HOMECOMING CEREMONY!!!!!

Mason City Homecoming Ceremony

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
11:30 AM


Anyone is welcome to come!!


If you aren't able to make the ceremony, no worries.....
there will be lots of time to catch up with Kevin -
He will be home FOR GOOD!!
He's so excited to see you all again!!!!

Welcome Home SSG Kevin Olson!

WELCOME HOME KEVIN!!!!!

As you take the first step,
Stop.

Take in all that you can from that very moment you arrive.
Listen.

The hearts that surround you are pounding.
Watch.

Tears will flow because you are home.
You are safe.
You make us proud.
You make us free.


You make us who we are because you are all you can be.

**Unknown Author

Last Night In Kuwait

Time In Kuwait Has Come To An End!!!!

The time has finally arrived!! All missions have been completed and awards have been given!! Kevin is coming home!!! He will be leaving Camp Arifjan TOMORROW, October 22!!!!



After leaving Camp Arifjan, he will be flying to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin where he will do his Demobilization. This should take about 5 days to complete the briefings and medical exams. Then as soon as they get the go ahead, he will be heading to Mason City for the homecoming ceremony!

I don't know specifics about the homecoming ceremony yet; but I do know it will be held at the Mason City Fairgrounds. Stay tuned....I will post again when I know all the details!

The deployment is finally over!!!
I'm SOOOO excited to see him again!!!

Kevin at the Awards Ceremony - Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

Kevin enjoying a little downtime with the guys at the 1133rd pizza party.
He had a good time, but he's definitely ready for an American Pizza Pie!!

Replacements Are There!!!!

Great news!!! The replacements for Kevin's group have arrived in Kuwait!!!! We have hit a huge milestone! This is definitely the home stretch now! I couldn't help but get a little emotional when I heard the news. We've been waiting for this so long.

Kevin said they got there on Wednesday night and are getting settled in. They will begin their training and hopefully be done in the next 3 weeks or so. Once they finish the training they will be leaving Kuwait and on their way to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin for their medical evaluations and debriefings. They will be there for about 5 days before they come home.

The homecoming ceremony will be in Mason City. I will keep you all posted on specifics as I find out more.

Next Month!!!

I'm SO excited that I can actually say that Kevin will be back next month!! We still don't know specifics, but everything is right on track for him to be back at the end of October.

Next weekend he will be switching back to daytime hours so they will be ready for their replacements to arrive. They should be there soon after that. This is a HUGE milestone for Kevin as training the new troops is the final stage before coming home!

We are both so excited for him to come home and for things to get back to normal. I have a shirt of Kevin's that I haven't washed; and every now and then I'll pull it out and let Goo smell it. Goo still gets excited, sniffing and licking the shirt. It will be so fun to watch his reaction when he sees Kevin again.




I will keep everyone posted as I find out more on final dates for his arrival and homecoming ceremony. It's getting so close...We will see him NEXT MONTH!!!

Kevin's Mission

Kevin went on his first mission at the beginning of September. Things had been so busy with the missions coming and going that they needed someone to go, so he did. He went into the southern part of Iraq and back. The mission lasted about 4 days, and thankfully it was uneventful. Kevin enjoyed getting out of the base for awhile to do something a little different and out of his normal routine. Here are some pictures of Kevin on his mission.

The wrecker

Kevin and his truck partner, Chad Holt

Kevin driving the wrecker

Celebrating 1 Year!

Kevin and I celebrated our first year of dating on July 24!! He surprised me with beautiful flowers! Part of me can't believe it's been a year, and the other part can't believe it's only been a year!! So much has happened over the course of the year. We've had a lot of great times and great memories.


Kevin and I would like to send a big congrats (and also THANK YOU) to Brian and Emily (Kevin's cousin) who got married a year ago. It was the trip up north that sealed the deal!!


1 year down and many more to come.....

August Is Almost Here - - 3 Months and Counting!!

I don't think in my whole life I have ever wished for the summer to fly by; but i find myself doing that more than ever this year. It's been a good summer, and it has gone fast! I can't believe August is just a few days away!

We're almost to the 3 month mark!!! I don't know details or specific dates, but Kevin's 1 year of active duty is finished on October 31. So I'm holding on to that as a tentative return date. I will keep everyone posted as I hear more.

Kevin is doing good, but he is definitely ready to be done. They were very generous this month and decreased their hours!! They are now only working 11 hours days instead of 12!!! (Can you sense my sarcasm?!?) I guess we will take what we can get!

I hope you are all having a great summer!! Stay cool - - I'll be here counting down the days for us all!

Peachtree 10K - Fun Run!

I'm a little behind on my blogging, but had to let you know about Kevin's 10K (6 mile) race that he ran on the 4th of July. He wasn't sure what place he came in, but he had an awesome time of 58.30 minutes!!! This was one of their "Fun Runs" that the whole base could participate in. As a company they did really good. One of their guys won the whole thing, there was a 5th place and 15th finisher also!! Wooohoooo!!!

Last Hoorah In Atlanta....Then "See Ya Later!" (I don't like good-bye)

Kevin and I both left the Dominican on Friday, June 5. I had a direct flight to Atlanta; but he had a layover in Miami before his final stop in Atlanta. I got all settled in around 8:30 that night and waited for Kevin to arrive. Much to my dismay, I had to do more waiting than I wanted to. He got delayed in Miami because of thunderstorms, and didn't show up until 4am on Saturday!!

We didn't let it ruin our day though! We went for lunch for some good AMERICAN food at Malone's. Then decided to take the train downtown to see what we could see! Neither of us had been to Atlanta before, so we had a good time walking around and seeing the sights.

We didn't see whales in the Dominican, but we did in Atlanta!!!

Kevin and I always end up meeting someone new. Even this crazy girl!! Ha Ha!! She was nice!

....But I think she was rubbing off on us!!!

We felt right at home when they started up the Karaoke!

Kevin and I can find fun wherever we go!!

Like they say....all good things must come to an end. The whole trip was fun from the first day to the last. I can't lie...The hardest part of this deployment for me was having to leave him on Sunday after this amazing trip. As hard as it was to let him go, it was time for him to go back to Kuwait. I wanted to bring him home with me so badly!

This is definitely not a good-bye, but a see you later! Almost 4 months, and he will be home!! LET THE NEXT COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!

Come On...now you tell me....how can I not love this face!!!

***We'll be together soon, Kevin! I love you!

Packed Up & Ready To Leave The Dominican

It's amazing how fast 2 weeks goes! Our time in the Dominican was amazing, and a once in a lifetime trip. We had to leave each other for a few hours as we took separate flights to Atlanta....but this wasn't quite the end of our trip!

A Whole New World!!

One afternoon Kevin and I decided to take a snorkeling trip. We had done a little snorkeling in the swimming area, but we were ready to see more!! We took a speed boat a few miles out...and in just a few short miles we saw a whole new world!!






Neither Kevin or I had ever snorkeled before, and we were so amazed at what we saw! My sister has some salt water tanks, and I've always enjoyed watching the colorful fish swim around in all the coral. I never thought I would be swimming IN it quite like this! The first thing I said to Kevin was, "I feel like I'm swimming in Jody's fish tank!!" It was amazing all the coral and fish we saw....it truly was a totally different world!

Our Trip to Saona Island!

This picture pretty much summarizes our trip to Saona Island.....PERFECT!!

Our Trip to the island was an all day excursion. We left at about 7:30 in the morning to drive to the other side of the Dominican Republic. (We were staying on the Atlantic Ocean side, and drove to the Caribbean side) Once we reached the ocean again, we took a catamaran to Saona Island. It took 1 hour and 30 minutes or so to sail to the island...it was gorgeous the whole way. We had a good time on the boat mingling and meeting new people.

While we were on the island, they gave us about 3 hours or so to relax, swim, eat lunch, search for shells....whatever we wanted to do! This beach had a lot more coral and shells, so it was fun to walk around searching for cool shells for our collection. We had so much fun on our trip to the island together. I think this was one of our favorite parts of the whole trip!!

Once we left the island we took speedboats back to land...but we had one more stop!

They stopped us in the "Natural Pool". It was part of the ocean that only came up to our chests where we could swim with the starfish. This was SO much fun!! What an amazing experience!! And notice how clear the water was! Again, you could see straight to the bottom!!

This was us in the speedboat on our way back to land. What a perfect day!! I had no complaints, that's for sure! It was a gorgeous day, beautiful scenery, fun people....and my man by my side!!! I couldn't have asked for anything more!

Our Very Unwelcome Visitor!!

One night we were awoken from a peaceful sleep by the crashing of water bottles onto the tile floor in the living room. We sat straight up, both a little startled and trying to get a grasp on what just happened. So I did what any girl would do, and sent Kevin out to the living room to see what happened! Kevin turned on the light and was about to walk into the living room when a little brown mouse scurried into the bathroom and hopped through the vent. We thought that was it for the night when we suddenly woke up again to this horrible gnawing on wood sound. The little guy was apparently very hungry and the wood vent in the bathroom was the best he could find....either that or he really just wanted to torture us! The next night we heard him running around again. Kevin again got up and turned on the light. As he stood near the bathroom to see if the little guy was around; he looked up at the vent above his head and the mouse was sticking his head out of the vent. He ducked back into the vent and we didn't see him again. Kevin gave the vent a good beating to try and scare the mouse away. The next morning Kevin woke up and took a look at his thumb and noticed this little visitor was out for blood! The mouse bit him while he was sleeping!! There were definitely 2 little teeth marks engraved in Kevin's thumb! As we were up and getting ready, I looked at a pair of jeans Kevin had laying on the chair - - MOUSE POOP!! (Keep in mind I didn't get bit or poop on my clothes) That mouse really had it out for Kevin!! That was the last we saw of our very unwelcome visitor!!!

Some Fun Pictures From Dominican

We loved going up to the Premium Lounge. We could hang out, check our emails, eat breakfast, private check out....and so much more! This is where Kevin taught me how to play chess!!

We met great people! This is our friend, Rosa. She always made sure that everything was perfect for us!

Manuel was such a nice guy! He helped us set up our excursions, and always made sure we were having fun!

You know what I really liked about Manuel??? He made Kevin smile for this picture! I love his smile!!!

We ate REALLY good food!!!

We had SO much fun just hanging out together!