7 weeks.... I think I was off count before

Gary when he was at BMT

I GET TO SEE GARY IN LESS THAN A WEEK! I have actually gotten a little nervous. Leaving Gary at BMT was SOOOO hard on me. I am a little worried (or maybe a lot) about leaving Gary again. I keep telling myself that this time is different because I am preparing my mind, because he'll only have 5 weeks left when I leave, because I have a full week to spend with him, and because I have a few things planned after I leave and before he gets back to keep me distracted (plus its summer). I also want to not have these knots in my stomach the whole week I'm with him. I want to just enjoy and take in every moment.

This past week has been pretty good. One night though I had a hormonal night or something. I was talking to Gary and was totally fine. When he wanted to end the phone call to go to bed I instantly got tears in my eyes and was so sad. Then I had a huge "I miss you so much" session with tears streaming. It was quite strong feelings and it really came out of no where. So I decided that if I had my period back it would have been this week with that crazy hormonal night.

My first Mothers Day was WONDERFUL. I got to serve! I made a big dinner for my family. They came to my house and I had meals that accommodated the men and a different one for the women. Lasagna for the men and quinoa stuffed squash for the women! :) It was fun and glad I did it. I was well treated as well. My wonderful sister brought me a "first time mom pampering kit" full of fun stuff. She is always so good at that! Thanks Lisa! She also had her cute kids write answers to some questions and here are the results. (they were all asked at different times so they didn't hear each others responses.)

                              Austin (age 11)              Dylan (age 8)            Sadie (age 6)        Real answer
How old is Julie?                       29                               40                           39                    27

Favorite food?                      Salad                            Pizza                      Salad        Zupas! :)

                                 Go on walks with        Spend time with      Talk with people    All of them
Favorite thing to do?   friends and talk a lot             Jackson

What does Julie do     care for Jackson            If Gary's there       Feed Jackson        All of them
during the day?                                            she'd talk all day.

What does Julie love      Jackson                     her husband           Jackson          they are good!

If Julie were to be      
famous what would it     singing                     being nice               because she's        ?????
be for?                                                                                       a rock star

What is Julie really         planning things         Handling when           Playing basketball     ????
good at?                                                 someone's bugging her

Better late than never

I didn't get a countdown Thursday in and I don't have a lot of time right now but I thought I'd get something down. This past week hasn't been too shabby. as now its only 2 weeks until I see Gary it seems so much more bearable and the excitement is starting to kick in.

Engagement photo's

Last week marked our 4 years of the day he proposed to me.... we don't do anything for this, I just remember because it was one day away from being exactly a year after I got home from my mission. Its crazy how fast it has gone but seems like a different lifetime if I think about life without him.
Gary has been my rock, even though he has it even harder right now he pulls up his boot straps and is the one to be strong for me all too often. He doesn't have family, friends or a familiar place on his side for support but yet he is still so strong.
I have started a new book called Bloom by Kelle Hampton. Its been really good as she is an amazing writer. I have a quote I want to share from her that I think is very insightful.

We THOUGHT we were funny pretending to be in jail.

"Let me tell you something about strength. you can't buy it, and you most certainly cannot get it overnight. It is earned, like muscle sinews that grow and fortify over years of hard exercise. Second, I wouldn't say my glass is always half full. There are days when it's cracked and leaking, days when it's chipped and even shattered. But then I get the Krazy Glue out and fix it, and suddenly it's half full again. Even though it's patched up in places, I've made it my own with the beveled edges and beautiful etchings that perspective brings."
I love this. Too often we think we need to show our strong side, make it seem like we always have our wits about us. I am NOT like this. I am me, I have my hard days, easy and wonderful days and days where I feel like I am going crazy. Thats LIFE. I know that those who try to perceive otherwise are fooling themselves more than me. I am getting stronger and stronger every day. My glass is my own and I love it. Gary and I at least once a week or so talk about how blessed we are. Gary talked about how much the blessings came after getting married. I almost agreed until I really thought about my life and I have been watched over and blessed TREMENDOUSLY throughout my entire life. There has always been p

Cold Gary? HA

eople to always watch and take over me, experiences to strengthen me and change my life, and more and more and more I can't begin to explain.

My life is good. It's actually GREAT. Although I would prefer to have Gary here, we both are learning and becoming stronger-AND he is coming back. I can survive. I hope all of you feel so blessed as well, I know its not just me that God blesses.

Happy Friday all. And its so late that I am saying that its only 1 and half weeks until I see Gary! YAY

Thursday Countdown 3 weeks until I see Gary and 9 until he is home for good

First thing I am excited about is a tender mercy from God about this trip I am going to be taking. I had a confirmed flight there and didn't know exactly what to do for flight home. I could fly standby on Jetblue but there were a lot of things that would go into that including a car rental, an hour and a half car ride on top of possible not making it on flights. It wasn't ideal but it was my only option instead of paying a lot of money we couldn't afford. Well my mom has points that she was willing to let me use on a different airline but we couldn't find a flight at the points we wanted. SO I started looking at flying into Las Vegas and other options. Today I was checking to make sure Vegas points were the same if I booked it and accidentally looked at flying into SLC. There was a flight for the points that we wanted!!! I got a booked flight HOME! Thanks of course to my wonderful and generous mother of mine!She is using HER points on ME! She has done so much for me these past few months and I am in awe of her kindness and generosity. Its so wonderful.

I only had one hard day this past week-there tends to be at least one a week. It wasn't too difficult I just had a little pitty party, talked with Gary, cried a little and then moved upward and onward. Gary had a good experience and helped me with being stronger.

Gary is doing great! He's such a strong guy and changing every day its amazing to see.

I don't have a lot to say this week but I am doing GREAT! Jackson is fun, starting to smile more, weighs about 12 pounds now! and is healthy. I am learning more everyday on how to be a good mom, what Jackson likes and doesn't, how to attend to certain needs and I know there are only tons more learning experiences to come. Happy, healthy, life is good and 3 weeks is going to come FAST! :).

I decided that although its long past the video of surprising Gary should be posted somewhere on this blog. Its not the best as the person shooting the video camera couldn't see what she was shooting because the sun was too bright and it came all too quickly for her to say anything. But nonetheless I love it. You can see a little of his great emotion that he really did have! I sure LOVE this man. (I don't know how to make the video better clarity as its not bad on my original copy, not savvy enough.)
HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!