One year in California...only five more to go!

It's hard to believe a year has passed since Josh and I arrived in California! When we arrived last March, we had no idea how much we would enjoy liviing here...although, we do still get a little homesick from time to time!

We've had so much going on over the last few months, so get ready for a VERY long post!

Back in February, we attended the Hail & Farewell gathering at the CO's house. We had a great time and I was able to finally meet most of the wives, including the wives of the new CO and XO. We said farewell to some great families and welcomed the new families into HMM-268.




Stephanie and her daughter




Gathering for good food, drinks and conversation

Signing the plaques for the Marines leaving the squadron

Enough said!

Welcoming Captain "Mouth" Actis and his family

Welcoming the new XO, Major "Princess" Biehl and his wife

Saying farewell to Captain "Lenny" Hulsbus

And Captain "Penny" Thiessen

Farewell to Captain "Swang" Otterblad

Farewell to Major "Vato" Espinoza

And farewell to Major "Stretch" Toth

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Next week, Josh's squadron will have a change of command welcoming the new CO, Lt. Col. "Turtle" Blair and his family. We will be sad to see Lt. Col. Bufton and his family go. His wonderful wife Jeanie has been so kind and welcoming to me and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet her, even though we didn't get to spend as much time together as I would have liked. They are headed back to the east coast - we're a wee bit jealous (ha ha), but we wish them the best of luck and many blessings!

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In March, Josh had an opportunity to fly out to an air show in Tucson, AZ. They flew two CH-46's out and one of the birds was "retired." Below are some pictures from the aircraft graveyard where Dragon 11 was "laid to rest."

Taxiing to the aircraft graveyard

Josh thought it was really cool that he got to sign the bird. His "autograph" is written in red...you can click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see his signature.

Josh with the other pilot, Captain Steinmetz, and the crew chiefs, Cpl. Burnside and Cpl. Weekly

Cobras, Hueys and bombers

State Department aircraft

Miscellaneous aircraft

Tomcats

CH-46's (aka "Phrogs")

Josh says seeing this made him a little sad...awwww.

We thought we would include this picture...if you look closely you'll see that they sealed up the door to the aircraft with the stairs still down. We got a big kick out of this when we realized it!

Josh working the stand at the air show

Picture of Tucson from the hotel

The aircrew and pilots enjoying a night out!

Josh had a really great time at the airshow and I was glad he got to experience retiring a bird.

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Soon after he returned, on April 1st, he was promoted to Captain! Three years of hard work and training have paid off! But like his XO said at the promotion:

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"More responsibilities, less excuses!"

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Here are some pictures from his promotion:

Waiting for things to begin...

Taking the oath...

Pinning on Captain bars! I always get nervous when I do this, and mine usually end up crooked...ha ha!

"Speech, speech!"

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Now Josh has a new name...he's no longer Lt. Sweet Cheeks...he's now Captain Sweet Cheeks! Ha Ha Ha!

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The weekend following Josh's promotion, we decided to go on a Dolphin / Whale Watching Cruise. Our friend Nadia joined us for the adventure. We set out from the harbor in San Diego, and even though I was sure to take some dramamine before the trip, I still ended up pretty queasy. For that reason, some of the pictures you'll see below were taken from inside the ship.

Casting off...

Awwwww...

Ferries and boats in the harbor...although it was a chilly day, there were LOTS of boats out!

North Island Naval Air Station

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see a submarine behind the black netting!

Point Loma - the southern most tip of Western US

Here's where we spotted the dolphins...

If you click on the picture above, you can see the dolphin just underneath the water. And I caught a picture of him just as he was diving back into the water. This dolphin swan beside the ship for quite a while...it was incredible!

LOTS of dolphins!

Click on both the top and bottom pictures and see just how many dolphins you can count...there were literally hundreds in this area...the captain of the ship said a great way to spot dolphins (especially while they're feeding) is to watch for the clusters of seagulls.

Although we didn't get to see a whale "surfacing" we were able to catch a picture of one spouting water.

Our captain said that the island pictured on the left above once housed a speakeasy during prohibition. Wealthy residents from the San Diego area would ferry out to the island for a night of partying!

Josh caught a plane coming in for landing...the airport is so centralized it looks like the plane is landing in downtown San Diego!

These guys are SO cute! I just feel bad for that one in the middle...he's going to have quite a stiff neck when he wakes up from his nap!

Again, click on this picture and you'll see what Josh was able to capture on the camera! I was really impressed!

Nadia and I putting on brave faces as we fight off the naseau!

The cruise was four hours long, and as much as we wanted to, we just couldn't muster the energy to tour the USS Midway when we came back into port. Looks like we'll soon take another trip to San Diego!

Nadia took this picture of me and Josh before we disembarked. It was a really fun day!!!

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As you're well aware by now, most of my posts include pictures of our latest projects around the house...this post is no exception...hahaha! We've done some painting around the house. We painted the kitchen and family room and finally finished the office last weekend. Josh built some shelves in the office and did a GREAT job! Take a look...

Even though the color looks darker in the pictures, it's actually a deep olive green

The finished product

And since I couldn't find artwork that I liked for the living room, I created some myself!

The office

Josh's Valentine's Day gift...a map of Catawba County circa 1886 - we can actually see the church where we got married on the map!

The GREAT shelves that Josh built! Don't they look so good?!?
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With the office finally being completed, Josh and I were able to unpack the last couple of boxes that were holding office pictures/supplies. Josh decided to build Siamman a "house" out of the leftover boxes and wrapping paper - these being two of Siamman's favorite things...boxes and paper! He loves his new little hideout!

Spring has finally sprung here in Wildomar...I think the dogs were starting to go a little stir crazy as evidenced by the picture below...

Enjoying a sunny day...

Here's a picture of the spring wreath my mom made when she was out last year...we love it!

And our lillies have finally started blooming! Here are a few pictures...

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I wanted to get a few videos posted of Josh flying but they kept slowing up this post, so I will be sure to get them on soon...I know many of you would love to see him flying.

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Josh and I are so excited to be going to Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend for Thunder Alley. We will join my mom and stepdad along with my Uncle Hal and Aunt Patricia. We have wanted to go for years...of course, now that we're all the way across the country, that's when we decide to make it happen...hahaha!

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My cousin, Brandon, deploys for Afghanistan in two weeks. Please keep him and his wife, Jess, in your prayers. We want to see him come home safely!

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Please also pray for our friends Nathen & Nadia and Ricky, Maggie, Sonya and Audrey. Both Nathen and Ricky are currently in Afghanistan and we pray for their safe return home.

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Josh will be leaving on June 16th for training in Hawaii...I know, tough job, huh? He will be there until the beginning of August. I am going to miss him while he's away, but I'm glad he's getting this opportunity...maybe he'll surprise me and fly me out for an extended weekend...wink, wink! My dad plans to come out over the 4th of July and Josh's parents are travelling out during the first week of August, so I'll have some great company until Josh returns home. Of course, we're hoping he'll return soon enough to spend some time with his parents!

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We want to again thank all of you for your continued support and prayers. I hope you all know just how much it means to us...even though we're far from home, we carry your love with us wherever we go!

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Much love and blessings to all of you!

Another short post...

I know it's been a while since I've written - it's been a little hectic the last month or so! I finally finished all of my licensing for my job with Chase - YAY! I passed my Life Insurance exam about two weeks ago and started working in the branch this week. I'm still trying to get the hang of things considering I have never worked in a bank before - I'm learning new things every day! The branch I'm working in is very busy, so the days go by fast. I'm on my feet almost all day long...so far I've tried three different pairs of shoes and my feet still fuss at me at the end of the day! Looks like I'm going to have to find some comfortable insoles to keep my feet happy!

Josh was in Tuscon, AZ last week for an air show. He and three other pilots flew out two birds, one of which was retired. Josh got to sign the retired bird, which he thought was pretty cool! They left on Thursday and returned this past Monday - he was very happy to be home! There were lots of pictures taken, but we're still in the process of getting those transferred over to my computer so I can get them posted on the blog...as soon as I can, I'll get them on here.

We've had a lot going on lately - back in February, Josh's squadron had a Hail & Farewell at the CO's house. I was able to attend this one, and got some great pictures...I've just been too busy to get them posted, but I promise they will be up soon.

We've also been doing some more projects around the house - we painted the kitchen and family room and Josh installed crown molding. We also started putting new mulch in our beds out front. We soon realized that we needed MUCH more mulch, so we hope that the weather will cooperate over the next few weekends to finish putting it down. This weekend, we're also going to finish painting the office.

And we have some great news...Josh is being promoted to Captain next week, April 1st. My manager has been very nice to allow me the day off so I can attend the promotion...I'm so excited and can hardly wait for him to pin on Captain!

So, I will be sure to take pictures at the promotion and will post them along with all the others.

I also wanted to ask everyone to pray for Josh's dad, Phil. He had a pacemaker put in this past week, and he's recovering well from the surgery. In fact, he was on the phone with Josh the next day booking a flight for him and Brenda to come out in August! We are SO excited for their visit!!!

I also wanted to ask everyone to pray for my dad, Joey. He has had some health issues and will be getting some tests done in the near future. Please pray for God to strengthen and heal both my dad and Phil.

We hope you all have a very blessed Easter! HE IS RISEN!

Many blessings and much love to you all - and pictures soon, I PROMISE!

Just a quick post

I haven't posted in a while because I've been studying for my licensing exams. I have great news to report - I passed my Series 6 exam! And I did it with a ridiculous head cold / sinus infection! I got an 88 on the exam, which is great considering quite a few of my answers were EDUCATED GUESSES!

Next week, I'll begin studying for my Series 63 exam which I will probably take in about a week. After that I have my Life Insurance exam, then I will start training to go into the branch! I'm so happy to be through the Series 6 - it is a VERY tough exam! Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers! And a special thanks to Nadia for letting me look over her materials for the Series 6!

Now for a relaxing weekend with no studying...think I may just stay in my PJ's all day :-)

Love and blessings to all!

A (belated) Happy New Year!

What happens when your Christmas tree dies two weeks before Christmas (despite every attempt to save it)? Well, you end up with needles in places you didn't think possible...like INSIDE the kitchen cabniets, and inside the dogs' water dish and food bowls! Despite the fact that our house smelled GREAT (can't beat that pine smell), we will probably look to get a fake tree next year (yeah, we're sad about that too)!




Because the tree was so big, the only way to get it out of the house was to cut it into sections to drag it through the kitchen and out the back doors. This only added to our needle problem!







Liam thought he would get some tree chewing in while he still had the chance. Vega watches and plots how to steal his branch so she can chew on it herself :-)

Yes, those are needles! It was like the bed of a forest! First we swept, then vaccumed the needles...took us about two hours to clean it all up (and, yes, we're still finding needles).

I'm so sure the waste management folks must be wondering what the heck we were thinking...hahaha!

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For Christmas/Anniversary, Josh got me a fantastic new camera. Here are some of the shots I took in the first few days...I'm still trying to figure everything out on the camera, but I'm still amazed at the details this camera provides.

Such a pretty girl!

LOVE this picture of Liam...thinking of having it blown up to get framed.

Okay, so Garfunkle looks a little evil in this picture, but just look at the detail of that scowl!

Vega chewing on her belated Christmas bear...

And Liam making a move to get said Christmas bear!

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For our anniversary (can you believe eight years already) and to celebrate the New Year, Josh and I went on a hot air balloon ride over Temecula Wine Country. We had such a wonderful time and we hope to make it a yearly ritual. I was nervous to go up initially, but once we were up in the air, it was wonderful, and I wasn't nervous at all. We even had a VERY rough landing (the basket ended up on its side due to strong winds as we were coming in), but even that doesn't worry me enough to not go again!

We started off the morning VERY early, arriving at La Cereza Winery at 6am...and 40 degree temperatures! As you can see, the moon was still up :)

Picture of the vineyards which I am sure are much more lush and green in the spring!

The church attached to the winery - I forgot to ask, but I'm assuming they have wedding events there.

All of us riders met at Hemingway's Courtyard for coffee and mimosas before heading out to the launch site.

Some of the paintings in Hemingway's Courtyard. LOVE the one above...it was my favorite!

Finally, the sun is up and you can see the beautiful landscape of the winery!

Josh trying to stay warm!

Dried grapes...raisins anyone?

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We were then driven out to the launch site where we were able to see our balloon being inflated and prepped for launch.

Even though the sun was beginning to come up, the moon was still very clear in the sky. I was trying to be a little artsy with this photo :)

Some of the other balloons launching - there were probably 8-10 balloons out...it was a great day for ballooning!

Inflating the balloon...

Josh got to help out keeping the basket steady while the balloon was readied for launch

A look up into the inside of the balloon

And away we go!!!

So beautiful!

Lots of citrus orchards out in this area too! Wish I could have reached out and plucked off a fresh juicy orange!

Our pilot, Dan - he was great and tried everything he could to keep us upright in that landing!

I thought this balloon was so cute - looks like a strawberry!

Our shadow as we floated along high above the ground (went up to about 1,000 feet)

Big Bear - can't wait to go there to see some snow! And maybe learn how to snowboard if my old body can take it!

If you look at the center of this picture, you will see an eagle perched on one of the posts - you can click on the picture to make it larger.

High above the treetops - it was incredible!!!

We pray that each and every one of you have a very blessed New Year and that 2010 will be filled with laughter, love and overflowing joy!

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Irish New Year Blessing:

May the new year bring

The warmth of home and hearth to you.

The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,

The hope of a childlike heart to you.

The joy of a thousand angels to you,

The love of the Son and God's peace to you.

Happy New Year!