I do apologise for the delay in updating... Let's just say things have been busy... So, what's been so busy, let's go over a few of the key events that have happened in my life since my last post on June 14th
- Discovered Black PepperJack Doritos
- Visited Qatar for the first time (Qatar Airways is nice)
- Visited Germany for the first time (Lufthansia beats Delta, hands down)
- Visited my family
- Visited my beautiful Sarah
- Played a Nintendo Wii
- Visited a cathedral in Nashville TN
- Whitnessed someone jump out of an airplane
- I realised my love of small furry animals isn't always reciprocated by said small furry animals
- Spent a total of approxmately 61 hours in an airplane seat, and slightly less time in Airport Terminals
- I asked Sarah to marry me (we have video!)
But anyways, I went on leave from Afghanistan in July for a quick two weeks in the states. Sarah flew in from kwajalein and we met in Houston, landing within about 7 hours of one another. God it was good to see her again. There was a long moetn of hugging and kissing, it felt great to have her in my arms again.
Once we got to the car, we started the 2 1/2 hour drive home. Dad was waiting on me with fresh yellowfin tuna coming off the grill. Now, I'm not a fish kinda guy, but you just can't pass up fresh yellowfin. It was great to see my family again. Chris flew in from Las Vegas, Scott and Beth drove down from Tulsa, and the parents flew in from Kwajalein a few days before Sarah. Even after flying for over 20 hours, and actually being awake for a lot longer than that..... we spent hours that evening catching up. It had been about 8 years since we had all been together as a family. The next morning I woke early, then went and woke my brother Chris up..... We took a quick trip to Hearne (god I missed driving my truck) and picked up donuts for the family. It was another great day spent with the family just catching up, sharing meals and sharin' some time on Scott's Nintendo Wii. We played Wii Sports mainly.... Baseball, Bowling, Tennis, and Boxing. It really was a great time.
After spending time in Texas with my family, Sarah and I went to Huntsville to see her family and friends. We had dinner with her best friend Donna, friend, and her parents at a place called the Jazz Factory. Sarah looked amazing that night. We had a short trip to Nashville to see her grandparents, and ended up seeing a church with this beautiful stained glass, it was quite breath taking. I got a chance to meet up with Greg and Jill Reese in their beautiful new home... and of course Sarah got a chance to goto her favorite day spa... To this day I'm still not sure if she was more looking forward to going to the day spa or seeing me on my return from Afghanistan- jury is still out on that one. ;)
After our trips to spend time with our respective families, we took some time to ourselves and flew up to Seattle. The Shearton took care of us, but all in all, the trip to Seattle had a lot of hiccups. The reservations we made for whale watching and the hot air balloon ride ended up "lost" so we had to juggle around our other plans to compensate for our misplaced reservations. The weather in Seattle turned out quite nice while we were there... We hit the zoo, where the small furry animals didn't want to pose for too many pictures. Our "whale watching" turned into a harbor cruise that started off an hour late, and the hot air ballon ride wound up being cancelled due to weather.... But I did get a few pictures of the skydivers that were out and about landing on a couple of dropzones nearby. Finally July 15th came.... Our 1 Year Anniverary. I had made reservations months before for dinner at the Space Needle (the moment I found out i had issues with reservations I called the Space Needle to make sure our reservations were confirmed, thank god they were!). We started off the day with room service, then the whale watching trip (which, turned out to just be a harbor cruise), then a quick run to Pike's Market where I bought Sarah a lovely boquet of flowers. Sarah then went to one of the salons nearby the hotel and had her hair styled. It seemed to be a rushed day, but slowed down that evening. We caught a taxi to the Space Needle and waited for our table to open up at the restraunt..... It was right then that disaster struck. The digital camera I just bought Sarah was no longer located in my pocket (the pockets in my suit's trousers were quite large and it slipped out without notice). I made a quick call to the cab company, and luckly the camera was returned (and I gave the cabbie a $20 tip for his honesty). So with the evening back on track, we went to the elevator and took it up to the restraunt. They took us to our table where a dozen roses were waiting for Sarah (she later hit me because she saw how expensive they were, but hey it's worth it because she liked them). Dinner continued on and went quite well as we rotated around the Space Needle. And so, the moment finally came after dessert... God. I was nervous... I had the waiter take a couple of pictures of us, then I asked him to take a quick video... Sarah seemed confused an said "Oh we don't need video!" And that's when i stood up, walked over and got on a knee. Yeah, sounds cheesey but ya know, I'm getting butterflies just thinking about that moment right now as I type these words. So I presented her with the ring that I had bought a few months before, and of course she said yes. I just embarassed her, but I didn't care. :) Turns out that the couple that was sitting across the asile from us were actually celebrating their 20th (or was it 30th?) anniversary. Sarah just looked so beautiful, so happy.... And, I got stuck carrying the roses the rest of the night. :) We went to the observation deck and i handed her my cell phone so she could call her family and my family to tell them the news. All I can do is sit here and smile as i remember that night.
So the next day we returned to Texas. We Spent an evening with my parents and the following day in New Braunfels at Schlitterbahn. My cousin Lyndon and his wife Amber met us at the park. We had a blast being shot uphill on the watercoasters. The weather turned cloudy and there was a slight drizzle, but that helped to keep the hot July temperature down. I stubbed my toe quite badly, but picking up two huge 64oz mugs made up for it. Afterwards, we follow Lyn and Amber back to their place and stayed the night in their guestroom. I think Sarah absolutely loves their house (as do i!). We woke the next morning early and drove back to Calvert to take care of some laundry. Once done with that, we headed off to Houston for our last night before Sarah had to leave (i hate it when we have to leave each other). I took her to the Galleria where I think she absolutely fell in love with the mall... There are two Gallerias in Texas, one in Dallas and the other in Houson. The Dallas Galleria is four stories tall, where the Houston Galleria is only three, but has a much larger footprint. Some of her favorite "expensive" stores were there, but luckily we only bought something at Coach (a nice hand bag / purse for her). We did hit up the Apple store and got to play with an iPhone for a few minutes. We then had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory where Sarah got them to bring me out a dessert for my birthday (which, i forgot i was having a birthday soon [yeah wierd, i know]).
So then we went to the airport and I sent her on her way, and I made the drive back to Calvert with a quick stopover at Walmart to pick up my last bit of supplies before my return trip..... So I packed, got ready to go and had a short night's sleep. The next morning Dad drove me to Houston. A quick goodbye and "Take care of yourself" and I was on my way back to the Mid-East. I spent the night at Rudy's place, and then caught a flight back to Afghanistan... but my surprises for Sarah weren't quite over yet... FunMom did me a favor and put in a request to the AFN Roller on kwajalein to announce our engagement. Sarah was embarassed yet again, but got hundreds of compliments, well wishes, and comments on the ring (evidently I did well in my choice). I think I made her happy, which is great because she makes me happy.
So that was my trip. I came back a (soon to be!) spoken for man. Then I had my 25th birthday and supposedly my car insurance rates went down... We settled on a wedding date (after much debate) of November 15, 2008. It's been interesting so far... developing a guest list, finding catering and developing our budget. We're already looking at my next trip to see her, and it's looking like I'm relocating in Afghanistan up to Kabul. That about sums up what's been going on since my last post.... Have a great day.
