Epic Weekend

I am coming off a high of one of the best weekends I've had since Nick left.

Nick got his first liberty period late yesterday afternoon, and I waited patiently all day to hear from him...

We haven't seen eachother's faces in 3 weeks, so I had to make sure I was looking hot for our FaceTime date.

I'm telling you ladies...it's all about the little things in a marriage to keep things spicy.

We spent some time outside to kill time blowing bubbles...

Pure joy

And then...at 1711 (5:11pm), my phone started playing "Sweet Home Alabama" (Nick's ring tone), and I think I about fell out of my chair to grab my phone when I heard it.

And, I got to see this handsome, smiling face.

Another cool thing that happened...

Mattis took his "first crawls" on all fours while Nick was on FaceTime!!!!

Timing is everything, folks.

Lastly, one of my best friends from the Marine Corps just happened to come here for a business trip, and she came a day early to come see me!!

The last time I saw her was on my 26th birthday when Nick was deployed, and Dannika was just about Mattis' age.

 And here she is with Mattis....

yes, he's huge compared to my little Dannika (above).

Dannika was OVER THE MOON having her over.

Kim is so amazing with kids, and she spent the afternoon doing math, writing, and reading with Dannika,

Oh, and just another bonus...

This hot chicka is also a TEXAS GIRL!

I look at this photo of all of us, and it makes me smile.

You see, back in the day, Kim and I used to cause havoc around southern California with our debauchery and nonsense...lol.

But we always made it to formation on time....

It's crazy to think that she is now a college grad with a "grown up" job (not that the Marine Corps wasn't a grown up job), but we've both matured.

And we have our priorities straight!

 This is our first photo of just the two of us where we are BOTH civilians!

Just two veterans...

We hadn't seen each other in nearly 5 years, but when she showed up at my house, it was like she never left.

It felt like that 5 year gap in our friendship never existed. 

We stayed up, drank wine, and just caught up.

This weekend made me realize that some of the greatest things in my life that came out of the Marine Corps are the friendships and bonds.

There are things that we talked about that my civilian friends wouldn't have understood.

We laughed about things that only two girls who spent their young adult lives in an organization full of men would understand.

It was great...