a lot.

we are in salt lake. but a lot happened in san diego before we left!

jon getting out of the military meant us getting cut off of free health care which led to me getting lots of shots i didn't want to get. i got the meningococcal (for meningitis) in one arm and the TDAP (tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis) in the other and it was the worst pain of my life. there were a lot of shots i should have gotten in junior high that i never did get. am i proud of that? yeah, a little. am i happy i didn't go through the pain back then with my friends? no, i'm not.

this painful bandaid rash lasted for a full week. seriously, the worst!

 how cute is this guy with his side swept bangs??

 jon had his last day in the marine corps on May 3rd. it was pretty sad. but also not. there were weird mixed emotions and i'm not sure when or if i'll be able to write a post about it. it feels like we are on leave right now and eventually we will make it back to san diego and life will continue like normal.

 jon with his gunny, XO, and CO. they all had some really nice things to say about him. it was touching.

 jon signed his separation papers at about 12:30pm. the most notable part of the whole process was this simple sentence in the papers that may as well have been in bold. "You may proceed to your home of record or any other place you may elect." for four years someone knew where jon was at all times and they were now giving him the opportunity to go anywhere he wished. it was surreal. soooo we immediately went to the spa to get some well deserved pampering! jon got an hour massage, and hour facial, and a half an hour foot massage. (he is not ashamed of this either. you'll hear how nice it was straight from the horses mouth) i got an hour and a half massage. we were in the couples room so when my massage ended, i took a nap on my massage table while his finished up. it wasn't weird at all when i started snoring. after that we ate at smash burger and got frozen yogurt and enjoyed the beautiful night. one of my favorite things about san diego was seeing all of the hot air balloons!

we went to a padre's game with our dear friends steve and judy. they are the padres biggest fans and although i don't like baseball, i did fully appreciate the awesome seats and the amazing view of downtown. petco park is absolutely beautiful. saying goodbye to steve and judy was not fun. they have been so good to us ever since jon joined the military! we love them and the light at the end of the tunnel is them coming to san antonio next year for a wedding in steve's family!

 we love love loved living with the isaac's, they are the best. sully was our best friend and would go on walks with us, laugh so hard on the trampoline, and share his secret hide outs in our new (old) church building. it doesn't hurt that during all of this he's bringing up all the best parts of the office and quoting lines we'd never remember on our own. 

 this girl deserves a shout out. she was such a good companion to me while jon was deployed. we had a falling out right before the boys came home but i blame it on weird emotions that had built up the entire seven months. we've since made up and i couldn't be happier. she is my most faithful reader and even cried when she read my post about my horse show because she knew how much it meant to me. that is a good friend! 

 the isaac's neighbors had baby chicks! i couldn't tell if i loved them or not. they were not chicks but not chickens either. the feathers weren't soft, but they weren't that hard.....weird. but jon loved them and the girls loved putting them all over him!

 the goodbyes continued with mendez and gherine. mendez and i worked together at panera bread and had a really fun relationship. he is from guatemala and i loved hearing stories about how he grew up and liked having him help me with spanish although sometimes he was too honest. (i.e. making fun of my improper spanish and even one time commenting on my recent weight gain.)

gherine is definitely one of my best friends in san diego. we didn't get to see each other as often as i would have liked, but i always loved it when we got together. we initially bonded over justin bieber (we are both too old for him) and our struggles with gardening (we're both doing better). she gave me cooking pointers and always always always noticed if we weren't at church. there was a rough patch when jon first got back from deployment where we started going to church really infrequently and gherine was the only one who ever made sure we knew we were missed. i'm really grateful for that and good news, we are back on track!

the barn i ride at moved up the street. it was a pretty stressful day, but the farmer at the new barn we moved to tried to lighten the mood by carrying corina and i in the tractor! pretty funny!

homecoming.

here we go.

this was my life in the days leading up to Jon's arrival.

7 days before reuniting with jon. 

Amanda Marie and I made a welcome home banner. 

this was a king sized duvet cover that i cut and sewed smaller. amanda used her pretty handwriting and then we used yarn to stitch the letters in.

the tape on the left is to show how large the banner is! 

 

 6 days before. 

shopped for and picked out an outfit to wear when picking him up. something that hopefully wouldn't date the photos too much, something cute but doesn't make me look 12. breezy in case its hot, but still modest. 

ugh, it sounds as hard as it was to find. but i found it, thanks to my darling friend, jenni hens.

5 days before.

one thing i liked about having jon away: i could do anything to the house that i wanted.

i knew that was going to change when he got back. 

so i celebrated by painting the front door.

  4 days before. 

i hung jon's signs!!!!!!!! that way, the whole neighborhood could celebrate with me!

the last two (seven month old) jr mints tasted better than the first two fresh ones!

2 days before. finished painting the door, and cleaned the whole house.

1 day. 1 day before. the DAY before he got back.

 cleaned our car, to make him think it was that clean the whole time he was gone. 

freaked out, freaked out, freaked out.

and failed an accounting exam because i was too busy freaking out to study.

then the day finally came.
after 209 lonely days apart.

April 10, 2011.

The day i had been waiting for since we found out he was deploying, over a year ago.

on sunday, i woke up anxious and panicky. 

i text my favorite girlfriend from church to tell her i couldn't come because i was too....just too.

she said that she thought coming to church would help, so....reluctantly, i went. 

she was right, it did help.

after church, i went and visited with the Vigil's in Carlsbad. 

they are our biggest fans, they're so so good to us.

they helped me calm down and made me feel a lot better.

then i met up with AMANDA.

jon was supposed to get home at 3:50 pm. his flight got delayed, so we did what anyone else would do. ate mcdonald's and chocolate. 

and, as you can imagine, we regretted it soon after.

greasy mcdonald's food, soda+caffeine, sugar+chocolate mixed with anxiety isn't good for the belly. plus, we had driven off base to find a pf changs to fix our addiction to their dessert shots, so we were about 30 minutes from where we were supposed to pick jon up and it was getting REALLY close to that time. so, our nerves were through the roof.

 then, i got this alert. 

(the timing was a little off)

and that did it for me. we really needed to hurry. so we sped back up to camp pendleton!

 and once we got there, we realized that we hadn't written on the windows!

my phone was blowing up with texts from jon saying he was on base and that he would be there soon and that he was nervous and couldn't wait to see me, etc etc etc...and the producer was calling me over and over asking me where i was because we needed to get our microphones on and everything and i hadn't put any lipstick on, and i hadn't written on the windows yet and ahh! it was a lot!

after writing on the car, we ran over to the parade deck, met with jon's family, got our microphones put on, and pushed in front of the cameras. it seemed like ten hours, but i think it was actually ten minutes before the motorcycles pulled in, followed by the big white buses that me and all the families had been dreaming about for seven months. 

they all parked, and i looked in the third bus and saw a tiny little hand, waving at me out the window about six rows back. i waved back and when i couldn't handle it any longer, i ran to the bus that jon was in and he jumped out and ran to me and we hugged the best hug i've had, ever. and hugged and hugged. he was squeezing me so tight. then we looked at each other, i took off his cover and his shades and looked at that cute leathery, clean shaven face and relief washed over me. finally, my boy was home from war, safe and sound. and it wasn't a dream, it was for real. he looked cuter than i'd ever seen him look.

 he was sooo happy to be hanging out with his favorite twins again!

 this is the photo that i sent out to my family, letting them know that he was home.

my car, on the way to dinner.

we all ate at the California Pizza Kitchen in La Jolla afterwards, and this was our view as we left the restaurant. 

the beautiful San Diego Temple. 

Welcome Home, Jon from Double Scoop Photography on Vimeo.

video from my amazing photographer. 

Double Scoop Photography.

sweet, sweet relief.

Double Scoop Photography.

finally.

one year anniversary!

i am so happy today!

it is our one year anniversary.

so crazy...

we didn't have an official anniversary date because we never had an 'official' first date

as in...

i'm taking you out to dinner because i'm totally crushing and see a future with you.

jon and i hung out right when he got home from his mission in october 2008.

he was super cute and super "I just got home from my mission."

we held hands and cuddled, spent halloween together and went on a date.

then he decided to go steady with a girl. he sent her off on a mission in december.

it worked out well because I had a missionary too.

So we started hanging out again in february.

it was safe, because we were both set on waiting for our missionaries..

well, it didn't really work out that way. because we kept going on dates and hanging out every single night in March when i moved back from sugar house. cuddling on my couch watching a movie and eating brownies.

jon was a drug runner. he drove around the valley and delivered prescription drugs to peoples houses.

i'd sit next to him in his truck, doing homework. and making him pull over so they we could wander through design studios for school.

this is us at the end of march. we weren't just friends.

in april, his mom finally decided that she'd let us date.

so she introduced me to the family and this is us driving home from sunday dinner with them.

"driving.."

this was the first friday in may.

two days before he went to boot camp.

we didn't know what we had in store for us.

this is me in may being supportive.

at the very end of may, i moved to CA.

an hour and a half from where he was in CA.

suffering through pink eye, pneumonia and cellulitis.

all while being yelled at and doing physical labor that i can't even imagine

in June, i came back to visit utah when my neice was born.

we were probably both shooting guns at the same time.

who do you think looked better doing it?

in june, he had made a good friend, adam archer, and a lasting friend steve vigil.

(isn't he handsome all thin-looking?)

Semper Fi.

proud on July 4th.

he graduated at the end of july, and came home for two weeks in august.

this is us at the roof in downtown Salt Lake.

in september, i flew out to see him graduate combat training.

in october, i flew to north carolina to see him.

both of these vacations lasted less than 3 days.

in november, he came home for thanksgiving.

he proposed.

and....

i said yes:)

we spent the rest of his two days home (...) celebrating with our families.

he got a full week off in december for christmas.

and we had sleep overs every night!

i wish i had a picture of the twin sized mattress we pulled into lizzie's room that he slept on,

while i slept next to him on lizzie's queen sized bed.

its so fun being mormon.

he left january 2nd, right after lyndsi's wedding.

so officially, we did see each other in january.

in february, i flew to amanda's.

she was supposed to pick me up, but lo and behold-

jon did. :)

amanda made us dinner and we spent the night in huntington beach.

the next morning, the four of us drove to san diego.

we went to the zoo, walked around the gas lamp district, ate dinner and saw a movie.

we have been so SOO blessed to see each other as often as we have.

i have a trip planned to see him in march during my spring break,

and hopefully once more in april.

that will be the last time we see each other before he comes home to marry me.

oh speaking of.

Jon's leave got approved.

he gets at LEAST ten days off may 6th-may 16th.

do you know what that means?

We are getting married.

Its officially official.

And happening on Tuesday, May 11, 2010.

That is 71 days away.

please congratulate because i am finally letting myself get excited about may 11th now that i dont think the marine corps can take that away from us (what a laugh).

and i feel like i just got engaged again.

Happy Anniversary, Jon.

i love you.