Honoring those who serve

Here are a few names of people who I would like to honor. They had a significant impact on my life, colin's life and I am proud to be numbered amoung these names of Soliders, Airmen, Marines and Sailors. Thank you for what you did and the sacrifices you made.

Douglas Dean Irvin

Linda Lou Irvin

Alan Wayne Watts

Jimmie Watts

Sean Patrick Watts

Paul Vernon Irvin

R.B. Buckner

Robert Wayne Buckner

Richard Buckner

Jamin Moore

Aaron Golson

Sarah Golson

Gary Hansen

Charlotte Knight

Dwan Ortiz

Christopher Ortiz

Mike Bischoff

Rebecca Anjeweirden

Brent Martin

The military has been part of my life as long as I can remember, it has also been a part of my family for generations. Both myself and Colin come from military families and we ourselves serve. I am proud to be a part of americas miliary. Thanks to the members of the military past and present who served, have served and most especially those who gave their lives in persuit of the freedoms we all share. I would like to take this opportunity to share some photos of our experiences and some photos of family and friends who shared this journey as well.

Colin OPFOR (Opositional Forces) Fort Polk, LA

Capt Martin aka Bro. Martin and Colin Battalion Ball

Colin Iraq w/ 50 Cal


Jamin Moore

Day Colin came back from Iraq

Me and Nix (Airman Nicoles) Honor Guard

Honor Guard Airman of the Quarter

Basic Training


On the right, My dad in Tech School

Peace is Coming by Jon McNaughton

Halloween extravaganza

So Michelle and I are both really into Halloween, And though we have been married for 3 octobers, this was the first one that I was not in Iraq for, so we kind of went all out. We were thinking of what to sress up as, and we wanted to include our dog Bella. So we decided to have Bella be Toto and Michelle was going to go as Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ. To complet the ensamble I went as OZ himself. We decided to do the Trunk or treat at the church. I made an emrald city, and we did a Field of Poppies. and had the laptop playing the movie. Michelle made her costume herself. We bought the fabric at the walmart. she also made the vest and coat taht I wore and she did a great job. We bought way to much candy and ended up giving out two or three handfulls to each Kid. The coustumes ended up being awsome and Michelle and bella were a big hit. The three of us had a great time and are glad our hard work paid off.

First trimester

So I started to play around with Photoshop when I was In Iraq, and had a few ideas for the baby, so this is a first shot at trying to make some cool pics. This is michelle as she starts to show.

My New Baby

Colin Here,

Today was the first time I got to see my new baby. We went to the hospital to get the first ultrasound. Ithe best part about it was that even though Michelle is only 12 weeks along, the baby was very active. It reminded me of myself, everytime the tech got a good picture, the baby would roll over and face another direction. we got to see the heart beat, and all the armes and legs, in one of the pictures you can even see the fingers of the baby. we still don't know if the the baby is a boy or a girl, it is still to early to tell, but it is nice to see the baby for the first time.

In Due Time

Today was our first baby appointment and I must say it was not all I had it cracked up to be. I dont know about you civilian folk, but in the military EVERYTHING is given to you in briefing form, even my first OB appointment. Basicly I had to sit and fill out all my paperwork and listen to a nurse go through a powerpoint of what to expect and how to take care of problems should they arise. So we got alot of nothing done in the whole 3 hours of this class. At the end of the 3 hours they had a short 5 minute interview with the nurse to see if I had any risk factors that would determine if i needed to be assigned a OB provider rather than a normal Family practice one. Well, Im not high risk (yet) so I was places in Family Practice. Now I need to get my lab work done and I need to schedule my ultrasound with the radiology dept. Also in the last 5 minutes during the nurses visit we find out based on our first day of our last period an aprox. due date. So as of right now 26 March 2010 is when I am due.

Go Figure

Just a note.... now that I am pregnant. I get accepted into a Nursing program. Yay for being a nursing student but now I just hope everything is going to be cool with having a baby. Nothing can ever be easy for me.

He was Framed!

On saturday Colin and I took a framing class at the post Arts and Crafts Center. It was quite enjoyable, the guy we were taking the class from was pretty layed back and of course being the girl that I am I was being difficult with our picture. I think it took me 30 minutes just to pick out the matting and frame choice. AND go figure I pick one of the most expensive frame choice.(Our new friend Tasha says its because I have good taste.) We learned how to cut the matting and place the picture on a foam board so it doesn't move after framing is completed. And how to get everything to stick together. We cut the wood framing ourselves to the right size that we needed and stapled it together. All on our own. Then Colin cut the glass to fit the frame and we put it all together. After getting it all in the frame and making sure there were no dirt particules on the inside of the glass we closed it up and put paper on the back to make it look nice. And the final thing we did was add the wire to hang it. All in all it was a good class. I already have more ideas of things I want to frame. Its so much cheaper when you can do it yourself.

This says it all!

LOVE IT!

JRTC

So I finaly went on my first rotation at Fort Polk. I played a Iraqi named Zolton Amare Waheed. I was up against The second Infantry Divison. Out of Fort Irwin CA. And let me tell you, there is a reason that they come train before they deploy. It was alot of fun. We use MILES gear (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) which is a really long way of saying Lazer Tag. My job is to "Kill" as many infedels as I can.

This is a short clip of what I do.

As you can see I get to suprise the americans alot and pop out of nowhere and start shooting. It really is alot of fun. I spent alot of tine in the back of a pickup truck running away from Strykers (Armored Personal Carrier) who were trying to capture the Iraqis who are fireing at us. But the best way to explain is to show you here is a video of some of the things my unit does.

This is a video of all the things my unit has done under my old comander. I hope it gives you a better idea of what I do. Here is a few pics of me to show you what I look like.

Is a penny saved really a penny earned?

To answer the question... Yes... yes it is. Yesterday Colin finally got me to break my piggy bank of just quarters. I have had this little collection of quarters for about 7 years, maybe more. After counting all the coins we came to find that we had a total of 260 dollars in quarters. I didn't even imagine that was the amount of money in that small bank. All in all after we turned in all of my other coinage I was hording, we came to a grand total of 355 dollars. Colin firmly belives that saving money in that way should be used for "blowing" money. "blowing money" is that which should be spent on whatever junk you might want at the time... no so much NEED but something you WANT. Im the kind of person who would put it in savings but this time I let colin have his way. We bought a new printer, some movies and a microwave popcorn popper. And still have some left over that im not sure what im going to do with yet but we will see.

The Frog and the Princess

Last night, after coming back from the movies, I let Bella outside to go to the little doggies room where she found an interesting new freind. Sitting in the water run off thing under the faucet outside was a frog. She sniffed around it for a little while trying to figure out what that new smell was, but then it moved. So she started batting at it with her paw and jumping around as it tried to get away from her. It was hilarious! Kinda lame thing to write about but i thought it was funny.

I want to pull my hair out!

This new school I am going to is rediculous! Teachers are pompus and rude and there transfer evaluations suck! Why... oh WHY do i need to take a part of a class that I have ALREADY taken because your school counts it as 4 credits for Lecture and Lab and the previous school counts it as 3 credits for lecture and lab? WHY is it that this is the exact same class doesn't transfer into the other... Just because it doesn't have 4 credit hours?!? Excuse me the 3 hour class is probably harder than the 4 hour class. How do i know this... be cause BYU is better than NSU!!!!!!!!! The standards at BYU are crazy high and your telling me that my ANATOMY class doesn't transfer... I think not!! Wow... I am not happy with this school. I just want to get my degree and be done already!

Washintonian

So a few weeks ago Colin and I went to Washington to visit my family. Because of his job we wont be able to switch off holidays with the families anymore so we will be switching off leave blocks. He gets 2 weeeks in June/July (May/June this year) and Two weeks in Dec/Jan. We spent Christmas with my familiy this past christmas so we will be going to Omaha this year. Any way, We went to Washington the weekend of memorial day and as soon as we got off the plane my mom wisked us away to the property they own in North eastern washington. Its far away from civilization, I think its one mountain over from a popular ski resort. So sometimes in the summer you can hear concerts and things that the resort puts on in the off season. Pretty much my whole family was out there, Mom, Dad, Neices (Kassandra, Victoria, Ashley and Steffanie), Bro-in-Law Mike and some family friends also came up. It was good times. Bella even got to make a new friend, my sisters dog Sammy. He is a big white Samoyed. Beautiful Dog! Well the bugs out there were horrendous you practically had to bathe in bug spray but that comes with the territory. So we had some fun up there taking adventure hikes and wrestling with bears. Well not really but there are a couple of bears that have been hangin around our camp, my dad lovingly named them Yogi and Boo Boo. Go figure they are trying to seal food that my dad had up there for bateing turkey traps. We didn't have too many problems with them while we were out there but it gets a little unnerving at times. Colin was stoked because my dad let him cut down a tree... for the first time. Well he kinda had to cut it more than once and then they had to do some crap to get it to actually fall.. but hey it was his first time. But all and all the camping was good times.

Most of the trip was pretty chilled out we sat around watched movies that we have never seen good stuff like that. One morning we went to school with Ariyanna and made a poem with her that was fun. The poem was about the sun and how it makes the ground hiss. Yes, very poetic. The point was to use verbs to describe a season that you wouldn't necessarily think of as typical. It was nice to get to do something for her. She doesn't always get to go do things special like that. After the poem writing I made Colin walk with me downtown on the Centenial Trail. Its a big long trail that goes from Spokane to Idaho. We only walked from the school downtown so it wasn't that big of a deal. Only about 5 or 6 miles something like that. The trail going downtown cuts through the middle of Gonzaga University. Go Bulldogs!! So I had some conversation with Colin about how the basketball program at GU has really beefed up the campus. They have all new buildings and new sports complexes. Its amazing what can happen in just 6 short years. So we hungout downtown for a little went shopping at this crazy little shop called Boo Radleys that have all sorts of off the wall stuff. Colin got a suction goat t-shirt. (the suction goat is down town across from the Carossel, you push a button and it eats your trash, pretty funny) and I got a wonder woman save the planet bag for like 5 bucks. Good place. We also went to see Angels and Demons. I thought it was pretty good, but i have never read the book. People have told me that the movie is crap compared to the book. Well guess what people.... most movies based off of stories from books are! After the movie we decided that walking back didn't sound that fun and I was starting not to feel good because it was unseasonably hot outside. So we took the good ol' STA (Spokane Transit Athority) aka the bus, back to my parents house. Its weird how doing stuff like that brings up so many memories. Like when i was younger and taking the bus was SOOOO cool and now you look at it as you get older and its not as cool. And also how the bus route by my parents house use to be on our street and it was totally awesome when you took the bus because when you got off all you had to do was walk across the street and you were home. LOL now you have to walk 3 blocks. But still it was cool to have front door service. As the week went on we did some other things like hang out with my mom and go shopping and went and checked out some yard sales fun things like that. One saturday, Colin, my sister, her husband and I all got to go to the temple and do some work for our family. It was great. We spent all morning in the temple doing the different ordinances. Its also interesting that when I was preparing the names I found a common link on new.familysearch.org for the mother of the family I worked on in school. And her work has been done and her family has been tracked back on one line all the way to the 1600s. Its crazy how we are all connected. I didn't know about any members linked on my mom's side. But we went to the temple and did some of the work for my Grandfathers on both sides and great grand mother on my moms side. Then on Wednesday we went back and finished some with the endowment. It was great to see my sisters enthusiasm for temple work. Im so glad I got to share that experience with them. I hope they will continue to go to the temple regularly and partake of those blessings.

We also drove over to Seattle so Colin could meet his nephews Christopher (13) and Shaun (8). He has never met them because they live with there father and we are never in Spokane when they are. So before they got too big we decided to go ahead and make the trip over to Seattle to spend some time with them. We didn't really get much time, but it was still good. We took the boys to a Mariners game and saw them lose 1-0!! AWESOME!! Oh well. At least now I can say that i have been to a MLB game. Whatever, I think they had a good time, eating crap food and watching crap baseball! The next day we decided before we left to get in some site seeing. We headed down to the Seattle Aquarium in the morning and hung out with the fish, then went to the public market at Pikes place... sorry to say we didn't see a fish get thrown. It really doesn't happen as often as people might think. But we did get to see THE ORIGINAL starbucks. We walked right by it. I didn't even pay any nevermind too it because they are literally on every corner in Seattle, but Colin saw a sign that said "this is the original starbucks" or something like that. The market was fun but we had to skadoodle over to the Space Needle for our lunch reservations. The resturant in the space needle has some good food and good seanery. As you sit the floor rotates around and you get to see a 360 degree view of Seattle. It was nice. I had an Ahi Tuna salad and Colin had a Burger with the best french fries he has ever had. (he is a french fry conesour) They didn't taste all that great to me but whatever! So we at lunch, took some photos and went back to Spokane.

All in all we did alot of things and had some fun visiting my family. Good times!

Bad Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that was so vivid that it seemed real? Well the only time i have had those dreams is when there the bad ones. This morning after Colin got up to go to work I had the most horrible dream. I thought about going downstairs to see if he was still home just so I could talk to him about it. I didn't because I figured he was already gone. Then a few minutes later I heard the door shut. I guess he had not left yet. I lost my chance. What are the meaning of dreams and why do we have the bad ones? In my dream, I caught Colin cheating on me with a girl from my highschool. So weird... I have only had one other dream that gave me this feeling before. Once I dreamt that one of my neices was killed and I didn't feel better until I was able to speak with her on the phone. I think she was like 2 at the time. It was like this dream I had today, it just bugged me until i got some closure. I just really want to talk to him about it.

Mothers Day in the Bag!

So i know its been a while since mothers day but I really wanted to share this with everyone. I had been looking for ideas for what to get my mother-in-law for mothers day and I searched around online and found these cute bags made out of ACU tops (Army Combat Uniform). Well I really wanted to make one of these, because buying one was simply out of the question. I couldn't find a pattern so i just looked at the picture of the one i saw online and i guesimated about how big I was going to make it. First time around i cut it too big, better saft then sorry I say but i would have to say the finished project was great!! And She LOVED it. I knew she would, it had some extra special meaning because it was made from a uniform that Colin wore in Iraq... Stains and everything. Very cute. But now she has a bag that she can change patches on when Colin gains rank and moves units. Its great! Hey and if you know anyone that may want one... let me know!!

Sick of the Runaround

Someday... I when I grow up, I want to be a nurse. Sounds simple right? Well I would have to say WRONG! I feel like I am never going to get my degree finished. We move so much in the military that I havn't been able to start a nursing program because once I start there is no going back because if i start one place and have to move the process will start all over again. So I try to prepare myself for a universitys nursing program and the BAM! I dont get to go to that school I have to move and go to another school. So now I have to take 4 classes before I can even apply to a program. Come ON PEOPLE! I dont have time for this runaround. I want to get it finished. I even thought about going from a BSN to a 2 year RN. Well guess what. It will take me just as long to get the 2 year degree as it will the 4 year degree. SO... i'll take the 4 year. Now I am all waivered up to try and get into the program for fall but that doesn't secure me a spot in the program. I still have to be accepted and because I am on a waiver my application doesn't even get looked at till after all other applicants. My opinion on that one is thats absolutely stupid. I wouldn't even be going to your dang school if it wasn't for the fact that my husband is fighting for our freedom in the US Army and I choose to be with him and support him. But do i get anything for that... well if you could count all the crap I have to go through to get this degree then yes. But really all i get is a pain in the neck and ulcers in my stomach trying to deal with this junk. The army needs to have something in place to help Army spouses recieve the schooling that they want. But thats just my humble but correct opinion.

Crappy Carpet Woes

When we moved into our appartment on post we get to "inspect" the place before we accept it. When we came into the place i noticed a weird smell, I wasn't sure if it was the paint or if it was the carpet or if it was the air ducts but we looked around the apartment and picked out the noticeable problems and wrote them down. The carpet in the living room has this large line of bleach coming from the front door to the kitchen, but that was all that was noticably wrong with the carpet... or so we thought. Almost immediatly after we started moving our things in and getting situated I started to notice large stains appearing on the carpet as if out of no where. We are pretty good about not tracking things on the carpet because we remove our shoes when we come in the door for the most part. But these stains were just there. We vaccumed so many times to see if that would help and everytime we vaccum we pull up the nastiest stuff. The first time we vaccumed after we moved in the bucket was full of a powdery substance and hair and carpet fibers. To me it didn't seem like the carpet had been cleaned before we moved in. So we contacted the housing office and they seemed to be less that enthusicastic about helping us with our carpet, but the sent out the maintanace supervisor to come and take a look. He looked at the carpet and then asked how long we had lived here. He kept making comments about its not our fault we clean the carpets between each tennant and they do a good job and he has never heard of stains coming up out of no where. Well after all the grumbling her still let us have the carpets cleaned again. I didn't see the point in making such a big deal that it wasn't his fault. I wasn't blaming him. So the carpet was good after they cleaned it again but there is that smell that I mentioned earlier. The smell didn't go away. I also discovered that everytime my face come in close proximity of the carpet (laying on the floor, playing with my puppy, etc..) I would get a head ache and well the carpet doesn't have the best smell either. Well I have allergies to animals most especially cats. I get headaches and get congested and scratchy eyes... typical allergy stuff. SO i went to the housing office AGAIN to see if they could tell me what time of pets the previous tenants had. Well they cant but I told them about my allergies and how the carpet in our living room is causing issues. Well once again they seemed less than enthusiastic but they took my number and said they would have someone contact me. Well they didn't so Colin got mad and went to the office and basicly told them they were going to fix it one way or another. Our housing office just moved to a new building and they have decided that they are just too busy to deal with it right now so we just get to wait while I can't even stay in our living room for extended periods. FOR THE LOVE!!

A little side not about my allergies and my puppy. In case you were wondering why I got a puppy but am allergic to animals. I will explain. We bought a Yorkshire Terrier. Yorkies are the most hypoallergenic breed of dog you can basicly get. Colin did some research and found out that the yorkies coat is most like human hair so it doesn't produce much dander if any. And they are a small breed most small breeds are fairly hypoallergenic.
Just thought i would throw that in there.

Sucky Blogger

So... Update We have officially moved from Utah and Tennessee and are now residing in Louisiana. BECAUSE i am a sucky blogger I am going to try and update you as well as I can from the last time I wrote.

Anniversary Extravaganza!!

30 March was our two year anniversary and because we didn't have the best first anniversary (IE.. Colin was in Iraq) we decided to take an extended weekend and pack it chalk full of fun. The Friday before I was able to get tickets to the NCAA sweet sixteen game between UNC and Gonzaga. We drove down after Colin got off work. When we got there we checked into our hotel, picked up our tickets and walked down to Beale street to check out the action. Woo hoo was that exciting, well only if you like the hoards of drunk basketball fans and ticket scalpers. We walked around for a little bit bought a souvenir or two and ate dinner at the Memphis Hard Rock Cafe. I'm not really sure what is so great about those places. It must be the abidance or whatever because the food really isn't all that great. Ok so we ate dinner and headed in to see the first game between the Sooners and i think it was ... heck some orange team that I cant remember how to spell their name. Anyway the Sooners won. Then the main event. UNC v. Gonzaga. I had my hopes and all that the Zags were gonna pull some sort of animal out of a hat and maybe win... but of course they did not seeing as UNC became 2009 NCAA Champions! Yes folks, the zags lost in the sweet sixteen AGAIN. But hey I like UNC so i wasn't too beat up about the loss. After the game was over despite all the urges we had to stay downtown and be the only sober folks on the block, we decided to head home (the hotel). On the way back we missed our turn and the GPS took us on an adventure. Honestly people I was scared for my life. Driving through downtown Memphis is not my favorite thing to do on a Friday night at 11pm. Despite our detour we did make it to the hotel in two pieces, two whole pieces, you know Colin and Michelle pieces and Hit the sack. The next morning we went for a run through some nice suburb and then hit the road. Which as you have already read was another experience in itself (The Semi Flipping one)
When we arrived in Nashville we checked into our hotel and let the valet take our car and we walked around downtown to see what Music Row had to offer us. Well I'm not really sure we actually made it down to music row I'm not exactly sure i even really know where that street is. But we went into this store that had a Charlie Daniels Museum in the back of it there whole ploy to get people into the store to buy things was because there was a FREE Charlie Daniels Museum but if you didn't walk through the store you would have no idea that there actually was a museum back there. When you walk by the store the out side is full of signs that say it is a museum but when you walk in you think its a trick because you cant see the back where the cool stuff is. Charlie Daniels is really big supporter of the US Military and my favorite part of the museum was seeing all the stuff he has received from the military bases he has been to, to perform for the troops. When we were done there we walked down toward the Somet Center and on our way saw some street performers putting in there piece of country music history. There were Two little girls singing with there dad that were pretty good but everyone else kinda seemed like those old washed up country folks that were never good enough to get anywhere but still think they have a chance, but hey to each his own...right? Checking the time we decided that we had just enough time to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. That was pretty cool, the museum isn't really big but man it sure could be. They have rows upon rows of country music history packed away in rolling cabinets just waiting to be set out on the museum floor. I'm sure those cabinets are full to some cool stuff. Some of the most interesting things on the floor were things like the original blue suede shoes and Lots of stage costumes and Elvis Presley's 24k gold upholstered crushed diamond pearlescent painted car. It was pretty interesting. That man had a lot of cars... who am i kidding that man had a lot of money. The second half of the museum is an area that changes periodically to highlight one artist. When we were there it was about Hank Williams and his family. Pretty cool. After the Hall of Fame it was time to head over to the Somet Center to catch some Hockey action as the Predators took on the Kings. It was a pretty cool game. Martina McBride sang the national anthem and The Preds won in OT 4-3. After the game Martina gave a free concert outside before earth hour 09. We sat out there until the hour of darkness started and then we headed out to our hotel.
We wanted to hit the capital building on our way out of Nashville but the weather wasn't that great so we decided to save it for another time. We drove back to Clarksville switched out our bags and got back on the road. This time destination Nauvoo IL. The drive wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. 6 hours in the car after being in the car hours the day before isn't really fun. But it was all worth it when we got to Nauvoo. I have never been to any of the early church history sites outside of Utah. It is amazing how the Mormons were able to prosper and build Nauvoo into such a city. To take a swampy, wet land and make it cultivate crops and house so many of the early saints just really testifies of the work and how heavenly father provided for them and us.

Ok Colin Here, My Turn.
So Nauvoo, We went at the best time of the year. The weather was just a little cold, but not to cold. And the best thing is that we were the only ones there. It was great, Michelle had never been to Nauvoo, but i have been a few tines, and every time I had gone, there was always tons of people there. Now that is a good thing, but the problem is that it is kind of like going to Disney, The more people there the more you are herded like cattle. But because we did not go in the summer, there was no crowds to fight. we got to spend all the time at each of the sites that we wanted and we could ask the tour guides all the questions we wanted without being rushed. It was great. we went on a carriage ride were they told us about the not famous people who lived in Nauvoo. I really liked that one. We made rope and candles and bread, at the Family Life Center, We made a Horseshoe with the blacksmith, and learned how to make bricks at the brickyard. and to cap it all off, we just happen to be there the one night a year that they do a prairie grass fire demonstration, they set an acre of prairie grass on fire to show how fast it can burn. it was crazy in was so hot that the crowd had to back up because it hurt. 60 foot flames fed by a light wind. it is really cool All in all it was a really good time. Being the only people there it really felt a lot more like old Nauvoo and not like a historic site that we were visiting. Oh I cant forget "Rendezvous" It is the musical that the missionaries put on every night, it was a lot of fun to see senior missionaries try to sing and dance. it was a blast. so after the second day of Nauvoo, we headed back to Clarksville to get ready for the move.

The Parthenon (inserted by Michelle)

Did you know that Nashville is the "Athens of the South?" Well neither did I. Well in 1876 to celebrate the centennial Nashville built all these attractions for a worlds fair type celebration. There was a pyramid built, a high wire act, a restaurant and bar that depiced the levels of hell from Dante's Inferno and more. The most popular attraction at the event was the replica of the Parthenon. It is the most correct representation of what the Greek Parthenon would have looked like when it was built. It was amazing to see that the construction of the building was done to mimic all of the architechture of the original building. Inside there is a 50ft statue of Athena. the statue was sculpted by hand and put together inside added after the centennial sometime, but it is said that a similar statue was in the original Parthenon. It was interesting seeing all of the time and work that went into making this building so authentic. Over time they have had to make repairs to ensure that the building would stand over time. When it was first built it was not suppose to be a permanent attraction but because of the popularity of the building the city decided not to tear it down. Before getting on our way back home we stopped by the Capital building snapped some photos and headed back to what would be our last trip to Clarksville, because later that week we began our move to LA.

THE MOVE

So back while I was in Iraq, I received orders from the army that said when I got back I would be moving to 1-509 INF(Infantry) ABN(Airborne) Well the 509th is at Ft Polk LA. Which I had to move to. The nice thing about the army is that if you so choose you can have the army move you. That means people show up pack your stuff for you, put it on a truck for you, ship it for you, take it off the truck for you, and unpack for you. so although moving is stressful, it is a lot easier when the army does it for you. Well except that the army has a tendency to brake or lose your stuff. Anyway, so we get to LA and think that we are going to live off post, UNTIL WE SEE OFF POST. The options are slim to none off post, most of these places should be torn down, but on post housing is good for army standards. So now we live on base. My new unit is not like any other in the army, we are an OPFOR unit, that means we do not do regular army stuff, We help train units that are heading to combat, we do that by playing the OPposing FORce, or in other words the bad guys. Think of it as a really really big game of laser tag because that is what we do, we play the bad guys and run around shooting each other with laserized guns. It is a lot of fun, because we know exactly what the army teaches its units to do in every situation, so we can be ready for what they are going to do. We will take 2 or 3 guys and "kill" 30 or 40 of the Americans. we dress in Iraqi apparel and pretend we are Iraqis. It is a really nice change of pace and I get to do something different for a while.

Michelle again... SO what Colin failed to mention about the move is that after the military came and packed our things, we cleaned the apartment and when i say cleaned i mean that place was immaculate.. they basically paid us because it was so good. And darn right, it took 7 hours of cleaning to get that 500 dollar deposit back, but hey we got it back. So we finished cleaning and packed up the Jeep (by the way by this time we had sold the Talon to a friend of Colin's) with the things we couldn't have packed (lotion, cleaning supplies, etc..) and our clothing and necessitates for living without a home and we hit the road Jack... yes we hit the road and headed down to two Jackson towns... lol Jackson TN we passed right on through and Jackson Mississippi we stopped and slept for the night. The hotel we stayed at was pretty nice. It was a Drury Inn and they had a pool, fitness center and a HOT breakfast yes a hot breakfast not a continental breakfast with cereal and yogurt but eggs and sausage it was good. So we took our time and headed out on the second leg of our trip the next town was only 3 hours away so we didn't leave Jackson till about 12 which I was ok with because we were able to sleep in and I went and ran for 30 mins and Colin and I relaxed in the pool for a short time. It was nice just to kick back. Next stop was Alexandria. When we got there we checked into the hotel, unloaded our stuff and then headed off to dinner. We tried to eat at Chilli's but that was a joke. The hostess sat us in the "lounge" area and we were ignored for the first 10 mins then when the waitress came by to get our drink orders she said that she wasn't suppose to do our table because they are short staffed but she would do it anyway. So another 10 mins later we didn't have our drinks when we finally got our drinks, which was only water might I add, we tried to get the bottomless chips and salsa... well 30 mins later ... we left, no chips and salsa and just water in our bellies. I really wanted those chips... so we went to Applebees. The service there wasn't great but we did get our chips and our food too. Imagine that. When we were done we went back to the hotel and took a "nap" a 12 hour long nap. It was fun. Next day we took the 45min drive to Leesville for the very first time and definitely not the last. You see Leesville is a nice place if you consider the people as what is making it nice. The people here at Fort Polk are some of the nicest I have seen at any Army post. The people in the local area are very hospitable and have that typical southern charm with a hint of don't mess with me or ill kick your booty. So don't get on there bad side which I have seemed to have avoided thus far. But as I was saying the reason why I'm sure the drive to Alexandria wont be the last is because Leesville doesn't have any big name sit-down restaurants. Not a one. Mainly because there isn't a major interstate running close by. But the command here is trying to fix that. So we made it on base and checked into the Magnolia House the on base billeting that would become our home for the next 10 days. We were able to get on base housing fairly quickly but we didn't want to sleep on the floor when we could stay in the hotel on the army's dime. SO waited till we could have our household good shipment delivered before we moved into our apartment. Since then we have had issues with carpet and faucets and dead grass and broken household good. Oh the life of moving ALL the time. We also got a dog, a Yorkshire Terrier. Her name is Bella and she is to keep me company. Well I think she is here to annoy me until I play with her but she is a crazy puppy and hopefully she will grow out of that craziness soon. That would be most of our move in a nutshell... give or take a few items that I can't remember right now.

The Haller Sealing

About a 2 weeks after we got to Fort Polk I flew up to Spokane to be the escort for my sister when she got her endowments. My sister and her husband went to the temple on their 3 anniversary. 22 April 2009. They were able to go to the temple after a long, tough wait of becoming worthy to enter the temple. Colin was suppose to go to be Mike's (my sisters husband) escort but he was unable to because of work. Walking up to the temple it was interesting to see my sister, she looked excited and was practically skipping through the doors like a school girl on her first day of school. They had done a few alterations to the temple since I had been there last. The front entrance was larger to house more gets in the waiting room instead of outside in the cold weather. So windy went through the endowment without any problems sorry to say we couldn't say that for Mike, his escort had only been through the temple once before so it was more like the blind leading the blind. There was one time when I looked at Mike and I thought he looked like he wanted to run screaming. But when I said something to my sister she said "oh he always looks like that." After the endowment they were sealed and just before the sealing Windy leans over to Mike and says... "Ok, so this is your last chance to back out, this one is for eternity!" Mike just laughed. After they were sealed then their daughter Stephanie was brought in and she was sealed to them. Seeing her sealed to her parents was both a happy and sad moment. Happy because they were an eternal family and sad because my two other nieces were not able to be sealed to Mike and Windy because they have different fathers. Happy because I know that one day they will be sealed to them and Happy because one day my sister and I would be sealed to our parents. And sad because we haven't been sealed to them yet. But all in all it was a good experience. I hope they will go back often and learn and partake of the blessings the temple has to offer. Colin and I are going back to Spokane this week to spend some time with my family so we will have to take them to the temple again. I know that the second time is always harder than the first. But the more you go the more you learn and the more comfortable you become.

Ever seen a Semi Flip

Well have you? I have, Today we woke up in Memphis having gone to the Sweet 16 last night. We had plans to go to the NHL game in Nashville, a 3 hour trip. We get in the car and and as soon as we got on the interstate, we saw a Semi going the other direction swerve into the center divider, bounce off, flip on its side and skid about 100 yards to a stop. I stopped and as soon as I could get the car in park I jumped out and over the center divide to see what I could do to help. There was a black SUV that had been run over by the back tires of the Semi's trailer. I saw that the driver of the SUV already had several people at his vehicle helping, and i could see him moving around inside. so I turned and sprinted the 100 yards to where the Semi was. As I came up to the Semi I smelled the distinct smell of diesel fuel. Looking to see where it was coming from I saw that the fuel tank was ripped ad the fuel was pouring onto the engine block. Knowing that the truck could burst into flames at any second, I climbed up onto the passenger side of the truck to see if I could open the passenger side door(the truck was lying on the driver side door. The door was locked, but I could see the driver of the truck, and could tell that he was unconscious. After trying without any success to kick in the window of the door, I noticed that the sleeper part of the cab had broken and separated from the front of the cab. By this time another man had arrived and started to help, with his help, he and I pulled the sleeper away from the front of the cab and I climbed into the truck. The driver's left arm was pinned under the dashboard. I could pry the dash away enough to get his arm out, but it took all I had, and there was no way that I could move the driver and the dash at the same time. So I focused on waking the driver, I applied a sternum rub, and the driver woke up, looked at me like, what are you doing in my bedroom, then passed out again. After a little coaching, he woke up enough to pull his arm out while I pulled the dash back. he then got up and got out of the truck on his own. As soon as he was out I start to assess his injuries, Looking for blood and broken bones, he had none. I told a woman standing by to stay with him and make sure that he does not go to sleep what ever he does. I ran to the SUV to see if the driver needed any help. Some men had pulled him out and had him laying on the ground. I could tell right away that he was in a lot worse shape then the driver of the Semi. He had blood all over him from cuts from glass, but as I felt his abdomen It was hard to the touch, That is a sign of internal bleeding. At this point the police start to show up with the paramedics right behind, I tell the first on scene officer all that I could as quickly as I could.(I used the army method of assessing a causality) the paramedic looked at me with a kind of surprised look on his face and said thanks, and went to right to work working on the driver of the SUV. The medics loaded the driver of the SUV into the ambulance and as they did I saw them get a chest tube ready. More Paramedics show up and start treating to driver of the Semi. At this point I knew that I was more in the way then I was helping, so I backed off and waited to give my statement. When the second ambulance took off with the driver of the Semi another medic came over to ask me how I knew to give the information that they needed, and how I had assessed both drivers before I got there. I told him that I was in the army and that I am certified in the Army's EMS program. He then told me that because I had caught the internal bleeding I had given the driver of the SUV a "fighting chance" and that because I woke the driver, they could tell right away that he had a major concussion, and that they needed to get him to the hospital right away. Both the driver of the SUV and the driver of the Semi went to the hospital in Critical Condition, and the medics were confidant that both would make it. I then gave the Sheriff my contact information, and we continued onto Nashville.