Miss Thang

Sorry I dont have any pictures to post. We hung with friends all weekend but I never brought my camera. Tonight Miss Thang was moving a lot so I videotaped it...if you cant tell, all the movement is on the left side. She's rolling around after I ate. Its a lot more obvious in person, from a different angle, and you can see limbs, but I was sort of limited on the camera angle I could shoot from. Lol. I'm sure Grammy will love this!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather for us!

31 week photo

Here's me and baby girl at 31 weeks! I'm going to try to take a weekly picture until I give birth. We start lamaze classes in a few weeks, and I am taking an infant CPR/First aid course next weekend. I believe our friends here are throwing us a baby shower at the end of October. (Yes, I know, we have been so blessed). She's so active now that Josh can see my stomach moving frequently and he can feel her rolling around and limbs sticking out.


Happy Friday everyone!

Simon Says...

Josh and Nash were playing "Simon Says" earlier today and I couldnt help but laugh, so I thought I would share it with all of you. Hope everyone had a great weekend, I know we did!

Flag Football

Josh and his buddy Nuusa after a flag football (Army sponsored) game. Josh plays center/reciever. Josh did stuff for flag football almost every night this week, and I went with to cheer him on (and meet other Army wives) so we were pretty busy this whole week. After working this whole week as well, I'm hoping to snooze on the couch the entire weekend.
My handsome husband again...wearing number 49 in honor of his favorite NFL team.

A Hawaiin Sunset

This was taken yesterday and turned out too gorgeous not to post.

I would write some more...but I'm tired from my first day of work (YAY!) and still have dinner to cook and Monday Night Football to watch. Aloha everyone!

Back by popular demand...pictures :)

Who doesnt enjoy pictures of puppies? These are the puppies next door...about five months old now. Nash loves to play with them now that they are getting old enough to fight back.
Grilling with the new grill...enjoying the weather and the view.

Josh putting together our new grill/smoker. Right now I can smell the wood chips burning and it sounds like many of our neighbors are grilling as well. Getting ready to watch some (taped) Sunday night football.

Me and my lap dog...watching football. Although the Vikes did rather poorly (eh hem, QB TJ) at least the Patriots won. Now, to make everyone and their brother mad, I say "GO COWBOYS!"

Just another day...

Since I have no new pictures to post...I thought I would at least post something. We had our28 week appt earlier this week, and the baby is doing great, always has had a high heartbeat and moves around SOOO much. On Friday we had our labor and delivery tour, as well as set up our birthing plan and did pre-registration. I think we are starting a lamaze/infant care class in a few weeks. I start work on Monday, full time, working with Medicaid recipients as Hawaii is starting a new Medicaid program. Its a temporary project, they just need people to get the program off and running. It can turn into long term but as it stands (i.e. BABYGIRL) I wont be working after the project ends Dec.1st. I'm just excited to get out of the house and help provide and get things ready for babygirl! I say that now anyways...give me a week of working and I'm sure I'll be wishing I was staying at home again. Josh has been really busy this week in his new role, working late and trying to get things straight, and working with his new squad of soldiers.

This weekend we are taking it easy, not really doing much of anything. Or as my mom said, enjoying my last few days of relaxing until the kids go off to college. I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I know where I really want to be this weekend (read Wendy's blog for that) but I guess the fam will just have to have fun without us!

Cookout on the beach

Happy Monday Everyone! It is a happy Monday because of Monday Night Football :) GO VIKINGS!!! Okay okay, I'm wearing my pats jersey here because I'm a huge Pats fan, too...but really just wanted to wear the jersey one last time before she is born. In the past week the baby has grown a lot so my days of wearing my old clothes are over. For now anyways, until sometime after December 4th (daddy is adamant this is the day she is coming)
This is (obviously) Josh and I at a "mandatory fun" outing this weekend. Surpise suprise, the Army mandatory fun actually turned out to be a really good time. And at the end of it all, we got let in on Hawaii's best kept secret....flavored shaved ice! It definitely pays to know the locals.There's Josh...
And me.....
Below is a picture of the Hale Koa Hotel, where military members and their family can stay for pretty cheap. As you can see its right on the beach, in tourist central. All you need to stay there is an active duty or retired person with an ID card to sign you in. When Grandpa and Grammy Johnston come to visit us, they are staying here for a few days to get away from a newborn screaming. Sorry, I mean they are staying there to have a few romantic days on the beach!

SGT Engstrom (officially)

This morning at the crack of dawn (okay, before dawn) Josh woke up his last morning as a Specialist. We were at the hall at 0500, and at 0600 my wonderful husband was finally promoted to Sergeant! And to explain what a feat this is, I'm going to go into a little detail. All jobs in the Army use a point system to get promoted to SGT. When I was promoted to SGT 4 years ago, I needed at least 500 points out of 800 to get the promotion. Most MOS's probably require somewhere between 500 and 700 points. To get points, you have to have awards, college credits, military correspondance courses, physical training scores, weapons qualifications, etc. It's pretty easy to get around 550 points. Beyond that, you really need to excel in college, weapons, PT, and awards. Well, Josh's job is typically very overstaffed. So points required to get promoted are usually around 770, making it extremely hard for anyone to get promoted. This has frustrated him because he has been in leadership roles the last few years, just without the credit, rank and pay. So I am SOOOOOOOOO proud of him for working his tail off the last few years to get college credits, finish military classes, excel in PT and weapons, and do extra details to get awards. Sweetheart, you have worked so hard to get this promotion, and I know you will be a great Sergeant!

This is Josh as they were reading the order to promote him. Camera blurry because I let an amateur do the photo taking! (aka a BOY!)
You cant tell (again, because its blurry) but Josh is giving a speech here thanking me for all my support and telling everyone about his baby girl on the way. And yes, the auditiorium was packed full of soldiers from the hospital. AWWWWWWWWW...... (yes I did tear up and almost made a fool of myself crying on stage)
HA! I finally got a hold of the camera and got Josh in the recieving line.

Lastly, this is for ADULTS!

REAL SERGEANTS:
1. Can cuss for ten minutes without ever repeating a word.
2. Have a spine.
3. Can play a cherry Lieutenant like a finely tuned instrument.
4. Can see in the Dark.
5. Have eyes in the back of their heads.
6. Still don't trust the Russians.
7. Still hate the French.
8. Don't know how to be politically correct.
9. Don't give a damn about being politically correct.
10. Think that "politically correct" should fall under S### in the UCMJ.
11. Love deployments because there is less paperwork and more "real work."
12. Can run 5 miles with a hangover.
13. Do not fear women in the military.
14. Would like to date G. I. Jane.
15. Still know how to use a buffer.
16. Can tell you anything you want to know about an M1911A1 although they are no longer in the inventory.
17. Believe that they do have a rendezvous with destiny.
18. Believe that "Nuts" wasn't all that Brigadier General McAuliffe said to the Germans at Bastogne.
19. Don't know how to use a "stress card".
20. Idolize John Wayne.
21. Don't believe that AAFES really needs a "commander".
22. CENSORED
23. Would have paid money to see Custer getting his clock cleaned.
24. Really don't like taking S### from those who haven't "been there".
25. Know how to properly construct a field latrine.
26. CENSORED
27. CENSORED
28. Might admire the Germans, but still realize they got their butts kicked twice.
29. Aren't afraid of the Chinese, who probably don't have enough rowboats to invade Taiwan.
30. Would rather be OPFOR than MOPP 4.
31. Don't believe a darn thing the Iraqis say.
32. Don't need a GPS to find themselves.
33. Have enough BDU's in their closet to start a surplus store.
34. Think that MRE's taste good (with a little hot sauce).
35. Are convinced that "wall-to-wall" counseling really works.
36. Have more time on the front-line than most others have in the chow line.
37. Know how to make coffee when the measuring scoop goes missing.
38. Know that it's not good coffee when you can see through it.
39. Don't blame poor marksmanship on their M-16.
40. Know that inept leaders will always say they have inept soldiers.

Our San Antonio going away party!

Better late then never! Today I found pictures of our luau, "going away party" from our San Antonio friends. The food was so amazing!!!!! If you ever get the chance to be around Matt, make him cook for you!
This is a picture of Matt and Vicky, whom many of you may remember from our wedding. Vicky was one of my bridesmaids.

Another couple who helped throw the party, Alex and Eric.

It was a hot San Antonio day, but we sat here for about 8 hours, one of the last times we all hung out. I miss my friends!

28 Weeks