Time for my monthly update, I suppose!!

HA!! Just kidding =)

I suppose the biggest news is that I now have a J-O-B!!!!!  I’ll be a 2nd grade asst. teacher (not ideal, but I’ll take what I can get at this point) at Franklin Academy.  I will be working one-on-one with the students that are struggling the most, doing intervention type instruction to hopefully catch them up with their peers!!  It should be a really great experience and I am getting more and more excited about it as my first day gets closer and closer!  We have our first work day on Aug 3rd and the kiddos start school Aug 5th!

Next up,  Justin on the flight line… Sadly, I have no pics but every day he comes home super excited (and sweaty!…shh!!)  He had his 4th flight this morning and it was an EARLY one!!  He had to be at work at 430am and he flew at 638am.  This whole week has been an “early week”, meaning they go in every morning around 4 or 5am!! Ahhh!  This means, for those of you not catching on, that I am up at about 3am making him breakfast (typically, 4 eggs/toast/fruit).  Oh the things I’d do for this man! =)   Supposedly, next week is a “late week” meaning he’ll be doing night flights and not getting home until midnight or later!!  So we’ll be jumping from one extreme to the other, no biggie!!

Justin says, “UPT= STUDY, STUDY, STUDY!!”….

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

…I don’t know how much of that I’m believing anymore!!!

Let’s seeeeee, what else?!…Oh! I got a new houseplant to replace my ponytail palm (it requested to be moved outdoors to enjoy the ridiculously hot weather of MS)…

Please excuse the blue "sea urchin", as Zola calls it

And now for some pics from our fabulous 4 day weekend we had this past weekend =)

I call these "Gaming Man Dates"...the world could come to an end and they would not know it!!

Happy 4th of July!

Seriously....WAYYYYYY too excited about their 2/$5 glow-in-the-dark necklaces/whatever

Yay!! FIREWORKS!!!!

Justin's fav!

....and, one last one for good measure! =)

This is just a cute pic I found…not real sure where we were headed….

See! Cute =)

Oh I do have some news about Lil Girl….I took her to the vet yesterday bc she had started limping/not using her back right leg 2 nights ago.  She was only doing this periodically, so I left it alone and figured she’d be crying if it was bad…well, sure enough, yesterday I was holding her and she just started crying so I set her down and she collapsed on that back right side.  $30 later (doesn’t she know I was wanting to buy her a cute new leash to match her cute new collar!?!?!…there goes that!), we were told she has a medial luxating patella, aka a knee cap that slips out of place occasionally.  Right now, he said to do nothing bc it’s “hurting me more than it’s hurting her” and that likely we won’t ever have to do anything- she just has to stay skinny and active =)  Swimming was recommended but after our attempt at that in the bathtub I’m afraid that would result in drowning!

However, I think it was all a ploy just so she could get a lil of this….

such a lil actress!!

I’ve been busy…VERY busy!!

Yes, I know, excuses excuses…but really, I have been very busy here lately!

It all started when we sold my car…

Saying Goodbye! =(

this was harder than I thought it would be!

…which happened A LOT faster than we thought it would!  On top of that, .02 seconds after the above picture was taken but camera decides it’s done and would rather not work, EVER AGAIN!  So, at this point I have no car and no camera, all within a matter of moments!  I’m feeling very empty inside!

The very next day I get a call from my Dad (who we had doing some leg work back in San Antonio for us), who luckily says “I’ve found y’all a good deal.”  Sure enough, he did!

The second Justin walks in from work we put the pedal to the metal on getting all of the paperwork for our loan through so I can fly to San Antonio in 2 days to pick up the car in time to get to Tyler to pick up Courtney so I don’t have to drive back to Columbus on my own! AHHHH!

Paper work goes through, I book my flight, I get to San Antonio on Friday the 12th, get picked up from the airport in our FABULOUSLY BEAUTIFUL new Honda Pilot- which I can’t take any pictures of because my camera decided it was done- enjoy some pampering at Petra’s, eat the best queso in the world from Salsalito’s with Dad and Petra, get some great new clothes, watch Bride Wars with Dad and Petra, pick Dad up from surgery (dental work) and take him home…….that was my Friday & Saturday!  like I said, busy!

Sunday, I hop in the car to start my trek back to Columbus.  On my way, I stopped in Temple to see Granny and visit with her for a bit!  It was a great visit and she looked cute as ever- sorry no pics =(

Finish driving home- in the world’s worst I-35 traffic, I swore I’d never drive that way again, we’ll see- eat Texas Roadhouse with Mom, Mime and Nana-Yum!…that was my Sunday evening.

Monday, I get up semi-early to go on the lake with my favorite red-headed nieces and their two older sisters…we had a blast!!!  We found a HUGE turtle in their pool (Ashlyn has pics to prove it)!!  It was a super quick visit but I was glad I got to see them at all!

At this point, I am DYING to get home to see my husband and show him our new car!!!  So Courtney and I load up bright and early on Tuesday morning to make the 8 hour drive from Tyler to Columbus!  She was a lifesaver!!  I would have been bored out of my mind if it’d just been me! Instead we got in some great girl talk and made it home pretty quickly =)

I did a lil last minute straightening (I had cleaned before I left bc I knew I’d be in a time crunch) for the Georges arrival on Wednesday and they got here Thursday afternoon!  We had a great couple of days with them but it went by entirely too fast!

Don’t fret!  They have a fabulous camera, so we got several wonderful pictures!!!

Zola and Justin doing a lil "Seat flying" to practice for Justin's flight sim test

The girls at the pool while Justin was at work!

home from work in time for a wonderful lunch!

A stop by the base to see some planes taking off!

On Saturday, these four went bow fishing in Alabama

Pretty sunset pic that Justin took on the bow fishing trip

Out to eat @ The Grill on Sunday for Father's Day

The other side of the table

Watching Zola open some gifts

A happy father on Happy Father's Day

A family full of Sperry's

Nancy, Paisley and Justin

My baby girl!

@ Elvis's birthplace in Tupelo

The room Elvis was born in!

A statue of him at 13 years old

Opening a gift from the Georges

OMG! OMG! OMG! It's a camera!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miss Court and I

And I believe that concludes their family vaca to Columbus, MS!!! =)  It was a great time and I’m hoping they’ll come back very soon!!!

But I do have a couple more pics for you since they were so incredibly generous and got us a new camera….

The Beautiful Honda Pilot!!!

Having withdrawls from the Georges!

Holly, this one's for you for bugging me so much about updating!! =)

Catching up on Week1 and Week2

while Justin tries to sleep off whatever crud he seems to have caught!! Poor baby has had a fever for almost 3 days straight!  He refuses to go to an Emergi Care type place bc it’s not a matter of “life or limb”!  To that I say, WHATEV!!!!!!!!!  Hopefully he will break this on his own, otherwise, Monday he’s headed to sick call bright and early!!

Anyway, I’ve got quite a bit of catching up to do while sickly is sleeping so let’s get started!!!  Justin just finished week 2 of UPT and is still doing wonderful!!  They had another test (this time on Systems)  on Friday- he aced it!   He didn’t take any pics this week but I can show you week 1!

His helmet!

That's our guy in the yellow helmet!!

Working on PLFs (Parachute Landing Falls)

Falling...

"Landing"

But no worries, still ALL smiles!

Going back for more!! Practices makes perfect!

He came home that afternoon and said “I got a lil dirty!” haha.  He was COVERED in dirt!!  No biggie, nothing our washer and SUPER SLOW dryer can’t fix!

Now, as some of you may remember, we have this PRECIOUS lil furbaby named Paisley…

She looks something like this, right?

WRONG!!

Girl got a haircut!!!!!!!!!!!!  At first, I was mortified! MORTIFIED, I tell you!  But now it’s kinda growing on me!  We can actually see her face- which is oh so precious!  I do want it to grow out a lil bit more but I don’t think we’ll be returning to the “mop” look anytime soon!   P.S. this pic is from the first day Justin started feeling like poo   Paisley could tell he wasn’t up to par and stayed right by his side ALLL day long!!  He LOVED it!

Then week 2 of UPT came and he took no pictures!

What did I do during “week2″ you ask?! Well first of all thanks for asking, but not much!  I did however do one teeny tiny craft project!  One of the teachers at the school I subbed for this pas semester gave me the toppings containers from the TCBY her and her husband used to own! Great for pencils, scissors, glue sticks, etc.  But they were slightly lacking in eye appeal, so I spruced them up a bit

Now if only I can get a classroom to put these in!

So that brings us to today!  Today was Career Day at the base so lots of different aircraft fly in and go on display for everyone to check out.  The purpose is to prep the guys for making their “Dream Sheet”- a list of what they would like to fly after completing UPT.

This morning, sickly Justin, had to wake up early and sit through almost 3 hours of briefings over all of the different aircraft, then he came home and crashed until it was time to go back and check out the static displays.  We headed back out around 1 and only stayed about an hour!  It was HOT to say the least.  I got sunburned, he felt like he was going to pass out about 3 different times.  It was NOT fun!  But we did get to see some cool jets upclose- 2 of which he would give an arm and leg to fly!

C-130 NOT something you'll find on his dream sheet! haha

Headed to see his #1 Dream Sheet aircraft- A-10!

Wondering where he will fit! This is the biggest cockpit of all of the jets tho!

Mean ole face with a huge stinkin gun coming out!

F-15- not too shabby!

Checking out a "black jet"- T-38 (trainer he'll hopefully fly) painted black!

And this is where all fun came to an end.  We both wilted and I still don’t know how I managed to drive us home!  I think I had heat exhaustion bc I layed out with a friend this morning while Justin was at his briefings and never got around to eating.  So between the pool and the cooking runway- I was miserable.  He obviously was already miserable so we made a beeline for the car!

Speaking of my hubs, I need to go give him his next round of Tylenol

This week they are supposed to be in the altitude chamber on Wednesday and spouses are allowed to come and photograph them so fingers crossed for some cool pics next week!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Happy Memorial Day

and THANK YOU to those who have fought for our country and those who stand ready to do so at a moments notice!  Your dedication and sacrifice are immeasureable.  America is blessed to have such strong men and women!!

I am especially thankful for those so near to me who fall into one of those two categories!!  I LOVE YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH!!!

My late Grandad who served in WWII...I'd say he had pretty good taste in colleges

My Nana who served in WWII (I wish I had a military photo!) He's so handsome!!

My "Brother", Brandon, who served in Desert Storm...this picture makes me slightly weepy!!

My Cousin, Lance, who is currently serving and just returned home less than a year ago!

My husband, Justin, who is newly commissioned and still in training. He'll probably want to shoot me for even including him in this.

Thoughts and prayers for all of those who have served and are currently serving.   There are no words to adequately thank you for your decision to support and defend our country!  You are all a blessing and I am thankful for each and every one of you!

While I’m editing…

My hubs would like his due credit for the fabric boards, and rightfully so!  He built, in the most perfectionist of ways, all of the frames underneath the fabric.  He stapled everything down for me while I held it PRECISELY where I wanted it.  He even hung all three of them (after a lil whining on his part of all the things that have required hanging in this house- but we’re all entitled to our whiny moments, right?).

Make no mistake, this man has done many projects around this house- some small, some big, some easy, some hard.  He has put in his fair share of decorating hours! And for the record, I very much appreciate it!

Justin, since I now know you read these, THANK YOU for all of your help!! I couldn’t do it without you!! OLIVE JUICE!

Edit: Happy 4th Birthday Camy Lou!

I say edit bc this precious baby’s birthday was actually on Friday the 15th, however, I managed to let it slip by me in the blog world.  I did get to talk to her (probably the first one of the day) to wish her a happy birthday bright and early.  She was very excited to tell me that she was FOUR and that her and momma were having a “girls day” that day.

But enough talking…time for a lil walk down Memory Ln….

Heathie and I prior to Camy's arrival!

From the second they met, she was a "princess" in his eyes!!

My turn! She was sooo teeny tiny!

Don't hold me to this but I'm pretty sure this was her first ear infection so I was trying to rock her to sleep and it turned out we were getting in some "harness time" as well! =)

Then she became a ONE YEAR OLD with a pitiful fake cry!!

And a year later, a long lasting (I think still lasting to this day) crush was born! And don't be fooled, the crush goes both ways!

At 3 years old, she was a part of one of the most precious flower girl duos I've ever in my life ever seen!! I was one lucky bride to have such cuties!

I wasn’t able to make it to her 4th birthday party (*tear*) so no pics from that but if history holds true she is a year prettier & smarter!  And by smarter, I mean this girl will probably be doing trig when she’s 10!

Camdyn Reese, Uncle Justin and I love you very, very much! We wish we could have been there on Saturday to help celebrate your birthday!! Please send us some pictures so we can see your precious self!

Back with more pics! =)

Alright guys, the rest of the week I am subbing 5th grade at ACS which happens to be their last week.  Needless to say, I will be exhausted and therefore blogging will be the last thing on my mind each day.  However, I will most definitely be back this weekend with any pictures Justin captures during UPT this week!  I have a few from today to share right now but first we’ll start with his actual first day…

Sexy! Sexy!

Is this not how all pilots prepare for a day of training?! Yes, those are legos!

He's one cutie patootie!!

Ready to go with "The Plan" in hand!

A couple of his friends- Phil and Tanner

Later that night we were out to celebrate the start of UPT and our one year anniversary!! =)

The Happy Couple!

Best Buds

Marlen and I- my bestie here in Columbus!

Josh (Marlen's hubby) and Justin

This boy actually went to the DJ (without my knowledge) and requested my fav song!!

The guys singing Sweet Caroline to wrap up the night! =)

And then the next morning, our fabulous one year anniversary!! Whew, this past year has FLOWN by!!! You may or may not know but the traditional gift for one year  is paper.  Justin has been telling me for several weeks that all I’m getting is a rem of paper and well…

he delivered! A nice pack of Office Depot paper!

Since I didn’t feel my gift was very intriguing, after all it is just paper, we moved on to his…

His commissioning certificate framed!

But then he insisted I open my pack of paper….

come to find out I had this sweet note waiting on me...

and then I found this. A flip book of him proposing, the kiss at our wedding, the toast at our wedding and us leaving the wedding! SOOOO COOOL!!!

How did he get that in there, you ask?

He's verryyy sneaky! And an engineer =) haha!

Then it was off to dinner at Santa Fe Steakhouse…much like Texas Roadhouse…no, not super fancy but who needs super fancy when you’ve got rolls and cinnamon butter?!?! Not this girl! =)

"One down, 99 to go!"- Nancy, well said! =)

And of course, we got out our wedding cake which has weathered not only 12 months in a freezer but also an 8 hour car drive from TX to MS.  Needless to say, it had seen better days.  And, since it could only be cut by something similar to a chainsaw, we just admired with our eyes! =)

Still a pretty cake!

Ok guys, I think I’m going to have to call it quits on this picture posting marathon!  Justin has been having to take all of these different meds for the past few days so they can test for allergies/reactions of any sort and tonights medicine was Restoril- a sleeping aid.  He took it about 2 hours ago and just looked at me and said “I feel drunk!”  So, I’m going to assume that’s the medicine saying “GO TO BED!!”  I’ve got a long week ahead of me anyway so I can use the extra sleep! =)  Night night all!!

Oh, I do have a favor to ask of those of you who can help.  Today I found out that my next door neighbor back in Whitehouse had a car accident yesterday that has left him in very critical condition in ICU.  I know his family and friends would appreciate any and all prayers for a quick and healthy recovery.  Thank you.

A few, much needed, updates…

I’m going to go back in time a lil bc I found some pics from when we went to College Station in April….

George Bush Library

Justin and Court as Astronauts!

Then skip ahead a few weeks to the first of May…

The 1st UPT Class 10-10 Party!

In my own spare time I have been crazily working on a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project…

The fabrics being considered...

The horrendous wrapping paper we've been living with...

VOILA! =)

That was the best pic I could get color wise.  From left to right you’ve got a really vibrant red with a brownish pattern on it, a black/cream, and a silver with a soft mustard yellow pattern.  They sound strange but look sooo sooo good in person!! I’m thrilled with the way they turned out!  A special thanks to Tiffany for inspiring this project! =)

Now, onto the reason I even decided to blog tonight.  As many of you know, tomorrow is Justin’s 1st official day of UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training).  Today he had several briefings and got all of his “pubs”- aka: text to be studying.  After we picked all of it up from Office Depot to be spiral bound he sat me down at the kitchen table with his syllabus in hand.  He turned it over and preceeded to draw pilot wings as he’s saying “Ok, so this is the goal.”  Off of those he wrote “A-10/F-16″ and said “This is if they were to say ‘any plane you want!’”  Then he wrote “T-6/T-38″ saying “So this is what we’re shooting for.  As I see it, there are four integral parts that play into me reaching this goal”… he’s drawing four bubbles below the pilot wings.  “The first of these is God, without Him I’ve got nothing. (he fills in the bottom circle) Next, you.  You will be what gets me through all the stress of this. (he fills my name in the next circle)  Classmates will also be important bc to be considered for FAIP you need to have a good report with your peers. (he fills in classmates in the next circle).  And finally, UPT.  This is how I will learn everything I need to know. (he fills in the last circle)” …

At this point I’m thinking “ok, they must have told the guys to sit down with their wives and give them the ‘This is what you’re in for’ speech” so I ask “Did they teach y’all this?” to which he replies “No, I just think it’s important.”  Hmm, ok ok! I’m still with you…

After a few more explanations and bubble making this is what we ended up with…

THE UPT PLAN!

Yes, you read that right.  UPT was given “5 days/week and 1/2 day on Sunday”, Hope is given “Friday evening and Saturday”, God gets “Sunday morning and 15 min everyday for devotional”.  LOL! It was quite possibly the sweetest and coolest thing, not to mention SOOOOO like MY HUSBAND to do!  But also a huge wake up call…it’s allll about to go down!!

Please keep us in your prayers, as we are about to begin something totally new, exciting, stressful, important, and we’ll be doing every step of it blind!  We do look forward to this bc it is his dream but there’s no doubt about it- it will be hectic at times!  I have already told him he is to take my camera everyday bc he will never experience anything like this again and I want to capture every moment of it that I can.

GOODNIGHT ALL!! We love you!

Prayers…

for both Paisley and I.  Tomorrow Paisley will be at the vets office getting spayed and caught up on shots =(   I will be subbing for kindergarten! AHHH!

We had a good weekend.  On Friday, Justin’s UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) class got together for the first time.  I took Green Bean Bundles and they were a HUGE hit!!! I doubled the recipe in hopes of taking some home for J and I but at the end of the night, I went to pick up my (way cute) zebra casserole dish and it was DRY AS A BONE!! I got tons of compliments, which of course, made my week! =) I’m not a cook and will never claim to be, so any compliment in that department is much appreciated! =)

Saturday we bummed around during the morning and then headed to the Market Street Festival later that afternoon.  It was a typical small town, redneck, festival event.  However, it had wayyyy more going on than I ever thought it would.  Tons of food (of course ALL fried) and lots of arts & crafts vendors (my fave: Simply Squared Designs).  We came home with two hanging flower baskets (the proceeds went to a local Children’s Home organization), a P-51 Christmas tree ornament made from an aluminum Mountain Dew can, in good redneck fashion!! Although, it was an Asian man selling them! haha! Picture coming soon.  And last but not least, a ShamWow! =)  Needless to say, we did our part to support the local festival!

Today, we tried out a second church…Fairview Baptist! It was extremely similar to the church we attended in College Station but with a much older pastor.  I like it more than last weeks (First Baptist) but Justin like last weeks better.  Oh well, we still need to try out Sunday School classes, that will probably be the determining factor.  Bottom line, between Green Acres and Central, I’m extremely spoiled when it comes to WONDERFUL churches and pastors!! I hate to be picky, but when all you’ve known is good, anything less is a lil hard to stay focused on.  I did see one of my students this morning at church which was fun.  She came over with a BIG smile on her face like “hi! here I am!” but didn’t really say much.  I think it was a relief to Justin to see that I was liked bc after my stories of Friday (which actually involved disciplining this particular student) he began calling me a “mean teacher”.  When the student went back to her family, Justin said “I guess she still likes you!” lol!!!

Speaking of Justin, he’s laying in bed (WITH PAISLEY!!!) and I’m dying to be there myself!! Goodnight and sweetdreams all!!

Happy Hump Day!!

Hope it was a good one =)  Mine sure was!! I got to sub, only a half day though.  Nonetheless any time in a classroom is a good time! I also got asked to sub the last 4 days of the school year, of course, I jumped on this opportunity! =)

Ok guys sorry to make this one short but I have an impatient husband, and it’s kinda cute! He NEEDS attention.  Both my attention and Paisley’s.  Which brings me to #4…

#4- I am blessed to have a husband that wants my attention and enjoys spending time with me!

Karsyn tracing Justin with sidewalk chalk...the outcome was laughable to say the least!!

#5 (I’m not sure if you would call this a blessing but it is definitely something I am THANKFUL for, so here goes…)  I am thankful for DVR!!!!  Without it I would have to waste my PRECIOUS time sitting through POINTLESS commercials and what not!  Ahh, the simple pleasures in life! =)

Now back to some wonderful lazy time on the couch with my husband!