Settling in...

When you've missed 4 months together as a family there's SO much you want to do when your all back together again!

Friday afternoon we headed to the pool!

Riley loved having her Daddy play with her in the pool...she rode on his back, jumped to him, and even pretended to throw him!

After the pool we headed to eat Mexican food...such a great first day home!

It has taken Jason most of this entire past week to adjust to the time difference and to catch up on sleep!

Saturday night he fell asleep on our bed at 7:30 while I was giving Riley a bath in our bathroom...while I was cleaning up the tub she went and climbed on our bed all by herself and curled up next to him...it was the sweetest thing!

We have eaten out a lot, gone shopping, played inside and outside, cooked some great meals and ate out on our patio, and just have had lots of fun!

Tuesday night Miss M came over to play with Riley and we had a date night!

We had a great dinner, shared a bottle of wine, and then went and saw a movie...fantastico!

Thursday we went to Discovery Kingdom with Patti and Braden!

Riley rode her first roller coaster with her daddy!

Patti and Braden!

It was a pretty rough coaster considering it was made for little ones but of course Riley loved it!

Next she got to ride an airplane all by herself!

She was exstatic!

She and I rode the swings together...one of my favorite rides...the sun was in her face for this pic!

We had to hold our hands in the air the entire time!

Then we headed to Thomas Town for splash pad time!

She and Braden ran in circles and just had a blast!

Then she took a ride on Harold the helicopter with her Daddy!

After all the rides we went to check out the shark tanks!

She was very leery of this glass protecting her from all the fishies at first but she finally trusted it and had fun checking out everything!

What a fun night!

Our first week has been great!!!

The sweetest day...

Friday morning was sort of hectic...in a good way!

We had to get all purtied up and eat our last Daddy kiss!

Someone was totally excited!
We made it on base expecting to be an hour early when I got a phone call that the plane was 20 minutes out...woohoo!

My sweet friend Hannah came to take pictures and video for us and she did a great job creating priceless memories from this day!

We waited in the pax terminal before we headed to the flightline...Riley was squealing and telling everyone how excited she was to see her Daddy!

We were able to watch the plane approach and land and then we headed to the flightline to wait for everyone to come off the plane! Riley had made a special picture for her Daddy and since the flightline is always windy I had to keep reminding her to hold on tight to it. While we were waiting in front of the plane the wind got ahold of her sign and it was off...and she was in tears. About 20 dudes ran after it and chased down her sign and saved the day! Thanks goodness!

While Riley was so excited talking about her Daddy coming off the plane, she actually got super shy once she saw him and was in his arms. She immediately said, "I made a picture for you Daddy", gave him a few hugs, and then she was in my arms hiding her face in my shoulder for about half an hour. I think it all overwhelmed her!

Here's a video I put together of us all together again!


One happy family!

Thankfully although Riley was very shy around Jason at first...he made a good move and shared some jelly beans with her!
And it was like he had never been gone!

This deployment comes to an end...

The past four months we have missed this stud more than words can express!

Despite the incredibly hard job he had and the extremely long hours he did get to check out Abu Dhabi on several occasions!

He spent his last "day off" out on the town last week shopping for me (hehe) and had some great food with some good friends of his!

They threw him a going away dinner and sent him off...and we can't wait to have him home!

As I type this I we are just 12 hours away (if the plane gets off on time) from having him home. There aren't many positives that come from deployments but the feelings I have right now are one of them. Most people don't get to feel the excitement of seeing your spouse after months of separation...it's an incredible feeling!

There's anticipation, relief, butterflies, excitement, and much more.

I am stoked to see Riley's reaction to seeing her Daddy in real life and not on the computer...I'm sure the two of them will be in the swing of things as if he had never left just like they did last time!

I'm so excited for us to be a family again!

Napa and more fun!

While my parents were here they celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary so we planned a day in Napa while Riley went to play with her buddy Braden!

We started off with lunch at the infamous Rutherford Grill!

We ate lunch on the patio and enjoyed the great weather and the great food!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

After lunch we headed to Cakebread...it was beautiful and they gave us a complimentary tasting but it was not our favorite!

Next stop was V. Sattui which is always a loud happening place! We tasted next to some Aussies and next thing you know he is telling us Texas jokes...we had a blast!

Next stop was St. Superi...we met up with the Rick's and the Cramer's and Hannah shot a few shots of us in the vines!

Jason was there too...in spirit!

Me, Erin, and Hannah with their two cute boys Sammy and Ollie!

We tasted upstairs in the members only area and had such a good time..I think they convinced us to become members there too!

Last stop was Mumm...a sparkling winery with a great view!

We tagged along with the Cramer fam and had a lot of fun!

Ollie was entertaining himself with corks...he takes "put a cork in it" to a whole new level...love this boy!

That was the end of our day in Napa...many glasses of wine later...good thing we had a hearty lunch!

We were so excited to get Riley and she had a blast all day with Braden running around in the sprinklers and such!

We made paninis and played in the backyard the rest of the evening!

Sunday morning my Dad had to head back home so us girls decided to check out Tilden Park on the way back...it's in Berkeley and I had heard great things about it!

Being that San Francisco is infamous for its rolling fog our morning walk was literally in the clouds as we started at the very top at Inspiration Point and the fog was so thick we had no idea what the view looked like!

We walked for a good two hours and it was amazing!

We came across this huge area of Eucalyptus trees and the aroma was incredible!

By the time we made it back to the car the fog had started to life, the sun was starting to shine, and we could see a good bit of the fantastic view from the top!

Love this girl...she was good on the walk...she entertained herself in her stroller and roughed it twice as she pottied in the bushes!

As if this park wasn't cool enough they also have a carousel and a petting zoo...it's a huge park and we were starving so we took a quick ride on the carousel and headed out!

We ate in Berkeley at a Crepe restaurant and it was so good...tons of food!

Once we got home Riley took a good nap and I got to get out and run errands BY MYSELF...amazing! Jason had a few things he needed for his trip home so I had lots of stops to make so I could get it all together to head out on the rotator the next morning!

Once I got home we headed to the pool and Riley had a blast showing Grammie all her new pool skills!

And this mama got to lay in a lounge chair and do my Bible study...glorious!

Thanks mom!

Riley got to play with Grammie all day Monday and my mom got to meet the Bible babes that night as we hosted the study at my house!

My mom did most of the cooking this time with a theme...apricots!

You see we have two apricot trees in our backyard and the dogs love them..as in I caught Hank jumping up, pulling on a branch and shaking it until the apricots would fall off and then he and Kadie scarfed them down. Since my pooper scooper is gone I have had to take over that duty and let me tell you...I am sick of the apricots...and the horrid amount of apricot poop!

So my mom picked a TON of apricots and created concoctions with them..yummy ones! One night we had an apricot tart...and for Bible study she made apricot bars and spicy apricot jelly that we poured over cream cheese! I am happy to report that I think the apricot trees are done bearing fruit...just in time for the pooper scooper to come home! :)

We had a great visit with my parents...love you guys!