The Franklins: January 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Super Nova!

This is kind of what it was like! :.)

Yesterday was the first day that Cam was able to leave the base. He had to be wearing his "Blues" while off base, but we were able to go hang out together off base. We went exploring around Wichita Falls and found...well...nothing. There isn't much around here, really. However, since we were out away from everything and all of the lights of the city, (Which is very small so there weren't many lights to get away from in the first place.) we decided to go star-gazing. So we pulled off to the side of the road and layed on the front of the car and looked at all of the stars. It was so fun! The one car that drove passed us the whole hour we were star-gazing probably thought we were crazy, but we thought it was awesome! Moments like that make all of this worth it.

I tried taking a picture of us in the dark looking at the stars. The flash was rediculously bright and we couldn't see anything after I took the picture. I was having a hard time getting both of us in the picture (as you can see) so we had to keep trying. Cam told me that he was going to be blind for the rest of his life, but I insisted on taking more pictures until we got a good one. He finally took the camera after the third blinding and unsucessful try and he took a good one of us. We were laughing so hard that it was hard to even take a picture! I had to post all of the bad ones as well so you could get an idea of how funny we thought the whole thing was. :.)

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Our Many Adventures

This was actually a pretty big turn out for FHE. And of course, Cam loved the treats at the end!

Last night Cam and I went to FHE. It was great! Cam has moved up to Phase 2 now here at Tech School and can now where civilian clothes again after duty hours and he can ride in the car with me. So here are some pictures of us at FHE. Also, afterwards we were reminiscing about some of our crazy adventures together and Camarron asked me if I would put a couple of these videos on our blog so everyone can see them. This clip is of us at Layton park feeding the ducks at Christmas time 2007. Cam had come home with me to meet the family. There is a clip of Cam last summer in Alaska chasing a bear, and then it chased him back, but I can't find it right now. I think it is on the SD card James stole from me this Christmas. That's right James, I want it back. However, I did come across a clip that I loved! It is from when Cam and I, my parents, and my younger brother and sister went on a halibut fishing trip last summer. We saw a bunch of whales and caught tons of fish! I landed the biggest one...thank you very much! It was around 210lbs.

I hope you all notice who has the bigger fish! I won't let Cam ever live this one down. :.)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Occupying my time...

My first year of college I had to do part of a very large research paper/book. My portion was on JFK. I was pretty excited about my assignment because I got to learn about his well beloved President who apparently was so important to this country they decided to put his face on the fifty cent peice! Well, the more I learned about him, the more I really disliked him. Ever since then I have had this strange fascination with the man and his family. I am trying really hard to figure out why he was looked at as being so amazing. My opinion of him after my research project was not very good at all. However, I decided I needed to know a little more about the man to really have a strong opinion of him. So I picked up this book at the library here at Sheppard AFB and have been doing a lot of reading. The more I read, the more I see that my first opinion (which wasn't a very good one) still stands. I still have hope though that as I continue learning about JFK's life that he will show some true character that will change my mind about him and I will see that there really was a good reason for putting his face on a coin.

If any of you out there have opinions on JFK I would love to hear them. I have however gained a lot of compassion for the poor guy. He had major health problem his entire life that couldn't really be explained at the time because of their lack of medical knowledge and he spent a lot of time in the hospital just suffering.

Coming back home!

Camarron finally got his orders for his first duty station. We joked a lot about how funny it would be if we got stationed at Hill AFB, Utah. Especially because I just moved from exactly there! We knew it was a possibility because Cam will be working on F-16 fighter jets and Hill AFB has F-16's. However, we never in a million years thought we would go there.

It is sure funny though how the Lord makes things happen in our lives. We will be leaving on May 1st (as of right now, things always change here) to head back to, you guessed it, Hill AFB. Apparently there is some reason Heavenly Father wants us to go back there, because NEVER (well, almost never now) do people get sent back to their hometown to work unless you are in the National Guard.

I won't lie, I was very disappointed when I heard the news. At first we both just laughed. Then we would pause a moment, look at each other, and laugh some more because really, when you think about it, it is pretty hillarious. And of course, things like this only happen to us. But I was disappointed. I wanted to go travel to some place new and exciting! I wanted to get away from Utah. For once in my life I was actually looking forward to this new and really big change. That is probably why we are going back to Utah, because that is exactly not what I was expecting. :.)

However, we are making the best of it. Hill AFB is actually a really nice base and many people try for a long time to get stationed there. Cam is more excited than I am, but I'm getting there. We decided that once we are moved back in and settled, we are getting that puppy that I have wanted for some time now. That makes me excited!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Cam and I finally just hanging out!

After Camarron's graduation and all of the ceremonies were over we were able to have time just with each other. So we went around base and looked at where he spent his last two months. We were also able to go to a hockey game one of the nights. That was great!

This was Cam's dorm where he lived while at BMT.

This was Camarron's beloved bed. Ok...so he hated the stupid thing. It was uncomfortable and way too small for him, but he was sure proud of the fact that it was made PERFECTLY with no wrinkles and that you could bounce a quarter off of it.

Cam and I again just happy to be together while at the hockey game. Because we went to the hockey game we were able to stay out 3 hours later than normal. I'm sure you all know that we aren't hockey fans. In fact this was our first hockey game ever, but let me tell you, it was awesome! We would have gone to see the opera if it would have meant giving us 3 extra hours with each other.

The game was at the ATT&T Center.

This was Cam's MTI (Military Training Instructor). He was well hated by everyone in the beginning, but by graduation all of the trainees had a great deal of respect and admiration for him. Cam thought he was a very good man and he learned a lot from him. Also, Sgt. Bookman really liked Cam. He had Cam help him study for his own test that he had to take because Cam was the accademic monitor of his squadron.

These pictures were taken at the parade grounds our last day together before Cam left for Tech School.

Notice the blue flag behind Cam. ALASKA!

And this was my view of the bus all the way up to Wichita Falls. It was a 5 hour drive and thank heavens that Camarron was able to talk to me while I drove or I probably never would have made it. We got up at 2am and didn't get there until 12:30pm because of all of the processing Cam had to go through before we left.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

BMT Graduation

This is a picture of Cam and me with our friends Matt (Cam's wingman) and Carlee (Matt's Fiancee). We all became very close and I am sure will stay friends as time goes on.

This is Cam's ultimate goal, to fly a jet like this one! :.)

Pretty sure we couldn't have been happier than at this moment! We finally got to hold each other after 8 1/2 weeks. They do have some strict rules concerning PDA, so we couldn't hold each other too tight or for too long. Of course we had to take some pictures because it prolonged the process. :.) Plus, Cam looks SO good in his Blues!

This is the parade the day of Cam's graduation. I have never been so proud or him. The marched perfectly and looked AMAZING!

Camarron is the 3rd person back behind the flag bearer in the front row.

The Beginning

This was the day that Camarron left for Basic Military Training. He had just been sworn into the Air Force. It was our 6 month anniversary, November 10, 2008.

This was Cam his very first week there. He didn't even have his name or anything on his uniform yet.

Camarron has always wanted to serve his country as well as those around him. He has also always had a desire to be a pilot for the fighter jets. After being married almost 5 months, Cam came to me one night and told me that he felt like he needed to join the Air Force. It came as a shock, but ended up being a huge blessing and an answer to many intense prayers. Camarron left for Basic Military Training (which is at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX) on our 6 month anniversary, November 10, 2008. He graduated January 9, 2009. We are now in Wichita Falls, TX at Sheppard AFB for his Tech. School. He is being trained to work on Aircraft Armament Systems and will be here for 14 weeks. Even though I can't live with him at the moment, I am only a couple of minutes away from him and I get to go see him on his free time and help him study. We also get to talk on the phone for as long as we want to in the evenings and have scripture study before we go to bed. That is something we missed doing terribly while he was at BMT (A.K.A. Hell). Hopefully in about a month we will be able to live together the remainder of the time here. Cross your fingers!