Afghan Update

We are 2 months down! For Clint for Christmas I did the 12 days of Christmas for him. Everyday's present represents something from our life together. I was so worried that the package hadn't gotten there yet..then the night of the 13th he got his package!! And the first day started on the 14th, it was a Christmas miracle haha. The villagers gave the guys a puppy. They named her Dixie, and she is so cute! Clint is doing really well, and I am a baby haha, but whatever :) Here are some picture of him over in Afghanistan.

25% Down

Sometimes it feels like the time is going by quickly, but then I look back and realize it has only been 7 weeks. But better 7 weeks than 1. Clint has been doing really great. He and his guys have build things for the kids school, given them school supplies, and made friends with the village elders. He is having a good time with his buddies. I have been doing well, just working and hanging out. We are 25 percent of the way done, yay! I sent off his Christmas package a while ago, so hopefully he will get it for Christmas. His birthday was on the 27th, so they had a birthday party for him the other day. I miss him so much, but I am so happy he is having a good time!

Afghanistan

Not a lot has been going on lately, hence no post. But I figure I should update every once in a while. I am working doing hair. It's nice to stay busy. Clint is in Afghanistan, just being awesome. He says that the little girls over there are so cute, he said they make it worth it. He says that the village Elders are really nice, and they always feed them. He is having a great time. I miss him terribly, but I am so happy he gets to have his adventure. This Saturday will be a month of him being gone, which means 15 percent of the deployment down, YAY!!

Leaving

Clint left for Afghanistan on Saturday the 16th. Sad day! We had to be at the Grinder,(where the buses picked them up), at 1:30 in the morning. So he got all ready and I looked awesome rocking the hoodie and sweats, I wasn't being lazy that's what he wanted me to wear. It was a little misty outside, which added to the mood. All the Marines, and those ladies who could come, sat around and waited for the buses until they started rolling in around 5:30. I was doing pretty well all morning, then all of a sudden you heard someone yell "Marines" and there were a couple cheers, and it was time for them to board the buses at 6:30 am. Then I sort of lost it a little. Letting go of him was the hardest thing I think I have ever had to do. And I know some of you might be thinking, well it isn't that hard, you try it, then we'll talk. But now, 4 days later he is in Afghanistan and has pretty high spirits. He is excited to get to his outpost and get to work. I got an e-mail from him today, and yesterday which was a pleasant surprise. He will be able to call once or twice a month, so I will be anxiously awaiting those. I am sending off his first package tomorrow, and I'm excited to get started on the next one. :) I learned how to make cake in a jar and seal it so it would be good when it gets to him, so I made two of those and sent some chocolate frosting along with it. I'm very excited they turned out how I wanted them to. Well I miss him more than I would ever be able to explain, but we already have 4 days down! YAY!

Ceramic Mugs

So the other day Clint and I went to this place by our house called Color Me Mine. There are so many ceramic things to choose from to paint anddecorate. We chose mugs. It was so much fun! It took us about 3 and a half hours, but the time flew by. Clint is so artistic, his looks so great. I, however, used a stencil haha. They turned out great! We had such a fun time together! They haven't gone through the kiln yet, but here is the rough mugs.

Half Birthday

So last week was interesting. I got surgery on my left wrist to remove a ganglion cyst. Everything went well, and we figured we would just take it easy for the day. Well I don't know what was up with the anesthesia but it did not agree with my system. I was violently ill all day. Then Clint gave me a blessing and I was able to sleep through the night, and felt a little better the next day. My hand was so fat for like 4 days. Then on October 6th Clint came home with the most beautiful flowers for me for my half birthday. They were so beautiful! Since I still wasn't feeling well we made my half birthday date for Friday. We went out to dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse and saw the movie Life As We Know It. It was such a great movie! We had such a fun time together, like we always do. Hanging out with my husband is the best thing in the world. He is such a wonderful man. We packed up a lot of our home today, it was really sad. I hope these 7 months go by faster than I think they will. Anyways, we had a great week last week, and plan to make this one great too.

Pre-Deployment Leave

Clint is leaving for Afghanistan in 2 very short weeks, so for the past 2 weeks he had his pre-deployment leave. It was so much fun! We went and spent those weeks with our family and friends in Utah. On the 18th we went to Lagoon with my mom and dad. It was so much fun! We went on the skycoaster, Clint had never been on it before. It was a blast. it was such a fun double date. Then on Sunday we got together with Clint's side of the family for dinner. It was great! Our nieces and nephews are so stinkin cute, and so much fun to play with. We love spending time with all of our brothers and sisters. Throughout the week we went to dinner with a bunch of our friends, it was so great to see everyone. Thursday, they had a fathers and sons shooting competition with all of his brothers, a nephew, and our dad's. They had so many guns there, and had so much fun. Clint of course was the winner of the competition, best shot of them all. He had a great time. I went to dinner at Zupas and for a drive up the canyon with my mom that evenin, it was great. Then Friday and Saturday Clint and I and my mom and dad, went out to the west desert and camped in death canyon. It was so nice, perfect weather. We went four wheeling and shooting while we were out there. We slept in the four wheeler trailer. The moon was full that night so we could see everything and the stars were so bright, it was wonderful! Sunday we took family pictures with my side of the family, up Big Cottonwood canyon. They turned out great. Last week we did much like the first, spending time with our friends for dinners and such. Also, while we were there our parents gave Clint his birthday/christmas presents. He got a new 160GB video from my parents, and this great essential oils kit from his. We started our drive back to California on Thursday and stopped in Las Vegas for the night. We stayed at the same hotel we stayed in the first time we saw each other. We rode the New York New York, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, and went to the M&M Factory and Coke Factory. It was so much fun. In the morning we headed home to San Clemente. It is always so fun to take road trips together. Clint keeps me laughing the whole time. He is my best friend, and the best companion I could ever ask for. He had to go to work today for the first time in 2 weeks, and it is so lame haha. We had such a fun time together. I love him so much, and am so grateful for him.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend Clint had Saturday through Tuesday off, which was so nice! On Saturday we drove down to Oceanside to look at some clothing shops and to go to the Del Mar beach on base. It was a blast. We got a pizza and went to the beach to soak up the sun. The waves were big and the sun was out so that was nice. But the water was still freezing cold! I was being a pansy and only going in to my ankles, but Clint wanted to play in the water so he went out into the waves. After a couple minutes I felt bad that I was being lame, so I just charged out there and took the cold. After a couple minutes my legs went numb so it was ok. It was so much fun playing in the waves, I got thrown around quite a bit, which Clint thought was way funny. Anything I can do to entertain. Then on Monday we hiked up to a memorial cross on Camp Pendleton at Camp Horno. After the first big wave in Iraq in 2003 some Vet's carried the cross up there to memorialize their friends. It is a very steep hike, but very worth it. Marines go up there to take rocks, alcohol, and other things to pay tribute. Clint carried a HUGE rock up there, on which he wrote the Machine Gunner's Prayer. After we made it down, we went to Carrows for breakfast. Yum! We spent the weekend just hanging out and watching movies. It was so great to spend all that time together. I love him more each day!

Hanging out

This week Clint invited his buddy, Corey, over for dinner. We had Clint's favorite meal, hobo dinner, jello salad, rolls, brownies, and ice cream. After dinner, the boys couldn't decide what movie to watch, so they started Princess Bride, after a little bit they were bored of the movie, so they fired up the WII, and oh yes they started boxing each other. It was so funny to watch! But they had a lot of fun. Then last night Clint hurt his neck/back, but we don't know what he did. So he decided that he wanted to sleep on the floor, so we set up a sleepover in our living room. It was actually really fun, we watched Sands of Iwo Jima, and had a good night on the living room floor. It was fun! Saturday, we are going to the San Diego Temple for our August temple visit. It's so pretty there, so we are pretty excited to go.

Romance

So Clint and I like to do special things every now and again. On saturday we decided to have a romantic dinner night. It was great. I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, and we had pizza for dinner. We set up a little table in our living room, with candles in some candlesticks we got for our wedding. We decided to get dressed up, so I got in Clint's favorite dress of mine, and I thought he was getting in his church clothes because he had me pick out a tie for him, but he came out in one of his uniforms. It totally took my breath away. He looked so stinkin good!! It was a wonderful night, and turned out just like we planned. Then last night we went and got a couples massage together. It was great! Neither of us had ever had a massage before, so it was especially nice to get one together. It was relaxing and definitely romantic. It was so fun and I would recommend it to everyone! Anyways it is so fun to do things like that with Clint, he makes everything twice as special.

Clint is home!

Yay Clint is home from 29 Palms. It is so nice to have him back. I got to pick him up from base on August 6th, it was great. His younger brother Joey drove back with me to stay until the 10th of August. On Saturday we all went to the shooting range on base. Clint got the tightest group he has ever gotten with his Vaquero, and with some great instruction from Clint Joey key holed 3 shots. I was so proud haha. On Sunday we went over to Shane's fiance, Kelsea's, house for dinner, good as always. Monday we all went down to a beach in Oceanside and played in the water, Joey and Kelsea went surfing, but Clint and I just played around. It was a nice clear day for swimming. Joey flew home on Tuesday, so it has been Clint and I since then. Clint has gotten off work at like 10 o'clock all week so we have been able to play all day. Yesterday we spent half the day in bed, eating snacks and watching all three of the Indiana Jones movies, it was awesome. The weather in San Clemente is absolutely beautiful. It was so hot in Utah, I was worried it would be more hot here, bu when we got here it was sunny, and breezy and perfect. I guess that's one of the perc's to living by he ocean, always nice weather. Also, I was going to keep my all brown hair for a while to keep it healthy, but I decided that just isn't who I am so I added some blonde in it today, and yes in the picture I am wearing an apron. Our ward is having a BBQ down on the beach tonight, so I made some pink lemonade cupcakes, I hope they turn out well. That's all for now. Just loving life with my wonderful husband being home!!

Counting Down

In a week from now I will be heading home to California to get ready for Clint to come home on the 6th. YAY!! It has been so long, I don't know what 8 months will be like if this was unbearable. Clint has been out in the field kickin' butt, and being awesome. I went to Park City for a couple of days with some family. Slowly but surely the time is widdling down, not fast enough though. Anyways, that's the update. The next one will be super happy 'cause he will be home!

Apart

This post doesn't have any fun pictures, just an update. Clint is doing his pre-deployment training at the 29 Palms base in California, so I am in Utah for a couple of weeks. He says it is super hot there, over 110. I feel bad for him because they have to wear their cammi's and all of their gear, that weighs a lot. Nothing to exciting going on in Utah. I can't sleep through the night, I wake up every hour or so. So I have started staying awake until I can't keep my eyes open anymore to see if that would help me sleep. Nope. I still wake up all night. But I guess this is just preparing me for Afghanistan. Anyways, not a whole lot going on here.

Happy Un-Birthday!

This weekend was so great! Clint is going to be in Afghanistan for his actual birthday, so we decided to have his birthday on friday. It was great, I made a cake and decorated the apartment. Then on saturday we went to Sea World, and Olive Garden for dinner. Clint got off early on friday which was really nice. We got to spend pretty much the whole day together. He got 30 Rock season 3, an external hard drive case, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard, and some new shoes. Saturday was the first time that Clint has been to Sea World, it was a lot of fun! Then we had one of his favorite dinners for his birthday dinner on Sunday, Navajo Tacos, very easy to please. The weekends are the best because we get to spend every minute together, definitely can't get enough of each other.

Surfing

Clint and I went surfing for the first time on Saturday. It was so much fun! And we did way better than either of us expected. We went with our neighbors and friends Dollie and Ryan. We both got up on the board, it was great. I am scared of the ocean, but I wasn't a baby this time, and it turns out I'm not scared all the time.