The Golf Crew...

So, these few past months we have been doing a lot more golfing. And when I say "we", I mean John AND me. :-) We have started kind of a new, though be it short lived, tradition. For the last few months, Johnny, Jill, John, and I have been playing golf on Sundays. We have so much fun with our sweet friends! Johnny and John usually shoot about the same, and they are so precious for putting up with Jill and me because we usually don't play THAT great. Here are a few pictures that we took one Sunday while we were all out at Old South. Thanks to Jill for putting them on her website, and letting me steal them! :-)

Jill, Johnny, Me, and John

Me and John

Jill and Johnny

Me and Jill

Johnny and Me

Stay tuned, hopefully we will have some more pictures to post soon...

I'm horrible, I know...

I never promised that I would be great at blogging. I know, I go through spurts. So, I was "gently" reminded by Moriah today that I needed to update my blog. So, here I am...

I mean, I guess you can't really blame me, can you? I am about to pack up our house and move half way across the country. No stress there!

Work is work for both John and me. Same old stuff. John is ready to be out of the shop, and he should only have another couple of weeks before he starts checking out of his command. I have about 3 weeks left at work. I went up today to pick up my paycheck and met the girl that they are hiring to replace me. She seemed very sweet, and so I feel much better about leaving. I would hate to leave them if they didn't have a replacement. Granted, it's Food and Beverage, how hard can it be? But, still. :-)

John's birthday was at the begining of this month, literally, Feb. 1. And because he is an awesome husband, it was his 30th birthday, and I wanted to get him something really great, I flew one of his bestest friends out here to surprise him. Dave got here on Sunday night and was able to stay with us until Thursday night. Monday the boys played 36 holes of golf, 18 of them at the Robert Trent Jones course in Palmetto Dunes. Tuesday, they played another 36, at Old South and at Parris Island. Wednesday, they played at Savannah Harbor, and it was about 30 degrees with 30 mph winds. Not a fun day, but they were sports, and totally stuck it out. Thursday, because I got some good hook ups through my work, they were able to play at Harbour Town. It was a great week for the boys. He said that he had a great time, and it was SO good to have Dave here!

This past weekend, we kinda decided to sneak out of town for one last time before we head back to the great state! We went to Isle of Palms with our sweet friends Johnny and Jill. Again, Jill and I were able to talk the guys into going by promising them that they could play golf all weekend. Haha! Which they did, but was perfectly okay because Jill and I spent the weekend shopping and at the spa! I had my very first facial, and my goodness, I am totally hooked! We spent Valentines night at a great restaurant and had a fantastic four course dinner! Another wonderful dinner on Sunday was followed up by a quick trip home on Monday, 18 more holes of golf for the boys and more shopping for Jill and me. We think that one of these days the boys will catch on and make us quit going shopping while they golf. But, hey, for now, we are definitely taking advantage! :-)

Here is a picture that has become a tradition for me on road trips. This is my precious Jill and me on our way to Isle of Palms. We are in the car by ourselves because the boys left super early to get a head start on the golfing. So, she and I antiqued and made a few stops on the way to the hotel. It was a blast!!!!

So, now, I guess, it's back to reality. Back to realizing that we only have one month and 2 days left here. Back to stressing about finding a house, packing up all that we own, and finding employment. Which, in all reality means working on my resume, which I am totally dreading. As a matter of fact, I am blogging right now to put off working on it... Nice.

I am sure I say this every time I post, but I will try to be better about blogging, especially with the move coming up. I will try to keep everyone posted. So, until next time, hope everyone has a great week! We will see y'all soon!

Our "little boy" is growing up!

Not quite a year ago, we acquired a precious addition to our little family. We picked up Django as soon as we got back from being in Texas for Christmas last year. He was such a precious puppy and so full of energy from day one!

Even though he has been dubbed "little boy", and even though we still call him that, he is not quite a little boy any more. In fact, he is the biggest one in the group. Although he still acts like a puppy, and still isn't quite aware of exactly how big he is, and still gets pushed around by Gypsy, he is the largest of the 3. And he had his 1 year birthday on November 17. I can't believe he is a year old! Where does the time go? :-)

So, since I am a nuts-o mom, we had a little birthday for him, and he got some new chew toys and a new bone! Here are some pictures of our "little boy"...

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy!!!

Marine Corps Birthday Ball

This is me, still trying to catch up on all my blogging. Sorry!

November 10 is the official birthday of the Marine Corps. Started 233 years ago at Tun Tavern in Pennsylania, the Marine Corps is full of traditions and the Birthday Ball is no exception!

This year John and I went with Brownie and his date, Heather. Since the boys had to work in the morning, Heather and I spent a whole day together getting ready for the evening. I was so glad to have Heather here to hang out with and have some "girl time"! After spending a day of beauty, we met the boys at Truffles for dinner. After dining on steaks for dinner, we all ordered different desserts and shared :-)

Here are some pictures from the evening...

Precious Brownie and Sweet Heather

Sitting at our table before the ceremony began

John, me, Kelli, and Chuck. Chuck is John's CO and Kelli is his wife and my sweet friend.

Brownie and Heather, and yes, that is an F18! How cool is that?!

Florida crazies doing their "Gator Chomp"

And, of course, Get Your Guns Up!

Wishing for a Florida vs Texas Tech National Title Game. Of course, this was before Tech played OU. Well, there's always next year.

Such great Marines!

Once again, Florida crazies!

We decided that the best thing about the ball this year was, for all of us, in fact, this would be our last ball in Beaufort! Next year, more than likely, Brownie will spend his Birthday Ball at some embassy overseas, and we will spend ours....

BACK IN THE LONE STAR STATE!!!!!!!!

Trying to Catch Up...

I know it has been a while since our last post. So, I am going to try to get you caught up on what has been happening around the Williams' household lately.

First off, we have some big big news. No, I am not prego. But, we do have some good news. Back in October, John reenlisted. He took his oath, signed his papers, and shook the OIC's hand, and BOOM! he is a Marine for another 4 years! This has all been in the works for quite a long time. About 6 or 7 months, to be exact. We have been talking about making this move and contemplating what we were going to do. He has been talking to people at work and trying to figure out what the best road would be for us to take.

As part of reenlisting your first time, you get to give them a list of preferences where you would like to be stationed for the next 4 years. Of course, we said Fort Worth, then San Diego, then Hawaii. Hey, who wouldn't want to live in Hawaii, huh? So, back in August, they told him that we could go to Fort Worth. We were soooo excited! But, since the orders had not officially been cut, he told me that I couldn't tell anyone. So I didn't. (Except for Moriah, which he was SO mad about) But, I couldn't keep it in! :-)

Once we got back from Arkansas and our family vacation, we got some disappointing news. I came home from work one night and I could tell something was wrong. So, I asked him. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and tossed it in my general direction. He said, "I got my orders." I picked up the paper and looked at it, and right there in bold typing it said it...... San Diego, CA.

I paused for a moment, trying to hold back the tears. Okay, who am I kidding, I cried. I cried pretty much all night. I was completely stressing out over how we were going to tell our family and friends, and especially my grandparents, that we were going to be in Cali for 4 years. It was bound to kill them. But, after a while, and MANY long conversations, we decided to do it. We were going to reenlist and go where ever they sent us. We talked about the fact that this was a rare opportunity. Who gets to travel on the government's dollar and see places that they might not have seen otherwise? We resolved to the fact that we have our entire lives to settle down and live in Texas, but while we have the opportunity to live elsewhere, we might as well. Once he gets out, that's it, there's no getting back in. So, still having not told anyone yet, because he had not officially reenlisted, I began to mentally prepare for Cali. I actually began to get excited about it! I decided that living in Cali was going to be totally cool, and it would be a much more fun place to come visit than Beaufort, SC, that's for sure!
So, moving on. About a month ago, I am at work, at the golf course, in the middle of lunch, and I get a phone call from John. This in itself is a little weird, because he rarely calls me in the middle of the day. (And, I didn't realize until later that I had missed 4 of his calls already.) So, I answer it, and ask him how his day is going. He says...and I quote... "A lot better now that I got orders to Fort Worth!" I completely lost it, and screamed and started jumping up and down...with my GM sitting about 6 feet from me! Nice.
But, with out offering any explanation as to what had happened, John just says, "I have to go, I will call you back in a while"....Are you kidding me???? So, now, I have this information, no idea what to do with it or how it came about, and he's going to call me back?!?!?!?!
So, I continued to freak out a little bit, or a lot, whatever. But finally heard back from him. Apparently, he had gone to see the Monitor (the lady who cuts the orders) to finalize things for San Diego. He was finished talking to her and about to stand up when she remembers that he was the one who wanted to go to Fort Worth. He verified that yes, he did want to go to Fort Worth, but that he was told that there wasn't a spot there for him. So, she typed a little on her keyboard in front of her, and said "Yeah, I can get you to Fort Worth."
So, once again, plans changed. But, still, having not reenlisted yet, we couldn't tell anyone.
On Wednesday, October 22, John was supposed to go on leave at noon. We were flying home to Texas for Derek and Casey's wedding. At about 0900, I got a call from him that said that I needed to be ready to come up to the base for his reenlistment, at a moment's notice. Wait. Reenlistment???? We were supposed to do that once we got back from Texas. The papers all still said California. This was kind of how that conversation went...
Dub: I need you to be ready to come up here when I call you. I am probably going to have to reenlist today.
Bevin: Really? I thought you were going to do that when we got back.
D: My reenlistment package expires tomorrow, and if I have to redo it, there might not be a place for me, especially in Fort Worth.
B: So, do your orders say Fort Worth.
D: Not yet.
B: So, are you going to get that fixed?
D: (Increasingly irritated) I am working on it.
B: So what happens if you don't get it fixed?
D: You might be getting on the plane by yourself today.
B: Pardon me?!
D: I am going to do my best to fix this. Just stay close this morning and be ready to come up here if I call you.

Oh my goodness! Fine. So, he calls me at about 1000 and says to be there at 1030. We hold an impromptu reenlistment ceremony in which he takes his oath, receives his reenlistment certificate and signs his papers. Usually, the reenlistment ceremony is held wherever the Marine wants it, and will have all the Marines present that the reenlisting Marine wants, and can be held in any type of uniform that the Marine prefers. But, this was done so last minute, that it was just in John's shop. It was actually a great little ceremony, and of course, when he was taking his oath, I completely cried. I am so proud of my Marine! I got some great pictures, but unfortunately, since the ceremony was in his shop, I can not post them on our blog. Everything in that shop is classified, so I can't put the pictures on the Internet. Bummer.
So, we leave the reenlistment ceremony, and immediately head for Savannah to get on a plane home. We are able to tell everyone when we get home that he reenlisted and that we will be stationed in Fort Worth for the next 4 years. (Unless, of course, they decided to move us.)
Let's see.....Daddy cried, Shelly cried, Mom said "Now you can start trying for babies!!!!", and everyone in general was so excited. It was super fun to get to tell everyone that we saw, in person, that we were going to get to move home!
So, that's the big news. We will be home by April! We are super stoked and can not wait to be back! We are already planning on lots of stuff when we get home. Texas Tech football season tickets, here we come! :-)
We have missed you all so much, and can't wait to be closer to everyone! Not much longer now!!!

DC Done Right.

Last week, John was able to take a trip to Washington DC with 9 other Marines. He took some GREAT pictures! Here are some of the best ones. Keep in mind, he took ALL of these pictures. (I am just amazed because they look they belong on post cards! :-) )

Sergeant of Marines

We are so excited, and I am so proud of John! Today, he was promoted to Sergeant of Marines! We have been waiting for, and he has been working and striving for this day since he was promoted to Corporal last year! He has worked so hard, and today he was rewarded! Congratulations to my precious husband....Sergeant Williams!