So here we are in April already. I'd love to say that time is just flying by...but I'm not sure I feel like it is. We're not even to the half way point in deployment and that thought is sort of depressing. I'm still staying positive and keeping busy but the end of July just sill seems so far away :( I fortunately have at least a small trip to look forward too each month until Todd gets home so I have something to look forward too.
March started, as usual with my birthday. 26. Not the exciting. I celebrated the actual day with a couple of friends at Buffalo Wild Wings (YUM!) Then had another little get together with 4 friends that Saturday at Beaujo's-the amazing gluten free pizza place in Colorado that recently opened in Rapid City. Todd did a wonderful job with birthday gifts from the other side of the world! He sent me beautiful flowers to my work, managed to plan for a card to arrive on my actual birthday and got me a "wine of the month" club membership to one of our local wine shops! All in all it was a good day and I couldn't have asked for more.
Other than the usual work keeping me busy I was able to make another trip to Texas, this time for a wedding. It was a whirlwind trip that was mostly spent in a plane or a car but it was worth it. I got to spend time with my parents in Austin and I traveled to Houston for the wedding of an OT school classmate so we got to have sort of a mini reunion and I stayed the night with my best friend since childhood, Liz. It was wonderful time spent with all. Liz is pregnant with her second child and it was great seeing her, her husband and their toddler Will-he's so adorable!
As for updates on my house "to-do" list the paint is FINISHED and looks sooooo good! No more white out walls! The garage is finished and is so much warmer and looks great. When they get the spring cleaning storage stuff on sale I'd like to add more shelves in the garage and get it a little more organized but it'll do for now. I put knobs on all the cabinets in the house and they look great. And the grand finale, the carpet, gets installed next week!! I'm super excited about the carpet because we've had nice new carpet in the basement since we moved in but the upstairs has been the same old, flat, dingy, builder's grade carpet that was originally put in the house. It's going to look wonderful!
Now that its trying to get to be spring I'm looking ahead at my yard work. We wanted to plant trees in the back yard last year but never got around to it before the weather changed so I'm hoping to do that pretty soon. I've also been figuring out my vegetable garden. My tomatoes did really well last year so I'm going to do plant those again and I'm thinking some bell peppers, beans and peas. One of my patients is an expert gardener and has been giving me some tips. I'd also like to add some bushes to our front flower bed so that it doesn't look so sad in the winter. But we'll just have to see once we start getting the consistently nice weather what I get done! It snowed yesterday and it snowed the last week of April last year so I'm not getting too hopeful for the big change anytime soon. The few really nice days that we have had has just been a tease and gotten my hopes up for being outdoors again!
Coming up in April...Todd turns 27 and I'll visit Chicago with 2 of my sister in laws!!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
February Update
Three blogs in about 2 weeks..oh my! Don't get too excited though, this one will be short. February was not all that exciting. With the exception of working, the only thing out of the ordinary that I did was fly to Texas the weekend of Valentine's Day and run the Austin Marathon and see family. It was a great weekend and the race was great. Other than that-it's still cold in South Dakota and work still keeps me busy :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
10 Things to Love about South Dakota
Its no surprise that I hate winter in South Dakota and I do find myself complaining about it. A lot. But I have to remind myself that there really is a lot to love about this state too. Here is my top 10 list, in no particular order:
1. Mt Rushmore. It really is an impressive masterpiece.
2. Crazy Horse. Will be avery impressive masterpiece once it's finished but is also very cool to see while in the process of being completed.
3. The Badlands. Awe inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful. God did good when he made them.
4. Spearfish Canyon. It's like another world all of its own nestled within the Black Hills. Hiking to the various waterfalls is quite enjoyable.
5. Custer State Park. The Cathedral Spires, Needles, Scenic Needles highway and, of course, the free roaming buffalo are spectacular.
6. Harney Peak. You feel on top of the world. Or at least on top of the Black Hills.
7. The Corn Palace. Come on, it's made of CORN. 12 different colors!
8. Wind Cave National Park. One of the oldest National Parks and largest natural caves.
9. The Black Hills. (In general). There is a beautiful scenic drive along interstate 385 from Custer all the way to Spearfish that is winding roads, gorgeous lakes and rich evergreen trees. And they're almost majestic looking from the foothills in Rapid City.
10. Wall Drug. Need I say more?
1. Mt Rushmore. It really is an impressive masterpiece.
2. Crazy Horse. Will be avery impressive masterpiece once it's finished but is also very cool to see while in the process of being completed.
3. The Badlands. Awe inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful. God did good when he made them.
4. Spearfish Canyon. It's like another world all of its own nestled within the Black Hills. Hiking to the various waterfalls is quite enjoyable.
5. Custer State Park. The Cathedral Spires, Needles, Scenic Needles highway and, of course, the free roaming buffalo are spectacular.
6. Harney Peak. You feel on top of the world. Or at least on top of the Black Hills.
7. The Corn Palace. Come on, it's made of CORN. 12 different colors!
8. Wind Cave National Park. One of the oldest National Parks and largest natural caves.
9. The Black Hills. (In general). There is a beautiful scenic drive along interstate 385 from Custer all the way to Spearfish that is winding roads, gorgeous lakes and rich evergreen trees. And they're almost majestic looking from the foothills in Rapid City.
10. Wall Drug. Need I say more?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
An Idiots Guide to Living in South Dakota
Just a few things I've learned in the past 10 months...
1. There are only 2 seasons: Mild and Bitterly Cold. Please dress appropriately.
2. On a typical day the wind blows 30mph. During the winter (6 months out of the year) the wind blows 60+mph. Out of the north.
3. No need to buy a gym membership when you can shovel your driveway/sidewalks an hour a day 3-5 days a week.
4. It is perfectly acceptable to put "yet" or "then" at the end of a sentence. Any sentence.
5. Hockey is the only recognized religion.
6. Don't talk to the drunk Indians.
7. In case you didn't see it on the driver's licenses, licenses plates, quarter, street signs, 500 billboards, etc Mt Rushmore is in South Dakota!!
8. Winterize your sprinkler system BEFORE October 1st. (For you Southerners you have to blow the water out of your sprinkler systems and completely shut them down before winter so the pipes don't burst)
9. If it's January and 40 degrees, that's called a heat wave.
10. If you don't own a Harley or a Snowmobile you better start looking. Or find a friend that does.
11. During the winter months don't bother filling your fridge with drinks, just keep 'em out on the deck. They'll stay cold.
12. Snow Day=Blizzard. No exception.
13. Space heaters can be your best friend.
14. A "Wind Chill Warning" means that you can get frostbite if outside for more than 20 minutes.
15. MMMM...Buffalo...the other red meat
I'm sure I can add more to this one later (then).
1. There are only 2 seasons: Mild and Bitterly Cold. Please dress appropriately.
2. On a typical day the wind blows 30mph. During the winter (6 months out of the year) the wind blows 60+mph. Out of the north.
3. No need to buy a gym membership when you can shovel your driveway/sidewalks an hour a day 3-5 days a week.
4. It is perfectly acceptable to put "yet" or "then" at the end of a sentence. Any sentence.
5. Hockey is the only recognized religion.
6. Don't talk to the drunk Indians.
7. In case you didn't see it on the driver's licenses, licenses plates, quarter, street signs, 500 billboards, etc Mt Rushmore is in South Dakota!!
8. Winterize your sprinkler system BEFORE October 1st. (For you Southerners you have to blow the water out of your sprinkler systems and completely shut them down before winter so the pipes don't burst)
9. If it's January and 40 degrees, that's called a heat wave.
10. If you don't own a Harley or a Snowmobile you better start looking. Or find a friend that does.
11. During the winter months don't bother filling your fridge with drinks, just keep 'em out on the deck. They'll stay cold.
12. Snow Day=Blizzard. No exception.
13. Space heaters can be your best friend.
14. A "Wind Chill Warning" means that you can get frostbite if outside for more than 20 minutes.
15. MMMM...Buffalo...the other red meat
I'm sure I can add more to this one later (then).
Friday, February 5, 2010
January Update...only 5 days late
I'm not doing too bad at my New Years resolution to update the blog at least on a monthly basis. I'm only 5 days late :)
January was a whirl wind month! We spent New Years here in Rapid City with friends, both returned back to work and before we knew it January 17 or Deployment Day was upon us. The week of deployment was pretty stressful. Lots to do, pack and make sure we had done. Todd traveled from South Dakota to Maine to Germany to Kuait to their final destination in "Southwest Asia". It's been just about 3 weeks since he left and it's definitely taken some getting used to but I'm managing. Work keeps me busy as does marathon training, the dogs and the frequent social 'events' that the squadron organizes. Other than deployment, not a whole lot happened in January.
February brings the Austin marathon February 14 where I'll travel to Texas for 4 days to see family, hopefully a few friends and run another marathon. This one will be quite different since Todd wont be there and I've never run one completely by myself.
I'm also having 2 of my major projects that I'd like to get done while Todd is gone completed starting next week- finishing our garage and painting the inside of our house. The garage will be insulated, sheet rocked and painted which will be HUGE for the frigid winters up here! I know it's a cop-out that I'm not doing the interior painting by myself but painting is just really not something that I want to do. I have no motivation to tape, move furniture, drag out all the stuff and paint over 2,000 square feet of house from top to bottom. And I figure I work hard, we're getting some nice bonuses for deployment and tax return is headed our way so we can afford it. I'm REALLy looking forward to the non-white out looking walls we have now. The other big project that I'd like to get done is re-carpeting the upstairs but we'll see when that gets done. I'd also like to do some little things like add knobs to cabinets and change the door hardware. I think it would be nice to get our punch list of home repairs done before Todd gets home so that we can just enjoy life when he gets back.
The weather up here continues to be depressing- cold and snowy often. I've found that shoveling snow has come to be one of my least favorite chores to do and I find myself being being very jealous of my neighbors with their spiffy gas snow blowers. I think I'll write a book entitled "101 things they should tell you before moving to South Dakota". There might not be 101 things but maybe I'll blog about a few of them sometime.
Well that's all I have for January!
January was a whirl wind month! We spent New Years here in Rapid City with friends, both returned back to work and before we knew it January 17 or Deployment Day was upon us. The week of deployment was pretty stressful. Lots to do, pack and make sure we had done. Todd traveled from South Dakota to Maine to Germany to Kuait to their final destination in "Southwest Asia". It's been just about 3 weeks since he left and it's definitely taken some getting used to but I'm managing. Work keeps me busy as does marathon training, the dogs and the frequent social 'events' that the squadron organizes. Other than deployment, not a whole lot happened in January.
February brings the Austin marathon February 14 where I'll travel to Texas for 4 days to see family, hopefully a few friends and run another marathon. This one will be quite different since Todd wont be there and I've never run one completely by myself.
I'm also having 2 of my major projects that I'd like to get done while Todd is gone completed starting next week- finishing our garage and painting the inside of our house. The garage will be insulated, sheet rocked and painted which will be HUGE for the frigid winters up here! I know it's a cop-out that I'm not doing the interior painting by myself but painting is just really not something that I want to do. I have no motivation to tape, move furniture, drag out all the stuff and paint over 2,000 square feet of house from top to bottom. And I figure I work hard, we're getting some nice bonuses for deployment and tax return is headed our way so we can afford it. I'm REALLy looking forward to the non-white out looking walls we have now. The other big project that I'd like to get done is re-carpeting the upstairs but we'll see when that gets done. I'd also like to do some little things like add knobs to cabinets and change the door hardware. I think it would be nice to get our punch list of home repairs done before Todd gets home so that we can just enjoy life when he gets back.
The weather up here continues to be depressing- cold and snowy often. I've found that shoveling snow has come to be one of my least favorite chores to do and I find myself being being very jealous of my neighbors with their spiffy gas snow blowers. I think I'll write a book entitled "101 things they should tell you before moving to South Dakota". There might not be 101 things but maybe I'll blog about a few of them sometime.
Well that's all I have for January!
Friday, January 1, 2010
2009: Year in Review
Since I effectively became the world's worst blogger in 2009 I'll start 2010 with a review of last year since I have failed to blog since October. I suppose I could make a New Year's resolution to blog more regularly in 2010, but if I actually say it's my New Year's resolution then I'll be sure to fail. So we'll just cross our fingers :)
~January & February:
Not a lot happened the first part of 2009. I started my second (and final) clinical rotation at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, Texas working with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), the Wylie Independent School District and Outpatient pediatrics. Todd continued B1 qualification and the last weekend of February we ran the Ft Worth Cowtown Marathon.
~March:
I turned 25 in March and FINALLY, after 3 years of hard work FINISHED my Master's degree in Occupational Therapy! About the time I finished my internship we had finally gotten our orders to PCS to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. The bad news of March was that I was officially diagnosed as having Celiac Disease. Although we had known since Christmas 2008 the official testing and subsequent results were found out in the middle of March.
~April:
Todd turned 26 in April and about the same time we bought our first house! God definitely had His hand in this one as we bought the house "sight unseen" and never actually stepped foot in the house until the day before we signed the papers. It's been a great house, everything we want/need and it's been fun actually being able to put our own work into a home. We still have quite the laundry list of things we'd like to do to the house but its coming along nicely. We took 3 days to move to South Dakota traveling up through Amarillo, Texas to see Palo Dura Canyon and eat at The Big Texan and then went through Colorado stopping at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Denver before making it to The Black Hills of South Dakota. We were welcomed with SNOW on April 24...which has pretty much set the stage for the weather up here.
~May:
May was a very exciting month. As we got settled into life in SD and Todd began his final stages of training in the B1 as a Thunderbird in the 34th Bomb Squadron. I first of all took and passed my National Board exams and became an official Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR). I finally walked the stage and got my diploma in San Antonio the end of May and shortly there after was also licensed to practice in the State of South Dakota! I was offered a job at the local hospital, Rapid City Regional where I started in Acute care, made my way to Inpatient rehab and am now working as the outpatient OT. I absolutely LOVE my job, my co workers and all that it has to offer. And finally, on May 31st we celebrated our one year anniversary!
~June, July & August:
We spent the summer enjoying the beautiful weather riding our road bikes, going hiking and mountain biking, running a few local races including a half marathon, a duathlon and a 50 mile mountain bike race. We were also able to make a trip to Minnesota to see family. We also had several visitors come stay with us that made for good times enjoying all that the Black HIll have to offer including The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park to name a few. We learned the hills and found some favorite little cities we like to spend Saturday or Sunday afternoons in. We also experienced our first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally! A week long motorcycle rally that basically takes over the entire Black Hills for a week of craziness.
~September:
Todd left for 3 weeks of deployment training in Las Vegas, NV for an exercise called Green Flag that in a nut shell he spent 3 weeks completing "missions" directly related to what he will be doing while deployed. While he was there I got the opportunity to go out and visit for a weekend and experience Vegas for myself for the first time. It was fun, we didn't do any gambling but did go see the Hoover Dam and caught the "Love" show by Cirque du Solei (AMAZING).
~October:
Todd got his "call sign" in October, the name that he will from now on be referred to as long as he flies in the B1, SWAGR. There is a story behind it, but I'll save you and just leave it as call signs do not have good stories attached to them. We also went to a Family Life Ministry "Weekend to Remember" marriage conference which was a huge blessing to our marriage. The snow also started in October and winter officially began. We had very cold temperatures and lots of snow almost the entire month.
~November:
Weather wise, November was more bearable. We didn't get much snow and had "milder" (relatively) temps. We traveled to Boulder, Colorado and met some friends to see A&M play Colorado and have a weekend of fun. It was great seeing friends and watching some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football! (Even though we lost and had an overall bad season) We traveled to Texas for Thanksgiving visiting Fredericksburg and Austin and spent 5 days with my family.
~December:
December was quite the busy month! We had our squadron Christmas party early in the month. We traveled to Detroit and Columbus the week before Christmas to see Todd's family and celebrate Christmas. We got stuck in Minneapolis trying to get back to Rapid City due to freezing fog and ended up taking a charter bus back to Rapid City only to make it back 2 days before our first blizzard hit. I've always wanted a "white Christmas" but I didn't need a whole blizzard! That was quite an experience! We learned a lot about weather and snow removal during the 2 days we were stuck inside. Just before New Years we went to Spearfish, SD for 2 days and tried our hand at cross country skiing and snowmobiling. Both were a lot of fun. Snowmobiling is definitely an expensive hobby which I'm pretty sure is what motorcyclists do in the winter. It's certainly a whole different world. We stayed in a cute and cozy lodge in Spearfish Canyon (our FAVORITE place in the hills) and it was a nice little "get away" before Todd leaves. We spent New Years Eve here in Rapid City with friends and kept it petty low key.
So that was the year in review...in a very small nut shell. This past year we've had some big life changes and have had to learn a whole new lifestyle being in the north. Buying heavy winter clothing and learning about snow removal and how to prepare for blizzards has certainly been new. We tried and fell in love with many new outdoor activities. We were able financially to seen family and friends more this year even being so far away. We tried 4 different churches here but have finally found once I think we will call home that I hope at least I can get more connected with in 2010.
2010 will bring new challenges, Todd leaves for Qatar for 6 months in about 2 weeks and it will be the longest separation we've had since we got married and the first time he will get to do what he has been training for the past 4 years to do. As of today, Todd is also officially a USAF Captain so that was a good start to the new year. As for me, I'll be running the Austin marathon in February and hopefully will make it to a few weddings this spring in Texas but otherwise will stay here and work, work work.
I'll do my best to at least blog once a month this year. Unfortunately, the first 6 months of the year might be pretty boring since Todd and I won't even be in the same country! I'll also try to add pictures :)
Here's to a new year!
~January & February:
Not a lot happened the first part of 2009. I started my second (and final) clinical rotation at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, Texas working with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), the Wylie Independent School District and Outpatient pediatrics. Todd continued B1 qualification and the last weekend of February we ran the Ft Worth Cowtown Marathon.
~March:
I turned 25 in March and FINALLY, after 3 years of hard work FINISHED my Master's degree in Occupational Therapy! About the time I finished my internship we had finally gotten our orders to PCS to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. The bad news of March was that I was officially diagnosed as having Celiac Disease. Although we had known since Christmas 2008 the official testing and subsequent results were found out in the middle of March.
~April:
Todd turned 26 in April and about the same time we bought our first house! God definitely had His hand in this one as we bought the house "sight unseen" and never actually stepped foot in the house until the day before we signed the papers. It's been a great house, everything we want/need and it's been fun actually being able to put our own work into a home. We still have quite the laundry list of things we'd like to do to the house but its coming along nicely. We took 3 days to move to South Dakota traveling up through Amarillo, Texas to see Palo Dura Canyon and eat at The Big Texan and then went through Colorado stopping at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Denver before making it to The Black Hills of South Dakota. We were welcomed with SNOW on April 24...which has pretty much set the stage for the weather up here.
~May:
May was a very exciting month. As we got settled into life in SD and Todd began his final stages of training in the B1 as a Thunderbird in the 34th Bomb Squadron. I first of all took and passed my National Board exams and became an official Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR). I finally walked the stage and got my diploma in San Antonio the end of May and shortly there after was also licensed to practice in the State of South Dakota! I was offered a job at the local hospital, Rapid City Regional where I started in Acute care, made my way to Inpatient rehab and am now working as the outpatient OT. I absolutely LOVE my job, my co workers and all that it has to offer. And finally, on May 31st we celebrated our one year anniversary!
~June, July & August:
We spent the summer enjoying the beautiful weather riding our road bikes, going hiking and mountain biking, running a few local races including a half marathon, a duathlon and a 50 mile mountain bike race. We were also able to make a trip to Minnesota to see family. We also had several visitors come stay with us that made for good times enjoying all that the Black HIll have to offer including The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park to name a few. We learned the hills and found some favorite little cities we like to spend Saturday or Sunday afternoons in. We also experienced our first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally! A week long motorcycle rally that basically takes over the entire Black Hills for a week of craziness.
~September:
Todd left for 3 weeks of deployment training in Las Vegas, NV for an exercise called Green Flag that in a nut shell he spent 3 weeks completing "missions" directly related to what he will be doing while deployed. While he was there I got the opportunity to go out and visit for a weekend and experience Vegas for myself for the first time. It was fun, we didn't do any gambling but did go see the Hoover Dam and caught the "Love" show by Cirque du Solei (AMAZING).
~October:
Todd got his "call sign" in October, the name that he will from now on be referred to as long as he flies in the B1, SWAGR. There is a story behind it, but I'll save you and just leave it as call signs do not have good stories attached to them. We also went to a Family Life Ministry "Weekend to Remember" marriage conference which was a huge blessing to our marriage. The snow also started in October and winter officially began. We had very cold temperatures and lots of snow almost the entire month.
~November:
Weather wise, November was more bearable. We didn't get much snow and had "milder" (relatively) temps. We traveled to Boulder, Colorado and met some friends to see A&M play Colorado and have a weekend of fun. It was great seeing friends and watching some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football! (Even though we lost and had an overall bad season) We traveled to Texas for Thanksgiving visiting Fredericksburg and Austin and spent 5 days with my family.
~December:
December was quite the busy month! We had our squadron Christmas party early in the month. We traveled to Detroit and Columbus the week before Christmas to see Todd's family and celebrate Christmas. We got stuck in Minneapolis trying to get back to Rapid City due to freezing fog and ended up taking a charter bus back to Rapid City only to make it back 2 days before our first blizzard hit. I've always wanted a "white Christmas" but I didn't need a whole blizzard! That was quite an experience! We learned a lot about weather and snow removal during the 2 days we were stuck inside. Just before New Years we went to Spearfish, SD for 2 days and tried our hand at cross country skiing and snowmobiling. Both were a lot of fun. Snowmobiling is definitely an expensive hobby which I'm pretty sure is what motorcyclists do in the winter. It's certainly a whole different world. We stayed in a cute and cozy lodge in Spearfish Canyon (our FAVORITE place in the hills) and it was a nice little "get away" before Todd leaves. We spent New Years Eve here in Rapid City with friends and kept it petty low key.
So that was the year in review...in a very small nut shell. This past year we've had some big life changes and have had to learn a whole new lifestyle being in the north. Buying heavy winter clothing and learning about snow removal and how to prepare for blizzards has certainly been new. We tried and fell in love with many new outdoor activities. We were able financially to seen family and friends more this year even being so far away. We tried 4 different churches here but have finally found once I think we will call home that I hope at least I can get more connected with in 2010.
2010 will bring new challenges, Todd leaves for Qatar for 6 months in about 2 weeks and it will be the longest separation we've had since we got married and the first time he will get to do what he has been training for the past 4 years to do. As of today, Todd is also officially a USAF Captain so that was a good start to the new year. As for me, I'll be running the Austin marathon in February and hopefully will make it to a few weddings this spring in Texas but otherwise will stay here and work, work work.
I'll do my best to at least blog once a month this year. Unfortunately, the first 6 months of the year might be pretty boring since Todd and I won't even be in the same country! I'll also try to add pictures :)
Here's to a new year!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wow! It's been a while!
I've sat down to blog t least a dozen times and it seems like something come up!
I don't even know where to begin on the updates. Last I blogged I was about to run a 1/2 marathon in Spearfish which turned out really well. I didn't train very seriously and ended up doing better than I anticipated. In regards to running, I'm planning on running the Austin full marathon in February so I just started training for that.
During September Todd went to Las Vegas for about 3 weeks for Green Flab which is air to ground combat training for deployment (i.e practicing what they will actually be doing in Iraq and Afghanistan) I went out to visit the first weekend they were there for a few days and had a blast! Neither one of us had ever been to Vegas and we took in a Cirque du Solei show and had some great food and fun times.
When Todd got back from Green Flag we were looking forward to the crisp fall weather and getting in some nice early fall outdoor activities....and then Oct 1 came around and we had 30 degree weather with snow for over 2 weeks! The weather has been awful!! We've set record highs and lows for this time of year and have already had several inches of snow! CRAZY! I truly hope that it's not shade of things to come this winter
We're now in the middle of October and work is still going great for me. I just started training in outpatient therapy and will hopefully make the full transition come early November. Todd is just flying like crazy and getting ready for deployment. We have an unofficial date of January 20 being the deployment day with them coming home "sometime in the end of July" so everything between now and then will be getting ready for deployment.
I'm sure I've left out a lot of details over the past 2+ months since I updated last but that's where we are in a nutshell :)
I don't even know where to begin on the updates. Last I blogged I was about to run a 1/2 marathon in Spearfish which turned out really well. I didn't train very seriously and ended up doing better than I anticipated. In regards to running, I'm planning on running the Austin full marathon in February so I just started training for that.
During September Todd went to Las Vegas for about 3 weeks for Green Flab which is air to ground combat training for deployment (i.e practicing what they will actually be doing in Iraq and Afghanistan) I went out to visit the first weekend they were there for a few days and had a blast! Neither one of us had ever been to Vegas and we took in a Cirque du Solei show and had some great food and fun times.
When Todd got back from Green Flag we were looking forward to the crisp fall weather and getting in some nice early fall outdoor activities....and then Oct 1 came around and we had 30 degree weather with snow for over 2 weeks! The weather has been awful!! We've set record highs and lows for this time of year and have already had several inches of snow! CRAZY! I truly hope that it's not shade of things to come this winter
We're now in the middle of October and work is still going great for me. I just started training in outpatient therapy and will hopefully make the full transition come early November. Todd is just flying like crazy and getting ready for deployment. We have an unofficial date of January 20 being the deployment day with them coming home "sometime in the end of July" so everything between now and then will be getting ready for deployment.
I'm sure I've left out a lot of details over the past 2+ months since I updated last but that's where we are in a nutshell :)
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