Bradley and I are SO excited that we will be having a baby boy in early February!
We can't wait to meet our little Easton Hudson Cherry!
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| 17 weeks! |
We feel incredibly blessed and look forward to sharing our little miracle!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
A surprise for my mom :-)
Right after my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer, Bradley mentioned that we should find a Relay for Life close by. We researched it and found out that the local one here was just a couple days after her 2nd treatment so it was perfect timing for a surprise for her! I did really good and didn't mention it one time to her although I almost slipped up a few times. So she is just now realizing what we were up to last night, and I was so vague yesterday when she kept asking what we were going to do last night. :-)
We created a team in her honor and some of Bradley's class either walked or donated in her honor as well. We originally thought it was just going to be the two of us, but Bradley mentioned it to his class and several were excited to participate as well!
We also purchased two luminaries - one in honor of my mom and one in memory of my grandma. The Anacortes Relay for Life raised over $120,000!!
We love you, Mom!!!
We created a team in her honor and some of Bradley's class either walked or donated in her honor as well. We originally thought it was just going to be the two of us, but Bradley mentioned it to his class and several were excited to participate as well!
We also purchased two luminaries - one in honor of my mom and one in memory of my grandma. The Anacortes Relay for Life raised over $120,000!!
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| Mom's luminary |
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| Mom's luminary |
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| Grandma's luminary |
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| Grandma's luminary |
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| It was freezing! |
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| Bradley in front of the hope luminaries |
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| Hope!...to end cancer forever!! |
We love you, Mom!!!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Weekend Trip to Friday Harbor!
Several weeks ago we took a pretty last minute weekend trip to the San Juan Islands! We needed a break from the move and it was Bradley's birthday! I found this really cool package online that was a 2-night stay in a lodge, in the middle of the woods with ponds and fishing. I knew Bradley would love it so we booked it and took off! Let me tell you - it was the BEST weekend.
The San Juans are right beside us here in Anacortes. You can see them from here but the only way to get to them is by ferry. There are 172 islands although only 6 are assessable by ferry. We went to the San Juan Island (Friday Harbor) which is the second largest island. It's only 55 sq. miles so we drove around the entire island in no time. The scenery, lifestyle and culture is just so cool out there. It's completely self sufficient. It has a grocery store, plenty of restaurants, 4 schools and tons of houses!
It was such a cool weekend! We had a blast!
I have a lot more to catch up on coming up! We went to see the tulip fields, we took a weekend trip to Canada, and we are going to write a post all about WA! Stay tuned! :-)
The San Juans are right beside us here in Anacortes. You can see them from here but the only way to get to them is by ferry. There are 172 islands although only 6 are assessable by ferry. We went to the San Juan Island (Friday Harbor) which is the second largest island. It's only 55 sq. miles so we drove around the entire island in no time. The scenery, lifestyle and culture is just so cool out there. It's completely self sufficient. It has a grocery store, plenty of restaurants, 4 schools and tons of houses!
It was such a cool weekend! We had a blast!
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| Waiting in line at the ferry terminal. |
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| Mt. Baker |
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| Olympic Mountains |
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| Mt. Baker! (It's a volcano!) |
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| One of the San Juan Islands |
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| In case you wondered how you get gas out to an island! |
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| Another ferry (they all look just like that up here) |
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| All of the land you see is Canada! |
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| Rocky coast! |
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| Alpaca! |
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| Llama! (He's better than you, and he knows it. Just look at the face!) |
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| Roche Harbor. We loved it there! They even have a fly-in subdivision there where everyone has their own plane hangar and they just fly in and taxi home! |
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| View from our room at the lodge. It was so peaceful. The first thing we did when we got there was sit on the porch and take a nap! |
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| Downtown Friday Harbor |
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| Fishing! |
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| Inside of the ferry on the way home. |
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| That handsome hubby of mine ;-) |
I have a lot more to catch up on coming up! We went to see the tulip fields, we took a weekend trip to Canada, and we are going to write a post all about WA! Stay tuned! :-)
Saturday, May 5, 2012
33 Years!
Mom & Dad -
Happy 33 year anniversary!!! Everyone says that they have the best parents - bet they're wrong... I do. I can never begin to express how thankful I am that y'all are my parents. You always sacrificed so much for Daniel and I. You always gave us way too much and never enough for yourselves. It just shows how selfless y'all are - which is really how parenting should be. You taught me so much in my years growing up. You taught me how to be a good person who is confident, loyal, loving, giving and independent. Your attitudes and personalities carried over from our upbringing and explains why your two newest 'children' love you both like a set of parents. The last few weeks have been very difficult but y'all rose above everything hand-in-hand - which just proves how strong your marriage is. We learn SO much from y'all and we are so blessed to be able to have y'all as role models for our marriage. Thank you for being the perfect parents, awesome in-laws and for loving our little family (of 6!) unconditionally!
I stole this from a friend who posted this the other day.
"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
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Sunday, April 22, 2012
Our Cross Country Move Video
We have worked hours and hours on putting together our move movie, and we are SO excited to show it to everyone! I realize that it is 2 months late - but better late than never, right? We took over a thousand pictures so sorting through them and picking out our favorites was so hard! Although the pictures are gorgeous - it just doesn't do it justice.
There was one video of Bradley that I thought was funny that I put in there so he had to put an embarrassing one of me in there. Actually, there are 2 of me - how convenient. "Yay...IHOP for breakfast! - GAG ME!
We have so many pictures that I am going to put on Facebook soon with captions of what all the pictures actually are. But this should give you a little glimpse into our wonderful move!
The trip was truly flawless. I honestly couldn't imagine it going any smoother than it did. We definitely had a hand of protection on us the whole time.
If you click on the YouTube link at the bottom of the video and change the quality to 720P, it will look and sound the best. :-)
There was one video of Bradley that I thought was funny that I put in there so he had to put an embarrassing one of me in there. Actually, there are 2 of me - how convenient. "Yay...IHOP for breakfast! - GAG ME!
We have so many pictures that I am going to put on Facebook soon with captions of what all the pictures actually are. But this should give you a little glimpse into our wonderful move!
The trip was truly flawless. I honestly couldn't imagine it going any smoother than it did. We definitely had a hand of protection on us the whole time.
If you click on the YouTube link at the bottom of the video and change the quality to 720P, it will look and sound the best. :-)
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Back to the beginning...
So here's how it all went down...
January 16 - Bradley called me and said that all of the Oceana, VA spots were taken (which is where we were told the whole time that we were going next). At this point, the only other places that you can go for jets is Lemoore, CA (to fly the F-18) or Whidbey Island, WA (to fly the E/A-18 Growler). Since Bradley originally wanted F-18's, we were put down for Lemoore, CA. We were disappointed that we were going to Lemoore because it was the absolute last place we ever wanted to go. We talked about it that night and prayed really hard about it. We both felt like Lemoore just wasn't the place that we should be. There was a guy in Bradley's class that had gotten Whidbey Island that really wanted Lemoore, so Bradley told him our feelings and offered to switch with him. He was of course ecstatic so all they had to do was get it approved.
January 17 - I got 'the call' at work from Bradley that the switch was approved and we were officially headed to Washington. The amount of emotions that were running through our bodies were unreal. We were relieved that we weren't going to Lemoore, excited that we finally 'knew', nervous to move cross country, scared to death to move out of the south and absolutely broken hearted that it was time to leave Pensacola. With the switch, also came another huge surprise (and another emotion to add to the list!). Bradley's winging was scheduled for February so given the time frame of everything, we were told that our report date to our new duty station would be the beginning of March. I was going to work until mid to late February, we were going to be here when our best friends had their baby - everything was going to work out. You know the quote, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"? Well, the same goes for the Navy. Except they actually told us our plans...and then they changed. Oh well! Anyways, so when we switched, Bradley's winging date had to be moved up in order for Bradley's squadron to meet their quota of how many people they were sending to WA. So on January 17, we found out that Bradley was winging in 11 days and I had to put in a 1 week notice at work.
January 27 - Bradley's winging ceremony (that I wrote about in the last post). Our family had a 10 day notice that we wanted them to come to Florida. Luckily pretty much everyone was able to come which we were very happy about it - but boy, was it a whirlwind! The call to my mom was hilarious.
"Hey! So....we're moving to WA.....in 3 weeks....and Bradley's winging is now next weekend."
Crazy. Absolutely the exact opposite of anything we thought. Haha!
February 6 - Bradley finally received his orders and had to be on the road within 4 days in order to make it to Whidbey in time to check in.
February 7 - Our move evaluator came to survey our stuff.
February 8 - My dad flew in!
February 9 - The packers came.
February 10 - The moving truck arrived and loaded all of our stuff. We were off of our 7 day adventure of moving across this beautiful country!
February 16 - We arrive - after driving 10 hour days - to our new home!
February 18 - My dad left.
February 19 - Bradley left for 2 weeks of training in San Diego, CA (SERE for all the Navy wives!) :-) Absolutely the WORST 2 weeks of our lives.
February 24 - Our stuff arrived! All 83 boxes!
March 3 - Bradley made it back home and we started our new life here in Anacortes, WA!
March 5 - Bradley started the FRS.
I really don't want anyone to think that I sound whiney or bratty about moving. Yes, it was a HUGE shock to us, but we are so blessed to end up where we did. Neither of us can imagine living anywhere but here - which just proves that we truly are where we are supposed to be and that God had bigger plans for us than we could see. We always knew that this was an option for us and although Bradley always wanted to be in the Growler, we were afraid to say that moving to WA would be neat because moving across the country is a big change. We are so thankful that Bradley has an awesome job that he loves and we are SO excited about living somewhere new and different! I'm sure my fellow Navy wives will agree that no matter where you get stationed - whether it's your first or last choice - the emotions/stress/worry/anxiety/fear, etc. are all the same. :-)
We made a video of our move and we are SO excited about it! We've had it finished for a little over a week and we have watched it so many times already! I'll be posting that in the next few days! :-)
January 16 - Bradley called me and said that all of the Oceana, VA spots were taken (which is where we were told the whole time that we were going next). At this point, the only other places that you can go for jets is Lemoore, CA (to fly the F-18) or Whidbey Island, WA (to fly the E/A-18 Growler). Since Bradley originally wanted F-18's, we were put down for Lemoore, CA. We were disappointed that we were going to Lemoore because it was the absolute last place we ever wanted to go. We talked about it that night and prayed really hard about it. We both felt like Lemoore just wasn't the place that we should be. There was a guy in Bradley's class that had gotten Whidbey Island that really wanted Lemoore, so Bradley told him our feelings and offered to switch with him. He was of course ecstatic so all they had to do was get it approved.
January 17 - I got 'the call' at work from Bradley that the switch was approved and we were officially headed to Washington. The amount of emotions that were running through our bodies were unreal. We were relieved that we weren't going to Lemoore, excited that we finally 'knew', nervous to move cross country, scared to death to move out of the south and absolutely broken hearted that it was time to leave Pensacola. With the switch, also came another huge surprise (and another emotion to add to the list!). Bradley's winging was scheduled for February so given the time frame of everything, we were told that our report date to our new duty station would be the beginning of March. I was going to work until mid to late February, we were going to be here when our best friends had their baby - everything was going to work out. You know the quote, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"? Well, the same goes for the Navy. Except they actually told us our plans...and then they changed. Oh well! Anyways, so when we switched, Bradley's winging date had to be moved up in order for Bradley's squadron to meet their quota of how many people they were sending to WA. So on January 17, we found out that Bradley was winging in 11 days and I had to put in a 1 week notice at work.
January 27 - Bradley's winging ceremony (that I wrote about in the last post). Our family had a 10 day notice that we wanted them to come to Florida. Luckily pretty much everyone was able to come which we were very happy about it - but boy, was it a whirlwind! The call to my mom was hilarious.
"Hey! So....we're moving to WA.....in 3 weeks....and Bradley's winging is now next weekend."
Crazy. Absolutely the exact opposite of anything we thought. Haha!
February 6 - Bradley finally received his orders and had to be on the road within 4 days in order to make it to Whidbey in time to check in.
February 7 - Our move evaluator came to survey our stuff.
February 8 - My dad flew in!
February 9 - The packers came.
February 10 - The moving truck arrived and loaded all of our stuff. We were off of our 7 day adventure of moving across this beautiful country!
February 16 - We arrive - after driving 10 hour days - to our new home!
February 18 - My dad left.
February 19 - Bradley left for 2 weeks of training in San Diego, CA (SERE for all the Navy wives!) :-) Absolutely the WORST 2 weeks of our lives.
February 24 - Our stuff arrived! All 83 boxes!
March 3 - Bradley made it back home and we started our new life here in Anacortes, WA!
March 5 - Bradley started the FRS.
I really don't want anyone to think that I sound whiney or bratty about moving. Yes, it was a HUGE shock to us, but we are so blessed to end up where we did. Neither of us can imagine living anywhere but here - which just proves that we truly are where we are supposed to be and that God had bigger plans for us than we could see. We always knew that this was an option for us and although Bradley always wanted to be in the Growler, we were afraid to say that moving to WA would be neat because moving across the country is a big change. We are so thankful that Bradley has an awesome job that he loves and we are SO excited about living somewhere new and different! I'm sure my fellow Navy wives will agree that no matter where you get stationed - whether it's your first or last choice - the emotions/stress/worry/anxiety/fear, etc. are all the same. :-)
We made a video of our move and we are SO excited about it! We've had it finished for a little over a week and we have watched it so many times already! I'll be posting that in the next few days! :-)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Bradley's Winging
You know how when you get really, really, really busy and you think to yourself, "something's gotta give!". Yeah....so that has been us over the past 3 months and unfortunately that thing that had to 'give' was keeping up with our blog. As most of you know, we have now moved cross country after a very unexpected report date (and unexpected duty station!) and we're finally starting to get settled into our new normal! I promise I will update a TON on all our new adventures (because it is awesome out here!) but before I do that, there is a very, very, VERY special event that took place while we were still in Florida that I do not want anything to overshadow - Bradley's winging!
Bradley has wanted to be an aviator his entire life. While we were dating, he got his private pilot's license (where he can fly small Cessna civilian planes) but then chose to attend the Naval Academy and was selected to serve this country as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO).
Just for some background information: Once you complete all 4 (grueling) years at the academy and graduate with your 4-year degree, you are then commissioned as a Naval Officer into whatever service selection you are picked for. Depending on what your new job is, you have different requirements as far as further schooling, more training, deployments, etc. For Bradley, once he was commissioned, he reported to flight school. For an NFO, flight school is about 1 1/2 - 2 years long. During this time, you fly trainer jets (the T-6A Texan, T-39 Sabreliner and T-45 Goshawk), have simulator activities, go to many classes and have long, hard days. Since I witnessed first hand what it is like to have a husband go through this - it is challenging. Boy, those 5am flight sure do stink! Once you get at the end of your flights, you find out what plane you will be flying and where you will be stationed (this is the part where our world got a little rocked ;-) ). On your very last flight, you get your 'soft wings'. This is a big deal because you officially become a 'somebody'. They finally stop treating you like you know absolutely nothing and start treating you like you actually DID just spend 1 1/2 years actually learning something. :-) I kid, I kid. :-) Then it's finally time for the big day - Winging day, that is!
A winging ceremony is where a pilot or NFO student receives their 'wings of gold' signifying that they are finished with flight school and are ready to begin flying the fleet aircraft that they are selected for. There is still some training left once they are placed in their new aircraft squadron called the FRS (fleet replacement squadron) where they actually have to learn about the new aircraft that they will be flying in the fleet, but once you receive your wings, you are no longer flying in a trainer jet - only the real deal from here on out, folks! :-)
Bradley's winging ceremony was incredible. As I sat there and watched all 10 of them receive their wings, I couldn't help but have huge tears in my eyes the whole time. I have seen first hand what these boys went through every single day to work towards this dream that they all have had for so very long. I know Bradley had days where he felt like receiving those wings was just a mirage off in the distance and it was going to take forever to get to them - but walking up to him that day with those wings in my hand and having the honor of pinning those on him was a dream come true for me, too.
I wake up every single day completely in awe of my husband. Not because I think he's better than anyone else, but because I am completely humbled by his dedication and sacrifice for this country. I couldn't do it. There is no way I could make it one day in the military (the first time someone told me an order, I would go redneck). But Bradley does it, so very selflessly.
The whole day Bradley and I just kept looking at each other and smiling, but different than we usually do. It was one of those unspoken ways of communication where nothing needed to be said - just the looks on our faces showed how thankful and happy we were to share those moments together.
That day was a very, very special day.
Bradley has wanted to be an aviator his entire life. While we were dating, he got his private pilot's license (where he can fly small Cessna civilian planes) but then chose to attend the Naval Academy and was selected to serve this country as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO).
Just for some background information: Once you complete all 4 (grueling) years at the academy and graduate with your 4-year degree, you are then commissioned as a Naval Officer into whatever service selection you are picked for. Depending on what your new job is, you have different requirements as far as further schooling, more training, deployments, etc. For Bradley, once he was commissioned, he reported to flight school. For an NFO, flight school is about 1 1/2 - 2 years long. During this time, you fly trainer jets (the T-6A Texan, T-39 Sabreliner and T-45 Goshawk), have simulator activities, go to many classes and have long, hard days. Since I witnessed first hand what it is like to have a husband go through this - it is challenging. Boy, those 5am flight sure do stink! Once you get at the end of your flights, you find out what plane you will be flying and where you will be stationed (this is the part where our world got a little rocked ;-) ). On your very last flight, you get your 'soft wings'. This is a big deal because you officially become a 'somebody'. They finally stop treating you like you know absolutely nothing and start treating you like you actually DID just spend 1 1/2 years actually learning something. :-) I kid, I kid. :-) Then it's finally time for the big day - Winging day, that is!
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| The instructors they flew with that day ripping off their old name patches and putting on their new ones - with wings! |
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| Oh boy...the soaking begins! |
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| The boys taught me how to spray the champagne before they landed. Unfortunately I sucked at it and ended up with just as much on me as was on Bradley. |
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| Bradley's class! |
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| Complete! |
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| So excited! :-) |
A winging ceremony is where a pilot or NFO student receives their 'wings of gold' signifying that they are finished with flight school and are ready to begin flying the fleet aircraft that they are selected for. There is still some training left once they are placed in their new aircraft squadron called the FRS (fleet replacement squadron) where they actually have to learn about the new aircraft that they will be flying in the fleet, but once you receive your wings, you are no longer flying in a trainer jet - only the real deal from here on out, folks! :-)
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| Before the ceremony. |
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| In front of the T-45 - the last trainer jet Bradley flew. |
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| Millie was SO excited for her Uncle Brah! |
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| Pinning on his wings! |
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| I had no idea I got a spouse award...I was in shock! |
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| AND my own pair of wings?! I had no idea they did this but I wore them the whole day! |
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| She loved rubbing his wings. It's like she knew all he had accomplished, too! All those nights she was at the house messing up his charts just as fast as he could put them away must have meant something to her. :-) |
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| Outside the museum - where the ceremony took place. |
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| Typical. |
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| His stein! |
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| Right in the bullseye! :-) |
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| My cake I got for Bradley's little party we had at our favorite local restaurant. |
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| At his party. |
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| His picture that my brother and sister-in-law got him. He loves it! |
Bradley's winging ceremony was incredible. As I sat there and watched all 10 of them receive their wings, I couldn't help but have huge tears in my eyes the whole time. I have seen first hand what these boys went through every single day to work towards this dream that they all have had for so very long. I know Bradley had days where he felt like receiving those wings was just a mirage off in the distance and it was going to take forever to get to them - but walking up to him that day with those wings in my hand and having the honor of pinning those on him was a dream come true for me, too.
I wake up every single day completely in awe of my husband. Not because I think he's better than anyone else, but because I am completely humbled by his dedication and sacrifice for this country. I couldn't do it. There is no way I could make it one day in the military (the first time someone told me an order, I would go redneck). But Bradley does it, so very selflessly.
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The whole day Bradley and I just kept looking at each other and smiling, but different than we usually do. It was one of those unspoken ways of communication where nothing needed to be said - just the looks on our faces showed how thankful and happy we were to share those moments together.
That day was a very, very special day.
“‘Difficulties’ is the name given to things
which it is our business to overcome.”
Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, Class of
1901, addresses the graduating class of
the U.S.Naval Academy, 19 June 1942
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