Easter Happenings and Other Grand Adventures

Easter Sunday was very relaxing around the Etheridge house a few weeks ago! We went to church at Del Rio Bible, where we have been regular attenders for the past few months and then went out to lunch with some friends. It was nice to spend time with the hubs and our little pup as our first Easter as a married couple....

Before heading to church! 

Little Winston!

It's actually looking rather
green around here for Texas!

As I promised to update everyone in my last blog, Mitchell passed his first check-ride with flying colors! He has also had his second check-ride, of four total in Phase II, within the past week that went great as well! He is doing fantastic in the T-6 and I can't believe that Phase II is already half way over! He tracks around June 28th, which is when everyone in his class will find out which type of plane they will be training in as they finish up the last 6 or so months of UPT. He will either track T-1's which is the heavy plane track, or he will go T-38's which is the fighter track. At this point we would both be happy with either track and are just praying that God will place us where we need to be. 

We also had our first visitor this past week and this weekend, my dad! It has been a great trip so far and it's been great having a family member come and spend some quality time with Mitchell and me. I will post again soon with more pictures from his trip! Here's a teaser for now...

Winston thought he was going to
scare the train coming in from Mexico ;)
He's pretty vicious!

Next weekend Mitchell and I will both be out of town on our own trips, so I'm sure even more pictures and adventures will be blogged about soon ;) Thanks for tuning in and I apologize for my lack of blogging lately, I'll try and get back in the swing of it!

Love,

The Etheridges

Chocolate Cupcakes...Need I Say More?

I was in a baking mood today...more specifically I had a huge craving for chocolate cupcakes! I'm trying this new thing where I make baked goods from scratch as often as possible instead of reaching for the oh so easy boxed items of yumminess at the grocery store. I think that older generations had it right when they were making everything from scratch (yes I know they didn't have boxed goods, but still). There is something so much more personal about homemade goodies that just warms my heart :) Anyways, as usual I ran to Pintrest for some inspiration and ran across this oh so heavenly recipe from 52 Kitchen Adventures! I could tell from the start that this one was going to be good. If the batter is amazing, you can bet the end results are going to be even better!

Amazing Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 C butter, room temperature

1 1/4 C sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 C flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 C milk (I used fat free and it was still yummy)

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until softened and smooth. Add sugar and beat for a few minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each until well combined.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a separate small bowl, combine milk and vanilla.

Add about 1/3 of dry ingredients to butter and sugar and mix until combined. Add about 1/2 of wet ingredients to mixture and mix until combined. Continue alternating dry and wet, mixing in between (finish with the remaining dry ingredients).

Fill cupcake tins about 1/2 full (don’t overfill – you only need 1/2) and bake for around 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Also don’t worry – these will come out flat, but that’s perfect for smoothing on a layer of frosting!

*On a side note, there is also a yummy looking ganache frosting recipe that goes along with these cupcakes. I didn't have the ingredients and didn't feel like running to the Commissary for the third, yes third time, in one day.

I hope everyone enjoys these goodies and the new blog design :)  

The Etheridges

Life As We Know It

Two weekends ago was MWS Day here at Laughlin (Major Weapons Systems Day)! I was really excited about getting our own private viewing for the Laughlin folks of some really cool planes here on base. I had never seen most of these planes so it was really neat to see some of the aircrafts that flew in for the weekend up close and personal...

In front of one the T-38's that
flew in from Sheppard AFB

T-38

The MASSIVE C-130

Inside the C-130

The B-1 (my personal favorite)

The A-10 (fighter jet)

Of course we also hit up the lake last weekend after checking out these cool planes! It was the first nice day of the year, so naturally we couldn't resist getting the boat out ;) It has been insanely hot here in Texas the past week including yesterday when it got up to a whopping 95 degrees. Luckily we were able to get out to the lake again yesterday with some friends and enjoy the heat on the water! 

Other than our fun filled weekends, life here in Del Rio is pretty much the same as usual. The hubs is still plugging away at his 12 hour days and I'm still taking care of school work. Mitchell has his big check-ride coming up this week, so any and all prayers for a great flight would be greatly appreciated!! I know he's going to rock it ;) In other news, I started a new job this past week. I will be working at the gym coffee shop. I'm really excited about working on base and getting to work with some of my favorite ladies as well! 

I hope everyone has had as wonderful a weekend as we did and I will update again soon! 

Some pretty Texas flowers outside
the gym on base!

The Etheridges