Desert Skies Are Beautiful!

The skies out here in the desert are just breathtakingly beautiful!!! I never grow tired of them. Sadly my phone does not capture their true beauty....



















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The Friends We Keep Along The Way

It's truly a blessing with all the incredible people we meet living this military lifestyle! A long time ago on an island far far away we were forever blessed to have moved into the concrete bomb shelter in Okinawa back in 2003 that shared walls with the Schmidt family! Kathleen came over the very first day with a plate of brownies and a slew of neighborhood kids! I loved her instantly! Like seriously, chocolate fudge brownies and all my kids immediately left the house to go play with their new friends!!! But I got to know Kat in the days that followed and we have been dear friends to this very day! Forever grateful that Matt got orders to Cherry Point, even though at the time I was quite ticked that they were driving to NC from Ca the VERY week the kids and I were driving from NC to Ca!!!! But those orders were the best for me because Victoria ended up there and Kat n Matt have been Vicki's away from home parents! A house to crash at when the nights are too lonely/scary with her husband deployed, someone to call when a flat tire hits and everything else that happens on a deployment, dinner, breakfast, holidays, and her nurse today and the next few days while Vix recovers from her wisdom being dug out of her!!!! Thank you soooo very much for taking care of our Vixter for us!!!! We love you Kat n Matt and you too Vicki!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ From these pictures we've known you guys for a LONG time!!! Who knew way back in 2003 when Vicki was starting 2nd grade that you guys would be stationed together but her married to the boy who lived 4 doors down?!!!



Spent countless hours chit chatting in our shared front yards


These two always making me laugh!


3D roller coaster fun on Oki!


A night of fun at American Village Okinawa


- Vicki was in 2nd grade when we moved in next door to the Schmidts and their daughter Alex immediately became one of Vicki's best friends!



Jorden was in 7th grade and was best friends with their son Cody

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Heading Home!

After Ed's 2 weeks in Quantico at Marine Corps University and me attending the last week it was finally time to head home! Of course we had a 7 am flight out of Ronald Reagan so our day started VERY early!!!

After dropping off the rental car we caught the shuttle to our terminal.

An hour later we were sitting in our seats waiting for take off.

Soon we were leaving Phoenix and on airplane number two.

Now back on the west coast and on pacific time we were in OUR car and heading home!!! I feel like I've been gone much longer than a week!!! But it was definitely a fun trip with my Marine!

Iwo Jima In February

This monument is just beautiful....the detail given to every last aspect of this is just amazing....i can never tire of seeing this monument....

Scarf Snatcher

I don't know why but the horses always love this scarf. They always go for it and I'm constantly dodging their choppers when I wear it. I decided to photoblog one of the scarf snatchers today. They all do it the same, come in for the nuzzle, trick me, and bite the scarf and pull! Than we begin the tug of war, gently, because I really like this scarf and don't want it ruined!

Wilmington NC 2,554 Mi

Whenever we went to Wilmington we would always see the Barstow Ca 2,554 MI sign and always joke about how horrible it would be to end up there. Well we ended up at the other end of that sign here in Barstow. We finally went and got a picture of it! I wanted it last year with all of us in Santa hats for our Christmas picture, but didn't happen.

Kisses For Rookie

Can you tell we just LOVE this guy?!!! He's a REALLY good horse. He is very much adored.

Gas Shut Off!

Tonight is the Single Marine Thanksgiving Dinner. All the spouses here on base cook a feast for all the single Marines that live in the barracks. Of course there happens to be a gas leak and the gas is turned off for the day. All our ovens are gas!!! The Dude In Cammies found ovens around base for us to use. My two turkeys were ordered to the barracks kitchen that has two ovens. So, I headed over there....

Turkeys were secured in my vehicle...

We arrive to discover an awesome facility!!! Ty, Ryan, and Taylor were put on Turkey Duty and stayed at the barracks while they cooked. I went and filled up a picnic basket of drinks and food for them. I think it's safe to say they will survive hardship duty!

He Made The Cut!

Nov 6, 2015

The list came out for Seargant Major today. I couldn't believe when Ed called this morning and told me. I cried....I'm sooo over the moon happy for him! He has worked so hard and all that work paid off! He came back from a meeting to find this giant banner on his office door!

He was quite impressed...

The smile of happiness....it's sinking in...

It's been a great day!

Time to go home and celebrate!

The Flag Was Being Lowered

I had zipped inside to grab something while Ed and Ty were heading to the car. When I opened the door this is what I saw....it will be odd to not be doing this at random times when we happen to be in the in between of coming and going during flag ups and flag downs. Will definitely miss this when our base housing days are no longer a part of our life.

First 4th Of July In Barstow

Our first 4th of July in Barstow and our first one together in a couple years!!! We started it at the All American BBQ at the base pool....and ended it at America's favorite past time, a baseball game! It was a perfect day!

Chit chatting....

The Duty swung by for lunch and it was a perfect 4th of July lunch!  

Ryan loves to jump from the diving board

A perfect cannon ball!

A baseball game in the desert....Ryan wanted one of those foam fingers and Ed found the hat he has wanted!

Perfect seats.....

Fireworks started like 3rd inning.....sometimes we weren't sure if we were at a baseball game or a fireworks show!!!

I Finally Played BUNCO!!!

After all these years as a Marine wife I finally played Bunco! And won....so probably won't play again! Hahahahaha It was fun so if it happens again I'll play, but I will probably forget by the time it comes around again!!!

Address Book In Shambles

My address book is in shambles, like literally completely falling apart! It was a really cool address book at one time. I got it from Thailand and it had this awesome elephant on the front of it. But, Tank chewed on it, Biscuit chewed on it, and it Jasper tried to eat it.....but i just don't want to replace it quite yet.....my military friends now have several changed addresses and some of those in there are no longer collecting mail here on earth....so thumbing thru it addressing Christmas cards.....nope, just can't quite bring myself to replace it just yet..... 

Happy Haunting

It was a Haunting Night at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow tonight! The annual Halloween party was a LOT of fun!

 

Ryan won the costume contest for the 12-18 year olds

wearing Ty's sniper outfit.

We had fun posing with the mummies! I was a

bloody mess school girl zombie and Vicki wore my

Apple Witch costume.

The Dude In Cammies was a Disgruntled 1st Sgt 

Zombie chick attacking the unsuspecting Marine

Silly dillies.....

Ty made it for the last part after football practice. He had fun in the back in the bar area
watching the football game. We joined him after they announced Ryan as the winner.

Sometimes things don't end well......but apparently we all grew.....