I think it would be fun to pull some pictures from this past year - so here goes!
(click any photo for full size)
January
The highlight of January was Devin turning 21! Here he is enjoying his first beer with our friend, Lee. Lee gave him that beer stein as a gift!
February
Devin swore into active duty on February 22nd and left for boot camp the 23rd.
This is a shot from his going away party our friends at church threw for him!
There was lots of dancing to be had at the party, as well as a slew of "Bromance" shirts with Devin's face on them as well as others.
My mom and brother came out to visit for the party which was really awesome! Mom has some serious dance moves!!
Devin swearing into active duty CG.
March
In March, Zombie, Taco and I were all by ourselves. We spent a lot of time take pictures to send to "Dad" at boot camp. We discovered Zombie favors "Dad" over me by a landslide. Zombie would tear up Devin's clothes if he found them (even digging through a pile of clean clothes on the couch!) to show his anger at being abandoned. He actually went bald on his head and after taking him to vets and doggy dermatologist found out that he has extreme separation anxiety. Yes, I had to deal with him acting crazy (and going bald) every time Devin left in 2010.
April
On April 16th, Devin graduated from Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May, New Jersey. This was my first time traveling farther east than Colorado, so it was a delightful trip. Not to mention, I had great company with the Evensons coming to show their support as well as Devin's little brother coming as a surprise. :)
Devin getting his certificate.
Sorry, this was taken through my broken windshield.
Arrival in Astoria.
CGC Alert...little did we know Devin would be leaving less than a week later on this same boat to go to Canada and Alaska.
May
May was relatively uneventful. I was very overwhelmed with adjusting to military life and was trying to make friends. Luckily, the Alert was parked in Everett, WA for a weekend, so I drove up to visit for a couple days before he went underway again. This is us at Pike's Place Market in Seattle.
June
In June, the boat came back to port for one night, and the same night there was a dinner to go to.
This was some of Devin's shipmates from CGC Alert at the dinner.
The Alert was able to participate in the Rose Festival's "Fleet Week" festivities in Portland. I went out there for the days and got to see Devin here and there throughout the week. The last day, I got to ride the Alert from Portland to Astoria - a whopping 8 hour cruise downriver. (It takes about 2 hours to drive it). The small boat from [formerly] Sector Portland caught up with us for some fun during the cruise. The sector actually got moved to [formerly] Group Astoria, so we are apart of the new "Sector Columbia River".
July
The Alert came home at the very end of July. Here it is turning around to pull up to the pier.
Happy Devin is home!
August
It was pretty chilly all summer, but that didn't stop Devin from learning to surf!
I love these little heart shaped shells. We celebrated 2 years of marriage in the beginning of August.
Our friends from Utah, the Trerises, as well as one of Devin's best friends, Daniel, visited in mid-August. This was such a great visit as we were both so homesick for our friends!
September
Devin got a tattoo covered on his forearm and replaced it with this before he set sail again to go from the East Coast, to the West Coast, by way of the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.
October
I went to the Astoria spouse's association's annual tea. It was fun because I got to dress up like the 50's!
On Halloween, I was Sweeney Todd. My friend, Tiffanie, was a kitty. My neighbors had a party that was really great!
A day before Halloween, I attended another costume party as Devin. I think I nailed it pretty well. I would have worn this on Halloween as well, but no one had met Devin at that party so I decided it wouldn't have been as funny.
I also grew a year older in October. It was pretty uneventful. Tiffanie and her husband, Nate, made me dinner and we had ice cream cake. Devin says we will "make-up" for my birthday, and I'm living in suspense as to know when/what we will do! :)
November
In November, I met Amanda. I feel like I have known her forever! Her husband is named Devin as well and is also on the same boat as [my] Devin. (Which is very convenient!) We got to spend a night in Portland in November, and we had a blast.
Conversations are confusing as we constantly are specifying which Devin we are referring to. It's pretty funny!
Abby took this when Devin came home! The boat came back a few days early so Abby was still visiting when he came. Don't mind my broken umbrella....it was so rainy and windy that day....and insert me running down the dock because the boat was early and viola - recipe for a broken umbrella.
Abby drinking a [root]beer at Wet Dog Cafe which is a brewery here with awesome food!
December
We sent out our first ever Christmas card since this was our first Christmas away from family and friends. We wanted it to be "Oregonian" so we decorated a tree in a forest next to our house. We hope to take different styles of pictures for each place we live every Christmas.
We went to the Sector's holiday party, and that was so much fun! I got to wear a pretty dress and dance and dance and dance until I was sore!
Christmas was bittersweet. This was our first time not being with family for Christmas. The dogs loved opening their little stockings.
For New Year's Eve, we went to Long Beach, WA to watch the fireworks over the beach. Devin was trying to nap while waiting because he had to work on New Year's Day. It was chilly that night and we were crammed in the back of Nate and Tiffanie's Explorer while waiting.
In the end, the fireworks were much less eventful than the advertising seemed to say they would be, though still enjoyable. Here's a New Year's kiss to end a very busy year.
I'm glad we are on to 2011. We have lots of "hopes" for this year. We hope Devin will get airman orders sooner rather than later. We hope he will complete the airman program quickly and get to go to a-school. We hope that he would graduate a-school this year and we would get to transfer somewhere new, but since it's 5 months for each program he has to complete so we can move, he would need airman orders ASAP, and it's not likely we'll get them until Spring. We have only one hefty resolution this year, which I will share in a coming post since this is such a big one. Blessings to you in 2011.
love,
chianne
