Our Muse has Found Us in San Anton

Our good friend, Steve Muse, came to visit us. He was here in San Antonio for a couple of days for work. It was really good to see him and made us realize how much we miss everyone in Utah.

We love you Steve-O!

Happy Mother's Day to me! :)

We're having a baby! This is my ultrasound from 10 weeks. I am about 15 weeks along now. The baby is due November 7th. Baby Parks is about the size of a clenched fist and is learning to wiggle his/her fingers and toes. It still blows my mind to think about things like that! I will post updates when we know if it is a boy or a girl.

I was pretty sick for the last couple of months, but it is starting to get a lot better. The hardest thing to deal with was my super sense of smell. I really thought Jon was trying to kill me with his jalapeno-flavored Cheezits. I could also tell when someone in the next county was cooking fish. I felt like the bear in Dr. Seuss' The Big Brag!

I am taking tips and suggestions of things you were glad you did/wish you had done during pregnancy/delivery. Also, any good books to read besides What to Expect When You're Expecting?

Quick Updates

Thanks to Alexis for motivating me to finally post this! I have been meaning to do it forever.

JON:

This is a photo of the road leading into Randolph Air Force Base. Jon's training is going well. He is basically in school from 8 AM to 5 PM everyday. He also spends a couple hours each night studying. He feels like he has a sweet job because three days a week he gets time to work out. So far he has been learning about survival in emergency situations, weather and wind patters, how to take off and land at an airport, and how to read charts. On some of their "fun" days he has played in a raft in a pool (for water survival), and went up to 3200 ft in a hyperbaric chamber to see who would pass out first from a lack of oxygen. In two weeks he starts flying and practicing on simulators.

EMILY:
I turned 30 in March. It was weird for about a week, but now I am over it. I don't mind getting older....I am just not sure what it means to be 30. I feel like I should be wiser by now. I still feel like I am in that post-college "figuring life out" phase. On my birthday, Jon surprised me by taking me to Sea World. It was so fun. We had a great time.

I also dyed my hair really dark. It was brown, almost black....for about a week. The color didn't stick real well and within the last month it has faded quiet a bit. It is now a medium brown. It was fun to try something different. New state. New color. I haven't decided if I am going to do it that dark again.

The other major thing in my life--that many of you already know--is that I have lost about 40 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers when Jon went to Officer Training School last September. I lost about 25 of it in the 3 months he was gone. I kept it a secret from him and just surprised him when he got back. I don't think Weight Watchers is for everyone, but it worked really well for me and gave me the education and the tools to figure out what I was doing wrong. This is a little embarrassing admitting to those of you who haven't seen me in the last 7-8 years, because I now look about the same as I did when I graduated from college. I developed some really bad habits being married and living in Doha. It feels really good to be back to my regular size again.

US:
A couple of weeks ago we went camping with some of Jon's friends from school. We went to Sunday Beach on Matagorda Island. One of his friends found a guy with a boat to take us out there and pick us back up. We camped right on the beach. It was so beautiful. Apparently this area is the only place in Texas where you can find sand dollars. We found 30-40, but only brought a couple home. It was fun to get away and see more of Texas. We are loving the beautiful weather and are trying not to rub it in (too much) to those still getting snow in Utah.


We also bought a new car. It is a 2008 Mazda CX9. We love it. I haven't taken a picture of our car yet, but here is what it looks like.


I am sure there are other things from the past few months that I should write about, but I can't think of any right now and for some reason my posting editor is not cooperating. More to come later...

My New Hero--A good lesson in taking risks and not judging a book by its cover

Susan Boyle--Britain's Got Talent

I love this lady. She is my new favorite person. I am probably partially biased because this is one of my favorite songs, but I just love the idea of someone realizing their dreams at any stage of life! Her little jig at the end cracks me up every time.

The embedding feature for this video is disabled, so you will have to go to YouTube. It is worth watching for sure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Update

We are doing great here in Texas. We found a great house to rent in Universal City, which is on the north east side of San Antonio. It is a great location. We are just down the street from the base, our church is just over our back fence (so we walk to church), and we are really close to grocery stores and the biggest shopping center in the area.

Jon is loving being in the Air Force. We feel very blessed. There are so many benefits and they have been really good to us. For a lot of the time we have been here, Jon has been on "casual status", which basically means that he is just hanging out until his training starts. He checks in with his group every morning and they tell them if they can go home or if they have stuff for them to do that day. He has done everything from help at a conference to move office furniture. I think it was nice for him to have a break for a little while, but he is getting restless and is anxious to get started on his training again. He starts his Navigator training this Friday. It will last about 10 months.

About a week after we moved into our house, Jon went to Pueblo, Colorado for his Initial Flight Screening (IFS). He was there a month. They taught him how to fly a tiny two person airplane and basic navigation skills. They send all pilots and navigators through this to see their general aptitude before they spend a ton of money training them. For example, if he gets air sick, he probably won't make a very good navigator. It was an intense environment, but Jon really enjoyed it. His favorite part was the navigation training, which is good since that is what he is going to be doing for the next several years at least.

I stayed here for the first two weeks Jon was gone and finished unpacking and getting the house settled. Charly, our dog, also had to have surgery on her foot to remove a cyst. Once everything here was settled enough, I went back to Utah to visit family for a week. Then I flew to Colorado to spend a week with my Great Aunt Jan who lives in Denver (she is one of my favorite people in the whole world.) While I was there, Jon was able to come up for the weekend to spend time with us. It was really great to see him again. When we are apart, I learn to appreciate the "just hanging out" even more. Jon got home about a few days after I did. (I think Jon looks pretty great in his flight suit and you KNOW he loves it!)


This one is of Aunt Jan in her car. She even let me drive it, which was pretty amazing. The pictures are pretty bad because I forgot my camera and had to buy a disposable one.

It is great to be back home together again. I will post some other updates soon.