I started this blog mostly to keep everyone updated on Gary during the deployment because I knew he wouldn't keep in contact much while he was gone. But he is limited in what he can tell me, so it is kind of hard to give updates. I'm sure he'll have lots of stories to tell when he gets back, so until then here are a few more pictures from Iraq.
Gary carries a hand gun on his thigh and a rifle over his shoulder.
This is Gary with Micah Sampson. His wife hates facial hair on Micah as much as I hate facial hair on Gary, so they decided to grow mustaches.
Gary riding in his 7 ton, still with the ridiculous mustache.
This is the back of the 7 ton where he usually sleeps when they're out in the field.
A .50 cal and Cheez-Its, what more do you need when you're on watch?
This is a picture of the only "mountains" Gary has seen over there.
This is Gary and Richard Knudsen with the blow pops I sent in their mouths. Richard's wife Ashley moved in with her parents for the deployment. Her parents happen to be in my ward and don't live far from me, so Ashley and I have become good friends.
This is Gary's living space. He uses the plastic drawers as a desk. Not a lot of closet space or privacy!
A few weeks ago I decided it was time to put away the crib and put Josh in a big boy bed. While Gary was home in September we found this bed at a garage sale and figured it would save us from having to buy another dresser since there's drawers built in. Josh is clutching his Snoopy and his bear that he sleeps with every night. He has to have one stuffed animal for each arm.
This is what happens after climbing in and out of bed for half an hour. It is a little blurry since the room was dark. I think all big boy beds should come equipped with a supply of duct tape to ensure the kid stays put. The first night I fought him for over an hour before I was too exhausted to do it anymore and stuck him back in the crib. Then I took the crib down the next day so that I would be forced to make him sleep in the bed.
This was after only 15 minutes of chasing him back to bed. I honestly don't understand where a small child finds the energy to climb in and out of bed so many times. The other morning, around 3:30 I heard a big thud come from his room, so I jumped out of bed and ran in to see what happened. I found him laying on the floor at the foot of his bed, so I picked him up and put him back in his bed. He was really annoyed that I had disturbed him as he was sleeping peacefully on the floor.
Josh likes to be in the tub and it doesn't matter if there is water in it or not, nor does it matter if he is wearing clothes or not. One day he climbed in his baby sitter's tub with his clothes on while she was getting her girl dressed. He even tried to shampoo his hair.
Josh has become quite the little helper. He frequently says, "help you" and then tries to help me with whatever I am doing. He really likes tools, and any chance he gets he will try to run off with my tools and use them. So I had to give him his very own plastic tools, which he uses where ever he has seen grandpa fixing things around my house.
This is Josh winding down for bed by watching one of his favorite movies "llella" otherwise known as Cinderella. He asks for it a lot. I love the mischievous grin in this picture, and he is modeling one of his favorite hats.
