Ode To Kevin

I wont write a poem or sing a song, but I wanted to draw attention to what an amazing man I'm married to. He wouldnt toot his own horn here, so i'll do it. He has already RL progressed, as of a few weeks ago,(no longer has to fly with an instructor as a copilot) so I decided this was a perfect time to focus ya'll into his hard work in all it took to accomplish this!

It all started in Dec 2007. I was at drill in Pocatello, and he was drilling in Boise that particular weekend. He sent a text that went something like this:

Him: Wouldn't it be cool to be a Blackhawk pilot?

Me: Yeah, that'd be sweet

Him: You'd let me?

Me: You'd have to have a degree, you know, be an officer?

Him: Nope, I could be a warrent officer [no degree needed] Would you let me do that?

Me: Of course, that'd be really neat. Why wouldn't I "let" you?

Two months later, we find ourselves with the townhouse rented, and relocating to the Boise area. We quit our jobs, quit school, and said goodbye to friends. We had no idea if it would even work out, but move we did. I wondered more often than once if we were crazy. Don't doubt my faith in Kevin's abilities, it was just pretty unsettling to have no idea if they would accept him or not! Like always, Kevin was quickly known for his super powers. People would see my name tape at drill and ask, "are you the one that scored so high on the aviation test?" Oh, nope, that would be my husband ;). In the mean time, he got his private airplane pilot license too.

Kevin's 1st airplane solo. may 2008

In June 2008, the phone rang with the good news. Be ready for December the man said. The chance we had taken payed out, and Kevin was clearly walking on air. Despite the high number of applicants who didn't make the cut, Kevin was placed high on the list that did. I would say he blew them away. He would dispute it, but he is just being modest. Well, we didn't make it to December. We got a call on a Friday late September informing us we would need to be leaving by the following Tuesday to make it in time for Kevin to start WOCS (warrent officer candidate school). Apparently, someone else who was going to go then, had to get some minor surgery, and Kevin was shoved into his place. We didn't mind.

Kevin Graduating WOC School Nov 2008

Schooling began 4 days after we drove through those Fort Rucker gates and lasted over a 20 month period. Enduring weeks away from home, starvation, mock pow camps, LOTS of dedication to studying, PT, a week long ferocious map- making project in our living room, a little bit of time to play, and of course, learning to be a quite above average pilot.

Kevin in the pilot seat as we watched from the tower on family day. June 2009

He officially graduated the Army Aviation School of Excellence UH-60 course (Blackhawk) April 29th, 2010. He is so smart that he was an honor grad, without spending as much time as most in the books, not a shock to anyone, but still I'm still proud, none-the-less. He worked so hard, and he deserves every ounce of reward. He is such a great husband, father, pilot, person. Chloe and I love him very much, and the sacrifices he makes for us. We are very blessed to have him in our lives.

Kevin's flight school graduation. (Look how much

Chloe has grown from his WOCS grad to here :))

He continues to impress the people in his unit. He always seems to know the answers to their questions, I believe its come to the point where some are doing their best to "stump" him. I think they'll have to keep trying - my hubby is such a smarty pants!

What does 13.1+6.2+ (40x0.5)+0.93+24.8+6.2 equal ???

It equals a lot of sore muscles, that's what.

Upon moving back to Idaho, I was promptly talked into a half marathon (13.1 miles). I was super nervous, and I KNEW mom would leave me in the dust. Luckily, about 1/4 mile into it, I happened upon my cousin Emily, and we ran the whole thing together. Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, just a mind over matter thing. The longest I'd run up to that point was 10 miles, so naturally, I was most concerned about the last 3. I had a blast, but found I have no desire to do a full marathon. Mom did end up leaving me in the dust. My goal was 1. to finish 2. Not walk 3. Have under 10 minute miles. I actually had just under 9 minute miles, taking me under 2 hours! I placed 15th out of 83 in my division. I was really surprised I did so well.

The next race I did was a 10k in Bonners for the Kootanie River Run. I was just shy of 3rd place in my division, but it was a fun run nonetheless.

And, the craziest thing I've done to date, was letting mom talk Emily and me into a 40 mile 2 person relay in Idaho Falls. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it was flat, but no, it was anything but flat. We each did 20 miles, alternating out every 5. Mom was on a different team. Here is Emily giving me water as I am on mile 19 while mom is headed back on mile 21. Joe was our driver, and he was awesome.



These last 3 races were just "training" for the competition I was in on Saturday. In January, my good friend Brenna talked me into doing a triathlon in Burly. Which was totally crazy because I wasn't a "trained" swimmer, I didn't even have a bike, or any knowledge of how a triathlon works. And, the week before, Brenna informed me she wouldn't be able to make it to Burly as planned.

I was really nervous, I barely slept on Friday night. Here I am about to go get into the water. I was also wondering if I was crazy because about 95% of the people had wet suits. The water was actually really warm, so I was glad I didn't have to peel a wet suit off to get on my bike. I was in wave 6, which means I started 50 minutes after the 1st wave, with one going each 10 minutes. It really boosted my self esteem to pass people with "5" on their swim caps! It took me 20 minutes to do the 1.5K (.93 miles) swim, thanks to the Snake River current :). I was not fond of the dirty water making seeing impossible, so I mostly did the breast stroke.


Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures on the bike, they just missed me after coming back from breakfast. The biking part was SO much fun. It was a blast to blow by people at 25 miles an hour! My average speed was 20.2, taking me 1 hour 13 minutes to finish the 24.8 miles. The running after wans't too bad for me to "get my running legs back" as everyone says, I just had stomach cramps/side ache for almost all of the 6.2 miles. Here's me running faster for the finish line, it was all down hill, so that was the easiest part of the whole run. My time was just under an hour, total triathlon time was 2 hours 39 minutes. I was thinking it would take me over 3.5 hours or something crazy! I had a blast, and it was really great to have Kevin, Chloe, Dad, Joe, and Alexis and Elise there to cheer mom and me on!


I ended up 9th in my division, and surprisingly, I can actually walk today. I have a few sore muscles, like in between my shoulder blades and my hamstrings. I'll be back to normal in a few days and I will begin training for swim team! I am so excited for that. The guy who runs the swim team in Caldwell was helping me train for the tri and thinks I can be competitive as a swimmer, so that is my next adventure. So, since starting training in January, I started out about 157 and a high body fat %. As of now, I weigh 141 and I am down to 16%! I have never been this lean, or worked so hard on something, might sound lame, but I'm kinda proud of my hard work.