Pictures and news about John

If you want to, you can see what John is up to and read about events and even see a bunch of pictures. He is in Company 3, C at the Leader's Training Course at Fort Knox Kentucky.

For news, etc. go to:

http://www.leaderstrainingcourse.com/

For pictures go to:

http://armyrotc.smugmug.com/Leaders%20Training%20Course/772571

And for a military-themed laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A194vDpXzyA

This is the only main pictures I saw of him in the midst of his company's pictures. Kinda silly, but good to see him just the same. 12 days down, 18 more to go....Poor guy has been so busy he didn't even realize tomorrow is his birthday! Hope he has a good one.

Thank goodness for the small blessings...

I'm so grateful to heard from my hubby. I got a super short phone call the day after he left where he told me his address....and to send his cell phone! They are allowed to have and use them...on their own time. (Which is very very limited) I sent a box with his phone and some things the next Monday and was anxious for him to receive it and hear from him. Wednesday came and went. No letter or text or call. Thursday almost came and went without anything as well and I was feeling quite down. However, that evening while at work, I got a few texts.

He is alive! They had been holding their mail. Don't ask me why, John says they were just disorganized. He gets it every few days now. I still haven't gotten any letters (11 days later), but he honestly does not get the time to write him. The limited minutes he does have are in the evening before bed...if something else doesn't come up.

However, I want to count my blessings. Since that day I've at least gotten to text him back and forth a little and I've been able to talk to him a little on the phone as well. I am a baby and completely in love with him, so I'm one who really needs some contact. Maybe the Lord knew that. Although it never feels enough, it is good to be able to have communication....and much more direct than a letter.

Update about him: He's doing well. The first days were just standing and marching for hours in the hot sun, but he has also gotten to learn land navigation (with compasses and maps) and he did that once during the day and once in the dead of night. He has "fire guard" sometimes which is taking a shift at night to basically make sure nobody sneaks out and clean up and wax the floors. He hasn't gotten much more than about 5-6 hours of sleep per night (tops), but he seems to be holding up well....other than missing the heck out of me! He will get to go repelling and other things, I think he enjoys the things he is learning. He can't wait to use his navigation skills when he gets home. Today was his day off, so he went to the store for some detergent, did laundry, went to a military museum, talked to me a little throughout and got a good nap. He also should get the 4th off.

Today was busy for me! I needed to send out a letter with lots of pictures to John (to get there in time for his birthday Wednesday), do 4-5 loads of laundry, help pack and load the van for my family's trip, and do the normal errands as well as driving the family up to meet my dad in South Jordan.....all the while hanging on John's every text and call. :) It was a fulfilling day though, a lot got done and it will be good to have a rest from everything. I'll clean the house and it will stay clean for a week! :) I miss my family already, but I hope they have a BLAST visiting the Potters (my sister and her family) up in Washington for the week.

Ticket to Ride

So I've been putting it off, but I thought it's about time I wrote a quick update--John has left for his LTC military training in Kentucky for a month. Feels like longer, but it has only been 5 days since he left.

A week ago, he went to help his dad with their cabin after work. I was maybe going to go with, but my momma needed my help and Christine and Sammy needed to head home. So I settled for eating with him before he left (just some fast food, but it was good just to see him and talk to him).

He was helping with electrical work at the cabin on Wednesday as I helped my momma with the boys and housework at home. He went straight over to meet my dad and the crowd headed to Flaming Gorge. He went for a half-day of fishing and caught the first fish. It was a "small" one, about 12 lbs. (still the biggest fish he's ever caught!)

After the trip with the guide, he came home early with Mr. Howard (long-time family friend) and got home in the early afternoon. I was happy to see him, having gone a couple days without and knowing I would soon go through about 30 more.

We got all spiffied up and ready to go out on the TOWN. While getting ready, John truly surprised me by putting putting this around my neck:

Beautiful (real!) pearls. I asked what they were for and he said, "Because I'm leaving you." They are so pretty and classy.

So we first went to the temple and decided to do Endowments, despite my headache and running low on time. It truly was a good decision, it was a wonderful experience, one I'll always remember. We then went to a little Italian restaurant on Provo Center St. called Gloria's Little Italy--it was absolutely delicious and such a fun atmosphere. The waitor was great and even gave us a free dessert! (After finding out it was our last night before military training).

We got some last-minute things done, including buying a few things at Walmart and then giving him a haircut when we got home! (turned out pretty well, I must say!) All in all, it was a wonderful night. We only got about 3 hours of sleep, waking up really early to head to the airport in time on Friday morning.

Sending him off was tough, but I truly feel I've been blessed and I've been able to handle everything a lot better this time around. It's still hard and I still miss him and can't stop thinking about him, but it's different than last summer. We took pictures at the airport, but they are on his phone, which I sent to him in a package.

I got a (SHORT!) call from him on Saturday letting me know his address and info. He said to send his phone and charger and that he'd explain later and he'd text me. Hopefully this means he can call and text regularly! Good thing we have unlimited. ;) I've written 3 letters and sent one package so far, but haven't heard anything yet. I'm sure he is busy and exhausted! (not to mention I think he forgot our home address...) :) The package should get to him tomorrow or the next day. Soon I will post a picture that we took at the airport before he left.

I miss him, I love him, and I am half-empty for this month apart. I'm lucky to have my family surrounding me, and my little Matty and Daniel to be my buddies while my hubby's away.

Updates...

So things have been going pretty well for us, although we are realizing we are slowly running out of time to spend together before he leaves for his training and yet there are many things we want to do.

We recently made a trip to Logan for John's meeting about the training and he got his boots and army gear. (he looks so manly all decked out!) We also met up with his friend Zhou from China that we've gotten to know recently, he is such a sweet guy (very gracious and generous, nice as well as shy). Then John went to his parent's cabin to help them with the electrical work and I went home to work. :( I was sad I couldn't go up and help, but it was somewhat short notice.

Sunday was busy, I was "substituting" in the Primary CTR 7 class but after church, I was officially called. That's my calling for the summer! John and I also said the opening and closing prayers in Sacrement meeting. After church, we loaded Zhou's stuff we had kept for him while he had visited China for a month to take back up to him. We stopped for dinner and chatting with John's folks. We also played games with John's brother Trevor and his wife Janalee who live in Logan, so it was a good night.


We've had fun doing things with the boys and with the whole family, like fishing, hiking, and canoeing/boating! It's nice to have most of the morning/early afternoon to spend time before we head to work.

John and I are feeling good about of financial situation. With being frugal/budgeting as well as working as much as possible, we have earned enough money to put away enough for money for 4 months for emergencies in our savings account and we also invested a fair amount of money in a 6-month CD until we decide how to invest our money in IRA's, etc. We're doing our best to achieve our goal to finish college without any debt. Thanks to dad for my educational IRA as well as teaching me money smarts! :) I really appreciate my understanding of financial frugality/responsibility that many people my age lack.

Ode to my hubby: I have been thinking about how much I don't want John to leave for his month-long training in Kentucky. We'll only be able to communicate via snail mail and I remember how hard last summer was. It will probably be worse without my honey to snuggle with after a long day of work. I've just been thinking lately about how lucky I am and how much I love him. Today I went downstairs to find him, he'd gone down to shower and get ready for work a while earlier. I found him like this:




What a cutie! I couldn't help taking a picture and thinking how much I love him! It made me smile.