Like you all know, today is the 4th of July, the birth of our freedom and independence, so his schedule has been a little out of the ordinary the past few days. As far as I understand, RLP and the company's first quiz were both moved up to take place on Wednesday instead of Friday to allow for a "more relaxed" holiday weekend. From what Landon has told me, the team staff and instructors were granted holiday liberty both yesterday and today, so that has givem him some well deserved downtime. On Thursday, the 16-15 class had another outpost drill, which Landon referred to as General Quarters. Basically the candidates pack up their things in big seabags, then run around and do a bunch of push ups in the sand, bags on their backs, before heading to their new rooms. They seem to move around A LOT. I take it the Navy is somewhat trying to prepare them for the instability they will experience when stationed to their ship/boat and will need to pack up and go pretty much on command.

This OCS experience has really proved to be some kind intense simulation meant to mimic the life these sailors are about to undertake. OCS is just the big preliminary exam to determine what each sailor is capable of during high stress situations. And let me tell you, Landon has basically been pushed to his limit on a daily basis. On a positive note, I think he has come to realize his ability to overcome difficult days, whether that be in the Navy side of life or on the homefront. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to be in this together. We seriously have each other's backs in everything we do. I feel more and more lucky to be his wife with each passing day. But really, I'm not even kidding. We make a great team together. Love you Lando.

So their new rooms come conveniently equipped with their own laptop (an old school one provided by the Navy) to be used for studying, completing training modules, and for personal use when the time is appropriate. You know what the means? yep. emails. all day long. WELL, I've just been lucky since the holiday happened to coincide with his company's RLP inspection and his newly granted privileges. However, he does not have full access to the internet, so that means no google, youtube, or nexflix, but he says my emails have doubled as great hourly study breaks this weekend haha. I am not sure how much he will be able to email once the new week starts, but who even cares. I've been able to have a semi-normal conversation back and forth - only occasionally interrupted by chow and various team meetings - for the past 48 HOURS! I feel extra spoiled. and it's not even my birthday - or Christmas haha. By the way, I have never hated junk mail more in my life. Always tricking me into thinking I got a new email from my love and instead I find the two hundredth email advertising some dumb 24-hour Independence Day sale. ugh. I am so stoked to hear all about RLP tomorrow during his phone call. I'll be sure to post all the details.

Lando seems to be in much better spirits nowadays, as far as I can tell over email anyways. Just in the past day or so he has somehow emerged from this bubble of hopelessness that he was trapped in during those treacherous 3 weeks that seemed to drag on forever. He has made it to the peak of difficulty at this point and expects the rest of his time will be mostly downhill from here. Thank goodness. He says there have been days that he seriously questioned his decision to go the combat route, but now that he is past all of that craziness (mostly) he feels he has made the right choice. Thank goodness again. I just want my babe to be happy wherever that might be, doing whatever he needs to do. Nothing hurts worse than watching your best friend experience pain and not being able to do a single thing about it. I've felt so helpless the past few weeks.

Well, back here in the real world, life is still inching forward at an incredibly slow pace. Living with my parents again has both ups and downs, but mostly ups. It's been really awesome being able to spend some time with them before life sends some pretty big changes our way. And I thoroughly enjoyed being the third wheel on their two-hour date to Bed Bath & Beyond to determine which new and improved blender they were going purchase. I lost the debate haha.

In recent business news, I booked another wedding and a few new family sessions this week and couldn't be more grateful to have work that I absolutely love to keep my mind busy. I have had so much fun hanging out with my adorable brides and grooms during their engagement shoots. Seriously those are probably my favorite! So full of fun, giddy love! It's just the sweetest thing to capture on camera. Huge thank you to all of my client friends!! You guys rock.

Thank you! Thank you! to everyone who sent good vibes Landon's way this week. We are both so grateful for all of the support we have received during this past month. We seriously couldn't do it without you guys. We are pretty dang lucky :) In the coming weeks Landon will be pretty busy taking on new responsibilities, while preparing for a drill competition, and studying for future exams. So keep praying for him! And if anyone would like to send him a message or note, shoot me an email at jensparrow27@gmail.com and I can either give you his mailing address or forward your message to him via email. He seriously loves getting mail and hearing about life back home! :)

Love you all!

XO // Jen