Much About the Mitchells

Christmas Photos

2009-12-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

We decided to take our Christmas photos in downtown San Antonio. The Alamo had a giant Christmas tree in front of it (I think somebody said it was 60 feet tall). We tried to take the dogs directly in front of the Alamo but a Sheriff told us we had to stay in the street.

We also have a Christmas tree. It is my very first Christmas tree!!

Orders

2009-10-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

We just got orders. We're staying in San Antonio and I'll be driving out to Lackland AFB for work. My enlistment is up May 2012.....so we'll be in Texas until then (as far as I know). Our (tentative) plan is to separate from the military and move up to Omaha area in 2012. We'll keep you updated!

Latest

2009-08-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted on here. I'm sorry for that but school has taken every last drop of my energy. For the past 8 months I've been busting my hump to make decent grades. I've finally finished the freshman trimester and passed! I'm now a junior (there are only freshman, junior, and seniors).

I hope you enjoy the picture of where I've spent over 10 hours a day for the last 16 weeks. We all crammed in those seats and had 50 minutes of class with a 10 minute break to wait in line for the restroom and water. Yes, there were 8 of these 50 minute blocks a day! The freshman and junior classrooms look identical and I'll post pics of the senior classroom when I get there.

This is the left half of the classroom. I sit in the middle! (Right in front of the chair that is turned).

This picture is from the far right side of the room at 5 am. Nobody else was there except for a few freaks like me to study before the test. My seat is far to the other side. There are screens that come down from the ceiling in the front of the classroom where presentations are put on. Fun. Death by powerpoint!!

I'll try to post more pictures of my school soon. I'm going to go enjoy my week off!!

Update

2009-05-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

SO, it's been a while since I've posted anything on our family website. As you all know, I'm crazy busy with school. I am lucky enough to repeat the Freshman trimester because I had an overall GPA of 78.2 and the requirement is an 80 overall GPA to move on to the new trimester. I fell behind and finally realized that I was taking my tests the completely wrong way. I would hyperventilate with fear (sweaty palms, nausea, the whole nine yards) and then I would second guess and talk myself out of answers. I would be a Junior right now....but, I've learned what I did wrong! So far, I've scored a 92, 90, and 94. All because I haven't been second-guessing myself (and getting ahead with studying!).

I will try to post more photos of when Jason and Beth (friends from Omaha) visited.

Happy Early Birthday, Rob!

2009-02-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

I took Rob to Hooters for his birthday dinner on Saturday because his birthday falls on a Tuesday and we're on crazy schedules right now. Our waitress was in charge of birthday entertainment :) She made him come to the front of the restaurant and hold a cup in his mouth with paper towels and "fly" around the restaurant. He was sad when they all scattered because he wanted to take a picture with them. Hahaha.

Then we came back to the house for cake. I got him his favorite: ice cream cake in February (okay, it was still January, but you get the point!) The knife actually broke when he was cutting the cake!

New Year, New Life

2009-01-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

I began Physician Assistant school on January 5th. Let me tell you, after being on leave for about a month and then jumping into a strict schedule has not been fun. My schedule is as follows:

0400: Wake up and study
0500: Run with Harley in the neighborhood
0620: Leave for school
0640: Get to school and study
0730 or 0800(depending on test day/scheduling/etc): Start class
1900: Head home after 2 hours of studying at school
2100: Bed!! (After 2 more hours of studying)

I had my first test on Thursday. You have to make atleast a 75 or higher to pass the test. I made an 80. I'm still figuring out what study style works for me. I'm finding that I should review every topic the same night (like they mentioned...). This weekend is "Catch Up Weekend".

Luckily, Rob works evenings so it doesn't seem like I'm ignoring him. Saturdays are Family and Fun days.

I'll just say that the blogs may be sparse from now on until the end of the year. I'll keep things up to date though.

New home in San Antonio, Texas

2008-11-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the delay on making a new post about our move. We (yet again) made a long caravan of a 26 foot long UHaul, the Jeep, and the trailer with the Harley. I followed this thing for nine fun (haha) hours in my car. Let's just say that I actually overdosed on caffeinne...not fun. Anyways, we then unloaded everything the next day in about 5 hours. Luckily, I've taken 20 days of leave to relax and unpack before school starts.

We have been taking the dogs to parks around here that have fun trails. The dogs go crazy with all the new smells. Rob and I are having fun adjusting to the new allergens here (Claritin to the rescue!).

Rob begins work at Coca Cola tomorrow night. He'll be working from 6pm-2am most days. This works out for the dogs because somebody will always be here (with the exception of an hour or two in the evening). I'll probably be leaving the house around 6am and getting home around 6 or 7 at night. I have to report to check in this coming Friday (Dec 5th). I'm not sure about the exact start date of class, but I'm assuming after the new year.

I promise to try and put posts on here regularly.

Summer Vacation in NE and IL

2008-09-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Omaha at 4am last Saturday. We got there by 7pm that night. I was worried that Harley would whine the whole way up there but was pleasantly surprised when he was chill and slept much of the way there. Well, he threw up once, and then he was chill.

We left for Illinois the next day, we just needed a quick nap after a 14 hour drive. We got to see Rob's Dad and wife, Kristie, Rob's paternal grandparents, and Rob's Mom and uncle Scott.

We then went back to Omaha to hang out with friends and Travis, Rob's brother. We spent the day on the Missouri River with Rob's friend Jason and his girlfriend. It was a bit chilly but the sun came out later and we had some yummy grilled chicken and vegetable medley on a sand bar. I, of course, got sunburned. Gotta love sunglasses tan! P.S. It's nothing illicit in her hand. We like to smoke cigars sometimes :)

Rob and I went to the zoo. I loved it! We spent a long time watching two monkeys playing. One monkey had to have an arm amputated due to some injury. We never noticed it until we read the sign. He was a tough guy! There is a new Desert Dome that is really cool. And there is a huge rock of the world suspended on water. Rob couldn't resist pushing on it.

Then, Jason threw us a dinner party at his parents' house. Fun!!

We went out to Rob's friends' house an hour outside of Omaha. Rob was able to teach his niece how to shot her first 22. It was good fun. Then, we had to leave. It was a sad 13 hour drive home (we lose an hour coming back into the Mountain Time Zone from Central Time Zone). The sunflower field was something on our way home. Isn't it beautiful?

Dogs Do the Darndest Things!

2008-08-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

This evening I was walking with my friend, C, and the dogs. She and I were talking and all of a sudden Annie jumped up and had a bird (pigeon) in her mouth! We were shocked. Luckily, she killed it quickly. Not luckily, C and I were gagging. We continued our walk and there goes Annie, running off. I tried calling her back but she has selective hearing when she wants to run. Then we see her stalking a black bird/crow(?). The little thing starts to fly and Annie jumps, yet again, and grabs him in her mouth. I ran over to see what exactly was going on. Let's just say she messed that little guy up. I don't know what got into her! She's eleven years old but she runs and plays like a young dog. It must be the glucosamine/chondroiton I give her everyday. I didn't get good pictures. I snapped a couple on my phone for Rob because he's probably very proud of her. His little hunter. Harley was very interested in the excitement. I'm a little grossed out.

Then vs Now

2008-08-21T20:26:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to show everybody how much our puppy, Harley, has grown. The first picture is from a camping trip when he was 9 weeks old. I know it looks like he's an alchoholic with his beer can, but he really likes to toss them up and chase them around. I think it's the sound they make.....:) This picture is to just show you how big he is getting compared to Annie. He's about 17 weeks old in this picture. He is going to be a big boy!

I've been walking these guys every night for a good 40 minutes. Harley has caught on to "heel", "whoa" (to make them stop at intersections, street, etc), and "sit". We've moved the kennel into our bedroom and he does so much better.

Family Visit

2008-08-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it's been a while since the last post. In my defense, the computer has been getting fixed :) I never realized how dependent we are on technology.

Rob's Mom and brother, Travis, came through here on their way to Phoenix, AZ. The whole time they were driving down here, Trav kept texting me and Rob saying, "You better have Annie (the dog) packed and ready to come home with me!" He misses having her live with him. The first thing he did was grab her and snuggle.

Enjoy the family pictures!

It's been a while...

2008-07-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been over a month since my last post. Things have been getting a little hectic. I've finally been bitten by the study bug so I've been reading and memorizing terms and learning about diseases and symptoms. I hope not to turn into a hypochondriac but I'm pretty sure I have Adult ADD.
The books are okay. I have found that cutting the index cards in half make better flash cards. I love how these are on the spiral!

An update on Harley. He is getting so big! He now weighs over 20 pounds and has discovered the joys of watching Annie rip rope toys up and taking the stuffing out of animals. He has learned that Annie doesn't like it when he gets too close to her when she has a rawhide bone.

Vetrinarian

2008-06-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

I took Harley to the Vet today to keep up on his boosters and get his loose stool situation taken care of. He has gained 3 pounds since the last visit (two weeks ago) and now he weighs 12.4 pounds. Everyone in the waiting room couldn't stop petting him and cooing at him. He's a little lover. I was pretty impressed with how calm and friendly he was. I better not jinx it...:)

Harley kept looking down at the floor trying to decide if he should jump down or not. It's about 3 feet high on that table so I kept having to distract him or pulling him away from the edge.

He loves laying down in this position. He is looking in the camera because he's finally learning to recognize his name when I call him. Yay!

Going Out in Clovis, NM

2008-06-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Rob and I went out with some of my friends from work this last weekend. There is not much to do here so we went to Applebee's and had a couple drinks and appetizers. Then we went to Kelly's....Clovis' excuse for a club.

I'm a ham sometimes. But I highly recommend the wine sangria drinks at Applebee's! Yummy!

Discover Home

2008-06-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

Our base has a program called "Discover Home". They give us a four day weekend to go discover New Mexico. We went to Ft. Sumner Lake, which is about an hour and a half away from us. It was hot as...well you get the point. Annie ran right into the lake and started playing fetch with Rob. Harley wasn't too sure about the lake at first. The mud was squishy and new for him; but he loved it! Then, Rob took him further into the water and let him doggie paddle for a minute. We wanted to see if he were a natural swimmer so he let him go. He was!

The sun was so bright that Annie looked like her eyes were closed. She looked so cute with Rob's sunglasses on.

Rob put his chair in the lake where he could sit with the water to his head. Annie would swim out to him but then get scared when her feet don't touch the ground and heads back to the shore. Finally, he grabbed her and made her sit on his lap in the lake. They were too cute.

That night, Harley was exhausted! He passed out in the cutest way.

And finally, the family shots.

Play Date

2008-06-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Harley has a new girlfriend. Brook is our friends' dog. Harley likes to jump on her and play tug of war with anything together. Luckily, they tire eachother out. All three of them were a trip (literally) on a walk.

(Sorry the lighting is a little bad)

Snuggle Time

2008-06-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

The dogs seem to be getting along better now. Annie doesn't growl at Harley nearly as much. She only shows teeth when he gets near her bone. He is always flipping over on his back and showing her his belly, trying to get her to play or clean him. I was able to snap a couple of picture of them snuggling and napping.

Don't let the calm cute puppy look fool you. He is vicious with his little needle teeth and tiny claws! It looks like I've been attacked by a crazed kitty.

I took Harley to the Vet yesterday. The little rascal is only 9.4 pounds. He is all fur! The poor thing has worms (they said he was dewormed....grrr). So, we started everything over. He should be better very soon. We finally got Annie back on her heartworm meds again.

Annie Meets Her Pup

2008-05-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

We went to get our new puppy, Harley, today. He licked Rob a lot while we were filling out paper work. Then he cried a little in the car on the way home. Finally he fell asleep. When I walked in the house Annie would not stop smelling me. Then Rob walked in with Harley. Annie was a little jealous. We hoped she would lick him to death but she wasn't having it. He loves the grass and would lay in it all day if he could.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

We went to see the presentation for Memorial Day in town. Before I joined, I never considered myself patriotic. After I joined, I became more aware of things. Every time I hear the National Anthem and the firing of the guns, I get chills. It was also nice to see the retired veterans coming out to celebrate their history and our future.

Puppy

2008-05-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

We drove out to Kress, Texas, to meet the new pups. We held the four males and played with them for a little. This little guy gives kisses. I was holding him and he licked my cheek! Then I passed him to Rob. He cuddled and then licked his nose and beard. We also claimed this guy because of his darker color. Right now, they are only 4 weeks old. The guy said we can take him home at seven weeks (the first week of June). We can't wait!

When we got home, Annie smelled the exact spot where the puppy had been. She glued her nose there and then huffed. She wouldn't look at us and turned her head away. Such an alpha!

Dork

2008-05-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

I kind of had an idea that they would announce the results of the board. I wasn't prepared for the entire medical group to be there staring at me.

My Commander was all smiles for me.
It was kind of funny because I didn't know whether to stand at attention or be more casual. Either way, I don't like the spot light. It's too much pressure!

I MADE IT!!!!!

2008-04-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

I just found out today that I made it in the Physician Assistant's Program for the Air Force! We have to be in San Antonio by December of this year.

The school consists of one year of academic schooling in San Antonio, Texas, at the Army base. Then a second year of clinicals at either Coloroda, Nebraska, Maryland, or Las Vegas. Then I will go to Officer Training School for six weeks in Alabama and graduate. Then I will finally go to a new station and be a Physician Assistant.

My face turned so red! The Commander of the whole base came to the clinic and gave me a coin and talked to me. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face and I'm still a little sweaty! I will post pictures once I get some.

Bipolar Weather and Green Thumb

2008-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

We went to see "Baby Mama" today. It was hilarious. When we went in the theater, the weather was sunny and beautiful. When we came out of the theater two hours later, there was dirt and trash flying around the town at almost 30 mph. I tried to get pictures of the tumbleweeds that tried to attack my car. I'll look for huge tumbleweeds on my walk or run with Annie in the morning. When we moved in to our house, there were little patches of grass in the front yard. Rob raked the ground, laid grass seed and fertilizer, and has watered the yard religiously. Somehow, we have little sprouts of grass appearing out here in our little desert. He has a green thumb or something!

Meal Time

2008-04-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

I met a woman in our neighborhood who grew up in Copperas Cove where I went to Junior High School. Her husband is assigned here too. She sold us her table and now we have somewhere to eat our meals. Can't wait for holiday meals on this!

Puppy

2008-04-22T11:36:00.001-07:00

The people we are getting our puppy from just let us know that they were born four days ago. There are 5 males and 6 females. He is going to let us know when we can come out and meet them when they are about 3 or 4 weeks old. Annie will soon have a little fur ball to mother! We can't wait!

Pictures

2008-04-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

We just received the pictures from our wedding. They are gorgeous and priceless! Thank you so much, Randy and Maria!

Annie finally settled down and laid at Rob's feet for the whole ceremony after greeting a lot of the guests.

Rob and Jason were holding hands and skipping with joy....They were funny! The cake was delicious and beautiful. Thank you Linda!

There are more pictures to be viewed or printed off of:

http://photos.walmart.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=26139515/a=16111031_16111031/t_=16111031

El Paso

2008-04-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

We went to El Paso to hang out with my dad for a few days before he leaves for a few months. El Paso is a 5 1/2 hour drive from where we live. Our drive goes from an elevation of 4,000 feet (Clovis, NM) to 6,000 (Riudoso, NM) and finally down to 2,000 feet (El Paso, TX). Driving through Riudoso is beautiful. We plan to go camping there later this year.

We took a few pictures of the new family members.

Annie is so used to having kitties to clean and play with. My mom's cats are not used to dogs anymore and were not happy when a bubbly canine insisted on trying to lick them. The video is a little dark but you can see the cat's head and Annie's head.

In fact, they were so upset by this that they peed in the bed we were sleeping in. Who says cats are not able to communicate? Ha!

Right outside of Alamogordo, NM, there are three vineyards. I love to visit these and taste their unique wines. One has a wine with a berry after taste. Another has a white wine that tastes so sweet like juice. Delicious!

Santa Fe, NM

2008-04-05T23:12:00.001-07:00

Our original plan was to drive out to Santa Fe and camp out in the Hyde National Park. After twisting and turning up through the mountains, we found the free camp site. It looked like this: So, we decided not to freeze our butts off in our hoodies because it was 45 degrees at 1 pm, so who knew how cold it would get that night. Then, we heard a stream nearby. Annie booked it over there and started to wade in. I called her back but Rob blinked his long eyelashes and told me that Annie rode all the way to Santa Fe, couldn't she please wade around? How could I say no to that? She jumped in and loved it!

This video is of Annie rolling around in the snow and loving it.

Improved Rooms

2008-04-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

After one day of walking around good old down town Clovis, I found a set of drawers for our bedroom. I loved it and a couple of days later it was at our house!(Thank you, Rob). Then, some curtains on the windows and you are able to sleep in past 0600. The back of the house is definetely facing the East. Bed Bath & Beyond has awesome bed sets, so now ours is matching and looking better.

The kitchen is a decent size. We just found the dried chilis and had to have them. Now it's a Southwestern home. The water bowl and food is in the little dining nook off the kitchen. We love the water bowl because it will last up to 5 days and holds 3 gallons of water.

Our First House

2008-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

After loading a 17 foot UHaul, a Jeep behind that, a trailer with a Harley, and a 15 hour drive to New Mexico, we have finally moved into our house in base housing. It is just right for us! There are two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a one-car garage. The yard is a little barren. Not bad for the desert though. Rob has raked the ground and put down fertilizer and grass seed. We try to water it every day within our restrictions (after 6 pm on even number days). I hope to buy a huge flower pot and put flowers on the front door soon.

Annie has adjusted well. She knows this is her house and she is definetely making the couches softer by laying on them when we aren't home :) I try to walk her every morning but if that doesn't happen, then I do it every night. She goes crazy with excitement. I think she has been losing weight. We forgot to weigh her when we first got here but now she is 75 pounds.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!