Trip to Idaho & Utah

It has been a long time since I last posted anything. Jaren and I have been very busy lately and there will be a few posts telling you what we've been up to coming soon.
Once Jaren got home, we made our way down to Idaho and Utah to visit family and friends. I had planned on this being a relaxing trip where we wouldn't be rushed from one place to the next or have any time constraints. I was wrong. I won't go into all the details of our trip but here are a couple of highlights.
Jaren's younger brother, Tyson, returned from the MTC in February to take care of a couple of things and will be going back out on his mission this November or December. Though he wished he could be out on his mission, we were really glad to see and spend time with him. We went to Whitney's graduation (the youngest of Jaren's siblings) and it was definitely the longest and most interesting graduation I have EVER attended. Shortly after we got to the Glover's Jaren was giving Tyson the Army speech again and Teresa (Jaren's mom) actually agreed that he should join to have college paid for. This was a first! So, Jaren and I took Tyson to a recruiter friend of Jaren's and got him all tested and signed up for the Army Reserve in 4 days time. Jaren even got the opportunity to swear Tyson into the Army.





We decided to cancel plans of visiting family in Provo (sorry Michelle and Aubry) to help Tyson get everything ready since he was leaving for Basic Combat Training only 10 days after signing up. We did make a trip up to Idaho Falls over the weekend to visit my sister (Kristina), brother (Scott), Grandma Ann, Aunt Laura, and cousins for a few days. Afterwards we spent the next several days trying to help Tyson memorize and learn things he would need to know for BCT. I think we got him pretty well prepared...or at least gave him a good head start on things. He didn't think BCT was going to be as bad as we said but I think he agrees with us now that he's there at Ft. Sill, OK. He will get back from training at the end of October in time to leave on his mission.
On Saturday we headed back to Boise to visit Melisa, Eric, Logan and Lily. We took them to Pojo's which is like Chuck E. Cheese but has a Merry-go-round and bumper cars. They had fun running around, playing the games in the arcade, and riding the little rides. Lily wanted to ride the "horsies" or Merry-go-round and Logan loved the bumper cars.


Lily loved running away from us too. With three adults we could hardly keep track of her!



Lily's horse was actually the same Panda bear both times. We had a lot of fun visiting everyone and am sorry to those we didn't get to see! More updates will be coming soon!

The Homecoming

I pulled into a parking spot in the short-term parking at the airport when Jaren called and said they had just landed. My mom, younger sister and her friend pulled in a minute later. We ran down to the terminal where he would be coming out. I only had to wait a minute before I saw his smiling face. He was the first soldier off of the plane. I couldn't exactly run in heels but walked as quickly as I could before jumping into his arms. This is one of those moments that you imagine but the real thing is 100 times better. That was the best and longest hug EVER! Once Jaren put me down and let go of me a little, my sister Ashley ran over to him to give him a hug and she was crying. It was cute to see.



Ashley made a "welcome home" sign for Jaren the night before and was proudly displaying it while the rest of us held little American flags.



How nice to FINALLY have him home! I missed him so much!



We just couldn't let go of each other once he hugged Ashley and my mom and greeted a couple of soldiers from his unit that didn't deploy with them but were at the airport to welcome them home. It took a few minutes for the rest of the soldiers to make it off the plane. Jaren had been right by the plane door and left all of the other soldiers behind to come find me. :)



It was nice to be at the bed & breakfast for a couple of days. We came back to my parents house for the weekend while they and Ashley went out to Boise to see my sibblings and the grandkids. We'll be heading out tomorrow to take care of some business at Ft. Lewis then we'll start making our rounds to visit family and friends in Idaho and Utah. We'll be seeing you soon!

Latest update...

Jaren will be here before noon today!!! YEAH!!! My mom, sister and I will greet him at the airport then Jaren and I will head for the bed and breakfast. We will be gone for a couple of days but I will post some pictures of the arrival at the airport when I get the chance (in a few days). Just thought I would let you all know he's on the flight right now. It's finally here!!!!!

Really close!

We are down to less than a week until Jaren comes home!!!! Well, it is less than a week as long as the out-processing goes smoothly. I heard rumor that they will be landing in the states tonight but I'm not sure. I haven't heard from Jaren for a couple of days so hopefully I will get a phone call from him tomorrow telling me he's at Ft. McCoy. Unfortunately, they won't be doing any out-processing over the weekend so they have to sit there for two days probably not doing much. I'm hoping they get everything taken care of and get a flight home by the end of next week. He definitely won't be home for my birthday but within a few days would be great too! YEAH!!! I'm almost done with this long separation! I can hardly wait for him to be home with ME!!!!!