Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody! We hope to find you enjoying your holiday as we are. This morning we had a small handful of friends over to the house for and Easter brunch which left us all happy and stuffed!
The past couple of months have just flown by for us, can’t believe it is actually April. The end of February we moved into our new house on RAF Feltwell, which is only about 10 minutes away from Lakenheath where Jonny works. Since then life has been much more convenient! Not having to drive so long gives us extra time to play with Aspen and Bailey in the mornings before we head off to work. Everything is finally unpacked, pictures and curtains are hung, and we bought a new sofa/loveseat set for the living room. While Jonny and I absolutely love them, the dogs may be the biggest fans… Hoping that next month the cherry wood entertainment center we dream about will be in stock and we can complete our living room! We enjoyed our nice big house in Downham Market, our new space definitely feels like home.
February was a slightly stressful month, Jonny began his new shift in the departments dispatch room, I began arranging two more bridal shoots, and we had to deal with the last minute move. We didn’t have an actual move in date until about two weeks before, so everything was up in the air! While we worked long days, Aspen and Bailey spent some time with their new best friend Hunter George. Now when I tell them they are going to see Hunter, they run in circles on the floor and get their excited tails going!
March was much more relaxed and enjoyable! We take Aspen and Bailey to the large (and I mean LARGE!) green field most mornings so they get their exercise before we head to work. I recently bought them a large stuffed dog bed, basically the size of a loveseat, at the Bury St. Edmunds weekly market hoping they crash on that rather than our couch! The first week or so we had it they just loved taking turns spreading and stretching out all over the thing, but have now realized that they can each have a side comfortably =) They’re a bit tired after having all the visitors this morning, so are curled up sleeping right now. The other key spouses and I have been working out some new station activities to get the families and deployed spouses involved so we planned a St. Patrick’s Day themed Station Dinner compete with Corn beef & Hash and green cake! I tried out a Guinness Stout Stew that was actually quite amazing! My mom was giving me a hard time that growing up I would never ever eat any kind of stew, so I decided it was the Guinness addition =) I found the recipe here

https://pattillman.checkboxonline.com/tillmanmilitaryscholars.aspx?ResponseID=c783f4d4-840d-4525-bdce-2db0b196a56c

Give it a try because there were NO leftovers and made the house smell amazing for the night!
Mid March was very busy and exciting. Jonny and I got to play “bride & groom” and did a photo shoot with the photographer I work with to help him build his bridal portfolio. We went to the St. Edmundsbury Cathedral and then an old but very nice hotel in Lavenham called the Swan Hotel. The Swan Hotel’s original room is the oldest building in the town and was built in the 14th century. It’s so amazing to think about all those walls have seen. Locals are obviously used to it, but it’s so crazy to be in a room that was created hundreds of years before our country was even discovered! But it was a blast to put my wedding dress back on for a day, at least I got two days use from it! I have a copy of some of the raw images from the shoot, Steve is editing them now then will give us a copy of the final product to keep and order what we’d like. If you want a copy let me know and I’ll stick a disc in the mail when I get them, they might arrive around our 3 year anniversary…. Slow post =)
Then just a couple days after the shoot, I took the tube down to Heathrow to pick my “mum” up from the airport for her visit! There was terminal confusion and changes mid flight, no cell phones to contact, and the underground took much longer than I thought to get there, so I was a bit nervous we’d have trouble finding each other, or she’d be a bit of a mess when I did find her, but nope! I walk off the underground and head up the escalators and saw her sitting with an Army family at a coffee shop flagging me down! Right as I got up to her, I heard our names being paged throughout the airport and said “Why are they paging us?” Turns out she had a very productive morning trying to make sure I knew she was at terminal 4, rather than 1 like we thought, and she had even managed to call the base and talk to Jonny at the fire department before I got there. Very crazy morning, but we got home ok! We spent a few days in Bury St. Edmunds at the market, did the London sites and went to Buckingham Palace, enjoyed a local tea room, then the 3 of us went to Scotland for a three day trip! We stayed in Edinburgh at a hotel only two blocks from the Royal Mile which is the main area of older Edinburgh. It starts up top with Edinburgh Castle and goes downhill for a mile to The Holyrood Palace which is where the Queen resides when in Scotland. The mile is filled with antique, wool, cashmere, and kilt shops. And lots of pubs! I think we went in them all. The day we arrived was so cold, rainy and foggy you could hardly see! The buildings really just disappeared into the fog. Had to buy a wool hat to keep from freezing! But it was still a good time. We tried some Scottish whisky (gross by the way) to keep us warm and enjoyed lots of Scottish Fish & Chips and some Sausage & Mash dishes. We all kept laughing because literally every dish was served with peas. None of us got up the guts to try the traditional Haggis dish. Maybe next time…Day 2 was still quite cold, but the sun was out and the fog was gone! We toured Edinburgh Castle most of the day which was a whole lot to see. It has been turned into a museum of the country’s wars and military over the years. We also ventured over to New Town Edinburgh which had some of the current shops and eateries of the city. Then Day 3 we enjoyed the local market day and toured the Holyrood Palace. Our flight wasn’t until that evening, so we had basically a whole day before we needed to be at the airport!
When we arrived to the Edinburgh Airport our flight had been delayed 45 minutes, then an hour, then an hour and 45 minutes, so we had some time. We just went to eat at a small place in the airport when I received an upsetting message from our squadron commanders wife. There was a couple from base who had just arrived to the Edinburgh area when they suffered a tragic accident. The couple had just returned from serving a year in Afghanistan, took their car out of storage, and drove up to Scotland for their two weeks R&R when they were having some car trouble. A mechanic told them it was a tire so they replaced it and went on their way. With all their luggage the car trunk and back seat was full, so the wife was holding the tire in the car when it exploded. While the husband was fine, the wife suffered a broken neck and severe brain damage. They asked if we would go be with him at the hospital until they could get someone else up there to help out. At this point my mom was leaving Tuesday morning and we didn’t want to chance her not making the flight back stateside, so Jonny went to the Edinburgh Royal Hospital to assist with whatever and just keep him company during that time. Late Sunday night the wife’s squadron commander was able to get to the hospital, so he sent Jonny to a B & B for the night and on a train the next afternoon home. Unfortunately Jenna had too much brain damage to survive, and was taken off life support Thursday evening. Jonny and I are going to try and attend her Memorial Service this Wednesday. Jonny has a couple Dr. apt. follow up’s that can’t be rescheduled, so we’re hoping the timing works out.
Jonny’s knees and wrists have been feeling much better lately which is a plus! Looks like his dispatch room rotation will be until August, but I know he’d like to be ready for the floor again as soon as possible just in case anything comes up. Hopefully he will have some positive answers later this week!

But overall we had a wonderful time in Scotland and are excited to go back this summer. We received some information about the traditional Highland Games throughout the countryside this summer, so we are looking to go back once or twice for those! Talking about it makes me think of the movie Maid Of Honor with Patrick Dempsey. Guess we'll go watch some "big blokes" throw a tree! It will be nice to go and spend some time in the Scottish Highlands, take a tour to go visit "Nessie" up by Lockness and Inverness.

Well summertime is almost here and we are so ready for the sun and flowers! Any day now all those buds will burst! Well when we moved originally I intended to send out new address cards, but as you can see, time just got away from me! Our American PSC address is still the same, but I will post both below so you have it available!
PSC 41 Box 2552
APO AE 09464
OR
20 Harvard Road
RAF Feltwell
Thetford, Norfolk, IP264HD

Well again we hope everyone is enjoying springtime wherever you are and have a wonderful Easter! HE HAS RISEN!!