the homecoming.

this post is way beyond overdue! i got caught up in all the things happening in october that i forgot to tell you all about this part. so if you havent read the post about deployment, you might want to start with that one, then continue with this one :)

after we got the amazing news that my brother was coming home i went into countdown mode, surprise, surprise. the problem was we still didnt have an exact date. kyle kept saying i think its this date, but it could be a few before or after. we just kept sticking to the main one and put making final plans (hotel, etc) on hold till it got closer. finally he called one day and said he was officially on his way. he was making the 12,000+ mile trek home and the original date was right.

in the few weeks before it seemed all we did revolved around planning to go down to san diego. when would we leave? who was going? how were we getting kyles truck down there? how long would we stay? where would we stay? every time we got one answered another one came up. then kyle wanted an opinion. and by opinion i mean this is what were really doing. we finally decided we would leave wednesday night after work in dads truck and erik would follow us down in kyles so we could all be there together.  then we could come back to vegas friday morning and kyle would head back to base sunday. he really didnt want to stay in san diego, he wanted to come home.

i think i actually started packing the weekend before! i did start putting things together that were all going down. i had to make signs of course, and tried to remember all the right pieces to take with me. i also had a race coming up literally the next weekend so i had to run while i was down there, so that meant a whole other clothes had to make it in my bag as well. we were also in one of our busiest seasons of the year at work. school was starting the next week so i had all these loose ends to clean up before leaving. once i got to my parents house wednesday night though i was ready to go before i even walked in the door.

we stopped at cafe rio for dinner and didnt even get on the road till darn near 730p. its only a 5 hour drive, but dang we were getting there late. just before we left the house though, kyle called. now up till this point we had no plan. we didnt know when he was going to be released. or where to even go on base. what time to show up. how long we were going to be there. now for me the planner, this was no good. finally kyle was calling from ship, he could see the coastline and said it was the worlds biggest tease because they had to spend one more night on the boat. he told us to be at base between 10 and 11, to see them come in and then they would off turning everything in. he was hoping to be released before 2p.

even though we got to the hotel well after midnight and i only got about 5 hours of sleep in bed i still pulled myself up to run that morning. like i said, long beach was the next week, i had to go. we were staying in carlsbad and i had mapped out 2 routes before we left home so i knew exactly where to go. i decided while running the 1st day that i was moving. we were actually less than a mile to the beach and the whole route was beautiful. i got back in time to see mom who had also gone out for her walk and to start getting ready.

this would motivate me to run every day!

after a quick shower, fixing my broken signs (the damn desert had dried out my paint and it had all chipped off), we were out the door right on time at 915a. carlsbad is fairly close to base, and werent sure exactly how long it would take us so we left with a little extra time. my parents had been to base plenty of times and knew the general direction we were going. kyle had told us that it would be on a parade deck with lots of red pop ups and bounce houses/grills for the families. we thought we missed it so i hopped out at the px to ask some very nice marines if we were headed the right direction. they took off their hats, nodded, and said yes mam:) not even a 1/2 mile down we found were we needed to be.

we parked the trucks in the dirt, grabbed the signs, and headed over. it was right at 10am and werent sure quite what to do. so we wandered around for a little bit. there were lots of families and signs everywhere so we knew we were in the right place! we started to see a marine every once in awhile come out of his own from the far corner. the problem was they all look the same from that far away and i asked my mom how we would ever find him. we staked out a spot in the corner so we could try and spot him if he did.

standard military...hurry up and wait!

i never get one of just my dad and i:)

not even 10 minutes later the whole company started coming in and the announcer over the loud speaker started talking. i kept trying to find kyle and then realized they were marching right toward me and i was about to get run over! i moved back a little and had finally found him in the back row, super close to where i was. when we went to graduation from bootcamp we had to wait FOREVER to actually have him once they marched in. this time they must have known because as soon as the stopped the commander came out, said "all accounted for?" they responded "yes sir!" he said "dismissed." i took off sprinting to him and damn near tackled him as soon as i got there. it is one of the moments i will never forget!

i love the little boy that is so patiently waiting for his dad!

theyre home!!! my brothers:)
kyle, partin, and erik.

mom, dad, and erik were close behind me and there hugs for he and partin (my other brother and his roommate) all around. the hug order had been decided weeks ago after a facebook post that had me ready to shank anyone that got in my way to try and beat me (you think im kidding, ask my mom about the text i sent her about the other people!). the only 2 i would have let were my parents, but kyle wanted to save them for last. we took lots of pictures of course and then boys said they just had to grab clothes, shower, and we could go. we wasted no time! i finally got to see what the barracks looked like (think super small dorm room) and they semi-unpacked. i was sooo glad they showered, because they seriously stunk!

i had to get one more in with my super cool sign!

afterwards we headed up to irvine to phillys best to meet grandpa and myrna who lived literally around the corner. it was sooo crazy to have him really home! i could actually steal fries off his plate and switch halves of our sandwiches like always. we spent the rest of the day hanging around and going to see grandpas next golf cart. we headed back to carlsbad and surprised kyle with eriks dad who had drove down just for dinner! later on we headed to a local brewery where i was designated driver and listened to the boys stories while they drank. i still couldnt believe he was really here.

it was seriously cool!

we all headed back to vegas the next day. the boys had a 96 and were determined to not stay in california, plus uncle thomas was meeting us in vegas. partin joined in too, it was actually his 21st birthday the day they came home! we did the bbq thing at my parents house saturday night after i got off work. the weekend flew by way too fast and the boys were headed back to base way too fast.

he will be stateside for awhile now. he is stationed in california, so not too far away. he was recently home again for a 2-week leave. i saw him a few times, but not nearly enough to make up for the 7 months he was gone. but now i can pick up the phone and call him when i see something funny. or text him ridiculous pictures when i want. deployment was one of the toughest things i have ever been through. i have so much respect for those that do this on a regular basis. thank you to all the troops and their families that keep our country safe!