Our First Air Show .... Offutt Air Force Base

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to our very first USAF Air Show! What a thrill it was to be part of this great day! Mark's coworker Don (who's wife is on the committee) gave us VIP tickets which made it possible for us to park on base close to the entrance and sit under the big tent! The tent was great because it provided us with much needed shade, chairs and all you can eat and drink for free! Love that we did not have to drag chairs and buy water that ran $5.00 a bottle! So much fun and of course we all had a great time seeing and hearing the planes. We even got to tour some of the big and small planes. Here are some of the pictures from the day! PS - I should mention this is an ALL day event ... front 9 to 4 pm ... and of course we had to stay to the end to hear and see those F -15's start up and fly over. The air show is also redone on Sunday. After church we came home to see the planes flying over ... we did have a pretty good view from our deck but, of course it was nothing like being there! There is an announcer that is going all day long that tells you who is coming and who is jumping out of the planes, etc. Overall a long day but, lots of fun!

F - 15's ... VERY LOUD!!! Thank heavens for ear plugs.

Cockpit of B-1 Bone - Only four men on this plane.

Pilot of B-1 Bone ... he has made MANY trip to Afghanistan!!

B 2 Spirit - Stealth Bomber

C - 17 - HUGE! Lots of Cargo

Time To Move Again ...

July came and we quickly realized that it was going to be time for our family to move once again. Mark got official word that his start date was August 1st. We quickly bought airline tickets for all three of us to fly to Omaha in search of housing and to see the area. Max flew out with us and G & G Tippets drove over from Wyoming to meet us for a few days. It was a whirlwind of a trip but we were successful in finding a home to rent for the next year. The area is very green and we were surprised to see how many trees and hills there are in this area. While we are surrounded by corn fields .... we are also surrounded by very nice neighbors. We have been able to meet several neighbors and we could not have picked a better street to live on for Max! He is absolutely in love with playing outside in the yard and with the neighbors. Kids all around sure make playing outside a ball!

After less than a week in the area, we flew back to Virginia and Max drove back to Wyoming to spend the next four weeks with G & G Tippets while we got moved. Thank heavens Max has such great grandparents who love him so much and are willing to keep up with him 24/7. When we got back, I had to give my two week notice and Mark packed up the things he would be needing for the next 3 weeks. Mark drove the truck out and stayed in a local extended stay hotel while he started work. I was left to finish the packing of the apartment, coordinate the move with NAVL, the storage units, check out of the apartment and drive across country! No problem! Again, thankful that I was only worrying about myself to do all this and not try to keep up with Max during all this.

When all is said and done .... and a lot of sweating ... our move is finally complete and we are unpacked and loving our hew home. Max arrived the day I did, by plane, with mom and dad and we were all here during the truck unloading. It's hard to beat these fun opportunities but, we are glad to be rid of four storage units and to have all our things and family in one place!

Daddy's Home Hooray & His New Sleigh!

Mark arrived home to the states and we were able to pick him up out in Winchester on Thursday, June 16th. Max and I were so excited to load up dad's new truck and take it for a drive! When we arrived at the hotel to pick him up we had very exciting news to tell dad! Not only were we driving his new truck, happy to see him ... but, there was a job offer in his email from the Air Force at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, NE! With a tentative job offer in hand, we also drove directly from Winchester down to Roanoke, VA for another job interview with VDOT on Friday the 17th! We were all so excited we could hardly contain ourselves. We also had a phone interview on Friday after his interview with VDOT for a job in Texas with Air Traffic Control. Three great job opportunities all within 48 hours of Mark landing on US soil. I know prayers are answered! So much hard work had gone in to applying for so many jobs (thanks to Grandpa Tippets) along with Mark's experience and so many people praying for us. We were truly seeing the blessings. After all the consideration and interviews, Mark accepted and finished doing all that he had to do for the job in Bellevue, Nebraska! Before we knew it, Mark had a start date of August 1, 2011! What a miracle!

Here is Mark and Max checking out the new truck! By the way .... mom did an AWESOME job finding and buying the DREAM truck for Mark! After nearly two years in Afghanistan ... this man deserves his a new truck! Welcome home honey!

Possible Fire!

About two weeks ago right after my parents got here for a little vacation .... we were sitting down to dinner and we heard firetrucks coming down the street in front of our neighborhood. Seems as though the sirens were getting louder and louder ... so I got up to see where they were headed. Turns out they pulled in to our complex and stopped at OUR building! Mom ran out the door to see smoke coming from an apartment vent below us. OK - so now what to grab and go. In the meanwhile I see the firemen coming up our stairs with ax in hand and I say, I'm sure you want us out. He says, no at this point stay in your apartment. What? Really? Now Max has full blown curiosity, I'm starting to have nightmares from 11 years ago, and mom and dad are wondering which pictures to grab off the wall, which files along with grabbing what we can while we have a minute to "wait in our apartment". I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures as quick as possible and hauled out of the house with Max, purse & camera. Turns out the smoke was coming from our neighbors dryer vent and there really was a lot of smoke coming out and someone in the complex saw it and called 911. Firemen got in to the apartment (no one was home) and investigated the dryer. It appeared ok and cleared everyone to go back in. But, there was 5 fire trucks and several "management" looking trucks that all came. Since this night, dad found out that about 4 or 5 years ago, there was a building in our complex that burned down (great.....) and I'm sure when they hear apartment complex, the calvary does come! Thankfully, nothing more happened and we were able to return to our apartment.

And Time Goes By ....

The last couple of months we:

Gave Thanks for freedom, family & food with good friends.

Celebrated Christmas WITH Mark home

Celebrated our 8th Anniversary TOGETHER

We are getting ready to:

Celebrate Maxs' 5th birthday

Celebrate Justins' 14th birthday

Have a visit from Grandpa & Grandma Tippets

Celebrate Spring with warm weather

I'm Thankful For ...

This past monday night we had a family home evening lesson on "I'm Thankful For" with Grandma & Grandpa Tippets. We wrote down various things we were thankful for, taped them to leaves and placed them all around our fireplace. We taught Max that when we say our prayers, sometimes, we can just tell Heavenly Father everything that we are grateful for and not ask for any blessings. We went through lots and lots of blessings, from toys, indoor plumbing, family, gospel, airplanes, swimming pools, good health, etc.

Tonight after work, Max and I went to Michaels to get a couple of things for our wards trunk or treat party tomorrow night. While there, somehow Max convinced me to get him a new light sabor for halloween. Tonight while saying his prayers, Max told Heavenly Father, thank you for the "best light sabor in his entire life!" I had to hold back a little chuckle but, at least he is getting the concept for thankfulness and gratitude.

Here are some of our "fall thankful" leaves.

Oh So Long ... Again!

My blogging days may be coming to an end. I seem to run out of energy or time pretty early these days ... then I feel guilty! Ughh.

Our life has taken us back to Alexandria, Virginia and I started work full time at the end of September. I left Wyoming back on Labor Day and drove across the country by myself leaving Max with mom and dad Tippets. The drive was not bad ... the start of 4 weeks of setting our life back up. I listened to books on CD and the time really went quickly. I stopped in Ohio for a day and a half to visit with Scott, Angela and the kids. I had fun helping Angela with Scentsy then later that night we all went to watch Makenah in the marching band at her high school football game.

Once I arrived in the Virginia, my priority was to find us a place to live. I wanted to come back to Kingstowne since I would be close to the metro and I still have friends in this area who could help me with Max if necessary. I found us a great little apartment and then a few days later, I found a great school for Max to go to. The school opens up at 6:30 am and closes at 6:30 pm. They feed him breakfast, snack, lunch and an afternoon snack. He is learning Spanish, making new friends and enjoying his new routine. Once I secured our new apartment, next came the moving and storage units. Thanks to three wonderful men from Winchester, we were able to load a 17' U-haul truck COMPLETELY full and get it all moved to the 3rd floor. I was grateful that none of us passed out or had a heart attack that day but, I'm SURE we all lost 10 lbs that day! Multiple trips back and forth to Winchester and finally our apartment was starting to feel like home. (Note: we still have 4 storage units!) Three walls painted, pictures hung, curtains up and food in the cupboards ... all ready for Max & G&G Tippets to fly out!

I was soo excited to have family come! They arrived at Dulles airport around 12 midnight which made for a very short night. My alarm goes off around 5:15 am and I'm on the metro by 7 am. Early and long days .... makes bedtime an early welcome!

Mark continues his work in Afghanistan and has both good & bad days. His co-workers are getting ready to turn-over once again. His first commander from a year ago is coming back by the end of the month and will be there with him until next summer. Mark is excited to have him coming back and really enjoyed working with him. In the mean while, we are still trying hard to find him a full time job here in the states. Hopefully, we can find him something soon ... even if it means coming home early.

Mom and dad Tippets went on a cruise to New England and enjoyed some wonderful fall foliage. After their cruise they came back to Virginia and we celebrated dad's 73rd birthday. We had a wonderful pumpkin pie from Costco and enjoyed it ALL weekend. They are now back in Utah and of course we are missing them.

Life is running at a fast pace. Max is 4 1/2 years old and learning SOO much. He has an incredible memory and wants to know so much information. Every night he asks me to tell him a story about Heavenly Father, Jesus & the Holy Ghost. Then recently he will ask me to tell him about when Jesus died on the cross. He is so curious and learns so well. I am so proud of him and I'm so glad he is here with me. I'm sure I could not be getting through these days without him. We miss Mark terribly and count the months until he is home again.

August R&R ... Good News!

We had a quick trip back to Virginia to spend 10 days with him while he was doing his medical tests for his 9 month extension. While we were there we got to visit with many friends, go to the national zoo, go to a water park, visit our storage units, play a competitive game of Risk, visit with Justin, go swimming at our hotels, visit the Natural History Museum, eat Godiva chocolate, visit Tyson Corner mall, ride the metro, oh .... and visit the FBI building in downtown DC! In fact, during our trip to the FBI office building ... I had a job interview and was hired! What a surprising week for all of us!

My new career with the FBI will begin at the end of September and I can hardly wait! I will be SOO busy in the next four weeks as I will start my drive back out to Virginia, find us a place to live, line up pre-school, go through storage units and set up our home! Max will hang out with Grandpa & Grandma for a few weeks until I can get ready for him to come out. Mark is working his way back to base and will work for another 9 months if all goes well with his tour orders. While we are sad to say good-bye once again, we are planning to see him for Christmas or early January depending on his schedule.

We got to see ..... Lions at the National Zoo...

Dinsosaur bones ... Max inside the head

Maxs' favorite Old Testament story ... Daniel & Lions Den ... he was so excited to these guys!

Eating pizza with Justin at California Pizza Kitchen ....

Mark & Max at Chili's ... eating out for 11 days total does get a little old!

Swimming! We did lots of swimming at our hotels & at Water Mine, a park in Reston.

Lots of fun in our hotel room and lots of great cuddle time with dad!

Max & Mark enjoying lots of loves!

Lincoln County Fair - Best of Show!

Last week we went over to Afton for the Lincoln County Fair. The fair lasts all week long with so many things to see and do! Each city has a "booth" that members of the community can enter various items in to be judged. Everything from blankets, quilts, weavings, vegetables, flowers, food of every kind, photography, etc. Dad entered his Wyoming Cowboy lap blanket and won blue ribbon along with Best of Show! We spent plenty of money on rides and later that night we went to the horse pull competition. This was a first for both me & Max. There were three categories of horses, light weight, medium & heavy weight. The horses started out pulling 3000 lbs and then after each group of horses completed that weight another 500 or 1000 lbs were added. The heavy weight horses pulled over 7000 lbs of weight! It was amazing to see these horses hard at work .... and for what? The owners of the horses received a belt buckle ... but dad says the real reward is the bragging rights for the next year! Here are some pictures from our day at the fair.

Horse pull - the horses pull a sleigh full of the weights

placed by the local high school wrestling team.

These horses are warming up.
So Max could not ride the ferris wheel by himself, so mom climbed on too!

Merry go' round.

The train ... Max had a blast! He rode it 4 times!

They had a live animal area - some could be petted - some not!

Turtles & lizard - max did touch both.

Alligator

And last but not least ... BEST OF SHOW!

Congrat's Grandpa Tippets!

This blanket (along with all of dad's creations) are done on sticks. Check out his new blog site that he is getting up & running! Western Weaver

Oh Where Have We Been?

We have been pretty busy this summer and these photo's take you through June & July 2010. We had a great visit with Mark in May with his family and of course the time went too fast. After Mark left to go back to Afghanistan, Max and I headed north to Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming with mom & dad Tippets. These are in reverse order but here is a recap of our adventures this summer thus far!

Max swimming in SLC at our hotel ...

anytime there is swimming available, Max will be there!

Max with cousins Jatae & Nakiya at the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU Provo.

Childrens Rodeo - Thayne, Wyoming (Max did not ride the sheep or calf's!)

Max & Grandpa Tippets cutting the lawn at Star Valley Ranch, WY.

Last night dinner at Lake Keuka, NY - celebrating Grandpa

& Grandma Tippets 50th Wedding Anniversary ...

Lake Keuka, NY - We all went for a ride on the raft!

Water balloons with cousins in Lake Keuka, NY!

Soooo tired! Lake Keuka rental house.

Helping Grandma with rice krispie treats - NY.

Grandpa & Grandma Tippets with all their grand kids

Sacred Grove, Palmyra, NY

Max waiting and waiting for cousins to arrive

... finally fell asleep at 11:20 pm!

First night in NY at our crazy HOT hotel!

Grandma Bridges & Max at Palisades Reservoir.

Grandpa Bridges, Uncle Garrett & cousins at Palisades Reservoir

July 4th Celebration!

July 3rd at Star Valley Ranch - kids games!

Star Valley Ranch - Max & Grandpa Tippets

The day after the big fall on the deck stairs - NO broken jaw but,

Max did not eat for 24 hours, x-rays, bloody mouth, pain ... not fun!

Fathers Day - June 2010 - SVR, Wyoming

Pocatello, Idaho - Visiting Heather & Curtis Sandy

Local Community Pool

Montpelier, Idaho ... on our way to SVR, Wyoming

Bryce National Park, Utah - early June 2010