Christmas the RIGHT way

A couple of months ago Tennille and I decided that our Christmas presents to each other would be vacation. We wanted to go on a cruise with some good friends of ours, Jason and Becky... so we did.

We went on a cruise to Freeport Bahamas (this place is nasty),
Grand Caymen Islands (yum, sticky Toffee Pudding),
and Costa Maya, Mexico ($20 for a taxi ride... no way, this is Mexico)

I'm pretty sure that this was the best xmas ever. It really didn't feel like xmas at all because we are used to snow and cold weather when it is the holiday season.

In Freeport:

We just got off the ship and took a van into town. I think the best part of this day was watching Tennille in the cab ride. In the Bahamas they drive on the left side of the road, and apparently don't care about their lives or anyone elses. I still have fingernail marks on my legs from Tenille squeezing me so hard druing that ride.

In Caymen:

Here we got off the ship, and found a place to rent scooters (awesome idea) we first went to the beach to snorkel. There we met a dog named snookie Toffe, who was named after a desert. After the beach we hopped on our Hogs to try and find Hell (there really is a place called hell there) Well we got pretty lost and 30 minutes later we came upon this place called the Calypso Grill. Snookie Toffee the dog was named after a desert from here, so we figured we had to try it. Well the good news is, it was definately good enough to name a dog after. The bad news is, I have been craving it ever since. After desert we finally made it to hell and back.


In Costa Maya:

Well this was our scuba diving stop. Tennille just got certified 2 months ago and this was going to be her first real dive. Well she dove when we went to Hawaii, but she wasn't certified then. This turned out to be quite the adventure. Our dive spot was about 6 miles away from the town, and the taxis wanted $20 a way. Well I thought , This is Mexico there is no way I'm going to pay that much. So Luckily Jason speaks Spanish. The Mexicans did not want to barder, so we finally talked them into a game of paper, rock, scissors. If I won it would only cost $15, if they won it would cost $20. Well I won. We were still getting ripped off, but I felt really good about it because I just beat that stupid cab driver in a game of paper rock scissors.
When we got the the dive resort, they slowly suited us up and got us on the boat. It was about a 5 minute boat ride, but Tennille was so nervous, she was really sick by the time we got to our spot. I made her dive anyway. The Dive was really cool, and it was awesome to be able to do something I love with my wife. The best part of the story is Tennille's sickness after the dive. She was laying on top of the water moaning really load, while all of the other divers looked at her really weird, and gave me hand signals of "is she ok" Dont Worry Tennille... I wasn't embarrassed at all.

Oh, and the best part of the cruise was: I finally won something at the casino. This is the first time ever that I have walked away with their money instead of the other way around.

The Engine finally starts, and runs!!!

So we have been working for the last couple of weeks on getting this engine going. We had to have another turbo charger donated, but we got that and we have progressed pretty quickly since. Well finally today we got it up and running, and the engine self sustained. For those of you that don't know what that means: It ran after we turned the started off. So we start the engine with a leaf blower and slowly pull it away until the engine can run unassisted. I am going to post some videos so you all can see what this is all about.


Well some other things that are going on:
I have my Air Force physical on Thursday the 7th, that is going to be interesting to say the least. But fortunately that is the only thing I have left until I know when I'll be headed off to training. I'll get the physical done, then wait 1 to 3 months to get it approved. Once it is approved I'll be assigned a class date for training. It is most likely going to be June 25th but there are no guarantees.

Tennille just got a new job. It was a pretty competitive job, but she is amazing, and they realized that too. She will be interviewing 5th grade students that are part of a program that follows their development through out their lives. I'm not sure of all the details, but I know she will be going back to Washington D.C. for training, and she will be getting a laptop and a video camera to use. I guess we could use those.

Lastly, we are headed off to go on our cruise in 11 days. We are so excited!!! It is the perfect time for a vacation. We finsih school on the 15th then head out for our cruise on the 16th... Perfect!!! We are headed to Ft. Lauderdale, then cruise to Freeport bahamas, Costa Maya Mexico, and Grand Caymen Island. Tennille will get a chance to use her new scuba skills, while I tag along and see if I still remember how to dive.

Some pics of D.C.

Hey everyone,
I'm here in Washington D.C. only one more day! So far the trip has been amazing. On Friday, the wind was pretty crazy, but we all walked the mall and saw the monuments. I've never walked so much in my entire life! Yesterday, Joyce and I went to the best kickboxing class ever! I'm trying to talk Cody into taking a class with me when I get back to Utah. I loved it. After the class, Joyce and I went shopping in downtown Alexandria, which was awesome. I can't get over how beautiful the scenery and houses are here. It's been so much fun visiting my friends out here. They are doing great and are very motivated and determined to start their careers.

2 Days to go!!!

Well there is not much to say other than I'm a nervous wreck. I hopefully find out on Friday about the Air Force Pilot situation. I say hopefully because the AF is always late and the 20th is just the projected release date. Man I hope it is Friday, I really can't wait any longer. Anyway, Tennille is going out of town tomorrow to DC (see last post), so I don't think I'll post any results I hear until after she gets back and I can celebrate or sulk with her.

Well, other than the AF thing, the turbocharger Jet engine is coming along really well. Yesterday I worked on it for quite a while and basically have everything somewhat done except the oil/lubrication system as well as the ignition system. As soon as I complete those 2 things we will be ready to test. I'm including some pics of the progress in this post, so I hope you enjoy!

I'm going to D.C.!!

Hey everyone!
So I kind of ruined Cody's surprise today, but I found out that he bought me a plane ticket to Washington D.C. to visit my friends, Kara and Joyce!! I'll be leaving this Thursday and coming back on Monday. About ruining the surprise... He told me a few days ago that we were both going to go on a trip, but he wasn't going to tell me where. Of course, I hate not knowing, so I started thinking of every possible option. For some reason, I had a feeling that he was sending me to D.C. because lately I had been complaining about missing Kara and Joyce. Well, I must be a pretty good guesser, because that's exactly where I'm going! I am so excited and so grateful to have such an amazing husband...I'll post pics when I get back!

10 more days!!!

Ok so here is a little background. I applied to be an Air Force Pilot and I get the results back in 10 days. Applying is not your easy job application though, it took me over 3 months to get everything together to apply. After a very uncomfortable physical exam, an interview with a current AF pilot, and many letters of reccommendation, I was ready to submit my package. Well its been almost 2 months since I submitted and the release date is almost here... OCT 20! So in my offtime I have tried to keep my mind off of the whole selection thing, so I have been building a Jet engine (this will double for my senior project). It has done a pretty decent job of keeping my mind off of it except for the past week now. I suppose the release date is so soon now that nothing can stop me from thinking about it. Anyway, a little about the jet engine. Well, we are using a turbocharger as the guts of the engine, so basically what we have to do is: Design, build and test the Combustion Chamber, figure out a way to keep the turbo's bearings lubricated and cool, mount the whole engine somewhere for testing, and that is really all the basics that need to be done; obviously there is more to it but no need for explaining right now. Well for the past month I have been working on the most important part, the combustion chamber, and today it made it all worth it. We did an archaic test but it was sucessful and showed lots of hope for upcoming tests. We just used a shop vac to blow air into the combustion Chamber, then lit the propane with an oxy/cetelene torch, and turned her up. It really roared when you would turn the propane up, and the outside can (burner can) stayed luke warm (you could touch it) and that is exactly what is supposed to happen with the design we used. I'll upload some pics when I get them but for now I think that will be a good first post!

Hi,
This is Tennille and Cody's Blog. We will be updating it as we see fit... Peace out!