What We've Been Up To While Daddy's Been Gone

While Travis has been away at Basic Training we have been up to what some days feels like too much and other days feels like absolutely nothing! It is a hard feeling to explain...but in the past two months I feel like we have gone through so many emotions that are impossible to explain if you have never gone through them. Having your husband gone, not knowing what he is doing everyday, not knowing when you'll get to talk to him next, and when you do get a weekly phone call only being able to talk for 15 minutes, and parenting a toddler going through terrible 2s by yourself all at once is a lot to take on. It is so great that we have been able to count on family while Trav is away and I feel very blessed to have such a tight-knit family (immediate, extended, and my wonderful in-laws). Some days are better than others/easier than others/longer than others/shorter than others...but not matter how they go, we still miss Travis every minute of every day. It is so hard to do things that I know he would love, or to experience things and want to tell him all about it...but have to write him a letter about it instead. Parker has been doing so many new things and saying so many new things and it is hard to write about it to Daddy. I know that he enjoys hearing about all the things we are doing...but I am sure it makes him miss us a lot at the same time! We are down to less than a week until we fly to Texas to see him. I can't wait...but I know how hard it will be to say goodbye again after only a short 2 day visit with him. We are still not sure where Travis will be going for Technical School after Basic Training, we also do not know what job he will be doing during his time in the Air Force...or how long the training for that job will be. Hopefully we will know more once we get to Texas and see Trav for the first time in 2 long months! As soon as we know something we will let everyone know. Thank you all for your prayers...they are keeping us all moving along during this journey!

Here are some pictures of some of what Parker & Mommy have been up to lately...in no particular order:

--Going to the Sprinkler Park--





--Swimming in the (cold water) hot tub...during the summer we call it a pool--
parker is swimming really well by himself with the assistance of water wings...it is hilarious to watch. he jumps in and can swim from one side to the other like it is nothing. i love seeing the new things he learns all the time.




--we went boating with family and friends--


--getting out of the house a little--



{we taught parks how to "salute like daddy"...this is what we got}

{parks thinks that anything his cousin caleb does is hilarious...here he is laughing at him across the table at dinner}

--taking a trip to snohomish to visit "the uncles" (trav's brothers)--
parker had a blast with shane, tyler & amber (tyler's girlfriend)...plus amber's dogs diesel & pookie...parker called pookie "poo poo" all weekend, so funny.


{watching his dvd on the drive, even using headphones like such a big boy}
{carrying diesel around...poor puppy tolerated this so well...parker just wanted to carry him around all weekend}
{showing uncle shane that he knows how to turn on the dishwasher}
{sitting on the counter with uncle shane...parker followed shane everywhere he went saying "shane" around the house...he wanted to do everything he did!}
{this toy used to be uncle ty, uncle shane, and daddy's...gma jammi knew he would love it, it was so thoughtful of her to make sure it was there for him to play with!}
{again carrying diesel around}

{putting poor diesel in the box}
--mommy even got a night out with friends--
the jaeger's (my best friend ashley & her husband luke) came to visit. we went out to dinner with the gussenhoven's (david & jessica) and then ashley and i went to see a movie together. it was so great of my parents to watch little man so that i could get some time in with friends. i don't see ashley nearly enough, but we slip right into laughs and conversations like we see each other everyday...that is one of my favorite things about her!

Travis vs. BEAST

Today I finally got another phone call from Travis. He is doing well and had some fun at BEAST last week. BEAST stands for Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training.

WEEK 6 activities:

• SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape)
• Deployment Briefing
• BEAST

Click Here to see a quick video. It goes through an overview of what they do at BEAST.

If you know Trav at all...you know by the video this is right up his alley! While they were there he said that it was SO HOT! They had to wear about 70 lbs. of gear and only got to take it off at dinner time. He ended up getting sick while he was out there...with a 103 degree fever...but ended up convincing them to let him stay so he could finish! What a trooper he is. I couldn't be more proud. He is going to be an amazing Airman. It makes me so happy that there are men like Travis out there defending our country!

As of tomorrow there is only 1 week until Parker and I get to go see Travis! We are so excited...and by we, I mean me...because Parks has no idea what is going on no matter how many times I tell him!!! Please keep Travis in your prayers that he keeps feeling great and that he does fabulous on his evals this week!!!

armed and dangerous

The ribbon you see above will now have a place on my husband's dress blues! My fabulous Airman is now a "Small Arms Expert Marksman." They got to shoot their M-16s at the range today and he did awesome! Only he and a couple other guys earned the expert marksmanship ribbons. I am so excited for him and he is doing great. He is starting to really have fun and enjoy himself. He said that he always knows that his name will be called at mail-call and he loves that! Trav even said that some of the other guys in his dorms are a little jealous because of the amount of mail and pictures he gets. I am sure that he is just loving that!!!

Thanks for all the prayers and letters being sent to Travis. He really appreciates them and so do I! Parker and I are doing well and tomorrow we will be exactly 3 weeks away from seeing Trav!

land of the FREE because of the BRAVE

This year my 4th of July has been a little different. The biggest change is that Travis wasn't here to spend it with us. Another change is that usually my family heads to Mazama, WA to our cabin for the weekend of the 4th. This year we decided to stick around the Tri-Cities instead. I think the biggest change is that I am no longer just a wife and mother...but I am an Airman's Wife. It sounds strange to say, but it does give you a new feeling of pride and appreciation for what this holiday is all about.

These pictures are from the 3rd of July. We headed over to spend the day with family friends who are more like family than just friends. Scott and Becky's is always a blast!

parks & mommy in the car on the way to scott & becky's house

lauren playing with drayson & parker...mostly trying no to get hit with a raquet!

playing in scott's boat

matt & parks playing soccer...with a volleyball

lighting sparklers with a blowtorch...is there any other way?

loving the sparklers

once the loud fireworks started parks was ready to head inside

watching from the window with papa


For the actual 4th of July we went to my Aunt Lauri & Uncle Carl's house in West Richland. The night was filled with great food and loads of family. Parker had a blast. From their back porch we had a panoramic view of fireworks from all over the Tri-Cities. It was an awesome view and Parker loved the fireworks this time...probably because they were far away and not quite so loud. He kept tapping me, saying "mama" and pointing to where the fireworks were. He said "boom" just about every 2 minutes for the rest of the night until we went home!

On a sad note...there was no phone call from Travis this Sunday. What a bummer! I'm sure they probably had a bunch of ceremonies going on at the Base and there wasn't any time left over to call home. Hopefully we will get an update from him soon and I will let everyone know how he is doing. I got a letter from him the other day that he said he wrote in the dorms with a flashlight. He said that he is having fun and learning a lot. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers...keep 'em coming!