Pictures from Jon

Jon took some pictures of his day to day life downrange (Army for in the war zone) so here they are for your viewing pleasure - with commentary by Ashley.
This is Jon's FOB (Army for base where he sleeps and does services when he is not out on the road)


My guess is this is his office building by the sign - all the buildings look alike.

What a warm and inviting office - I guess when you work with mostly guys and are in a war situation warm and inviting is not top on the list. At least he has plenty of water to give out!I was surprised to see the stained glass - this is actually a very nice chapel in my opinion. After seeing his office I didn't expect to see this one.


Working hard - does anyone else notice the big screen TV? Hope he doesn't get too used to that because when he gets back home it is back to old faithful our 32inch.The man that keeps Jon alive! What a fun job following Jon around watching out for people trying to get you both. The only thing I am jealous of is the fact that he and Jon get to spend so much time together this year - no offense Bolling but I think Jon will gladly dump you for me when he gets back to Alaska.After a long hard day at work who wouldn't want to come home to that cozy bed? I guess that is why the Army works you non-stop 24/7 while you are deployed so that when they finally let you sleep it won't matter on what.
Inside his office - at least he doesn't have to wear his body armor in there.
A tribute to Molly with a little bit of Ashley thrown in for good measure:)
Two computers so he can look extra busy.Ah the days of the Journey! A reminder of the goofy days so that hopefully he won't take himself to seriously.

I was thankful to get the pictures from Jon and I hope you enjoyed them too. Only 50 more days until we get to be together as a family and Jon doubles his time spent with Molly.

Jennie and Jessica

This week I had two friends in town and we had a blast. We did touristy things all day and then sat around at night talking and vegging. It was so fun. While they were here Molly has started to roll over on a regular basis and she started to babble more. I think with others around talking and laughing she realized that talking does not have to be limited to when we are out of the house around others. We went one a whale watching cruise (note to self remember to tell friends if they get motion sick to take meds before going out on the open waters), went to see scenic views on a bunch of hikes and blueberry picking. I think I ate more this week than the past month and enjoyed every minute of it. We celebrated our birthdays together and then had "chocolate covered donuts" (birthday cake) for breakfast most mornings. You can't waste a good cake now. We all have birthdays within two weeks of each other. We have some other friends from high school that we used to joke about going on a birthday bash b/c our birthday's all fell within two weeks of each other but Darcy just got married and Shannon had a baby (tonight!) so it was just the three of us but we made the most of it! With over 500 pictures to choose from it was quite difficult to narrow it down but here are few highlights!
At an abandoned gold mine
Whale watching
After our homemade hand picked blueberry pie - notice the blue tongues!
Riding up the tram
Cake and "chocolate donuts"
Jennie screaming about whitewater, open grates and a unstable hand tram.
Jessica screaming (in her head) we are over the weight limit here are we sure about this??
Molly and I enjoying the view and seeing them squirm.
Molly is starting to notice food more and likes to whine when you eat without sharing with her.
Right before our whale watching cruise.

Blueberry picking day 1 - we went twice and were much more successful the second day!

My 30th Birthday

Donuts, Rock Climbing, Twister Championship, Chocolate Cake, all day with friends. What could be better!!
This week my friends Jennie and Jessica from high school are here so we will have some fun adventures to post soon!!



All tuckered out after 14 hours of partying!

Canoe, Paintball and Glaciers

This weekend we went to a picnic where there was canoeing and paintball so of course we had try it out! Let's just say Molly is not necessarily a fan of life vests and therefore we are not exactly sure what she thinks of the lake. Since I didn't feel safe on the water without her wearing one we didn't last too long out there. You can't swim at this lake so we didn't really get to play in the water either but that is ok since most lakes have leeches in Alaska. Paintball however was a different story. She really loved the part she got to do in that - we stood on the outskirts of the course and shot people but they couldn't shoot us because, well Molly was not a shot able target!

Molly in the canoe
Before she realized the life vest did not taste good and that she HATED wearing it!
What most of our ride looked like
Molly and I ready for some paintball action - notice the bow and hair sticking up through her mask.

Sunday we went with our friends Valerie and William to a glacier about 1.5 hours away. It was an amazing experience and so beautiful we couldn't have asked for a better day!

The view of the glacier from our restaurant
The "sturdy" bridge we crossed - that is right you can see the water flowing from what you drive over.
The view from the parking lot - the white part is the glacier we got to climb on!
Valerie and William leading the way
We were right behind these people - notice the helmets and their feet are fitted with ice shoes. If you noticed in the previous picture Valerie and I were not that extreme we just hike in our climbing/winter boots and kids strapped to us. William is the only one of us who fell which is why he got to ride the whole time we were out climbing on the ice.
Notice the two small dots on top of the ice - those are people who climbed that ice cliff - we had to check out the view.
It was totally worth it! This picture does not capture how amazing this view us but let me tell you it was breath taking. It was worth climbing through the running water to get to.

Our little break on the way back. William was told if he rode in the backpack he could throw some rocks in a lake. There are plenty of rocks on the glacier and plenty of melted spots so we took a nice break from carrying the kids for 2 hours and let them have some fun. Molly enjoyed it until the glacier water soaked through the jacket, her jacket and clothes and she got a little cold. She got stripped down and put in William's sweater for the rest of the journey back.
I can't wait to take some friends to see this place!!

Haircut and other adventures

As I went the the store to pick up some pt shorts for Jon I saw the Army issued undershirts and thought of a craft project that was recommended for us to do. You put the kids hands on the middle of the shirt so he can wear around something from us. So I bought some shirts for us to try this today. While we were stripped and painting I realized Molly and I needed a little excitement in our life so it was decided today would be the day for our first haircut. With her in her bumbo I trimmed off some in the back - really I just cut off her rat tail.
The inch of hair that was cut off
The nice clean line - a lot less scraggly
This is what happens when your mom tries to do a craft project without enough help. I did the feet one at a time and tried to clean them as a I went but I totally lost the battle with her cute little hand. Man can she move fast - we had black paint on our hand, leg, chest, face and even back. I have no idea how it got there but it did. We went upstairs for a bath right after this and had to change out the water once. The amazing thing about the bumbo was all the paint came out after a little elbow grease.
The finished project - a shirt for Jon to wear. It was supposed to have a cute saying that says: I love you (hands outstretched on both sides) this much and once you left (using the foot) nothing has been right (using the foot). I was just thankful to have something on the shirt to get in the mail and the fact that my daughter didn't get black paint in her eye so we just left it at this.
And last but not least tonight we went the Classic Toys - if you live in Alaska stay away from this store!!! It has so many cute things that you are going to want to buy everything! I got Molly a teething toy that crunches and has tags and she loves it already. Her sunshine brings a smile to her face - which in turn brings one to mine. I love a happy baby.

Nothing special

Molly one day last week

Life has not been as exciting these past few weeks, it seems we crammed all the crazy fun in a few weekends. One funny story though: We had a party that Molly and I went to and her friend Joelle was there. Joelle was doing some funny things and Molly was giggling - it was pretty cute. Well then Joelle fell off the chair and what did Molly do?? She started laughing hysterically. While she comes about it honestly (I do this - ask Jon about the time he was choking and all I did was laugh at him) it makes you feel bad as the mom of the kid who laughs when her friends get hurt. Luckily Joelle bounced right back and they were back to laughing at each other again in no time.

Happy Birthday Chaplaincy

"Pro Deo et Patria! -- For God and Country! "

Barely six weeks after the Continental Congress established the Army and the first branch of the Army, the infantry, a second branch was established upon orders by General George Washington, according to Chaplain (Col.) Gary Moore, Fort Stewart's installation chaplain.

The Army Chaplains Corps was established July 29, 1775 and for 234 years, approximately 25,000 Army Chaplains have served more than 25 million Soldiers and Family Members, living up to the motto on its branch insignia, "Pro Deo et Patria," which means, "For God and Country."

"George Washington said, 'We need chaplains,' Washington was concerned about both the morale and morals of the Soldiers and believed the Army should provide paid religious leaders to meet Soldiers' spiritual needs," said Chap. Moore

Qualified and sent by their religious bodies, trained by the U.S. Army, and led by the God that they serve, Army Chaplains are expected to exercise dynamic and influential spiritual leadership, without violating their faith or conscience. Army Chaplains are the 'soul and conscience' of our nation's Army.

Whether leading worship, patrolling the motor pool, or visiting the hospital, Army Chaplains are always at the front line of the Soldiers' life. Additionally, Army Chaplains serve on a Commander's special staff in order to ensure that their spiritual gifts and leadership are integrated in the daily exercise of command decisions.

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be in Alaska celebrating the birth of the US Army chaplaincy while my husband was deployed I would have probably laughed in your face. Funny how God works - because today Molly and I went to a birthday party (with no cake I might add) for the chaplaincy. It is amazing to think of all the men and women who have followed what God called them to do and have served in the US Army. While it was a long journey to get us here I am thankful each day for Jon obeying the call he felt. Hard to believe that chaplains have been around since the first military battles in the US (and really the Old Testament - see Deut 20) and we have never sent any soldiers over without some form of religious support.
Thanks chaplains for all you do!