Shortly after my last post, my husband returned home from Afghanistan. I can't even explain how amazing it was to have him back in my arms again. I was lucky enough to have another Marine wife offer to come and take pictures for me, and she got some great shots.
On one hand, it was difficult to adjust to not living alone (i.e. I now have someone to question why I need X product from Wal Mart at 11:30 at night, instead of waiting until morning like a normal person). Other times, we'll be sitting on the couch and it would be like he never left. Shortly before we headed back north to see our families for leave over Christmas, we traded in the car (which Jess and I had jacked up mileage on during our trip anyways), and bought a H2. The gas mileage obviously isn't as great as the car, but it is much nicer to have a vehicle that can haul stuff. Plus it's just fun to drive. Bryce wanted to prove that it really was big, so instead of tying our Christmas tree to the top of the Hummer we stuffed it inside.
Then, it was finally time to drive back to Washington for the holidays. We drove straight through, only stopping for a few hours to catch some sleep at a rest stop. Leave flew by, filled with family and friends. It isn't easy only having one car, so we decided to drive my Pathfinder back down to California with us. We bought some cheap walkie-talkies for the trip, and I can honestly say they were one of the best ideas ever. Since we were each driving a car, they allowed us to chat without having to continually call each other on our cell phones (which is illegal in most states anyways). I'm pretty sure it didn't stop raining in California from the day we left until after we returned, save for the dust storm that tore up the windshields at the base of the Grapevine.
Now we are just enjoying our time in California. We should be moving again in a few months, so I'm trying to enjoy the winter sunshine while I can. :)
