Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow has it been awhile or what. The crazy and wonderful thing is I have been keeping really busy while Owen is away. Let me get you all up to date with us. When I last wrote I was getting prepared for my first trip back to the states on my own. Well let me share with you how that went. I will tell you first off Thank God for military hops. If I ever have a choice between that or flying commercially I will definitely take the hop. It may be a little loud, cold and uncomfortable but it is so worth it. I just took my laptop and watched movies and my sleeping bag and slept on the floor. My flights were both 8-9 hrs nonstop to Wichita and back home. It was great. I had a few crazy moments like our flight back getting pushed back 24 hrs but all worked out. I got to go spend some time with Deb and Mark Shelly and their family, see Owen's brother Arlen, and eat lunch with Amanda. I want to say thanks to the Shelly family for taking me in without notice. You are wonderful people.
While at home I was blessed to get to actually see a lot of family. I got to see all my siblings and spend time with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. It was great. I did though have to go back a few days early so I didn't get to see all the people I wanted to or spend as much time with some as I would have liked. But I am glad I got to see as many people as I did. It was a great trip. Oh and I spent way to much money. Shopping here is difficult unless you want to spend a fortune so when I got home I just went crazy and felt like I wanted to get a little bit of everything. :)
Well now that I am back here, I have started work again and didn't realize how much I missed my kids. I was glad to be back there. Work has been having a few difficulties but getting to see my babies everyday makes it worth going to work every day. Besides work I have been hanging out with the girls. We just went to the movies and I and Sarina hosted a baby shower for Christina. She is due in about 3 weeks July 4. We are so excited for her and can't wait to help spoil the baby.
As for Owen, we are still getting to talk about every 2 day. Technology is fantastic I don't know how people back when survived times in the military. I find it tough but then I have to think of how lucky I am that I even get to talk to him at all. Anyways he is doing good. He is soooo ready to be home. He said the other day, I can't wait to not sleep on a hard bed and sleep in my own bed, not have a roommate, not have to walk 100 yards every time he has to go to the bathroom, and see more than the same two people everyday. He sounds so ready to be back to civilization and a little more normalcy in his life. We have only 6 days and counting. He should be back this Saturday 14 June. We are excited and anxiously awaiting his return.
Well that is about all that has been happening in the last few weeks. This week I am going to be pretty busy getting stuff done before he returns and working. I hope everyone is doing well and would like to hear from you all soon.
Missing everyone dearly,
With love,
Sara and Owen


I woke up one morning to this little deer eating my flowers. I think this is as big as they get here. He was so cute.
I got to see Kinsey and Lydia while I was back and get caught up on life with them. We had a wonderful time and I miss seeing them. But it was good to see you girls again.

This is my favorite niece, Zahara (ZD) She has grown so much and is talking up a storm now. She will be two in September. I can't believe it. Oh and little Miss Anabelle had to be in the picture.
This is at the shower for Christina. She is in the middle and then Sarina on the left. We had a great party.

Walker Update

Hey everyone,
Hope you are all enjoying the spring weather, even though it snowed at home on Friday.(crazy huh). The weather here has been pretty crazy. One day it is 65-70 and the next it is 40. It has been raining about every day but hasn't been really bad. The trees are beautiful and the flowers are blooming like crazy. I give credit to England for the beautiful scenery. Well not much has been going on. I have been keeping pretty busy with work. We are getting ready for our annual accreditation check it is a pretty big deal so things are really crazy. I have also been busy hanging out with friends, BBQing, going to the movies, and just getting together to chat. As a matter of fact this past Friday I had a girls night at the house. We made pizza, chatted, and played games. It was a fun night with lots of laughter and story telling. Definitely will have to do that again. As for Owen he has just been really busy with flying. He said nothing new has happened, it basically is just the same day over and over again. He don't mind though because he is building lots of flying hours.
I am coming home hopefully next Thursday the 15 and will be there until around the 30. I am so excited but scared. I am taking a hop from Mildenhall on a KC-135 into McConnel AFB in Wichita. I have never taken a hope so just pray that the flight leaves on time so I can come home and that all goes well.
Well I guess that is it for now. I hope to see some of you when I am at home. So until then be safe and keep in touch. I put a few pictures of some tress and flowers for you all to enjoy. And then a picture of the girls night.
Talk to you soon,
Love,
Sara

(l to r) Courtney, Andrea, Sarina, Lauren (expecting in Oct), Christina (expecting in July)

Walker Update

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the spring weather. Here in England it changes so much one day it is just beautiful, sunny and warm, and the next it is freezing, raining, and windy like it was still winter. Pretty crazy. Well not much is going on for us. I am keeping busy working and hanging out with friends. Just this weekend I went with a group of women from my bible study to a heart spa rally. It was wonderful. We went to Alconbury RAFB, about 1 hour from Mildenhall, on Friday afternoon. We had supper and then got to make some home spa remedies. On Saturday we got pampered with pedicures, manicures, and facials. We had a wonderful speaker who talked to us about being a light for God in our everyday activities. It was just a great weekend to get away and hang out with other women who love God and not be stuck at home.
As for Owen I get to talk to him about every 2-3 days. He is keeping busy with flying but loves it. He is on the night schedule so he sleeps most of the day. He said it is getting pretty hot there so he is glad to be flying at night when it is cool. He said there is not much to do there but eat, workout, and watch movies but it is not that bad, could be worse. A friend from church who was there sent me a picture so I would sort of know what it was like there.
Well that is about it for now. Just keep us in your prayers. If you want to email Owen is address is owenkwalker@gmail.com
Talk to you later,
Sara

The girls I went with

Kristy, Me, and Sarina

Michelle and Me

A place at Quatar

The Plaza (social focal point)

He's Gone

Well it is pretty quiet in the Walker household. Owen left bright and early yesterday for his 2 month deployment to Al Udeid in Quatar. He should return mid June He will be quite busy, flying as much as possible. He is living in a trailer that is split into different rooms with each room holding 2 people. The bathrooms and showers are in another trailer and they have a food hall where they can get things to eat almost 24 hrs a day. They are allowed a TV if they can find one and one computer that has to be wiped clean before they can use it. Not too pleasant but could be worse I guess. We are able to email and he calls whenever he gets a chance. I talked to him yesterday just long enough to let me know he made it and was doing fine. As for me I am doing better than I thought I would be but I am trying to keep as busy as possible with work. The nights will be the hardest and the longest but I guess I will manage, right. I am planning a trip home the end of May for a couple of weeks to help pass the time and I can't wait to see everyone again. Well that is it for now. I will keep you posted. Feel free to write or call I would love to talk to everyone or just come visit that would be great. :)

Here is a picture of Owen taken on the morning of his deployment.
Here is a picture of Owen's latest project that he took on during the month of March. ( hint: Mustache March)
Talk you soon,
Sara

A Day I will never forget

I had an experience of a life time. Owen's squadron set up a spouse's orientation flight for us this past Tuesday. We were able to go onto the KC-135 and experience a flight and a refueling. It was so amazing to view an actual refueling. We refueled 4 F-15 over the North Sea. Our pilots were Col Clifton and Capt Jessen Malathu. They were wonderful. We also had a pax monitor Lt Andy Nickles and our boom operator was A1C Jon LeMessurier. We had a show time of 6:05 in the morning, where we went through the events that the pilots go through when preparing to fly. We started by watching the weather briefing. Then they took us into the conference room and we observed the pre-flight briefing. We then went out to the plane and observed them going through all the check list on the pre-flight. We were on the plane for about 1 hr 30 min before take off. Once we took off we flew just east of England putting us over the North Sea. There we circled in the pattern until the F15 arrived to be refueled. We were there about 2 hrs. They let us go down into the boom pod to watch the refueling take place. I was so amazed at how close the planes really do get. I told the boom it would sure take a lot of nerves to do this because of how close they get. It is only about 30 feet from where we are looking from. The boom operator was Owen's boom from when we were in Altus, OK so he let us play around with the boom for a little bit. I got to move it all over. That was awesome because Owen told me later he has never got to even do that. After we had refueled all of the planes we then headed home. We landed around 12:00. It seemed like a long day for us but they said to them it was really nothing compared to what they normally do on a daily bases. I had a great time and would love to do it again. Below are a few pictures and a video I took during the flight. I hope you enjoy.

Col Clifton and Capt Malathu

The boom pod.
They actually lay on their stomachs the whole time they are refueling the planes.

A view from the boom pod
An F-15 we just refueled
Me and the boomA video of the refueling

Easter

Easter was a crazy day for us but really enjoyable. We woke to 3 unexpected inches of snow and more coming. It was rather beautiful but cold. We then went to church and heard a wonderful sermon. After church we went to our friends Jake and Sarina's house in Ely for dinner. There were 8 of us and we had a great time. After dinner the guys sat around and watched some basket ball while us women played a few games. Easter was a great day even with the unexpected snow fall. We hope you all had a wonderful day also.

Easter Day

Week with the Mom's and Aunt Janice

This was such a great and wonderful week with the mom's and Aunt Janice. They arrived early on Thursday the 21st of February and we had them for a full week. We started out their trip with a short ride from the airport to our home. Since they had flown all night to get here we fed them breakfast and let them catch their barrings for a few minutes. We would have let them take a nap but they probably would have slept the rest of the day. So we decided to take them to a nearby town called Cambridge. We viewed a lot of colleges, went to a chapel service at King's College (heard a young boys choir sing), and had lunch near the river. Then we called it a day. On Friday we let them sleep in and then took them around the base to show them where we worked. Owen was wonderful and actually got to take us to view the KC-135. I think they really enjoyed seeing what he flew and what it looked like inside. On Saturday and Sunday we went to London. Saturday we went around and saw as many sites as we possibly could, war time tunnels, British Museum, Big Ben, The Eye, Houses of Parliament, West Minster Abbey, and many more. That night Aunt Janice treated us to a London show. We saw "The Sea" and I bought a cup (really about 1/4 of a cup lol) of ice cream for $6. Pretty crazy but boy was it good. Oh and the show was great not wonderful but pretty good for my first real show. Then on Sunday we drove back to London and spent all day touring the Tower of London. Even though it took most of the day, it was worth it. Then we took them on a river cruise at night to see all the sites on the river.

Monday was a down day to catch up on some sleep and relax a little bit. We did take them to Bury St. Edmond to view the abbey and do a little shopping. Then on Tuesday we were back on the road to see Dover Castle and the White Cliffs of Dover. That also was a long day but well worth it. It is located southeast of London and took us about 3hrs and 15 min. to get there. We saw the castle and then took them to eat the famous Fish and Chips (french fries) and then headed home. We hit rush hour traffic in London which was pretty crazy but Owen did a great job getting us through it and home safely. Wednesday was a day of last minute shopping and going out for some English tea in a little tearoom here at Mildenhall. Then Thursday we said our goodbyes and took them to the airport for their long journey back to the states.
It was so so wonderful to have them here and to show them a little bit of what England is like and what we are doing here. We hated to have them leave and wished they could have stayed longer but that just means they are going to have to come back soon to do more site seeing. We did a lot for a weeks worth of touring and hope we didn't wear them out too much but we had a blast with them and can't wait till they return.
Well now that they have been gone for a couple of weeks we are back to our schedules of work work and more work. Owen is currently on a week TDY to Spain, Greece and the Desert. But is to return on Saturday. He also found out he is scheduled to deploy in April for 60 days. We are not looking forward to being apart but are hoping it goes by fast. As for me I will be here working and am planning on taking a couple weeks the end of May to come home since he will be gone until sometime in June. I just ask you keep us in your prayers and that everything will go quickly and that God will keep Owen safe while he is down there and me while I am here without him. (If anyone wants to come and keep me company during that time I am looking for takers I will even put you up and feed you lol) That just about sums everything up for what we have been doing lately. Hope everyone is well and would love to hear from you all soon. Keep in touch. Missing everyone dearly,
Sara and Owen

Owen and I on the river cruise down the Thames River in London


A gun display at the Tower of London
Thought those from Atwood would appreciate this. We stumbled upon this in London and thought of all of you back home.
A fruit cake display in Harrods. Harrods is a seven story shopping center in the rich part of London. It was really overwhelming but gorgeous.
A guard on duty but don't remember what building he was guarding, sorry.

The White Cliffs of Dover and the English Channel.
Port where you can catch the ferry to France. They say on a real clear day you can see France it is only about 23 miles from here.
A view of the coast from the castle
Tea at Emily's (Sylvia, Sylvia, Janice, Sarina, and Kyle)