William's 4th Package

Weekend at Grandma's

Mom and I went to Tallahassee this past weekend and stayed with Grandma. We had a good time and Grandma is doing very well! We shopped on Saturday and yesterday we went to church and Ruby Tuesday's. Grandma is very proud of her geraniums blooming for the 3rd time, we had to get them in the picture!

William's 3rd Package

William had a really bad cough so I mailed him medicine. He hasn't received this package yet but he is feeling better. There was more in this box but I forgot to take the other picture, I think it had a big bag of chips in it. Oh yeah, he requested a mirror so he can see himself when he shaves. I used the chips as padding for the mirror, ha! I would have never thought about him not having a mirror but it makes sense.

William's 2nd Package

William's 1st Package

Lunch with friends at Las Margaritas

This is one of my good friends Valentina with her 3 month old daughter Victoria. Victoria is the happiest and most beautiful baby I have ever seen, Valen and Andres are very blessed!

Me, Valen, and Victoria.

Gaby, Valen, and Victoria. Gaby is another friend that I am grateful for. We all met at an office we used to work for in Gainesville.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler loves dinosaurs and his favorite is T-Rex! Tyler is our nephew (Angel's son)and his birthday was back in September. Another belated birthday. I went to William's parents house on Sat. the 11th and the kids were there. Thanks Uncle Daniel (William) for the presents!

T-Rex is tied to this package so well that he stands up! When you're good, you're good, ha!

What's inside? A dinosaur puzzle.

Tyler and Haley.

Look Uncle Daniel, we finished the puzzle!

Me, Grandma Markham, and Haley.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad turned 52 on Monday but we celebrated his birthday tonight at Yamato's Japanese Steakhouse. And yes, I got a haircut today :-) I haven't heard from William since Saturday morning but he was doing well then. He should be in Iraq now but you never know. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

We got Dad TCBY yogurt instead of a cake.

Nate and Dad.

Me and Dad.

Ever wondered how disgusting MRE's really are?

Okay, so William and I had a box of MRE's that stared at me in the face every day when I would open the closet. William had always told me they were gross but I had to see it for myself! We dumped the whole box and decided to open the Cajun sausage with rice and beans, we thought that would be the worst! I tried to make it look appetizing but it just didn't work. William had a bag of individual sides that he and his friends put together of all of the good things that he will actually eat, ie...raspberry applesauce, cookies, chocolate flavored peanut butter, dried fruit and nuts, and some other normal sounding things. Think about it though, you can't feel good if this is all you're eating. William said nobody really eats the main entree, who could blame them. The smell itself is crippling, ugh! I think MRE's should be re-evaluated and packaged separately. What a waste of money...these are actually very expensive!

So here it is, everything that came in this MRE. Oh yeah, the best part...you get toilet paper with every meal, lol! Peanut butter, 2 crackers that you can't hardly swallow they are so dry (I actually ate a little), almonds (not so good...they try to make them good by putting hickory flavor on them but it's overwhelming), cheddar filled pretzels (AKA Combo's), drink powder (like Gatorade, that taste good), 2 pieces of gum, instant coffee and creamer with a heat bag and a book of matches, Tabasco sauce, and a plastic spoon.

My last day in AK; Deployment Ceremony on Sept. 11, 2008

Army Band.

Me and my friend Tanya.

Here they all come, over 4000 troops.

There was a Naturalization ceremony of U.S. Army troops where 20 troops from 13 diff. countries became U.S. Citizens this day.




This is the Battalion William is in; 3-21 IN BN of the 125th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. AKA the Arctic Wolves, how cute!





There was a lot of media present because this ceremony took place the same week that Senator McCain announced Governor Palin as his running mate.





Governor Palin after giving her speech.

Rolling the flags and putting them away until the redeployment ceremony next year.









In over 4,000 troops I amazingly found William and was barely able to take a picture of him. He walked right by me and never saw me. It was like playing the most difficult game of "Where's William(Waldo)" ever!



Governor Sarah Palin spoke at the ceremony. I was able to walk right up to her, great security??? Palin's son is in the same company as William.

On post at Ft. Wainwright after the ceremony. We thought we would take one last nice (not so nice of me actually, my face was puffy from crying so much) picture together before I had to leave. We had a nice long walk back to the company. It was a long and cold day, in the 40's on metal bleachers for at least 3 hours with minimal sunshine.

This is our favorite restaurant in Fairbanks, Brewster's. Our final picture together until William's R & R, whenever that might be.