go anyways.
First of all I am finally an aunt. It is about time. I am so glad that Amari and Maria both made it through fine. He is the cutest little thing ever!! I would have put a picture of him on here but yet again my internet connection must not be good enough to post pictures so I guess any pictures will have to wait.
The last few days I have been on R&R (rest and relaxation). I had the choice to either stay here and just have 3 days off of work or go to Qatar for three days which usually ends up being at least 8 days gone. I decided just to stay here and have my 3 days off of work. So in the time I have had off I have caught up on some much needed sleep, relaxed and did a little bit of shopping. I did finally get a camera but I guess no one gets to see any pictures yet!! Hopefully soon I will be able to put some pictures on here. A lot of people have been asking why I don't put any pics up of me so today I was laying in bed playing with my new camera (trying to figure out how to use it) and decided to take a picture of myself. So with the help of photoshop I guess it turned out ok but now I don't have to post it!!
The holidays are approaching very quickly. There isn't to much going on around here for that. Sounds like it will be work as usual, with the exception of a Christmas party our command is putting on for us on Christmas Eve. I am not really sure what they all have planned other than I know they are having a BBQ. Some would say that it is really nice of them to have a BBQ for us but the food is never any good and they only serve Near Beer (Non alcoholic).
Once the holidays are over we will be counting down til we leave here. The first group should be out of here the first or second week of January. Then the rest of us will be leaving by the end of January. I can't give out specific dates for anything but if all works out as planned I should be home by or on Feb 1. I will be part of a small group that will follow our jets home and fix them on the way home if necessary. Who knows if they will make it all the way home with out any problems or not. It should be a good little trip either way.
Nicole and Dustin are doing good. Nicole is growing like a weed and her hair has finally started growing a little!! Now she isn't quite as bald as her dad or grandpa!! That is always a plus. Nicoles Mom seems to be letting Dustin have Nicole more and more again which is always good. I know Dustin is happy about that!
It has been raining all day here so it is a muddy mess again. Hopefully it turns in to snow again like last time!! I could go for a white christmas!
Well since my aunt informed me that I don't update this enough, I will try to update more often. And once I get more pictures and this thing lets me post them I will!
Hope this finds everyone well!! Happy Holidays!!

Cold!!

2006-12-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

So it keeps getting colder and colder here and I keep hoping my room will get warmer. The other day we had a power outage for about 10 hours which of course for our maintenance spaces wasn't bad because there is a generator over there, but for those of us that work on nights we were all back at camp with no generator. No generator means no running water, no showeres, no lights, and most importantly no heat. It was so cold that day that I got up extra early for work so i could go sit at the galley and warm up while I ate supper.
Our rooms stay fairly cold now. Usually it will warm up outside and in but it is still colder in our rooms than it is outside. I am definately ready to get back home so I can be warm some of the time at least.
If everything works out as planned I should be back in Whidbey no later than the first of Feb. That of course is if everything works as planned which most people know with the military is usually not the case.

Mountains

2006-12-10T01:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pics of the mountains. Now that it has snowed they look so much closer to the base than they do in these pictures. I think it is just because it is so much clearer out now. I still don't have a camera yet but I have ordered one. So once I get my camera in the mail I will start to take more pictures of everything so I will have more to share with everyone.

Dustin's Birthday

2006-12-10T01:18:00.000-08:00

So Dustin's birthday was Friday. He was supposed to DJ but his freind Roper did it instead so Dustin could celebrate his birthday. I know I put on an earlier blog the 9th as his birthday but it was the 8th. I must have typed it wrong. LOL I guess I must be a litte blonde.
I don't have any pictures as of yet from Dustin's birthday but as soon as I do I will attempt to post them!!!

Finally some pics!!!

2006-12-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Finally I got some pictures to load on this thing!!
Nicole is getting so big now. I can not believe how much she has grown since I have been here!! Now if only her hair would start to grow!
Here is nicole and Dustin at Samm and Chads for a bbq. I used to work for chad at the legal office and became good freinds with his wife Samm while he was gone to Iraq. They have Dustin and Nicole over everyonce in a while for dinner.
Of course I have to put a picture of my two babies on here. They are some of the sweetest cats around and I miss them very much too.
Here is a picture of the mountains here. This is before it became so cold here. there was a little snow twards the tops of the mountains but that was about it. I thought the mountains and clouds looked cool so I had one of the guys take some pics and email them to me.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Cold

2006-12-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

So I started night shift on monday night and it is cold!!! we got about 6 inches of snow that stuck to the ground. it snowed for three days!! But yesterday it all started to melt. But last night it got really cold. the last I heard it was 10 degrees but it always gets colder right before sunrise so it was colder than that for a while. I really am starting to hate this place because of the cold. Our huts that we work out of and live in are fairly warm but there is always a cold draft that you can feel. Friday we are supposed to have a power outage during the day which is when I am home sleeping so it is going to be a really cold day of sleep for everyone on night shift. We didn't fly at all for two and a half days because of the snow which I find to be pretty stupid since I am sure the war doesn't quit because of poor weather and we have all weather aircraft. But oh well I just work on them.
That is all that has really been going on here. Hope everyone is doing well.

Advancement test

2006-11-30T08:08:00.000-08:00

Well today the command got the list of who advanced off of the advancement test that we all took in September. I once again didn't make E-5. This was the third time that I took the test. So now I am going to be getting out of the Navy in October 2007. I am going to try to start taking college classes soon so i can start to get a degree. I am going to work towards getting a BS in Paralegal.

another update with out pictures

2006-11-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

Well once again I can not get any of my photos to load on here. But hopefully it will start working sometime soon. If not when I get home I will have to post a bunch of pics. I ordered a new camera so hopefully it will be here next week sometime so i can take a lot of pictures of everything. I am excited to get my new camera.
There isn't much going on here. Thanksgiving wasn't much fun for a lot of us since our jets all decided they didn't want to fly and we missed two missions. So a lot of us didn't get to go to thanksgiving dinner cause we had to work. No fun there!!
Everyone keeps saying that we are almost done here but we have about 8 weeks left. Hopefully our jets work good the whole way home so we get home faster since I am on chase crew. It kinda sucks cause we don't know when we will arrive back in whidbey since it all depends on our planes but will be nice cause we will get to see a lot of different places.
It is getting really cold here now. It sucks to have to walk outside to go to the shower or bathroom. I guess it is snowing in Whidbey Island now. They are supposed to have 6-8 inches of snow by morning which is a lot for them. Everyone will be freaking out and they don't know how to drive in the snow. It is good for Dustin cause he will get a lot of over time because everyone will want new tires or studded tires. It is weird... In WA almost everyone drives with studded tires or chains on thier tires in the winter and in MN where there is usually a lot of snow they don't do anything like that.
Well hope everyone is doing well.

Nothing really new

2006-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well I have been trying to put some new pics of Nicole on this thing for a few weeks and it just isn't working for me.
There isn't really anything new going on here. Still working our behinds off to keep our jets flying all the missions they try to get us to do. But when you are working with a jet that is thirty-something years old it is kinda hard to do. We have only missed one mission so far which is really good. But it is a hard job to keep them good to fly. One day we had none of our jets capable to fly so we were all busy switching parts and trying to get one going so we could at least attempt it. We do good if we have 3 out of 4 good to fly. Everyonce in a while all 4 will be good to fly but that usually lasts one day at the most. We average about 58 man hours to every flight hour. Man hours are the hours we work on the jets and flight hours are the times that they are flying. So you can just about imagine how difficult it is for us. We typically do 4-6 flights a day and they range anywhere from 1.5-4.5 hours each.
It has only rained a few times since we have been here and I guess now they are saying there is a drought going on here. I guess this is the time that it should be raining. Well it sounds like it might be raining now but not really sure. It sprinkled this afternoon for a few minutes but not enought to add up to anything.
I am doing pretty good. I am getting wore out but just keep telling myself that there is only 3 more months of this and I do get one day off a week. But that one day off seems to fly by. Time is moving pretty quick around here. It doesn't really seem like we have been gone for 3 months yet but we are past our half way mark now (or that is what they say). They still don't know when we are leaving here or when we are supposed to be getting back to Washington. They have so many rumors going around about they dates. Some say that we will be leaving here Jan 12 and some say we aren't leaving here til the first or second week of Feb. So who knows? I don't think anyone even knows yet when we are supposed to leave here. My old command will be the ones relieveing us. So I should run into a few people that I know when their early crew comes to get everything set up. That will be nice cause I haven't seen a lot of them in a long time.
I appreciate all the packages I have recieved from everyone. It is so thoughtful of you all! So Thank You to everyone that has sent packages and Thank You to everyone that is planning on sending packages!

What is going on?!?

2006-09-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

here is a picture of my shop.
So everything is going ok here. I guess we have started fall now. It is finally starting to cool off a little during the day. Our high is usually between 75 and 95 now. It doesn't make it into the triple digits much any more. Last night we had a pretty heavy rain storm. We had hail about marble sized. All the rain made a lot of lakes on base but a lot of those were gone by the morning. It looked like rain tonight again.
Our corn that we were growing infront of our shop has started to die. I think that we didn't water it enough when it was really hot out. But there are ears on some of it but they are really small.
Last week I took my advancement test again for E-5. Hopefully I make it off this test. It would be nice to get paid a little more.
Well there hasn't been much activity in the area that I am in since we got here. They sent us all warning emails that the Muslim holiday Ramanadan (I don't know if I spelled that right) is starting on Sunday and lasts til the end of October. It is expected that there may be a spike in activity from that but they don't really know. They also gave us information on what the holiday is to the muslims and what we can't do around them during the holiday. We aren't supposed to eat, drink or smoke infront of them. They also warned that during the day is their fasting and after dark is when they eat and do their prayers and what not so we will notice more nighttime activity in the area whether it is from the good or the bad. They also randomly shoot guns in the air during the holiday for some reason or another so they told us not to get alarmed if we hear them shooting in the air.
Well that is about all that is going on around here. Hope everyone is doing well. And thanks to all who have sent me packages already and thanks ahead of time for those who are sending packages. I share with everyone I work with and we all appreciate it more than you could believe!

Nicole's Birthday Party

2006-09-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

HMMM I think I will just try to carry this around the house so my daddy has to clean it up!

What is this thing?!? Maybe I will just smear it all over!

Look at all these cool new toys! What am I going to do with them all?

Oh I will just leave all my new toys lay around. I would rather play with daddy's safety glasses!

More wedding pics!

2006-09-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is Cal, me, Melanie, and Gina. These girls along with Christie and Denise helped get the wedding put together in such a short time. Girls you did an awesome job thank you so much!

Bill (Dustin's Dad) holding Nicole, Dustin, Bill (Dustin's Brother) and Sean (Dustin's Brother). They were all waiting for the ceremony to get started!

Here we are exchanging our rings.

Here is Bill (Dustin's dad) grilling the hamburgers, hotdogs, and corn for supper after the ceremony. Thanks Dad!

Nicole

2006-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here is Nicole looking as cute as ever! She will turn 1 on September 12.

2006-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan: Here are some pics from afghanistan. I hope yall enjoy them!

This is just a random picture of one of the roads our jets flew over. A lot of people send thier cameras up in the jets with the aircrew so they can take pictures. I just got this one off the computer at work. Pretty much everyone puts their pictures on a shared drive so everyone can see them.

This is a group of us that had lunch with General Pace. He is the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. The picture is with his MSgt. He was a pretty funny guy. General Pace is a 4 star general that works out of the Pentagon. He travels about half of every month. He likes to go around talking to as many people that are deployed as possible. He couldn't really give us any information that we didn't already know but it was a great honor to be able to have lunch with him. He also gave everyone that he had lunch with a coin. It is in the shape of the Pentagon. It looks pretty cool.

This is just another picture taken from one of the jets. it shows how the terrain is around here.

Here is another picture from one of the jets. It is of one of the small villages. You can see the mud huts that they live in.

I know that everyone is wandering about things over here and what we do so I hope this gives you a little idea. For those of you that don't really know what I do here goes: I am an aviation electrician on the EA-6B Prowler. Basically all I do is electrical work on our jets. We don't get to leave base at all. We are just stuck here for the 6 months that we are here. It is almost like a small town. There is a hospital, some stores, a couple of food places, a couple of coffee shops and some gyms and a place that shows movies. What more could you ask for?
Dad- our corn is growing quite tall already. It has tassels and a few ears of corn. We give it about a case of water a day since it is still really hot and has only sprinkled once.
As far as the weather here: it is still about 120 during the day and gets as low as the high 60s at night. I know 60 degrees is still really warm but seems to be freezing when you are used to the 120 degrees during the day. It normally gets really cold in the winter and sometimes even snows. It will be interesting to see if it really snows or not and if it does how my command will react to the snow. When we are in Washington if it snows more than a couple of inches they close down our base.
Well I hope this helps to show what it is like here. I have to go to bed.
Hope everyone is doing well!

2006-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

Dustin trying to run down the isle after the ceremony. I have no idea why he was in such a hurry but I almost had to run to keep up with him!

Christie (Dustin's step mom), Dustin, Me and Bill (Dustin's Dad). This was taken late in the night. It sure was a fun night! Thanks Mamma and Dad for all your help with the wedding. We appreciate it all!

We were so sick of having our pictures taken by the end of the day. But they all turned out pretty good!

2006-08-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

you are now pronounced husband and wife

our first dance

2006-08-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

alright everyone, I know I am not so good at sending everyone emails so I thought maybe this would be easier for everyone. I will try to keep this as up to date as possible. I am also going to post pictures on here so no one can say that they don't get to see any pictures. The first set of pictures that I will post will be from the wedding. There isn't a lot of them but it is all that I have for now until dustin sends me more.
Well I have to go to bed it is late here and I have to be up early so I will add more later.
kristie