Festivities Weekend

As another B-course graduation came and went, where brand new fighter pilots enter the fighter community and see what the Air Force is all about, our life here at Luke AFB was a flurry of activity! John and I (and Riley too) made an appearance at the last student party before graduation- themed a Toga party. I got a little creative and made Riley his own lil Toga to wear and put his Jesus sandals on.. What a trooper! Sure, in this picture he doesn't look happy but once we got to the party he calmed right down and slept through it. Must have been the rhythmic bass sounds and vibrations that did it.

Plenty of festivities were held on the day of the graduation.. Breakfast at the Squadron, Spouse Taxi Rides, Simulator flights, and the whole Petting Zoo experience for all the proud families that came to town. I took advantage of the events and was able to get a taxi ride in an F16- manned by none other than my darling husband!! The spin up was so much fun, as me and 4 other women were carted around to different briefs and fittings, ensuring that we were dressed and prepared for the ride (ie: that we wouldn't accidentally push the "Eject" button). We even got to do the "com" (communications) between our "flight" as well as to the tower! That darling husband of mine even let me steer the jet while we were doing the slow speed taxiing to get to the runway. The high speed taxi only lasted maybe 5 seconds, as we lunged forward, accelerating rapidly after John hit the afterburners. Just as we were starting to really cook, it was time for the brakes and the ride was over. What a tease!!! What an amazing opportunity though. Sure makes me jealous of all those celebrities that get the real rides- raging around in the sky! That may be the only thing I can think of that actually makes me wish for fame.

Then it was off to the airport to drop Grandma off and back home to get all dolled up for the graduation ceremony. Riley came with (we pretty much drag him everywhere with us), which made the simplicity of enjoying the ceremony and dinner a thing of the past since it's little more complicated when you've got to worry about the baby's feeding time, trying to get him down for a nap in the car seat that makes him irritable when we're not moving in the car and just socializing with my adorable little leach. I missed a good part of the ceremony (and missed my hunny getting an award from the students), as I sat in the ladies room feeding the boy then walking around outside the hall waiting for a good time to rejoin. We did the after party at a local bar until it was Riley's bed time. Wheeeew!
So best of luck goes out to the graduating class as they prepare to head off to their first operational squadron!

My Fav's

You may have noticed the amazing pictures in the Left bar by Carrie Fay. Well I got the whole slew of them today to browse through and they are ALL amazing!! I was referred to Carrie Fay by a friend of mine who works with her at a local church. She doesn't have formal training in photography but you'd never be able to tell by her knack of picture taking! Carrie Fay came to our house and was the sweetest, most pleasant person and has turned this hobby of hers into a fund raiser to enable her and her husband to adopt a child. She took a couple hours out of her Saturday morning to spend with us accruing a number of photos of our new expanded family. We are so thankful and appreciative of her time and energy working with us! Here are my favs... (It is near impossible to narrow them down but I did my best!) Thanks to both Christine and Carrie Fay!!!

Security

Sleepy

Snoozy

Weary

Comfy

Snuggly

Bubbly
Lazy

Fuzzy

Earthy

Pouty

Heavenly

Tiny

Crabby
Mighty
BrawnyHealthy

LuckyMushy

Lovey

Happy

Grandma's Visit

Time comes and goes so quickly! Grandma (John's Mom) came to visit and spent a week and a half with us. She got plenty of opportunities to hang out with her new grandson since John and I took advantage of her visit by taking a date night, as well as allowing me to go to the gym a number of times without carting around Riley! Time flew by and before we knew it- Poof! She was flying back home- but left us with a sparkling kitchen! We all really enjoyed the time we got to spend with her!! Thanks Grandma... for everything!

Riley's 6 weeks old!!

Well I'm just over 6 weeks old now! Man- the last 6 weeks have flown by! I have grown from the 9 lbs 4 oz since I was born to now a whopping 13 lbs!!! What can I say- I'm a hoss! I can add responsive smiling, cooing and grabbing on to my impressive resume. Although I try to be an equal opportunity grabber, my favorite thing to grab is of course Mommy's hair. I even occasionally find that darn hand of mine long enough to try sucking on it... It's most successful when I just suck on the fingers or thumb, but it's hard work singling those guys out and most of the time I'm satisfied with the whole fist. I've been rockin' the tummy time and the reps I've been putting in have been paying off! I can hold up my big noggin pretty well now and am head banging much less. Mommy's bags under her eyes are getting smaller.... I'm trying to help out by giving her some beauty rest at night. I can stretch the night time sleep up to 7 hours, but I don't want to spoil her so I usually keep it to around 5 or 6 hours. Days can be a different story... Lately I've had lots of toots which makes me cry since I'm trying to keep them in. Mom says that now is the one time in life where it's absolutely acceptable and even encouraged to let them out- but I don't know.. Maybe I'm just embarrassed to pass gas so I continue to cause myself discomfort to gain social acceptance. So that's me in a nutshell.. Now check out how cute I'm continually getting!! :)

Daddy's trying to calm me down.

I love giving smiles- especially in the morning and while my diaper is being changed

Hmm.. I'm not sure about that black thing Mommy keeps putting in my face. (camera)

Maybe it's okay after all. I'll just give a teaser smile.Daddy is so captivating!!

Polls Opening Early

Get you excited? Well it may not be the Presidential elections, but you can practice voting here! Who does our little Riley take after more??
The Poll is located in the Right Bar --->

John

Cheyenne

Riley

Celebrate Good Times!

September 3rd was our 3 year anniversary!! So why am I posting about our anniversary when it was weeks ago?? Because John's surprises for me (in lieu of our anniversary) are happening now!

3 years ago...

I can't believe it's been 3 years- it feels so close and so far all at once! I can honestly say that in the last 3 years, we've really gotten much closer and our love has grown stronger!! Before finding John, I had always longed to be put on a pedestal by my spouse and once I became a Christian I realized that I desired sacrificial love as Jesus displays. I think our relationship is full of self-sacrifice for the happiness of the other. Many a night have I stayed up, giving back rubs and head scratches when all I really want to do is go to sleep!! But John's purr's make it all worth it. And for our anniversary, John surprised me 2 fold.

First, he arranged a photo shoot with a girl that I had wanted to hire for family pictures. I had mentioned it to John while Riley was still in utero and he discouraged me saying that we are capable of taking pictures (this is the endearing frugal side of my husband). So the splurge to get some GOOD pictures taken was such a wonderful surprise that I welled up with tears when he let me in on the secret! (The previewed pics are displayed but I'll be getting many more and will post some in the future!)

Secondly, John purchased VIP concert tickets to a girl band that I love- Barlow Girl! They are an edgy Christian group who's message I can really connect with. So the concert was last Sunday night and it was our first outing without Riley!!! Though it was hard to leave him home, we had some really great friends from church who were willing to give us the night out and watch him! (Thanks Jim, Tiff and Emily!!) Though John listens to Barlow Girl's music on Air1, they definitely aren't his favorite and once we got to the concert, I realized even more how sacrificially he was giving for me! The demographics at the concert was pretty much 90% young (between ages 7 and 17) girls with very shrill and screechy screams!! I don't know if anyone has been to a concert filled with mostly young girls but I compare it to an NKOTB concert I went to when I was in that age- probably 13 at the time and I was one of those schreaky young ladies!! It's actually deafening-- John felt that his ears had to have been bleeding on the way home from the concert! Other than the ear discomfort, the concert was awesome! The message: Be yourself and don't ever be afraid to stand up for what you know is right- even if it's not "popular" or the way of the world!! These girls have vowed to purity. To them this means that they will not "date" a man until it is the man they marry! They develop friendships which enables them to determine if this guy is "The guy" or not. So there are 3 sisters in the band- ages 28, 26, and 23- all of whom have not kissed or even held hands with a boy! Extreme? Maybe. But I absolutely have the utmost respect and awe for them and their conquest! This is just one example where they've resisted doing what "everyone else is doing" in spite of enormous pressures they may have felt because of what they believe in! There are so many aspects of my life that I have given in to peer pressure, social acceptance and the ways of the world to do something that is less than what I had aimed for! It's tough but I'm inspired!

Here's a little music video of Barlow Girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f07JeOGqV0g

Barlow Girl- Grey lyrics

John and I with the band, Barlow Girl

Have I mentioned...

Holy Cow... our dog is cool!  I know I've posted on him diving before, but you've never seen it this way!  Our friends let us borrow their underwater camera so we were able to capture this rare footage!  Seriously...  have you ever seen a dog pull these stunts???