- 1st Alabama National Football Championship of my children's lifetime
- 1st blizzard of Biblical proportions
- 1st time the Saints won a Super Bowl
- 1st monster truck show - mine and the boys
- 1st year of Little League Baseball for the big kids - Carlie made it to the championship game (and would have won it if one of her team mates had not quit running before he got to first) Jay Allen's league did not keep score, but Jay Allen did and won every game
- 1st time to see the Globetrotters live
- 1st time I carried somebody else's car to the beach (thanks, Josh)
- 1st time to hear Brad Paisley in concert (my elbows were on the stage during the sound check)
- 1st time I have been caught in a port-a-potty during the National Anthemn
- 1st time to see Nancy Pelosi in person
- 1st visit to the USS Wisconsin
- 1st (and 2nd and 3rd) surfing wipe out - at Norfolk
- 1st open air country music concert
- 1st time we have stayed in VIP quarters (because no real VIPs wanted them)
- 1st blowout on I-95 in Lucky
- 1st summer I have been away from home without deployment
- 1st time I have found a color of people I don't like as a group - don't care for the blue ones - still feel dirty for seeing Avatar
- 1st blowout on I-95 in Blue
- 1st grade (for Jay Allen)
- 1st plane ride for the boys (they yelled and cheered as we took off from Dulles)
- 1st time to Alaska for four of us
- 1st time to rent a house before we saw it - I am still shocked Cammie went along with this
- 1st live moose sighting - and first time yielding to a Moose crossing the road
- 1st live bald eagle sighting in the wild
- 1st live bear sighting in the wild
- 1st car purchase off Craig's list - the Beast is still kicking
- 1st hockey game, we are now Alaska Aces fans.
- 1st time to purchase and drive on studded snow tires
- 1st time I have ever had to spread poop with a fork and inspect it (after Jay Allen swallowed a dental spacer)
- 1st time bitten by a pit bull for Jay Allen - the dog was not mean, just toooooo rough!
- 1st time to visit a Fred Myer store - it has everything!
- 1st time to visit a reindeer farm - they tried to pick our pockets.
- 1st time to see Santa ride into the neighborhood on a fire truck
- 1st time to go dog sledding - last time to wait two hours in zero degree weather
- 1st time to go snow tubing - we are now regulars
- 1st time to live in a state with over ten reality shows! - Why the sudden popularity of Alaska, but Deadliest Catch, Ice Truckers, Sarah Palin's Alaska, Alaska Troopers, Bush Pilots - that is just a few.
- 1st time we noticed that Agent Booth on Bones has a JSU Cocky belt buckle
- 1st time our friends have posted the people they are replacing us with on Facebook after we PCS'ed - thanks Roseberrys, that hurt:-)
- 1st time that Quarterback from Mississippi (who is my age) missed a start in the NFL since I graduated college - he is the greatest QB of our time, just not the greatest example off the field
- 1st time TSA took a picture of my private parts (haven't seen them turn up on the internet yet)
- 1st time we have had Bison chili and Reindeer sausage (different meals)
- 1st time 34 degrees has felt so warm!
- 1st time Carlie brought home an F on her report card, but luckily it was in gender!
- 1st time I have had to purchase snow shovels
- 1st time one of my children used the nurse string in the hospital bathroom to get the nurse to wipe his bottom - we are hoping James becomes independent in this area.
- 1st earthquake - nothing too scary
- 1st time Cammie has carried a shotgun through an airport - and I thought she couldn't get any hotter
- 1st ice skating lessons - our kids can ice skate and we can't
