A Life in the Day

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T16:13:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures of Cole's Christmas. We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing his surprise. And now he's getting old enough that I want to play with the toys he gets so when he asks me to play along we both have fun.

Colers Valentine's Day Party at School

2011-02-15T20:58:00.014-07:00

HOME!!

2010-06-22T09:17:00.002-06:00

So I have been home for a week now and it is still awesome. It's great to be in a clean and fresh smelling place. I was telling Britt yesterday how much I missed being barefoot. I wore flip-flops in the shower and if I ever did take off my socks it was in bed and it was rare that I would leave my feet available for any old creepy crawlies to attack. So it was nice to shower and walk around barefoot.
Cole is also keeping me so busy, we play all the time. He likes to make cards and pretend I am picking him up from the airport. He is so cute and so much fun and has soooo much energy.
Britt is also enjoying the back-up. When Cole acts up at the store or when we are out and about we can work as a team to get him out of the situation and still get whatever errands we are doing finished.
Now I have a month off and can't wait to just play and have fun without worrying about anything.

The End

2010-06-10T09:32:00.003-06:00

So in August I found out I was going to be deployed to a fun and exciting country in the middle east. Here it is ten months later and I am within days of getting back home. This last six months seem so short and at the same time so long. I am also glad that this was my deployment because it was easier than most. Was my life in danger? Yes. Not so much by bullets and bombs and suicide bombers, although they were a threat, but the drivers on the road and all the abandoned vehicles on the side of the road were very scary.
I have missed my family so much and can't wait to get back to them. I plan on putting up some pictures and posting more memories when I get home. For now I will just fill my time until I get to fill the air of Commando Village with the sweet sounds of John Denver.

Our visit to UT.

2010-05-16T17:13:00.047-06:00

Cole had so much fun in Utah and going to Lagoon. Thank you so much to my mom, Brian's mom, and Rachael and everyone else that helped keep Cole entertained. Thank you all so much and we hope to see you all again in June.

No Title

2010-05-04T09:52:00.003-06:00

So I was talking to Britt today and realized I haven't updated the blog recently. Last night I was driving our tactical combat Kia's when a giant puddle and a pond of water leftover from our massive rain storm the other day got the best of me and sucked my car in. In the end my car gave the fence a little love tap bending a pole and scratching the bumper. So far all I know is I won't be driving the rest of my time here and I'm sure other punishment will follow. It wasn't a big deal in that no one was hurt and no massive damage was done. Other then that it's still the same old stuff here. I just keep counting down the days until I get home.

100

2010-04-18T17:58:00.002-06:00

So I am missing my family so much and I know they are missing me too. I was talking to Britt the other day and she told me Cole was acting up and said he wanted her to leave and Daddy to come home. The next day when i was on the web cam I asked Cole why he was acting up and he goes "I'm sad. I'm frustrated." (A little side note: when i get mad at Cole instead of saying I'm pissed off I tell him I'm getting frustrated; and that's exactly how he used the term frustrated in his sentence.) When I asked why he was frustrated he said it was because he missed me. The next day Britt told me how Cole said he was going to be bad until I came home. We decided to talk to him and see if we could help him to not be "frustrated."
We ask Cole "how much do you love me?" and he'll say one or two and if we are REALLY lucky it will be ten. Well when we asked Cole how much he missed Daddy he said "100" without missing a beat. That's when I knew he was missing me a lot. It was so sweet and sad at the same time. After that I had talk with Cole and let him know I would be home as soon as I could and I'm pretty sure he has been acting a little better since then. So right now I just want to let everyone know that I am missing my family 100.

Easter weekend

2010-04-05T08:56:00.040-06:00

This weekend was pretty fun; not only was it Easter but my Mom, Aunt Jo Rae, and Uncle Bryce came to visit. They got here late on friday night so we just sat around so they could relax. On saturday Bryce went to Showdown Ski Resort and Cole and the girls went shopping and out to eat. On sunday we celebrated Easter. Cole had so much fun looking for his Easter basket and looking for eggs in the front yard, even though it was freezing. Then we went to the river to show Bryce and Jo Rae the fish hatchery and the dams around here. After we played at the river for awhile we went out to celebrate my moms birthday. It was so much fun and I'm so glad they could come and spend Easter with us.

APRIL FOOLS

2010-04-02T07:50:00.002-06:00

If you haven't read the blog before this one then the joke is ruined, IF you have then April Fool's. Although my job is dangerous at times we have not had a vehicle explosion here, or any where in Kuwait as long as I have been here. I have been waiting for april fool's to post these pictures that my friends helped me with. Hudson took the pictures and Herrera photo shopped in the cool explosion in the background. I was debating whether or no to do it because it is kinda mean; but in the end I decided to post it. Jann sorry I hurt your feelings but you are never believing me and Britt so I had to go over the top. I did get Mom, Dad, and Grandma Munro pretty good to with my phone call. So to everyone, April Fool's and from now on while I'm here I won't joke about explosions and such.
Also today I took my end of course exams for my career development and I scored an 86% and I am not happy about it. Well I will keep you all updated and hopefully I'll be home in about two months, woo hoo.

An interesting thing happened....

2010-04-01T00:58:00.004-06:00

So today was a fun day. It started out as a regular night driving around and feeding the troops. A few hours before the end of our shift I went to check on the front gate to see how they were doing. As I was walking up my goggles were on the side of my helmet and they thought this was pretty funny so they decided to take a picture of me, I didn't know why they were laughing and taking my picture until after they took it and started making comments on my goggles. After I fixed my goggles I told them to take a real picture. While they took the presentable picture of me I heard the loudest explosion in my life. So I immediately dropped down. As it turned out Hudson, the guy taking the picture, took it right as the bomb went off. It turns out we were going to have a car bomb roll through out entry gate, but due to a malfunction it exploded early on the road leading up to our base. It was one of the most frightening things that has ever happened to me. After that I know I hope I never have to go to real war or experience anything like this again. It made me realize how much I love my family. I can't wait to come home and get out of here. I love you all so much.

Me and my goofy goggles

Me peeing my pants.

Cole skating at Ashtons party

2010-03-29T08:15:00.014-06:00

This is Cole skating for the first time. As you will see he did very well. He went to his friend Ashton's birthday party and they roller skated and also did the limbo. Cole was real good at the limbo too, out of 50 kids he finished in 10th place; not to bad for his first time. He had so much fun that he can't wait to do it again.

Cole keeping busy

2010-03-25T19:14:00.017-06:00

1/2 Marathon

2010-03-21T09:45:00.002-06:00

So this St. Patrick's Day while most of the states were getting drunk on green beer I decided to run a half marathon. My goal was to run it in two hours or less. I didn't quite make my goal. I ran it in two hours eight minutes. I really wanted to push it the last bit, but the wind was blowing so hard it was like hitting a wall. I tried to stay with another guy I know but he was just too fast for me. I got the result list the other day and found out I finished 69th place out of 119. Easter has a 10k that if I have the day off I am thinking of running. Now that I know what the course looks like i think I could handle it and have fun.
I'm trying to get in shape and started lifting weights to work my upper body for the first time in my life. So I learned recently that I find running more enjoyable then weight lifting, but I need to build my arms for when I need to drag a wounded comrade off the battlefield. HA like that would ever happen.

90 days

2010-03-08T07:32:00.003-07:00

So today is day 90. What 90 days what does that mean and why do I care? Well we care because I am scheduled to be gone 179 days and 90 means that I am half way done. These three months seem to go by fast, unless I stop to think about it and then it seems like forever. I really can't wait to be done here though, I have learned a lot and even more about the air force and how things work, more than I would have back home that's for sure, but I am still ready to be done here.

I saw a movie once......

2010-03-07T09:03:00.002-07:00

Once upon a time I saw a little flick called Apollo 13. Some of you may have heard of it. For those of you who haven't I'll give a brief synopsis: A crew of three men went up in space in a shuttle oddly enough called Apollo 13, and this craft was piloted by a man named Jim Lovell, played by a great up and coming actor named Tom Hanks. The shuttle had an explosion and these three men had find away to get back to earth before dying, and they do. Good movie you should rent it. Today I met that man along with another astronaut you may have heard of named Neil Armstrong. Along with a few other people that went to the moon, flew all the SR-71 aircraft when they were all put together and Brigadier General Steve Ritchie, the last Air Force fighter pilot ace. It was so amazing to see these guys and hear their stories of ALL the things they had done not just the moon stuff. It was a pretty cool day.

Swimming lessons

2010-03-02T18:35:00.006-07:00

Cole ready for church

2010-03-01T08:22:00.003-07:00

Cole goes to the Olympics

2010-02-25T12:43:00.003-07:00

Ok so he's not going to Vancouver.........yet. I just got off the phone with Brittany and she told me all the plans she has for our Colerbear. She signed him up for swimming and he will start on Tuesday. She also is going to sign him up for t-ball in the spring and soccer if they still let three year olds play. I think he is real excited for all of it because I know he loves swimming just like his mom, and when i asked him the other day what we are going to do when i get home he said, "Bowling, soccer, swim, t-ball, go to the park...." then he sort of trailed off and wanted his Nintendo D.S. So I know he'll be super excited for all Britt has in store for him. He still loves going to school too, on the days he goes he's always so excited to tell me that he's going and Britt tells me that he is always excited and can't wait to go back when he gets home. This all makes me excited because I think he's going to be a well rounded kid with school and sports. So he might not be in the Olympics this year but who knows what 2026 holds.

Coler's first day of preschool

2010-02-22T16:02:00.017-07:00

Cole was so excited to go to preschool this morning. His teacher's name is Miss Julia and she said that Cole was so polite to use his "please" and "thank you." Another exciting thing is Coler got to use his new backpack that Brian gave to him for his birthday from Kuwait. The letter of the week is "G" and we have to bring something starting with G on friday for show and share. I must admit that I cried when he left, even though I enjoy a little break now and then, I was still sad to see him go and not care that I left. My little guy is growing up so fast.

Curling

2010-02-22T14:49:00.003-07:00

So lately there has been this little thing in the world going on called the Olympics. Well we have a few television sets around that are always on that we have no control over, well who ever has control over them must love the sport of curling because it is always on. So today before work I decided to root for team USA, not knowing what was going on. After making a fool of myself I decided I would figure out what curling is all about. It turns out two teams of four guys (or girls) throw rocks, or "stones", down some ice and try to get their stones closer to the center than the other team and each stone is worth one point no matter how close to the center it gets. So pretty much they want more stones closer to the center than the other, pretty simple I guess. Now I can root, root, root for the home team and you can too.

Pictures from Kuwait

2010-02-15T03:54:00.008-07:00

So I have a new roommate who is pretty cool and is letting me borrow his computer. I learned recently from another experience that I could use my music player cord that hooks to the computer on my camera too. So I asked my roommate, Andrew Casini, if I could use his computer and he said I could; while I was looking for a place to plug in my usb cord I saw that he had a slot on the side of his computer that i could put my memory card right into. So I hope you all enjoy some pictures.

This is me in Norfolk, VA waiting to get on board an airplane to take me on a magical journey.

This is me in Leipzig, Germany. I got some WONDERFUL chocolate here.

This is my squad arriving at Al Udeid Air Base some where in the middle of the east. Don't they all look so happy?

In this tent in "The Died" there was a lot people leaving their mark, so I left mine.

YAY, Ali Al Salem, what a great place.

This was my first living space when I got here. Ahhhh it was so nice. Gatorade and water what a good snack to have when you live in front of the gym.

My current living space. I made these changes when my old roommates moved out.

I made my boonie cap into a cowboy hat because I figured if I was going to look like a dork I was going to be a little bit different, like usual.

O.k. so these next set of pictures were taken today when a group went to Camp Arifjan. I am spearheading a t-shirt campaign here for our squadron, mainly because I know two people back home that wanted hoodies from Kuwait, and I decided the shirts would turn out better if made at AJ than here. So these are pictures of some of the things we saw, and what I see going to and from work, outside and in.

I wanted to be silly and get a picture of the back of everyone's heads, except mine because I was sitting in the back, but some people wanted to turn around. The guy who looks stoned is Staff Sergeant Christiansen and he is a mormon from Layton, stationed in England, and we just met today, small world huh?

These are Kuwait water towers and town we drive by daily.

This is another shot of the buildings here.
This is my favorite thing to see, the blue house. I like the blue house because, well, it's blue amongst all the brown and gray and it is a marker for when to slow down before the traffic camera gets ya.
This is the real reason to go to Arifjan. YOOHOO! I decided to buy me a case because I rarely get it here and I wanted to be stocked up, ya know, in case of an attack.

MMMMMMMM 24 15.5oz bottles of liquid heaven.

Some new Pictures

2010-02-07T11:35:00.009-07:00

Colers third birthday party

2010-02-07T08:24:00.033-07:00

Live from Kuwait

2010-01-29T06:35:00.002-07:00

Hello everyone, so it's been awhile since I've posted so I thought I would just send a line out. Things here are pretty good, I've a had a few adventures and it's starting to get chilly. I know that most of you are suffering with snow and freezing, but remember when it started to get cold and 37 degrees was freezing? Well that's where I'm at now, and it has been chilly. Although today I did go out during the day and it was quite warm, I'm not sure exactly but I would probably say in the 60's or 70's.
So awhile ago I was forced to move out of my room and into another building to be grouped with my fellow security forces members. I was irate, it was one of the worst days I had here because I traded convenience to the chow hall, the gym, the BX, the oasis (where I am now), my own personal area (I had a sweet man-cave up) for pretty much my own bathroom. In my old building I had to share bathroom and showers with the whole dorm, not too bad, but on the other hand the gym was literally right out my back door. Now I have to add an extra five minutes to where ever I go, ten minutes round trip. I did get some cool roommates though. Well that's where this story is going, my old roommates moved out to the tents because they are leaving soon and for three days I had the room to myself, so I set up my man-cave again and did some cleaning and rearranging so I could enjoy it a little more. Today I got two new roommates from Mildenhal, England. I was trying to sleep when they came in, and they did try very hard to be quiet because they noticed me sleeping. I heard them and I thought I had been sleeping for days because that's what it felt like but it turned out I had only been asleep for about 3 hours. I tried to go back to sleep and couldn't so i woke up and decided to get to know these new guys. It turns out they seem like pretty cool guys but we'll have to wait and see, it's only been a few hours with them.
Well that's pretty much the biggest thing I've done lately, I guess. Thanks to everyone who has written me and sent me things I greatly appreciate it and it helps my time here go faster, 1 month and 20 days down, woo hoo.

Happy Birthday Coler Bear.

2010-01-21T17:20:00.016-07:00

I asked Cole what he wanted to do for his birthday. He said to make cupcakes with Nolan. So we made cupcakes and then went to lunch. Happy birthday my baby. I love you.

New Years- Desert Style

2010-01-01T11:12:00.002-07:00

So another fantastic holiday has passed and again I got to enjoy it with sun, sand, and Kuwaitis. New years eve was just another day, not as exciting as Christmas Eve was. I was on a mobile patrol so I did get to stay warm; so that was nice.

Today was fun, I just got back from a comedy show. It had Tim Bagley who is pretty famous but Britt and I like him in Monk as Monk's neurotic enemy. Also Wendi McLendon, who is in Reno 911!, was there and other comedians, two from Saturday Night Live, and others I didn't know. They were so funny and it was a lot of fun.

Well that was how I spent my holiday, no ball dropping here, I hope you all have a happy 2010.

Cole's 3'rd birthday party

2009-12-31T08:13:00.032-07:00

Dinner at TGIF

2009-12-27T19:38:00.004-07:00

Cole playing with his new toy's

2009-12-27T08:36:00.005-07:00

Cute pictures

2009-12-26T19:04:00.008-07:00

Chrtistmas pictures

2009-12-26T18:59:00.008-07:00

My cousins and I

2009-12-26T18:55:00.004-07:00

Christmas- Desert Style

2009-12-26T07:10:00.002-07:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know I sure did. It started on Christmas Eve when my Friend Jonathan Herrera and I watched National lampoon's Christmas Vacation, my christmas eve tradition, on his laptop in his room. After that I had to work. I went out at midnight and watched for Santa Claus to fly by and of course I saw him. After that we had some visitors from our chain of command; but the most fun was when the colonel and lieutenant colonel came to visit us. They made us hot chocolate and made us sing christmas carols, my favorite part was when we were sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and I was making the little commentaries and at the part when we sang "All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names" I added "like Colonel Davis" and we all got a little nervous to see if the colonel would get mad, but he laughed it off, probably the only time I'll get to make a jab at a colonel. It was great. That really got us all in the christmas spirit and made the rest of the night enjoyable.

On Christmas Day I got to see Cole and Britt open their presents on the web-cam and that was a lot of fun. It was so funny to see Cole "helping" everyone open their presents, especially Bob, and then when Bob asked if he need help he simply said, "No." That was a lot of fun. After that I got to call Mom and talk to Mom, Dad, Grandma Munro, Shawn, Danell, and Lexi. Following all the phone calls I went out to the bonfire and stayed for just a minute because I wanted to get some christmas dinner. Christmas dinner in the desert, while well intentioned, is probably one of the worst dinners ever. Mine consisted of dry turkey, soggy macaroni and cheese, and stuffing that tasted like soggy corn bread. However the water was good. All that was made up for when I went back to the bonfire and made s'mores and watched "A Christmas Story." I was surprised to see "A Christmas Story" because I didn't think I was going to see it at all this year, and it really made my day, my two favorite christmas movies and I got to see them om the days I usually see them. After that joyous party I went to work and was visited by the major and the chief. That was fun they gave us some arabian treats that weren't all that great but the desert fox, which I saw for the first time and they are so cute, sure seemed to enjoy them.

So that's what a christmas is like in my neck of the woods. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas' and have a Happy New Year.

Decorating the cristmas tree

2009-12-22T09:05:00.017-07:00

Cristmas Pictures

2009-12-21T15:29:00.006-07:00

Loose Lips Sink Ships

2009-12-18T06:31:00.002-07:00

So I haven't really told people what I do here in Kuwait and there's a reason for that. I work at the Kuwait airport where American troops fly in and out of and where I control entry and do other security out there. The reason I haven't given too many details is because the terrorist threat here in Kuwait is very high. It's not the danger that gets put on CNN or in video games, nor is my risk of dying too high, except maybe on the roads because Kuwaities drive like maniacs, but information gathering for terrorist groups are big here. We work with a lot of foreigners that don't get paid a lot of money and so they might take offers from terrorists to get info on us and get paid way more than they are now. Since intel gathering is huge here I decided I wasn't going to be a helper for them and chose not to let people know too much about what we do because I don't know who's listening out there. When I get home I'm sure I'll let everyone know what I did here. But I will say I provide security at the Kuwait airport.

On that note work is going well and I'm learning lots. I have only worked four days so far so I am still enjoying it. I am still working out at the gym and I've lost six pounds already here that makes me really excited. I have 15 miles done on my goal to 600 and today before work I'll probably do five more. Yeah, I'm going to be a stud.

If you haven't been on the blog for awhile please keep reading down and see all the cute pictures of my beautiful family. I love and miss them very much.

Cole building a castle

2009-12-16T18:09:00.008-07:00

Cole wanted me to take pictures of his castle to show you Bri. He did so good. Also he is singing church songs to you. Mrs Beth gave him a card and when we got home he said it was his church book And he wanted to sing you a song. Also I wanted to tell you He wanted eggs for dinner and apparently I don't cook like you so he wanted you to come show me how to cook eggs. Nice

Cole and I

2009-12-14T17:27:00.003-07:00

2009-12-13T16:55:00.010-07:00

Hi everyone here is some new pictures of the day Brian left

Warrior Fit

2009-12-13T01:59:00.002-07:00

So it's been a couple days now and I've learned some new things. I start work tonight at 2130 and it's about a 12 hour shift. I am nervouse because it's the first day and I'm the new guy so I don't know what to expect, I do know after today I'll feel a lot more comfortable here because i'll know what to expect and learn my job and after that it will just be perfecting my skills at it.

One of my goals while here in the desert was to get in shape, one besides round. On our orientation or "right start breifing" I learned that they have a program called the 300 club. The 300 club is if you run 100, 200, or 300 miles you get a t-shirt but everytime you accomplish one and want to get another you have to start again at zero. I decided I want all three and run 600 miles while I'm here. I told Shawn and he asked me why I would put myself through that when I could just make a t-shirt: one: I would be super proud of myself for accomplishing 600 miles in 6 months and two: it's a good way to keep my mind off of what I'm missing back home. They also have a club called The Warrior Fit Club that exercises you do for an hour are worth points and when you get 300 points you get a shirt. The services worker pointed out if I was running I might as well do both, so I did. Today I started that program and when I was on the treadmill running Sports Center was on and I saw that the Jazz beat the Lakers. Go Jazz. I think i'm off to a good start though, I run/walked 5 miles in an hour, not a bad start since I haven't done any PT after I got home from training. I will keep you posted on how my points/miles are going.

I told Shawn about the weather here and he advised me I probably shouldn't talk about that because the weather there is around 4 degrees and I get a little chilly at night that I debate whether I should or shouldn't put on a jacket, I only decided once to do it because it started to rain. I am excited to be working at night because one: I'm used to it and two: I'll be able to talk to Britt and Cole before I go to work.

Well that's all for now I look forward to keeping you updated and enjoy all the e-mails, prayers, and well wishes I've got from everybody, it truly means a lot to me thank you.

2009-12-11T08:19:00.002-07:00

Brian had mentioned in his last blog that he wanted me to tell this cute story about Cole. The morning after we took Brian to the airport Cole came to me with my book of Mormon case. He said mommy my suitcase is packed I'm going far far away with daddy. I said do you know were daddy is. He said Kuwait. I said I want you to stay with me. He said I will miss you so much but I have to go. Then he said I'm going to the airport now to go far away. I was just laughing so hard it was so cute. It made Brian's day when I told him.

KUWAIT

2009-12-09T05:22:00.002-07:00

So here I am in a strange new country with new rules.

Here is breakdown of my last couple of days: I left Great Falls on Sunday and arrived in Virginia very early Monday, see previous post. So I stayed up until 4am Tuesday morning for the plane ride out of there. Since I made that decision I slept almost the entire eight hour plane ride to Germany, waking up just enough to see dawn, and again to see some bright sun, and again to see darkness. I had to ask people if I really slept through the daylight, which I did. We arrived in Lipzeig, Germany at 6:30pm Germany time that was about 10:30am so I had time to talk to Britt and Cole for a couple of minutes. Britt needs to blog about what Cole was saying that morning about his trip. After the phone call I bought $16 worth of a variety of german chocolates, by the way they have been fantastic so far. After that i found a computer that had some time on it, we had to pay for it which I didn't know, but I was on it and had literally one minute and 13 seconds to send an e-mail to my family that let them know I made it to Germany. We had some time to kill so one of the guys on my squad, Thomas Ivester, taught Riley Hansen, Johnathan Herrera, and Me how to play a card game called "Kimps." Hansen and I were on the same team and were winning when it was time to leave.

After Germany we flew another five hours to Al a'deid Air Base where some of our traveling companions departed for their deployment. It was 45 degrees outside but the humidity was about 80-something so it was chilly. We had to stay in a giant tent that had graffiti and names of people that had passed through "The 'Deid" on their way to and from their deployments, I naturally put my mark there too.

Finally we fly out of "The 'Deid" and into Kuwait. We arrived here at 7:45 am and drove the hour from the airport to Ali Al Saleem Air Base where we are staying and will be commuting when I start work. It was amazing how dirty the road ways are here. Also it was sad because as we were driving away from our plane down the flight line there were marines standing at attention in front of a platform, I thought they were just getting a morning briefing from their commander until we got closer and I could see that on the platform was a flag draped box and that only means one thing. So that was a pretty heavy sight. On the way to base though we saw many crazy drivers and an awesome mosque. I was the nicest looking thing the whole way.

It's now 3:40 pm here so that means it's only 5:30am at home and I'm just updating everyone before I go to the D-FAC, Dinning Facility for all you civilians, and then come back to try and call my family. I hope this has been informational and as soon as i know what I'm doing I'll let you all know.

A trip

2009-12-07T18:58:00.002-07:00

Hey All, So I am in Virginia right now sitting in the air terminal to take a little trip to play in a sandbox. It has been quite a journey so far. I was supposed to leave Great Falls at 7:20 in the morning and that flight got cancelled and i ended up taking a later flight which was a blessing because Britt and Cole got to take me back to the airport to see me off. For some reason the split up our deployment squad so that eight of us took delta and four of us took united airlines. I was one of the united airlines crew. We left Great Falls about 15 minutes behind schedule getting us to Denver just in time to make our connection at the final boarding call. This plane had to have maintenance performed and get de-iced before we left causing us to depart later from there also. This was a huge plane and as we got on the first thing the stewardess said to us was, "Thanks for serving our country, sorry we're full so we can't upgrade you." For some reason those stewardess loved the military because the first thing they thought of was getting us better seats. That was awesome. Also when we landed they thanked us, the military members, for our service, that was cool too. So, we landed in Washington again just in time to get to our connection at final boarding call. It takes 30 minutes to fly from Washington to Norfolk and we spent more time waiting to takeoff then we did in the air. But we landed in Norfolk and got to the naval base. We checked in our bags in and got to our rooms at about 1:30 in the morning.

As crazy as our flight was our brothers in arms trip was a lot more crazy. They left shortly after we did from Great Falls, when they were supposed to leave sooner, and didn't make their connection in Salt Lake. They spent about eight hours sitting in Salt Lake waiting for their plane. After that i'm not exactly sure what happened to them but I know they ended up in Norfolk at about one in the afternoon.

Right now we are sitting around waiting to leave to our next destination to be revealed at a later time (I do know where i'm going.) I am using an airman i'm deploying with his computer and the wi-fi to update this now.

I miss Britt and Cole so much and it's only been a day, I know this is going to be hard and I already can't wait for june to see them again. I hope you are all well and I will try to keep updates as much as possible.

Update

2009-12-03T21:12:00.002-07:00

So I will be leaving on Sunday to go to Kuwait for six months. I'm really nervous and scared and sad. I'm going to miss Britt and Cole so much and miss Christmas with them and miss their birthdays. I will also miss Lessley's birthday (Pearl Harbor Day) and my Mom's birthday and Shawn and Justin's. I guess I'll miss almost everybody's so I wish you all happy birthdays.

Deployment

2009-11-25T17:52:00.002-07:00

As you know I am going to Kuwait. When is still foggy, I was told we would be up in the air today so I told everyone today. Today we did our final out but still no plane tickets, I have decided not to give out any more dates. When I get official word and plane tickets in hand I will call to let people know. I apologize for the jackassery of the worlds greatest air power.

A little update

2009-11-22T10:33:00.011-07:00

So here's a little update of what's going on in our lives, I'll just go down and explain each picture. First is a blurry a picture of Britt, I don't know what party that was at but looks like she was having fun. Next up is my friend Tim and me he looks like a giant because he is (there may have been some stairs and slouching involved) and after that is me trying to carry that heavy bowling ball to the lane. Following that is me giving the always popular thumbs up wearing a Charlie the Unicorn shirt shunning the non-believers (look it up) taken with our new camera, thanks Jann. The next four are of our beautiful Cole giving love to our kitty, playing with his TJ Bearytales bear and some more love to the cat. By the way he had the cat pinned in two minutes , Packers is no match for our mighty two year old.
So that's some fun going on here I hope you enjoy.

Myspace, Facebook, Twitter

2009-11-16T09:26:00.002-07:00

I have decided I am anti social networking. We had a myspace account when we moved here and didn't really use it until Britt started hanging out with Malinda and Stacey. Now they facebook and I remember when everyone myspaced and facebook was secondary; now facebook is taking over and twitter is rising to the top. Britt had to change all her myspace friends to facebook so soon she'll have to move everything to twitter and then who knows where after that. Jann has jibjab videos on her facebook and Cole loves them and I can't show him when he asks because I don't have a facebook account. Britt said, "Why don't you make a facebook account?" I thought about it and that's when I decided I have this blog and that's all I need because I don't want to have to make a twitter account when I get back and then talktome account and then a flaboo account or whatever stupid site that does all the same things when I can just let everyone know what we're doing right here. So don't try to find me on any of those sites because you won't find me there I will stay right here thank you very much.

MY CUTE LITTLE BOY

2009-11-15T10:27:00.003-07:00

Mangone Look-alike Meter

2009-11-10T14:11:00.002-07:00

So two years ago I put this look-alike meter on our blog and back then Cole looked more like Brittany by 7% and now he looks equally like us. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that.

Modern Day Duck Hunt of 1985

2009-11-07T16:03:00.003-07:00

I heard a nasty rumor that duck hunt didn't work on modern TVs, I don't remember if I commented on this when Jan and Sam came to visit because Sam is the one who told me the horrible lie. If I did I'm here to do it again because a) I want people to know that we can still enjoy duck hunt, probably not in HD though and b) I enjoy reminding Sam when she is wrong (shaved ice is a thousand times better than a snow cone.) Here are some pics of our family enjoying the modern technologies of 16bit entertainment of yester-year. Yes, Cole is not wearing pants; that's how we roll here on Saturdays.

Brian got Airman of the Quarter

2009-11-06T09:09:00.009-07:00

We are so proud of Brian he got Airman of the Quarter for the whole security forces group. It's kind of a big deal. He got his own parking spot for three months. Way to go Bri!!!

Some cute pictures

2009-11-05T22:10:00.024-07:00

Ketchup

2009-11-05T12:17:00.001-07:00

Today Cole and I had eggs for lunch. We are both wearing our "I put ketchup on my ketchup" shirts and Cole got ketchup on his. He puts ketchup on his ketchup....shirt. HAHA

A Smash Hit

2009-11-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

This video is awesome, almost as good as "David After the Dentist" check that out on Britt's facebook. This is Mine and Coles new favorite video, He likes the man in white and think the girl dressed like a priest looks like grandma...I'm not sure which one. And I love the 'Nard Doggs sweet dance moves on the elevator. Office fans try to guess who this song is about. Enjoy!

What a month

2009-11-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know I just got back from a month of training to prepare me for my deployment. That still didn't stop us from having a great month. First Shawn and Danell's family came to visit, that was fun. While Britt and Danell went looking at a crafty type store with Crew, Shawn, Lexi, Oakley, Cole, and I went to go bowling; as it turns out Saturday morning in Great Falls is league day we couldn't get a spot at either of the bowling alleys here. It was nice to have them visit.

After I got back from Wyoming and before I had to go to Texas I had a few hours with Britt and Cole so we decided to go to Vaughn and visit the pumpkin patch with our friends Stacey, Tim, and their two boys Ashton and Nolan. That was fun, the kids had a blast going down the slide, playing in corn boxes (like a sand box but with corn kernels instead of sand), pumping water, going through mazes, or pumping water from one basin to another. It was a lot of fun and one of the better things I could think of doing when there is only 16 hours to spend with my family.

Finally we come to one of the best holidays there is....... Halloween. I got home at 12:30 p.m. so I had plenty of time to get ready with Cole and Britt for our night of fun and free candy grabbing. Cole was the cutest vampire I've ever seen (The good 'ole count Dracula that wants to suck your blood vampire, not a touchy feely "I don't want to hurt people" Twilight vampire.) We spent an hour walking around Stacey and Tim's neighborhood and getting a really good haul and then Tim and I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids to commander's row. They were cooking hot dogs and giving cider out in front of the base commanders house so we thought with all that brass we could score big, turns out that was the biggest trick of the night, only four people were giving out candy in the officers area. Needless to say we spent the last hour walking around looking for any house with it's light on. Other than that tough it was a really fun night for all of us and Cole made out like a candy bandit and now we have something to bribe him with so he'll eat his vegetables....... for those of you who don't know Cole really likes vegetables so that's where the joke comes in for that.

So we had a fun and exciting month and I don't even know what Britt and Cole did while I was gone. I now have one more month to soak up all the love and fun I can with my lovely family before it's off to sun and sand and possibly IED's.

Cole ready to suck some blood

Dracula and The Joker

Britt will kill me for this but they both fell at the same time. It was funny

For pictures of the fun at Vaughn or with Shawn and Danell's visit please see below.

Family Day

2009-10-18T12:34:00.000-06:00

Mangone's Visit, Brian graduates, and some shaving

2009-10-08T20:37:00.000-06:00

congrats on making staff Brian. Cole and I knew you could do it.

2009-08-21T13:52:00.000-06:00

Staff Sergeant Select

2009-08-21T12:51:00.000-06:00

For those of you who haven't heard yet I was selected to be a staff sergeant in the Air Force. If you can read the picture it says my line number is 12,879. That means I most likely won't be an official Staff Sergeant until next august. I am super excited that I made it because I didn't think I was even close. Out of 30,000+ people who tested 15,000+ made it, and was almost 50% pass rate, 49.79%. I am so excited and so is Britt and Cole, this is fantastic.

Mom and Dad's visit

2009-08-16T14:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend my mom and dad came to visit. On friday when they arrived we rented movies and got Dad a new addiction, Popcorn Colonel popcorn.

On saturday we went to the island for lunch and some pictures. Dad took Cole to the other side of the island that we don't usually go to and got some really cute pictures. After dinner we went bowling. Cole was so excited he's been waiting for a week for Grandma and Grandpa to come so he could go bowling. We went to the base bowling alley and it was full, as we were walking in and Cole said, "We are so EXCITED!!!!" After that I couldn't tell Cole we weren't bowling so we went to the bowling alley downtown. Dad won and got two strikes and Brittany got a strike too. Cole finished with a 28 and was the real winner.

Tonight we are going to have some cake with "fluffy white frosting" or "dripping down the side white frosting." I am so excited. This has been a fun weekend and we always enjoy when they come to visit. We want to thank them for coming and for all that they did for us, thanks Mom and Dad.

Kuwait

2009-08-04T15:54:00.000-06:00

Hey here's a fun fact for ya I will be out of the country for six months starting in November. I will be in sunny Kuwait if you need anything.

Fun summer

2009-08-04T15:10:00.000-06:00

Ok so it has been a while since we have actually written anything on the blog but aren't pictures better any way? For a recap of our summer thus far; about four weeks ago it finally got warm enough with no wind that we actually went to the pool. I am not a fun of public swimming areas at all, and not because of the urine, because people are really rude and dangerous when they swim and I have a fear of drowning. I have seen Britt get jumped on twice by people while she was swimming because they don't care to look around and pay attention to other pool patrons. But anywho the fam convinced me to go to the pool and it was actually fun because between 1-3 not too many people show up and we can have fun with pleanty of space.

Secondly we had some visitors, Jan and Sam, and it was fun. They got here late thursday which was great because friday was the base picnic, I don't think Sam had as much fun as Cole and I did, but it was still fun and I sang kareoke. Britt took them to the hatchery and the giant spring and I met up with them at the pool when I got off of work. Sam and Jan also swam in a public pool too. Jan watched Cole so we could all go to a movie, it was nice. Thank you Jan for watching Cole so Britt and I could have a break. We also took them to Ryan Dam so we could spend time on the island; that only lasted a little while until the storm hit which was amazing to see so much lightning and the roaring thunder. It was fun thanks for coming Jan and Sam and also we love all visitors. P.S. congrats to Sam who got a job in Logan. It's about time slacker.

Next I got Cole a sleeping bag and thought it would be fun to have a campout in the backyard, and thanks to Lessley and Ryan giving us a sweet wedding present of a huge tent I decided to ask Tim and his boys if they wanted to join us; they did. We started a fire and made s'mores and then got in the tent. We were all surprised how the two year olds slept so well in the night. Cole woke up at 4 in the morning because he was out of his bag on the floor next to the wall sad because he was cold. I put him back on the blanket and in his bag and he went back to sleep and didn't wake up until morning. Even when we were all getting up and moving around he still slept. I wish he would sleep that well in his bed.
Side note: Cole got a new bed that is like three feet off the ground with a slide on the side and he loves it. The only problem is sometimes he wears something slippery on his feet and we hear a loud "thud" and that's always scary.

Back to our summer, last saturday we went to the fair and it was fun for a bit. We let Cole ride on rides for about an hour until Britt got real sick and we had to come home. Until then we had a lot of fun.

The next thing we are looking forward to is the visit from my mom and dad in a couple of weeks. They have been everywhere here so I don't know what we are going to do but it is still nice to have them come visit. We can't wait.

fun family pictures

2009-08-04T14:25:00.000-06:00

2009-08-04T13:10:00.000-06:00

Swimming

2009-07-11T22:05:00.000-06:00

A night with Corina

2009-07-08T14:27:00.000-06:00

2009-07-05T22:26:00.001-06:00

Happy 4'th of July

2009-07-04T13:06:00.000-06:00

The BBQ

2009-06-29T13:45:00.001-06:00

voyagers game

2009-06-27T23:07:00.000-06:00

Coler's and Daddy

2009-06-08T13:36:00.000-06:00

Cute pictures

2009-06-08T13:14:00.000-06:00

More summer pictures

2009-05-30T20:55:00.000-06:00

Just more pictures

2009-05-21T08:45:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day Britt

2009-05-11T18:13:00.000-06:00

Our happy little family.

This is Britt at her Mother's Day dinner.

Britt Eating a "lodgepole." She will kill me when she sees this on our blog.

Waiting for our food.

Cole and I playing in the bench.

Cole and Britt holding Britt's Mother's Day flower.

Cole going in for a five second freancher.

Wow how did that get up there?

My Beautiful wife Britt and her aloha flower.

Cole the acrobat.

Eh, What's up dock?

What a delicious drink.

My two most favorite people.

Being silly together.

Cole and I going down the slide.

Cheese!

Cole going down the massive slide alone.

Cole walking under the pine tree at the park.

Cole and I hiding under the pine tree.

Same as above.

Cole taking a break from so much park fun.

Time to get back up and go again.

A little help getting down the pole.

Cole and I crossing the bridge.

Cole jumping on the bridge.

Ready, set...........

A couple of swingers.

Getting a little help from Mom.

Ah Ah Ah Ah Ahchoo

Cole a little scared to go down the slide.

This is THE coolest kid in the world. I did not like these sunglasses until he put them on and now he's Super Stud.

The president of the cool club looking at his kingdom.

You Better Comment on these or Else.....

2009-05-08T10:26:00.000-06:00

We all like to do dishes. Please enjoy and comment.

Just more Pictures

2009-05-07T14:07:00.000-06:00

Cole loves to be outside with Brian

2009-05-07T13:57:00.000-06:00

Our Drummer Boy

2009-05-03T17:09:00.000-06:00

So I was going through pictures and I found this video. Apparently Rock Band is not just for adults. I hope you all enjoy.

Enjoy our new pictures

2009-05-02T00:45:00.000-06:00

EASTER

2009-04-29T08:57:00.000-06:00

So we had a fun easter, Jan and Bob came up to spend it with us (Cole) and we had a lot of fun. We hid Cole's easter basket and let him look for it. He get's so excited when he finds it, it is so exciting. Also while Jan and Bob were here Bob took Cole and I fishing. They got a Cole a Transformer fishing pole. We went to Fort Benton area and fished in the river out there. Bob caught five or six fish, I caught one, and Cole caught five, according to him even with no hook and a stick for bait. We also celebrated Jan's birthday while they were here. Cole loved it, he loves singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles. We had lots of fun and always enjoy when we have company.

Cole Finding eggs.

The egg that the squirrel got.

Cole freaking out because of the egg in the road.

Cole and I coloring eggs. He loved it

Cole and Grandma fishing.

Cole helping Grandma blow out her candles.

Inigo Montoya in Grouchland

2009-04-28T15:18:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since we posted and I should post some easter pictures and what-not but I only have a little time so I decided to write that Mandy Patinkin, Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, is in Elmo's Adventure in Grouchland. I have watched this movie with Cole like three times and didn't have a clue who the guy with the big eyebrows was until last night when Britt was watching it with us and said, "Isn't that the guy in Princess Bride looking for the six fingered man?" Well this got me curious because except for the squinty eyes I just couldn't really see it. I looked it up and he is the guy in Princess Bride looking for the six fingered man. I thought it was funny and now you all know.

Goodbye friends.

2009-03-31T16:29:00.000-06:00

About two weeks ago our friends and neighbors, the Gudgeon's, left the Air Force and moved back to Iowa. It was a sad day for us because they were our really good friends for the last year and even their children, Owen, Bryce, and Claire were friends with Cole. That's one of the downsides of the Air Force you can make some good friends and then they have to move.

Our other friends, George and Erin Chapman and their boys also left the same day. They are staying in the Air Force so maybe we'll see them again but still we will miss them and the good times we shared with good friends.

Carson and Malinda

The four of us at Christmas.

UNDERWEAR!

2009-03-28T09:13:00.000-06:00

Cole is growing up so fast. Today he got to wear his first pair of underwear. As you can see he is very excited and likes being a "big boy." I hope he gets the whole going in the toilet thing down as quickly as he gets everything else so we don't have to change any more diapers, that would be sweet. We will keep you posted on his potty adventures, maybe some potty humor, who knows?

Our gymnastics experiance

2009-03-27T11:33:00.000-06:00

Brian doing a cartwheel on the balance beam

Cole getting on top of the block to jump into the pit.

Cole going down the slide.

Nolan, Ashton, and Cole playing on the balance beams.

Brian and Cole in the pit.

Cole playing on the trampoline with a big ball.

Britt and Staci in the pit.

Cole climbing on the balance beam.

Cole stuck in the pit.

Brian stuck in the pit.

Nolan sitting on the edge of the pit.

Brian and Cole trying to get out of the pit.

Britt and Cole jumping in the pit. Brian helping Cole in the pit.

Brian and Cole jumping into the pit.

So, What's up with the Mangone's?

2009-03-18T22:53:00.000-06:00

Cole is talking like CRAZY, we took him to the doctor and she was amazed at how well he spoke. Cole is learning his ABC's, can count to 10, and knows his colors. As you can see Brian is trying to teach him to skateboard with the present I brought him from North Dakota. He is also into Signing Time and learns new words and signs all the time. He is trying to learn how to use the potty but doesn't always go every time.
Brian is doing excellent in school and getting A's in his classes and Cole and I are so proud of him, he'll have his bachelors in no time. Work is going well for him with nothing new to report. We got a Wii last month and Brian is really enjoying playing Rock Band with our friends.
I just got back from Fargo, North Dakota for my week away and got to spend time with my BFF Vanessa. I have been taking Cole to gymnastics and reading time at the library and he loves it, he is making so many new friends. I am also thinking of putting Cole in a bowling league this summer with his friends Ashton and Nolan. My mom is coming up to celebrate her birthday and Easter and we are all so excited for her to come visit. We are so happy for my brother Jake and his soon to be wife Sara.
We hope you enjoyed our little update now for some pictures:

So what's new with you?

2009-02-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well instead of this blog being focused on one thing I decided to put everything that I want to talk about in one instead of a few different posts. First We went to Utah a month ago and had a lot of fun. We enjoyed spending time with everyone and had fun for Cole's birthday. Thanks every body for making our trip so much fun.
Next, for Cole's birthday he got a tent that we just remembered and set it up. Cole loves it we put it up three days ago and he always wants to play in it, and he's not alone. I like it a lot too and when he says, "In Daddy" I have to comply because it's so cozy and fun. I just can't resist the smell of tarp and nylon. The cat goes inside, where he's not allowed and one time I told Cole to go kick him out and I'm pretty he sure he actually kicked the cat out. Now every time the cat goes in his tent he says, "Kick kitty out." I tell him he needs to GET the kitty out not kick it.
Finally, Grapple. What?? What are you talking about, did you forget how to spell apple? No, I did not. There is an ad on the television that is the "all knowing" place to get information and they mention that "half grape, half apple" or the Grapple. I thought it was either a made up thing or very exotic. Well it's real and it's at our commissary so I bought a pack today and they are good. They are a real sweet apple, if I didn't know they were supposed to taste like a grape I would think they were just real sweet but they do taste like grapes. They are yummy.

Cole and Brian in the tent.

Britt drumming in our rock band "Mint Chocolatechip Love."

A Family picture

.Cole with Grandma Gonie Cole with Papa Gonie and Luke

Jake the Lion slayer, I hope it wasn't that lion from the Chronicles of Narnia.

For Sam

2009-01-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

For my dear friend Sam who just loves her Postum, this trip to utah I was lucky enough to stay with Jan and Bob who have a whole jar of postum just sitting in their cupboard for anyone to open and enjoy. Now I'm not saying I drank Postum all day everyday, but I could have. We took these pictures to show Sam how close we were to her favorite drink while she has to buy it on-line for what, $50 a jar? MMMMMMMM Postum.

Hide and Seek

2009-01-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Right before we came to Utah we played hide and seek with Cole. We thought it was fun so we showed Grandma and Grandpa how much fun Cole had playing his new game. Here is Cole playing hide and seek with us all. Grandma helped him count while Grandpa, Britt and I hid. It was a lot of fun and Cole always got so excited when he found us.