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

Nov 19 - Warrior Dash

So, to say that Danny's brother David loves to run is an understatement.  He's not only run and done well in marathons, but he's competed in super 50 mile marathons.  and *likes* it.  Crazy, imo.  But anyway.  David was going to be in the states for a while in November (he's a Marine stationed in Japan, so opportunities to spend time with him and his family are rare), and he thought it'd be fun to run a race with Danny.  Sure, why not?  Danny tells me they found a 5K, not too much, not too far away, on the weekend he'd be in town, and they were all signed up.  Only a few weeks prior did I find out, this wasn't just any 5K.  It was a Warrior Dash.  Now, if you've never heard of it (I hadn't), you can look at their website and just get an idea of what this really is.  Basically, take a 5K and add a bunch of obstacles like hurdles, bridges, walls, trenches, net walls, rope bridges, and mud. lots of mud.  Also add hundreds of people, funny costumes, rock music, and beer.  Each participant also got a t-shirt and a viking hat and a free beer (not that we took that, haha).  ... yeah, sounds like fun. hmm.

Anyway, the day came and I went to help cheer from the sidelines.  We also met up with Genevieve (David's wife)'s mom, and her sister and husband, Jeremy, who was also joining in on the race.  The weather was nice, but the place was one big dusty field and the wind was really strong, getting everything covered in dust.  But I guess that didn't matter so much to the boys, because by the end, they were head to toe covered in mud.  They had a huge water truck to hose everyone down on the end, and that helped... some, haha.  The race was done in waves of 100 runners, every thirty minutes.  At the end of the day, 6052 had competed.  Danny placed 95th in his age group, 514th overall with a time of 11:17.  David placed 13th in his age group, 67th overall with a time of 9:06.  And Jeremy placed 5th in his age group and 40th overall with a time of 8:45.  Danny was a little upset by not doing better, but honestly, he did really well considering one of the obstacles was "running" through knee-deep mud, and that was just one of the obstacles.  Besides, he went with David, a marine who loves running, and Jeremy, a high school cross country coach.  I was really proud of all he did.  And in the end I think they all had a lot fun doing it.

Now of course, pictures!  (some of these I got from the Warrior Dash website of ones they took on the course, hence the watermarks, but it's kinda cool to see him progressively getting dirtier, haha)

All the boys ready to go -- and still clean! (l-r) Jeremy (with his warrior face paint, lol), David, and Danny

sign in station

waiting for their wave to begin

David with Genevieve and Grayson (only four months old and a big trooper, slept the entire race!)

... and he's off to a good start (watch his hair color, haha)

... getting a little muddier...

at this point in the race, the course ran right past the spectators so we could watch them complete the last few obstacles.

... crossing the rope bridge, way too fast for me to keep up on the sidelines, lol

and the last obstacle, swimming through the mud trenches! no chance of anyone emerging clean from this one. :)

almost there, just a little farther (... notice his hair? haha, it was so windy, all the dust covered his hair and made him almost look so blond, we didn't recognize him at first)

at the finish line! yay for our muddy racers!

one satisfied guy, he made it through the whole race! ... and now very much wants a shower. :)

Nov 10 - my first pedicure

I had never had a manicure or pedicure before.  Ever.  I always did my own nails, even for my wedding I did my own french tip nails, with some help from my mom for my right hand, lol.  Anyway, when my friend Lacey found out, she insisted on treating me and rectifying the issue.  She had gotten a gift certificate for a nail salon for a pedi and mani, and decided to split it with me because she said it's more fun to go with someone.  So, I met with her, and another of her friends from school tagged along, and I officially got my first pedicure.  And I must say, it was definitely indulgent.  The gift certificate was for the ultra-deluxe pedicures, and I had no idea how much they did beyond just painting my toenails.  By the end of the 45-minute session, my feet and legs (up to my knees) had been soaked, washed, lathered, scrubbed, exfoliated, lotioned, oiled, massaged, and even were given a massage with hot stones and wrapped in heated towels, all while I sat in a huge massage chair with my feet in a miniature whirlpool hot tub.  Of course they also cleaned, trimmed, shaped, painted, decorated and shellacked my toenails, complete with (much to Danny's dismay) rhinestone details.  The fumes in the place were pretty strong, and the people at the store didn't speak much english (the lady with me kept smiling at me and asking, "you like?"), and to do it regularly would get expensive really fast, but otherwise it was kind of fun, they looked great for weeks, and it's kinda nice to get pampered once in a while, I guess... makes me which I had done it for the wedding, haha.  I could've used the time to just sit and relax.  Oh well.  Now I can say I've done it at least once.  Thanks Lacey!

... my camera's sad attempt at taking pictures ... well, they were a dark burgandy sort of red but with a hint of gold that showed up in the light.  The design on the big toes were white flowers with gold rhinestone centers.  ... it was a little weird having something glued onto my toenail, but it was pretty funny watching Danny's reaction when I showed him.  He's not really big on dark colors or lots of ornamention.  He just looked at me and asked, "... are those rhinestones?" I laughed and nodded yes, and it took every part of him to just smile and say, "...okay."

  ...on the bright side, now when I paint my toenails blue or purple, he's a lot better with it because it's so much more subdued than the bedazzled flowers, haha.

Oct 31 - Wilde's Halloween Party

A couple in our ward, the Wildes, love to entertain and throw parties.  They are super nice and fun and the parties are always nice to hang out with other couples our age without kids and outside of church or school or work.  We got invited to their Halloween party and had a lot of fun.  Plus it was fun to see what everyone's costumes were.  It was also kinda fun too because the Wilde's live in a pretty nice neighborhood so they had lots of trick-or-treaters the whole night.  Eventually they ran out of candy, but Chow didn't want to turn anyone away, so she started handing out whatever she could--balloons, mini hand sanitizers, packages of graham crackers, hot cocoa, etc. haha.

a must for any good party, tons of really great food

Brittany and Jeff, dressed up as pirates

us, dressed as War and Peace (though everyone kept guessing Forrest Gump and Jenny)

 

Chelsea, as a Parisian, and Jeremy, as a ceiling fan (his t-shirt says, "Go Ceilings!")

everyone playing Rock Band - they even have a keyboard! very cool :)

Some people also played croquet.  (l-r) Chow, Heidi and Danny (who won the game, lol)

Philip came as a ninja

Halloween also happens to be one of our friends, Clayton's birthday, so they had a little cake and celebration for him too.

The whole crowd - (loosely l-r) Russ and Chow; us; Brittany and Jeff; Jessica; Clayton and Hilary; Chelsea and Jeremy; Philip; and Heidi (holding Preston), Brad and Brandon.

Oct 29 - Trunk-or-Treat

Being married and in ROTC is pretty rare; there is only one other guy in Danny's whole year that is.  Luckily, they really hit it off and his family have become some of our closest friends here.  While the guys were gone for the weekend before Halloween for ROTC training, Lacey invited me to join her and her two boys at their church's trunk-or-treat.  Of course I said yes to the chance to dress up and get out of the house while Danny was gone.  And even more fun, this year I had planned on our costumes kinda being a couple theme, so when he couldn't come, Lacey was willing to wear his costume instead.  ... see if you can guess what we went as :)  ... no really got it though. oh well, it was still fun to make and I thought it turned out well.

Here's Lacey with her two boys, Westley, 3 (dressed as an astronaut), and Logan, 2 (dressed as a skeleton)

... they didn't exactly want to pose for pictures... oh well...

... Logan ate a really sour piece of candy, not sure if he likes it or not.

They go to church in San Antonio with their cousins and grandparents.  Here is their trunk.  The boys in uniforms and the girl dressed as a gnome are their cousins.

Afterwards, Lacey's extended family treated us to dinner out.

... finally got a picture of just us together (it's pretty difficult with two very wiggly little kids). so, have you figured out what we are yet?  Yes, I am a hippie and Lacey is a soldier.  No, we aren't Jenny and Forrest Gump. ... any guesses?  We went as War and Peace. :)

oh, and before we went, Lacey offered to do my hair, and I thought she did a nice job.  She pulled two small braids on the sides together and banded them with a flower.  Not exactly easy to do by myself.

Oct 18 - Emily's 1st Birthday

We went to Houston for a day for Emily's 1st birthday party.  It was mostly just family visiting at a park and then watching Emily try and decide what to do with her birthday cake.  We spent the afternoon shopping before coming back home.  Here's Emily looking so happy! 

... they didn't have any lighters or matches, so Tommy tried using the cigarette lighter from his car to light the candle ... didn't exactly work, but I don't think Emily really cared too much.

... she had more fun playing with the frosting and rolling the cupcake than eating it. oh well.

... do you know how hard it is to find nice gifts for a one-year-old that don't require batteries?  we found this set of old-fashioned wooden blocks that we thought we're cute, and all the kids can enjoy them too.