Grandma Oka

Some of my favorite things about grandma:

* We share the same birthday. I have only spent 2 out of the 26 birthdays away from her.
* She always wore lipstick when she left the house. Always
* She frequented the Japanese word 'udasai' (nuisance) when talking about her grandchildren!
* Her garden. From weeding and picking and canning she did it all.
* She loved to gamble. If there was a slot machine she'd put in a quarter. She often rode the "fun bus" to Wendover.
* Most of all, the whole family would congregate at grandma's every Sunday. Grandchildren, Aunts, Uncles, all of us finding any piece of open floor space to take a nap. Lots of Nintendo playing, and of course LOTS of food (which almost always included rice and potatoes).

Grandma Oka will be missed. I'm so grateful for all of the memories. Til we meet again...

Chicago!

So we're in Chicago now. We've liked it so far. We have a fairly large ward with lots of young couples. I started working again at BB&B. It's going okay it's kinda boring. It's a pretty large store so I'm just a bridal consultant. And it's not really bridal season. Lincoln has started school. It seems to be going well. He studies a ton but I think he likes it so far.

Here are some pictures from when we first moved in. Luke, Lincoln's brother, came and helped us move in. So we took him downtown and wandered around a little. Kim was also here, but my battery died on my camera so no pictures from that.

I'm hoping that we'll have lots of people come visit us now that we live in a place that is actually fun to come visit. So if you are interested let me know!!!

 This is some crazy water exhibit. The faces would change and then spit water.

Counciltucky

Counciltucky is what the Omaha folk call Council Bluffs.

So we're getting ready to move next week. We are trying to see and do all the things we haven't gotten around to.

First is the Union Pacific Railroad Museum

They had a section that talked about Abraham Lincoln's influence on the railroad.

Next is part of the Mormon Trail. This is the spot where the Mormon Battalion left from.

This is Lincoln seeing what kind of bugs he can find (this happens almost every time we do something outdoorsy).

Then we have downtown Council Bluffs. They do lots of fun things at this park. And if you want to see a black squirrel, this is the place to go.

The next few are at the Lewis and Clark monument. The first two are from May and the second two are from the other day. I like that you can see how much the Missouri River has flooded. The river is the body of water at the top of both pictures. The large body of water is the flood plain.

MAY

JULY

Then we have the Fourth of July. We had a BBQ with some friends in the ward and then went to the local fireworks. It was a really really good show. They had so many fireworks that I had never even seen before. I'd also like to point out our 4th T-shirts. If you can't tell they are US Air Force.

And last but not least we have Lincoln's official Air Force photo.

He's Back!

Lincoln has finally come home. It's been a long 5 weeks. And of course nothing can ever go perfect. He was supposed to come in last night around 11:30. There has been much anticipation even countdowns. His first flight was to Atlanta and from there he was supposed to fly to Omaha. Well wouldn't you know at 9:30 I got a text that said there was a problem and his flight to Omaha had been CANCELLED. What a heart breaker. I was so mad and sad, it was very emotional. They put him up in a hotel and booked him on a flight for the next morning. Luckily every thing went well today and he got home around noon. A big sigh of relief. I'm so glad he's home. I'll try and make him blog about all the training he's did, but we'll see if he's up to it. Here are some of pics of him in his uniform. Gotta love it.

 He's not wearing the hat because he's inside

 This is the hat. I think I look pretty good in it!

YAY he's home!!!!

Visit Teaching

So I love my visit teacher which I think I've already posted about but today she brought me honey! Not only does she have chickens for eggs but she has honey bees for her own honey! YAY I like honey

Happy Aniversary to Us!

I've heard several times in my life that "the first year of marriage is always the hardest." If that's the case bring on the rest of them!
I can't believe that it's been a year already. It's been a great year. That's not to say it's been perfect, but I'm really glad that I married Lincoln. No regrets!

We don't have any big plans tonight. It's a little hard when he's in another state. OH! I don't think I ever blogged about that. Lincoln got the Air force scholarship to go to med school, which is awesome. He went straight in as an officer (2nd Lieutenant Andreasen). But that meant he had to go to officer training this summer. It's like basic training but scaled way back. Anyway it's a five week program down in Alabama. So that is where he is right now. It's hard to be away for that long, but we're lucky because he's been able to call every night.

So we celebrated before he left. We went and stayed at a hotel and had dinner. We haven't tried to eat the top layer of our cake yet. I believe my mother still has it in her freezer. We'll have to have another celebration when he gets back and try it out.

Over all the first year of marriage has been fabulous. Here are some of my top highlights of the past year. In no particular order.

- Moving to Iowa. It's been such a good experience getting out on our own and really having time together.

- Thanksgiving. We made some really good friends in Iowa. They invited us over and really made it feel like home.

- Christmas in Disneyland....nuff said

- Lincoln getting in to med school. It was finally nice to have our future (at least a small part of it) planned out.

- Lincoln getting into the Air force. I can't even begin to describe what a huge blessing it is. And I can't wait to see him in his uniform. What is it about a man in uniform.....

- I've loved that Lincoln has had a lot of free time. He's going to be SO busy for the next eight years. It's been so nice for him to be at home. Especially when he cooks and cleans!

- Valentines Day. I love not having to worry about whole dating mess. It's so nice to be able to sit down on Valentines day and just have dinner with my husband.

- Our bed. The first two beds we had sunk in the middle, not so comfortable. We have a fabulous bed now. And I think one of the hardest things about him being gone so long is having to go to bed by my self. I love having someone there to fall asleep with me.

- Hanging out. I think one of the best things about being married is not do anything. I love just throwing in a movie or sitting and talking for hours.

Over all it's been a great year. Like I said if this is the hardest I think we're good to go!