Packin' up and truckin' out...

Our packers came 5 days before we cleared housing and post. They were set up to pack for 2 days, but thankfully it only took them 1! So we had a free day between packing and the moving truck showing up. Which was nice... It get's old having to sit in your house and watch other people pack ;) so tiring! (HAHA) But seriously.... you can only send the kids off to so many different places all day while they pack... it would have been insane to have them in the house (like they were when they packed us up in NH) ... we had them literally locked in the laundry/playroom, while the movers packed. THAT was a LONG day! So, it was much easier this time being able to send them to friends houses while that was going on. :) 

I got a lil head start on the packing (yes....I am anal about it... so what!) It makes things WAY easier on the other end, when you pack your toy bins your self into shopping bags, tie them up and put them all in a clear plastic bin. Other wise, the packers will dump every toy bin into one giant box..... leaving you sifting through legos, matchbox cars, barbie clothes, and play plastic food for hours when your HHG shipment arrives at your new place! Also... I had to organize everything that we would be taking with us in our "Partial DITY". We towed Ryan's car behind mine and packed it FULL! plus whatever we could fit in and on my car! (It was A LOT!) 

 Thank God for Thirty One bags ;) I have A LOT of them! 

 Yes! THIS was ALL the "Movers DON'T you DARE touch" stash! Hidden in the master closets and bathroom ;) 

 We ended up with almost 2,000lbs of STUFF! 

So we lived out of the bathroom for the most part until the movers left and we could move our stuff out of hiding. 

Then the packers came...

And then the moving truck arrived...

 And then it was ALL GONE.....

We lived in the empty house for 2 days and then we loaded our gear up and hooked up the cars, headed for the scale and got weighed.... with our 2,000 lbs of gear!!!! 

and we headed North...... 

To Be Continued......    :)

Weekend with our Bama Family :) '

We spent our last weekend in Bama with our good friends ("family")  at their home in Tuscaloosa. 
Was it ever fun! We had an absolute blast. They were the best hostesses, we felt so comfy in their home...could have stayed forever! ;) 

They live right on Lake Tuscaloosa. The part they live on is so quiet and relaxing, the big lake is up around the corner. SO perfect! I even swam in the muddy water!!  We did some swimming and canoeing, some campfire, s'mores making and some board game playing. There was never a boring moment. 

 It got DEEP fast, so the rule of the house is, every kid wears a life jacket. (well... except Mr. River....he's a BIG kid..as my kids say) 

The kids are already talking about when we will make a trip back down to Bama to hang with them again! It was extremely hard to say goodbye!!! It hurt all of our hearts a bit. This family came into our lives and made a huge impact...it was like we had all known each other forever! The kids are so used to Clay popping in on almost a daily basis and they are really going to miss that. All of them are so close, like cousins ;) I absolutely love it! We will definitely being making trips to visit, and they will come discover what its like in the North country! :) 

And we totally had too much fun with the panoramic photos........ 

The kids played right along with us adults and our games...it was quite hilarious at the time! A special shout out to Scott our photographer (hahaha) ;) 

Here's to great friends and amazing memories

Graduation Ball...take 2!

We not only went to our graduation ball... but our friends also! The original plan was...of course.. one ball. However that changed when our friend ended up with a sinus infection that held him back 2 weeks. We (him, Ryan, his wife and I) were so bummed! For the past 18 months we had all become so close. (he is known in our house as "Unckie Clay") Things had worked out all this time to keep us graduating together! If you know anything about Army Flight School, you know that is very hard to do! People are always getting stuck in "bubbles" (a small wait period between the part of the course they are in, and the next step) So about 5-6 weeks before graduation.... it all fell OUT of place :( 
So we pretty much decided then, that we would go to each others graduation balls! We had to..we had all come this far TOGETHER!
Man am i glad we did! It was a bit chaotic the week heading into our second ball. We are focusing on our move at this point. It was a nice break though! We both (Ryan and I) got a bit "crabby" before hand with everything else going on. So getting out with our friends that one last time was a good break. A REALLY good break! A few of other friends of ours also attended the ball that night. SOOOOOOO FUN!!!       

Having a ball at the Ball

We can be proper too

Notice in the "fun" picture, we have a Photo bomber in the back.... That was the Chaplain, he was having a ball too! He was very happy we "stayed to play". His exact words when he came to visit our table were "I love a table that stay to party!" Our responses were "Well sir, we all have kids, we can't go home yet!" ;) AND we didn't, we stayed until they turned the lights on and kicked us out! 

Mr. & Mrs. Washburn & Mr. & Mrs. Parish 

Dinner selfies

Melissa & I (First friend I made here & she has family in N.H. how cool is that!?)

Miss Evan, Laurie & myself. 

These ladies have been great! We have certainly made some great memories. It is so hard to say goodbye to all of them. Melissa was the first friend I made here...our husbands also began this course together with Evans husband Clay. We found each other through a Fort Rucker wives/spouses FB page. I knew we would be great friends when i saw her profile picture. Her and her son were both wearing patriots shirts! ;) Turned out she is from Alaska, but has grandparents in NH and actually lived there for a little while. We have had many play dates and girls nights, and had a lot of fun together. We always had each other when our husbands had to go away for WOCS & SERE school. So glad she has ties to N.H..... there is no reason we won't be able to see each other again ;) 

Miss Evan...what a doll! I love her...she is one of the sweetest people ever! We of course met her family through her husband (Unckie Clay). It was like we had known each other forever. They will always be our Alabama family! It's going to be so weird not seeing them so much and having Unckie Clay pop in all the time. Going to miss it! Our kids have grown attached too ( we spent our last weekend in Bama at their home ...... There will be another blog about that ;)  

Laurie.... HILARIOUS! We met through our girls. They happened to be in the same class this past year at school. We started getting together a lot and we clicked! We had so many laughs. She was my work out buddy... we ran together 4 days a week. We got together with her family a few times and had a blast! Just so happens they are from St. Louis, so when the Red Sox played the Cardinals (and WON the world series!! ;) heehee) We all had our own little party together. Good times! We will def. be staying in touch, and thank God for things like face time. (although we may have to fight our girls for chat time) We are all really hoping to be able to work in some visits, one way or another, some time! She was my best friend here, we had many chats and blew up each others text messages (ps..Laurie.... that's not going to change!) 

More fun Ball pics..... 

 These pilots belong to Laurie & I ;)

 ....No serious pictures allowed....

When they turn the lights on, that obviously means it's time for a group serenade!

So, yes...we went to two another ball and we had an absolute blast. So glad we ended up going and getting in some fun time with these friends. There wasn't a dull moment all night. I will never forget these couples! 

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
C.S. Lewis 

He is OFFICIALLY a PILOT!

Graduation was great. Not only is he officially a Pilot... but he earned Distinguished Graduate as well! So proud of him, and all of us really, for making it through this. (I think I had more fun though ;) )

It was a great ceremony, and they gave us plenty of opportunity to take pictures. They made it a point not to move on until we got all the photos we wanted of each step of the ceremony. I had the honor of pinning my pilot with his sterling silver wings! It was a great day!

Pinning his wings

 Check out this bling

 Three Generations 

I think she got it!? 

 Proud lil girl

Well....You get what you get...at least they sat good during the ceremony ;) 

Didn't need many words for this. Proud and Happy cover it. The pictures can tell the story!