2011 in 3-D

I wish I knew where to start! It has been a full year of fun and amazing events.

January-March: CJ finished up A-School and we then had to fly home for his grandpa's Funeral. CJ was not able to attend his Grandma's because of Boot Camp, but we HAD to make it to his Grandpa's

April-June: CJ started Power School at the end of April (this was his second portion of school). I was able to go back to AZ for My Best Friends NAU graduation and my Aunt's graduation from Mesa Community. I loved seeing the family and being able to hang out with people I had not seen since we moved. Then my sister Summer was able to come back to SC with me for 2 weeks. We had a few Beach visits and went to a plantation, but spent great sister time here! We were also able to go up to VA and visit our sister in law, we had so much fun with our girls weekend!

CJ also took a sailing class and loved every minute of it.

July-October: We had a great Fourth of July, which was spent with great friends and awesome fireworks! August I celebrated my 26th Birthday and CJ's in October.

The first part of September My sister in law had the first Grandbaby on my side of the family: Rosie Kotula

In October CJ graduated from Power school with honors (3.5GPA) ,

Then we welcome the first Grandbaby in the Warren Family little Thae Flake!

November-December: These two months were crazy busy months. My mom came at the end of October to the first part of November. We were able to go see Eddie, Jess, and Rosie. I was also able to show here around Charleston. I loved having her here, I miss her so much and miss having her a few blocks away.

Then in December CJ's family was able to come and visit. We went up to DC (see Previous post for pictures) for a few days and had a lot of fun! CJ and his mom had never been so it was a great new trip. Then CJ's sister came out with Thae, we just ate her up! We loved having her here with us. Made us want a little one pretty bad!!!

Finally the end of this year and another busy one to come.

In 2012 we are expecting CJ to start the third and final section of schooling. Then we will be moving to another part of the country. Where we have no clue, but we are excited for all the new adventures awaiting for us. Unfortunately we do not have any plans to go home at this time, but we know we will see them soon.

We wish every one a Happy New Year and that this year brings many great memories and adventures for your family!

What a December!

This has been one December to remember! Since CJ graduated Power school in October and his parents were not able to come, they decided to do a big trip to Washington DC. We had a great adventure, there was so much to see, but if I upload all the pictures I think it would close me out for using all the memory!

So I will include a couple pages to give you the over view of our trip.

We started by taking the train from Charleston to DC. It was great! It took a little longer than flying, but so much more comfortable. We had seats in the Business class and had four seats facing each other with a table in between. Thankfully the train wasn't to crowded so we were able to take up two tables just to stretch out. I wish i had thought of taking pictures, but I did not.

The first day we went to the Air and Space musuem, where we spent the ENTIRE day there. CJ and his dad loved the whole thing. It was a little rainy so we didn't mind, later that night we were able to see them light the Capitol Christmas tree.

The next day we went to the Aquarium and the Natural History Museum, but our camera was dead so no pictures from us. Later that night we went on a trolly ride, but it was rainy and cold and well the trolly broke down and we had a two hour tour turn into a five hour adventure.

Finally we were lucky we got a sunny day! We went to Arlington Cemetery. It was beautiful. We were able to catch the changing of the guards, it was so great, and sad in a way. This was the only thing CJ wanted to see and I am so glad he was able to. Then we hiked over to the Iwo Jima Memorial, we tried to see it in the rain the night before, but it was definitely better in the day. It is a huge statue!

Then we walked over to the Lincoln memorial, Word War 2, and Vietnam Memorial. It was a long walk, but we got to see a lot of great stuff. CJ took some great photos, but I just can't put all of them on here.

The next day we were able to go over the the DC Temple. It was Beautiful from the inside out! We attended a later session so that we could see the Temple all lit up at night. I have never seen anything so radiant!

Finally our last stage of our DC trip was to Fredericksburg VA where they were having a reenactment of the civil war. It was great to see all the guys all dressed up and in character. CJ really liked the guns of course, we then drove through a battlefield, which wasn't at all what I thought it would be, there where some things left/ placed there to signify points, but it wasn't as great as I thought.
We had an amazing time, but to tell you the truth you can not see everything in 3 days, so when we get stationed in VA we will have to go in to DC more often. We loved seeing the sights and we had a great time with CJ's parents. The ride back was in the sleeping car of the train, but I couldn't sleep! I kept feeling like I was going to fall of the bed (which wouldn't have happened since there is only a one foot drop), but it was a neat experience.

My Mom Visited!

My mom had the opportunity to come out and visit us. We had a lot of fun showing her around Charleston. We were able to go and see things we haven't even done yet. I took quite a few pictures and well I would have a very long page if I loaded all, so I put together some pages.

This was our trip to Virginia. We were able to visit My brother and his little family. This is the first Grandbaby on my side of the family. We call her Rosie Bug.

This was our trip to Fort Sumter. It was chilly, but a lot of fun. We took a ferry over to the island, and if you look close to the far left pictures there is a Dolphin. That's right we saw Dolphins right next to the ferry.

One of our days was spent at Boone Hall. If you come to South Carolina this is the plantation to go too. I didn't get many pictures here, but even if I did it would not even express how beautiful it is!

This collection is of a live Oak tree called Angel Oak. It is large! The branches have to have supports to keep from breaking. It a great site to see. We loved it, but next time I want to have a picnic there.

Before my mom came CJ and I and a friend of ours went to a Serpentarium. It was only open on the inside, but the snakes were great. They had a turtle related to a snap turtle, but it had a flat head.

Chalkboards for sale

The Chalkboards are Ready!!!! We have a huge assortment of sizes and colors. They look even more amazing in person so contact me (nikki.warren07@gmail.com) or Ashley Blosil (ashleyblosil@gmail.com) to come and take a look at them while they are still available!

First week of October

Wow what a week this has been. On Tuesday CJ took his final Comprehensive test for Naval Nuclear Power School (6 month long school) and passed with a 3.61 out of 4.0. He was so excited, we went out and celebrated!

Then on Wednesday CJ and I celebrated his 26th birthday with home made Mexican food and a Great Peanut Butter Pie (thank you Katie Sorenson!)! We invited a couple we are good friends

with to share the delicious pie. CJ also received his present from his mom and dad, a knife and tool sharpener, which he really wanted (THE exact one). Thanks Mom and Dad for this!

Finally Friday the 7th CJ graduated power school. The Ceremony was great and the weather was perfect for the occasion. He looked great and I was able to get some great photos of him with his section and with Command Master Chief Coles. CJ finished number 85 out of 367 with a final GPA of 3.55. I am so proud of all he accomplished this last 6 months, it has been a hard and exhausting time for him, but he kept his head on straight and pushed through it.

What next? Well CJ will be on Graduation hold for some where between 4 to 12 months before starting his third and final training school. While waiting he will actually be working at the prototype school that he will be attending, doing grunt work. So needless to say we will be here for at least another year! So you want a vacation come see me!!

So our first week has been busy, now to rest and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Sailing Take 2!

Well Back in April or May CJ took a sailing course, but when we went to do the water portion There was no wind at all! Well things went into full swing with power School and CJ did not have time for the class, But now that school is coming to an end he took the course, this time it was a perfectly windy day for it (a little chilly for me). CJ really liked being out on the water, maybe some day i will join him out there!

New Addition

Well we were not really looking for one, but we bought a second car! We were going to wait till we moved and had a little more income. All we did was look at an add in the paper and we found a vehicle that was in our exact price range, but then we test drove it and it was smoking after we drove a mile to the gas station. And it was going to be a deal now and then pay for it later!

What I didn't mention was that we test drove a Nissan pathfinder first. That was our first mistake, because we loved it!

It is a metallic blue (which means it Sparkles!), 3 rows of seats, a tow hitch, roof rack, and 4 wheel drive. It was a great deal for a 2008 with only 42,000 miles! It runs great and I love driving it and the dogs love having the space to stand and look out all the windows! They have already slobbered on the window.
It's going to be a vehicle that will last in the family and will fit most of our kids (when the time comes). I am glad we did this! Everything fell right into place!