The beginning

Time to start from the beginning.

Mike and I had talked about him joining the military and decided that the Air Force was the most "family friendly" branch. He also really has wanted to be a pilot his entire life, but the you have a better chance of becoming a NFL athlete than a pilot in the AF. I've also kind of felt like I would be a military wife, and I feel very excited and patriotic about it. We had been married for 2 years and Mike was done with school, so we decided to start the process.

It took almost two years to get accepted. By that time we had Calvin. In fact, it was just 3 days after we brought Calvin home from the hospital that we got word that Mike had gotten a pilot slot. Can you say MAJOR blessings being poured down upon us?? But we just had our first baby and I was getting scared of being alone. I wasn't sure how I felt about it anymore. But I knew it was Mike's dream job so I kept that to myself.

So this was all in January, and he wasn't leaving for Officer Training School (OTS) until October. So he quit his job in May to be a stay at home dad, while I continued to work at SkyWest until he left. I loved this set up because Mike brought Calvin in to see me at work all the time, and I also still got to talk to adults.

Mike left in October and was set to be gone until February. 15 weeks was a long time for a little boy to be away from his daddy and best friend. But Mike actually got two weeks off for Christmas! So that was awesome. We celebrated Calvin's first birthday while Mike was home so that he wouldn't miss it. I also forgot to mention that I moved in with my parents while Mike was gone. They took great care of me. I also forgot to mention that I was super pregnant! I was due at the end of March.

In February, Calvin, Mike's mom, and I flew to Alabama for Mike's OTS graduation. We were there for a week. That was seriously a blast. It also helped Debbie, Mike's mom, feel a lot more comfortable with her son being in the military. We also had our first military ball. It was on Valentine's day and it was super formal. So the week before we left my mom and I set out to find a formal dress that my pregnant body could fit it. It was rough, but $200 later we came out of the mall with exactly what I was looking for.

This post is getting super long, so let's take a break and take a look at one of my favorite recipes.