Nate's Fun Weekend

Shooting the Guns. They both look almost as big as Nate.

Getting Stung by Yellow Jackets after cutting down the tree.

The Hodge-Podge group.

Fishing. Actually paddling the boat back to the dock. He did get 2 fish.

Pee your pants FUNNY!!

This weekend Nate had a scout camp out. It was also the RS Temple Trip to Dallas. Hillary Cardon and I decided since we had no kids to deal with we'd drive to Dallas Friday Night and spend the night. We didn't leave until around 5:30pm. By the time we found Chipotle for dinner around 8:30pm we pretty much just chowed down. Love those rice bowls though. Yummy.

We didn't do anything Friday night because we're featherweights. We pretty much got to the hotel and went to sleep. Well, there was a bunch of talking before then, but just girlie stuff. Saturday morning we got up and went to the Temple. We were so lucky that we got there early. Our entire stake was going to be there by 9ish. That was 2 bus loads. Afterwards, we decided to go shopping at the Galleria in Dallas. LOVED it. I found a super cute pair of shoes at Macy's and a pair of pants at Ann Taylor Loft on sale. YES... Here's the funny part.

After lunch we were riding the escalator in Macy's. We had just left the Cookware department and were talking about things we like to cook with. Example, stainless steel, panini presses, etc... Hillary makes the comment that she liked to cook with a gas stove. I agreed and make a few comments. Then...wait for it....Hillary makes a comment about cooking here in LA and I ask her "Do you have gas?" The lady on the escalator turns around and looks at us strangely. I'm not sure why, smile, and continue with the conversation. About 15 seconds later I get it....I just asked Hillary if she had GAS? I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. It really was an innocent question and if you hadn't heard the rest of the conversation I can see how you'd think something else but really....would I ask loudly that kind of question? Oh man. It was a doozy.

Here are some pics of my shoes and pants. You should have seen the AWESOME Guess boots I tried on. They were so cool. It's a good thing the boots didn't fit right. (The leg part was too big) For $198.oo I was REALLY tempted. Chris would have HATED them. They had 3 inch heels and a platform bottom. A really pretty cognac color.

Handbook for dealing with crazy spouse left behind

So, due to national security and all that mumbo jumbo I'm not suppose to give specifics. Most of you know that Chris is leaving soon for the next 4-5 months. I thought I'd give you a heads up on how to deal with me while he's gone.

Handbook Rules

1. Don't tell me how "lucky" I am that he's only gone for X number for months or to X location. When's the last time you felt lucky for having your loved one gone?

2. Don't ask "How" I'm doing. Ask "What" I'm doing or what I've been up too. I probably won't tell you that I'm lonely or that I cry at night. Leave that alone as I hate showing emotions.

3. Interact with Nate. He's missing his Dad too.

4. We love emails, text messages, and phone calls. So does the deployed spouse. He'll lonely too.

5. Remember special days. Celebrating by oneself sucks.

6. Help us take our mind off the slow moving months. It's hard to keep being asked how much longer till he returns. We don't know exactly when that is. He's here, when he's here. (Hopefully by the 15th of February)

Most of all, know that when we're moody, snippy, or just plain hard to deal with sometimes we need a little bit more love instead of being left alone. We will do our best to push you away (see #2 above).

Rainy Tuesday

I stole this picture from my friends blog. It's from her house, but it gives you idea of how bad we flood down here when it rains. It's crazy that in an hour and a half this is what we end up with. The next morning you couldn't even tell it had rained. Chris and Nate had just left the house when it started. They had to take alternate route home for fear of stalling the car in the high water.

Great Wolf Lodge

We didn't even take any pictures. I have this thing with my camera and water and I was too nervous to take it out.
As our last "real" weekend before Chris deploys we decided to take a short family vacation. The original plan involved going to Arkansas for hiking, horseback riding, and BBQing but atlas. It rained. And rained. And rained some more. What do you do for fun when it's pouring outside? You go to an indoor waterpark of course.

We left Friday afternoon with the intent of eating dinner at PF Chang's. When I called for reservations for dinner I was told it'd be 8:30pm before we could get in. We decided to get dinner to go. Who want to wait that long. So, we checked into the lodge and sat down to eat in our room. It was about 8:30 by the time we got to eat. We were starving and Chicken lettuce wraps, Mongolian beef, and honeyed Chicken never tasted so good. I'm not sure if we tasted the food or just inhaled the stuff. Either way, our bellies got full.

We got to the waterpark at 9am. Opening time. The lines for the slides were only 10 minutes at their longest. Yeah!!! That's so much better then last time. I asked Nathan if he was disappointed in not going to AR. He's response, "This is SO much better". He didn't want to leave even though Chris and I were exhuasted after 6 hours of water play time.

We didn't stay another night but went to another hotel to say money. Yeah, right! I think Chris found the most expensive room -- actually it was a suite. I was okay with it when Chris and I got our own double bed to ourselves in a room with a door (Nate can't wake us up at the crack of dawn) and Nate slept in the "living" area on a pull out couch.

Nate will tell you he ALWAYS has to sleep in the bad bed but as parents. We don't care. You don't go to the Lodge for a good nights sleep as there are kids running a muck at all hours of the night/morning. Our "neighbors" got a piece of me at 12am when I went out to the hallway and "told" the girls running up and down the hall (with their parents present) to get to their rooms and go to sleep. Of course, as we were heading out of our rooms the next morning so were they. AWKWARD. Oh well, at least they SHUT-UP.

Saturay afternoon we went to Aliens in the Attic. Not an Emmy winner for sure but easy entertainment for the old parents who didn't want to do anything else. Why does chlorine water always make me so tired?

That was our weekend. I'll spare you the drama of our return trip home in the torrential rain and Chris and I not speaking to each other cause of his driving. I'll just leave it at that.

HHH - Wichita Falls 29 Aug 2009

I DID it. 6 hours and 20 minutes was our official ride time. No thanks to Chris.

Last summer Chris got this great idea that it would be SO much fun to ride a 100 mile bike ride together. I have been training for 6 months for this ride. Chris kept telling me how "over" trained I was for this ride. I wouldn't have wanted to be much more under trained as it is a lesson in mental toughness as much as physical toughness.

Of course, the USAF had other plans and Chris was in Vegas for Red Flag. Chris' mom came out to watch Nate so I could do the ride. A shout out to Francine as I wouldn't have been able to do the ride without her.

Lucky for me I had other friends to do the ride with. I don't know if I would have finished had I been by myself. That would have been a lonely 100 miles.
I know it's hard to tell but I am pooped. This is the end of the race. I can assure you that Wichita Falls, TX is NOT flat when you're riding on a bike. I think that race organizers found ever hill and then decided it would be fun to have us ride up them. The roads were very bumpy and your whole body vibrated for about 90 miles. I believe the last 10-15 miles the road smoothed out. You could actually hear again. It's amazing how much noise a bike can make.

At mile 60 I wasn't sure if I was going to finish. We hit a headwind and my Heartrate soared to 160bpm. I was dying. That lasted for 20-25 miles. I was counting down every mile. Once we hit 85 those things started to get better. I believe it was the smoother road.

Hillary and I at the finish line. At mile 75 after we stopped at a rest stop to refill water bottles nothing was more uncomfortable then getting BACK on the bike. Took a mile or two for the butt to go numb again so we could continue down the road.