Going ons

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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!