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Last week, my husband's butter bar was replaced by this snazzy, little, blue, number...

He is officially a First Lieutenant.

Did you know...

he's also over half way finished with his second Master's Degree (in Industrial Engineering),

he is training for a marathon,

he is the highest rated Mandarin speaker at Davis Monthan,

and he (still) knows everything there is to know about the NBA.

I just thought I'd brag a little more about my amazing husband.

You are amazing, Husband! I love you and I am so proud of you!

Licensed to Kill

Guess who shot at an expert level, with an M9, the first time he ever picked up a gun...

That's right, this guy...

45/28/10

All 45 shots hit the target. 28 body shots. 10 head shots.

All paper targets... consider yourselves warned.

14 Weeks!

After three and a half months, my wonderful husband is finally home! I'm so glad he is back, safe and sound.

Tulips

Back when L and I were kids, dating before our missions, my birthday was coming up and an odd box showed up at our house with my name on it. The box smelled like dirt.

L told me not to open it. So, that box sat in my room for nearly two weeks. By the time my birthday rolled around my entire room smelled like dirt.

L called me on my birthday (he was away at the Air Force Academy) and I opened my box.

I fully expected to find it full of dirt.

It was full of tulip bulbs.

L knew tulips are my favorite flower.

He said he wanted to give me flowers that wouldn't die. Tulips I could enjoy forever.

Best Birthday gift ever? Yep.

I got to watch them bloom this spring. Those beautiful tulips we planted back when we were kids, are my favorite part of spring. I love him so much. And, I love my tulips.

Now... it's Spring.

Quilting with Grandma

This is a picture of me and one of the two amazing women I am lucky enough to call Grandma. This beautiful Grandma of mine made me a quilt when I young (Rainbow Brite on one side rosebuds on the other) that stayed on my bed until I got married.

Since my husband is away I have been trying to find things to do to keep me busy. Domestic type things. Since cooking is a huge non-interest of mine, I've avoided it like the plague and looked elsewhere.

While visiting my Grandma a few weeks ago her quilting skills came up and I thought, 'Grandma could teach me how to make quilts! That would be a fun thing to do for people I love!' So, I asked my sweet Grandma if she would teach me how to make a quilt. If "Duh" were a part of my Grandmother's vocabulary I'm pretty sure that's what she would have said to me. She looked at me like I'd asked her how to boil water and then said, "Well, you take two pieces of fabric, hem them, put batting in the middle, sew it up, and then tie it or stitch around the pattern." Duh! Oh. Ok.

So, I tried it.

I only got a yard and a quarter (to make it a neat little square) of each fabric, because I didn't know what I was doing. Guess what... it worked.

My quilt might not be perfect, but I'll practice. Grandma was right. It is that simple. Duh.

P.S. Does anybody need a little quilt? It's probably the right size for a baby. I don't know what to do with it.

Little Women

The other night, my sister and I went down town to see an opera. I felt so refined. Thanks to our sweet aunt, who gave us the tickets, we had such a fun night.

The opera we saw was based on this novel...

It was the perfect opera to see with my sister.

My favorite part of the night was driving home with my sister making fun of the song "Ours the Hours." What does that even mean?

We had great time!

My dog is awesome!

I try not to blog about our dog too much. But she is so funny I can't help it every now and then.

My Sister is really good with dogs and spent some time teaching Palin a few new tricks.

Here's my favorite...

She makes me laugh. What a great dog.