books you have to read to qualify as a person

1. Tuesdays With Morrie -- Mitch Albom

2. The Shack -- WM Paul Young

3. Way to Be! -- Gordon B. Hinckley

4. The Town Beyond the Wall -- Elie Wiesel

5. The Last Lecture -- Randy Pausch

6. Dawn -- Elie Wiesel

7. Siddhartha -- Hermann Hesse

8. A Christmas Carol -- Charles Dickens

9. Black Like Me -- John Howard Griffin

10. The Book of Mormon ('nuff said)

11. Eat. Pray. Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert

12. The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas

13. To Kill A Mockingbird -- Harper Lee

14. The Outsiders -- S.E. Hinton

15. Travels With Charley -- John Steinbeck

16. Hamlet -- William Shakespeare

17. Oedipus Rex -- Sophocles

18. The Republic -- Plato

19. My Name is Asher Lev -- Chaim Potok

20. The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini

21. The Fountainhead -- Ayn Rand

22. The Chosen -- Chaim Potok

So does this mean I'm not a qualified as a person...?

30 Day blog challenge

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend

Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago

Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet

Day 7 - Your dream wedding

Day 8 - A song to match your mood

Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased

Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat

Day 11 - What's in your make up bag?

Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in

Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why

Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without

Day 16- Your Celebrity Crush

Day 17 - A photo of you and your family.

day 18- Something you crave a lot

Day 19 - Another picture of yourself.

Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 - A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23 - 15 facts about you.

Day 24 - A photo of seomthing that means a lot to you.

Day 25 - What's in your purse?

Day 26 - A photo of somewhere you've been to

Day 27 - A picture of you last year and now and how you have changed since then?

Day 28 - Your favorite movie

Day 29 - Something you could never get tired of doing

Day 30 - A photograph of yourself today + three good things that happened in the past.

So I'm planning to start this when I get to VA next week.

Iain is 2 years old today

Happy birthday to my sweet little boy. I can hardly believe that you have been here two years today. You have grown so much over the last year and can't wait to see what this next year holds for you. You are so very smart and so kind to everyone around you. You, my sweet boy, amaze me each and every day. You have shown me what wonders there are in this world and have shown me more love and kindness than I ever thought one little boy could ever hold. You have this way at looking at people and knowing that they need a smile and hug to brighten their day. You are mommy best little helper always wanting to cook and clean. I love that you are turning into such a gentleman and a kind little boy. I thank Heavenly Father each and everyday that he sent you to me. Being your mother as been the greatest blessing of my life. One day you will be a man and marrying your forever sweetheart but I will have loved you first and best (well your father too). But for now you are my baby and I can't wait for the changes that are coming to our family this year and to see how you grow. I love you Iain and happy 2nd birthday.

And we are moving to...

Fort Bliss TX come sometime in June. It's getting really close to the end of our separation. I can't believe how fast this time has flown by. Brian graduated from AIT on June 2nd. And than we will be together shortly there after. Iain and I are going to VA on May 17th for a few weeks.

10 days till my baby turns 2

So Iain will be 2 years old in 10 days. And I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday that Brian and I brought him home from the hospital. I can't believe that he has turned into this little boy. One day he was a baby and than I blink and he is a toddler. He is talking up a storm and learning by leaps and bounds. I can't keep up with all the things that he is learning. Seriously where did my baby go.

Sleep Training

So as many of you know I started sleep training a few weeks ago. I thought for sure that when we went to Oklahoma to see Brian that it would set me back in the training. But when we got back he went to bed at the normal time very easy. I was so proud of my little boy. Now if I could get him to stay a sleep but his problem time period is anywhere from 12am-3:30am, he'll wake up and than sit up and say "mum...mum...mum" until I come down there and put him in bed with me. So I've been sleeping on the couch for a little over a week. I hope that he'll stop calling for me. It would be nice to sleep in my bed again.

A busted lip

The first night that we were in OK, Iain kinda woke up at the hotel and didn't know where he was. So he searched for something that he knew. Well in this case it happened to be my face. He landed right on it and busted my lip. It hurt so bad. The left side on my mouth swelled up so bad. I bit the inside of my lip. Besides swelling I have a pretty decent bruise on my lip. It hurt so bad to smile in pictures and kisses Brian made me want to cry. The left side just plain hurts. But it looks better now than it did. But my son gave me a busted lip. I think that's super funny.

My soldier graduated from basic training

So my in-laws and I drove to OK to see Brian. Family Day was March 31st at Fort Sill. So Wednesday morning early (really early). I stayed up late the night before to finish packing for our trip. But I made to much noise in our room and woke Iain up so I ended up getting into bed and getting Iain back down to sleep. So I set my alarm for 3:45am and that's when I finished packing. But At 4:30am Iain woke up and wanted to build a train with the blocks. So I let him build while took a shower and packed. I was all ready to go by quarter till 6am (it was 'o' dark hundred. And getting up that early remained me of when I was still in high school). By the time we had the car packed and ready to go it was quarter till 7am. But by the time we got on the road in was 15minutes till 8am (and my mother-in-law wanted to be on the road no later than 6am because we had a 13+ hour drive ahead of us). But we finally got on our way. Iain stayed awoke till 10:30am. Iain was amazing on the drive out (except when we were 30minutes from the hotel. Iain kept saying "me done", "all done", "home now" and "push". He was super excited to see Daddy. And thought that we were going to see him at the hotel. And was disappointed that daddy wasn't waiting for us in the room. When we got to the hotel I gave Iain a bath (because we had to get up and be ready to go eat and be on base before 7:30am). But I stayed up late trying load music so I could sync it to the Ipod (but I never did get it synced). Well we got to Fort Sill and headed over to where Family Day was going to start. After the opening exercises we were asked to go out side to see our soldiers. Well when the platoon march by us I didn't recognize Brian when he went by. Brian is so much darker and leaner than he was when he went in. Though he has only lost 10 lbs since going. Brian has lost quite a few inches all over and he looks great (I will post pictures as soon as I can. He looks really great in his dress blues). Brian picked up Iain and was holding him and Iain was just staring at him like you sound like daddy but you don't look like daddy. And was really unsure of Brian for a few hours after we picked Brian up. Brian had to wear his dress blues all day and is not allowed to drive and he showed us around base. We went to the PX (Post Exchange) and we went to a museum. Marlene wanted to take pictures (so of cause we took a ton). Brian had to follow all the rules that he had learned during training even while he was with us off base. He wanted to go get pizza for lunch (man that man of mine can put food away and he eats so fast). We than went back to the hotel (Iain needed a nap). Brian, Iain, and I watched a movie and talked. For dinner Brian wanted to go to Red Lobster. It was so good. I wish we didn't have to take him back to base for the night. But he had formation (at 8pm so we had to have him back no later than 7:45pm) and he had to do some packing that.

So that brings us to Friday, 1st April 2011. Brian graduated from Basic training from Fort Sill OK. The day before Brian told us that he was going to be singing the National Anthem at graduation by himself and without accompaniment. He sounded fantastic and it was so amazing to see and hear him use his talent. I can't tell you how proud of him that I am. What he has done for us. And the things that he has gone through over the last 10 weeks (the lack of sleep and basic comforts that I know I take for granted). After graduation, my in-laws and I thought that we would have only a few minutes with him (we didn't know when he was shipping out). But we were surprised to learn that we were able to take him for the rest of the day. But we had to have him Back to base again no later than 7:45pm. So we spend most of the time on base with him except for lunch (he wanted Chinese food). We walked around the PX again. Brian and Iain played at the arcade for a little bit. We than took him back to the training field near his barracks. We took some more pictures and talked. I got to meet another of his battle buddies (the work in the buddy system no one can go any where with out a companion and that is what they call it). We than left Brian there at Fort Sill and started our drive back to CO (I felt like crying the whole way back but I didn't). I tried to not cry while I was with Brian (but if you know me you know I'm a big cry baby).

He is amazing and there is no doubt in my mind that he loves me and is willing to go through this trail to give us this chance for a better life together. I miss him every day but its only a little longer that we have to be apart.

Well I told Brian to call me when he was headed to the airport (I didn't care about the time I just wanted to hear his voice). So he called me at 12:30am on the 2nd of April. He said he was at the airport and his plane was going to take off at 1:30am and that he had a lay over in TX and he would call me when he got there. So I got another call later that morning and while we were talking I asked him to call my parents to keep them informed about things. He landed in Richmond VA at 12:30pm. He gave me a call and we talked for a little while and I reminded him to call my parents to let him know that he got into VA safely. I also asked him to keep me informed about everything. The van to Fort Lee finally got there and he said that Fort Lee was about 30minutes from the airport. And he would try and call me later on that evening (as long as they didn't take his phone from him) but he had to turn his phone off for a bit.

[So that's everything I think is safe to post (with Brian being in the Army I don't want to use names and I won't be describing places). And the reason for the two colors is for some reason it's not posting my posts in paragraphs (so each color is a new paragraph).]

My soldier graduated from basic training

So my in-laws and I drove to OK to see Brian. Family Day was March 31st at Fort Sill. So Wednesday morning early (really early). I stayed up late the night before to finish packing for our trip. But I made to much noise in our room and woke Iain up so I ended up getting into bed and getting Iain back down to sleep. So I set my alarm for 3:45am and that's when I finished packing. But At 4:30am Iain woke up and wanted to build a train with the blocks. So I let him build while took a shower and packed. I was all ready to go by quarter till 6am (it was 'o' dark hundred. And getting up that early remained me of when I was still in high school). By the time we had the car packed and ready to go it was quarter till 7am. But by the time we got on the road in was 15minutes till 8am (and my mother-in-law wanted to be on the road no later than 6am because we had a 13+ hour drive ahead of us). But we finally got on our way. Iain stayed awoke till 10:30am. Iain was amazing on the drive out (except when we were 30minutes from the hotel. Iain kept saying "me done", "all done", "home now" and "push". He was super excited to see Daddy. And thought that we were going to see him at the hotel. And was disappointed that daddy wasn't waiting for us in the room. When we got to the hotel I gave Iain a bath (because we had to get up and be ready to go eat and be on base before 7:30am). But I stayed up late trying load music so I could sync it to the Ipod.