Flight Line Tour and Squadron Halloween Party

Josh Larson invited Tyler and I out to the flight line today so I could see the jets up close. Josh put together the trip for the young men/scouts in his ward and even had a Sargent out on the flight line with us on a Saturday morning. It was interesting, Josh was an excellent tour guide and Tyler knows a lot more about jets then I knew he did : ) This is the squadron commander's jet (Shredder) I'm not sure how you get your name painted on a jet, but only a few of them have it I noticed. At the very least I'm sure you have to have a call sign (Which Tyler doesn't have yet).

I really wanted to push lots of the buttons and move lots of the switches, but TYler wouldn't let me since "its a live jet".

Then we went to a squadron halloween party at Shredder's house. We met up with TYler's class beforehand at Max Johnson's place then caravanned over (which turned trickey when the directiosn Max handed out turned out to be crappy, but we all got there eventually : )

In case there's some confusion, the costumes are (from Left to Right) Dr. Seymour Bush, M.D.; A.C. Slater; Some old Retiree; A Kuwaiti (or a terrorist); Little Bo Peep and her Sheep; CatWoman; Batman (front row) Spidey; Harpo and Groucho Marx.

And I really liked Max's pumpkin

PCSing: TX to AZ--part II

I thought I'd start out with this picture becuase it makes me smile. It appears to be Tyler in a TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility, aka hotel on base) but I'm not sure if this is at Luke while house hunting, at Sheppard while our stuff was boxed up and being shipped or if it's at Luke when we acutally got here. I'm guessing though, from the order of the pictures on my camera, that it's Tyler sitting on the (full) bed of the Luke TLF in late august when we were house hunting in Phoenix and it was 107 degrees by 8am (that's just a side note for me to remeber how miserable it was : ) And yes, now that I'm talking about it, I remeber it now. Its the Fighter Country Inn the last week of August 2007.

We left Frankie at Camp Bow Wow in Dallas while we went house hunting in AZ. She loved it there last time (I know becuase she couldn't really care less about seeing us after five days in Mexico and she passed out on Tyler's lap the whole way home). She got a free bath last time becuase it rained for a day or so and she was filthy muddy and dirty--but this time no such luck. I guess it just rained a bit that morning, but it was enough to get her a nice yellow/brown color. They said they tried to get all the dogs inside when it started raining. . . I can just picture the poor Camp Counselor (yeah, you heard me) trying to corrall Frankie into the buidling and her just running around thinking it's a great game of chase.

Tyler took this picture for reference. She's suppossed to look more like the receipt than the rawhide.

Goodbye Sheppard AFB! This was literally the last time we were on the base. After the pics were taken we filled up with gas and hit the road. (Tyler would only let me take one of him, so that's how he looks. . . I looked dumb in both of mine but he would only take two).

I had Frankie buckled up in her harness for the first day of the drive but on the second I let her have free range. I know it wasn't very safe, but she was so good for that first long leg I wanted to make the next day not so bad for her. She was clearly fine on day two as you can tell. The only time she got sassy was when I wouldn't let her get on my lap (in traffic or near a pit stop or something). After she realized she wasn't allowed on my lap, she settled into the passenger chair. . . until she'd wake up and try to get on my lap again. (Although, as I'm looking at these pictures. . . I appear to be wearing the same shirt I was on the day we left Sheppard. . . so perhaps I had her roaming free on the first day and harnessed on the second. . . whatever you get the gist) As you can see, she got plenty of rest on the drive which made for interesting evenings in the hotel.

















This is the day before our stuff got in town. We had to buy some sheets, blankets and pillows from wal-mart and sleep on some 'borrowed/rented' foutons from Family Services this night becuase the TLF was out of 'pet rooms'.



I didn't feel so good when the movers got there--probably from all the "In 'N Out" and the heat ands till being in my frist tri-mester. The movers thought it was funny that I was pregnant and Tyler let me just lie there.

The movers had to put boxes in the back room, but I didn't trust Frankie off leash with all the commotion.

Fortunately she was fine once she had her couch and I could take her off the leash and not have to worry about her.








I clearly felt much better a few days (or maybe a week or so, I'm not sure when the picture was taken) later now that I have my couch, dog and cable : )

Thus ends the chronicle of our third official move in 2 years (technically 25 months: early August 2005 to early September 2007). I think I'm getting better at it, but I definitely need to step it up when I think the movers/packers aren't being detailed or careful enough with my stuff. Nothing's been irreprably damaged yet, but why wait for that to happen? Its all about being Pro-active, Moving Crisis Management is. I'm still not crazy about setting up all the utilities and things like that, but it has to be done. I'm just glad we put a little extra away before we moved. It really helped to not have to be stressed about not having $150 to hook up our water (etc etc etc). I'm still waiting to disect the LES (Tyler's pay stub) to see what all we got reimbursed for. They DIDN"T cover the extra $10/night to stay in 'pet' TLFs becuase the Air Force only has to lodge us, apparenlty, not our dog. And I KNOW there wasn't enough to cover all the stupid start up/connection/service fees for water, gas, electric, phone, internet and cable (we decided to splurge on cable while we're here so I guess I can't complain about that one).

I can't wait to compare the LES with my excel! Then, the next time I tell someone we have to move again and the person says, "well the air force pays for it!" I'll say "BARELY!!!!" or maybe I'll have a percent by that time (I'm guessing somewhere around a 75% reimbursement rate).

Or maybe I'll just show them my excel spreadsheet so they can see the breakdown.

Or maybe I'll explain that they don't cover 'house hunting' costs so you have to be really good at finding a place to live in two days (or however much time you have before the truck with your stuff on it gets to town) or be ready to eat the airfare, food and lodging costs to get a not horrific place to live.

Or I'll point out the inadequate reimbursement for gas for driving your car to your new duty station (especially if you've got two cars--but since the AF won't ship a car for you if you're moving within the United States, you have to pay $800-1500 to ship the second car to get the slightly better single car reimbursement rate which is financially retarded to do becuase you lose even more money).

We did get a little extra because we packed my car full of crap we needed and didn't want the movers to touch, but it wasn't as much as I expected. However, by loading up my car I got even crappier mileage which made the gas reimbursement even worse.

But all in all, even though you lose money, I'd rather lose some money every time i move rather than do a DITY (do it yourself) move. To those who say "but you make SO much money doing a DITY" I Say, "Show me the data." I'd also ask them what 'so much money' means to them becuase I"m finding out Tyler and I have a significantly different view compared to other people of what 'so much money' is when it comes to the headache and hassle of moving ourselves.

I'm not going to lie, its a total pain to move, but its still sort of fun to see new places and try different things.

20 Week Pictures

So here I am at 20 weeks--but to me the picture doesn't show the stomach for some reason.




So I took this one--becuase THIS is what IIII see:



And this is what Tyler sees every night when we're watching TV :D I'm somehwat distressed that my face looks so dumb, but the other pictures of me with a 'good' face didn't show the belly very well (or it just looked like a fat roll. . . .)


So there you have it. I just look sort of chunky from the side, but I feel like I have a soccerball under my shirt when I sit down.

PS. Yes the beige thing under my green shirt is the bella badn thing Leslie gave me and its awesome. I wear it all the time if only to give my shirts extra length--you know how they should make skirts longer in the back to accomodate the butt? Same theory only apply it to the front.

The Job Hunt and "I don't look fat!"

Tuesday night the first and second counselors in the bishopric came over to get to know us since we're new in the ward. Throughout the course of the evening it came out that I would be 20 weeks pregnant on Saturday. To which one of the counselors said,

"Really? But you're not even fat yet!"

YEsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!! : ) I totally feel like I have a soccer ball under my shirt, but it's nice to know I'm not 'beached whale' status as of yet.

I've been meaning to take a picture, I'll get one up here eventually.

In other news, after 6 hours of applying online to jobs on Luke, AFB, I managed to snag a spot at Babies 'R Us. Almost on a whim. So, I may have a 2 minute commute, get to work 20-40 hours a week (whatever I want really) and MAYBE, can you say "employee discount"?! The cool part is it's also being in charge of all the promotions and store events and stuff--how fun! Pay isn't great, but whatever! We don't need it and I'm going CRAZY in the house.

Before I left, though, I asked Tyler if he could tell I was pregnant in the outfit I was wearing.

"No. Why?"

"Becuase I don't want them to know, I don't want them to discriminate or anything."

"It's BABIES 'r us!"

"That doesn't matter!!"

I'm sure I'll have to let the cat out of the bag eventually, but the manager seemed thrilled that I was mormon (without acutally asking me if I was--BYU was a pretty good giveaway I guess : )

He also managed to say, in not so many words, that it would be good to have a mormon on board becuase they know lots about babies.

Interesting extrapolation of data from those he's encountered, I thought. And its sort of true, I mean what other 25 year-old has 12 neices and nephews 8 and under? Soon to be 13 with one of my own? I just thought it was funny that he thought it was an asset. I sometimes get nervous when interviewers repeat the name of my college out loud in the interview.

Well, I acutally DO do things

My days just aren't jam packed I guess : )

For example, I've spent a few hours at the Luke Library. Its a great little library!

I went window shopping for about five hours the other day with a girl from chruch whose about two weeks ahead of me. I sort of had information overload when I got back, but it was still cool to see everything out there and what might work and what I think is stupid : )

I've applied to TONS of temp agencies and for a few openings at the Newspaper here in Phoenix and now I heard about some part-time openings on base, so I'll give that a go too.

And the other night I went to a 61st squadron Coffee and got to meet a bunch of women in Tyler's squadron. The Squadron Vice PResident's wife (I think she said her husband was the Ops O? But that didn't mean anything to me, she's the second in command's wife) picked me up since she lives two minutes away, then we picked up the PRESIDENT's wife (Who is crazy toned and in shape from teaching pillates), two other girls, then the SUPER PREsident's wife. THe super president is the president's boss (for those military people out there, it was the group commander's wife, the squadron commander's wife and then the ops o/vice president's wife).

I felt a little weird since I was married to a 'b-courser' (aka, very early in career student) but htey were all super nice and friendly. And most of them were here 10-15 years ago when THEY"RE husbands were goign through some training, so I guess they knew how I felt.

I ended up talkign with teh group commander's wife most I'd say. I don't know if that made Tyler nervous, but she was really cool (was an engineer in the AF and met her husband when they were both in Korea, a still crazy story to me, but I'm hearing it more and more as I meet different people), very smart and easy to talk to. Which I guess is what makes a good commander/commander's wife.

I ended up being gone from about 6pm-11pm which was a little too late for me, but it was still nice to meet everyone. I tired to tell TYler the wives I met but I don't know their first names, I only know their call signs, so I'd explain it something like this:

"Yeah and Shredder, do you know a shredder? VIcki's husband, he's the squadron commander? VIcki's really nice. ANd Stacey is married to Planet, you already knew that, and Carla. . . shoot, I don't think her husband has a call sign, but hes the group commander? Gibb-something? Do you know him? How about a Sparky? He got that in Korea when he landed too hard. Sparky is married to either melissa or Cheryl. And do you know a Vanna? Vanna White? He lives across the street from one of them."

I would like to take this moment to point out that I did not make up any of those call signs. They are in fact, Shredder, Planet, Sparky and Vanna. Tyler doesn't have one yet becuase he hasn't flown yet (early november) but I'll be sure to keep everyone posted!

I don't do anything

I think it really hit me today. I really don't do anything at all. Which is both good and bad. Good I guess becuase I can relax and do some yoga nad stuff and I'm totally not stressed for hte pregnancy, which is definitely a good thing. I get to read a lot of books about the whole process and procedure and figure out what I need to buy and what we don't need to spend money on, and I get to watch a bunch of baby shows i recorded off Discovery Health and The Learning Channel.

But really, I don't do anything all day except try to feel her kick and make sure that I'm getting some fruits and veggies and plenty of water.

But I feel bad becuase tyler will come home and say "so what did you do today?" after I hear all about his day, and usually I don't have much of an answer for him. It's sorta nice, but sorta not at the same time. I DO appreciate that I get to read and research and get lots of information about prengancy and labor and delivery and infant care and all that stuff, that makes me feel somewhat less, "Ahhh!!" about having a baby.

It just makes for pretty boring posts : )

For the Record: PCSing from TX to AZ

PCS: Permanent Change of Station (moving)

(If I think of any other pertinent acronyms that might need explanation I'll add them, but that should do for now.)

To keep an accurate log of funny things that happened during the move, I took notes. Of course, as I sit down to record said funny things four-five weeks later, I cannot read my first item. . . . . . whatever.

1) As we were packing up the stuff we didn't want the movers to move and other items we would need during the drive, I hear Tyler call from the back bedroom "Hey!! I got a BOX!"

Since I had no idea what he was doing back there, and not wanting to squash some sort of personal moving victory he just shared with me, I called back (after a large, 10-15 second pause) "That's GREAT honey!" And waited for another response.

Tyler: (walking out to the living room) What's with the sarcasm?

Anna: Well, you just said you got a box, and you sounded pretty excited about it, and I waited for you to say something else, but you didn't, so I had to say something!

Tyler: Oh, yeah, I meant to say I got a box so we can put all the random crap we need in it so its not floating all over your car, but then your cell phone rang back there and I went to see who it was.

2) In New Mexico, the local government (or do-good citizenry) felt compelled to erect roadside signs that warn motorists to not pick up hitchhikers. Something to the effect of "Prison Nearby Do Not Pick Up Hitch Hikers". We didn't see any, but we did see the prison.

3) Had we decided to pick up a hitch hiker though, we definitely would have armed ourself a few miles down the road with the "Spywear and Self Defense Items" that were for sale on the Indian Reservation we entered. Swords were included in their inventory.

4) Tyler saw KIT from Knight Rider! A black 1980s trans am with blacked out wheels and even a little spot for KIT's light to go "whooo whooo, whooo whooo" if it was turned on. Don't act like you're not impressed.

5) To actually get the keys to our house we had to have a money order for $2100. Totally fine. We had the funds, we just didn't have a brick and mortar bank to get them from.

USAA lets us do all our banking online which is fabulous because thus far we haven't found a bank with a branch close to us in Utah, Texas and Arizona, so it definitely saves the hassle of having to change banks every time we move. We can also use any ATM to get cash and USAA will reimburse us the ATM fee since they don't have ATMs either. Its nice when you need cash but all that's available is some shady ATM that probably charges a ridiculous fee.

For some reason, Tyler still has a brick and mortar bank account back from when he was in Maryland. They still send the statements to "Cadet Young". I think there's three dollars in it? So we go to write a USAA check at the local Brick and Mortar bank to transfer funds between the two so we can then withdraw our cash and get a money order. Funny thing. Since the account has been dormant for so long (with three dollars in it) they were going to hold the funds for 5 business days. So we said thanks but no thanks, we'll just hit some ATMS.

Now I'm not a petty criminal, but looking back on all those lawyer shows and news casts and things of that nature where the thief hits a bunch of ATMs with the stolen card and pin now make so much more sense.

There's usually a $5-600 limit on account withdrawals from an individual ATM.

We didn't know this. So we spent a good 10 minutes at the Safeway ATMs trying various amounts until we got $500 out. Then we tried the other ATM (two feet away) because hte one we were at wouldn't let us pull out another $500.

While Tyler's doing the dance of the ATMs I get on the phone with USAA. The girl explains that we have x limit on each of our cards and to try the other ATM and resets our limit so we can pull out the extra $800 (Tyler managed to get another $1300 or so out of bouncing between the ATMs and using both our cards in $4-600 increments--yes we looked like total identity thieves and yes Tyler at this point has a MASSIVE wad of $20s bulging from his pocket and yes I am Laughing into the phone as I'm narrating for hte super nice girl on the phone, but that just makes us look so guilty of something that Tyler keeps telling me to not attract so much attention--which I'm sure makes us look all the more shady.)

The girl was very nice and reset out limits and we let her know we weren't trying to steal our own money but that we were PCSing and needed our deposit. I forgot to ask her if USAA would reimburse all 8 or so of those ATM fees, but I'm sure it will all come out in the wash.

So we then have to count out $2100 in twenties for hte poor woman at the Money Order counter, and she of course had to count it all out again herself for security and a double check.

And since Safeway only issues money orders for $500, we had to walk into our real estate place with five separate money orders. But hey, they got the job done! (And my mom wanted to know how we would do it! : )

6) Our house had a bunch of crap in the garage when we got here: four tires, a roll of carpet and some painting/redecorating supplies, a bunch of old flattened boxes and a bag of trash.

I put it all out on the curb for the owner to send someone by to collect it and I THOUGHT the man in the blue truck was said errand boy. However, this strange man in the truck who stopped in front of my house only took the following:
--1 tire
--the box of painting supplies
--he didn't take it, but he ripped open the side of hte tied up garbage bag to see what was in it. I guess he didn't like what he saw?

So I still have three tires, a carpet roll, a now opened bag of trash and lots of flattened boxes on my curb. Not to fear though! The next day, my random neighbor across the street has a friend over. They're chatting, see me outside and friend asks what I'm going to do with those tires.

"Nothing. They're supposed to be picked up by the owner today."

"Can I have them? I have a used car that I'm trying to sell and they look like the right size"

"Sure, help yourself"

I guess he only had one good tire on this used car, because he took all three of them. Which was fine by me, but I thought it odd that when Tyler came home that night, the roll of carpet was gone too!

What's with the scavenging?

Thus ends the notes I took on things to write about. I'm sure there was more, but these were the more odd/funny things.

A Praying What?! A PRAYING MANTIS!!!!

Just when I thought we had left all creepy crawlies behind in texas (crickets, cockroaches, giant flying things, fleas and ticks) I had a bit of a rude awakening this afternoon.

I pulled the shade up on our front window so Frankie could look out (She likes to guard the front of the house) and WAHT do you think was stuck in the left hand corner of the window sill?

A PRAYING FREAKING MANTIS!!!

No, its not spelled 'preying' despite the fact the the creatures ARE predetory (go wikipedia)

I didn't really know these thigns existed outside Animal Planet and maybe Africa or some other equally distant place where weird bugs come from.

I called Tyler and said something like. . .

"ARE PRAYING MANTIS" DANGEROUS? OR POISIONOUS?"

Uhh. . no, why?

"THERE'S ONE IN MY HOUSE!! --Frankie! Stop that! (She thought he was a buddy to play with)"

Hahaha, really?

"YES!! WHAT DO I DO?!"

Trap it in jar! I want to see it when I come home.

"A JAR?! What are you CRAZY!? Do they jump? When are you coming home?"

Yeah, or a bowl. I don't know. . . about an hour or so.

. . . . . . Again, my husband's calm serenity in a time of crisis stresses me out even more, but I do realize that I am perhaps overreacting a little bit when he chuckles to his friend, "Yeah, a mantis. . she's freaking out."

It was just such an invasion of my HOME. How did such a huge bug get into my house? Are other multi-legged creatures coming in as well? We've seen two giant black widows on the front of hte house, are THEY infiltrating as well? Did hte mantis get in as an egg and grow until I just now spotted it? And seriously, a praying mantis?

I guess it's just a good thing I don't live in conneticut--the Praying Mantis is the state insect. Yikes.

General Conference

Last weekend was General Conference for my church. There were lots of really good talks. Saturday morning seemed to be all about using the Spirit and the Gospel to help us through trying times and to remeber the Plan of Salvation and how nice it will be to see loved ones again. Saturday afternoon's last two talks were SUPER good. Mainly becuase Tyler had just gotten into a conversation with someone from his flight and he didn't understand how we, Latter-day Saints, could think that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost were seperate beings. I don't know what denomination he was, aside from being Christian. He is a very nice guy with a super fabulous wife and they're very good people and it was incredibly interesting for me to listen to Tyler speak to him about "The Trinity" theory vs. seperate beings as well as listen to him speak to Tyler. It was even more impressive that the very next day Elder Jeffery R. Holland gave this talk (if you'd prefer, you can watch it or listen to audio here)

I will admit General Conference has a tendancy to lure me to sleep what with the soft voices and pretty hymns inbetween. I've started taking notes--sort of. I have a little journal that i keep handy with a pen and when I hear something interesting or somethign that I want to remeber or sometimes its even an answer to a question I've had, I'll jot it down under the name of hte speaker. Sometimes I only write down a line or two per speaker, sometimes I can fill a whole page or two. But no matter how much I write, or don't write, I found it helps keep me engaged and I get more out of all sessions. Plus it acutally helps me remeber those things I wanted to becuase i wrote them down : )

I remeber watching some of hte various televised worship services in Wichita FAlls. I could never watch very much becuase all of hte pastors, preachers or reverends (I'm not sure which denominations I was watching so I want to cover my bases : ) seemed to always be shouting. Sometimes they would shout so loud their little microphone would buzz and it would blur out the acutal words. I personally don't think Heavenly Father would shout like that. Nor do I think Jesus Christ ever really shouted at the apostles and his desciples when he taught them. So I guess I just never understood why they always felt a need to shout to their congregations.

So, even though I may get sleepy sometimes during General Conference, I'm glad President Hinckley and others don't shout at me : )

“It is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant” (D&C 58:26).

Elder Boyd K. Packer, in a talk given June 1982 to new mission presidents as well as in the Januray 2007 New Era (“The Quest for Spiritual Knowledge”), said the following

"There is something else to learn. A testimony is not thrust upon you; a testimony grows. We become taller in testimony like we grow taller in physical stature; we hardly know it happens because it comes by growth.

You cannot force spiritual things. Such words as compel, coerce, constrain, pressure, and demand do not describe our privileges with the Spirit. You can no more force the Spirit to respond than you can force a bean to sprout or an egg to hatch before its time. You can create a climate to foster growth, nourish, and protect; but you cannot force or compel: you must await the growth."

And PResident Hinkley reminded us in 2005 all that our purpose is not to fight or quarrel with others over our beliefs vs. theirs

Our adherence to these divinely given standards need never be an offensive thing to those about us. We need not contend with them. But if we will pursue a steady course, our very example will become the most effective argument we could ever advance for the virtues of the cause with which we are associated.

The Lord has given us counsel and commandment on so many things that no member of this Church need ever equivocate. He has established our guidelines concerning personal virtue, neighborliness, obedience to law, loyalty to government, observance of the Sabbath day, sobriety and abstinence from liquor and tobacco, the payment of tithes and offerings, the care of the poor, the cultivation of home and family, the sharing of the gospel—to mention only a few.

There need be nothing of argument or contention in any of them. If we will pursue a steady course in the implementation of our religion in our own lives, we shall advance the cause more effectively than by any other means.

There may be those who will seek to tempt us away. There may be those who will try to bait us. We may be disparaged. We may be belittled. We may be inveighed against. We may be caricatured before the world.

There are those, both in the Church and out, who would compel us to change our position on some matters, as if it were our prerogative to usurp authority which belongs alone to God.

We have no desire to quarrel with others. We teach the gospel of peace. But we cannot forsake the word of the Lord as it has come to us through men whom we have sustained as prophets. We must stand and say, to quote again the words of affirmation recommended by Barbara Tuchman: “This is what I believe. This I will do and that I will not do. This is my code of behavior and that is outside it.”

Job Searching

I hate hate hate searching for a job.

Hate it.


HATE IT I TELL YOU!!!!!

It's a. . . . .

Post One

Welcome to the 'new and improved' Young Family blog.