R & R

Here's John's R&R in nutshell...
On Thursday I had ordered this awesome banner from a cool sign shop (that John worked at many years ago) and told them I didn't need it until Monday. John called on Saturday and said he was going to be in on Sunday evening. So I called the sign shop only to find out they were not open on the weekends. So, I had to improvise with my uncreative talent and made these signs. Then on Monday we all went in and got the cool sign. (Had I remembered the name of the guy that owns the store, I would have called him at home).


Right away Jakob was THRILLED that his Dad was home. Zack...it took the hour drive home from the airport. I think he just needed to see Dad in the 'home' setting because we were home for about 5 minutes when a light switch went on in his head and all of a sudden he was a maniac. John wrestled and played with the boys until they wiped him out. John is an amazing father! He loves his boys! I could not have married a better man to be the father of my kids. I am so grateful for him!



While home I had my short :) honey-do list. This is the boys working on the vinyl fence we have in the back yard. Those two little boys followed their Dad around as if they were his shadow. And yes, Dad had to learn how to deal with no privacy in the home because you just couldn't keep those two little ones away.






One day I was shopping at Toys R Us, just trying to get an idea of Christmas presents and I ran accross these dress up outfits. They were pretty fun and loaded with lots of stuff. Jakob loved the Cowboy one and decided that was what he wanted to be for Halloween. So, this is my only pic of that fun holiday. Zack wouldn't wear anything, not even a hat so he went as himself and Dad took the boys trick-or-treating and had a blast.



We tried to get out and do as much as possible while Dad was here. Our house is pretty small and has very little inside so there isn't/wasn't much to do at home. We went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden and we went to this fun museum place in Salt Lake. That is what the pics below show. They have all kinds of fun things to do. Jakob LOVED the real helicopter. Inside there is a button that makes the very loud sound of a helicopter and it even vibrated a little. It was kind of freaky at first becuase it seemed so real, but after the 10th time it got old. Zack had fun riding around in or pushing all the little kid vehicles and bikes.





While in Salt lake we also went to the Build A Bear store and had a bear and a dog made. Before we moved to Germany John and Jakob had a dog made and John put in a speaker thing that had him singing and talking to Jakob. Jakob has played that thing till the battery nearly died. He loves to listen to Dad's voice when he's gone. Zack loves the dog too but it has a special song that is between Jakob and him, so John and Zack made a panda that has some special things that are just the two of theirs. Zack LOVES it.




The weather was nice for most of the 18 days that John was here. One day we went to the Ogden Parkway, I think it's called and walked the trails there. Zack found this very nice hill and they all wanted to climb it. Of course, it was Zack's favorite and we had to fight to get him away from it. They sure did have fun climbing and sliding down. At one point we thought we were ready to leave and started walking, only to look back and see Zack half way up and climbing as fast as he could. It was a very steep hill but that only enticed him more. At the beginning of the trail there is rose walkway that has all kinds of roses. John and I were smelling them and Zack thought it looked interesting so he stopped at every rose his level and smelled away.

We also spent an afternoon at Chucky Cheese. That was one of the funnest places we went to :). Here's a picture we had taken there.

Now that we've experienced the sending off and R&R's so many times, we have decided that it is soooo much easier to have R&R towards the end of the deployment. I can't imagine what I would be like if I were not going to be able to see John for 8 more months. And yes, John's deployment is suppose to be for 8 more months. This was suppose to be the 1/2 way mark for us but it's looking as if he's going to get to leave the sand box early. Of course, I will have more info on that after John returns there and is giving more info. But for now, just know that we are flying back to Germany the second week of December :)