Final November Rewind, First December Fast Forward

Goodness Gracious. It is not good when we are 2/3s done with December, and still needing to run through November. But alas....

THANKSGIVING
I was THANKFUL we had not one but two friends graciously ask us to join them for Thanksgiving this year.  This meant I got to play it safe and only make two dishes: pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole.  In my defense these (incredibly hospitable) friends of mine are 28, so they've had a few more years of adulthood and marriage to practice. A great time was had by all, and we even got to see a RARE Cowboys victory. The LORD was SO gracious to give us such sweet friends so quickly. It was also our two month-iversary :)

Here is a collage of our first married Thanksgiving Day!

The next day we headed to to Fort Meade, Maryland to see some our greatest friends, Ryan and Mandy DeMello.  They are an incredibly wise and purposeful couple, and we learn so much from hanging out with them and observing them.  We felt extremely honored to see them one last time before they became parents! And since I'm writing about this so late, their baby boy was born at the beginning of this week. We can't wait to go meet little Micah. What a blessing to have such close Texas friends only 90 minutes away!

we spent a LOT of time in front of their log fireplace (CJ was ecstatic about chopping the firewood out behind their house), playing games, sipping hot tea, and catching up on life. 

 We adventured to Annapolis the next morning. It is so picturesque and we cannot wait to go back!

DECEMBER
After the best November I have ever experienced (Click here or here to find out more reasons why), December was upon us! Here are some highlights of the first couple weeks.

We had our first free weekend in a long time, so we were finally able to go to the Marine Corps Museum.  It is an INCREDIBLE museum, that truly makes history come alive. We were there for a few hours, and didn't get through it all.  One highlight (pictured above) was the rifle range practice (laser powered of course).  A DOUBLE EXPERT {big deal!!!} was there to teach me form, aim, etc.  This double expert {AKA my hubby} and I were both pretty impressed with my shot.

Last week we had our first Virginia snow! I was very pleasantly surprised to see that Virginia responds to snow about the same as Texas!!! (hopefully that will hold true) There wasn't much snow or ice, but it was enough to give CJ a day and a half off and for a little snowman! Our snowday was probably my favorite day of marriage thus far.  It was an incredibly rare blessing to have so much time with him.

Last week the Marine Corps showed incredible work-life balance! CJ was home two nights in a row by 6pm!!! (his usual is between 830-930). As luck would have it though, those days I babysat until 8 pm. CJ surprised me with a full homemade dinner one night! He opened my computer, saw what Pinterest recipe I had pulled up and completed it all himself. It was such a fun treat

Again, as luck would have it, the night I didn't babysit that week, CJ had overnight duty. But it was all right because our church held an awesome women's Christmas event that night with fancy appetizers, desserts, music, and a powerful message from Jen Hatmaker.  I had not heard of her before this event, but she is fairly well known for her blog, books, etc. Turns out she's from TEXAS, hilarious, and seems extremely candid. I went with one of my closest friends and we had such a great time. 

Okay, I ended up being a lot more detailed than I originally intended, and there are a few more events I could write about, but I will save them for a "holiday parties" post. Again, praise GOD from whom ALL blessings flow.  We miss are Texas friends and family so much, but Stafford, Virginia definitely feels like home too.  

Transitioning back to present day....CJ has ONE more day of training left until he has TWO WEEKS OFF!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS. It was a hard decision, but we are not going back to Texas this year. Plane tickets to Dallas (and then either flying again to Kingsville or stealing a car and driving 8 hours) were way too expensive, and it is 30 hours to get from here to Kingsville! That would have us in the car for six 10-hour days, and would not give CJ the rest he terribly needs.  This is our first Christmas to spend together (dating or married), and it will be as simple as can be. We could not be more excited.

MERRY CHRISTMAS WEEK and SemperFi

November Rewind: Part 2: Besties in DC!

Honestly, getting to do a post about this is what finally made me come back to the blog!

One of my dearest, bestest friends and her husband (who is also one of our other dearest, bestest friends) came to visit us two weekends ago! We had this trip planned before CJ and I even moved to Virginia.  It was the only way we could cope with saying goodbye...

Since we scheduled the trip so far in advance, we didn't know what CJ would have going on that weekend.  Turns out they came on the heels of Rifle Range weeks, him spending 2 nights in the freezing cold, and a 6-mile ruck march (I know 6 miles doesn't sound like a lot, but soon I'll do a post explaining what a ruck march is). I was worried about him enduring a full, windy day of DC exploration, but alas I underestimated his strength and how much he loves our friends. He was completely good to go, and it was me complaining about my feet hurting by the end of the night.

Here are some highlights of our day!

~Picked them up at their hotel with lots of squealing and hugs

~brunch at a hipster place in Georgetown

walked around national mall

~spent FOUR HOURS in the National Air and Space Museum 

walked down the reflection pool

quite a hike to the Lincoln Memorial

 made it to honest Abe

super fun "birthday dinner"

....and that was just Saturday!!

We spent Sunday in Stafford, showing them glimpses of our new life here. We went to our church, drove around and showed off the base, had some girl/guy time, and hung out at our apartment! Sunday was definitely the most surreal part of the weekend. Were our best friends from TEXAS really seeing our new life and home in VIRGINIA?! Yes, they were...and we loved it!!!

Monday CJ had to go back to work, but I got to have one more day with our friends! I impressed myself by train-ing to DC, then two metros to meet up with them. Let me be honest though, the second I got to the Metro Station, a man working there could tell I was completely lost, and gave me step by step directions :)...but I still did it!

We spent the majority of Monday in the NEWSeum.  Definitely, my favorite museum I've ever been to.  It has THOUSANDS of in depth stories. If you know me well, you know I am an information absorber, so I was completely enthralled.  With it being the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, there were two special exhibits devoted to Camelot and events surrounding the assassination and aftermath.  I learned more about that tragedy at the Newseum than I ever thought about learning in Dallas.

We also spent some time touring Ford's Theatre, learning about Lincoln's presidency and that assassination. It is an undeniable reality that the vast majority of stories and history we learned about that day revolved around man's wickedness...

Evening came and our time together had to come to an end.  We didn't get a long, drawn out good bye because we were afraid I was about to miss my train back to Stafford.  That was probably for the best because we weren't able to get all sad and emotional.

Later that night though, CJ and I both felt our first batch of homesickness.  It is easy to get plugged into our new life here, and put everything and everyone in Texas in the back of our minds.  Spending time with them was a tad bittersweet because we were reminded of all the people we love and all the time we aren't able to spend with them (I say them, but I really mean y'all who are reading this!)

It was a GREAT thing Thanksgiving was just a few days later because we were overwhelmed with love and joy and thankfulness. That will be my next post and the last November Rewind!

November Rewind: Part 1: Birthday Ball

Wow! Yet again, so much time has passed since my last post, and so many exciting things have happened. I'm going to do a few separate posts, documenting the past three weekends we had.

My last post was about CJ and the Rifle Range.  CJ ended up getting Double Expert, which is the best you can get! I am so proud of him, while he thinks he could have done better. There is a range of scores that is designated as expert, so CJ, of course, is only satisfied with a perfect score. My man is so motivated...

The weekend in between rifle range weeks, was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.  Whether you're stationed at Quantico, overseas in Okanawa, or deployed in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps' birthday is always celebrated.  Naturally, depending on the situation, size, etc. of where you are, the celebration part will vary.  The ball for TBS students and staff, is the largest one, hosting over 3,000 people.  (If you haven't noticed, I like to compare things here to Aggie life. So, it's sort of like Muster being world wide, with the largest, most formal program being at aTm.) It was so fun to get dressed up, meet a  lot more of CJ's platoon, and experience some of the traditions and pride that makes the Marine Corps so unique from all the other branches. (Hmm...pride, traditions...another similarity to aTm)

Here are a few pictures from the night...

My man is ridiculously good looking in his dress blues!

Some of the sixth platoon platoon wives and new friends

(a Hawaiian, an Aggie!, an Alabama girl, and me)

One of CJ's new buddies

We had a wonderful evening. The ball was in Richmond (about an hour away) so we carpooled down with one of our favorite couples. The evening started with a cocktail hour, followed by the traditional ceremony which includes the Marine Corps anthems, flag processional, key note speaker, message from the commandant, and cutting of the birthday cake. Here is one tradition...The first slice of cake goes to the honored, guest speaker (ours was a General), then to the oldest Marine attending the ball, then to the youngest.  This is to symbolize the passing down of wisdom from one generation of Marines to the next. I cannot remember how old the oldest was, but I do remember the youngest was born in 1995!

After the dinner, there was a dance.  Only about 15-20% of the attendees were from CJ's company (who were in the middle of two of the hardest weeks of TBS), and it was pretty obvious who those were....the guys who were too tired to dance and most of the first ones leaving! Exhaustion aside, it was a lovely, memorable night. I can't wait to attend many more!