Through the Looking Glass

What can I say about Nicki that would even do her justice? I mean, just look at her. She's stunning.
I just thank my lucky stars that I'm the sister of practically the most amazing woman in this universe!

It sounds cheesy, but I'm being quite serious. I LOVE YOU, NICKI!

haha. well, where on earth do i start? a lot has happened since i last blogged...
and after much persistence on krystal and mindi's part, i decided i had better fill everyone in on what's new since kevin came home!

kevin's homecoming was, of course, amazing. there's nothing that can compare to the feeling of a homecoming. the air is just full of energy - excitement, anxiety, elation - from all the families and friends waiting for their marines to come home. i showed up at 11 am, expecting them to arrive around noon. hour after hour rolled by until finally they started showing up ..at 4pm!! i should have known better than to show up on time. haha. in the military if they say noon, they really mean 5 hours after noon.

well bus after bus of marines started unloading. they're all in their camouflage and look identical so it can be pretty hard to find someone in the crowd. but i saw kevin as soon as he stepped off the bus! i ran to him as fast as i could!






i watched a lot of people reuniting before i actually got to see kevin. i noticed a lot of them cried as they hugged their boyfriends/husbands for the first time in 7 months. watching them made me teary-eyed, but when i saw kevin...i did not even come close to crying!! i was ecstatic! soooo happy! i was kind of surprised that i didn't cry, but i was just way too happy.
but it made me think about each of those women, and their reasons for crying...so many women have to be so strong and independent for 7 months. maybe it's just their way of releasing all of that.

for a few days after kevin got home, we just relaxed and enjoyed each other at the hotel on base. we had to wait a few days until our new apartment was ready to be moved into. i remember being so excited. it was like when you were little and got a new toy for christmas - always so excited to get home and play with it. that's how i felt those few days right after kevin got home. i'd be in the shower or something, and suddenly remember "kevin's home!" you may wonder why that would be something i'd have to remember, but after 7 months of him being gone....well you can imagine. it's all very exciting.


here's some pictures of kevin my dad took while he was with kevin on the ship.









well that's a little bit of an update for now...

i'll write more soon! i have much more to blog about!

Since I've been in Utah, I've been helping a former professor of mine with some research. We're doing a survey on a small shorebird called the Snowy Plover. We're basically trying to figure out how many live and breed in the area around the Great Salt Lake. So we walk these huge gridlines mapped out on the ground and count how many Snowy's we see while we walk. I've been working an insane amount of hours. For the past 2 weeks I've had consistent 12 hour days with barely a 2 days off. Haha. But I really don't mind it. It helps pass the time until Kevin comes home.

It seriously is so much fun. Because the areas we survey are randomly chosen by GPS coordinates, we end up in some of the most crazy, wild places around Utah. It's really quite an adventure. Every day we just tromp around in the mud, exploring, walking about 8 miles per day and looking for birds. Yesterday, for example, we got our ATV stuck in some pretty bad mud. SUPER sticky mud. Well during the process of getting the ATV out, I laughed harder then I've laughed in awhile. There were four of us, 2 students from Mexico who barely speak English, and then another student from Weber State. But laughter is universal, so the language barrier meant nothing in this moment. We were all laughing so hard we could barely stand up.

My research also lead me to another adventure. An airplane flight all around the Great Salt Lake. We were in the air for about 3 hours just flying along the shoreline so I could mark off any of our plots that were underwater. I was really nervous to fly in a small aircraft, and almost chickened out. But I'm glad I decided to go. It was a neat opportunity. Though I must say I wouldn't do it again! :) I get nervous when I fly.




Here's a picture of the pilot and I.





This is me while in the air. The headphones keep out some of the noise and allow us to talk with each other through a mic.







A couple shots from the plane. The white dots on the island are nesting Pelicans! The island was packed with them!


Anyway, just a little update on what I've been up to.

Hey guys! Well..we're on our way to Hawaii now from Australia. That was
a nice couple of ports. Yes..I drank..a lot. Seriously. But I had a good
time. I think I just drank to pass the time away until we come home. But
it was fun. The people were nice and very talkative. And every time I
call Trina, Mark is making preparations to come on the ship with me.
Hehehe. And I can't wait to see him. I think it's cute. Ever since I've
met mark, he's always been a busy little bee. Sometimes when I hang out
at their house with Trina, I feel lazy because mark and Lori are both
running around the house or going out to either work or take care of
personal business. But I enjoy visits with them. It'll be 3 weeks and
I'll be home. I'll be walking off whatever takes us to the shore with
Mark and I'll be running into Trina's arms while lugging all my personal
stuff behind me. I'll probably have to go to work all that day, but
it'll be okay. I asked Trina to take the Corolla out of storage for us
so I can drive home that night. It's seriously going to be the best
drive ever..at least I think so. I seriously think Mark is going to
enjoy the ship as grey and depressing as it is. It looks as if there's
going to be a bingo night and maybe an ice cream social or 2. We'll see
what happens when he comes on. I've heard rumors of a karaoke night as
well. Hehehe. Whatever happens, it's going to be awesome. He's going to
get classes during the day and he's going to have fun at night like we
do. He'll see what a life in the day of me was like when I was underway.
And I do believe he'll enjoy it a lot. Ummmm. That's all I can think of
for now. Trina knows this..but I love her! HI TRINA <3!!!!!1

Hey! I know I haven't blogged for you guys in a really long time. And
I'm sorry. But things have been hectic. We're about to go to Australia
twice! Hehehe. And we roll our sleeves tomorrow!

And I've already got a bed picked out for mark. Much like mine..but on the opposite side of where I live. Like..right across the row from me. So that way we can
have paper ball wars or something! Hahaha. Yeah right. Mark would
probably own me. He's a big scary guy! He would definitely own me.

Let's
see here. This deployment's almost over. So I don't think I'll be
blogging for you guys until the next deployment unless Trina decides to.
It looks like I'm going to be a marine recruiter after this! It's
exciting. I don't know where I'm going to be recruiting. I'm leaving it
all up to Trina and where she wants to go to school at. But I've been
talking to her about moving by our friend, Larry, in Kentucky. We'll see
how that works out. Trina told me she has a school she'd like to go to
there anyway. So we'd be by Larry and Trina would be able to go to
school! You know?

So we start rolling our sleeves tomorrow. Hehehe. I'm
counting that as a turning point in the deployment. There's only a
little over a month left! And then I'll be cuddling Trina to death. Yes.
I'll cuddle her so much that she will probably die. Die from being
overly loved. Heheh. That's all I can really think about right now. Only
a little over a month until I get to hang out with you Mark! I hope
you're ready! Just bring your camera, a sleeping bag (we won't have
linens for you. I won't even have linens), and a week's worth of
clothes! I'm pretty sure there will be classes for you guys. We'll see
how that works out. And that's all folks! I'll see all of you really
really soon I'm sure. I'll at least call a bunch of you anyway. *waves*

Well, it looks like Kevin will be going to Recruiter's School at the Marine Corps Recuit Depot in San Diego. We're pretty excited about living in San Diego.

Since we will only be there for a few months while he goes to school (July-October), we decided to spend a little more and get an apartment right in San Diego. He will have only a 7 minute drive to MCRD. So we'll make up the cost of extra rent in gas money alone - considering the price of gas is probably around $4/gallon in San Diego!

We've already picked out our apartment. It's newly built and here are some pictures:







Our apartment is right near the pool, which should be pretty fun! Kevin and I LOVE to swim. We're like a couple of fish. Last summer, we went swimming every day after work. We swam so much I ended up getting swimmer's ear. Ouch!

Our apartment also has an air conditioner!! YAY! In our old apartment we didnt have one and it got terribly hot during the summer. On some days, it was 85 degrees in our apartment, and SUPER humid. It also comes with other fancy things like - granite countertops, 9-foot ceilings, a fancy sliding door on the shower (i'm really excited for this, our old apartment only had a curtain and it was a pain to avoid splashing water all over the bathroom).

A little over 1 month until Kevin comes home!

I CAN'T WAAAAAIT! *squirm*

I've been feeling pretty spontaneous as of late...

I think it just has a lot to do with Kevin being gone. So I decided to get my septum pierced!! I'm very happy with it. It was my first piercing and was quite an adventure. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect, but it was pretty painless. It was a strange sensation really...kind of...electric. The studio where I was pierced was very professional. They layed me back on a table (the same type of table that's in a doctor's office). Then they put a bunch of gross stuff in my nose to disinfect. He had on latex gloves and a doctors mask and was explaining a lot of stuff to me which i barely remember because I was so nervous/anxious/excited about the actual piercing! Haha. Hopefully it was nothing too important. :)

He told me to take some deep breaths. Now let out that breath sloooowly...and BAM. I felt the piercing. It was a pretty strange feeling, but it was over in a few seconds.

It's pretty subtle, the jewelry is basically a silver horseshoe type thing. And the nice thing about this type of piercing is that I can flip it up inside my nostrils to hide it...it's very difficult to hide any other type of piercing.

Well! That's it for now.

Talk to you soon.
<3

This was written about Kevin and I by a good friend of ours. I loved it so much I had to share it with everyone else. Enjoy...



I watch her on the beach, watching her watch birds,
She's as captivated by their beauty as I am with her own.
All the small things that she does
(like making transformers stickers)
With me purely in mind
Only strengthen this feeling that this will never die.
That we will never die.
That in some small sector in humanity
Love still matters.
I'd give my world to put a smile on her face
and the beauty of it is that she'd do the same for me.
All day together
Always together.
Forever.

I'm comfortable in your arms, forever protected.
You never leave my thoughts, forever respected.
Counting the days til I can touch you once again
Counting the days until my soul is whole again.
Filling my life with idle monotony
Hoping to drown this lonely misery.
Though my answer doesn't come from the world around me
but the eyes of a soldier who marches on despite me.
With you by my side, I'll never taste fear
With you in my soul, we'll always be near.


Through the good and the bad,
The right and the wrong,
The tried and the true,
When you're here or when you're gone.

Two parts love and one part strong
The Lover and the Soldier.