N8 Home on Leave! - Blogged by JME

N8 was able to take some leave and fly home for about a week recently. We had such a great time and the time together was so needed for both of us. Our week was filled with good company, good movies, and great food! I think we both gained about 10 pounds from all the food we ate. A lot of that came from us trying to squeeze in all the holidays we missed together this year, Thanksgiving-Christmas-and New Years, into the week. We called the week 'Festivus for the rest of us!' We even celebrated a little Hanukkah by singing Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song in the car on our way to go laser tagging with our friends.

N8 came home on a Wednesday night. Mind you, he normally is eight hours ahead and by the time we went to bed, it was about 6 a.m. for him. However, he was up at about 5:50 a.m. our time and had me awake as well. And I was so looking forward to sleeping in. The jet lag and confused hours only lasted a few days, however, and then we were both enjoying sleeping in.

The first whole day he was home (Thursday), we woke up and had our 'Festivus' morning, which was just like Christmas morning. Santa had left us some fun pj's the night before and we had a nice morning having our own special time opening a few presents and having an amazing Belgium waffle breakfast with our new Belgium waffle griddle we got from my parents this Christmas. Of course, the best present we got this year was having N8 home even if only for a few days.

Later, we ran up to the library where my sister was with her kids. We went into the kids room where Bug and Skunk were playing and just stood there watching them play and seeing if they would notice that their Uncle N8 was there. After a few minutes, Skunk started walking towards us and saw Uncle N8. He got really shy and started acting pretty goofy. Then Bug saw us too. It was fun to watch their reaction as they saw their uncle they hadn't seen for six months. We went back to the house with them and they opened our Christmas present that we got for them and also were excited about some souvenir's Uncle N8 brought home for them.

After that, N8 and I went to the pet store and bought a little friend for our guinea pig, Manny. We have done a little bit of research and learned that a guinea pig is a very social animal and does really well with a friend, and is, in fact, more prone to interact with you and 'popcorn,' 'chirp,' and 'snort' if it has a social companion. We named our new little guy 'Sid' after the sloth from Ice Age. He's just a baby. At first, the two of them didn't know what to think of each other, but after about 2 minutes of being shy, they both started chirping and rubbing themselves against each other like crazy. They were sniffing each other butts and there was quite a bit of humping. Luckily, we did make sure we got matching gender guinea pigs so we won't be having any babies.



N8 and I saw a change in Manny right away and can tell he is much happier with a friend. In a previous post I had mentioned that when we would feed Manny, he would go into his igloo house and move it all the way across the cage by popping it up with his nose. When he got to where the food was, he would pop the igloo over the food so he could eat in privacy in his little home. He still does that a little bit (not as much now that Sid is there), but the funny part is, he does it to Sid. The first day they were together, Manny spent hours popping the house over Sid so he would come inside, and then push Sid out. I think it might have been some Alpha behavior, but it was hilarious. Manny doesn't push Sid out of the igloo anymore, but he does pop the igloo over Sid so they can be in the igloo together. After a full day of getting Manny and Sid acquainted, cleaning out the cage and dishes so none of Manny's scent would linger and cause Manny to be territorial, and feeding them and making sure they wouldn't fight over food, N8 and I were pretty satisfied that things were going great with the two of them and felt we could leave them alone for a few hours.

So, taking a break from the guinea pigs, we went out and had a really nice dinner at a really nice sushi restaurant with N8's mom and her husband, FireRyan, Pookie, and Pooh Bear. Pookie and FireRyan are the best people to go with when eating sushi. They know all the best stuff to get. Pooh Bear is only 3 but already loves sushi and eats the eggs and everything. Here is a picture we took with N8's mom.



After dinner, we met up with a bunch of friends to go laser tagging. We had a group of 11 people there. Thanks everyone that showed up. We had a great time. N8 had so much fun seeing everybody and visiting and catching up. Of course, the laser tag was great too. N8 got first place every time. He said next time he'll be on his own team and let everyone else play against him.



These are the packs you wear around your chest and back and the gun is attached to the pack. You have a laser that can hit points on your opponents chest gear that light up. The game keeps track of how many times you are hit and how many times you hit someone else. When you are hit, you are out of the game for about 5 seconds before your gun and pack will work again. It gives you time to get away if you need to or just regroup. You also have bases for each team that you can hit. It was pretty fun!

Friday morning we woke up and had more waffles. They were excellent! Then we went to see a matinee of the Blind Side. It was so good and had such a great message. We both really enjoyed it and would recommend it.




On the way home, we stopped the the cemetery and left a poinsettia plant for N8's dad, and then ran and got some Carmel apple cider from Starbucks. Earlier, I had put a turkey in the slow cooker, and by the time we got home from the movie and everything, it was all done and we were greeted at the door by a wonderful aroma. Happy Festivus Thanksgiving. N8 made his yummy yams and we had stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a spinach salad. It was quite the feast.

We went Saturday afternoon to spend some time with my family. First, we went and had our family picture updated. The last family picture we had taken was three years ago in May when N8 was home on leave between A-school and being stationed in Virginia for 18 months. We've had a lot of changes in our family since then with a wonderful new addition to our family, Shan, who married Cub in July of 2009.







After the pictures, we went to my parent's house and helped make dinner. Then one of my brothers got our whole family into the theater to see Old Dogs. It was pretty cute and had us laughing really hard.




On our way home we stopped by the local VFW and met with the members there. They presented N8 with a check that they were donating to the 'Wounded Warriors' at the hospital in Germany. Donations like that help with clothes, outings, combat stress dinners, and many more things to help with their recovery and getting back to feeling like a real person. We really appreciate the VFW for their donation and support.

Wow! Sunday already! Our time was flying. We got to go to church together and loved it. It was so nice not to be there by ourselves. N8 was able to meet some of the really nice people in our ward. We moved here right before N8 was deployed and only had the chance of going to our new ward once together before he left. The ward members have been so good to me and have fellowshipped me very well. There were many who came up to us during church or afterwards to meet N8 and let him know they were supporting him also.

After church, I made a couple pumpkin pies and we went over to his mom's to see his side of the family. His Uncle L, Aunt T, and cousins were there along with nieces and nephews. His mom made a really good turkey and roast dinner. N8 and I enjoyed visiting with everyone. He also brought home some souvenirs for his family and even some franks from Switzerland for his older nephew and nieces.

Monday-Wednesday was just N8 and I. His aunts did visit us Tuesday night, which was really nice. They are his dad's twin sisters and we don't get to see them very much. They came over and spent some time visiting, which we really enjoyed.

We went to the mall and hung out. We also went to a couple guitar stores. N8 is really getting into playing the guitar and we had fun hanging out a home singing together while N8 played a guitar my brother Cub was really nice to let us borrow for the week. We made homemade pizza and ate leftovers gallor. We mostly laid low and just enjoyed every moment we had together. We also went to see Sherlock Holmes. It was such a good movie! We loved it.




On Wednesday, N8 and I went to the temple. We did initiatories and then an endowment session. It was so nice to be able to do that work with him and feel the spirit there. The names I was given to do initiatories for were from Germany. I thought that was pretty cool.

After a great experience at the temple, we came home and started getting N8 ready to go back early the next morning. We did laundry and packed. We also finished reading Dean Koontz Frankenstein series. It is a series of three books. We started reading the first two during N8's first deployment. N8 purchased this third book while in Germany and we have been reading it together while we've been apart but finished it Wednesday night.



For the English class I'm taking, we are reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was so cool to be reading the original book and also see Dean Koontz version of the story. N8 is interested in reading Mary Shelly's version also and may end up reading it at the same time as me. Reading has become a really fun thing to do together while apart. During the Christmas season, we read Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. We read a chapter every Sunday and also went to see the new movie that came out. N8 saw it in Germany and I saw it here. We really liked it and it followed the book more than any other movies we've seen of that.




Thursday, early, we got up and made the trip back to the airport. N8 had orders in hand so they allowed me to have a gait pass and I was able to accompany him to his gait. It was really nice to spend that extra time with N8 before he left instead of just dropping him off at security and going back to my car. I've had to do that before and it is heart breaking. It is a much better goodbye at the gait. Things went pretty good as we said goodbye and he got on his plane. I feel like it is a good and a bad thing that we've done this so much it has become something we are used to.

This was the best week I've had in a long time. I love my husband so much and really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together, whether in times we spent with friends and family, or times we spent hanging out by ourselves. I keep watching the countdown clock at the top of this blog. I can't wait until my best friend can be home again for good! Thanks for the good times, babe!