A Weekend of Celebration.

Friday night was so relaxing. Courtney finished her finals that morning so we were both able to CLEANNNN this apartment. The only tough part about having a small apartment is that one towel on the floor, a couple dishes in the sink, and books on the table looks like a tornado hit. So now we had a pleasantly clean apartment. Following that we went to Kyle and Jenny's and had delicious salmon made my Jenny and watched Chase all night long. It was exactly what I needed to relax for the evening. The next day was our Annual Christmas party for work and we had a Bunco competition and a White Elephant exchange. I walked away with 5 losses, 1 win and a candle for biggest loser in Bunco, as well as 3 sets of cool glasses, that I desperately needed for our apartment. We all wore our ugly sweaters..I was rather proud of mine. It was a blue snowflake turtle neck under a blue sweater that said "Grand Children are the Spice of Life". Needless to say we all arrived in style. Tonight is our house warming fiesta! After work we are having all of the girls from work, some of Court's Roseburg friends, and some of my high school friends come over and help us warm our new home. Wooo. At the beginning of next we will be half way through December! Which means that there is only 8 more weeks until Lance leaves. Holy moley...I cannot waiiiit. We're planning a really fun trip for Spring Break when he gets back and I cannot wait. Planning things definitely helps the time go by faster. Two more weeks of work and then it's time for some Christmas shindigs. 4 Christmases here I come!

A is for Apple...B is for MICROBIOLOGY!!

Ohhh yes dead week and finals week got the very, very best of me. They definitely kicked me while I was down, repeatedly. But no matter how hard they kicked, I kicked right back and pulled off a B in Microbiology! Just when I thought all hope was lost I aced my Lab and got a B on my final putting me at a solid 83%. Ohhh yeahhh. Sociology may have kicked a little harder than I could kick...but the grade will suffice. The best part to all of this wonderful-ness is that Fall term. Is. Over. DONE WITH! Finitooo. Which means that there is only 2 more weeks until Christmas which is our next big milestone! Two weeks will not be anything with the agenda I have for Winter Break. My goal: to stay as busy as possible by visiting as much family and friends as possible before it's time to put the noggin back in action for Winter Term. I visited my parents today after work, tomorrow I'm having a Chase marathon with the Teg's!, Saturday is Coffee Culture's Christmas party, Sunday is our House Warming Fiesta, Monday and Tuesday I'm going with Court to visit her family in Roseburg, and then Thursday I'm going to visit the Holcombs and go shopping with Lu! And that's just one week. I'm also going to be volunteering at a nursing home in Corvallis every other week and making Christmas gifts! If you guys thought the tacky mugs with mine and Lance's face from last year were good...you juuust wait! Oh the holidays, I love them, but I love them a lot more with Lance. I hate that he has to spend them away from us. My goal is to send a little piece of Christmas to him. The only problem with that is Douglas Firs don't fit in flat rate boxes, snow balls melt, real mistletoe is poisonous, Santa ate one too many cookies this year and much like the Douglas Fir cannot compact into a flat rate box....now it's time to get creative. Feel free to send your ideas this way, or let me know if you want to join :)

One More Down!

My Birthday: Check
School Starting: Done
Halloween: Finished
Thanksgiving: Dooowwwnnn!

Thanksgiving was great and made me realize again just how many things I have to be thankful for. I am thankful to have a brave, strong, loving boyfriend who is so much closer to coming home and for my family who are my unconditionally loving support system. This holiday season is definitely a lot different than last year. It's not the same without Lance that's for sure. I was trying to figure out how I could send him a turkey in a care package...but the amount of salt I would have to add to that thing so that it wouldn't parish by the time it got to him...would make it absolutely repulsive to even smell. So I compromised on cookies, cough drops, and cinnamon toast crunch :) My Uncle Tony, Aunt Stacy, and their two kids Addyson and Tyler came down from Washington to spend the weekend with us at my mom's house where we spent Thanksgiving. My mom and dad made a DELICIOUS turkey dinner and my mom sent me home with plenty of left overs. My uncle Tony is in the Army so it was really cool to talk to him about his deployment and talk to my Aunt Stacy about how she dealt with it. The conclusion we came to was basically keep your head up and everything will be just fine. He's so close to being home I just wish it was so much closer. The Friday after Thanksgiving I went to visit Steve, Anna, and the girls and we made Gingerbread sleighs and Christmas cookies. I am counting down the days until this term is over so that I can go visit everyone more often. 2 weeks and counting until its over. My goal is to do very well on my finals so that I never have to take Sociology again. Fingers and toes crossed. Court and I just decorated for Christmas! Though it was a little premature it made studying for finals much more enjoyable. December 1st is just around the corner and when finals are over then comes Christmas. We're getting through. Here I come finals week.

Snow in November?

Up on top of our little Witham Hill there are a few white flakes draping themselves along our cars and stairways. I worry slightly for when it gets icy...Court and I may have to car pool because I don't know if I want her to drive down our hill in her Carolla...Regardless we will make it to school and work..even if we have to walk 15 miles up hill both ways in the snow :)(it's not really that far away..) Anyways. This week is Thanksgiving week! Only 3 days of school...four days of work...and 3 more weeks of studying! I already registered for my classes for Winter term and I took everyone's advice as well as my knowledge of how...challenging this term was and I am only taking 13 credits. I don't want to over load myself again, especially since Lance will be home!!!! He is so close to being home that I keep thinking if I close my eyes juuuust long enough..it will magically be that time. So far I have yet to wake up in February...still a work in progress. We discovered that each individual room in our apartment has a heater so if we just turn on our heater in the living room it does NOT heat the rest of the house. In order to not pay $9823479238 for our heat bill we have resorted to the following: beanies, several pairs of sweat pants, sweatshirts, multiple blankets, several pairs of socks, and a cocoon of pillows. So far so good :)

I didn't know what stress was until...

I didn't know what stress was until...my boyfriend went to Afghanistan, I started working full time, I decided to take 16 credit hours..and continue to work almost full time, I decided to take Microbiology, I decided to take Sociology!?, I ran into car troubles mid move in day, and then attempt to study for mid terms. Why do I take this much on and still think that I need to do more? The answer to that is BEYOND me. You would think I would learn, I complain enough to know it's not fun yet do I listen to myself as well as evvvveryone else? nope :)However, thankfully this term only has 4-ish weeks left meaning that I wont have to take Microbiology or Sociology ever again, assuming I do fantastic on my finals :).Also, I'm getting my car fixed today. So really there is an end in sight to this madness. Especially since Thanksgiving is in sight!!! Wooohooo. That much closer to one more month down. I would just like to personally thank the month of November for going by much faster than October. If the rest of you months out there want to follow this trend..please don't hesitate to do so. Greatly appreciated. Aside going for a world record of sleep deprivation nothing is outstandingly new...except for our new apartment :)
So cozy, and so nice only living 4 minutes from school and work.

Home :)

Moving Day.

Although stressful and tedious I could not be more happier that moving day is finally here! We signed all of our paperwork and got our new keys to our new home/apartment :) We started loading everything up and getting the show on the road. The apartment is cute, it's upstairs so the big stuff is going to be a pain. We have a sauna, a hot tub, A RACQUETBALL COURT?! It will be very nice to have a place to call home and to not have to drive so much! I swear every time I leave a minute later than normal from Albany to get to school I get stuck behind every semi-truck, tractor, farming combine known to man. Luckily for me I tend to over estimate how much time I will need to get to places, but it still would stress me out. HOWEVER! now I can ride my bike to school and to work! there isn't typically semi-trucks takin' up the bike lane woop woop! Two more weeks until Thanksgiving is here and then there is another milestone down. I am so excited to put Lance's clothes back in our closet...it will be more like he's on a stubborn business trip rather than being so far away. And it will take plenty of time to get settled in which will keep me very preoccupied.
February is just around the corner. But can get here a lot sooner and I wouldn't mind :)

Milestone # 3- CHECK

Milestone One: My birthday- complete
Milestone Two: School starts- done
Milestone Three: Halloween- finished

Three down and only four more to go
Milestone Four: Thanksgiving
Milestone Five: Christmas
Milestone Six: Jenny and Kyle's birthday's
Milestone Seven: FEBRUARY 28TH HE'S HEADIN HOME!!!

As the days tick by I'm finding many many ways to keep myself preoccupied. I'm overloaded with school and work...in a good way.
Still staying very busy with my classes especially around mid term time. I have two more mid terms to go and then it's the final stretch of the term before Winter Break.
We move into our new apartment in the next week-ish which will be a great way to keep myself busy..as if I didn't have enough going on right now. But I love it. I'm working, slowly but surely, on better stress management. I cannot change things that are out of my control. ALSO I cannot take on things that haven't even happened yet. My biggest lesson thus far is to breatheeeee.

lost in translation?

With the start of school and then juggling work I've had zero time to do much but stare at my microbiology book and make delicious coffee drinks. So far my classes aren't too bad...i actually really enjoy my microbiology class...even if I didn't do so hot on the mid term. Courtney brought up a good point that in 80 years i wont remember this mid term...but for now...I'm worrying about it. As far as milestones go school has started and Halloween is JUST around the corner. That will only leave Thanksgiving, Christmas, Jenny and Kyle's birthday and thennnn he leaves for home! Hollllly moley that day couldn't get here soon enough..and i know i don't just speak for myself when I'm saying that either. I've switched my monthly projects around a little bit...my October goal was to find a new toaster. Our old toaster wouldn't toast unless you held down the lever...the whooole time. But the toaster is going to have to wait until next month because this month we found an apartment!! Yes moving in November 10th into our new apartment. I've spent a lot of time in Corvallis lately anyways because I work Tuesday at 6:30 and then have class until 6:30 and then I'm back to class Wednesday at 8 am and then work until 8 that night and then Thursday i work at 6:30 and have class until 6:30. So those days are long but they make the week go by faster. I've been living with Jenny and Kyle even though I'm probably the most sporadic roommate they've ever seen ha. I am so appreciative of them and excited that i get to spend some extra time with them. well i guess i'll get back to studying now.
But i might take a nap...we'll see :)

A New Season

Our second big milestone was the beginning of last week! My first day at OSU. It feels good to be a Beaver that's for sure. I love all of my classes. I'm taking Microbiology, Sociology, Math, Human Sexuality, and Lifetime Health and Fitness. I can't make any complaints about my schedule thus far. Monday was going great! It was sunny and beautiful and I had the day off. I was able to long board for the first time in so long...and sadly it was my last time for a while. I was scootin along after class on Monday and came to a four way intersection where I didn't have a stop sign and realized that the car who did was not going to stop. Me being the speed demon I am had to jump off of my board so that I didn't run into the side of this car. I made it out safely...my board however did not. The guy ran over my board...stopped long enough for me to gather it and say "Sorry" while driving away. Considering the fact that I am in fact perfectly fine and my classes are going well...I had a pretty good day. Now to find a new board. The week has been crazy trying to adjust to not only being back in school but also prioritizing my time with work. The Holcombs are packing up their little home and headin up North tomorrow afternoon. I'm so sad that I don't get to live with them anymore. I really was able to get so close with them and got to see Bria whenever I wanted which was a huge bonus ;) But now they're starting their brand new season in Portland and I get to live with the Tegners!!! That will be so fun! Jenny and I can study together all the time, huge bonus! I am so blessed to have been able to spend so much time with Lance's family while he's been away. It makes time go just a little bit faster and makes him seem not so far away for all of us. We're just shy of 3 months down...thank goodness! I am misssing him like crazy, but school is helping to keep me busy.
Tailgater number two was today! It was a good day to be a Beaver, the weather was beautiful and we had a great win over ASU. Woo!

Goals, Milestones, and Recipes.

Goal (n)- the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve.
My goals for the next month. (Sept.22nd-Oct.22nd)
-NO procrastination. Judging by how busy I am wanting to keep myself I don't think I will even think about procrastinating. But still....NONE of it.
-All A's and a B in Microbio. I'm saying a B so if/when I get an A I will be pleasantly surprised.
-Invent a teleportation device to go pick up Lance in so he can come home earlier. All things considered I think it's worth a try. This may be an extended goal...

Milestones:
A milestone is a scheduled event signifying the completion of a major deliverable or a set of related deliverable.
1. Aug. 30th. My birthday. COMPLETE.
2. Sept. 27th. School starts.
3. Oct. 31st. Halloween
4. Nov.25th. Thanksgiving.
5. Dec. 25th. Christmas.
6. Jan. 18th. Jenny's Birthday
7. Feb. 28th. HE LEAVES TO HEAD HOME FOR THE STATES!


So to pass a little bit of time before school starts I've been looking up recipes and making a recipe book. This book will be filled with delicious/budget friendly/ as healthy as it can be considering we're college student recipes. My goal is to have it done and stored away by February in our new apartment...that I will have hopefully found... :)
Last Saturday the 18th I went to my very first OSU football tailgater and football game. It rained...a lot. But we won and the experience was great, I can't wait for more :)

2 Months Down!

Well we now have two months over seas under our belts. Only five more to go. Which may sound like a lot, but seven sounds like even more. School is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited. All I want is to stay busy...very busy. I've done my best with that at work but only having one thing to preoccupy your time isn't always successful. Lets see here, what have I been up to.. Well we found out the other day that Lance will be leaving to head back to the states Feb. 28th. Though I would prefer Sept. 28th at least we now have an end in sight. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. Going round two of college without him isn't as fun, but he's so supportive that my busy 17 credit term will be so much easier. I went to my friend's wedding last night, which was crazy. I swear it was just a week ago that she was running down the halls of West Albany in a blue and gold onesie with a spirit cape on.. and now she's married. But she was a BEAUTIFUL bride! Her and her husband were gloooowing they looked amazing and I couldn't be happier for her. Reality check set in after that though that I have been out of high school for almost two years? whhhaaat. That's weird too. I need to start running more because my high school metabolism will fail here sooner than later. I've made a vow to myself to try to make a much more conscious effort to work out regularly now rather than just when I can't fit into a pair of jeans because I washed them at the wrong temp. Another reason why Lance needs to come home, he keeps me on my toes. Ahhh but February will be here before we know it. The weather is already starting to chill and the leafs will fall soon. Then we can look forward to freezing rain and Christmas! After that he's practically home. 2 more weeks until our second milestone is down. That leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Jenny and Kyle's birthday, and then FEBRUARY 28TH! Time to get myself preoccupied. Maybe I'll go for a run...maybe.

but the hammer couldn't take ibuprofen..cause he's a hammer!

Today was my first day back to work after my long weekend, always good to keep the mind busy even if it is at 5:00 in the morning. But in this case it was much earlier than 5AM...it was 12:40 if we want to be exact. Yes, just when i thought my weird sleeping habits couldn't get any weirder...I was proven wrong. I woke up at midnight jumped in the shower to start getting ready for my day a whoppin 5 hours before i needed to. Maybe my weekend wasn't long enough? Sleep deprived and busy at work I was eager to hear from Lance because he's so good at making my day a million times better. And what do you know he most certainly did. It's always so good to hear from him, to joke with him, to hear that he's just doing alright and to talk about all of our big plans for when he gets home. Planning makes the days go by a little bit faster because I find myself thinking about the plans and getting more and more details about them and more and more excited (which i didn't know was possible) about him coming home. Tomorrow Court is going with me to get my very first BEAVER football ticket! Can't wait for school to start. If only it was spring term hmmmm.

5 days off?!

Surprisingly I kept myself more busy on my days off than I did during my 8 day work week. There wasn't one day where I had much down time...until I slept.
Thursday: Lindsey and Bria left for Arizona, the house is just so different without them. After that Cassidy, Abby and myself loaded up the good ol' subaru and headed north to Salem for a fun day at the Gilbert House. We only had to turn around one time due to some direction issues, my bad. But we had a wonderful time we made dinosaur pictures and attempted to make bubbles around ourselves. We played on the wooden structures and went down the slides, it was like I was 8 all over again. It's always fun to let your inner child come out and the girls had fun as well. After the Gilbert House we went to lunch and finished our day at the Carousel. That night I went to Jenny and Kyle's for dinner and visiting. It's always good to have dinner with them because Jenny and I get to talk and talk and talk...we're so good at that :)
Friday: I went to Corvallis to get a costume with Court for my birthday party, which I might add was much funnier than one would expect. I followed this up with lunch with Jordan and then dinner with my dad, ending the evening with My Fair Lady at Hanna and Becca's with Court.
Saturday: Family trip to the state fair. Lots of fattening fair food that you only eat at the fair and then immediately regret it. Then after that regretful fair food we road ride after ride that unfortunately threw that regretful food around our stomachs even more. It was so fun to spend the day with my family. There was so many laughs and the weather was beautiful. Oh and word to the wise...when they tell you to pay $1 to see the AMAZING however hugely long alligator that is ALIVE! don't fall for it. It is definitely not alive.
Sunday:BIRTHDAY EVE! and the Freaks and Geeks party! So much fun. All of my greatest friends and I dressed in our craziest outfits and shared many many laughs while bringing in my last year as a teenager. To sum up the evening would be...dancing, laughing, and a couple more things ending in "ing"
Monday: The day of Birth. Probably one of the funniest mornings I've had in quite sometime. Except for the morning Lance and I had in New Orleans. After Becca, Hanna and myself gathered ourselves we went out for a lovely breakfast at the Broken Yolk. Though the weather wasn't ideal the company was indeed. Shortly after I received a phone call saying I had a flower delivery...They kinda blew the surprise but it was wonderful all in its own. Lance had sent me my favorite flowers for my birthday and it made my day 10000 times better than I could have ever asked for. After that Jenny treated me to a pedi and mani along with some great conversations as always. I ended the evening with dinner at my parents and that brought my birthday to the perfect end. They made me my favorite dinner and made me just so happy. I was greeted at my door with a beautiful card from Steve and Anna and the girls. The next day Alicia and I had a great dinner and an even better girl talk :)

I've always been able to count my blessings and realize how lucky I am to have these amazing people in my life. But after these five days off I realized just how wonderful the people around me are and I can't wait until Lance comes home so my little circle of friends and family is just perfect.
We're into September now and times going to fly...I can feel it.

What works and what does not.

What works: Feel good music, music you can dance to...and I mean really dance to.
What doesn't: Not feel good music. Anything with the word(s) heart break, sad, cry, pain, baby-what-will-i-do-with-out-you...those are a no go.

What works: Surrounding yourself with people who bring you up. I have the best family ever. I'm so lucky to have the love and support from my parents and sisters as well as Lance's family. It's nice to all be in it together, you guys are wonderful.
What doesn't: Taking to heart small things out of your control. If you stress about the little things, the big things hit a lot harder.

What works: I've realized EVERYTHING in my life I truly have to be thankful for. Quick warning...Im about to get cheesy...that's just how I am :)
I'm thankful to have a boyfriend who can make me smile and who i can grow closer to even though he's half way across the world. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, there isn't many strong enough to go through that and still make their loved ones feel like their your number one. I'm thankful to have the wonderful support group of loved ones that I have. And I'm thanking my faith, for keeping Lance safe. The more you focus on everything you are blessed with suddenly the hardships don't seem unbearable anymore.

What works: PAINTING! and letting my creative side show. It's not only relaxing but it saves you a ton on home decor :)

In order to keep myself busy busy buys during my FIVE days off!!! I'm taking Cassidy and Abby to the Gilbert House in Salem to enjoy a nice girls day outing :) and for the next four days I will be sleeping...yep all four days.

Good Music, Good Friends, Good day.

Sunday I had a lovely 9 hour shift at work. While I complain during the process I know in the end it's exactly what I want in order to keep myself busy. I really do enjoy my job. I have the best co-workers. To bring my Sunday night to an end, Hanna, Becca, Emily and myself embarked on a lovely journey to Fred Meyer, dressed in our finest attire and finished up with some dancing in Becca's living room. Oh a girls night :)
I was introduced to Florence the Machine, a new band I had never heard of and it is the best feel good music I have found yet. So good that it spiced up an eight and a half hour shift with Sara, Emily, Ross and I. Though it made have driven Ross insane that we listened to the same song...over and over again. It turned all of our days right around.

August is coming to an end and though I hate to see it go..I'M ECSTATIC that September is just around the corner, one more month down :)

Switchin' Things Up.

After looking at blogs from different families, significant others, wives, etc. going through exactly what we are going through right now I realized how helpful they are and nice to see what little things work for them to get through such an event in life. I feel like if I can be one blog that helps someone get through their deployment then I should switch things up a little bit. This is now becoming sort of my online journal...rather than me writing in an old spiral. Lindsey brought up a good point the other night that her blog is her old spiral, it's something that she will always have and she can keep it to remind herself about their season changes :) and it also gives updates to the entire family. So that's what I intend on doing. This is just the beginning and we're learning what things work with deployment and our relationship in general and using what doesn't as a learning experience along the way. This is something we'll have forever :) Today Linds and Alicia left for Sunriver for the weekend, which left me with the adorable Ms. Bria. I am sooo lucky to have this day with her, it's our first whole day together, just the two of us. We went for a little drive and went outside and went down the slide over and over again just enough to wear her out for a nap. Now she's down and it's my thinking time. After she wakes up we'll play some more until Brian gets home from work and then I'm going to take my little sister out to a movie for her birthday. She's turning 14 this year and I'm not 100% okay with the thought of her being able to get her permit next year. As for me I'm ten days shy of my last year of being a teenager. very weird. I'm not sure what you do for a 19th birthday...celebrate that you still have 2 more years until you can legally drink? Be able to vote...again? Well I will figure something out :)

August 1st

Wooohooo it's August!! This helps a ton knowing that we almost have one month down. Can you believe that? I have been staying busy at work and trying to get things squared away for school. There is a mix up in my financial aid and that's never good so once all of that is figured out I'll be set and ready to go :) I'm taking microbiology, math..something, sociology, lifetime fitness and health, human sexuality, and i feel like I'm missing one other one but I don't believe I am. So my fall term will be very busy which is just what I need. Also after talking to Good Sam about our CNA business I am really considering going to volunteer there and get in good with the staff so they know us well by the time you get back :) Since I talk about you enough and all. There isn't a whole lot of updates that I have except for that my car isn't broken!!! so that was a huge relief to only have to pay for new tires and ninety other new things. Brian and Lindsey just had an open house today so keep them in your prayers that their house sells quick. You are in all of our prayers every day Lance! We are so proud of you and can't wait for you to come home safe and sound. Like I've said a million times over it takes a very strong person to go through what you are going through and you are a very strong man. I'm sorry this update is so short I don't have a ton to tell. But as soon as I get updates from the rest of the family i will post again right away :)
I love you! i hope you have a great day!

July 24th

Packing day for the Holcombs and another work day for me. Before work today i caught this little snippet of Bria playing with the pictures of you that we took to Shasta. she loves them and carries them around all the time. She has mastered saying "Buddy" now we're working on "Lance" Linds got her to say Lance earlier today but I couldn't get it on tape. Anyways here is her saying your name :) I hope you have a great day! We love you!

And the big countdown begins

It's been about a week since you've been gone to your final destination. I know that counting weeks is not the most effective way to pass time, I definitely think we should stick to months. As far as me there isn't a ton to update on. I'm just working...a lot and it's allll going into savings since I'm living at Brian and Linds and my parents. Look at me go babe, I've got two houses!! only joking :) I have been working Wednesday to Sunday and my shifts are pretty random. Ashlee is going to graduate school so she resigned as our manager and so we have a new manager from Timberhill. I know I know even while you're gone I'm jabberin about work, I'm sorry ha. I'm pretty sure I've already told you the big news about Brian and Lindsey but Brian got the job at Intel!! And it's in Portland, not Arizona! Though we would have been happy for them either way, Portland was just a preference :) Jenny is starting her summer clinical for her dental hygiene program and I am all registered for classes for OSU!! All in all things are going rather smoothly here and I'm so happy that you had a safe trip to where you are. I'm working on my first of seven-ish projects that make our monthly milestones. I can't go into details about this one though because it's a surprise for when you come home :) After this one Jenny and I are going to refurbish our end tables and coffee table and attempt to fix our wobbly kitchen table ha. Be expecting some goodies here soon. Your mom, Anna, sisters and I will be working stuff up here real soon :) We are all so proud of you Lance! You are such a strong man and this is only going to make you that much stronger. I can't wait until we break into a routine and this time ticks a little faster. But I am so so thankful to have you and your fantastic family in my life. I wouldn't have it any other way :) We love you and can't wait for updates from you!

Mississippi, Round 2!

Yes I was most definitely fortunate enough to get to fly to Mississippi for the 4th of July weekend. I truly truly felt so unbelievably blessed to get to spend one more wonderful weekend with him again before. Two weeks before Lance had been at Camp Shelby. Don't let the name fool you, there were no camp fire songs, s'mores or anything like that. The poor guy couldn't shower for over two weeks, he had to eat MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), the weather was less than ideal, and he ran off of very little sleep the whole time. Already I have the most respect ever for him and then to go through that and survive. Hats off to you without a question. He was able to recover a little bit from the great "camp" and started in on another two weeks of class.
But the day finally came for me to come visit and midnight could not come soon enough. I flew out of Portland Friday the 2nd at 12:45am and landed in Mississippi around 8:40am. It was phenomenal to be able to actually hug him and not just see him across a computer screen. Don't get me wrong though, I'll take whatever I can get :) We went out to breakfast that morning and just got ourselves situated with our hotel and rental car. Later that day we went to the mall along the beach and bought some dinner attire for a pretty dinner at a nice Italian restaurant called Salute. Saturday morning we woke up and went to breakfast at my very first Waffle House which was really close to the beach. There's a reason they are called a Waffle House, that was the best waffle I have ever had. It was as big as the plate and I managed to just about eat it all. After that we went to a little surf shop and bought a kite and a bucket and headed to the beach. We rented a wave runner and took it out into the gulf. It's so different riding a jet ski in the ocean than on a lake, as I'm sure anyone would imagine. But it was so much fun. It's a really good thing I trust Lance so much because according to the guy running the wave runner shack we were vertical at one point, I only screamed a little. But it was so fun especially be able to just laugh and let loose with him. After our time was up we put together our kite and attempted to fly it. The thing should of had a warning label, it was a stunt kite, not easy. However, it did make for a few laughs so it ended well. Following that we decided to build a sand castle which ended up being a lot of buckets full of sand and a "mote" it was beautiful. We finished off that evening with some wonderful southern bbq and a movie. The next day was the 4th of July and we had an adventure to Alabama that ended up with us back in Gulfport about 2 hours later. It wasn't exactly what we had pictured. But just spending time with each other was exciting enough. And we were able to sight see in Alabama...while driving and Alabama is gorgeous. We ended back up in Gulfport where we got dinner and went to watch the fireworks that night on the beach. It was beautiful. I realized a million times over just how lucky I am to be with him. And I know he felt the same way when I sang Lady Gaga to him :)The next day was Monday and we had to pack up our hotel room and head back to base. That night I was able to go to his muster which is a meeting with his whole Battalion basically explaining what they need to finish up that week and what will be going on the next day, kind of. It was crazy seeing how everything worked and is broken down. I was also able to meet some of the guys that he'll be deploying with.
The vacation was everything and more that I could ever ask for. The big count down is starting and this is bringing us one step closer to him being back home for all of us to enjoy.

Lance left last night to Maine where he has so many different destinations in between until he heads to the middle East. I was able to talk to him last night but haven't been able to talk to him today so I'll keep waiting for the call so I can be sure to update everyone else as well when I find more out about what he's up to.
The updates will shift a little bit more now to what's going on with myself and the family so you feel a little more in the loop Lance and so you don't miss out on anything :) We all love you more than we could ever explain and want you to know how much we are thinking about you and that you are in our prayers. We are so so very proud of you and everything you are doing. It truly takes a strong person to go through. Keep your head up like we all know you will and we'll see you soon :) This is the big count down and everyday we're just a little bit closer, so you stay busy and we'll stay busy and we'll see each other before we know it.

Sweet Summer Time

Shasta Bound! We embarked on our five hour journey on Sunday around 11:15 from Lindsey and Brian's house. I road down with Kyle and Jenny and we enjoyed the sweet sounds of Dierks Bently and other country favorites to truly kick off the summer mood.We made great time, especially considering that we stopped for Old Navy/Food/Fuel. The necessities :) The first night we were there we loaded all of our belongings onto the house boat, which was beautiful. We spent that night docked at the marina since we had to await our orientation before heading out. Apparently they don't let just anyone drive these things..which is weird because Brian drove us...scary lol only kidding. We truly were the coolest party barge on the lake. We came equip with two jet ski's, the Miss "B" Haven boat, and the infamous three story house boat. Our days were spent mainly enjoying the sun and the company of an amazing family. Unfortunately all of the days some what blend together so you'll have to bare with me. I believe it was Tuesday, Jenny, Lindsey, Jaime and myself performed a beautiful synchronized swimming routine. Lindsey was a very tough coach but judging by our extreme sharp movements and precise timing it was well worth the dedication. Later that day the boys went out on the boat to go wake boarding and what not while all of the girls set up a surprise graduation party for Brian who just finished his MBA. Congratulations Brian!! So proud of you! On Wednesday, after many many 1,2,3 count downs Anna, Lindsey, Jenny and myself got up enough courage to jump from the third story of the house boat. Well correction, Anna was ready to go the second we got up there. It was the rest of us that were a little skeptical. The rest of that day was spent around the table enjoying wonderful food and many laughs. Even though you couldn't be there physically, Lance doesn't mean that you weren't there in spirit. We all talked about you constantly especially about how proud of you we are. It takes a very strong person to go through all of this. You are my hero and I know I can speak for everyone else in that as well. Our count down is on and we can do this. I am SO very blessed to have been able to spend this trip with such a fantastic family. I feel so much closer to all of you guys and I wouldn't have it any other way. You guys are by far the best support system I could ever have and I love you all to pieces. I just hope that I can give the same support in return.

Mississippi!

An early Friday morning full of many hours of traveling came to a wonderful end when I finally landed in Mississippi. I felt so blessed to actually be able to see Lance and couldn't believe that the time had actually come. Upon arrival we went to pick up our rental car, which was a Toyota Yaris, we did not blend in, we most definitely looked like tourists. You could easily travel Europe in that thing on one tank of gas.

I got to go onto base with Lance and see where he was staying and got a visual of exactly what kind of stuff he was doing. Base is a lot bigger than I had imagined which put me at ease a little bit. Just so you all know it's quite different than the movies ha. Later that night we met up with another couple and went out to a steak house for dinner and then got situated for the night. Saturday we woke up early and started our adventure to New Orleans with another couple. We had lunch at the House of Blues and enjoyed the sights. There was a horse and carriage ride that went around touring the French Quarter and we learned so much about down town New Orleans. All of the buildings are exactly the same as they were when Napolean stayed in there! Very educational. We left New Orleans Sunday morning and had a wonderful day together, we went to lunch, to a movie, and then to the outlet malls. The weekend was very laid back which was exactly what we both needed, just enjoying each others company. Now we're both back to our usual schedules and Lance is off to field training for about three weeks. This is where he prepares for similar things that he will be doing over seas.

BBQ's and Baby Steps

Well we've knocked down another two weeks and now the time is near for my trip to Mississippi. I'll be flying out in a little less than two weeks to go visit for Memorial Day weekend. This time can honestly not get here soon enough, everything was going rather fast until I realized that we had reached the two week point! But I am staying very busy with work and school as always and Lance has a series of classes next week which will keep him busy as well. Saturday was a lovely day I spent the early afternoon long boarding with my sister all around Albany, then i went to visit with my mom for quite a while and finished the evening off with a wonderful BBQ with all of the brothers and sisters :) We all arrived at Jaime's around 5:30

and the weather was perfect. It wasn't too bright meaning sun glasses weren't a necessity and it wasn't cold so summer clothes were able to be broken out. We all enjoyed dinner while watching Miss Bria truck around on her own two feet. It's crazy to think that two weeks ago when I babysat her that we spun in circles and now she's walking all on her own. Jaidyn had a soccer game Saturday as well and they won! Brian showed off his stunting moves with Cassidy and Abby, I managed to get a glimpse of it in a picture. I can't thank all of you enough for keeping me involved, it has helped so much, I told you I just can't manage to stay away from you all :) We love you Lance! See you soon.

Jaime made Fun-fetti cookies just for you!! She knows you love them!


The ladies...


annnd the gentlemen.

Hellooooo

Hey everyone, I decided to help inform you guys a little bit about what i have been up to herein gulfport! Its been a little over a month since i first arrived here so i'll try and give an overview of what i have been up to. My first week here was death by powerpoint. The navy seems to have a strong belief that we love sitting in classrooms while someone goes through slides reading them to us. For me, i hate it ha. It took about a week to get processed in and get us all switched to active duty instead of reservists. The second week we started classes, again a whole lot of powerpoints and one practical application and the end of the week is normally how it goes. There are M16 rifle classes, combat skills, buiding classes etc. In my M16 class i got expert which is the highest level you can get so next time the brothers and i go shooting we'll see who shoots best haha. I have been trying to keep myself occupied because it makes this dry time in gulfport go by just a little quicker. We work six days a week and get saturday night and sundays off. however we are restricted to fifty miles from base so no New Orleans for me, sadly enough. A lot of early mornings and long days so far and i dont see that schedule changing until i come home ha. Luckily i have been able to talk to kayla so we don't feel too disconnected, and being able to talk to the family has been great and helps keep my spirits up. Im sorry i can't keep in touch more! I will try my hardest to call on the weekends. I appreciate the care packages you guys have put together and i can't wait to get them! Thank you guys for all of the support it means a lot to me! Ill try and update this whenever i get a chance. Love you all!

Care Packages and Cookies

Well we've made it through another week by staying busy as usual. Lance had several different classes and was named an expert shooter :). Friday night I had dinner at the Tegner's. Jenny and I managed to make some very delicious hamburgers and Kyle was an expert on the grill. Alicia and Randy are taking Porter on his first camping trip with them this weekend! I'm excited for an update on that. Today Jaidyn and Kailey had soccer games and I went over to Anna and Steve's and made cookies. Steve was a pro cookie taster. Anna, Cassidy, Abby, Lindsey, Bria and I made chocolate chip with reese's cookies and Anna made some delicious no-bake cookies. Those are just some of the things we will be putting in his care package. We've started to adjust a little bit more to him being away, it still gets to us from time to time but I am just so proud of him for being so strong. Only nine..ish more months to go!

First Month Down

So far Lance has been gone in Mississippi for one month working on all sorts of training. The weather has been hot and humid but they were some what blessed with a down pour recently. His big golden birthday/21er was just celebrated! A direct quote from Lindsey was "goodness, I just can't believe he's old enough to go out to the bars." :) Don't worry he's safe. Spring has finally sprung and it's making the days go by just a little bit faster. We all miss you Lance and we will make sure you get more detailed updates soon. As long as we get some back :)