Scratch that.

As in typical military style, plans changed.

We will no longer be going to Germany. :(

B got a call on Saturday basically telling him that there was some legality issues with sending Airmen from Lajes AFB to Ramstein AFB for this ceremony, so they will not be able to send anyone anymore. Bubble bursted!

Anyone need a non-refundable ticket to Germany?

The Chief was very kind and apologetic on the phone and told B to personally email him on Monday morning with the status of that ticket. As of now the Portuguese airline has given us two options:

1) Be on that flight next Tuesday

2) Lose your money

Hmm....Not the best options. We have suggested every single possible solution and the airline is not having it. We even know of a couple from church who NEEDS just 1 ticket to Germany and they will not let us transfer the name over. errr..

So we still haven't given up hope and are praying for the best. We will see what the email today brings us.

Guten Morgen.

That is good morning in German. Why is that relevant...

B received TDY orders last week sending him to Ramstein AFB for 4 days. He will be attending an Order of the Swords Ceremony there. Him and 4 others were hand selected from everyone on Lajes Field to go and represent our base. Pretty cool!

Best part. I am going with him! On our own dime of course, but basically everything is provided for Brandon (hotel room, transportation) so we just had to get my plane ticket, cover my shifts at work, get a baby sitter for Mas and we are set to go. Its been quite a process.

Our neighbors older kids are babysitting Mas-face. I hate leaving him. He has only stayed with his "grandparents" and awesome Aunt Hillary. I had full confidence in them. I am a little nervous, but I know they will take good care of him.

We took a day of leave to spend a little more time there and ensure we will be able to eat at least one meal together. :) We leave in 11 days and will be there Tuesday-Saturday.

We are super excited that such a spontaneous trip arose. We/I am getting a little island fever. We will be sure to take tons of pictures for everyone.

Anniversary Weekend.

We had a blast!

Massages = Fantastic!

Pool time = Wonderful!

Dinner = so-so (but we still enjoyed our evening fully)

Picture taking = turned out Great!!!

I put together another smile box slideshow for your viewing pleasure. :)

Make your own free photo slideshow

Let the Weekend Begin!

Bon Voyage from the Morrises!

Oh, we are not really headed anywhere! I did want to show you this cute mat that Brandon's mom sent to us for our anniversary.

We do have a bunch of fun activities lined up this weekend to celebrate. Tomorrow we are going to go spend the day at the Hotel do Caracol to pretend that we are on a vacation. We will be playing in their pool overlooking the ocean, getting massages at their spa, and we have dinner reservations set up tomorrow evening as well. On Sunday, we our going to take it easy and a friend of ours is going to go take family pictures (Mas included) of us, since our engagement pictures never came out how we wanted. Plus we need something for Christmas cards! We have some other things we have to attend that day, that are non-anniversary related.

It has been a hectic week, and we are looking forward to relaxing with each other and celebrating our love for one another. I'll stop there so I do not bore you with lovey-dovey mushiness. :)

Here is to our FIRST YEAR!!

Speaking of Summer...

This view does not get old.

Our rocking chairs have been getting a lot of use in the Summer sun. Mason has been enjoying himself as well. Lots of sun bathing. He has been spending tons of time outside, which is a very big rarity.

Hope your having a good Wednesday!

New Blog Design.

I hope you like the new blog layout. Something very bright and cheery, something to remind us of the summer, as it slowly slips away. We are not ready for the winter!! There is no fall here. It just skips right past it from sunny 80 degree days, to cloudy, rainy and windy ones.

The days have already begun to get shorter. Our summer visitors have come and gone. The kids go back to school in just 2 weeks. The pool is closing until next year. New "fall" activities will be beginning soon. Holiday talk is already upon us. Where did the summer go? It flew by us. It has been a beautiful couple months, and we have felt truly blessed and fortunate to be here (especially as parts of the US heat up over 100 degrees). Although we will continue to be blessed and know this is where God wants us to be, we will have to dig a little deeper to find the beauty and happiness amongst the clouds. :)

Things to look forward to:

• at least 1 more month of sunny skies and warm weather
• our anniversary!
• Air Force Ball
• Brandon's birthday
• trip back to the states in September
• and then again in January with Brandon
• wearing my rainboots!
• cooking our first Thanksgiving turkey
• Christmas trees
• planning our cruise around Europe

So that is what is coming up in our lives. The winter may be brutal, but nothing we will not move past from. I will probably have a whole lot more time to write, due to the lack of being able to go outside. :)

Elephant Ears.

One of our neighbors has completely outdone us on front yards. *Side note: She also has a very cute Basset Hound* I am always talking to her about her gardening skills and how that is a domestic trait I was not gifted with. This weekend she had some extra elephant ears lying around and came over to see if we wanted them, along with offering to help me plant them. :)

This is the end result. Very pleased with our new garden. This one was actually planted correctly, so with my watering skills I should be able to keep them alive.

This weekend was also the final days of Praia Fest. We strolled the streets one final time on Saturday night, and went and saw the beach bullfight on Sunday. We actually saw a handful of people get hit this time by the bull. (They are all okay.) I mean, that is the highlight of standing around watching these things. Everyone wants the bull to win.

Lastly, last night we left the house at 11:13pm (Mom, you would be so proud) to go see the grand finale of fireworks. Well worth it.

We have a full week a head of us. Until next year, Praia Fest!

Ma & Pa

Oh we had soo much fun!! It was so sad to see them go. They loved it here, mom wasn't bored at all!! :) She didn't get to explore the nightlife as much as she wanted to, but she got small samples of it a couple of nights. Dad says next summer they will have to get a rental unit and stay for a whole month. We are holding them to it. It is a written fact now! Surprisingly, Brandon and I got to partake in some new adventures as well, like the caves and some the restaurants. We had a blast! I can't wait to go back to visit my family come September.

Here is a little slideshow/picturebook I put together so I could show y'all lots of pictures and not have to post every single one on the blog. I think I will have to start doing more of these, it is much easier and faster than actual scrapbooking.

Make your own photo album