Meet the Members Monday

Hello! My name is Tara and I am married to Dan Kuckel who is a Navy MS3.  I am from Jacksonville, Florida which is where Dan and I met.  Dan was a prior Naval Flight officer for eight years before coming to USU.  He was in flight school and I was in radiology school when we first met in 2003.  We were married in 2004 and now have two amazing children.  Daniel is five and will be starting kindergarten this fall.  Anna is almost 8 months and is constantly trying to keep up with her big brother.

I am lucky enough that my job allows me to work part time.  I work in the Cardiac Catheterization lab at Shady Grove Hospital.  I really enjoy working and love that I’m able to stay home every other day.  It is the perfect balance for me.

We have enjoyed being a navy family for almost 11 years.  I have enjoyed meeting other spouses and have made some very close friends over the years.  We have moved three times in our 8 years of marriage.  We have lived in Florida and North Carolina.  We really like the DC area and all the culture and history it has to offer.

 
As for hobbies, I enjoy reading, baking, swimming and just got back into jogging. I am hoping to meet more spouses during our last year at USU and I look forward to attending more spouse’s club activities.

SSC Wounded Warrior Run

Meet the Members Monday

My name is Sarah Roberts and my husband, Haydn, is a MS1 for the Air Force.  We are from the Seattle area and met at Washington State University in a country swing bar in Moscow, Idaho.  We have been married just over a year and a half.

I graduated with a major in Hospitality Business Management and a minor in Business Administration.  I have worked in the food service for companies like Microsoft, Boeing, Seattle Public Schools and most recently DC Public Schools as an Area Director.  I manage nine school cafeterias just east of the capitol building but thankfully have never had to don a hair net.

Besides working, I enjoy sewing, paper crafts, happy hour, baking, photography, reading and working out with others.  Before our furniture arrived here in Maryland, I bought some tools, found some pallets, and completed a pallet coffee table that we love.  I also like to take ideas from Pinterest and actually create them or adapt them.  Haydn just bought me a sewing machine so I have been taking clothes from my closet and remaking them or just starting from scratch with fabric and a pattern.  I have also created a blog, Where My Love Takes Me (wheremylovetakesme.wordpress.com), to keep friends and family up to date but it keeps veering to a craft and food blog. 

Last year, Haydn and I ran the Rock and Roll Marathon (I did the half).  Together we have traveled to Tijuana, Thailand, South Korea, Puerto Vallarta and a road trip to Arizona and California.  While we were in Washington we would go on hikes in the Cascades, surfing in the Pacific and sailing on a catamaran in Case Inlet.  We also enjoy touring wineries and breweries, watching sports and going to baseball, soccer and hockey games and play board games with friends.

This year I’m planning on running the Diva Dash (divadash.com) with a group of yet to be determined friends, hint, hint.

Meet the Members Monday

Hola! My name is Monica Malof and I am the proud wife of Farid Ali Malof, MSII, Air Force, no prior service. Farid and I met on a blind date set up by my best friend for our sophomore year Homecoming Dance. After a couple of group dates we soon discovered we had quite a lot in common and who would have known I would be spending the next 12 years of my life (and counting) by his side. We were lucky to both attend the University of California, San Diego and get many chances to travel together to places like my home country of Guatemala, Mexico, Japan and Vegas whenever possible. After college, Farid worked for a pharmaceutical company and discovered that research was not his thing. He then worked for CARE ambulance as an EMT and soon told me he now knew his true calling was to be a doctor and help others through a career in the military. That decision made 2011 the most exciting year of our lives: getting commissioned, planning a wedding in a couple of months at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego, quitting our jobs, taking him to the airport on 4^th of July for COT, packing and grabbing our dog Kiyoko (half Akita, half German Shepard) for my first trip across the US (an adventure with which the Spouses Club helped me greatly). Currently, I work at USUHS at the Graduate Education Office alongside the lovely and vivacious Maj Harris and Dr. Metcalf. I couldn’t have asked for better co-workers, who make me look forward to going to work every day. Both Farid and I are so thankful to the military for giving us such wonderful opportunities to travel and become part of the USUHS family making such meaningful friendships along the way, not to mention having better healthcare, financial stability, and so many other benefits that we now enjoy. We so look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives together and to all the adventures that military life has to offer.

Fiesta Party!

Meet the Members Monday

My name is Katherine and I’m married to an Army MS1. We have three children who are 4, 6, and 8.  My husband is prior military (14 years) and was a pilot. I met him during flight training in New Mexico where I grew up. I was serving in the College and Career ministry at church and he had joined us one night. The rest is pretty much history. As cliché as it sounds I call wherever the military has us “home”, because it’s the place I share with my husband and children.

We were in FL for 8 years before moving here to the DC area. Coming from a squadron where the deployment revolving door had us without daddy for 6+ mouths out of every year, life in DC has been a wonderful change. Though I miss the tight knit community we left. I love DC the area, there is so much to do, see, and explore. We could probably do without the snow shoveling though!

I am a SAHM, and sometimes WAHM through my Love Abounds shop on Etsy and Hyena Cart online. Before I was a stay at home mom I worked as a geriatric nurse. I love being able to be at home with our kids and know that it’s a huge blessing, which I sometimes have to remind myself after I’ve swept cereal off the floor for the 4^th time in one morning. As far as interests and hobbies, I like photography, party planning, writing, paper crafting, cooking, reading, and blogging at pleasegivepeasachance.blogspot.com . I’m pretty addicted to Pinterest too, does that count as a hobby?

I hope to meet more spouses at SSC events and get more plugged in!

Meet the Members Monday

Hello! My name is Rachel and my fiancé is Wells Weymouth, an Army MS1.

We met at a party freshman year of college (it can happen) at the University of Florida, started dating before our sophomore year and have been together over four years now. In school I studied advertising and Spanish while Wells was pre-med. We have done a lot of traveling together but still consider Florida home.  The DC area is a great place to live but we miss our beaches and are still getting used to the concept of seasons!

While Wells is not prior service, he did do ROTC in college so we always knew he would be doing medical school with the military, whether it was through USUHS or not. Although not anything like being active duty, it did give me insight into the military world and I feel the experience helped me adjust to being a military spouse up here.

In the year between graduation and medical school, Wells and I lived in New Zealand for nine months while he was on a Fulbright scholarship and did some research in Antarctica.  That was an amazing experience in a beautiful place that left us with a plethora of entertaining stories from earthquakes to living in a campervan to my job as a dancing popsicle (just ask sometime). After that experience of moving to a foreign place with no family, friends or job, I feel I am ready to take on being stationed just about anywhere (except for maybe Georgia!). Now back in the states, I have just recently secured my first ‘big girl’ job working for a non-profit in Bethesda and have kept my dancing background alive with weekly Flamenco classes!

As our wedding is less than two months away (over spring break), most of my free time has been taken up with all of the planning! I have been able to get involved though and have enjoyed helping design for the SSC Wounded Warrior run and getting to know a lot of members! I look forward to meeting more and getting to know everyone better. This is a great group of dedicated and caring people!