Coasting Kirkpatricks

Well, Maybe I Fell Off...

2011-08-31T13:39:00.002-04:00

Yeah, so in the words of my sister-in-law, I think I have already fallen out of the blogging saddle. haha (well, said Rebekah!). But of course I have excuses. 1) Not much has really gone on to blog about. 2) My computer died and we had to get a new apparatus. We decided to go the "tablet" route and got an Acer Iconia...I love it, but I haven't had a chance to mess with it to see if I can actually download my pictures to it (that whole Android OS over the Windows OS is throwing me for some loops!). Soo...pictures right now are limited, and who wants to read a blog with no pictures?!! 3) I've been busy, but what is new?!

Well, hurricane Irene decided to give us a little drama this past weekend. The storm was MUCH less fearsome than the news people predicted (surprise, surprise...its all media hype anyway!). The wind blew a bit strongly on Sunday and knocked a couple of limbs out of trees in our yard. We did have one close one...a sizable limb fell and scraped the back of the house...a couple of feet over and it might have done some damage. The power was also out for about 7 hours, so I was a bit nervous about it coming back on, but it came back on just in time for the evening. We were the lucky ones in the area, I had a friend about a mile down the road that didn't get it back for 2 days!

My family (my sister, brother-in-law, and Mason) are in town visiting me this week. They got to "ride" out the storm with us on Sunday (so that makes me doubly glad the power wasn't out for longer!). They will be here until Saturday, so hopefully I will have some good pictures to post from the week! We are having lots of fun so far, unfortunately though I have to come to work for part of the week...ugh.

Well, there is my attempt at barely hanging in the blogging saddle :) Hopefully more pictures to come!

Back in the Blogging Saddle`

2011-08-03T11:07:00.006-04:00

I know it has been forever since I have blogged...and I'm sure I've lost all of my readers (if I ever really had any), but I decided to try to pick the blogging thing back up. We are as busy as ever trying to fix up our house...I'm not sure it will ever get to the level I have in mind, but we are chipping away at it one project at a time.

So much has happened since my last post. I really don't know where to begin. I don't have any pictures on hand right now, so this is just a words blog (sorry, I know pictures are so much more interesting).

Let's see, since my last blog on the house: we've painted most of the interior of the house (all but bedrooms and bathrooms), we've refinished our hardwood floors, we've rewired and updated electrical things, we've landscaped, and many other miscellaneous things that take up loads of time. On the family front: we had gained a new niece on June 1st, Elsa Amy Kirkpatrick (born to Garin's brother and Sil...Garin has gotten to meet her, but I have not, sniff sniff); and Mason, our nephew turned 2, I went home for a week to celebrate his B-day and Easter (they were on the same day!).

At the end of May, Garin left for Mobile, AL and was there for two months for more helo training. He got to come home one weekend and I got to go down there for one weekend, so we were able to see each other a couple of times during the long separation. I'm happy to report that he is now home :) He also is now qualified to fly the helicopters, which makes his job so much more fun for him. Oh and I do happen to have a picture of him flying the helicopter...yay, pictures!

This was a photo op they did with the "Eagle", the Coast Guard's sailing ship...if you remember, Garin was on this boat for two weeks when he went through OCS a couple of years ago.

And this is actually a picture of Garin flying although you can't really tell it is him...he is the pilot in the left seat.

Speaking of jobs, I found a job and started back to work at the beginning of June. I'm working for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) doing purchasing and contracts. I'm still learning the ropes and doing a lot of training. I just got back from a 2 week training class in DC, which was fun. Garin was on his way driving back from Mobile while I was there, the timing worked out perfectly and we were able to spend the weekend together in DC being tourist! Maybe one day, I'll get pictures of that up!

Well that pretty much sums up the big things going on in life for us. I have lots of pictures I need to post, but it might not happen. Maybe I should just start back up fresh without trying to catch up on everything...

Well here's to getting back into the blogging saddle!

P.S. So glad blogger went back to making it easier to move pictures around...that was one reason I dreaded blogging! Now if only they'd fix the spacing between paragraphs issue!!

FINALLY!!!!

2011-03-27T12:37:00.026-04:00

Guess what?! We finally closed on our house in Cape Cod and have spent the past two weeks moving in and getting things adjusted. We still have a LONG way to go on the house, but all the boxes are unpacked and things are starting to feel like home.

The front of the house from the street.

Another view from the front. I think that Spring is going to bring quite a few beautiful flowering plants! We have lots of Rhododendron, 3 Azalea Bushes, a huge Crete Myrtle, a hydrangea bush and lots of little green bulbs poking their way through the soil! Can't wait until they bloom! This is the back of the house...exciting, I know. And yes, the white stuff on the ground is snow! I took these pictures last Thursday...I called home and MW said it was in the 70s in NC...made me miss home!!

And this is my view from my kitchen window. The cute little storage shed is ours and is wired with electricity (which we were excited about!).

We have a brick patio right outside the back of the house that has hedges around it for privacy...can't wait to have some BBQs when the weather warms up!! (oh and that is our bulkhead door to the basement to the right...G put the porch swing upside down over it for some reason...but the house has a full basement that is not counted in the square footage of the house. We've never had a basement before so we are super excited!! Its unfinished at the moment).

And the huge selling point for me...a KOI POND (that needs some TLC when it gets warmer)!!! haha, what people do with their property (no offense to my readers that have koi ponds in their backyard, this one just seems kind of random...I mean we live in an area where water freezes for 5 months out of the year!). Guess it is gonna be a swimming pool for the neighborhood kids...and Mason when he comes to see me ;) And Elsa (my niece that's on the way) when she is old enough! haha, it just makes me laugh.

Okay, now on to the interior. This is the kitchen looking towards the eat in part (the lighting was pretty bad for these, so if you get real close to your computer screen and squint you can make it out ;)

And then this is looking into the kitchen from the dining table (ignore all of the mess that is still laying around, we are still in a state of flux!).

And then this is a "bonus" room that is off of the kitchen/dining room. Its a beautiful room with lots of sunlight, but I'm still not really sure what I'm going to do with it...ideas?!!

The Living Room...I really didn't like the paint colors when we were looking at the house (I described it as a hotdog cart that exploded), but then when I moved my stuff in, I realized that it matched all of my accessories!!! haha go figure. As I told my friend...its colors that I would accessorize with, not put on my walls. So, the bold colors will be covered up (even though I do like the red wall...might have to think on that one!).

And then this is from the living room looking at the door into the kitchen (to the right) and then the stairs (to the left). And the front door is even further to the left out of the picture.

And this is our Master Bedroom...its HUGE! So huge that I am hoping that we might get a chance to put a small dedicated master bath into it!!! That's on the wish list (and so is taking down the wall between the kitchen and the living room...a girl can dream right?!)

From the other side of the room looking at the door.

Another view of our sleeping alcove.

The guest room...this is where you get to sleep when you come visit us!

The other side of the guest room...it has a roomy closet that will be perfect for all of the luggage you bring when you come visit us!!!

This is the office/sewing room/craft room/extra closet/library/I'm not sure what to do with it yet so I put it in here room.

The other side of the multi-function room (it WILL be repainted!).

And finally, the upstairs hallway, just to give you an update of the layout. The picture is taken from our bedroom...going counter-clockwise - to the right is the stairway (not pictured), then a hall coat closet, then the "office", then straight ahead is the guest room, then a hall linen closet, and then the upstairs bathroom is on the left. Hopefully you get the picture :)

Welp, that is a tour of our new home. So far we are LOVING it! Like I said, we have a lot to do on it...it just needs some love...but that is what we are here to do! I feel like we have made some major improvements in it in just the two weeks we have been here. I can't wait to see what we can do over the next 4 years!

And now that we are somewhat settled, we are ready for some visitors!!! We are open for business and taking reservations :) The Boston airport and Providence, RI airport are only 45 mins away and have reasonable ticket prices!! Did I mention that we live ON Cape Cod, one of the most sought out vacation destinations on the East Coast?! What more do I need to say to get you to COME VISIT US?!!!

The things we do while we wait...

2011-03-02T15:46:00.029-05:00

Well March has arrived and we STILL are not in our house yet. One day it will happen (hopefully within the next week or two!), but in the mean time we have been finding things to do to keep us busy and entertained while we wait. Last weekend Garin had a 3 day weekend so we decided to go on a spontaneous road trip.

We left Cape Cod after Garin got home from work and drove all the way up to Stowe, VT (home of the HGTV Dream home...in case you watch that stuff...that is the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear Stowe, VT...think I've been watching way too much HGTV for my own good!). Then the next morning we got up and hit up Smuggler's Notch Ski Resort for some skiing/snowboarding. It was a very uncustomary warm day in Vermont, which made for a wonderful day of skiing...you could actually enjoy your ride up the ski lift instead of feeling like your face was going to freeze off! I actually have some pictures of this ski trip!

After a beautiful day of skiing/snowboarding, we decided that since we were only about 2 hours away from Montreal, Canada, that it would be fun to drive up for the night to check it out (we had considered this before we left the house so we brought our passports with us!).

South of the Border

We arrived in Montreal at about 7 and set out to find some food and check out the city. Montreal is part of the French speaking province of Quebec, so everything was in French, which was a little odd for me. Fortunately Garin minored in French in college so we were able to navigate our way around fairly easily (and I'm sure you could do it even if you didn't know any French because most people are bilingual, being that close to the States). Since it was a rather warm night, the nightlife was hoping and the main street was bustling! We ended up walking down the main street for more than a mile, taking in all of the shops (you could find most mainstream US retailers, plus a few more shady places as well) and enjoying some great people watching!

This was one of the pretty churches all lit up and decorated with winter snowflakes :)

The Art Museum was across the street from our hotel (FYI, we got an awesome hook up on Priceline's Name Your Price!), had some kind of large orb exhibit on its lawn. The music accompanying the light show was really quite eerie. It was really pretty though!

The next morning we went for a walk around the Old Montreal part of the city (which I favored more than the newer part!).
While we were there Montreal was having a neat festival called the "Festival of Lights" (in English). There was a whole block dedicated to community activities such as ice skating, concerts, an ice slide, and then various "activities" throughout the city.

Translated: Montreal Festival of Lights ;)

Outdoor ice skating rink

The famed, ice slide! Unfortunately it was closed for repairs. The previous warm day melted part of it and so they had to replace parts of it with new ice...see ice blocks below.

Another part of the festival was a Cheese Expo. They had about 50 vendors that were there giving out free samples of their cheese! It was a wonderful lunch ;)

After lunch we figured we'd seen most of what we wanted to see, so we started our trek back home to the Cape.

A welcome sight to our eyes, nothing like America!

On our way back home we made one more important stop...the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Burlington, VT. I mean, what's a trip to Vermont without a trip to Ben and Jerry's?! So we took a tour of the facilities and then got our obligatory free sample (we sampled some kind that was caramel ice cream with caramel swirl with caramel chips in it...can't remember the name...wasn't really a fan...now if they had substituted all of that caramel with Chocolate I would have remembered the name ;)

Picture with ol' Ben and Jerry :)

Welp, that was our brief but action packed trip. Come join us on one of our adventures sometime!

Winter in New England

2011-02-17T09:45:00.008-05:00

Just thought I'd post some pictures to show everyone what it is like to experience winter in New England. The experience is definitely a bit different than winter in the South. We've really enjoyed milking these bitter cold days for all they are worth :)

Snow on the beach after a snow storm. (Coming from the snow white beaches of Florida, I find that I can almost convince myself that this white stuff on the ground is actually sand.)

Its just crazy for me to see the snow going all the way up to the water line...beautiful!

This was our little cottage after a snow/ice storm. It took G a couple of minutes to crack his way out the door through the ice force field encapsulating the front of our house...thought we might be stuck until the thaw ;)

One weekend we had the opportunity to go up to New Hampshire for a skiing/snowboarding weekend. Active duty military got to ski free for the weekend and I (a dependant) got a reduced fare. It was a pretty bitter cold weekend...somewhere in the single digits...so I didn't get a chance to take the camera out on the slopes to get any pictures. But we did take some pictures in the hotel parking lot...of course there is nice scenery there ;)

Self portrait (as usual)

HUGE mound of snow in the parking lot (they had just gotten about 1' of snow that week). Us southern folk don't know what to think about this much white stuff!

Garin just got some gators and he wanted me to take a picture of them (the green things on his legs - they attach to your shoes and allow you to walk in deeper snow without getting wet).

And now for our favorite new adventure in New England: Pond Hockey! These pictures were taken after a pretty big snow, so most of the pond has snow over the ice. The last time we went out there the snow had melted down and we could pretty much skate over the whole pond. We stuck our stick in one of the holes an ice fisherman had made and it looked to be over 6" thick...so I think we are safe!

Some neighborhood kids had shovelled the snow off of a section as it was coming down so that there would still be a patch of ice exposed for skating...the natives know what they are doing!

Garin showing off his Hockey skills.

New Years Day- Hiking and Polar Bear Plunge

2011-02-03T11:40:00.008-05:00

On New Year's Day, Garin and I were invited by our friends, Bryce and Franky, to join them on a New Year's Day hike. The hike was to the top of this mounthill (in between a mountain and a hill) that had an awesome view of downtown Boston. Ordinarily the hike would have been rather rudimentary, but add about a foot of snow and some icy rocks to the mix and things get a little more fun!

Us with Bryce and Franky at the top of the mountain.
The view of downtown Boston in the distance.

The hike up...thankfully it was actually a rather mild day, I think it was about 40 degrees, hence Garin's short sleeves and rolled up pants.

If we thought going up the hill was tricky on slippery stones with snow and ice packed on them...coming down was a whole new adventure. I think we all took a spill to the ground at some point on the way down.

Garin and I had been reading up on some places around Boston and the Cape that were having New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunges...and well, we thought it was a wonderful idea! Most of the organized ones required an "entrance fee" that was some sort of donation to a charitable cause (don't ask me why anyone would PAY to freeze themselves, but I guess its for a good cause), but due to the hike we missed most of those (and I might add that I'm cheap). So, I decided that, hey the beach is right out our front door, why can we not take advantage of the free freezing cold water right in front of us?! So, my bright idea lead to the following pictures:

The tide was as low as I have ever seen it...so after I ran about 50 ft into the water I was still only about knee/thigh deep. I eventually just dunked myself in to say I got completely wet.

The dash back in...my pants were so heavy and were falling off!!

Out of the four of us (Bryce and Franky were still there to witness my bravado), I was the only one witnessed to take the plunge. Garin said he would do it later but wanted to go for a run first...about an hour later he came home and was soaking wet, but I (nor any other confirmed person) did not actually witness his plunge. I'm not sure how else he would have gotten wet from head to toe (I mean, he does sweat a lot, but I guess not that much), so I guess I have to take his word for it ;)

Newport, RI Trip

2011-01-24T10:28:00.009-05:00

Sometime around Christmas, Garin and I decided to take a drive out to Newport, Rhode Island to see the mansions out there all dressed up for Christmas. I'm not sure of the exact history of this area, but apparently, there were some VERY wealthy people that decided to build some beautiful houses there on the coast. There is a scenic route that you can drive where you see one massive house after another...all in some beautiful locations along the ocean. Here are a some pictures of a few of them:

(not the White House...I think it is called the Marble House, you can go on a tour through this one for about $15, we were too cheap for that!).

This house was actually build by the same guy (or a close relative with the same last name, can't remember exactly) that build the Biltmore house in Asheville, NC.

This is the MASSIVE gate going into the Vanderbilt's lovely house...check out how tiny G looks next to it!! You could also tour this one, which might have been worth it, but we decide to do the cliff walk instead.

So, the cliff walk is a pathway that goes beside the cliffs that are in front of all of these mansions, its quite a few miles long and would be a beautiful run when the weather is a bit more balmy.

G decided to climb out onto the rocks with crashing surf all around.

I couldn't let G have all the fun so I climb down into some of the cliffs as well...rocks were slimy and slippery!!

Us!

Snow Fun!

2011-01-12T10:23:00.011-05:00

Right before Christmas and right after Christmas we got a pretty decent dumping of snow on the Cape (we didn't really get that much out on the Beach where we live, but they got about 6" about a mile inland). So Garin and I got a little disk sled and grabbed my friend Franky and headed out to the sledding hill on base. Its a pretty awesome sledding hill I must say...I pretty good 50 yard run that gets you going pretty fast.

This is the top of the hill...its for the more adventurous to REALLY get you going fast!

The rest of the hill...a pretty good run!!

A jump that someone had created...this is my friend Franky taking it like a pro!

Garin was off for the day so he went with us too!

Our next snow adventure was going Snowmobiling! I got an awesome deal on Groupon for a 2 hour snowmobiling adventure, so that's what Garin got for Christmas and his Birthday (it was really for both of us because I got to go too...even though I had to ride on the back). Since the area had gotten such a large amount of snow, we figured it would be a great time to go. So, we headed north to Lincoln, New Hampshire where our adventure took place (which was about 3 hours away).

It was a guided tour with a train of about 5 other snowmobiles...we were at the end of the train so we got to hold back a little bit and then "speed" to catch up. It was A LOT of fun! I didn't get to drive, but Garin did a great job for his first time on a snowmobile! And the weather and terrain was absolutely beautiful. This southern girl has rarely seen THAT much snow on the ground! There was about 2 to 3 feet on the ground and it was caked all over the trees...beautiful winter wonderland!

G and I before we hit the trails...and I WAS smiling for the picture, before I realized that you couldn't see my mouth...it looks goofy, but boy was I glad I had the face warmer!

A pretty creek that had frozen over

The beautiful terrain we got to ride through...and on the windshield of the snowmobile you see that we could have purchased our snowmobile for a mere $5,400. I think they wanted you to know how much they cost in case you felt like wrecking it!

This is how deep it was on the uncombed part of the trail...I could have gotten lost in it!

G and I on our chariot

And then to top off the day, we got to eat dinner at Chick-Fil-A on our way home!!! One of the two that are in Mass. happened to be about 5 mins off our course. They even had REAL SOUTHERN sweet tea there!!!! What a wonderful day....

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-03T12:17:00.006-05:00

Christmas Day Photo...yes we had a "left over" white Christmas...my first white Christmas ever!

Christmas Day 2010 wasn't like most Christmas days. "Normally" we would wake up and have breakfast with my family and open presents with them. Then we would have lunch #1 with my family and head over to Garin's fam's house for lunch #2 and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening with them. Well this year we were fortunate enough to get to see our families around Christmas and to go through most of the traditions, but not on Christmas day. When we got back from visiting NC, we were in a store on Christmas Eve and someone was talking about 'Christmas tomorrow', and it just felt weird that the rest of the world still had Christmas to go and I felt like we had already finished our Christmas.

Originally Garin was supposed to work Christmas day from 8 in the morning until 8 the following morning. However, a very nice older gentleman (they call them Coast Guard Auxillarist...aka volunteers), volunteered to work in the morning so that Garin could spend some time at home on Christmas (Garin tried to explain to him that we had already had our Christmas and that we didn't have kids or family in the area so he didn't mind working, but he said that he didn't have family around either and he wanted to bless Garin in this way...so sweet!). Thus, Garin and I got to spend the morning together. We decided not to get gifts for each other...our house (if we ever get it) will be a gift enough...but I found a great deal on Groupons for a 2 hour snowmobile tour in New Hampshire, so I surprised him with that (it was really a mutual gift because I really wanted to try it out too!).

Later in the day we went for a beach run together...this is where the day got interesting. We had had some pretty good storms over the last several days and the ocean had been churning pretty good...AND had washed up some ocean "goodies." About 200 yards down the beach from our house we found this HUGE knot of ropes that also included an attached anchor. So, because we are Garin and Lauren and are prone to random, ridiculous notions, we decided it would be a wonderful idea to drag this mass of ropes back to our cottage where we would untangle it. Thus, Christmas Day Beach Scavenge commenced.

These were some pretty big ropes, so towing this sucker was no easy task. I would estimate it weighed in somewhere over 300lbs. Anyone watching us would have thought we were the most insane, idiotic people as we grunted and groaned while tugging this up the beach (fortunately we never came into contact with anyone, so hopefully no one witnessed this). We tried quite a few methods and nothing really worked until Garin had the great idea of loading it up on our plastic disk sled that we had bought a few days before. This worked pretty good until we got to the huge dune that goes up to our cottage. After about 20 mins of "1,2,3, heave; 1,2,3, heave" we were quite sweaty but we finally got the knot up the dune and to the cottage deck. Not only was it quite a good workout, but it was a good bonding experience for us as we had to work together (haha, shocker, I know!) to achieve our Scavenging goal. So, here is a picture of our Christmas day catch:

G holding up his catch like a true fisherman

This is a better view of the mess...oh and we scavenged that black garbage barrel type thing from the beach as well.

Note: we have already untangled the anchor and quite a few other ropes...we have yet to get the big one out yet though! Garin says it is the pay day of the bunch ;) At least untangling it will give us something to do when we are bored!

After all of that excitement it was time for Garin to go to work. The mess hall there was doing a Christmas day dinner, so I also got to go in later in the evening to eat dinner with him and the other families whose husband's were on duty. After dinner, Garin took me on a tour of the hanger and I got to get in the helicopter that he will be flying and see the other plane (the Falcon, which is like a executive jet, its used for surveillance) that the Coast Guard flies out of this air station.

The HH-60...In case you can't tell...this sucker is HUGE...it was about as big as the Falcon...I was shocked at how big it was!

So, all in all, even though Christmas Day was not a typical one for us, we were blessed with some adventures and some time with one another. We also were blessed with some time to focus on the real reason for Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Even though spending time with family makes the Holiday Season special, Christmas is special because God came to earth as a baby to live a perfect and blameless life so that He could one day die as the perfect spotless sacrificial lamb in my place and cover over my sin, so that I can have a direct and personal relationship with the Maker and Creator of this earth. Praise God for His redemptive plan that was put into action on that first Christmas day!

There's Nothing Like Going Home For Christmas

2010-12-29T20:46:00.009-05:00

When we got up here to MA we didn't think that we were going to be able to make it home for Christmas because Garin had to work on Christmas day (partly because he is the new guy and partly because he is just a nice guy). However, when we got Garin's December scheduled we realized he had about a week right before Christmas where he didn't have to work. One day Garin told me he had a plan, so we called up his sister and brother and found out that his plan might actually work out!

So, on December 17 we hopped on a plane to Charlotte; Garin's sister Meghan and her husband, Eli (who had just arrived the week before from spending a year in Iraq), drove up from Savannah, GA; and Garin's brother Shane and his wife Rebekah (who is expecting the first Kirkpatrick baby) drove in from Apex, NC; all to surprise Garin's mom with a family Christmas! We ended up surprising her at a restaurant...I wish I had my camera in action to catch her face when she walked in a realized that we were all there. There were tears, of course!

We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with the whole family (it was the first time we'd all been together since Meghan and Shane got married) playing games, shooting clay pigeons, and stuffing ourselves with delicious food (as is customary at all Kirkpatrick gatherings!). I WISH I had some pictures to show of the whole gang, but all of them were taken with another camera...hopefully someone will send them our way so that I can post them (Hint, Hint)!

Kids picture (thanks for the pics Mrs. K!)

Kirkpatrick Girls

After Shane and Rebekah, and Meghan and Eli left to go back home, we crossed the "tracks" (i.e. Hwy 74) and spent some time celebrating Christmas and my Birthday with my (Lauren's) family. I did happen to get some pictures of my adorable nephew, Mason! He is 21 months old now and just a gibber jabbering...he hasn't quite perfected "Aunt Lauren" yet (but he can identify me in a line up!), however, he has mastered "tractor", "ball", "dog", "taco", and quite a few more useful words.

This is Mason's version of dancing and an exhibition of his destructive nature ;)

Going out with Granddaddy (the things mom makes you wear to stay warm!)
Up close shot (really he is trying to get to my camera, that is why he is so close...every time he sees me take it out he wants to play with it, so with the delay, I come out with a lot of pictures like this!)
We could only get a picture with Santa if we distracted him with candy...

He's got all of the necessities...a tractor, a book (the tractor one at that!), and his "nack" (aka: snack)

Farewell picture with Aunt Lauren and Uncle G.

After 5 days at home it was time to come back to MA :( The Cape got about 10" of snow while we were gone, so it was neat to come back "home" to a winter wonderland. I'll post more pictures of the snow and our first Christmas day away from home....

It Starting to Look a Little Like Christmas...

2010-12-11T13:36:00.005-05:00

This year it looks like we will be spending Christmas in our little rental cottage by the sea (which we are not complaining about!). However, unfortunately, every one of the 6 huge Rubbermaid containers of Christmas decorations is packed at the back of our storage unit; thus, no Christmas decorations for us this year :(

So, when I heard about the opportunity to learn how to make a Christmas Wreath at church, I jumped all over it! It was a really neat event, and I don't think I'll ever pay for a wreath again because they are so easy to make!

Here's the result (eat your heart out Martha!):

And it smells good too!!

One of my new friends here, Franky, also did the class with me!

MoVember

2010-12-06T10:35:00.004-05:00

When we arrived here in Cape Cod we found out that the guys at the Airstation were participating in Movember. Garin figured that a couple of weeks of not shaving would be a great idea. However, Coast Guard regulations only allow for facial hair above the upper lip...ugh. Thus, even though a week behind the other guys, Garin started cultivating his mustache. It got rather creepy I must say. So bad that we would go on a walk down the road and mothers would call their children inside (j/k, but I might would have if I were a parent!). After 3 weeks of hard work, here is the scary result:

Ugh...fortunately he shaved it off right after the Airstation mustache competition (he did not bring home any prizes for his...but the others DID have a whole week of hair growth on him). Lucky for me, he didn't really care for the hairy upper lip either...whew!

P.S. Meggsie, thought I'd post this one for you ;)

Thanksgiving Apple Pie

The Cottage

2010-11-18T10:49:00.010-05:00

TADA! Well quite a few inquiring minds have asked us where we are staying while we are waiting for our house to close. Well, we are pretty much roughing it. Life in the Coast Guard is tough ;) It kind of stinks to be moving up here to the North just in time for the cold winter, but there are some perks. One perk being that we can rent an ocean front cottage for a month for the price it rents for a week in the summer! So this is our temp house that we are renting until (Lord willing!) our house closes in mid December.

The view out our front door...I could do without the big sand dune in front, but they didn't ask me, hehe.

View from behind the house looking out to the ocean.

As you can tell from the first picture, the house is rather small. I'd say its about 600 sqft (but I'm a bad guesser). It has two tiny bedrooms, 1 bath, living room and what they call a kitchen.

This is the "kitchen" area. I mean I can't really complain...but I need a bit more space than that to whip up some meals! The house came furnished which was great since all of our furniture is in storage...however, we still came with a lot of baggage (I mean, a girl HAS to have her OWN kitchen stuff to cook, right?!! And all of her clothes...and shoes....). So please excuse the mess, we pretty much have to put stuff where it will be out of the main walkway! To cook anything I pretty much just have to keep shuffling things around to make room where I need it. Anytime I get frustrated I just turn around and gaze directly at my unobstructed (except for that dune!) view of the ocean and all is well :)

I just liked this picture :)

Picture of the beach in front of our cottage

The beaches up here aren't really like the beaches we are used to in NC and FL...there are a bunch of round stones mixed in with the sand. I can't imagine it is very comfortable to walk the beaches barefoot in the summer not to mention laying out to catch some rays. None the less, it is still quite beautiful!!!

So that is that! Farewell for now!

We Made It!

2010-11-09T12:11:00.002-05:00

Just a quick pictureless post to let everyone know that we have now made it up to Cape Cod, MA! We left Florida on Friday Oct. 29th and drove up to Charlotte to spend some time with family before we headed even further north. While in Charlotte we got to attend the 35th annual Killough Family Farm hayride (a hayride we have on our farm every year for my family's church). It was a bit chilly, but a blast none-the-less! We also got to spend some time with friends and family throughout our time there (and of course, lots of Mason time for me!!).

Then on Thursday, Nov 4th, we hooked up all of the cars and started our trek. The first day we drove about 10 hours and made it to Scranton, PA (can't help but think of The Office when I say that)...it was pretty nasty weather the whole way. Then on Friday we got up and made the second leg of the trip. We arrived in Cape Cod at about 5PM on Friday...just in time for rush hour traffic over the bridge. Just as we went around a curve and saw the sign that said "Welcome to Cape Cod" we also saw about a mile or two of brake lights. From what I hear, that was an authentic Cape Cod welcome.

To top off our welcome to Cape Cod, yesterday we woke up to a nice fresh dusting of snow and sleet. My realtor told me that it was the earliest she can remember getting snow...looks like we are in for a fun winter!

As for a our housing situation, things are going along nicely. When we came up to look for houses a couple of weeks ago we found a house we were interested in and put an offer in on it. The house was a short sale so we were told it could take quite a while for the bank to get back with us. We really felt like God was "in" this, so we decided to trust Him to work it out and get us into the house in a timely manner, despite the rumors we were hearing. Well, lo and behold, we got a call on Weds before we left CLT to come up here saying that the bank had accepted our offer and wanted to move things as quickly as possible! God is so good!! So, right now we are in the midst of getting all the paper work together and doing all the fun stuff that comes with buying a house!

Our closing date for the house isn't until December 14th, so right now we are staying in temporary quarters on base (which is a fairly nice townhouse). They allow us to stay here for free for 10 days and then we will have to find another temporary house for about a month and hope that everything works out in a timely manner. No life like the military life! haha.

So in the midst of all of this chaos I can say, life is good and God is "gooder" :) Farewell for now!

Meet the Coast Guard's 4,294 Winged Aviator

2010-10-25T21:52:00.013-04:00

After almost 2 years of Flight School, Garin finally completed all of his training and received his Wings of Gold on October 8th!!! He is now the 4, 294 Coast Guard winged aviator :) I'm so proud of my husband, he has worked extremely hard and has excelled in all of his training. God has been so good over the past 2 years and has blessed us beyond measure! Here's some pictures from the events.

On Thursday before the Winging, Garin got to take us (me, his parents, and his sister) on a tour of the base. We got to go to a Helicopter Simulator, T-34 Simulator, a tour of the control tower, and a really cool overview of Night Vision Goggles!

This moon lander looking thing is actually a Helicopter Simulator...it moves and jiggles and everything like a real helo! We all got a chance to try our hand and flying...gotta a lot of respect for my husband and his skills! However, I must say that I used to feel bad for how much Garin had to work...don't feel too sorry for him anymore, looks like he has a lot of fun!

G and I in the Helo Sim

We got to do this really cool sim on Night Vision Goggles (the things we are holding up to our eyes). It was super cool to see how they work...Garin actually uses them when he flies at night. The terrain in front of us is place where they train the students on how different types of land look different using the NVGs. Oh and those goggles are $10,000 a pop!

On Thursday night they have what is called a "soft patch" ceremony. In this ceremony each student's Instructor tells a story about the student and then gives them their winged "soft patch" to wear on their flight suit. You can see Garin's soft patch with wings above.

This is Garin's instructor putting on his patch

Garin checking out his wings (the first time he's worn them)

The Fam (Thanks for coming in to celebrate with us!! It was all the more special having ya'll there to share in the celebration!)

Winging Day! The students have to get dressed up in their formal wear...which is dress whites for the Coast Guard (and Navy for that matter).

Before the actual Winging, they have a "Blessing of the Wings" ceremony put on by the Chaplain at the base. It was kind of neat to have the wings prayed over before they were pinned...(sorry couldn't figure out how to turn this picture on here...guess I needed to do it before I uploaded, oops!) This is the best close up I had of the all so important "Wings of Gold" (they aren't really made of gold anymore...I think they cost like $8 at the exchange...2 years of hard work for $8 wings, if I'd known that I could have saved him those 2 years....haha!)

This is Moi pinning on Garin's wings, yeah, they let me do that, pretty cool huh?! I managed to do it without dropping them and without poking anyone! Wahoooo!

My winged husband. Oh so proud of him!

Somthing besides cooking

2010-10-12T21:24:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, I need to update my blog. We've been doing SO much lately that I'd love to share about...we been to a family reunion, both of our 10 year high school reunions, and did I mention that Garin got his WINGS last Friday?! Lots of exciting things going on right now, but not enough time to sit down and compose a blog on them that will do justice.

We are currently in Cape Cod, looking for our next house that we will make our home for the next 4 years!!!! Pray that we will have the wisdom to make the right decision :)

Hopefully I'll be able to update soon!

Cooking

2010-09-05T18:48:00.009-04:00

Well, lately I've been trying this cooking thing. I've never really been a good cook, mainly because I just don't have the patience for it (or great multi-tasking abilities...Lauren Gainor you can laugh here). But after five years of being married, I figured one of us had to step up and take the dominant role in this area. And since Garin wasn't making any substantial advances, I figured I'd be the one to take the hit. A good friend of mine down here in FL (who will also be moving with us to Cape Cod, whoop whoop!), has taken me under her proverbial culinary wing; setting me up with a great cook book (America's Taste Kitchen Family Cookbook...highly recommend it!), and helping me out on a couple of dishes to give me some confidence. Thus, I have embarked on a new chapter in my adult life. Here are some pictures of some of my "creations":
My first try at homemade sushi...it came out pretty great! Super Easy to do once you figure out the rice part.

Sushi Experience Package: Veggie sushi, with made from scratch ginger dressing salad (love that stuff!) and egg drop soup. Felt like we were in a restaurant...except I just show up to a restaurant, and I had to work on this ALL DAY!

Meggsie, this one if for you!! hehe. This is my first attempt at a double crusted apple pie (and that ain't no frozen pie crust ya'll...that's made from scratch!!). It came out pretty well...the apples just cooked down more than I was expecting. There was a big open hold between the crust and the apples. My tummy didn't know the difference though :)

Than then this was my first attempt at the lattice peach pie. I think this one turned out better than the apple pie. So, I think I'm gonna have to go with it as being my favorite.

Wow, so I thought I had more pictures...but I guess I don't. Anyway, this new culinary leaf that I'm turning over has gone pretty well for me. I feel like it takes a bit more time and a BUNCH more planning, but I can see that after i get some more practice things might go a little more quickly and efficiently. If you have any recipes you think I should try, send them my way. I'm more than willing to experiment!!

Visit from Mr. and Mrs. K

2010-08-26T21:59:00.005-04:00

Okay, back to the catch up game. Now we are going to rewind to July 4th when Garin's parents came to visit us! They came in on Saturday, just in time to help us celebrate the 4th! We grilled out and then watched an AMAZING fireworks show off of our back deck. We had some people in the neighborhood that had to have spend a thousand dollars on fireworks, no lie. And since our house sits on a hill it was absolutely prime location for viewing everything. And we didn't have to fight traffic to boot!

While they were here, our coffee maker stopped working :( So, Mr. K decided that he would take a shot at "fixing" it. Well, 500 pieces later he determined that it was unfixable ;) hehe. But it was great fun to see what all is involved in a coffee maker!!

Garin's mom went to visit her sister's in New Orleans during the week while Garin's dad went to a work conference in Alabama. And then on Saturday it was Blue Angels weekend at Pensacola Beach and we experienced it first hand right on the beach with the other 10,000 people there. It was pretty cool...well it was hot as all get out, but a cool experience ;) I'm glad that Mr. and Mrs. K got to see it, because it really is a neat air show.

Mr. and Mrs. K enjoying the Air Show (we may or may not have been sitting on a sand dune...shhhh)

Thanks for coming to visit us Mr. and Mrs. K, we LOVED having you here!!

Next stop...Cape Cod

2010-08-03T22:33:00.007-04:00

Well, Garin and I just recently got the news that we will be spending our next 4 years in Cape Cod, MA!!! We were VERY excited, as this was our second choice on our "dream" sheet (our first was Elizabeth City, NC...but I had kinda convinced myself against that, so the Cape had become my real first choice). This also means that Garin will be flying the HH-60...which is what he wanted.

Garin's training is going well. He is currently scheduled to Wing October 22nd (in non military speak that basically means graduate flight school...at that point he gets to wear the gold wings). So that means that we will probably be moving at the beginning of November...just in time for winter. Its the whole cold winter thing that I'm not really looking forward to...but I've heard that the Summer and Fall totally make up for it. And after living for the past 2 years on the Gulf coast, it might be time for a change.

So, here are a couple of pictures so you have any idea of our future:

The Coast Guard base is on the "Upper Cape", which is the part that is connected to the mainland (Its in between Sandwich, Barnstable, and Falmouth on the map). We will be about an hour away from Boston, which I'm very excited about! We are thinking about living a little closer to the Plymouth area so that we would be closer to the city and closer to any jobs that I might find (there isn't too much other than tourism going on on the Cape).

Oh, so beautiful!!!

One of the lighthouses on the Cape. Garin and I actually went and visited this one while we were up there for his OCS Graduation (so yes, we have "been" to Cape Cod...but it was only a short day trip, so we don't remember too much). My dream Cape Cod house...except in my dream it is on the beach...

This is what I'm not looking forward to. But it is beautiful!

Well, get your snow gear ready...we are looking forward to visitors!! Oh and if you by any chance have any info about the Cape Cod info...particularly housing, please let me know!!

FIVE Years!

2010-07-27T22:27:00.006-04:00

This past weekend (July 23rd), Garin and I celebrated our FIVE year anniversary! It's hard to believe that it has actually been five years. Time flies! Well to celebrate this milestone we decided to take a quick trip. We were somewhat limited by Garin's flight schedule and travel restrictions (he can only go so far from the area), so we decided on a weekend trip to Panama City Beach, FL. We left on Friday after Garin got done with his flights and then came back on Sunday so Garin could dive back into flight studies. However, in between we had a blast hanging out with each other and enjoying some away time.

Self portrait

Garin playing around with his anniversary gift...an ocean kayak (made to "surf" the waves). I actually pulled off a surprise on this one too. I was so excited that he was surprised!

He might need a little more practice ;)

I tried out the kayak too, and LOVED it...I'm wondering why we waited until now to get one, I'm seeing lots of fun beach ventures in the future!

Sunset view of the PCB strip (f0r those of you from NC, think Myrtle Beach strip) from our room

And finally...not sure if you can see this in the picture...the lighting was bad. BUT if you can make it out, will see a tarp in the back of a pick up truck filled with water and a few folks hanging out in the "swimming pool". Garin and I thought this was a VERY apt appearance on our anniversary! For those of you that were not at our wedding, this was how Garin's groomsmen "decorated" his truck. By far the best car decorating I've seen at any wedding (wish I still had a picture of it on my computer so I could show the similarity...I've had to move all those pictures onto a disk). This sighting TOTALLY completed a great day of celebration :)

Here's to Five wonderful, amazing, great, awesome years! Love ya Hubs!

Mason comes to see me! (Oh yeah, and MW and Alex too :)

2010-07-18T18:16:00.013-04:00

Well I know you can't believe it, but I have more pictures of my nephew Mason :) He and his parents came to visit Garin and I the week after Memorial Day (see, I told you I was WAY behind!). Of course he was adorable as usual. At that point he was just barely starting to take a couple of steps on his own...now he is running around like a wild man. We had a blast and I miss him terribly (oh and I miss MW and Alex too :)!

Hanging with Uncle Garin in "his" helo.

Aunt Heaven

Mason really did enjoy the water. At first he was a little timid, but then he really got into it.

Same thing with the sand. At first he wasn't so sure about the texture, but it didn't take long for him to dig in.

Mason's wheels. Before he was walking this was how he got everywhere. You should have seen that kid whip that thing around my house strutting his stuff! It was so hilarious!

Look at that face!! HAHA! Don't think he was very excited to be hanging with Uncle G

I was amazed at his ability to eat a WHOLE apple...what a health nut!

My protege

I taught him how to smoke a pipe...don't tell his mom.

Love my adorable muffin!

Way Behind

2010-07-18T18:11:00.003-04:00

Well I have quite a few posts to catch up on. I had them all planned out and everything...I just lacked the execution! So I'll try to be a little more diligent in posting.

As for Garin and I, everything is going well. Garin is rolling right along in his Helo training. He left for a cross country this weekend. He was supposed to go to Louisville, KY, but got stuck in Nashville, TN due to weather. During the summer my work is doing an "abbreviated" work week. So I am working longer days M-Th and get Fridays off. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but I must admit, that Friday off is TOTALLY worth the longer days! We'll go back to a regular work week in August though :(

Okay, well now on to my post updates...

Pensacola Beach, Takes a Lickin'

2010-06-24T21:48:00.001-04:00

Well this past Saturday P-cola Beach was still kickin', but yesterday (Wednesday) it took quite a lickin'. A BUNCH of oil washed ashore Wednesday morning. Crews have been out cleaning it up, but it looks like our white sand beaches might be a thing of yesterday :( Its disheartening.

No, my friends, that is NOT Stingrays this time (see post below)...that is OIL! :(

Pensacola Beach, Still Kickin'

2010-06-20T18:17:00.008-04:00

Yesterday we went out to the beach. Each time we go we try to live it up because we aren't sure if it is gonna be "beachable" (like that word?! I made it up in case you couldn't tell! Ha!) for much longer. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful so I had to break the camera out to capture the scene. I couple of weeks ago we went and saw some tar balls on the beach, but it could not have been more clean or beautiful yesterday. The water was calm and clear...so much so that EVEN I got in and enjoyed it (that doesn't happen too too often). So, so far, P-cola Beach is still alive and kickin'!

The Beach Scene (at an area between P-Cola Beach and Navarre, its our special secret spot because it is not as crowded and still has a bathroom for Garin)

The love of my life. Being a nerd and getting his study on. Man, I love the Beach!

No, those are not tar balls floating in the water. They are STINGRAYS! Groups of about 10 of them kept swimming by where we were sitting and I followed them up the beach and found a BIG OL group of them...there had to be like 100 or so. And they were soooo close, as you can see. I was standing right on the shore line taking these pictures. Garin tried to go swim with them when they came by us one time...but they just veered around him (we paid good money to swim with the stingrays when we were in the Grand Caymans, so we were excited to get the adventure for free! Except these didn't want to play like the ones in the Caymans did...guess we should bring some fishes with us next time!). Garin also saw a sea turtle (and I "saw" it too...well I saw a moving black spot...but I couldn't get over to it fast enough to see what it was...I'll trust Garin that it was a sea turtle).

Tried to get a close up...but it was so bright I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of. You can kind of see that its a stingray down there.

Congrats to Lieutenant JG Kirkpatrick

2010-06-10T22:15:00.007-04:00

This past week Garin got a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade. This is a pretty standard promotion for CG officers after serving for a year in half, but it comes with a nice pay raise none-the-less. On Thursday Garin had a small promotion ceremony where his insignia (shoulder bars in this case) were changed from those of an Ensign to those of a LTJG. For some reason they let the wives do the "pinning" if they so chose, so I got to do Garin's. I dropped one of them in the process...I'm not sure why, but I was pretty nervous (I was the only wife there...or family member for that matter)! Congrats Garin, you make your wife proud :)

Reaffirming the Oath of Office

Getting his new LTJG Shoulder Boards

They MADE him kiss me ;)

Us :)

Happy Birthday Mason!

2010-05-12T22:05:00.015-04:00

Well, as usual, I'm late on the draw. On April 24th Mason turned 1 year old! He had a fun party with family and a few close friends. Unfortunately I was not able to make the party since I was in town the week before. However, today's technology allowed me to be there to watch him eat his cake and open his presents...God Bless Skype :) Judging by the look of his face, I think he enjoyed his cake.

Here are some pictures that I took while I was up visiting for Shane and Rebekah's wedding. I was amazed at how much he had grown and matured since the last time I saw him at Christmas! They grow too fast!

Opening the present from Aunt Lauren and Uncle Garin (he got to open it early while we were there).

This picture just made me laugh. I'm not sure how I caught this look, but I just have to smile when I see it!!

Play time with Daddy. He had some kind of fascination with taking hats/sunglasses off of your head and putting them back on.

Me and my Mason man. I could squeeze him silly :)

Eating sticks in the yard. He sure did have fun playing in the grass that day!

Hanging out with his beautiful mommy.

Giving his favorite stuff animal a ride on the car. He likes to suck his thumb when he holds his doggie. It was hilarious, as soon as he had his dog in hand, the thumb went straight to his mouth.

Mason's favorite time of day...Tractor time with Granddaddy. That boy sure does love his Grandaddy!

Playing in his book basket...except he had emptied it of books by this point. He loves to "read" books and turn the pages...that is the first place he crawls to when he put down in his room.

A golf cart cup holder + keys = hours of entertainment

The cup holder had a hole in the bottom of it. When he dropped the keys in it, sometimes it they came out and sometimes they didn't, based on how they fell in the holder. When they didn't come out he would look under it trying to figure it all out. I seriously watch him do this for about an hour. I think we have a little engineer on our hands :) I'm not bias or anything.

My little hick man.

Well of course I have like 500 more pictures, but these are some of the highlights. He's just too cute! Can't wait until he comes to visit me this summer!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mary Winn! Not to be overshadowed by her adorable son, MW celebrated her birthday the day after Mason's on the 25th.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Shane Kirkpatrick

2010-04-28T20:41:00.009-04:00

A couple of weekends ago we went back up to NC to see Garin's brother Shane get married (on April 10th, to be exact!). It was a beautiful wedding and his new bride, Rebekah, looked gorgeous! Here are some of the pictures I took at the reception. I was video taping the ceremony so I didn't get any pictures on my camera of that :(

Shane and Rebekah being introduced at the Reception

The First Dance

Cake feeding. Note the beautiful cake made by Mrs. Barbra Bunker (Garin's aunt...she made our wedding cake too!), the cake was as delish as it was beautiful!

An almost complete picture of the Kirkpatrick kids. Megsie's new husband, Eli, is currently serving our country in Iraq, so the picture will be complete when he returns. We missed you Eli!

The handsome and beautiful, father and mother of the Groom (Garin's parents)

The Groomsmen's handy work.

Happy Honeymoon newlyweds!

Congratulations Shane and Rebekah! Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your beautiful day! We are so excited to see how God is going to work in and through your marriage. Welcome to the family Rebekah, can't wait for more girl time with you!! Come visit us in Florida soon :)

Visit from the Byrum Extrodinaires!

2010-04-19T10:15:00.009-04:00

Before we headed back to NC we were so fortunate to have our good friends Aaron and Kristin Byrum come down to Pensacola to visit us (the Byrum's are AMAZING photographers, check out their awesome work here). It was awesome to get to hang out with them and show them our neck of the woods in FL. Aaron and Garin have been friends since Middle School and were roommates in college, and it always seems to me that Garin comes a little more alive whenever Aaron is around. So of course our time with the Byrums was filled with lots of laughs as well as some late nights spent talking about life and playing monopoly!

As with most of our visitors, we took A and K to see the Blue Angels' practice airshow down at the Pensacola Naval Base. I'm not sure they were too excited when we drug them out of bed early in the morning to go down there (unfortunately you have to get there early to keep a parking spot!), but I think they ended up liking it in the end. And if I haven't mentioned it before, this place is CRAZY about their Blue Angels - you will see blue planes stuck up all around the city. So really, if you come to Pensacola and don't get to see the Blue Angels fly, then you have missed out on a big part of the Pensacola culture. Oh and you have to go to the Air Museum as well, its worth a walk through at least. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me at this time, so I didn't get any pictures :(

Since they were so inspired to become pilots after the airshow, we took them up to Whiting Field where Garin does his training. After showing them around, Garin strapped them into one of the planes he used to fly and let them dream about their flight into the danger zone ;)

The professional photogs told us the lighting was perfect for a photo shoot, so Garin got to model his flight suit in front of the T-34. Of course they were right, the lighting really did make for some pretty cool shots. Here's one I snapped with my little camera (isn't my pilot such a hottie?!)

On another day we made the trek out to Destin, FL to spend the day at the beach and do some outlet shopping (but of course!). It was one of the most beautiful days I have seen at the beach. The temps were around 75 degrees and there was a gentle breeze. It was warm enough to wear a bathing suit but not hot enough to make you sweat (like it usually is!). The sand was like sugar and the water was as clear as I've ever seen it. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! I felt like we were in the Caribbean, not FL!

We ended the day at Destin eating at the Lucky Snapper. They have great cheese biscuits...when you don't have to wait forever for them. All in all it was a great day in Destin...I wish all beach days could be that nice!

Unfortunately the end of A and K's visit came MUCH too quickly. Not that we had too much else to show them round these parts, but we always enjoy our time with them and hate when it ends :( Thanks for making the trek down here to see us, Aaron and Kristen! We loved it!

Hopefully the Byrums are the first of many visitors we will have this summer! Everyone is invited, so please take advantage of our location while we are here!! We're open and taking reservations!!

So much to post...for once!

2010-04-19T10:06:00.002-04:00

Well after months of nothing really to post about I finally have quite a few! I might just have to spread them out a bit so that I don't overwhelm you all at once :)

As for a quick update on us, we just got back from a vacation up to NC to see family and to witness Shane and Rebekah's wedding (of course that is one of my posts!). Its always good to go home and visit our family and friends!

I start back to work on Wednesday of this week and Garin FINALLY starts up his Advanced Helo training on Thursday. Of course he is a little apprehensive, but he has been very diligent in studying while he has been off, so I'm sure he will do great. This is his 4th and final phase before he gets his wings (which officially makes him a military pilot). Right now his estimated date of winging is November 10th of this year. Of course A LOT of things can happen to change that date, but that gives you an idea of how much longer he will be in training. Thus, its looking like we will be Christmasing in a new part of America this year! I'll keep you posted as we find out where that will be!

2 down, 18 to go

2010-03-29T10:18:00.003-04:00

Garin has officially been in the Coast Guard for 2 years now. Crazy, huh?! So far we have been through: 2 months of Boot Camp in Cape May, NJ; 2 months as an enlisted seaman at Small Boat Station, Emerald Isle, NC; 4 months in Officer Candidate School in New London, CT; and 1 year and some change in Naval Aviation Flight Training in Pensacola, FL. Whew, lots of transition!

Right now Garin is in between the Primary and Advanced phase. He should be starting up Advanced (which will be his Helicopter training) at the end of April; this phase should take between 6-8 months. So, right now it is looking like we will be making our move to our new duty station at the end of this year. We have no idea where that will be, but we should be staying there for about 4 years, so we'll finally get to "settle" down somewhere!

Congrats on reaching the 2 year mark, sweetheart! You make me a proud wife :)

Something Old, Something New

2010-03-21T22:01:00.008-04:00

Due to the excess time on our hands of late, Garin and I have taken to refurbishing some old furniture and building some new furniture for our guest room. We are fortunate to have some pretty cool thrift shops around this area and I have found some pretty neat pieces of furniture there. The one you see below is one that I saw in the back of a thrift shop and it really "called" to me and so Garin agreed to help me bring it back to life.

So this is the before picture: And this is the after picture:

Yeah, so it might not look so good in these pictures, but I was pleased with how it turned out. I did a "shabby-chic" type finish on it to give it an antiqued look. Garin did a pretty good over haul on the structure, so it should be good to go for years to come! Oh and the other day I actually saw almost this exact piece in an antique shop (and I had done a MUCH better finishing job on mine than this one had), it was selling for $199...I bought mine for $45 and spent about $30 on the overhaul. Looks like I made a good buy :)

Next, we needed a head-board for our guest room bed. So, I told Garin what I was wanting and then he built it for me (its so nice to have such a handyman for a husband!). I did the same shabby-chic finish on it even though its not exactly an antique. I hope to find an older side table that strikes my interest so that we can redo it and make a complete bedroom set (and one day when we move into a more permanent dwelling I'm gonna actually paint the walls to compliment my finds/designs...cause its kinda hard to see them with the white walls behind)!

As you can see, the guest room is ready to go now and is ready to receive visitors! Please make sure you book your stay soon so before we run out of vacancy :)

Denver!!!

2010-02-24T20:57:00.016-05:00

Last week Garin and I ventured out to the Wild West to surf some powder and to see one of my old college roomies. We left P-cola early on Wednesday morning and arrived in Denver around noon. Since Lauren and Andy were at work we took a trip to downtown Denver and wondered around until we found the flagship REI (the first one in America!). It was in this really cool old train station and was HUGE!! After we hung out with Lauren and Andy on Wednesday night we headed out to the mountains on Thursday morning. We took the advice of this nice guy at REI and took the scenic route over the hills and it was BEAUTIFUL! Below is a drive by shooting that I took in a valley surrounded by the beautiful Rockies:
Thursday afternoon we arrived in Avon, a cute little ski town at the base of Beaver Creek Ski Resort. We took in the beautiful mountains and hung out in the hot tub getting ready for a day of skiing (Garin) and snowboarding (Lauren) on Friday. Friday morning we got up bright and early and headed out to carve it up at Copper Mountain (they had a great buy one get one free deal if you bought 10 gals of gas at a Shell Station...and thankfully Lauren G hooked us up with a receipt she had!). Copper Base: check out the half pipe to the right...I accidentally was one of the first down it on this day. I was trying to cut over to get back to this lift and realized too late that I couldn't get over there without taking the pipe. So I popped some double corks and ended it with a McTwist Deluxe...I think I scored like a 48 or something... haha riiiiiight.

My trusty steed - you can't tell it, but it sparkles, that's my favorite part. I got made fun of quite a few times for my step-in bindings by the lift peeps, they're supposedly old school. But I like them! I heard they are unsafe so I might have to downgrade to the strap ins ;(

My hot ski bunny. We was best buddies and stayed together all day :)

Wow, those goggles look REALLY big...but they sure did make it a bunch easier to see while it was snowing and they sure did keep my face from freezing!!

After a great day of skiing on Friday, Lauren and Andy met us up in the mountains for a sleep over! It was just like college again :) haha. After falling asleep while watching the Olympic opening ceremonies we all got up early on Sat morning and hit the slopes at Beaver Creek.

Me and Dr. Gainor

Fellow boarders

It was really cool going with L and A because they challenged me to try some things I've never tried before on my board (I usually just go down the mountain). Andy introduced us to the "beginners" terrain park where we went over some "tables" and I even did some jumps and got some air!! All of the pictures from that are on L and A's camera so hopefully they can send me some or post them on their blog. At one point I was getting pretty confident in my new found boarding abilities and tried a rail...it was one of those that starts off parallel to the ground and then has an angled drop down...I made it down the straight part but the angled part did me in! Before I knew it my board fell off the end and I fell down with one leg on either side of the rail...needless to say, I put quite a nice bruise on my tail end! But as Andy said, if you don't come back with a few bruises you haven't had a good day! I wasn't as adventuresome on the rails after that spill! However, I did get brave enough to venture off the combed trails into the trees where the powder was about 2 foot deep! Man if you fall back there, which I did quite frequently, you basically had to grab one of the nearby trees to pull yourself up because the powder was so deep...it was awesome! We found some other ungroomed, untreed, areas to do some powder boarding...so different from regular boarding, but AWESOME! Man, I'm so jealous of L and A for being so close to the mountains (well, in the winter, I think I'll stick with my beach for the summer!).

How beautiful is this?! Fortunately I took this picture early in the morning because the clouds rolled in around lunch time (as Andy predicted) and the snowed started falling pretty thickly! There were times when I couldn't see well enough to tell if I was going across the mountain or down it (I could have fallen off the side of the mountain and not known it)! As you'll see in the next picture, the snow made the roads pretty crazy, all those trucks were having to stop put on chains!

The plan was to head back to Denver on Sat night but it sure was a treacherous trip! By the time we left it had been snowing pretty hard for the past 4 or 5 hours so even though the roads had been salted and plowed they still weren't in the best condition. We went the "longer" way to bypass the normal ski traffic and although there wasn't much traffic on that route, I did A LOT of praying as we went over the mountains on snowy roads with no guard rails!! Whew, I was praising God when we got back to L and A's house!

We woke up on Sunday to about 3 inches of fresh snow...beautiful! We went to church and then came back and just did a Sunday chill. In the late afternoon Garin and I borrowed L and A's sleds and went across the road to the neighborhood sledding hill to act like the "southerners who never see snow" that we are. It was pretty fun :)

On Monday L and A had to work so G and I decided to make a trek down to see Pike's Peak. Unfortunately when we got there the road wasn't opened all the way to the top so we decided not to drive up. Instead, in the spirit of the current times, we went and toured the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but it was neat to think about the many awesome athletes who had trained there. Man there are some CRAZY Olympic Sports...like trampolining. I mean, if I'd known that was an Olympic sport I would have been more diligent practicing it out in my backyard as a child!! I'll have to brush up on my Olympic "sports" when I have children so that I can encourage them get there foot into one of those obscure sports that no one aspires to ;)

We got to hang out with L and A one last time on Monday night and then we headed out EARLY on Tuesday morning to fly back to ol' P-cola. It was awesome to get to see them (hadn't seen them in about 2 years). Gotta love those friends that you haven't see in forever but then just pick back up without skipping a beat. Thanks SO much Lauren and Andy for letting us come vacation with you. Ya'll were awesome hosts! Lauren, you amaze me with the fact that you can work a 10 hour day at the hospital and then come home and fix a delicious dinner and be that great wife! I'm so thankful to have both of you as friends, ya'll bring me so much joy :)

Well that was our vacation. I think I just made up for not posting in forever...I packed it all into one ;) haha. Peace out!

Going ons

2010-01-24T21:21:00.008-05:00

Just thought I'd bore you guys with some pictures from some recent outings we've had. Last weekend was Garin's B-day so went out and about for the day. First off we headed out to the beach. It was about as blue and clear as I have ever seen it, and it was more like a lake than an ocean, with hardly any waves. The picture doesn't do it justice!

Unfortunately it was VERY cold! When we got out of the car the thermometer said 31 degrees (and this was at 11AM!). The week before last was a very cold week, most days it never got out of the 40s. I had to check and make sure we were still living in Florida! Its not supposed to be this cold down here! Below you can see how bundled up G was!
That evening we went out to dinner at an Irish "Pub" called McQuires. We'd heard it was really good, but I wasn't very impressed. I got corn beef and cabbage and Garin got the Reuben, the Reuben was good, but my corn beef and cabbage left a bit to be desired. Oh well, it was a cool experience. I wish I would have taken a picture inside, but the whole place is lined with dollar bills...you become part of a "club" if you sign a dollar bill and staple it to the wall or ceiling. I saw a sign up from a couple of years ago that said they had counted $500,000 dollar bills, I'm sure there is many more by now. That's one way to build equity!

After dinner we headed over to the Pensacola Civic Center to watch the Pensacola Ice Flyers play hockey. Its a pretty amateur league...like 2 or 3 levels below the Pros. It was fun to watch though because it was actually slow enough for me to follow what was going on. No good fights though, bummer!

And then last Saturday we unfortunately had to say goodbye to some good friends of ours that will be transferring to the West Coast. We met up for lunch to say good bye. We are definitely going to miss them as they had become our church buddies and Haley and I have been meeting once a week for the past couple of months to do a Bible Study. I'm so thankful for cell phones/email/facebook/skype so that we will be able to keep in touch. I guess this is part of the military that I'm gonna have to get used to :(

My Pensacola chicas, now we'll be down to three :(

So, things are going well for us. Garin should be finishing up Primary within the next week. He went on a cross-country this weekend out to Austin, TX. He only has 5 more flights before he will be done with this phase. Then we have heard that he won't be starting the next phase until MAY! Might be a long Spring! As for me, I'm still enjoying my job. Just chugging along :) Hope all of you are doing well and that God is blessing you! Peace!

Christmas Time!

2010-01-05T20:34:00.016-05:00

Well Christmas once again proved to be the most wonderful time of the year! Gotta love how everywhere transforms into beautiful Christmas array. We had a great time leading up to Christmas with MANY Christmas parties with friends and coworkers. We also got the chance to go to a Christmas concert put on by my FAVORITE Band, Shane and Shane:

I was fortunate to have 2 weeks off for Christmas and Garin got off Christmas Eve until the Monday following New Years, so we packed up and headed home to North Carolina. We got there just in time for the Christmas Eve service where my nephew had his baby dedication. Check out this dressed up hunk:

I know my blog is always filled with pictures of him (imagine what it will be like when I have my own kid?!), but of course I have lots of Mason pictures. He is just too cute. I just want to pinch those cheeks every time I see a picture!

This picture looks like he is actually interested in what is inside the gifts he received (he really was just going after the tissue paper...see below)

This was Mason's Christmas highlight - sitting in a pile of colorful paper - he had a BALL!
While sitting with Granddaddy, Mason became very interested in the Christmas tree
This is a very tired Santa
Check out his new wheels, yeah he thinks he is the man!
Saying goodbye to Aunt Lauren and Uncle Garin

While we did get to spend time with Garin's family, I neglected to take pictures ;( I guess babies are just camera magnets. But we did have a WONDERFUL time hanging out with Garin's parents, brother, sister, and family friend Ansley. Mrs. K once again kicked our tails in a fierce game of dominoes! I'm gonna have to stop playing games with her ;)

While home I also got the chance to celebrate my Birthday (28th at that!). Dad took us out to my favorite restaurant La Unica (can't find good Mexican like that in Florida!). My sweet sister told them it was my birthday and I got a wonderful serenade along with a great get-up!

On our way back home we decided to take a detour up to Asheville, NC to see some snow (don't get much of that down here) and to hang out for New Year's Eve. While there Garin thought we should hit up some snow tubing. After checking out one slope we settled with one at Sapphire Valley. We might have been the only adults flying down the hill without kids, but we did have a good time.

The Hill
Garin freeloading himself up the hill
Gotta love that white stuff...well when you live in Florida.

Thankfully we made it home safely and are easing back into our daily routine. After all the Christmas fun, I'm ready for things to slow down to a normal pace. Back to work...

Thanksgiving

2009-12-09T22:48:00.009-05:00

I know, I've been slack at posting lately. It seems that I never have a spare moment anymore!! But now that the house is decorated, the Christmas cards are done, and most of the Christmas shopping is done, I have a chance to sit down and tell you about our Thanksgiving.

Well fortunately we had the opportunity to head back to NC. Even though I was there a month ago, it was still good to visit again. And Garin hasn't been back since Mason was born, so it was high time for him to go home. So, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we packed up the car and headed North.

On Thanksgiving we got to enjoy our customary Thanksgiving feasts with each of our families, mine in the morning and then Garin's in the afternoon. It was great to spend time with family and of course to eat the yummy food! The rest of the weekend we enjoyed hanging out with friends that were in town and of course we spent lots of time with my nephew! Here are some pictures:

Mason eating his Thanksgiving turkey

Chillin with Uncle Garin...he looks like a natural

Granddaddy makes Mason laugh!

Family Photo

For those of you that don't know, my dad is quite the hay artist. Below is some of his recent endeavors.

Before Thanksgiving

After Thanksgiving

The HEY Man...he becomes and angel at night!

6 Months Old!

2009-11-08T21:51:00.009-05:00

This past weekend I got a chance to drive back to NC to see my family and my nephew that is now 6 months old. He is soooooo adorable! He is starting to get some teeth, rolling all over the floor, and eating anything in sight! I had so much fun hanging out with him and his mommy! Here are some pics:

I'm amazed at a baby's flexibility...forget sucking your thumb, try a toe!

My Pumpkin and me :)

This is the face I caught just after Mason tried biting into a lime...despite the face, I think he liked it because he took a couple more bites and made the same face.

Flying high with Daddy!

Checking out the watermelons that Grandaddy grew.

Like I said...eating everything in sight! Don't worry mom, he never got any any his mouth!

Trying on hats with Aunt Lauren in Walmart...check out those big blue eyes!!! They can melt an Aunt's heart!

Recent Happenings

2009-10-25T21:37:00.012-04:00

Well, its been a while since i have posted so I thought I'd do a post of a couple of things that have been going on here and there. For the most part, things are same ol', same ol'. We are enjoying life and enjoying the ways God is working in and through us here in Florida.

About 3 weeks ago Garin's mom, dad, and sister came down for a quick weekend visit. It was great to get to see them. Garin took them on a tour of the air field where he works. Here are some pics I got while I was there:

Mr. K is ready for his flight lesson!

Meggsie and G on the "pre-flight bird" (the airplane they use to study all the parts they have to know about the plane).

Garin beside the plane that he did his first solo on (thankfully they both made it back safely!)

The next few pictures bear some explaining. Since I have been down here I have joined a coed soccer team. I've really enjoyed the exercise and getting to know new friends. One of the guys on the soccer team recently hosted a "skeezoween" party where the theme was for everyone to dress up "skeezy". I didn't really have an idea of what to wear, so my costume came out more as tacky than skeezy...but I did have a mullet! Garin dressed up as himself...well himself when he goes out to mow the grass...I didn't get a good picture of him.

Scary...about the only word I have for this!

The "girl" in the middle is one of the guys on my team...I didn't even recognize him for about 5 minutes after sitting next to him...until he finally talked. He was a very convincing girl...nails and all! The other guys on the team seemed to be fascinated with his chest...little weird!!

This past week one of my girlfriends down here had a Birthday. Since we don't get a chance to go out as often as we like, we decided to have a girl's night out to celebrate. We went to a VERY nice steakhouse in downtown Pensacola and had a blast!

Jess, Kendle, and Haley after a delicious meal

Then, this weekend we got to celebrate ANOTHER birthday. This one happened to be a for a special little 2 year old! Her parents are in our Small Group at church and we have really enjoyed watching her grow over the past bunch of months that we have been here. Garin really took a liking to her and I think he spent more time in Bible Study playing peek-a-boo with her than paying attention!! The Yo Grabba Grabba themed party was at this awesome local park. Man, I wish they made parks like this one when I was a kid!!

The Birthday Girl!

I about didn't make it out of the plane after I got in...apparently there is a hip width limit...

And finally, this weekend I also got to celebrate the retirement of a woman that has become very special in my life. Mrs. Mary started the Pregnancy Resource Center where I volunteer and has faithfully served as director there for the past 17 years. I can't begin to think about all the women and children that she has impacted through this ministry; how many children owe their lives to her counselling and her faithful prayer for their mothers. I pray that God will allow me to have a fraction of the legacy that she has built throughout her life. She is one of those women that you meet and you never forget because she is living out her faith...even at 83 years of age! Praise the Lord for women like her and for her willingness to share her wisdom and love with me. I'm going to miss all of our talks and her sweet spirit at The Center...but I hope that I'll still be able to keep in touch with her, there is so much more I want to glean!!

Me and Mrs. Mary (in the middle)...I'm not sure who the other lady is, she just hopped right in the picture like she belonged, I figured it would be rude to ask her to step to the side...oh well!

My Sweet Baby

2009-09-14T19:20:00.012-04:00

Also, when we went up to NC for Meggsie's wedding, I got to spend some precious time with my nephew Mason. He is 4.5 months old now...wow time flies! He is so adorable and is really starting to respond to his environment and I think he really likes his Aunt Lauren (and Uncle Garin)!

Hanging out with Granddaddy

Getting ready for bed with Aunt Lauren (Mommy scares me when she gets the camera out)

Uncle Garin likes to copy me and my faces

Aunt Lauren makes me laugh!!! (I was laughing so hard that I didn't get my "camera" face)

Yes, I am a cool little man...check out my hot dino outfit! (Dude, he LOVED these sunglasses!)

Yummy...I found my thumb!!

Aunt Lauren and I had so much fun playing together. Aunt Lauren sure is gonna miss me when she is gone...hopefully Mommy will take me to see her down in FL sometime soon!

Welcome to the Family Eli

2009-09-13T13:06:00.010-04:00

Over Labor Day Weekend we had the opportunity to go back to good ol' NC and be a part of Garin's sister Meghan's wedding. She wed her (now) husband at 11AM on Saturday Sept 5th on the roof top of the Holiday Inn in downtown Charlotte. It was a beautiful wedding for a beautiful couple!

Eli is currently serving in the Army as a 1st Lieutenant. He will be leaving to serve our country over in the Middle East in December. So please remember this precious couple in your prayers as they embark on a new life together and as they spend much of their first year of marriage separated as they follow the call of duty and serve our country!

Here are some pictures I snapped:

The happy couple at the Rehearsal Dinner

Newly married couple secrets!

What a beautiful couple! Yes, Eli is very tall...6'5". I look like a dwarf next to him! Fortunately Meghan is 5'10" so it works out well! Love the dress!

Sweet moments during the first dance.

The Cake. Beautiful! Garin's aunt made this cake (she also made ours for our wedding). She is sooo talented...and not only does it look good, it tastes amazing!!

My cameo with the Bride.

Off they go to the Honeymoon! (That's dental floss that is creating the web all over the inside and outside of the car...very clever!)

Well, welcome to the Kirkpatrick family Eli. We look forward to many fun family times in the future with you. We will be praying for you guys and we can't wait to see how God is going to bless you in your marriage! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day, it was beautiful!

Coche Nuevo

2009-08-31T18:01:00.007-04:00

Well we finally bit the bullet and traded in the ol' Jeep Liberty for a more fuel efficient 4 door sedan. The ol' Liberty had served me well since my sophomore year in college (over 8 years ago), but the gas guzzler was taking a toll on the ol budget. You may remember a post a couple months back where the beast hit its 100,000th mile, so it was about that time where all good American made cars come to an end.

After much research and evaluation we decided on a Volkswagen Jetta. We were able to get a really good deal on it because it was a demo car at the dealership. We also, thankfully, didn't have to use the Cash For Clunkers hogwash and got a really good trade-in on my Jeep. For all you guys looking to trade in a car...the secret is ARMOR-ALL. I armor-alled that baby up before I took it in to the dealership and they gave me a wonderful offer for a trade-in because "it looked so clean and in such good condition" (I promise you, it didn't look that great before I took some elbow grease to it that morning!).

So here is our new car...I LOVE IT so far (especially since it averaged 30 mpg on the last tank of gas)!

Well I also must post my husband's new "invention". Note the tennis ball hanging from the garage ceiling below:

Well apparently, my dear friends, I was not parking the car properly in the garage. I was either leaving too much space in front of the car or pulling in too close. So this tennis ball on a string, my dear friends, is so that I know when the car has been parked in the correct location. The tennis ball should be barely touching my windshield....

INGENIOUS!!

YUMMM!

2009-08-17T17:04:00.003-04:00

Well I was very excited yesterday as I was checking out at Wal-Mart to see that M&M's has now come out with a COCONUT flavored M&M. Many of you might not know, but I am IN LOVE with anything coconut. So, I immediately grabbed the bag and threw it in with the rest of my purchases. Well my review is that they are pretty good. I was hoping there would actually be real coconut inside, unfortunately there is not, but there is a pretty good coconut flavor. So for those of you out there that are coconut fanatics like me, I do recommend you give them a try to get your fix!

New Job

2009-08-04T21:38:00.004-04:00

Well I FINALLY found a job here in Pcola! After 6 months of scouring the newspapers, career builder, usajobs, and any other job website, sending in countless resumes, cold calling engineering firms, and signing up with every staffing company in the area, I am finally employed! I actually got the job through a staffing company, so I guess that is technically who I work for. The job is a "temp" job...but for 2 years...which works out perfectly for me being that that is about how much longer we will be here.

So, about the job. I'm working with a local school district in their Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Dept. This Dept. is district wide, so we have teachers/staff in each of the 65 schools in the district. Due to one of the recently passed stimulus bills they received quite a bit of mula, and my job is to spend it for them! I don't exactly have a job title but its somewhere close to a purchasing clerk with a couple of twists. Basically I receive orders from all of the teachers and staff and then I go and purchase the equipment/supplies, then I will receive, distribute, and track the items that we receive.

I was really hoping to land an engineering job to fulfill my 4 years of work experience so I could sit for the Professional Engineering (PE) Exam (I have 3.5 years and only need a half a year more of experience...ugh!). However, I'll happily take this job after seeing the extremely tight job market in this area....it is truly a blessing! Hopefully I can work this into experience towards that MBA I worked so hard for!

So, that is what I am doing for 35 hours of my week. I started 3 weeks ago, and so far I like it. It can get kind of slow when I don't have orders coming in, but when I do have orders, I really like the job (can't beat spending someone else's money, right?!). Its like Christmas when my orders start coming in...except the things in the boxes aren't really that exciting and I don't get to keep them...oh well, there is just something about getting a box with your name on it!

As for Garin, he is a busy big bee. He has had his first two flights in the Navy's T-34, and so far he has done well and come back alive ;) He says the only drawback is how HOT he gets while he is in the plane. He has to wear a flame retardant flight suit (that doesn't breath much), gloves, a parachute (comforting, huh?!), a helmet, and a harness...basically he can't have any skin showing anywhere...and the A/C barely puts a dent in it. And on top of that the exhaust from the plane comes out in front of the cockpit (makes a lot of sense?!) so add that extra heat into the equation as well. He is constantly studying for his daily flights so I feel like I hardly see him even when he is home. But fortunately God is blessing him and he is excelling in typical Garin fashion.

The T-34 (plane Garin currently flys)

The flight "get-up" (obviously not Garin sporting it)

Well that's the current life of the Kirkpatricks. Hope you all are doing well!

4 down, Many more to go...

2009-07-25T12:55:00.006-04:00

Aww, don't I have a sweetie for a husband?! Yep, so this past Thursday marked our 4th year of marriage bliss. Some days it seems like we have been married forever and then other days it seems like it was just yesterday that I was making that walk down the aisle. But it truly has been 4 great years...we have been so blessed! God is good!

We weren't able to celebrate on Thursday because I had to work late (yes, I now have a job...I'll have to make a post about that later) and Garin had to study late and then had a 5:30 brief the next morning. So we postponed our celebration until Friday night. We decided to go all out and head out to one of the better restaurants on Pensacola Beach - Hemingway's (yes, after the writer). Oh man, it was SOOOO delicious...well worth the expense!

After dinner we walked around the "boardwalk" and then came home and watched our wedding video (have to brush up on those vows!). Its great to look back and remember that special day with all of our precious friends and family! God has been so faithful over the years and we owe our love for each other to Him - "we love because He first loved us."

At dinner

After dinner, on the pier with Hemingway's in the background.

My Turn to Post

2009-07-23T08:34:00.003-04:00

Happy Anniversery Sweetie!!
I'm so glad you said "yes". Here's to many more years with you. I thank God for you.

I love you,

Garin

Our Week Playing Aunt and Uncle

2009-07-14T15:37:00.016-04:00

This past week we had our youngest guest yet to come visit us...our nephew Mason (along with his mommy and daddy). They arrived here VERY early on Monday morning (they drove through the night). Monday we took the day off for them to rest. Tuesday we headed to Pensacola Beach for the afternoon and then grilled out at the picnic shelters there for dinner. Wednesday we headed over to Destin, where we did some shopping at the outlets and then headed out to the VERY crowded beach. That night we hit up some yummy seafood where we overlooked the Destin bay area. Thursday we had another chill day and Friday we went back to Pcola Beach to watch the Blue Angels Air Show. Saturday Garin and I went back out to Pcola Beach to watch the show again (more on that in a later post) while Alex, MW, and Mason headed off to Navarre Beach for there last day on the beach. Then they left us all alone early Sunday morning.

The week went by WAY too fast. I was in Aunt Heaven having my nephew around...he has grown soooo much since I last saw him. He is 11 weeks old now and is in the 95th percentile for his height and weight (so, yes, he is a big boy!). At his two month check-up he weighed in at about 15 pounds and I'm sure he weighs more than that now! He is absolutely adorable and I sure wish I got to see him more often!

Chillin in his Bumpo seat with his new Pooh toy

Laying out like his aunt - (don't worry we kept him in the shade!)

Bath time! Absolutely adorable!! I just want to squeeze him!

Garin and Baby Mason - Uncle Garin was about as enamored as Aunt Lauren; every time Mason started to cry, Garin would pick him up and walk around with him until he calmed down. He did everything but change diapers :)

Aunt Lauren and Baby Mason - he don't look too happy...

Mason and Uncle Garin taking a nap together...

One of my favorite pictures...Mason is sporting his Wolfpack pride! Don't worry, I will teach him how to make the wolf sign with his fingers soon enough! Mason says: Go Pack!

4th of July

2009-07-05T15:47:00.009-04:00

The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays of the year. As a kid we used to always go to the local parade and either watch or be in it. I have ridden in the parade with many ball teams, on my unicycle, and as a parade "princess". So not being at home for the Fourth of July festivities for the second year in a row has forced me to accept some new holiday traditions.

This year Garin and I got the opportunity to go over to New Orleans to a family reunion with his mother's side of the family. Although we both knew few people, it was neat to reunite with family and see some faces we haven't seen in a while. The reunion took place at a beautiful house that was beside a clear spring water pond. Before it rained in the afternoon we enjoyed a yard game of kickball and a game of "washers" (a new one for Garin and me). Oh and of course there was LOTS of food. Nothing goes down in Louisiana without an incredible amount of delicious food...I think I gain a pound or two while I was there!

Uncle Ted, Garin, and Garin's Aunt Peggy

The Birthday Crew: A.J.-(shoot I forgot how old...I don't want to risk getting it wrong ;), Peggy - 60, and Garin's great uncle Vernon - 90

After spending the afternoon in LA, we headed back to Pensacola to try to catch some fireworks with some friends. Although there were a million people out there, we were able to find our friends and cap off the night with some beautiful fireworks along with patriotic music in the background. Makes me proud to be an American!

The Girls

The Boys

The Fireworks

Thanks to all of you men and women that have served or currently serve our country. Thank you for your sacrifice that enables me to be free and to enjoy my freedoms in this great country of America!

Florida Natural Springs

2009-06-29T18:09:00.010-04:00

This past weekend Garin and I decided to try to do something a little different than the normal trip to the beach. Garin had heard that there were a few natural springs in NW Florida, so we looked it up and found one that was only an hour away and planned to head there for the day. So Saturday morning we packed our towels and a lunch and headed out for the unknown.

The natural springs here are a cool 68 degrees year round and VERY clear. 68 degrees is actually pretty cold and thankfully Garin threw my wetsuit in the truck before we left! Our plan was to go to the spring, hang out, and snorkel. Well the first spring we went to wasn't exactly what we were expecting. While it was quite refreshing on a HOT Florida day, there wasn't too much to see by the way of snorkeling. We stayed for an hour and then decided to head out to the beach.

Ponce De Leon Springs

On our way out we say a sign for "Vortex Springs" which was a couple of miles down the road and boasted of Scuba diving adventures. My husband, being the diving connoisseur that he is, HAD to go check it out. We hit jackpot ;)

This was a privatized spring (vs the first one which was a state park) and was basically a redneck water park. They had a swing (like the flying trapeze), a zip line, a diving board, a high dive, a slide, and more! They also had a very large hole that divers could go cave diving in (unfortunately Garin didn't have any of his dive cards with him...but he plans to go back!). We spent the afternoon chilling out here and enjoying the clear cold water. We brought our snorkel gear so Garin fluttered around with the divers below (free diving) while I enjoyed watching him from the surface. All in all it was a very fun, different, thing to do for the day.

And yes, we are under an umbrella...it is nearly impossible to be out in the sun down here without having some sort of shade-that sun is brutal!

After a fun filled day together we topped our date day off with dinner out on the town at Chili's. Yum!

More Visitors :)

2009-06-17T22:40:00.007-04:00

We had more visitors at the Florida Kirkpatrick residence this past week! Garin's brother Shane came down and brought his girlfriend Rebecca. We had a great time hanging out with them and kicking back at the beach. Unfortunately the first day we took them to the beach the ocean was filled with this seaweed sludge stuff. It was gross! And we had been talking up how beautiful the beach was and all...go figure :) We went back a couple more times and it progressively got better!

On Tuesday we took a little trip out to NAS Pensacola to see the Blue Angels do a practice show. I've seen them flying around in the air before but I've never actually seen a show, so it was really neat! They had a grandstand set up out at the airfield and everything! The little old man commentating for us told us that in flight the Blue Angels sometimes get within 18 inches of one another. That is just CRAZY! I think this was one of those "close" maneuvers. They were so stinkin' fast I could never get a good picture of them, so these are the best I have!

At the end the planes "parade" by and the kids get to go out and wave flags for them as they pass by. I've never wanted to be a pilot, but after seeing that it would be pretty cool to be able to fly and do the maneuvers that they do!!

After the air show we went to the air museum to check out the billions of planes in there. This is Shane and Rebecca posing in front of one of the antique planes.

Thanks for coming to visit Shane and Rebecca! We thoroughly enjoyed your visit!!

And finally, today was the first day that Garin got to wear his flight suit in to work. He was pretty excited (even though his face does not show it) and I thought he looked pretty cute in it :)

Just a Little Update

2009-06-05T12:20:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to update everyone. There's not really anything to update...but I hate not making a post for over a week.

Umm, let's see. Garin started the 2nd phase of his training - API, aka ground school - he has now completed 2 weeks of the 6 week course. In this phase he is in the classroom where he is learning things like aerodynamics, weather, navigation, etc. He has already had two tests and has done very well on both of them. They also do a pool workout each day and at the end of the course they will do some cool survival training in the pool and out in the bay. Here are some links to some API videos...I'm not feeling too sorry for him...looks like a lot of fun to me!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSDCYbpjEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5T4eMWdEg&feature=related

As for me. Well I'm just here. Just trying to keep myself busy and not go crazy!

Destin - Our Destiny

2009-05-21T20:42:00.010-04:00

This past Monday Garin and I decided to take a little trip down the road to Destin, FL. Quite a few people have told me that we really needed to go check it out because the beaches were so beautiful (and they have outlet malls). I wondered how the beaches could be any more pretty than the ones we usually go to, being that Destin is only an hour away; however, I must admit, there was a difference! The water was much clearer and the sand was much softer (and maybe a tad bit whiter, but the sand here is pretty white).

Garin and I set off early Monday morning to drive down there and on the way we drove by an Air Force Aviation Museum (Destin is really close to Eglin Air Force Base). After seeing the planes sitting outside in front of the museum, we "had" to make a U-turn to go back and check them out. So the first hour or so of "daycation" was spent checking out some pretty cool planes (even I will admit they were pretty cool).

After seeing all the "awesome" aircrafts we headed to the "awesome" outlet malls :) The skies were kind of overcast so I felt that it was okay to spend quite a few hours checking out all the stores. Garin was such a trooper...I endured 1 hour of planes and he endured 3 hours of shopping...looks like I got the better end of that deal!!!

When the clouds parted and the sun poked out we headed to the beach to see if they were all they were talked up to be. Even though it was rather cool, Garin just had to take a dip. In the picture below you can see how clear the water is because you can see his whole body even though its underwater.
So yeah, as you can see it looks like we have the Caribbean not that far away from us!!

After our time at the beach we checked out some of the interesting signs we saw on the way in. The first is a picture of "The Donut Hole." Garin was so "surprised" because this was the name he had "come up with" for the donut shop he aspires to open when he finally retires. So of course we had to go try out the merchandise...very good! The next picture is a throwback to my old single days. I wish they had been open so I could meet some of my kin folk; it was cool to see my old name in print though :)

And finally some sunset pictures over the Destin bay:

So there you have it...our daycation to Destin. If you come visit us you might get to take a fun daycation to Destin as well! :)

Kirkpatricks Gone Cruisin '09

2009-05-11T22:28:00.019-04:00

Finally, cruise pictures! Garin and I got to go on a cruise a few weeks ago. After we started thinking about Garin's busy training schedule for the next half a year or so, we figure this might be the only opportunity we got to take a vacation. So, after keeping an eye on the cruise prices we found a VERY good deal and jumped on it. So on Monday April 20th, we got up at 4AM hopped in the car and headed down to Tampa.

Garin was excited to find that the ship had a slide that met his high slide standards. He was like a kid all over again :) The kids all thought he was the coolest because he made a really big splash!

Our first day was spent at sea. I spent most of the day going to "talks" to get some freebies and laying out by the slide. Garin spend most of the day sliding, hanging out by the pool, and going to the gym. Then our second day we dropped anchor in the bay next to Grand Cayman island. We decided to not go with an excursion offered by the cruise but rather one I found online for a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkel a reef. So after an hour of going back and forth with the boat shop I found online we FINALLY got in a van and drove off to a marina to board a large boat to head out to the Stingray Bay. Those black blobs are the stingrays...we had a water camera where we got some closer pictures of us holding and touching the rays! Oh man, it was so cool. If you ever make it out to the Caymans, I totally recommend that you go on this trip. Garin and I had a blast. Our stay at Grand Cayman was pretty short so as soon as we got back from seeing the stingrays, we pretty much had to board the boat. So I'm not real sure what the rest of the island had to offer :(

After a night at sea the next morning we woke up ported at Cozumel, Mexico. Yes, we were in Mexico...and thankfully were not struck with the Swine Flu. We found out that the week after our cruise, the cruise didn't dock at Cozumel...I would have been sooo mad!!! But anyway, our plan for the day WAS for Garin to go scuba diving while I just chilled out, however, Garin realized that he left his dive cards at home :( So we had to go with plan B.

A guy on the street in front of a resort near the dock offered to give us a Jeep for our use all day if we went in and listened to their sales pitch. It was hot as all get out and we need some AC so we figured "what the heck?". Garin artfully dodged the pressure sales tactics and by lunch time we had our Jeep and were on our way. Since the Mexican food here in Milton, FL is crap, we decided to try to find some GOOD authentic Mexican food. We stopped at a little restaurant outside of the city that looked "okay." Boy were we right, it sure was good...and cheap!! And thankfully we didn't get sick from it either...what a bonus!!! Gotta love the places that don't even have English on the menu!
We really enjoyed Cozumel. We went Cancun before on our honeymoon and I thought it would be much the same since they were so close together. However, they really were nothing alike...especially when you get out of the tourist area and see the open land. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL. Garin and I brought our own snorkel gear so we drove to a spot where a local told us there was good snorkeling...it really wasn't that great, but it was fun nonetheless. The island isn't that big so we were able to drive around most of it and we have already found the hotel we want to stay in on our next visit ;)

The Jeep

The "beach" on the backside of the island...there were some really cool rock formations along with some beautiful sandy areas as well.

The beach where we stopped to snorkel.

After our fun on Cozumel we headed back to the boat for some good food and then enjoyed our next day at sea as we made our way back to Tampa. Below are some more fun pictures :)

Preparing for evacuation.

Formal night. And this is actually on the back of the ship with the sun setting...not one of those cheesy backdrops they have all over the boat.

Towel art.

Heading out to see the stingrays.

What a fun trip!!

Mason Alexander' Debute

2009-05-06T11:12:00.012-04:00

Well I'm finally back in FL where I have access to my camera cord and highspeed Internet, so that means that I can finally update the blog with pictures of my adorable nephew!!! I also have pictures from our cruise but I will post those later because they pale in comparison to my Mason ;)

Mason and I having a moment at the hospital when I first met him (it was love at first sight for both of us I'm sure ;)

Coming home from the hospital

Sweet boy chillin' for his Cameo shots. He let us change him into about four different outfits for pictures...he didn't cry at all and he had his eyes open the whole time. He is such a good boy!!

Sleeping in his digital camo outfit that Uncle Garin got for him. Garin said it would disguise the spit up ;)

Getting acquainted with the farm animals.

I love this picture. Baby boy was OUT! And so was his daddy :)

And finally one of my favorites of me with my nephew. Aww isn't he adorable?! I'm not a proud aunt or anything ;) It was great to get to spend the week up in North Carolina helping my sister and her husband. Of course it wasn't a bother for me at all...as long as a I sweet moments like this with my baby (and thankfully I got many of those moments)! I love you Mason!

Well Garin didn't get to stay in NC with me for the whole week because he had obligations back here in FL. He must have had a lonely week without me because he seemed to be pretty excited to have me back home. On Monday I caught a ride with his dad down to Atlanta and then Garin picked me up from there to bring me back to FL (ATL is about halfway from here to CLT). When I got home he surprised me with a homemade Italian dinner!!! He made bruchetta, chicken marsala with noodles and even made homemade sorbet!!! I was quite impressed :) And all this was served by candlelight with fresh flowers on the finished "cafe" table that he had been working on for our living room (which is also quite impressive).

After this special surprise I'm starting to think I should go away more often ;) hehe. I love my husband, he is the bestest!!!

Dinner is served!

A full view of the table. Garin built this from scratch and did it without using ANY nails. I think he has perfected the art of dowel rodding! It truly is quite impressive. He is quite gifted in the woodworking department!

I'm an AUNT!!!!

2009-04-26T13:14:00.002-04:00

This past Friday my sister brought Mason Alexander into the world. Weighing in at 8lbs. 6 oz. and 23 inches long, he is a biggin'...and he was 2.5 weeks early. Garin and I were not able to be here for the birth...actually we didn't even find out about it until Saturday morning because we were somewhere out in the Gulf of Mexico when he arrived. I was SOOOO bummed. Once we got on dry land we made a bee line up to NC to see our new nephew (we didn't even go by home)! So I am up here now for as long as they need me. I don't have the connector to upload pictures from my camera, so pictures will come in the weeks to come! But let me just tell you...he is a beauty!!

On another note, our cruise was great...we had a blast! I just wish we hadn't missed all the excitement!!

Visitors!!

2009-04-19T14:16:00.004-04:00

Well this past weekend we had the joy of hosting Meghan (Garin's sister) and her boyfriend, Eli! I had warned them that it was boring down here because there really isn't much to do except go to the beach...but they were troopers and came anyway. They got here at about noon on Friday and we headed out to the Blackwater River to do some canoeing/kayaking. Garin opted for the canoe and Meg/Eli opted for the kayak. I must admit that after I'd paddled in the canoe for an hour or so and then tried out the kayak, I think I'm a bigger fan of kayaking (even though you did get a bit more wet). Next time we head out there Garin can have his canoe, I'm going for the kayak!

On Saturday we took them to the only redeeming thing this place has to offer...the beach. I checked the weather forecast on Thursday and it said that it was supposed to be warm and sunny on Saturday...apparently some things changed in two days. It was mostly overcast and the wind made it a little chilly. The waves were pretty choppy so we couldn't get in (not that I wanted to because it was pretty cold....of course Garin got in anyway!) and the sand was all churned up so you couldn't really see how clear and emeraldy the water is...bummer. Nonetheless we stayed out there a while and a few of us got a little sunburned (this does not include Meg and me...apparently we were the only ones that knew you could get sunburned when it is overcast).

All in all, I hope they had a good time with us old farts! We are so glad they took the time to come down and see us!! We can't wait for the rest of you to come!!! We are currently taking reservations for the guest room!!

Meg and Eli and then a picture of them at the beach

P.S. Garin and I booked a last minute cruise, so this week we will be heading out to the Caribbean for some sun, sand, and lots of good food!!! I'll post our adventures when we return!

What Easter Means to Me

2009-04-13T22:02:00.007-04:00

To me, Easter is not about the Easter bunny (although, one did visit our front door on Easter morning bearing candy...seriously, not kidding...that was pretty cool!), its not about the candy (although, I do think its the holiday with the BEST candy...those Robin's Eggs, Peeps, and black jelly beans will get me every time!), its not about buying a new spring outfit to wear to church (I didn't even get one this year), and its not about being able to FINALLY wear white shoes (Florida gets warm and my white sandals have been itching to make their appearance, but I couldn't do it because my mom's voice would come to my head telling me that I can't wear white before Easter!), to me, Easter is about emptiness.

Yes, emptiness. Its because of the emptiness of Jesus' grave that the emptiness of my heart can be made full. If it weren't for the fact that Jesus died that dreaded Friday for all of my sins and then three days later got up and walked out of His earthly tomb, leaving it empty, I can't imagine where I would be today. That moment in history made a historical moment in my life many years ago when the emptiness of my life was filled with an eternal purpose. He LIVES, the tomb is EMPTY!

Since this was the first year Garin and I would be away from our families for this joyful day, we decided to invite our extended family, our friends down here, to come over to celebrate with us. So I prepared my first Easter meal...for 15 of our friends (make that my first holiday meal ever...we usually go over to my sister's or Garin's parents for holidays and they do most of the cooking). I was a little nervous because my cooking skills definitely aren't seasoned, but I think in the end it turned out okay. There was food left over so hopefully everyone had enough to stuff themselves (or maybe it was just too bad to go back and get seconds?? I hope it was the former!!). Below are some pictures of the festivities:

Home Sweet Home

2009-04-05T22:51:00.003-04:00

This past week Garin and I got the opportunity to return back to our good ol' home town of Indian Trail, NC. Last weekend my sister had two baby showers and Garin got to go to the wedding of one of his OCS buddies (he said it was quite the event!). On Monday we spent some time with G's parents and the evening with our good friends Kristin and Aaron Byrum (our hang out time most definitely included some La Unica...which we miss tremendously). Tuesday brought us to my dad's place and I spent much of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday cleaning up the upstairs of his house (Goodwill is getting a trailer load!). On Wednesday Garin headed out with Aaron to backpack at Mount Rogers State Park...after a rainy day hiking they came back on Thursday night. On Thursday I went and visited my good friends at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities and then got to spend the evening with our former Sunday School teachers and friends, the Richards family. Friday was spent tying up some loose ends and getting ready for our 9 hour drive back on Saturday. It actually took us over 10 hours because we got stuck in some nasty Atlanta traffic. Traffic on Saturday...gotta love Atlanta!

Overall we had a fantastic trip back home. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality! We miss you guys! I should be returning in another month when I will become a new AUNT!!!

Since my camera died, I didn't get to take any pictures...but I did steal one of my pregnant sister. She would kill me if she knew I was posting this, but fortunately she never checks my blog so she won't know...or maybe someone will tell her and she will be forced to check it! But anyway, she thinks she looks huge, I think she looks great! She is such a cute pregnant girl! I hope I'm as fortunate as her and only gain weight where I'm supposed to!! Oh yeah, and I'm sporting my new short hair do...I'll get better pictures of it when we finally get a camera that works!

One Year Down...19 More to Go!

2009-03-26T20:09:00.004-04:00

Guess what?! Today marks Garin's one year anniversary in the Coast Guard! Can you believe it?! I can hardly believe its been a whole year already! The past year has been quite eventful to say the least. This time last year Garin headed off to Cape May, NJ to embark on his adventure in Boot Camp. After 8 weeks, he graduated May 16th and then we headed to our first duty station in Emerald Isle, NC a week later. A few weeks after we moved we found out that he would be going to Officer Candidate School (OCS) in early August. Thus, at the end of July I moved back to Charlotte and then August 6th Garin headed off to New London, CT for OCS. After four months in OCS he graduated December 3rd and we went back to Charlotte to pack up all our stuff to prepare for our move for flight school. Then on December 31st we pulled up into our rental house in Pensacola FL, where Garin has gone through the first phase of his flight training and is waiting to start the next phase. Whew, like I said, the year-end-review reveals quite a busy year for the two of us in response to the Coast Guard's calling. I can only imagine what the next 19 years will have in store for us...what an adventure!

Well tomorrow Garin and I will be loading up the truck and heading back to good ol' NC to visit family and friends. We will be gone for a week so that means there will probably be no blog updates (i guess its not like I update the block every week anyway, so you probably wouldn't even know we were gone). Hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'll be sure to blog about our adventures when we get back.

Oh, sad news, I think our camera is officially done for. I think I dropped it for the last time and now the lens won't come out (Garin got it for me for our wedding, so I guess its almost four years old...which is pretty old for gadgets these days). So I guess that means its time for a new camera. Anyone have any recommendations? We are looking for a pretty simple "point and shoot" that will take quality pictures...please post your thoughts to help us through the process :)

Weekend Fun

2009-03-24T15:45:00.007-04:00

This past weekend Garin and I were quite the social butterflies. On Friday night we had our Small Group Bible Study over for burrito/taco bar. It was great to get together for some food and fellowship. After we ate our fill, we all played a round of Apples to Apples. For those of you that have never played this game, I must recommend it! We used to play it back in the good ol' days of college and I hadn't thought about it again until one of our friends brought it over the other night. Oh, the good ol' days....

The spread

The game

Then on Saturday I had my first opportunity to go to a Crawfish Boil! This a Louisianian thing for those of you that have never heard of it. Our friend Erin turned 30 and we celebrated with A LOT of crawfish and other yummy things. Crawfish are quite interesting looking creatures...they look nothing like a fish as their name would imply, but more like miniature lobsters (see below)!

The big ol pot of crawfish. They are boiled alive (they have to be so you don't ingest bad bacteria...sad, I know) so you can see some are trying to escape!!

Although the novelty of the crawfish boil was pretty cool, I can't say that I've become a crawfish lover. It just takes WAY too much work to get the meat out and then there is this disgusting yellow mushy gut stuff that I need to get over as well. My husband, on the other hand, demonstrated his true Louisiana roots and probably ate half of the crawfish that were cooked. I wish I had a taken a picture of him, he had guts and goo all over his shirt and hands....ahhh, that's my boy!

Choose Life

2009-03-21T12:13:00.003-04:00

Well since I've still been unable to find a job (I must admit I'm not looking as hard these days as I was before), I decided that I needed to do something worthwhile with my time. I mean, sewing and scrapbooking and furniture repairing does have its value, but I'm wanting to do something that has a more eternal value. Soooo this week I decided I'd been putting it off long enough and I got my stuff together and headed over to the Pregnancy Resource Center in a our little hometown...and I'm so glad I did!

When I walked in the door and told them that I wanted to start volunteering there they embraced me with open arms and told me how they could put me right to work. So this past Thursday I spent most of my morning and afternoon helping set up for their annual fundraising banquet; then Garin and I got the opportunity to attend it that evening. So far I've met some of the most sweetest older ladies (I think I'm pretty much the youngest volunteer there...I guess most girls my age have jobs!) and I'm looking forward to learning from them and adopting a few moms and grandmoms!

So what is the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) you might ask? Well, it is a non-profit ministry that seeks to educate women (and anyone else that is willing to listen) about the risks of abortion and the alternatives that exist. This particular center provides free pregnancy tests (did you know that some abortion clinics provide pregnancy tests and then give false positives so that they can perform a "fake" abortion and collect the fees?), counseling, referrals, adoption information, maternity and parenting classes, Bible Studies, and a store stocked with maternity clothes, baby clothes and other useful baby items (mothers can earn "baby bucks" to use in this store by attending classes at the center), and much more! So in short, the PRC is a place where women can go to receive loving support in their time of need.

A statistic in my training manual states that after experiencing the compassion at the PRC and being lovingly confronted with truth and responsibility, that 80% to 85% of the women that come through the doors will turn from abortion to choose life! How exciting is that?! I'm very excited to have a chance to help out with a cause I believe in and I'm looking forward to the ways God is going to stretch me and grow me through this experience! I'll keep you posted :)

Catching Up!

2009-03-10T22:47:00.009-04:00

Well its been a couple of weeks so I guess this is my catch up blog.

Two weekends ago we got the opportunity to go bowling with our new Small Group at the church we have been going to. I love to bowl but Garin isn't so cool with it...might I add that I won with a score of 151 (which really isn't that good, but I did get a Turkey!). Below is a picture of our cool small group!

After our fun weekend at the Alley, Garin's parents came down for a short visit on their way to a wedding in New Orleans (more on that later). They left and headed over to LA and then Garin's dad and his aunt came over to spend a night with us later on in the week. It was great to have visitors in the house! In order to keep from driving two cars over to the wedding (Garin had to fly in the morning), I decided to ride over to New Orleans with Garin's dad and aunt and spend some time down there.

The wedding I'm speaking of was for Garin's cousin, Kristina and her, now husband, Richard. It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding! You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. The wedding was outside under a large live oak with hanging moss...sooo picturesque (see pictures below)! The food was also yummy and the cake was beautiful (Garin's aunt that made our cake also made her's).

After the wedding we spend some time in New Orleans with Garin's family. On Saturday we took our traditional trip to downtown to have some beignets at Cafe Du Monde and then walked around the French Quarter for a while.

This is Garin's brother, Shane, at Cafe Du Monde...he's on the market and available.... ;)

Fun picture downtown with Garin's family

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful down here, so on Sunday we decided to head out to the beach after church. Apparently it was the beginning of spring break for the college crowd so the beach was pretty busy. We biked around for a while and then did some basking in the sun to tan our white bods (well, mine's pretty white, Garin has a perma-tan that I'm jealous of).

And finally, we have some good news to share (no we are not pregnant...I know that's what some of you were thinking!). Garin has completed his first phase of flight training!!! On Monday he had his last solo and is now cleared to move onto the next phase (which won't start for a while). Praise God...it was truly by His graces that Garin can mark this accomplishment.

Sorry for the long entry...I think I'm caught up now :) Until next time...

Mardi Gras

2009-02-23T12:19:00.004-05:00

Well, I always thought that Mardi Gras was a celebration isolated to New Orleans. But no! Mardi Gras extends as far as Pensacola (and maybe farther, but I only know about Pensacola)! Over the past week or so I've heard about quite a few parades going on around town and I told Garin that I wanted to experience one of them. So yesterday morning I heard about one going on at Pensacola Beach and we decided to head off down there after church. It was a beautiful day outside so Garin had the great idea of taking our bikes and parking a ways away and then riding the bikes in (mind you, this includes going over a bridge with quite an incline...but the bridge is a toll bridge and we didn't have to pay on bikes so it was worth the pain!). I'm so glad we did it because I'm not sure we would have found a place to park if we hadn't! Plus it was cool to ride over the bay and next to the beach :)

I was quite impressed by the parade, I must say. Back in good ol Indian Trail we have an annual 4th of July and Christmas parade. These parades usually consist of kids riding in the back of a pick-up truck, fire trucks, tractor trailer trucks, tractors, horses, the occasional float, and anything else a local business can put in the parade to advertise themselves. However the floats in this parade were quite elaborate! I mean, people put some dough into these things and they weren't even for advertisements! And each float has some theme and the people on board are all dressed up according to the theme. It was craziness! I'm so bummed that I didn't take my camera with me so I could have captured the craziness.

Another different thing about this parade was that they threw out beads and moon pies instead of the candy I'm used to. I got A LOT of beads:

Fortunately, this parade was at 2PM and was a "family" parade, so I all had to do to get my beads was smile and wave! I could have gotten so many more, but Garin reminded me that I had to ride my bike back over the bridge with all these beads on! Oh and I'm not sure what the deal is with moon pies...but surprisingly no one was really interested in them. I mean, throw some cheap beads out and people will fight for any that fall to the ground, but throw out the moon pies and people just turn up their noses! So I collected all the neglected moon pies that fell around me. I was like something edible? or some cheap beads I'm gonna throw away when I get home?! I'll go for the food every time; I just don't understand people ;)

So yeah, we had a very cool day yesterday. I think we might start taking the bikes to the beach on our Sunday afternoons! I'm excited :)

Go Figure!

2009-02-15T22:42:00.003-05:00

I just had to voice my frustration to the world. Since Garin and I have moved from a two income family to a one income family I've tried to start clipping coupons (and actually using them!). Well for the past few Sunday's I've been stopping by the local Walmart to pick up a Sunday paper. So tonight after Bible Study we made a special trip by Walmart to get the weekly paper.

WELL, when I got home and started breaking out the ads and coupons, I discovered that all the manufacturer's coupon booklets were missing. Yeah, so I guess someone walked into Walmart, picked up a paper shopped around as they also "shopped" for the coupon booklets inside the newspaper, then returned the paper back to the stand and walked out with coupons in hand. I mean really people, the newspaper costs ONE DOLLAR! I guess if you are willing to clip coupons to save a buck, you are willing to steal the coupons for a buck as well! GRRRR!

UPDATE: Huge thanks to Christina Gainor, who informed me that they didn't put ANY manufacturer's coupons in the paper this week (what in the world is up with that? We are in an economic crisis, we NEED them coupons people!!!). So yeah, now I feel pretty silly...but man, I was riled up last night! I was about to get in the car and take the paper back to Walmart! Glad I didn't, then I would have felt really really silly then! Thanks again Christina :)

In Memory of Judy Carolyn Griffin Killough (1/14/48-2/12/06)

2009-02-12T14:10:00.005-05:00

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of my mother's death. I can't believe it has been that long. That painful day (and year leading up to it) is still so fresh in my memory. Although it is true that time heals, there will never be enough time to cause me to forget.

So here's to you mom. I'm so thankful to have been your daughter, you blessed my life in so many amazing ways. I am who I am because of your love, care, understanding, wisdom and example of a godly woman. I can only pray that I will be the mom to my children that you were to me. Thanks for giving of yourself and your career to enrich my life and provide me with everything I could have needed or wanted. I will NEVER EVER EVER forget you.

Running Wild

2009-02-07T15:00:00.005-05:00

Man, I'm really up to date on my blogging! I'm actually gonna post pictures that I took TODAY! Garin wanted me to download the pictures and I had some free time so I thought I'd put up a post about today's main event.

Garin got up at 5AM, left at 6AM, and started a 15K at 7AM (that's 9 miles and some change, for those of you that don't feel like doing the conversion). I was so proud of him, he finished it in about 1 hour and 12mins, which was quicker than the goal he had set for himself! They also had a 5K that ran the last 3 miles of the race, but, being the cheapo that I am, I couldn't justify spending $35 to run 3 miles...that's an expensive T-shirt (and really, who wants to PAY to run?)!! However, some of the girls from Garin's OCS class ran the 5K and I was actually wishing I would have joined in :( I felt like the lard of the group! But fortunately I was there to be the photographer and bus driver :)

Garin at about mile 7...he is the one in the sweaty grey T-shirt

Garin crossing the finish line

Garin and his two OCS buddies, Matt and Zach, that also ran the race...I think they were all a little pooped!

A month has passed...

2009-02-02T22:31:00.003-05:00

Well this past weekend marked our first month of living in Florida. So far it has been great and we have really enjoyed living here. It really is a lot like home so it hasn't been a far stretch for us to settle in.

Garin started his first day of flight training today. His first phase entails him obtaining his private pilot's license at a civilian air school, where he will learn to fly on Cessnas. This first week is made up of ground school where he will go to class and learn flight stuff before he gets into the plane. Right now he is watching some DVD's and studying in the living room...fun, fun. Oh and one of the draw backs of this is that he is doing his training in Mobile, AL, which is about an hour away from where we live :( There were about 5 places he could have gone and this is one of the furthest. Go figure, oh well...at least there are 2 other of his CG buddies that are there too so they can all carpool. This phase should take him about 2 or 3 months.

Well this month also marks a month behind us in our P90X training. Some of you are asking: "What in the world is P90X?" Well, since you asked, let me explain. If you watch cable TV with those super cool infomercials you might have seen it advertised. Well, my husband saw the advertisement and decided that we should try it out (yes, we bought a work out video off of an infomercial...well I take that back, we actually got in on ebay). P90X is a 90 day workout extravaganza. The workout is based on "muscle confusion" and hence we do a different type of exercise everyday. The first month consisted of: resistance training, yoga, plyometrics, and cardo kick boxing.

Its been a good thing that we have had a lot of time on our hands because each workout takes about an hour and a half a day. But the good news is: IT WORKS! We took photos of ourselves before we started and then took photos again today and we could DEFINITELY tell a difference. I'd post the photos but neither one of us wants to show our "hot" bodies on the internet ;) hehe. But here is a before and after of a more adventurous person!
Along with the exercising we have also been trying to stick to a high protein, low carb/sugar diet. I did okay for the first week, but that whole no sugar thing is too tough for me to stick to. Garin on the other hand has done a good job sticking to the diet and hence you could see better results in his pictures :( Man, I need some discipline!

So, those of you wanting to make a lifestyle change, P90X comes highly recommended from us!

Wow...I'm continuously amazed...

2009-01-31T14:30:00.003-05:00

The other day Garin and I were working out in our living room and Garin informed me that the carpet smelled like wet dog (I didn't smell this). Yum. Then a little bit later after our workout I was about to get in the shower and Garin comes in and informs me that he has determined that the wet dog smell is coming from my plant that I bought a couple of weeks ago. Now I love house plants and had to leave a couple behind during all our recent moving...and I'm very fond of this palm plant that he was accusing as the smell culprit. So, when he asked if I'd move it outside, I said no and told him that he should deodorize it if its smell was so offensive (I think he has a sense of smell like a blood hound because I sure don't smell an offensive smell even when I'm right on top of the plant...smells like potting dirt to me!). What I meant by this comment was that he should spray some Fabreeze around the plant. Well I proceeded to take my shower and assumed that the problem was resolved. So, when I got out of the shower and walked into the living room I just stopped in my tracks when I saw what is pictured below:

No, my friends, it did not snow here in Florida. The white stuff at the base of the plant is CARPET DEODORIZER! Garin's solution to deodorizing the plant was to put carpet deodorizer on it! I wasn't exactly happy about this (I'm sure that there are some chemicals in that stuff that probably aren't that great for plants and my plant is probably gonna kill over next week!) but I couldn't help but be amused by it (so amused that I had to share it with everyone else). My husband, the problem solver...

Recent Happenings

2009-01-20T22:53:00.008-05:00

Well, I guess I should catch everyone up on what's been going on down in Florida. So, here are some pictures and random updates:

We are now officially Floridians. Why? Might you ask did we we decide to change our residence from our beloved home state of North Carolina to sunny southern Florida? Well, three words: No State Tax. That's right, Florida is one of those great states where they don't charge state tax but stick it to you on property tax...but since we are renting and not purchasing, we get the best of both worlds! Also, since we are military, we can carry this residency with us wherever we go and in effect never have to pay state taxes. One of the few perks of being Active Duty.

New Florida Tags on my Jeep

This past weekend we had our first "party" at our house with some of Garin's friends from OCS. I forgot to take a picture when everyone was there so here is one after everyone left and after we started cleaning up. We had a Mexican themed party so we did a taco/burrito bar. Yummy! Oh and the random picture of the bowl with onions and peppers in it, is a picture of what Garin calls "The bowl of leadership". Garin won this bowl at OCS for getting the leadership award. It actually has his name and the award and such engraved on it, but I couldn't get it to show in the picture. Garin thought it was funny that I actually used it to serve with...I don't think anyone noticed...gotta put that thing to some good use, right ;)

The "Bowl of Leadership"

And finally, this past Sunday Garin and I took a night out on the town and went to a Brad Paisley concert in Pensacola. Garin is a pretty big Brad fan, so I got him the tickets for his birthday. I was pretty late in the game on getting tickets, so they weren't the best in the world, but they weren't too shabby either. We were on the front row of the top section, so we didn't have to stand up the entire time and got to enjoy the show.

I wore my super cool cowgirl hat that my dad got me...I fit right in with all the country folk ;) Garin sported his feather vest, that looked kinda country too.

The Paisley

Oh yeah, and one other random event: My car hit 100,000 miles yesterday. Fortunately I had the camera in the car to capture the moment :)

Peter C. Hoffman's Wedding

2009-01-13T18:10:00.009-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Garin got the privilege of being a groomsman in one of his good buddy's wedding. The wedding took place in Newport, NC...such a BEAUTIFUL NC sea town. Here are a couple of pictures of the rehearsal and then the wedding and reception.

Rehearsal

Meredith and Pete Rehearsing

G and me at Rehearsal Dinner

The wedding Party...don't get too close G!

Garin striking a pose

The Boys: Aaron, Pete, and Garin

The Crew: Garin and Lauren with our good friends Aaron and Kristin Byrum...we sure do miss them!!!

Playing Catch Up...Christmas

2009-01-13T17:58:00.006-05:00

Well, I finally found the cord to get the pictures off of my camera and onto the computer. I also found a notebook I was missing while looking forward the cord...bonus! I'm still missing a couple of other various housing items. All the boxes are unpacked...I think those items will be a lost cause (although I'm really missing the remote to the TV in our bedroom...no sleep timer!!).

Well just wanted to do a run down of our past month. First of all is Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. We ate breakfast and lunch with my family and then headed over to the Kirkpatrick's for some skeet shooting and dinner. It was so nice to have all of our family close by to us before we headed off to the wild blue yonder. I got some pictures of us opening presents at my sister's house, but I guess I forgot to take pictures at Garin's parents :(

Christmas at Mary Winn and Alex's

Daddy's BIG girls :) - Lauren, Dad, Mary Winn (she's pregnant)

I guess Garin was more excited about Christmas than I was...

We're Here!!

2009-01-03T12:40:00.003-05:00

Well just a quick post to let you know that we have arrived safe and sound. We were able to move in on New Years Eve (we were so exhausted that we went to bed at 10:30PM and didn't even make it to the ball drop!). So the past couple of days have consisted of moving boxes around and organizing. I think we have things settled for the most part. I still need to do some office reorganization and then hanging pictures and such. We also are in need of some living room furniture (coffee and end tables) as well as some bar stools. So I guess I'll be out and about over the next couple of weeks trying to complete our house. Today I'm feeling pretty crummy...I think I have a stomach bug. So today I will just lay on the couch and rest and hope the cable guy comes soon so I can have some TV to watch.

One of these days I'll get some pictures on here. I just don't feel like getting off the couch to get the camera and then finding the cord right now.

Peace!

Oh and for those of you that want our updated address, you'll have to email me to get it. I would post it on here, but since this is a public blog I'm not sure what crazos will happen to read it. I'll be happy to give it out to you normal people if you just email me at garinandlauren@hotmail.com.

Okay, Peace for real now.

On the Road Again...

2008-12-30T09:19:00.002-05:00

Its been yet another busy week for us. Christmas was GREAT since all of our family was in town (both sides); we enjoyed getting to spend time with all of them on the day our Savior was born. Then on Saturday we hoped in the car and drove down to Southport, NC for the wedding of one of Garin's good friends from college, Peter C. Hoffman. The wedding was on Sunday and was beautiful. The only hitch happened before the wedding when a cat decided that he/she wanted to attend the wedding too and Garin had to chase it up the aisle until he caught up with it at the front of the church...I sure wish I had gotten a picture of that one...it was HILARIOUS! After the wedding we hung out with Aaron and Kristin Byrum for one LAST time (until they come see us in March ;). On Monday we got up early and headed to Emerald Isle to pick up most of our stuff that has been stored there for the past couple of months. The morning started off with some pretty hard rain but it tapered off by the time we started to move things into the truck (I'll have to praise God for that one because we were praying that He'd let it stop for us to get our stuff packed up!). Oh and on the way to Pete's wedding the power steering in my car decided it wanted to go out. So while we were packing the truck, my car had the power steering pump replaced (not a cheap fix!!!). Ugh. Oh well, its all fixed now. So then after my car was finally fixed we headed back to Charlotte and got here at 11 last night. Whew, what a whirlwind weekend. Today will consist of packing up all the stuff from our house here and giving the house a good scrub down. Oh what a fun day...

Sorry there are no pictures, I have some but just haven't had a chance to download them! Have a great day ya'll!

We found a house!!

2008-12-23T10:16:00.009-05:00

This past week Garin and I took a "short" road trip down to Pensacola to check out houses for us to rent while we are down there. We looked at about 20 houses and toured about 10 in 1.5 days. It was a whirlwind! Nonetheless, we did find one that we are are super excited about.

The great part is that it is a BRAND NEW house! We kind of "happened" upon it. There was this neighborhood in a location that we were interested in that had a lot of houses up for sale. Since the market isn't that great right now I had this bright idea that they might be willing to rent us one of the houses since they couldn't sale them right now. Well my idea wasn't that great because they said they weren't willing to rent them, but the sales agent did know of an older lady that had recently bought one of the houses for an investment property and was wanting to rent it out. He gave us her number and let us in to see the house and we were hooked.

We are pretty pumped about getting to live in a rental house where no one else has grunged it up (all the other rental properties we looked at were pretty run down from all the wear and tear). My favorite part is the master closet...it is HUGE!!! It could seriously be a small bedroom. All my clothes will finally fit in the SAME closet...and Garin can fit his in there too :)

We also have a spare bedroom so start making your plans to come visit!!!

The Front

Half of the Back

The Living Room

The Kitchen

The view from the back porch...not so pretty...they've stopped construction until the economy gets a little better.

UNCC's newest MBA graduate

2008-12-20T21:58:00.004-05:00

That's right...today I FINALLY graduated with my MBA degree from UNC-Charlotte (yes, I'm probably one of the youngest looking MBA graduates ever...I was just looking through the pictures and thinking about how teenagerish I look...one day I'll grow up!). After 2.5 years of homework, reading, and writing papers, I'm not sure how I'm gonna handle my freedom. Whew, I can't believe it is over...sometimes it seems like it was yesterday when I started and then other days it seems like I've been doing this for the past 10 years. Either way, I'm glad its over. Now I'm just trying to figure out what degree I want to go after next ;) hehe.

Thanks to Garin for all of his understanding and love through this whole ordeal. He had to spend a couple evenings alone each week throughout the years and had to deal with a stressed, crazed, anal retentive wife. Thanks for your patience and support sweetie!

New England Road Trip

2008-12-12T13:18:00.006-05:00

While we were up in Connecticut waiting for Garin to graduate, we took a road trip up to Newport, Rhode Island and out to Cape Cod, Mass. We really enjoyed Rhode Island, the coast is BEAUTIFUL and there were soooo many mansions with breathtaking views. I think we missed all the charm of Cape Cod, because we pretty much just saw a bunch of trees as we drove through the middle of the peninsula. The one beach we did visit was very pretty and Provincetown was very...unique....

Newport, RI coast (Garin had to get a closer look...the water was REALLY blue)

This is one of the mansions on the coast. This one is called "The Breakers" and was built by the same guy that built The Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

Cape Cod Lighthouse

Provincetown, Mass (on the tip of Cape Cod)

Christmas decoration in Provincetown? (I think those are lobster cages)

Just a cool picture of buoys

17 weeks down, NO MORE TO GO!!!!!!!!!! Its OVER!

2008-12-06T09:43:00.007-05:00

(He got a sword...and he knows how to use it!)

Well we are FINALLY home and I FINALLY have my baby back with me again :) I really can't believe it is FINALLY over! Four months down!!! Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support through this crazy time in our lives. Hopefully we won't have to be a part for this long ever again! (But it IS the military so you never know!).

Well I just wanted to take a moment and brag about my husband, I'm so proud of him!! He graduated #2 out of a class of 86 and was elected to the position of Honorary Executive Commanding Officer of his company. He also was awarded the Commandant's Leadership Award at graduation (the commandant is the head of the coast guard). He did an OUTSTANDING job and I'm so proud of him and so proud to be his wife :) (okay, I'm done with the bragging now :)

The night before his graduation we got to go to a ball to celebrate their accomplishments. We had to sit at this table and talk to some Captains and Commanders for dinner, but then we had a blast dancing the night away (okay, well I had a blast dancing...Garin did his share of dancing as well, I was very proud of him!).

This is a picture of all the wives (and one mom) I talked with on a forum while the boys were away. I had a blast hanging out with them while I was up there. Such fun people! Fortunately 4 of them will be coming to Florida with us for flight school!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya Tomorrow; You're Only a Day Away....

2008-11-25T19:03:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I fly up to see Garin for the LAST time. That's right, when I come back this next time I will be bringing him with me. I can hardly wait! I can't believe these FOUR MONTHS are finally OVER! God is SOOOOOOOOOO Good!!! I'll be up there a week before we get to come home (he graduates on Dec. 3rd), but I'll try to post some pictures or updates while I am there.

Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving everyone!!! We have SOOOOO much to be thankful for!

4 DAYS LEFT!!

2008-11-22T16:07:00.004-05:00

That's right, four more days until I get to see my hubby again FOR GOOD! I will be flying up there on Wednesday, so I get to spend Thanksgiving with him! He will have off Wednesday night and the entire weekend and wont have to go back until Monday morning! That following Tuesday we will go to a BALL :) and then he will graduated on Wednesday December 3rd.

Thursday was my last day at work. It was a sad but good day. I sure will miss that place and mostly the fantastic people that I got to meet there. I was truly blessed to have a chance to be a part of their lives and to have them a part of mine. After 3.5 years, I guess it is time to move on. What will I do, you ask?! Well, I don't quite have a plan yet, I'll let you know ;)

4 days, only 4 more days. I can hardly believe this is almost over....

Garin and I this past weekend when I went to visit :)

One Fine Weekend!!

2008-11-17T22:18:00.003-05:00

Well, I sure am a softy. This past weekend Garin got the entire weekend off for liberty. Soooo, on Thursday night i booked a flight up to see him :) (again, I totally recommend Priceline...they hooked me up with a GREAT deal once again!). So my flight left at 6AM (the things I do for love!) and I got there around mid morning. After killing some time at the mall, I drove down to New London to pick up my Prince. At 6PM he came running out to the car and we fled the compound and headed back to Hartford for the weekend.

It was an awesome weekend! On Saturday night we went on a date and saw the movie "Fireproof." I totally recommend it to all you married folk out there and even those that are not married! Great movie!!

On Sunday we got to go worship together and spend the afternoon together before I had to take him back to the compound. It was an amazing weekend and I'm so glad that I got the chance to go see him, it was so worth it!!!

Guess what?! Now only 8 more days until I leave to go again up there to get him FOR GOOD!!!! Oh I cannot wait.

This is my last week of work. Its hard to fathom. I've been working there for the past 3 years so its gonna be weird for it finally be over. Its gonna be a busy last week though!

Okay well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting news soon :) Have a great day!

13 weeks down, 1 month to go!

2008-11-06T15:54:00.002-05:00

Well, just to keep with tradition, I thought I'd write a new post to update the countdown. It really is only 3 weeks (that's 21 days!!) until I fly up to see Garin for Thanksgiving!!! I can hardly wait. It almost seems like these last weeks are going to drag by. I think before I was just trying not to think about it, but now its hard not to think about it and the anticipation is slowing the days down!

Well Garin is doing well. No big or interesting news to report. Well, this might be interesting, we think our report date will be January 5th, so that means we get to spend Christmas here in the Carolinas before we head down to Pcola.

As for me, I'm still trying to finish up this last little bit of school. After next week I will only have one paper and then my two finals left. Then I'm done...DONE FOR GOOD!!!! (well until I decide on the next degree I want to get) WAHOOO! (I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with myself!).

Hope everyone else is doing well!! Have a great day!

One Fine Day!!

2008-10-28T21:02:00.002-04:00

Guess what?! I got to see Garin this past weekend! I got a super great last minute deal through priceline (I totally recommend them now!) and so I left Saturday morning to fly up to Hartford, CT. Saturday night I met up with one of the girls that lives up there whose husband is in Garin's class and who will also be going to flight school.

Garin was supposed to get Liberty on Sunday morning at 8AM...but they didn't end up granting them liberty until 10:30...grr!!! So once they let him go we drove back to Hartford and spent the day hanging out. We went downtown for lunch but realized that NOTHING was open (it was a Sunday, so I guess that was why?). We finally found a Ruby Tuesdays in the burbs and ate there. Garin spent most of the afternoon napping and I enjoyed watching a movie in the room. In the evening we headed back to New London and had a date at the Outback there before I had to drop him back off at 9PM.

It was a dream day! Of course I wish that it could have lasted longer and that I could see him more, but I think it was exactly what we needed at this point in the process. Only 30 more days to go...I think we might be able to survive this now!! :)

FLIGHT SCHOOL Here We Come!!!!

2008-10-22T21:14:00.005-04:00

Well our suspicions were confirmed tonight. Garin has been accepted into Flight School!!! So the next year or so of our life will be lived out in Pensacola, Fl.

I am SOOOO proud of that boy (excuse me, man). For those of you that know our story, this has been a dream of Garin's for the past 4 years and something that he has been persistently striving towards with many obstacles and roadblocks in his path. I am so proud of how hard he has worked for this and how persistent he has been in fulfilling his goals. Its downright inspirational. He makes me an extremely proud wife :)

Above all, we want to PRAISE GOD for the blessing He has given us (at least we think it is a blessing ;) We know it is by His grace that we are able to celebrate this accomplishment. We have a peace that we are FINALLY doing this in HIS timing and in His will. Thank you God for pouring out your blessing on us and answering our prayers abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. We give HIM all the glory!

And yes, my new banner picture is Pensacola Beach...white sand, turquoise water, an average temp of 77 degrees....I think I'll be able to handle it for a 18 months ;)

11 weeks down, 6 more to go...

2008-10-22T15:37:00.002-04:00

Well at least time keeps on ticking. It seems like I just posted last weeks tally yesterday! Again, since I'm going up a week early, I only have 5 more weeks to go. That is only 35 days!!! For some reason, 35 days doesn't seem so bad. I'm hoping to get to go up to see him this weekend, so that will help shave some time off!

Well guess what today is?! Today is Billet day. Yep, TONIGHT we will find out where we will be spending our next few years!! I can't believe the day is here. I'm really not that anxious about it. We have been praying a lot and have turned it over to the Lord, so we trust that wherever we end up is His plan for us (but we're hoping flight school is in His plan!).

As for me, more of the same. Well I did have a soccer tournament this past weekend. I played with some girls that were WAY better than me...I felt so amateur! We did end up winning the tournament, but it wasn't due to much of my contribution. We played 4 games and my body was hating me, but I'm surviving! I guess it was good for me...

I'll post tonight or tomorrow with our next destination!!! Stay tuned (as if anybody even reads this anymore?!).

10 weeks down, 7 more to go....

2008-10-15T07:57:00.004-04:00

Well, the tally still seems pretty big, but since I'm going up a week early, we only have 42 days left! That's still a lot, but its getting more and more manageable. I'm also hoping to get up there to see him over the next couple of weekends...but he and his company have to be good so they can earn a full weekend of liberty!

Also, we only have ONE MORE WEEK until we find out where we will be going. Here's to hoping for Pensacola!

This past Friday, the Officer Candidates earned their senior status. This means they are now able to use their cell phones again (whew! I like that privilege), they are now able to wear their trops instead of ODUs (that probably doesn't make sense to anyone unless you are military...but basically they get to dress nicer), and they got other various privileges like being able to go to bed early and getting to run during lunch (not sure how this is a privilege, but Garin was pretty excited about it??!).

So again, not a very exciting update...but it is what it is. I continue to find some way to stay extremely busy even though I only work 3 days a week...I just don't get it, where does my time go to?!

9 weeks down, 8 more to go!!!

2008-10-08T09:00:00.003-04:00

Yay, so last week actually marked the halfway mark for us since I'm planning on going up a week early...so we really only have 7 more weeks to go...that's only 49 days! Oh man, that actually seems somewhat manageable!

Well the news is pretty much the same as usual. However, we did find out that Garin's hard work has been paying off and he is doing EXTREMELY well in his class standing. I'm so proud :) He had a flight interview last week and he seemed to think that it went well (he got some feedback from it and it appeared that they thought he did well too).

Today we turn in our "dream sheet" for where we'd like to go. This is what ours looks like:
1) Flight School - Pensacola, FL
2) Charleston, SC
3) Atlantic Beach, NC
4) Hampton Roads, VA
5) Baltimore, MD
6) Jacksonville, FL
7) Any sector on the Atlantic

We find out in two weeks (Oct 22nd) where we will be going! Please continue to pray that God's will be done! We are excited!

Garin also got to use his cell phone over this past weekend (so they could call home and discuss their dreamsheets with spouses). It was GREAT! We got to talk for more than 5 mins at a time and I felt like we were dating again ;) hehe. However, they had to turn their phones back in yesterday (since the lists were due today). We are hoping they will get the privilege back very soon!

Well that's all I got. Nothing really new for me. Still working and doing school and attempting to live life. Hope all is well for everyone else! Peace!

Wolfpack Family of the Year

2008-09-30T21:29:00.004-04:00

Way back when I was a freshmen and my sister was a senior we wrote an essay describing why our family should be the Wolfpack family of the year....well we won. At the time we were honored at a parents and family day dinner and then got to go out on the field before the 4th quarter to receive our award. It was a pretty cool experience! WELL, they decided to have a celebration celebrating 10 years of the Wolfpack Family of the Year award so we got to go back to join in the celebration.

On Friday night we went to a dinner on campus (not at the dining hall, silly!) where Mary Winn and I gave a short speech (actually MW wrote an AWESOME poem that she read!). See picture below...we sure were missing my mom and Garin!!!

On Saturday we spent the day in Benson, NC at the Mule Days celebration (big ol' hillbilly fest...it was great!) and then we came back and got to go to a Parent's and Family tailgate and then got 'treated' to tickets to the game (they weren't that great though...we were wishing we hadn't sold our season tickets for the game!).

So about the game...oh my is about all I have to say. Not only were we not playing well but a little before half-time it started raining...then it started pouring! We didn't want to leave since we had driven up there for the game, but then again the thought of sitting in driving rain watching your team play like crap was not appealing either. So we finally left at half time to go back to the hotel. Oh well, we tried to be good fans...our team and the weather just weren't cooperating!

He's BAAACCCKK!

2008-09-26T12:28:00.002-04:00

Yay, so Garin is finally back from his cruise on the Eagle. He had a good time and a good experience, but I think he is thankful to be on dry land again!

Thanks for all of your prayers while he was at sea!

On Monday the "shopping list" comes out with the possible jobs and locations. Pray for us as we decide how God would have us fill out our dreamsheet. We are confident that He will place us where He wants us. Just pray for our wisdom to listen and follow Him.

Okay well...7 weeks down now and only 10 more to go!! YAY!

NC State 30, ECU 24

2008-09-23T16:02:00.003-04:00

Well to break the monotony of just talking about Garin and the Coast Guard, I thought I'd post something a little different. This past weekend my sister and I made the drive up to Raleigh to watch our alma mater, NC State, take on East Carolina University. The game was starting to look pretty rough, but after a couple of great plays by our defense, the Wolfpack brought the ball back down the field for a touchdown to tie the game with a minute thirty left in the game. Then in overtime we forced a fumble and then were able to convert to a touchdown in the next play. It was a GOOD game. The other great part was that I got to see my great friend Lauren Gainor who now lives in Denver, CO at half-time. I meant to get a picture, but I totally forgot :( Oh well. It was a good day :)

Also, I got an email from Garin this week while he was out on the Eagle. He is surviving, so that is good. He said he felt sick the first day but since then has acquired a pair of "sea legs." Hopefully they will be back on land by Friday so I can hear more about his adventures at sea.

6 weeks down, 11 more to go....

2008-09-19T14:24:00.004-04:00

http://www.zachwiest.com/

This is a link to another guys blog. He is currently in Garin's OCS class. Thought some of you might like getting a first hand impression of what life is like in OCS. Enjoy!

P.S. I still haven't heard from him, so its looking like no Port Calls :( Keep praying for him, I have no idea where they are...just somewhere out in the Atlantic. What is cool is that I can pray to the One who knows exactly where he is and is ABLE to watch out for him for me :)

Going through the Panama Canal

2008-09-15T20:38:00.003-04:00

This is a picture of the CG Eagle going through a lock on the Panama Canal. They have these cool webcams set up at different points along the canal so I was able to watch as the boat went through...technology is a cool thing!! I told Garin I would be watching and to wave as he went by...guess he didn't listen, I don't see anyone waving ;)

The Eagle...not a fun cruise

2008-09-13T12:15:00.003-04:00

Yep, this is the boat that Garin will be spending the next two weeks on. Yesterday he flew down to Panama to catch up with the Coast Guard Cutter "The Eagle." They will be bringing this boat through the Panama Canal (that's today) up through the Caribbean all the way back to Connecticut. He'll get to climb all the mast and will learn all kinds of "sea" things like how to use a sextant and using the stars to navigate. Pretty cool. Garin was excited...although I think he is a little nervous about the sea sickness aspect. I think they are mostly looking forward to a break from the norm. I won't get to hear from him for the next two weeks, but I'm excited that when he gets back it will mark the HALF WAY point!!! YAY!!

5 Weeks down, 12 more to go...

2008-09-10T16:21:00.004-04:00

Well the weeks are starting to actually add up now. 5 weeks, actually makes it sound like we are getting somewhere. Its that "12 more to go" part that gets me down...can't think about that part.

Well this week didn't bring too much new news, other than we have email privileges now...that has been really helpful. Garin continues to do well in the academic department (he is currently #2 in the class for test averages after 2 tests) and the physical department, its just that demerit department that is getting him right now. He did say today that he is getting better though...I continue to pray that he'd pay attention to detail and fly under the radar!! He still makes me a super proud wife!

In about two weeks we will receive the "shopping list" for billets. This is when he gets to fill out what he wants to do and where he wants to go. So please be praying for that whole process. Flight school is still our number one choice but pray for guidance as we select Plan B, C, D, and E!

We have E-MAIL!!

2008-09-08T17:44:00.002-04:00

Where's Garin? Can you spot him?!

Good news!! We have email now. Even though he can only get 12 emails a day (which actually is a lot I guess) and he doesn't really have time to read and respond to them...it makes me feel good to know that I can write him and get a more immediate response than when writing a letter. If you are interested in sending him an email, let me know and I'll pass his email along.

1 month down, 3 more to go....

2008-09-03T12:50:00.002-04:00

Well we have finally made it to the quarter mark. Whew, gotta celebrate every little victory! There is still a long way to go, but at least one month is down. Once again, I don't have a lot of new news. I'm still getting to hear from Garin about every other day, which is nice, but things are pretty much the same. He is now done with this duties as the Company XO, which is a relief to him I think. He says that his favorite parts so far are the survival swimming classes (surprise, surprise) and the cutter simulator, which is like one of those rides at an amusement park that lets you "feel" what it is like to ride or drive a large cutter (boat).

Everything there seems to be about putting you in high stress situations and then keying in on the details. Its all about attention to details...which I guess makes sense. These guys are going to one day be in charge of some major operations where lives are at stake, I guess its important that they are able to handle the stress while not neglecting the small details. Nevertheless, it still makes me mad when I hear about the things they get in trouble for. I just got a call from him earlier today and he said that he got 10 more march tours (each marching tour is 30 mins long and they must do it beside the barracks during their "free" time, which there is not a lot of), so that is 5 hours of marching! Poor thing! He said that his offense was that one of the drawers in their room was not aligned (not sure what that means, but sounds pretty minor to me), so he and his roommate were all given marching tours. I don't know how he handles it...I'd flip out! I'm so glad he is a man of great patience!

As for me, nothing too new to post. Life continues to go on as routinely as possible (that's the way I like it). I'm anxiously waiting to find out where Garin's port calls will be when he goes on his Eagle cruise, so that I can hopefully get there to see him! So, maybe I have some exciting trips on the horizon.

Thanks for reading and sorry for posting the mundane (and no pictures). Hopefully some excitement will occur soon (the good kind of excitement)!

3 weeks down, 14 more to go...

2008-08-28T08:07:00.002-04:00

Well I don't really have any super interesting news to report. I've been getting to talk to Garin briefly about every other day. Its been a rough week. They are in that stage where they do nothing right and get punished for everything. It has to be frustrating and demoralizing, but I'm trusting that those CG peeps know how far they can push and need to push them to get them to the end result. I'm sure he'll look back on it and be glad for the experience...its just pretty tough to withstand the current fire. So, please be praying for him!

As for me, I've been doing pretty well under the circumstances. I'm trying to take it one day at a time. So far no major breakdowns. God has been so faithful to supply me with the everything I need. So what have I been doing?! Well, I'm now working three days a week for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities (my old job). I am absolutely LOVING the schedule...I get enough hours to make some money and fulfill that career hunger in me, yet enough time off to enjoy some of the finer things in life...like having a life! I have also started my LAST semester of grad school!! I just have these last two classes to finish before I will have my MBA (2.5 years in the making)! In the past I have taken the classes in a traditional classroom through UNCC, but since I wasn't sure where I'd be this fall, I signed up to take my last two classes from ECU's online program (but my degree will come from UNCC...that seems to always be a question). I'm not to sure how I feel about this online stuff...I definitely like the classroom better...but the flexibilty has been really nice! So, other than school and work, I've been enjoying church activities, hanging out with my family and friends, and making slow progress on our wedding scrapbook! If I just had Garin home with me life would be close to perfect :).

2 weeks down, 15 more to go...

2008-08-21T22:11:00.004-04:00

Well I we have officially made it through 2 weeks of Garin being at OCS. I've actually gotten a couple of SHORT phone calls from him. They are super short and its hard to hear him on the phone but it is great to get to hear his voice and hear what he is doing. It sounds like he is doing pretty well. After the first round of physical testing (push-ups, sit-ups, 1.5 mile run, and 12 min swim) he was #4 in his class of 93 candidates. I thought that was pretty darn good...can you tell I'm a proud wife? :) He is also serving as the Company XPO for the next two weeks...I'm not EXACTLY sure what that means, but from what I gather he is basically in charge of all the guys (and gals) and must make sure everyone is doing what they should be doing. Its great that he is getting to show his leadership skills, but it also brings on a lot of added stress and more yelling. I'm sure he is doing a great job though...he's the man (well, in my bias eyes). He's also training to be a lifeguard for the pool there...not sure what all that entails, but that's my little fishy (he's more like a big fishy).

If you get a chance, please pray for him. The mental stress is pretty intense (EVERYTHING is evaluated) and he's not getting any substantial time in the Word. Just pray that God would supply him with the energy, wisdom, patience, and forbearance that he needs. And also pray that he will find spiritual encouragement in the midst of the chaos and that God will strengthen his faith and witness while he is there. That's all I'm asking :) Thanks to everyone for all of your support!