Our First Christmas and New Years as a Married Couple

Being uncertain as to whether Alex would be able to come home for Christmas or not made all of us just a little anxious! We were told we would receive a phone call from our soldiers, letting us know their itinerary. Alex’s company was the last group that was able to purchase tickets, and I had been seeing all the other family members from other companies mentioning that they had heard back from their soldiers (on the facebook page). The day we were supposed to hear came and went, and the week Alex was supposed to be coming home came and went, without any money coming out of our account for the tickets and without hearing any word.  I got the information to call the travel agency they were going through and all they told me is he was coming home on Delta and his plane would arrive in PDX at 12:00.  Then she hung up.  I was relieved to know he was able to come home, but then I didn’t know if it was 12:00am or 12:00pm, so I emailed them and they sent me his itinerary! (It was pm) I was so thankful my sister, Katie, covered my shift for me at work that day so I could be there!

Alex arrived on time and even a little early! Both sets of parents and I were there to greet him! Best Christmas present EVER!

The very next day we ventured out and got our first Christmas tree! We had the best time picking it out, taking it home, snacking on hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music while we decorated together! Alex’s first requested meal was lasagna, so that is what we had for dinner!

We spent time with family, went to the Grotto’s Christmas festival of lights, finished last minute Christmas shopping, played Kinect, did A LOT of cooking and baking, watched "White Collar" and basically got to spend a lot of time relaxing. It was the best!

 Christmas Eve was spent at Alex’s Grandma and Grandpa’s, and I was able to open my present from Alex so I could wear them to Christmas Eve- a beautiful set of necklaces Alex picked out himself! So beautiful and special! Christmas morning Alex opened his gift, a knife! When we went on our honeymoon, Alex had to give his knife away because he had it in his pocket from cutting off the streamers and balloons from our car from the wedding. Thank you to David for picking out the right kind for him!

 On the 27^th we celebrated Rob’s birthday and made eggplant parmesan, even the pickiest eaters and the harshest critics enjoy this version!

For New Years, we went to our friend Jordan Harris’ performance at McMenamins in Wilsonville, it was nice to get to see friends and ring in the New Year with everyone! New Years Day we had waffles in the morning (my Mom’s gift to us was a waffle maker for Christmas) then in the afternoon we headed over to my parents to make the traditional Polish specialty, perogies! They were scrumptious like always! Everyone pitched in to share the work!

Alex had to leave the evening of the 2^nd. I was scheduled to work that day, and so Alex went and said goodbye to his family. Thank you again to my sister Katie, who came in to cover the last couple of hours of my shift for me! We’re still trying to get used to the goodbyes. We drove to the airport and stayed for about 40 minutes, I didn’t walk in with him, but we said our goodbyes in the parking lot.  We are so thankful to have each other and for the wonderful time we got to spend with eachother during our first married Christmas together!

Here is a recipe for one of my most requested meals! I have made it for 4 birthday dinners and counting! It is a lot of work, but the end result is well worth it! It really helps to have 2 people making it, one person breading while the other is frying, but it can be done with just one person as well!

Eggplant Parmesan:

2 eggplants

1 brick of parmesan cheese

6 cups mozarella

panko bread crumbs

Italian seasoned bread crumbs

6-7 eggs,

4 cups flour

oil for frying

For the sauce:

2 large cans of whole canned peeled tomatoes

5-6 garlic cloves

1 1/2 Tbs. Italian seasoning

1 medium yellow onion

1 Tbs olive oil

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp white sugar

spaghetti noodles cooked until al dente (I like whole wheat!)

Begin by peeling the eggplant, like a carrot.  Slice peeled eggplant to about 3/4 in. thickness. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.  Let weep for 3-4 hours.  Eggplants with the most seeds are males, and will not taste as bitter compared to females. For this recipe, it doesn't matter if the eggplant are male or female just so long as they have sufficiently weeped (much water will come out of them!)

Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, dice onion and crush the garilc and begin to simmer in olive oil. Hand crush the tomatoes into the sauce pan, (be careful, as they will squirt tomato juice all over you but the result in flavor is well worth the extra step of hand crushing them as opposed to buying already diced) Add the Italian seasoning and sugar. I usually add most of the juice from the cans as well as this recipe makes a lot and a lot of the sauce is needed. Let simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.

After the eggplants have sufficiently weeped, dry them with paper towels. Try and get them as dry as you can for the next step! (You will go through A LOT of paper towls doing this) Let me know if you know of a better way to dry eggplant!)

Set up a station. In the first bowl, place the flour and season with salt and pepper. In the next bowl, wisk about 4 eggs with 2 tsp of water.  In the last bowl, combine the Panko and Italian bread crumbs and 1c. of freshly grated parmesan cheese. (grate cheeses while eggplants are weeping) Have a plate ready for the breaded eggplants.

Cover the dried eggplant in the flour, next completely cover the floured eggplant in the egg mixture, then sufficiently cover the eggplant in the bread crumb mixture. Repeat these steps until all useable eggplants are breaded. You will need to replenish each bowl with fresh ingredients a few times as well as wash your finger tips multiple times!

In a large electric skillet, heat oil (canola works well) make sure the entire pan in covered and wait until the oil is very hot before frying the eggplant. Do not overcrowd your pan. Let eggplants fry until golden brown on each side. The key is to always have lots and lots of oil in your pan for frying so the bread does not burn!

In 9x13 pan, spread some of the sauce in bottom of the pan.  Layer sauce, fried eggplant and top with mozarella cheese. Repeat. You should be able to have at least 2 layers.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.  Prepare over the top of whole wheat spaghetti. YUM YUM!

Counting Down the 27 Days...

Alex left for basic training the week of Thanksgiving, it was hard to say goodbye, not knowing for certain the next time he would be able to return home, but we both hoped that he would be able to take leave to visit for our first Christmas. I want to share a little bit of what went on in his first month being in training, and what I did to keep myself sane! This is a link that Lieutenant Colonel Allen keeps families of soldiers updated. It is so nice to check everyday so I feel like I know what Alex is up to each day. I am so thankful for the technology we have today! 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/3rd-Battalion-60th-Infantry-Regiment-RIVER-RAIDERS/126205517413061

My Grandma Brecht shared with me that she had been married for only a couple of weeks before my Grandpa Brecht went to WW2 for 2 YEARS before they saw each other again. When I feel sad that we have to be apart, I think of my Grandma and Grandpa as well as other military couples today that are separated for months and even years and it makes us being apart for just these few months much more bearable!

For the first week, Alex was basically in processing, which Alex said is even worse than actual training, because it involves just standing around for hours. Those of you who know Alex well, know that he loves to talk J and besides being away from family, the not being able to talk is the most difficult part for him.  Alex performed very well in all of the physical tests and was placed in the top performer’s company, Alpha Co. Alex was thankful for all the letters he received, they are what he looks forward to, as well as Church on Sunday, where he really enjoys that chaplains uplifting messages.

This is Alex’s address: SPC Wales, Alexander

                                    A Co. 3/60^th IN REG

                                    193^rd IN BDE

                                    5482 Jackson Blvd.

                                    Fort Jackson, SC 29207

Also, it helps if on the back flap you write: 1^st PLT Predators.  When Alex left the message with his address, I originally thought he said “1^st PLT Creditors” and the drill Sergeants did not appreciate that!  


During our month apart, I tried staying as busy as I could, and had the time to do many things I have not been able to do in the past. For the first time in 4 years, I am just working part time and finishing school, instead of 2 (sometimes 3 jobs) and school. I am so thankful for my hard working husband, giving me the opportunity to have more free time! I finished up my Fall term at PSU, and took on more shifts at the coffee shop. I had so much fun decorating our home for our first Christmas! I bought garland, and found myself really enjoying doing crafts. I GAVE my first cooking lesson to a friend, had a lot of quality time with my sister and Mom, watched many musicals and chick flicks and crossed making Julia Child’s boef bourguignon off my bucket list. I also read 3 books (The Help, and two Francine Rivers books) just for the fun of it! One positive thing about our separation is the letters. I think it’s romantic to send and receive letters, the anticipation of ripping open the letter to find out what Alex has been doing is better than waiting for Christmas Eve night to turn into Christmas morning!

I will close this post with one of my special recipes; shrimp scampi! It is the meal I taught my friend how to make. It is simple, and is destined to impress your most skeptical dinner guests! It’s also the first recipe I made after Alex and I were married!

Amy’s Shrimp Scampi:

Ingredients:

4 Tbs butter

Olive oil

Angel hair pasta (I use whole wheat)

1 ½ c. Freshly grated parmesan cheese

4 green onion, finely chopped at an agle

2 Tbs. lemon

2 tsp. red pepper flakes

16-18 raw shrimp

1-2 c. white wine

3 garlic cloves, finely grated

Fresh parsley, chopped

Peel and devein shrimp. In large skillt, Melt butter over stove top and add shrimp. Add ½ c. white wine and half of the fresh garlic and parsley.   Cook pasta in until al dente. Drain pasta and add to skillet. Add olive oil. Add red pepper flakes, green onion, remaining garlic and lemon juice to pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and remaining parsley flakes.So simple and so delicious! Perfect quick date night dinner! I hope you LOVE this recipe as much as I do!

The Beginning of Our Adventures!

I like to think of out love story like Anne and Gilbert’s in my favorite book “Anne of Green Gables” (only much better) what started out as friendship turned into something sweeter, and it just keeps getting better! We met in high school and started dating our Senior year. After high school graduation, Alex went on to Oregon State University majoring in microbiology. In the summer Alex earned his EMT certification and began working for Rural Metro Ambulance Co. while volunteering at the local fire department and Emanuel Hospital. I attended the local Community College for two years, transferred to Portland State University, majoring in Child and Family Studies, and worked at a bank, pre school and local coffee shop. Alex would drive home every weekend so we could spend time with one another.  We got engaged on Christmas Eve 2009 and grew even closer planning our wedding together. Our wedding day finally came July 30,2011 and it was every bit the day I had dreamt about since I was a little girl with the lacey white dress, dancing the night away, and the most wonderful groom!

Since High School, Alex had envisioned himself as a medical doctor, but realized while working for the ambulance company and volunteering at the hospital that his favorite part of emergency medicine was the interaction with Life Flight and the flight crews.  Alex had been told the requirements for flying was perfect vision, and that eye surgery would disqualify an applicant, but the desire to fly persisted.  After much research, Alex found that the military was now accepting pilots who had had surgery for corrected vision.  He began visiting with different military recruiters, and found that the Army had a flight program that, if accepted, would guarantee a position in flight school! God perfectly orchestrated every detail; even the eye doctor had been an eye surgeon for the Air Force and was very reassuring.

  Alex had eye surgery and all went perfectly, with results even better than anticipated! Alex had to wait 6 months to proceed with his flight physical, and then he proceeded to the actual application! We both were so nervous, anxious and excited! It was a long process for Alex that involved reference letters, essays, retrieving transcripts, resumes, etc. and an interview in front of a local board who would then send their recommendations to the board in Alabama.  We were told that his application would be submitted, and if he was not accepted, it would automatically be resubmitted to the next month’s board. If denied the second time, he would have to wait 6 months and resubmit it again, if denied the third time, he would not have another chance.  We got word that Alex was not accepted at the first month’s board. It was a disappointment, even his recruiters made the comment that “if Alex Wales doesn’t get accepted, I don’t know who would!” but we were still hopeful.  About 30 days later, Alex got a call that he was ACCEPTED!!! He was one of 6 in the entire US! Gosh I was so proud of him!

 We were told that it would be at least 6 months until he would be attending basic training. We were anxious to start our journey, but also, thankful and enjoying our time being newly married. We knew being accepted meant 12 weeks of basic training, 7 weeks of Officer schooling and 18 months of flight school in Alabama (in which I would be able to move with him)  After swearing in, to everyone’s surprise, a spot opened up, and we were told he had 6 weeks until basic training.  It was a shock, but we both knew God has perfect timing. Unsure of whether he would be able to come home for Christmas break, we said our goodbyes, and immediately started corresponding through letters knowing that this is just the beginning!