Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Celebrating America

Well, as I haven't posted in ages I feel like there is a lot to catch everyone up on! Not only did we celebrate the great nation of America in style, but we also were able to attend Mitchell's sister Cate's wedding a few weekends ago. Mitchell and I were both blessed to be able to head back home to Georgia, separately, to celebrate her special day. We both thoroughly enjoyed getting to catch up with his family members and family friends since that isn't something we get to do often. My wonderful mother-in-law did a great deal of the planning and the entire thing turned out perfectly! I was also fortunate enough to spend some extra time with the Etheridge side of the family on a much needed girls trip to the lake. It was wonderful to catch up and just have some quite time away from the men folk while reading the latest gossip magazines and recapping the wedding festivities. I am so blessed to have such wonderful "new" family members!

Girls lake trip! 

As for the 4th of July, the hubs and I celebrated the lovely holiday up in San Antonio together with some other awesome couples that we have met while here at Laughlin. We stayed near the Riverwalk, watched fireworks, went to Sea World, and also floated down the lazy river up in New Braunfuls. We both really enjoyed some R&R right at the beginning of Phase III as we know this next portion of UPT will be rather taxing on us both. The good news though is that we finally figured out that we should be dropping around January 4th, meaning that is when we will find out where we will be stationed and what plane the hubs will be flying! I know the time is going to fly by with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us :)


Fireworks from the RiverWalk on the 4th!


Sea World!

I am still in the midst of summer classes with my final (woo hoo) semester coming up this fall! I am FINALLY graduating in December and could not be happier to almost be done with school for a little while. Mitchell is still in the academic phase with the T-38 which means he isn't back to flying yet but will be in a few weeks as we head into August. That's about all the updates here at the Etheridge house,  thanks for checking back in :)


View on the way back to Texas!

Bridesmaids luncheon! 

Right before the wedding with my
handsome husband ;) It's nice seeing him
in something other than his flight suit for once!

My two favorite boys out on the lake

Love,
The Etheridges

Monday, July 2, 2012

Two Phases Down, One To Go

I apologize for taking so long to post about Mitchell's track, but I figured most of you who read this already found out the exciting news via Facebook, email, or phone! If there are any lingering questions though Mitchell tracked T-38's last Thursday (woo hoo)!!

We are both very excited and I could not be a more proud wife. It has taken A LOT of hard work, on both our parts, to get to this point and it is so nice to see our efforts finally paying off. This will be the final phase of UPT for Mitchell and also the most intense and time consuming as he learns to fly the T-38.

For those of you who are wondering what this means in terms of what he could be flying after graduation, it could sincerely mean a number of different things. At the end of graduation Mitchell could possibly "drop"(what we call it in the Air Force world) a fighter, bomber, or something of that sort and be stationed at a number of different places of which I couldn't even begin to list here. At this point we are keeping our options open and trying not to narrow down what he wants to fly, but we assume that will come the further he progresses in this new phase!

Here is a photo of the T-38 which the hubs will start
 flying in about a month
and throughout the remainder of pilot training!

Now, many of you may ask what does this mean for me, the lovely spouse of a UPT student? In all honesty nothing really changes on my front! Mitchell will go back to 12 hour days Monday-Friday, unlike the past 3 weeks which he was fortunate enough to be able to come home for small breaks throughout the day. Other than that my role remains the same meaning packing lunches, taking care of little Winston, and staying as supportive as possible while slaving away at school work and enjoying my job at the coffee shop!

By this point I hope I have not bored anyone to death, and if I have I sincerely apologize ;) To wrap up this post I thought I would share a lovely pasta side dish I found, and then tried recently! It's quite delicious and beyond easy. We made it as a side to some garlic chicken we made the other week. Enjoy...

1 cup uncooked bow tie pasta
1-1/2 teaspoons butter
2-1/4 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
Dash salt
Dash dried basil
Dash crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons 2% milk
2 tablespoons chicken broth
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon sour cream


  • Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the oil, flour, garlic and seasonings until blended. Gradually add the milk, broth and water. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.
  • Remove from the heat; stir in cheese and sour cream. Drain pasta; toss with sauce. Yield: 2 servings.


Love,
The Etheridges