A beautiful idea

An idea is percolating in my little head...

My hubby is my pilot and together we love adventure....

While on our adventures, I'm the documenter of the beauties we discover...

I'm the artist and my pilot helps me find the best shots....

I'm seeing a way of life coming together....

That just might change me.

A {Helicopter} Pilot's Wife

Make no mistake. 

My husband is now **OFFICIALLY** a helicopter Pilot!

If you know us very well, you know what a struggle this has been financially getting Bryce back into school again. He started learning to fly helicopters back in....2010 and after a few months we ran out of funding and struggled to get a loan until this year! So he went 2 1/2 years of just waiting to fly again. 

And let me tell you, he is now one HAPPY man. I LOVE when my man is happy.

So my point is, 

Two week ago Bryce took his Private Pilot:

Written test (97%)

Oral test (passed and was told he did awesome!)

Flight test (passed again!!)

Below is just after they landed after the flight test. I was waiting anxiously just inside the hanger to hear the news. They sat there talking for 10 minutes! Kill me!! Did he pass??????

{Oh girl, look at that face! Of course he passed!}

 We went inside and did the paperwork....

 BAM. And there you have it. :)

What's next? 

He's currently working on his next license (Instrument license: flying using instruments to know where you are going, no looking outside. This prepares you for flying in bad weather. ie: fog, clouds etc)

That will take several months. After that he'll prepare to get his Commercial license. This will allow him to be hired (eventually) by a company and actually get PAID. Yay $$$$!

Then, he has to build up hours of flying time in order to be hired anywhere. So he'll train to be a Helicopter Instructor so he can turn around and teach guys just like him but he'll be paid to do it instead of having to pay the $100-$300/hour cost. 

Once he's racked up enough hours, he'll start applying for awesome places doing things like:

Grand Canyon Tours, Hawaii tours etc

Oil Rig Pilot

Heli-Skiing Pilot

And a bunch of other stuff.

After working for places like that, he'll get even more hours and the ULTIMATE GOAL (one day!)

is to be a Heli pilot for a Hospital or Search and Rescue or Border Patrol. Those are his favs right now.

So I am Crazy proud of this guy! He's my favorite and I'll be keeping him around...... 

XOXOX Bryce!!!

A Long Time Coming

After almost a year of deliberation and going back and forth and trying to find the loans and the time....Bryce started Helicopter School at Mountain Air here in Logan this morning! He has to get 6-8 hours of ground school done before he goes up in a Heli so after his two hour session this morning, he wiggled his way into another one this afternoon. He's bound and determined to be able to start flying by Monday or Tuesday. 

He's been sitting around the house all weekend READING his new "textbooks"...they certainly don't look anything like mine! :) It's amazing to see him so excited. His class was this morning at 8:00 AM and it's about a 15-20 drive so he had to be out here around 7:30. He is NOT a morning person....at all. But there he was this morning, practically whistling while he got ready; it was strange. But it made me so happy. He's been waiting so long. 

Just before he left he said, 

"You know what would be cool?"

"What?"

"Once I get my instructors license, you could go learn to fly because I could just teach you ground school at home and you wouldn't have to pay for it."

I nodded and asked if that was allowed.

"I don't know but would you if it was?"

"Totally."

Bryce has brought this idea up before of us Both being pilots. I think that would be So Dang Cool. It wouldn't work too great with raising a family but we can dream. ;) haha

Not to mention the cost would be ludicrous...it's awful enough just for Bryce but for a slow learner like me...yikes. ;) 

ANYWAY, We are so excited about this new phase in our lives. Our one year is coming up fast and I'm finishing up my job (I'll be done there for sure by June 6th) and I'm just looking looking looking for another full time job. I've decided to not go back to school in the Fall so I can keep working full time. We're hoping I can go back soon though and finish. 

In other news, we are still LOVING our home. I think we'll be renewing our contract when it's up in November. I just can't get enough of this place. Since SPRING has SPRUNG, the river in our back yard is so FULL and we leave our window open all night. And the TREES are BEAUTIFUL!!! :)

These trees are in our front yard next to the driveway.

This is our backyard. The River is just beyond the pink tree to the right and the yard past the fence is our neighbors' yard. They have lots of dogs and lots of kids too. It's so fun to live in a neighborhood where kids play outside all the time. :)

Oh! and one of my favorite parts about our back yard is the bench right there in the bottom. There's another one of the other end of the yard too!!

And here's a pic of our BEAUTIFUL bed! I did some rearranging of my throw pillows after we got our 500 thread count chocolate brown sheet set!!! So now the colors are choc brown, sage green, and white. mmmmm...it's like mint chocolate..... ;)  And maybe you think it's bad to put that choc brown with our black furniture .... but I LIKE it. 

low

Well, that was certainly a different response than i thought i would get. ...

I just have to say, reading those comments made me bawl like a baby. (still am). 

Not only have i completely fudged my new leaf goal of not thinking neg. thoughts, but i wish i hadn't even said it in the first place because I've fudged it so bad. 

I don't really know where to start...

FIRST: My house:

we live in a basement apt of a house. We moved in loving it and thinking it was so great. and then i noticed the humidity level was...pretty much worse than MO in the summer but cold, not hot with it.  then we noticed the weird smells. and then the black and green mold growing in our window sills that was there before we moved in that we just hadn't noticed until we had already been here a month. And then come to find out this lovely mold has grown ALL over my boxes of new kitchen wedding gifts still in boxes under my kitchen sink....i pull them out and the boxes LITERALLY fall apart in my hands because they're so wet and MOLDy. I had to chuck all the boxes and haven't had the heart to throw them away so all those previously beautiful new appliances are now covered in more mold in my other kitchen cupboard that i hadn't opened until today. lovely right? right.   (PS, we've been trying to get our landlords over here for a MONTH and they say they'll come by tonight FINALLY so here's hoping)     Not to mention the constant mold that grows across our bathroom ceiling that i tried to clean once a week (WITH BLEACH) but came back every time no matter how much we try to keep it aired out. ...... and that is not mentioning the stink that follows me around everyday AFTER leaving the house---it has penetrated my clothing so thoroughly that after washing it, the smell is back within 10-15 mins of having it out of the dryer. 

SECOND: (yes that's all just 1)

As i said the other day, bryce and i are now 90 % sure he'll be doing the HELI school here in Logan (yes, that will cost us $65,000). Which brought me to my decision (not a final one) to quit school and start working full time. That much money in debt scares the crapppppers out of me considering the state of the economy at the moment. It makes my $2000 of debt because of freakin mary kay look like childsplay. 

THIRD: connected to the second...

School. Yes that's what this was all about, yeah? I also blogged about this a bit ago...

I have five semesters left after this semester. and that's IF i play my cards right and take on quite a bit every semester. I may be almost done with generals but have a ton of upper division art credits to take. Which leads me to something several ppl have mentioned .... if i quit school now, what if bryce dies and i have to support myself? Well, even with a Bachelors of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Drawing and Painting, the only options i have are selling my art (already try that) and doing seminars at colleges, towns....etc. wherever i can get one and have like...mini classes and demonstrations.....not exactly what i want to do with my life. 

Every time i've considered quitting school, ppl have said well if you can't do anything with your major than switch. My answer: nope. This is what i'm doing if im going to stay in school. I don't want to do art education and honestly don't have any other interests that would cause me to want to stay in school another three years in order to switch.  

So that just leaves me wishing i hadn't turned over a new leaf because all i want to do is cry and think about how crappy i'm doing in school and how much i hate painting and think my work is crap-o-la.  or how at the moment i'm supposed to be cleaning my moldy house so that when the landlords come they dont' think its moldy because of us.  OR how according to some enlightening internet research Jen did for me, exposure to mold can cause headaches (bryce-everyday), constant sinus infections, cancer, neurological diseases, fatigue, muscle aches,  allergies, sensitivity to certain chemicals, ... oh and here...

allergies arthritic-like aches asthma bloody noses chronic headaches coughing "crawly" feeling skin depression dizziness or stuffiness epileptic-like seizures equilibrium or balance loss fatigue flu-like symptoms

irritation of the eyes, nose or throat loss of memory loss of hearing loss of eyesight nausea restlessness runny nose sinus congestion skin rashes sneezing trouble breathing unexplained irritability upper respiratory distress toxic headaches

To say the least, we've been looking for another place to live for almost two weeks. and this week we ARE GOING to FIND a place no matter what. i can't stay in here. the last two nights, the smell on our newly cleaned sheets was so bad i had to pull out a blanket thats been packed away and cocoon myself, including my head in it in order to sleep.

Like Jen said on the phone though, at least I'm married and i don't have to worry about that. 

Lol 

Our ABC's

I would like to remind YOU ALL that my birthday is coming up so you can all sing me praises on my annual day of birth.

On which day you can also go tell my MOTHER how wonderful she is for bringing me into this WORLD. :) www.thegrandrowls.blogspot.com

So this day is OCTOBER 8th! Next week, on WEDNESDAY. 

My other reason for doing this is that I AM HORRIBLE with people's birthdays and remembering them SO my plan is to help y'all remember so you don't feel BAD. ;) I'm so nice, i know. 

Besides that...well I'm excited for conference coming up...and i get to see some fam which is way fun! (on My side as well as Bryce's side.)

Also this weekend, in between conf sessions, Bryce and I are scheduled to meet with the main guy that oversees all the Heli. Pilots at the Nat. Guard unit in West Jordan. So we'll be able to FINALLY ask all our questions and so we can see if it's even something we want to keep considering.  WOOOHOOOO!!!