Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

       The phrase "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," dates back to the 1800's from a Roman poet, which is fitting since we will be moving to Europe in less than a month. This phrase can pretty much sum up Sam and I's entire dating relationship. We met at my sisters wedding in 2007 and by the time we had our first date we only had one full week together before Sam had to head back to the Academy in Colorado Springs. In fact by the end of our time together Sam was ready to be a "facebook official" couple (because everyone knows its not real until it is on facebook) but I was hesitant since he was heading back to the Springs and I wasn't real sure how living twelve hours away, not being able to see each other until November, would go. So we didnt become facebook official right away, but we did continue talking every single day for hours and hours and hours, in fact, now that we are married, I have no idea what we came up with to talk about for hours, but we sure did laugh a lot.

Sam and I's first official picture together. I went to visit him with my sister, Ben and mom in October 2007. We just couldn't wait until Thanksgiving to see each other! Aww young love!

        A few weeks after Sam headed to Colorado with his brand new car, and his dad, he came back to Springfield to surprise me. I will never forget walking up to my house, talking with Sam like our usual evening phone calls, and there he was standing in my driveway. This was the first week in August of 2007 and I loved having another week with him. He disclosed to me later that he actually didn't have permission to leave the academy at the time he left, so had they called him or something he would've been in serious trouble for being in Missouri instead of Colorado. I figured a guy who is willing to drive 12 hours and risk getting in trouble just to see me again was worth the distance. At the end of Sam's surprise visit we did become "facebook official" and began a four year long distant relationship that was worth every mile, tear, airplane ride, car trip and late night phone calls. Unfortunately, due to my husband's (I love being able to call him that) line of work distance will  always be a part of our relationship, even now that we are married. On August 5th we took Sam to the airport and so began our four weeks of living apart.

Putting Sam on the plane. I cried at the airport, Sam doesn't like to hear that I cry when he leaves, so he probably wouldn't like to know about the nights that I have cried alone, while he is away...good thing he doesn't read my blog unless I read it to him :-)

        
       I feel like I don't have a whole lot of room to complain about my husband being gone for a month. I have friends whose husbands have been deployed for three months, six months, and even twelve months. However, most people never have to live a part from their husband or wife unless they take a short business trip or vacation for a few weeks. Although, with the economy in a slump more and more people have to live a part from their spouse for awhile because of work, but those are unique situations and in the cases I have heard about they still get to see each other on the weekends. Sam gets very passionate about that, he said if he got to see me once a week then its not a long distant relationship, so the time he lived in Enid and we saw each other every weekend isn't considered to be a long distant but rather short distant relationship in Sam's eyes. Regardless, being apart from your best friend and love of your life for any amount of time sucks. I decided to view these four weeks as training for Sam's first deployment. I know Sam's deployment is not a phrase that any of my readers probably want to hear, but trust me as his wife "deployment" is the worst word in the world. However, Sam is finished with his training and this is the reality we live. If we were PCSing (permanent change of station) somewhere in the states, instead of the UK, Sam would most likely be deploying right away, but luckily we will already be over seas so we aren't sure how deployments will work. Since Sam is a pilot his deployments are only three months long, but my heart and prayers will always go out to those who have longer deployments to endure. Since we are not settled in a permanent home right now, and I am still without a job, for the month of August I decided to head back to Springfield to visit my family and friends to keep myself occupied while Sam is away.

One of the many delicious perks of Springfield

Reunited with the roomies! They introduced me to dipped cones from McDonalds...AMAZING

        The weekend before Sam left we invited his parents to Enid so they could see Sam before he headed to Washington. It was a great weekend and they came to see Sam off at the airport too. After I left the airport I headed straight back to Springfield and ran into Sam's parents on the trip home, they were helping us by driving my car back since one of my big tasks for August was to sell Sam's car, thanks Kevin and Becky! I had a Sunday lunch with my family and then meet up with one of my best friends, Anna at her house and we went to the pool, ate some Qdoba and had Orange Leaf with our friend Emily. It was a great first night in town! My first week in Springfield was filled with errands, making dinners for my mom, making dinner for my second cousin Sharon and Leon and my Grandma, lake day with some friends, and my mom and I headed to Kansas City for the weekend. It was so great to see my sister and Ben! We went ate at a delicious tea room, went shopping and got manis/pedis (thanks mom)! We headed back to Springfield on Sunday for my other besties, Stephanie and Nate's couple shower at South Haven.

My nephew Bentley

Yummy lunch at the tea room! Thanks Shauna and Ben!!

My mom didn't branch our much on her nail color, I tried out french tip shellac (sp?)

My pedicure! Very relaxing!

         I had a very busy and great first week in Springfield, but I still missed Sam and though I was keeping busy being a part from him was harder than I was expecting. Since Sam left I have yet to sleep through a full night, its hard to fall asleep without him by my side, but its also hard staying asleep. Sometimes, even when we were in Altus, I would go to bed thinking about all my friends and family who were going to bed that night alone either because their husband/wife is deployed or recently passed away, then as I would say my prayers, thanking God for my amazing husband, I would pray for those who popped into my head and were falling asleep alone. My second week in Springfield was also busy and fun! I worked on detailing Sam's car (I only had to spend an hour on it after the "professional's" were done), I got the recalls on his car fixed, Anna and I took a road trip with Hercules to Enid to stay the night and get some things in order for our upcoming move, I hung out with the girls at the pool, I ate dinner with Sam's family, spent a day with Sarah and Hazel, and attended a wedding expo with Anna, her mom and Emily. It was another fun and relaxing  week in Springfield.

This car has so many memories for Sam and for me! He had just bought it a few days before our first date, so this car with his Justin Timberlake "Bringing Sexy Back" playing when I got in, has been around for our whole relationship.

Nice and Clean! I have many memories of long road trips with this car....Springfield to FL, FL to Oklahoma, Springfield to IL...Its a great car!

The detailing job on the inside...I still had to scrub a bit on the ceiling, but it looks real nice

We will miss you Hyundai

Hercules on his first long road trip...preparing him for the long plane ride. He logged 8 hours in the car. He is wearing a Thunder Coat in this picture, it calms them down in stressful situations, hope it works for the plane ride.

Hercules crashed out on our couch in Enid, it was a long trip for him

Sweetest niece in the world, loved our day together!

Love her!

Sarah and I wanted s'mores but there is a no burn ordinance in this drought so we used a candle

Experiencing EVERY photo booth at the wedding Expo with Anna and Emily

More photo booth fun...cant wait to get in the photo booth at her wedding!

She brought the bag I made her! It came in real handy, but she was still over whelmed.

      Oh I almost forgot! The highlight of last week was selling Sam's car and his table and chairs! Military spouses do more than just holding down the forts while their spouses are gone, things are really coming together for our move. The worst part about Sam being away has been when I can't talk to him, but again I can't complain too much as I know people who have gone much longer without hearing from their spouse while they are away. As for my last week and half in Springfield I will pretty much be doing the same thing. Making dinner for my mom, hanging out with friends, working on making my car nice for our move, and taking a trip to Osage Beach to visit my friend Erin and her class of wonderful 8th graders! I have done a pretty good job at keeping myself busy, though it has been a slow moving month, full of many different emotions, with really long nights, I am excited to know we are on the downhill slide and we will be reunited in 10 days! Then we will begin our next big adventure, making our permanent move over to Mildenhall!! I am so excited for the next chapter in our newly wed lives!

Thanks for reading!

Oh yeah...I got bangs. I decided I was bored with my hair, since I haven't done anything with it since we got engaged a year and a half ago, but didn't want to cut it short so I got bangs. Hopefully, I wont always get bored with my look every time Sam is gone...but you never know. I hope he likes this look!

Call Me Never

        Our five months of TDY (temporary duty) in Altus, OK has come to an end. It has been a bitter sweet week for these newly weds. Sam was excited to be done with his training, especially after a rough final flight, and I was ready to move on to something more permanent. However, I made a really good friend in Altus, who made the experience great, and I was not ready to leave her behind. Its not everyday you click really well with someone and even in a short five months you can develop a lasting friendship. This is just part of the military life though, you meet people, experience things together that no one else would understand, and then you go separate ways. However, that means we will have great friends all over the world and free places to crash for a few days on vacation!

       Sam and I have come a long way since heading to Altus on March 6th. Before heading to Altus we had gotten into a routine and neither one of us were too excited to be in the middle of nowhere. I remember driving there and we had to slow down to 25mph every 15 miles, it seemed, for a small town. We went at night so we couldn't see much of anything and then we ended up in a hotel room on base. That seems like it happened ages ago. After a few weeks we became comfortable and really began to like the base. We had to tackle a few moves during our stay, but each time our rooms improved and we ended up in the RITZ, so it was worth it. The gym at Altus AFB is 10000000000000 times better than the one here at Vance. Their commissary, BX, and Shopette are pretty comparable, but the ones in Altus are open later. Basically, Altus became home to us and is way better than Vance AFB. It quickly became our new comfort zone. I enjoyed meeting lots of new people, playing at the pool on base (when it wasn't 110*), BBQs, going to movies with friends, hiking, and many, many, many other memories we made in Altus and will never forget.

       Another thing that improved immensely during our stay in Altus was my cooking. When we first got married I wasn't confident in my skills so I mostly stuck with the recipes I had made before, which were more comfort type foods that you bring to parties. Then when we moved to Altus and only had a microwave, I had to get creative, making microwave tacos. Then I read Tosco Reno's book "The Eat Clean Diet" and that had a major impact on my cooking. I did a big pantry clean out and started making recipes that had ingredients I had never heard of, which required lots of research, but I enjoyed it. I also only had a stove top, crock pot, and toaster oven to work with. Sam and I both gained a few pounds in the beginning of our marriage, but since I changed my/our diet and started seriously revolutionizing my cooking in May we have each lost some weight. I think my total weight loss to date is right around 11 pounds since the end of May. You can't out work a bad diet, though I tried and tried, and I am so excited to have a big kitchen back!

       Sam and I came back to Enid, Oklahoma yesterday. We spent today unpacking all our stuff from Altus, which was about six tubs and a few boxes, and did some intense cleaning in the kitchen. There are still a million things I feel like we have left to do, but we put a nice dent in the list today. Sam leaves for SERE, which is survival training, on Sunday. He also has water survival training. He will return to Oklahoma on August 31st. We have gone much longer than a month without seeing each other in the past but I have grown real fond of having him around all the time these past six and a half months so it will be a long and tough month apart. I have lots of projects to keep me busy and help with our move across the pond, so hopefully August passes quickly.

       When Sam gets back labor day weekend we plan to spend a week in Enid tying up lose ends to prepare for the big move. Then we will take a mid west tour to visit family and friends one last time. Our stops will include Kansas City, MO; Quincy, IL; and Springfield, MO. Then we will have hopefully around four days left in Enid and then PCS (permanent change of station) to Mildenhall, England. Where we will find one house.... that we love and live in for 2 to 3 years..... and never move anything during that time....because I for one am ready to be in once place for longer than a few months.

Since we have finished up our first military assignment I decided to highlight my favorite memories of Altus AFB: (In no particular order)

1. Meeting/Making new  friends
2. Rattle Snake Round Up
3. Learning to crochet
4. Water slides
5. Charley's
6. Reading
7. Homemade pizza nights
8. Hunger Games
9. "Take the baby, take the baby"- BBQ with friends
10. Working out twice a day and living across the street from the gym
11. Trip to Dallas for a wedding
12. Lawton road trips with Lauren- which included Orange Leaf and Ross visits
13. Laying out by the pool and adult swim time
14. Hiking in the mountains and trying new recipes
15. Basically anything and everything we did with our friends Kedem and Lauren and their dog Tex

       It is nice to be back in our house, where the living room is as big as the room we lived in for five months, but I am ready to get to our permanent base!

Thanks for reading,
Amanda

Albuquerque Adventure 2012

           One of the benefits of being a military family is having extra days off around holidays, usually more days than an average working adult gets off from their job. The Fourth of July was a tricky day for many people since it fell on a Wednesday this year. However, being in the military there is always the holiday and a "family" day in which the whole base is closed, but the squadron decided not to fly anyone on Friday either, so Sam had July 4th thru the 8th off. We had many options to choose from for our time off, we could stay in Altus, visit Springfield, or take a trip. Sam didn't want to stay in Altus doing the same thing we already do everyday and remain in the 110* heat. We already have two events in July that will be bringing us to Springfield and I wasn't too thrilled for another marathon race of spending three of the four weekends in July driving to and from Springfield. So we decided to take a family trip. Our main goal was to try and go somewhere cooler, Sam suggested we visit Colorado Springs, but we have pretty much done everything big there is to do in the Springs from my visits there over the last two years of Sam's Academy career and there were also crazy wild fires so we decided it probably wouldn't be safe to visit a place people were evacuating. We did some research looking for cheap flights or cool places to visit. We found that Albuquerque, New Mexico was only about a seven hour drive from here and it was a place that neither one of us has ever visited, so we said LETS DO IT! We had just ordered new tires for Sam's car, which we will be selling next month, and decided to get some miles out of the tires. We loaded up the Santa Fe and set out westward on July 3rd.

Head out on the highway...

Lookin for adventure...

            We were going to drive to Amarillo, TX and stop for the night, but we got their around 8 and decided to keep driving the remaining four hours especially since we were gaining an hour going into mountain time. While we were at a stop light in Amarillo an interesting looking guy in the car next to us started yelling at us. I was of course freaked out, but luckily Sam was there and he rolled down the window and the guy wanted to know where in FL we were from (since Sam's license plates are FL tags) Sam told him Pensacola and they carried on a conversation for a good minute until the light changed. It felt like the longest minute of my life. We finally made it to Albuquerque at 11:00 (12 central time). I sent my mom a text message to let her know we arrived safely and decided to drive all the way, though I am married now whenever we take trips I still feel the need to check in with my mom, otherwise I know she would be wondering if we made it safely, but afraid to ask because I am a grown adult now. I don't think your ever too old to check in with mom and I will make sure our future children learn that too :). Except when we are over seas, you will just have to learn to check Facebook more then, mom, to know we are alive and well. Our hotel in Albuquerque was called the Plaza Inn, which looked nice in the picture on Expedia when I booked it, but when I saw the actual hotel I was a bit nervous. It turned out to be okay and the best part of the hotel was the King size bed that was way more comfortable than our bed on base.

           Sam and I have a tradition of going to a zoo in every city we visit so the first thing we did after breakfast on the fourth was check out the zoo. They even had a bald eagle, which we thought was very American for the holiday. After the zoo we headed to eat lunch at The Elephant Bar, which was a restaurant we liked to eat at in Colorado Springs. Then we saw a Target and of course we had to stop. Sam wanted new shorts, which we learned we have different tastes in fashion when it comes to picking out men's shorts, so against my opinion Sam went with plain ole khaki shorts, and I got a satchel (shoulder bag) which I have been looking for to take to England so my hands will be free to take pictures when we go exploring. After Target we went to a Nuclear Science and History museum which sounded super cool, but I found it to be a bit boring, too much reading and not enough pictures, but they had cool planes outside. After the museum we went to dinner at PF Chang's, another Colorado Springs favorite of ours, and headed out to Balloon Fiesta Park for the biggest firework show in New Mexico. It was really neat to be there, it kind of reminded me of Fire Fall that Springfield use to have the weekend before the Fourth of July. Diamond Rio performed right before the fireworks and I didn't realize New Mexico was such a country music lovin state but I enjoyed it. As we waited for the fireworks it began to rain and the temperature dropped, I was glad we had a blanket. The show was beautiful, they played every patriotic song known to man and then some, I even teared up a bit as I realized it would be the last firework show we would see for a few years, but later that night I saw on Mildenhall's Facebook page that they have a firework show on base, so I was happy to learn that it wouldn't be our last firework display.

It looks like he is giving me the middle finger but he is just scratching his eye

Creepy bird

Trying out the new camera

Peacock

Camel

Just hangin out

'Merica

Trying to stay warm and dry

Happy Fourth of July

Fireworks

Messing with the fireworks button on the new camera

Very pretty

Great show and I love the camera

        On Thursday we decided to go hiking in the beautiful mountains. We started the day at these petroglyphs, where native Americans drew on the rocks, and we hiked up about a mile above sea level. It was around 90 degrees in Albuquerque and we were hiking around the valley so it felt pretty warm. We had a quick lunch and then we decided to head to the Sandia Mountains, which were a10,500 feet above sea level. The trail we were going to had a tram you could take up the mountain or you could drive to the top, but the trail started at the top of the mounatin. As we drove up the mountain the temperature dropped from 90* to 50* and we were both chilly once we reached the summit. We invested in a wind breaker jacket for me, which will come in handy in England, and a Mexican style parka for Sam, which he called his "drug rug", that will also come in handy for England. I also fell in love with another satchel and Sam wanted a buffalo figurine. After getting our treats we started out hiking down the mountain. It was gorgeous! We found the tram station and a place where people ski in the winter. They had the ski lifts running and were giving people rides. We found a trail that went along the cliff of the mountain which we took back to the summit. Every time I stopped to take a picture I felt a little hand grab onto my backpack so I wouldn't fall, it was so cute! We enjoyed the hiked until it was time to climb back to the top of the mountain, by this point we had been hiking for five hours, we were exhausted, and with the altitude well you couldn't catch your breath! We did make it back to the top though and celebrated our victory. July 5th was Sam and I's first date, which was on a Thursday night back in 2007. We went to Ocean Zen in Springfield for our first date and then saw a movie. We decided, in honor of our first date, to go out for sushi on Thursday night. On our way to dinner Sam spotted a Barns and Noble, so of course that is where we went after dinner, and he was so excited that it was two stories. After Barns and Noble we headed downtown for Cold Stone, hey if your going to cheat on healthy eating better go all out right?!

Sandia Mountains

Testing my new camera

Sam's in heaven

Sam in his "drug rug"

Our camera takes panoramic pictures!

We conquered the mountains

I love him :)

The tram

The ski lift

At the summit

Tired from hiking but we made it to the top.

         We both woke up pretty sore on Friday from our day full of hiking. We decided to check out the dinosaur museum that we had read about. It was awesome! It was interactive, short signs to read, two stories of fabulous displays, and mostly all about dinosaurs and other history/science related topics and I loved it. Sam loved it too, but anyone who knows him would not be surprised that he was like a kid in a candy store when we walked into the museum. They were also doing a Blue Star program so any military person and their family got into museums for free until September or something like that. So we didn't have to pay to get into any museum we visited, bonus! After lunch we went to try and find extinct volcanoes to look at, but there was a minor glitch in the navigation system (me) and we ended up driving thirty minutes to the middle of nowhere and didn't find the volcanoes. I am a lucky lady though because my husband didn't get mad or yell at me or spend the rest of the day in a bad mood, he made a joke about it and even stopped to let me go to the bathroom at an Alon gas station (which was yucky). Once we made it back into town we decided to check out the Albuquerque art and history museum. This was my least favorite museum of the whole trip. It was full of crazy art figurines and about two pages of small print to read at every station. From that point on I limited Sam to one museum per day of vacation in the future, unless it was interactive and had lots of cool things I could touch.

Sam loves dinosaurs

This dinosaur moved and growled

        On Saturday we were going to be checking into a Bed and Breakfast. I found a groupon that gave us a room for $77 at this B&B where they usually charge $125 a night. I thought it would be a relaxing way to end our vacation and it was a good deal, plus neither one of us has ever been to a B&B. We had to check out of our hotel at noon, so first thing Saturday morning we headed to find these extinct volcanoes. They were really neat, but luckily we went early in the morning so it wasn't too hot, but I think with all the basalt rocks and desert around it would be pretty hot in the middle of the day. After the volcanoes we got checked out of our hotel and couldn't check-in to the B&B until 4. We went to lunch and then found Kirkland AFB, which I wanted to check out. They had a HUGE base and big Exchange, I was quite impressed. We decided we could totally live in Albuquerque, but we would have to figure out how to get stationed there! They train helicopter combat search and rescue which is what Sam really wanted to do, so I didn't talk much about moving there since not getting helicopters is still a sore subject, but we both decided we would love to move to Albuquerque. After the base we were going to check out one of the many wineries, but it started raining. So we stopped at the Balloon Fiesta Museum, which was all about hot air balloons. I wanted to take a hot air balloon ride while we were in Albuquerque, but Sam told me we could take a balloon ride or get a new camera. I opted for the new camera and saved the balloon ride for another trip. The balloon museum was neat, there were lots of interactive things, basically any museum a kid would enjoy, I enjoy is what we decided on this trip. We made it to the winery after the museum, I was so excited because I have never been to a winery. Unfortunately, there was some big wine festival going on in Santa Fe so they weren't giving tours of the winery when we visited, which I was bummed about but we got to taste some New Mexican wines and even purchased a delicious Riesling (Sarah McCubbins you would love it). We headed to our Bed and Breakfast which was built in the 1800's and it was so cute. Our room was upstairs and Sam was convinced it was haunted, so I had a fun time freaking him out. They provided snacks from 5 to 7 and they had cookies when we came back around 10pm and their homemade breakfast was delicious. I felt like we were staying at a friends house, it was very nice and relaxing.

In front of the B&B. My satchel from Target

Extinct volcanoes

Top of the volcano

At the volcanoes, my other new satchel :)

Sam on the volcano

We went to the top, but native Americans find it offense if you go to the very top, they consider it sacred

Pilot wings for a hot air balloon, looks a lot like Sam's!

I am ready to go up in a balloon

Sam's face is priceless in this picture. "Wanna ride in my balloon...hehehehe"

I found a balloon to build

My finished project

Outside a winery we ate dinner at

A hot air balloon

Ready to fly our own balloon

At the balloon museum

Inside the B&B

Our room at the B&B

           On Sunday we went to church in Old Town, which literally is like stepping back into olden days, we even went to church at a big old church that was also built in the 1800's. Unfortunately, it didn't have AC and got a tab bit hot. We tooled around the town a bit, not in a hurry to leave, and found a place for lunch. Then we started our drive back to Awesome Altus and made it home around 9pm. Yes, I made sure my mother knew we were back in OK (Shauna, I am just trying to become the favorite child and steal your title :)).

In Old Town we discovered a story that sold candy cigarettes

In front of the Old Church

        On Monday, we had to move to a different room. They called and told us we would be moving right before we left town. I threw a bit of a fit to them about how when they moved us from the third floor to the first floor of our building they assured us we wouldn't have to move again before we left Altus on July 30th. Unfortunatly, my fit did nothing, I have learned that they don't really care if you have a lot of stuff to move and you just have to suck it up. I didn't just say "I DO" to Sam on January 14th, I also said I DO" to the United States Air Force and that includes saying "I DO" to moving whenever they asked. We went to get our key's on Monday morning and we were told our room was on the second floor, I had to restrain myself from throwing another fit about being promised a room on the first floor, but after we got everything moved I saw an vacant room on the first floor....those little liars, maybe a fit would've worked that time! Anyway, it took us a lot longer to move this time because we separated out stuff we can live without for three weeks to take to Enid and stuff to move to our new room. We packed two tubs and a big box for Enid that we plan to deliver to our house this weekend, which will make our next move in three weeks easier. The new room we got is a brand new room! I guess this is the remodeling that they are doing to our old building. It has a larger entertainment center, dark wood, a coffee table, hardwood floors in the kitchen, and the best part is they have a pillow top bed, finally a comfortable bed!! I wish they would've moved us here back in May when we moved for the second time, but at least we get three weeks at the Ritz.

The TV and entertainment center

Our new bed!

Sam eating pie. Our living room, love the coffee table and hardwood floor

Thanks for reading!

Love,
Amanda