Happy Holidays!

What a crazy year this has been! Ben and I have spent the last 6 months on the move... Its so bizarre. We've 'lived' in Montgomery, Alabama (6 weeks), NC (8 weeks), Biloxi, Mississippi (6 weeks for me; 10 for Ben), and now back to our home in NC. And we're not done yet! Mid-January, we're heading to Dover, Delaware for 4 months for Ben's deployment.


Because we've been in and out so much, I've had to be selective about decorating for holidays. I didn't even try decorating for fall/Thanksgiving. But I'm super excited to get the house ready for Christmas! I'm almost done already! Oh and I should maybe explain the stockings. Mine is first. I've had it since I was a little girl. Ben's is Scrooge and says, 'Bah Humbug!'. And the other is Lillie's. Can't wait for Santa to come!

Lillie posing by the Christmas fireplace.

And here's a random pic from our little Thanksgiving dinner. We did it all on our own. It was my first time making the whole thing and it was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Going home...

So I'm heading home to NC on Friday. Ben's little bro, James Allen, came out to watch our house and the Lillie-dog while we've been gone. Unfortunately, he had to head home to Utah a little early, so I'm going back to take care of things until Ben comes home Dec 11th. We've really appreciated James Allen's help, allowing me to spend the last 6 weeks with Ben in Mississippi. But I am kind of looking forward to getting back home. It's been really boring in MS. And I miss our house and the Lillie-dog! So here we are, being silly while I've been packing. :)

Will I fit in a suitcase?

Pretty much, yeah. Ha ha!

I made Ben a snowflake sticker and he stuck it on his head.

Halloween in New Orleans!

This year for Halloween, we decided to brave the crazy New Orleans crowds with some friends. It was so much fun! We all dressed up too! We ate at Pat O'Brians and then saw the parade! Here are some pics!

Ben went 'rocker goth' and I was a referee!

He got so many glares. He looks pretty scary though, huh?

During the parade.

Me and Ben after the parade. Look how many beads Ben caught for me!

We really had such a good time! Great food, crazy people and we got to dress up too! :)

Ship Island!

Last weekend we went to Ship Island! It's about 11 miles south of Gulfport, Mississippi and is a part of the islands that stand between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi Sound. On Ship Island is Fort Massachusetts, a strategic military post built around the time of the Civil War to protect the Mississippi ports.

The ferry ride took about an hour each way. It was amazing! There were these dark grey/black dolphins everywhere. We saw them on the way there, at various times while on the island, and on the way back. When we got there, we immediately took a tour of Ft Massachusetts. Here are some pics!

View of Fort Massachusetts from the ferry.

Me and Ben at the giant cannon.

View of the island from the top of Fort Massachusetts. So pretty!

New Orleans!

Yesterday we went to New Orleans! We spent the afternoon wandering around on Bourbon and Royal Streets. We window shopped and then found a fabulous restaurant called Desire. Ben got red beans and rice and gumbo. I got fried catfish. It was all so tasty! Here are some pics:

It was kinda rainy, but Bourbon Street was so much fun!

Best Day Ever!

Since we're in Biloxi, Mississippi for about 10 weeks (for Ben's tech school at Keesler AFB), we decided to spend the weekends sight-seeing. Today we saw a couple places Ben remembered from when he lived here.

First, we went to Gator Ranch. Ben has ALWAYS wanted to go there.

The "baby" alligators live in an enclosure until they're about 6 feet long. Then they are released into the wild. Yikes!

Our crazy guide jumped into gator territory and started pulling their tails. This one didn't like it much... he was hissing and ran into the water.

They were so close to the fenced-in boardwalk!

The guide fed them raw chicken while we were there.

Say cheese!

Later this afternoon, we went to Pascagoula beach. It was kind of cloudy, but warm and beautiful.

Isn't he handsome?

I just love this picture!

Life at the Super 8... again.

We made it to Biloxi, Mississippi - safe and sound. Ben made reservations for the lodge on base about 2 months ago, so when we checked in there, we thought 'no big deal, right?' But according to them, reservations mean nothing and we're supposed to stay in a Super 8 off base for at least 42 nights. Its nice enough: king bed, cable, free wi-fi, mini-fridge and tiny microwave. Not bad, if it were only a few nights. But for 2 1/2 months, we may go crazy here. Besides, with only one car here, one of us will be stranded all the time. So I sent Ben on a mission - find a way to get us on base, where we'd have a kitchenette at least. And where Ben could walk to school. :) We'll see what he could do on his first day...

The Air Force Ball.

Last Saturday was the annual Air Force Ball at Pope AFB. Every year, it's the chance to get all dressed up, have some tasty food, and hear from a great speaker. Ben and I went to the ROTC's version (called 'dining out') probably 4 or 5 times at the University of Utah and one with the reserves at Hill AFB. But this was our first active duty ball. It was so much fun! And we even danced! Here are some pics...

I love you house!

We moved into our house! Hooray! We're so happy and excited and overwhelmed. It's amazing. Here are a bunch more pics...

Our cars look so cute in the garage.

Living room/back door view from front entryway.

Kitchen view from living room/entryway.

Kitchen view from dining room.

Dining room.

Hallway.

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3 (aka Lillie's room)

Hall Bathroom

Lillie loves the big backyard!

We'll post some pics of the master bedroom, bathroom, and giant closet soon... That's where we dropped our stuff so its a mess. :) Please post some comments and let us know what you think!

Life at the Super 8

K, I meant to post this on Thursday, but things got crazy fast...

So we live at the Super 8. We're hoping to close on the house tomorrow (Friday) at the very earliest. Until then, we're bored. Well, Lillie and I are super bored; Ben went back to work today. Lucky.

So, while Ben had his 8 days of uneventful leave to "find a house and get settled", we had time to explore the Fayetteville area.

Market Square.

And more...



It's so bizarre to realize that most of these old buildings are like 200-250 years old. And they're so beautiful. It's such a great and interesting area!

On to North Carolina!

We're finally in North Carolina! I can't even believe it! Friday we drove the 3 1/2 hours from Alabama to Uncle Ricky's in Mississippi. We spent the night, got the Lillie-dog, and drove the remaining 11 hours in two cars to Fayetteville, North Carolina on Saturday. The drive actually went really well... the Lillie-dog slept pretty much the whole way and there were no car problems.

So now we're camped out in the Super 8 right outside GIANT Ft Bragg. We're looking at houses and actually considering buying, since the housing market here is so affordable. Yesterday we saw the cutest house about 20 minutes from base for $115k. Unbelievable! We'll see how that goes... but we've got to get outta this hotel asap! We've been living in hotels since leaving Utah in June. Yikes!

Here are some pics from our time in Alabama. Miss you guys!

Crystal, Ana, me, and Sarah after graduation on our last day.

Me, Kelsey, Sarah, and Shirley at the pool.

Me and Ana after graduation.

Maxwell AFB

Okay okay. I'm about to reach my limit on bad luck. So just when we're getting settled into our extended stay place, Ben's commander says we definitely have to move on base. Apparently it's totally unheard of for a student at ASBC to live off base. The girl who told us it was okay was new and obviously wrong. Fantastic. So we found out all this on Wednesday and we had to move all our crap (again) on Thursday. It was crazy. Unbelievable.

On a positive note, Ben's program is super aware of the spouses and there's a whole program just for us! The flight commander's wife put together this whole list of activities throughout the 6 weeks we're here. So nice, huh? Last night we went to our very own briefing and a meet & mingle. And this morning I went to a spouses brunch. Made a few friends, had some tasty food. It was fun!

So because of this new housing change, we had to find a new place for Lillie. No pets allowed. She spent last night in a local kennel (it's so nice!) but keeping her there the whole time is super expensive (like $850!). Fortunately Ben's aunt and uncle agreed to keep her for us. So we're driving up to their house in northeastern Mississippi tonight and staying the weekend. I'll have to put some pic of their place... it's so great! They have like 3 little lakes on their property and horses and everything. I'm gonna go fishing off the paddle boat. :) So I guess Lillie really is going to live in the country for a while. Ha ha! Later!

Bonnaroo!

Friday and Saturday we went to Bonnaroo!!! Yay! It was such a blast! Here's some pics... Bonnarooooo!!!

The GIANT main stage.

Ha Ha! Chris Rock!!! Sooo funny!

Ben and me just before Metallica!

James Hetfield from Metallica.

Whew!

Okay, we found a place to live for the next 6 weeks. I'm so relieved! We spent the morning running around to the places we'd researched last night and we ended up with an extended-stay place. It's like a nice hotel with a full kitchen. It's not ideal, but it's in a safe area and it's affordable. Whew! What a relief!

On another note, we're heading to Bonnaroo tomorrow! It's this 4-day concert festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I'm so excited, but not quite as excited as Ben. He's waited his whole life to see Metallica and he's finally getting the chance. He's also looking forward to Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam, and Les Claypool (of Primus). I'm excited to see Ben Folds (oh I love him so much!), Jack Johnson, Donivan Frankenwriter, and Aimee Mann. It's gonna be so amazing!

Graduation & Commissioning

Friday & Saturday (May 2nd & 3rd) were so crazy! Ben graduated from the University of Utah and commissioned into the Air Force! Yay! I'm so proud of him!

Just after graduation.

Ben swearing in as an officer.

Ben's dad, mom, and me pinning on Ben's new rank. Lieutenant Quigley!

Pope AFB

We finally found out where we're headed... Pope AFB in North Carolina! I'm so relieved just to know. Ben has lived in NC once before, when he was a cute little boy, so he's pretty excited to go back. And I've always wanted to explore the east coast; I've never been there! We're leaving the first part of May, just a few days after Ben's graduation and commissioning ceremony. Yay! I'm so excited! What an adventure!

Me and Ben - 11/07 - Ogden Canyon