Sunday, May 25, 2014

We've been doing a lot of fun stuff lately!

A couple weeks ago my mom, dad, and I went out to Applebees.We had a blast! After we decided to get some ice cream. It was delicious.




Last week David took my mom and me shooting. David was a great teacher and we didn't do half bad!




We took Austyn swimming. She is a little fish and was content in the water for over an hour. I am looking forward to swimming all summer!



Saturday, May 24, 2014

My birthday!

Yesterday I turned 24!

David had to work and I was a little disappointed. He got all ready to leave and next thing I know he is telling me he has the day off and we are going to have some fun! It was a great surprise.

Before we did anything I headed to my mom's work to help her close up her classroom. In the meantime David immaculately cleaned my car. When I got home we jumped in my spotless car and headed to the zoo.

While we were at the zoo David went over to see what time the bird show was and he ran into Jacob, Hailey, and Dani! It was Dani's birthday too and she had the same idea as us. It was really fun to see them and look at the rest of the animals with them.

After the zoo my awesome parents took us out to one of my favorite places, Huntsville BBQ Company. It was delicious. Thanks mom and dad!

It was such a great birthday and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my family.







She loves drinking water

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The National Guard


Today David took a huge step in our lives. He joined the Army National Guard.

For awhile David hasn't been too happy with his life. He loves working at Costco but it just isn't something he wants to do forever. He has always wanted to go to college and to flight school but it is just so expensive we've never been able to follow through. David had thought about joining the military before but he didn't really consider it because he didn't want to be away from our little family. David's brother recently joined the National Guard though and it really made us start thinking harder about it.

We decided to talk to a recruiter and things went so well. The Guard will pay 100% tuition which is exactly what we need. After much thought, prayer, and going to the temple we both decided the time away from our family would be worth it.

Then we started the enlistment process. I had no idea how hard it is to get into the military. We found out that the military only has about a 20% acceptance rate. First David had to take the ASVAB. This is an aptitude test that tests your skills in certain areas to see what job best suits you. It has sections like math and english but also sections like mechanics and auto shop. To be eligible for certain jobs in the Guard you have to score so high in the different areas. Well David killed it and qualified for any job in the Guard. Yay!

The next step was his physical. The physical is a very in depth process and they check you for everything. This is where a lot of applicants get disqualified. I was so nervous that something would come up and he wouldn't make it. He passed again though!

David also had to take the TAPAS which is a crazy ridiculous personality test. Unfortunately he didn't score as high as he needed to and had to retake it. That major problem was we had to wait a month to retake it which pushed his enlistment day back. We were so disappointed.

So while we were doing all of this we had to pick a job for him to do while he is in the Guard. He really wanted to be in the aviation unit and his first choice of jobs was to be a helicopter mechanic. You really have to take what you can get though because there is rarely an opening in the job you want. David was offered a job as structural repair in the aviation unit. He was very excited to be working around helicopters be apart of the aviation unit. Then bad news came. Because the TAPAS pushing his enlistment back his job was taken by someone else. The job he was offered instead was aviation's operations which was just a boring paperwork job setting up flight schedules and things like that. He was so disappointed. We were frustrated that because of this lousy personality test he wasn't getting a job that he would enjoy. But then, just a few days before he would enlist a new job became available:  Apache Attack Helicopter Repairer. We couldn't believe his dream job was his for the taking! It's so funny how things work out. We were so bummed he wasn't getting the job that he would have enjoyed, but because of the delay he was able to get a job he will LOVE. (Thanks Heavenly Father)

Today (May, 20th) was the day he retook the TAPAS and officially enlisted. I was so nervous. I didn't sleep at all last night. I was nervous about the test but I was so anxious about officially making this big, huge decision. David had to be in Salt Lake at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) at 6am to take his test. I headed down a few hours later to watch him get sworn in. David did so well on the TAPAS today. He doubled his first score. I know the reason he didn't pass in the first place was so he could get the helicopter mechanic job. Then he got all his contract together and signed the paperwork. We did have to wait about 2 hours because there system went down. I felt like we had to wait FOREVER. Thankfully Austyn was so good and was happy as could be. Finally we were able to watch him take the oath.

He will be leaving on July 14 for Fort Jackson in South Carolina for basic training for 9 weeks. I'll get to fly out to see him graduate then he heads to Fort Eustis in Virginia for his AIT or job training for 17 weeks. I am very much dreading him leaving. We moved in with my parents so I won't have to live alone while he is gone so that will make things much better.

I'm so proud of David and am grateful for what he is doing for our family and our country. I love you David!

Taking the oath.



Austyn watching her dad.


Monday, May 19, 2014

Mother's Day

My first mother's day was so wonderful. Both my mom and my mother-in-law got me flowers in honor of it being my first mother's day. That made me feel so so loved. David made me breakfast in bed and made me feel so special all day long.

David also made me the most incredible present.


I just love how it turned out. I love printing off all of the pictures we take but I have no way to display them. I love that I can change them out every so often. Thanks David!!


Friday, May 9, 2014

3rd Anniversary

On May 6th David and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Honestly it feels like we've been married way longer. Maybe because so much has happened. We have moved 4 times, I've graduated from college, and we've had a baby. We've had quite the 3 years!

To celebrate our anniversary we are going to got to a hotel for an overnighter but we are planning that for next month when our nanny (aka my mom) is out of school for the summer so we can leave Austyn with her. On our actual anniversary we spent the day together doing things that David really likes to do and things that I like to do.

We started off by going to the Hill Aerospace Museum. This is a place that David LOVES going to. I actually think its just a little boring (don't tell) but we did have a great time. David loved telling me about all the planes.






After the museum we went to the gun store, then the craft store! Where I bought some cute

 crafts. We had a great day just spending time together. Happy anniversary to us!


Here are my crafts I made that day :)



David is 24!

My awesome husband is a whopping 24 years old. We celebrated by going the the aquarium. We had a blast, especially Austyn who loved looking at all of the fish.



After we went to Panda Express which is David's favorite. (side note: it is not my most favorite place so we rarely go there haha)





We had a great time together as a family. I love David so much! Happy Birthday!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Easter

I didn't get to do too much for Easter on account of having to work (boo!) but the day before Easter we were able to have a little fun. We went to the annual Creager Easter egg hunt. I had to tell David all my memories of doing this with my cousins every year. We always had such a fun time. Sometimes I wish I could still hunt for those Easter eggs. After that we headed over to David's families home to dye Easter eggs. Lynsey and Henry were there and we had such a fun time watching the two kiddos dye eggs. They loved splashing in the vinegar water and worked hard to eat the eggs. They were covered in dye by the time we were done. It was a blast. The next day while I was at work David got to go to his mom's to have a big breakfast in honor of Easter and also a goodbye party for Thomas before he left for basic training. Austyn was very spoiled by all of her grandparents with lots of cute clothes and toys. They are the best!




David's TARDIS Easter egg