Congrats to CJ and Amber!

Amber and CJ were married Saturday, Jan. 14, in Tyler, TX. Some pictures from the weekend's events...

Travel Woes

Mike's brother, CJ and his fiance, Amber are getting married in Tyler, TX this weekend. I planned to go early to attend the bachelorette party on Thursday night. Due to work, Mike wouldn't be able to come until very late Friday night, unfortunately missing the rehearsal dinner. He was in "the field" this week. Or, in other words, completely unavailable. No communication, what-so-ever.

Here's how the saga unfolds...

THURSDAY
8:45 a.m. - Bags packed, ready to go. Sommer picks Junah and me up at my apartment. We set off to Reagan National Airport in Washington for my 11:05 a.m. flight through Atlanta to Texas for my brother-in-law's wedding.

10 a.m. - Speak with unpleasant ticketing agent who informs me that due to fog, my flight is delayed. It's now scheduled to depart at 12:30 p.m. (Oh, did I mention I'm on standby?) Wish I could call Mike to tell him what's going on.

10:15 a.m. - So we find a seat at a little table beside the gate. There is a huge crowd gathered at every Delta gate, as their planes have all been canceled or delayed because of the fog. (This fog was unbelievable, I might add. We could barely see five feet in front of us in the car that morning.) It's not looking good. I'm getting a little nervous, so I call Amber to tell her I may be late for the party that night. Little did I know...

12:55 p.m. - Well, I guess the 12:30 departure was a lie! Here we sit. I feed Junah his breakfast along with myself. Then I decide to pass the time by folding the wedding programs I designed for CJ & Amber.

1:30 p.m. - Programs are folded. I'm getting anxious because they have started to board the plane and my name still hasn't been called for a seat assignment. There's this plasma TV that you're supposed to look at and wait to see if your name is cleared for a seat. Sadly, I'm No. 15 on that list.

1:55 p.m. - There are 6 people left (I'm assuming they're all standby as well). They call one more name and the woman standing next to me steps up and is allowed to board. The gate agent shuts the door behind her and says "flight's closed." Aaaahhhh!!! No, no, no! Let me on! I'm screaming inside. Oh my gosh, this is not good. I don't know where to go or what to do.

2:00 p.m. - Oh good, there is another flight leaving in a few minutes, so I go and stand in a huge line of people waiting to get a seat on that flight.

2:35 p.m. - No luck. I'm getting upset! I go to the first gate agent (the one who had already ended my hopes of getting there on time). I politely asked, what do I do? Now she tells me I have no luck of getting on a flight today, period. And that my best bet is the 6 a.m. flight the next day. I try to hold it together while she gives me my new ticket. Ma'am, where do I find my checked luggage, I ask. Oh, honey, your luggage is already on its way to TX, she says. (Lump in my throat.) Because of unrelated events, I'm already highly emotional. So now I'm close to tears. Since Junah is my carry-on, I had put all my essentials in my checked bags. I'm talking toothbrush, soap, deodorant, contact case/solution, make-up - everything! I've been dropped off at an airport an hour away from home. Mike is unreachable. Junah feels my nerves and just stares up at me with his big brown eyes. I notice he's got the shakes, too, as if to say, Mommy, you're scaring me!

2:45 p.m. - A call to the Stafford Wives. Please come and get me! I cry to them. They are on their way to the park with all the dogs, but without hesitation, they say, don't worry we're on our way. I'm a blubbering fool at this point. I hate inconveniencing people! I call everyone to tell them I won't be there today and that I'm sorry.

3:15 p.m. - A black Xterra pulls up to the pick-up area full of my beautiful friends, Margaret, Carolyn and Sommer. All three of them jump out of the car and come running over to give me a big group hug! It is the best moment of my week. They are so caring and sweet. I love you guys!

5:30 p.m. - We decide happy hour at Chili's is in order. Who can say no to free hot wings and chips and salsa?! My three friends come back to my apartment to pick me up. As a joke, they all jump out of the car again and surround me with a big hug. My spirits are lifted yet again. They are so funny. We go and have a great time eating, drinking, chatting and laughing.

9:00 p.m. - Bedtime for Casey and Junah. Alarm set for 3 a.m.

FRIDAY
3:00 a.m. - Bleary-eyed and freezing, I get up only to remember I have no toiletries. Crap! I was lucky to find an old toothbrush, a few sample cosmetics and well, Mike's deodorant.

5:00 a.m. - I've parked my car, taken the shuttle to the terminal, checked in and now I stand in the security checkpoint line. This guy behind me is wearing ENTIRELY too much cologne. Finally he walks away, but stench lingers. Then I'm embarrassed because I realize it's actually me! I'm wreaking of Old Spice High Endurance men's deodorant. Wonderful.

6:00 a.m. - Thank goodness, I made the flight. They've given me coffee, I'm feeling good. Junah is already asleep under the seat. Phew.

10:30 a.m. - I arrived at the airport, found my luggage, rented a car and am on my way to Tyler (90 miles away).

12:00 p.m. - I'm greeted by Mike's family... cousins, aunts and uncles everywhere. Very nice to finally arrive.

4:15 p.m. - Yay! A phone call from Mike. He's going to make his flight and will be here with me later tonight!

6:00 p.m. - Rehearsal dinner. Great food!

11:30 p.m. - Mike arrives. Only his luggage didn't. Problem is, my bridesmaid dress is in there!!!!!! Here we go again.

(Thankfully, the dress arrives just in time for the wedding the next day. All is well. What a crazy couple of days. I'm so glad they're over.)

Boy or Girl?????

Brian and Carrie called with the wonderful news yesterday afternoon! They are all smiles, showing off the very first picture of their baby boy. You can see the profile in the first two pictures. The bottom one determines the sex.

Carrie said the baby was so cute, trying to suck its thumb while they watched. But he couldn't quite find his little mouth, so he kept poking his nose. Can you tell who he looks like yet? The baby weighs only 8 ounces at this point. What a miracle that is! They are so blessed. And I know they appreciate your prayers.

Mike and I are so excited about having a nephew! Congrats, Brian and Carrie!

As luck would have it, Nashville is the exact halfway point on our trip from Texas back to Virginia. So we decided to stop there to celebrate. Mike and I rang in the New Year at a place called Buffalo Billiards on Broadway. We had a ton of fun and were still able to get an early start the next morning. HA! I guess were not as old as we thought!

We want to wish all our friends and family Happy New Year!!! We love you.

A Wedding: Military Style

Mike's fellow Marine Officer, 2nd Lt. Dan Evans, invited Mike to be part of his wedding in Forth Worth Dec. 30. It was a full military wedding where all the groomsmen were in dress blues. They also performed the sword arch, of which unfortunately I didn't get a picture.

I always like to see Mike in this uniform. He looks so handsome, especially with the white gloves and cover (hat).

Ahhh.... Warmth!!!

The day after Christmas, Mike and I started on the second leg of our holiday break -- a long drive to Tyler, Texas. Twelve hours later, we arrived at Mike's parents' ranch. We were thrilled to step out into sunny 75 degrees in late December! It was beautiful. We spent time relaxing with Mike's mom and dad, two of his brothers (CJ and Bill) and my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Amber. CJ, Amber, Mike and I went golfing one afternoon. Well, Mike and CJ golfed anyway. Amber and I spent the time catching up. CJ and Amber will be getting married in a couple weeks on Jan. 14.


Mike and CJ playing at Garden Valley Golf Course.


Amber and me.

On another beautiful afternoon, Mike and CJ went to fly the plane they bought a few years ago. They couldn't have asked for a better day for a joyride in the sky.


Mike and CJ with their 1941 Interstate Cadet.

Christmas in Kentucky!

Dec. 17... We packed up two weeks worth of clothes and a ton of Christmas gifts and headed out the door at 7 a.m. for a much anticipated holiday break. The drive to Kentucky wasn't too bad. We didn't hit much traffic and we arrived at my mom and dad's around 4 p.m. We even arrived in time to watch the Cats play in the second half of the Kentucky/Louisville game. Mom had just prepared some fresh homemade fudge and chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say I was more interested in the fudge than the game! Brian and Carrie came over that night and we all ate a delicious dinner together. It was so nice to be home with my family.

Dec. 20... Mike and I traveled to Lexington to meet with some friends we hadn't seen in a long while. Mike dropped me off at Carabbas as I had dinner plans with some friends that I used to work with at Lexmark. Mike met up with some college buddies close by. Afterward, we stopped by Meredith and Chad's house, friends from EKU.

Julane (middle) and Debbie (right) were two of my closest friends at Lexmark. They were two big reasons I loved my job SO much. I hated leaving! They are still very dear to me and we try to get together as often as possible.

Meredith (right) and Maggie (left) were ADPi's with me at Eastern. We've had so many great times together, both during school and in the years since we left. They are both wonderful friends. Love you guys!

Dec. 23... Mike and I went out to eat with our friends Lyndsay and Pat, and then we all went to a Christmas party at another friend's house. We saw several buddies from high school that we hadn't seen in years. It was great to hear what new things were going on in their lives.

Lyndsay was my very first friend. We met at a baseball park when we were four years old. She has been such a blessing in my life - a constant and unconditional source of friendship for all these years. I love you, Lynds! It was so good to see you.

Dec. 24... We spent Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's house as my family does every year. There are many new faces there as everyone keeps having more and more babies! They are all adorable. Unfortunately, Brian's wife, Carrie, was sick so they weren't able to make it. We fixed a plate of food and took it over to them.

Dec. 25... A very merry Christmas was had by the Carnes family! Mike and I were given some really great gifts and we were happy to see that everyone loved the gifts we gave as well. Oh, and Mike shocked me with some beautiful diamond stud earrings!!! Thanks, honey!

One Fine [Field] Day

Today is the fourth day Mike has been in the field (which means outside all day and all night in the freezing cold, running around with guns). While the guys were gone, my friends and I had our own field experience, albeit a much more fun one. We like to do theme nights. This time it was "G.I. Jayne Night" at Carolyn's. We all dressed up in our husbands cammies, played games, drank out of plastic canteens and decorated some truly original Christmas cookies. We had a ton of fun! Spending time with them made Mike's absence a million times easier to bear.

Trying to pose in time for the camera's self timer. From left, me, Sommer, Marge and Carolyn.

It's still very cold here and snow is falling again today. I know Mike will be glad to get back home to thaw out. I'm looking forward to his return this afternoon!

It's Snowing!

It's a winter wonderland here in Stafford. Temps dipped and the snow came on Monday. Mike is out in it right now in fact, running some sort of hour-long obstacle course through the woods in 20-something degrees. Sounds really fun. Wish I was out there. Ha, ha. It's really cold, but I'm enjoying wearing my heavy winter coats, scarves and gloves again. It felt like summer year-round last year when we lived in Texas. My friend Carolyn from California is having a ball in the snow, as she's never seen it before. She just got her first ice-scraper this week. Welcome to freezing, Stewi!

This was taken at Mike's company event for the lieutenants and their wives yesterday. It was more like social hour for my three friends and me. From left: Sommer, Carolyn, me and Marge.

New Links

I've just added a couple new links to my blog here on the left sidebar.

The first is a link to my new online digital portfolio. This will come in handy as I continue to look for more freelance design work. It's a small compilation of some of my more recent work, but I intend to add some of the older stuff, too. Check it out if you have time. And feel free to share the link with others who may need a graphic designer!

The second link is Mike's platoon's blog. It has a few pictures of what they do every day. We are behind in updating it, but we'll be adding a lot more photos soon. I also designed their "Fox, 1st Platoon" thing. It's a little too edgy for my taste, but they like it, being big bad Marines and all. :)

Hi Honey, I'm Home...

Last night Mike came home looking like this:

Turkey Day in Texas

Ginger carving her 22-pound turkey!

Matt and his new bride, Beth.

Almost ready to eat!

Amber helps with the rolls.

We're thankful it's time to eat!

Like most Americans, I ate my weight in turkey, stuffing and pie last week. Mike and I spent Thanksgiving in Texas with Mike's family. We had a nice, relaxing time with lots of great food. Ginger, you are such a great cook! We played card games and board games, which I always enjoy. The girls (Ginger, Beth, Amber and I) went shopping at a Christmas Village-type place and found some cute gifts. The warmer weather was a definite highlight, too!

Once again, Junah came with us on our travels and was such a good boy the entire time. Here he is in his "carry-on" with Bunny. He hates that I always have a camera in his face, hence the "oh, Mom" stare.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane... Yup, it's Brian!

I stood under a rain-soaked umbrella at the Manassas Regional Airport for no more than a minute when I saw the bright lights of the airplane I knew my big bro was flying. The plane was beautiful! It was so neat to see Brian in the cockpit as they taxied up. He came to Virginia for an overnight in D.C. last Monday, and I told him he must stay with us. So I drove up to get him and had the opportunity to meet Ron Geary, the CEO of Louisville Executive (the company Brian flies for) and ResCare (another company Mr. Geary owns). Brian flew him to D.C. for a business meeting he had in the city. He was nice and had some very positive things to say about Brian.

After we left the airport, Brian let me dig into one of the leftover catered lunches they'd had on the flight (so delicious!!!). Then we did some all-day Christmas shopping in Dale City. We had a ton of fun, laughing and joking around, as always. Brian got to meet my "Stafford Wives" when we met the three of them for dinner that night. When we got home, Brian could barely hold his eyes open after getting up so early. Mike didn't get home until midnight, unfortunately, but they got a chance to visit the next morning before Mike left at 6 a.m.

I was so glad Brian was able to stay with us, even if it was only for one day. I'm so proud of all his accomplishments in doing what he loves.

A Frozen Fox

Mike belongs to Fox Company here at The Basic School in the USMC. Once a month, Fox Company has to spend a week in 'the field.' The company is deemed "The Frozen Fox" because all of their field exercises are during the winter months.

So last Monday, Mike packed up a ton of Marine stuff in this gi-normous camoflauge backpack that he calls a "ruck." I helped him strategically pack it, putting his clothing in plastic freezer bags to keep it dry during the forecasted thunderstorms. The ruck ended up weighing around 75 pounds, which he had to carry around for five days in the freezing cold. They were truly roughing it. No bathrooms, no showers, no tent, no fire to keep warm - only a sleeping bag. Temperatures got down to 22 degrees at night. I bought Mike some Baby Wipes (maybe he'd rather I call them wet towelettes... ha, ha) so he could semi-bathe, but he said they froze solid!

This time they practiced certain 'enemy objectives' which have a bunch of names you wouldn't understand. Well, maybe you would, but I don't understand them enough to explain them anyhow. They also watched artillery demos (ie: watched a bunch of big guns unload), a close air support demo with an F-18 (ie: watched a really loud jet fly around) and then ended the week with an 8-mile hump (ie: a really long jog carrying 100lbs on their backs).

Needless to say, he came back a dirtball and couldn't wait to get into the shower. He's been brushing his teeth several times a day since his return - just because he can, I guess! Good thing he has another month before he has to do it all over again!

Happy 50th Mom!

First, I'd like to say happy birthday to my mom who turned the big 5-0 Friday! I spent the last month trying to plan a surprise party for her. I sent out an e-mail invite, which she inadvertently saw while watching my brother check his e-mail on his new phone. That and a couple other slips made me believe she knew something was up. However, she never figured out the where and when of it until she showed up at the party, so I'm still counting it as a surprise. It was a great party and a very happy birthday for Mom. A million thank-yous to my sister-in-law Carrie, as well as Dad, Brian and Joy for all your help in planning.

And to my dear mom: You are such a wonderful mother and I love you beyond what words can say. You are so caring and giving and just amazingly beautiful from the inside out. Happy Birthday, and thank you for a great time at home last week!

Cookie Cake: Mom's favorite

USMC Birthday Ball

Saturday, Mike and I had the pleasure of attending the Marines' Birthday Ball, held at the Marriott in Richmond, VA. There were an estimated 1,500 guests. We had a great time getting all dressed up and spending the evening celebrating with friends. The dinner was delicious and I even got Mike to dance a little. It was the first time Mike wore his Dress Blues. I know he wasn't comfortable all night, but he looked so great in them!

From left: Chad (Sommer's husband), Mike and Mike Trent (Jody's husband)

From left: Carolyn, Jody, Sommer, Me and Margaret

Cheers to my 'Stafford Wives!'

A few days after we moved here, I arranged a birthday dinner for Mike and invited a few of the guys in his platoon. Little did I know that 25 or so would show up! And to my delight, a couple of them brought their wives. The result? Instant bonds and friendship that I did not anticipate. I met Carolyn (far left) and Sommer (middle) that night at the restaurant, and shortly after, we met Margaret (right) at the spouses' orientation. These girls have truly been my saving grace here. Without them, I don't think I could stand the long hours Mike is gone every day. We are experiencing the same new lifestyle together as our husbands are going through the same things as well. Their support/company is a Godsend!

We like to joke about ourselves becoming the "Stafford Wives," as a play on the movie "Stepford Wives" because of our experiences with the sometimes overbearing traditions and proper etiquette that's expected of Marine Corps spouses.

We have such a great time. Our dogs are like our children. We take them everywhere we can, and this week we discovered a beautiful lakeside park on the USMC base. They all ran around and played - well, except for Junah, who isn't a big exerciser. Since he's a bit um... shall we say, 'fragile,' I took him over to the swings instead of risking the other dogs' rough play. This swing is just his size! (Now don't laugh... I may be a little crazy, but he's all I have.)