All In 11 days worth

On the night of day 10, Adam's last day before he had to leave again for the next couple of months, we said our goodbyes or rather our see you laters. Then the next morning I woke up early to send him one finally text saying "Have a good flight" before he boarded his flight. Then I fell back asleep. About an hour later I got a text, to my surprise it was from him, and to my bigger surprise it said "my flight isn't till tomorrow, I'm still here!" As it turns out he got all the way to the airport and when he got there he looked at his schedule and realized he wasn't actually leaving till the next morning! I was so excited! And he was in a great mood. He got one last completely stress free day to relax. So rather than the usual 10 day leave we got 11 days! I know that's only an extra day, but when your s/o (significant other) is gone all the time, one day makes all the difference.

So during his 11 day leave we:

• went to the beach
• hot tubing
• build a bear
• 2 movies
• took naps
• cuddled lots
• bought him some civilian clothes
• went out to eat way too much (Modern cake, Koi, Tucanos, Chili's, Zupas, Panda Express, Yogurtland, Mcdonald, Little Caesars Pizza, Kneaders, etc)
• took pictures
• had serious and not so serious talks
• BBQ
• family dinners
• hung out with frriends
• Castle of Chaos
• drove up the canyon, walked around Sundance then drove the Alpine Loop
• Drank tons and tons of pumpkin steamers
• ran errands (dry cleaners, recruiters office, paid phone bills)
• photo booths

This is not all we did or in order, but we didn't care what we did, we just wanted to be together!

When Adam found out he had an extra day we decided to go
hot tubing, I got this picture of him goofing off, he said he
felt really stress free like he was on vacation, I told him
he looked like his was on vacation haha!

Having sushi at Koi, he didn't know this picture was being taken

He doesn't love taking pictures, but he attempted
to do it for me anyway. I say attempt because he
doesn't look too thrilled in this picture.

Another one

photo booth

photo booth

photo booth

photo booth

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday shout out to my little sister Mikaela (some of you may know here by Hallah). She turned 19 today, and even though sometimes we hate each others guts, at the end of the day we are best friends and always have each others back. Follow here blog here: http://hallahmikaelaharmon.blogspot.com/

The birthday girl!

 Cupcakes I made

The birthday cake I made her.

Boot Camp Graduation Pt.2

The actually day of graduation was Oct. 12, 2012. It is safe to say that I slept maybe two hours that night. I was just so excited after seeing Adam for a few hours earlier that day and knowing that he was going to be leaving with us in just a few short hours. But I was still nervous. I was not able to sleep past 3 am so after laying awake in bed full of excitement I finally got up at about 5:30 am and got ready. When we arrived back

at the MCRD we had to wait in a line for about 30-40 minutes because we had to get our cars checked. It was insane! They checked EVERYTHING. We had to pop the hood and trunk they opened all the inside compartments of the car and checked bags and everything. When we finally got in and found our seats, graduation started. It was from 10-12 but got over at 11:40. I was hoping it would end early because I just couldn't wait any longer, and lucky me it did! When graduation ended I ran to Adam and jumped into his arms and he picked me up and hugged me so tight. Second best hug ever given on this planet. He was FREE (only for the next 10 days, but hey I'll take what I can get). After he got all his belongings we dropped them off at his families hotel room and then headed to the beach for lunch and just a day of relaxation. He loved it. He said this was the first time he was able to do what he wanted, eat real food and just sit down and relax in the last three months. It was just such and amazing day to be able to sit there and talk and laugh with him and hold hands and hug. Its the simple little things that I missed the most. Just having him by my side and being able to look at him and see him smile. I know that sounds dumb and cheesy but I really can't explain how much I missed it. I caught myself just staring at him a few time, just couldn't believe the day had finally come! But that's okay because I caught him staring back at me, not saying anything to each other, just staring. Sometime you don't have to say anything to know what each other are thinking. After the beach we went back to his family's hotel and he took a nap while the rest of us figured out where to eat dinner that night. We ended up eating at a really good BBQ place and he ordered SO MUCH FOOD! Its so crazy how tired and hungry that boy was, you would think he wasn't fed or got no sleep in the past 3 months. Later that night when his brothers, the fiance, Adam and I arrived back at my Aunts where we were staying I pulled Adam aside before bed and told him I had something for him. I had kept a journal for him. I wrote him EVERY SINGLE NIGHT he was gone. It was hard and some nights I was too tired or had a bad day and just didn't wanna right or my day was too boring, but I did it anyway. Sometimes I felt like it was a waste of time and he wouldn't like it. But when I handed it to him and explained what it was, the look on his face told me that it was 100%  worth it. I will never forget that look on his face. He then said he had something for me. He then took his Marine graduation ring out of his pocket and told me he wanted me to have it. I asked "are you sure? I know this means a lot you." He said he was sure and he gave it to me. The perfect ending to a perfect day!

His platoon at graduation!

Right after graduation

I don't know what it is, but I LOVE this picture, I can't
figure out why though. I think its the look on his face

The sun was getting ready to set, and he and I were talking about watching
this sunset together, because on the night before he left we watched the sunset together

Walking back to the car after hanging out at the beach

Graduation ring he gave me.

Boot Camp Graduation Pt.1

So much happened while I was in California for Adam's graduation that I've decided to make two separate posts about it. This first post is about Family Day. 

Adam's family was so generous to invite to to come with them to Adam's family day and Graduation. It was amazing! Such a happy and neat experience, I feel very privileged that I got to be a part of this special time for Adam and his family.

On family day Adam's twin brothers, the brother's fiance and I arrived to the MCRD before the rest of the family. We drove in and parked and walked around for a bit and could not see a soul! I kept saying "but its family day there should be people everywhere!" One of Adam's brothers kept saying "oh my gosh Rachel there he is!" I freaked out every time and every time it was not Adam. Eventually we decided to get back into the car and drive to the other side of base to see if we could find people, as we drove we saw one random guy standing outside by himself in his camouflage uniform I didn't think anything of it but then Adam's brother and the fiance both yelled "That's Adam!" I didn't believe them because I had be tricked 4 times prior. But they parked the car and said "go get him!" So I looked out the back window and realized "oh my gosh it is him!" I slowly got out of the car with a big grin on my face, he saw me and smiled back, as we were walking towards each other I got a little emotional and panicked, so I turned around and the brothers and fiance said "Rachel! what are you doing, don't run away from him!" I wasn't running away, I just turned around for a second to compose myself, I had been extremely nervous all day to see him and after an 88 day wait the moment was finally here, yes I panicked. I turned back around and there he was and he grabbed me into a huge hug, and he held on for a long time. Best hug that was ever given on this planet!

After he said hi to his brothers and the fiance he showed us around the base a little and we ate, I ran into an old friend who had a brother graduating and got to talk to her for a bit, later I ran into a Milso and her graduating boyfriend, we had never met, but had texted and facebooked tons and she really helped me out alot, I will always be grateful for her conversations. I couldn't believe that of all the people there I was able to run into her and meet her in person! Such a blessing. After running into her Adam and I had our very first alone time for 5 whole seconds while riding in an elevator, he kissed me, and it was amazing, crazy butterflies!

A few minutes later the rest of the family arrived and Adam got to have his reunion with his family, I stepped aside at this time to let them have their moment. He spent his remaining 1.5 hours showing us around more and telling us very entertaining stories about how the past 3 months (13 weeks, or 88 days) had gone. It was so sad to have to say goodbye to him at the end of his liberty. He walked me to the car, gave me a hug, and opened the door for me. I knew we'd only be apart for a couple of hours because in the morning I'd be back to see him graduate and take him home!

Our very first picture together after being apart for 3 months

  The glare makes this picture hard to see, but it's one
of the only other pictures we got together on family day.
I was too excited about seeing him to remember to take a lot
of pictures, oops!

Adam and I

I don't usually look like this, it's the sun!

SNUGGLE BUDDY!

As you can see from my countdown Adam had since come home and as of today is gone again. Before he left though he took me to Build A Bear Workshop to build me a replacement snuggle buddy while he was gone. We had a blast and Adam did all the accessorizing because he knows the uniforms better than I do. We decided to go with the Desert Camouflage outfit instead of the Dress Blues because when I saw Adam 11 days ago for the first time in 88 days he was wearing his Desert Camouflage and he looked so handsome.  But honestly I'll probably go back and buy the Dress Blues to have just in case!

Meet my temporary snuggle buddy, Semper Fi (yes that is his name)

Semper Fi

I made him take this picture, aren't his eye's amazing!?

Super EXCITED!