Update! July 1

Hello! We made it to Valdosta okay. We're staying at a Comfort Inn and we just had breakfast...mmm. :) We're going to head out in a little while for Cocoa Beach! We can't wait to get to that hotel - beach, beach, beach!!! We'll update more when we're...
In FLORIDA!!!!!

Moving to Florida!!!

Hello all! Well we're finally getting ready to head out...that's right, we're moving to Florida!

We left Springfield on June 24 and have been staying with the Haglers this week. And tomorrow morning we're leaving at 5:00 am and driving 12 hours to Valdosta, Georgia. Matthew's brother Daniel got us a really good deal on a hotel (he works at the Best Western in Branson). Then July 1 we're getting up and driving the final 5 hours to Cocoa Beach! We're staying there 1 night to see the town and stay in a hotel on the beach (Thanks again Daniel!). From there we're going to drive down the coast and see the different towns to decide which one we like the best.

Port St. Lucie is going to be our base - that is what we think we will like the most. We hope to find a lot of job opportunities in the area for the both of us.

We'll update our blog here as the time goes on...and add pictures! Wish us luck!! :)

Hawaii!

Ashley and her husband flew me out to Hawaii for 2 whole weeks. My friend Whitney came with me, the 3 of us lived together in college so it was a great reunion. We had the most amazing time. We actually went because Ashley's husband had to go to training in California during that time for the Marines, so they didn't want her to be there alone with their daughter. We were so glad we could be there to keep her company. But we of course had to do vacationy stuff too!!! We actually went with Ashley to some places she had never been, so it was a vacation for all of us!
I made Ashley's daughter Gentry this little dress. It was pink and brown to match the colors of her room.
The mountains in Hawaii are gorgeous. They were all green all the way up, and always reached the clouds.This beach was just down the street from Ashley's house. It was very pretty.This was a "hidden" beach, I can see why. It was absolutely gorgeousRight after we took this picture the waves came up on those rocks behind us and got us all wet. :)I went and watched the sunrise and these little crabs popped up all around me. Then this big crab came up, I called him the King crab. :)Hawaii sunrise in Kailua. Absolutely beautifulHanauma Bay. We went snorkeling there and saw tons of fish. I even saw one of those fish that is flat and "sideways" and camoflauged like sand. Everyone keeps telling me it was a sting ray, but I looked it up and think it's just a sand fish.
We hiked through the rainforest up to Manoa Falls. The falls weren't that spectacular, but the hiking part was so much fun! We got absolutely soaked, while Gentry was in a pack on Ashley's back with a poncho around her. She loved it!
The "bamboo forest" as I call it. I got a piece of bamboo there and used it as a walking stick. Then I brought it home in my luggage.
Ashley had real hiking bags, it made me feel like a real hiker!
We went to dinner in Kaneohe where they had a live jazz band and seafood. It was really neat.
Sea Life Park...my favorite part of Hawaii because I got to swim with dolphins!
A dolphin kiss. If you didn't kiss them long enough they sprayed you with water.
The reason I was so excited about this is that when I was about 8 I got picked out of the crowd at Six Flags to go up and pet and feed the dolphins. Ever since then dolphins have been my favorite animal, I even wanted to be a dolphin trainer when I was younger. So naturally, I'd been waiting for this for a looooong time. It was a dream come true!
I got to be in the tank for about an hour, we got to pet them, feed them and get a tummy ride.
I'm excited to be at Sea Life Park!!!
We went to the Waikiki Aquarium where I saw tons of fish: jelly fish, seahorses, sea lions, and all kinds of other salt water fish. I like this guy because he looks so much like Nemo in his house.
We went to a Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. They had these huge drinks before dinner, they were pretty tasty!
We got a HUGE Kailua pig that they dug out of a pit. It was delicious. Also...they really like purple in Hawaii, they made everything purple. Our dinner rolls, and the sweet potatoes were died purple...I liked it!
After the Luau there was a show where they had 7 different countries come and do their dances and songs. They also had flame throwers and guys that sat on fire. It was hilarious.
BYU Hawaii. We bought some fun souvenirs at the gift shop.
Now why didn't I go to school THERE?!?
We went to a Botanical Gardens and saw lots of gorgeous flowers and plant life. Of course I had to go climb this tree. :)
I don't know what flower this is, but I'd love to have it in my house!
Kailua Beach...so pretty. The water was so pure and the sand was very powdery. I spent so much time out in the water the first day we were there, Ashley and Whitney thought I was crazy!
So, when we got to this beach the first day...first thing we did in Hawaii, there were people taking kayak lessons. Well the waves were really big and this one huge wave brought everybody back in and toppled over one of the kayaks. When the guy stood up he had lost more than his kayak...that's right, we got booty on video camera. A very eventful first time at the beach. :)
This was when we flew out of St. Louis. We had a layover in San Francisco, and in Denver when we came back. It was neat, we got to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And flying over the ocean interesting...I kept thinking about how many sea creatures there were beneath me. It took 13 hours to get there, and the flight over the ocean was longer than over land. It was definitely the best destination I've ever been to. And I had so much fun with Ashley, Whitney and Gentry. I'm so thankful that I got to go on such a wonderful vacation!

Tagged

Answer the following with only one word.

Where is your cell phone?.......................................counter
Your significant other?...........................................Matthew
Your hair?........................................................blonde
Your mother?.........................................................loving
Your father?..........................................................best
Your favorite thing?..................................................love
Your dream last night..........................................twilight
Your favorite drink........................................water
Your dream/goal..................................mother
The room you're in..........................................sewing
Your children?...................................................waiting
Your Fear?.............................................ticks
Where do you want to be in 6 years?......................florida
Where were you last night?................................hamman's
What you're not?............................................crazy
Muffins?............................................allergic
One of your wish list items?...................boat
Where'd you grow up?..........................Missouri
What'd you read last?.......................pattern
What are you wearing?............................skirt
Your TV?..........................................old
Your pet?........................................Shiloh
Your computer?........................................awesome
Your life?...........................................fantastic
Your mood?.................................indifferent
Missing someone?..................................family
Your car?...........................................ford
Something you're not wearing?.................socks
Favorite store?...................................joann's
Your summer?.....................................waiting
Like someone?..........................matthew
Your favorite color?.........................turquoise
Last time you laughed................................yesterday
Last time you cried?...........................................week

I tag Ashley, Michelle, Brittany, Daniel, David,

St. Louis Vacation!

Matthew and I went on a 2 day vacation to St. Louis with a free overnight stay at Best Western from Matthew's brother Daniel. We had so much fun! We went to Cahokia Mounds then ate at Union Station for lunch. We went and saw Coraline in 3D and enjoyed a yummy pizza at the hotel, mmmm. Then we went to the Zoo, Science Center and Planetarium. Even though I'm from St. Louis it was really fun going to all the places on vacation :) After our weekend I was able to stay in St. Peters with my family and my Nana. It was really nice to visit with them all for a whole week.

We walked around Forest Park quite a bit going to the different places. It was pretty even with all the leaves gone.

We went to the Science Center and saw a show at the Planetarium. It was really neat. Now we know how to find Saturn in the sky :)

We went to the St. Louis Zoo and saw the penguins, they were so cute! These little guys jumped off the ledges into the water, it was neat watching them swim around.

That is a real penguin above Matthew. I was nervous that it would try to jump on him!

We went to Cahokia Mounds, which is in Illinois where the Cahokia Indian tribe lived between 1000 and 1200 AD; they built these huge mounds, the one behind Matthew is 100 feet high and the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas. It's actually around the same size as the great pyramids in Egypt.

Nana and I put this puzzle together. When we were 3/4 of the way done the dogs were playing and pulled part of it off the table :( We had to put the top back together again. We had a good time building it though, and it was very satisfying to see it done.

Military Options

So, we are still trying to figure out what branch of the military Matthew is going to go into... Air force-enlisted, or Army-officer. Or if he's going to go in at all. It's obviously a huge decision, and we're trying to look at it from every angle.

If Matthew goes into the air force as enlisted: he will be able to choose a job in linguistics (after taking a test), his boot camp will be 9 1/2 weeks, then we both get to move to California where he will learn a language (preferably Chinese or Arabic) for 1 1/2 years. Then we would still have about 2 years left to live in one of 5 places in the US. Some of them are around the ocean, which is what we want. So it's a 4 year agreement. We would make well more $ than we make now, and get a housing and food allowance. And have at least some if not all of Matthew's student loans payed off.

(***Matthew got the Officer's position offered to him because the army recruiter overheard the air force recruiter reading off Matthew's ASVAB scores. His jaw dropped. He scored a 97% on almost everything.)

If Matthew goes into the Army as an Officer: he will have to go into boot camp for 9 weeks (rigorous physical training). Then he can come visit me for about a week. Then 12 weeks (without me) of Officer Candidate School (OCS). At the end of OCS, depending on his rank in his class of about 130 he can choose what job he wants. If he scores high we would obviously be in a good position, but if he scores low he may be put into a job where he could possibly be deployed. WE DON'T WANT THAT. After that he would have 7 more weeks of "specialty training" (where he gets trained to do whatever his job is) and they will move me to where he is during that time. There are also 5-6 places we could choose to live, some of them also around the ocean. It is only a 3 year agreement with the Army, which is better because if we decide we don't like it we can leave a year earlier, and if we do like it we get way more money from sign on bonuses because of the year-less difference. The job pays more than the air force, and we would still get a housing and food allowance. Plus I think 3 weeks paid vacation/year (I don't know if the air force does that) And they pay $25k more of student loans than the air force.

So...obviously there's more benefits from the army, but there's also the HUGE decision of whether it's worth it because of the possibility of being deployed. We both feel like Matthew would do well in his OCS, and we've both felt good about the army since we got the offer. We would also only have 2 1/2 years where deployment would be a threat. Matthew would also have WAY more opportunity for advancement if he did the army than the air force. And, he is majoring in Spanish, but we're worried that if he takes the air force job it will become too stressful, concentrating that hard on translating another language everyday for 2 1/2 years. In the army the job I think he is hoping for would be watching over the intel department that does the translating. So he wouldn't have to learn another language (although he wants to...they will pay for schooling so he can learn another language outside of his job for free).

Oh and also for me - both places would pay me a separation allowance, plus housing and food while Matthew is gone at Boot camp. And which ever we choose, one of my friends (Ashley) whose husband is in the marines is going to live with me while Matthew is gone because her husband is getting deployed. Which ever we choose we think we can handle the separation, though it will be very difficult. We dated for a year, then Matthew moved away for school for 8 months, and our relationship still survived. We will also be able to talk to each other on the phone, and be able to visit a few times in that 6 months he would be gone if we do army.

Like I said, we both have a good feeling about the army, but we haven't decided yet what we will do for sure. What we are hoping for is that we will be able to do the army, get the job Matthew wants, NOT get deployed, and be able to stay in and have this as our career choice for the next 25 - 30 years! Any advice...and prayers :)...would be greatly appreciated. We love you all!

Winter Snow!

It snowed about 6-8 inches in the last 2 days, and we've been trying to have fun with it! The roads are terrible, and school is canceled - so we got out of the house and played in the snow. A few days before (when it wasn't quite so cold) we went to Branson and our sister in law Brittany took some pictures of us by the icy waterfalls. There is also a video of Shiloh playing in the snow. It makes us smile, so we just had to share it with you!


Branson MO