Dallas missed our anniversary again this year. To make it up to me, he took me on a cruise :) Well, it was more of a welcome home cruise, but we had a great time!
California
Karaoke Night
Ensenada, Mexico
We rented ATVs and rode around the city, up to La Bufadora (The Blowhole)
Our guide took us to these sweet sand dunes right by the ocean.
The whole gang
Our first formal night
Manzanillo, Mexico
Me and McKenna
Travis, Sharis, and McKenna
Dinner
On the deck of our ship
La Paz
Dallas went zip lining with the whole gang in La Paz. I wussed out and stayed on the ship.
Cabo San Lucas
Abe and Sage
On our boat to head out to the beach
The view from the floor of our boat
In front of our ship
Cliff jumping
(Almost) the whole gang
Top: Sage and Abe Anderson, Jordan and Anna Rodriguez
Bottom: Travis and Sharis Schatt, McKenna and Steve Dutcher, me and Dallas
Our towel monkey
Dodgeball
Our last night.
We had so much fun! It was great to make new friends and to get to know old friends better. We're already looking forward to our next cruise :)
Back in September we had family pictures taken by Brianne Serrano. She's taken our family pictures for a long time, but these are probably my favorite!
This is Dallas' first picture back in the USA on September 3. I can't even explain the relief I felt when I knew he was in the United States, even though I couldn't see him for a few more weeks. Dallas spent about two weeks in Washington for demobilization training. It was so great, after more than nine months of waiting for him to appear on Skype to be able to sign out and text him whenever I wanted to! We played "Words With Friends", talked on the phone, sent picture messages, and looked forward to him coming home!
On September 14 Dallas flew into Idaho Falls. I had next to no notice to get me and the girls ready, the house clean, and to drive all the way from Rexburg to the Idaho Falls airport. I hyperventilated and sped the whole way there. Thanks to a miracle (and my mom parking the car for me) I got there with five minutes to spare. The important thing is that I got there on time!
While Dallas was gone, Amaya always talked about "Dad's Airpwane". We lived near the airport, so every time she would see or hear an airplane (like 5 times a day) she would say, "Look! Dad's Airpwane!" and pretend to be an airplane. I told her every day for a week before he came home that Dad was getting off of his airplane. When we went to the Aero Mark Hanger (the same place Dallas left from) we were able to watch the plane land. When the plane landed, everyone was cheering and Amaya started clapping her hands and yelling "Yay Dad! Yeah Dad airpwane!" The airplane taxied out of our view and looped back around. When the airplane left our sight, Amaya immediately went from cheering to bawling. She was heartbroken because she thought Dad had left again.
She didn't believe me when I told her it was coming back until she saw it for herself.
It was so awesome to see so many soldiers coming home at once to their cheering families. It was like those great homecoming videos on youtube on steroids, it was one of the best days ever to see so many people I'd come to know and care about over the last year be with their husbands again.
My wonderful sister-in-law Meagan recorded this priceless video, and kept track of four kids at the same time! The first little kid you see is our hilarious nephew, he sure missed his Uncle Dallas!
Oaklie was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing, but she warmed right up to him almost right away.
Dallas' Parents
My Parents
With Dallas' Grandparents (all of our pictures with them were blurry!)
One of my friend's husband came home at the same time. Here's her adorable little boy with Oaklie. They're the same age and are so cute together! I hope if we have a redheaded boy one day he looks just like him!
Here's a picture of our family almost exactly one year apart. It's amazing how much we have grown.
Yes, I know I looked terrible that day. I was much, much happier in the second picture.
Looking back, I'm so grateful for the year that we had to grow, even if it meant being apart from one another. I could fill books with the sweet and kind things other people said or did for us, the amazing amount of love our family felt while Dallas was deployed from so many people is overwhelming. I'm so grateful that for the love of our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ who comforts us during times of trial and makes more of us than we ever thought possible.
