Dinner with Friends

We had dinner with our friends Brad and Alexa. They made dinner and I brought a cheesecake. After dinner we decorated gingerbread houses. The guys decided they wanted to make one together. I bet you will never guess which one the boys made and which one the girls made.

My Cheesecake

Recipe for the cheesecake

Fridays at Work

I work doing early morning custodial at BYU; I work from 4:30 am to 8:00 am. Since working that early is kinda hard my boss lets us have breakfast on Fridays! I love having it to look forward to during the week. Today we had French Toast with strawberries, hot chocolate, and cuties it was delicious!

Finals

Before Christmas can really come Harris and I have to make it through our finals. It keeps getting harder to focus and study. Naps, movies, and Christmas music all sound so much better than studying. It is Wednesday and I am half way done.

So much to study... and that's not all.

Good luck to anyone else taking finals!

Christmas Celebrations

This weekend has been a lot of fun. On Friday we went to Ikea with the Harris family for a Swedish Christmas dinner. It was fun to be with the family... and to try the food. But it wasn't my favorite.

Ikea Dinner

After dinner we went to my in laws to celebrate Harris' and his brother's birthdays. 

"It's a sweater"

On Saturday I made candy with my mother-in-law and two of my sisters-in-law. Saturday night my parents took us to Macaroni Grill for Harris' birthday. A lady sang 'Happy Birthday' to him in Italian, it was really neat. After dinner we saw the Christmas lights at Temple Square. Then we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was really good especially the organ solo by Richard Elliot. 

Temple Square

I love this time of year! I love how so many people are remembering our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a time of year of family, treats, generosity, and most of all faith. 

Harris I love you, and happy birthday!

Fall 2013 Parade

Yesterday the Air Force ROTC had their parade and award ceremony. The cadets looked so good, especially Harris! The awards ceremony went well and Harris got several awards, I am so proud of him. After we went to Dickey's, I love southern BBQ it reminds me so much of my mission. While we were there it was interesting to see how Harris was treated wearing his uniform. He received a lot of respect from those at the restaurant. A lady even came up to him and thanked him for his service for our country. Her sincerity really struck me. I am definitely grateful for him!

At Dickey's (we love free ice cream!)

Photo of the Day

Commercial

The other night I saw this commercial for the first time. It made me tear up. Wanted to share.

http://youtu.be/o3bZz_JHyyA

Summer

It's the summer and since Harris is just in ROTC right. Now we don't have too many military things going on. But I do think about it a lot. Everyday.

The other night I was talking to my sister-in-law, who is also a military wife. She asked me what people say when they find out my husband is in the military. We recounted to each other the different comments we get, which are pretty similar. Our favorites are when people feel like they need to inform us of what it means to be in the military. They tell us that we will have to be alone sometimes, like its a big secret that we didn't know. They also feel that they need to inform us our husbands will get deployed. (Oh, wait what? Being in the military means my husband will be gone sometimes???) Many people ask us both if we are ok with being in the military, like we had no say in it whatsoever. I find most of their comments to be amusing, even if I don't in the moment.

I am grateful for people's concerns but I am so grateful to be a military wife. I know I don't understand to the full extend on how hard it will be at times. But I know that I will be able to get through anything that comes my way, with the Lord's help. I am so proud of Harris and that he is willing to serve our country and I am so glad I am his wife.

Granite Flats

I recently started watching a TV series called Granite Flats   It takes place in a small town in Colorado during the Cold War. The boys father was an Air Force pilot that died in a plane crash. I like watching it, but I do get emotional sometimes. But that isn't saying too much since more and more things make me emotional especially when it relates to the military.

Check out the show!

First Weekend Gone

I have almost made it my first weekend without Harris... and boy am I excited for him to come home! On Friday I went up to my parents house. It was weird sleeping back in my old room and bed and Harris not being there. I had a good time with my family... but it was hard when the night came, and he wasn't there. The words of a hymn, Abide With Me; 'tis Eventide, came to mind and it gave me comfort.

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.

The day is past and gone;

The shadows of the evening fall;

The night is coming on.

Within my heart a welcome guest,

Within my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;

Behold, 'tis eventide.

Saturday I was busy which was nice, but always in the back of my mind I was always thinking about Harris and missing him. In the evening I left my house I was only going to be gone for a little while so I didn't take my keys because I was just going to leave the door open.... but out of habit the door still got locked. I got the spare key from my sister-in-law but it would get stuck. It was so frustrating, I just wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed. Fortunately I was able to sleep over at my brother-in-law's and sister-in-law's. This morning I tried to unlock the door again and I got it to open. It was such a relief!

This afternoon I received a message that the road coming home was closed. He didn't know when they would make it home.I was heart broken. I was looking forward to seeing him, and now I would have to wait even longer. As Harris kept me updated I found out he would be home about 12. Not as early as he would have been home, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I am now anxiously waiting for his arrival  I am so excited to see him!

End of the Semester

Today I was able to go to the Air Force parade that is for changing the wing cadet leadership. I love watching the rituals and traditions that happen in the Air Force. They all looked so good, especially Harris ;)

After the parade they had an award ceremony  Harris received the Commendation Award, as well as a couple other ones. He was also recognized for being on the drill team.Talking about drill team, tomorrow when I go to work at 4:30 am Harris will be leaving to go to Colorado for a drill team competition. This will be our first time being apart since we got married... I miss him already. But this is going to be my life, and I agreed to it. I am proud of Harris and am happy to support him.

Oh, and check out Harris' hair cut. I did it! It was my second hair cut ever. 

Grandpa Harris

Grandpa Harris

A week ago we were able to attend the funeral for Grandpa Harris. Grandpa has been sick with cancer for many years. His cancer treatments had stopped working a few months ago. Because we knew our time with him was so limited we put in extra effort to go visit him. It was a joy to go to his home, to get to know him, and to hear his stories. He was a very kind and loving man who had great faith; he made me feel very welcome in his family. Grandpa had served as a pilot in the US Navy during WWII. The stories he told from that time were fascinating. Several times he was close to death but he was protected by God.
His funeral was really good it was a happy time to be able to reflect on the good life he lived. It is comforting to know he is able to be free from the pain and suffering that existed in his life here. It a blessing to know that we will be able to be with him again.
During the funeral services it hit me more that I was going to be a military spouse. Harris would have similar experiences as Grandpa had. Hearing stories from Grandpa's military life helped me to gimps my future life and the difficulties that would be apart of it. It is going to be hard but I'm grateful that Harris, Grandpa and many others are willing to defend our country and our freedom.

The Beginning

Cadet Harris has been in the Air Force ROTC this past school year. It is his 100 year (first year) and we were waiting to hear if he receives a scholarship. We talked and prayed about it and we decided if he received a scholarship we would join the Air Force; if not we would think, talk, and pray about it more. As we were getting everything ready there were so many things that seemed to be getting in the way. After he got all the paper work in, Harris was told that he was disqualified from military service because he had to have surgery on his nose. He was told he could get it waived if he had a doctor look at it and a panel  decided that it would not interfere.  I was sad, I was now looking forward to this military life. I would see people on campus wearing their uniforms and I thought I would never get to see Harris in his. (His uniform has been ordered for months and is still not here) It was during this time when I realized how much I was looking forward to this life. The decision was made that he would be fine and he could still be in the Air Force. I was really excited but I thought it would be too late to be considered for the scholarship. It was really nice to find out that he was still being considered for the scholarship.

. . . . . 

Last Tuesday we attended dining out. I loved getting all dressed up. Harris made a joke that I just want to be in the AF just so I can have reasons to dress up. (I do love it but it’s not the MAIN reason lol.) Part of our dining out out is there is a (non-alcoholic) grog bowl. Which contained different kinds of soda, hot sauce, a gold fish, and other things as well. During dinner people could make a rhyme of something the Cadet has done wrong to be threatened to drink from this toilet bowl filled with many wonderful things. I was thinking Harris was going to be safe. Then at the last minuet a Captain got up and gave a long rhyme with seven names, amidst those names was Harris. Most of the rhymes accused them of their “crime” but this one said it would be disclosed when they came up. I felt bad as Harris went up to partake of the grog, little did I know that this was to announce that he had received a scholarship. I was thrilled as heard this… Indeed I would be an Air Force wife.