Sunday Call

I got a call from Cory yesterday. He sounded much better! He misses home still and is looking forward to graduation in September. It was our 4 year wedding anniversary last Tuesday and we both couldn't believe how fast it has gone. He accepted a calling to teach Sunday school. He said he was a little worried about when he was going to prepare for the lessons. He got to experience the gas chamber on Saturday. Lol. He said it was horrible. His sinuses were cleared out very well by the end of it. He is getting along better with his bunk mate, and the soldiers around him. He accidentally forgot to address one of his superior sergeants by "drill sergeant," so he got a good face to face lecture about that. He is getting closer to passing his PT test, he has the running down, but needs a few more push ups to get it. He said he isn't worried about it. He got a bunch of letters on Sunday and said it was like Christmas! He said he has to do 25 push ups for every letter he gets, so if we are sending them toward the end of the week just send them to the missionaries, since he doesn't have to do push ups when they get them. It was really nice to hear from him. Abby got to talk to him for a little, but she was too busy herding the baby kittens to say much to him. She kept coming back to jabber a little bit every now and then. She is doing really well, every once in awhile she will ask me when we are going home, and where is her daddy? I just tell her we will see him in a little bit. I am staying busy with work and school. I will keep you updated!

More Basic Training

*FUN FACT*
The United States Government spends $68,000 per soldier to train them.

Today didn't feel like basic training. We only got smoked twice and we didn't do much. We learned three crawling positions on your stomach, did some PT and had a class on personal health and substance abuse. We ate crappy food. I miss Idaho potatoes. The potatoes here lack flavor. The only things that really taste good are the desserts. I am trying to avoid those so I can get rid of my little belly. They have cakes and pies and they are way tempting.

Last Saturday we had to do our initial PT stats so we could gauge how we progress. The drill Sergent's were nice enough to smoke us all day Friday to the point that Saturday hurt to move. Due to the soreness I only did 17 push ups in a minute, 30 sit ups in a minute and I ran my mile in 6:28. I am noticing day by day the platoon getting better and better, we still screw up A LOT... just not as many are screwing up. Send me some 4x6 pictures. I can have 3 hanging in my locker so send me lots and I can mix them around as needed. Right now all I have hanging in my locker is a picture of the Salt Lake City temple.

I try to avoid thinking of back home. Every time I do I start regretting my decision and think of all the little things I would take advantage of, especially hanging out with Abby. I miss music, video games, family, even just laying around doing nothing. I really wish my family could move down to San Antonio in September and that I could live with them. At least at AIT I can have everything but family. Hopefully I can get a computer with a web cam to at least see family.
Love ya, Cory

Beginning of Basic Training!!!

I received another letter/journal entry from Cory today, here it is...

The transition from reception to basic training was huge! All I had heard prior to joining is that reception was harder than basic training. Bull shit. In reception we took naps. Here, it pretty much has sucked the first couple of days. We wake up at 4:00am every morning and go to bed when the drill Sergent's feel like it, (usually around 9:00pm-10:00pm.) The drill Sergent's here are mean as hell. Their favorite thing to say is "front lean rest position... ready... exercise!!" Also known as the PUSH UP. I've done so many push ups it's ridiculous. My shoulders and arms are constantly sore.

The other day we were having a presentation as a battery (4 platoons; 240 soldiers) and this stupid kid sitting next to me was having a hard time staying awake. He got up to go stand in the back and get the blood flowing. Well the drill Sergent's basically took this as he was sleeping. He was taken to the very back of the room to get smoked. They also had the people who were sitting next to him come to the back for good measure, that included me and another kid. We had to do so many push ups that I reached muscle failure and my arms basically would not work anymore. The drill Sergent's continued to scream at us to keep going. I knew it wasn't going to happen thanks go me paying a little attention in my anatomy and physiology class. I had a puddle of sweat on the floor and couldn't keep up in the position because I was slipping in my own sweat. I wanted to punch the sleepy kid in the face right then except it would have been pointless because my arms were completely limp. I now avoid sitting next to dumb asses.

Aside from that all I really remember doing is push ups, leg extensions, marching, eating, getting yelled at, taking 20 second showers and getting a little sleep. Yesterday was not as bad though. We walked over to this giant tower and went through each obstacle, we had to climb a 40 foot wall, walk across a wide gap using a 3 rope bridge, slide back on one single rope, then back across on a 2 rope bridge. We also had to climb down the 40 foot tower on a giant rope net ladder thing. It was pretty fun.

Here is another address for Cory...

Cory Astin
C 1/79 FA
Platoon #1 Headhunters
5001 NE Rothwell st.
Ft. Sill, Oklahoma
73503

Summer time with Abby

I sent Cory some pictures of Abby, in these ones she is playing in the water and playing on the toys at McDonald's. She loves Summer!

Abby likes to ride her new bike. She was riding on the side walk and discovered there was a bug hogging the sidewalk. She couldn't have that so she got off her bike to squish the bug, bent over to make sure it was dead and squished a little more, then went on her way.

Call from Oklahoma

I was sitting at my computer while Abigail was watching one of her movies tonight and I heard my phone ring. The caller id just said it was from Oklahoma, being the screener that I am I hit silence and was prepared to let it go to voicemail. Then I realized Cory is in Oklahoma.... (I'm tired from staying up till three a.m. last night watching Harry Potter then waking up at 7:00am.) So I picked up the phone and to my pleasant surprise it was Elder Woodbury, the senior missionary that is on base at Fort Sill. I had received a video clip of Cory saying hi via email earlier this week from Sister Woodbury. He is a very nice man and asked if I was worried to be receiving a call from the base in Oklahoma...( I didn't tell him I almost let it go to voicemail because I had no idea who it was :) He gave me a lot of helpful information about graduation and about what to expect. He also said I could mail letters to them and they would deliver them to Cory! He said that they could get them to Cory much faster than the military mail could. Their address is...

Elder & Sister Woodbury
Military Relations Missionaries
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
906 NE Tortoise Dr Apt1
Lawton OK 73507

He said they were excited to have Cory there, and they planned to use him for blessing the sacrament and for blessings in general. I talked to Elder Woodbury for a good 30 minutes. It was really nice to hear a friendly voice is looking after Cory. I'm excited to send him letters and pictures. I plan on printing the pictures on normal computer paper so Cory won't get in trouble, Elder Woodbury said that was fine. Hopefully letters and pictures can give him a little boost and something to look forward to.

Sore

Cory called today. He only had ten minutes to talk. He said he is pretty much hating life right now. He misses home and good Idaho potatoes. The food is different from reception, and he isn't liking it much. He said there are a lot of kids there who don't take it seriously, so they are in trouble a lot. He said he pretty much rolls out of bed into a push-up position. He is really sore from all the push-ups. He said they were low on laundry soap so they had to share and do a few loads together and he had a pair of pants stolen from him. On the brighter side, he said he was able to attend an LDS service today. The base has a senior mission couple and a few sister missionaries. He said they recorded him saying something and they will email it to me. He said he sent me another letter too. He wants letters from home so as soon as I get his return address I will post it so we can all send him letters. He said he is in the C 1-79 Battery and 1st Platoon. I have no idea what that means! ;)

Abby and I are staying at my parents now. I moved our stuff over here this weekend. Vicky and Shawn came and got Abby for me on Saturday so I could get a few things done without having to chase a 2 1/2 year old. Abby is adjusting really well. She loves grandma's house so that has been nice. She bosses all of us around. I took her to see the Hannah Montana movie and she loved it! She danced like a maniac in the isle. I start my next block of online classes tomorrow. I am taking English 102 and American Education 200. I am keeping busy with work as well. I am really grateful for all the help from family and friends. I know I've got a great support system and that is a comfort to me.

First Week

Before Cory left for boot camp we decided that I would set up a blog and post his letters on here so all who choose can see what he is up to in Oklahoma. I have no idea what I'm doing, I am just clicking and typing and figuring this out as I go! So here we are. Well first of all, for those of you who don't know Cory left for boot camp for the United States Army on June 29th, 2009. He is currently in Fort Sill Oklahoma. He is basically writing a journal and sending me the pages. Here are a few highlights of his first week.
- Day 1 WORST DAY OF MY LIFE
Woke up at 4:30am (for those of you who don't know, Cory is not a morning person at all.) There are 10 sinks that 60 guys have to shave in. Showers are definitely a giant man sausage fest. It's basically all eyes to the sky. DON'T DROP THE SOAP!! 5:30am Went down to get in formation. It's already 80 degrees outside. Marched to breakfast. Ate some bacon potatoes, french toast. Food is good! By 10:am it's 100 degrees. We started out by getting our haircuts. They fly across your head in like 20 seconds. IT KILLED! Basically dug it into my scalp. We had to get all of our gear and carry it around from place to place in the heat all day. The gear is not light. I forgot to get my winter boots, so I got yelled at to "GO GET YOUR F***ING BOOTS!" There are two guys in my platoon with the last name white... except only one of them is actually white.... someone asked if they were related :) I got bunked up with a guy named Zander. He is pretty chill so it worked out nice. He calls me "Asshole."
- Day 2,3,4 BORING
With the exception of a few shots and eye exams and what not we basically ate and waited in our bunks. It's the 4th of July weekend so I'm assuming this has to do with why we have so much down time.
- Day 5
We ate at 7:00am then went to church at 9:00am. All those who chose not to go to church had to stay and clean. (I'm guessing higher attendance next week.) Church was an interesting experience. It was some sort of Christian service, but that's all I know. We stood up for songs that were played on guitar, said like 5 prayers and passed around an offering plate. Aside from that it was pretty interesting. The lesson talked about how bad things in life usually happen for some purpose and we reflected on things in our lives like our happiest moments and our hardest hardships and how often they will relate to each other. This made me homesick for the first time. I realized that this is the longest I've been away from Abby ever since she was born. It's going to be hard to adjust. Talking to her on the phone and receiving pictures on my phone helps a lot. She just needs to stop growing up till I can see her progress in person. It's too bad my AIT (advanced individual training) isn't a little longer so my family could stay with me.

So his first week was pretty laid back aside from the first day. He got to call home every night which was nice for Abby and I. He said on Tuesday night that he was being shipped to his new platoon where actual boot camp begins. I haven't heard from him since Tuesday so I'm guessing communication will be on Sundays only now. Everything with Abby and I is going pretty smooth, I took a few days off work and packed up our things. I actually found a little family that will be moving to Pocatello in August to rent our townhouse. Thank you craigslist! I am gradually moving things over to my moms house. I am a little hesitant for this move. I love my parents dearly. They are great to help out with Abby while I work, but I still am moving back in with my parents. Kell and Tenielle came down to help me move my electronics over here. THANKS GUYS!! I have no idea how to set up all the cords and what not to my TV and Xbox. I am looking forward to hearing from Cory again. I will keep you updated.