Good Fortune

Last couple weeks in photos. 

1-all we do is fight over sticks

2-hadley is desperate for her starbucks fix

3-we love packages!

4-haircut

5-T-6 sunset

6-hadley in daddy's underpants

7-zachariah's birthday cupcakes

8-apparently hadley needs a bath

9-yeah, we spoon

Our weekend celebrating in OKC. 

Yes, I was excited for a Dippin' Dots vending machine!

Zack got a fortune cookie at PF Changs that had this fortune in it...

I think this is a good sign we will get helicopters and be off to Ft Rucker just like we want!

The dogs were left overnight for the first time. And I got to sleep in for the first time since February! Hazel got bored and took it out on our area rugs and Zack's birthday cards : ( The kids watching them wore them out so much they weren't even excited to see us when we came home.

Our new thing this week is going to the dog park every night after work. It's pretty entertaining.

Today I got my anniversary present.

My husband spoils me...and I let him.

Yesterday Zachariah had his final contact checkride. Getting closer...

Two & Four-ever

Today is our anniversary. Four years ago we started this beautiful journey together. Two years ago today we said, "I do." Today I love my husband more than every day of our time together combined! It has been amazing to see how God continues to change our lives together.

Dave Matthews Concert the first weekend we were dating

the gorge

08.29.10

getting married at bethany

Love him

victoria BC

Celebrating in OKC last weekend

botanical gardens

It's a special day for our very special relationship. We are so lucky to have one another, and I truly couldn't be happier. Thank you, Zack for being my best friend, taking such great care of me, and being the love of my life.

Here's to 25!

Today is my most wonderful husband's birthday. It's always fun for me to celebrate him and make an extra special day for the man I love and cannot live without! This year, Zack chose that day to be Sunday. He decided he couldn't wait to open his presents so he just went at it on Sunday after church.

The dogs helped.

And admired his new kicks.

And were interested in his new watch.

And got him a card from the two of them.

I am loving today. Got up to have a nice breakfast with Zack before work and have plans to keep enjoying his birthday later this week. I love that he lets me make fun of what an old man he is--and that no matter how old we are I always get to do that!

Zachariah, I am proud of all you have accomplished this last year. God has truly blessed us. Twenty-four brought a short-lived career at WSDOT, the beginning of an active duty career USAF, our wedding, flying, living in the cabin, trips to...Port Townsend and other parts of Washington, Portland, Montana, Reno, Houston, San Francisco, Mexico, Phoenix, and everywhere between Seattle and Enid, saying goodbye to Seattle, our first house at Vance, becoming an uncle again, puppies, and a whole lot of fun along the way. Here's to twenty-five and a great year ahead of you! 

my handsome birthday boy

Since last post we have enjoyed rain, friends (and a friend's birthday), more homemade ice cream (we may enjoy this too often), playful pups, and a fun date night. Also, I completed my last Insanity workout. Well, until next week when we start again. The 59th and 60th day were brutal--after work on a Friday and then Saturday morning. But we finished! We lost some along the way, gained others, and then lost them. But 3 of us did almost the full 60 days. I was the one who unfortunately makes the word "almost" necessary. I missed a couple times when we had family in town, once when my alarm didn't get set, and a couple days when getting to the gym at 0500 was just impossible. But for the most part, I did it. We're starting again, so I have another chance to meet my attendance goals better this time!

Dear Hazel

Dear Hazel,

At first I wasn't really sure what the heck you were doing in my house with my toys and my parents. Now I'm just wondering where you went--I guess I got used to having you around. I'm bored today. I have no sister to get me into trouble while mom and dad are gone. I didn't get in trouble for moving all the area rugs. The laundry room floor wasn't covered in water for everyone to step in. I was able to eat my breakfast at my normal slow pace, in fact, almost all of it is still in my bowl and it's already the afternoon. Mom didn't even have to use her new Windex wipes she made just for your nose markings. The mailman and neighbors have been walking by all day and I've forgotten to bark at them! It's a pretty strange day. Can't wait for you to come back and make this house a little more noisy, a lot more messy, and way more fun.

Love,

Hadley

Well Hazel is gone for a couple days getting spayed. She got dirty while dog sitting Piper this weekend. Then, she rolled around in the mud with Maizey, Piper, and (kinda) Hadley and got dirty again on Tuesday. I knew she won't be able to get bathed for two weeks because of her stitches, so I tried so hard to bathe her AGAIN before she went to the vet. What did she do this morning? Oh yes, that's right, dug holes in the backyard. Whatever, I tried. What was I thinking getting a white dog?

My week started off rough. Monday - flat tire. Tuesday - tick bite. My first bee sting, my first tick bite...have I mentioned Oklahoma is not my favorite state? Hadley was the first to get a tick and then Zack. I guess it was my turn (watch out Hazel!). I called my husband crying because I couldn't get it out and I didn't know what to do. I picked him up from work and he saved me! I am so pathetic. I have no idea what I'd do without him somedays.

But the week is turning around. We got a RAINY day! We had almost forgotten what an overcast sky looked like and what rain smelled like. It was wonderful. I enjoyed work SO much that day. I thought of Seattle all day long and kept planning everything I want to do when we're home in December. Zack went for a run in the rain for the first time since we moved here (he missed all the spring showers while he was at IFS). During his run he thought about helicopters. I'm thinking helos are going to be his number one choice. In the meantime we've been putting the word out so we can get into contact with AF rotary wing pilots.

I've been trying some new recipes and recycling some favorites.

Also, I've been pretty nostalgic. Seeing some layouts of graduation make me think of school and how I actually do want to go back someday. Thinking about tapping into that GI Bill when I can--getting paid for school sounds so much better than paying for it.

Seeing the new seniors starting school and getting senior pictures taken make me think of good 'ole RHS. Also, when we first started dating Zack wanted a picture of me and I sent him some of my senior pictures. We're about to celebrate our anniversary, and it's weird to think that this is about how young I was when we met. He gets creeped out when I remind him I was only 18. Ha.

 

flashback!

 Some very good friends of ours just got engaged. We are very happy for them and were so excited! Made me think of our trip to Leavenworth when Zack proposed. I'm anxious for our 4th trip together back to our special place this December. Here's a picture from our engagement weekend

1 down, 4 to go

Well it's Monday. Want to know how I know that? I'm currently waiting for someone to rescue me because I got a flat tire on the work truck. I don't think I am making friends with the service center and I'm also pretty sure I'll never hear the end of this. First, my transmission; then, my speakers; now, my tire. My poor truck sure takes some abuse.

On a good note, I completed my first project from Preconstruction to Final Inspection. There weren't even any punch list items. Unbelievable, right? I think they must have had an incredible inspector-I'm just sayin'... I guess work isn't all that bad. It's even cooling off around here!

This weekend we did some purchasing. We bought a bar-it's a beautiful solid cherry bar and now takes over our living room/dining room. Gotta love the Vance AFB Yard Sale Facebook Group. Then, of course, we had to stock up because somehow since we moved here we've gotten low on some of our supply. We even made a special order at our favorite store in town, Proof. :)

Other highlights - the girls' room (aka the laundry room) got a mini makeover/organization. I made the best angel food cake I've ever baked to date. We hung out at a class BBQ. To end it all, we had friends over to watch the closing ceremonies. And, as usual, we got some serious laze time in this weekend.

Now I'm just looking forward to the next good weekend. One day down, 4 to go.

Perspective

This week we got a new child to sponsor. Our first girl we started sponsoring a few years ago lives in Sri Lanka. The village she lives in has been improved and World Vision is moving on to new communities facing challenges to overcome. Although it is sad to say goodbye to Ashani, it is really incredible to see how God is able to use our contributions all the way on the other side of the world. We now have a new little girl we are sponsoring in Sri Lanka. Here are our reminder photos on the fridge:

Here is a link if you're interested in child sponsorship:

World Vision

We began watching Human Planet last night to continue our BBC Series obsession! It makes me want to travel and send money to other countries! It is crazy to see how different people's lives are from our own, and it puts things into perspective.

Tomorrow Zack has a check ride! An example of putting things into perspective...We stress over things like flying a multi-million dollar aircraft for the world's greatest Air Force!

Oh, and let's not forget our dogs who truly have the hard life...

$1

UPT is full of traditions. After your dollar ride (first ride), students give their IP a dollar in some creative way. Here is what Zack did for his IP who is planning his honeymoon in Seattle.

Missing home...

Our Weekend

This weekend everyone worked on adjusting to adding Hazel to the family. There are new Pittman House Rules that are unfavorable to the only child, Princess Hadley, and just get in the way of her power struggle. The first night we had Hazel it was a "Yay! I have a best friend!" the second night was "Hey! That's my toy and you can't borrow it anymore!" They play tug-of-war and have learned to wait till a toy is dropped and sneakily steal it from the other. Hadley is struggling for dominance-she's putting up a good fight for such a small girl. By yesterday they were playing very well together and Hadley has even learned how to tackle Hazel! Best part of my weekend was Hazel teaching Hadley how to sleep in til 0830! Made my Sunday morning perfect!

Learning to be a sister is not an easy task. It makes me think a lot of our personalities and where we fall in our own families. Being the first born proves to create the greatest of all kids, of course ;) On a more serious note, though, watching Hadley learning to be a sister makes us say, "this is why we won't have an only child," several times a day. Hazel, who has always been a little sister, is just a little lover.

It's hard for me to learn to be a good sister, too. Daughter, wife, friend, granddaughter...all the other roles I fill seem to come much more naturally for me. Sister-I'm working on. Who would've thought these little puppies are teaching us so much?

Other things this weekend included grilled sockeye at Dan's house - yum! I got a little crafty working on cards and headbands again. Zack began studying for instruments - yuck! We had a wicked thunderstorm and temperatures finally dropped. We also began talking about Helos... 

I said a few things I thought would never come out of my mouth this weekend including, "I would be okay with you flying helos," and "I think Alabama would be nicer than Oklahoma." Zack track selects in November. Something that has always been on his mind is how cool it would be to be a combat search and rescue helicopter pilot. Pros to this career choice would be -- a more rewarding mission, more time actually piloting (no auto-pilot), pretty decent bases, and the list just kind of keeps going along these lines. The con as a wife is no ejection seat! I've always thought helos would be too dangerous and never wanted Zack to consider them. But it comes down to this - I want Zack to do something that is fulfilling and he is passionate about. I know he is passionate about flying and would have the time of his life in any cockpit, but if a search and rescue mission is really his desire then I'll have to trust God will protect him. I know ultimately no matter what we end up deciding we want to do in the Air Force, it will be God's decision for where His plan takes us. I know that we will be stationed where He wants us to be and where His work is to be done through our lives. But this weekend we really tossed around the hypothetical questions and have started to pray about what comes next. Because...before we know it November will be here! We've already started booking Christmas Vacation and have been planning out the rest of our year -- time really only flies from here.

H&H

We are very excited to announce/introduce the newest member of our family, Hazel. She is a Westiepoo that we got last night from our neighbors. She is just a few days younger than Hadley (but is almost twice the size) and they are already the best of sisters. I now have two little girls at my feet all the time, begging for my attention (or…usually, food).

Here’s the scoop in a nutshell… a little while ago I got the brilliant idea we should get another puppy so that Hadley wasn’t alone all day. I thought it would be cute to have playful pups and figured two dogs can’t be that much more work than one (yeah, I know…probably not true, but I guess we’ll see soon enough). I told Zack this brilliant idea and he thought I was a little crazy. Then I saw that our neighbors were unfortunately going to have to give up their puppy. I texted Zack at work and said how sad it was we wouldn’t see Hazel outside anymore. He suggested we adopt her! Seriously, it was that easy. No arm twisting. No leg pulling. Just a mere statement and my husband made the suggestion on his own! J Well, it wasn’t like I was going to say “No.” I was a little hesitant, at first. I kept asking Zack if he thought we could do it. Of course, he said it would be easy because he’s the one who sleeps with ear plugs in and never gets up at the crack of dawn for a potty break. After talking about it for a day, we decided we would love to have a Haddlebugs and a Hazelnut. So, we do and we love her!

The pups are inseparable and play so well together. They even sleep together, it's precious. Getting a puppy this way is just about as perfect as it gets. She is housetrained, kennel trained, and very well behaved. All the hard work is over! Now I get to just enjoy! Here is the only downside I’ve discovered so far—getting a dog twice the size as Hadley = 3x the poop… didn’t really calculate that one beforehand…

This post should have really been titled “H&H&H” because there is Hadley, Hazel, and it is freakishly HOT! This week has been 111 (or higher) every single day. Let me just say this, on the record, I will never ever complain about the rain, clouds, or cold for as long as I live. I will, however, still complain about the snow whenever I have to shovel it. Note that I did not say I would not complain about that. I heard Enid was the hottest city in the country on Wednesday…and I believe it! I was working outside all day and melting. There is not really an end in sight for this ridiculous heat wave. There was a little bit of rain today and boy was it such a nice relief. Lately we’ve been occupying ourselves with everything and anything…as long as it is indoors! The hardest part to get used to is how late it gets hot here. When I take the pups outside before bed, it’s usually 106. It’s still triple digits after midnight! ugh.

Wish us luck on our first weekend as a family of four!