Soooo Busy!!

Wow!!! I haven't been able to write on here in days! Me and the girls have been so busy! It is crazy being both Mommy and Daddy right now lol. We had a good weekend. We spent time with my best friend again, and did a little shopping. It was at the mall, when the most horrible thing happened!! Me and Brisa were shopping in one of our favorite stores when my "mommy nose" kicked in. Kells pooped. Of course!! lol. So I ask Brisa to keep the stroller with her while I just run to the bathroom with Kells to change her diaper. So I pick Kells up, and that's when I saw it. POOP EVERYWHERE!!! In the stroller, on her, and now on me. Yuck! She was putting her hands in it, and trying to grab for me and my face! Poor thing was screaming and crying at this point because I freaked out lol. Keep in mind we are in a store on a Friday evening, so it's crowded!  Wow. I had to run to the nearest bathroom and stick Kells in the sink and clean her entire body. That was a moment to remember, needless to say :)

We really miss Rick, so much, every day, all day. Deployments in one word? SUCK! LOL This is something I do not wanna do again for a long while. Ugh! I will be keeping up with this more, no matter how busy I may be :)

Father's Day

Well it has been a wonderful week thus far, and today I am very proud. I am proud because I am the father of two of the most precious, beautiful little girls I have ever seen. (Maybe just a little bias, I know) My wife is very sad because I have to spend my father's day alone, but you know it could be a lot worse; I could not have any contact with my babies, but at least i'll be able to see them over Skype and on the phone. To me, that's enough, because it could be worse. I know they love me and I know that Shannon thinks I'm a good father so that makes my father's day special. I could not be more happy and proud of my family. Furthermore, without them I know I would not be where I am today. Sometimes, I feel as though my wife and babygirls have saved my life. There was a time where I was headed down a destructive path with the things I was doing, but here I am happily married for 3 years (together for 12 total on the 22nd of June), and two wonderful daughters.

I'd like to also say Happy Father's Day to my dad Richard Herrera. I owe my entire life and success to him, for the example and imprint he has left on my life is never replaceable. He has continued to work his tail off for 30+ years just to make sure my siblings and I had everything we needed. We didn't have much growing up, but he and my mom made sure we had clothes on our backs, food on the table, and a roof over our heads. And for that I feel, our family's bond is unbreakable. I could go on and on about how great of a father I have, but all he needs to know is I am forever in debt to the things he's given me and the lessons he's taught me. Happy Father's day dad, I love you.

As far as my plans for today, I just got off work (my 1/2 day) and I have a lot on the schedule! Not! Talking to my girls as much as possible, hitting the gym, getting my haircut, and doing some laundry..and maybe going to the PX to get some new underwear (I still have the same ones that Shannon has been trying to throw away forever)! Haha....but that's about it...See you later.

Getting through this

It seems like this time away is just getting harder and harder. I've had a hard time dealing with this separation and just the deployed life all in all. I just hope that my love and I can get through this and be stronger because of it. It shouldn't feel like this but I feel like she's slipping away from me, and there is nothing I can do about it. I don't mean to sound all depressed this is just what is on my mind right now at this time. I just want to be home and get everything back to normal, but even when I'm a day closer to leaving this hell hole, it feels like i'm even further away. I'm dealing with some personal issues over here and I feel pretty good about them, but it just isn't getting any easier. All I can say is just pray for me and my family to get through this so that we are stronger on the other end.

My wife and my babies are my whole life, some decisions are made in life that can't be taken back but nothing is impossible to get over. I've witnessed how draining this whole process is and can be, not only on the deployed member, but more on the spouse and the little ones back home. All credit in this process should go to the deployed members spouse, for they have to deal with everything with the deployment but also go on and continue to run the household like nothing has ever changed. My respect for my wife, is insurmountable and she is the most amazing woman, wife and mother. Keep us in your prayers that we can get through these trying times. Thank you and have a good day.

Happy Anniversary!!

Well today has been an amazing 3 years since I have married the man I have been in love with since I was 16 years old!! Yes we are high school sweethearts, and let me tell you our life together keeps getting sweeter and sweeter :) We will be apart for this anniversary as we were for our first Anniversary, but hey that's military life right? He is the reason I breath in and out, the reason my heart keeps beating, and the reason I will live life so amazingly happy. I miss you every second that goes by, but I know it's one more closer to when I get to see you again.....

Happy Anniversary my Love...


Love, Shannon

 Today is June 12, 2011 and I've been in Iraq for a little over a month. They say things are supposed to be getting easier, but this damn thing is hard to do. I miss my girls more and more everyday, but at least we have Skype and a telephone so that there's means of communication. I'll tell you what, I don't know how people deployed when all they had to rely on was letters in the mail, I'd be going insane if that's all I had. Anyways, Shannon is such a wonderful wife, mother, and best friend. I feel as though, she deserves all the credit for what we are going through. Yeah, i'm in a war zone but she has to keep everything going at home. My job here is easy, I just sleep, workout and go to work. While my wonderful wife has to keep everything moving like normal, and for that I am thankful. There's not enough words to fully explain how I feel about my wife and my girls. Anyone who knows Shannon knows she has a heart of gold and would give you the shirt off her back, that's just the type of person she is. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd be able to do what I'm doing right now. I know this is supposed to be a day to day blog, but since this is my first one, I'll just express my gratitude and love for Shannon Lee Herrera. Then as the days go on, I'll give updates of what's going on out here. Shannon stole my heart in 7th grade when she wrote in my yearbook and left her phone number. Hell, I was goner that day. I thought I was the coolest kid at the time cause "Shannon Trujillo" signed my yearbook lol. But we never looked back. Here we are getting ready to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, but also 12 years together total. It's had its ups and downs that's for sure, but the ups trump the downs, that's for sure. She continues to make me fall in love with her on a daily basis. When I call her in the morning from here, and as soon as she says hello (in her sexy morning voice, I might add), I fall deeper in love with her. I feel we have a growing relationship everyday, and she is not only my wife, the mother of my children, but she is truly my best friend. So baby, this is to you, thank you for everything you do on a daily basis and just know you are appreciated. I'm sorry for the things we argue and fight about, but you are my rock, you are who I lean upon for everything so heavily. You are a strong woman, because I lean on you every single day that i'm out here, and you have never let me drop. So baby, I love you and give those beautiful girls of ours a kiss from daddy. Signing off now...I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!

Baltimore!!

So...Today was a super fun day :) Me and the girls got to hang out with my bestie Brisa and her family :) It started out too funny. Me and Brisa were wearing the EXACT same thing!! We are too much alike at times, its funny. Instead of changing, we just went about our day and couldn't have cared less!! We went down to the inner harbor where we decided to eat at Dicks Last Resort. OH MY GOODNESS, I have never laughed this much at a meal EVER! Of course me, the innocent one who tries not to attract attention is the first at our table to get one of the nice, tall beautiful handmade hats lol. Mine said "I pee when I laugh" Nice. I may actually have peed a little today because I did laugh so hard. Good food with great company. I met Brisa's cousin Yvonne today, just like all her other family I felt like I knew her for years! We walked around after lunch around the water and we stumbled on about 3 weddings! So beautiful. Of course made me think of Rick and how our 3rd wedding anniversary os on Tuesday. It's the second anniversary we are spending apart...**sigh** We will just have to make up for it when he gets home!! I missed him a lot today for some reason. Maybe it was seeing Brisa and Keith together or maybe it was seeing Keith play with my girls? Whatever it was, I really wished he could have been with us today.....


As we were walking we saw these fountains that kids were running in having a great time. It was so hot and Hayden just looked at me with these eyes asking" Mom, can I?" lol I told her to go get wet and have fun!! Of course after about 20 mins, we were ALL WET! It was so fun though. My little Chubbers (Brisa's daughter Natalya who has been nicknamed Chubbs since day 1) even got in on the fun. So I HAD to Kell's wet. She loved it!! Great times.. It really was a great day. I feel so blessed to have such great friends here at this time. They truly take the sadness away on a lot of the days. Love them!! <3  Well I am pretty tired. LONG DAY, but a WONDERFUL one!!

Shannon

The beginning of our new blog...

                  Well here we are... A little over a month since he's been gone. I'm not gonna lie it is so hard sometimes, but I find a way to make it through. These past couple of weeks have been hell for all of us, but the good Lord pulls everyone up at some point :) Today, me and our girls (Hayden 2, and Kellisyn 1) had a great time. We did our grocery shopping very early so we could have the rest of the day for fun! We started by baking, well I don't know if cooking with a light bulb is considered baking, but to my Hayden Bear it was the best thing ever! Yes the Easy Bake Oven takes about 5 years to bake a cake, but hey who cares it allowed me to share something with my baby that I will always remember :) We even frosted a little cookie for Kells to eat, she didn't mind that at all :) Then we headed outside for some water fun. We all had a great day. Our day would have been that much better had we heard Daddy pulling up outside. That was usually the one thing we waited for all day. 3:00 pm comes and goes these days, and sometimes I wish I could just hear that Garage Door open. :( I love you honey and I am so very proud of you and what you are doing for our Country!!