Want to date?

Twas a sunny day upon the desert. The sand was sandy and the sun was sunny, and it reminded me of being in a desert. Which immediately reminded me of dessert and how there are no real good desserts here in the desert. Many good desserts melt in the desert making dessert in the desert a disastrous disappointment.

Though I managed by eating several PB cups that were mutated from melting and having hardened again in frumpy shapes.

And for dinner I had cordon blu. I kind of wish I would have eaten two but that would have been the opposite of portion control. That's something I've been doing lately - controlling portions. But cordon blu surprised me with goodness that I was not expecting. Normally Saturday meals are lame-o but not cordon blu. Cordon blu is good-o.

I played the guitar for over an hour today.

I went to the gym and did a bunch of squats and then did arms. Sometimes I feel I'm getting bigger, sometimes it looks mostly the same. I hope you notice something. It would be a disappointment if all this exercise didn't make for any noticeable change.

We had a class about going home today. Seems so real when we are having classes about stuff. You only have classes about real stuff-ish. Chaplain Rees said we need to communicate before coming home about each other's expectations for the other. He said we need to talk about what you expect of me for parenting and at the house and how long I should get to override jet lag. And I'm supposed to tell you those things too. Soooooo?

I can't help it, our official date is January 16. That's when I leave here. Of course, don't believe that until I get into an airplane and it lands in the U.S.

So for my goals I still need to make a box for Shira. Tomorrow I plan to do that. And sleep. That's my plan for tomorrow. Play guitar maybe. See if there are some good books to read the kids.

I do miss talking to you. I don't know why but we haven't had much of a conversation for a long while it seems. I guess just schedules keep conflicting. I can't imagine what it must be like after 7, 9, or 12 months. As Chaplain Rees pointed out, though married, each person is a different person and in the absence of the other will change and evolve in a different way. So when you are apart you essentially just become more different with different lives. That's hard when you are gone a long time and each person just grows apart. When they return it's their responsibility to reconnect and go with those changes. I'm glad we have a bigger perspective with the gospel and covenants that hold us together. This has been I think a very good learning experience and I'm glad we had it. I've learned a lot about us and myself. I'm more committed to leaving a disciplined and healthy lifestyle. I've had time to ponder parenting and our children. And I feel that we have seen that we can stick together through hard things. I feel all these are lessons that will help us in our lives if we take them to heart and plan now to put them into use when we get back into our normal routine.

I'm glad we are US. Go us!

Love you and look forward to talking to you soon.

You other half