so sooooon

Nathaneil with his friend Jared - Iraq

It's interesting how a whole year can seem to fly by while the next few days seem like an eternity! That's right, Nathaniel is almost home and what a year it has been. I was reading through my journal the other day and I read an entry right after Nathaniel left for Iraq and it said: I was given the advice make this next year a time for you to thrive and not just to survive.

I am very happy for those words because they helped me through the next year and now that I look back on the year Nathaniel was in Iraq it is a great memory...don't get me wrong I missed him so much some nights I would just curl up in bed and cry myself to sleep, but thankfully those moments were far and few inbetween because I had made the commitment to myself to thrive over the year.

Camden and I had a great year, from celebrating his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Camden also learned how to sit be himself...crawl by himself...walk by himself, and is now running around like a big boy. We had a wonderful time visiting friends and family. We had FHE every monday night with our friends who's husbands/dads were also deployed. Every wednesday we go to play group in our neighborhood. I take much needed time and work out at our gym while Camden goes to the wonderful child care that they have! I have also come to realize over and over again how lucky I am to have such a wonerful husband, who cares so much about his family, who loves the gospel and is worthy to hold the priesthood. I feel so blessed that he is excited for more children to come into our family because he understands the eternal nature of the family :) Some people have said: I don't know how you do it, a year is so long, I just shrug my shoulders and say, you can do anything for those you love.

But I am not going to lie, even though this past year is full of great memories, I know that his next year is going to be EVEN better!

But in the end I am going to savor every second I have with just Camden and I, as we anxiously await (with butterfly's in my stomach) the day I get to run up and hug (and kiss!) my best friend, my wonderful husband.