America and Beyond

     After seven and a half months of living overseas Sam and I had the opportunity to travel back to the states together to be with family and friends for some very special events. Making it back after only seven months away is pretty good considering some of our friends haven’t been back to the states in a year and a half and others have no plans to travel back for a visit while they are living over here, so our dearest family please keep this in mind when our trips home are few and far between :).  It is not as easy as taking a short drive and after listening to our flight stories perhaps it will make more sense as to why most people only travel to the states a couple of times during their tour overseas. Sam and I took a bus from base to the airport and arrived about one and a half hours before departure, due to being dropped off at a separate terminal and Heathrow being difficult to navigate. However, we made it through security and to our gate with plenty of time to make it onto the plane, but only to discover that they gave our plane away to another flight whose plane had broken earlier. So we had a three hour delay, but at least we got vouches for lunch. We finally got to leave London, but we ended up landing in Houston after our flight to Kansas City took off. Lucky for us there was another flight leaving Houston at 9pm and going to Kansas City, unlucky for us there was only one seat available. So we decided that Sam would take that ticket and I would fly stand by, I was so nervous because there was a chance that our luggage would make it to KC but we wouldn't make until the following day, which would interfere with my brother-in-laws graduation. Luckily, after waiting for another couple of hours I made it onto the flight. We observed, in our short time in Houston, that it is very hot and America has a lot of overweight people. For some reason you don’t see that many overweight people here in the UK. We also found frozen yogurt and I was super excited, they don’t have that in England either! We finally made it to the Kansas City airport at 11:30 pm….we had officially been awake and traveling for 24 hours and I was so excited to my sister and brother-in-law. We made it back to their house at about 12:30 and headed straight to bed. Sam and I had no trouble falling asleep but I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4 am…darn jet lag.

     We tried to sleep in the following morning but we were both up by 7:30 am. We drank some tea and ate Panera bagels, oh how I missed chocolate chip bagels. Then we got ready for Ben’s graduation and my mom arrived at 10 am! I was so happy to see her! My sister made us a delicious lunch and I enjoyed a vanilla coke. After lunch it was time to head to UMKC for Ben’s graduation from Pharmacy school. My sister and Ben have been married for 6 years, as of today actually, Happy Anniversary Shauna and Ben! Prior to being married they dated for about four years, so Ben has been a part of our lives since I was 14, thus he is more than my sister’s boyfriend or my sister’s husband, he is a brother to me. He has been there for our family through our happiest and darkest times. He was present at every one of our weekly family lunches on Sunday and he was even with us on our last family vacation to FL before our dad died. That is why I chose Ben to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day, yes he is my sister’s husband, but he is also a brother to me because he has been the only positive male role model in my life since I was a teenage. Well, until Sam came along, but if it weren't for Ben then there wouldn't be a Samanda since we did meet at their wedding. Anyway, all this to say going to Ben’s graduation was a big deal to me and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, even if I would've had to rent a car and drive from Houston….which did cross my mind.

Ben being hooded like Harry Potter

Ben is somewhere in this picture...I think...Sam took it

My sister and Ben! So proud of both of them!

6 Years ago they  became Mr. and Mrs. Hyde now it is Dr. and Mrs. Hyde!

A beautiful wedding! Happy Anniversary to an amazing couple who has  set a great example of love and a happy marriage for Sam and I

     After Ben’s graduation we headed out for some good ole KC BBQ….oh it was so delicious and my drink was refilled after I only took two sips…it really is the little things that make America so great. After dinner we had delicious cake and a party for Dr. Hyde and all his amazing accomplishments. On Sunday we had more yummy food at an Italian restaurant which served brunch. I even got to drive for the first time since arriving in the states and I turned into the wrong lane…oops! Guess you get pretty use to driving on the left side of the road and it becomes natural to pull into the left lane, but yesterday Sam turned into the wrong lane while driving here, so basically we will be screwed up for a while when it comes to driving. After our brunch we headed back to Springfield with my mom to kick off the Walters Wedding Week of 2013!

Ben's balloons 

And his sign

Cookies my mom made!

The graduate

The sweet couple! 

A great cake

Ben is ready to eat the cake

Our present to Ben, A Pharmacists Prayer

     After arriving in Springfield we stopped by my grandma’s house to visit with her and got to see some unexpected family, my second cousin Sharon and her husband Leon, I love them! Then we unpacked a bit and visited with my mom before heading over to Sam’s parents’ house for dinner. My mom dropped us off at Sam’s parents’ house where they were both sitting on the front porch awaiting our arrival. We thought they were just super excited to see us, but turns out they were hiding a surprise. On the back deck they were hiding more of Sam’s family from Quincy!!! His Aunt Jill, two cousins Bryson and Lauren, Aunt Lynn and his Granny, we were so surprised and so excited to see them! We ate more delicious food and desserts and enjoyed good company/visiting with family.

We got to see our adopted mom and dad Cathy and Kevin!

Sam's parents made a delicious meal

We loved seeing Granny 

 

The Quincy clan! SOOO glad we got to see them!

     

      On Monday we got our rental car and met the bride and groom plus our friend Katie for lunch at our favorite place…Qdoba. It was amazing. Then Sam and I went to Target, Barnes and Noble and other awesome places that only exist in America. Sam went to see a movie with his dad, cousin and brother-in-law while the ladies and I went to Cheddar's for dinner, which happens to be my all-time favorite restaurant, unfortunately it was a letdown of a visit, the company was great, but my chicken caesar pasta salad had lunch meat on it instead of grilled chicken, my heart was crushed. We did some shopping after dinner and got stuck out in a stormy night, where it THUNDERED!!! I loved it…sadly, it was the same storm system that had produced the EF5 tornado in Moore, OK, and so we spent the evening watching the live coverage of the deadly storm before heading back to my mom’s house.

See it looks like lunch meat

We also got Andy's! Only the best frozen custard in the world!

Free refills....this is a big deal!

     Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur during the day, we pretty much went to the gym, target, Kohl’s, the mall and every other store you can think of that doesn't exist in England…which is pretty much all of them. We had to run some wedding related errands, like get Sam’s suit picked up and what not, and I did some shopping for some new dresses for the upcoming wedding festivities. My mom also made delicious food each of those days; she made us a shrimp dinner, which Sam says I need the recipe for mom, and my all-time favorite Ham and Biscuits. Mom’s home cooking doesn't let me down like Cheddar's! We also visited our niece one night and celebrated Chad's sister, Heather's graduation. 

This was Sam's missing England face

Our niece Hazel jumping on the trampoline we got her for her birthday 

Hazel reading to us

Ham and Biscuits

Me and my grandma

My mom and I

     On Thursday we moved our stuff from my mom’s house to Sam’s parents’ house. We were making it even, four nights at each house; we very carefully divided our time. Thursday was also the kick off for wedding events! The second big event we were home for, one of my best friends, Anna’s wedding! Anna and I met in Kindergarten and we played basketball together all the way through seventh grade. We had sleep overs and I remember many awesome birthday parties together, especially the year I had a birthday party at skate land and she gave me a big black monkey named Congo. We remained friends all through high school; we actually had quite an amazing group of friends from grade school through high school. Anna started dating Chad our junior year of high school, even though she turned him down multiple times in middle school when he asked her out. Anna moved to Arkansas for freshman year of college, after her first year there she moved back to Springfield to attend Missouri State and begin a program that the University of Arkansas didn't have to offer. When Anna moved back I told her that I was thinking about moving into an apartment with a friend of mine from church, Stephanie, and asked if she would want to live with us. God knew what he was doing because it all worked out perfectly and we became the best roommates ever for three years. Anyway, I digress; I went to the bachelorette/personal shower while Sam went to the bachelor party. The girls had a great night, with a yummy dinner and fun games. I wish I had more pictures of this night, but I took pictures on Stephanie’s camera and well I was also busy socializing/catching up with awesome friends that I forgot to take pictures…fail.

Roomies! 

     I had the pleasure of picking up the bride on Friday, I told her no bride should drive to any of her wedding festivities, and we headed to the mall first thing. We met Stephanie there and had some great roommate time before heading to the bridal luncheon at Twin Oaks country club. In case you are unfamiliar, a bridal luncheon is a time for the mothers of the bride/groom to get together with all the bridesmaids and sometimes aunts/grandma’s too and eat a delicious lunch. It was so much fun! Especially, since half of the bridesmaids had been friends since grade school and the other half was family! Basically, this was the best wedding party ever because we were all already friends, which left lunch to be very chatty as we all caught up. After lunch we headed to get Mani’s and Pedi’s…one of the best things about a wedding, being pampered! Some of the bridesmaids and I headed to Wal-Mart to put together a gift package for the bride and groom to have when they left the reception and then we parted ways until the rehearsal. The rehearsal went really well and the rehearsal dinner was even better! Chad and Anna had cute gifts that they presented to each member of the wedding party after introducing them and saying a few words of how they are important in their lives, how precious. We had a blast at the rehearsal dinner and we even had the honor of eating with bride and groom!

Picking up the bride! I love her!

At the rehearsal dinner 

The Bride and Groom

Sam and I again!

All the bridesmaids at the luncheon

     The big day finally arrived! Sam took me to get my hair done in the morning and then I headed to the mall to get my make-up done with some of the bridesmaids. We then shoved chick-fill-a in our mouths as we drove to the church through some crazy Springfield protests, something about corn or something and farmers…ahh the Midwest. We arrived at the church in time to get dressed and hang out with Anna, what special time this was! We took some wedding party pictures before the ceremony began. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was gorgeous. Minus the fact that the boys didn't pay attention at the rehearsal and weren't standing at the front when the bridesmaids walked out and the Groom being called the wrong name the ceremony went off without a hitch. Everything was perfect and those were minor details that no one noticed, except the name thing but that was just funny! 

Some of the bridesmaids....from left to right Stephanie, Katie, me and Caroline

The gorgeous bride before she walked down the asile

The protest we drove through to get to the church

A wedding party picture I stole from before the ceremony...Heather Cherie was an amazing photographer

     After the ceremony we headed to take some pictures downtown and I got to ride in a limo for the first time…it was awesome! Except for the part when the bride got pooped on by a bird and the limo driver forgot to pick us up and we had to walk back to the church, but it makes for some funny memories for sure. They did family pictures and then the limo took us to the reception, time to party! The reception was gorgeous and the food was even more delicious. It was so great to see so many friends that I hadn't seen in a long time! The best part of the night though, in my opinion, was when the entire wedding party and all the parents of the bride and groom sang, “I’ve got Friends in Low Places” in a circle, swaying together, it doesn't get much more close or sweeter than that! It was an amazing wedding and I am so glad that Anna and Chad asked Sam and I to be a part of it, we loved being there and it was a blast!

Sam didn't want to take a picture with me

It made me very sad

My mom and I at the reception

Besties

Finally, he took a picture with me

     We were supposed to head back to England on Sunday, but since Rachel and Josh were also coming back to Springfield we paid to change our tickets so we could have a family dinner on Sunday night. I am glad we were all able to be together, but Expedia made it a headache for us by splitting our reservation so it was like we were two separate travelers going back, which wouldn't have been a problem if our flights weren't canceled.

Family picture...Kevin and Becky are neutral... you can call them Switzerland

Family picture! There is one similar to this take in in 2009 at Sam's graduation in Colorado.

Oh yeah....here it is! This was taken in 2009, back when Sam commissioned as as 2nd Lt. and graduated from the Academy 

The girls 

The siblings with their spouses

     On Monday, Memorial Day, Sam officially promoted to Captain! Even though we were away from home, I still wanted to do something special for my wonderful husband, whom I am very proud of! So I threw him a little surprise promotion party, complete with some of his favorites (other than me of course, hehehe), sushi, cheese cake, and moose track ice cream. I think he was really surprised and enjoyed it! Unfortunately, our day turned to stress (for me at least) when our flight from Springfield to Chicago was delayed and we were going to miss our connecting flight to London. So I spent 45 minutes on the phone with United to get our flights changed which was a mess since we had two reservations, thanks Expedia. We got a flight booked for the next morning, but received a message that the flight was canceled. So I got the not so great pleasure of being on the phone for another 45 minutes to get on another flight. Luckily, we made it to Chicago thanks to American Airlines and made our connection to London. 

Captain Sam Holbrook

The two lovely mom's in Sam's life, his mom and MIL

    We finally arrived in London at 5:55 am on Wednesday, the day Sam was supposed to go back to work. However, with all the waiting we had to do at the airport we didn't make it home until 1:00 pm….another long day! Luckily, Sam’s work told him he didn't need to come in! It was good to be back home, but the jet lag coming back to England is way worse than in the states. At least in the states we would be tired by 10 pm and up by 7 am, coming back here it was reverse, we would be wide awake until 2 am and sleep until 10 am, something about England, it makes it real easy to sleep! At least the jet lag wore off faster than it did when we first moved here, that took like two weeks. We were 0 for 4 on our United Flights...we took zero of the original four flights we had booked, it was all sorts of messed up. 

The plane did have a cool touch screen TV with so many options!

I love watching the map of our flight progress across the pond

I was so excited that I could make my own country music play list...I spent an hour on this.

Excited to finally be heading home, but sad to leave our friends, family and luxuries of America!

     Well, after a super long winded blog that pretty much completes our trip back to America! We had a great time and enjoyed all the awesomeness America has to offer that we appreciate more after living abroad. Thanks for still sticking with me, These following pictures describe everything we have been up to the past 3 weeks, since returning back to the UK!

We celebrated our sweet friend Jill and her 27th birthday upon arriving back in the UK:

Preparing to sing to Jill, as she scolds her fur baby Zeus

Her husband, Zack directing us on how to sing

Jill was super excited about the Star Wars birthday card we gave her...nerd! haha just kidding!

Jill with her goodies

And it is things like head stands that make these people awesome...your welcome Taryn 

Sam and I started eating healthy and clean again...if only we could  give up La Hogue we would be golden:

We also started a Tuesday afternoon tea time with our Bible Study girls which means I had a lot of cuteness to photograph:

Alayna, one year

Emily 8 months

Eleanor...just turned four months 

Emily

Alayna 

Eleanor

If that wasn't already enough cuteness I created a collage...these babies are oh so precious and so darn cute! They capture your heart, Love them all! 

Sam and I took Hercules to the Heath and started practicing letting him go off lead, I think I am the one who needs more practice with it, he does pretty good, but I freak out a bit and get really nervous:

Taryn, Meleah and I took the dogs for a walk and soaked up some sunshine, which I am glad we did because we haven't seen the sun since this week:

We could wear shorts! Hercules and Arizona 

Keeping Hercules cool

Cooling off Arizona

Meleah and I took advantage of the sunlight to put lemon juice in our hair and try and lighten it....unfortunately it didn't work and that was literally the last full day of sunshine we have seen...two weeks ago!

I started up a bachelorette watch party, just like the bachelor watch parties but we have brackets this time, because we are so cool:

The girls working on my puzzle during the bachelorette

Filling out brackets/taking notes

Sam and I took Hercules to London and visited Rachel and Josh. We also went to Kew Gardens, again soaking up the last weekend of sunshine:

Hercules on the tube, one guy stopped and told Sam he was a really well behaved dog!

Walking along the river...at 9:30 pm 

Kew Gardens 

Water Lilies 

Rachel was a nice sister putting the tree in Sam's face

Rach and I

Do you see Rachel and Josh across the pond?

Peacock

Sam the creepy man on the tube

Night out in London

Big Ben

That is Rachel in the middle of the picture :)

He is pretty at night

On the bus

Rach and I got Pedi's...not as good as America 

I started trying to make some new recipes from scratch and they turned out pretty delicious and we bought an antique cabinet :

After workout bars 

Our cabinet 

Rice Krispie Treats

Fruit Pizza

Rice Krispies 

Our Bible Study rocking out to Jesus music and working on my puzzle 

The finished product 

I also made a new banana bread recipe that was yummy 

Sam had a three day weekend last weekend, but he had to work on Saturday! It didn't stop us from doing some exploring locally and enjoying a dinner out in Cambridge though:

A historic village called Lavenham with crooked houses 

Lavenham 

Lavenham

Lavenham Church

Audley End House

Audley End House

Audley End House

Audley End House

Audley End House

Audley End House

Our Sushi bar experience where it floats by in Cambridge 

I enjoyed tea in Ely with my sweet friend and deployment husband one afternoon, we tried to take a river tour ride because we are romantic like that but we missed the last boat, just an excuse to go back though! I also dog sat for a friend:

Hercules and Arizona in the sun 

Meleah and I enjoying tea 

Hercules and Arizona, who Sam called India and Asia 

I have sweet friends from Bible study, Darla brought be gorgeous flowers and Erin gave me Chacos, I didn't know they are so in right now, but they are comfy and she is keeping me hip:

This past weekend Sam and I went to explore more of our local area. We saw Castle Rising Castle and Sandringham House, which is the Queen's summer residence. The royal family also spends Christmas there and if the weather is nice on Christmas day you can see them walking from the house to church and back. Small children are also able to hand the Queen roses, I wish we would've gone last Christmas! We thought about it but decided against it since William, Kate and Harry wouldn't be there but there were less people and I have some friends that got a good picture of the Queen, so that would've been neat to see. I am sure lots of people will be there this year since there will be a new baby and all. Today we also walked around the gardens of our Chippenham estate!

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

Charging the castle

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

English country side

Castle Rising Castle

Castle Rising Castle

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

Sandringham House

The Church at Sandringham

Chippenham Estate

Chippenham Estate

If you are still reading, thank you ever so much! It means a lot to me! I put many hours of work into these blogs and sometimes I know they can be winded and long, so you are a faithful reader and I appreciate you. This blog post has finally ended and you are now caught up with the Holbrook's to America and beyond! Until next time, Cheers!

Amanda