Life - November 2009

Hello family and friends! If you can’t tell from my new blog background I am so ready for Christmas. Today we put up our tree and some decorations. I am hoping to have lights on the house by the end of the week. AND believe it or not we almost have almost finished all of our Christmas shopping! But first things first…

Matthew and I had a very fun and relaxing Halloween. We did dress up and I have to tell you that we have so much fun every year putting things together to come up with our costumes. I even won first place at the Halloween party we went to this year and Matthew got third! I was Twister Girl and Matthew was an 80’s rocker. We tried doing really neat pumpkins this year as well. Matthew’s Broncos pumpkin turned out great; mine was another case entirely, but that is another story for another time.

Matthew had to go on alert on Thanksgiving which was a bummer. He got a full Thanksgiving meal in the silo and from what I hear it was not so bad. I went over to my friend Kindra’s (a friend from bible study) house. They had 12 adults and 10 kids at their house and we had so

much fun! I made cranberry orange relish and sweet potatoes for everyone.

Tonight I am sitting in the living room watching the original Star Wars with Matthew and his wonderful parents. They came to visit on Friday and unfortunately have to leave tomorrow morning. We have had a wonderful time spending precious moments together and relaxing. Laurel and I have enjoyed working and catching up on our photo albums along with taking more pictures to add later. We have taken pictures of the Malmstrom AFB museum, playing at the park and of course lots of pictures of the dogs including Sparkles who joined them on the trip. I know we are all going to miss them when they leave.

Fun In The Fall

Fall is upon us and I can’t believe that we are already nearing the end of October. This past month has been filled with so much fun and activity I don’t know where to begin. I guess I will start at the very beginning, which is always a very good place to start.
The end of September I had so much fun making my first solo trip to Idaho to spend some time learning how to make jelly with my grandma. My grandpa was out of town so we got to have some quality girl time, and we definitely made the most of it. We made 64 jars of crabapple jelly, which if I do say so myself, is delicious. We went shopping for hours, and I got to go to a very fun CAL (Community Assistance League) meeting, a program that my grandmother is very involved in. We also got to spend some time just hanging out and talking with a wonderful glass of wine in our hands.

While I was on my trip Matthew had his first official alert. What is an alert you might say? An alert is a 24 hour shift in a missile silo about 60 feet underground where Matthew and his crew partner Ella control and monitor the missiles. All said and done Matthew is usually gone about 30 hours for one shift. During the time that he is not in the silo they are in briefings, getting updates, driving to and from the silo site (which is between 1-3 hours away), and debriefing. We get his schedule the beginning of each month, so although we can only plan a month at a time we are finally starting to get into a routine here in Montana. Matthew usually has about 8 alerts a month and the rest of the time he is taking tests and doing various other training.

At the beginning of October, we had a blast going through a corn maze just outside Great Falls with our good friends Brian and Dana Marlow. We had some rain that morning and a little bit of hail while we were in the maze but it made for a very fun trip and a great adventure.

Last but not least I just got home a couple days ago from my second trip to Idaho. This time I was up there learning how to quilt! We didn’t have as much time this trip so we worked from dawn until dusk sewing our fingers to the bone, but we still had so much fun in the process. I finished my first table runner when I was there; my grandmother and I had to complete it together due to the mistakes I made while attempting to do it myself at home. I also completed my fall table runner all by myself just this morning and I love it! I now have two other projects that I am actively working on. I am a little nervous not having my grandma here to correct my mistakes BEFORE I make them. It is so wonderful to be only six hours away from my grandparents, and I plan to take advantage of it as much as possible.

Football and Family

We are happy to be home from our whirlwind trip to Colorado and Nebraska. We had so much fun at the Air Force football game with Matthew's parents where the Falcons beat Nicholls State 72-0! We were able to see our good friends, the Woods, and relive some memories from when Matthew was at the Academy. It was much better having him on the other side of the field with us instead of the cadets. I also got to meet up with some Air Force Academy girlfriends, both past and current who were at the game. We all met through a Facebook group. I even got my official USAFA Girlfriend shirt. The family reunion was great. Matthew had fun playing football with his nephews in the yard and we both enjoyed catching up with family we haven’t seen in a while. When we were in Colorado, we bought the car that I drove in high school from my parents. My dad was wonderful getting it ready for us and did all he could to make sure everything was in top shape. Of course the Lord still has his own plan, and the power steering pulley on my car broke on Labor Day on our way back to Great Falls. We got to spend a whole 28 hours in Buffalo Wyoming, home of the Bison we found out (Who would have guessed?). The delay wasn’t a total waste however because we were able to see the parents of some of my grandparents friends who happen to live in Buffalo. We spent a terrific afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Knepper who are both 92 years old and full of wonderful stories and amazing hospitality. We learned that at one point Mr. Knepper was also a “shavetail” ( 2nd Lt). It was also wonderful to spend the rest of the day just the two of us walking around town. But that doesn’t mean we weren’t happy to leave.

Catching Up With The Ditsons

As I sit here on the couch watching tennis and wondering what I should write on our blog to keep everyone updated, the main thing that comes to my mind is how blessed I am to have a wonderful husband, home, financial stability and the amazing support of our family and friends. To those friends and family who are not here with us in Montana, please know that we miss you so much and we are so thankful to have you in our lives.

Matthew and I got back last week from a fantastic trip to my grandparents house in Sandpoint, ID. Matthew was so sweet to drive back and forth on the weekends to Idaho as he still had class during the week. We had so much fun spending time on Lake Pend Oreille playing on the jet skis, skipping rocks, and swimming. The best part was being able to spend time with my own immediate family as well as uncles, aunts, cousins, and close friends of the family. I was also lucky enough to spend my 22nd birthday in Idaho and all the ladies in the house went out to a nice lunch and shopping! We were able to celebrate my birthday a little early having angel food cake (my favorite) and ice cream on the weekend so Matthew could take part. Another highlight of the trip was attending the Festival at Sandpoint. I was fortunate to be able to go to two different concerts this year at the festival. The first with my parents and my Aunt Molly, we saw Firefall and Pocco. The second was a double date with my parents to see Boz Skaggs.

We are feeling settled here in our house on Malmstrom AFB and we have been busy making it feel like home. We have painted the walls, put up pictures, built a patio in back, put up the fence…twice, pulled out bushes, planted flowers, and we just finally bought a lawn mower (it has been brought to our attention that we should have gotten snow shovels instead). We are finally able to get into a routine as much as Matthew’s schedule will allow. Looking to the future we are excited for football and soccer seasons, as well as our upcoming trip the beginning of September. We will be traveling to Colorado to pick up our snowboards and attend the Air Force Academy Parents Weekend football game on Saturday. Sunday we head to Nebraska for the Ditson family reunion and back in Montana on Monday. It’s a lot of travel but well worth it.


Picture of our new house and the Festival at Sandpoint

July 4th 2009 - Montana

Saturday morning we went to the Great Falls Independence Day parade and what we thought was going to be a short little local parade turned out to be a two hour local parade complete with an F-15 fly over. We also had two helicopters fly over. They made several passes each one decreasing in altitude and increasing in speed. The last few passes they were so low and going so fast that the birds on top of the roof barely had time to get out of the way. It was so fun! The parade included floats from local churches, political candidates, the boy and girl scouts of America, Coke and Pepsi giving out free soda, bag pipes, local BMX racers, tow trucks, lots of old cars, and of course the farmers of Great Falls showing off their tractors and oh yes their lawn mowers. It was more than we expected and we should have taken that as a clue that Great Falls takes their 4th of July very seriously.

When the movers came to drop our stuff off at the new house in Great Falls I casually asked where the best place to see fireworks on the 4th of July was. The said “go to the Kmart parking lot that is the best place to go unless you go to the stock car races.” Well Matthew and I debated, we thought the stock car races would be tons of fun it we didn’t want to spend the money to go when we had another option that was free.

We went over to Brian and Dana’s for a BBQ and talked the night away until we realized that it was almost 10:00 and time for the fireworks to begin …or so we thought. We all jumped in the car and headed to Kmart. On the way we saw fireworks going off everywhere! It turns out that the fireworks actually start at 8:00pm most of the time. As we got closer to Kmart some of the big fireworks were getting closer. It turns out they were setting them off IN the Kmart parking lot! Matthew and I are of course from Colorado where privately setting off fireworks that leave the ground is illegal. Not so in Great Falls. There were fireworks going off everywhere! I am talking 360 degrees of fireworks and lots going off right next to the truck! We all stood it the bed of the truck and watched in awe. We were up high and could easily turn and see in every direction. Not only were there the fireworks going off in the parking lot, but professional ones going on right behind us that seemed to never end, and even more going on in parking lots all over the city and across the river! I have never seen anything like I saw last night. It is definitely the best/most dangerous fireworks display I have ever been to. We left the Kmart parking lot at about 11:15pm because the people around us seemed to be drinking too much and it was actually getting a little scary with some firework miss fires… We found a beautiful spot next to the 10th Street Bridge where we could watch the skyline of fireworks across the city. We stayed until 12:00 then headed home. The fireworks were will going off as we went to bed. It was a great 4th of July that I will never forget.

May/June 2009

As you can probably tell from my lack of posts it has been a crazy couple of months! Hard to believe that Matthew and I are finally in Great Falls, Montana and all of our crazy travels are behind us for at least a few weeks. We are again living on base and we have a nice three bedroom, two bathroom house on Locust Street. Our friends Brian and Dana that came at the same time from Vandenberg are just down the street and around the corner from us and we are thrilled that they are living so close. Our biggest project now is once again building our own fence in the backyard. I am so thankful Matthew thought to bring the one we had from California. I hope we can get that done soon because the dogs are getting restless. I will put some pictures up of the house as soon as I take them :). Quickly I want to recap the weddings I was at before I post about Alaska.

Danae & Scott’s wedding was beautiful! I felt so lucky to be part of their special day and as far as I could tell everything went just about perfect. I broke my new bridesmaid sandal before the wedding even started in true Kathryn fashion but we managed to fix it in time for pictures with super glue the wedding coordinator had in her emergency kit. I had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends at the reception and dancing the night away with Laura on the dance floor.

My lifelong friend Lydia also got married to her love Ben while I was in CO. I was lucky enough to spend time with Lydia before the wedding helping with last minute details and attending her bachelorette party. We had way too much fun. The day of their wedding six tornados made an appearance in CO and one (unknown to us at the time) was right down the street from the wedding. Needless to say it was a little cold and wet leading up to the ceremony, but the rain held off just long enough for them to get married and run inside for the reception.

Congratulations to both my dear friends and their new husbands.

Our Weekend in San Diego

Matthew and I had a wonderful time in San Diego. Saturday we started out early and visited the San Diego Zoo which is amazing! We got to see the typical zoo things…animals, some of my favorites were the pandas, koalas, and the orangutans. We were able to see the whole zoo and it only took us 7 hours! Our feet were tired by the end but it was worth every minute! We had really good luck seeing animals while they were active instead of sleeping of hiding away in their caves.

After the zoo we went to the beach on Coronado Island. It took us a while to find our way to the beach once we got there it was wonderful to get our feet sandy and feel the cool beach breeze. We both agreed that the water was still too cold for swimming. We ended our day with Greek food for dinner and dip in the hotel pool.

Sunday we spent at Sea World watching Shamu, dolphins and seals perform. I have always wanted to go to Sea World and it was a perfect day: 90 degree weather and a not too crowded park. It was a great relaxing and fun weekend and it was wonderful to spend time together.

Easter Weekend

Happy Thursday! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Matthew and I enjoyed a very active weekend with something planned every day. Good Friday we spent the evening with friends dyeing Easter eggs and playing games. We didn’t get home until just after midnight. After sleeping in until 10:00am Saturday morning we went bowling where I had the very rare pleasure of beating Matthew our last game of the night.

Sunday morning we went to church not once but twice at different churches! It was a busy morning with one service ending at 9:30am and the next starting at 10:00am with a 25 min drive in between. We barely made it. In the afternoon we sat down for a fantastic Easter lunch with the McVay’s, Marlow’s and Arun Chittur. After lunch we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside playing Corn Hole, my competitive side tried to stay calm when the game was boys against girls. Dana, Jen and I put up a fight but the boys won every game. We finished the night talking and eating delicious homemade strawberry shortcake made by Dana. All in all a great Easter weekend!

Matthew aced his test on Monday and has a big trainer ride today. He gets to practice the all important key turn for the first time. Yikes, scary! But at least from now on he gets to wear his flight suit. YAY! I love the flight suits.

This weekend we are going to try our San Diego trip again barring any unforeseen traffic citations from Italy. Oops.

Enjoy the slide show below showing our Easter fun!

Back From Colorado

Well, I just got home Monday from my quick trip to Colorado. I was there to help throw a bridal shower for my friend Danae Jensen who is getting married May 28. It was also a great time to catch up with family and friends. Although not as much as I would like because I was so busy running around like a crazy person! I was able to have a wonderful dinner with Floyd and Laurel, go to a fun Pampered Chief party, and go to church at Foothills on Palm Sunday. I also had a terrific time seeing Danae and Scott’s new apartment after coffee, and then of course the bridal shower, which went off without a hitch I am happy to say.

I am so happy to be back in the warm weather! Now that I am home it is time to start focusing on getting ready to move. I can’t believe we are just two months away from being out of our
first house. I am going to be sure to take lots of pictures. Please keep this move in your prayers as it looks like we are going to have to move ourselves because Matthew is not going to get his orders early enough to have the Air Force move us before I leave for Colorado once again.

However, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Matthew and I both get to join my family on an Alaskan cruse to celebrate my grandparent’s fiftieth anniversary! Matthew graduates from class on June 12 and the cruse leaves June 13 so even though it’s cutting it close he will be able to come with us. YAY!

I hope you all are having a great week!

Here is a picture of Danae (far right) and her mother and sister at the shower.

Seal Beach

A few miles north of Hearst Castle there is a beautiful beach where Elephant Seals like to come and hang out throughout the year. It was so fun to go see the seals in the wild with some good friends of ours, Stephen and Jen McVay. See the slideshow below for pictures!

Hearst Castle

Yesterday we had a great time visiting Hearst Castle. It's amazing! This place is so big there are five different tours you can take to look at different parts of the castle and grounds. We took "The Experience" tour which is the one recommended for first time visitors. It is an overview of the castle and includes looking at both swimming pools, the guest houses, and the main floor.

The castle was built by William Hearst who built his fortune though the newspaper industry in the first part of the 1900s. Hearst formally named the estate “La Cuesta Encantada” (“The Enchanted Hill”). Here is a slideshow of pictures that capture some of what we experienced.

And Now There Are Two

I just wanted to give you an update. Matthew and I have decided to keep Cali! We are very excited about the new addition to our family. Romeo and Cali are already great friends and have quickly become partners in crime as we have found out from the complete bag of treats they got off the counter when we went to town the other day.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Thursday! I hope you all are having a wonderful week! These last few weeks have been very busy here at the Ditson home. Matthew had his first test in his IQT (Initial Qualification Training) class last Thursday and says overall he feels good but he knows he still has a lot to learn. He also had his first training ride. This simulates what it is going to like inside the missle silo at Malmstrom AFB. We are very excited that Matthew’s partner in these training rides is our good friend Brian Marlo. Brian and his wife Dana live right down the street from us and are also going to Montana! I am so excited that I am going to be able to have the car sometimes and they get to carpool!

Here at the house we have become a foster family to the most adorable little Beagle. Her name is Cali and our friends who originally had her couldn’t keep her in the house they are renting. Cali and Rome love to play chase and tug-a-war and she has made herself at home very quickly, but she still seems a little small for Romeo to play the way he wants to. Matthew and I are really struggling with the decision to keep her or not.

I have finally found a job! I am going to work from home doing Xocai Healthy Chocolate! I am so excited about the opportunities and options this business opens up for us! I am having my first Chocolate Tasting and my Business Launch April 9! This is right after I get home from visiting CO for a bridal shower for my dear friend Danae!

Last but not least, this weekend we are headed to San Diego! YAY! We are hoping to take in the zoo and Sea World and many other fun stops along the way! Pictures and updates to come!

I just realized that is nine exclaimation marks in a row... I am REALLY EXCITED!

One Step Closer!

Hi All!
Yesterday Matthew graduated from his Space 100 class. He received academic achievement, which was only given to the top 10% of students. Matthew graduated with an overall score of just over a 99%! I am so proud! Last night we celebrated by going to Red Robin with some of our friends who were also in Matthew’s graduating class. Can you believe that two of them had never been to Red Robin before! We are so excited that we are one step closer to leaving for Montana! Matthew starts his classes for the missile career field today.

As much as we love CA we are ready to get the show on the road. This last week I have gone through a number of different emotions concerning our move. At first, although I tried to have a positive attitude, I was really disappointed that we weren’t going home to CO. I was sure that was where we were supposed to go! However, I have been able to think and pray this week and I remembered something that Matthew and I talked about when we first got married. We said that the Air Force was a great opportunity to see things and places that we might otherwise not be able to see. We decided that we wanted to go to as many different places as possible. Every new place we move is a new adventure, and a chance to meet people that could be lifelong friends. I also remembered that we have been praying about this move for months and I know others have been praying as well. I know that the Lord has a plan for us and that if he put us in Montana that is where we are supposed to be! I am now so excited to go to Montana! Matthew and I are already planning some fun trips to Canada, and go white water rafting! It is also exciting that home is only a one day drive, and we are only a six hour drive to my grandparent’s house in Idaho!

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family. I would like to share with you another prayer request that have been on my heart this week. One of the chaplains here at Vandenberg, Chaplain Baker, received orders last week for a one year, unaccompanied tour to Korea. His family will be moving closer to Mrs. Baker’s family while he is gone. They were not expecting this assignment for at least another year and it looks like he will be leaving in May. I know your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Below are just a couple pictures from yesterday’s ceremony. Enjoy! :)

New Year!

Wow does time fly! I can't believe we are already at the end of Feb 2009! Happy New Year! :)

Matthew and I had a wonderful Christmas in Colorado with family. We were also lucky enough to get to go to Boston to help celebrate the marriage of two of our closest friends. We spent new years with them and had a special reunion with many of our Air Force Academy friends!

My family was able to come out and visit us is CA just a couple weeks ago! Over the long weekend we got to go to Disneyland. It was a first time visit for my two sisters, my dad, and me! We had an amazing time being together as a family and going to the happiest place on earth!

The latest news I wanted to share with you is that Matthew and I found out yesterday that we will be moving to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana. Matthew will be finishing up training here for the next couple of months. It looks like we will be leaving sometime the beginning of June. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to leave. It will be bitter sweet to leave our first house and the friends we have made here.

It is my goal to keep up with this blog much better than before. I hope this new year finds you well! God Bless!