Blast From the Past: USAFA Recognition, Class of 2014

In March of 2011, Dan was just a measly fourth class cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. Late in the month, however, he was Recognized, or accepted into the Cadet Wing as an upperclassman, having survived what he then thought was the toughest part of the Academy. (Sadly,  he has since been mistaken, two degree year taking the cake for hard-ness).

Normally, Recognition is something people can't just watch, but Ellie, Emily, and I had other plans. You see, Emily's fiancé Stephen is also class of 2014, so he was being Recognized at the same time as Dan. Ellie's husband was class of 2011, so he was helping run the entire thing. We kind of snuck to the Cathedral Rock past the "Do Not Enter" signs (oops) and hid in the trees to watch the guys. It was a lot of fun... until the end when we were ratted out by a cadet who almost went to the bathroom on us. We took off running up a gigantic hill and made it away safely, though, heading to Wendy's in our camouflage and all.

Recognition was such an amazing time for the cadets, though. They gained a lot of privileges and freedoms, and I'm so proud of Dan and all of his buddies for making it through! It's basically a three day hell, where cadets hardly get to sleep or eat because they are constantly training physically and mentally. Many push-ups later, one becomes Recognized... and then promptly eats a steak and passes out. ;)

And now for the pictures of our shenanigans:

my shirt...

Ellie's shirt...

Emily's shirt...

hehehe

Dan's eating his Recognition dinner...

He's so tired he's sleepwalking... eek! 

That day was a fun, exciting adrenaline rush kind of day. I wish Ellie were still here so we could all hang out and do stupid/silly things like this! 

Sunday Catch-Up

This will be my last catch up post. After this, I'm all caught up. Well, that is unless you want to get technical. I have several "blast from the past" posts to still make before the month is up. I think I'll do one of those after I post this.

On Sunday, Dan and I slept in, cleaned the house, ate lunch, and cleaned labels off of wine bottles so we can smack our own on there for gifts this holiday season. It was a boring day, but it was still nice to be with my love.

Saturday Catch-Up

Saturday was December 1st. It was 65 degrees outside. In Colorado. Go figure...

Dan and I slept in; we obviously both needed it. We ran some errands, picked up some things at stores we had ordered from, ate a delicious Indian lunch, and then drove to Denver to hang out with Megan. She had a couple hour layover at the airport, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see her! That was a lot of fun. When she left to catch her next flight, Dan and I headed to Mike and Ellen's church to see the Messiah concert with them.

It was interesting, and I couldn't understand the words the singers were saying (it was opera style), but I'm still glad we went. I love hanging out with them. When the concert was over, we went over to their house (they are his sponsor parents) for refreshments. While we ate veggie pizza and eclairs and drank hot mulled wine, we had one of the best conversations I have had in a long time. It was such an enjoyable night, and Dan and I are so blessed to have them in our lives. They are excellent role models and really are the epitome of how to make a marriage work. I'm so happy we have gotten to know them over the past few years.

Saturday passed quickly, but it was a good one!

Friday Catch-Up

Friday was the LAST day of November! Can you believe it? Where did this year go? It's already December? Seriously? I'm not sure I'm a fan of that, but what can you do? At least it means that Dan and I are officially under 18 months until our wedding! Friday marked that for us, and we are so excited! :)

Friday morning, as I drove into the parking lot of the school I teach at, I noticed the most beautiful sunrise. I know I see a lot of them -- Colorado is wonderful for colorful skies. However, this one was just spectacular, so I rushed out of my car to take a poor quality iPhone picture of it... check this out!

You can see the lights that are in the high school football stadium.

On Friday after work, Dan headed to my house, and I had written him a fun little poem explaining that we were going on a surprise date night! He was really happy about it, so we got ready and headed to Jack Quinn's downtown for a delicious dinner, and then we went to see Lincoln! It was fantastic, and we're pretty impressed that we have seen two movies in the past month. It was only the third movie we went to together in 2012, so I guess we needed to make up for that. We're terrible movie-goers, but that's okay. We had a WONDERFUL night together, and it was a lot of fun to forget about everything else and just spend some time together. :) 

Thursday Catch-Up

Whoa! How did I miss so many days in a row? Eek! I have to catch up because this is the very last month of my every day blogging adventure... can't mess it all up now!

Last Thursday, my brother left my house and drove back to Kansas City.

I went to dinner with Eryn at Pueblo Viejo, and I shopped at Hobby Lobby for some Christmas decorations for my classroom. (I decorated it Friday morning -- check out the picture below!)

It was nice to have a relaxing evening with a friend. It was much needed! :)

I put up lights, snowflakes, bows, ribbons, etc. The kiddos LOVED it! 

I will continue to post updates... oops!