Anniversary Flowers

My husband sent me these flowers for our anniversary. He has such a way of making me feel loved, even from thousands of miles away! He was also able to call me several times throughout the night and day. I love you hubby and I can't wait for next year when we can celebrate together!

Call Family Christmas Party

My mom's side of the family all got together over the weekend for the annual Call Family Christmas party. It was so fun seeing everyone again. There was tons of food and the adults had fun visiting while the kids played. Emily ran around with her cousins while Wendy spent most of her time riding a little tricycle around the gym. She loved that thing!

The girls were so happy when Santa showed up. They both sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. When we got home I was comparing pictures I had taken from last year's party to this year's and Emily noticed that Santa was the same in both pictures. This convinced her that he must be the "real" Mr. Clause. She is already looking forward to next year!

It's a Wonderful Life

On Wednesday evening Emily and I went with my parents and Jim and Nedra to see It's a Wonderful Life at the Center Stage Playhouse. I told Emily I was taking her as my date. Mom/daughter dates are so much fun! It was so nice to visit and eat a wonderful meal together at the theater before the show started. After the play the cast put on an extra show called Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree where there put on different costumes and sang Christmas carols. That was our favorite part! We had such a great time but were careful not to get too wild and out of control since there was a table full of nuns sitting behind us!

Ward Christmas Party Dance Performance

Emily's dance teacher and a lot of girls from the dance team are in our ward so they decided to do a little dance for the Christmas party last night. Emily was so excited to dance with the older girls. She had so much fun practicing and getting ready and was even more excited when the Palmers and the Calls came to watch her. We had such a nice evening. There was good food, great entertainment, and lots of people to visit with. Thanks again everyone for coming!

2010 Christmas Card

A friend of ours was nice enough to make our Christmas cards for us this year. They are two-sided and I love how they turned out! We will be sending them out soon.

Getting Ready for Christmas

This last week we have had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas. We started off by going to see the Forgotten Carols. It was a wonderful play and we had such a great time.

Later we put up our tree and all of our decorations. It took a while because some of the lights our our pre-lit tree wouldn't come on. After about an hour of searching I finally located the problem and fixed it. When all the lights came on the girls clapped and screamed that it was a Christmas Miracle! The tree is also plugged into a remote control to turn the lights on and off. I always hide it and let them clap to "magically" turn on the lights, and blow to turn them off.

Emily has been begging for eggnog since Halloween so I finally let them drink some while they wrote their letters to Santa. It was great watching how excited they got when it came time to mail them!


Last night we got invited to go with a friend to attend a Christmas party put on for the kids of the deployed soldiers. We had so much fun. Santa came and handed out presents. They served us dinner, had crafts for the kids to do, and had clowns that made balloon animals. It is so nice being involved in so many Christmas activities. We are definitely looking forward to the rest of the season!

Balad

So here I am! Safe in Joint Base Balad. You'll have to google it to see where I am in the country. Right now I have a room shared with another guy from a different unit. After our crew we're replacing leaves, we'll take over their old rooms. There is everything we could ever need here. From several gyms and dining facilities to rec centers, movie theatre, stadium with track, sports field, two restaurants, general Post Exchange, and much more. We have already started doing our missions under the guidance of the unit who's leaving. My platoon from Pocatello is the Personal Security Detail for on base and any trips out to other bases that the VIP's need to go visit. I do have internet in my room, but the speed is very unpredictable. Soon we'll have a regular schedule after the Christmas tours slow down. I'll send a few more updates, but my schedule will be pretty routine for the remainder of the tour. See everyone in July when I come home for R&R leave!


Since LeeRoy arrived in Balad we have been able to Skype. I cannot express how wonderful that has been. The kids went crazy! Wendy has been crying a lot over her dad lately, worrying about him not having a bed to sleep in with it so cold outside. I explained to her that the army gave him a bed and that helped a little but her being able to actually see him sitting on his bed and talking to her helped a lot. He also has such a great attitude. Just seeing him and talking to him for a short time puts us all in a great mood and eases our fears. I love technology!