gone country- on a cross country

We've been absent from the blogging world for a while, but that doesn't mean life is uneventful. We don't have internet at home and have to be moved out of our house by friday- so I'm not exactly sure why I'm sitting in Pepper's parking lot blogging, but here we go anyway. The pictures didn't work out- so I will post the accompanying pictures when I can- don't expect it to be too soon though- maybe Sat after we are moved out.

We spent 3 days driving across the country with a baby that wasn't even a month old and our dog Ace. We made a fun pit stop at Cabela's in Sydney. We were also able to stop at FE Warren AFB to see our friends Joe and Joan and their cute kids. We also visited Jenna and Alexis- two of our closest friends from college- oh and we met their dogs too.

Jenna and Burban

Cabela's pit stop

Ace almost died. He went into shock- he spent 1 night at the vets after getting an IV, ultrasounds, X-Rays, and blood work done- too bad they never found out what was wrong with him- but he's alive and back to his naughty self now.

Sick Ace- it's the only time he would be mellow enough for Rhone to ride him

Ace feeling all better with Ben after a chukar hunt

We blessed Rhone in my homeward. We counted it up and including adults and children some 58 people rolled through my parents house after church that Sunday. It was crazy but it was so nice to have all the love and support from family and friends- thank you all for coming. Ben's brother and one of his sisters and their families were able to make it. It was great to see them- since it had been well over a year. That day Rhone also met Alli- my cousins baby who exactly a week younger than Rhone.

Rhone all dressed up for his big day- thanks for the handsome suit grandmommy- this kid has some wicked eyebrows here

Rhone and his cousins

Alli and Rhone with moms, grandmas and great-grandma

Rhone took his first tractor ride and his first trip bird hunting. Once he was strapped to Poppa and once he was strapped to Nana (my parent's were great to pack him around for us). We also spent sometime shooting and sledding (don't worry Rhone didn't participate in these activities).

Sledding with Erich and Kara

Rhone with Poppa

On the way home we took a little bit of a different route and went through springfield, MO- so we stopped at the Bass Pro headquarters there. Rhone was pretty interested in all the lights and mounts there. It's amazing how much he changed in 3 weeks

We'll that was our trip to the great country life in Idaho. Thanks for letting us stay mom and dad. Rhone has already rolled through 9 states and soon to be more on our way to Texas.

Just because he's cute and you can see his buddha belly

he's got wings!

I'm a little slow with this post, but life is a little crazy right now. On Friday Jan 23rd Ben graduated from pilot training and earned his pilot wings!! Ben's parents and 2 of his sisters were able to come celebrate with us. Rhone was the famous "assignment night baby" and almost everyone wanted to take a look at him. He did so well the whole day. He didn't make a peep- well until the last speech of the night where he grunted and noisily filled his diaper. Our table and the few right around us couldn't restrain ourselves from laughing like naughty little school kids. Well here are some pictures from the day.

Ben receiving his wings from the base commander Col. Watkins

It's unlucky to wear your first set of wings, so it has become a tradition to break them. The wings are not supposed to come back together until the pilot is at his final resting place, when they should be reunited to bring him good luck in the next life. Ben kept one half and gave the other half to his parents.

I got to pin on Ben's wings.

Family picture (minus Ace).

All dressed up for the formal dinner that night.



Since Rhone didn't make the all dressed up picture (he was sleeping and we didn't want to wake him up). Here is one of him all dressed up for the day. He is 2 weeks old here.

Rhone with Grandad Gleckler (notice they have the same hairline)

Here is 3 week old Rhone. He was helping me put away the dishes last night. As you can tell, he was as excited about the chore as I was.

On Monday we are headed home for a visit. Ben get's 10 days of paternity leave that we don't want to waste (and Ace is staying with my parent's for a while). After that we are headed to San Antonio, TX for 3 months for Ben to train on the C-5. Then we'll be back to MS for a week and then we're road tripping it to the west again for survival school (it's in Spokane, WA). I'm going to stay with my parents while Ben is "surviving" and we'll pick up Ace for the big move to Delaware. We went from having no idea where we would be to having our life planned out until the begining of August. Wish us luck on our adventures accross the country!

Some C-5 Eye Candy

Check out this sweet C-5 Video. It is a beautiful plane.

still kickin'

It's been over a week since Rhone got here and we are doing great (well for the most part). Having my mom here was such a blessing. She has some serious parenting skills, plus the laundry, dishes, and cooking just kept magically getting done. It wasn't all work and no play while my mom was here. We did manage to make it out of the house a few times.

Here is the 3 of us at Waverly Mansion. It used to be a cotton plantation that had over 1,000 workers- pretty impressive huh.
The next pictures are from Mormon Springs. In the 1850's there was a surprisingly large following of Mormons just north of here. There were about 200 "Mississippi Mormons". This was a site where they backed up the stream to make a baptismal font.

We loved having my mom here, saying goodbye to was a little rough.

Ben flew everyday except Monday last week, so he worked 12 hour days. Friday was his final check ride and he got his best check score! It has been a long year of training , but we have been so blessed and have learned so much.

Ben has also been able to sneak in a little duck hunting here and there. He has some interesting stories so maybe he will be ambitious enough to post about it.

Just because he's cute and he's changed so much already.

because you kept asking

Here are a few more pictures of little Rhone. We kept getting request for more, especially from grandma's. We picked out a few of the funny ones.

Rhone taking a nap

OH, don't you just want to kiss this little face? Especially in his John Deere shirt.

Rhone's first bath was a great success, he cried the whole time and Meag got peed on- Ben thought it was hilarious (don't worry his time is coming).

Camo cool- with chubby cheeks

There's nothing like boys in uniform.