When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way.

In two weeks, Brandon and I will be bidding a fond farewell to Vegas. It's amazing how quickly the past few months have gone by. The last couple of weeks have been an absolute blur. We're both anxious to move on to the next place and see what California has to offer.

We were supposed to have our "Farewell" tonight ~ however, Brandon is stuck in Detroit after spending a week in Sweden. His departure from Europe was delayed due to weather, and that sent this whole chain reaction of delays into action. It's a bummer that he'll miss the party.

Tomorrow we leave for Iowa to celebrate Thanksgiving. We're both looking forward to getting away, but I am starting to panic about all the things we're leaving unattended here. One day after we return from the holiday break, we'll start the process of packing our 'household goods'. Brandon still has to work that first week in December, and squeeze in his "fini flight". For all we know - this might be his last F-15 assignment. By December 4th, our belongings will be hauled away - and for the first time EVER, we'll be homeless. We're not scheduled to arrive at Edwards until the 8th, and they claim to have housing available for us - yet, it could be a bit sketchy considering the current TPS students have not departed from their temporary housing. We're hopeful to be lucky enough to get one of the newly built homes. Cross your fingers!

Last week, I had my last 'wives coffee' with the Aggressor wives. It was a little sad as I said good-bye to my friends, without knowing if we'll ever cross paths again. We've had a lot of laughs and fun times in the past two and a half years, and as I've mentioned before, they've become family.

This assignment has been incredibly busy for Brandon. On top of being newlyweds when we got here, becoming first time parents, and working on his Master's Degree - he's also been gone... a lot. In 2006 he was only gone for 7 days, in 2007 he logged 114 days away, and in 2008, we were away from each other for a total of 111 days. In the days when he is working from home, there are the two Nellis Red Flags which occupy much of his time. I know that Edwards will also be a busy time for him, but at least he'll be home!

Sorry for not including new pictures! Brandon has our camera! We'll upload some as soon as we can!

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

Special thank you to all the men and women who are sacrificing so much for our freedom. Your bravery does not go unnoticed. We salute you.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. ~G.K. Chesterton

Happy Veterans Day.

Aviation is proof, that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.

Last weekend was the Nellis Air Show ~ marking the last demonstration of the year for the Thunderbirds. As always, it was an amazing show.

Pretty cool stuff.

We invited Ashton's BFF, John Paul, to join us ~ he was pretty excited.

She was just happy to have some crackers...

They were so cute together.

This is when I hate to think about leaving her buds behind...

{ Heritage Flight ~ F-22, F-15, and P-51. }

The weather for this Airshow could not have been better. On Friday, the doors were opened to only military and family - which meant much smaller crowds and a lot more child-friendly atmosphere. Brandon has been in Mountain Home, Idaho, doing some Aggressor stuff ~ and was very sad to miss it. I'm sure Ashton will tell him all about the "too noisy" jets when he gets home.

"I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing."

... the latest craze in our "all things girly" house.

Every morning, Ashton asks to have her wings put

on while she watches the Wiggles.

I think Maxwell wants his own wings.

This outfit just so happens to coordinate perfectly with her fluffy heels...

“The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This means that only left handed people are in their right mind.”

We're still trying to figure out which hand Ashton seems to favor. She seems to do everything with her left {like eating, coloring, throwing}, however in rare instances, we do catch her doing those same things with her right. I suppose time will tell.

Coloring pretty pictures with daddy.

Trying to help her hold the crayon in her right hand...

A little awkward....

Ahhh.. That's better... for now anyway...

“No one needs a vacation more than the person who just had one.”

November already? Holy cow!

Here are a few pictures from Melisa, Carter & Blake's visit to Vegas last month. (October 20-24) We loved hosting them & Ashton LOVED having built-in playmates every day. She still talks about Carter & Blake constantly ~ and yesterday when she woke up from her nap and felt I was taking too long to retrieve her, she started calling for Melisa. :) Funny girl.

Paling around on the couch.

We visited Brandon at work so Carter could hear the jets go "zooom" but not, "boom, boom". :)

Female Fighter Pilots Rule.

The next Top Gun?

Blake was just as happy with the headphones on... That guy *always* smiles. Love his cheeks!

I think she's saying " c'mere Carter, 'mere." We took the kids to Bonnie Springs so they can some day say they've been to a "real" ghost town. It was slightly sketchier than I remembered.

Red Rock Canyon is just outside of Bonnie Springs & we got some cute pictures of the beautiful scenery. Carter left a chunk of his chin on the concrete just after this photo was taken. Poor guy.

We had some bags of popcorn on hand to feed the very hungry ducks in our neighborhood park.

Ashton loving up on Blake... maybe a little *too* much. I think this is the second picture we have of her and Blake, on two separate occasions, in this pose. Hum.. We may have to work on correcting this. I think Maxwell & Winnie would also appreciate it if she could learn to not centralize her hugging in just the neck region.

We went to Circus Circus to watch a little show. Look at Blake's pacifier!

The Midway. I wonder what this clown is thinking? ("I can't believe this is what I do for a living...")

Our final stop on the Sunde's Vegas Vacation was Caesar's Palace so the kiddos could play at FAO Schwartz (and the adults could pick up a much needed cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory). They loved the huge aquarium outside of Cheesecake Factory & even saw Dorie (but not Nemo).

Thank you so much for coming out to visit, Melisa! I hope you have recovered from your exhausting trek across the country with two kids under the age of 3! I'm not sure how you did it, but you made it look easy ~ and I'm sure it wasn't. (In fact, I *know* it wasn't, but you still convinced me that you got off hassle-free.) We truly appreciated hosting you!

"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime, and too sleepy to worry at night." ~ Leo Aikman

How could nearly one month pass since I last updated this blog? Honestly, I have no idea where the time goes. I guess we *have* been busy.

In the past few weeks we have... Landscaped our backyard (and by "landscape" I mean put 9 tons of decorative rock down ~ no plants for us!!), painted a few rooms in our upstairs, completed sewing a quilt, plugged away at Brandon's thesis, flew to Indiana, took in a few play dates with Ashton's friends, went to a birthday party, continued the quest to find a job, and as of a few hours ago we logged a mile at a Leukemia walk in honor of our friend "Kool".

Here are a few pictures starting with the most recent:

A few months ago, our friend Craig was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He and his family have been so much fun to get to know ~ and we wish him much luck and many prayers as he fights this battle.

Here are several of the "ladies" in our Aggressor family ~ as well as some of the kids.

Group shot...Craig "Kool" Jones (to the left of the Kool Squadron poster) and his awesome family.

Ashton was taking it all in...

Craig & Kathy Jones

We had a fabulous time walking for such a great cause.

Last week we were in Indiana and got to spend some much needed time with Brandon's family. The weather was gorgeous (even warmer there than it was in Vegas!), and Ashton had a blast being around all kinds of things she never gets to see in real life. She touched her first "froggie", fed Lily (the horse), carved a pumpkin, just to name a few...

At the pumpkin patch ~ not cooperating...

Running away from the Corn Maze ~ crying...

The only place she wanted to be that day was in the "corn room". She LOVED it in there. And, frankly ~ I can't believe how genius the idea was. I would have loved this place when I was younger.

Here is proof that Brandon has his hands full when it comes to writing his thesis.

{It looks like he's trying to teach her something ~ probably just Solitaire.}

A few weeks back, some of the other wives from our Nellis group met at Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace for a farewell lunch for our friend Annie (she moved back to Australia after being stationed here with her husband for nearly three years). Mesa Grill is so delicious ~ it's a *must* for anyone visiting Vegas.

~Lauren, Heather, Lyz, Annie ~~ Annie & I ~ and, if you look VERY closely behind us - Amy Adams (the actress from Charlie Wilson's War & Enchanted) is eating lunch. Unfortunately, the glare from the flash is almost directly over her face. SHOOT. That's my luck. Finally have a celebrity sighting & *this* happens. Oh well. It was cool none-the-less.

We were very happy to get our landscape completed in ONE day. It was very fulfilling to know we did it on our own, too. Of course, Ashton was very helpful as well. :o)

Before. This is what we had to look at for the past two years...

After. Nothing spectacular ~ but, definitely an improvement.

And, finally ~ Here are a couple pictures of Ashton with her favorite friend, John Paul. They went to the same daycare ~ and now that she's not going any more, we've been trying to get together so they can play. They're two peas in a pod... It's adorable.

A McDonald's date.

Swingin'. Ashton is holding her baby ~ also known as John Paul. ;-)

We are down to just 50 days in this desert ~ not that I'm counting... I can't believe how quickly the time is going now!

Melisa arrives on Monday with her two little ones. Red Flag also starts on Monday and will keep Brandon busy until the 31st. Brandon has a trip planned for Idaho in early November and a trip to Sweden in mid-November. With all of that going on ~ our time here will be over before we know it! Time to start really savoring the moments!!