What a Whirlwind!!

Where did June go?? I'll tell you where...it went to Kentucky and then to California!! But that was just the last half of the month! The first half was spent in anticipation of June 17--the day I got to see Travis again!! So let me tell you about that trip first! Travis graduated from Basic Training on June 17th, so of course I had my tickets purchased well in advance!! But then we decided it would be best if I didn't travel alone, so we got my mom a ticket the week before. Because of the timing, we weren't able to get on the same flight, so we just met each other at the airport in Louisville, KY on the 16th. That evening we found our motel, and then ate dinner at Cracker Barrell (Yummy!!) We had a nice relaxing evening, other than the volcano of emotions that I had to deal with! I don't know if you've ever experienced the overwhelming feelings of excitement, anticipation, nervousness, pride, etc. all at once, that I felt that night, but let me just tell you, it was pretty intense!! I kept having little "eruptions" where my whole body would shake and I'd get the butterflies, and just have to squeal!! It was like I couldn't contain my emotions!!

Anyways, Thursday morning came, and it was finally the day I got to see my Baby Love!! My mom and I made sure that we got up early to get ready and leave with plenty of time so that we wouldn't be late! The graduation was scheduled to start at 9:30, but we were quite early!! So we got a seat and waited for a little while, then at about 9:00 we started to hear the sweet sound of a bunch of soldiers singing cadence!! That's when the tears came! He was close enough that I could hear him! The emotional eruptions were kind of constant at this point!! It was such an amazing sight to see all of the soldiers marching together in formation. What was frustrating was knowing that he was one of those soldiers, but not being able to tell which one he was!!

The actual graduation ceremony was good. I tried so hard to pick him out of the crowd, but I just couldn't find him. (Dang this bad eyesight of mine!!) Luckily after the ceremony, they all marched in front of the audience!! That is when I finally saw my sweet Travis! (Although it took me a few minutes to realize that it really was him--he looked so different!) Then we had to go wait in line to check them out for the day. That was torture, because they were standing right there only a few feet away, but I had to wait to get my arms around him. It was worth the wait though!! I love him so much!! He is my everything, so embracing him for the first time in 10 weeks was like heaven!! Here are some pictures:

The whole company in formation! (Alpha Company)


Travis' platoon! (1st Platoon)


There's my Baby Love!! Gotta love those glasses!! (BCGs aka. "Birth Control Glasses"!!)


Our first embrace--Heaven!!


We had a great day together! Travis showed us where he did some of his training, etc. We also went to the Patton Museum there at Fort Knox. There were a ton of tanks! It was pretty cool!

Look at how skinny my soldier is!! Outside the Patton Museum.


Such a handsom man!!


Saying goodbye again at the end of the day was not so much fun! It was really hard to leave, knowing that I wouldn't see him for another 9 weeks.

Here is our last picture of the day. This uniform looked like a tent on him because he has lost so much weight!


The next day Travis was off to Ft. Lee, VA, and we flew back home to Utah. It was a really quick trip, but it was amazing to be able to spend the day with Travis!

Here are a couple of random pictures from our trip:

Playing checkers on the porch of Cracker Barrell, just to say we did!


Our beautiful rental car! I LOVED this car!!!