# 13 October 20 2007

I want to preface this letter with a couple of my own comments. First, I wanted to get all of Ashley's handwritten letters to me typed into my blog before she got married. I am happy to report that as of today, May 23, her wedding day I have accomplished my goal. It's hard to believe how much she has grown over the years and who would have ever dreamed she would be getting married. In fact, it was just 2 years ago on Memorial Day we were sending her off to Afghanistan with no idea that she would fall in love with Dustin, another soldier. (We love you Dustin!)

Next, an important piece of information to share is at the beginning of this letter it states she was mad / sad about Carrie not being able to come to her graduation from boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri.

Finally, I am very grateful we are all together this weekend as a family as we celebrate the wedding of our last and littlest. Ashley, I am so excited for you and I am so proud of the woman you have become. 

Here's the last letter from boot camp ...

Hey Mom,

I got your letter a couple days ago. It was very nice. I'm sorry for getting so upset last night on the phone talking about Carrie. It just really made me sad. I know that you understand to a point. I know you know that it meant a lot to me for her to be there. I didn't mean to yell at you or get out of hand. I hope you'll forgive me. Well, right not it's 0230 in the morning and I'm working CQ. It's when two privates work downstairs for the drill Sgt. doing cleaning or preparing things for the next day of training. I'll be down here until 0400 in the morning and then wake up is at 0430 ... so this is pretty much the worst shift you can get. It doesn't really matter to me cause it means I'll get to sleep all through for tonight which is awesome cause we get to sleep in on Sunday morning. I will be so happy to be able to sleep thru the night when I get home. Knowing me though, I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night and early in the morning for the first couple weeks just cause of habit. 
:-) So what do you wanna do with me when we get home? I'm sure we'll have to grab some Caribou :-) oh yeah, don't mind the back of this sheet. It's for passes but seeing as how our drill Sgt. doesn't have us doing anything right now, I took this from the rack to write you! I love you so much and can't wait to see you in 25 days! I really hope that time just flies by because the homesickness is getting worse and worse. Next week will probably be slow cause we have a bunch of make up detail and stuff. I'm probably gonna go to sick call on Monday for my pinky cause it hasn't gotten any better. Well, I'm gonna wrap it up,  but please write me a couple more times before the 31st! That's when you guys can't send mail anymore! Crazy right? Its coming mom! I love you! can't wait to hug you in 25 days and counting ..... :-) Ash

You will make a beautiful bride 

Happy Wedding day Ashley!

# 12 Dear Papa Bear October 9, 2007

It's just 6 more days before my "littlest" and last child gets married. It is a bitter-sweet time to think that we have raised our 5 children and now they will all be married. We are very excited to be together as a family to celebrate Dustin and Ashley as they get married on Friday, May 23rd ....

Tonight's post includes a picture from the shower her sister and sister-in-law planned and threw for Ashley a few weeks ago ....

And tonight's post concludes with the 2nd to the last letter she sent to her dad from boot camp in 2007, a little less then 7 years ago. 

Hence the post title: 

Dear Papa Bear ....

Well, it's Tuesday night and I had some extra time so I thought I would write to you! I had such a good time talking with you the past couple days. I really hope it happens again soon. :-) Anyway, today we worked on more detainee operations. Today was pressure points and restraints. I learned like 20 different places to cause pain and how to move an unruly detainee. It was a lot of fun. Tomorrow is the last day of classroom stuff so I think we'll have our practical exercise on Thursday. I'm gonna be so happy to get out of the classroom finally! I've decided to go on a diet for the rest of my time here. I would still really like to lose weight so I'm gonna try my hardest. So when did you start training at Balance with Lisa? I think that's great. Have you lost weight because of it? I'm sure that You are still going to be golfing for a couple weeks so that's a good source of exercise. I've decided that the last couple nights here have been amazing because I haven't had fireguard. This is the 4th night in a row that I haven't had it and that is a first. I mostly hate it because everybody is supposed to clean, but there's only a handful of us that actually do clean. Shifts are an hour and a half so you get really tired by the end of your shift. Well, I'm still counting down the days and soon enough I will be counting down the hours! Trust me it will definitely be one of the best days of my life I know that for sure. I have to get to bed now, but maybe I'll get my cell phone tomorrow night so I can call you! I love you and I miss you with all of my heart. I can't wait for that Big bear hug!! 36 days!!! 

Ashley Pederson (#5)

Saturday Fun!

My dear sister, Mary Catherine turned 70 years old on Saturday and we celebrated by walking around Lake Harriet in honor or her ... so very fun! Here's a few pictures. Enjoy!

I think there were at least 70 people there ... the golfer and I are waiting to begin the walk. I made it all the way around the lake!

We really look alike and we also look much like our mom

From left to right me, my brother Pat, my sisters Mary Catherine and Diane and my brother Tom