I've been a little behind in posting on here. I'm not even sure how many people are actually reading this. Aunt Linda, if you've been keeping up with our blog, just let me say it was so wonderful to meet you along with Uncle Bill. I just wish it wasn't under those circumstances. I catch myself missing Grandma Stough a little bit here and there each day. She certainly did hold a special place in my heart.
I threw together a fun little video of some pictures of our first year or so together. Some of the pictures you may recognize from this blog or from Facebook. I needed a little project to keep myself busy, I sure did miss Wayne a lot today. I look forward to what the next year holds and how many more pictures we can add to our already big collection of love and fun.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The first 6 months
I've been a little behind on posting. I can't believe its June already. Some days, this feels like the longest year of my life, on other days it feels like time is passing by quickly. Here is an overview of the first six months.
In February we finally received the pictures we had taken in September '09. I discovered a program called Operation Love Reunited, and a local professional photography participated. Because this is such a popular program, our photographer was a little back logged. But it was well worth the wait. We received a free photo session, so long as it was patriotic themed. I absolutely love some of the pictures, here are a few:
Through this deployment I have met 3 amazing army wives-Reese, Diana and Jaimee, and it is so nice to have women to talk to that know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. Diana, Jaimee and I went to Snoqualmie Falls one beautiful Saturday afternoon, shortly after the deployment. We had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting and getting to know each other.
Valentine's Day came around and Reese and I decided to be each others "date". We took advantage of a "spa"day that was provided to military spouses of deployed soldiers. We scooped up some freebie samples and went to Reese's house to make dinner, drink some wine and watch movies. My parent's were really thoughtful and sent me some flowers.
Reese and I also got together and made Valentine's themed Care packages for our husband's. I got a great idea froma fellow Army wife on Facebook. It was taking a deck of cards and turning it into a little book called "52 Things I love About You". As much as we love our husbands, it took Reese and I a lot of time, laughter, brainstorming and of course wine to complete our book. But we did it and our husbands loved it.
Here is the finished product.
On February 27th, Wayne and I had our first wedding anniversary. He didn't call that day and that was pretty hard on me. I was thinking that there would be no way he could forget but as the day went on there was no call and no email. Until around 3pm when I got a call from a lost delivery driver. I was pleasantly surprised when these were delivered:
Wayne was home for two wonderful weeks in April and we fell right back into where we left off, laughing, watching movies, going to dinner and visiting with family and friends. We visited the Fisker's one weekend and brought Bentley with us who we discovered, has no fear. He marched straight into the Llama pen and shortly was surrounded by 3 big Llama's. Wayne and Sue ran after to make sure the little fearless doggy was not hurt. I think he finally realized he was in over his head when he was surrounded.
We also went and visited my family for 4 days. We didn't do a lot, had a nice family dinner and lounged. Wayne had been wanting to attend a baseball game, so I surprised him with the idea and we had a lot of fun. The two weeks went by so fast and just like that, he was gone again.
In February we finally received the pictures we had taken in September '09. I discovered a program called Operation Love Reunited, and a local professional photography participated. Because this is such a popular program, our photographer was a little back logged. But it was well worth the wait. We received a free photo session, so long as it was patriotic themed. I absolutely love some of the pictures, here are a few:
Through this deployment I have met 3 amazing army wives-Reese, Diana and Jaimee, and it is so nice to have women to talk to that know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. Diana, Jaimee and I went to Snoqualmie Falls one beautiful Saturday afternoon, shortly after the deployment. We had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting and getting to know each other.
Valentine's Day came around and Reese and I decided to be each others "date". We took advantage of a "spa"day that was provided to military spouses of deployed soldiers. We scooped up some freebie samples and went to Reese's house to make dinner, drink some wine and watch movies. My parent's were really thoughtful and sent me some flowers.
Reese and I also got together and made Valentine's themed Care packages for our husband's. I got a great idea froma fellow Army wife on Facebook. It was taking a deck of cards and turning it into a little book called "52 Things I love About You". As much as we love our husbands, it took Reese and I a lot of time, laughter, brainstorming and of course wine to complete our book. But we did it and our husbands loved it.
Here is the finished product.
On February 27th, Wayne and I had our first wedding anniversary. He didn't call that day and that was pretty hard on me. I was thinking that there would be no way he could forget but as the day went on there was no call and no email. Until around 3pm when I got a call from a lost delivery driver. I was pleasantly surprised when these were delivered:
Wayne was home for two wonderful weeks in April and we fell right back into where we left off, laughing, watching movies, going to dinner and visiting with family and friends. We visited the Fisker's one weekend and brought Bentley with us who we discovered, has no fear. He marched straight into the Llama pen and shortly was surrounded by 3 big Llama's. Wayne and Sue ran after to make sure the little fearless doggy was not hurt. I think he finally realized he was in over his head when he was surrounded.
We also went and visited my family for 4 days. We didn't do a lot, had a nice family dinner and lounged. Wayne had been wanting to attend a baseball game, so I surprised him with the idea and we had a lot of fun. The two weeks went by so fast and just like that, he was gone again.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love. ~George Eliot
January 20, 2010 was the day my heart deployed to Iraq. As to be expected, this was one of the hardest days of my life. My mom flew over from eastern Washington on Tuesday night and went with us down to the base to say goodbye. Wayne's best friend Kari also came for support, oh and we can't forget our little Shih tzu, Bentley. We arrived on base around 11:30 and had to have all of our goodbye done by Noon.
I don't have much to say here, except, I'm glad that I will only have to say goodbye like that once in our life and I never have to do it again.
Wayne arrived safely and we've spoken a few times on the phone. Someone sat on his laptop that he had left on his cot, under a blanket and broke the screen. This was pretty disappointing, and now we will have to look into getting an external monitor for his laptop or a brand new laptop.
I've slowly worked into a routine of going to work, walking Bentley 3 miles after work, and exercising using the Wii fit. I'm going to stay focused on my goal of losing weight this year.
I will update as soon as I have more information.
The pictures posted:
I don't have much to say here, except, I'm glad that I will only have to say goodbye like that once in our life and I never have to do it again.
Wayne arrived safely and we've spoken a few times on the phone. Someone sat on his laptop that he had left on his cot, under a blanket and broke the screen. This was pretty disappointing, and now we will have to look into getting an external monitor for his laptop or a brand new laptop.
I've slowly worked into a routine of going to work, walking Bentley 3 miles after work, and exercising using the Wii fit. I'm going to stay focused on my goal of losing weight this year.
I will update as soon as I have more information.
The pictures posted:
- my mom, Wayne and I
- Wayne and I with our friends Jason and Reese. Jason is in the same battery as Wayne.
- Kari, Wayne and I
- saying goodbye
- Wayne in formation
- sad wives.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Deployment Ceremony
It came so fast and as much as I try to convince myself that I've been mentally preparing over the last year, I will never be ready for deployment. Yesterday was Wayne's ceremony and my parent's came for support. I thought I'd make it through, but as soon as the Chaplain started speaking, the tears came. I didn't realize the News camera had spotted us though, my mom's arm was around me and that must've made for a news moment during the ceremony coverage.
500 more Fort Lewis troops headed to Iraq | KOMO News - Breaking News, Sports, Traffic and Weather - Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional
500 more Fort Lewis troops headed to Iraq | KOMO News - Breaking News, Sports, Traffic and Weather - Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional
The First Year-2009
February 2009
The day our adventures began.
May-2009Wayne had just graduated from WLC a course required for NCO's. We had a busy day that day, I went to his graduation on base and had about 45 mins to get ready for the All Ranks Army Ball that evening. We clean up pretty well, I must say.
June-2009
In June we went down to Castle Rock, WA to meet the Fisker's and my new Sister-in-law Whitney and her boyfriend Michael. We had a really great time and I really enjoyed meeting people that cared so much about Wayne. The Fisker's are fantastic hosts.
We also went to Badger Lake in Eastern Washington. Jillian's parents have a cabin and boat on the Lake. We had a lot of fun relaxing and boating with the siblings.
July-2009In July we went to Las Vegas to visit and meet Wayne's grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin. This was such a memorable trip for me as I really got a glimpse into Wayne's childhood. As any grandmother would, she told stories of Wayne as a child and I got to look through numerous photo albums of what I think to be the cutest child I have ever seen. The pictures posted are of us with G'ma and Pa Stough and of Wayne's bedroom at his grandparents house. We did some tourist-y things, visited a few casino's on the Strip, toured Hoover Dam and went to the Cirque Du Soleil show-KA at the MGM Grand.
August-2009
We had a low key but very nice Reception in Eastern Washington at my parents' house. It was nice to have some family come together and celebrate with us. Jillian and Beth get a big thanks for planning and making the amazing Red Velvet cake. Thanks also to my folks for having this in their back yard and being so supportive.
September-2009
It was back down to Castle Rock in September. I had to keep my mouth shut for well over a month that my other Sister-in-law Allison, her boys Kellon and Kolby and step-dad Chuck and Aunty Peggy were coming from Colorado to surprise Wayne. Boy was that hard but well worth it. I almost cried when they popped out of the Fisker's spare bedroom and surprised Wayne. We had a very fun weekend and I really enjoyed watching Wayne play with his nephews. He really loves those boys and I figured out really quickly why. They are the funniest, sweetest and cutest boys I've ever met. It really is cool to be an Aunt "Emmy" to such rad boys. The weekend was also a surprise for Whitney as she didn't know Chuck was coming either. I'm glad we pulled off the surprise. I can't wait to see them all again!
In October we decided to get a puppy to keep me company during Wayne's upcoming deployment. That unfortunately didn't work out too well, poor little guy was diagnosed with the Parvo Virus and died a week later. Reluctant to get another dog, a friend contacted me a week later to see if we were interested in adopting an adult Shih-tzu named Bentley. After Thanksgiving we took him home on a trial basis and fell in love with him. He is now apart of our little family.
December 2009Before heading back down to Vegas for Christmas, Wayne and I had some Christmas photos taken by my good friend Justyn. Wayne bought me a Wii for Christmas and I was so excited!
When we got to Vegas we got to see one of the very first shows of the new Cirque du Soleil-Viva Elvis. Although you could tell they had some work to do on the show, we really did enjoy it. Pa, Wayne and I went on evening walks around Green Valley Ranch and we had fun riding the Carousel. Vegas is very beautiful at Christmas time and I would take the weather there over Seattle weather any day.
We had an action packed year and we are very grateful to have such wonderful friends and family to share these memories with.
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