12/14/06 - 16th Letter

16th letter
Thurs. 12/14/06

So we found out Bryan’s AFOQT scores the day after I wrote the last letter to everyone. They are good scores…but…not as good as we had hoped they would be I guess. There is not an overall score, it’s divided up into 5 scores and they were 96/88/95/91/76. Yeah, that last one was for “Quantitative” and surprisingly low! Bryan was hoping his absolute lowest score would not be below the 80’s, but was really hoping that they would all be in the 90’s. The first score is for “Pilot,” so that’s good that that’s his highest one. The second one is for “Navigator,” and he was hoping that that one at least, would also be in the 90’s. Those are the 2 he was worried most about, I guess you could say. But he has joined this online officer forum and sees other candidates and other selects (people who have been chosen by the board) and he thinks his scores put him roughly in the top 10% of everyone, from what he’s seen (everyone posts their scores and stats and all that). So they are pretty good compared to a lot of other people. I guess I should tell you that the scores aren’t straight percentages out of a 100. They are scores based upon everyone else who takes the test – for example, he did better than 96% of the people on the “Pilot” portions of the test. So that’s how it works.
He also is being nominated for Airman of the Quarter. Meaning, out of his flight (over 50 guys), he is having a package (all that he’s accomplished this last quarter) put forward to have him considered against everyone in his squadron. Hopefully he gets it! That would be such an awesome thing to be able to put in his Officer packet.
And he is officially done with the semester…meaning done with all his requirements for a Bachelor’s degree!! It’s so exciting! I think it will be more official once we actually get the certificate in the mail in about 8 weeks. He was laughing at me because he was done and I still had tons of homework, saying that he wasn’t going to have to say that for a long time! (He will most likely get his Master’s Degree down the road). Yesterday I took my Final and so I am done too – HALLELUJAH!!! His job is awesome. They let him take a much extended lunch so that he could come home and watch Brock while I drove down to main base to take this test. It’s so awesome that we can do that, unless he’s extremely busy. But anyways, we TOTALLY need to have a huge celebration for him! It’s such an accomplishment! Oh yes, and he ended his degree well – he got a 4.0 this semester. His ending GPA will be a 3.8 I think. Awesome, eh? He is the first in his family, and my family, to get a baccalaureates degree. My husband’s awesome.
He went snowboarding last Saturday with 2 guys from work (his supervisor/trainer and his Supervisor - ? -), and had fun. He tried to convince me to go…but sheesh I’m not anywhere near in shape and I was afraid I’d get tired too fast to keep up with them. Besides, leaving such a little babes all day with someone….? We’ll actually probably go the week after Christmas. He went to a kind of “back woods” ‘resort.’ So this next time we’ll go to a different one because I’m not really up to that. They’re not exactly like American ski resorts here…good ‘ol Brighton…we miss America! But it’s kind of cool – you pay 4900 Yen (about $45) for 5 runs (these are long runs – they snowboarded for 5 hours and he only used 4 runs) – and they take you up in a gondola like at Snowbird…ALL the way up a big mountain – and they punch your card each run. If you don’t use all of them, you can use them the next time you come. That’s nice because in the states sometimes you pay for an all day pass but get tired before the day’s through and feel like you wasted a little money. -But it was 2-hr drive for them to get there – so they’re not exactly real close. We’ve gotten a little snow on the ground here – just enough for Bryan to shovel a little bit. But we’ve got MUCH more to come!
Update on Brock. He turned 11-weeks old yesterday. Just over 2 weeks ago, on December 5th, he had his 2-month appointment (he was more like 2 mos. 1 wk). And…guess how much he weighed. My little chunk was 15 pounds 1 ounce - ! And 24 ½ inches long. Let me remind you that when he was born he was 7 pounds 14 ounces, and 19 ½ inches long. Yes. He is in the 95th percentile for height and weight. He is in the 75th percentile for his head size. He is a heavy dude. I am glad that he’s growing his hair back. It grows kind of fast – but it’s thin – so unless you’re close I guess he still looks kind of bald. Sunday night, the 10th, I think I can officially say that he slept through the night! He was asleep in his room at 11pm, and woke up at 7:45am. …pretty sure that’s what it was anyway… I think it had been about 10 hours since he had last eaten!! He did another 7-8 hour chunk of time the next night. Yet I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was doing homework. I was up ‘til 6am one of those mornings. Man I’m glad the semester’s over! My house was a mess until that test was done. So we’ll see how consistent Brock will be with his nights. Man I LOVE that kid to death!!! – He’s so great!
I can’t believe Christmas is so close! I can’t believe I’ll be 25! We finally were able to pick up a Christmas tree on Monday. A little one for $25. So now it finally feels like Christmas in our house. It’s so nice! I’m so excited! Our first Christmas with a family of 3! Last year Bryan was in Basic Training, so it was just me, his mom, and his dad last year!
I am sick again. Sucks.
Bryan gets a week off for Christmas! These are days that don’t count against his regular leave – it’s awesome! He gets next Thursday and Friday off, then Monday (Christmas), Tues., Wed.; goes to work Thurs. the 28th, then has Friday off in conjunction with the New Year’s holiday the following Monday. We are enjoying being in the Air Force…! The 28th he has to go before a board for this Airman of the Quarter nomination, so it works out well that he has to go to work that day anyway.
We just found out that they are moving him from being a Sunday school teacher to working with the Boy Scouts – Webelos. So that’s cool.
With the pictures I attached – you’ll see Brock’s ‘cool’ overalls, him watching Bryan play Playstation, his little hand poking out of his Swaddler (what we put him in for his long sleeping times – not during the day), and amongst other things, the socks I put on his hands to keep them warm (Bryan thinks it’s unnecessary but his hands get cold!).
Um, well, I think that’s it for this time. We love you guys!
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Julie, Bryan, and Brock

Here are the pictures I was talking about, in slideshow, though most of them are posted below, anyway. (Click on the link, then the picture, and the slideshow starts - you don't need to sign in or anything).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2t7pqtrs.bs1rx2jc&x=0&y=-o61bbq&localeid=en_US