Family Day and Graduation

I cannot even begin to describe how excited our family was to see Ryan....nervous, jittery, happier beyond words. For now I'm just posting a few of the pictures from Family Day and then Graduation. (Doesn't he look awesome?!)

Here we are when we first got together. The kids were all running around so excited to see him and he was trying to take it all in. It was quite overwhelming for him. I think it equates to when he first came home from his church mission 11 years ago. He wanted to drink in his family and his surroundings but it took some time. But he loved every minute of it. :)--and let me tell you...I've been checking the weather over there for the past few weeks and was totally prepared for the 70 degree weather they've been enjoying for the past month. Oh no, when we get there the highs are in the 50s!!!!! We were FREEZING in this picture! Better believe I was going to be prepared with blankets for his graduation the next day!


Skip to his graduation....:) I've never been so proud of him! Boot camp was incredibly hard in so many ways. But he never gave up and he came out on top. He passed his PT test (physical training) with flying colors. He even earned a PT badge (only 4 men in his platoon received that). It meant that he received a 90% on his sit ups, push ups, and the 2 mile run. Sweet! All the hard work has really paid off--he's in the best shape he's ever been in since probably high school. Since last August he's dropped over 50lbs. Doesn't he look awesome here? I love him in uniform!


Yay we're a family again! There were tons of smiles, hugs, and laughter all around as we pratcially mobbed our soldier. Could not get to him fast enough! And then when I finally got to him I simply never left his side. :)



I LOVE this picture. We were so worried that Marcus wouldn't remember Ryan. I've been showing him pictures and videos of his daddy but you never know. Well, Marcus was shy for about 30 seconds til it clicked with him who this man in uniform was. He enjoyed snuggling up to Ryan for the remainder of the week. :)


There are a TON more pix that I'm going to share...tomorrow. It's way past my bedtime and that alarm is going to go off in 6 hours. :P But I wanted to give everyone a sneak peek at the incredible week we've had with Ryan. :)