Summer 2012 - highlights

 ... yeah, it's been a while.  The past year has been pretty crazy to say the least but things have finally settled down enough so (hopefully) I'm going to be able to catch up.  I think the hardest part about blogging for me lately is the fact that I never seem to take pictures anymore.  Either someone else is going to be taking photos or maybe I forget about getting my camera or probably because you can only take so many self portraits, but mostly, it's just because while life is busy, it's been pretty ... well, boring, at least in terms of photo opportunities.  But anyway, here's the highlights of last summer (which seems like ages ago).

I was able to get off work for a day so we could take a long weekend up to Allen to visit my parents for Memorial Day.  We had a lot of fun and were even able to stay for the city's orchestra concert and fireworks display (though driving back home in the middle of the night so I could be at work the next day wasn't quite as fun).

LDAC (Leader Development and Assessment Course) - Danny was gone for another month this summer, this time for LDAC.  Unlike last year's training, this four-week course is required for all ROTC cadets in order to train and pass off all the skills they have (supposedly) learned in their time as a cadet.  You have to pass all the requirements in order to become an officer, so it's a pretty big deal and Danny spent a lot of time prepping and getting ready for it.  It was a hard month, for both of us, especially since they weren't allowed to use phones the entire course, so all we had were letters (well, I sent letters to Danny because unfortunately, we forgot to send him with envelopes and stamps, noted for next time).  But luckily, training for him and work for me kept us both busy and the time went by quickly.  These photos are a few of the highlights they posted of his company (the only photo he's in other than the group shot is the bottom right one, he's holding the rifle).

While back at home, I kept busy with work and projects and also trying to get out a bit.  I had 4th of July off, but it was a Wednesday, right in the middle of week, so I just stayed in town.  Some friends from church invited me to go to San Marcos's Summer Fest and fireworks show, so that made it fun and a little easier despite being away from Danny... a little at least.  I also tried an idea off pinterest (which, btw, I'm totally addicted to) and made these super easy and cute patriotic cupcakes.  They're just a regular box cake mix but dyed with food coloring and layered.  So fun!  and everyone loved them :)

Later in July, I was also able to get a couple days off for a short trip to Utah for my grandpa's 80th birthday / family reunion.  It went by way too fast and I really wished Danny could've come (he still had a week left at LDAC), but it was really nice to see all my family again, especially some of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in years.  Above are a few pictures from Grandpa's birthday lunch at the park, including a photo of the drawing I made him of our family tree.  I think it turned out nicely (especially for having finished it during my layover at the airport), and he seemed to like it.

After the park, we went over to Aunt Karen's for more relaxing and playing in her backyard.  It was fun to see everyone having a good time.

While in Utah, we also spent a day at Lagoon amusement park.  I mostly spent the day with my parent's and Amanda's family.  It was a lot of fun seeing the boys so excited about the rides, especially the bumper cars.  Seth must have ridden them at least five times and probably would've stayed on them all day if we let him.  And I even joined them on a ride or two.

Well, summer felt super long and went by really fast all at the same time.  A bit of the summer was spent trying to get some health issues figured out (side note, insurance and doctors and pretty much the whole health industry are such a pain to deal with), and the rest of my time was pretty much filled with work.  I finished up work at Texas State by the end of August, and I must admit as much I loved working there, I was really ready for a break.  My job responsibilites had completely changed that summer as there was a lot of reorganizing and schedule changes and new procedures.  They ended up taking the two regular workers from my department and moving them temporarily to another department for the summer.  They then moved me up to doing both of their jobs while they brought in three new temps that I had to train to do my old job, not including temps that came and left because they couldn't or didn't want to do the work (one only lasted 45 minutes!)  Oh, and on top of all that, for part of July, my supervisor was on vacation for two weeks and left me in charge of the department! oh joys.  Let's just say, I got to know the job really well, and I was good at it, but perhaps too good, lol.  And I've learned that while I can do higher up the totem pole positions, it doesn't mean I like it.  I'd much rather be at the bottom and do my work the best I can and not have to worry about everyone else's work too.  But all in all, it was a good experience and I am grateful for the time I had at the Financial Aid Department, and I really will miss it.


ps. I think I had a bit too much fun with this new photo collage maker I found online (http://pizap.com/) but I figured it would be a good way to sum up the summer :)

April 2012

April - This was by far one of the busiest months for us.  Danny was wrapping up the semester, meaning spending long nights writing his several 10-20 page essays and research papers (yuck), studying and taking finals, and getting all of the last ROTC training for the semester and his final PT test (which, btw, he did quite well in all of the above, pulling off a 3.25 gpa for the semester. I'm so proud of all the hard work he does).  For me, work was insanely busy for the month with lots of policy and procedure changes and people leaving and new people getting hired and just a lot more documents to deal with.  And, as seems to be the trend of the year thus far, we dealt with a lot of health issues for both of us, leading to a crazy month.

Other highlights of the month (in no particular order):
-General Conference weekend--Danny had a training in San Antonio that weekend; he ended up getting really sick (poor thing) and had to come home early, but on the bright side, he got to finally see some of conference -- they've had training weekends every single general conference since he got here.
-Easter--we didn't do a whole lot this year (didn't want to go overboard like last year and burn myself out) but still nice and quiet.
-the baby blessing of Danny's newest nephew, James (first kid of Nick and Kay), which meant *all* the family came out to see everyone ... we took a bunch of photos, but who knows where they ended up...
-this also included Danny's parents visiting for the whole week, so we got to spend lots of time hanging out, eating out, and getting to know each other better
-another party with our friends, a farewell / last get together for a bunch of people who moved at the end of the semester
-the ROTC spring formal, which also meant shopping for a fancy dress (...yay and ugh all at the same time for that one)! definitely a new and kinda exciting experience and Danny got to participate in the sword arch and wear a spiffy dress uniform. (wish I had gotten more pictures, but the event was so formal that it never seemed appropriate to whip out my camera and take snapshots... oh well.)

Apr 8 - Easter

Our Easter Brunch - tried to keep it simple this year

instead of dyeing eggs the traditional way, I saw this idea on pinterest (yes, I caved, and am already fully addicted to the site) about dyeing the actual eggs themselves.  I liked the idea because I really like deviled eggs but then you have to peel off all the shells that you just spent an hour coloring, and then they don't look special anymore.  I'm so glad I tried this -- it was super easy and fast and makes a big impact (though it did make Danny much more cautious to actually eat them since they weren't white, lol).

Apr 13 - ROTC Spring Formal

I did get a few snapshots of us all dressed up after the formal.

My new dress, a really lucky find at Dress Barn just a week before the event.

The formal was held in a ballroom in the same building I work at, and only half an hour after I got off work, so I brought all my stuff to work with me, and got changed and did my make up and had one of my coworkers help me with my hair all in between work and the formal.  Needless to say, by the end of the night, we were pretty exhausted ... and unfortunately, time and Texas humidity were not friendly to my curly styled hair.  oh well, at least I felt pretty at the beginning of the formal, lol.

(... ok, these are *technically* pictures from last year's spring formal, but I couldn't for the life of me find pictures of this year's formal yet, even though I know they had a professional photographer taking photos all night, even of all the individual couples... but at least these give a good idea of what it was like)

Apr 14 - Garcia's Georgetown party

While Debbie and Silverio were in town, some friends of theirs from Georgetown (where Danny grew up) threw them a party, and we went with them.  I didn't really know anyone, but I know my in-laws enjoyed seeing everyone again and even Danny talked with some of his friends he grew up with.

Silverio telling life stories and their adventures in London

with one of the hosts

Apr 18

Friend Farewell Party

Fall 2011 - a day in ROTC

Just thought I'd post some pictures of Danny while he is in lab for ROTC.  These were taken last fall at the rifle range.

arriving

classroom training

Green getting ready

on to practical application of training

... as for what exactly they are doing, ask Danny (I think they are sighting the rifles to make sure they maintain good accuracy... maybe).

cadets actually smile sometimes! :)

after a long but good day out in the field

LTC, pt 6

Family Day

Amazingly enough, the four weeks came and went quickly it seemed and Danny was finally done with LTC.  As I had mentioned earlier, my mother-in-law (mil) and I were able to go and see his graduation ceremony and spend extra time with him.  We arrived the Saturday night (July 9) that weekend.  While he couldn't leave to see us that night, we did get to talk to him, and I got to spend the evening getting to know my mil better.  The next morning (Sunday, July 10), we went to Ft. Knox for the Family Day.

"While Cadets practiced for their graduation at Brooks Field, their families were in nearby Waybur Theater for a presentation about what it means to be a part of the Army family.  They were given a chance to ask questions of Major General Mark McDonald, commanding general for U.S. Army Cadet Command, and his wife, Connie.  The families then watched a video that allowed them to see their Cadets in action while at LTC. ... before the presentation, families collected information at booths, free gifts and could scale a rock wall if they chose, to get a taste of what their Cadets had done."

... and btw, my mil climbed that rock wall, just because, in all of about five minutes on the hardest side they had ... she's pretty hard-core.  (I wish I had the picture but it happened so fast, I only got it on her camera, lol).  And they definitely like to give you freebies.  They had pens, pencils, highlighters, candy, cups, pins, folders, binders, frisbees, footballs, key chains, lanyards, booklets, pamphlets, cds, mouse pads, hats, backpacks, and even baby onesies, lol.  After the presentation around lunch time, they let the cadets loose and we got to see Danny!  and he got to spend the entire afternoon/evening with us!  we went out to eat for lunch and mostly just relaxed and talked at the hotel.  I had really missed him, and I think he missed me too. :)

reunited! yay!

... think we're happy to see each other? (haha, it looks like I'm holding on for dear life)

Graduation

We had to take Danny back to his barracks Sunday night.  Monday morning we went to see the graduation ceremony.  We got to hear the band, they handed out awards, gave a couple speeches, and had the cadets march past the stage in their platoon formations.  It was nice and short and simple (as one of the speakers mentioned, "Follow the three B's: Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone!"). Afterward, we got free punch and cookies as we rejoined Danny and met some of his fellow cadets and his drill sergeants, who were still jokingly harassing the cadets, and by lunch, it was over and we were on our flight home by late afternoon.  Two of Danny's siblings picked us up at the airport and we were able to spend the evening together before everyone had to head home.

All in all, I think Danny really gained a lot from his experiences at LTC.  He learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence and leadership skills, and he learned that even when things were hard, this is what he wants to do and this is what he's good at.  ... and hopefully these four weeks better prepared both of us for when he goes to five weeks of the Leader Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) next summer.

Third Platoon - the ribbons each signify an event that the platoon won against the other platoons; third platoon got 6 out of 8 total ribbons.

... these cadets were posing in some of the exercise positions they had to do everyday.

Congrats on finishing Leader's Training Course, Danny!

LTC, pt 5

Platoon Photos

Alpha Company, Third Platoon
(Danny is in the center of the second row from the back, roughly)

Second PT Test

One more physical fitness test to see how far everyone had improved over the last month.

Rites of Passage

(okay, this I'm taking straight from the blog, because it explains it well enough and shows that he's kind of a dramatic writer, considering he's writing for an army training blog, and well, it's kind of funny, haha)

"There comes a day toward the end of a company's time at the Leader's Training Course when, under a dark, early morning sky, Cadets are given a moment to celebrate with a ceremony known as the rites of passage -- an event that marks the official end of formal training.  After a 6.2-mile road march starting at 3:15 am, the bleary-eyed, sweat-soaked Cadets made their way to Memorial Grove, where music greeted them.  Tunes ranging from Eminem to Toby Keith blared over the speakers, but were quickly drowned out by the motivating shouts of the Cadets.  Exhaustion could be heared in their voices and seen on their faces.  Just as the sun began to peek, giving the sky a purple hue, the Cadets fell into formation for the ceremony.  Under the shadow of trees, seven Cadets, reciting the seven Army Values, lit torches with a symbolic flame from the past, always remembering those who came before them.  At the conclusion of the ceremony, Cadets received an Army Values tag."