Catch-Up

Wow so much has happened since my last post! Brian came home from Afghanistan and it was one of the best days of my life! I felt like a giddy school girl when I saw him walking towards me after he got off the bus. So much emotion came over me that I didn't know whether to cry or smile and I am pretty sure I cried with a big smile on my face! Brian will now be home for awhile. He is planning on going to ranger school in February of next year. That school is 62 days so Jackson and I will once again be on our own for awhile. We won't be able to talk to him the whole time he is gone. I think I can send letters so he will be getting alot of letters with pictures of Jackson. He has really been wanting to go to this course and not everyone is allowed to...only a select few. I would rather him go to this school than deploy again so anything that can postpone it is GREAT! Then our next stop as a family will be to Fort Leonard Wood, MO for Captain Career Course. It looks like we will be going there in Jan. 2012. I like Texas so another year and a half here doesn't bother me.

Now on to a month of block leave! We did a lot of traveling during the month of June. First we drove home to Madison. Jackson did really good on the 14 hour drive. We got to spend time with both families for a week. We didn't really do much but relax! Then we left for Chicago on Saturday and stayed until Wednesday. We got to see my sister for the first couple of days. She babysat Jackson for us Saturday night so that Brian and I could go out. We went to this really good Italian restaurant. Then Sunday we met her for breakfast and walked down the "Magnificent Mile." We did some shopping and eating! On Monday we went to the Shedd Aquarium and ate some amazing Italian beef sandwiches. Brian also got to eat deep dish pizza for the first time. They were both so good! On Tuesday we went to Navy Pier and to a Cubs game. If we could of gone to a White Sox game we would of but they were out of town. The trip was nice and Brian really enjoyed the city so we will for sure make more trips there!


Then we came back to Madison and had Jackson baptized. It all went very smoothly. Jackson slept through the whole thing and woke up at the very end because that is when they poured the cold holy water on his head. Afterwards we had a catered cookout with all of our family and friends that came into town. It was so nice to see everyone!

After the Baptism we made the drive back to Texas. Once again Jackson handled the trip very well. We had a few days to relax before we jumped on another plane to Sanibel, Florida. We went with Brian's family. It was my first time there and I loved it. It was so peaceful and not too many tourists. We just laid on the beach and relaxed. I had to leave for 2 days during the beach trip to say good bye to my grandma Bryan. She unexpectedly past away the day before we left for the beach. She will be greatly missed! :( I left Jackson with Brian and his parents in Florida. Brian did a great job without me! (with the help of his mom!) After a week of sun and sand we flew back to Texas and are now back to our normal routine.

It was so nice seeing friends and family but I am glad we are back to our normal schedule of Brian home and going to work everyday. It is so nice to have my family back together!
That's all for now! :)