Spear Fishing

Last Friday, Chet ditched work (with permission, of course) to go scuba diving and spear fishing with a couple of guys from work. He caught (speared?) two fish, had a great time, and can't wait to go back!

Cobia

Snapper Sheephead...with (disgusting) teeth!

Chet's Promotion

This is a late entry, but Chet was promoted to Lieutenant (LT) on June 3, 2009. Our friend, Chris, administered the oath, and I had the privilege of pinning the shiny new bars on his right collar! Chet works mostly with civilians, and they don't always seem to understand military customs, but Chet brought cake to the ceremony, so they all showed up anyway! (Chet's Commanding Officer was out of town that week, which is why he wasn't present.)

Oath

Pinning

Cake

Introducing Dolly!

Here are the pictures of our new car, as promised! We bought a 2006 Toyota 4 Runner Limited for a great price from Wes' dealership in Orlando. And, in case the title of this entry isn't obvious enough, we named her Dolly (sounds a little like Sally, doesn't it?).

Dolly

Front Seat/Dashboard

Backseat (with built-in trash bag holder!)

Trunk (it can be one- or two-tiered)

New Tires Chet Attaching Front License Plate Finished Product Proud Owner

Orlando

Saturday, Chet and I drove to Orlando to visit Jenni (Chet's sister) and baby Jacob. Tyler was visiting his cousins out of town, so we didn't get to see him, but we did get to visit with Wes at the dealership...for quite a while! One of the reasons we drove to Orlando was to look at new (and used) cars at Wes' dealership, and we ended up buying one (pictures to follow...we haven't taken any yet)! In addition to the thrill of driving back to Jacksonville in a new car, it was great to visit with Jenni and her family. Now that Chet and I are more stable in Jacksonville (and not always out to sea), we plan on visiting our family in Florida more often.

Chet, Jenni, and Jacob

Jenni, Jacob, and Ashley

Jacob was tired from the long day, and the only thing he seemed to like was Chet holding him like this so that he could stare at the moving ceiling fan.

Here's how he eventually ended up...

Thanks again, Wes, Jenni, and Jacob, for a great Saturday!

House Hunting

Now that we know we're staying in Jacksonville for a while, we'd love to rent out the condo we own and buy a larger house (here's one we looked at the other day, very close to the beach and the Mayport base). As I'm sure you all know, now is the perfect time to buy; we're just praying for renters for the condo.

There are tons of neighborhoods in Jacksonville, several that we'd be happy in. Our goal is not necessarily to buy our dream home, but to buy a house that will be fairly easy to sell when it's time for us to transfer from Jacksonville. As far as preferences, Chet would love to live as close to the beach as possible and have a garage (finally!), and I just want more storage space and neighbors who make an effort to mow their grass!

We're blogging!

Hello family and friends! Chet and I decided to start a blog as we're both pretty bad about updating our Facebook pages (even though it's fun for us to view everyone else's updates!). We've had a hard time keeping in touch with our family and friends the past three years due to our hectic (and completely opposite) ship schedules, and hope this blog will help us to continually update and stay close to the people we love.

Here's what we've been up to since July 2006...

We were able to spend our first few months of marriage together in Jacksonville, FL, since both of our ships were undergoing extensive repairs. But in January 2007, Chet's ship (USS Simpson) began going out to sea quite often, and my ship (USS De Wert) followed in March 2007. Since then, Chet has been on a six-week trip to Europe and a six-month deployment to South America, and I've been on a (different) six-week trip to Europe, and two five-month deployments to South America. Needless to say, we haven't spent much time together! Thankfully, that has begun to change for good! In December Chet transferred from his ship, out of the Surface Warfare Community, and into the Civil Engineer Corps (CEC). He attended school in California for three months (January - April) to learn about his new career, and just started his new, three-year job at Public Works Department on the base in Mayport, FL. Chet and I are both very happy with this change, mostly because he will be landlocked for the next three years! I am finishing up my second sea tour on my ship as the Navigator and just found out that I will also be working in the Jacksonville area for the next couple of years! We were praying hard that I would be chosen for this position, as there are very few Navy desk jobs available in the Jacksonville area. I will start my new job around November, and will be working at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, just across town from where we work now.

I think those are enough details for now (and hopefully our civilian family and friends weren't too confused by all of the Navy talk!). We have the best of intentions for this blog, so don't be afraid to bug us if we go too long without updating...

Love,
Chet and Ashley