A Few Excerpts From Phil's Letters

I've been getting a couple letters from Phil in the mail almost everyday! Here are a few interesting excerpts:

"I have been staying under the radar as much as I can. I thought about taking some leadership positions but said no way after I saw the dorm chief and element leaders get in trouble for stuff all the other guys do and they have to do pushups."

"Some of the names our MTI calls us are pretty funny like turds, retards, and clowns."

"I look pretty good in my uniform."

"We have lost 3 members so far, 2 were overweight and the one we met at Gowen Field went home for depression. It was bad, he tried to cut his wrist. One guy is allergic to the wool socks and his ankles swelled up like balloons."

"Today we had a flight drill inspection and we got 10 out of 10. That is the first time a 2nd week flight has gotten a perfect score. My MTI couldn't believe it. It was the first time I have actually seen him happy."

"Our MTI made us take the keys we wear around our necks out from under our shirts and do push ups. Every time we went down they made a ringing sound on the ground. He made us sing Jingle Bells over and over, I couldn't stop laughing."

"So many people keep asking me about my garments, not many people have heard of LDS. They are jealous of my spandex bottoms cause they are sweet."

"Yesterday we were doing drill next to our sister flight and all the sudden the girls started laughing. A pigeon pooped on this girl's head and she started crying."

"You'll think its pretty crazy how we have to make our beds and fold and roll our clothes and line our shoes. I am the best bed maker and shirt roller. Everyone calls me the "bed god" and everyone always asks me to help them."

"Did I tell you I have a M16 machine gun? It's awesome! I'm one of the fastest at taking it apart and reassembling it."

Sophie's First Big Fall

Wednesday morning Sophie had a play date with her friends Aiden, Kyler, and Lucy. She had fun until she fell out of a little wagon onto the cement head first. My poor baby! I felt like such a bad mom. I'm so grateful she seems to be just fine. An ER visit would not have been something I could have handled without Phil. Here's a picture of her big bump and scrape.

Bend, Oregon...what a beautiful place!

The Missed Call & Other Horrible Happenings

Sophie and I decided to drive to Bend yesterday to spend the long weekend with my brother and sister. She was SUCH a good girl during the drive but then...

When we got there everyone was still at work so we went inside and plugged my phone in cause it was about to die. We ran out to the car to bring some of our stuff in to discover that WE MISSED PHIL'S CALL! He tried 3 times. I was so upset! I called Phil's mom and sure enough, he had called her instead. I was bawling by the time I got off the phone with her, looked over at Sophie and she was CHOKING on something. My maternal instincts take over and I shove my finger down her throat which causes her to throw up EVERYWHERE. All over the bed, the floor, herself, and me. Then, she poops! Down her leg, on the carpet, won't stay still while I'm trying to change her, puts her hands in it. So there's poop and throw up everywhere.

I finally get that all cleaned up and put everything in the wash. We go back to the car to bring more stuff in. I put her in the car to play for a minute cause its a busy street while I get stuff out of the trunk. I open the door to get her out and she had thrown up EVERYWHERE! I start bawling again and by this time have the worst headache ever. I get ahold of Ben and Trisha and thankfully Ben comes home early. He cleans up the car while I give Sophie a bath. She throws up twice more that night and then continues to dry heave when there's nothing left. It was SO sad. I'm still not sure if she was sick or if I just started up her really sensitive gag reflex, but she seems to be better this morning. WHAT A DAY!

Glad that's over with and now we can have fun in Bend. Hopefully Phil can call again soon but I heard today there are 4 letters from him waiting for us at home!

My Motivation To Cook and The Daddy Stick

Sophie and I are doing just fine without Phil, but are still waiting to hear how he's doing! Any day now we'll hopefully get a letter or a call. I guess the first two weeks are pretty hard core. Before Phil left, he cut his face out of a picture and taped it on this stick for Sophie. She's been carrying it around whenever its not lost!

I turned 26! And had a fun birthday dinner with Sum and Becca at the Cheescake Factory, yum!

Saturday, my Aunt Miney threw me and my cousins Emily and Sarah a joint birthday party at the park. Lots of food and fun. My Aunt Sassy made us these darling aprons...my motivation to cook! I have the best aunts ever!

Sophie Update

Sophie is starting to learn her alphabet, but if you ask her what any letter is she'll say "A". She loves to wear accessories like hats, sunglasses, shoes, and bracelets and if any of us are wearing a hoodie, she prefers we have the hood on. She's starting to say more words and phrases like, "here you go", "come on, let's go", "please", "thank you", "shoes" and "balloon". She pats Phil's back when he picks her up. She loves to give the dogs a treat. Her favorite book is "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and I'm pretty sure she loves Curious George more than us.

Here is a video of Sophie training for boot camp with Phil: