Pre Pilot Training Travels

We recently were able to take a couple weeks of Dans leave and travel the country a bit! Annabelle still hadn't flown on an airplane, nor had Dan's aunt and uncle met her, so we first headed to Portland, OR to see them for a few days. While there, we went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum an hour away and wine tasting, of course!

After that, we rented a car and headed up to Seattle, WA for a couple days and then caught a Space A flight out of Joint Base Lewis McChord, which was really neat. Annabelle did SO well on the  c-17 we flew on, and it was our third Space A trip! I definitely prefer it to commercial flying, but it's not always a smart option... just depends on your timeframe! Dan had 10 unused days of paternity leave that the Air Force so graciously lets new dads use any time within the first year... and since Annabelle was born on the first day of his three week break between grad school classes, he never needed to use it... I'd say we put great use to it!

From Seattle, we went to Colorado Springs, CO! Yes, I know, I know... we've been there a million times and even lived there for several years... but I have zero regrets because I got to eat at my favorite restaurants, see friends, and even visit my former coworkers and some students I taught a couple years ago, and let me just say that it was a real treasure seeing these teenagers interact with Annabelle. That alone made my heart so happy! We also were able to take Annabelle to the Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods for some photos, which I will share another day because I love how they turned out.

From Colorado Springs, we took a Greyhound bus (don't do it... just my advice) to Albuquerque, NM to visit one of our good friends, Aaron, who has now been deemed Uncle Aaron. It was so great catching up with him for a few days; we had so much fun! From there, we flew home to Texas and slept SO well in our own bed. Traveling is a lot of fun, but it sure is exhausting... especially when you're moving cities and hotels every few days!

Enough of my rambling... I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the speaking for this post.

We had an amazing trip overall and are so fortunate that we had all that time together before pilot training starts! Lieutenant Lovemuffin will be so busy that I like to call this the calm before the storm. 

Have you visited any of these cities? 

Dating, Engaged, Married DIY Framed States

Today's DIY craft is something I've been wanting to share for a while. I made these last spring when I had a day off of work. However, life got busy, and I'm just now getting around to posting about them.

Since Dan and I started dating in Missouri, got engaged in New Mexico, and will be married in Colorado, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to make these ADORABLE prints to hang in the living room. 

I am SO happy with how they turned out, and people comment on them all the time, asking where I got them. 

To start, I bought some colorful cardstock at Hobby Lobby. I chose a textured teal color because it goes with the earthy tones in my living room but also stands out quite a bit.

Then, I picked out a patterned scrapbook paper (and bought a couple extras in case I messed up!).

When I got home, I searched on Google Images for the three different states I was looking for. I picked silhouettes and printed them on regular printer paper.

Then, I cut out the states.

After that, I glued the cut out states to the back of scrapbook paper and cut out the states again. New Mexico and Colorado were super simple, but Missouri was a piece of work!

Then, I made a template on Microsoft Word with one of my favorite fonts and practiced printing on a plain piece of printer paper to make sure it was spaced out right. Once it was, I printed the three on my teal paper. 

Now comes the glue! I actually used Mod Podge because it is sticker, and I'm used to working with it. I glued the states down as close to the middle of the teal paper as I could.

Last but not least, I added the small red heart stickers I bought for this project over the approximate location of the cities that these major events happened/will happen! 

• So, what do you think? 
• Would you make something like this to decorate your home? 
• Did these three big life events happen in different places for you as well?

A Stroll Down Memory Lane {Blogtember Challenge}

Tuesday, September 17th Prompt: A memory you would love to relive.

Oh, gosh. I have so many vivid memories that I would LOVE to relive, but there's one obvious day that sticks out in my head.

I STILL can't believe I am so blessed, so fortunate to have found a man who would go to all of the trouble to make this happen for me. I can't stress how thankful I am that Dan made our engagement unique and special. He is 100% wonderful and amazing for that, and I think about our amazing day frequently. If only I had a rewind button...

I am choosing to share the story of the day Dan asked me to be his wife. It was on July 7th, 2011, and we had been dating for about two and a half years. I copied/pasted this straight from my "About Us" section at the top of my blog, and yes, I know we have an incredibly long engagement. We will be married next May, as cadets at the Air Force Academy are not allowed to have dependents. Two days later, we're tying the knot, and he'll be a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force by then!

Dan had the second half of second leave during the summer of 2011, so we planned a road trip for that time. We first went camping on an Indian reservation in southern Colorado. Then, we spent three more nights camping at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. After that, we spent a few days at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, where Dan got to sit in on a training flight for an F-16—which caused us to get into our next destination (Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico) more than a little bit late. We didn’t get in until 1:30am, and Dan said he had a surprise for me, but we had to get up at 4:30. When the alarm went off, we were both tired and groggy from driving so much the day before, but I love surprises, so I excitedly got dressed and ready! He told me I had to wear tennis shoes, so I began growing suspicious. What were we going to do? He drove me to a Village Inn parking lot, where he said we were meeting some people. Doesn’t this sound sketchy? It was before I knew what was going on. A van pulled up with a weird looking basket on the back of it, but I still didn’t pick up on what was happening. We got into the van, and the guys told us we needed to sign a safety waiver, so I read it, and it was for a hot air balloon flight!! (During Dan’s prep school basic training, I saw a hot air balloon on my way home from work one evening, and I told him about it in a letter and how much I wanted to go in one… and he promised me that he would take me on one someday… I guess this was it!). I thought that was the entire surprise. I mean, come on! What a huge thing! I had no idea he had a ring in his backpack. When the hot air balloon pilot said that there were about 10-15 minutes left in our flight, Dan asked him to take a picture of us. We took one regular picture, and then Dan said: “Okay, one more pose,” and he got down on one knee. By this point, I was shaking (and ecstatic!) because I knew what was going on. He told me that I am the most amazing woman he knows and how he is glad that I am here to support him through the Academy and that there’s only one more thing he could ask for: for me to be his wife. I was in shock, but I said, “Of course!!!” Then he got into his backpack and pulled out a ring, and asked, “Janelle Vannice, will you marry me?” I couldn’t even speak, so I shook my head YES! The pilot got a few pictures of Dan proposing, and I am so glad that he did. I will cherish those photos forever! 

Now you know my favorite memory! I'd love to hear all about yours!