bAbY sEaSoN!!!!!!

It must be baby-making season again. It seems like EVERYONE is pregnant! I have 2 guys in my unit, who just returned out here from leave, that just found out that their wife and fiancee are pregnant. And then there's Kat and Rod, who've been pregnant for some time now. And Angie had her baby not too long ago. Denise hasn't gotten back to me yet on whether she's prego or not. And I hear about all these people who work where I do guard duty who have pregnant wives and girlfriends back in the states. And there were 4 females in my battalion who were sent back to the states because they found out they were prego! It's nuts!!!!! No, I'm no where near being prego, so don't even START!!! I am just amazed at how many people are having babies. I'm happy for all of them. Some day maybe I'll have my own...but NOT today!
I hope everyone is doing well. Take care of yourselves. Have a GROOVALICIOUS day! Toodles.

oh-eh oh-eh, oh-eh oh-eh...

"Oh-eh oh-eh, oh-eh oh-eh...I'm feelin' HOT HOT HOT!!!!!"
It feels like it's a million degrees outside. I've been sweating non-stop for what seems like forever. I start sweating even right after I get done with a shower...no matter how cold the water is!!!! It's crazy!
The rock band's performance was wicked awesome! I wasn't able to take any pictures tho cuz my camera's battery died. UGH!!! I was so disappointed. I still head-banged a little too much...my neck is a bit sore. C'est la vie! Oh, and just to make Jenn jealous, I thought I'd inform you all that the Charlie Daniels show wasn't too bad either. I got an autographed picture of Charlie Daniels and his whole band. I even got to shake Charlie's hand. How kewl is that? Are you green yet, Jenn? Heh heh heh *do note the evil laugh*
Finally heard from Angie. She got married to Nick on 30 March and she had her baby, Elizabeth, on December 12 of last year. Congrats, Angie and Nick. Hopefully she'll email me some pics of her and her family (Nick and Elizabeth) so that I can post them on here for all of you to see.
Still same old stuff, different day, here. Not much to report. It's Iraq. It's hot. It's windy--but it's a warm wind. And sometimes it smells like garbage outside. I miss home. I'm looking forward to going home (to stay) in the next 7-8 months. It seems so far away. Although, I'll have to admit...the lack of weekends has made it seem like the time is moving kind of fast. I'm always working, so the only time I have to myself is usually right before I go to bed every day.
Matthew is still doing okay. He's busy, so he doesn't have much time to sulk either. I guess we're doing pretty well, all considering. Keep writing, though. We like to hear about what's going on back home. We love you all! Take care. I'll write more some other day. Toodles!

my half of a room

Here are two pics of my room. They are both taken from the door to enter the room. The camo thing hanging down is the entrance to my roomie's little fort. She likes to hide from me...she likes her privacy. Whatever flips her lid, I guess. I just wanted everyone to see where I live. Toodles!!!

Armageddon!!!!!!!!!

It was like ARMAGEDDON out here the day before yesterday! As you can view from the above pictures. I went to the PX in the middle of the storm with Arizmendi (driver), Agee and Williams (riding and looking scared out of their minds). We're crazy! It was so orange outside. Kinda freaky. Then it hailed like crazy!!!! We had a hail ball fight and then everyone started eating the hail. I thought it was gross, so I didn't eat any. I got a pic of a couple of my buddies (from left: Lowrey, Agee, and Arizmendi) licking a hail ball. Thought you'd dig the pictures. Let you see Armageddon for yourselves. It was really crazy though! It rained a LOT!!! It's still really muddy out from all the rain. Although, the mud is more of a paste now that it's starting to evaporate and stuff, but it's there. UGH!! Walking to work is a work-out.
Oh, and yesterday I ran on a treadmill for over an hour straight! My butt hurts. I can't even walk normal cuz it hurts so much. Oh, well...that's what I get for running so much. And for the record--I've lost 30 pounds since I deployed; and I'm STILL losing weight. Yay for me!!!!!!
I suppose I should end this now and get my sore butt back to work. Take care of yourselves. I'll be adding some pictures of the rock band concert coming up this Friday...so keep an eye out for that. YAY!!! Today's a good day. Toodles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April visit with Matthew

That's right! I've finally posted a few of my favorite pics from my last visit with Matthew. We're planning on making a movie or two with all of our deployed pics and video clips later on and give them to friends and family, but I figured you'd still like to see a couple good ones.

The first one in upper left is of Matthew walking around his camp...we weren't that far from the gift shops. The other two were taken the morning that I'd arrived at his camp. We were just goofing around. What else is new.

It's hot out, but not too bad. I had to set up the stage for my unit's country band cuz they are opening for Charlie Daniels when he performs here tomorrow (I think the show's tomorrow). Pretty exciting, eh? It should prove to be an interesting performance. For those of you who don't know him, Charlie Daniels is the guy who sings "The Devil Went Down To Georgia". I can almost see the light bulb click on! LOL Take care, you guys. Toodles!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Pictured above it the gingerbread Easter Bunny Hutch that I'd made a week ago to help decorate the band hall. Make it a little bit more...festive. I thought it was fun. It was my first gingerbread house of any sorts, so I had to share it with you guys. Isn't it kewl??? I think I did a bang-up job on it. Everyone in the band dug it...they can't believe that I made a gingerbread house out here. They think I'm so goofy. Oh, and apparently I remind them of a muppet!!! Crazy, eh?
I miss you all. I hope you're having a good Easter. Eat some Cadbury eggs for me, would you? It's too hot for chocolate out here.
Take care. Have a FANTABULOUS Easter!!! TOODLES!!!!!!!!!!

Ren Fest Fever!

That's right! Crystal has got Renaissance Festival Fever once again! Not like that's anything new. I just really want to go see the Tortuga Twins (pictured above) and Puke 'n Snot and maybe even The London Broil!!! You remember The London Broil quite well, don't you, Abby? Heh heh heh...
Anyways, I've found a couple mid-east outfits out here that I think would be totally awesome for The Mid-East Mirage weekend at the Ren Fest. I'm so pumped. I can't wait to get back to the states and frequent my favorite part of summer. The part I look forward to all year long. My beloved Renaissance Festival season. Mmmmmmm...good food, good music, good entertainment, and (depending on who you take along) good company...it's all just so darn GOOD!!!! I'm so excited. I wish that I could go right now. Sadly, I'm stuck here where it's been getting like 100 degrees out and all that trash! UGH!!! I don't think I'll be able to handle the heat this summer. I just want to go have some fun at home.
Does anyone know when the Minnesota Renaissance Festival kicks-off this summer? I know it'll be in August, but does anyone know which weekend? I know some people here, who are going to be back in the states in time to go, who are interested in going, but I need to know the dates for them. Write to me if you find out.
Well, I suppose I should end this now. Stop blabbering on and on and get my butt back to work. Hope you all have a great weekend. Take care. Write to me sometime. Toodles!!!!

I am cute!!!!!

This is a picture of me at the Pot Luck dinner for Matthew and I last summer (2005). I think I look so cute. Matthew has this picture hanging up in his room over at his camp. I really like this picture of me, so I decided I needed to share it with the world.

Matthew and I are enjoying our time together right now. I arrived at his camp late last night. It's a miniature vacation, I guess. He's got a mission later today, but hopefully he'll be back before I have to leave. It would be nice to say a decent "good bye". We went and had some Turkish Cappacino (SP?) at a cafe called "Amira's Cafe". She was a nice lady. Then, I whooped Matthew's butt at a game of checkers. Hee hee hee. It's really nice out today cuz it's raining. Yesterday was aweful. It reached a whopping 95 degrees yesterday!!!! The hottest day so far. Not looking forward to summer; it's THIS hot already and it's only Spring! UGH!!!!!

We've taken a couple pics out here, but I'll add them to my blog at a later date. Don't want to overload my blog entry with too many pictures all at one time.

Matthew has a MySpace account, now, for all of you MySpacers! His name there is crazymofo97. He's new at it, so if you've got any advice, write to him and hopefully he won't be too "proud" to accept some words of wisdom. :^)

Yes, there was a daylight savings thingy over here. It wasn't too bad for me cuz I was on guard duty when we had to change the clocks, so technically I got to sham out of an hour of guard duty. That rocks!!!! I know you'd asked me about that, Jenn. Sorry that it took so long for me to answer you back. I've been busy like crazy!

Starting next month, I will start performing in my jazz combo for the troops. I'm pretty pumped about that. I've been working really hard on learning some licks on the keyboard. I've also written a chart for my group. It's my own jazzy arrangement of the Temptations' tune "My Girl". It's really kewl. I've never really written anything to be performed in public before. Next month will be my debut!!!!!! YAY FOR ME!!!!!!

I should go now so that I can stop ignoring Matthew. I can tell that he's getting bored watching me type this entry and I'm sure you're tired of reading it. Take care. I'll try to keep you all better informed. I'll try to make more time to write on here in the future. Hope you all have a FANTABULOUS day! Toodles!!!!