Campin' in New Jersey

So I've been single for a week now while Dan has been enjoying camping in New Jersey....he has spent his days kayaking, hiking, eating smores.......





He wishes! In reality Dan had to go on a TDY for work, which is similar to a business trip for those not into the Air Force lingo....They are doing what is called a "Bare Base" exercise, which is basically playing pretend all week long! They pretended the invaded a foreign country, set up a temporary camp site, and are living like they are in the desert for a week. They were told to bring lots and lots of baby wipes....


Dan got recruited to security...how a cook turns into a security guard I will never know...but that's what he has been up to. When the first arrived they had to work the first full 24 hours and then are on 12 hour shifts the remaining time of camp. He told me as he was leaving last week that they have pretend attackers that try to come into the camp. They were taught all the official things to do and say in order to keep the camp "safe". He said they would even have vests (similar to laser tag vests) that light up when you are shot in case they get shot by the enemy or have to shoot the enemy themselves. I asked Dan if he got "shot" if that means he doesn't have to work the rest of the week, he said no. Actually, in his training the addressed that subject, guess a lot of people have asked that before.


So anyways, in order to keep things official for the week cell phones have been banned. They stated that if you had invaded a foreign country and were setting up camp you wouldn't be able to contact family....well DUH! There wouldn't be a way to do that. But anyways, my point being I haven't talked to him at all since the exercise started. Everything I have written about is stuff he told me would take place during the week...This past week has been a long week for me, to say the least. There has been a lot that has happened both at work and home that I could have used him for, but I am sure his week has been just as interesting as mine!


Last year he did a similar exercise he had to wear a ton of war zone gear that was very hot and heavy. I know he had to bring all that with him this year as well, but at least New Jersey should be a little cooler than Louisiana was in the dead of summer last year! Last year he definitely was glad to have the exercise over with. They constantly did pretend raids...like as if the base had been bombed or something. They would have to put on their gas masks and stay put inside until the raid was over with. Last year he was heading to the bathroom as one took place. He had to hurry back inside and put on his mask and stay still for like 2 hours...he wasn't pleased to say the least!

Week 2

A week ago Tuesday was week 2 of my cake decorating class....the actually class went smoothly compared to the week before but preparing and getting there did not! I KNEW I had a jammed packed week ahead of me so I decided I better bake my cake Sunday night. So I quickly whipped together a cake mix while Dan was out home teaching and stuck it in the freezer after it cooled (this makes it easier to ice...). When Dan got home he realized the freezer wasn't closing well so he moved something and shoved it right into one of my cakes on accident. So about 9:30 at night I opened up the freezer and noticed that one of my cake layers had a huge indent in it. So I had to bake another cake that night since I needed two layers for the class.

Monday I didn't get home until after 9 pm. We ate dinner and then I set out to make my frosting and crumb coat and ice my cake (we are supposed to have 1 coating of icing on before we get to class so we have time to learn everything). Every week we have to have 3 lbs of icing so it's definitely a project! I finally finished it all a little before 11 and went to bed....

I was almost late to Tuesday's class because of a really bad day at work but when I FINALLY arrived I really enjoyed the class. Both Traci and I felt much more prepared now that we had a complete list of things to bring and our cakes were ready to go. We practiced the rose a little more and learned how to do a basket weave. My hand was definitely tired by the end of the night but I was glad to learn how to do it!

Rain, Rain (and Cajun food) go away...come again another day....

This past weekend we were supposed to go to the Temple in Dallas but cancelled our trip at the last minute. Hurricane Ike was on it's way to hitting Dallas and then was supposed to come over to us. Funny how everyone was SO worried about Hurricane Gustav and all it did was lightly rain for a few days. This time the hurricane weather was a little more extreme and no one was even really panicking about it at all...still we decided we shouldn't take our chances so we stayed home.

Friday night we decided to go out to dinner amongst other errands we had to run. We were driving around trying to decide where to eat when we saw a cajun restaurant we have been meaning to try for a long time. We hastily decided to go there. When we got in and I started looking at the menu (and the prices) I quickly realized there was NOTHING that appealed to me on the menu. I should have known that before, I don't really like much cajun cuisine...actually, I like cajun flavors just not cajun seafood, which is about what the entire menu consisted of. The waitress brought our waters and Dan asked me what I was thinking of getting. I said (very hesitantly I might ad)..."um, well....I guess I could get the one chicken thing on the menu......". Dan instantly knew I wasn't thrilled with the restaurant and he didn't really care whether we ate there or not either. He asked me if I wanted to leave...and yes I did but felt WAY to stupid doing it. Well in the end, I left the restaurant a few minutes before him and he shortly followed after me. He told the hostess up front that we had something come up and had to leave and to apologize to our waiter. They then asked if he wanted to speak to the waiter..he quickly said no and that we didn't have time but would come back soon. I was literally hiding around the corner outside because I felt so dumb! I felt bad too for making Dan be the one to tell them we were leaving...but something really did come up! We realized we didn't want to spend that much $$$ for food I wasn't at all interested in and he was just okay with. Has anyone ever had that happen to them before??? It was DEFINITELY an awkward moment but we didn't know what else to do......hopefully we NEVER have to do that again. We ended up going to a mexican restaurant and I got fajitas...much better than yucky seafood:)

The rest of the weekend went quite smoothly, well for the most part. Saturday we went to some church classes they had at the stake center, it was called EFY (Especially for Adults, a playoff of Especially for Youth). We were able to go to a class about the church in Kuwait. It was by a couple whose whole family lived there for 3 years after 9/11. They were actually there when Spencer deployed there and the dad was the one that arranged for Elder Ballard to come and visit the base. They moved back to the states shortly before Dan deployed there. It was neat to here their experiences there and compare them to that of our family's. We also went to a marriage class that was very interesting. Last year when I went to EFA it was just two days after Dan deployed. I also took a marriage class then and I have to admit...I definitely enjoyed the class much more this year with him by my side.

After EFA we started to drive home as the weather worsened and the power started to go out all around us. By the time we got home the wind was really really strong and it was pouring. We were able to find one fast food restaurant that still had power and quickly grabbed something to eat because we were worried we wouldn't have power to cook with the rest of the night. Come to find out...we were like the ONLY ones around that had power. The light and gas station right by our apartment was out as well as the neighborhoods around us but not us! We definitely had no complaints about that! We enjoyed the luxuries of watching movies and just staying in all night while the storm made it's debue outside.

9/11

I have read several blogs about 9/11 and everyone's memory of it. My friend, Deb, encouraged everyone to write on their blog their memory of the event so here I go. To be honest, I understand much more about it now that I did that day. I was young and naive enough that I don't think I really understood how big of a deal it really was, so I wasn't as nervous as most people remember being. I was 14 years old, sitting in my 9th grade studio art class when our teacher told us the news. She turned on a TV for us to watch during class and had us write journal entries instead of painting that day. She said that it was a day not to forget and encouraged us to write down everything to have to look back on in the future. I will have to see if I can find that paper, I am curious to know what I said. I do know that I didn't even know what a terrorist was, I thought the news was saying tourist, BIG DIFFERENCE.

At 14 I never really thought September 11 would effect my life as much as it has. Yes, I was worried and scared, but never thought it would directly impact me. I was scared of war, I was scared some of my friends would possibly be drafted n the future, but had no idea what that day really meant. I was mostly confused. I remember feeling bad for my parents because it was their anniversary, but didn't realize that the memory of that day would effect every anniversary of theirs in the years to come.

Dan at Ali Al Salem AFB, Kuwait Sept 2007

Now looking back as a military wife that day is all too real. I never would have guessed at 14 years old that I would marry someone in the Air Force who would actually deploy because of the events that took place on that day. Heck, I would have never even guessed that the day before I met Dan. I am proud to live in a country who fights for freedom. A country that not only fights for our freedom but for other country's freedom as well. I am proud to have a husband serving in the military and proud of many other family members and friends who have served or are still currently serving in the military. Military life is hard to explain, I know sometimes I complain more than I should about certain things that come with military life, but all and all it has been a great experience. I am happy to say that I am a military wife. I am happy in Louisiana and grateful for the experience and trials it has brought. I now have 2 homes and will miss this one dearly when the time comes for us to move on.

Dan and a few of his Middle Eastern Friends

Dan and I have had many wonderful experiences because of the Air Force. We have been given opportunities to serve others that we never would have been able to do any other way. I have grown to love the people from the Mid East through my husband even though I have never even met them. As Dan and I face decisions in the future about whether we will remain active duty in the Air Force for a career or not, I do know that if we get out, I will miss it. I will miss the patriotism that comes with the life and all the people we get to meet. But no matter what decision we make I will always be grateful for the experiences we have had. We still are not sure what path we will choose but as long as it is where God wants us to be, that is where we will go...even if it's a hard decision to face.

Week 1

Last night was my first night of cake decorating class, well since high school. I took a class in high school but remember very little from the class. My friend, Traci, took the class with me. It was really fun to have someone to laugh with you through all the problems we had! The night started off with both of our cakes being stuck in the cake pans. We had left our cakes in the pans so they would be easier to carry...boy what a mistake that was!!! We were both laughing so hard because they wouldn't come out and we were the only ones with that problem. Everyone else was smart enough to take theirs out 15 minutes after they were done baking. Needless to say, we finally got them out and even in one piece!

The night before Traci and I had spent countless hours shopping for our cake decorating supplies. The teacher had given us a list of supplies to buy and many of them we couldn't find. So after going to three stores we finally gave up and just got what we could. We both got home about 9 pm and still had to bake our cakes and make over 3 lbs of icing. Luckily I had a KitchenAid stand mixer so my icing wasn't too bad to mix but Traci said she had icing all over her walls and ceilings by the time she was done! The recipe was very vague on what consistency it was supposed to be so when we got to class we quickly learned her icing was too thin and mine was WAY too thick. So all night she had problems with her icing drooping and her roses turning into blobs whereas mine was so think I couldn't even get it to spread on the cake! My roses stayed together better but they cracked because of the thick icing so they look a little more like carnations:)

By the end of the night we both were on a sugar high from licking our fingers so much and had frosting all over us. It was a fun night though! Looking back, we should have just mixed our icings together and they probably wouldn't have been the perfect consistency! Traci mentioned to me this morning though that if we had done that our cakes would have looked too good week 1 that it would be hard to beat by week 4! So now our week 4 cakes SHOULD look really good in comparison!

We also found out when we got to class that the college hadn't given us a complete list of supplies so there was several things none of us bought that the teacher expected us to have...so along with better icing this next week we will also be much better equipped with the supplies we need!

Traci's cake is the purple one and mine is the orange one (it was supposed to be coral but definitely came out more orange than anything!).

Cupcakes:)

Dan bought me this really cool cupcake idea book from Micheals recently. I have been memorizing all the ideas from it because I have looked at it so much since I got it. I have been impatiently waiting for the chance to Well this weekend we had a overnighter at my apartment for the young women at church. I took full advantage of the opportunity to make cupcakes and have others eat them instead of just Dan & I. They were my first attempt and a little challenging I must say but it was a fun project. I am taking a cake decorating class at a tech school just down the street from my house as well starting tomorrow....so I am sure I will have more pictures to follow in the next few weeks plus cake coming out my ears!

All safe and sound:)

I just wanted to quickly post and let everyone know we are all safe and sound. We appreciate all who have called, texted, etc. I apologize for not getting back to everyone. I have been sick this week so I haven't gotten much accomplished to say the least!

As you all probably know Gustav only hit as a category 2 hurricane when it had been predicted as a category 4, possibly 5 at one time. This was a great blessing because by the time it hit Lafayette, where our family lives, it was only a category 1. They lost power for a bit and one of their houses had a little water damage, but other than that, everything went very well! By the time the storm hit us it was only a tropical storm. We haven't seen the sun in days but there has been no flash flooding or tornadoes at all like predicted. The rain has been steady for the most part but honestly, we have probably seen worse storms than this one since we have been here. Many of our neighbors power has been off and on this week but ours has been fine. I almost think our friends in Little Rock, Arkansas have had it harder than us...they live more out in the country where I think the rains are a little harder to handle and more likely to cause damage. They have lost their power quite a bit and their kids were even in a car accident from the storm. We will be praying for them!

Hurricane Gustav

Like I said in the last post, we are about to experience our first hurricane in Louisiana. We moved here about a year after Hurricane Katrina and are currently waiting Hurricane Gustav's arrival. The hurricane has actually started to hit the coast of the state this morning. We leave in the very northwestern point of the state, which is about 5 hours from New Orleans. Dan's dad and step mom as well as much of her family live in Lafayette, which is less than 2 hours from the coast. They have spent the weekend boarding up windows and packing away anything that might fly with the high wind speed of the storm. Donna told me that when hurricane Katrina hit their neighbor had an orange tree and the oranges flew through the window of their cars because the wind was so strong.

With hurricanes comes lots of tornadoes and flooding as well. Since we live so far north everyone has been evacuating to here but that doesn't mean we will miss out on all the weather. We are expected to get up to 20 inches of rain and I am sure we will be on tornado watch. School has been closed up until at least Wednesday because all of the school buses have headed south to help with the evacuation process that is in place as well as because of the chances of bad weather and flooding here.

Donna was telling us that in Lafayette all the regular and premium pumps are out of gas. All you can buy is the supreme now. They went to several stores to buy batteries for flashlights but everywhere was sold out. Most everyone seems to be planning for the storm a little better this time. When we stayed in a hotel on Friday night in Shreveport we learned that all the hotels in Northern Louisiana are totally booked and that you have to head into Arkansas to find a vacancy now. The local University, LSUS, is housing thousands of evacuees as well as the gym on base has been opened up to evacuees as well.

We are told to experience a much higher evacuee count than for Katrina becuase this time the entire gulf coast is evacuating due to the enormous size of the storm. It is said the storm is the size of Texas. At church yesterday we were informed that we may be getting phone calls from the ward asking us to help home some of our fellow churchmembers from the south. More than likely we may end up housing family this week. It will be an interesting week, one I am sure we will not forget for a long, long time.

To be considered a friend.....

This past weekend has been amazing to say the least. I was able to help a friend in a way I wish I never would have had to but also was so grateful she was willing to come to me in such a hard moment in her life.

A few weeks ago we had planned on getting away for our anniversary. We had to cancel our plans at the last minute when Dan's squadron got assigned punishment shift due to the actions of a few of the workers. So we re-planned our anniversary trip for this weekend. The plan was to do our anniversary Friday night through Sunday morning and then head to Lafayette to stay with Dan's parents for the remainder of the weekend for Paul's birthday.

On Wednesday we learned about hurricane Gustav (which by the way is supposed to hit anytime now) and by Thursday night we had decided it was too unsafe for us to travel there and possibly get stuck and not be able to return home. As it is, our family there might have a good chance of needing to evacuate themselves and join us up here in Shreveport.

So anyways, back to my story. So come Friday morning when I got to work I was quite upset that we couldn't go to Lafayette. I knew we didn't have a choice and that it wasn't safe to go but all I wanted to do is kick my feet like a little kid and scream, "NO! This is not fair! I WANT TO GO TO LAFAYETTE." and inside, I basically did. Dan and I decided to at least still celebrate our anniversary and just stay in the local area. We stayed in a hotel about 20 minutes from here Friday night. Saturday morning we got a phone call from him supervisor that he had to work Sunday. We had originally planned on staying two nights and then returning home for church Sunday morning but then had to return home Saturday in order for Dan to work Sunday morning. We did our best to enjoy the day on Saturday (we went to a local waterpark and out to dinner) but both of us couldn't get the idea out of our heads of him having to work Sunday morning. Come Sunday morning I went to church by myself while Dan worked.

We had talked the night before and decided we weren't going to give up the fight. We were going to go camping Sunday night into Monday and STILL do something fun and different for our weekend. We invited some friends along as well. At church yesterday (as well as from watching the news) I learned how much this storm is really supposed to effect Shreveport and realized it wasn't wise to go camping. We knew the hurricane wasn't supposed to hit here quite yet but knew we better be safe that sorry. We have both been trying to work harder lately at being prepared for what Heavenly Father needs us to do. So it didn't make sense to go camping and take that chance.

No matter how bummed I was about all or weekend plans that kept on falling through I wish I never had been. I had been praying all weekend long for Heavenly Father to help me not to be bitter about it. I knew that it wasn't important that I understand why things were that way but rather I feel at peace about it all. Yesterday afternoon we laid down to watch a movie and take a nap. I woke up hearing my phone vibrate, something I normally would sleep through. I saw that a good friend of mine had tried calling and for some reason I felt the urgency to call her back rather than go back to sleep.

This friend answered her phone in tears asking if she could come over because she felt like she had no place to go. She had been praying we would be home. As she came over and revealed an extreme trial in her life right now I felt SO SO SO privileged to be the friend she chose to lean on at such a hard time. She felt bad to put her burdens on me but I felt extremely blessed that she chose me and felt that I could possibly help and comfort her in some way. We talked for quite some time and eventually was able to have Dan give her a blessing and teach her the importance about how the Bishop of our ward is there to help ease her burdens. The spirit was so so strong during the blessing, I could feel Heavenly Father's love wrapping his arms around her and comforting all of us in the room.

As she left our home last night Dan and I couldn't help but ponder on Heavenly Father's great plan in our lives. We were DETERMINED to go out town this past weekend and we would have had Heavenly Father not intervened and kept us where we needed to be. As I had been praying this past weekend to feel comforted over the entire situation I had begun to feel at peace. I knew we were home for a reason and that reason was my dear, dear friend. I am so grateful that we listened to the spirit and knew we should stay home this weekend despite how hard the decision seemed. I am so grateful to have a loving husband that was worthy to help my friend as well last night by giving her a blessing.

Heavenly Father is slowly but surely answering my prayers as to why we are here in Louisiana at this time. Both Dan I have grown to love Louisiana very much. We do miss our families but we both know this is where we are supposed to be. We have been given many opportunities to serve those around us and share our testimonies. Others have seen something different about us and I am grateful that through Heavenly Father's hands we have been able to share with them exactly what that is.