Awesome Altus

Exactly 31 days after we moved to our house in Enid, OK it was time for Sam and I to move again. On March 2nd Sam and I moved to Altus, Oklahoma, which is about three and a half hours southwest of Enid. I knew becoming a military spouse I would have to get use to moving around and become an expert at moving, but I didn't know I would learn this quickly. Just to give you a little timeline, as long as everything stays on track, Sam will finish his KC-135 training and we will leave Altus on July 30th. We will then head back to Enid, OK and about the second week in August Sam will fly out to Washington state to go through SERE which is survival training. He will be taking classes to learn what to do if his plane crashes, he will learn how to withstand being captured by the enemy, and he will live in the wilderness and practice the survival skills. While he does this for the month of August I will be in Enid. Then Sam will come back in September and we will have about two weeks to pack and get our stuff together for, yes you guessed it, another move. In mid September we will be moving overseas to the UK. But for now we are beginning to settle into our little "apartment" in Altus, OK.

Easter decorations. Making every house a home!

Sam in front of an older model KC-135

Sam and I with the KC-135, one month of training done and Sam has yet to learn how to turn on the plane!

When we drove from Enid to Altus I felt like we were driving further and further into the middle of nowhere. My feelings were confirmed by the coyote that ran across the highway and in front of my car along the way. We arrived on  base around 9pm and I was already feeling far from home. We checked into the Red River Inn on base and headed to our room. As soon as we walked into our room I couldn't help but start crying. It was literally a hotel room, complete with just a microwave, mini fridge, bed and bathroom. My thought was they expect us to spend 5 months in this room?? I have heard that when your husband, boyfriend, son or whoever deploys you are never suppose to cry in front of them. They say it is hard enough for them to leave their families behind and seeing you upset makes it even harder. I adopted this principal with Sam and I's relationship, even while we were dating, however, I was not always successful at waiting until he left to shed a tear or two and sadly when I saw the room I failed again at not crying in front of him. Sam immediately went back to the front desk but learned there weren't any other rooms available.

Our first room. That was our kitchen.

The only TV, but at least there was a desk.

When life hands you lemons...make lemonade. I impressed my husband with this meal, made entirely by the microwave, delicious tacos, rice, green beans, and no bake cookies.

Another microwave meal. Chicken, rice and green beans.

The first full day we spent in Altus was a Sunday. We explored the town with Sam's friend, Kedem and his wife, Lauren. We discovered most places were closed on Sunday, but we found a local Hillbilly place to eat. Sam started his training on Monday, where he became partners with Kedem, which means that they are in simulators at the same time, classes at the same time and flying together. It works out great because when the boys are working the girls get to play! Lauren and I started hitting the gym together every morning, it is great having a workout partner again. I managed to keep myself busy enough during the day to stay out of our hotel room. It was tough at night, when Sam would need to study and I had no where to go, so sometimes I would hide out in the bathroom, which is where the blogging began. By the time our second weekend in Altus rolled around I was ready to get out of there. I wanted to go back  to our home in Enid, but it was too far, so what was the next best thing to make me feel better? Target of course! I found a Target in Wichita Falls, TX which is about an hour and a half away. Though it was a rainy day Sam and I were getting ready to head to Target, but before we left Sam decided to check one more time and see if a room was available. Luckily, we got a kitchenette room, so instead of driving to Target in the rain we moved out of our hotel room and settled into our little kitchenette apartment.

Our new room! Living room and Kitchen.

Bedroom.

We have a REAL closet now! And dressers.

This place felt like a mansion! There was an actual sofa to sit on instead of just a bed. And there was a living room! No more hiding out in the bathroom for me. The following weekend we went back to Enid to get a few necessities from our house. Though we have a stove and full size refrigerator we still don't have an oven. We packed another tub full of mostly kitchen supplies. We got a crock pot, toaster oven, George Foreman, and other simple kitchen supplies. I was so excited to be able to cook real meals. I take my stay at home wife job very seriously, I spend anywhere from 4 to 6 hours trying to find new recipes. Once I find yummy recipes I look for a great side dish to pair it with. After, creating the perfect meals I copy all the recipes, breaking them down by day, into a notebook. Then I check my kitchen and create a grocery list. Then of course the final step is to go to the store, which usually happens the following day, and then I use the notebook and I'm prepared and ready to go every night. I guess its the teacher in me that plans it all to a T and makes lists,  but in my free time I experiment with making yummy treats, like cake balls, which can prove challenging with just a toaster oven.

First stove top meal! Beef Stew!

Homemade Key Lime Pie

Yummy fruit, pudding and neutella treat

I consider myself to be very blessed to not have to be scrambling to get a job while we are here. I thought I would be bored, but with Sam coming and going throughout the day and having many chores to keep me occupied, I haven't felt bored or stir crazy. I tell Sam I worked hard, twelve hour shifts at times, paying taxes so he could sit on the beach of FL for a year doing nothing, so I have earned five months of not working :). I start every day on the elliptical for 60 to 100 minutes, depending on the day, come home, shower, make lunch, do any laundry, or shopping or baking that is needed, make dinner, clean up dinner, sometimes go to the gym for a second workout (again depends on the day) then come home and take another shower and relax a bit before heading to bed. Many people ask what I do all day, and that is a pretty typical outline, I find ways to stay busy and I love it! I am learning a lot, and who knows maybe I will even take up couponing and become an extreme couponing stay at home wife. Hopefully, this is good practice and someday I will get to be a stay at home mom, but I still have a ways to go before that can happen, I mean for one thing it still takes me hours and hours just to plan a week of meals for two people I couldn't imagine planning for more!

Saturday morning breakfast, complete with turkey bacon.

Sam and I have discovered some beautiful hiking here in Texhoma. There is a park area called Quartz mountains. We have gone there the last two weekends, the first weekend we went by ourselves and last weekend we went with Kedem, Lauren, and their lab dog, Tex. Sam also tried playing Frisbee Golf last weekend, which he claimed was for stoners and hippies when I pointed out the course a few weekends prior, but then he started playing it himself. We attend the Catholic masses on base, which are nice, they even use a guitar for worship which I love but the priest is getting ready to PCS to the United States Air Force Academy. We have also visited a few protestant churches, but I haven't found one to settle at yet. Last Sunday we went to a Southern Baptist church, where it was pretty traditional, using the organ, men wearing suites, women in dresses. The preacher reminded me of one I grew up with, where he raised his voice a lot as he got really excited. Everyone was very welcoming, but you could immediately tell you were in a baptist church as the back was completely full but the front was empty, and a sweet old lady in a joking way made it known that we were sitting in her seat! We met a nice couple, that we even ran into at Walmart today, but there are few more churches I would like to visit, hopefully we will find one that is a little more contemporary. There is a sunrise Easter service out on the flight line that will take place inside a C-17, I think it would be neat to attend that service next weekend, but of course that requires getting up before sunrise.

Awesome View!

What are you doing Sam??

Lots of cacti.

Rough Climb!

Hiking to the tip top

Hi Sam!

The reservoir. Before we leave Oklahoma Sam wants to go noodling there.

A few things I have learned about living on an Air Force Base:

1. It is basically like living at an airport, but the noise is somewhat soothing.

2. No matter how many times I see it I am stopped in my tracks when I watch these huge plans taking off and landing.

3. They are all located in the middle of nowhere  (except for Tinker in OKC, they have a Target and Qdoba which makes it a legit town)

4. Everyone dressed in a flight suit is not necessarily Sam, or one of his friends, so I should keep my big waving to a minimum, unless I am 100% certain I know the pilot.

5. Retreat is played at 4:30 everyday and I love watching the people who get stuck, especially when they are in uniform and have to salute, I also feel very patriotic when I get caught and stop for the playing of our National Anthem.

The C-17 and KC-135 on display on base. You literally hear these planes at all hours of the day, every day of the week. The C-17 is the loudest.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have a great Holy Week and take a few moments out of your day each week to reflect on what this week was like for Jesus many, many, many years ago. Sam and I plan to partake in a few activities to remember and celebrate this Holy Week as we anticipate resurrection Sunday! We hope you and your family have a very blessed Easter, or Passover celebration, and enjoy some time together, or visiting, with family and friends!

Love,
Sam & Amanda