Andy turns 28!

Happy Birthday, Andy!! I asked him if he felt like he was getting older and he said, "no, just wiser"! haha. We are spending the day together at home with no big plans. X-box and football seem to be the priorities at this point. A dinner out together could possibly be in our future, but we will see what the day brings. Happy birthday to my amazing husband! I love you.

Andy with his surprise birthday cake at the Halloween party last night.

Andy and our brother-in-law (Eric) were surprised with cakes, singing and presents at the tailgate in Indiana last week.

The in-laws have begun taunting Andy already for the big game!

p.s. To those that have been asking, I will get the post up SOON from our trip to Purdue! Perhaps tomorrow =)

Also, here is a picture of us from the Halloween party last night. Andy's name tag says "Dr. McSteamy". I told him he didn't have enough hair to try and be McDreamy! (fellow Grey's fans will understand). We hope you all had a great Halloween!

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Girlfriends gathered for a night out on the town to celebrate my friend Jessica's 30th birthday. Jess has been a busy mom over the past year raising Aidan (aka. the "little man") and definitely deserved a night that was all about her! We celebrated with lots of food at Grill 225 in downtown Charleston and then moved on to the wine bar 'Social'. Our friend Hannah even flew down from Delaware to surprise Jess and join in on the party!

Andy originally thought he was included in the plans (..."you mean I don't get to enjoy a night downtown?!"), but he got over the disappointment and was the family representative at a cook-out for his squadron. He ate free hot dogs and I dined on a multi-course meal from a premier restaurant. Personally, I do not have a problem with the conclusion! =)

"Jessica and I peak out from behind the BIGGEST menus ever!"

"Liz and Hannah.....come out so we can see your smiles!"

"Jessica gets a special dessert along with a rendition of Happy Birthday!"

Me with my friend Liz

Andy continues to study and fly for his SOLL II upgrade and is doing well with it, or so it seems. I only have two days of work this week because I am headed home for a visit with my family and then on Saturday will celebrate Purdue Homecoming! Tailgate and football, here I come! Andy can't arrive until late Friday night, but he will be just in time for the tailgate. There will be a cornhole tournament on Saturday morning so Andy and I have already been discussing strategy! Fellow tailgaters....consider yourselves warned!! We are anticipating another Allen family victory! (see previous post!)

Cornhole and a night with the alligators

Cornhole. It is such a strange word, yet it actually describes a very fun game! The object is simple...throw bean bags toward the board and get points by making it in the hole or for merely landing it on top of the board. However, landing your bean bag on the board is a lot harder than it may seem! Andy and I have played a few times together at various cook-outs, but this weekend we were in a couples tournament at his squadron picnic. It was time to get serious.

We are both competitive natured, but we never dreamed we would actually win, especially since we have only played one time in the last calendar year. However, we won the lot of 16 and now have the champion title until next summer!! wohoo! I did hear comments such as, "well, she IS from Indiana!" Like being from a state that is abundant with cornfields makes me an automatic pro at a game with 'corn' in the title!! I think maybe the were just jealous of my smooth bean bag launching technique! But, if they want to claim that our win was biased by my Indiana farm roots, then I suppose I will allow it.

With the big cornhole win behind us, we were able to focus on our next adventure of the day. We were going to camp in a tent!!! Despite my concern, Andy secured us a campsight in the "primitive" area of the park and we got busy setting up our tent. Primitive meant that we had no electricity or water, but Andy assured me that we didn't need either. We camped with our friends Blaine and Jennifer, and they beat us in the tent set-up portion of the night by about 20 minutes. However, our tent was eventually erected, the air mattress was blown up, the sheet set was appropriately placed on the mattress, our sleeping bags were rolled out, my suitcase (Andy still can't figure this one out) was unloaded, and we changed into our carefully selected "camping attire". Let the fun begin!!!

Once the fire was going strong, I was able to introduce everyone to my family tradition of 'pudgy pies' cooked over the fire, and they were a huge hit! I would share the details here, but I am afraid that would compromise the integrity of the recipe. If you want to experience a 'pudgy pie', then you will just have to invite me on your next camping trip!

Our campsite was right on the water and I was convinced all night that an alligator was going to break into our tent. You see, last summer a man was attacked by an alligator in this very lake and his arm was eaten off! It was big news around here and I could not get that image out of my mind. I had even asked the lady that rented us our sight about it and her response was merely, "ahhh, I don't think they will bother you tonight."!! You don't think they will get me?!?! Are you kidding?! That did nothing to reassure me. I made Andy follow me around with a light everytime I needed to make nature's call in the weeds behind the tent because I was afraid of being bitten in the butt by an alligator. I don't know if the light would deter them, but I wasn't going to take my chances! I figured, at the least, he could give me warning to get my britches pulled up and RUN!

I only woke him up once asking if "that noise" was an alligator and we were both in one piece this morning, so all in all it was a successfull trip! We are talking of buying our own tent and making camping more of a habit, but next time I may choose us a campsite a little further from the alligator infested lake!

A new baby and a naked chef.

I will start this blog entry by saluting our friends DeDe and Jamil for creating such a beautiful baby boy! His name is Gabriel and he will be two weeks old on Tuesday. We have visited the little guy several times; he is just perfect and will be a wonderful addition to our circle of friends. Congratulations!

Our family adventures haven't been quite as exciting as their's over the last few weeks, but there are a few events worth mentioning.

First of all, I have been accused of playing 'Naked Chef ' over and over this past week due to a second degree burn about 1 1/2 inches below my belly button. I had an encounter with boiling water splashing out of a pan on the stove, not something I would EVER recommend, and ended up melting my skin off in a nasty burn about the size of a silver dollar. The wound care nurse takes good care of me at work (a definate perk to being in the healthcare field) and I am well on my way to recovery. However, I do feel obligated to clarify that I was, in fact, fully clothed!! Boiling water can apparently soak right through a tank top and burn you as badly as it wants! Everyone has had fun teasing me about it though, and since that particular joke is really the only way to find any humor in the situation, I have allowed them! I would post a picture, but I doubt y'all want to see it.

We enjoyed 'Military Night' at the Charleston Battery soccer game last weekend, as well. I don't know anything about the sport, but I am always up for a night out, especially when it involves free admission! There was a military display at the game and I climbed inside the miniature C-17 for a fun photo. Andy declined to join in on the "fun"......I chalked that up to his loss =)

Thanks for checking in on us and have a GREAT week!

Life isn't always easy

In deciding whether or not to write this blog, I had many thoughts go through my mind. They ranged from "not everyone wants to hear about your heartaches" and "do you really want to be that personal?" to "sharing is often very therapeutic" and "you know you want to get this off your chest, so just go ahead". Finally, I settled on the latter of the thoughts, knowing somewhere deep in my soul that I needed to go ahead and type the blog that was already written on my heart. So here goes nothing...

The last few weeks have been a little tough for us. Our emotions have ranged from elation for the birth of our friend's son (http://www.babyblogs.com/babymusa/our-baby-announcement) to complete heartache and self-pity as we reflected on our own loss.

This week marks the date that we would have been welcoming our own angel, had it not been for our miscarriage in March. That moment is one that I will never be able to erase from my mind. I left work and smiled at my co-workers casually adding, "wish me luck!" Had I known how the next few hours would go, I would have asked for much more than luck. We were very excited to have our ultrasound (we were 12 weeks pregnant and felt like we had been waiting fooorever), but the day didn't bring the joy that we had expected. It felt more like being punched in the stomach or having your heart ripped out, actually. The heartbeat was gone and the baby that we had already began loving and planning for was suddenly no longer a reality.

We grieved our loss on our own schedules and our hearts have felt whole and healed for quite some time now. However, looking at the calendar and seeing September 24th come closer and closer re-opened the floodgates of hurt. Suddenly, the peace that had filled my heart was gone. I again felt lonely. I again felt sad. I again felt the urge to question "why?". However, Andy and I leaned on one another, like we had done so many times through the early stages of this, and peace slowly filled that void in my heart again.

We know that God has a plan for us. In fact, He tells us that loud and clear in Jeremiah 29:11 'For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope'. How can you argue with that?!

Fall in the south

Fall is upon us, which means FOOTBALL!! Saturday we were guests at a casual get together to celebrate "all things Americana" to welcome home our friend Lance, who has been deployed for the last four months. We enjoyed football, burgers on the grill, and a wide variety of beer to help Lance adjust to life back in the states. As you can see, the guests could not agree on one (or even two games) to watch, so 2 reserve TV's were brought in to settle any brewing fist fights. I decided that this is what happens when you are in a military social group because everyone is from different parts of the country. If we had been at the same sort of party back home there would have been no discussion....the mighty Boilermakers would have been on the BIG screen, no questions asked! However, to keep everyone happy, we resorted to 3 television screens and one game on picture-in-picture. The Purdue game was even on! It was a little slice of heaven, actually.

When I think of the fall seasons of my past, I definately think of football, tailgating, and the resurrection of my jeans and sweaters. By mid-September back in the mid west, you would never put a day at the beach in the same weekend as a football party, but this is not the case in the south! My Sunday afternoon was spent resting in my beach chair while looking outward at this (and getting a slight sunburn due to my sub-par sunscreen application).

With yet another weekend of play behind us, we are back to work. Andy began his last SOLL II upgrage (to left seat) today and has already begun to study hard. Even though he will have to study and fly regularly, it will keep him home for two and half months straight, which is a real treat in our life.

The traveling couple...

All posts won't be this long, but we have a lot to share!!

We have been on a whirlwind the last week and a half. We have slept in 4 different cities, been on 5 different airplanes, and made two 5 hour dives. We began by traveling to Denver for the wedding for our friends, George and Stephanie. What a great time we had! Andy was a groomsman and we got to spend time with his parents, as well as with some of his high school friends.

Andy cut loose and enertained us all (and himself, I am sure) by spending the majority of the night on the dance floor. Staying true to my dancing roots, I joined in on the fun! What fun is a wedding reception when it is not spent on the dance floor?!

Being the southern gentelman that he is, Andy was sure to rub my aching feet at the end of the night. I am not sure a man can ever understand the pain that is caused from a night of walking and dancing on those "I just had to get them" high heels! Awww, how sweet he is to me!

Our Denver trip was cut a day short for the sad news that my Grandpa Jordan had passed away back in Indiana. We were able to change our flights (thanks to my mother-in-law) and get back to Indiana for some much needed time with my family. Despite the sad occasion, we got to spend some quality time with my family. Andy was even introduced to farm work by helping my dad "cut" (you farm friends will know what that means!) a pen full of pigs. The confusion started with Dad's first instruction of "Okay, sort the boars from the gilts". That makes perfect sense to me, but to my city-bred husband, he knew he was in trouble! However, he was a good sport and made it through without any lasting scars! haha. Maybe now he can understand how I spent so many of my weekends growing up. Below is a picture of the sons-in-law after their bonding experience with Dad and the pigs =) It makes me smile just to think about it!

Our travels were interrupted by a night in our own bed and a day of work, and then we were back on the road to Atlanta for a continuing education conference I had signed up for long before I knew that we would have to re-route through Indiana on our way home from the wedding. I sat in class for 2 1/2 days and Andy watched TV in the hotel room, claiming the entire time that he was a "Hurricane Hannah refugee"! I didn't have the heart to tell him she was only considered a tropical storm!

However, we did squeeze in a Braves game and enjoyed some baseball and beer, which was a nice ending to our whirlwind travels of the past 2 weeks. It feels good to be home and we don't plan on traveling anywhere anytime soon.....well, until next month, that is!