Company Picnic
It was a beautiful, sunshiney Saturday today, the perfect day for Pall’s company picnic. We went to Big Kahuna’s water park; all we had to pay were the parking fee, the tolls, and the gas to get there. It was a fun day! There was a free lunch as well. We mostly took advantage of the free ice cream, though. I think my grand total was three ice cream sandwiches and one orange dreamsicle. Good grief, it’s a wonder I’m not three hundred pounds! Don’t worry, we worked it off (or we’ll say we did). We went down lots of slides…went in an itty-bitty wave pool…rode the rapids…watched the boogie boarders take on the half-pipe…and got lost lots and lots of times. 
Here’s us. Of course, I’m eating.
Handsome, isn’t he?
That’s our day in a nutshell! We got a little burnt, but I think it will turn into a tan. Now, if we can just keep from getting blown away by Ike, we’ll be in good shape!
Sorry about all the crazy formatting. For some reason, blogger is being a pain in the butt.
Another Hurricane Gone
So far, we’ve been missing the worst of these storms during the hurricane season. We’ve seen some rain and the wind has been strong at times, but really there hasn’t been any damage to speak of. Hurricane Gustav gave us a scare, but in the end he missed us by a long ways. I’d say that God has been taking good care of us, but then what does that mean for the other people who have been in the brunt of the storm? This is one of those things you don’t really want to pray doesn’t hit you, because then you’re praying that it hits lots of other people. But we’re thankful, nonetheless, that we missed the worst of it. Although I still want to see what one is like someday.
Yay free slides! I’ll post about that later. Bye!Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Guess what I got last week at work?
Business cards! Isn’t that cool? I feel so official now.
We’ve got about two and a half weeks until Tobin leaves for training in Colorado. Until then, he reports for muster and has lots of medical visits (dental, vision, various physicals) and some briefings to attend. Yesterday was a PT test, which he did great in. You have to run a mile and a half, do pushups for a minute, and do situps for a minute. There’s a time or number to beat in each.
We have been watching Hurricane Gustav closely at work, and if it gets bad, Tobin will have to evacuate with the rest of the military. If Pall closes, I will evacuate with him. If not, I’ll stick around. But it’s not likely the military will evacuate unless absolutely necessary. Right now, it looks like Gustav will hit Louisiana and head west, so we’re ok. Hanna is right behind Gustav, however, and there are two more depressions out in the Atlantic. This hurricane stuff is a little hard to get used to. Check out the National Hurricane Center for the best info. It’s a pretty neat site.
We get a long weekend thanks to Labor Day! We are thinking about renting a canoe or kayak for the day. Better head to breakfast. Keep in touch!
Fay
We’re expecting some rain soon! Today and Sunday is when we should get the brunt of it. I don’t think we will get enough for closing any schools or businesses, but it will be our first time going through a tropical storm, so I’m excited! We have water and canned foods just in case, although we didn’t really go out and prepare for anything, it was just what we had on hand. We’re going for a bike ride soon so we get some time outside before we get stuck indoors.
To answer your questions from the previous post: the Yaris is a four-door, and it’s an ’08. Here’s a video I forgot to post earlier:
There are ginormous bugs down here. Yikes. Here’s one example, although the picture doesn’t do him justice. When he crawled out while I was putting stuff in the recycling box, he scared the stuffin out of me. He’s taller than me, I think.
And last but not least, we have the final news about Tobin’s training. He will begin on September 17th with IFS, and the S stands for screening, not school like I said before. IFS is in Pueblo, CO, and it lasts for about seven weeks. After IFS, he has some time off before API (Aviation Preflight Indoctrination) starts; API should last about eight weeks, and it is in Pensacola. Primary is after API, also in Pensacola, and we’re not sure how long that lasts, but there will be time off between API and Primary as well. So…it’s GREAT that he is finally going to be starting, and that he gets to fly planes so soon; but I think seven weeks is an awfully long time. We know Jesse (one of Tobin’s old roommates) went through IFS in about three or four weeks, though; so there’s a possibility it won’t take all seven weeks. And we know T will be stationed here in Pensacola for at the least two years, maybe more.
Getting ready for rain! Keep in touch.
Reporting and Car Shopping
We celebrated Tobin reporting on Thursday night with some red velvet cake, balloons, and streamers. It was the first time I’d made the cake, so the frosting didn’t really turn out (you can see frosting running down the sides because it’s not very firm). Tobin helped me out with frosting it. Mmm, man that frosting’s good. Lots of cream cheese.
Since we will be down to just the Prizm after we return the bug to Ohio, we needed a reliable car for T to drive to work every day in. He has an hour round trip, depending on traffic, so we made the decision to go ahead and get this car. It’s a stick, so it takes some getting used to for me. I love it, though! We’ll let you know more as we figure some more things out in the next week. Later.
Watchin’ the Olympics…
Tobin starts on Friday! It’s so exciting, I can’t wait to see where he goes first and what training he will be doing. We’ve been assuming all along that he will do the classroom stuff first, but we aren’t too sure of anything. We’ll find out in a couple of short days!
Also, we think we have found a church we really like. It’s much larger than either of the churches we used to go to back home, which takes some getting used to…but we love the small group we have been going to. There are lots of couples our age, and the group is very active in organizing activities and ministries.
Work is going well for me. I am working on a project that costs waaaay more than anything else I’ve ever worked on…yikes! I sure have a lot to learn still, too. I’ve heard it takes six months to really get adjusted to a new job. So, in a little more than four months, maybe things won’t be so overwhelming!
Aaaaaand, we are looking for a car now as well. We are basically replacing the truck for the near future. Any bright ideas on what car to get? Gas savers would be great…but it has to be cute, too. 
Videos of Our House!
Finally, I got around to posting the pictures (videos) of the house! I was attempting to put them on the website, but it doesn’t like my password for some reason, so you get to see it on the blog instead.
First, we have the living room…the sofa is finished and, as you can see, the couch is not. Check out our wedding picture on the wall!
Second, we have the kitchen. Say hi to Tobin! He’s working on that unfinished couch.
Next is the guest bedroom. It’s ready for occupants. Don’t worry, there’ll be pillows in those empty cases when you get here.
Now we have the master bedroom. That’s our new comforter; we still need to get drapes, that sun gets BRIGHT.
Followed by the master bath, with new shower curtain and candles and towels!
Then, finally, the study.
We love our new house! Tobin starts work in a week, and I’m about a month and a half into my job. Oh, here’s a final video of the completed couch (doesn’t he work fast)! We’ll have new throw pillows for it soon. Hope you enjoyed! Sorry for those of you with dial-up, this wasn’t a very friendly post.
Congratulations, Jaymi and Leigh!
This weekend, Tobin and I flew into Chicago for my friend Jaymi’s wedding. It was a busy, fun weekend! Here we are, ready for the wedding! I was one of Jaymi’s bridesmaids (bridesmatron, we decided).
Here I am with the beautiful bride! It was such an amazing wedding. I loved it; and I only choked up once.
Me and the little flower girl, Mackenzie. She was a sweetheart.
My incredible friend, Jaymi. Congratulations, Jaymi and Leigh! You guys are going to do great.
And here are the promised pictures of Tobin’s finished product: our re-upholstered sofa!
Isn’t he amazing? Here we are trying it out.
Blue Angels
This weekend, Tobin’s parents came down to visit us. It was a great weekend. Saturday, we planned on going to the beach to watch the Blue Angles fly. The weather had other plans, however. We spent a couple of hours in traffic getting onto the beach, only to have rain start pouring down and to hear that the show was being delayed. We drove around the island a bit, and saw the alien house; then we heard the show was being canceled. By that time, we were in another traffic jam for another couple of hours. Haha, we finally got home and got dried off; the next day, we found out the show was rescheduled for that day. We headed to the beach again (no traffic this time), and spent a few hours out in the sun before the show began. We were relatively unburnt, too! Amazing. The show was awesome. Below is a video of the pre-Angels planes flying in formation. Above is Fat Albert, a troop transport.
The best part of the show was undoubtedly the Angels, however. They were so fast and loud! They scared the crowd a couple of times, coming out of nowhere and zooming over our heads. They also flew in formation, only 18 inches away from each other, right past us. It was incredible!
Riley came down as well, Bill and Stacie’s dog. Just made me want a dog of my own even more! The weekend turned out very well. Thanks for coming to visit, Mike and Jacque! And since we traded cars with them, we’ll have to see them again sometime soon. It’s so nice to have the house full of people. We won’t know what to do next weekend with no one here to see us!
Work is going very well for me, and Tobin is busy at the house. We are both healthy and having a blast in our new home. We’re finally getting settled, too. The next post, maybe I’ll have pictures to show of our “new” furniture! Later.
Moving Truck
OUR MOVING TRUCK ARRIVED!!!! Tobin called me around 9 this morning while I was at work and let me know the truck was coming. All of our stuff is here now and we are finally getting to unpack! The house is filling up quickly. It was like Christmas, getting to unpack all of the wedding presents…finally! Wish you could have seen all the stuff, Mom and Dad, when you were down here. Guess you’ll have to come visit again .
Speaking of which, we had a wonderful time when my parents and little siblings came to visit. Thanks for coming and breaking in the guest bedroom! We loved having you. I can’t wait for our next group this weekend. Tobin’s parents are coming down…and I think Riley’s coming too (a black lab and something else mix, for those who don’t know).
I’ll try to post pictures sometime soon once we get all of our things settled and arranged. I’m very excited!
Luke….you’d be proud, I’m learning a bunch of geeky computer-technical stuff at work that I never knew. Yikes, it’s complicated! But I’m learning. Maybe one day I’ll catch up to you…
Oh yeah, and at work, my official title is Manufacturing Engineer. I’m also the Vision System Specialist…which is kind of funny since I don’t know much of anything about it yet. But someday I will!
Tobin is doing really well. He is taking on a re-upholstering job with our couch and sofa to make them pretty. That and getting our things arranged will help keep him busy on the days when I’m gone all day at work.
That’s all for now! Come see us.
Happy Fourth of July!
Have a great holiday, everyone! I know we will. I am definitely looking forward to my first long weekend, and we are getting excited about our visitors coming this weekend!!!! Also, my first paycheck comes tomorrow, which we could really use about now.
Don’t forget to come visit.
Almost a Whole Week
I have worked the past two days out on the factory floor at two different locations. Yesterday was the Mixer station, and today was the Melt-Blown-Media belt. I helped at the end of the line, taking rolls off and wrapping them in plastic. I learned a lot, including safety measures on the line, like pads under the rollers that turn the machines off if stepped on. I accidentally stepped on one. Yeah. The whole line shut down. The guys were running around like ants. It ended up being ok, but a whole roll had to be tossed out, because while the rollers stop, the product being blown onto the fabric doesn’t stop. So, there was a major build-up of resin on the fabric that made the roll really lumpy. Anyways, apparently only engineers have ever tripped the alarm by stepping on the mats. Yup. Way to uphold tradition, Erin!
Anyway, they made fun of me a lot; lol, they’re very good natured and no one was upset, so it worked out well. Tomorrow I work in Windup, which I hear is very slow; so I hope I like the people!
We got a couch and sofa today! YAY! The truck has not arrived yet with all of our stuff, but Tobin found a deal online so we can finally sit somewhere. Our living room looks a lot better now! The furniture is in great condition, but the fabric is not our favorite, so we will try our hand at re-upholstering.
Mom and Dad are coming to visit me! I’m very excited. If everything falls through, we will at least meet halfway in Alabama for a picnic; but they might even make it all the way down to our new house.
More to come. Later!
Hurrying
Quick update, since I have to go to work in a few minutes.
Tobin and I are doing very well. We still have no furniture, the moving truck is supposed to arrive after the holiday weekend, around July 7th. We are disappointed that it is not arriving sooner, but we are making do with an air mattress and what we had in our cars.
My first day of work was this Monday. It went fine, I was in a conference room all day going through training and paperwork. Yesterday, I spent the beginning of the morning getting drug tested and buying steel-toed shoes, then I went into the office. I had a long meeting with my boss, where I was assigned a scavenger hunt that I have to finish in a couple of weeks. It should be fun, I have to find out a lot of things about people and machines (like John Henry’s full name and the serial number of a machine in a certain bay). I also have to work a full day with five different places on the floor. My first day of that is today, which is why I’m going in to work at 7. Tomorrow I start at 5:45. I get off early, though! I also have to have lunch with four different guys in my department, to get to know them a little better as well.
Tobin is trying to stay busy here at home, he is doing so much around the house! Lots of repairs and other things we needed done.
Oh, last thing…we saw a tornado inland while we were out on the island at the beach! Later I found out it was a water spout and didn’t hit land…but we sure thought it did! Crazy Florida weather…
We’re on our way…
Had the final move-out inspection with Deanna, and we are all packed up! We will be completing some last-minute errands tonight and tomorrow morning before we hit the road. First stop, the Rumley side, second stop, the Bolton side, and one final stop in the Haute before the long haul to Florida.
We chose our house today! We were deciding between two different houses with very similar floor plans, but with a variety of ups and downs. One house I had walked through already, but the other neither of us had seen. However, we did end up going with the house we haven’t seen yet. Hope nothing awful surprises us! If so, it’s only temporary, right?
So, we’ll see some of you soon, and for those we don’t see, come visit us in Florida!
Graduates and Italy updates
This is at the Senoir Soiree the night before Tobin and I graduated.
Also, I started to watch T’s game in Italy…but then it froze! The part I saw, though, showed Rose was a lot better than the Italian guys. Tobin contacted me later…apparently Rose won 89-0.
Mom came to visit me, which was GREAT, it was so lonely here with everyone gone! I am now mostly packed…thanks, Mom! She headed home today, so I am getting some cleaning done. Highlights from the trip: packing with Mom, baseball with Zach, and getting my makeup done by Elyse! (I wore it to work too!)
Tobin comes home really late tonight or early tomorrow.
Tobin’s football game can be watched by going to this website!!! It’s broadcast live. That’s 12 Eastern time.
Also, the team had to practice on the hotel lawn today. They were in full pads and uniforms, dodging trees and such. Two weddings happened as well, and the wedding parties took photos with the boys.
There’s your update. Love!
:)
For those of you I haven’t emailed, I have a job now in Florida! I get the details in a package in a few days, but I have already accepted the offer. I’m very excited!
Tobin is doing great in Italy. He sent me a picture today of him in San Di Belvedere.
It’s storming in the Haute. It’s nasty outside right now. Hopefully we don’t lose electricity! I’ll update more later.
New Kinds of Days
Wow, this is very strange. I’m not used to living in a house with no other people. It’s usually so full of me and my roommate’s things, and there is either always someone here or someone next door to talk to. I’m glad I’m only here alone for one more week, or I might go nuts. Also, I may have gone home for the last time before moving to Florida. It was hard to drive away today! Hopefully we will have time for visiting up north, especially on holidays.
Tobin is in Italy! He arrived safely in Rome and has had some time for exploring already before the rest of his team arrived. He said his phone does not work, so contact will be pretty limited until he comes back. He told me the flights weren’t very fun, since he wasn’t feeling well the whole time. It’s kind of my fault he’s sick; I hope that doesn’t last too long! Flying is no fun with stuffy sinuses. My last update from him was yesterday, so he is probably well into a day of touring today; I will let you all know if anything new comes my way.
Deanna found out I was married today. She tried to make me feel guilty about not telling her! Some people… Anyway, I am back in this lovely town again for a couple more weeks. Love you guys!
T’s in Madrid!
Finally, graduation day arrived! Tobin and I are officially degreed and ready to move on to the next step in our lives. I am extremely happy to be done, and there are a lot of big things happening right now. I recently had an interview in Florida, and I find out this week whether or not I will get an offer from that company. I also should find out soon whether or not I will be getting an interview for another job entirely. This second job is actually the one I am most interested in, but I may not hear back from them.
Currently, T is in Italy (almost….he should be in Madrid by now), where he gets to play football one more time with his college team! It’s a great opportunity for him, which is what I tell myself when ten days without him seems like forever. I got to spend the last half of this weekend with my family in Michigan and Portage. Since it might be one of the last times I will get to see them before the big move, I’m really glad I was able to make it. The rest of the time that T is in Italy, I will be working/packing/cleaning back in Indiana. After the 13th, we will be moving somewhere. Maybe by then we’ll even know where.
We may have found a house in Florida! Tobin hasn’t actually seen it yet, so nothing’s certain, but it’s exciting to be looking! We also have started looking at dog breeds, even though getting a dog is probably still a while away.
I’ll let you all know what happens with the two companies I am waiting on and anything else that comes up in the near future (and any updates from Italy). Later!
Odds and Ends
SPRING BREAK
GRE results
I took the GRE today, starting just before noon. The essay sections went quickly, I didn’t take the whole time allotted for those. Then I took the rest of the test and took all of the time on those parts. I got my unofficial scores (everything but the essay results), and I scored above what I needed to for the PAQ application. Funny thing is, I scored the same as what I did on the SAT the first time I took it, but I reversed my verbal and quantitative scores. Guess that means I’m finally better at math, but my verbal skills are going downhill. Thanks to good ole engineering, haha.
I’m glad I got the score I needed, and I hope to hear from the PAQ people down in Florida soon. I’ve been calling, but I don’t have any updates right now. Love y’all, see you later!
Results
We finished 33rd out of 60 teams. Apparently, only 47 even passed spec tests on Friday. As mentioned in the previous post, we completed the first mission successfully this morning. The second mission attempt, which we flew at a weight of 23 pounds (all calculations were initially performed at 16 pounds…max), was flying but was very unwieldy (kind of uncontrollable when it had to turn 360 degrees), so it was landed with minimal damage. The team is heading home now.
Mission Successful
My plane took off, made two laps in about three minutes, and landed WITHOUT a crash this morning! That is the first mission. The second (loaded) will be attempted later on today.
I am very excited…I’ll let you all know what happens when I hear further from my team. Love y’all!