Livin in a Fly Over State

It takes a special person to be an avid country music fan, so for those of you, like my sister, who have not crossed over and cant stand country music let me tell you about a man named Jason Aldean. Last summer I got to experience the crazy town of Nashville, TN for CMA Festival, which basically is heaven on earth for a country music fan. One day, while we were waiting to get into the place where artists were signing autographs, Jason Aldean drove into the parking garage. He wasn't in a limo, but rather driving his own black truck, we will say it was a dodge, and a lady yelled out hi Jason! That's Jason Aldean!! He waved and smiled at us, because country music artists, in my personal opinion, are down to earth, care about their fans, oh and they are all over Nashville. This short story is the only real connection I have to the country artist who wrote the hit song "Fly Over States", which is where the title for this blog originated from and here are the lyrics I am referring to:

 A couple of guys in first class on a flight
From New York to Los Angeles
Kinda making small talk killin' time
Flirting with the flight attendants
Thirty thousand feet above, could be Oklahoma

Just a bunch of square cornfields and wheat farms
Man, it all looks the same
Miles and miles of back roads and highways
Connecting little towns with funny names
Who'd want to live down there, in the middle of nowhere

On the plains of Oklahoma
With a windshield sunset in your eyes
Like a watercolored painted sky
You'll think heavens doors have opened
You'll understand why God made
Those fly over states

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. We moved to Oklahoma, the flattest land, where you are in the middle of no where while on a highway, which isn't good if you have a smaller bladder. All in all it is a "fly over state" not one you chose to stop in, but they do have some gorgeous sunsets and lots of planes.

Sunset at Vance AFB in Enid, OK. That is a T-6 coming in for a landing, which is the plane Sam flew during his pilot training at Vance.

Making the transition to Enid, OK was pretty easy for the most part. Enid is only a four hour drive from Springfield, so I didn't feel too far from home. However, Sam had spent nine months prior to my move in Enid. Therefore, he already had a life set up, as a bachelor, which made it hard to transition into being a married couple. Sam and his friends spent most of their free time playing a video game called Call of Duty; Modern War Fare 3, which they referred to as COD for short. Sam's friends at Vance were either married, engaged, or in a relationship, which is great except for the fact that all their wives, girl friends, and fiancees lived far away!

Though they played COD Sam did try to get cable the first night we moved in so I could watch the Bachelor. And I got to continue to have Bachelor parties like we did in Springfield, but with Sam's friends and then eventually Lauren, Sam's friends wife joined too!

Our new bedding we purchased with BBB gift cards!

Fiesta!

Making it a home

Watching three hours of people playing video games is not very entertaining, so I had to find other ways to occupy my time. I filled my time by unpacking boxes and hanging pictures for the first week. When it is all said and done we will have lived in this house for a total of 3 months. I figured I had two choices, we could unpack just the essentials and have lots of rooms full of boxes and less work in September when its time to pack for England, or I could heed the advice of my best friend Stephanie, who told me before I left to do whatever I can to make every house we live in a home, no matter how long we are there. I chose the second option, and I think that is the best advice anyone has given to me and I would give that advice to any military couple. After I finished unpacking the house I spent a week writing thank you cards for all our wonderful wedding presents that I enjoyed unpacking. Once I completed that task Sam and I basically just watched "How I Met Your Mother" on Netflex, worked out at the gym, and I read the last two books in the Hunger Games series. That pretty much describes our entire month of February and I wouldn't change it for the world, it was almost like a second honeymoon, just relaxing together. We finished the month of February by heading to Springfield to see family and friends before moving to Altus, OK and to celebrate my birthday. 

I love exploring new recipes and making meals.

Why not practice cooking in all my free time? And use the pretty Fiesta!

I had to use all my new stuff so we hosted a Super Bowl party with four of Sam's guy friends.

Things I did to occupy myself when the boys played video games. 

We had a great visit in Springfield. I was spoiled by family for my birthday! Getting married is awesome because you get a birthday celebration from both sides of the family! I even got to have a Thin Mint concrete while we were there. My actual birthday was on Monday, February 27th and we headed to Oklahoma City to celebrate. We had been in Oklahoma City over Presidents day weekend, meeting up with Anna and Stephanie (my roommates from college) and their boyfriends, it was a great weekend and we loved OKC, but the main reason I chose to go there for my bday was for Cheddar's. We explored Tinker AFB while we were there and also hit up Target. While we were walking into Cheddar's we saw a KC-135 land, which this is the plane that is set as the background to my blog, but its also the plane Sam will be flying, so that was pretty neat! Sam's friend Kedem and his wife Lauren came over that night to watch the bachelor, which was the perfect way to end my birthday and kick of the beginning of our "tribe", which is what we refer to the four of us as in our experiences at Altus Air Force Base.

Pancake that Sam made for me and brought to me in bed for my birthday.

Before heading to OKC

One of my bday presents from Sam

Sam and I thought we would wait a while before having children, but at the end of February we gained a son, Sam's friend from pilot training came to stay with us for a week before he had to head off for training. It was great to have someone else to eat the recipes I was experimenting with and I figured that's what being in the military is all about, helping friends out here and there and then when you need help or when Sam is gone and I need help, there are people I can call on. Sam enjoyed having someone there that he could play his COD with whenever he wanted. 

Sam and his friend John, who stayed with us, wearing their Zuba's pants

John in a Hurricane simulator. This was in the center of Enid's mall, we thought it would like blow him away but the winds didn't get that high. Disappointment.

One thing is for sure, theres never a dull moment with Sam and his friends. I have truly enjoyed meeting all of them, and their significant others, and spending time with them. Having fun people to spend time with made living in Enid tolerable and they also moved to Altus at the beginning of March when Sam and I moved again. The two biggest lessons I learned in the month we spent in Enid were that cake balls are more challenging than one might think and if you heat pans up in the oven too long they will smoke....alot. Sam learned that you cannot put wax paper into the oven, it smells like burnt crayons and sets off smoke detectors. Thanks for reading!

Love,

Amanda

Ya Mon...No Problem Mon

The day after our wedding proved to be just as humbling as the actual wedding day. We were able to eat breakfast and see off some of Sam's family and friends from Quincy, which was a lot of fun. We loved having everyone in town and it meant so much to us that people would make the drive for our wedding. After saying our goodbyes and thank you's we headed out to lunch with Sam's friends from the Academy. Where is the best place to eat out for the first time ever as a Mr. and Mrs.? Qdoba of course! If you have never experienced the divine awesomeness of Qdoba, well then you are missing out. The night we got engaged we ate Qdoba for dinner, and now that we live in a town that doesn't have one we plan specific routes and trips just to dine at Qdoba, needless to say it has played a large role in our lives. After lunch we headed to my moms house to open all our presents. My mom had recycled Rachel's banner from a shower I had in Quincy that said "Amanda and Sam", it was cute to see in hung over the fireplace. We ate wedding cake while opening presents and it felt like another shower. We were overwhelmed, yet again, by all the love and thoughtfulness from friends and family. Though we were exhausted, the day after our wedding was simply amazing. We finished the day by driving to Kansas City, about three hours from Springfield, to catch an early flight to Jamaica!

We got a few honks while driving to and from KC!

Our first day on the resort, waiting for orientation.

You really can't complain about having to get up at 4:00am to catch a flight to paradise. After ten hours of traveling, a short layover in Charlotte, NC, where I sadly didn't meet the upcoming Bachelorette Emily Maynard, we arrived in Jamaica. My first experience ever going through customs, but it wasn't too bad, we were greeted with island music and instantly I felt relaxed. The scary part was trying to find a bus that would take us to the correct resort. We finally got onto a bus, after watching lots of people running around and shouting loudly. Our bus driver was entertaining, but it was an hour drive to our resort. We stopped at multiple resorts along the way and a fifteen minute pit stop at a local shop. By the time we got to our resort in was 5:00pm, with the time change it meant we had traveled a total of eleven hours. We decided to explore the resort and get dinner after quickly unpacking. By the time we ate our delicious brick oven pizza it was dark and we couldn't see much. We went back to our room and we were both asleep by 9:30pm. Perhaps it was all the traveling, or the post wedding exhaustion, but we pretty much slept for three days straight.

The view of the resort next to us from our balcony.

The beach!

Sam ready to explore

 We had lots of welcoming meetings and tours to go to on Tuesday, our first full day on the resort. It was a bit frustrating to plan time to relax by the pool when everyone wanted to welcome us! It was also a bit cloudy, but still 80 degrees. The resort had two swimming pools with swim up bars, a restaurant with a tree in the middle, a brick oven pizza place, Japanese restaurant, a club, an Italian restaurant, a spa, a tennis court, a grill that made the best cheese burgers and was open 23/7, an outdoor workout center called "the cut", and a fancy restaurant called Platinum. It was absolutely beautiful. Tuesday night they had a beach party with a buffet out on the beach, we ate dinner with a nice couple from Vancouver, the lady was a teacher for special education. After dinner they had a fire dancer, a snake dancer, and a nail dancer. It was a lot of fun. We called it another earlier night and headed back to our room around 9:30pm, like I said, we literally slept for the first three days, going to sleep between 9:30 and 10 and waking up between 9 and 10. 

They delivered this tasty treat to our room one night.

I loved the towel animals.

Sam and I after dinner one night.

The buffet and fire dancer

 Our room came with a butler, so on Wednesday our butler came and walked us out to the beach where he had set up towel animals and flowers on two chairs. Some people say the hardest decision they have to make on vacation is where to sit on the beach, but we didn't even have to decide that! After a year of planning and decision making its nice to have a week where everything is decided for you! Wednesday night we ate outside, by the water, at an Italian restaurant, where our butler had set up roses that spelled out "I love you". Thursday and Friday we spent on the beach as well, Thursday night we ate dinner on the pier which went out into the water, it was a five course meal and we ate with an older couple, who was from Quincy, IL, and two younger couples, one from New York and I don't know where the other people were from, but we all had a really great time sharing our experiences and by the end of dinner it was like we were old friends. On Friday night we ate at a fancy restaurant called, Platinum, which had Caribbean style food. We also ate breakfast there Saturday morning, their food was different, but yummy. Saturday, we decided to take these small sail boats on a tour. It was a bit scary, because our boat filled with water and I was concerned we were going to get swept out to sea. We visited James Bond beach, where the first James Bond movie was shot, and the Prime Minister of Jamaica lived. Sadly, I didn't have my camera to capture this epic moment, but I did get to sit inside a waterfall and feel a spot in the ocean where salt water met fresh water, it was very cold at the bottom. On Saturday night we went to eat at the Japanese restaurant, where you had to make reservations, and they cooked the food in front of you, but it wasn't as delicious as Nakato's in Springfield and they didn't have seafood sauce.

Our butler, Larnell.

Our chef at the Japanese restaurant, Last Samurai  

 

 

 

 

 

More from our balcony

I tried fried bananas...not very tasty, but a Caribbean specialty.

After dinner we went back to our room to start packing and our butler came by, he was shocked that we were in our room at 8pm so he kicked us out. We went and watched the "dive" in movie, where they showed a movie in the pool and then went back to our room. We were surprised to find the coolest towel animal of the week, with roses all around, a hot bubble bath with candles and a bottle of wine chilling. We were basically on our own private bachelor episode. It was such a fun, relaxing, and romantic honeymoon. The Jewel Dunn's River really knows how to show you a good time. Sam and I were sad to head back to the states on Sunday and we are so glad that we splurged and got a butler suite on an all inclusive resort. Our honeymoon was a perfect week together, where we were greeted as Mr. and Mrs., no technology around, just each other, enjoying spending time together and recharging our batteries. I am so glad it worked out and we actually got to have a honeymoon!

The little sail boats we took out into the ocean.

This is what we came back to after being kicked out of our room.

The Spa. We did get an hour hot stone massage here.

One of the pools, you can see where it says the Jewel

We had another full day of traveling on Sunday, but at least we didn't have to get up at 4am. We stayed another night in Kansas City before heading back to Springfield. We spent a week in Springfield, staying with Sam's parents. The week after the honeymoon was definitely a strange mix of emotions. We spent the first part of the week turning me into an official Holbrook, and combining/closing out bank accounts. The guy gets off easy...yet again...not only does he get to hang out the day before the wedding while the girl is busily running around to get stuff ready, he also doesn't have to change his name on official documents! We knew we had to be back in Enid, OK by the following Monday, however, we didn't have a place to live until halfway through the week. Once we found out we got a house we spent the ladder part of the week packing to move. This is where the mix of emotions comes into play, first I felt excited, I was still on a honeymoon high and loving being married. Second, I felt a bit sad and slightly depressed, Sarah, Sam's sister, calls this the "wedding bell blues". For the past year, I always had something to think about, plan or do for the wedding, especially the month before the wedding, I ate, slept, breathed wedding and then BAM! Nothing, just like that it was all over. I enjoyed the planning and there was nothing left to look forward too, nothing left to plan, no more "I cant wait for your wedding, its going to be awesome." I didn't even know what to do with myself, until we found out we had a three bedroom house, then I channeled my wedding bell blues into packing and planning for a move. As with any move you feel a bit of sadness for the place you leaving behind, though you are excited for new opportunities. As the week drew to a close, we recruited help, packed up a Budget truck, spent time with family and friends, and then set out toward the wildly wonderful land of Enid, Oklahoma. The best part of this move was that Sam and I, after four long years of distance, were finally leaving together!

Sad to leave Jamaica

Sad to leave Springfield

All great posts, just like trips and vacations, must come to an end. Thank you for reading! Until next time!

Amanda

When Two Become One

We have been inspired to start a blog since Rachel, Sam's sister, moved to England and started her own interesting and fun blog. Thus, we are following in her footsteps, not quite sure this blog will be as neat and exciting as posts from London, England, but we are at the mercy of the Air Force and that usual brings some note worthy stories to share. Oh and in September we will be joining Rachel and her husband Josh overseas as we will be stationed at Mildenhall Air Force Base, but at that point I plan to just copy Rachel's blog, inserting my own pictures to confuse and intrigue people.

              This is a picture of Rachel, Sam's sister, and I "Gaddafing" Sam. Rachel is in the pink scarf.  Check out her blog, its the only one I am subscribed too!

 Now when I say "we" have been inspired to start a blog it means, "I", as in Amanda, have been inspired to start this blog, but since two became one back in January the I automatically incorporates into a "we", plus my adventures are more entertaining and possible because of Sam, my husband. This word husband is new to me because, as one might be able to tell by the title of this blog, we are newly weds and loving it. What better place to start a blog about the adventures of newly weds than at the beginning?

 Sam and I's first picture ever as a couple. USAFA Colorado Springs, CO. October 2007.

Sam and I met in the summer of 2007 at my Sister Shauna's wedding. Shauna married Ben who became my brother-in-law and who happened to be good friends with Sam back in high school. I joked with the 2007 newly weds, Shauna and Ben, that I would meet a guy at their wedding. Unbenounced to me it really happened and I found my future husband at their wedding. Though, it wasn't the guy I was curious about from seeing some of Ben's soccer games, but that's another story that is unimportant now. Speed up 3.5 years later through a long distance relationship, between Missouri and Colorado and Missouri and Florida, normal college vs the Air Force Academy, Short visits, long months a part, a minor 12 hour break up that doesn't count because it wasn't "facebook" official, and many, many, many, many long phone calls, late nights, letters, and lots of text messages Sam and I were engaged on December 24th, 2010. Just so happens that Rachel and Josh also got engaged on Christmas Eve as well, I guess we just aspire to be like them in all aspects of our life.

My Sisters wedding. Can you find me and Sam? Our first unofficial picture together.

Sam's proposal. This is a book I made him on our one year anniversary, the story of how we met. He made a chapter two which was a pop up asking me to marry him. Hmm wonder what we will make into the next chapter?? Guess you have to wait and see!

We set the wedding date for January 14th, 2012. Why January? Why a winter wedding? What are you THINKING? Do you remember ice storms and snow?? Why not wait until Spring....oh yes and the list goes on and on of questions/statements people made in reference to our wedding date! But we picked it because it was exactly one month after I graduated from college and Sam graduated from pilot training. A perfect way to start a new year, by starting a new life together. January was a time when Sam and I's lives finally matched up, where we could be together all the time instead of living twelve hours a part only seeing each other every few months like the majority of our relationship. I will be honest, I never worried about the weather, as long as Sam and I were there and an officiant then that's all that mattered, but I did have a few back up plans, luckily they weren't needed as January 14th, 2012 turned out to be a beautiful day, a tad windy and chilly, but sunny and it is January so I counted it as yet another blessing. Having a year to plan the wedding wasn't as awful as I thought it would be, especially with Sam living in Florida/Oklahoma, it gave us plenty of time to get stuff together and when it got too overwhelming I was able to set the plans aside for a bit and pick them back up when they were fun again! I loved planning the wedding and even had wedding bell blues when it was all over, because there was nothing left to plan. I must say the year of preparation paid off, because the wedding day was magically, but flew by way to fast!

Beautiful Wedding!

The week of the wedding was a blast! Friends and family were coming to town early, and I tried to make it to where most of the last minute details were finished so that I could enjoy the week. Getting married really does make you feel loved and like a princess, people came to my trial hair and make up appointment, my final dress fitting, mani/pedi appointments...ahhh getting married is a blast. Lots of parties and showers in the months before the wedding, but there are more parties and luncheons the week of the wedding, and each event makes you feel so special, honored and loved. Special in the fact that your wedding is something people want to be involved in, are excited about and support. Honored in the sense that people are willing to take off work, travel many hours, give you too many presents, and help with anything you need just to be a part of your special day. You feel loved by all the people who want to throw you a shower or a luncheon and all the people who come to a shower and to the wedding. Basically, getting married was a very humbling experience and a true testimony of just how many people God has put into our lives and the support system he has blessed us with. This is something we will most likely be falling back onto again over the years to come in our marriage.

From one of our many special showers!

The wedding day pretty much went off without a hitch! All the planning paid off and it was a beautiful wedding ceremony if I do say so myself :). There were some minor bumps along the way, like showing up at the church and no one but all the guys, my photographer, and wedding coordinator were there, the panic and disappointment I felt when I thought I was going to have to dress by myself, but then my girls showed up and they all made it in time to see me before I headed off to see my groom for the first time. Sam and I's first look was wonderful, I was so nervous for him to see me, but as soon as he walked down the stairs my nerves when away and there we were, together again. It was just like the first time we would see each other after being a part for a few months, it never failed, I always got butterflies in my stomach, and here I was four plus years later, on my wedding day still having butterflies for my groom. Then, just like every time we were reunited the butterflies left and nothing else mattered around us, we were together and that's all we saw. This time it was more exciting because it was followed by a wedding, not another long goodbye. The picture taking was fun and then Sam and I had to part ways until the ceremony. Sam said he couldn't even see me walk down the aisle because he was on the ground and everyone was standing, but once we were standing together on stage I saw the tears in his eyes and heard nothing the pastor said, good thing we have it on video! The ceremony felt like it was over in like two seconds, a blink of an eye, but we were able to throw a private impromptu prayer into it and that is a moment I will cherish forever. After the ceremony ended, we walked away to "Danger Zone" from Top Gun and apparently our pianist was able to keep playing it after the song ended and people started clapping and singing along! I am glad people enjoyed that!

My amazing bridesmaids!

This is the moment following Sam and I's first look.

After the wedding we got to take lots and lots of fun pictures as a bridal party. Then we went to the hotel because we had about forty five minutes to spare, the boys socialized in the hall while us girls went into the room and rested. I decided to take a breather from the heavy dress so I stripped down, wore my friends jacket and had a pants-less encounter with Sam's Aunt Jill. After our brief hotel visit it was off to the reception for amazing food, fun, and lots and lots of dancing. Sam and I say we wish we could've been guests to our own wedding because it looked like a lot of fun, but we enjoyed trying to mingle and talk with everyone that we could! Thank you again to everyone who helped make our wedding day such a success and for coming to share in our special day!

The boys "Tebowing"-fun wedding party pictures!

Cute!!!

So glad everyone had a good time at the reception!

Stay "posted" for the next blog. After the wedding comes a tropical wonderland, followed by a month of wedded bliss to catch you all up to our current exciting life in awesome Altus. 

Until next time, keep it right into the Danger Zone......Amanda