30May-1June2009

Hey Y'all! We've been busy! On Saturday, Jeff and I became the proud new owners of a pair of fishing poles. We had to get a fishing license from the state of Texas. We went fishing off the pier on base and caught a little tiny Sun Perch and Jeff caught a baby Sea Bass. We let them both go after snapping a picture of them.

Our mutts are still our greatest source of entertainment... We've realized more so in the last few weeks just how much we love dogs!

I had to include this photo... Penny loves to lick the condensation off of our cups... When Jeff has a beer, in this case Yuengling, Penny paws at it and wags her tail frantically.... So when Jeff caves in to her begging, she gets to lick the bottle until she sneezes... Every time... She sneezes. It's pretty funny.

The job search for me still continues... I am getting ready to start advertising my cakes just to do something with my time.

Jeff started the Simulator today. They call it the Hulk. He will start flying next week. He has a chart of the events leading up to the winging ceremony and it's very encouraging to be able to check them off as he goes.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! And happy June! :0)

22May - 25May 2009

Hello everyone! Just wanted to share some fun pictures from the past few days. I got home from a wonderful trip to California on Wednesday.  I am SO glad to be home with Jeff and our mutts!

The weather has been absolutely wonderful here! We've been having a thunder/lightning storms all around us and somehow they don't actually make it over the base... So from our wonderful backyard we've been watching lightning break out of the clouds over the bay.  The above picture is a thunderstorm just behind downtown Corpus Christi.  There were three other storm heads all around us.

This is a cute little fish that Jeff caught.  We both a caught a fish but mine fell off of the line before I could get him on to the pier... It was very disappointing... :0(

Jeff caught this little guy and I helped him get it off of the hook.  We had a ton of fun, using balled up bread as bait and working on our patience!! :0)

Here is Jeff baiting his hook with the white bread.  This was probably the highlight of our week!

One of the guys in Jeff's class is renting a house with another dude on a canal on Padre Island.  This is their backyard!! Jeff had just jumped into the canal moments earlier... We had a ton of fun!

9May2009

Hello Everyone!  We are finally settled in to our new home!  Jeff starts academics on Monday.  I am leaving for California for a week on Wednesday, for my sister Jessica's Bridal Shower.  

 I wanted to share with you some of the cool things we've experienced since living here.  We started to notice these pink birds 'flying' around... They are so funny looking because they kind of look like Flamingoes but they aren't nearly as graceful... :0)

They are called Spoonbills.  We think they're awesome!

There is a rainbow somewhere in this picture.  I took this at Proffitt's Porch by Officer's Lake in Columbus, right before we left.  A wild thunderstorm passed right over us while we were eating lunch there and sure enough, there was this rainbow trailing the thunder cloud.  :0) This makes me smile.

AND... Here is a picture from yesterday morning! Again from the back yard.  SO beautiful to wake up to! Come visit and see it for yourself!

It's starting to warm up around here... We had a mini-garage sale this morning and it was totally worth it.  Jeff and I have made an agreement to purge our belongings after every move.  Ditch things that are totally unnecessary.  So that's what we did... Granted... there was only one box of stuff we needed to get rid of...

Hope all is well with y'all! 

Hugs!

Corpus Christi

Howdy Y'all!

We are reporting live from Corpus Christi, TX!  

It's official... The Navy does things just a tad differently than they Air Force... :0)  I am super thankful to be an Air Force wife right now.

Jeff and I pulled in to Corpus Christi on Friday May 1 at about 1300. After two days of driving with two dogs and a car trailer, we were ALL excited to see the on-base 30mph signs... 

We got a house as soon as we got here.  We decided to go ahead and live on base simply for convenience sake...  the house is about 950 sq. ft., two-stories, two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms.  We are loving the wide open floor plan downstairs.  We even have a fenced backyard already! All of the houses in our neighborhood have fenced in yards.  We are living on the same street as at least 3 other guys/families from Columbus.  :0)

Our neighbors are super friendly.  

Enough chit chat.... Here are some pictures!

Dogs and ponds... :0)

So far...

Hola again,

Since the last update, we've packed up the guest room, pulled all of the hangings off of the walls, patched holes and boxed up the garage/storage, linen/hall closet, coat closet, and even some of our clothes... :0) 

We are getting ready to throw a nice coat of primer up on all of the walls that I've splashed with our own personality... It has finally settled in my heart that this is what we're doing.  The most important thing for me to do right now is to trust in God's plan for us and to be supportive of my husband.  My teachers at school are allowing me to take my Finals almost two weeks earlier than the rest of my classmates.  I am SO thankful for that.  It's one less thing I have to concern myself with.  As it is now, Jeff and I have been surfing the web trying to decide whether renting a house off base is a good idea at this assignment.  We're praying about it and hoping to have a blatant sign from God pointing us in the right direction.  Last night, we did a devotional and the topic was stress! WOW! That was exactly what we needed to talk about! God didn't create us to be storage bins of stress and drama.  I am so thankful for that.  He is so good!

We spent Easter with some of our dearest compadres.  It's so awesome to have such fantastic people in our lives.  Megan Riggs and Jason, her hubby, threw together a beautiful meal with Easter Ham and all of the wonderful fixings to go with it! I'm pretty sure I ate enough food to last me the week! :0)

Jeff's not been doing too much as far as work is related.  It's taking absolutely FOREVER to get his orders for the move and Corpus, etc. Hopefully he will have them by Friday so that we can get this ball rolling!  He has offered to take care of everything for us while I'm finishing up school. I am so blessed! He's been having fun reading tons of books and planning our move, cooking dinner and making lists. :0)

Today, to take a break from the house, we drove the dogs out to SAC lake.  It's an area on base here at the end of the runways that has a lake a picnic benches. It's so totally gorgeous out there. It makes you feel like you're at like a nature reserve or something of the sort.  I was worried that the dogs would book it, leaving us scratching our heads wondering what to do next... But they were awesome! They had such a blast!

They even went IN the water!! I was shocked! Here are some pictures from our day... Hope y'all enjoy them.  As usual, we miss all of you not here in the 'sip with us. Please continue to keep the Copelands in your prayers! XOXO

30March2009-4April2009

Jeff turned 26 on Saturday! We started the day with opening presents from his parents and me. It was totally awesome! He doesn't enjoy celebrating his birthday as much as his loved ones do so he was a great sport! After presents and breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to Tuscaloosa for the Air Show. What fun it was! When we got home, Jeff blew out the candles on his Wifey-Made Acoustic Guitar Cake. :0)

This is a picture of the two of us on Track Select night. The news is that Jeff got T-44s to Corpus Christi, TX. This was his first choice! We are very excited and have to be there in three weeks. School is just about finished up for me so I will be taking my finals the week or so before we hit the road. I will keep everyone posted on dates and such.

This is a bittersweet chapter for us.  I am sad that we are leaving Columbus so soon.  We've really made some lasting relationships here and I know that we will do our best to keep in contact with our wonderful friends here in Mississippi.

This is the T-6 Texan II that Jeff just completed training in.

Just about everyone knows that there isn't a whole lot to do around Columbus, MS.  If you're into to big malls and shopping... this is not the place to live... r visit for that matter. :0) SO, for some fantastic entertainment value, I volunteered Jeff's mom, Susan, and I, to dress up for the Annual Columbus Pilgrimage.  We gave tours of certain spots at a certain location. It was quite an experience. :0)