Echo Company Picnic

at

Lunga Park

Quantico MCB

Our new friends! :-)

(all of the husbands met at the picnic today)

Shannon and Wayne

Nolan and I

Stephanie and Kyle
Luke and Nicole

(from left to right)

On Our Walk....

We found Autumn? is here...
the leaves on the trees don't just FALL OFF?!? ;-)

a SNAKE!

(nope, not on a plane, in the water!)

a SLIDE! :-)

a pier...
which we fed the fish sour gummy worms off of

And finally...

One HAPPY couple on a BEaUtiful Monday!

Howdy All!

Overall, it's been a good week... of course Nolan has been missed and I will have to get Nolan's opinion tomorrow, but so far, so good!

Meeting for ice cream with some other wives on Monday was fun... it was really kinda weird, but nice too, to stay out til midnight yaking and laughing up a storm! The ice cream was quite tasty too - with no

in sight, you take what you can get! ;-)

Panera Bread was a tasty dinner, the wives second meeting of the week on Wednesday, but I must say it's no Jason's Deli! It's hard to let a great, cheap dinner like that be forgotten! And the FREE ice cream just SEALS the deal! ha ha

I got a promotion today, I suppose that's what you'd call it... :-) I will be tutoring SAT students now at $14/hr instead of my previous $12! YAY! I'm excited about the increase in pay, that I am so lucky to get to share with Uncle Sam... oh well, but most especially, because I think it will make my job more challenging and interesting! I had no idea the test had changed SO much since I took it in high school! I start Saturday morning!

Thank you to everyone who has completed and returned the security clearance paperwork for me to work for the Department of Defense Schools! I am looking forward to hearing from them! I'll keep you posted!

Earlier this evening, I had a glimmer of hope that Nolan would be home early; tonight instead of tomorrow night, as I got a phone call from a friend saying her husband had called to say he was coming home! My excitement was short lived by another phone call from her saying that 4th, 5th, and 6th platoon are staying out in the field tonight too! :-( So sad! Oh well, Nolan's platoon has always come home from anything an hour or so later than the others, so this is par for the course... as disappointment sets in, I realize too that it just makes me that much more grateful to get to see him tomorrow! :-)

This week, I started seriously looking into some sort of distance learning Master's in Education... I am thoroughly confused now! ha ha If anyone has any recommendations, I am all ears!
So far, Phoenix Online's - Curriculum and Instruction Program looks nice, but I'm somewhat leary of them, not knowing if their programs are reputable... I'm thinking I should find a "real" university that offers the program online... A&M has one, which is very tempting, since I didn't get my undergraduate degree in Education.... but.. the search for information continues... :-)

This coming Monday we will be attending an Echo Company picnic at Lunga Park! Should be lots of fun! I will try to get some pictures of Nolan and myself with some of our new Marine Corps Family and post them soon!

Tuesday evening, is the MOS Mixer for Nolan's company... From what I gather, it is 2 hours set aside for a "job fair"of sorts for the Marines. They (and the wives that choose to attend) will get to talk to and ask questions of Marines who are currently in the jobs (MOS - Military Occupation Specialization) that the Marine is thinking of pursuing... I am excited and look forward to learning something new... Nolan is hoping (and I am hoping for him as well) to get a flight contract, to hopefully fly helicopters, but if that isn't in God's plan for us, this evening will give us some information about other doors that may be opened! :-)

Hope you all have a great weekend! :-)

I am SO EXCITED about visiting Texas in October!

This is the beautiful St. Helen's Catholic Church that Stephanie and Justin will be married in on October 7, 2006! I am so blessed to be able to travel to Texas to be with them on their big day! :) AND Nolan is able to go with me! WHOOP! We will be back during the Christmas holidays to see all of my family, so please don't be upset if we don't make it to you in October!



I am NOT so excited about Nolan being out in the field all week for FEX I!

I am excited for him though; he is the fire team leader and he's never been in the field this long, so it'll be a whole new experience! I can't wait to hear all about it! :-)
Here is him preparing on Sunday night, while watching all the great Sunday Night Fox TV Shows! The Simpsons, American Dad, The War at Home, and 'Til Death!
While he worked on this I cooked a hearty send off meal - chicken fried steak, augratin potatoes, and peas! All turned out GREAT!
His pack, without the kevlar vest, is roughly 85 pounds! Please keep him and his fellow Marines in your prayers! And that the weather is nice! Thanks! ;-)

But, I AM EXCITED about getting to meet with some fellow wives - Nicole, Shannon, and Stephanie - at Maggie Moo's this evening after work for ice cream! :) We are going to plan our outing for Wednesday night! (I've never been to a Maggie Moo's - so I'll let you know)


I am also EXCITED about our new sign for our front door!


Oddly enough, all the times I could have purchased this at an Aggie Mom's Boutique, I bought it on Ebay for $20! We should get it in a few days, and then we'll be able to share our Aggie pride with our fellow tenants...





speaking of which, here's what our complex looks like...


Our complex is only 2 stories though and we live on the bottom floor... our apartment is like the one on the left in this picture... the far left window is our bedroom, the middle window is the office/guest room, and the patio area next to the brick has a door from the living room to the outside....


(Blogger is being ugly right now and I can't upload pictures of the inside of our apartment.. I'll try again later)

WE are EXCITED about finally opening a Roth IRA for each of us! :-)
WE are EXCITED about getting a lab when we move in January! :-)
WE are EXCITED about and LOVE being married! :-)
Nolan LOVES Five Guys Burgers and Fries - one is just down the road from our house!

We feel BLESSED that we were able to find a great church family here the first few weeks we lived here. This was where I did VBS for the 3 yr olds! They have a hymn sing/ice cream social this Thursday that I hope I can make it to!

I am inspired by this song by Natalie Grant
(so I thought I'd share)
up-beat song; especially since I started jogging again everyday... it helps keep me going!

Live For Today - Natalie Grant
Genre/Lang. : Christian
Sittin' in my room staring at the wall
Wonderin' about the meaning of it all
Why is it this thing called life
Has got me goin' crazy
So I open up your word and let it speak to me
The purpose and the plan that you've designed
Is clear to see, and I believe

(Chorus)
I'm gonna live for today
I'm gonna follow in your way
I'm gonna let my little light shine
Like there's no tomorrow
I won't worry about the past
I know my future is intact
So I'll choose to live my life one way
I'm gonna live it for today

You told me not to worry
About what lies ahead
So I am gonna focus on today instead
Making every moment count and counting Every single blessing
I'm gonna set my mind on the Here and the Now
This is what I want my life to be about And this is How...
(Repeat Chorus)

Until next time, God bless!

Random

Last week we found out what happens when you wash camis with an entire,

opened bag of sunflower seeds in them... seeds end up EVERYWHERE when you go to take everything out of the washer!

That's Nolan to the left getting the vacuum cleaner to suck all the seeds out of the washer!

So very funny! :)

And now...

What can happen when a tropical storm rains on your car for 4 days and SOME part of the back of the car isn't tightly sealed!!! :)

This is the place for the spare tire in the back of the Neon... filled with water...

this picture was taken AFTER I had soaked up as much as I could with a towel...

Once you take out the spare tire... you can lift up the carpet!
Under the carpet... still a good inch of water!

The back seats and back floor boards got a nice bath as well, so...

The Neon continues to sun bathe this afternoon, until I head for work! :-)

Never a dull moment! :-)

Visiting the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Home Part 2

The Commandant's Home is in DC....

The foyer of the Commandant's Home...




The family room, the only room in the house furnished by the current Commandant, on the second floor.



The "parade deck" view from the back of the Commandant's home... Enlisted Marine barracks are on the other side of the grass area...

Commandant Hagee's study... We were told he can press a button get President Bush or those running things in Iraq, among others, on the phone...

A new Commandant will be appointed? in November of this year and Mrs. Hagee's says Commandant Hagee will then be looking for a job... something he's never had to do! haha... I mean really, after Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, where do you work? Fox News analyst? We shall see...

09/06/06 Visiting the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Home

Nicole and I walking up to the steps which were covered with carpet... The Marines are looking at us like we are insane! haha

My back... Mrs. Silke Hagee greeting me as I entered her home!

The foyer and staircase (there were 3 floors)... when you walked in you saw the mirror... beautiful rugs on the wood floors... the EGA there in the middle and around the edges of this large rug were the letters USMC...

Nicole and I sitting in and chatting with others... after eating some great finger foods! (Jenny took this and caught us a bit off guard)

TBS Echo Company Spouses (really just wives) with Mrs. Hagee

General Michael W. Hagee
33rd Commandant of the Marine Corps

http://www.usmc.mil/genbios2.nsf/biographies/45134F6E66C9B60A85256CA800507EB6?opendocument

We did see Commandant Hagee going up and down the 2nd stair case a few times... he was in a blue collared shirt and khakis... his shirt was tucked in! (he was dressed just like a candidate out at OCS)

To Post or Not to Post?

I really am debating about posting this picture, but I think it's just too cute not to share!
Nolan playing an XBox flying game, in the middle of the living room, on his giant flat screen tv, in our recliner! If you can't tell, his head is every so slightly tilted to the right!
(I say his tv because he earned it himself - 100% - by earning The Doherty Award
"In recognition of faithful, spirited, honorable, and outstanding performance throughout four years voluntarily given as an undergraduate member of the Corps of Cadets of Texas A&M University, served in a manner emulating, and in the highest tradition of the personal attributes of Lawrence Sullivan Ross - soldier, statesman, knightly gentleman... And seriously do you really think a penny pincher like myself would buy that large of a tv!? haha)

He doesn't have much free time to play these days, but it's so much fun to watch! :-)
This was shortly after we moved in...

I felt compelled to put this picture in and FINALLY I did it correctly and it showed up!
This was the SUPER fast ride at King's Dominion... read more below!

HyperSonic XLC is the only compressed-air launch coaster in the United States. Unique acceleration, zero gravity airtime and free-fall sensations combine to make HyperSonic an incredible coaster experience. Pneumatic tires and specially designed shock absorbers provide an unbelievably smooth ride that must be experienced.
The ride starts on the left of this picture!