Happy Easter!

Josh and I had an amazing opportunity to dress up for this thing called Kiddie Disco on the base for all the kids. I was a peep and Josh was the infamous Easter Bunny!

I bark for the Saints!

Hoosier wanted to let everyone know that his Mom and Dad are not the only New Orleans Saints Fans in the family! He was strutting his stuff in his Jersey and insisted that Mom take some photos!

Mardi Gras 2009

Mardi Gras can also be described as Fat Tuesday! It is New Orleans way of celebrating one of their many traditions, by having parades...where the people on floats throw beads, cups, dubloons, toys, etc...to tons of people on the ground enjoying the culture.

My Mom and Dad were very fortunate to be on a float on Mardi Gras Day, Feb. 24, 2009, to join in on celebrating the festivities. Here are some photos they sent me:

An Nervous, Scary, yet Amazing, Happy, Blessed, and Wonderfully Mixed Emotions kind of Experience!

First let me start off with a little background story. We have a couple here, named Shannon and Jason, that we have come to be really good friends with over the past few years. They have a beautiful 2 year old daughter named Ava...who we have known since she was around 6 months old. Well, Shannon, was pregnant with their second child and her husband, Jason, found out toward the end of last year, that he was going to be deployed, therefore, I am sure you can figure it out by now, that he was not going to be present for the birth of their second child. Under these unfortunate circumstances with Jason not being able to be here, this is where my nervous, scary, yet amazing, happy, blessed, and wonderfully mixed emotions kind of experience came from....and here is where my story begins.....

It began on 18 February 2009, and I was at work, just like any normal day, performing my normal duties, you know, twittling my thumbs. :) Just kidding, I always work hard. :) Okay, back to the point, the phone rang, maybe once or twice, I don't really recall how many times(that is probably irrelevant, huh?) and my friend Aisling says, "Our friend is in the unit." I replied with, "Excuse me, what does that mean(I am kind of naive when it comes to these things)." Aisling said, "Brandi! Shannon is in Labor!" I was overwhelmed with excitement and was told to come by after work. At 1630, that would be 4:30 p.m. for us "normal people"...I arrived, nervous, not knowing what to expect and I was escorted to Shannon's room where a million thoughts of what I might see was rolling through my mind, but all I saw, was Shannon sitting in the bed, and she said, "Hey, what's up Lady(her fav words, by the way)." I also walked in on the middle of a conversion with her doctor and he was telling her that she would not be eligible for a epidural due to her platelletes being too low....and I thought, I think this might be bad, but I am just going to smile(after all, my mom always told me to smile when I have no idea what else to do). Shannon was taking the news like a champ! She was like, "I am good, I am not feeling any pain right now, at this point she was dialated 5cm. We were sitting there..you know...shooting the breeze...and out the corner of my eye, I saw this chart that showed how big the actual dialation sizes get, and I grabbed it to get a closer view...I soon dropped it, due to shock!! I did not know 10cm was that BIG!!! Shannon had a good time, getting some laughs in with me, oh and the other ladies' in labor were yelling down the hall, we were giggling...like little girls. :) About 8 or 9 pm, I left to get some dinner and go take a shower.

When I returned around 10pm, this is where my experience got scary! She was in PAIN!! And the few meds they were giving her was not working. All I wanted to do was take some of the pain away, help ease her, just be supportive, but I did not know what to do...I was scared for her. At one time I tried to soothe her, by gently rubbing her arm to let her know I was there, and she slapped my hand away....all I thought was, aghh....it is like the movies! She was soon the one yelling like those ladies we were giggling at earlier. After some painful contractions, she told the nurse that she felt like the baby was close to coming out, and sure enough he was. I then got on the phone and called her husband to put him on speaker phone, so he could be a part of the birth. I was behind the bed, by her head, filming the birth, and Aisling was taking photos...so her husband can view it when he returns. About 15 minutes of pushing, everyone soon said Happy Birthday to Cash Ryan!

Born on 18 February 2009, at approx. 11:35pm, 9lbs. 10oz, 21.75 inches long. This is where the entire experience went to amazing, happy, blessed, wonderful, and every other mixed emotion I could possibly feel at that time. I was no longer scared, because I just witnessed one of the most amazing moments of my friends life and I feel a stronger bond to her that will last a lifetime.
XOXO for you, Shannon!

Valentine's Day 2009

Josh and I spent yet another Valentine's Day in Japan.

I woke up to Josh cleaning house and doing the laundry, yes, you heard me correctly....and I have to say, there is no gift that money can buy that can compare to the Valentine's Day gift I received on this day. :)

Later that evening, we had reservations to have dinner at the E-club on base, and it was Jazz night, so we were serenaded by Jazz music while we had a nice romantic dinner. We had a reservation and they had our names on the table to reserve our table, two champagne glasses, a box of chocolates, and roses. It was very romantic. Apparently, they planned poetry for the evening to entertain all the guests, but we were not aware....we were kind of leary about staying and almost did not want to, but we did, and it was amazing! I think it might get Josh back into the mood of writing poems like he did when we were dating and first got married...if so, I will keep everyone informed.

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day this year!

Our Vacation to the best place in the world....HOME!

In January of 2009, we went home on vacation.

We got to enjoy some good King Cake and I got to see New Orleans and the Superdome, which I have not seen since Hurricane Katrina.

Josh went about two weeks before me, because he had to go on a work-related trip. So, I am sure you have figured it out by now, I conqured my fear and flew on that 14 hour flight home by myself. I did really good, they were smooth flights, no delays, I was really fortunate....because that would have made me even more nervous. When I finally arrived, I had dinner with my family and friends at OUTBACK! It was so exciting for me....to finally eat there! I also, met my nephew, Tre', for the first time!

The next night Josh met Tre' for the first time and we got to spend some quality time with family.

Our time home was filled with way too many things to do, and not enough time it seemed like, but we loved every minute of it. We went to a hockey game, went shopping, went to the movies and actually saw NEW movies, spent time with family and friends, and enjoyed ourselves.

(We did spend a lot of time with Josh's family too, but unfortunately, have no pictures....however, we did take professional family photos, and when I get those, I will post them for all to see...so please do not think we have forgot about ya'll...we love you lots)

It was hard to leave to come back home to Japan!

No water=snow in the bath tub

So, I know I am delayed a lot on my blogging, but I have a really good excuse. I went on vacation HOME!

However, let me get back to my topic on hand here...the No water=snow in the bath tub. The point is that right before Josh left to go home, our water went out, not just ours, the entire town's water went out because a pipe burst....so it was out for 3-4 days!!!!! One day I came home from work and Josh met me at the door telling me had a surprise for me and this is what it was....

He said, "When it melts, you can flush the toilets!" LOL!!! Oh man, got to love the funny married stories huh??? :)