Two weeks ago, Logan returned home from a six and a half month deployment to Japan. I know, I know, shocker. I didn’t exactly announce it on social media. There’s a multitude of security reasons behind my decision and the fact that I didn’t have much time to throw myself a pity party. I didn’t have much time for anything honestly. I had these big plans to catch up on photo editing and blogging while he was gone. But every night when I was faced with the decision of doing something fun for myself or laying in my bed doing absolutely nothing, my bed usually won. So excuse me while I play a little catch up.

Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

Logan is an aviation maintenance officer in the Marines. In early April, he left with his unit to Okinawa, Japan. This would be our fifth deployment together, but first for our children. Needless to say, we were long overdue for one sadly. We woke up and drove Logan to base, saying our final goodbyes before sending him on his way overseas.

Easton was sad momentarily but really had no idea of the big picture. It’s hard to explain to a 5 year old just how long 6 months really is.

And then just like that, he was off and the time started to pass…

I could probably insert a hundred pictures into this next paragraph, but that’s another blog post. We stayed plenty busy; Easton started kindergarten, played baseball, rocked swim lessons, got promoted at jiu-jitsu. Amelia pirouetted her way into ballet and started talking in complete sentences. We went on vacation, I decorated and painted in the house, learned how to style Amelia’s unruly hair, had Amelia’s 3rd birthday party, celebrated Easton’s 6th birthday, and produced a video at work, all while not harming my children! I’d say that’s a win in everyone’s book!

And then, after hearing “when is Daddy coming home” for what seemed like the millionth time and a few homecoming date push backs, October finally arrived and we were headed to go pick Logan up from the same spot we said our goodbyes at. Six and a half months really seems to go by fast in one blog post, huh?

I had the pleasure of hanging out with these two ladies during the course of the deployment while our husbands were away. I can definitely say that I have been blessed to have them in my life and deployments are so much better when you have a group of people who know exactly what you’re going through. Love you, ladies!

The Marines flew into a base a few hours North and then were bussed down to MCAS Miramar. Everyone was so excited when we finally saw the bus roll up…

Seeing the reactions on Easton’s and Amelia’s faces were priceless. Homecomings truly are the best!

And after patiently waiting for what seemed like forever, it was finally my turn!

Smiles all around!

It was a really good day…

Photography by Kylene and Ryan Studios