Good ol' Utah

Near the end of April, me, Londyn and Sam said a literally tearful goodbye in Atlanta. He got to walk us all the way to our gate (which made it more dramatic). The next time we would see him was at an airport in Germany. We just weren't sure if it would be a few weeks or a few months. It ended up being just one month, but still a long one month. Any amount of time without Dad and husband is too long. We just wish he could have been with us while we spent that month in Utah visiting family and friends. Me and Londyn both got the flu and were sick a lot of the time, but my mom and dad took the very best care of us, as usual.

Londyn with her Mimi and Poppy

Court and Jett doing a performance at the Children's Zone at Gateway in Salt Lake. That place ruled. We could've spent everyday in there. If only you could see the whole sequence of this Bee performance

Cousin Lyon and Londyn, the twins

Londyn with her Scheid cousins, Cash and Camille

Aunt Jade

Aunt Mouse (For some reason I couldn't keep my left eye open that morning.)

Grandma Scheid came to visit from Wyoming to see all three of her great grandchildren together at the same time.

Grandpa Larson, my Mom's dad, and Londyn

My Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Toni made the drive all the way from Mesa, AZ to come see me, londyn, Courtni, Jett and Lyon (and of course the rest of the crew as well).

Grandma Hawkes

Londyn and cousin Captain Jett Neff

Londyn and her "cousins" and magic babies, Josie and Ginger

An amazing reunion and the first time me and Londyn met sweet Josie Williams.

After a month Londyn and I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on May 20th. The airport there is a little different than airports in the states. You were not allowed to get to the baggage claim unless you were a ticketed passenger. Which posed a problem for me, my baby, stroller, car seat and 4 large suitcases. I met another Army wife going through customs and we were both so stressed about how to handle all the crap we had... but when I got out there, Sam, as usual, had pulled through for us. He had somehow talked his way past the guard and helped us with all our stuff. It was so amazing to see him after so long... especially right at that moment. One more reason, of many, I have the most amazing husband!!

Let Me Count the Ways.

On April 8th we had a group of three movers, all straight from Southern Alabama, pack up our stuff. They had all the paperwork, they knew how to spell our name... but between the three of them they came up with all sorts of new ways to spell it. Sam and I were cracking up the whole day. This honestly blew my mind. At least they were kind people.

Every so often they came up with the correct spelling. But they honestly all used different spellings every time they wrote it out!

Regardless, the stuff got packed and were hoping to see it someday here in Germany. Here's Sam and Londyn having a little snuggle session. Love those two!

Goodbye Sweet Home Alabama!

Recently, of course, we moved from our very first home together. Where we spent the first year and a half of our marriage and where our precious little Londyn was born and spent the first 7 1/2 months of her life. Fort Rucker was a fairly stressful place for Sam but I would say on a whole it was a great place to be. I couldn't have asked for a better place to live. It was a mellow lifestyle, not a lot of shopping (good for the bank account), not a lot of good restaurants (good for our butts) and for the most part just warm weather. Besides the busy parts of flight school we had plenty of time to spend together... not to mention, I knew he wouldn't be taking off for Afghanistan any time soon.

Our last month was very busy and packed full of to-do's! But we managed to really enjoy the end... even amidst the move.

We had Sam's mom for 8 days! She got to spend lots of time with Londyn and she was a joy to have around.

We got to go on some nice walks and runs around our favorite places. There are so many great lakes and parks where we lived. I'll miss them!

Londyn and Daddy and some good hang out time with the stresses of flight school out of the way.

The boys had some manly bonding time out at the flight line.

Uncle Grant came to get a tan!

Aunt Mouse came to play!

We took the crew to a Waffle House because they couldn't leave the South without experiencing the fine dining experience. They also had some good barbecue, lots of fried food and boiled peanuts.

We took Mimi and Poppy alligator hunting at a Florida State Park. We had seen a few alligators at this park at a previous stop and were hoping for some more... but were unsuccessful.

We stayed right on the beach in Panama City Beach, Florida. This was the view from our balcony.

Ate and played in Pier Park in PCB. Another one of our favorite places we will miss.

Londyn said goodbye to her good friend and neighbor, Aidan! We miss the Bowyers tons already... along with all of our other great flight school friends.

We stayed on the 45th floor in the Westin in downtown Atlanta, GA. Such a nice room and a wonderful way to spend our last weekend together before we would be separated for a month. This was the view we had while laying in our bed.

Daddy and Londyn just relaxing.

We were able to go to the Atlanta Temple Re-open House! It is a beautiful and very small temple. We may have been the only people in pants and shorts. Oops!

Flight School Graduation

On April 7th (a little late, I know) Sam officially graduated from flight school! It was a really special occasion. After a couple years of hard, stressful work Sam made it through. He got his wings, and I even got mine! (A beautiful white gold necklace, that I LOVE!) Here are a few pics of the event.

Here is Sam with his huge stack of books that he needed for his advanced helicopter course. He needed more books than any other helicopter course at Fort Rucker. (He had a bunch more books for his other courses too.)

Londyn all dressed up for the occasion

We were stoked to have some visitors... here is Sam's Mom, Elma!

My Mom, Dad, Grant and Morgan

...and Sam's Dad, John!

Sam's Dad pinning his wings.

After his name was called

The stage and setup for graduation. They held it in a museum on the Army post, then they had a banquet after with everyone.

Sam's tiny graduating class of five, and only the 4th class to ever graduate flying this new model. He is one of the very few pilots who can fly his helicopter. I am so proud of how hard he worked. He memorizes things so well. I was shocked over and over at how much information he was learning. He did it all while still being a supportive and patient husband and father. And he even kept his cool while we gave birth to Londyn during his most stressful part of flight school. You never would have guessed he was stressed out because he is so sweet and keeps such a good balance in his life. I am soo lucky to have him!