Savannah Shenanigans

Last month when the hubs took leave we decided to finally take our "post-UPT trip". I know, I know...most of you are thinking, "umm didn't you finish up UPT almost 9 months ago?" The answer to your question would be, yes. However, if there is one thing that you as my reader should know by now it's that you have to take things as they come in the military. Meaning that we didn't really even have a chance over the past 9 months to think about taking a nice relaxing vacation. Between driving Winston to Louisiana, the hubs getting sent to Washington for a month right after he graduated, moving to San Antonio for 10ish weeks, moving to Florida separately, and then him being sent off for more training to Arizona, it's pretty obvious that the past 9 months have been chalk full of shenanigans that didn't allow us to breath for more than a second. Oh yea, I also went on a cruise and we found out we are expecting in April. I forgot those two fun exciting things ;)

Anyways, even though some of you may scoff and say that this was just any old vacation, gosh darn it this was our gift to ourselves for getting through an intense year of UPT and I'll take it! We had debated about going on a cruise but after we found out I was having a baby, aka a little nugget growing inside me, we decided hitting the high seas may not be the best option. Then we thought about Disney which is only 8 hours away. However, at this point I had JUST gotten over being terribly ill (thanks all-day morning sickness) so we figured spending hours out in the hot sun wasn't the ticket either.

We finally settled on hitting up Savannah as it was only about a 2 hour drive from Macon and way outside tourist season there. In the end it was the perfect option for us and I'm so thankful we ended up choosing to stay there. We found an awesome deal on an old historic bed and breakfast, which yes, was haunted apparently. It was gorgeous and the food was amazing! I think the hubs and I both scoffed down our own weight in biscuits and grits both mornings we were there. We pretty much spent our two day trip walking around the historic downtown area of Savannah, eating insane amounts of amazing southern food, and just enjoying not having a schedule and each others company. The weather was insanely perfect, meaning there was zero humidity which this baby mamma was very happy about! All in all it was a phenomenal trip and I am so grateful my sweet husband took the time to take me on a mini-vacation before more crazy training ensues over the next 9 months.

There are tons of paths just like this one in Savannah!
After living in the desert part of Texas we LOVED all the trees!

Fireplace in our room

Beautiful street view from our room.

The courtyard of the B&B...ignore the old
man snoring.

River Street

Probably the BEST place we ate. Seriously, go here if
you are ever in Savannah, amazing!!

Tiny baby bump appeared in this photo...then
it went away for a few weeks...and now it's back!

Love,

The Etheridge

Life, Love, & Loss

While we were home in Georgia on leave we had to take an unplanned tripped to St. Simons to be with the hub's family as his grandmother passed away unexpectedly the day after we arrived. We both felt very blessed to be able to be with family during this time and despite the somberness of the situation were glad to see some family members that we hadn't seen in a long while. It was touching to listen to the story of Mary and Hollis who were high school sweethearts, just like Mitchell and I. It's a true testament of their love for one another to look at the family they created and I feel honored to now be a part of that incredible family. At the reception afterwards we got to listen to the Etheridge clan sit around and tell stories of Mary and Hollis from when they were younger and raising kids of their own which was such a treat as we are about to head out on the same adventure ourselves in a few months time.

Some photos from the trip down to Brunswick..

Sweet Cousin Amanda and Baby E

First official "bump" photo...it's tiny but it's there!

Outake of first bump photo

LSWho?

The hubs was able to take leave for a little over a week before another round of training ensues so naturally the first thing on our list was head to Athens for the UGA vs. LSU football game. I had been to the one in 2004 and we both attended the UGA/LSU game in 2009 the day after we got engaged. This game holds a special place in our heart for that reason, plus last time we lost so we really wanted to see the Dawgs pull a win out this year. To say it was an eventful evening of football would be a huge understatement. After almost giving me and baby a heart attack, especially in the fourth quarter, we were elated to see the bulldogs beat the tigers at home in Athens! I'd say it was also a true testament of love for my husband that I sat out in the heat for 4 hours on hard metal seats with an aching back while 14 weeks pregnant and miserable ;) It was well worth the pain though to be in Athens to see the Dawgs pull out another great win.

Love,

The Etheridges

Homemade Salsa and Life Updates

As the 2013 UGA football season kicks off today I thought it would be appropriate to share a yummy homemade salsa recipe! Salsa is a staple in The Etheridge household during football season, and honestly all year round. When we were in Del Rio we were lucky enough to just be able to pop on over to HEB and grab some of that yummy goodness that is known as Julio's. Seriously, if you are ever in Del Rio (for whatever who knows what reason that may be) or even in south-west Texas you can get your own at the local HEB. It's pretty much life changing.

Anyways, since we aren't able to have Julio's to get us through this football season, or probably any in the very near future, the hubs and I decided to make some from scratch. After eating real Mexican salsa for almost two years the stuff in a jar from the grocery store just doesn't do it for us any longer. So the search for a fresh, homemade, recipe began. After much research it seemed that most of the recipes I found were pretty much exactly the same. We did multiple taste tests throughout the process and came up with this scrumptious concoction! The hubs is convinced it's the best salsa he's ever had, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that.

Homemade Salsa

3 Tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1.5 Cloves of Garlic

1/5 Cup Cilantro, chopped

1-2 Jalapeño, chopped

1/3 White Onion, diced

1/3 4oz. can of Green Chilis

1/4 tsp. Garlic Salt

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1/2 tsp. Salt

1-1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

1.5 Tbsp. Lemon

Hot Sauce (to taste, we used about 2 Tbsp.)

Directions

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse until well combined and 

desired constancy is reached.

In other news, August was a pretty laid back month for me but not so much for the hubs. The AF sent him to Arizona for a few weeks to learn to fly one of those fancy jets. This was his first real taste of flying a fighter, and to say he throughly enjoyed himself would be an understatement I believe. I was super bummed I wasn't allowed to accompany him on this trip, as I know some wives have in the past, but I was lucky enough to be able to head home for a little while and enjoy the comforts of Georgia. My in-laws were so sweet and housed me for a good while which I was so thankful for! Here are some photos that summed up our time apart this past month...

My stud of a husband.

Winston loves to steal daddy's spot
on the bed while he's away.

Caught red-handed snoozing on the couch
(and watching TV?).

I swung by and grabbed these while I was home.
So excited to go with Mitchell's family in October!

Beautiful flowers from my sweet husband!

No road trip to and from home is complete
without a chicken, egg, and cheese biscuit.
If you've never had one, do it, you won't regret it.

Love,

The Etheridges

Life In Florida

Now that all the unpacking and settling in here in Florida has died down, I've finally had some time to update the blog! The two weeks that the hubs had off between his trainings went by incredibly fast and were spent with family and friends both here in Florida and Georgia. We were lucky enough to be able to go home for a short visit before he headed off again for more training. It's been YEARS since we have been able to drive home in order to partake in family events such as the yearly trip to the lake. I was able to go last year after my sister-in-laws wedding for a girls weekend, but the hubs hasn't been in a very long time! Needless to say we enjoyed ourselves immensely and loved catching up with everyone.

Love this place.

The cousins!

This was our first time driving home from Florida so it was fun to enjoy the new road we will be taking every time we get the chance to head that way. I had almost forgotten how much I love Georgia backroads and how beautiful they are, no matter the time of year. I loved seeing fresh peach stands, waffle houses, and passing through incredibly old southern towns many of which have roots dating back to before the Civil War. It's a great feeling to be back in a place that seems so familiar and to be able to plant roots in the south again even if it's not forever.

If you had ever heard me talk about missing home you know
I sure did miss TREES!! I wanted to go and hug each and
every pine tree I saw when we got back home.

This sign made my heart happy.

We also spent some time here in Florida exploring our new home and taking in some of the surrounding sights. This place is gorgeous and I can't get over how different each and every base experience seems to be. Don't get me wrong, I find myself missing Laughlin each and every day for one thing or another, but I also feel incredibly blessed that God sent us here for the next chapter of our military adventure.

Cinnamon Roll bread we made!

First day on the beach together...with boiled
peanuts of course.

The small lake on base near our home! 

Love,

The Etheridges

New Life & Old Friends

Well folks, as promised, I'm now updating you on our life events from the oh-so-sunny state of Florida! That's right, we made it! After a 14 hour car ride with my wonderful mother-in-law, we arrived in the sunny, hot, and humid city of Panama City. The PCS (permanent change of station) went surprisingly smooth. Not only were our movers on time, but very few items were broken or damaged which is nearly a miracle from what I've heard. We feel very blessed to be back in a "real" home and to finally put down some roots again, even if it's only for a short time.

Home Sweet Home

I'm absolutely in love with our new home. After our previous 1950's box dated home, this is a HUGE upgrade. Not only are we no longer conjoined with another home, but we have two stories and you guessed it....a garage (heaven)!

I'd like to offer a huge shout out to my amazing in-laws. Unfortunately my sweet husband wasn't able to be there the day we moved in, signed the lease, and ran around base like chickens with our head's cut off and almost got pulled over by Security Forces while trying to navigate. However, my amazing in-laws spent 48 hours hanging, fixing, cleaning, and unpacking almost our entire house. I feel so incredibly blessed that even though I don't have my own sweet mother here with me anymore to help in times like these, I have some awesome new family members who are always willing to jump in and help last minute. 

Winston was clearly the
most helpful mover/unpacker!

I can honestly say that I get more and more excited with each passing day about being here at our new station. The #1 best part so far...already having a sweet sweet friend that lives down the street. We were actually duplex partners at Laughlin and were so blessed to have gotten to know this incredible lady and her husband while we were there before we all went our separate ways. As fate had it we ended up at the same base and in the same airframe. Just knowing that I had a close friend here in this big city, was the most comforting feeling one could have when moving somewhere new.

Before I left her house after a short "hello" visit filled with lots of hugs and giggles she said something that really stuck with me. She said, "having you here and seeing you again makes me so happy, it feels like you brought a little piece of home with you". That's what's so amazing about the Air Force, and the military in general I'm assuming, especially the pilot community. You get the opportunity to meet some incredibly amazing people and you make lasting friendships in such a short amount of time. And even though you have to say goodbye eventually, it's more of a "see you later", because you never know when God will place you together again. I think that each military spouse carries around a "piece of home" with them wherever they go and when we meet those special friends again down the road we get to share that familiarity and know that our home, although it physically changes often, is spread out all over the world in the hearts of those we love and connect with on this journey in the Air Force. So far I love this journey we're on and wouldn't change it for anything. Feeling extra blessed these days.

Love,

The Etheridges

Last Hoorah In Texas

First off, I hate to admit this but of course we forgot to take our brand new (totally awesome) camera with us this weekend on our adventures. I know, major fail on my part. What's the point of a shiny new camera if you don't drag it along on fun adventures with you? Trust me though, I learned my lesson and from here on out you'll be sure to only get the best quality photos on the blog here, pinky promise :)

My sweet sister-in-law came out to visit us here in Texas for the holiday as well as our friend from UPT, so we had a full house for a few days. We started off the holiday right by heading to downtown San Antonio for some fireworks in Hemisphere Park. They shot them off behind the giant space needle, which I'm sure you've seen if you have ever been anywhere near downtown San Antonio. They also had music hosted on one of the local stations that you could listen too that paired with the show. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area and wants a place to park their foldable chair for an awesome show for 20 minutes! The boys got in for free since there was no charge for military which was awesome. This was our second time celebrating the 4th of July in Texas, San Antonio in particular, and we yet again were not disappointed.

Hanging out before the show.

Before the fireworks started,
love this man to pieces.

On Friday we headed to a Justin Moore concert at a local dancehall which was a total blast. The hubs and I have never seen him in concert and it had been AGES since our last country concert so we were both very excited to see he was coming to town the weekend we had guests and jumped at the opportunity to go. I can honestly say that's one our absolute favorite things to do as a couple. We are blessed to share the same taste in music (for the most part, Eminem makes my skin crawl but hubs loves his stuff, ick) so country concerts of pretty much any kind are always a golden date night opportunity
for us!

Justin Moore was an incredible entertainer. If there are three things that I can tell you about this man it's that he loves God, his wife, and his guns, in that order. At the end of the concert he took a few minutes to tell the audience about his abundant love for Christ and how he chooses to use his fame and platform as an entertainer to preach of his love for Christ. The hubs and I were both blown away and instantly in love with this man. It's not often that a celebrity uses their place in life to profess their faith and share the gospel with their fans.

Before the concert with this stud ;)

Saturday we floated the Comal river, which is generally always a good time minus what I like to refer to as the "death shoot" which is meant to be entertaining and fun for floaters. I on the other hand had a near death experience almost drowning a few weeks ago going down this shoot, so I chose to forgo the shoot and sun bath ahead of the group for a few minutes while they tempted fate ;)

This weekend was a total blast and we were all very sad to see it come to a close. However, we have some awesome things to look forward to in the near future, such as moving to FLORIDA!

On the subject of those darn wisdom teeth I had taken out, I'm almost completely healed. Yes, even almost two weeks after surgery I am not totally back to 100%. I've still got some healing to do and some soreness by the end of the day but I am eating solid foods now and can eat pretty much anything but popcorn (boo, it's my favorite). Thanks so much to everyone who checked in on me via phone calls, texts, and sweet cards that week. I can't even begin to tell you how much it meant to know I was loved and being prayed over during my recovery.

A few minutes after I got home from surgery.
Clearly NOT a happy camper

I'm super excited to announce as well that my next update will come from the sunny state of Florida! That's right folks, we are moving THAT SOON! I hope everyone had an incredible and blessed holiday.

Love,
The Etheridges