Thankful-August 31, 2008

I just want everyone to know how thankful I am for technology. Its not really something I ever thought about until Clint went to Korea. He was able to contact me by email within 24 hours of his arrival to the country. Then, he was able to call me every morning for the first 2 weeks he was in processing. Now he is in an apartment on base and doesn't have a phone, but he does have our computer now. So we are able to chat on MSN Messanger several times a day and he has been able to see Morgan and me on the webcam (his webcam hasn't gotten there yet). He can also send text messages to my cell phone from the computer so if he wants to say hi but I'm not home, we still get to talk. Its just so amazing to me that we have all these ways of communicating now. I can't imagine living in the days when a woman's husband went to war or was deployed to a foreign country and she couldn't speak to him except by mail. I can't even imagine the anxiety I would have felt. The only glimpse I've had of that kind of situation is when Clint was gone for his 3 weeks of "survival school" and we couldn't talk on the phone or write to each other. Technology has become such an everyday thing in my life that I don't really realize how much of a blessing it truly is. But I do realize it now. So I just wanted to express how thankful I am for that blessing.

Poor Baby-August 31, 2008

Poor Morgan has been sick the last couple of days. Maybe not sick, maybe just teething, I really have no idea. But she has had diarrhea so bad she has a horrible diaper rash. She's such a trooper though. She winces when I change her diaper and you can tell it hurts but she doesn't cry. Has anyone ever heard of diarrhea as a symptom of teething? I can tell her gums are bothering her. She rubs her tongue on them and bites her lip and her fingers. I bought some of those teething tablets that dissolve in their mouth and numb their gums, doesn't work. Not for Morgan anyway. She's not eating or sleeping well, so I just feel so bad.

Morgan is doing so many new and fun things lately. She laughs a lot easier and harder. She claps her hands, but never when you want her to. She reaches up for me when I bend down to pick her up. She drinks from a sippy cup. When she's sitting up she bends in half so her head is on the ground and then she rolls onto her back. Sometimes she dances when she hears music. Well she bounces up and down, I'm assuming its dancing. She eats little baby finger foods and snacks. I was watching Across The Universe the other day (its a really weird musical) and she would start yelling as loud as she could when the actors were singing. I think she was trying to sing along, but I'm not sure. Anyway, its so fun being a mom. Its hard being a single one. I don't know what I'd do without my mom here to help me out so much.

So here's a video from August 24th that I never uploaded. My mom's brother Jeff and his wife Susan were at her house when Morgan and I got home from the family reunion last weekend. Jeff was playing with Morgan with his foot and she just thought it was so funny. If you can, ignore the talking and laughing in the background. I love her little laugh. Sorry about how dark it is.

My First Sewing Project-August 28, 2008

I finally learned how to sew thanks to my mom. I decided I wanted to make a rag quilt for Morgan so I looked it up on line and figured it out. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. And I think it turned out pretty cute! If I were to do it again I think I would put some solid colored squares in along with the prints. And I would have made it a little bigger.

Friends-August 26, 2008

On Tuesday I got to go to lunch with some of our great friends from Alabama. The Salisbury's were here visiting from Alabama for a few days and the Heightman's moved back to Utah from Alabama back in December. It was so good to see them. Clint and I are so blessed to have met so many great people while we were in Alabama. Now if we could just find a way to take them all to Korea with us :)

L to R: Mindy and Nate Salisbury, Robbie Mason and Melanie Heightman, Morgan and Me

Call Family Reunion in Declo, Idaho-August 22-24, 2008

This last weekend Morgan and I went to a Call family reunion in Idaho. The Call's are my dad's family and I haven't seen them in a long time. My grandpa's siblings were there with their children and grandchildren. I think the count was about 80 people, which is less than there usually is. We left Salt Lake on Friday (the 22nd) afternoon with my dad, stepmom, brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nieces.

Marshall, Jenny, and Morgan at a rest stop.

My dad making our little pit stop into an adventure for the little girls. He's so good at things like that.

Makayla and Morgan at the RV park where the reunion was.

Our first activity once we got to Idaho was to go swimming in the pool. The park had a pool, hot tub, showers, cable hookups, and free WiFi internet. It was like we never left home! Makayla and Gabriella don't take pictures without posing. Aren't they adorable!

Here's the pool. Yes, it was as small as it looks.

Day 2-Saturday the 23rd. I think this was the Snake River. We went on a little walk after breakfast. It was nice except the freeway was really close.

I thought this sign was neat. It was made out of horse shoes

Marshall took his family fishing at the pond. We stopped to see if they had caught any fish. I snapped this picture just as Jenny (in the pink shirt) was falling into the pond. She didn't actually go all the way in, thanks to my cousin James.

Potato Ice Cream...no its not what you think. Its vanilla ice cream shaped like a potato and rolled in cocoa powder to make it look like a potato. Then topped with whipped cream, oreos, chocolate syrup, and nuts. So delicious and only in Idaho!

The Call family is big on a game called Nerk or Nark or something like that. I'd never heard of it but it looked fun!

Every year at the family reunion they have an auction. Everyone donates or makes items to sell and the money made from the auction goes toward the next year's reunion.

This is my grandpa Call. Grandma (standing on the left) bought that big stuffed snake thats around his neck. My stepmom actually MADE 2 of the snakes to sell in the auction.

Sunset on Saturday night.

Jenny entertaining Morgan during the auction. Or was Morgan entertaining Jenny? I'm not sure.

Day 3-Sunday the 24th. Gabriella, Morgan, and Makayla. These 2 girls can't get enough of Morgan. They came in first thing Sunday morning and asked if Morgan could be awake so they could play with her. They're so cute!

On our way home from Idaho we decided to go to Promontory Point. But on the way we found ATK. I'm not exactly sure what it stands for, but its where my younger brother, Otto, works. He is an aerospace engineer and helps design navigation systems on rockets and missles. (I think thats right). Anyway, we stopped at the "rocket park" to look around.

It was actually really neat and I'm glad we got to see it. Its literally in the middle of nowhere and I would never have driven so far to see it if we weren't on a little vacation.

Morgan loved these rocks. She couldn't stop eating them

Mo and Me

Makayla, Mo, and me

Unfortunantly I didn't take note of what each thing in the park was. But trust me, it was all really big and really cool!

Next stop was Promontory Point where the East and West railroads met. From what I understand this is how the story goes; The government didn't have any specific rules/regulations on the rail road system, so there were 2 companies competing to reach Ogden, Utah first. Union Pacific coming from the East and Central Pacific coming from the West. The railroads built 250 feet passed each other when an agreement was finally reached and they came together at Promontory Point. It was Union Pacific that reached Ogden first and took over the railroad.

This is the Union Pacific Rail Road steam train that came from the East. It is coal burning.

This is the Central Pacific Rail Road train that came from the West. Its wood burning.

Every night the trains are put away in a train yard to protect them from the elements and from vandalizm. We were lucky enough to see the engineers start up the UP train and move it to the yard.

I'm sorry to anyone who is not on my friends list anymore. I changed my layout the other day and used Pyzam. Of course it messed up y entire page, and even though I saved the widgets, they still got lost and everything went bizerk! I hate Pyzam. Anyway, if you aren't on my friends list its because I don't remember your blog address and couldn't find a link to it on anyone elses page. So email me and let me know. Thanks

Dear Clint-August 22, 2008

Morgan and I are going to a family reunion in Idaho this weekend so I thought I'd post some pictures and videos of Morgan to get you through the weekend. She is rolling all over the place now and trying so hard to crawl. When she's sitting up she scoots forward across the floor. Its funny. She thinks she always has to be laying on her side when she's eating, but then she gets mad cause she can't get the milk out of her bottle. She's clicking her tongue a lot more, laughing a lot more, and talking a lot more. She asks about you all the time ;)

Since Ya Asked-August 21, 2008

A lot of people are asking for an update on when I'll be going to Korea, so here's the scoop.

Clint finished in-processing yesterday and on Monday he begins an Officer Leadership course which lasts a week, I think. He is currently at Camp Stanley but he just found out he'll be stationed at K-16 Airbase for sure. From what I understand K-16 is located on the Southeast side of Seoul (the capital of Korea), just outside the city. Its super small and doesn't have a PX, Commissary, or health/dental care. However Yongsan (a large Army post) is about 12 miles north of K-16, right in the heart of Seoul, and there is a shuttle that travels between the posts. The Blackhawks at K-16 used to fly out of Camp Stanley (for those who have been to Korea) but they moved the choppers in 2005.

After Clint finishes his week of Officer Leadership then he will be off to K-16. He is working on getting command sponsored. If he succeeds then we will qualify for on post housing, on post child care, we'll have priority for health care, and the military will pay for us to fly over there. If he doesn't get sponsored then I'll be going over there on our dime and we will live on the economy. We still have no idea when/if I'll be going. But we're guessing at least another month at the soonest. The only thing that will prevent me from moving over there is if Clint can't get permission to live off-post. As long as that happens I'll be going regardless of command sponsorship or the lack thereof. I think thats all we know as of right now. I've been trying to do research on the area and learn as much as I can about how things work before I get over there so I'm not totally overwhelmed. I'm so excited and I just keep praying that everything works out for me to make the move.

Sleep Through The Static-August 18, 2008

On Monday I went to Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static concert with my dad, his wife, my brother, and a couple of his friends. It was such a blast! The only thing that could have made it better is if Clint had been there (he is the biggest JJ fan). I love Jack Johnson, but seeing him live made me love him even more! He is a great performer and sounds amazing. He has quite the sense of humor too. If you don't know who he is listen to the song playing on my blog right now. The concert was at the USANA Amphitheater. Thanks for letting me have your extra ticket Tyler! I owe you big time! Here are some fun videos and pictures.

My dad, the goofball. He took the wrapper off his water bottle and made a little shade for his eyes. He is such and Engineer.

Tyler mooching off Shannon's dinner. She didn't seem to mind though (whisper: I think she likes him, but ssshhhh...don't tell anyone!)

We bought JJ T-Shirts. I bought Clint one just like Tyler's and I'm going to make him wear it with me in public so we can be cool and match each other!

I love crazy people. Okay, maybe they aren't crazy, maybe just drunk, or maybe it was the MaryJ we smelled in the air? But they made me not look like such and idiot when I got up and sang and danced.

Just a shot of the mountains.

Karen and Dad

We were just a little bored waiting for the show to start. Once again, my dad the goofball.

Tyler and me. (And his friend Will in the background).

Just some videos of good 'ol Jack singing away. You can probably hear me more than him, sorry! And yes, I know I'm tone deaf :) This first one is one of Clint's favorite songs.

And this one is my song to Clint because I'm always waiting on him :)

He's Gone-August13, 2008

Clint left for Korea on Wednesday the 13th. So he's been gone for a couple of days. He made it there safe and said the flight was extremely long and boring (12 1/2 hours from San Fransisco). His biological clock is still ticking on Utah time so he's having a hard time sleeping at night and staying awake during the day. One of the guys in processing with him has been stationed in Korea before so he took Clint and some other guys around town and to a restaurant. They rode the subway train. I wish Clint had a camera with him because I'm really anxious to see what its like over there. He still doesn't know exactly what camp he'll be stationed at. Hopefully he'll find out Monday when the in processing starts. After a week of in processing he has a week of leadership courses and then he'll be off to his post where he can get the ball rolling for Morgan and me to come out there.

Packing his bags. I still don't know how he fit everything into his bags. We were up until 1 in the morning packing his stuff. Actually he was packing, I was trying to keep my eyes open while watching him.

At the airport. I think Clint was tickling her sides. We got to the airport shortly after 7 am and Clint's plane took off at 9. Its so nice having an airport less than an hour away!

Saying good bye

Clint usually calls in the morning right after Morgan and I wake up. He's always on his way to bed, so it's kind of wierd. Korea is 15 hours ahead of Utah. We love you and miss you Clint! Can't wait to get out there and begin our new adventure!