BASIC TRAINING GRADUATION!!

Last Tuesday my parents, my little brother and I headed on a 21 hour road trip to Lawton Oklahoma to see Brandt graduate from Basic Training. For those of you that have not traveled I-70, 191 or the I-40 THERE IS NOTHING THERE!!!! Most boring hours of my life... Trying to stay composed from the excitement and nerves from seeing my husband to trying to stay awake from the night sky and no one around was seriously the hardest thing ever! Getting to Oklahoma was a big relief. I think they want to make you unsettled by making you drive right next to the base for the last 10 miles and knowing your husband is just on the other side of the fence is NOT fun! It is torture! We got in to Oklahoma around noon on Wednesday. We weren't able to see him until the next morning. Tire and exhausted we decided to stay in and relax! BEST IDEA EVER!!!!

Thursday we got up around nine and got ready and head down to what they call Family Day. It is the day before Graduation. They do  few skits for you and show you what they have been up to for the last three months. This is who I ran into!

There he is right in the middle! He was so hansom. More so than I remembered! I was so happy to see him after three months of only looking at pictures! I was so relieved! He was going to be participating in the skit about shooting combat. He was awesome! First thing he said was "Babe did you see me tackle that guy!!" He had fun. After skits he had to go change out of his full combat gear into his class B uniform. Then we got to take pictures and meet everyone! It was so much fun to meet his battle buddies and even the missionaries who helped him through Basic Training. Here are some of those pictures!

This is brother and sister Larkin! They are from Logan! They were awesome in helping Brandt when he needed a little encouragement and to help the others who went with Brandt to church understand the gospel! It is amazing how much going into the military is like serving a mission! I never would have thought that this would be how I served my mission but I am ready to do the work! 

On Thursday we went out to lunch after we left the base. We took Brandt to Golden Corral we figured it would be a good place where he could get ANYTHING he wanted. He did just that after eating chicken, pizza more chicken and pizza oh and three mountain dews, he was done for the moment. We went back to the hotel and went swimming and then just rested. (something he had not done in 3 months) was get time to just lay down and watch a movie and rest. :) It was perfect to just be with him again! It is weird how whole you feel when you are together again after being apart. It was like we had never been apart! We took him to Taco bell (at his request) for dinner Where he could get more mountain dew but this time it was two large Baja blast Mountain Dew. Steak casadilla (forgive my spelling Spellcheck is not my friend) and two taco's. We headed back to the base to take him to the barracks for the evening. On our way all he could say was how bad his stomach hurt from all the food he ate. Go figure after not getting that kind of food for months! :)

The next day was Graduation! I was so excited to see him graduate! I couldn't wait to see him in his class A uniform! He graduated with honors with the Marksmanship honor award! (something we have kept in the family, My dad won this and my brother in law won it as well) 

The program with his award announcement in it! I was so proud of him! It was so fun to see him graduate and have so much pride doing so! We got to meet up with our soldier outside after graduation and I got to meet some of the awesome guys who are going to be with us at warrant officer training and flight school training as well. 

The last picture is of the guys going to warrant officer and flight training (minus 1) together and the one dad who was a retired warrant officer helicopter pilot.. So the Incoming and outgoing as they called it! IT was so fun to see Brandt with his friends he made.
After all was said and done at graduation we went back to just hang out and relax a bit. we went shopping for a while and then just laid poolside to relax and enjoy each others company. At the end of the day it was a bitter sweet goodbye! We had been together for only two days but it felt like forever and then we were being ripped apart again.. The plus side is I have gotten through the 10 week portion now I only have 7 weeks until I am with him again for good. :) (until the next training or deployment but you catch my drift)
That night at 1am he got on a bus and was on his way to the airport in which he was to be heading to Fort Rucker Alabama! This will be our new home for the next two years. He got there safe and sound and before I had even eaten breakfast still in Oklahoma!
I have been talking to him about Alabama and he says it is gorgeous and the weather although it is humid is perfect! Anything beats the 109 Degree 90% humidity we had in Oklahoma! I am so excited for this part of our lives to start I can hardly contain myself! School is in the week of finals already! I am seriously trying to buckle down for it and get through it. I will be starting to work at the Bountiful sport clips again for the month of august to keep myself busy. Brandt will Graduate Warrant Officer school or WOCS on September 13th then he will head back here to help me get our things packed and ready to move to the SOUTH!!! We will stay in town for a few days to try and see everyone and say goodbye to the ones we love. It will be hard cause we have 10 starting the 14th to get back to Alabama.  We are so excited for this part of our lives to begin the excitement it overwhelming! But, We are so thankful and blessed to have great friends and family that support us! Thanks y'all! We love you so much!
The DaNiElS!