May Happenings

Jared and I have been very busy these last couple of months. Well, we may not have been THAT busy, but it sure has felt like that to us.

Jared has been flying on a regular basis (if the plane isn't broken!) and has been out of town quite frequently since I last posted. I have been busy with work and bowling on Thursday's with my awesome bowling league Pin Pals. My parent's were able to come out for a quick visit in April and Jared and I were able to show them just what small town living is like in Oak Harbor. We hiked down by the Deception Pass bridge, drove past the tulip fields during the Tulip Festival, and walked around downtown Seattle. It was nice to have family come visit and see where we are now, but man... they sure did wear us out with all that walking! :)

As we head into the months with warmer weather and much later sunsets, this is the season for Dining Out, Change of Command, and all the festivities that go along with the changing of the tides in VP-40. Last weekend Jared and I attended Dining Out at the Tulalip Resort and Casino about an hour south of Oak Harbor. The hotel is amazing and quite luxurious for being practically in the middle of nowhere! It was nice getting all fancied up and seeing Jared in his dress blacks? (I am pretty sure that isn't what you call them). We had a lot of fun at the casino after the formal dinner ended, but to be brutally honest... I HATE Dining Outs all together! What fun is it to be all dressed up, eating food that isn't all the great (Okay, maybe it was great for other people but not this grown up with the taste buds of a really sheltered 5 year old!), and listening to jokes that aren't all the funny. It is also not very fun to see tons of guys get trashed and having to ask Jared every 5 minutes, why is this part of the night funny? Here is some advice for next year, leave your inside jokes and your stupid antics at home! I will now step off my pedestal :)

My next grand adventure will be heading to Virginia for an awesome AWESOME person's wedding. My college friend SUSAN is getting married and I cannot be happier for her! I am so excited for the wedding and am honored to be able to attend. The best part is, JARED GETS TO COME TO THE WEDDING WITH ME! The other best part is that I get to wear my watermelon colored dress WITH POCKETS again!!!! YAYAYAYAYA! I really am excited about this dress if you can't tell. Jared and I are on different flights into Virginia and will get a few hours sleep before heading to NOVA to get the wedding festivities started. I haven't seen my college friends in YEARS and cannot wait to catch up on everyone's lives. I guess I will just listen to all their big time jobs because I like to hop from job to job about every year, I can't help it... it's in my blood :) I am also excited because I get to see my nephew who will be 2 in June and he gets to open his birthday present early since I won't be there for the party. Jared and I got him a Balance Bike and it is the cutest thing ever!

Jared and I have been married for almost 4 years. In those 4 years we have acknowledged that we do not work well on projects together and haven't really completed anything together, much yet using power tools, ever... until a few weeks ago. I truly believe that Jared and I have reached a milestone in our marriage. The project that we completed involved power tools, hammers, nails, measuring, remeasuring, and only took us a few hours. We removed the large platform that you stood on at the top of our patio steps and made it a smaller platform so the steps don't take up half the patio anymore. (Everyone have that visual? Made a large area small.) We worked very well together! We shared ideas, we gave constructive criticism, we helped, we handed, we COMPLETED THE PROJECT TOGETHER! Maybe you don't see this as something terrific, but I do. It was amazing! I was and still am very proud of ourselves and what we not only accomplished on the patio, but in our marriage. (We then went out and spent some money and bought a firepit and patio chairs to kind of congratulate ourselves on a job well done, now that we can use the larger patio area!)

The weather is starting to get warm and the days are getting longer. Everyone is welcome to stop by anytime to enjoy the wonderful Whidbey summer! Let me know when you are coming, our guest bed is waiting for you!