Family Day at the Airfield

I was a lucky duck when Todd's unit invited me to Family Day. This was a chance for all the wives, mothers, girlfriends, kids, etc. to come watch their pilot man do his thing. It was really cool to watch Todd's helicopter and know that it was moving because TODD was working the machinery, steering it, doing all the work. I felt like a mom spying on her kid at driver's ed.

The sweetest part was that I got to go up into the control tower and give Todd some commands over the radio. You know, a little bit of, "Ninety-nine Charley, winds are calm, lane 5 panel 2 clear to land." And then he would respond back, and land his 'copter. The first time, I was a little hesitant, afraid I would say the wrong thing or whatnot. But I stayed up there and got to give Todd permission to land and take off five or six times, and by the end, I had the total radio twang in my voice, fast and furious. The control tower guy told me I was "a natural." It was awesome!

Todd got a little too comfortable, as well. The last time he gave his, "Ninety-nine Charley, coming in to lane 5 . . . " or whatever, and ended with, "Thanks, babe!" The boys in the tower thought that was hilarious. They were like, "Should I get on the radio and say, 'What did you call me?'"

I worked the video camera, and Todd spliced it all together into another sweet video for you to watch. He likes to watch it and "check out his hover," etc.

Feast your eyes on Todd the Pilot!

Good Quote

I read this in the Ensign magazine today, and loved it. It's good for me to hear these things. I even wrote it on a little card to put on my bathroom mirror so I read it again and again.

President Gordon B. Hinkley said this in the program for his wife's funeral a few years back:

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."

The Weekend

This weekend Todd and I did something neither of us had done in years - we had a sleepover with our friends! We invited Troy and Rebekah over on Friday night. They came in their pajamas, arms full of sleeping bags and blankets.

We made sugar cookies, watched movies, played games, stayed up late, slept in late, and went out for breakfast. It was tons of fun. We are so grateful for the Wikle's friendship. They are really keeping us sane while we're out here in southern Alabama.


So people around here have been getting their yards decorated for Christmas. Something that's really popular around here are the blow-ups. You know, big Santa, big Grinch, big whatever. It seems like if you've got lights on your house, you've also got a blow-up in your yard. Everyone has them.

Well, I spotted a real treasure about a block away. This really says it all about Alabama. Check it out.

Yes, you really are seeing Nascar Santa. Those ARE elves changing the tires on his car. Welcome to the South!

Random Thoughts

1. Alabama Word of the Day:
"They better get theirselves warmed up."
Todd truly heard one of his teachers say that today.


2. Yesterday I took my seventeen kindergarteners to the bathroom after lunch. There was a wild ruckus in the boys' room. I heard them shouting and saying it smelled really bad in there. One of the boys was descriptive enough to say that it smelled like crap. The boys came out, one and two at a time, excitedly telling me, "It smells like crap in there!" It was kind of funny that they all wanted to tell me.

But then there was Stuart*. Apparently he's never heard the word "crap" before. His sweet little mind made a connection with the closest thing he knew about. He came out of the bathroom holding his nose, and told me, "It smells like a dead crab in there!" I laughed so loud!


3. These kids have a one-hour nap every day at school. During naptime, I've been pulling kids one at a time to come make a snowman craft for Christmas. After nap, they were all talking about their snowmen and were really excited about them. Brittany* was asleep the whole time and hadn't made one, hadn't even seen one. I guess she was really confused about the whole snowman thing. Anyway, she asked me,

"Why is the snow trying to mess with us?"

Where do they come up with these things? She sounded ready to get into a gangsta fight or something. Seriously. . .

*Names have been changed.

A whirlwind of holiday celebrations

On Thursday, Todd and I cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. The past two years we've potlucked with friends in California, and all we've had to make were the rolls. This year, we did it all:

Turkey.
Mashed potatoes.
Stuffing.
Rolls.
Pumpkin pie.

It was a feast, and we were thrilled that it all turned out well. I told my sister Emily over the phone that none of it was really that hard by itself, but it was super tricky to have it all finish at the same time. It was nice for the two of us to spend the afternoon talking about all the things we have been blessed with.

On Friday, we bought a Christmas tree. When we were newlyweds, we were at an Army Christmas dinner and they gave out free Christmas trees to everyone who was there. That was cool. We bought a couple strings of lights to decorate it with. It overtook the teeny living room in our Provo apartment. But the past two years in California, we didn't get a tree because we would be spending the holidays in Utah with our families.

When we moved into the townhouse here, and it actually felt like a home, one of the first things I envisioned for our living room was the perfect place to put a Christmas tree. I have known we would have one this year since July. ;)

So Friday we picked out the perfect tree. Douglas fir. Seven feet tall. Smells heavenly. Perfect cone shape. After we brought it home and set it up, we went out and bought decorations. Real Christmas tree decorations. Married three years and still didn't have any!


We are so delighted with our tree. We love to turn off the living room light and bask in the tree glow. It is so romantic and classy. It makes me very happy. I love to smell the pine and vacuum up the needles that fall off. I love to just stare at it. Christmas is here!

November 19, 2004

Today marks mine and Todd's three-year wedding anniversary. It's been an awesome ride every step of the way, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Every single day when I say my prayers, I thank Heavenly Father for giving me Todd. He has made my life better in every way, and he has done so with incredible love, patience, good humor, and energy.

I could never begin to encapsulate my feelings into a few short words, but I do want to shout out a little brainstorming list:


Ten Things I Love About Todd

1. The gorgeous dimple that shows up when you smile.

2. Your amazing energy. The other night, we had friends over for a movie. You got cold and ran upstairs to get some socks. Steven said, "It seems like Todd does everything quickly. He's really quick about everything." And I replied, "Todd likes to say, 'Why walk when you can run?'"
You apply that same energy to everything you do - studying, cooking, taking care of me, whatever it may be.

3. You make me laugh every day. Sometimes it's your monkey imitations. Every once in a while, it's when you trap me in the bathroom, turn off the light, and when you turn it back on, your face is half and inch away from mine. Often it's just the way you tell about your day.

4. How you plan surprises for me. You make every occasion exciting.

5. Your wonderful hugs.

6. Your ambition. You're always working to be better tomorrow. You are such a hard worker.

7. The way you smell.

8. How you cuddle me at night. When we first got married, you didn't like it. Now you sleep better with your arm around me.

9. When you've had a great day at work, you come home, slam the door, drop your bags, and swoop over to me so you can tell me all about the exciting things you did that day.

10. The way you have not let one of our 1,095 days of marriage go by without telling me you loved me, and making sure I knew it was true.


Todd Bonner, I am so glad I'm your woman!

New York, New York

Last weekend, Todd and I made a trip up to New York City to celebrate our anniversary (which is tomorrow). We were so excited to go! I'm going to post a little travel-log, along with some of the pictures we took, for anyone who is interested in seeing what we did out there.

We got into town Friday night, just in time to grab a TAXI and head to our hotel for the night. Saturday, we hit the town hard. We started off with a tour of the Empire State Building.

We rode an elevator up to the 86th floor, where they have a panoramic observation deck. From there, we could see all of New York. It really is a concrete jungle out there! Check out one of the awesome views we saw. It is like that all the way around the Empire State Building - endless buildings surrounded by water.

Then we headed over to Broadway Street, to pick up some tickets to "Phantom of the Opera." It has been one of my life's goals to see "Phantom" in New York City, so I was pretty excited! On the way, we couldn't help but notice dozens of police cars lined up along the road, with their lights flashing. We headed over to see what was going on, but couldn't tell. "Cool," we thought, as Todd snapped a photo or two.

Then we got to the ticket booth and found out what all the commotion was about. That morning, the Broadway stagehands went on strike. No Broadway plays would be running until the strike was over! We were so disappointed! Bummer.

Well, we thought we'd cheer ourselves up by grabbing some lunch from the Soup Nazi, made famous on "Seinfeld." But when we got to the address, we saw bars across the restaurant front. They had changed locations. Bummer again! At least I got a photo of it!

We were in a funk for about an hour, but there was so much to do, it was too hard to stay sad about our double misfortune. After grabbing sandwiches from a local deli, we headed over to Central Park and spent an hour or so walking through it. It was gorgeous, and seriously one of my favorite parts of the trip.

I could see the appeal of having that spot of nature preserved in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. It was really nice. There were lots of people jogging or riding bikes, walking, or just hanging out. Todd and I imagined ourselves as locals, coming to Central Park to have a picnic, throw a frisbee, or just lay out on the lawn and read books for hours.

From Central Park, we walked through the world-famous Metropolitan Museum of Art (very cool) and then spent an hour or so people watching at Grand Central Station. Very cool!

On Sunday, we went to church at the stake center that shares a building with the new Manhattan LDS Temple. It turned out to be Stake Conference, and the meeting was awesome! We heard from Elder Kikuchi of the Quorum of the Seventy. Also, the Stake President bore his testimony in all the main languages of the stake - English, Spanish, Chinese, and then American Sign Language. It was so above and beyond the requirements of his calling, and it was really touching. The love he had for the members of his stake was almost tangible.

The stake choir blew us away - Todd kept saying it was better than MoTab. It really was phenomenal. They sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," and they were accompanied by a piano, two or three violins, and a cello. Let me tell you, it makes a difference to be in an area concentrated with artists and musicians!

After church, we toured a couple of other churches. The Trinity Church is the oldest church built in the United States of America. It was pretty ornate. It was cool to see gravestones in their cemetery from the 1700's. We also walked into a Catholic church called St. Patrick's and found ourselves at evening mass. Both buildings were extremely great and spacious!

We walked by Ground Zero, and I was surprised and sad to see that there is no semblance of a memorial put up yet. The area is fenced off, and there are bulldozers and things on the grounds, but it's all just a mess. Apparently, there have been a lot of arguments over who is going to fund the memorial, so nothing is happening. Pretty sad.

Then of course we had to watch ice skating at Rockefeller Center. The enormous tree was up, but not decorated yet. I couldn't believe how HUGE it is! I think it's about four stories tall. Seriously. The ice skating looked like so much fun - it was classic holiday New York City. I was flabbergasted to see the prices, though. It would have cost Todd and me $50 to skate! We contented ourselves with just stepping on the ice when the guard wasn't looking!

Monday morning we took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty. That was touching. I will admit, as I stood on the ferry and we got closer and closer to her, I cried a little bit. She was beautiful. I am so thankful to be an American citizen. What a great place to live!

We got a lot of pictures of her, but I wanted to post this one so you can see a scale of how big she is. Take a look at the ferry in the water below her. I hadn't realized the statue was so large. It was incredibly impressive.


After that, we grabbed a New York style pizza (seriously, the best pizza I have ever eaten!) and we munched on it while we rode the subway back to our place for our bags. Then we hailed a taxi to head to the airport, and flew home. And that was our trip. It was awesome to be there!

Unbelievable

I am feeling so agitated right now.

I'm long-term substitute teaching a Kindergarten class until Christmas. This was my first week. Until today, my biggest challenge was that the kids are not trained to behave the way I teach my own classes. I've been instituting new rules and procedures each day, and things have been getting better and better.

But today something happened that just completely rocked my world.

All the kindergarten classes were coming down the hall, returning from recess. One of my students (we'll call him John) was running down the hall. Another teacher asked him to stop and go back to the end of the hall and walk to class. John froze, but did not turn around. The teacher asked him three times to go back and walk, but still he did not move. (He's stubborn, this one.) Then, the teacher came over to him and said she was going to have to walk with him since he wouldn't do it on his own. Then John rolled his eyes at her and started yelling that he didn't want to go. (Temper as well.) Finally, the teacher went to the office to get the Vice Principal. John ran into the classroom and hid behind the door.

A moment later, the teacher and the Vice Principal returned. They went into the classroom and shut the door. I was in the hall, trying to keep the other 16 five-year-olds in line and hold them at bay (this was Bathroom Time in the schedule, and some of them work like clockwork!)

I was fine with all of this until the classroom door opened and the adults walked out. I was shocked to see a two-foot long paddle stick in the Vice Principal's hand. I turned to one of the other kindergarten teachers who was also in the hall and asked, "Did I really see a STICK in his hand?!" Yep. She told me that when kids get sent to the principal's office, they get paddled.

Spanked.

Hit.

With a stick.

By a strong, adult male.

Alabama is one of 23 states in America where Corporal Punishment at school is legal.

I am horrified. I had no idea Corporal Punishment was still legal ANYWHERE in America.

I was spanked as a child, and I learned NOTHING good from it. I have memories of looking at my bum in the mirror afterward and checking to see how red the hand mark was. Spanking did not teach me to make good choices. It taught me to fear my dad.

I cannot believe this is happening in the schools of America.

I am NEVER going to send an Alabama student to the principal's office, no matter what they do. There is NOTHING that a five-year-old child will do that will merit being hit with a stick by an adult.


For more information on Corporal Punishment in schools, check out these links:

Teaching Violence Through Violence

Mom for ban on corporal punishment in schools

A Nice Abode

I mumbled and grumbled for months before our move out to Southern Alabama, and have found out that it was for good reason: it is grossly humid in the summer, there are enormous bugs, the people are different, and I still really miss everything from my life in California (my job, sob).

However, from day one there has been something that has brought me joy, even delight, and to express my gratitude to it, I dedicate today's blog to our townhouse.

Every time I walk in the front door, I breathe a sigh of contentment. We have an ENTRYWAY. Sometimes I stand at the top of the stairs and lean over the banister, and I just soak up the beautiful feeling that I get staring at all that space! It makes it feel like a real house.

Even though this is a two-bedroom place just like our apartment in California, we have much more space thanks to several actual closets and a garage. Todd even constructed shelves in one closet to make it into our very first linen closet!

We also have CENTRAL AIR (ooh la la), as well as
a heater that actually works! I am so grateful for genuine temperature control!


After six years of quarter-driven communal laundry rooms, I am pleased to announce that we have finally bought our own washer and dryer. We'll see how long it lasts, but for now, doing laundry is actually exciting. We've only hit one day where we had to say, "I'm wearing my last set of underwear - we'd better do laundry today." It actually gets done before that point now!


When Todd and I first got married, a neighbor gave us their old table (complete with wobbly leg and stained top). Since we didn't have any chairs, we got used to eating on the floor in the living room. Eventually, we bought folding chairs, but it always bothered me that we didn't have a nice table and chairs.

Here in Alabama, we've got a true-blue dining room with tile floor and everything. We finally bought a dinette set to grace our dining room - I love it! Now we actually eat at the table sometimes.


Our living room is big enough that we turned a section of it into the office - I love having the computer in the main area! I do miss the sage green wall we had in our living room in California, but I think I've found a good color synchrony here, too.

One whole wall is windows, and French doors leading to our backyard (ie. Todd's barbeque grill). There are a bunch of trees around here, and our backyard is sloped on a hill, so when we look out the window, all we see is nature - it's wonderful to look out and not look into the neighbor's window!


Check out our master bedroom. First of all, don't you love that duvet cover? I just got it, and now when I walk in the room, everything feels so soothing. Aah.

But there are additional features about our room that I love.
1. We have a walk-in closet!
2. There's a double-sink vanity right in the room, and a little room off to the side with the shower and toilet.
3. Do you see those French doors? They lead out to a DECK!

Todd and I love to take our camping chairs out onto the deck. We have picnics and read books out there. It's awesome!

So even when everything else about Alabama is discouraging, and I get really homesick for California, all I have to do is look around our townhouse and I come up with tons of reasons to be grateful. It is really nice to have a great place to come home to!

The Nickel Ride

2Nov 2007
Todd finally got a chance to go up in a helicopter and try out a little flying; it was his "Nickel ride" - ie first time up. It is a military tradition for a new pilot to give their instructor a nickel that is from their birth year to mark this milestone; hence the name.
We took a little video to document the experience.

Bowling, Part II

Tonight was the worst bowling night ever. Our whole team was in a rotten mood, and it stuck with us through all three games we played. I was super grumpy and didn't get a SINGLE spare or strike all night. :( Even Todd was doing badly.

One player in particular on the team playing opposite us drove me insane tonight, and was the source of a lot of my frustration. I know I own my own behavior, choices, reactions, etc, and I feel a little ridiculous that I let him have so much power over how much or little I enjoyed my bowling league experience today. Any advice on how to tune out negative vibes brought on by those around you?

A Little Craziness

Todd and I have a trillion excess boxes from our move here. Seriously, the movers fill those babies up with one-third belongings, two-thirds paper. Result: tons of boxes, tons of paper. We saved a lot of it for when we move again (in case we actually pack ourselves next time), but needed to get rid of the excess. Our garage was full of boxes, so much so that there wasn't enough room for our car! Every Thursday we'd put a couple of boxes out on the curb and hope the garbage men would be nice enough to take them with them - which they did. But two a week was just not fast enough for all we had. So we came up with a plan.

Across the street, there is a dumpster. Now, technically, our garbage does not belong there. But this was an extreme case! Todd and I waited until dark, then changed into dark clothing ourselves. Now, you need to know that these boxes are five feet tall, and are FILLED with paper and tape. So we had to make a couple of trips to the dumpster, because we could each only manage one box at a time.

It was so exciting to be devious that we sort of built characters as we went along, whispering in accents (me, British, Todd, Scottish). I even added a gait to my walk. The best part was when a car turned onto our street. Hearts pounding, we hid behind the dumpster, holding our breaths, imagining that "the coppers" had found us out. (By the way, our neighbor Ray would have been just as dangerous - he would have called the cops on us, too - so there WAS some real danger involved here, people!) We were exhilarated when we made it back home safely.
Just a little fun going on here!

Ladies Night

Well, I'm starting to feel my age, and I've begun to worry about losing the youthful glow on my face too soon (you know, in ten years or something). Because of this, I've decided I ought to use a daily facial moisturizer.

I've never been interested in wearing much makeup, so when I found myself staring at hundreds of moisturizer choices on the isle at Walmart, I was super overwhelmed. Which to choose? What kind is right for me? They all seemed to call to women thirty years older than me. What do I use NOW?

I asked my friends Rebekah and Jenny about this, and they were amazed at my naivety. Apparently I've been destroying my face using salicylic acid for my acne all these years. We decided I needed a major woman intervention program, and ended up having a Spa Day at my place yesterday.

We steamed our faces over pots of rosemary water, applied honey and oatmeal face masks, as well as egg yolk masks. We also exfoliated our lips, and gave our hands some incredible moisturizing.

But at the end of the day, my question still remains: what product is best for a 20-something girl with normal to oily skin? So I'm reaching out to all of you now - what do you use, what do you suggest I should use, where do I go from here?

All About Me Survey

You know those emails your friends send out, telling what all their favorite things are, so you can get to know them better? Then you're supposed to answer the questions and send it back to them so they can learn more about you. Well, my friend Amy Naseath took it to the next level and filled one out on her blog. Then she - of course! - challenged everyone who read it to do the same on their blogs. Well, I think I've sent one of those surveys back twice in my entire life - once in high school, and once in college. But I couldn't resist this time, it seemed like such a fun blog idea! So here we go!

6 Favorites
Favorite Person: Todd Floyd
Favorite Color: Blue, any shade, although I most love to decorate in deep reds and sage greens.
Favorite Food: lasagna (also ice cream!)
Favorite Book: My old journals. I get a kick out of reading them. When I write, I am a drama queen! It's interesting to see how I've grown through my trials, and to piece together how choices I made affected opportunities I was given and led somehow down the trail that has become me today. It helps me keep my bearings about me, and gives me perspective for whatever my current situation happens to be at the time. I've always been a journal reader - I used to read my entries to my little sister Emily like it was a romance novel. Ha ha!
Favorite Animal: Cats, especially wild cats. I love leopards the most. A house cat hung out with me for a while this morning while I read on our deck. He was orange, and it was fun.
Favorite Movie Star: Denzel Washington. He's an incredible actor!

Currents
Current mood: Content. It's been a perfect Saturday.
Current Taste: Milky Way. Todd needed chocolate. Who was I to deny him???
Current Clothes: Pink t-shirt with silver stars across the front, jeans, thin black jacket (it's finally chilly here!)
Current Desktop Picture: Turquoise blue waves crashing against jagged black rocks. Todd risked his life to take this shot in Hawaii. We had it blown up and it hangs over our bed. It's very cool.
Currently Hearing: Todd whispering to himself. He's studying for a flight school test he's taking on Monday. He's got tons of info written on 3x5 cards that he's trying to memorize.
Current Refrigerator Items: Leftover chicken and broccoli rollups, milk, orange juice, beef stroganof sauce, old lettuce, about twenty water bottles, several dressings and barbeque sauces, soy sauce, uhh. . . Do you really want to know this?
Current Thoughts: Getting tired, but I'm plugging away at this while Todd studies. It's been a great day. I'm really blessed.

Firsts
First Best Friend: Christie Winder, lived across the street, met in kindergarten, had a random dream about her the other night, that she got engaged to a boy I knew in college, Brendan something-or-other. Very random, as I haven't seen or talked to either one in over a year.
First Pet: First and only, as it turns out. Third grade, we had a homework assignment to write about our pet for a week. I didn't have one. We drove to the pet store and got me the cheapest thing - a goldfish. It lived about a day longer than the week needed for the assignment.
First Crush: Nick Zackman AND Danny Fast, 3rd grade, Mrs. Robinson's class at Jim Bridger Elementary. All the girls loved both of these boys, as they were the first and second cutest boys in the class. They were also best friends. Once, they chased my shadow at recess. Ooooh!
First Date With Todd: October 10, 2003. We ate Panda Express Orange Chicken on a beanbag at the Provo Library while they showed the movie "Arsnic and Old Lace" with Carey Grant. Then we went to the BYU Homecoming Dance at Thanksgiving Point. There was a live jazz band playing (my top dream date criterion, actually). It was a great date.

Lasts
Last Drink: Water, from one of the many water bottles in my fridge
Last Television Show Seen: The Office - we had friends over to see it on Thursday and laughed and laughed. It's a new favorite for Todd and me.
Last Phone Call: Activated a Visa gift card so I could use it to purchase something online

Have you ever?
Dated one of your best friends? Yep.
Broken the law? Yes, but usually by accident.
Been arrested? Nope, let's keep it that way!
Skinny dipped? In the bathtub, yes.

Things
Things you've done today: Drove to a Farmer's Market which turned out not to be happening. They had a sign up saying they were open on Saturdays until 10:30; it was 9:30 and there was not a table in sight.
Cleaned the bathrooms - not my favorite thing, but it was satisfying.
Watched clips of "The Office" on youtube.
Ordered a duvet cover set and a bathmat online - yay!
Went to a Fall Festival that turned out to be a Methodist Church Halloween celebration. Had my face painted, "chunked" a rubber chicken to see how far it would fly, enjoyed a dinner of sloppy joes (they explained to me what it was in case I didn't know - apparently they think they only exist in the South), French fries, salad, and brownie sundaes. Didn't get invited to church, but our friend Troy Wykle did seven times. Helped Todd study.
Things you can't live without: Todd, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a daily shower, toilets that flush, Ibuprofen at That Time of the Month, water bottles at my disposal, a room without ticking clocks when it's time for bed, my family.

One Thing You Want to Do Before You Die
Have kids.
Can I also say, go to Italy with Todd. I've always wanted to go to Italy.

This turned out to be rather long! I hope it was interesting for you. It was fun to write, but I think Todd's crawled into bed to catch his REM and I'm feeling guilty that I'm still down here. Goodnight!

Hunter and the Deer Game

Todd and I taught our friends Troy and Rebekah a new game on Friday night. It is called

"The Hunter and the Deer."

It is a Bonner Family Favorite that is played during just about any large family gathering: Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. It was so delightful to play that I thought I would inform my readers of the rules, so that you may, if you wish, add it to your family repertoire of games.

Number of Players:
Two at a time, but having a large audience truly adds to the enjoyment
(everyone rotates through the positions)


Setup:
1. Find a large piece of furniture that the players can walk completely around (you may have to move things around). This can be a couch or a table, for example.
2. Blindfold both players.
3. One player is designated the Hunter, the other player becomes the Deer.


Play:
Everyone in the room must be SILENT. The hunter then circles the table trying to grab the deer, while the deer tries to avoid getting caught!


Rules:
1. Maintain contact with the table/couch at all times.
2. No going under or over the table.
3. Hunter must GRAB the deer - touching is not enough.


For those of you who are visual learners, we have included a sample video of Todd and me playing. Todd is the Hunter, I am the Deer. Enjoy!




DISCLAIMER:
Those with a weak heart shouldn't play; the anticipation of being chased could kill you!

A Culinary Masterpiece

Tonight's dinner was a wild success:

Orange Beef Stif-Fry.

Apparently, Todd didn't quite get his fill of the fabulous flavor: he licked the pan clean!

If you're interested in creating a similar reaction with your family members, try it out! Click here for the recipe.

Sweet Moves!

Girls like guys who have SKILLS!!! Bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills, and .....Mexican hat-dancing skills.

.

A Friend at the Door

Last night I was shutting the blinds on the French doors in our living room, and found myself face to face with a little tree frog. He was just hanging out on the glass.
We brought him inside and gave him his very first photo shoot.

Joining the League

Todd and I have been looking for ways to keep busy out here, and found a great solution.

We joined a bowling league!

It's true, we did. Tuesday night is bowling night. We're having a great time chucking that roller down the lane. And every week they hold a raffle. The winner gets a customized bowling ball. Keep your fingers crossed for us! What should mine look like if I win? Leopard print?

And, not to brag of anything, but last night Todd bowled his highest score of all time - 202.
If you don't believe me, check out the picture. Of course we had to document it! Ha ha!

Gator Huntin'

Yesterday was just your typical lazy Saturday afternoon, until our new friends Troy and Rebekah called and asked us if we wanted to hang out. We threw around a few ideas of things we could do, and settled on. . .

Gator Huntin'!

There have been rumors swirling among the soldiers that there is an alligator in a lake on base, namely Lake Eck, and that it sometimes comes out if you bait it with hot dogs. We set out to find out if the rumors were true.

We already had Ballpark Franks in our freezer, but I wouldn't let Todd waste such a delicacy on a wild goose chase. So we headed down to the commissary, grabbed some Bar S doggies out of the lunchmeat isle, and took off for the hunt.

Little did we know that we should have grabbed more than one package.

As we pulled up at the lake, I couldn't believe it- there was the alligator, right before our eyes! We jumped out of the car, and I grabbed the camera, but by the time I had unzipped the camera case, the others had realized that what we saw was actually just a log. Classic!

Alright, so it wasn't going to be quite as easy as we planned. We started to circle the lake on foot, watching for ripples in the water, movement, or any other clues. Half an hour later, we were resting on a bench in the shade. By this time, I had been stung three times by ferocious ants, my shirt was stuck to my back from the heat, and we were all trying not to be too disappointed that we weren't going to see an alligator after all.

Who was going to eat all those Bar S hotdogs? I wondered to myself. Not me!

We all stood up, consigned to the fact that we were going to go home without a sighting, when lo and behold . . .

Did we find a gator that day?
Maybe we did, maybe we didn't.
To find out the answer, click on the video Todd made today.

We've got company!

Todd and I came home from a hot date to the movies last night (The Bourne Ultimatum - very cool). We came into the kitchen and flipped on the light, and VOILA! A new friend was on the floor, just waiting to play with us!

I jumped up on the counter, screaming, as Todd stepped into action (more like, stepped ON the action). Cockroach guts went spewing all over the kitchen floor! Todd was ready and willing to wipe them all up, but I insisted that we document this guy on the camera before the clean-up crew swept through.

My hope is that we won't see too many more of these guys, but Todd is trying to convince me that cockroaches will just be "a way of life while we're out here, and we've got to get used to it." He's so tough! He's also excited to make his way to the store to buy bug killing spray, so he can reinforce our doorways and such. Don't worry guys, he's on it.

The Confederacy is Still Alive!

Yep, folks, that is a Confederate flag raised and flying in that front yard. Todd and I were driving along the highway here in beautiful Alabama, and as we zoomed past this house, I said, "Did I just see that for real?!" Needless to say, we flipped a U-ey and parked across the street. I couldn't miss my opportunity to document this treasure of the South.

Last week, Todd and I visited Montgomery, Alabama, a mere hour and a half away. For those of you who may not know, Montgomery housed the Confederate Presidency back in the Civil War days. We set out on a mission to discover just how serious these Southerners are about the Confederacy, and came up with some good stuff.

We saw the first White House of the Confederacy. Yep, home of the one and only Jefferson Davis himself. I was expecting something with a little more grandeur, you know, DC style. But as it turns out, JD and his family lived here, but he worked at the capital building across the street, which is much more elaborate.

At the capital, there is a huge monument dedicated to the Confederacy. It displays different Confederate flags that were designed over time, and has a cornerstone laid by Jefferson Davis. Pretty sweet!

You may know that Montgomery was also deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. It was here that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus. Martin Luther King Jr. lived and preached here. There is a Civil Rights Center which, unfortunately, closed just minutes before Todd and I got there.

This monument was outside the Center. I loved it. It is made of stone and the reason it looks a little glossy is because there is running water coursing down the entire thing. The quote is from Martin Luther King Jr. He paraphrased scripture, referring to the Civil Rights Movement and their need to continue to work on equal rights despite hardship,

" ...until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a moving stone..."

The circular slab lists dates and events of the Civil Rights Movement and also has water coming up through the center and coursing over the edges. The entire monument was very profound.

My first blog post ever

Hi y'all!

The accents are thick, the bugs are huge, and the humidity is sweltering.

Todd and I have now moved to the booming metropolis of Enterprise, Alabama, and feel a little bit like we've entered a foreign country. It takes at least two hours to drive to any place you've heard of before, and we sourly predict that we will have few -if any- visitors while we're here. And so I have taken it upon myself to create this blog so that you can get a little taste of what we've got going on here.

Take a look at some of the creatures we are sharing our yard with.

This one might be a cricket??? We were walking towards our front door when we couldn't help but see it, perched near our porch light. I said, "Todd, grab the camera! This guy is huge!" We think this guy might be one of the bugs we hear singing at night.

This gecko definitely ought to be paying us rent. We see him in our front and back yards almost daily. He might actually be a chameleon, because he's been a few different colors at different times, but he is always around. Todd chased him around our backyard today. Not sure why. . . .