Run*Walk to Remember

This morning, my good friend Dana Goodrich and I participated in the 1st Annual Run*Walk to Remember 5K.  This activity was to put together to remember the soldiers who had been killed in action from Vilseck, Germany, during the last two deployments.  They had a tremendous turn out for the event and you couldn't have asked for better weather!  And to top it off, there was a sense of excitement in the air as a group of soldiers were expected to return back from deployment later that afternoon!  YEAH...that means it's one day closer to my man coming home too!

Tammy

Overcome with Emotion

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. One night I received an awesome phone call from Jared saying that he would be home within two weeks! His boss had suggested his name as someone who could be trusted to receive all the equipment that would soon be returned back to Germany. And besides, work would be a little slow and he may have extra time to spend with me before everyone else came back. As excited as I was with this news, I had just torn my house apart to begin a deep Spring cleaning before he was due to arrive home in June. What was I going to do?? And on top of that, Jared was in the middle of taking a Govt. college class in Kandahar. Would he be able to finish the class back in Germany and still receive full points??? Oh, and don't forget about the Norway cruise that I had purchased two months ago for our R&R in June that we would no longer be able to take since his R&R would now be in April. GRRR!

Leave it to the ARMY though. Within 24 hours, I received another phone call from Jared saying that his early return was no longer going to take place. Geez, I had just spent the last 24 hours being so excited and worried to being upset and relieved? Can those two emotions even go together??? I was upset about not getting him home earlier, but relieved that everything else would now work itself out. As much as I wanted him HOME in GERMANY, I knew that it wasn't meant to be yet.

Then as I was leaving post this morning to drive to church, I started bawling uncontrollably!! I was rereading the hundreds of welcome home signs that are hung along the main road for all the soldiers to see as they come home. The tears of joy started streaming. At that moment I was suddenly grateful for each individual soldier that was serving our country and offering their life as a sacrifice if that was what was required to keep their country and family safe. Don't get me wrong, I have always been grateful for the service of our service men and women, but until YOU actually are directly affected by it, it is almost impossible to understand what individual families go through during a deployment. I was also soooo excited for the upcoming reunions that would be taking place and tried to imagine how great that moment for be will be to see Jared again! While I'm very excited that this deployment is coming to a close, I'm trying not to think about it too much because Jared is in one of the last groups to come back. I don't want to start being bitter or jealous towards other friends whose spouses are back.

Tammy

Is Spring Here to Stay?

Wow!! The weather was outstanding yesterday! We had clear blue sky (which is very rare in Germany) and it reached 60 degrees. And to top it off, it was Saturday, so I could actually enjoy the warmth. Yes, a long walk around base was calling my name.  During my walk, I was thinking about the weather has such a big affect on my mood.  The warmth just does something for my soul.  I can hardly wait for Spring, Summer, and Fall to get here.
Later that afternoon, I attended the baptisms ofTaylor Dalke and Sarah Peterson, both children in our ward. These children have been anxiously awaiting their daddy's to come from Afghanistan for a two week break so they could get baptized.

The Petersen and Dalke family

Afterwards, I ran to Schwandorf to a flea market with a good friend, Janeen Nance. It had been going on for 3 hours before we got there. So by the time we arrived, they were starting to put things away for the day. I've never been a person to shop at yard sales because I never find anything, and today was no different. But maybe it was because things were very picked over by the time we got there. However, I had a great time learning some of the tricks of the trade from Janeen.  I also learned that if I want to buy some real crystal or hand blown glass, this is the place to find them for a very good deal. 

Tammy

How to Host a Murder Mystery Dinner

Yesterday I attended my first "How to Host a Murder Mystery" Dinner party.  One of my good friends, Lydia Beck, was the was host and did a fabulous job!  Our murders mystery had a Western theme.  As such, the purpose of our gathering was to determine who killed the Judge of the town.  I was given my character a few days beforehand so I could get my costume ready.  Having been picked to be one of the cowboys, I didn't worry too much about my costume.  I "thought" I had most everything I needed.  As it turned out, I had nothing but a pair of jeans, a button down shirt, and a pair of boots. Apparently, in our move to Germany I threw away my cowboy hat, bandana, etc.  So off I went Saturday afternoon to The PX to buy a cowboy hat, banadana, and pistol.  I was blown away when I got there and only found a bandana.  I began to panic as I only had a couple of hours before I had to be at the party.  Off I rushed to the only other place I could think of--Tedi.  Tedi is the equivalent of our Dollar Stores in the States, and YES, they saved my booty.  Oh how I MISS Wal-Mart and Targets (my one stop shops)!!

Back to the party--In between each round of the game, we'd stop and have one course of dinner.  We started with chips and salsa, moved on to the lettuce salad, onward with the savory pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, and fruit salad, and ended with apple and lemon merangue pie. 

The town folk present for the gathering were Cowboy P'Elvis Swagarin (Becky), the Mexican widow Dee Edela Muerte (Kelly Fees), Cowboy Elias Truist-Heath (me), Prostitute Elvira Lynn Fekshin (Ryan), Cowboy Wyatt Hertz (Lydia Beck), Butch Chastity (Amy), Helena Handcart (Kristina), and the dentist Chief Breaking Wind (Jena).

The food was great, the game was entertaining, and the company was fantastic! Everyone did a great job acting their parts.   And as horrible as I am at these type of mystery games, I even guessed who killed the Judge!

Chief Breaking Wind (Jena), Elvira Lynn Fekshin (Ryan), and Butch Chastity (Amy)

Dee Edela Muerte (Kelly Fees)

 P'Elvis Swagarin (Becky) and Elias Truist-Heath (me)

Butch Chastity (female outlaw extraordinaire and Helena Handcart ((mother of 13 boys, all deceased).

Chief Breaking Wind (chief of the "Cowpai" tribe)

Elias Truist-Heath (me), P'Elvis Swagarin (Becky), Wyatt Hertz (Lydia), and Helena Handcart (Kristina)

Tammy

The Coke Jar - 7 Months Down

Jared is worried that I'm not keeping up with his Coke Jar challenge.  So I figured I better post how the bottle is looking 7 months after my soldier left home.  The jar is now to the point that I can no longer lift it.  Personally, I was hoping for a "fuller" look by now, but I'm not sure that I'm willing to start getting nickels to make it happen as I will probably have to help roll it all up...On second thought, I think it will be a great job for Jared to do once he gets home!  lol

Month 1 and 2

Month 3 and 4

Month 5 and 6

Month 7 and 8

Tammy

Jared's New Hair Doo

There is a constant argument in our house about Jared shaving his head BALD.  While I have always been against it, he's always told me that it would happen downrange and that there was nothing that I could do to stop him.  Don't get me wrong, I do think he looks sharp with his sides "tight" and a little hair on top.  But not BALD!

Every once in a while, he will joke around on the phone and tell me he's going to get his head shaved.  But since deployment is 8+ months over and nothing has ever happened, I figured that he had backed down.  However, a few nights ago, I logged onto Facebook before going to bed and found these pictures of Jared:
 

Trying the bald look for the first time. Luckily i did not cut my head shaving it the first time. I didn't have to pay a barber for this look either.



Side view. My wife said i could never do this, but I'm in Afghanistan so you can see how well I listened this time.  How many shocked reactions will i get?

While it was still a surprise, I should have known he'd eventually get around to it.  My question is, "Where is the smile to go with the new doo? "  He replied, "What is there to smile about around here?  It's dirty, it stinks, etc."   All I have to say is that it WILL be grown back out by the time he comes back home!

Now that he's done it, he says that he doesn't think he will keep it.  He likes having a little bit of hair on his head.  See, he should have listened to his wife in the first place!  lol

Tammy

Mauritius - R&R 2011

I know, it happeneed almost a month ago, but for those of you STILL interested, here is how our R&R went.  My postings may be longer than many of you want to read, but I decided I was only going to write about this once.  I back posted everything to the day it happened.  So it will be lots easier to read if you start with January 10th posting and work your way to forward.  Here it goes.

For those of you that don't have time to read all of the postings, I've also created a music video.  Take a look!