Introducing Capt. King

Nathan was promoted to Captain for the Rhode Island Air National Guard.

Here are a few pictures from this special event.

Nathan is blessed to work with incredible people. This is a picture of him and the comptroller (Eddie Oullette). Lt. Oullette has been so wonderful to Nathan and our family. He spoke at the promotion and talked about how Nathan not only met all of his expectations, but that he far surpassed them.

Lt. Oullette and I each pinned the new captain rank onto Nathan.
Ammon loves to wear daddy's hats.

Nate, I'm so proud of you and all you do for your country and our family. Although moving to the east coast has been a challenge (, it is so wonderful to have Nathan come home happy after a long day of work. He not only enjoys work but also the wonderful people that he works with. We hope to some day move closer to family, but for the time being we are loving the experiences that we're having here. I personally could do without the snow, but consider myself to be very blessed.

On the Road Again

I've finally started running again and I love it. I recommend a website called www.runnerslog.com. My furthest distance so far is 10 miles, but eventually I would like to run a marathon, so I am going to be increasing that over time. I hit 30 miles this week in four days and feel great. I have lost 10 pounds since I started eating better and hitting the pavement. I have been surprised how quickly my body has adjusted to running again. I'd like to hit a 5K this summer to guage my progress.

Diet time

OK, so I have finally started the diet that I have long been delaying. I had begun to tip the scales at about 183 at the highest points. The days of my eating whatever I want and not gaining weight have ended. My goal is to get back to 165, the weight I was at when I got married.
Here is my method: I am using a free website called thedailyplate.com. I enter everything I eat into the website. It has a search tool where it will pull up the nutritional value of each item. It will total the calories, fat, carbs, etc and match it as a percentage to your daily goal. I am attempting to eat a balanced 2100 calories a day. I do this only on my work days (Tuesday through Friday). I also combine this with a tough 45 minute workout. On the days I am not working, I eat whatever I want, but I attempt to eat in moderation.
So far, the results have been great. In about two weeks, I have dropped down to 176. Time will tell if I can reach my goal and stick to the diet. Wish me luck!

A Cousin and a Brother (from another mother)

I went to Boston to visit my old mission buddy, Ben Clement, who is about half way through law school. My cousin, Holly King, was able to come over and hang out with us. We had a great time reliving old stories and eating Bulgarian food. We made "Schmokey" and Holly was able to experience the missionary favorite dish for the first time. It consists of drained ramen noodles, eggs, fried potatoes, onions, and topped off with plain yogurt. Combined with the right seasoning, it is awesome. We also had bread with Lyoutinitsa (vegetable spread) and cirene (Bulgarian Feta).

"What are you doing here?" That is the greeting that Holly and I have given each other since she was 10 years old. It started when I came over to her house to see her brother Ben and she gave me the snootiest look and whined, "What are you doing here?" It has continued ever since. We enjoyed catching up on family news and stories.

One Week In San Diego

I just spent one week in San Diego for a Air National Guard Budget Course. It was a great course and I am excited to take the knowledge back to my job. I am told that it usually takes about two years in my position before one becomes comfortable in the job. It is a bit overwhelming at times, but it was nice to network and find people who are willing to share information.

On our final day, we had to brief a mock Financial Management Board (FMB), which is a quarterly meeting of the base commander and the group commanders (Operations, Maintenance, Mission Support, and Medical). I will be attending my first real FMB this month, so this was a good practice run.