Sophie's 1st Sleepover & The National Anthem

Sophie had her 1st sleepover on Thursday with her good friend Lucy. They had fun eating banana bread, playing the piano, sharing toys and watching Curious George. It took a while to get them to sleep, but when they did Amy and I did get some girl time and watched one of our favorite movies.

My friend Natalie and I sang the national anthem at the Boise Burn game (arena football) last night. We had a really good time. It was an awesome game. My dad, TJ, and Becca all came. We were really pleased with our performance and are excited cause they asked us to sing again for one of their playoff games and an Idaho Steelheads game. So...that will be fun. I guess it can be my new hobby! If you want to hear us, there's a video on Facebook.

I Have Pink Hair!

More Excerpts From Phil's Letters

"Today I woke up at 0200 and went to do kitchen duty. I actually fell asleep standing up. My knees gave out and I fell against the dishwasher and woke up. I couldn't believe it, that tells you how tired I am."

"All the guys that wear glasses have to wear the same, really thick rimmed ones. Our dorm chief was stopped by a TI in the chow hall and he said, "Dorm chief, where'd you get those glasses? You'd look better strapping 2 turds to your head."

"Today we learned how to dress wounds and save lives in combat situations. We practiced on each other and dummies. The dummies were pretty realistic, they had guts hanging out and bones sticking out and big open wounds like they were from gun shots and explosions."

"Today we had a drill where we get in a certain formation and out TIs walk around and inspect us. I did awesome until I had to yawn. I did it with my mouth closed so he thought I sighed. He made me drop and do pushups and said, "Oh poor Mason had a hard day everyone. Oh, its so lame he has to stand here, oh no, poor Mason!"

"When I graduate I'll get 2 ribbons on my dress blues but I'm trying to earn 2 more, honor graduate and advanced weaponry cause I can breakdown my M16 in 30 seconds and we're allowed 2 minutes."

"Today we had to go in the gas chamber. I had to wear a full chemical warfare suit. It was so hot and we had to run, go into the chamber and do jumping jacks, take off our masks and hoods, open our eyes and breathe in the tear gas. We had to give our reporting statement and then walk slowly out. It really burnt my eyes and lungs but I managed better than others."

"Today we walked around looking for IEDs. One went off in front of us on the side of the road. It was a lot of fun."

"One of my favorite places is the toilet. Its so relaxing sometimes I'll just go sit in there even if I don't have to go."

The Traveling Duo

Sophie and I spent the last week and a half traveling around Utah visiting friends and family. I thought this would be a perfect time to do just that and hopefully make time go by faster.

We spent one night with Matt and Faroe in Draper, then drove to Jenn and Parker's in Roosevelt where we stayed 5 days, then to Provo to spend the weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Goodsell. On our way home we stopped in Murray to see Beth and Tru and then in SLC to have lunch with Bitty. Sophie had fun with Jenn's twin boys and she LOVES Grandma and Grandpa. She was very entertained by my younger cousins who loved to play with her and was more than excited when I told her we were going to see Tru!

Thanks everyone for welcoming us. We had a great time. I will say it's GOOD to be home though!

My camera died and of course I had forgotten the charger, so we didn't get pictures with everyone, but here are a few...