Congrats Wyatt and Noelle!

Wyatt and Noelle tied the knot! :) Welcome to the family Noelle!

We remember..

Today for 9/11 we lit candles in remembrance of those who gave their life on that horrible day and for everyone who has given their life for this great country. Also today happens to be the one month marker for the day that Ryley died so the white candle on the left is for him. Ryley I miss you like crazy and I love you with all my heart! I'm so proud of you! Thank you for continuing to be my hero, watching over me and comforting me constantly..

Homesick...

One morning at breakfast before deployment...

Packing... Gosh I love that face... He always loved when I said gosh..... he said it always made him smile... that wonderful amazing smile I miss so much.. the one I heard on his face and saw all the time..

On a train in Chicago after getting married...

A picture he sent me while he was still on his way to Afghanistan.. He loved sending me random pictures and stealing my phone when I wasn't in the room and taking pictures of himself...

What to say...

Ryley Gallinger-Long July 4, 1992-August 11,2011..... I decided to make my blog public again.. I can't run from this forever, it's my life now and I need to be open and honest and my life is now very out in the open and I need to embrace it more than hide from it... I never wanted this, but life rarely works out the way we want it too. I miss my best friend, the love of my life, and I can't wait for the day that we can pick up where we left off...

I'm slow, but SC trip pictures!!

So last month I was able to go to Surfside and Myrtle Beach with my family in Maryland! It was so great being able to spend that week with them! I had a great time! Thank you all again for taking me!!
I didn't take a lot of pictures, but luckily my grandparents and aunts did so their blogs are a little better than mine lol.
Here are some pictures of our first beach trip, one of many trips to the beach :) The water was so nice! Our group had tons of very colorful umbrellas (which made it very easy to remember where we were when coming out of the water).

Down the beach from us..

There were a lot of fishers down on the pier all throughout the day. Some people were catching sharks!
One of the days that we were down there we decided to see some of the different attractions. My Aunt Trudy and Uncle Steve went with their kids to see alligators and snakes, and the rest of us went to the Brookgreen Gardens. It was a really hot day, but the gardens were so pretty! There was a lot of art and poetry mixed in with all the plants and beautiful landscapes. These aren't in any particular order, I had a hard time choosing which pictures to post from the gardens..

This sculpure of the pegasus is the biggest sculpure they have there..

Samson and the Lion..

Cool palm tree bark. This palm tree is actually SC's state tree..

Little pond with a little boy holding frogs in each hand..

Big great oaks with spanish moss hanging from the branches..

The muses..

another pond I can't remember which sculpture this one is..

Grandma next to a huge plant!

An outside sculpture gallery of sorts...

One of the many fountains, I really like this one!

Spanish moss..

Some turtles sunning themselves..

Freaky sign lol. We later learned that sometimes alligators will wander into the park

These little guys were all over the place, my uncle Lincoln picked this one up and when he went to put it back down it really did not want to leave his hand lol

Big nasty spiders that were everywhere when we got to the zoo part of the gardens!

Native birds in the swampy area..

Tree climbing red foxes! I guess the native fox to SC is the gray fox and when the English first came here they were really excited to start up their fox hunts till they found out the gray fox climbed trees. So they imported the red fox for funner sport, but to their dissapointment the red fox started to learn to climb trees too lol


Otters going after the fish being thrown in by the guide

Big ole alligator that has been in the park since it was first established.. She didn't feed this one, it's against state law for anyone other than zoo keepers to feed alligators because they don't like the alligators associating food with people, and they had a problem with civilians feeding them as well. So our guide said that he knows it's feeding time when he hears the golf cart of the zoo keeper. He swam right up to us! Luckily there was a fence and we didn't see any more alligators through the rest of the park! lol

We ended our trip at the gardens with the butterfly house, it was kind of hard to get good pictures of some of them but they were beautiful!! By the end it was getting ready to rain so it was cooler and we were able to take our time to enjoy the butterflies.

We went mini golfing, spent lots of time on the beach, spent some time in the lazy river at the resort we were staying in, played lots of games, and had a great time during that week in SC!! :)

Ryley's Leave

Ryley was home for almost 2 weeks before leaving and it was great! We got him all moved into the apartment (and with all of his stuff tons of sand). He was so happy to be home! He was eating real food, driving his Jeep, and he had me and his family and friends all here for him. He wasn't too happy to be leaving. The day after he got here he just had to take the top off of his Jeep and we went driving, the top was down the majority of the time he was home.

Wyatt is totally into all of Ryley's medical stuff, which Ryley was super excited to show us all. We had his med bag out for most of the night and he did some fun demonstrations with the tourniquets. :) It was fun for me and Susan, but Wyatt was in a lot of pain when Ryley was putting all of his weight on his inner thigh and shoulder. There Wyatt is with the tourniquets and Ryley either just got done checking for a pulse, is about to, or is just poking Wyatts arm because Wyatt says it was tingly and numb. Both Wyatt and Susan were here for the twins birthday. :) I made them German Chocolate cake and much to their dismay put candles on it as well.
Wyatt was supposed to be flying out that night, but his flight was canceled (luckily for him he had applied for his leave and it had been approved or they wouldn't have worked with him on being a day late).
We went out to eat a couple of times while he was home too. His favorite so far is Texas Roadhouse. We went there once with his mom and Wyatt and the second time we went with his buddy Bullis.

Then it was time to say goodbye. It was not a fun day at all! Tried to put on a good face (which at the beginning was easy). We were on base all day getting ready for them to leave.

Ryley and his buddy Bullis.

Saying goodbye...

Not a fun day... I'm ready for him to come home already! I do have to say though that not being used to having him around normally has made it a little easier because sadly I'm used to this. The week and a half that he was home was great and I'm so happy I was able to spend so much time with him before he left! I'm also really happy that his brother and mom were able to make it as well! It all went really well!

My first half a week

I'm finally in North Carolina!! :) It has been such a crazy week since I landed and I am so happy that things are slowly getting better!

I hit kind of a rough patch after I signed the lease for the apartment and got the Jeep on Wednesday. I kept killing the Jeep, my apartment had furniture in it and was filthy, I was exhausted, and after the humiliation of having to have my neighbors push me into my parking spot and then drive around with me and show me the stuff close by I broke down... on the phone with a couple of people... and finally made a bed out of the couch and crashed.

Thursday I called the office of the apartment and complained. 5 minutes after I called a whole work team came in and cleaned out all the furniture and I started showing them what was wrong... They moved me into the apartment next door (cause they had a few hours of a work list in front of them) and cleaned the place really well! They cleaned the mess in the kitchen including the mold in the cuboards and on the closet doors, the bathroom, the windows (and replaced a blind), re-shampooed the carpets, etc. After they left I bought a bed and ventured out to Walmart for food and did not kill my Jeep (OH HAPPY DAY!!).

Friday I looked around for other furniture. I'm going to have to wait till Ryley comes home for that, the Jeep is too small to transport anything so I think I'm going to try to talk one of his friends into helping us out. This is also the day that the glass from the light fell right after I shut the door and had luckily moved out of the way.. so the apartment office got another call and they came out and fixed it. Ryley was also able to call me (they were on base for a couple of hours) so I was able to vent to him for a little bit and tell him that things were starting to go better and it was SO nice being able to talk to him!!!

Yesterday I just took it easy. I drove around a bit to find the church and in the process found out how to get to the bases main gate and a lot of other stores. Then I just came home and was lazy, it was really nice. :)

Today I had church and I really like the ward! If Ryley isn't here by Thursday I will be going to the Military Wifes Support Group (something I was strongly encouraged to do) and I'm getting really excited to meet more people here! :)
Hopefully the pallet with the rest of our stuff gets here tomorrow so that it can feel a little more like our home now than just some weird new temporary place.

1 day!!!!!!!!!!

I fly out tomorrow!! :D So crazy!! I have butterflies going crazy in my stomach, I'm so nervous and excited!! This morning Delta Airlines are having problems with their website, SUCH A PAIN!! So unless it's back up and allowing me to check-in for my flight there will probably be a lot of people getting their passes at the kiosk (when I called the woman told me I wasn't the only one who had been calling in with the website not loading when we click to check-in online ugh!!). Good thing I'm going there an hour early! We leave for the airport at 4 and my flight leaves at 6:20, I have an hour and 15 minute lay over in Atlanta, and then I land in Jacksonville at 4:25. It's going to be a LONG day....

5 Days!!

5 Days till I leave (well almost 4 this is kind of a late post)!!! :)

Today I sold my car!! OH HAPPY DAY!!! :D It feels so weird though not to have it any more.. but in a couple of days I'll have something else to drive, but until then I can't just hop into my car and go whenever I want to. So weird, but so nice not to have to stress anymore about selling it!

Ryley called today as well!! He thought he was going to need to get his wisdom teeth pulled, and I spent some time talking him into it being ok and really not that hard (if his wimpy wife can do it he definitely can!). Then he had to go for a little bit to see what really is going on and it turns out he has Tonsillitis. He was pretty relieved that he just needs to take some pills instead of facing a fun day with the dentist. :) Other than that and not liking how hot it gets in the desert he's doing really well! He can't wait to be home and hopefully see Wyatt for their birthday. :)

6 Days!!

6 days till moving day!! :) Sent off all of our stuff today!! Also because of the moving day coming up so fast I had to mark down the price of my car to $750. I'm crossing my fingers that it sells while I'm still here or very shortly after I leave!!
Ryley is still having fun out in the desert. We had a few days of being able to talk and now we're on 3 more days of no contact. He'll be able to talk to me the day before I leave, and then a couple days after I get there. The excited and nervous feelings are getting more intense the closer I get to leaving! It's coming up so fast!! :)

9 days

9 more days till I move! I'm getting really excited!! :) And hopefully Ryley will be there shortly after me!!
Ryley was able to call me last night and he has been really liking his desert training. His group has been very highly complimented for how well they have been doing. He's also really happy that he is getting to know his marines well enough to tell just a slight change in their mood. We probably won't have anymore contact again for another 8 or 9 days. They just went back to base for showers (which he was very happy about!) and prep for another week of training last night so he had a little time to call.

......

.... So I have confused the twins for the fist time... I'm more than a little embarrassed!! Ryley's mom had sent me a big 8x10 of "Ryley" and some wallets of both of their military pictures. The other day I looked closely at the ones in her house, and realized that the picture I had was Wyatt... Today though I sent a picture of both to Wyatt and he had a good laugh because I just now figured out I had the wrong ones... I have a feeling he'll be teasing me a lot from now on about it. So now I need to get the right picture lol.

Carolina Dreaming

Yesterday I checked Ryley's my pay... and then called Wyatt to make sure I was reading it correct, and I was!!! :) Ryley will finally be getting payed BAH on top of his regular paycheck (and all the back pay for it). Oh happy day!!! :) So on the first when it's all in the bank I will be calling the apartment people, the dealership, and getting a flight to North Carolina, and figuring out what company we will be going through to get all our stuff there after me. I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!! :D

Jeep

So Ryley bought a Jeep (this is our actual jeep above). He LOVES this Jeep. The catch is he has no license, and I (up until last week) can not drive stick shift. He thought he would be able to get his license after graduating FMTB at Camp Johnson, but of course the Navy and Marine Corps haven't been on our side from the beginning and he wasn't able to. So this lovely Jeep is still at the dealership waiting for me to go pick it up when I get to NC.

I was panicked because I suddenly needed to learn stick shift before I moved instead of after. Luckily my brother-in-law has a manual truck that I was able to learn on. My mother-in-law and he switched cars so that she could teach me whenever I was able to during the day. This truck was pretty interesting lol. The seats don't stay up by themselves so if we had to adjust the seats, we were adjusting cinder blocks and 4x4's (they are what keeps the back of the seats up so that you aren't laying down trying to drive). It was a very interesting experience, but I was able to drive it by the end of 2 days! :)

So now I just need to keep in contact with the dealership and let them know when to expect me to pick it up, still a pain, but at least I'll be able to drive the darn thing now!

Catch up

Alright so I know this is kind of late, but I need to rejoin the blogging world, and catch everyone up on what has been going on in my life. I will start with after moving out of my parents and build up, long post here we come! (I will try to condense and still make sense)

I moved in with my grandparents in Tooele, UT in August of 2010. They helped me get a car and I started working in a grocery store there (not a fun job in any way shape or form). I started going to the singles ward on and off and made some really good friends.
I decided to enroll in a dental assisting coarse that took 11 weeks to become a CDA (certified dental assistant) and become state certified in dental radiology. So I quit my job at the grocery store and started working at a day care with the 4-5 year olds. That was a very crazy time for me. I was putting in 8 intern hours a day at the dental office I was going to school at, and then 3 hours a day at the day care with 15-17 very tired and sometimes very cranky 5 year olds. I wore myself out, but it was worth it!
I started working for Dr. Allred in Grantsville and I loved it!! :) I learned a lot and just loved going to work! Shortly after I started working for him I moved out of my grandparents with my cousin and we started renting a place from my grandpa cause well we weren't expecting to be doing anything big, or moving anywhere for a while.... but of course nothing goes as planned and I started talking to and getting reacquainted with the man I was going to marry.

Ryley sent out a text in October announcing that he was out of boot camp and could now talk on the phone with people, we talked every day after that. He was in Chicago just starting his corpsman training. So we reminisced about high school and caught each other up on what we had been doing since we last saw each other, and somehow we still found lots more to talk about. :) By November he was (well I thought he was anyways) joking about marrying me. I laughed it all off (I had told him in October I was not wanting to get married any time soon in one of our conversations about future plans)...... he proved me wrong because shortly after he asked me to marry him and I told him yes. Somewhere along the line our friendly love ya's turned to more serious I love you's and I realized while he was "joking about marriage" that I wanted it to be real... got my wish! Lol I was so not expecting the rest of the craziness to come.

We decided to get things ready to be married in Oregon when he got leave, which should have been in February. We had a marriage certificate all ready, we just needed a date which didn't seem like it was coming. The closer we got to February the antsier my boss became, and me too quite frankly, and so I put in my two weeks notice and decided to move back in with my parents so that when he was sent home everything would be easier. So my mom flew down to Utah, we packed all my stuff into my Buick, and we drove back to my parents.
Ryley was kept on hold though and never got his leave. I got a phone call from him on March 9th telling me that if we wanted everything to work out smoothly I would need to fly to Chicago the next day. He had already checked out how to get a marriage license there and we could make it work. That night was absolutely CRAZY!! I booked a flight to Chicago and back (thank you tax returns!!), went to the bank to get some cash for a cab (I had to meet Ryley at the train station right across the street from the corpsman gate), ran to Susan's (my mother-in-laws) to let her know what was happening, one of Ryley's friends came by to give me some of his moms famous cookies for him, I hurriedly packed a suitcase and the next morning left for Chicago. Then more craziness, the cab driver didn't know where the base was (that's when I really started praying like crazy!), but eventually we found it (a $160 cab drive later that is, again thank you tax returns!).
I made it to the train station an hour before Ryley got liberty and I jumped every time someone walked into the station to see if it was him. Then he finally walked in and when he saw me he got the biggest ear to ear smile on his face! :) I loved it! :) After big hugs and kisses we went outside and he got down on his knee to ask me to marry him (he had said he wanted to ask me properly in person).
From there we hurried to the court house in Waukegan to get our marriage license papers all done. There was problems at security (way more strict than an airport security fyi), but the guards I think took pity on us cause they watched all of my stuff. We made it just in time and got approved for a marriage license and got the rest of the info from them and the papers we needed to give the judge Saturday when we went to get married. After that we went to the hotel so he could check me in and I could drop my stuff off (oh and I also got a call then from my bank telling me they were blocking my account... and I couldn't get a hold of them, awesome!!). After that we went to Walmart to get my breakfast and lunch for Friday, and dinner for that night. I would have just walked over there Friday, but my card was blocked. He went back to the base shortly after for the night.
Friday was pretty boring, then Ryley came and picked me up and we went to the base to meet up with Wyatt (his identical twin, who yes is in the Navy as well) and one of his friends he wanted me to meet (Chris Bullis). We met up with them and spent the evening playing pool.
Then Saturday March 12 (also my birthday so if Ryley forgets either he's in trouble) we went back to the court house and were married.

(Me with the twins)

Wyatt and Bullis met us there and were able to be there and Wyatt took a few pictures. The judges were trying to get through all the marriages so they brought couples in in groups of 5, so we were married in the same ceremony as 4 other couples. It seriously felt like I was in a "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" wedding. Then we went to breakfast and walked all over Chicago with Wyatt and Bullis and had some awesome stuffed Chicago pizza! Best stuffed pizza!!
Then Sunday the 13th at 3pm I flew home. Saying good bye was so hard!

Since then I have been babysitting and on and off working a temp job. Ryley moved to Camp Johnson, NC and then last week was moved to Camp Lejeune, NC. He was doing tons of paperwork in Johnson, and finished up some other paperwork in Lejeune. We are crossing our fingers he gets paid on the first with me as his dependent so I can move to NC and be there when he gets home from his desert training and while he's on leave before his deployment in July.

So that is what has been going on and where we are at this point!