The last week of R&R

I already wrote about the majority of Day 12 of K's R&R. After we finished the balloon ride, we headed to OK to see my family. We got to my hometown that Tuesday night, and we spent Wednesday hanging out with my dad. He and K went golfing, and I went with them to walk the course.

K taught me how to swing a club while we were there. The closest to a real game of golf I'd ever come was miniature golf -- not quite the same. Swinging the club felt a bit unnatural, and I have no idea who decided all the rules and developed the proper technique to do it, but I did pretty well for my first shot! The ball went straight, which my brother made sound like is tough to do on your first swing when I talked to him later that afternoon.

That night, my dad cooked us the same dinner he has to make every time I go to Oklahoma. He's a butcher, so it's his job to know meat. This means he grills pretty much the best steak you'll ever eat in your life. We had that, salad and baked potatoes, and after we were all completely stuffed, we spent the evening sitting outside talking under the stars -- nice and relaxing.

We headed back to Dallas early the next afternoon. Over the next few days, we did quite a bit of wedding planning. We met with our photographer and our reception coordinator, and we interviewed two DJs. We spent pver 3 hours choosing place settings, kitchen appliances, and pots and pans. Luckily, almost everything we chose was a mutual decision (I compromised on his choice for our everyday dinnerware).

One night, we met up with AJ, Heather and B, and Elle for Mexican food and a silly night at our favorite piano bar. Oh my gosh, we had so much fun!

We girls danced and sang, exhausted ourselves, rested, and danced and sang some more. In one of the pictures below, I'm pretty sure I'm yawning while dancing. I was pretty hot from breakin' it down (ha!), so Elle took the liberty of cooling me off by putting her ice cold beer bottle against my neck -- and spilling her beer in the process. I love that it's all captured on film!

We also got a nice, long laugh when a girl at the table next to us actually passed out on K's shoulder. A minute or so later, she sat up, looked at K and said, "Your shoulder is really comfortable," and went back to sleep. We were all rolling over that one.







































































































































































































Those last few days, we spent a lot of time to ourselves. That Saturday night, we went for Italian ice in a cute little shopping center. We sat outside enjoying our ice cream and just talking and laughing about different things from our day. It was so relaxed, simple and just so us that as I look back, it's one of my favorite moments from the entire R&R.

We went to church on Sunday, and the pastor actually had K stand up so he could tell the congregation he was home from Iraq. It was sweet.

That Monday was our anniversary. In between DJ interviews, K and I went by the running store I'd been wanting to visit for a while. We both got fitted for shoes, and K bought mine for me. That should give me some good motivation to get out and run -- and one more reason to kick butt at the hal.f-marathon I'm running on Nov. 2.

Before I compromised on K's choice for our everyday dinnerware, we had gone to several home stores to try to find dishes that both of us really liked. At one of the stores, I managed to find a set of dishes that I absolutely loved. I knew they weren't K's style, so I didn't suggest that we get them, but it was like someone had made these dishes with me in mind. I loved them!

Days after we'd been to the store, I was still thinking the dishes, so I decided I was going to go back and get them. K even helped me justify the purchase: "You'll probably want a nice, different set of dishes if you have the girls over or something." Well, K wound up buying me the dishes as an anniversary present. Now I love them even more.

















That night, we tried to figure out where we wanted to go to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We looked at several very nice restaurants in the area. Honestly, though, hardly anything on the menus sounded appetizing to me -- if I even knew what any of it was. K felt the same way. We talked about just going to Ol!ve Garden or something (at least we both know we like that place!). Still, we wanted to do something a little different.

I remembered a restaurant I'd randomly found a couple years ago with ER, her mom and her aunt. It was a random, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that didn't look that special from the parking lot. Inside, though, is romantic and authentically Italian. And the food is delicious. I had intended to take K there at some point, but I'd just forgotten about it. We decided to go there for dinner for our anniversary, and I'm so glad we did! K loved it. There was a rose on each table, and the restaurant was quiet and almost empty on a Monday night. The food was obviously homemade, and it was delicious. We'll definitely be going there again!

The next day, we went to Spr!nkles for the first time. Man, do they have some yummy cupcakes! Since we'd stuffed ourselves so much over K's trip, we decided to stay in for a healthier dinner that night. We marinated some chicken and cooked rice and broccoli. We used my pretty new dishes, and the flowers K had gotten me as an anniversary present made a nice little centerpiece as well (yes, I have a dining room table, but I hate it -- it was free -- and I hardly ever use it).
















































It was good to spend our last night to ourselves. Too quickly, it was Wednesday, and K was on his way back to Iraq.

The first two weeks (believe it or not, since it took me so long to get these posts up) d r a g g e d b y. After that, I was finally readjusted to the routine that had gotten me through the 9+ months of the deployment that had passed before R&R.

At least now we're just a week away from 11 months, and we're only a little over 3 months away from K being home for good. And if that time goes by as quickly as K's R&R, then he'll be home safe and sound before we know it.