ALABAMA!

 

Our drive here was LONG to say the least! We started in Salt Lake at Sugar house park and ended the first day In Rawlins WY. Our second day we made it to Kearney NE that night was a long one the drive for us that day was about 12 hours. we just took it slow through the last bit of mountains. The third night we stayed in Columbia MO we loved this drive! We got to see the Mississippi river, the St. Louis Arch which was way cool if your in the area definitely take a minute to stop and see it! The last night we stayed in Nashville TE! So much fun! That city is amazing!!! I loved just driving in. We crossed the bridge to find our selves at a park where the Zach Brown Band was playing a benefit concert! The streets were insane with people everywhere! It was crazy! Our final drive of course felt like the longest.. Nashville Te to Fort Rucker Al! We got in pretty late at night but we managed to see a few things before the sun went down. Here are some pictures from the move!

 

He loved sleeping like this!

    

Welcome to Wyoming!

                                                                                                                                                          

Kansas City

This is what he looked like every time we left him in the truck!

St. Louis Temple

Dante helping Brandt Navigate

Down town St. Louis

Down town St. Louis

Gateway to the west!

Gateway arch!

stopped at Metropolis to see superman!

Brandt and superman

Sweet home Alabama

 

 We are slowly becoming accustomed to the army way of living.. Life is crazy and exciting all at the same time! Dante loves being here we walk to the dog Park every day where we stay and meet new friends for him and for me!

We've made quite a few good friends and are destined to meet many more. Our ward is so much fun and we love having such great people around us who are always willing to help us adjust a little easier! 

Many people have been asking for pictures of the house and the area. We have not really been out and about that much to get pictures of the area except a few that we have from the drive in. However, here are pictures of the house!

 

Front of the house

kitchen

our serving counter

carport door

HUGE pantry

dinning room

view of living room from dinning room

laundry room off dinning room

living room

Hallway

main bathroom

Spare room #1

master bedroom

Small master bathroom

Back patio and yard

We went down to Panama City beach when we picked up my cousin Brook from the airport! Dante Had a blast his first time in the ocean! He really had a hard time not understating that salt water is not for drinking. He got sick a few times UT then still had a blast!!!

 

playing in the water

They kept paying as fa out as they could go!

Covered in sand!

Alright I really hope you all are doing great! We are really missing back home all our friends and family! I will be coming home in March to see family and friends so I hope I don't miss anyone while I am in town!! I hope you are doing well!!! Stay tuned cause we will have lots more to say!! We will have family in town for Thanksgiving and will be posting pictures along with our Christmas card! They will be awesome!!! Love you all!

Getting Nervous!

I am not sure what to be more nervous about, seeing my husband or the move.. I have literally been freaking out for days now. In exactly seven days we will be heading to bed in Utah for the last time! That is a lot to swallow! I can't imagine what life will be like in Alabama but, to have my husband home and be a couple making decisions together again will make up for being apart from our families.

 The way I can look at it is WE ARE OUR OWN FAMILY NOW! And even though we both belong to our previous families the one that matters the most and that we need to take care of again is the one we created on November 13th, 2008! Our family. I am so excited to be able to be together just the two of us to be able to truly ONLY rely on each other. This adventure is going to probably be the hardest but the best thing that either of us have ever done.

 As I talk to family and friends I keep realizing that I only have so much time before Brandt will be home and our lives will be competently crazy for four days and then things will GET REAL. We will be on the road and on our way to our new home in Alabama in exactly 8 days! WOW!!! Seriously I feel like it was just yesterday I dropped him off at the M.E.P.S center.. Time has seriously flown by. Thank goodness for that. but at the same time I am bummed. I keep thinking about all the friends and family that we are close to and that we wont get to see when we want anymore. I hope that you all understand how much you have all meant to us! We would not be where we are today without the support of all of you.

I know that it will be amazing and scary all at the same time but with all our friends and family who have already planned their first trip out to Alabama to come see us I CAN'T WAIT for you to come see our new lives :) I hope that we will be able to get out and site see all that the south has to offer. Traveling in flight school will be difficult because we can only go so far, for we only have weekends off to do things. I can't wait to get to our first duty station in two years and be able to PLAN trips home to see everyone!

Only three more days until Brandt is here and the CRAZINESS begins. I am ready to embrace all that the next week has to offer me! BRING IT ON!!! Thank you again to all of those who have supported us and who have shown me support with Brandt being gone! I have enjoyed playing with you all and going to movies, water parks, swimming pools and going hiking with all of you! This summer will be one for the books for sure! Thank you again! I love you all!!!!

Shauntel

READY TO MOVE!!

      Since Brandt graduated BCT (Basic Combat Training) I came home to finish finals for summer semester.  Food for thought, DO NOT take 10 credit hours when you are planning a cross country move and trying to see friends and family while working part time.. My life was crazy.. As July came to a close I was looking forward to not having school anymore. once school ended I decided to pick up more hours at work for a few weeks to help bring in a little extra money. This was perfect and was nice for me to have a little bit of extra fun money. 

      As August started I was excited for the month to come and go really. I knew that it would be a bitter sweet month. I would have time to see friends and family but my husband was gone for my birthday which was actually pretty hard. My actual birthday was fun though I woke up to my new shoes at my door first thing in the morning!   I did a lot from shopping with my best friend to going to Boondocks fun center with my family! 

 

This is us after we bought our toys from our 4000 tickets we won in the arcade! We had so much fun and Alistaire loved his glasses and teddy bear we got him! 

      I took a trip to Walmart! I was determined to get started on our packing and getting the apartment ready to move! I probably spent more than I needed but I was so happy to have the bins I would need to make the move work! I still have a few bins left which will really help me when I pack the last minute stuff!!

       So happy I have been up to a lot so here is the progress I have made on the packing and the move!

I am so excited that I am getting the house packed! I can't believe it is so close!! Since I have been packing, I have also been taking time to myself. On August 25th I ran the top of Utah Half Marathon. Even though I had not really done as well as I have hoped but I finished. So that is all that counts right? I love the lovely blister that I accomplished as well. 

The day that I ran the half my best friends in the whole world took me out for a night on the town! We went to the Marriott downtown and then shopped at city creek and had dinner at cheesecake factory! It was exactly what I needed!! We had so much fun that night and I am so happy that I was able to go out with them all one more time before I move!

 I AM GOING TO MISS THESE GIRLS!!!!

 I have gotten the whole house packed and am now just waiting for Brandt to get home so we can be on our way! Over Labor day weekend I spent Friday shopping with my cousin ranae and looking for home goods! I found a cute photo frame and little decor piece. I was super excited! I love the way my living room came together as I re-decorated everything! 

Thursday and Monday Dante and I hiked Dog Lake up mil creek canyon which was a blast both times. I think it may have been a bit much to hike it twice in one week especially for him but I am glad that I did it. When I went up on Thursday my friend Jess got this pic of Dante and I 

Love my puppy so much! Without him I don't know that I would have gotten thought the last three months with Brandt being gone! But, enough of the him being gone talk!!!!

 BRANDT COME HOME IN 6 DAYS! 

I am so excited to know that on Friday this next week I am going to be able to see my soldier get off the plane in uniform and run and jump into his arms where I belong! I can't wait to finally feel whole again! We have so much planned for the four days he is here in town before our move. But, just so you all know if you can't make it to something that we had planned it's not that we don't want to see you we just really truly don't have a ton of time before he needs to report back for duty! We love you all and are so grateful for all your love and support! 

Thank you !

BASIC TRAINING GRADUATION!!

Last Tuesday my parents, my little brother and I headed on a 21 hour road trip to Lawton Oklahoma to see Brandt graduate from Basic Training. For those of you that have not traveled I-70, 191 or the I-40 THERE IS NOTHING THERE!!!! Most boring hours of my life... Trying to stay composed from the excitement and nerves from seeing my husband to trying to stay awake from the night sky and no one around was seriously the hardest thing ever! Getting to Oklahoma was a big relief. I think they want to make you unsettled by making you drive right next to the base for the last 10 miles and knowing your husband is just on the other side of the fence is NOT fun! It is torture! We got in to Oklahoma around noon on Wednesday. We weren't able to see him until the next morning. Tire and exhausted we decided to stay in and relax! BEST IDEA EVER!!!!

Thursday we got up around nine and got ready and head down to what they call Family Day. It is the day before Graduation. They do  few skits for you and show you what they have been up to for the last three months. This is who I ran into!

There he is right in the middle! He was so hansom. More so than I remembered! I was so happy to see him after three months of only looking at pictures! I was so relieved! He was going to be participating in the skit about shooting combat. He was awesome! First thing he said was "Babe did you see me tackle that guy!!" He had fun. After skits he had to go change out of his full combat gear into his class B uniform. Then we got to take pictures and meet everyone! It was so much fun to meet his battle buddies and even the missionaries who helped him through Basic Training. Here are some of those pictures!

This is brother and sister Larkin! They are from Logan! They were awesome in helping Brandt when he needed a little encouragement and to help the others who went with Brandt to church understand the gospel! It is amazing how much going into the military is like serving a mission! I never would have thought that this would be how I served my mission but I am ready to do the work! 

On Thursday we went out to lunch after we left the base. We took Brandt to Golden Corral we figured it would be a good place where he could get ANYTHING he wanted. He did just that after eating chicken, pizza more chicken and pizza oh and three mountain dews, he was done for the moment. We went back to the hotel and went swimming and then just rested. (something he had not done in 3 months) was get time to just lay down and watch a movie and rest. :) It was perfect to just be with him again! It is weird how whole you feel when you are together again after being apart. It was like we had never been apart! We took him to Taco bell (at his request) for dinner Where he could get more mountain dew but this time it was two large Baja blast Mountain Dew. Steak casadilla (forgive my spelling Spellcheck is not my friend) and two taco's. We headed back to the base to take him to the barracks for the evening. On our way all he could say was how bad his stomach hurt from all the food he ate. Go figure after not getting that kind of food for months! :)

The next day was Graduation! I was so excited to see him graduate! I couldn't wait to see him in his class A uniform! He graduated with honors with the Marksmanship honor award! (something we have kept in the family, My dad won this and my brother in law won it as well) 

The program with his award announcement in it! I was so proud of him! It was so fun to see him graduate and have so much pride doing so! We got to meet up with our soldier outside after graduation and I got to meet some of the awesome guys who are going to be with us at warrant officer training and flight school training as well. 

The last picture is of the guys going to warrant officer and flight training (minus 1) together and the one dad who was a retired warrant officer helicopter pilot.. So the Incoming and outgoing as they called it! IT was so fun to see Brandt with his friends he made.
After all was said and done at graduation we went back to just hang out and relax a bit. we went shopping for a while and then just laid poolside to relax and enjoy each others company. At the end of the day it was a bitter sweet goodbye! We had been together for only two days but it felt like forever and then we were being ripped apart again.. The plus side is I have gotten through the 10 week portion now I only have 7 weeks until I am with him again for good. :) (until the next training or deployment but you catch my drift)
That night at 1am he got on a bus and was on his way to the airport in which he was to be heading to Fort Rucker Alabama! This will be our new home for the next two years. He got there safe and sound and before I had even eaten breakfast still in Oklahoma!
I have been talking to him about Alabama and he says it is gorgeous and the weather although it is humid is perfect! Anything beats the 109 Degree 90% humidity we had in Oklahoma! I am so excited for this part of our lives to start I can hardly contain myself! School is in the week of finals already! I am seriously trying to buckle down for it and get through it. I will be starting to work at the Bountiful sport clips again for the month of august to keep myself busy. Brandt will Graduate Warrant Officer school or WOCS on September 13th then he will head back here to help me get our things packed and ready to move to the SOUTH!!! We will stay in town for a few days to try and see everyone and say goodbye to the ones we love. It will be hard cause we have 10 starting the 14th to get back to Alabama.  We are so excited for this part of our lives to begin the excitement it overwhelming! But, We are so thankful and blessed to have great friends and family that support us! Thanks y'all! We love you so much!
The DaNiElS!