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!