What a weekend!

It was just so "our life" typical!

Saturday: I was able to attend Jane Wayne Day! It was an morning event with my husband's battalion, where spouses and families were able to go with their Marine and experience some of the things our men do everyday. We wore flak and Kevlar (flak is the vest that they wear to help protect from bullets. Ours didn't have the protective plates in them, and were old vests that aren't issued anymore. Kevlar was the "bullet proof" helmets they wear.) We rode from each "event/station" in 7 tons, and I was happy to get to ride in the cab of one instead of in the back. The first stop was to see live fire from the Howitzers, 50 cal, and some machine guns. The second stop was to shoot M16's. Each family member was given a magazine with 10 rounds, and was supervised closely. Out of my 10 rounds, I had 7 hits in the target's head. I didn't think that was too bad, especially considering I' never held that rifle before. The butt stock was a little long for me, but it was almost as easy as shooting our .22 rifle. There was virtually no kick, and it wasn't very loud. The 3rd station was a "pause", the almost camp-like area that the batteries set up in when they go to the field. We got a look into what FDC does (they direct where and what the guns shoot, essentially)and then walked over to the gun line to watch them shoot. The husband got an amazing video of the shoot. You'll find the video below. The final station wasn't really a station. We loaded up on tracks (big tactical vehicles that carry a lot of people, and run off of tracks instead of wheels). It was bumpy, and fun. Overall, a great day. I was blessed to have a friend offer to watch the munchkins for me (you had to be 13 and over to attend). It was nice to see how some of these things effect the Husband at work, and to have a better grasp on the things he talks about with me.



Sunday:
Was planned to be a semi-lazy day. We took off the plastic door knob "keeper" on Zach's room, so he can come and go as he pleases, in hopes to use his potty when he needs to. He woke up early, around 7 am, and we heard him walking down the hall chattering for us. We had Daddy-pancakes (Husband makes the best pancakes! They're so fluffy. I always burn them in my mission to get them cooked all the way through). Our plan was to take off right after breakfast to go pick up our family pictures and get Husband's medals dropped off in preparation for Birthday Ball. Medals, check. On our way to Temecula to pick up our pictures, we heard a crunching/thud. I thought maybe something had kicked up off the road, and Jerry was sure that we had a flat. Unfortunately, it was neither. We opened the hood, and upon further examination found a coil. Then a spark plug. The spark plug was smashed, and we suspect that a piston broke loose and knocked the spark plug out. Thank God, we did make it home on our 7 remaining cylinders. Currently, the truck makes a horrible noise every time we start it up an feels like it's going to die every time we come to a stop. We have talked to a shop about it to see about possibly repairing the engine, and with just what happened yesterday and what was described, the shop said their is a 50/50 chance we'll have to replace the engine. So, we are starting our car shopping earlier than we had wanted to. We had originally planned on waiting until we moved back to Washington and had a few paychecks under out belts, but now it seems like we don't have much of a choice. We've gotten many suggestions from well meaning family members - buy a cheapie car to drive until we move, buy a motor from a junk yard to replace the engine, repair the engine, etc. None of them seem cost effective to us in the long run, so we're looking for a basic, reliable family car. It's not what family would have us do, they've been very insistent on their suggestions, but ultimately we have to decide for ourselves - we will be the ones to live with the choice. Advice just isn't what it used to be...

Halloween was also our 7Th anniversary! 7 years ago, Husband and I sat in the Expedition while our friends trick-or-treated and he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so filled with joy and amazement that this hottie would want to be with me?! Now, looking back, it's still one of my favorite memories. I am so proud of how far we have come, how we've grown together, and the life that we have. I must admit, a great deal of my pride could be misconstrued as a big "I TOLD YOU SO" to everyone who said we were too young to know what we wanted and all those who said we wouldn't make it. Oh well.

Today is November 1st, and I love it! I live for today. The day Halloween is over, and the Holidays can officially start. We usually put our Christmas tree up today, but I'm not certain it's going to happen yet. We've got to clear my craft table out of the way and pack up some of my sewing things before we can do that.

NaNoWriMo kicks off today. National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to smack down 50,000 words of brand new novel material in a month, roughly 1,667 words a day. This is a huge task, and I look forward to seeing how I do. It's my first year participating. Wish me luck!