It's Finally Here!!!!!

       Well the time has FINALLY come for me to see my wonderful husband!! I'm so excited to see him!! He's such an amazing man. I really don't know how I got him to fall for me, but I'm so grateful that I did. Matt's basically everything that I wanted in a husband. He loves to cuddle, will let me kiss him whenever I want, he leaves me cute notes, he's supper sweet, he cooks and cleans, and is always there to help me get back on my feet when I'm having a rough day. What more could a girl want??? Nothing that I can think of!!

        He's all done with basic training, but he can still be stopped from graduating if he's late getting back to base on Thursday night. So since he HAS to be there at 8, I'll probably drop him off at about 7:50 so that he's not late (I was going to say 7:30, but we all know that won't happen).

      As for me, I'm spending tonight with my hair in rollers like I did when I was 4-8 and hoping that my hair curls. Matt told me once that he loved when my hair was curly, so I'm going to try and do it curly for Thursday, but since I haven't used these things since I was 8 I'm doing a test run before I do it for Thursday. That way if it doesn't look good he'll never see it ;).

     K I'm starting to get out of control anxious about seeing Matt, so I'm going to bed so that morning can come and I can fly to see my dearest love.

Night!!

2 Down 2.17 to go...

       Well Matt has been gone for two months as of yesterday. He's really enjoyed his time and is now in the Blue phase. Which means he will graduate! He's got one person in his platoon that won't due to an injury, and I'm so grateful that it's not Matt. He was finally able to pass a pt test and did awesome, even being sick (bronchitis again) he did more sit ups then he's ever been able to do before. So I'm very proud of him for that!

       He's very excited to graduate and I'm thrilled for a few days with him! When I was talking to him today about what we would do for Family Day, he said "I don't care, but we are NOT eating [here]. Even if it's steak we're going out for anything else."  Sounds like Matt doesn't it? After two months of eating the same things he's ready for a change. My guess is he'll want a smoothie/shake, not sure what he'll want food wise though, he's very much a "depends on the day" kinda guy. Granted he'll eat pretty much anything I (or anyone else) puts in front of him, but on his special days it's usually decided while we're driving where we're going. He said the only thing we will actually do while on base is let me see where he's been sleeping and look though the windows of the cafeteria. Other then that the day will be spent mostly alone just being together (and for me, actually getting to feel his hand in mine, or his arm around me when we walk).

       It's funny, but when he left I felt like this day would never come. And now that it's here I just want to jump/scream and throw a party! But I'll save that for when I actually get to see him on July 1st :D. 

       Since Matt has been gone it's been interesting to see how our relationship has changed. Especially with how things have changed with communication. It's like Matt goes out of his way now to make sure that I know what's going on, and I do the same for him. And he's gotten so much better at telling me all the things that I need to hear to help give me the drive to get up in the morning. It's been so nice to have our weekly talks and something to look forward to. But at the same time, I can't wait for him to get his computer so we can talk more often. I'm hoping that he'll get his computer all the time and not just on the weekends. (and for now, that's what I'm telling myself it'll be like, I'll let you know if it's true or not).

     But for me, it's off to bed, and eventually I will get the pictures posted of our house and the changes I've made... Especially of the backyard!! There's actually grass now and not just weeds!! It's awesome! Bray'Tac loves going out there and being chased... I mean chasing... the birds. It's funny to watch and makes me want to get a bird feeder (mostly so they will stop eating the grass seed, but also just to see what Bray'Tac does).  But I'll let that wait for a while until I get my husband home to hang it for me (yes, I know I'm strange. I'll do all the hard moving furniture and fixing things around the house, but I won't hang a feeder or kill spiders anymore...).

       Speaking of spiders! I haven't seen one in the house since I moved everything around (found 5 doing that.. SICK!) , the grass started coming in, and I put Vit B (the kind you taste as it goes down) in every window. It's been so nice!! Last year Matt had a spider to kill just about every week. So I'm loving that I haven't seen one in a few weeks!

       K now for real it's bed time...

       And for all you amazing fathers out there. Happy Fathers Day!!

Update on Matt and the House

       Well Matt's missionaries were released this past week and a new couple has replaced them. As far as I know it's still the same address for the last couple. However, I don't know their name... (Matt told me but I forgot... opps).

       Other then that he's doing great. He's still healthy and happy. He's still got the blisters on his feet that he had when he first got to basic. Which I'm actually not too surprised about anymore. At first I was because he told me he was using the mole skin on them. But what he didn't tell me is that he was just using the mole skin to cover the blister. Which does nothing. The point of the mole skin is to create a space between the blister and whatever is rubbing against it. So just covering it just protects it from ripping it doesn't help. So we quickly let him know that he needs to be cutting a hold where the blister is so that it has a chance to breath and heal. I'll find out on Sunday when I talk to him again if they are doing any better. He's still enjoying the food there but is missing having ice cold drinks whenever he pleases and being able to go to the bathroom (latrine, as he would say) without having to ask permission. He said that he feels like he's on a second mission at times because you can't ever go any place alone and he's been working with a couple of the cadets and taking them to church with him. Umm what else... He'll graduate on July 1st from Basic Training and start his AIT on July 5th or 6th. Depending on if they get the 5th off because the 4th is on a Sunday. He sounds excited for that because then for the most part (he thinks) he'll be inside and out of the heat. Where he is now the highs are 90's - 100's with 85 - 95% humidity with lows in the 70's - 80's, and when he's out in that heat he's wearing his full uniform and battle boots. Sounds fun doesn't it? But at least his Sergents are being mostly smart and requiring that they drink a minimum of a quart every hour. A few of the guys that haven't been doing that (or that just have very little heat tolerance) have been sent to the ER with mild-moderate "heat casualties." Thankfully Matt is aware enough about his body that he hasn't had a problem with it other then mild annoyance and feeling like just stepping into a shower even when he's been out for hours. But that's pretty much all I know for now about Matt. I'll let you know if he says anything different on Sunday.

       As for the house It's just about done!! :D My bedroom and the living room are all done except for a few minor details (hanging some pictures that I need to get printed). The kitchen just needs a shelf hung and then it's done and the old office just needs one more piece of furniture. However pictures of that won't be up for a few months. But I'll post pictures of everything else. In the bathroom mostly I just did a really deep cleaning and just have one hole to patch under the sink. But for that I gotta get a box and some plaster then that will be done too. :D But I will get the pictures taken tonight so that you all can see what I've done so far to the house. I really like it and it's really helped me to deal with Matt being gone. I was asked once if I'd redecorate this much in my own home and if Matt ever leaves me again for more then a few weeks and I'm not in school I'll probably actually do more if it still helps me cope with being alone. But only if he's gone for more then 2 months. If he leaves for a year I'm pretty sure I would end up building a house from the ground up just to save my sanity. Hopefully that won't happen anytime soon. But with my luck it'll probably happen the week after he graduates from College. (Maybe I'll just make Matt get his Ph.D and not let him stop going to school... Doubt it'll work but it's worth a shot right??)

       Anyways, school is going good and the end is in sight. But for me right now all I can think about is that I'll get to see my wonderful husband in 21 Days. I really can't even tell you how much it has helped my well being just knowing that I'll get to see him soon. For a while there I was getting to be really depressed, more so then I could handle. But since everything has worked out for me to see him much sooner then I was expecting I feel like I can make it the rest of the way and have a much more positive outlook on our time apart. I really don't know what I would've done without my wonderful and supportive family and friends. Thank you all for everything!!!

       But it's time to finish putting things away for the night and get some pictures taken!!

~Melanie

The Big Day

       Well today I'm going to start working on the office and moving everything out and cleaning it. I found out while I was doing our bedroom that it's actually a good thing that I'm doing this because I found two spider webs behind my dresser in there and one behind the desk in here. A friend of mine says I should be glad that those are the only spiders/spider webs I've seen because of how my backyard is. After hearing that I went and mowed the weeds back there and had a pleasant surprise of baby grass popping up! :D So hopefully we'll have a real lawn back there soon! (ps does anyone know what it mean when the leaves on a tomato plant get random brown spots??)
 
       Anyways back to the plan for today. So after I finish the office I'm going to do more homework for this weekend and hopefully get everything done by midnight. If I do I'll post pictures on Sunday.

       Wish me luck!!

~Melanie

Stress Breaker

       Well since Matt left I haven't been good at dealing with my stress/frustration. So yesterday when it got to be more then I could handle I decided to rearrange my house. And yes I do mean my ENTIRE house (all 3 rooms haha). So as I was doing this I was able to clean a lot up and realized how much I've let things slip since Matt's left. Well I was able to redo and deep clean my bedroom, so now I have more usable space, then I started on the living room. In there I moved the love seat down to the basement apartment, cleaned under the couch, cleaned up my craft corner and got it better organized, made new pillows for my couch, put the amazing red slip cover on my couch, got a new cedar chest from my wonderful brother John who engraved our names, wedding date, and "together forever" on it. Originally he was going to put the temple and our names on it, but when he got it all carved he said it didn't look good at all, so he changed it to just the words. And I love how it turned out. The chest will eventually get moved into what is now the office, but for the time being that room is too full of stuff to be put in there safely. So it's staying in my living room until I can get that room all done. When I do get to that room I'm going to repaint the blue portion of it with a roller that will leave more of a texture and (hopefully) hide all the dings in the walls. But we'll see if I'm really that ambitious when the time comes. But when I do end up finishing everything I will post pictures and let you see what I did.

      As for the yard, the front looks great! the back is still being a forest but I'm really hoping that will change soon. I need to get out there and finish cleaning it up and getting rid of some of the weeds/junk. I found out that under all the ivy that on the west side of my house, someone hid a bunch of random old rotting wood, which is growing mushrooms... (hurl)... So I'm going to see if I can get my hands on a trailer to fill with garbage and get it out of my yard so that i can keep working on what I want it to be. When I get home tonight I'm going to mow the front yard and then work on the backyard some. And then I'll keep working inside. Mostly right now I just need to go though all the junk in the office and see what needs to be kept and what needs to go, and what just needs to be organized better (my guess, because it's all Matt's stuff, it just needs to be organized better).

But it's time for school so I'll write again later!