We found out this month that Trek has been selected as the new Commander of the University of Utah's ROTC Detachment 850 in Salt Lake City, UT.
We're going HOME!
We move home this summer. This will be our final stop in our military career & will put Trek at 25 years in the service after his 3 year assignment at the U of U. We are SO excited.
This is the very attachment that Trek graduated from 20 years ago when we were stationed at Hill AFB. He graduated from U of U, then commissioned as an officer & we got sent to Germany. I think it's amazing that he is ending his career commanding the same unit he started in. Talk about coming full circle.
He is SUPER excited to teach at the university & to be a support for these young cadets. This is his dream job in the military & has been on his bucket list since day 1.
I'm just happy to move HOME to where my family is. It's been way too many years of seeing them once every 5 years or so. Now we'll be less than 40 minutes from them & can visit them whenever we want. Trek has a brother in Salt Lake as well so we are just thrilled!
We got to experience something really really cool this weekend. Our church has gotten permission (& acquired the land/contractor/etc) to build a new church meetinghouse close to the base. Right now, our church members drive anywhere from 10-45 minutes to get to church each Sunday. I know in our ward (congregation) most people fit into the 30-45 minute range. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to church on Sundays & on Wednesday nights for activities.
I know 30 minutes isn't much, but when you're driving 30 minutes there, staying for one to two hours, then driving 30 minutes back, it takes a LOT of time, gas, & energy, especially for people like Trek who has a lot of leadership meetings (he goes to & from the church building an average of 5 or more times a week.)
The announcement of a new building literally 7 minutes from our front door is AMAZING. We will not still be here by the time the building is built, but I know it's going to be such a blessing to everyone who is here.
Trek & a few other members of our church got to organize & carry out the official groundbreaking ceremony. Earlier this month, Trek & the other 2 members of the stake presidency put together a really nice video inviting people to the groundbreaking.
The morning of, Trek got up early & helped set up chairs, a green carpet, shovels, tents, photos & banners, refreshments, & many other things to make the day a huge success. He had a wonderful team of people helping to make the day a big success. A lot of important people from the community came as well, including the builders, the contractor, & the mayors of the villages around Ramstein.
There was a short program with prayers, music, & some speeches & then it was time to officially break ground.
I loved looking at the photo renderings of what the building will look like when it's completed in 18 months.
Trek was so cute helping scoop the dirt.
After the official ceremony, all the families in attendance were invited to put on a hard hat & shovel some dirt as well.
Lorien & her friends helped hand out refreshments.
Then the Stake Presidency & their wives got a chance to dig in as well. That was fun to be up there with Trek.
And once it was over, we cleaned it all up & continued with our Saturday.
It was a lovely program. I'm SUPER excited for this building to be built. It will bless so many people. What a fun & momentous occasion to be a part of.
We had a really fun trunk or treat at our church building the Wednesday before Halloween. We always love to dress up with all our friends & celebrate together.
One of my little piano students was Grogu for Halloween & she LOVES Craiger, so they got a few pictures together.
We always love the chili at Trunk or Treats. I always bring a bunch of muffin tins so I can try all the different chili's. It's nice because each hole holds about 3 bites of chili so you don't get overly full, but you get to try them all.
The boys were in the costume parade.
And the teens just hung out on the stage until it was candy time.
We always hand out full size candy bars or big bags of German gummies for the trunk or treat. It's fun for me to see the kids' eyes light up when a BIG candy gets put in their bags. They crack me up. I love watching all the kids & teens interact & just have fun for the night. It makes my heart happy.
I did have to laugh though because pretty much the whole night was one big light saber battle. Every time I was looking for my kids, I just had to look for the light.
It was a fun Halloween.
We went Trick or Treating on Halloween night in one of the German villages near us. It's definitely not like the states where you go from house to house & get tons of candy. We walked around the village for about an hour & a half & got maybe 15 houses handing out candy? It's perfect in my opinion. And I love watching the German kids dress up & try to say "Trick or Treat." Halloween isn't celebrated in Germany, but the military has such a big influence here, that they've started to do it with us & it's just fun.
