Thanksgiving, Winter Fun, and Mitch's 25th!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I have written on here! Oops. Well, we haven't had too much exciting going on, but enough to post about. Get ready for picture overload!

For Thanksgiving we went to our friends' house and celebrated with friends from Mitch's class at Columbus AFB. We had a really good time and got to eat tons of food while we watched football all day...as it should be. :)

Thanksgiving Love <3

My beautiful surprise Thanksgiving flowers :)

 Since we ended up staying in Oklahoma for Thanksgiving because it was too far of a drive to go to Ohio for such a short time, we had some extra free time all to ourselves. It was really nice to just hang out together with no obligations for a few days. :) On Friday (I feel I have to clarify since it stupidly started on Thursday this year...ugh) we went 'Black Friday' shopping  in Wichita Falls, TX, about an hour and 20 minutes from Altus. We had been talking about getting a new TV, but weren't sure if we would actually get one. Best Buy had a really amazing deal on a LG 55" TV and this sound bar we had been looking at, so we decided we would splurge and get that for our Christmas this year. It worked out really nicely the past couple weekends for having people over to watch football games!

The TV barely fit in the Escape...haha

Mitch was so excited to set it up! haha

I finally got to setting up the tree and putting up our minimal decorations last week. I tried to be sensible and only pack one of my 6 bins of stuff...better than nothing! I am so excited that next year we will FINALLY be settled in one home for more than one holiday season! I haven't lived in the same house over the holidays since high school...crazy. It will be amazing but weird not having to carefully pack up all my decorations for a move after their use! :)

Our mini tree and holiday decor :)

I was trying to get the dogs to cooperate for a picture...fail haha

Of course the OSU vs "that team up north" game was a very crazy and exhausting game! We were glad to watch it on our new TV so we could clearly see all the action. :) We have made sure to mold the pups into buckeye fans, as all Ohio State dog owners do. My mom bought them these little scarves/bandanas last year for their first football season. They are a little small on them now, but I'm sentimental about them being from her. They usually just wear their buckeye collars, but the team up north game is a special occasion. :)

The boys growling at that team up north ;)

Dexter rockin' his buckeye gear!

Love my Dex :)

They were the first ones ready for nap time :)

All the boys slept after the exhausting game:)

 We got some crazy weather a few weeks ago (ice and snow storm, below freezing temps after being 70+ degrees the day before) and then it happened again last weekend. It was almost 80 degrees on Tuesday, then Thursday night we got more sleet and snow. Brutal. Luckily for us the dogs LOVE the snow and constantly beg to go play in it...they're odd. We were worried last Christmas when we went to Ohio that they would hate snow, since all they knew was the hot south, but they were surprisingly thrilled about it. Maybe they're part husky? haha Silly dogs. We live on the second floor of our apartment (which lacks a fenced in yard somehow...ha) so we took them to the city dog park to run around and play in the snow a couple times. They go absolutely nuts in it and spend a lot of time sprinting in circles, then rolling around in the snow fighting each other.

The ice that piled up on our patio

So much ice!

Video of the pups at the dog park!

Pretty snow at our complex!

As pretty as the snow can be here, it is the worst thing to happen to this city ever. They have no plow system and no salt truck system either. Their solution is to have everyone just drive on the snow and compact it into ice, then throw gravel on top of that in intersections so you can stop. It's absolutely terrible! I would rather be in Ohio with 10 inches of snow than here with 2 inches...at least Ohio can deal with it.

Friday was Mitch's 25th birthday and fortunately our truck has four wheel drive, so we were still able to go out to celebrate! We went to Back Door Steakhouse in Blair, the "town" about 10 minutes north of us. The town is one of those "one stoplight" kind of places and mainly only known for this restaurant. They have great appetizers, delicious meals, and cheap beer...it's about all a birthday boy could ask for. Our friend, Abby, has the same birthday, so we did a joint birthday dinner and had a great time with our Altus group of friends!

Mitch and I aren't really cake people, so I usually make him something else for his birthday. Last year I did lemon squares and this year I did brownies. His family all sent their gifts here so we had our own little celebration, and of course, the dogs helped. ;)

The pups are always intrigued by flames haha

My quarter-century old love :)

Dex loves unwrapping presents!

Loving his new RC helicopter

Grandma always knows best :)

Gotta represent Ohio out west! :)

His Eli and his book...he's a happy birthday boy :)

My friend Jayme and I made ornament wreaths on Sunday evening! We had to wing it with stuff from the dollar store because of lack of options of supplies, but I like how they turned out. :) I'm going to have to find some extra room in our cars for all the stuff we are accumulating while we are here! Oops :)

Thanks, Pinterest :)

That's pretty much all the exciting things that have been going on here in Oklahoma!
I am heading up to Washington (for the first time ever!) with my sister on Thursday for a long weekend to go check out some houses and get an idea of the lay of the land. It's an impossible task to try to buy a house somewhere that you've never even visited. Hopefully this trip will help us figure out where we want to be! I'm mostly excited to get to see Kaitlyn, it feels like it has been forever!!

We hopefully (weather and schedule permitting) leave for Ohio on the 20th to be home for Christmas. It's about a 15 hour drive, plus stops and traffic...gross. This will be the last time we are able to make it home before the big move to Washington, so we are hoping to make it a good one!

I honestly can't believe how fast time has gone this year... I still can't fathom that 2013 happened, either. We went into the hospital with my mom on Dec 29th, 2012 and spent the next 3 weeks in the hospital, including New Years. I missed a lot in that first part of the year; super bowl, college bowl games, new years celebrations....so it never really started to me. If that makes sense. I couldn't believe the world had moved on without me while I lived in my hospice bubble. I think I have been in a bubble ever since then, actually. I can't believe almost a year has happened since I went through all of that.
It's weird how days can seem so long, yet months and years can seem so short.

Anyway, that's what has been going on!
I will be sure to take plenty of pictures of my Washington trip to share next week :)

Happy Holidays!

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Bittersweet Tradition

I have had a really hard time sleeping lately, hence me still being awake at this hour. Usually I don't have any dreams, but every now and then I will have a streak of bad ones. They are typically super stressful and in some way forcing me to lose my mom or my dad all over again. I never feel rested when I wake up the next morning and I am usually thrown off my groove for the day. The past few days have been physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. If I had to take a guess as to why I have been having more bad dreams lately, it would probably be that I am secretly dreading the holidays.

I know that the holidays are supposed to make you feel cheerful and full of hope and love, but I'm not feeling it this year. I just flat out miss my parents. And my sister and the rest of my extended family and friends at home. This is the first year, I'm sure of many, that I won't be home for Thanksgiving. We weren't sure if we were going to have to take a trip to WA for house buying purposes during Christmas, but I've basically decided houses in WA can wait. I didn't realize how much it would affect me until the time came. I thought I'd want to get away for the holidays, but since I don't even have the option for Thanksgiving, I want to be home more than ever. I can't wait to come home for Christmas.

The traditions are the hardest thing about the holidays to give up for me.

My mom and dad LOVED this time of year. My dad was such the entertainer and loved nothing more than being around his huge family. My mom was similar and, even though she was sick, happily took over the holiday hosting duties after my grandma passed away. She hosted Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Halloween (her favorite after Christmas!), Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, birthdays, and everything in between. All she wanted was to have her family close to her. For as long as I can remember, we have set the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. It is my favorite pastime of my childhood. We would get up early and go to my grandma's and set up her tree, then head to Bob Evan's for brunch. After we stuffed ourselves we would come back and add the finishing decorative touches such as huge silver snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, our favorite stuffed animals under the tree, and frosting the mirror above the mantle. Then of course that evening it was time to go downtown to see the lighting of the huge Christmas tree. It was always such a perfect day. After my grandma passed away, we kept the tradition up at my mom's house. My sister and I have since added a personal touch and have to have Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero' playing on repeat while the tree is assembled. Sometimes we even take breaks for interpretive dancing. :) Mom would laugh so hard at us as we would slide across the floor in our socks to each other, singing our hearts out into fake microphones! At least the tree always was ready for our Christmas Eve party. Christmas Eve has always been spent with my mom's side of the family, followed by midnight mass at Our Lady of the Rosary, sometimes with both of my parents. The church is so beautiful inside and always decorated the exact same, comforting way. I can't imagine being anywhere else on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure how things will work this year, but I guess that's how new traditions form.

Christmas Day was when we celebrated with my dad's side of the family. There are so many people in my family that it has always worked out better to do a gift exchange than buy for everyone. You will never see a pile of presents higher than at my dad's family's Christmas. Because of the chaos of tons of presents, my grandpa used to always play Santa and read off names and hand them out one by one. After my grandpa passed away, my dad very fittingly took over. He had no shame in his Santa duties (actually, the only downside for him was it interrupted his annual Christmas nap) and he gladly wore a Santa hat (he had a Brown's themed one, too!) to make us all smile. He would accidentally go a little quicker than my grandpa used to when handing out gifts and one of his sisters would undoubtedly speak up to tell him to slow down so they could get pictures or see what was going on. He was more than happy to please. :) My cousin, Chad, does a great job of being Santa now, but it's just not the same. Sometimes change is a welcomed part of life, but I'm missing my traditions.

I know I'm luckier than most to have such fond memories of the holidays growing up, and I don't take that for granted. It occurs to me now that I am going to have to try extra hard to keep traditions up with the transient Air Force lifestyle. I know it won't always be possible to be in Ohio for the holidays, but at least we can try to keep some traditions in tact wherever we are.

I have said 'tradition' an excessive amount by now, but it is the point of this post. Traditions are what make you excited for next year, all year long. They help you bond with others, they create memories, and they are a stable, reliable comfort. I find that even the smallest, yet personal traditions have a huge impact. When Mitch and I got married we were in agreement that Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving, not a moment before. Our (mini, temporary) tree will go up this Friday, Christmas music will be allowed in the house, and serious Christmas shopping is allowed to commence. Our traditions are mainly hand-me-downs from our families, but I would like to start some of our own this year. I think it will be helpful to me emotionally getting through another "first" set of holidays to have new traditions to look forward to. I guess that means it's time to get on Pinterest to get my creative juices flowing!

Every year I have been most thankful for getting to spend another set of holidays with my mom...this year I am most thankful that I have a wonderful husband, family, and network of friends that make this time of year a little less difficult. I keep saying that it would be impossible to get through without that support, but I do mean it genuinely.

Some final thoughts...
Be extremely thankful for everyone you are able to spend the holidays with and don't take any part of it for granted. Get recipes for your favorite dishes so they can live on and go with you wherever you go. Don't get lazy about keeping old traditions or starting new ones. And don't celebrate Christmas till Friday. ;)

I hope everyone has a safe, blessed, and wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Coffee and Pastels

This week Mitch was working during the evenings/nights, so we had some extra free time during the day. I have been going regularly to a local coffee shop with some friends here and it was finally time to introduce Mitch! The owners of the shop are a wonderful couple, Donald and Doris, that retired from the Air Force in Altus after Donald's last assignment. He was a flight engineer and she started the coffee shop. In its prime, the shop was not only coffee and tea, but had all the kitchen gear you could dream of and she even taught cake decorating classes. Probably my most favorite part of living in a small town is that people actually slow down to get to know each other. We haven't even been here for 3 weeks yet, but I already feel like a "regular" to the shop and a part of the small community.

On Wednesday morning I finally got to take Mitch to go get some coffee. Donald was working and quickly made sure to make Mitch feel welcome. He sat down with us and before we knew it we had talked to him for two hours about the Air Force and life at the coffee shop. I am always so amazed at how much you can learn by just taking time to get to know even one person. Forget stopping to smell the roses...stop and talk to people!

Since we had been there for long enough for our stomachs to start to growl, we decided we might as well try out the local favorite spot for lunch, The Grapevine Cafe. When I say local favorite, I mean basically the only place you can really go, so people have to love it. :) But for real, it is good. The restaurant is Paris themed and the food was delicious! We will definitely be going back.

"Confectionately Yours" aka the coffee shop :)

Doris makes the fudge and it's amazing!

Donald's patch collection is hung around the shop

He will trade you a drink for a patch :)

They sell delicious coffee and loose-leaf tea!

The Grapevine Cafe

Awesome mural! Love the people on the stairs :)

This week is also the first time I have taken an art class since high school!

My friend, Jayme, found an advertisement for this oil pastel class going on at the library downtown and we decided to give it a shot! It went Tuesday through Thursday from 6-9pm, perfect for Mitch's late night work schedule. :) The teacher of our class is the local high school art teacher and he did a fabulous job! I seriously have no skill, but he was very patient and helped in any way he could. There were only 8 of us in the class so it was easier to get some one-on-one help. Jayme and I were the youngest people there by a generation, but we still had so much fun! It was awesome to try something out of the ordinary and get to know some people in the local community. Doris, one of the coffee shop owners, was even in the class! When I say small town, I mean small town. ;)

The first "assignment" haha

Our work station at the end of day 1

Other half of the class' work stations

Jayme and my Wall of Fame (or shame, we like to say) ;)

My final drawing, based off of a picture I took (see below)

The picture I took at the Altus reservoir as inspiration

Even though art is not really my thing, I absolutely loved taking that class this week. My mom loved art and even took a couple classes a couple years ago. Getting out to go to class when she didn't feel well still brought her so much joy, so this made me feel close to her. I know she would have been super proud of me for stepping outside of my comfort zone. It's amazing how therapeutic doing something that connects you with those you've loved and lost can be. I will definitely make it a goal to take an art class every now and then, just to feel that connection again. Even if you don't have someone that you've lost, discovering more about yourself and your abilities is always a win. :)

I can now add something to the list of what makes me happy and keep at it; it's the best I can do.

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Winner Dinners!

If you want a healthy and tasty dinner, here are a couple solid choices :)


The first is Zucchini Lasagna. I got the recipe from Skinnytaste.com, but modified it just a little. I don't eat red meat, so I use ground turkey. And I found a can of crushed tomatoes with basil since Walmart was out of fresh basil. Also, it was too cold to face the grill, so I oven roasted the zucchini at 400 for a bit instead.

This goes perfect with some caesar salad and homemade garlic bread, I might add. :)

Getting the excess moisture out

Sauce mixture

obviously not professional haha

amazing end result!

The second is Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai, which I got from another blog site via Pinterest.
I didn't take any pictures of this, but it is most surprisingly delicious. I have not been able to find bok choy or red chili peppers in my limited grocery options, but I don't think Mitch even noticed. ;) A side is kind of hard for Pad Thai, so we had some edamame with it.

Also, I usually try to make two dinners out of one to make life easier on me, so here's a tip. I reserve enough spaghetti squash and some chicken so that Mitch and I can have it with some pasta sauce for the next meal. We still have leftovers of the Pad Thai even with me leaving out some squash, so it worked out perfectly. I usually stir fry some peppers and onions to put in some pasta sauce, then add the meat to that, then top the squash with it. YUM!

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Veterans Day Weekend :)

I would like to start out by saying how grateful I am for everyone who has served and is serving this country as part of the military. I have thought a lot about how you can honestly appreciate many things in life you have no experience with (i.e. military service overseas, medical professionals in emergency situations, the miraculous process of creating ice cream ;), etc...), but when you actually experience that part of life for the first time, you are shockingly humbled. When Mitch was going through ROTC in college and his parents told us about the intensity of pilot training, we were like, "Oh yeah! We are so prepared! We got this!". Then we got to Columbus AFB and the intensity of the program slapped us across the face and reality checked us. I can honestly say it is one of those experiences that you cannot possibly comprehend until you go through it. I have always seen Mitch's dad's pilot training awards in their basement and I've recently come to understand that I only thought I was impressed with them. After Mitch went through training, their worth and merit meant an incredible amount more to me; I am now truly impressed.

The further we get along this road to real Air Force pilot life, the more impressed I am with those who have gone before us. Likewise, the more I learn about what happens behind the scenes of military service, the more amazing it is to me. I wish I could have an opportunity to go back and express to my grandparents and dad my new, more genuine appreciation for their service. I'm not sure I ever had a chance to thank any of them a first time, to be honest. My mom's dad died before I was born and it never before occurred to me to thank my grandma for her sacrifices as his spouse and baby mama. My dad's dad died when I was young and I'm unsure if I ever thanked him, but I am sure I never thanked my grandma before she died. My dad had a short stint in the army, but a stint nonetheless. He never talked about his service and I honestly never thought about it until the honor guard members presented my sister and me with a memorial flag at his funeral. Despite the fact that we should be (and mostly are) appreciative of our military every day of the year, days like today hopefully inspire people to vocalize it when they otherwise may not have. So, happy Veterans Day to all service members, past and present! Thank you so, so much.

Now, onto our weekend adventures!

Friday we went to go try out the Italian restaurant in town, Roma's. We are so excited to have a good Italian restaurant to eat at without having to drive an hour! We splurged and got a bottle of wine and some delicious tiramisu. It will definitely be a go-to restaurant for us while we are here.

Saturday we had plans to head to Oklahoma City to celebrate our friend Melanie's birthday with some friends from our time at Columbus. We went to dinner at Royal Bavaria Brewery, an amazing German restaurant and brewery! The beer was awesome and appropriately came in liter or 2 liter boots. The food was equally as amazing!

Mel with sparklers in her birthday bread pudding :) Note: beer in boot to the left!

We went out in Bricktown after which was a ton of fun! We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott that was right at the edge of Bricktown. The hotel has a complimentary limo that will take you to and from the bars downtown, so of course we had to take advantage of that. :)

We were lucky that that same night our friends, Rachel and Evan, were stopping in OKC on their way to Albuquerque from Alabama for more helicopter training! We keep thinking that every time we see them is the last time, and we keep getting pleasantly surprised by our travel plans working out. :)
Oklahoma City was a ton of fun and we will for sure be making another trip before we leave!

Since Mitch had the day off we decided to take a trip to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge (about an hour east of Altus) to do some hiking and visit the city of Lawton (the closest city that has real 'things') to take advantage of some Veterans Day Perks. The refuge is seriously breathtaking. They have a ton of different animals there that roam freely and enjoy a protected habitat. There is even a sign as you are coming in that warns you that buffalo and longhorns are open range and are dangerous. It was awesome to see them just eating grass on the side of the road in a natural habitat, though. During the hike through the mountains we saw them in the distance but nowhere near the path we were on. Mitch and I read in the visitor center that the buffalo can run up to 30mph...the dogs could probably beat them but not so much for us. It wasn't so much that we thought they would randomly charge us, they actually seemed quite content to have no interaction, but we figured the dogs would bark at them and disturb the peace.

They are hiking pros! They navigated up and down the rocky paths so well!

Super smiles :)

If you look closely, there were people hiking along the bottom as well. We plan to make that our next trip!

Buff Buff

Dex rode like this most of the time there! He loved looking at the buffalo and longhorns!

After we left the refuge we went to Lawton to do a little shopping and got dinner. Luckily there was a Chick-Fil-A in the mall so we could get the pups their usual grilled nugget treat during trips. :) We figured since we made them wait in the car while we shopped and again while we ate dinner, we could treat them. (AKA- we always find ways to justifiably spoil them) A bunch of corporate restaurants have great deals for veterans and active duty service members on Veterans Day, which we are very grateful for! We had decided on going to Olive Garden, but their wait was over and hour...not okay with pups waiting on us. I asked the hostess if we could get food to go, but she said that the free meal was only available for eating there. To our pleasant surprise, she apologized and gave us a rain check and told us to come back and get the meal whenever we wanted! What an awesome way to really go the extra mile to say "thank you"! We were super impressed. We ended up going down the road to Outback and they had no wait! Outback doesn't offer a free meal, but the service member gets a free drink and a bloomin' onion. Dinner was delicious and we even made a pit stop at Starbucks on the way home to get a couple free coffees. Starbucks was offering tall coffees to not only the active member, but any active duty spouse as well. :) Score! It was the perfect end to a fun day.

Our first bloomin' onion ever!

Even though Altus is a small town in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, it is just more proof that every assignment is what you make of it. I will be the first to admit that I didn't have the greatest attitude about our move to Mississippi in the beginning, but I miss it a lot now. If I have learned anything from what I've been through in the last few years, it's that every moment of every day is precious. I wish I could call my parents and tell them about the silly buffalo walking down the street, but at least I went out and saw silly buffalo walking down the street. The best you can do is to do what makes you happy.

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