Incredibly Busy

Right now I feel like life is flying by faster than I can keep up, but the important things (necessities - and some fun for Guy) are at least getting done.

What I've heard from Rob's end:
He went to church on Sunday - on a bus. With 18 or so other men dressed in ABUs (the camo). 10 other men also went in other vehicles. He stayed for just sacrament meeting then returned to the base to get some stuff done, but next week he'll be able to stay for the whole block.

He ran his fastest 1.5 miles ever yesterday. It was "12 something" (he's too busy and tired to even remember). I know the fatigue is wearing on him because he didn't pull through so well on pushups for the first practice PT Test. That morning, he did his worst set of pushups in a long time, unfortunately. It'll be fine, though. I'm sure he'll get back to those okay. Regardless of how he does at COT, he has to redo the test in Ohio shortly after we get there and that is when it will really count.

For the first time ever, they are doing room inspections at COT. He had a list of things to do to prepare his room for that, including fold all of his socks a certain way - not to mention the specifics of how each garment is to be folded. He's only allowed one 8x10 framed photo in his room. Because of the specific instructions about that, he doesn't even want to worry about. They all get to hang photos on a bulletin board in their flight instruction room (where they receive most if not all of their daily instruction), so I'll send some photos off to him soon.

Since he got there last Tuesday I've gotten to speak with him every day, but each of our conversations (including over the weekend when he should have more down time) haven't lasted longer than 15 minutes.

They had a test on Saturday (still don't know what that covered), but he and his roommate were the only ones in the flight (that's what they call his study group) to get 100%. His roommate is a dentist, and his wife is too. They are both doing COT together. Unfortunately, though, they are both on 72 hour leave right now--his father is dying. Even though he was gone, his half of the room had to be ready for inspection anyway, so Rob and others in their flight did all that work for him.

When we talk I should start writing down points to remember. He wants to add a blog update himself, but I'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon.

I know this is very non-cohesive - sorry about that. I get it all in bits and pieces myself.

More of the Record

Talked to Rob for less than 15 min. today. 

Guy actually got to talk to him for a little bit before he went to bed. It was really cute to listen to their interaction. Guy, on his own, asked Rob how he was doing. I can't believe how grown up this little kid is getting!

Things are insanely busy, but he's doing alright. He said he drilled for about 5 hours today. His Flight Commander is a nice guy who corrects errors in marching, but says he doesn't know it too well himself. during uniform inspection today he got 3 demerits, which he said was better than average. One guy got 12. I'm just happy to report that he's not sure if he wore the uniform that we paid to get patches on, or if he wore the one that I did after seeing them sewn on.

he's got blisters like crazy from his boots. tomorrow is the pt test, so he's a little nervous about that.

for some reason he can't log into his military issued computer, so he and his roommate borrow other peoples' to get necessary work done. 

in the meantime, on our end, i've realized things just aren't going to slow down. big surprise, right? cooper is teething, so sleeping a lot, which helps. but i feel for the kid, i hate to see him hurt.

guy misses dad and keeps asking to go home, but overall he's handling things well.

some things are challenging, but that never stops now, does it? :)

His and Hers

I'm not sure if we should do separate blogs - but for now this is how it works. I was thinking about his days compared to mine so far. I know he's tired, but it's definitely a different kind of tired.

Never again will I move four days before he ships out. I really hope that stands true for the rest of my life. Life has been EXHAUSTING. I'm grateful for the 2 evenings we had together before he left for 5+ weeks, and I really wish we'd had more time to just relax. No such luck with all the craziness going on, but everything has worked okay, so far.

The boys and I are at my folks' house, and I think without their help I would have gone crazy already. As it is, Bob Simons, in my parents' ward, had to go get Guy out of the men's bathroom at church on Sunday. Guy misses his dad tremendously, especially when he's wishing for a different answer to a question (wanting to eat or do something). Rob's not a sucker, by any means, but Guy just keeps hoping this approach works somehow. Anyway . . .

One of the ways we've tried to help him is to have him wear an Air Force pin every day. He knows that Dad gave it to him and he loves it--with the exception of when he's crawling over furniture and it scrapes his chest. Then he requests to take it off.

In the moving mayhem, I've lost a check written to me, our checkbook, my retainers, cash, and all sorts of other stuff. Fortunately, some things have resurfaced. Other things have been replaced. And, when looking for the checkbook this evening, I found the lost retainers. Unfortunately, I've already gone to the trouble of getting fitted for new ones. Oh well, my gap was already coming back hard and fast, and eventually they'll break sometime, anyhow.

Last week we bought a minivan on Monday. On Tuesday morning the boys and I went to the zoo with cousins. On Wednesday Guy played with the same cousins all day, and I worked with the movers (and cleaned the house around them). Rob helped with cleanup when he finally got away from work. On Thursday we went to a farewell lunch for Rob at work and finished cleaning the house. Friday was Rob's last day of work. After his 1/2 day, we went up to the Draper Temple (Guy loves seeing temples) and just walked around outside, then we finished shopping for Rob's COT necessities. That night, we went out alone, for just a couple of hours. On Saturday we took Guy to Boondocks in the morning, while Eden and other family members generously watched Coooper who was much more fussy than usual. I remembered to utilize the military discount for the first time ever at Boondocks. It was after they completed our transaction, but they were helpful and pleasant about re-doing that. Saturday night Rob and I discovered a restaurant we wished we'd found months ago (an Italian Bistro on State and 114th South). Sunday morning, when Guy woke up, Rob left. Never a dull moment, right?

Since then, things have been plenty busy - with the 4th on Monday (the Provo Parade), registering the minivan, a run to the bank, and the orthodontist's visit on Tuesday. Swimming today. I now sit here thinking, it's a wonder that Guy's had a moment to miss Rob. And it's no wonder that I'm exhausted. Holy cow. I need a break!

Thankfully, there's a family in my parents' ward that loves Guy. They played with him while I was at the orthodontist, and now they've volunteered to take Guy and/or Cooper to the Dinosaur Museum next week.

I'm not going to lie, I'm really looking forward to that break, already.

Training Day ZERO

Yesterday was my first day at COT. I reported in around 12:30 and was going straight until 11:00 p.m. The day was filled with new things. Lots of yelling, marching, constant correction, being rushed  and lots of waiting 
I didn't  get yelled at too much, but was corrected a few times for my shoelaces coming untucked.


Most of the time, when waiting, we had to stand at attention, which is not a comfortable position to hold. Also, whenever we are waiting we need to be reading our OTS Manual (Officer's Training School) or OTSMan. It is about the size of a 1/4 piece of paper and 115 pages long. It fits in my pants pocket. You shouldn't be caught dead without it. They were first issued when we got here with our folders, which we also carry everywhere. Originally I wasn't given one so I got yelled at and made to feel dumb. But I feel like that is just part of the territory, so though I still try hard to avoid it whenever possible, I try not to let it bother me, at the same time.


Lunch was interesting. We had about 20 min to go through a cafeteria line, then eat and drink 3 glasses of water and put up our trays. No talking or looking around permitted. And there is a routine for sitting down, handing out napkins, and cleaning up when done.


Last night we got back to our dorm at 11:00 and were told lights out. I call home briefly (for 3 minutes, literally) and got ready for the next day because I was exhausted and realized that the first day of training wasn't until today...So I haven't even started yet! I will try and write later about TD-1.


I hope all is well. Please pray for me and Caitlin!

Road to Montgomery

I’ve been on the road, by myself, for 2 days now. I had to say goodbye to my family Sunday morning. It was really hard, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see them in person, give anyone a kiss or a hug or anything else for over a month.

I am about 3 hours away from Maxwell AFB, which is in Montgomery Alabama. I have to report sometime between 10am and 4pm. So I have plenty of time for the drive and can still get there early.

I’ve been driving a ton the last couple days. Sunday I drove for about 15 hours and today I drove about 13 hours. On Day one I went through Utah, Wyoming, and stopped in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Yesterday morning I was quickly out of Nebraska and into Missouri, skimmed Arkansas and Tennessee and decided to stop in Fulton, Mississippi for the night.

For the most part the drive has been uneventful, which is a good thing. The weather has nice and the roads have been clear. There was a detour that I had to make my way around, which added about an hour to my original expected time, but other than being long and boring, no complaints.

I hope to make some updates to our family blog during this next month to give family and friends an idea of what COT is like. However I expect to be extremely busy, so no guarantees.

Wish Caitlin and I luck! We will both need it during this next month!

And Happy 4th of July!

The Latest

Monday afternoon Rob and I went up to Hill AFB for the second time. we got temporary id cards so now we could go get lost on any old base that we wanted to. While we were there, we also picked up the rest of his uniform stuff - as well a a little extra that I couldn't resist. ABUs in Guy's size! It's getting so official, it's crazy. Less than one week and we move out. We've still got some of the details to figure out--especially since they changed Rob's orders. Now he's got 2 days to get from Alabama to Ohio. So much for him being able to come home and drive out with us. We're still not sure how all of that is going to work. Right now it looks like my brother might be making the 24+ hour drive with the boys and me. Can I just say DVD player? Hopefully that's a major key to keeping us all stay sane.



Help! . . . Soliciting Ideas

Rob and I are LOUSY at taking vacations. Either we've had the money and no time, or we've had the time and no money. Well, that, and since our families live almost cross country, we've spent EVERY.SINGLE.VACATION. that we've ever taken as a married couple and now as a family visiting the "other" family (the ones we don't live by), or an offshoot - in AZ or CA.

With this whole career change, months back, I told Rob that we NEED to take a vacation--a real one. Not just make a visit to family. He willingly obliged, which might be kind of a big deal because he's always said that he doesn't like taking vacations. I personally think he just hasn't been on the right ones.

I love taking a good vacation. Actually, I think I just love the idea of taking a good vacation. I can't remember when I last took a vacation. I need to get out more. We need to get out more. In August we'll hit four years of marriage. We took a couple trips before we got married - to visit my sister in California and my family in Utah. Lots of family visits.

Anyhow . . . so here's our situation:

Rob's got five days of vacation left. They'll buy it all out if he doesn't use it, but considering that he won't really have any time off for the next year, we know we should use it.

I'd love to go to Arches. Or Zions. Something like that. But I think the best thing I've really thought of so far is to vacation from home. That way, rather than having all be in a hotel room with lights out by around 8 pm, and hoping Cooper doesn't wake Guy up when he wakes up to eat, it would probably be a lot more fun to "vacation" while at home. We could do family things together during the day, and still have our time/space when the boys go down.

So here are my questions:

Does this seem like a good choice?
What activities would you recommend?
What kid-friendly (2 year old kid) vacations have you taken with your family?

We know Guy will be easy to please, so it seems to me the Disneyland-type vacations will be better saved for later years.

Any and all ideas will be welcomed and appreciated, so please share.

Thanks!

Guy, the sponge

Today Guy and I ran a couple of errands. On the way back to the car, I insisted that Guy hold my hand in the parking lot. As he objected, I told him no, because I didn't want him to die. He said, "I want to die." Stubborn kid. I told him that dying isn't fun. It hurts. It's bad. It's sad. You don't want to die. And plenty of other things. As he continually insisted. I changed the subject and asked him what he wanted to eat for lunch when we got home. He momentarily forgot about his petition.

Until we got home (10 min later). First thing he said when Rob came out to the car after we got home was, "I want to die." ?!?!

We both tried telling him it wasn't any good. And distracted him long enough to eat lunch.

Three hours after the subject was initially presented Guy woke up from his nap. The first thing out of his mouth after he came out of his room was again, "I want to die." And this time he was whining about it.

This time, Rob's great idea was to tell him he wouldn't be able to hug us anymore, and he wouldn't be able to have his blanket anymore (which he was still cluthing since waking up). I'm still not sure which one was more important to him (us, or the blanket), but he hasn't mentioned the topic since then.

* the "funny kid" label isn't entirely appropriate, I realize, but it kind of fits there.

OREO Frozen Peanut Butter Dessert

We like this dessert a lot. It's simple, and always a hit. I like to make it a day ahead so that it's one less thing to worry about at meal time. Last time I made it, it was Cooper's blessing day and it went well. I also made hummus from scratch that day and that was a hit as well. I'll share my recipe for that soon, too (I improvised on that one from a bunch of different recipes). And now back to the dessert.

total time: 4 hours 45 min
prep: 15 min
servings: 24 (so says the original recipe, but mine never goes that far) :)

ingredients:
30 OREO cookies finely crushed - WITH FILLING (another use for my food processor)
3 Tbsp Butter (that's what the original recipe called for, but I used about twice that to really make the crust stick together)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 3/4 qt. vanilla ice cream - softened
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip (DO NOT THAW)
6 Squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

MIX

mix crushed cookies and the butter. press firmly into a 9x13 pan. stick the crust in the freezer until ready to use. microwave the peanut butter in a microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 1 minute, stir. Swirl peanut butter into ice cream; spread over crust. freeze for 30 min

microwave cool whip and chocolate on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 min. until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended (stirring after each minute)

spread cool whip mixture over ice cream. top with peanuts, if desired. freeze for 4 hours. let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving.

SUBSTITUTE one cup of caramel ice cream topping for chocolate/cool whip mixture if preferred.

Elsa is going to make me fat

We've got wonderful neighbors. It's a family of four (one 14 year old boy and a 12-13 year old girl). They are great with Guy and Cooper. And they have a cute little dog, Floracita, that Guy LOVES. He calls her Cita because that's all he can manage to say.

Their mom, Elsa, makes the most amazing food. She makes tamales, empanadas, salsa, and other stuff I can't think of right now, but lots of fabulous food. Sometimes she brings it over, and other times she sends the kids over with some. It always looks like it comes from a restaurant - with finely shredded lettuce, some vegetables, and even some guacamole or cut up avocados and a dollop of sour cream all on the side.

On Wednesday, to celebrate Rob's last day of his night job, I let him take care of the boys all night, and I had 7 friends come over and Elsa taught us all how to make tamales. I know this doesn't sound like a great celebration for Rob, but he was more than fine with it. For months he's been asking me to learn to make the tamales before we move away from her.

Three of my friends had never had a tamale before. They all loved it, too. We want to do it again before I leave (our move date is June 30 - Rob goest to COT, and the boys and I will go to Draper for 5 weeks).

Yesterday evening I took her a plate full of homemade cream puffs as a thank you. Her daughter had told me that she really liked the ones I made them at Christmas time. Later that night she returned the plate full of empanadas (bread stuffed with meat and vegetables that is then fried). And they were FABULOUS. I'm thinking we should learn to make those instead of doing more tamales.

We're going to miss our neighbors tremendously, but my body? Not so much. ;)

Still Blue

Cooper's almost four months old. I love that his eyes are still blue. I'm still thinking they will stay that way. He's growing like crazy, still. He's smiley--willingly giving a smile to anybody that makes eye contact. He's getting a little particular about who he's held by, but mostly he's a pleasant and easy baby.

We hear he looks just like Guy, not at all like Guy, just like Dad, and just like me. I wish I knew where my baby pictures are. This photo (below) looks like the spittin' image of one of my baby phots. I might have to hunt it down just to show how close it looks. At the same time, though, there's no doubt his chin comes from Dad.

This kid grabs on to EVERYTHING - from sweatshirt hood strings, to hair, to his own fingers. It's pretty cute.