He's Hoooommmme!!!

Ok, I slacked off writing a little bit, but I will do a nice catch-up post with lots of photos. k? ok.

So picking up where I left off last...
I got 4 letters in 1 day,

another email a few days later,
and even better, a phone call/face time on August 7th!!!

Note: this is 6 a.m., but I was ok waking up to take the call :)

My dearest Cadet-Captain is home and allowed to roll up his sleeves now lol. He survived training and now we get to focus on getting through the rest of school :)

Thanks goes to Scotty's sister, Britt (http://www.brittishdesigns.com) for the adorable sign!

Due to some family conflicts, we celebrated his birthday/homecoming all in one! I got a little creative with the setup, and this is the amazingness that unfolded (you can't see it at the end, but he missed 1 candle that didn't quite go out)

http://instagram.com/p/c5PuyvvHrD

Poor Scotty was about a week late in coming home from training to get to go to Bear Lake with his family on their yearly trip, but me and Ellie made the trek for a few days:

On the way up we stopped at Scheel's for a quick Dock Diving event!
Ellie did SOOOO good! We can't wait to show Scotty at the next competition!

Enjoying the view from the lookout before we descended into Garden City
Ellie was a bit distracted...

I somehow even convinced my brother to get on a tube with me! This was the best boating/tubing experience he has ever had.  Basically because my in-laws are amazing and he has apparently just gone boating with all the wrong people in the past!

please excuse my "whiteness"
everywhere except my legs were a decent tan color...i promise!

In other news, the bathroom/apartment didn't get as "finished" as I had hoped before Scotty got home, but there was definitely some progress!  One of my favorite enhancements being the curtains I put up in our bedroom:

"Before"

"After!" and of course with a made bed now :)

The bathroom is slowly but surely coming along. We got the mirror put back up and the rest of the tile is done. I will post lots of pictures when it is finished...its so close that I don't think I'm going to post anymore until it is ALLLLL DONE and I can say that it is finished once and for all :D

Email numero dos!

I'm a few days late posting, but I got a 2nd email from my cadet :)

I hope the missionaries let him type it up, because it was a lot longer than it was last week!  I would hate to think the senior missionaries had to sit there and type it all up for him...

Anywho, if anybody is interested, here is his email:

Audie,

TD-10

Sitting in church again, feels like it was yesterday I was home, it's so weird how time goes, the days are forever long, but this has been such a fast week.  Today has been bazaar.  We did the Leadership Reaction Course where you get put in charge of a small team through a little obstacle course thing only given certain materials and a 20 min. time limit.  Mostly its to see how you lead and not so much if you finish the obstacle or not.  He said, that is my evaluator, that I did really good.  Then later today we had time with the whole flight where they gave constructive criticism.  The only bad thing my CTA said was I need to show more that I want to be here instead of feeling like I've been a POC already.  She also said I did really good as the squadron commander.  Did I mention that?  I was squadron commander for a whole day and performed quite well.

After classroom time we watched an episode of Band of Brothers, until we ate Dinner with some BYU cadets, and now I'm here.  Such a weird day, too nice and relaxing if you ask me.  It is like they have a trick up their sleeve for after services... 

We also this week finish our combative's course, which was a 4 day course teaching us how to wrestle and submit people.  I guess I did really good because one of the two  head instructors came over and asked me my name and flight and told me I should apply to come back next year as an instructor to get certified and such.  Then I watched him put my name or whatever in his notes on his phone.  I might just do it.  It'll look really good on my applications/resume for the AF that I was a Combative CTA.

Our flight has finally flourished into a team, we've really been working together well lately.  I was really frustrated not having a leadership spot while we worked under "poor" leaders.  I did good leading from behind, but I wanted to be able to do more.  

Some things at field training make me excited about our Air Force career, others scare me, but mostly I get excited.  We had a really good motivational briefings about the type of people we'd work with, and especially lead, in the Air Force, the quality of good motivated patriots and such, that got me really pumped.  

Well I got to get to an Inspection.   love you so much!

Let me know if there's any way you or any of the family, if they want to come to the parade at the end.   email these wonderful people about it. 

I miss you so much!  Hug and kiss Ellie for me.

Scott

Sad thing is, if anybody were to go out there for his graduation, its like an $800 trip for only a few hours of time spent with him...so....yeah.  Probably isn't going to happen :)  I've got some other stuff up my sleeve for when he comes home, instead, to kind of make up for it.

These are the pictures they attached this week:

He is reading the email I sent to him earlier that day :)
I can tell, because those are the pictures I sent to him on the 2nd page.

They must go to church in their PTUs....go figure.

HE LIVES!

Yes, folks, Cadet Rodee made it to Montgomery, AL in one piece and has survived both the weigh-in and the PFA (physical fitness assessment).

I guess they had sacrament meeting tonight (Saturday) and the on-base missionaries took some pictures and sent them to me in an email!  I know, right?  AWESOME.

I wasn't expecting anything until next week as far as communication goes, but he wrote a short and sweet little note in the email letting me know all is well :)

Take a look at the pics I got.  Doesn't he look happy?  This is why sticking with the ROTC, even through all the heartache, is totally worth it.  I KNOW that the Air Force is something he has always wanted to do, and something he loves being a part of.  We just need to survive college first!

If anybody wants to write Scotty a letter, telling him how amazing and awesome and successful he is, let me know and I will get you the address.  He has pretty cool envelopes and stamps if he decides to write you back (or if can find the time...that's the trickiest part)!

too bad he decided to buzz all his hair off.....oh well.
In a month it will be back where I like it, right?

Look what I made!

Shhhh....don't tell scotty! I used Shutterfly.com to create a card that I'm going to send him while he's at field training. They said if I posted it on my blog, they would give me a $10 gift certificate! WOOT! Free Stuff :)  I will probably use it for something I will send him in a care package...again, shhhhhh!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Finally!

This post has been 3 years in the making, and boy, it has been a LONG 3 years!

Scotty has been wanting to be in the Air Force for as long as I can remember.  I knew long before I married him that it was something he was going to work for--heck, he almost went to the Air Force Academy, but he was dating this girl:

 who he decided he really wanted to marry instead (AFA cadets can't get married until they graduate!  No thank you!).

Fortunately, getting married didn't mean that he couldn't pursue his dreams of following in Grandpa's footsteps:

UVU works with the ROTC at BYU, DET 855 to give their students the AFROTC experience.  Scotty joined up with the Air Force ROTC as soon as we learned of the opportunity and examined all the details.

Amidst a long journey that has included numerous major changes, getting orthodontic care approved, and emotional struggles about weather or not this would all be worth it, we have finally reached a milestone:

Wednesday morning (4/10/13), about 3 weeks (it almost felt like another 3 years) after we had expected to learn our fate, Scotty got a call from Laura (the DET 855 secretary), who set up an appointment for him to meet with Maj. Gregory about weather or not he would be selected for field training this summer.

The decision was delayed because of the Sequester that has been going on with the military, and it only added to my nerves.  I just kept thinking that with all the budget cuts our chances were going down by the minute.

Scotty called me and told me his meeting for Thursday was at 8:30 a.m. and I was basically a nervous wreck for the next 24 hours waiting to hear the fate of our future.  This meeting would determine if we go military via ROTC, if Scotty would enlist after graduation, or if we pursued a military career at all.

I had class at 8 a.m. that day, but I could not stop checking my phone for that text message telling me to come outside.

When it finally came, I was walking toward the ROTC building as Scotty walked out of it.  I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I couldn't tell if he was smiling, or trying not to cry.  He finally gave me a thumbs up and I almost passed out then and there from relief.

Apparently this is how the meeting went down:

Scotty enters Maj. Gregory's office:

Maj. Gregory: "So, Cadet Rodee, do you have any other options?"

Scotty: "Um, honestly, sir, if this didn't work out I had planned on enlisting..."

Maj. G: "Good.  I can write you a nice recommendation letter that will help you get to OTS (oficer training school) quickly; I could also get the Colonel to write you a good recommendation letter...and that's the route you would be taking, 

if you weren't going to field training this summer!"

When I heard the story I was a little frustrated for Scotty about the way it went down (I would have probably started crying if I were in the office), but the relationship he and Maj. Gregory is such that it was funny and it makes for a fun story afterwards. 

We FINALLY know where our future is going.  We FINALLY can tell people we are actually in the Air Force.  We FINALLY can start planning our future and have somewhat of an idea how it is going to play out.

My word for this moment is FINALLY.  All the anticipation and hard work is FINALLY paying off.

I have no idea when Scotty will be going to field training, but he will be gone for 4 weeks, and it should be after June 22, because of Chacy's wedding (Engagement video in case you haven't seen it yet):