The End and The Beginning

As of Friday, after 4 years and 9 months, Ch is officially no longer in Active service for the United States Marine Corps. I remember the day he told me that he was thinking about joining. We had only been dating for about 6 months when he decided that he was going to enlist. I was so scared but I knew this was something he had wanted to do for his entire life so I was going to support him. When he signed up his recruiter told him he would be leaving for boot camp sometime in January of 2005. In October 2004 we got the dreaded phone call that he would be leaving early. He was due to leave November 2004, 4 days after Thanksgiving. His last weekend we were able to celebrate his Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary so he was able to see the entire family. Early Monday morning, he left for 13 weeks of boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

The next 13 weeks seemed to take forever, especially to a 19 year old girl. I wrote him letters everyday and he wrote as often as he could. I did not hear his voice for 13 weeks. In February 2005 he graduated from Boot Camp. I never thought I would be so excited to see someone in my whole life. Little did I know, this would be the shortest time we would be apart. Ch came home for 10 days and then had to report to Camp Pendleton to start School of Infantry for 10 weeks.

After school of Infantry he was stationed with 2nd Battalion 5th Marines out of San Mateo in Camp Pendleton. In December 2005 he was deployed on a 7 month Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). He was on a naval ship which visited Okinawa, Philippines, Guam, and many other foreign countries while he was away. In July 2006 he came home a day early. I was the only one to greet him on base and I don't think I let go of him for 20 minutes. Once we got back to town the first person we went to see was his mom. She saw him through the front window and ran out to him so fast and hugged him even longer. It was so wonderful to see him again.

Ch was home for a few months and was able to celebrate Christmas with us that year. In January  2007 we were married and one week later he was off to training in 29 Palms. In March 2007 he was deployed to Iraq.

In July 2007 we welcomed our daughter, A, with my mom and sister as my birthing coaches, while Ch was thousands of miles away. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure and hope that it never happens again (knock on wood). In October 2007, when A was a little over 2 months old, she met her Daddy for the first time. I don't think there was not a dry eye there as he embraced his daughter. We moved down to San Clemente with roommates but were soon transferred to Fallbrook for a new position. We were preparing to get out of the Marines in 2008 when he was given the opportunity to re-deploy. After many discussions and prayer we decided that he would deploy again.

In late October 2008 Ch deployed to Iraq to be personal security detail to a general.

A and I moved in with his parents so I could have some help with her. It was a long seven months watching all her many milestones while he was so far away. We took so many pictures and each month I sent him a video of her so he could see all the cute things she did each day. (I'm biased I know lol.) In May 2009 Ch flew into San Diego Airport. We all drove down there to meet him and as soon as I saw him I ran up to him and almost broke his jaw. I guess I was a little excited haha. At first A was scared but as soon as Ch walked away towards baggage claim she yelled "My Daddy." Seeing them embrace brought tears to every ones eyes.

Soon we were settling back into our routine and this last summer Ch was able to take 40 days off so we could go on a 3 week family road trip with just the three of us. It was such a good bonding time for us and really brought us closer together as a family. Once we came home, Ch only had 3 weeks left.

Each Monday as he left to go down to Camp Pendleton I kept telling myself this was one of the last times I had to do this. I was so excited for the final day to come. Then it finally did. Ch got his final paperwork and threw a pair of boots over the power lines outside of Camp Pendleton like many Marines before him have done.

In August 2009, he came home for good. As he drove up I saw him in his cammies for the last time. I was filled with happiness, excitement, anticipation and fear. I was happy at the thought of finally having my husband all to myself since out of 32 months of marriage, we have been apart for 15 months. I was excited because now it was my turn to have him, no longer the Marines! I felt anticipation of what the future holds as well as fear of the unknown. Will he get a job? Will we get a house? Will we have a bigger family? This is all very scary because we don't have a set plan anymore. The Marines have been a part of us for almost 5 years and it was kind of comforting. Annoying, of course, but comforting none-the-less.

As I sit here with my husband on my right with his arm around me, and the cutest girl in the world on his lap, I am overjoyed. For even though I fear the unknown, the unknown is fine with me as long as I have him home. So here is to the unknown, the next exciting chapter of our lives and the many memories to come.

P.S. Since I was in the reminiscing mode I decided to include the pictures from the three Marine Corps Birthday balls that Ch and I attended. They are from 2005, 2006, & 2007.

Beach Day!

Yesterday, Am and I took Jo, Ja, & A to the beach. She was so excited to go the beach with uncles! But of course once we got there she was scared to go anywhere near the water. Nevertheless we had a great time building sand castles, running awat from the water, and kicking the soccer ball around!

Splish, Splash

So today was such a hot day that we decided to fill up A's kiddie pool and have her play in the backyard. She had so much fun playing for awhile and decided that she wanted to water her pumpkins which then started in watering the dog and herself and daddy. She also decided that she was going to drink the water from the hose just like the Shoshoni. Needless to say they all got wet, except mommy because she was holding the camera (smart move I know!) We all had a great time outside and can't wait to do it again!

Park Day with Cousins

On Thursday, R and I took A, Jo, Ja, Ab, & Ca to Rocketship Park. They were all so excited to go and play with their cousins at the park. As soon as we got there they all ran straight towards the rocketship and started to climb. A climbed 2 steps and started screaming saying no so we decided to go to the slide instead.
About twenty minutes of being there A decides she wants to climb the rocketship again but this time wants me to take her. So I stick my camera in my pocket and start to take her up. now fo course this is not meant for parents since each level is only about four in a half feet tall so I am on my knees the entire time. As we go higher and higher A gets more and more scared but there is no way I am stopping once we have come this high. We made it all the way to the top and she was so excited that she got to drive the rocketship so I am glad that we went!
Once I got her back down she continued to slide with her cousins, well sort of lol. We stayed ahile longer than came home because daddy came home early for the weekend. :)
All in all it was a fun day at the park with her cousins and we look forward to having another one soon!

Las Vegas

So we left Ogden, Utah on Thursday morning to start our 7 hour drive to Las Vegas, which after this vacation seemed like a short drive. This also happened to be A's birthday so this was going to be a fun day, we hoped. We got on the road and it went well pretty much the whole drive. We got into Vegas and hit traffic right away but were able to get to our hotel around 3:00 in the afternoon. A was so excited because we were staying in the Excalibur so we got to stay in a castle for her birthday. We checked into the room and the first thing she said was "This is Princess A's bed." I think it was the cutest thing she has ever said. After we were settled in the hotel we went out to dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. We were there for about twenty minutes when the rainstorm starting going off and A started histarically crying and got so upset she threw up. Needless to say we left and took her back to the room for a little bit. She calmed down enough so that we could drive Ch to his hotel to meet the rest of the guys for the bachelor party that we were there for. We walked him in and said hi to the guys and then A and I went off for our girls weekend.
The next morning we decided to take the tram (aka black train) to Mandalay Bay to go see the Shark Reef. A loved pointing out all the fishes and alligators that she could find. She was scared of the sharks at first but ended up really liking them. After the shark reef we came back to take a nap and relax a little bit. A and I had an early dinner than went downstairs to play some arcade games. Well A picked this one game and put in her quarter and ended up winning 650 tickets. So it looks like A was luckier than any of us this weekend. She got lots of prizes along with her princess hat that Ch and I bought her for her birthday. She was so excited to have all her tickets and felt like a big girl when she was able to pick out her own prizes. A and I went back up to the room and called it a night.
On Saturday we moved into the hotel with Ch so we could be closer to him. The entire day we spent at the pool. It was so nice because it was a beach pool with sand and low water so it was perfect for A. I don't think I have ever seen A play for that many hours in a row before. It was so nice just to sit and relax after being gone for two weeks.
On Sunday we had to get up early and get back on the road. It was very sad that our vacation was coming to a close but it was going to be nice to get back home. So we got on the road and finally got home around two in the afternoon and collapsed on the couch. It was so nice to be back home and relax and grandma and grandpa were so excited to see her after being gone so long. We did not relax for long because two days later we moved into my parents house for ten days...

Yellowstone

We woke up on Wednesday morning and left Cody, Wyoming to start our short 45 minute trek to Yellowstone National Park. We arrived to a long line of cars entering the park since it is one of its busiest times at the park. As we were waiting with anticipation and excitement, A was rambling off all the animals we were going to look for. She was most excited about seeing all the big trees. We entered the park and right away wished that we could stay an entire week to see all the wonderful things that Yellowstone had to offer. We started with seeing some steam pockets on the side of the road. They were very interesting and very smelly at the same time. As we continued on our beautiful drive we had to slam on our brakes as the traffic was completely stopped. As the traffic started moving we discovered that there was a buffalo on the side of the road. I was in shock! i could not believe that it was just standing there as all of these people were stopping to look at it. I guess it comes to show that Yellowstone is really a popular park, haha. So we continued on our trek and saw the mud pits, many many geysers and then stopped at the most famous one, Old Faithful. Of course we got there ten minutes after it went off so we had an hour to kill. We decided to get some food which is not hard to find since there are now three lodges and many, many shops around Old Faithful. The bad news is that we were not the only ones who needed time to kill so that was the only thing we were able to do was eat lunch. After lunch we walked over and joined the giant crowd to see Old Faithful. We had to wait another 30 minutes because the schedule is estimated so we let A run around for awhile in the hot heat. Of course it kept teasing us and bubbling up without startting but once it did it was worth the wait. You never think that seeing water would be interesting but it was amazing. I was so happy that we made the trip to go see it because it made it all worth while. After Old Faithful was done we got back on the road on our way out of Yellowstone and saw not only one buffalo but a family of three Buffalo on the side of the road. "There is the Daddy, the Mommy, and the Baby" said A. She was so excited to see the buffalo family and kept comparing them to our little family of three. I think it was the cutest thing I ever heard. Unfortunately we had to keep driving through to get back on the road. We continued on our drive and decided to push thorough and drive to Ogden, UT so we would have a shorter drive the next day. So we got on the road and right away Ch and A fell asleep so I drove through the next 5 hours to our hotel in Ogden so we could get a good night sleep again.

updating soon...

Ch, A, and I move back home tomorrow after our much needed, very long family vacation. Once we get settled I will finally update you on the rest of our trip and all the happenings of our lives! I am having so much fun doing this blog and will continue to do up so that everyone can see our adorable daughter as often as they wanted (I am a little biased I know). Talk to you very soon!