Leaving on a jet plane.....

Deployment went from being around the corner to being here. They left last week on their way to Afganistan. I cant be much more detailed than that though. He has made it there and in one of the first phone calls after he got there was to tell me he made it, he was safe, and did I know how many countries he had peed in in the last few days? Not how many he had been in - how many he had peed in. It was hard to see them all go, but luckily he has been able to contact me almost every day for at least a few minutes so that has been awesome. I looked at some info form people who are already at the place he is going and found this picture:

which admittedly doesn't show much but I liked it anyway.
Here are a couple more from when he left:

Just before he left we decided to have an awesome weekend. So we went to the beach with my sister on Saturday which was really fun. They had a St. Patricks Day Parade that the kids liked and the boys all decided to make sand angels. We went to the Crab Shack (not Joe's) after that. i really love that place. Except that just because I had told my sister how awesome it was it had to be super busy and slow. That wasn't half so bad as the swarms - and I mean SWARMS- of biting gnats that were trying to eat us alive. That had never happened to me there before, but of course had to happen then because I wanted to impress my sister. Oh well.

Then we went to a Rattlesnake Roundup on Sunday. Which I personally think was more of a fair with a pavillion in the corner with a few rattlenakes. Not that the snakes werent pretty and all but it just was a little underwhelming if you ask me. I think I drove him crazy because I just wanted to go in all of the little booths. Thats always my favorite part. I don't really care that most have the same stuff I still want to go check it out. :)

Since he left its been kinda quiet. My house was a disaster between my husband and his buddies Wolford and Mclain packing and unpacking nd repacking. And they stayed at my house on the couch for a few days too so I made my boys clean. Cleaning is good. If the boys go back to Utah this summer the house will be REALLY quiet lol. Hopefully he will get some leave this summer and we can all go back again for a visit. That would be nice.

Click your heels 3 times - and get on a plane.....

Deployment is around the corner - so the Army Gods (aka the company commander) saw fit to give leave so the soldiers could go home and visit their familes. My totally awesome brother Nate and his equally totally awesome wife Kimber were kind enough to get us plane tickets so we could do just that! Yay for them!Or us - or however that works. Gold stars for them either way.

So we left the kids with my sister (thanks again) in South Carolina, the dogs with my neighbor in Georgia, and got on a plane in Jaxonville leaving my car in Florida and headed out for Utah. How cool is that huh? Huh? Anyway - it was weird to go from 80 degrees to 28 when we got there at midnight. Brrrr! But it was wonderful to see my parents waiting for me!! Love you! We stayed with aforemetioned awesome brother who were oh so kind as to let us use the spare bedroom. (Thanks again!) My Uncle Clem let us borrow his suburban so we didnt have to beg rides and our vacation began! We got to see just about everyone in our families (well - immediate everyones anyway)which is good since that was the whole point really. He was able to see his mom but we were worried he wouldn't be able to see his dad. He was working out of town and wasn't sure that he would be able to come see us. Then the next day his mom died. (Aaron's grandma - his dad's mom - not Aaron's mom). His dad was pretty upset as you can imagine and immediately came home so he could be with his wife and plan how to get to the funeral in Wisconsin. This meant he could also see Aaron. Which worked out well since I think seeing Aaron and talking to him helped a lot. It was important. So we spent all day with them and then they had to leave for Wisconsin.
After that we spent some time with his brother, and visiting some friends. We had a couple lazy days with Nate which was nice even though he was sick. I made him some chicken soup - because that fixes everything. We were wanting to have a family dinner at my parents but then we thought - why just do dinner? Why not have a Murder Party? Yay! Who doesn't love those?? So me, my mom, and awesome Kimber went to the game store and picked out a disco one. I was Chaka Moon and Aaron was Vinny Divichi. There were some other pretty cool names like Angina Palpitori (Katie), Polly Esther Stuffincup (Kimber), Knight Feevah (Nate), Brady Bunsch (Andy), Barry Manitone (Dad), and Belle Badham (mom). It turns out - the dead guy really deserved to be dead, none of us were really great people, and I was the killer. Thats right - me! I did it - in the disco, with a golden cleaver, while naked. How about that?? Not bad for a blind chick who had crippled wrists that someone (Knight Feevah) had broken when I was a kid with his pet rock! Ha ha haha ha. It was a pretty fun night! (Pictures will post later I promise.)

We also has a great time playing darts at Gino's. I got pulled over taking evryone home - but they were just checking for drunks and since I wasn't it was all good. Gold star for me! It was snowing pretty bad though and I remembered something - I hate driving in it! Maybe I dont miss snow- not at all. Oh sure it looks all pretty on the mountains but I dont think that is a good trade off for driving in it, shoveling it, scraping it off the car, freezing in it etc. So nope - don't miss it. Saturday we went to Joes house and had a lot of fun there. Brad got out his guitar and started the weirdest sing a long I have ever heard. And if you know my family that is saying something! Aaron ended up naked in the hot tub and lost his underwear. (Sorry Joe) Of course if you know Aaron - this is not a surprise. :)

I went to church in my old ward on Sunday - that was really really nice. I almost forgot just how great those people are. Its the best ward I have ever been in. Lots of love I'm sending out that way! Then we had dinner at my moms. Monday was just pack up and do laundry day, spent the night at my moms and my dad drove us to the airport Tuesday morning. Also - Monday was a "pick up things for Gennee" day too. She wanted fry sauce in packets, Leatherby's fudge, and licorice. (Now the fry sauce I get, and the fudge, but I am pretty sure everywhere sells licorice.) It was pretty funny actually to go into Arctic Circle and just ask for fry sauce. She looked at me and said "to go with what?" I said "nothing - I would just like some fry sauce. I will pay for it but they don't have any in Georgia." She looked perplexed but sold me 10 packets then put like 20 in the bag. Nice lady. What's really funny is that I put them all in my suitcase in those small flat rate post office boxes, with the fudge in a plastic bag, and an Amish Friendship Bread starter bag. When we got home I saw one of those TSA tags that said they searched my bag. Ha ha ha ha - I wonder what they were thinking?
When we got back my sister was kind enough to meet us in Savannah to exchange hostages. Well, ransom back my children is porbably more accurate. I gave her the fry sauce, fudge, and licorice - and she gave me back my kids. I think she got the better deal. :)
It went by really really fast - but it always seems that way once it's over. I love my family very much and I am forever grateful I was able to go visit. But I have to admit - it was really nice to come home and sleep on my own bed. Anyway - this is way long as it is - I will post pics soon!