The first of, hopefully, many letters!

I received my fist letter from Nick yesterday so I figured I would put some of it up for everyone to read.
First thing though, I have his entire address, so this will get the letters to him faster.

Pvt Nickolas Pullan R
E CO, 701 st Military Police Battalion 3rd PLT
BLDG 840-C Colorado Ave.
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO 65473

Please be sure to write "3rd PLT" on the back of the letter as well.

I know he would love to get a letter from everyone. Getting words of encouragement, and hearing how much they are missed is exactly what gets the soldiers through their Basic Training. He can't receive photos yet, but once he does, I know he would love to get a picture from the family.

Now to the letter!
This one was writing on July 1st.
"It's about one o'clock and I'm on duty so we are finally about to write a letter. My platoon is full of seventeen and eighteen year olds who cannot seem to get it together. We have the hardest Drill Sergeants out of all three platoons, and we seem to be way ahead of the other two. We haven't really gotten any free time, I'm not sure how the next couple weeks will be but I'm sure I'll be able to start sending letters.
They try extremely hard to break you here. The mental part of it all is ten times worse than the physical part. I was allowed to rest while exercising because I refused to quit and three f the Drill Sergeants said I'm a great warrior. I'm doing fine, the food here is great."

This second part was written on July 3rd.
"It's Sunday and I'm at church. We have had a rough first week here and I'm hopin it will get better in the next few days. We aren't allowed to pass information on what we've been learning or what is coming so don't expect to hear a lot about that.
The Drill Sergeants in charge of our platoon are running us ragged because people in the platoon can't even stand still while in formation. There is a huge difference between the younger people and those of us in our twenties. Then the people who left people behind make a huge difference in the way we act. Many of the young people seem to think this is a game. They don't understand that what we are learning might save their lives someday. A few of the trainees have been counseled on their behavior and if they it up will be sent to military prison. Maybe, then they will grow up. As you may be able to tell, I'm learning patients the hard way. It has been one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn.
Sometimes at night I feel like life is leaving those of us here behind. Most days I don't know what day of the week it is, let alone the day of the month. I've learned a lot so far and I understand why people change when they go through this. I've been able to lay low and will continue for the next two weeks, until it starts to get fun. My family is always the first though in my head."

Keeping track of Nick

I got a letter in the mail yesterday and it had a link to "track your solider" on it. It is just a facebook page, but you are more than welcome to write encouraging comments, and read what other people have to say.
They do have pictures, but they are random and I think only the first ones are of Nick's class, I think it is 511-11, but I am still trying to figure out for sure.
I will let you know if i see him though!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/E-Company-701st-Military-Police-Battalion/103952649682236?sk=wall#!/pages/E-Company-701st-Military-Police-Battalion/103952649682236?sk=wall&filter=2
This will show you what he has been up to (you don't need a facebook page to look at it).

Also, I have an address of where to send mail to. First, please only send mail, he is not aloud to receive any food items due to health and safety reasons. Please be patient when waiting for a reply, I know that he has been doing everything extra that he can and working hard, so he doesn't have a lot of extra time to write.

Please address letters exactly like this:

Private Pullan Nickolas R
E CO, 701st Military Police Battalion 1st PLT                       
BLDG 840-C Colorado Ave
Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473

On the back you will also need to write "1st PLT"

(I don't know his PLT, but as soon as I know I will let you know, they say even if it has the wrong number on it, it will still get to him.)

Last, but not least, please do not write anything but his address, platoon number and the return address on the letter, it can cause confusion when sorting.

Holiday Weekend

I have had such a fun weekend! Friday I enjoyed a wonderfully quiet day at home, Saturday I went with Kim and John to a city festival, watched the kids on the rides and listened to a wonderful performance by the United Stated Air Force Symphony and then watched an amazing fire work show.
Saturday was spent at the beach, until is started to rain, and today I sat around the pool with the family.

I am so lucky to know John's family, they have been so kind and accepting ever since we moved out here, and especially while Nick has been gone.

Since it is Independence day, I just wanted to say that I am so proud to be living in this amazing country.
I also want to let everyone know just how proud of Nick I am. It's not easy having him gone, but he is following his dream and doing what it takes to care for his family, and I could never ask or dream of having a better husband. I love you honey!

Safe and Sound

I just got a call from Nick, I think he was using someone elses cell phone to sneak a call to me so he only talked for aobut 15 seconds.

He wanted to let me (and everyone else) know that he is safe, and that he is in the 701st company at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri.

I was just informed that I received a letter in the mail from him about where to send letters, when his graduation is and all of that wonderful information, so I will get that to everyone as soon as I can.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Well, I just dropped Nick of to head out to basic training. It was so hard to say goodbye, especially not knowing when I would hear from him again but I know that the sooner he leaves the sooner he gets back.

He will be gone for a total of 33 weeks, spending 9 in Missouri for basic training and then 24 in Maryland for his advanced job training. He should be back in the middle of February and then we will find out where we are moving to next.

But we also have some good news to share, we are expecting a little bundle of joy in January. I am heading to the doctors next month and will get a due date then. We will be finding out what we are having, but probably not until I am about 6 months along.

Since I wont be able to go on our family vacation this year I will probably be planning a trip to Utah to see everyone before I can't fly anyone. As soon as I decide when I will be there, I will let everyone know. I can't wait to see all of my family and friends again.

Where to now?

A lot of things have happened and changed in the last few weeks.

Nick has joined the army, and is very excited about it. He will be going in on Monday and spending the night to attend the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday.

Once that happens everything will be official, his job (Geospatial Engineer-land surveying/map making), and his ship out date will be set in stone.

If this all works out, he will be gone for 33 weeks.

My parents are here visiting, which has been so much fun. I haven't seen my Mom since the morning we left to move out here, and I missed her very much.

We went up to Maine for Memorial day and spent the afternoon at the beach, Nick's first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean.

We have spent the last few weeks trying to find an apartment to move into, and I think we have finally found one.

It is in a great location, stores all around, and right off the freeway. It is almost smack dab in between work and Kim's house, so you can't get much better than that.

After the ceremony on Tuesday I will publish another post with all of the details of what he is going to be doing, until then, I hope you have a wonderful day.

I love you mom!

Since Sunday was Mother's day, and we aren't there to tell our Mother and Grandma's how much we love them, I am using our blog to let you all know just how important you are.

With out these amazing women in our lives, neither Nick or I would be who we are today.

You have taught us many things.

How to love, share, laugh, be a friend and do our best at everything we do.

You taught us how to cook, how to read, walk, talk and how to give amazing hugs!

You were there for us whenever we needed you, when no one else would stand by us.

They were there through all of the disapointments and all of the big moments.

We love you so much, Mom, Grandama and every other mother figure in our life.

Thank you, for all that you have done and will do. We wouldn't be here without you.