Pumpkin Patch & Pumpkin Carving

This year we are in California for the holidays and we are so sad Jeffrey is not here to be with us. I know it would be different if it was just Jeff and I, but Jackson misses him so much. I am sad that Jeff won't be here to actually see him ring a doorbell and say trick or treat. I know there will be plenty more, but it's just so darn cute at this age!

We went to the pumpkin patch with Jackson's cousin last week. They had a good time, but someone didn't get a nap that day and wasn't listening very well. I managed to get a couple good pictures of Jackson.

Jackson cleaning out my pumpkin!

The Blaufuss boys at the pumpkin patch.

My SIL and my nieces after we finished carving pumpkins.

Finished products of our labor.
Happy Halloween

California

Just an update on what Jackson and I have been up to for the last 2 weeks. Jeff left us on October 5 and went back to MS to finish up his last phase of training. We will give him his space and let him finish the hardest part of training so far! He started IFF (Introductory to Fighter Fundamentals) this past Friday October 16Th. When I talked to him he said the first day was just meeting everyone and a few briefings. He is looking forward to flying again and learning some new stuff. I will keep you updated on his progress and maybe he'll even get on the computer and give an update himself!

So here is our adventures since Jeff left us!

These last 2 weeks have been really busy since Jeff left. We have visited with family and friends and we have basically become gypsies! We stayed with my brother Jeff for a week after Jeff left. We had a really good time with my him and his daughter Olivia. We also stayed the night with Gregg and Lauren. I watched their 2 boys while they went out and enjoyed themselves.

Jackson and I went to the fair to see all the animals and eat some yummy fair food. He wasn't to happy when he saw the rides and we wouldn't take him on them. Oh well, he got over it fast enough when he saw the bubble gun. He was such a good boy that grandma bought one for him!

We were supposed to go to a Halloween party and pumpkin patch last Friday, but we didn't make it. We are going to the pumpkin patch tomorrow with Jackson's cousins Carter and Kyle. I will post those when I am near a computer next week.

This picture is of Jackson at my dads loving on my lab Chase. He is the best dog ever and lets Jackson ride him, jump on him and roll all over him! Chase is pushing 8 this year and the only thing he does is groan when Jackson smothers him! Chase is such a good boy!

Here Jackson is at my second cousins house in Kerman picking grapes off their vines. He got to meet a cousin who we last saw at a family reunion 16 years ago and he got to see all the other cousins who haven't seen him since he was 6 months old. He had a really good time wondering around looking at all the tractors, lizards that we couldn't catch, barn and vegetable garden.
I celebrated my 28Th birthday yesterday and had the best time with all my friends. It was so nice to see all of them and have a really nice dinner.

My mom and step dad kept Jackson last night so I could enjoy myself and stay out without worrying about Jackson. It was so nice to get a good nights rest and wake up when I wanted too! This is what they were doing when I arrived to pick up my little farm boy! We road a couple times and then it was time for a nap!

We are enjoying all the company and especially all the baby sitters! Everyone wants Jackson, so I have gotten to spend a lot of time with some friends and doing some things we don't get to do after becoming a full time mom. So, thank you to everyone who has made that happen. We have a lot of things scheduled for the next couple of weeks and I will update as soon I am near a computer.

To be continued...........

5 Year Anniversary

5 years ago today we became husband and wife.

I married my high school sweet heart and still love him with all my heart!

Here we are after being announced husband and wife.

(sorry, I had to take a picture of a picture)

Jeff and I spent our anniversary in Monterey this year. This is where we honeymooned and love it dearly!

Jeff and I having dinner, ALONE! lol We had dinner at the Chart House Restaurant. It was awesome and probably the only time we splurge on dinner! We both had lobster and boy was it yummy.

Just a random picture

My sweet heart

When we made the reservation at the restaurant, they asked if we were celebrating any occasion and I said our 5 year anniversary. Well, when we were seated this is what we saw on our menu!

Happy Anniversary to me!!! LOL

Happy Anniversary Jeffrey, I love you so much!

Many more to come............

Florida

This is going to be short and sweet!

We went to water survival with Jeff this week and had a lot of fun. Jeff was working Tuesday- Thursday, so Jackson and I had some time to explore.

The first day we got there we went to the beach, aviation museum and out to a really nice dinner by the bay.

Our foot prints

Jeff and Jackson playing in the water

So cute!

Jeff and Jackson sitting in the cockpit. Jeff said the last time he was at the aviation museum it was packed and he couldn't get that close to anything. So here are the boys having so much fun, they sat in about every plane!

The welcome sign

A sting ray that Jackson and I saw on one of our walks. We also saw needle fish, crabs and lots of fish.

We headed over to Pensacola Beach and was surprised to that the water was so warm. The only bad thing was that there were so many Jelly Fish!

Family picture on the beach!

Jeff and Jackson playing in the water again!

We had a really good time! We are off to California now! From the East Coast to the West Coast!

Centrifuge

(FYI, you might want to pause the music playing at the bottom of the blog to hear this video)

I had to do my F-16 9 G qualification this week at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Every Jet has a specific profile with the F-16 being the hardest of them all except for the F-22 (which is the same viper profile just sitting up straight). These profiles are designed to see if a pilot can handle the High G loads that the viper( f-16) is capable of pulling. The 9 G profile was no joke and is the most feared by pilots. The F-16 Has more deaths related to G induced loss of consciousness (GLOC) than any other airplane, my flight commander always says "It will hurt you!" And he was right. After the fuge I couldn't walk and couldn't turn my nugget (head) and I have bruises all down my thighs, broken blood vessels called Geasles all down my back and butt. I did not pass out, but I can see how pilots pass out. They teach us to strain by flexing the legs and abs and breath against a closed throat, and if I let up at all I started to lose all my vision which is the first step to passing out. As a pilot losing sight is unacceptable, and losing consciousness is certain death in the viper, so I learned some valuable lessons that day; The viper will hurt me, I have a lot of respect for pilots that pull 9 G's on a daily basis, I am way out of shape for dogfighting, and I don't ever want to have to do the fuge again. I am proud to say I am 9 G qualified!

Family Picture

Just another picture of our family at graduation.

What did he just say...

I have to add this!
Yesterday my neighbor and I took Jackson and her son Logan for a walk through the rain puddles. The boys were having so much fun and Cecilia and I were yacking away. I wasn't paying much attention and stumbled and stubbed my toe on a raised crack in the cement. I was aware that the boys were there, so I knew better to not say something bad. So, I blurted out, "ouch, that freaking hurt." Well, leave it up to Jackson to repeat me, but he said it all wrong! He says, "ouch that f@#$ing hurt, mom?" I know what your thinking and yes, I did correct him, but boy did Cecilia and I laugh our butts off! It was the funniest thing I have ever heard. He said it with concern too, like he was asking me a question and if I was ok.
These darn kids can say the darnest of things!

Random Pictures

I wanted to post some random pictures from our family visits and from assignment night and graduation.

We had the pleasure of having Jeff's bother Gregg and his wife Lauren come and visit us. They brought their two little boys Carter and Kyle, and boy was Jackson excited to see his cousins. Here are Jackson and Carter eating a banana before bed and getting their giggles out!

(Jackson 2 yrs 5 month & Carter 1 week shy of his 3rd b-day)

giving hugs

This is the little man, Kyle! He is so darn cute, but a fussy little guy. I told Jeff we should keep him and Jeff said 'no, he's broken!" LOL Poor Lauren and Gregg had their hands full with this little guy. He loves his daddy and every time Gregg would leave the room, Kyle was crying for his attention! He's a daddies boy!

Poor Bella! We caught her sitting in Jackson's chair being as still as can be. I think she was trying to be so still and maybe, just maybe the boys wouldn't notice her if they ran by. She had a hell of a weekend trying to dodge them all and eventually got locked in a room for a break!

I had cookies made for Jeff's graduation by The Cookie Mama. They were awesome and the detail she put in to the wings were great! I think I ate most of them!

Jeff and I at the graduation dinner. He looked so handsome in his penguin suit! I even got my own sweetheart wings that night!

The family guys at graduation dinner. From the left, Art (Jeff's step dad) my dad, my brother Jeff & Jeffrey.

Jeff's buddies from his class

My favorite, the 3 amigos sitting on the couch.
We had an awesome time with everyone who visited us this past month! We wished there was more time to show everyone around. Spending time together is what matters the most and we are all glad we got that!

Assignment Night & Graduation

Here he is, 2LT Jeffrey Blaufuss! A winged Air Force Pilot.

This picture is supposed to be under the graduation section, but I accidentally deleted it!

Jeff accepting his wings and graduation certificate.

Assignment night was the beginning of a long 3 weeks! This was the first event to kick off the graduation process, but for all guard pilots it's a little less stressful! Assignment nights is more for active duty and boy are they stressed out and anxious. Each class has a drop of airplanes for the graduating class, they announce who's getting what based on your overall performance during your UPT training. Most guys come in to pilot training wanting fighters and and a handful wanting heavies. It's amazing to see those who have wanted fighters and have given their all to this training program and actually get what they want.

So here is how it starts. Usually more than 50% of the base comes to assignment night and the main attraction is really the free beer! But, everyone is really curious to see who gets what and where they'll be going.

(This is the welcoming screen after everyone is seated)

(These are the rules as each pilot comes up for their roasting)

(Here is Jeff's and most of the information you see it not true. Jeff says that the information on the screen is to just embarrass the heck out of you.)

(After the roasting and the anticipation, this screen pops up and depending on what you get the audience goes crazy. We already knew what we were getting, but it was still exciting!)

(These are the guys from Jeff's class who got fighters. From the left, 1LT Ben Kempen F15 C, 1LT Lawson Cass F22 Raptor and 2LT Jeffrey Blaufuss F16)

Graduation
4 September 2009

Finally the day had come for Jeff to pin on his wings! We started the day off with a class breakfast and then continued on to the graduation. It was like any other graduation, the guys went up and accepted their wings and filed down back to their seats. Please see first picture on post! (The one I deleted and had to add again!)

(These are all the guys lined up after receiving their wings)

(Here are the guys after breaking their first set of pilot wings.)
Breaking of Wings
Since man started flying, he has taken to the air with a certain amount of risk. To counter that risk, a tradition was established years ago when the Army Air Corps first started issuing pilot wings to their aviators. This tradition is called "Breaking of Wings." At every UPT graduation, the Air Force issues the pilots their first pair of wings. As tradition has it, that first pair of wings should never be worn by the pilot. To bring good luck, the pilot should break the wings into two parts. One half should be kept by the pilot, the other half be given to the pilot's best friend or relative. To preserve the good luck, the two halves should never be brought together while the pilot is still alive. After death, the two halves are once again united with the pilot
for good luck in the next life. Anonymous
(Here are the guys breaking their wings and raising them up to see who did it the fastest)


Jackson and I are so proud of Jeff and all of his hard work. This has been the hardest year for us as husband and wife, but as we all say, "what doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger." We have been through a lot this year and I am so glad we did it together and I am so very proud of Jeff.

Family picture! Jeff's mom and step dad on the left and my family on the right.
We had an awesome time visiting with our families. We want to thank you all for sharing Jeff's special day with us!

Unexpected Gift

Today while I was putting Jackson down for a nap, we got an unexpected knock at the door! It was our mail man who is just awesome by the way and he's holding a box. I didn't order anything or maybe my mom finally sent the package she's been telling me about for a month now?! Well, I sign for it and take it in the house when I have finally looked at the return address. It's from my Aunt Sally! This is a surprise and totally unexpected! So Jackson is at my feet asking, "Mama, what is it?" I get the scissors and open it up and see a note and a quilt. I read the note and then pull out the quilt that her and my cousin have made and start crying. These are good tears, but what a surprise. I absolutely love it and Jackson was checking it out too. Obviously this is for him, but what a surprise! Did I already say that? LOL

Jackson received 2 knitted blankets as gifts, 1 at my baby shower from a distant cousin Maggie and 1 from our neighbors John and Carrol. Both I love dearly, but this is awesome! The detail of stitching and the colors! They just pop when I look at it!

So, here it is! The theme is Frogs & Dragonflies and the stitching all around the quilt even has frogs and dragonflies.

Close up
Jackson says, "Thank you great aunt Sally and cousin Beth!"
Backside of quilt
There is a patch on the back and it says,
Frogs and Dragonflies
for
Jackson Blaufuss
Aug. 2009 Columbus, MS
Pieced by: Great aunt Sally
C. Sierra Vista, AZ
Quilted by: cousin Beth
H. Phoenix, AZ
Thank you so much for thinking of us and Jackson! I have always been a little jealous when I see people receive home made gifts and now we got one, especially a quilt! It makes it that more special and it will last forever! Thank you!!!!!