Life Is No Party

I know that there are some of you that simply do not understand sharing feelings online. Here's why I do it. 1. I feel it has the potential to reach others out there who need it; it will help them 2. it helps me feel better 3. it's good for others to hear what others are feeling and going through so that they know that nobody is a robot and we all have feelings and deserve compassion and empathy. So if you do not like reading about my "feelings" then just stop and please, no more condescending, "well-meaning", critical and judgmental emails and comments to me. Just bug off if you don't like it. 

Okay now that I got that out I can go on :)

Our trip home from Virginia was not without a few bumps and adventures on the way. It took us 4 days to get home. That's what happens when you have Buddy Passes. They're so unreliable. But on top of those nasty things, the Army messed up with Tyler's paperwork so made us stay a day over. Civvies who do the paperwork don't ever go above and beyond nor do they act like they care that they're messing around with people's LIVES and families here. So it cost us SO much money. We had to change flights, add hotels and car rental days, food, gas, etc. It was horrible on our wallet and our psyches, but it was good, so good, to be together for those days. I just feel bad that it robbed our children of those days with their father. But I suppose everything happens for a reason. 
We had many wonderful people step up and offer to help us find a way home. It was a miracle how things worked out. My mom got busy notifying her many email groups of our situation and many, many people jumped to our aid!! We're eternally grateful to these people who helped! Tyler's sister helped fly us home, too, when our Buddy Passes didn't work. 
We went from Virginia to Boston, Boston to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. We stayed in Boston for a whole day and night and WOW it was an amazing place! We were right down-town historical Boston. We stayed at the oldest running hotel in the country and it was surreal for us. Cost us a pretty penny, though, but we had no other choice unless we wanted to sleep on the dirty streets and possibly get mugged lol. We also got to stay the night in Vegas at a member's home. They fed us and took such good care of us! Like a 5-star hotel!! They wanted to pay our way home but Tyler's sister beat them to it. They were such a wonderful couple!

Since we've been home, we've been able to do a lot of things together as a family. We've seen some movies, gone to Trafalga for bumper cars, carnival rides, XD theatre, arcade games, and more. It was a blast! We also got to go to Utah's Hogle Zoo. That was so fun! The girls had so much fun there! And best of all we've been to the Temple several times to help do one of my best friend's family Temple work. It was AMAZING and truly the work of God.
Besides having to deal with unecessary and exaggerated drama, things were really, really good! And it went by too fast. Of course. 

Tyler leaves today for South Korea. We are not happy. We are dreading the likelihood that our family will be split apart for TWO YEARS!!!!!!
There are many who are trying to stay positive for us, which we appreciate, but I think we deserve to cry about it, too. It's all very hard and discouraging. It's almost too much to bear.
Tonight so far we've been crying. There's no party going on over here! Just heartache, despair, sorrow, fear, hope, sadness, anger, confusion, humbleness, prayers, and more.
The girls beg Tyler to stay home.
I cannot believe he's leaving already, and for so very long!

You know, it's one thing to have a family member or close friend go away for a while, but when it's YOUR SPOUSE it's waaaaay different. We're used to sleeping in bed next to each other, our intimacy, being best friends, doing everything together, and experiencing everything in life together. Now being forced apart is torturous.
People say "I could never do that". well, neither can we. But we don't have a choice so we deal with it. Other people say "I know how you feel. My husband has gone on business trips for x amount of time" You can know a tiny bit, but really not as much. Being gone for weeks at a time vs months at a time..... um, big difference. Much harder. My mom can't even bear to think about what it'd feel like to have my dad gone for 6 months to 2 years. It's just too much, ya know?

What gets me even more upset than anything is knowing there are people out there that do not apreciate or support our soldiers and families. It makes me SICK. How ungrateful and selfish and self-centered are these people!! Do you even realize the HUGE SACRIFICE our family is going through and other families like ours? Do you understand? Do you care? Are you capable of having feeling for someone else's situation besides your own? 
Right now we both feel like there are some that are only thinking of how this is affecting them and not us. He feels slightly smothered. But meh, what can ya do, right?

So Tyler leaves today. He flies to VA, then from VA to Detroit, then Detroit to we think Tokyo for a gas-stop, then to Seoul Korea where he'll get a bus ticket for a 4 hour ride to Camp Carroll for inprocessing. We have no idea where he'll go after that and we have no idea if we'll get to come over later to join him or not.
You know, him doing this is better than serving a mission. 1. he's safer 2. he can use skype 3. he can use phones whenever not just twice a year 4. he can come home to visit 1-2 a year 5. he's getting paid for it. It's not worse than a mission as some seem to think lol.

Anyway, this time Tyler leaving is a lot harder than the first time. It's WAY harder. And it's making us both sick. I feel bad for both my girls and for us. Our situation isn't one that anybody can be jealous of, that's for sure, BUT, our marriage is soooo strong and our family so tight! The Lord has greatly blessed us and kept us and he's blessed our family with His Spirit and I KNOW that because of our obedience to Him that we've been blessed. It's almost as if God has been carrying us through all of this.

Honestly, we are not your average military family. It seems as if other military families handle this just fine and don't mind being apart so much. But with us it's pure torture and we hate every minute of it, BUT, we know it's right, we know it's what the Lord wants of us, of Tyler. So, we "go and do as the Lord doth command" (1 Nephi 3:7). 

Please, if you will, pray that we'll be able to join Tyler in Korea soon! And pray that we're all kept safe and strong!
Thank you for all your support!

And thank you mom and dad for all the sacrifices you have made for us! For the money you've given us, the home to live in, the food, the spirituality we've needed, the support, and more. You haven't been intrusive or manipulative, you haven't been worrying about your feelings above ours, and you've been a huge blessing to us, being an answer to many prayers! I know Heavenly Father has blessed you for it and will continue to do so. 
And thank you to our best friends who have stood by our side through it all! Through the ups and downs, and for your support and encouragement, for your listening ear and more. 
And thanks to all other family and friends who have been here for us, supported us, blessed us, prayed for us, helped us, encouraged us, loved us both, accepted us both. You support me, you support Tyler and if you support Tyler you support me. We are ONE. :)

okay, now I better get off so I can supposedly and maybe get some sleep.

The Adventures of BCT Graduation with Tyler!!! :D

WOW what a week!!! 

I am exhausted! But SO HAPPY!!!!!

Pre-Grad Day:

Early Wednesday morning Mike Liu, a "brother" from Taiwan, picked up our luggage and followed us to my mom's house in Lehi. There I drove Mike's Lexus, Mike, and the girls and our luggage to the SLC Airport. 1/4 way there I realized I'd forgotten my phone, so we had to turn around and go back to my moms, which made us LATE!

I drove as fast as I dared and while I checked my luggage at the curb-side late luggage guys place Mike took the girls into the airport then had to leave. I grabbed my luggage and two carry-ons (one was my CPAP) and started to RUN. Sophie was busy looking around and tipping her little luggage w/wheels to keep her from running, so I'd run back and urge her one. We finally got to security where we had to wait in line. Finally there I had to take off the girls shoes and jackets, my shoes and jacket and belt, take out my cell phone, and my CPAP machine, load up all our luggage onto the belt, then take out the laptop. Meantime things are falling off the belt and nice people are catching my stuff left and right. Thankfully they were all so nice and patient! I think they felt sorry for me haha. 

I was juggling a million things it seemed like and was flustered because our flight was to leave at 9am and I was going through security at 9!! I was praying for a miracle!

I put our shoes, jackets, and belt back on, put my CPAP away, the laptop away, got the girls their luggage, grabbed my 3 bags (all super heavy, of course!!) and started RUNNING! Daniel called to tell me they were about to take off and they were seated on the plane! I said "Please please run to me and help me or we'll never make it!"

Daniel told the flight attendants the situation who said "tell the pilot". He did so and the pilot, who was already in the cockpit, got out and walked up the ramp to wait for us!!!

Daniel ran like a sprinter to us. It was about 2 football fields long how far away we were! He showed up and without pausing whisked the slow little Sophie right into his arms along with her heavy luggage and turned and ran hardly skipping a beat. Lacie was running ahead like a little lightning bolt. I told her "if we don't run as fast as we can we might not get to go see daddy!" so she took off!

I got there with our tickets, the pilot smiled at us and I thanked them profusely.

We delayed the plane over 10 minutes! Yikes!!

Finally we were off!

The flights to Louisville were just fine, for the most part. At first the girls were excited and thrilled to be in a big plane and feeling the take-off. Then they got wiggly. Then tired. Then noisy. 

I was soooo grateful my brothers Josh & Dan were with me. We all took turns taking the girls to the tiny little latrine and getting toys and coloring things out and treats. In Chicago we had several hours before we'd leave for Louisville so the girls and I took a nap on the floor. They made sure to empty out their carry-ons all over the floor, and Sophie bossed around another little boy, stealing his chair every chance she got and acting nonchalant about it. 

We got to Louisville finally and almost didn't get our rental van! But it worked out thankfully. When we went outside to pick it up (daniel and I) it was like hitting a wall of steam in a sauna!! 

The van was soooo nice! It had TV's in it and all sorts of gadgets, and the AC worked wonderfully!!! lol

We got the girls and Josh, loaded up all our garb and picked up my checked bag, and were off! It took us a little longer to get to our hotel than anticipated. We stopped off at 2 or 3 stores to buy some food, a stroller, and swim trunks for Dan.

The hotel was nice-ish. haha. We went to bed early that night.

Graduation:

We all got up at 6am I believe (May have been earlier, I don't remember now) and took showers, did our hair, got all dressed up nice, and left LATE!! haha. Completely missed New Family Orientation, then couldn't find a place to park! I drove through the building's parking lot and saw the Company in formation. I knew Tyler was in one of the two Platoons in the middle and was embarrassed that I had to drive past a barrier of "no parking" cones and behind their Company to turn around in our huge van! Tonz of soldiers and even a Drill Sergeant were yelling at us like we were stupid thinking we were going to park there hahahaha.

Tyler said "Who's that idiot?"

Well, when the girls and Josh and I got out for Daniel to go park somewhere out in the boonies Tyler's buddies said, "Hey Frampton. Aren't those your kids". Well, that "idiot" Tyler said "was MY idiot", meaning me! hahaha! He hadn't seen me yet, though.

Inside the bleachers were FULL! We walked around forever until we found a place on a front row that would've fit 3 people and squished 5 of us there instead. 

I went back outside to take pictures of the Company and find Tyler. One of his buddies was like "isn't that your wife, Frampton?". well it's kinda funny cuz Ty and his buddy were checking me out calling me "hot" and other things when Tyler realized I was HIS "hotty" hahaha. He gave me a HUGE happy grin, which I got a couple pictures of. I was on CLOUD 9!!!

The ceremony was really cool. Good speakers, good awards given out, and  FINALLY they let the soldiers fall out and we ran to him!

The girls jumped into their daddy's arms and it was an emotional time for all of us. Such pure joy and excitement and relief to be together again!!!

Tyler was so relieved to have finished BCT, and who can blame him? lol

I got to meet several soldiers, one after another, praising Tyler in how amazing he is! They said he was just as good, if not better, than all the younger guys! One soldier kept bowing at Tyler (he's Asian) and going on and on about how good and amazing Ty is and that he's his "dad" hahaha. It was so cute and cool.

I met his branch president who said Tyler was a huge help in their branch, always busy doing good things. He asked if I was the one who sent all the email and said it was good. :) It was funny. I met a couple missionaries (who are not allowed to wear name tags there for some weird reason) and then met "big" Simmons who Tyler had baptized! He has a very cute family! I met a ton of good soldiers who were excited to meet us since Tyler talked about his girls and I a lot to all of them. They acted like they knew us pretty well. 

Then we got to sign him out!!! While standing there I met Senior Drill Sergeant Genthner who happened to really like Tyler a lot. Then we got out of there!

Graduation Day:

The day didn't go by too fast or too slow. It was SO PERFECT!!!

We drove all the way out to Louisville KY for "lunch", looking for The Outback Steakhouse, where we got lost for a couple of hours, then found it wasn't going to open for 3 or 4 more hours!!!

So we went back to Elizabethtown I believe, where we ate at Applebees. We had such a blast!!!

The girls were non-stop chatting at their dad and asking him tonz of questions almost all day long! They were climbing all over him as often as possible.

DANG Tyler looked so good!!!! So much skinnier, ripped, and handsomer than ever!! He just glowed! :D 

We then went back to the hotel where Dan & Josh took the little girls out swimming for a little while so Tyler and I could have some time alone. That time was so precious to us; we hugged and cried and our love was multiplied by a million!!!!! 

Then for the rest of the day we weren't sure what to do! So we all hung out in the hotel room, piddlydinking around haha. It was so relaxing, though! We finally decided to go back on the base to take pictures of Tyler's adventure at BCT (Basic Combat Training) and experiences and then a few family photos, too. The entire day we all laughed and listened to Tyler's non-stop story-telling. It was SO FUN!!! He has a few GREAT stories to share! They were gut-splitting funny!! hahaha. It was SO FUN!!

Then he had to report. He checked in and while we stood around waiting for the DS's to yell for formation I had a distinct impression for Tyler to introduce me to one of his Drill Sergeants. Senior Drill Sergeant Genthner, again. The thing was, earlier that day, right after graduation, we were told we would NOT be driving Tyler to AIT as we were told previously that we were and we'd planned on it.

So we talked with SDS Genthner for about an hour and he shared some good advice with us. The thing was, just before we stood around chatting with him, Tyler had approached all the DS's inside their office asking about doing ANYTHING to let me drive him to AIT (Advanced Individual Training). Genthner was pulling for it, but one of them was saying N-O and the others were saying "no... not possible". So while Tyler and I were chatting with him, Ty had to run inside and change into his PT uniform, I had the guts to ask Genthner about it again. He said "no, there's nothing we can do at all. There's just no way" so I told him "well dang. That sucks. We'd been told yes so I bought plane tickets, reserved the hotel and the rental van already and I can't change them". Then I dropped it. He sincerely looked sad! He looked at the ground and I could tell he felt bad. But there was nothing he could do.

Then Tyler came out and soon afterwards they put them all into formation. All the soldiers weren't there so they all got "smoked" pretty good. Thing was, some of them were laughing cuz this "smoking" was the lightest one they'd had yet. To us it looked bad, but to them it was nothing.

They let two platoons go early to spend another hour or so with their families, but Tyler was in the Platoon where 2 of the soldiers still hadn't shown up! They didn't show up for a long and instead of smoking them the rest of the night they finally let them join us!!! So we had 40 minutes left with Tyler before we had to say our good-byes!!

We sat on the grass and just talked. I was trying to figure out if there was ANYTHING that I could do still to take him. I just was not going to just take a NO after they told us yes for weeks! Come to find out it was just the Drill Sergeants being lazy about doing the paperwork! The thing was there were 90 soldiers going to Ft Lee for AIT. A LOT more than we'd realized! So what I think is that they got "lazy" about the paperwork because so many people were asking about taking their soldiers to AIT, so because of the liability risks of having so many soldiers driven by civilians it was just too much so instead of saying yes to only a few and no to the rest they had to say no to everyone. It was a very hard thing to swallow, so I never quite swallowed it lol.

We gave a very tearful goodbye. The girls were crying, I was bawling, Tyler was crying. SDS Genthner stood out there and watched us the entire time and you could tell it broke his heart. When Ty left SDS Genthner said "I've been through a few of these myself (he was deployed atleast 7 different times!!) and I don't like it. Be sure to do what I told you and this won't have to happen as much" I said "thank you. Thank you so much" and we waved goodbye.

That night I went back to the hotel and was on the verge of tears again, but the determination and frustration and stress was too much to let me give up like a baby and cry, so I got online and looked up, for two hours at the LEAST, phone numbers to call first thing in the morning! Tyler knew there was no way to get around the DS's N-O's, but I realized otherwise.

One friend made a good point that gave me hope and more "umph" to get permission. He said that soldiers can only do so much since they have to follow their chain of command but civilians have more pull. So.......

Another Miracle:

I got up before 6am and with all those phone numbers I'd collected I started making phone calls. Most had been disconnected, several had no answer, and the rest lead me in circles.

I prayed so fervently the night before and this morning for help and guidance because I KNEW it was right to drive him!! So I said to Heavenly Father in prayer, "I know this is right. Everything fell into place as it should, and it was a MIRACLE to get here. Please bless me with another miracle. And please guide me to what I need to do to make it happen". Realize that in order to be blessed with miracles we must do all that we can do to make them come. God doesn't hand out anything! We must work for what we want and need!

So then I got a strong impression to go onto a high security website for Army spouses of Active Duty soldiers and looked up a leader in the group and found an old message from months ago with a phone number to the Ft Knox Army base that is not listed online and called the number and I got through! FINALLY! It was about 7 or 7:30 by this time and I was sweating I was so anxious! We were wasting time (or so I felt) and Tyler would be loaded up into the buses at any minute and hauled away from me!!!!!

So I asked for so-and-so (won't give the names out on here) who I told my story to: "Hi, this is the wife of a soldier that graduated yesterday from BCT and he is headed for AIT to Ft Lee today. He and I both talked to Drill Sergeants about me taking him to AIT and we were both told a Yes, although it was an unofficial yes. Then yesterday they told us no. The necessary paperwork was never done. I already bought the plane tickets, rented a car and reserved a hotel room to take him out there to Virginia and I can't change those plans. Is there ANYTHING that I can do to still take him?" This is the same thing I told 3 or 4 people. One of them said "you need to talk to the Commander". And so I did.

After telling him the same story he sternly and bluntly asked "How did you get this number?!" "I.. um..." "You need to call us back in a minute" "Can I have your direct number?" "Does your soldier have your number?" "Yes, he does" "We'll call you back". 

Sweating, shaking, tummy-turns, pacing, finger-nail bighting...... I was so afraid I got Tyler into trouble!!! I'd skipped up the entire chain of command straight to the Commander and boldly asked for what I wanted and that was it! Now either the Commander was offended I'd called his direct, unpublished number, or he was impressed. I would know which within the next few minutes.

Within five minutes I got a call from Tyler's Drill Sergeant, Genthner, and I was SURE he was going to reprimand me for not dropping it and letting it go and for getting Tyler and himself in trouble but instead he said, "It looks like you're going to be driving your husband to AIT. How soon can you get here?" I said, in between bursts of THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!, "within 10 minutes!" which he laughed at, then said, "Give us an hour. We have a lot of paperwork to do now" hahaha!!!

Then Tyler wrote me a text saying, "You are My Wife!!!!!!!!" He was one super proud man!! The other soldiers got it out of him that I'd somehow, and miraculously, convinced the "top dogs" to let me drive him and all of them were happy for him (except when his back was turned they were probably holding each other back from pounding on him since they didn't get the same privileges - hahaha just kidding!!). 

I was NOT going to stand by after all the work I did to get out there, set things up to drive him to AIT, and to find a way home, all to be told a big fat stupid ugly NO after we'd been told yes!!! NO WAY JOSE!!!!!!!

So in an hour, or around there sometime, we drove to Tyler's base where SDS Genthner walked Tyler out to us with all his heavy packs and the girls gave him big kisses on his cheeks and I shook his hand like 2 or 3 times (I should've given him a hug!!!! He deserved it! Dangit!!).

The reason Genthner was our here here, was the Captain/Commander shouted for Genthner to come to him at my phone call and I could hear in the background SDS Genthner explaining to the Cpt what I'd done, what was arranged... he was pulling for us!!!! It took just him and me together to convince the Commander within seconds to get out the paperwork, sign it, and order Tyler out of formation and send him with ME!!!

Tyler said that Genthner yelled for him a couple of times and Tyler ran up to him and he said "Come with me, Frampton" and they marched into the building and into the office of the Commander. Tyler was shaking in his boots, not knowing what was going on! Was he in trouble? Had something happened? Was he getting more responsibilities or not going to Ft Lee? What??

Then Genthner said "You realize your wife is taking you to AIT". Tyler was so overjoyed his eyes filled with tears and he was bursting at the seems!! He tried his best not to smile and Genthner said "Don't smile, Private!" hahaha. Then that was when SDS called me on the phone while Tyler stood there listening. 

I signed official papers (like 3 or 4 of them) and so did Tyler and his Drill Sergeant and the Commander and another dude or two to make it official that I would be primarily responsible for him, that he could NOT drive or smoke or drink, etc etc etc (oh yeah, you know us! The real ol' partiers!! hahaha). 

Then we were off!!!!

The Day After Graduation/the Road Trip To AIT:

So, we drove to Louisville, then got lost.

For like one or two hours we drove around the entire city of Louisville because we'd missed the exit to head towards Virginia! Oh my gosh I was so frustrated! We drove all over the place. We got lost several times! Driving way out of the way, going in the opposite direction of where we should be headed, and constantly having to stop for food, gas, potty breaks, and what-not, it took the entire day to get there!!!

I drove SIXTEEN HOURS + that day!!!!!!! 

Along the way we saw lots of really cool things! My bros had fun taking lots of pictures. Mostly of rocks, trees, grass and other random things, instead of us hahaha. So funny!!!

It was a long day driving, but I literally enjoyed every single minute of it!! At first it started out Tyler telling more awesome stories and we were laughing most of the way there. Funny jokes, funny conversations, and fun buying and eating junk food and drinks and meeting people everywhere.

We FINALLY made it to Richmond Virginia!! We decided we needed some real food instead of chips, gatorade, licorice, chocolate, (I had apples and oranges and Subway), so we went to Denny's right off their highway.

We were given top service!! 

It was here that this older fellow (not too old, mind you) who walked up to our table and he asked Tyler "Are you in the Army?" "Yes" and Tyler stood to shake his hand. The man said to Tyler "Thank you for for your sacrifice so that I can be free!". It was the most amazing and powerful thing said yet to Tyler. The man stood straight for Ty, looked him square in the eyes when he said it, and then walked away. It brought tears to my eyes and impressed our group so much we were speechless. Tyler sat in a complete daze. He said "it's hitting me what it means to wear this Uniform".

He was the only one out of his entire Company that got this opportunity. The entire trip over from Kentucky to Virginia we were met with stares and waves and head-nods all for Tyler. I was even given huge amounts of respect by others! I could not believe the respect I was given! Men would literally bow out of my way and say "excuse me ma'am" when they'd see me walk into a store or anywhere with my Soldier. It was truly humbling!

When we finished our meal I went to pay and the waitress and the manager of the store gabbed my head off about the Military and the manager gave us a nice discount and I gave a nice tip :). They also told me "thank you for your sacrifice". It was so sweet!

Saying Goodbye. Again:

After an hour or so of driving around, or maybe like 2 hours, and getting lost AGAIN, we finally found our way to Ft Lee! I'd had to pull over to a scary-looking gas station where two very nice men helped me find my way there. 

We drove around inside of the huge base in the pitch-dark, completely clueless of where we'd need to go. I finally asked Military Police who gave us a rough idea of where to start looking. We drove right to them! We saw a bunch of soldiers in formation next to two huge buses and Tyler felt it was his group. He was right!

What was another complete miracle was that we got there shortly after they had! We were sure we were half a day late getting him there and we were all so worried he'd be in huge trouble! But everything was just fine. We were so surprised at how relaxed they all were there.

We took him to the soldiers, unloaded all his stuff, and said our goodbyes. I cried again, of course, and Tyler did, too. We watched for a couple of minutes while Tyler reacquainted with his fellow soldiers who were happy to see him, but everyone looked so beat! Tyler looked the brightest and happiest and I'm sure it was cuz he is! He got to ride with his family the entire day and none of them had. And we got to stop whenever we wanted to and they hadn't. We were truly blessed with a miracle!!

Well, we left, and I'd had a feeling to delay leaving the base so we stopped at the Base Lodging to check on prices and rules. While there Tyler texted or called me and told me I had his paperwork in the van, so we had to drive it back to him. In the pitch black I was surprised I could find the way back to him! He walked up to the van and Daniel handed it to him and we all yelled our goodbyes again and drove off. Tyler waved one last time.

Our Scary Adventures That Night!:

We could NOT find our way out of the base! We drove around it for about an hour, or more maybe, and found one way out, but it wasn't the way we'd come in. We found ourselves in Petersburgh, or something like that, and it was NOT a nice town. Probably one of the worst I've been in my entire life, and Daniel's too (that's including our missions). We were actually scared for our lives! It was in the middle of the night, we had on idea where we were or how to get anywhere and so we just drove and drove. The neighborhoods were getting worse as we went. The houses were dark but people sat on the porches. Not to be racist, but everyone was black. Everyone, but us. And they didn't look friendly, either.

We saw many drunk men wandering the streets and saw cops only one time in an abandoned parking lot leaning on their patrol cars apparently shooting the breeze as if there was nothing else to do! Even they looked "scary" lol. 

I was thanking my lucky stars that our windows were well tinted so nobody could see my little girls in the back seat with their eyes wide-open looking around at the "scary" place. The Spirit was screaming "get out of here!" that it was unnerving to say the least. Finally I saw a gas station that was bursting at the seams with black people coming and going. We pulled up and everyone stared like "What are you doing here??" We stuck out like sore thumbs! Daniel braved exiting the van, I locked the doors, and he ran inside to ask for directions "follow this road here for a ways" was all he got. So we did that. Still lead us to nowhere. 

Finally Daniel called our hotel and the receptionist was nice and gave good directions which we followed and finally made it back to our hotel! It was about 1am or 2am, I can't remember which, when we made it back. Sophie and I took a shower then we all zonked out cold! 

Coming Home:

Early, but not early enough, the next morning we all got up and cleaned out the van, packed up all our garb, had hotel breakfast, and sped our way to the airport back in Richmond. We were late. Again.

We prayed for a miracle and BARELY made the flight!!! 

In New York it was NUTS!!!

It was super busy and we had a long lay-over. By the time they called our names out there were only 2 or 3 seats left! No way Jose was I sending my baby girls alone on such a LONG LONG flight without their mommy! Talk about completely unsafe and stupid! Sophie was in pull-ups, they have to go potty several times and need help when they go, and they get restless and rambunctious. So it was completely not an option. I didn't want to send my brothers without us. If we did that then me and the girls would be waiting until Tuesday to go home! I could NOT afford a hotel in New York City and another rental car!! I couldn't leave Daniel and Josh there, either, because they had NO MONEY in the first place, they'd have to stay until Tuesday, and aren't old enough to rent a car! And have no credit cards anyway. So they shut the door to the plane before the 3 of us could discuss our options so we were left with almost no options. 

One man missed the flight entirely (he was drunk and didn't wake up to hear his plane being called so he was raving angry and yelling in his strong New York accent at everyone but me until he was escorted out of the Airport by security!!!). 

The lady who at first was cold and rude to me did a complete 180 and turned into my Angel who saved us!!!

I prayed she'd take compassion on us and she did the instant I prayed for it!! I'm not kidding, the change was so fast and so surprising. She "broke" some rules for us to get us onto a flight so I won't say who she was here. She saved our skin and I hope God blesses her greatly for what she did!!

First, she had us booked on a flight from NY to Oakland Cali, then from there to Long Beach Cali, then from there to SLC. Well, we ran our behinds off to the gate to board the plane that was already boarded only to have it delayed because the pilots didn't show up, they unboarded it, then she came running over to where we waited to tell me this flight plan won't work anymore since it was delayed and we'd miss our flight in Oakland or Long Beach. *sigh*. So we went back to her desk where she scrounged around and we did some brainstorming on how to get us home.

We then checked the nearby airports. Pheonix was too far, Denver closer, but too far and I couldn't rent another car out of State for the price plus we didn't have round-trip tickets or a major credit card, so impossible, then there was California or Las Vegas. Hands-down it was Vegas. She booked us and gave me tickets to take to the desk at that Gate and sent us on her way, but not before I profusely thanked her for her help and telling her how awesome she was!! :D

We sat around the airport for another 2-3 hours after being there alllll day long already. Our next trick was finding someone to take us home to Utah from Las Vegas, or take us to St George at least so I could rent a car to drive home.

Daniel asked my brother, Erik, who volunteered to come pick us up. So Erik borrowed his brother-in-laws huge van and drove the 5 1/2 hours down to Vegas with their new little baby screaming her little eyes out for a good portion of the trip, and my sis-in-law Alicia bringing us food and drink realizing we'd probably be hungry and thirsty, which we were.

So after we waited for a little while they came and loaded us into the big van. I sat squished in the backseat between both my girls and tried to sleep, unsuccessfully. 

You have to realize I was EXHAUSTED beyond exhaustion!! I'd driving 16 hours straight the day before, sat in the airport all day, then had a long flight from one end of the country to the other, and had to be the one that planned the entire trip, and save our butts to get us home. It was very exhausting in more ways than one!

The trip from Vegas to Utah was not a pleasant one, to say the least. I gave Erik 30.00 in tips for picking us up and will be covering the gas for the trip as well. 

So, that was our trip in a tiny little nutshell!!!

We were blessed with many miracles this entire trip!! Safety, health, transportation, and being with my hunny and the girls seeing their daddy!

We were overjoyed and I would do this entire trip, and worse, all over again a million times just for this time we had together with him!!!

Now today we are tired, and our clocks are a bit confused, and the girls and I have fevers and the girls are crying a lot and the house is a WRECK lol. But it was such a wonderful and glorious and learning experience for me!!!

Thank you to all of those who made it possible for us to go on this trip!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREAT BLESSINGS & SEEING HIM SOON!!!!!!!

WOW time is racing by!!! And so many great things are finally happening! 

After years of hard times we are finally seeing some wonderful blessings. After the trial of your Faith comes the blessings. 

Of course I'm sure we're not done with our fair share of trials, but at least right now we have many obvious blessings to count!

For one, MY DAD GOT A JOB!!!!!!! After nearly TWO YEARS without a job and earnestly seeking one out, working as hard as he could, and remaining FAITHFUL all the hard work and patience and faithfulness has paid off!! My dad got a good job working for a great company, with insurance included!! It is a very happy time!

Also, Tyler is doing extremely well!

He baptized a guy named "Big" Simmons in his Platoon and it was the second most spiritual experience for him in his life that he can remember (besides me, he said). He really feels the Lord is greatly blessing us and I totally agree! I feel the same way!

He finished all his training at BCT and finished at 85% which is really good! His Drill Sergeants don't ever say anything mean or bad to him, they like him. He's earned their respect. I'm not surprised :D.

His graduation is NEXT WEEK!!!!!

I KNEW it was right for the girls and I to go, and even my two brothers Josh & Dan, and I prayed to Heavenly Father after doing everything in my power to get there and said, "I feel it's right, I cannot do any more and right now as it stands it's impossible for us to get there without Your help. I leave it in Your hands". The very next day I got two messages from God-send Angels who made it possible for us to get out there and back home!!! It was a MIRACLE. And I did pray for a miracle!!

Now the rest of the expenses are just outrageous! But we'll be okay! I found the best bargains out there and thanks to my military discount it's saved us a few hundred dollars. I'M SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We leave June 2nd, Wednesday at 9:00am and get back home on June 5th, 6:30pm. I'm so excited just for the trip alone that the prospect of seeing Tyler just makes the entire thing pure HEAVEN. 

I hope I have the strength in me to say goodbye to him again when that time comes after 7 very short hours with him!

Anyway, I am so very, very grateful that despite all the trials and sickness, hardships, discouragements, and more, that I and my family remained faithful! I am convinced that God blesses those who are righteous. Of course in HIS own time.

So keep the Faith, please!!! DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!! 

We didn't!!!!! :D 

TWO WEEKS!!!!!

Exactly TWO WEEKS from TODAY I will see my Knight in Shining Armour! Okay, not SHINING armor, or even armor for that matter, more like my Knight in Green Uniform!!! :D
I am so in love with my husband; it's an awesome feeling! 
He's doing really well! Of course, of course.
I did hear that he baptized somebody in his Platoon!!!!! How awesome is that??? I was so happy to hear this! I'm hoping he'll fill me in on the details about that soon. He's truly where he's supposed to be right now, that's for sure!


I had to make some phone calls to get some people's attention and was very happy that my Home Teachers came over to visit me today! I even got a blessing that gave me peace and comfort, just what I needed!
I cannot believe the emotional roller coaster I'm on all the time! And my emotions are always so close to my skin now. I cry over nearly everything! I was never like this before, so it's strange. I'm thinking it'll pass, or hoping it will, but come to think of it, uh, I don't think it ever will!!


I'm part of an Army Wife forum online and it's been a LIFE SAVER!!!! I'm not the only one that's lost friends! Amazing how friends just start to disappear or completely blow up in your face with complete lack of compassion when your spouse joins in the Army and is GONE. WOW. I think every spouse on this forum has had at the very least one friend that grew cold and not understanding and vacated the friendship, so in that aspect I don't feel alone. I'm just incredibly disappointed that I lost a certain friend I never expected to lose, EVER. They just grew cold, callous, lacked compassion.... it's very painful to even think about so I can usually push it out of my mind and not dwell on it. This person lost a very, very good friend in me, that I do know, and one day they will greatly regret it. If they don't, they're blind and I feel sorry for them. Not to sound all cocky or anything, but I was a super good friend. Trust me on that. Of course they might say otherwise now cuz they want to be the victim HA HA. Weird how people can turn things around on you, huh? I get personally attacked and belittled and suddenly the attacker is the victim. LOL.
Anyway!!!!! I am just so happy I'm part of this forum!! We can ask anything we want, say anything we want (of course within reason lol) and everybody is super supportive!! It's like a cyber shoulder to cry on!! I LOVE it!!


So in TWO WEEKS!!!! I cannot believe it!!! Right now, though, I'm feeling overly anxious and stressed about finding a way to get out there to Tyler's graduation!! Because I found out so late what the schedule was I couldn't book plane tickets early enough so now they're around $3,000.00 for my two brothers, myself, and my daughters, to go. My parents will pay for my brothers, but I have to book the tickets. IMPOSSIBLE. I had saved up 1300.00 for ALL of the travel expenses. This includes plane, car rental, gasoline, everything! Even hotel!! YIKES!!! I do NOT have it, and I really feel that me and my daughters BOTH have to go! I will not leave the girls home. People who say "go by yourself" cannot understand what that would do to my children and their father. It would be WRONG of me to do this. People who know us well will agree, too. My girl's are DADDY'S GIRLS, through and through! And he's so attached to them, too. The HARDEST part for him while being at BCT was not the hard work but being away from me and our little girls. It was almost too much for him; for us! 


So anyway, I'm really struggling on trying to figure out a way to see my husband in honor of his completing Basic Training. I've had several people say that they think people should donate money to help us get there, that it's the least people could do since Tyler's serving our country and we're sacrificing A LOT. But what can ya do?? Absolutely nothing. People love their money too much. lol.
I really am praying for a miracle, though! I am praying that I can either find an amazing deal or, something!! I just don't know what else to do!! 


I am just SOOOOOOO EXCITED that I'll be seeing him in exactly TWO WEEKS!!!!! Of course, it will only be for about 7 hours, unless I get permission to drive him to AIT early the next morning. It's still not 100% sure, but about 90% sure! :D
Okay, time to stop. I feel like I'm being too random and I'm sure I said something in here that annoyed somebody. Hard not to do that. Actually, impossible not to annoy SOMEONE, isn't it? lol


Pray we have a miracle!!!!! 

Things Are Going Great!!

Things are going so well right now! Well, as well as they can be haha. I believe that we're seeing blessings now after the trial of our Faith.
Tyler is doing really well at Basic Training, even though his Platoon is full of immature whiners that are making it hard on the entire Platoon (they're the worst out of 4 Platoons), but besides that he's doing so well and having fun, in between the boredom of repetition haha. He's so funny.
School is almost over for me and I'm so excited! I can finally get some time to start going through all our things. I have to book our flights for Tyler's graduation, reserve the hotel on base some time, rent a car, pay the bills, help Lacie finish up with school, and MAYBE think about starting my writing back up! But we'll see, we'll see.
Right now I'm reeling really good. I'm happy, I'm blessed, I'm VERY grateful and I'm remaining Faithful forever to my God and my hubby.
I'm so proud of Tyler!!! He's working SO hard for us to take care of us! He's a REAL MAN and I am so happy to have one, they're so rare!!! (I know some men don't have the opportunities that Tyler has had so please don't be offended, I don't think less of you at all, ever! We all do the best with what we have and that's what matters the most!).
I am also so proud of myself! I've lost over 20 lbs now in 2-3 weeks. It's so wonderful! But I'm not done yet. I'm bound and determined to get to my goal weight that NOTHING'S stopping me! I'm getting exercise and eating RIGHT and staying 100% true to it. 
I am just so grateful for everything the Lord's blessed us with and we have been through sooooooo much already and right now this peace I feel makes it all worth it!
To know I can go to the Temple when I want to, that I do what I know is right, that Tyler and I are both doing the very best we can and we're seeing actual results this time around, it's just such a blessing and such a remarkable feeling!!
Now back to my late-night movie. Finally a few minutes to myself! haha!