Home for the Holidays

I constructed my own dresser all by myself today. It, of course, came in a box from Ikea and has been sitting in my bedroom for the past month since I bought it. I was going to wait for Stephen to come home for a weekend to have him help me with it, but I decided that I wanted to spend what little time I have with him at home doing something other than building a dresser and moving furniture around our bedroom. It took me three hours to build, but it feels good to have my bedroom complete since we moved to Utah.

I am really looking forward to the upcoming holidays because that means I get to see Stephen not only at Christmas, but next week at Thanksgiving! I am so excited because he wasn't planning on coming home until Christmas. He called one day and told me he bought a ticket to come home for Thanksgiving, and he is so ready to come home. Stephen is almost half way done with training; key words being almost half way. I get to see him for both holidays, but after Christmas we have to go a whole other three months without seeing each other--what a drag. I have to give mad props and a lot of respect to military wives and husbands, especially when they are gone a whole year on active duty. I could never do that.

Stephen is doing very well in all of his classes and physical training courses. He is the kind of person who makes friends very easily and seems to be a class comedian by all the stories I've heard; he is very witty and quick on his feet. He is learning a lot and having lots of fun at the same time, but is ready to be home; as I am also ready to have him home too. He is such a great provider and husband; I love him and miss him very much.

I have been doing pretty well here at home with work and my new calling in the primary teaching the sunbeams. The next best thing to having Stephen home is having my family come visit for a weekend for family home evening in December. I have been planning and shopping for all the things I need to take care of everyone; it's going to be so great!

Halloween

I spent Halloween by myself this year in Florida. The day started out rainy and cold, but progressively got warmer throughout the day. I checked out of my hotel early in the afternoon so that I could plan what to do for the day since Stephen was in class. My plane didn't leave until 7:30 that night so I drove out to the Kingsley Plantation to take a look at the mansion and slaves quarters. I didn't have Stephen's bug spray with me and my elbows were just ravaged by insect bites. Also, see exhibit A:

I had no idea that bugger was on my eye until I looked at my picture, and yes, I now have a big red bug bite on my eye.

 I just love the scenery out here! There was a crane in this photo but he some how became camouflaged so I can't see him anymore.

I didn't know where to go after the plantation; I saw signs for the Jacksonville zoo nearby so I decided to stroll around the zoo for a few hours to pass the time. I then headed out to Jax beach until I needed to go back to the airport. I spent Halloween night sleeping on an airplane until I got home at 1:30 am.

 This is a tapir. I've never seen one before and he's a lot bigger than I had anticipated. Kind of ugly too.

 Komodo dragon

Kercheck and Kala

Inside that dog house is the worlds smallest deer species; it only grows to no more than 12 inches tall, and this blue little bugger was a nuisance. I walked into the bird refuge with no one else inside. I just walked around the place and this bird came flying at my face--I thought he was going to take my head off! I must have been near a nest or something because he made several attempts diving at my head to scare me away.

Georgia

I finally made it out to Georgia this last weekend to visit Stephen after six weeks without seeing him. I was so excited I could hardly stand it as I was in the air. My flight went really smoothly and I arrived on time. I left the airport to retrieve my rental car only to find the guy who helped me was from Murray, UT. He was very nice and after waiting a few minutes for my car to arrive, since they were still trying to park it, he turned around and asked me how I felt about Mustangs. I looked behind me and there was a brand new 2012 ford mustang and I instantly replied, "I'll take it!" knowing that Stephen would love to drive it as well. With the help of my trusty smartphone navigation I crossed the Florida state border into Georgia and met Stephen at the check-in point at FLETC. The first thing I thought to myself was that he looked SO good! He was waiting for me in the office as I got my visitors ID badge and was all smiles. We drove to his hotel room on base where he introduced me to his friends from his class. We all went out to dinner where one of the girls whisked me away from our table to introduce me to all the other class mates at the back of the restaurant. Everyone was so nice and all I heard from them was, "Its nice to see that Stephen's wife really exists", and "I sit by Stephen in class and boy that kid is a talker", "Stephen is so sarcastic; he's going to get himself into trouble one of these days" Haha, it was a lot of fun to see who Stephen has been spending his time and making friends with.

The next day Stephen and I spent the day driving and touring around the Golden Isles and eating REAL southern barbeque. We went to the sea turtle reserve  and drove around Jekyll Island  and ended up at the beach that afternoon. Then we went to St. Simon's Island to see the lighthouse and walk along the pier as the sun was setting. We ended the day at Sal's Pizza which was, in my opinion, the best pizza I have ever had.

 I found a sand dollar!

A gigantic horseshoe crab. It reminds me of Predator...ewe!

St. Simon's Island lighthouse. It has been shining since 1876 when it was rebuilt.

 Sunset

 We walked into a few shops on our way back to our hotel and walked through this candy shop. Stephen found the world's largest gummy worm. Gummy worms are some of Stephen's favorite candy.

Stephen's birthday was Sunday the 30th so I packed a whole bag just to bring his birthday gifts in. we found some Halloween cinnamon rolls and celebrated his birthday in our hotel room.

We went to Fort King George in Darien, GA--this was the first settlement in Georgia. We had a lot of fun walking around getting eaten alive by the bugs. Stephen warned me about the bugs out there so thankfully he brought his bug spray.

I love the South! Now I know why Becky loved living in South Carolina. I love everything about it--the rich culture, the accents, how down-to-earth the people are, the vegetation, everything! One of the coolest things to see on our outings were the Southern Live oak trees and all the Spanish moss hanging from the branches.

I had an awesome little vacation and, of course, the best part was being with my other half even if it was for only two days. It was way too short and only heightened my longing to be with him again. Christmas can't come soon enough this year until the next time I get to see him.