Playing Catch Up

Anyone still there?  It's been a while since I've posted anything, but it isn't for a lack of activities like usual but this time because I haven't had time to sit down.  So this is going to be a hodgepodge of all that's been happening and kind of long.  Sorry!

End of St. Louis Trip
The house had all the mudding finished by the time I left.  I have pictures somewhere but I can't find them now.  I'll put them in the next house update post (which will be another week since my friend is traveling for work again).

To end the week of my trip to St. Louis I went to Ashley and Anthony's beautiful wedding.  I don't think I'd seen Ashley since my wedding over a year and a half ago.  I was so glad that it worked out that I was in town to be there.  I didn't take one picture though (insert shrug shoulders smile here).  I'm still getting used to the whole "take pictures of everything" thing (since I used to be the one who never took pictures of anything) and was worn out from the week.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

After the wedding my dad and I took out for the start of the drive back to Alabama. It was so fun to have my dad traveling with me. It sure is a lot nicer of a drive when someone is with you.   We stopped for the night in Tennessee and were supposed to sleep in and take our time the next day.  Dad apparently calls 7:00 am sleeping in.  Because we got up so early, we had plenty of time on Sunday to finish the trip.  We stopped at the rest stop right after we crossed the Alabama line and walked around for a while.  It was a beautiful day!

Dad trying to figure out how to type a text message on his brand new iPhone.

I dropped Dad off in Montgomery for his flight back to St. Louis and drove the last 2 hours home. 

Back Home

I got back on Sunday and had a normal couple days of work and other activities.  On Wednesday I got a call from my boss saying that I needed to be in St. Louis on Friday for interviews.  It wasn't a total surprise, but the last I knew the interviews were off and my trip was cancelled.  At least I hadn't cancelled my plane ticket yet.  My flight was early Thursday so that evening I quickly packed to head back.  Besides and hour delay in Atlanta the trip was pretty uneventful.  I stopped by the house to see what had happened in the 4 days I was gone.  There wasn't really much to see so I didn't take any pictures, but the garage door was installed and the fireplace in the living room was in.  I helped conduct interviews for an opening in our department all day Friday and then headed to the airport Friday evening. 

My round trip flight was back to Montgomery scheduled to land around 10:50 pm and then the 2 hour drive to get home so it was going to be a long day.  I had about 1 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta so I took my time getting to my gate.  As soon as I sat down I heard over the intercom for someone to report to the gate next to mine as final boarding to Dothan, Alabama.  Dothan is only about 30 min from our house but we never fly into there since it's about twice as expensive.  I walked over to the counter to see if there was any chance I could get on the flight.  The Delta lady became my best friend that night.  I landed in Dothan at about the same time I would have just been taking off from Atlanta to Montgomery.

Promotion
And finally, Matt got promoted to First Lieutenant!!  He found out a couple weeks ago when he got an email saying he was promoted, but it took a little while for the paperwork to come through.  His promotion ceremony consisted of him pulling off his old rank and sticking on the new one.  I'm so proud of you and all that you've accomplished so far. 

The new rank is much crisper and not faded.  It doesn't really match his uniform now.

E