Acrobatics

For any of you who haven't seen Julie's blog yet, this is what Ben has been learning everyday in class. He loves it. Yesterday, he had another in flight emergency. (these seem to be more common then they should) Just as it shows in this little clip he was climbing and he had just started to turn upside down doing his spirals down and this huge emergency siren went off and it was this big thing because the engine wasn't receiving enough oil I guess. Anyway, it ended up not being a big deal and he is safe and sound. :) All of the other pilots are saying, "Man you ALWAYS get in flight emergencies, I'm never flying with you." Lol.

Poor Timing

Just this past weekend I have come down with some kind of cold. No fun. Today I woke up feeling even worse. I feel so tired and nauseous. All I want to do is go back in bed or just lay on the couch. Unfortunately, it couldn't have been worse timing. This is my last week of classes so of course I have a billion things to do and not to mention I should be studying for my finals next week. Also on top of that, I don't know if any of you have heard yet but we're moving out of our house on Saturday and moving on base so I should be packing.

Family Visit

My sister in law Julie and her 3 kids came up to visit us this weekend from Dallas. It was tons of fun. Ben and I are always excited when people come to visit especially because there really isn't that much entertainment. We got to go out to eat and we toured the base and went to see the planes uncle ben flies and try on some of his uniform. But needless to say it was a nice relaxing weekend. That is one of the things I am starting to love about Enid. It is so far to drive out to the city for some real entertainment and shopping that most of the time we just stay home and really get some quality time with our family and friends. That is one of the reasons Ben and I are trying to get stationed in Germany for our next assignment so we can live the quiet simple little village life. :)

Wise Words

For my trip to California I decided to bring this book by with me because I was going to be traveling for about 6 hours each way and needed something to keep me busy. 5 people gave me this book for our wedding and I thought it was about time to pick it up. Now I'm really into it. Everything she says just makes sense and the best part is it teaches you how to have an even better marriage then you already do. Last night I was telling Ben a lot of the stuff I had read and he was just laughing and said, "why have we waited so long to let you read this?" It was cute. Anyway for anyone who hasn't read this book yet I suggest you pick it up. Ben and I both agree she gives a perfect picture on the differences between men and women. My favorite example so far (hopefully this doesn't offend anybody) was her explaining the differences how men and women feel loved. She described it as men need to make love and women need to talk. She said just imagine coming home and trying to talk to your husband and him saying I'm too tired to listen, not right now I'm busy, or you just talked to me last night. Lol. We were cracking up. But it totally makes sense. If any husband said that to his wife our feelings would be hurt so why is it okay for people to say that to their husbands? Anyway, that's just one of the samples.

The Wedding

My dad is now officially married. I just got back from the wedding in California. It was really nice.

Flory made sure to coordinate a lot of things that he would like and this is my favorite thing she did. This was the groom's cake and it looks identical to my dad's race car.

Our Fallen Hero

On Easter Sunday Sgt. Chris Hake was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Chris was born and raised in Enid. He was only 26 years old, recently married with a brand new baby who just so happened to be named after him. On Monday April 1st he was flown in to Oklahoma and as he was driven to the funeral home here in Enid every street was lined with people. I just so happen to work on the corner of that major intersection where they had all the troops lined up to salute him as they drove by. Right as I drove by to go into work I saw Ben right on that very same corner ready and willing to pay his respect. I went into my work and about 10 minutes later the funeral precession started heading through the intersection. It seemed as though time had stopped for that brief moment. We all immediately stopped what we were doing and lined up by the glass windows and just watched. We all had tears in our eyes as we immediately saw the troops standing at attention and everyone getting out of their cars and putting their hands over their heart with tears in their eyes. Flags were lining the road. Another thing that was very touching to me was an old man who had gotten there about 20 minutes earlier had parked in our parking lot and walked over into the grass median with his dog and just stood there with his tall American flag and an american flag bandanna tied around the dogs neck and it seemed as though they never moved. It was absolutely amazing. Today was Chris's funeral and the very same thing happened. I will never forget that day. God Bless Chris and his sacrifice for all of us. He will not be forgotten.

Here are some things his wife had said about all of this in the paper:

“I had no idea the type of support we have received,” she said. “Going down (Monday), and all the flags and everyone standing out there ... It’s something you would never dream about. It was amazing how many people were out there, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.”

“When the plane rolled up yesterday, everyone broke down. Having him here and touching the casket ... The ride to town was about the same with all the people out,” he said. “You can’t believe that many people would come out to honor your son and your husband.”