Holiday Catch Up

We were blessed enough to be able to head home this past week to spend the holiday season with our families in Georgia, and as usual the time with our loved ones went by way too fast. We don't have any clue where we will be next year around this time or when we will be able to head home next, so we both tried to enjoy this time away as much as possible with our families. Between the mass amounts of delicious food consumed and the insane amounts of shopping (both of which we are very deprived of back in Del Rio) it wouldn't be a lie to say we will be enjoying our few days of rest back in Texas before the hubs heads back to work next week.

Christmas break wouldn't be complete
without Christmas Vacation and a fire
at the in-laws, our yearly tradition!

Loved spending time with this sweet cousin
on Christmas  and
 the hubs side of the family.

This year we drew names between the grandkids...he
obviously got pranked and thought
he was getting this "lovely" sweater as his gift ;)

Our customary daily trip to Chick-fil-a
for breakfast! We may or may
not have eaten here for 5 days in a row for breakfast...

We got to meet sweet Trey this trip home,
grandaddy's dog!

My husband thought it was funny to
pick on me after I fell asleep during
one of many Christmas movies... 

AND we got a new car...surprise!

We had a wonderful trip home and can't wait to get back as soon as we can, however we do have a few exciting things coming up here in Texas that we are happy to be back for! In a few short weeks we will be finding out our next assignment (woo hoo) and the hubs will be graduating! Our families will be heading in as well, which is what I am most excited about! Now that I am done with school (that's right,  I graduated a few weeks ago, FINALLY) I'll still be working at the cafe, until we find out what our plans are for the next few years. The hubs heads back to work after new years and things will get back to normal around here. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'll be checking back in soon with updates on all these exciting events coming up in the near future :)

Love,

The Etheridges 

Photo Day

I was finally able to go out to the T-38 (the plane the hubs has been flying the past couple of months during phase III) and get some photos! As some of you know I had a rather eventful attempt at trying to get photos when he soloed (flew the T-38 for the first time by himself, without an instructor) so after many other failed attempts to get out there and get the customary spouse photo with the plane I was finally able to this morning. The boys had to have their "hero shots" made, which are the photos that will appear on their slides on drop night and their graduation pamphlets, etc., so I headed out there with them bright and early this morning at 8 am to sneak a few of my own! Of course it had to be the one week in Del Rio where it was below 45 degrees, but I think they still turned out just fine :)

Attempting to be serious...

'Tis The Season

This week was actually pretty eventful in many ways in the Etheridge household! Not only did the hubs finish up his LAST check ride of UPT but I also finished up my LAST week of classes for my undergrad! The hubs has less than 5 flights total left before he finds out our next assignment. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that feels for both of us! This year of training has been challenging, stressful, and exhausting so it's an incredible feeling to be SO close to the end.

On another note we also attended the student squadron Christmas party last night, which was a total blast! The club was decorated beautifully which got us in the holiday spirit and we also got to participate in some dancing at the end of the night which is always fun. It's was so great to have an occasion to get together with some of the amazing people that we have met while here at Laughlin and just let loose and have some fun.

One of the other wonderful spouses
in 13-04! 

Earlier this week we also got to see an F-16 that came to visit Laughlin. One of the hub's classmates has a family member that is an F-16 pilot, and he was very kind in letting us come out to the plane after he landed and gave us a tour! I've never seen any type of fighter up close and personal, so this was a really unique and fun experience for me. Probably my favorite part though was seeing all the UPT students congregate around the plane and drool over how "cool" it is ;) It's amazing to see how much these men and women love flying and the pretty awesome planes they could potentially fly one day.

Love,

The Etheridges