Thankful Day 6- Reunions

Before Riley joined the Marines, we had not spent any time of our married life away from each other, except for my 4 day trip to New Orleans, and his week long training in California for his old job. While we were dating we would have to go a week (two TOPS) without seeing each other for a few months while he was living 4 hours away. But we all know being married is COMPLETELY different than dating. so we really never spent any time away.

We were both ok with this, we are best friends and there is no one in the world i would rather spend everyday with! And i am not just saying that either. He doesn't often have "guys day" because he always ends up dragging me along on whatever adventure they have planned.

Everyone knows that i did the math and figured out that i spent 60% of our first year in the military away from each other... that is a HUGE difference to seeing each other EVERY day... What is the best part about him leaving for periods of time? ya i don't get asked that often.... or EVER for that matter. however there is a good part about him leaving... it means we get to enjoy another reunion. They are the happiest part of my life!


It keeps things fresh. But it is definitely not for everyone. It is NOT easy to be apart, and i credit my strength with the fact that we were able to solidify the foundation of our relationship before being thrown into this crazy hampster wheel. Every time he leaves, i am given the opportunity to improve myself and our surroundings so that he comes home to something better than what he left. I am able to realize how much i miss him, and how much i really do need him, but also as much as i NEED him... i'm able to do this. I CAN be alone.

The reunion though... that is something that only a military wife fully understands. When he was at bootcamp and there was absolutely no contact other than letters, he didn't feel real. It honestly felt like he was gone forever, in a totally new life. THAT is what i imagine having a missionary would be like.. but deployments, and trainings... When they leave for training, it's hard because you know that he is training to LEAVE, and that it's only __ weeks or days THIS time, but soon he'll be gone for a long time... And deployments are not fun, easy and are not cookie cutter- each one is completely different. You say goodbye, and you go home and you Pray to God every night that he is going to be ok. You rush to your phone EVERY call, because you never know if one of them may be the last. You don't argue because you don't want unkind words that you may have to live with and regret for the rest of your life.

When they return home from a deployment, it's proof that they are alive and well. even if they had called you the day before or week before to tell you they are on their way home. For us on the home front, it's not over until you spot them coming off the plane. Holding him after time away from him is the greatest feeling in the world. i have never felt as close to God as the moment i held Riley in my arms off the plane from Afghanistan, tears streaming down my face, Thanking him silently for bringing him home to me. Thanking him that i won't have to say "the last time we ever"

and THAT is what makes me ok with this military life. for those days, like today... when i get Riley home after he's been gone. Because as strong as i am... and as well as i can handle things back home... I need him more than anyone could ever know.

Inspection

So due to some recent events which i won't post about cause it's really nothing to be spread. Riley's unit is now implementing house inspections for the married Marines. which of course sends EVERYONE into panic mode... thoughts of Marines in dress blues with white gloves and a sword walking through my house, making sure my window sills are spotless... seriously though, i think last night when this was announced the mini mart on base probably had a spike in energy drink sales. Riley calls me in a panic telling me they may start in the morning, and we still have that pile of laundry that needs to be done (it is literally like 2 loads worth... that's IT)

Now i have no problem with a house inspection. i think it's a good idea. I mean we are living in military housing, they have every right to make sure we are not tearing the place down. Although with the current state of this apartment i sometimes wish that were an option. They can not tear down this condemned building fast enough. only a few more months! After the initial panic of someone coming through our house to judge us, we found out it's mostly just to check living conditions and as one Marine put it (make sure we don't have dead animals in the closet and nothing is growing in the fridge)

I am still going to make sure the house is spotless. If i am having some of Riley's higher-ups in my house it's going to look pristine. i honestly DO feel that this is a good idea, and other than not looking forward to having to mop the whole house like NOW (I've been putting it off) I'm ok with it all. It's a little motivation to get the spare room organized quickly (more to come on that). i think alot of girls (including me) got married VERY young. one of the problems of that is we move from home, to our very own place... not always knowing what running a household entails. I was really lucky to live so close to my mother in law for so long, she would take me to her cleaning supplies dealer (i guess it was not near as sketchy as her old dealer) and then she'd show me all the tricks to getting things to their cleanest potential. She is the one i call when i have any cleaning questions, i mean i dropped a plate of lasagna on her nearly white carpet... ya you can't even tell, she's THAT good. HOWEVER all the wives aren't so lucky to have a nearly OCD mother in law to show them the way. So they are left with a big house and feeling more than a little overwhelmed. i feel this inspection thing will put a fire under their bum.

Ok so about the spare room. so i was at the salvation army yesterday. I seriously HATE that place, they are SO overpriced. they were selling this piece of crap dresser for $160, at the D.I. it would have been $20. anyway they had this hutch their, priced at $125 i was NOT willing to pay that much, so i went up and asked the girl if they were willing to negotiate.. no dice. I asked how long they have had it, 2 days. so then i tell her i'll give her $100 right then and there. She then gets all pissed and tells me it's already on sale from $190. i ask her how it's on sale if they JUST got it, and then tell her it has ALOT of rusty and broken parts that would need to be replaced. She tells me it's worth $200(NOT) and that i should be happy to pay $125... so i got a little upset and stormed out telling her to keep her freakin overpriced hutch and that the whole store is freakin ridiculous. i was excited to get the hutch, redo it and then keep it in our craft/workout room to organize all that stuff, it would have been PERFECT! but instead she HAD to make me mad. stupid woman, and STUPID overpriced thrift store. you can keep your junk!!!

ok enough procrastinating... i need to get cleaning.

Run Forest Run!!!

So i am not a very good runner... i try, but with my legs/feet shaped and cocked funny, finding shoes that make running not painful (in a bad way) is a challenge. my husband however is insane! he loves running! him and Kyle decided to run a 20k this last weekend, and when i say decided, i mean they talked about it but were both too busy to work up for it. so they hadn't run in like 3 weeks when race day came along.

We had to set our Alarms for around 3:30 on a sunday..... let's just say the day started out with some texts along the line of "you awake Kyle?" "This is retarded" "yup"

We picked Kyle up at the barracks at nearly 4, he came down barefoot and without an ipod, so we sent him back up barefoot to grab his pod. He joked he was hoping to slice his foot open so he wouldn't have to go and he could go back to bed. in the parking lot of an infantry barracks, i'm surprised he DIDN'T slice his foot open. we drove the 40 minutes to the other side of the island (that is a FAAAR drive on this little island. i know mainland that is nothing.... but it's pretty ridiculous here) got the boys all checked in and ready to run, and then i settled in with my book for the race... it's about a 4 mile loop, so they passed me 2 times and on the third, they finished, so i was able to get some action shots :)

 here are the boys (with the matching yellow striped shorts.... ya i gave them crap for that) waiting for the horn to go off. they were originally going to go easy for the first mile to warm up... but when the horn sounded they had all sorts of motivation and just took OFF

 Rye making his first loop and feeling good!

 Kyle only a few minutes behind him.

 Riley on lap 2, i know the picture is blurry, but i love it!

 Kyle on lap 2, still only a few minutes back!

 There he is!!! finishing 6th in his age division, and 132nd overall (out of 700)

 Kyle finishing 8th in his age division and 152nd out of the 700

 cooling off

 yes they both have a piece of chocolate cake in their hand, the race provided all sorts of awesome snacks for them post-race

 these two are pretty much best friends, and they are two of the STRANGEST, and funniest guys i know

 he looks so skinny! and sweaty..... ewww

 ya, how cool is his number! this was his first race EVER, go Kyle!!!

 The results (the page they were on at least)

i love everything about this picture.
All in all it was a good morning, they were both glad they did it, and are excited about the next race they will be running. we spent the rest of the long weekend relaxing and napping.

There IS life after deployment, things for the Gardiner's have returned back to complete normalcy. people keep asking if Rye is different, and if going over there changed him. everything we do in life is going to change us, it's inevitable. we just have to have faith, and the right attitude to allow our experiences to better us rather than to effect us in a negative way. you can't look at this last picture and tell me that's not the same guy from a year ago, he is amazing. and every day i am grateful that i married him.

So congrats boys you guys did AWESOME, and i can't wait to be at your next race, camera in hand.

Interesting

You know those people you are friends with on Facebook... the ones who complain about SOMETHING in every status update. first of all, i don't understand how ANYONE could be that unhappy with their husband, dogs, AND kids to only say a nice thing about them MAYBE once a month. There is a girl who had 40 updates in a week... and only 3 were not complaining about her kids dog or husband. THREE!!! and it's not that she was having a bad week, because thats pretty much how it is every week.

i've been thinking about that this week. how can people be SO upset with what God has given them. they have a husband when other military wives aren't so lucky anymore. they have children, when SO many others try for years with no avail. When people complain constantly about there kids it honestly makes me sick to my stomach... almost as much as people diagnosing their kids with any disease or disorder just to get their kids on some sort of drug that is supposed to make them listen. i had a woman tell me that the doctor said her kid did NOT have ADHD, so she went to 13 other doctors before one said he might have a mild case and they could TRY drugs... REALLY..... you want your kids to need to take drugs every day. SO desperate that you went to 14 total doctors, cause you were convinced there must be something wrong with your kid. now i am saying NOTHING bad about those with ADHD, it's just the parents today just feel like if their kid doesn't listen to them, they MUST have a medical issue... 20 years ago they would have simply decided a parenting class would maybe be a good idea.

I went to a party yesterday, and i should not have gone... i know that now. i am in no place right now to go out and try to enter into social situations. i am an absolute mess. this girl who was 5 or 6 months pregnant. talked about nothing but her pregnancy for 4 hours straight. She asked me if i had kids, and then when i said no, she told me "wait as long as you possibly can! ugh this pregnancy is horrible and this kid is going to cost $___ in the first year. and i mean you don't want to have kids when you are a newly wed, you definitely want to wait until you've been married a good long time. i know i'm glad we did. and i would give anything to not be pregnant anymore" UGH gag me. so i asked her how long they have been married (cause i hate nothing more than people giving me marriage advice unless they have a good 20+ years on their side) she told ME that they will have been married 18 months when she is Due. Given the week i had, i am going to justify my next comment.... knowing that had it been ANY other time i would have gritted my teeth and just let it slide. not saying what i said was nice or RIGHT... but if any of you knew what my week has consisted of, you would have cheered me on. i turned to her and said "well then, i've been married 5 times as long as you have and i don't really appreciate the unwarranted advice"

i wish i had said that. i really wish i had told this girl where to shove it. i was told by others that i gave a DEATH glare. and i guess i gave it to that girl a few more times throughout the party. that made me happy.

I try to be a very optimistic person. i don't normally complain on facebook, i mean read my posts from deployment... i'm sure not many of them were "woe is me" style. people see me as a very positive person. i know this because when i posted a few Emo-Worthy status updates, the calls and texts were almost instant. which is the last thing i wanted. i am SO grateful that i have so many amazing people out there who care about me. but i'm the kind of girl that DOESN'T want a hug if something happens. and doesn't want to talk to anybody for a while. usually i just want to spend time with Riley (cause he is my favorite person in the whole world) hug him a little tighter, and listen to him tell me that everything is going to be fine.

I don't ever want to be that girl, who hates every aspect of her life. When you are THAT unhappy with everything, i think it's time to take a step back and reevaluate. Even with everything going on in my life right now, i am still grateful for all i've been given. and feel incredibly blessed. that being said, i'm going to go ahead and wallow in self pity for a bit more. i'll be back to normal soon hopefully.

days like today

you know those days when you don't want to go to work, cause you woke up in the middle of the night, and then had to fight with the dog for your rightful space on the bed, and then you toss and turn for hours... and then your husband has to get up at 5 am... so you are kind of just UP after that... and you are tired and don't feel awesome.........

ya i'm having one of those days... i need to hop on my bike and ride to work... since once again Riley took the car and i have not a motorized mode of transportation.

Dirty Little Secret

 As people who regularly read my blog, you know that there are many things i am not able to tell you. And i assume you are used to that part of this little blog. Just know that in due time i will let you know everything i can :) until then... excuse my lack of posting. every time i sit to write a post i can't think of anything to write that i'm allowed to write about. but today i have plenty on my mind... so bear with me.

Riley has now been home over 2 months. oh how time flies.. on this day last year i was sitting at Shaunci's house, eating burnt chocolate on strawberries, and crying about how my husband was in California for our anniversary. today, i'm on my own (amazingly comfy couch) in sweats and a tank top, thinking about taking a nap before Rye gets home from work for the weekend. our 5 year Anniversary is today. what are we doing for it??? ya we're going to the DMV... haha romance at it's prime huh! one of the boys needs to go really bad and we need to go too... so we are just going to hurry and get it done. ok, so i got all ADD and didn't finish my post, so now it's the next morning and i'm going to hurry and finish it. So we ended up going to see a movie yesterday, and then we took Deezul for a walk and snuggled on the couch and read our books. it was a good day. we are actually really going to celebrate today, we are both kinda thinking North Shore would be fun. we pretty much drive up there every weekend(ya it's an hour drive each way) but the snorkeling is just AMAZING up there.

With Borders closing all their books are super duper cheap, i don't know if you have checked it out but you should, we have now spent like $60 and have 8 new books, that WOULD have cost us $150 for all of them, the deals are amazing. I will be taking over as the preschool teacher at my work, i am shadowing right now and then in like 3 weeks, i have my first official class. i'm a little nervous, but the kids in the class are awesome, as are the parents. and i have confidence that i will do just fine :)

I'm really missing my Best Friends lately Lauren and Kat should come out and visit me..... i live in paradise, and other than my inlaws we've only had ONE visitor.... so maybe the rest of you should take advantage of a free place to stay in Hawaii.... PLUS a free tour guide who knows all the best spots around.... ready, set GO!

Well, Deezul has now woken Riley up as well (stupid dog) so i'm going to end this post... i will try to post again soon. and i will let you know everything soon enough.

Where has July Gone?!

almost this entire leave i find myself waking up early... not early for me since when Rye was gone i was up at 6 am everyday at the latest... but i'll wake up around 7, and Rye will sleep a few hours longer. i LOVE this because it gives him the chance he deserves to catch up on some MUCH needed sleep... after 7 months of NOT sleeping. I will get up and out of bed, some mornings (like yesterday) i'll cook breakfast. Yesterday it was blueberry pancakes and homemade strawberry syrup. other mornings ( like today) i'll snuggle on my spot on the couch and attempt to write a blog.

The weather all week has been EXTREMELY gloomy... which yes i DO love.. but it puts a damper on any plans that would have involved the beach. we have but days left of Riley's leave. Next week he returns to work and our life will return to normal... i suppose it's normal... for us at least.

i had a dream last night, that Riley went back to Afghanistan next week when he returned to work. 
it's something no Military family wants to think about with only 5 weeks since the return from deployment... but next week he will go back to work to get ready for his next deployment. at least this time around i have much more faith in us. i know that we are both incredibly strong, and we can get through a deployment. as well as reintegrate ourselves back into married life without issues. but we are NOT going to talk about the next deployment for a WHILE...

The boys are all returning from home. Riley doesn't like it cause it means he is gonna have to go back to work. this month off has been AMAZING. we have done so much, bonded, laughed, and seen practically every movie in theaters. i am so incredibly blessed to have married my very best friend. we have more fun together than any married couple should.

So this is my post to let you know that we haven't killed each other, and that there IS life after deployment... it is weird suddenly having someone around ALL THE TIME, when you are used to just chillin with the puppy.... sometimes you JUST WANT TO READ, but you can't always do that. it IS an adjustment, but as long as you are sensitive to each other and what you both went through... you'll end up fine. cause you will NEVER know what they went through on their deployment, and they will NEVER fully understand what you went through... if you can both know that going INTO a deployment it will make your life SO much easier after, instead of feeling the need to play the one up game on each other.

i'll post again soon, since life will be normal soon... if you can call my life normal.

Bayfest

We hit up the Sea life part the other day... tickets are normally $30 a piece, we got them on base for $12... ya... STEAL!!! so we show up with seriously like NO time before the dolphin show... i was acting like a TOTAL capital B, cause i was stressing out... so i kinda put Rye in a bad mood... ya i'll admit that, i was totally in the wrong on that one. we were at the park for about 3 hours,  it's a tiny park, but it was kinda cool because they filmed ALOT of 50 first dates there... and as i've said before that has always been Rye and My movie... we first saw it in theaters when we were first dating.

 watching the aquarium... it was kinda lame....

 can you tell that he is still irritated with me at this moment :)

 waiting for a dolphin/penguin/ sea lion show

 these dolphins were funny they were playing with each other!

 after the sea life park, we HAAAD to go get VOLCANO NAAAAAACHOS at margaritaville, it's become Riley's favorite place on the island :)

So i have been looking forward to the Puddle Of Mudd concert since they announced it back in april. i wasn't so stoked about Hoobastank, but figured it would be a nice "plus" at the concert. I called my father in law and told him they should come visit around bayfest so they could hit up the concert with us. well....... yesterday was that big day. we started the morning with a farmers market, then went home for a nice nap and a movie. While Curt made us a roast in our new pressure cooker (it was BEYOND amazing) we then got ready and headed over to the hangars where bayfest is going on. i kept telling everyone we should head over early so we could walk around, but we arrived with 10 minutes until hoobastank, so we had to hurry over to the concert area. that's when i was informed we were not going to try and get close we were going to stay back,.... here

ya i was a little upset... i didn't pay for a concert to WILLINGLY be in the very back. Riley and I quickly moved up a bit closer after the band started
Hoobastank started and they were AMAZING, awesome, and funny. they played with the audience, chatting, making jokes, and above all else recognizing the military and all that they do. seriously gained SO much more respect for them. He brought out his daughter Maggie and said this was the first show she'd ever been to, she was so cute, and like MAYBE a year old.

we weren't front row... be there was a mosh up close, so front row was kinda out of the question.

After Hoobastank finished we all anxiously awaited for Puddle of Mudd, just chillin and killing time.

y

and YES, it was Riley's idea to do a cheesy smile picture... i love that boy! so maybe 2 minutes after that picture was taken it decided to POUR rain on us....

ya, it was pretty awesome... so after a LONG wait... Puddle of Mudd came out... and i have to tell you, i think they were like coked out of their mind, they played like 4 songs before even acknowledging the audience, and even then he just seemed arrogant. now i REALLY love their music... and i got BORED after a while.. so we headed back to sit with Rye's parents again. which is when the lead singer decided to start yelling at the audience for taking pictures and video taping... like I'm serious he was PISSED, he went on about it for a few minutes, then played, and then started ranting again... then he like set down his mic and walked off stage for a minute... it was a ridiculous tantrum, and made him seem like a complete douche... so we left with 1 song left... we heard it out on our way to the car... and honestly i don't feel i missed much... Hoobastank was BY FAR the better band at bayfest, they were so down to earth and gracious... you just can't help but adore them

now my mother in law is a character... if you have never met her.. you are MISSING OUT... i'm serious, she is hilarious. She apparently got up and was dancing the entire concert.. and i guess she thought it would be funny to do this when we came back... Riley's face makes the video soo much better :)

ya... her little lap dance was SO funny. she for sure embarrassed Riley and I... it was awesome. so this morning we are heading to church, and then since there is only today and tomorrow left on their trip i think we are going snorkeling today, i got really sunburnt on my shoulders at the sea life park, but i think i'm almost healed. i LOVE having my in laws here... but next week, we are probably going to just sleep and recuperate

Why is No One in the House Awake Yet?!

So it's 6:45 i've been awake for nearly an hour, and it's just Deezul and I... i got out of bed because i heard Curt and Shellee talking. i guess that was just pillow talk and they decided that more sleep would be nice. So i'm just sitting on the couch, getting stuff done on the computer... and then stopping and deciding that blogging would be more entertaining. Harry Potter comes out at midnight tonight... movie number 8... and it was the midnight showing of number THREE that Rye and I became a couple... wow... the end of a HUGE era. it's a little sad. i REALLY want to go. but the in-laws are here, and i doubt they would want to go. and Deezul is actually getting surgery today so tonight he is going to need some lovin from mama.

Yup, today is the day we take away my little pup's manhood. everywhere on this island wanted to charge a FORTUNE to get him fixed, i'm talking like 500 big ones! WHAT?!?! no. so now that i finally found a decent place it's getting done. Rye is having a hard time with it. last night he asked if it was too late to call and cancel. he'll be fine Rye! in 3 hours he has to be dropped off... and being his mama, i'm stressing a little bit too.

So as you read, the in-laws are here, it's been a BLAST so far, yesterday morning while Rye and I were still in bed they took Dee for a walk down to the beach... he somehow got OUT of his collar... they had a platoon of Marines stop and try to catch him (no dice) from what they described he probably ran a total of 2 or 3 miles (at a dead sprint). he's gotten out multiple times, and he has NEVER come when i told him to. so i head out on the porch yesterday and see Shellee waving like a mad woman for me to come out. then she yells and tells me Dee is loose and she needs my help to come get him, cause they have been chasing him for half an hour. i walk outside stretch, and see Dee in the distance. i yell his name ONCE... in a "i haven't seen you in so long" type of tone. he stops looks right at me, and runs to me and practically into my arms. it was AMAZING. it's moments like that, where i just fall in love with that pup all over again. he is the biggest mama's boy EVER.

So Curt and Shellee got here Monday late afternoon. We went grocery shopping that evening with them and just chilled at home, cause they had been awake for nearly 24 hours. Tuesday we got up and Curt decided he wanted to show us how to use the pressure cooker they just bought us. so he made us pulled pork. HOLY COW IT WAS FANTASTIC!! then after lunch we headed out to go do a quick hike of a lighthouse. it is actually the lighthouse that they filmed a scene on "50 first dates" which is Riley and My movie... kinda like our song. it's crazy i was just reading about that movie 90% of it was actually filmed on our side of the island, and even in our bay... so we are going to try and watch it today so we can see how much of it we recognize :)

alright i took a break and got on Google+ chat with my brother. they ONLY issue i have with google+ is that it won't link to my blogger... so i can't be signed into both... pretty lame huh! anyway here are some pictures from our hike, it was FUN! oh an everyone else is awake now and i am about to go get ready to take Dee to the Doc... not fun.

 we stopped at one point on a huge cliff, i saw this big Rock and told Rye to go do a yoga pose, he decided on the Crane, it didn't turn out as awesome as it should have, so i had him do Tree

 i like this one :)

 it was like CRAZY windy, and Rye was having to hold that pose FOREVER and wait for his dad to get his balance, while laughing at his dad's lack of yoga skill... that's why Rye is slightly less than perfect :)

 haha ya.... we couldn't get all three of them before the people caught up to us and they got a bit embarrassed :)

 Rye and his parents at the top, overlooking the windward side and the lighthouse

 Rye's dad Curt was pretty into the hang gliders, he just stood and stared at them forever!

Rye had this app that was tracking our distance, time and such

this last picture is the ONLY picture i got from north shore, with Curt's facial hair, the normal snorkel goggles don't fit too well... so i figured we should try the goggles and nose plug... it looks like he's from the 1970's, but it was freakin effective... i will use that set up from now on, i LOVED it.

at north shore we went out to start swimming, and someone pointed out that there was a sea turtle in the water, so i swam with the turtle for at least an hour, it was AMAZING. seriously, sometimes i look around the island and can't believe how blessed i am to get the opportunity to live here. we stopped on the way home to try one of the shrimp trucks... WOW... it was insanely good.

ok, more updates to come!!!!

Life Goes On

I know i have neglected this little blog of mine.. i sit down, start writing a post and then think to myself "man, you are just not that good at this anymore... no one is even going to read this" i get a few paragraphs out... and then i decide there are other ways to spend my time at that moment. But i received a post on facebook from my good friend Kaitlyn that she has missed my posting, i mentioned that to Rye that i haven't posted and he responds with "i know." turns out he's still checking on my blog even though he's home. i am so blessed to have a husband who loves me enough to actually read whatever is on my mind, and is genuinely interested... i mean he checks my blog often, i'm a lucky girl :) alright so here is my ULTRA BIG UPDATE!!!

Last time i left you with our new love affair with our grill... that is still going strong! we grill almost every night. the sun goes down, Riley gets the meat all seasoned he heads out back to fire up the grill... he opens the back door, lets Deezul out and calls to me for whatever he forgot in the kitchen, i grab said things and head out back. Riley works his magic on the grill, and I sit out on our patio and sometimes i read, other times i just chat with Rye and play with Dee. Once dinner is done we head inside, fix our plates and head back out back to eat and enjoy the breeze of the ocean just a block away :) jealous yet?

Leave is officially in full swing. we dropped all the boys off at the airport last Thursday and so now it is just Rye and I... until Monday with the in-laws arrive. I am really excited for Curt and Shellee to get here! we are needing to finish organizing this little apartment... we're getting there.... slowly but surely! we are currently hoping to get a new place on base.. since our upstairs neighbors porch is litterallly falling apart... and if there were an earthquake.. we'd be screwed.. and either our puppy would be smashed, or our grill would be squashed... and IIII would be PISSED!!!

Here are a few pictures and any stories that go along with them... and here we go!!!!!!

Alright so this first picture was taken one of the first days he was home, Dee was SO glad to have Rye home, the two have been snuggling like crazy for the past 3 weeks... and Rye being the loving puppy pop, always makes sure Dee is covered and comfy

So Riley got on me like the 5th day that he was home saying that i wasn't taking any pictures of us... and he was a little sad... so when we stopped at a roadside stand to get some fresh corn and coconuts... i snapped a quick one

The 4th of July we hung out with our friends Steph and John, we had found out that Pearl Harbor had a big day of festivities planned for Military families on the island. we made a stop at the navy exchange and grabbed some new hiking/trail running shoes for Rye. When we first got to Pearl Harbor and started walking around we realized that they had SO many things to do.. and all for FREE, seriously it was awesome. free paintball, free train rides, and the one that i DEFINITELY stood in line for... free airbrushed tattoo's. i thought long and hard about my choice... but my love of the land before time got the best of me and i got a "little foot"

it got REALLY hot REALLY fast, so we found relief under the "beer tent" we pretty much sat at the table for like 4 hours... killing time until it was time for the concert.

The DJ started saying "15 MINUTES TILL THE BAND" so we headed out on the grass.... ya they didn't come for 3 more hours :) so we sat on the grass and chilled :)

i love this picture :)

Steph and I, ya... we're pretty awesome!

Does this girl look like Molly Ringwald from 16 candles??!!!!! here lemme find a comparison picture... be right back

So the Plain White T's were pretty awesome... they were... odd, and they dressed like they were trying REALLY hard to look like they shopped at a thrift store. but we were FRONT row... ya it was awesome. and some drunk guy like got WAAAAY too close, he was trying to push in front of me.. i turned around to look at Rye, he was LIVID... i think he was like almost seeing red. but they guy got kicked out of the concert before he pushed Rye too far :)
After the concert... like IMMEDIATELY after, they had some Broadway star sing the national anthem, and then the fireworks started. they lit them off of one of the battleships in the harbor. it was the most patriotic 4th of July i've EVER had.

A few days ago we woke up and decided to hurry and hike this little trail i did once while Rye was gone. i thought it would be a good one for him to run.. he decided against that, but it was still nice!

this is us up on top! Right after we started heading down, it started raining... it was a nice drizzle and then on the drive home it POURED.

oh, this picture was taken on the hike up. :) ya, it's an AWESOME hike.

So yesterday morning i had to go to the doctor and get some blood drawn. i'm also FINALLY going to find out my blood type, i'm super curious since Rye has a rare blood type... i kinda hope i am the same... but i doubt i am. ANYWAY, so i go into the lab and i mention to the girl that i'm really bad with needles she responded with "ohhh man, this will be fun" ya let's just say she was HORRIBLE, and i have no veins... and i didn't cry, but i did make a small involuntary noise. as i walked out of the lab all proud of myself, Rye smiled at me and said "did you cry?" to which i told him OF COURSE NOT... I'M  BRAVE! so he put an arm around me and asked me "well since you were so brave, do you think we should go to the zoo?" at first i thought he was kidding.. but less than an hour later we were on our way

I wore my new running shoes.. they are AWESOME!!! they are the mizuno creation, TOTALLY worth the money, i have some messed up feet and legs so finding shoes that don't make my legs hurt is always hard, i'm an extreme over pronator... ya i think that's the term... anyway i love these shoes!

So Riley HATES ostriches more than almost ANY animal, i was snapping the picture of him and his nemesis animal. he was telling me that when he was in elementary school they went to the zoo, one escaped and chased them... so he REALLY hates them :)

my favorite animal is the hippo... so we stopped to watch them, and i always HATE that they are nocturnal, cause i never get to REALLY see them in all their awesomeness... but this hippo was hilarious, i LOVE this picture!


So there you have it, they super awesome Sav update! i will blog more i promise, i have just been enjoying my time with Rye, who JUST walked in the door from a long run. he's so hot! i love him alot!