The Weekend we got Married

Hey all, I just got back from a nice walk with Dakota. It's so nice to walk at night, when the fireflies are out.

I decided it was time to blog about my weekend in Wichita Falls, Tx. Andrew is stationed at Sheppard AFB for tech school. A few short weeks after BMT graduation I decided to head down to see him and get married. Our decision to have a civil ceremony mostly had to do with me being put on Andrew's official orders before he moves to Ohio. There were rumors that suggested life is a little simpler if your spouse is on your orders before arriving at permanent duty station. And as a couple we didn't see the point in waiting who knows how long to get married if we waited for the military to give us time.

So, we didn't wait.

Anyways, Thursday June 1st I woke up at 2:00am and hit the road at about 2:40am. The drive from my part of Minnesota to Wichita Falls is roughly 14 hours, and I don't think Google Maps takes into consideration the amount of stops needed.

I arrived at almost exactly 5:00pm, so just over 14 hours later...and barely any speeding. I called Andrew as soon as I checked in and he had the best news! He was given a special waiver to leave base for the weekend.

I know, you're confused. Well, about a week before I went down and after I had already paid for the nonrefundable hotel Andrew was told the base was on lockdown. Well, at least the trainees. There had been an incident of underage drinking the weekend before and this was the punishment.

But, at this point Andrew was at the top of his class, and had no infractions, so his awesome 1SG gave him a pass.

This was good news, because I drove all the way down under the impression he wouldn't be able to leave base at all. And that our plans to get married were squashed. So, this phone call made me very, very happy.

Thursday night we ate dinner on base, we shared a gigantic sandwich from a place called Charlie's. Very good, kind of like a Great Steak sandwich.

Friday morning I picked up Andrew and we went back to my hotel and he waited for me to get ready...which can take some time. Then we headed to the County Clerk office and got married, just before noon on July 2nd.

That night, we knew we wanted to celebrate in a very big way. During the day we bought a cheap DVD player from Wal-Mart and bought and rented some movies.

And we ordered pizza, and our celebration was moving watching and pizza.

100% us.

Up next: The weekend in pictures...

It's Official

Yep, we are married. Announcements are in the mail if you haven't gotten one already.

So, of course a blog name change was in order,

introducing Mr. & Mrs. I

Throwback

Hmmm... Trying to think of interesting things to write about while my life is moving at a slower pace.

In awesome news, Andrew got 100% on his Skills test on Monday, and passed the EMT B Registry test yesterday! He was pretty worried about both tests, and as usual he knocked both out of the park.
For Registry yesterday, out of 26 Airman in his class, only 4 passed and he was one of them. : ) I am astounded every day by the dedication he has put into his studies at Tech School. He constantly gives me reasons to be proud of him.

Today is a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the wind is cool. This morning...I think I smelled fall in the air. But, don't tell anyone I don't want to scare it away.

And....the Throwback

Andrew and me, the summer we started dating

What's for Dinner?

Pepper and Peach Salmon

So I decided to make up something interesting for dinner.

You will need: pepper and peach preserves

Salmon filets

Crust the bottom side with pepper

And the top with peachy stuff

Bake in the oven at 350 for 12-15 minutes (until the fish flakes with a fork)

and...dinner!

Overall, dinner wasn't too bad tonight. If you like pepper, put a lot on the bottom, it's better if you get a strong pepper flavor on bottom and the sweet peach flavor on top.

Weekend in San Antonio

Well, if you didn't know, Texas is hot. Texas in June is even hotter. I guess the heat wasn't horrible, it was the humidity combined with the heat. When we woke up in the morning you could stir the sticky moisture in the air with your hand. It's not even that bad here in Minnesota.
It's alright though, I was there for one thing and one thing only, to see Andrew!
And see him I did.
After his graduation on Friday we decided to see some touristy sights like some missions, including the Alamo and the Riverwalk downtown. And eat. : ) Since Andrew lost 40 pounds while in BCT, he needed some nourishment.

So we started with some old missions.

We did visit the Alamo. Did you know they built a city around it? Yeah, downtown San Antonio surrounds the Alamo. It was also incredibly crowded. I prefered the other, less touristy missions. They still retained some of their dignity.

We did go to a few restaurants while there, I can't remember most of the names, except one. The best burger I have ever had in my life existed at a strip mall cafe called Longhorn Cafe
I suggest you go there. I had the Guacamole Burger and onion rings, and of course a huge glass of sweet tea. It was delicious.

Saturday we went to the movies to watch Iron Man 2. It was an ok movie, not up to the standards of the first.

We mostly stayed around the hotel and watched tv. Andrew napped for a while, and it was nice to just be in the same room with him again.
That night we went to a football game. Tickets were $5 at the gate for Airmen and I think $6 for everyone else. Football is not our thing, but it allowed the Airmen to stay out past their 2000 curfew.

Needless to say there were a lot of Airmen at this game.

Sunday was a base only day, so we had to find things to do on base, and there are not a lot of options. We went to the BX, several times. Walked around the parade grounds and looked at the out-of-commision planes.

We said goodbye at 1930 that night and went back to the hotel. Andrew was heading off the Sheppard AFB in the morning and we were heading back to Minnesota.

BMT Graduation in Pictures

It's been a while. Sorry I haven't keep up on the blogging, especially since so much has happened.
Going to Texas for BMT Graduation was pretty sweet. Of course, the sweetest thing was seeing Andrew for the first time in 8 1/2 weeks. This was our longest stretch apart, and it did seem to take forever.
I sent a letter everyday for 8 1/2 weeks, sometimes 2 or 3. I met my mailman outside everyday at lunch hoping for a few from him too. And I got way more than I ever expected. He also was able to call 4 times while he was there.

On to the weekend. The Airman's Run took place on day 1 of the weekend events, Thursday at 0800.

This was my first sight of Andrew (he looked so tired).

Two hours after the run at 1100, they marched into the pad for the Coin Ceremony
Andrew's Flight saluting the flag for national anthem.

Shortly after this, I was able to rush down to the drill pad and "tap" my Airman and finally see him smile, and (briefly) hug him : ) It really was bliss.

Day 2 Graduation




Flight 323 Mustangs marching by.
(Andrew is the 2-striper in the middle)

That concluded the actual weekends ceremonies, my next post will involve what we saw and did for the next three days.