From Mom May 31st, 2010 11:27am

Dearest Favorite One Of Mine,

You are that one person in the family. hahaha. You are out there and doing things and seeing things that everyone else can just imagine. You are going to have a life time of stories from this experience. I say take it all in and see as much as you can, meet as many people you can and try to get to know them a little, take pictures, write letters, share what you are doing and what you are seeing.

I think you are going to end up flying all the way home. I seriously don't think Mike will have his ride paid off by then. Save your money and we will just rent something if we have too. I wouldn't stress about it, it's not a big deal.

Mike told me last night that Ann is planning on moving back to Vancouver. Surprise. Surprise. I didn't think it would work out for her there because she basically had no support base there. Kyle only lasted a month before she dumped him. I'm glad though because it will be easier on me and I will have more money to spend. It's been costing me about $50 a weekend to go back and forth to get them. Mike said she is getting a moving truck for this weekend and if that's the case I think I will ask her if she wants me to keep the boys until she is all move and unloaded. I'm pretty sure I can talk G&G into taking them on Monday if I still have them.

Shirley and I got all the framing done and just need to do a little more blocking and we will be ready to put the roofing on. We are pretty excited about our progress and how far we have gotten in just three weekends of work. We definitely need to get it finished, Shirley has chickens in the greenhouse and chicks in the dog bath tub in the garage, besides the older ones in the chicken yard. I'm attaching a photo Shirley took of it, if you look closely at the right end you can see me up on a ladder standing thru the roof nailing something. I wanted to send you a picture when the framing was complete but it was dark when we got done. It's impressive don't you think?

I am looking forward to you being here, I hope it's toward the end of the month so I can take some extra time off to hang with you. We should plan something like going to Newport to the aquarium there or maybe the seattle zoo or we could go camping up at rimrock lake where we went that one time with Wes' parents and we walked out on the dock at night and laid down on it to look up at the stars. Cubby will be walking by then. But even if we just hang out that would be cool also.

I talked to someone at Catherine Anderson's web site, remember I used to be on there all the time, and she spends a lot of time putting together packages to send to the troops and she volunteered to send your unit a box of books, she just wants' to know if it's all male there or if there are females there and she will put in books for both if she needs to. Isn't that great. She says that she also sends a lot of used golf balls to the troops so if you want some of those I can ask if she can send a box of those.

Anyways, hope you are well and taking care of yourself, keep your feet dry and change your socks. I love you and miss you tons and tons.

Love Mom OXOXOXOX

30 May 10 7:19pm

damn well maybe when i get home one sunday we can go up there and do some work together hahaha i signed my leave form today so its fer sure now and heres the thing i dont get specific dates cuz its gonna take me about a week once i leave blessing to get back to the states anyways but my time doesnt start until midnight the day i step down in country but yeah so let mike know about that in case i forget cuz we have kinda been talking about it and i think i am gonna keep the tickets all the way to portland just in case i get into dalles and the cars isnt there or something ya know but yeah hahahaha anyways im excited to be home i get fifteen days and such..
im glad i will have to take them around to get something for the tank ya know hahahaha i guess since we have taken him to the aqarium he gets interested in marine life
who knows with enough help and alot of forcing he could be a marine bioligist hahahaha
i know i am gonna have to steal them from ya one saturday for an uncle day ya know and we gotta figure out what we are gonna do with them this time when i get home =]
i love ya and i miss ya
the other night i was outside getting some cancer
and sitting there i was just thinking
damn im actually in afghanistan
this place i have been hearing about since the first bush ya know and im here
what the fuck am i doing
hahahaha it was a suttle reality check i guess... wasnt emotional or anything just like wow ya know
im that one person in the family

From Mom, May 30th 2010 2:20am

Hiya,

Well today was a much nicer day to work, no rain, though honestly we didn't start working on it until noon. We didn't get up until about 10am or so and had to clean up the puppies and shirley sprayed down the dog porch. The day before I washed all of our puppies(11 combined) and Sadie to while Shirley got ready for puppy people. So today we put up the top plate on the walls, the support for the ridge beam, the ridge beam(thanks to the lifting skills of Sam) and the first to pairs of rafters. Then it was too dark to really see, so we quit and went and picked up mexican food for dinner. So that was about it. When all the rafters are in place I'll take a picture of it and send it to you so you can see our awesomeness. Hehe.

I think I've been able to see Wyatt 4 times now since he was born. I've only seen pictures of James' granddaughter, Raina. Surprisingly Raina has dark brown hair with reddish tones and not bright red hair. I guess Jamie is getting married in a few months to a guy named Micah. Sheryl's husband is named Micah also.

I had gotten the fish tank a weekend in between having the boys and set it up for a week to let the water adjust chemically. The next weekend Bear and I drove two Costco by ourselves and got 3 neons. We had to start out with a small number of fish for the adjustment of the new tank. So I have the tank set up on the purple dresser and put the little oak chair next to it so Bear can stand on it and be just tall enough to see into the tank and watch the fish but can't reach the top to "feed" them by himself. So he got to watch the release and first feeding of them. Then one weekend later, I broke down Dutch's crate and the puppy area and repainted the dog room and when that was all dry again, I put Cubby's crib in the corner where the puppies had been and brought upstairs Bear's tot bed and put it feet first towards the window and made the bed up with your tigger/pooh comforter. I moved the pie safe that holds my printer into the closet. So the next Friday when I brought the littles home again and got them ready for bed. I told Bear to go to be and he went right over to his little bed and climbed under the comforter and covered himself up. Because I had moved the printer, I could see him in his bed and he could see me and he went right to sleep. Then the next day we went back to pet smart and got 6 more neons. and if your doing the math you'll notice that 1 is missing. Yeah, one didn't make the first week. Which is one great reason for having all the same type of fish. Of course I still think it's cool to see a bunch of them swimming around together. Next time I get the littles, we will go out a get a few more. Then the time after that maybe a new filter for the water filter, and the next time maybe one of those chinese algea eaters to help keep the tank clean or a live plant or picture for the tanks back drop. So every time they come for a visit we can go out and get a little something for it. So his interest will continue as the tank develops and it will keep entertaining him. Other than that we are working on a matchbox car collection. Only the coolest cars will do, nothing lame for us. Shirley gave Bear a lunch box that Levi had that is soft and has a matchbox logo on the cover. It is cool of course to Bear.

Hope your doing okay and staying healthy.

Love you, Mom.

29 May 10 9:15pm

yeah that sounds like you too besides working in the rain can be fun sometimes hahahaha except that it makes wood heavier hahahahah but we are washington people hahahaha
thats cool tho i havent ever seen wyatt yet and its been a long time since i have seen levi too hahahah
thats cool 8 so far huh
what was his reaction when he first saw them ???

From Mom May 29th, 2010 11:34am

Hey,



We worked on the chicken palace yesturday in the pouring down rain, insane. We got the fourth wall up. While we were down there drudging thru the water, Levi came by with Rachel and Wyatt. I took a picture of him with my phone, so I'm sending it to you. Wyatt's hair is red! I thought it was when he was a few weeks old and didn't have a lot of it. Isn't that something. The funning thing about the photo is that it looks like the sun is shinning on him, but it was pouring down rain. He looks like he should be in some Lord of the Rings movie. LOL. I'm glad that you have cut down on the smoking, I'm sure it can be hard to quit if whenever your around others not doing anything and they light up. Did I tell you that Bear is up to 8 neon fish now? It's starting to look awesome with those guys swimming around in their tank. Sadie like to sleep on Shirley's big round dog cushion, she is sneaky though and in the middle of the night she got up on the couch Dillon sleeps on and slept there. She is such a good girl I can let her out the front door here and she goes potty and comes running back in the house without getting dirty. She doesn't even make foot prints on the floor and I saw her walk thru dirt. Well it's not raining right now so we need to take advanage of the break. Love you Mom. XOXOXOXO

29 May 10 4:30am

damn thats isane that its (the chicken coup) bigger then your room or going to be bigger than your room hahahaha but yeah i know how you two enjoy doing things like that and she has the advantage over you for the moment having land and all but it must be nice i dont know how me and mike can connect like something like that hahahaha i hate working on cars and yeah idk.... maybe your genes of building shit will carry on with us cuz i know we both enjoy it and maybe top your guy's list of building insane things hahahahaha.... but yeah i just wish that she (Ann)would realize what she is doing to the littles and maybe give you a lil more time with them and i bet that you would want a girl hahaha well if i decide to get married then i will try to enlist a girl who comes from a long line of beautiful women hahahha and it will even out the odds a lil bit but im not promising anything hahahaha i know that i want like 3 daughters anyways and the first child to be a boy but of course you can never choose these types of things and if you could then yeah mike would be michelle forever instead of on halloween hahahaha... yeah well my leg muscles were already pretty big anyways and this stuff really isnt toooo bad the main thing that gets me is the air and yeah i know what your thinking maybe i should quit smoking but im doing better then alot of people in my platoon like well over 2/3's hahaha soo im not blaming it on that yet =]
and yes i like my job im really starting to get the hang of it ya know and he really likes his decision hahaha
i love ya too and all that =] talk to you later

From Mom May 28, 2010 10:00am

Hi Fav,

Last night after work I grabbed all the dogs in the house except for Hiedi and drove to Shirley's house. I am taking today (Friday) as my holiday day and working Monday Memorial Day. Shirley and I have three days off together to get some work done on the chicken palace. We went to hd as soon as I got here to pick up the metal for the roof and a few other things for the electrical portion. The other night I was counting the squares of flooring in my room and the c-palace is going to be bigger than my room by about twenty square feet. I think we should get some land and build a bunch of cabins this size and rent them out to people "camping". Since we would be dog friendly they would each have doggie doors and a fenced dog run. Hehe, each other could be painted a different color and have it's own theme. "you'll be staying in the chicken palace" and have it decorated with chickens. Too funny. Then of course have our dog park. Sadie is trying to hide under Shirley's coffee table. She is just about out of heat now and I need to cut her hair again cause her is starting to grow a beard again. I don't know how the littles are doing, Ann doesn't give me updates but I know that Mike talked to her a couple days ago and he didn't say anything was going on with them. She is planning another move (but when isnt she planning a move) and I worry that the littles are being moved around too much. If she doesn't settle down more and stay with the same guy or room mates I think that the boys will never develop good social skills or be able to connect with others. Mike's new friend or girl friend had her baby a few nights ago. He brought her with him to the apartments and I got to finally meet her and her older son. I guess she was apprehensive about meeting me, I don't know why like I'm some ogre? Hehe. I think she thinks I would look down on her and judge her for being married and about to give birth and in a relationship with Mike. It doesn't matter to me, Mike is his own person and makes his own choices. If it works for them and they are happy together then fine and dandy. Already I like her better than Ann, but that's not hard to do ya know. Mike said that she don't want him to meet her family, but that's understandable with her being married to some other guy. She just needs to close the chapter on that one. I don't mind the extra littles either, maybe I'll build a swing set or attach swings to the cover in the kennel. Some day it would be nice if one of the littles was a female, the chance is pretty slim on that, you Smith boys all come from a long line of men. Hehe, that reminds me of the theme song from 2 and 1/2 men. Oh well anyways, you said you go on a lot of missions. Does that mean you all get up everyday and go visit some place different? You're going to have awesome leg muscle climbing up and down mountains, every feel like whistling that sound from the sound of music Climb every mountain.... ford every stream.... follow every rainbow..... till you find your dream............ hehe. I know silly. But I bet your smiling. I'm glad you like what you are doing there, it will help make the time go by fast and I can see you as the pl's bitch. Not in a negative way, it's just that you like to be were the action is and that's the one place to be because he is always gonna have something going on and something to do or go do. So I think it's a great position for you, just keep your radios working and your batteries charged up and pay attention to what's going on around you. I love you and miss you so much and am always thinking of you and can't wait to hear from you, it's great being able to email with you. Take care of yourself and those around you.

Love Mom

28 May 10 5:47pm

well it was great getting to talk to you for a lil bit last night i cant wait to get home and see ya again. anyways not a whole lot has been going on here just doing missions and climbing mountains alot ya know but yeah how have things been going back home
are the lil boogers doing good
i miss them kiddos hahahaha
well i love ya and i will talk to ya later
love
your fav

From Mom May 24th 2010

Hi, just to let you know that you are down to about 100 in your account. i dont know if your using it right now or not. i want to wait and see if the stuff we already sent you gets to you ok before i send the controllers. the post office says you should get it next week some time, we had a nice weekend with the littles,Bear tipped his chair over a fp, maybe he will stop kicking his brother under the table. hehehe. he liked his new bed and got in it and covered up all on his own with your old tigger/pooh comforter. i sent you a picture of him sleeping and one of cubby standing. he is getting close to walking, but still rather crawls. love ya

From MomMay 21st 2010 10:41am

Hey, good to hear your feeling better malaria is serious business and you can continue to have boughts with it long after you get it, i'm talking years. So taking the pills is a good ideal even if you think you wont get it. I used my debit card on your account to buy new bedding, remember I was using two sheets cause they were both torn? It was about $80. Do you remember your log in for your account? I get the littles tonight for the weekend so I will be taking and sending more pictures of their goofy faces. We are staying home and going to fp. Its alot of driving to get them and go to shirley's with them. The phone bill should stay about the same, I get charged for sending photos but I think it's worth it. I can send it to my email and that seems to save how many times I have to send from my phone. It's still pouring down rain here, just an incredible amount of the stuff. Yesterday it hailed and heard some thunder. It hasn't been getting much above 60. What kind of stuff are you doing on the missions? I imagine alot of it has to do with making your presence there known and gathering information about the taliban. I have a good imagination. hehe. Mike was here in town and got to see the littles for a few hours and ate at Tammy and Micheal's place and took G&G to sherrie's for free pie day. I got to drive him to Katrina's apartment and watch a couple Frazier shows with him at G&G's. Right now he's headed back to Omaha and he is for sure driving solo, his team mate for sure quit. He said Ann wants to move again, with or without Kyle. Kyle must be stupid too about women is all I can say. I feel bad for the boys to be moving again. Where's their roots? How are they going to understand connections. I cleanup the puppy area and now the crib and the tot bed are there in that place. For the first time in almost three years, my room is my own. No one else's bed is in there. I started poisoning the rats. I didn't want to because of the dogs, but now there are four holes in my house that I know of. Die rats Die! Wes had to remove everything from the pantry and throw away anything that wasnt in cans. Shirley offered to pay for someone to come in, but we need to have everything prepped for it and I'm digging around the house to break down any tunnels that they may be using. So that's about it. I love you and miss you everyday. Your box came a couple days ago and is up on my shelf in my closet. I would like to tell you that it is unopened. But Wes opened it and I yelled and screamed at him and he closed it right away and stuck it up on the shelf. So we didn't go thru it just so you know. I didn't talk to Wes for a day, he hates it when I don't talk to him. Take good care of yourself and your buddies. Love Mom.

21 May 10 5:37pm

yeah i am better now but i dont know what it was im gonna try and get started on my malaria pills again hoping that that wasnt the reason but i also ate gyros for my first time and thought maybe that could be it but who know
well i had a prety long mission today and yeah very hot out but everyone else is here
can ya keep me updated on my bank amount cuz i dont wanna long in here for fear of theft ya know and yeah make sure the phone bill isnt going crazy
sorry i havent called in a while it just seems easier to talk through email with you
how is everything going back home
news from mike
the lil boogers?
anymore interesting pictures.
loves

your fav

From Mom May 19th 2010 9:52pm

Oh man nothing sucks more than throwing up for a day. you gotta watch what you eat and make sure everything is clean that you eat and use to eat, wash your hands a lot and keep them away from your face. it is really easy to get sick from surfaces and untreaded water. hope your feeling better and keep hydrated, miss ya, mom xoxox

20 May 10 4:46am

yeah i have a lil bit but not too much and i missed the mission today cuz i got really sick yesterday and puked for like 10 hours and my stomache was all messed up and today it still is messed up but not as bad and im not puking anymore and my head just feels terrible but im hoping that by tomorrow i will be alright so i dont miss that mission cuz i dont want to end up being that guy ya know. damn there was a fire huh thats no good and yeah those three days will be nice i bet
your fav

May 18th 2010 8:12am

Sounds cool going around talking to people, maybe you can learn a little bit of the local langauge. reguardless youll learn alot. we would have gotten farther but there was a fire in the green house and we spend a weekend clearing it and rebuilding the damage. we both got 3 days off together alot will get done that weekend. mom

18 May 10 9:28am

yeah i gotta say i like my job and the guy who i replaced made it really easy for me to look good and yeah the platoon leader really likes how well i am helping him out so i think this might be somewhat of a temporary thing and now me and him are kinda hanging out talking to village elders and stuff while everyone else stays outside and pulls gaurd so yeah hahaha
love it

sounds awesome but im actually surprised that you two havent finished that yet
love ya

From Mom May 16th 9:43pm

Hey, i was wondering how it went, rto sounds cool too, the more crap you can learn the better off you'll be, especially if the shit ever hits the fan kind of thing. shirley and i got 3 walls up sat on her chicken coup. i pretty much slept today, then work in the yard, washed dogs, cleaned the pond painted my room. i love you mom

17 May 10 0422

well for books i would like anything written by chuck palinhuik or whatever he is the author of fight club
the only book i dont need from him is choke all others are fine
that should hold me down for a while if ya send me two of his books at a time


yeah tell mike that its fine then and he better hurry up on it or lemme know cuz i should be coming in july


yeah something like that
i love ya and miss ya too i just came down from on top of the mountain for three days it was pretty nice
great views
and i got my job switched i am now the platoon rto which is radio telephone operator type thing but yeah
loves

From Mom May 14th 3:51pm

I stopped by the office to check my email and saw in the news that the president of afghanistan visited FT Campbell today to visit troops and their families that are going to fight in afghan. It said that there will be a total of 20,000 troops from Campbell deployed, sounds like three of the four bridgades are going.

Anyways I thought it was interesting, I love and miss you and hope you are doing well and being safe and smart. Wes mailed your box today, you should get it around June 1st. I'm going start collecting stuff for your next box. I think more jerky this time and a book from your list if you get a chance to email me the list. Mom

From mom May 14th, 2010 1141am

Hi, mike said cool. lol if the truck is paid off by then it should work out ok, you could also use it when your in town. damn i missed your call this morning,sorry i was on the phone with someone. i tried to call you back later and some afghan women told me in 3 languages your phone was off. lol. i hope everythings ok on point-m

14 May 10 0937

awwe damn im jealous i miss the dog park hopefully we can go when i get back but yeah
what did mike say about our possible arrangment
and hey if you get any emails for me just forward them to me hahaha

but yeah loves

From Mom May 13 2010 1119pm

Hey, im glad you got the pic, its awesome. we went to the dog park again today, it was nice so there were more people and dogs there. so the girls got plenty of excerise and social skills developement, hehe. which means some sniffing going on, met another doodle, boy who looks like hiedi. hiedi is now in heat. emma next. love ya

14 may 10 0619

no its not too crowded at all im alright
today i have my first tower gaurd shift for three hours but other than that its nothing to do hahaha which i dont mind and then tomorrow i have to go to the observation point for two or three days which is an hour and a half hike up the mountain so yeah. im good and yes i got the picture its awesome i love it. i miss ya. hows everything

From Mom May 13th 2010

Heeeyyy, i just got your email. how was your day? whats happening? good to hear you got a bed and all and it dont sound too crowded. did you get the pic i sent you of teddy at fp? i am going to have wes send your box tomorrow hope it dont take long to get to you. i wish we could just drop it off at meps or army office. love ya m

13 May 10

yeah im here hahaha and its a local bought phone
and yeah we have our own building with the three of us that are here
its nice tho i miss ya too momma ill keep calling ya

From Mom May 11th 2010

Whatsup! hey that was awesome to talk to you last night. what kind of phone works over there? it was a little bit crackly but i could hear you guys fine over that. have you guys got to blessing yet? or are you sleeping under the building? how warm is it? are you in the mountains? i miss talking to you, keep safe love you, mom xo

From Mom May 10th 2010

Hi, i am tired today, i didnt get home untill after midnight last night from dropping the boys off. they were crying most of the way so we stopped at camp 18 and had a bowl of stew and a break from crying. so we were a hour late. Had to have the starter and the serpintine belt replaced on the truck. bye-bye money. love ya mom xo

10 May 10

yes i have been resorting to naps and stuff mainly im gonna be at blessing by tonight and by the way i bought a cell phone that works in the mountain but i bought it for my squad ya know just to look out for them and i works off of phone cards so ima need some about every month or so ya know hahaha
i love ya and miss ya and everyone im gonna be calling ya real soon

From Mom May 8th 2010

Hi, have you been able to adjust your sleep enough to match your time zone? it can make you feel a little ill to be so messed up, i hope they let you guys sleep enough. they are remodeling the walmart so every thing was mixed up and inventory was low. the littles are sick with fevers, cough & runny noses. sunburnt to. love mom

08 May 10

yeah my email works
good i miss them boogers lots
i hope they are doing good. fake ones work as long as you mix the flavor up every now and then hahaha
yeah i am leaving here today and going to bagram i think im not sure but yeah
ill try and keep ya updated im sure they will have internet there.
loves

From Mom, May 7th 2010

Hey your email works yippi. i think where you are may be a nato base or something like that. im right now on my way to get the littles i will pass on hugs and kisses to them for you. i got you some pringles, well kinda of fake pringles. i'll have wes send the box next week. i love you and miss you. mom

07 May 10

hey mom
well im gonna leave k-stan tonight and head over to somewhere else but i wont get to the fob prolly for another week
i mis ya tons
i hope that everything is going good for ya at home
try to update me on everything if ya can
tell fatty pattys people im alright
but yeah

i hope that blessing is anything like this place cuz its really not all bad
almost as good as campbell

well i love ya bunches


your fav