The graduation trip

The Graduation trip was great. Nick's requests were that he wanted "married time", mountain dew, and snickers. When we first got to see each other we wern't allowed to touch each other. This was extremely difficult for us both. We went to the hotel first thing. Nick has changed quit a bit. He has matured a lot. He is more sure of himself, has so much confidence, sits perfectly straight and I do mean perfectly straight in a chair, thinks a lot about what kind of image he is setting for others to see, and he really thinks in terms of team, instead of himself. He still has the biggest heart, and he was very happy to see me. Our love for each other only grew stronger with the time that has passed. We spent most of our time in the hotel room, but we did manage to see a museum with big guns, and an old jail. His parents were with us and they are so awesome. I really enjoyed getting to know them even better, and they are a lot of fun. I can see where Nick get's his loving heart, and great personality from. It was very hard to say goodbye again to Nick. That was probably one of the hardest things I have ever been through. I had just seen him again after 10 weeks just to have to let him go. There were a lot of tears on both our parts. Nick got on a bus that next morning at 2am for a 2 hour drive to the airport. His plane did not leave until 11am. They did not give the soldiers any food for the day. He arrived in St. Louise Missouri at 12:40pm. People clapped for all the soldiers as they came off the plane. Nick said it made them all feel good. The airport gave them doughnuts because they were all so hungry. The poor guys had to wait for a bus until 8:10pm that night. Nick finally reached Ft. Leonard Wood that night at 10:35pm. He went through processing and finally was able to sleep at 2am. They had him back up at 6am. It was a long day for Nick. He is doing well now, and he didn't complain at all through that.

Nick's Graduation From Basic Training

Private First Class Madsen Graduated Basic Training October 24th 2008. He went through 10 weeks of gettting yelled at, unrelenting push-ups, running, marching, fighting, shooting, PT, Drill Sargents, Training, and even having to eat with only a spoon because the drill sargents didn't think the platoon ate fast enough! Nick never got in trouble and said Basic was easier than he thought it would be but never wants to do it again. He said the hardest thing he had to endure was being away from his family.

During the Cerimony they called his name and
handed him a diploma, and he shook all the drill sargents hands as
walked across the stage. Then as the platoon cleared out they sang cadence begging the drill sargent to go home
to his wife it was hillarious. It was truely a proud day for Nick, and for all of us.

Nick's Swear in.

Nick's Swear in went really well. It didn't take very long. The Officer talked about how he really looked up to these guys for entering the army during a time of war. He said he didn't know that he would have done that himself. He talked about how that really showed courage and a love for their country. He saluted them both. He talked about his experiences with the Army, and how it has made him a better man, and made him realize that he was part of a team, and what his country meant to him.

Nick swore to serve and protect his country, at the end of it all Nick became Private First Class Madsen. We as his family could not be more proud to call him our husband, and father.

My sister made me do it!

Hello this is my very first Gmail blog! My sister has been begging me to open up an account and do this as is why my Title is My sister made me do it tee hee! (Love you Sarah!) Anyways I am just going to add a bunch of photo's. There isn't much going on right now. I just got back from seeing the most wonderful man in the world graduate Basic Training in the Army, and am currently awaiting his return home from AIT (Advanced Individual Training) He is currently scheduled to come home some time around December 16th. He just completed week 2 today, and now has 5 weeks to go. We miss him very much. The kids, and I are very anxious to have him home. We are very proud of him for what he is doing for his family, and his country. Well that's all I really have to talk about right now. I will write more another time. I just want to mess around with this blog and see what I can do. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful day.