Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! 

Today was the homecoming from the majority of Caleb's unit. I can't wait until it's my turn to reunite with him. A lot of happy tears and hugs were shared. I'm glad that I went to take pictures of some of my friends' reunion, even though I knew I would have mixed emotions being there (happy and sad all at the same time. Caleb, I can't wait until I'm running into your arms!). I'll be posting pictures soon for everyone to see. I'm very proud of our military and the sacrifices they make and the sacrifices the family makes as well. Please keep them in prayer as the protesting and rioting continues around the world. 

"The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou saved me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."~ 2 Samuel 22:3-4.

XOXO,

Nancy & Angel

Angel and Crispaw

When my sister visited, she spoiled Angel with lots of love, affection, and of course, presents. One of her favorite ones was Crispaw! There's an outrageously expensive bottle of champagne that's called Cristal. We found a replicate "bottle" for dogs in the toy section so Denise decided to buy it for Angel so she could have a taste of glamorous!

Here's a picture of an actual bottle of Cristal. I think the cheapest one costs for about $250. 

Here is Angel's version of Cristal! It's called Crispaw!

Angel was really excited for Crispaw! I'll let the rest of the pictures do the talking!

All Crispaw'd out! 

I also found out that Caleb's parents are planning on visiting us again in February! Woo hoo!!! I love visitors and I love it even more when it's family. SO excited to see them again!!! 

Hope everyone is having a great week thus far.

XOXOXO

First day at school

I felt like a little kid again as I woke up early this morning to get ready for school! The "feeling like a kid" part disappeared as I made myself a cup of coffee, ate an egg for breakfast (I need my protein!), packed a slice of banana bread for a snack  and tucked a legal pad under my arm. I'm ready for grown-up school! It will definitely be a challenging course. There's a ton of terminology that you can't just "memorize" word for word; it's more understanding the general concept and applying it. There's an upwards of 1000+ definitions that we will have to cover and the teacher is basically teaching us 2 chapters per class. There will be a midterm at the end of the 4th week and a final exam on the last day of class. I will have to pass both tests with a minimum of 82% to be eligible to take the national and state exam. Slacking off is not an option. I will have my hands full these next couple of months! 

Finished studying the first chapter and I'm taking a break before I crack down on the 2nd chapter to end the night. Going to try a new recipe that I found on Pinterest for dinner and still need to take Angel out for a run.

All my notes to my left...(I took 7 pages of notes today & look at that HUGE book I have to study from!)

Angel on my right sleeping and snoring. 

My lovely view behind me.

Tomorrow, I shall conquer Chapters 3&4! 

Excited in this new chapter in my life. 

XOXOXO

First Awana

It has been an extremely busy day. Church, then lunch with friends (we waited over an hour for our food!), rushed home to take Angel out on a bike ride (I fell down once, but it wasn't too bad!), then had about 15 minutes to get ready to head out again to church for worship practice and Awana! All in all, it's been a very tiring day, but very good nonetheless.

Senior (8th grade) trekkers! They are the singers during the Awana worship.

Pam (our worship leader's wife), the girls, and me getting ready to worship! 

We have about 20 kids in our Trek class this year and I have a feeling it's going to be great. Spoke with the new leader after class and his vision this year will be on service projects for the kids to see outside of themselves and to focus on our church's vision, which is to Win, build, and send.

Small group tomorrow night and it's my turn to bring the snacks! I'm thinking I'll make banana bread and either chocolate chip cookie dough oreo brownies, or a new eclair dessert that I found on Pinterest!

XOXOXO

crash course

Wow. I have definitely been slacking on my promise to update this blog! Another month has passed so quickly. August flew by due to the wonderful visit by my sister, Denise, who stayed for a little over 2 whole weeks. We had a lot of fun together, so I'll let the pictures do the talking for anyone who hasn't seen them on Facebook yet.

She got to meet one of my good friends, Lucy, and we all met up for a nice lunch in downtown New Bern.

This was our last night together at mine and Caleb's favorite restaurant, Amos Mosquitos. 

Denise just fell in love with Angel! 

We took a road trip to Kitty Hawk, NC, which is about a 3 hour trip to the outer banks. We spent the day at the beach and at her friend's parents' beach house. 

Me, Stephanie and Denise. Stephanie has been her friend since middle school and is also one of her bridesmaids! 

Sisters. SO blessed to have a wonderful family. 

It's the start of a new month for me and it's going to be jam packed! For those of you who don't know, I will be starting school on Tuesday, September 11th, to get my real estate license. It's a mandatory pre-licensing class that is 8 weeks long, 3 days a week from 8am-12pm at the community college that is about 35 minutes from my house. After I finish the class, I will be able to take the state exam, and if I pass, I'll obtain a provisional broker's license. I'm really excited about it and can't wait to start the class! 

I also completed a 125 mile run that the CO from Caleb's squadron challenged both the Marines and spouses to do before September 1st. I am very proud that I stuck through it and I'm happy that I have gained the strength and stamina to run 3-4 miles during my workout! I've also joined the OSC (Officer Spouses Club) on base and I'm looking forward to getting to know more of the wives and participate in their social events. I went to the first meeting last Wednesday, and last year, they raised $96,000 which they donated to the community with scholarships for individuals and programs that need financial aid. A couple of weeks ago, some of the wives from my unit got together for a nice dinner: 

AWANA starts this Sunday. I'll be busy Sunday nights co-leading the Trek classes (middle school). We'll be missing a lot of the kids that have moved up to high school, but I'll be excited to get to know the new ones coming in. I'm also on the committee that is planning a Couples Dance at the Barn on September 28th. We're titling it the "Hee-Haw Dance" and have hired a DJ and a line dance instructor for the event. 

With school, church events, AWANA, worship practice, small group meetings, and social events with the USMC wives, and of course, Angel, I have no more time to Zumba! I'll have to try to squeeze in some room for that! There were pictures posted online from a class a couple of weeks ago, and I found myself in it! I'm the girl that's cut off, ALLL the way to the right in the white tank and shorts! Can you spot me?! 

Other than that, I have started my countdown til Caleb comes home! We are almost at the 9 week mark! Only a few more weeks to go! 

Be safe Caleb and we're counting down the weeks! 

XOXOXO

Angel

Angel is enjoying the sunshine and doing a great job guarding our home. The weather has been crazy out here. I've never seen lightening like this before or heard thunder so loud. It's pretty amazing, but it would definitely be more comforting if Caleb was home with me. Although God's mighty power is evident through these spectacular thunderstorms, they are still frightening to me nonetheless. Thankfully, the power has never gone out when I'm home, but always turned back on by the time I get back!

Feeling very blessed this Sunday for family, friends, and for my wonderful husband and our marriage. Oh, and our dog! 

    My husband with his new "do." I love him, nonetheless. =) 

Happy Sunday!

Quick Update

Wow! Has it really been one month since I last posted? It is amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun! I just wanted to post a quick picture of me and Caleb's Skype session so I can show everyone his "stache" that he's grown since he's been over there.

My handsome husband has a caterpillar on top of his lips! Still trying to get used to it! haha!

This last month has been great mostly because of my 2 week vacation to San Diego to visit my family. It was definitely nice to hang out and spend time with them. The couple weeks I spent with them flew by so fast. Here's some pics to recap my time there:

Our special cousins dinner! 

Me and my godsister Allison. She is growing up so fast and becoming such a fantastic and talented ballerina. 

Food tastings and venue shopping for my sister's wedding! 

Got a chance to go to the famous Del Mar Fair! 

And had a great time riding the rides! 

Loved hanging out with my sister while I was there! Wedding dress shopping (she said YES to a dress! Woohoo!!!), hanging out, and just reuniting was definitely a highlight of the trip! 

Me and my lovely mom. 

Me, my sis, and my two lovely cousins at our friend's wedding.

Me and Brandon, my sister's fiance! 

Celebrating my good friend, Mary's birthday!!! 

Hiking up a difficult mountain with my sis and my cousins!

On my way to the top (never reached the top because they were closing the park and we were still too far away from the top. Will definitely come back here on my next trip to finish the hike!)

 God has blessed me with lots of family time with my loved ones. I loved hanging out with my dad, mom, sister, cousins, friends and the rest of my family. It is definitely a huge blessing to be surrounded by wonderful people. 

and on that note, I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy & excited to say that my sister is coming to visit me in August for 2 weeks! I can't wait to show her around and to just hang out with her on my turf! haha! 

Hope everyone is doing well. Will try to update more frequently! Love you all.