Virginia

As you may or may not know, we are no longer actually in Virginia.  We're already over here in Deutschland! But since we did some really cool things while in Virginia, I wanted to share them with you before we get to the Germany part of our life.  We were in Virginia for a whole week, and we tore it up.  The first day we got into Baltimore from Logan and Colin's dad, who we stayed with and who planned out our itinerary with all the cool things to do, picked us up and took us to see the Washington DC Temple.  It is really gorgeous, and happens to be where my parents got sealed :)

 

This is the exhibit they had on humanitarian aid done by the church.  It had a huge part about our vineyard in Madera!

After that, we went to see all the monuments in DC at night.  They were all really cool.  Colin's favorite was the WWII memorial, its pretty new and really cool.

The Vietnam memorial.

Washington monument

These two are the WWII memorial.  One side was for the Atlantic theater, and the other the Pacific theater, surrounded by wreaths for all 50 states and a fountain in the middle.  It also had some really poignant quotes on the walls.

Lincoln.  The only memorial still bombarded with school age kids at 10 at night.

This is the Jefferson memorial.  You have to walk around a lake to get to it.  I asked if we had to go to it when we were going to go see his actual house, not just his statue's house, but Colin said yes.  It was very pretty though.

Then second day we all drove to Michie's Tavern, which has been around since 1784, and they still feed you in the same way, buffet style with pewter plates, cups, and servers all dressed up in the clothing of that time period.  After we ate, we went to Montechello, Jefferson's house.

This is Michie's Tavern, you eat in the small part by the fireplace, The big part is where they used to sleep.

This is Colin trying on an officer's wig from back in the day :)

Monticello.  

Me in front of the back of Monticello   

Holding hands with TJ.  He's about the same height as Colin, must've gotten them mixed up :)

The third day we all went to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around and ate at the King's Arm's, a tavern there.  I learned that if your family had a house in Williamsburg back in the day, as long as you pass it down to immediate family members, you can still own and life in your house today.  So there are modern people living in their 17th century homes.  Its pretty cool.  That night we stayed in a hotel in the area called the Duke of York hotel, it's right at the mouth of the Chesapeake bay and the York River.  Every room had a beautiful view 

This is the House of Burgesses.  

Some random volunteer fighting for American freedom from the Brits

If you can't tell, this is a fluorescent light bulb in an 1700s lantern.  I thought it was pretty funny, but it probably helps keep the buildings from burning down, unlike a candle, which might speed up the process...

The good guys... or the bad guys depending.

The British are coming!

The view from our hotel.

The boat in the Yorktown harbor

The fourth day we visited Jamestown the first successful American colony settled in 1607. We visited both the original site and a replica created to look as if you were walking where the original settlers walked.  I personally liked the real fort, as they were doing archaeological excavations there as we walked by, and told us how they were learning where they placed the buildings, how they built them, and why.

Some of the excavations of the old church where Pocahontas and John Rolfe got married

More excavating.  This was a Civil War bomb proof built above the original town.

What the layout of the fort was like.  For years they thought it had fallen into the river, but then someone came by and said I dont think that makes sense, and lo and behold they found it.

One of the boats we went on in the second Jamestown.  It is a replica of the one some of the original settlers came to Jamestown in.

The fifth day we spent in Alexandria and at Mount Vernon.  We saw Washington's home, which would be a lovely home even by today's standards, minus the old decorations on the inside.  It was cool to learn that it has been maintained and a tourist site of sorts even during the Civil War.  Also, Washington would have rathered his home burned than his housekeeper entertain a British Soldier.  Too bad he wasn't home to enforce that when the soldier came by.  This was supposed to be our last day in Virginia, but when we got to BWI to get on our military flight to Germany, they wouldn't let us on.  Colin had to have an active duty card, but we had been told he couldn't get one until he had been received by his gaining unit.  But we couldn't get to our gaining unit without the card.  Luckily his dad was still pretty close by, so he took us back to his house and to get an ID card the next day.

the restaurant we went to in Alexandria.  Colin got a free pastry :)

A paddle boat in the harbor near Alexandria.  We saw it later on down the Potomac river by Mount Vernon.

Me in front of Washington's house.

Colin and I standing behind Washington's house.  He had a great view.

The sixth day was spent entirely in getting the ID card and the flight to Germany.  The guy who gave us the ID card also gave Colin and accidental promotion :)

 The seventh day we spent in the Baltimore area so we were close by for our flight.  We went to see some cool ships and a light house in the harbor.  Then Colin's dad dropped us off at the airport, where we finally got on the flight.  Ultimately it was a great trip, and we got to spend some time with Colin's dad, which was really nice.

A ship we went on in Baltimore

Me sleeping in the hammock of the ship above.

The torpedo hole of the sub we went on.

The sub we went on from WWII.  It sunk the last two ships of the conflict.

This is me steering the wheel of the Chesapeake, a lightship that was stationed in the Chesapeake for years.  They replaced it with a real lighthouse.

This is Colin and his dad as we left to go on the plane the first time.

We had a great trip, and we're glad to be in Germany.  Now we just have to wait around for the 3 day weekend to end so we can get busy!

Moving...

 So I fell way behind with the blogging... I figure I'll do it in steps, since I should have some free time on my hands in the next few days when I (hopefully) get to Germany.  I should start from where I left off last, and that is Moving day.  I left off right before the first set of movers came to take away our unaccompanied baggage.  We started by piling up all the things we wanted to send in one room so that we knew what was going and what was staying.  As we put things in the room, we listed and weighed them so we'd have an approximate weight and wouldn't go over our 950 lb limit.  We got to about 800 lbs and stopped to make sure we didn't go over.  When the movers came, we had a lot more than they had planned for.  Apparently most people only send about 300 lbs in their unaccompanied baggage and they thought that was all they were allowed.  We got pretty scared we would be over, so we called the TMO (they take care of the moving your stuff part) and they let us know we were right and really could send 950 lbs, which was a big relief.  This is what we'll be living off of for a few months.  It should be in Germany on the 21st of Oct, and our regular stuff won't get there until December!  We wanted to use every ounce so that we wouldn't have to buy doubles of things we already had but didn't pack.  anyway, the movers packed everything up for us, and really quickly! They were like packing machines.  They brought in tons of boxes and papers and packing material.  It went really well.

These are some of our boxes

We tried to coordinate our list of items with which box they were taken in.  Later that month we sent off our household goods, or the rest of our stuff.  This time, instead of putting everything we were sending in one room, we put our bags we were going to pack to take on the plane all in one room, and the movers packed the rest.  We had to take all our pictures off the wall, but other than that, we left everything as it was.  They had to mark down anything that was scratched or broken, and to be safe, we took pictures of everything they said was broken, so we could prove exactly what shape it was in when it left.  That way, if anything broke more, the moving company couldn't say it wasn't them.

This is them packing our couch in a giant box.

 It took them two days to get all our stuff packed and sealed in crates.  They came on the 26th and 27th of Sept, and we didn't leave Utah until the 30th.  They had some rough stuff to pack too.  All of Colin's models, RC planes, tools, and really fragile stuff. 

 

This is Colin's Fw-190 Focke Wulf he built this year.  Its pretty small, this doesn't give great perspective.

this is his S-100 Schnellboot. It's a German torpedo boat that he built.  Lots of tiny parts.  I try not to touch it for fear of breakage...  And these movers have to ship it like 5000 miles.  

These are his RC planes already in pieces for easier transport.  When our nephew saw them like this he pointed to a set of wings and asked "Wheres a nose?" He loves the planes and always asks Colin to fly them.  Most planes he builds himself, others have been bought.  Once again, not the easiest thing to transport...

We'll see how that turns out, hopefully nothing will be broken.
So after they took all our stuff, we slept on a borrowed blow-up mattress on the floor, cleaned our apt for check-out, and packed our bags to head to Baltimore, where Colin's dad picked us up and showed us Virginia for a few days.  More on that later.

This is the blow up mattress with all of our regular bedding.  We had to pack it in our luggage, since when we get there, we can borrow a bed until ours comes, but we can't borrow bedding or towels.  Those are packed in our luggage too.  We had lots of luggage.

crustless quiche

So I know I should be updating on whats going on in my life and what not, but I'm far too excited about the breakfast I just made.  Yes I know its 11 am, not really breakfast time, but I don't care.  As long as its the 1st meal of the day it can be breakfast IMO.  Anyway, so Trader Joes in Fresno used to have these MARVELOUS crust-less quiches.  When I first went gluten-free, I lived off of them for breakfast.  One day I went in to buy some, and they were gone! Apparently, Trader Joes does not love me, and decided to not carry them in the valley anymore :(  (they do this with practically everything I love.  I basically stopped shopping there because it got too frustrating to find something I really liked only to have it gone, never to return again the next time I went in)  Well, after pining for them for quite some time, today I MADE SOME! I've tried it before, but they never really came out with the same crusty crust-less-ness if that makes any sense.  They were always soggy, or stuck to teh pan.  Apparently, the solution is as easy as silicone baking pans!

the only one I had was in bunt form... also ignore the spillage, I'm a messy baker

 I know no one who reads this probably ever had reason to try these Trader Joes beauties, but in case you decide you want some, here is the recipe I coordinated from various food websites and made my own.  I only used 3 eggs, because I cook mainly for 1 or 2 around here, so it didn't even make a whole pan worth, but you can easily make however many you want.

3 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
pepper jack cheese (i just sprinkled however much I wanted in the bowl, so it depends on  your taste)
3 tbsp rotel ( I used the lime/cilantro version)

mix it all together, and pour into a silicone baking pan that has been sprayed with pam.  cook at 375 for 25 min.  pull it out and you have southwest crust-less quiches.  Using the same base of egg and sour cream, you can add basically whatever you want to make the quiche you prefer, be it broccoli and cheese, pepper and mushroom, ect.  Perfect breakfast.  and you can save them in the freezer and re-heat them! I'm so excited.  I'm going to go eat more!

All Play and No Work Makes Jen a Crafty Girl

So just an update on how I'm keeping myself busy in the time before we move (which we didn't ask for and during which we won't be getting a dime, but it means we get to travel together, so there are up sides and down sides).  I've made a ducky towel, 

which I found a tutorial for HERE at SewDad. Yes, Colin is wearing a ducky towel :)

And I've made two pairs of baby shoes made from Shwin & Shwin patterns and tutorials, one for my friend Christa I used to work with, shes having a little boy, you can find the pattern HERE

and one for my sister-in-law's upcoming little girl (for all who know her, I hope that I didn't spill the beans and you already knew it was coming and going to be a girl...).  You can find that pattern HERE.  I'd like to add some elastic, but I can only find white.  The shoes have some off white in them, but the white looks so... white next to the shoes.  So I'm not sure what to do about that.  I'd prefer some pink elastic.  Can you dye elastic? 

And, just for an update, the movers are coming tomorrow for our 

unaccompanied baggage, and we've been preparing...

Those signs all say "Do Not Pack", and that's our spare bathroom, full of everything they need to take.

More on how that went after they come!

How to make your gluten-free wife happy:

Step 1:  Take her to the PizzaPieCafe.
Step 2: Let her order whatever gluten-free pizza she desires.

(this one was half peperoni, chicken, bacon, and jalepenos, half peperoni, ham, bacon, and sausage

Step 3: Tell her she's cute as she grins while eating real pizza made in a brick oven for the first time in like years.

Step 4: Don't say anything when she eats almost the entire pizza by herself....

And there you have it folks.  A sure fire recipe to make your gluten-free wife the happiest woman in the world.  At least until she steps on the scale the next morning...

ORDERS!

     So it seems like whenever there is anything interesting in my life to post about, I never have the time to actually do it! So this will be another long catch-up post.  I gave my notice for my job as the Logan/Ogden RISE supervisor in the beginning of August, and my last day was the 16th.  Colin and I drove home for some family time before we left, but on our way home, we still hadn't received our orders! We finally got them on the 17th, but we were in California and had the WORST time trying to contact anyone who could help us figure them out.  We called Hill for a week and a half trying to figure out what to do, and finally got a hold of people who could help us figure out how to ship our baggage(the first thing the list said to do).  We were supposed to leave the states to be in Germany by the 7th, but the TMO(Transportation Management Office) couldn't ship us until the 8-10th.  This meant I was going to have to stay behind and ship everything myself :( Anyway, we filled out all the paperwork for that, but still had heard no word from anyone in Germany.  We needed someone over there to book us a room at the TLF(Temp. Lodging Facility) and get us a PO box so we could have a forwarding address.  We sent emails to everyone we could think of, and finally the people at the spouse's club over there got my email and forwarded it to Colin's commander's wife.  They told us that AFPC(Air Force Personnel Center) hadn't even told them we were coming! And then they gave us some awful news...I wasn't on his orders!
     We freaked out for a few minutes, then found out that all I had to do was get medically cleared.  The process sounded really difficult, but ended up not being too bad.  I made a physical and dental appointment, then had to be interviewed by a doctor, a case worker, and I think the other woman was a psychologist...  I passed, and then just had to get added to the orders. They told us that then we had to take it to MPF(Military Personnel Flight), but they were closed until tomorrow morning.
     So the next day, we drove down to Hill again (its an hour and a half drive) to get me put on the orders so we could send them to everyone who needed them, get me a flight, get my stuff shipped, and get TLF over there for both of us (not just Colin).  We got there and they told us they couldn't even do it!  They sent us back up to Logan to go to his Detachment up there.  From there they went all the way to AFPC, who both cut orders and gave us a cushy extension! So now I can go too, and we don't have to leave until the 30th of Sept!  Yay!  The movers are coming to pick up our unaccompanied baggage (the stuff that will get there first) on the 8th, and the HHG(Household Goods, basically everything else) will be picked up on the 26 and 27th.  Whew!  We have flights made for the 30th, and a sponsor on the other side in Germany who will be setting everything up on his side.  So everything worked out great, even if it was confusing and frustrating at first!  It also means we have a few more weeks without any pay and without a whole lot to do, other than get ready for the movers.  I'm already getting anxious and ready to be over there!