In Iraq Again

Well, I am back in Iraq again. It has been 3 days short of 3 months. The trip over wasn't to bad, it was the same just about the same as last time...just with different people and a few of the same. I have run into a few people that I knew from my ATC school. It was nice to catch up and see how everybody has been over the past few years.
As far as for where I am stationed.... It is a whole lot different than Balad! I am liking it here though, it is small and quiet for the most part. I am enjoying working in the tower. I am getting some good experience talking to pilots and controlling aircraft.
Luckily I also got to see Randy in the beginning of December so that was wonderful. (I will attach a picture later.) I flew up there and got to see him for 2 1/2 days. We didn't do much but watch movies and just spend time together. I got to spend some time with him at work and he got rated in his facility while I was there. I am so proud of him! I am still holding to the belief that I am smarter than him but he still doesn't believe me. Oh well, I guess I have the rest of my life to convince him.
That is about it from here for now. I will update the blog soon with pictures. I hope that everybody is doing well and happy and healthy this Holiday Season! I want to say thank you to everybody who has been sending me boxes, cards, letters, and emails. It is so helpful to have all of that stuff while I am out here and everybody who I give the extra to is very grateful. I miss all of you and can't wait to see you when I get home.

The Best Kiss Ever

Hello Everybody! I know, I know, it has taken me forever to write for the past few months. My goal is to get caught up by this weekend. Well, the first thing I have to talk about is pretty exciting.

I GOT MARRIED!!! Yes, that may come as a shock to some of you whom I haven't talked to for a while. I got married on the 30th of June to my Randy. It wasn't anything elaborate but it was perfect for us. There were only a few people there. My mom, my boss and his family (the same one whose dogs I watched a few months ago), and my roommate Elizabeth. Randy and I got to spend some time together before he left to go back home. I met my in-laws for the first time also. They are very nice people and I had a great time.

We decided that we would also take a few days and spend some time together with just the two of us. We stayed at the Hilton in Austin. Now let me tell you, this hotel was beautiful. We had room service, we both got our first full body massages ever, and sat down and had a really nice dinner in the hotel restaurant. And yes Dad, I had Cabernet Sauvignon ($10 a glass) but it was a very good wine. I even got a free glass when we went the lounge upstairs. We had a little time on Saturday so by request from my wonderful new husband we went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. I do suggest that you go and see the movie once it comes out, it was action packed.

This was our first kiss as husband and wife! Randy is a wonderful man and I would not trade him for anything in the world. I love him so much! I hope that after the next year and a half or so that we will finally be able to live in the same place. I really can't wait to be able to wake up next to him every morning and he doesn't steal the covers. That is about it for this post. Coming up next: Brian and Megan's trip to visit me + pictures from San Antonio!

I Will Catch Up

Hey Everybody! I know it has been a long time since I last wrote anything in my blog but it has been a busy couple of months. I will do my best to get some updates and pictures on the site in the next week or so. I hope that everybody is happy and healthy!

Dog Sitting

Hello Everybody! I wanted to show you pictures of the dogs that I am babysitting. I say babysitting because they are very very big babies! The poodle's name is Niles, he is a lot of fun and loves the water! The schnauzer Stormy a.k.a. Toby's Half Brother is, well, a lot like Toby. He is very protective of me and has a lot of the same characteristics that Toby does. Both dogs have been really good and we even went to Petsmart and on a few walks. It is funny because they will run around the house and play with each other like Faith and Toby do. (Those are my moms dogs if you didn't know.) I can't wait to have my own house with lots of 'puppies'.




Stormy










Niles









Stormy & Niles

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

This is where our Friday started!! This was both mine and Randy's first trip to Six Flags and Randy's first time on a "real" rollercoaster. Apparently the one that I took him on before wasn't a "real" rollercoaster because it wasn't big enough. So, we went on some big ones! He definitely got a little "thrilled' later on in the day! I wasn't at all "thrilled" though because I am a daredevil! Oh yeah, I think the date stamp on my camera was a little off! The real date was 05/26/06.






The first ride of the day was the Superman:Tower of Power. We started off slowly so that we could warm up into the larger rollercoasters.





We then went on a couple more coasters, even one that was completely in the dark. We both liked that one. You could not tell when there was going to be a turn or a drop, it was awesome! My mom would love it! Just kidding mom. :-)

This was us waiting to go on Spongebob Squarepants 4-D the Ride. It was a fun virtual reality ride. "I was scared like a little baby girl!" said Randy in between sobs. Nice shades!!









We even saw the King himself, Elvis Presley! Fun Factoid: I was born in the same town as Elvis, Tupelo, Mississippi.






The yellow and blue coaster is Batman the Ride and the light blue ride in the backround is the Mr. Freeze. Both Randy and I decided that the Batman was our favorite coaster. The Mr. Freeze was probably one of the shortest rides. Here are a few facts about the rides. Batman: The Ride- 109 feet 6 inches high, 2700 FT long, 50 MPH, and many many loops.
Mr. Freeze- 238 FT high, 1480 feet long, 70 MPH in 3.7 seconds, and worth the wait.









We even got to hang out with some of the Warner Brothers characters. I can't tell if the character is the one in the orange shirt or the rooster?! I stuck with bugs. We also say Sylvester and Daffy! I tried to get Randy to get pictures with Wonderwoman but he said, "No, I don't want to make her look bad." (Okay, so maybe that was a little bit exagerated on my part.)



We went on the Texas Giant which was a huge wooden rollercoaster, that has been repeatedly named the #1 wooden rollercoaster in the world. It was fun buy jerked you around a lot and wasn't a very smooth ride. We also went on the first ride that was ever at Six Flags Over Texas Theme Park. It was a nice calm rollercoaster with rolling hills. We went on another ride that took you straight up as if you were in an elevator and then dropped you straight down, short but what a rush. We also went on Yosemite Sam's Gold Rush Adventure (or something like that). It was like a Small World but with guns, gold, the roadrunner, and of course the wiley coyote. We went on a few more rides but that is enough explaining...ON TO THE FINALE!!!

TITAN

Height of First Drop: 255 Feet Length of Track: 5,312 Feet (over one mile)
Top Speed: 85 MPH Duration of Ride: 3.5 Minutes
Fun Facts: 120 Foot Underground Tunnel, total steel used to build Titan would build 16,000 cars, enough electrical cable to wire 40 homes, approximately 45,000 bolts used, and 175 sensors monitor the trains at all times.
*all technical info about coasters was found on the Six Flags website

Now knowing all that...who wouldn't want to ride?!

Of course this is only part of the rollercoaster but that huge climb you see was what started the ride. It was a blast!!!

All in all it was a great day; hot, thrilling, and death defying...what more could you ask for?

Forgiveness

Hello Everybody! Many of you know the hot stud muffin in this picture with me or at least know of him. Randy and I have been talking again since February. It would be an understatement to say that he and I have been through a lot together. We have both learned a lot about each other and our friendship has really matured. Over the past few months I have gotten to see Randy a few times and spend some quality time with him. He and I went to Panama City for 3 days and had a great time! We went para sailing, jet skiing, swimming in the ocean, go-kart racing (twice), and sat down at the outdoor bar for a couple of drinks and watched all the spring breakers. I even got him to dance with me for awhile! We spent a lot of time talking and basically just enjoying each others company. He will be in Texas with me for a couple of days. We are going to go to Six Flags! My first time ever and his first time going on a BIG rollercoaster. Don't worry, I will make sure and let you all know about his little adventures and thrills. Maybe I will even get some pictures! We have been having a great time so far and we are both looking forward to a great weekend!

Just Another Adventure

Hello Everybody! I just wanted to give you all a little update on what is going on with me leaving to Iraq. I will be in the Baghdad area sometime during the end of the summer to early fall. I will keep you all updated and let you know of anymore updates or details as they come. I hope that everybody is doing well and looking forward to their long weekend, I know I am.

Also...to all of those who are going to start worrying already about me leaving. I know that it is hard but don't worry, I will be there and back in no time! I will stay in contact while I am gone. You are all very special to me and I love you all very much. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement over the years. I will blog again soon about what else is going on with me so check in soon!

I Hit My Bunny Phone

Well, what can I say...trying to figure out how to change the template on my blog has exhausted me. I am not giving up though, I will figure it out...one of these days. Plus I have called my sister in law and she has helped me to start figuring things out! (I have never had a sister, I guess it wouldn't have been so bad.) I have been looking at other people's blogs trying to figure out what to put in my first 'real' post but I have realized that I can put pretty much write anything that I want!

I guess I will start with a little bit of what has been going on with me. I have been in class for the past five weeks for some training on a couple pieces of equipment for my job. (Air Traffic Control) It has been fun and I have learned quite a bit.

Sometime in May or June I will be going to the soldier of the month board and two months after that I should hopefully be going to the promotion board. All of this is just Army stuff and there is a whole lot more involved when it comes to getting promoted but going to the board is the main thing that has to happen before I get promoted. I have to take a PT test, qualify on my weapon, do Army correspondence courses (1000 hours of them), and turn in my civilian education for promotion points. So, no big deal...I will get all of that done also.

This is just a picture of me in Iraq. I figured that since I was talking about Army stuff I would put a picture in to go along with it.






To explain the address of my blog I will have to say that it came from my Dad. Everyday when he would drop me off at school he would ask me, "Question or Believe?" Many times I have chose to question. Needless to say this has gotten me into a few discussions and arguments but has also helped me to learn a lot about a great variety of subjects. So, thank you Dad! See I did listen to you when I was growing up! (And oh yeah, your birthday present will be mailed no later than Tuesday of next week. :-)


This is a picture that I took when I was in Seattle on leave. I was experimenting with the night time option on my camera. What do you think?

Also, can you figure out the title of this post? It is a spoonerism!

My Experiment

So...I realized that I enjoyed reading about the adventures of my brother, sister-in-law, and my new extended family (even though we have never met) so much that I would start my own blog. So, here it goes...I am going to give this whole blogging thing a shot.

This is a picture of the flag that is flown on one of the army ships that I toured. Just thought it would be a good start to my blog!