Best Friends

To Mike & Jill - Love you guys - I know you always have my back ;-)

"Ice Ice Baby"

That's what Katie said when I went to wake her up this morning and told her school was canceled today due to the bad weather. Teresa's classes were canceled as well, and the college won't open up until 4 pm today. We had freezing rain last night and now we have a pretty good coating of ice all over everything this morning. It looks so calm & serene outside, but I'm very glad that we are all safe & warm in the house & that we don't have to be out on the roads. The temp should rise quickly today once the sun comes out, and hopefully it will all melt this afternoon.

One last goodbye

Jeff headed back to Africa this morning and is somewhere over the Atlantic ocean right now. It's such a long trip - several stops and 24 hours long - and he should arrive tomorrow afternoon. We had what we hope is one last goodbye until he returns in June. I'll be counting the days ;-)

Back on track

It's been a long time since I've been blogging, it seems like the end of last year went so fast, and then with Jeff home, I've been too busy and distracted to get online very often.

A few changes at the end of the year came up, first of all, Teresa is home from Mizzou, and is transferring to SMU here in Dallas. It's been a big change having her move back home, and the jury is still out whether her living here again after being out on her own is a good thing. It's good to have her here to talk to & be a bigger part of her life, but she is a true teenager still, and expects me to be her maid at times. We're working out the kinks and hopefully things will settle down since she started classes again this past Tuesday.

The second change is the extension of Jeff's job in Africa. He originally took the position thinking it would be a year to 18 months, but it has turned into something much more that we expected. He was due to come home for good in December and take a job with the same company on a different project, but that position has not yet been opened due to contracting delays within the State Dept., so extending where he is at now just made sense. So, we are holding on for another 6 months, and he has promised to be home for good by June 15th. Let's see if he can keep that promise - this being apart stuff is getting old.

We have had a great month together though, and as much as I hate having him leave again, I know it's the best job for him right now. If the company gets it's act together and works out the contract delays, then he'll be home sooner. Keeping my fingers crossed ;-)

Great time in Vegas

Jeff & I were invited to spend last weekend in Las Vegas with some wonderful friends Jill & Mike and stay at their timeshare property with them. We all had a great time, did a little gambling (won a little bit too), saw a few shows, and of course we all ate way too much ;-) It was a great chance for us to get away together without the kids & such, and it was perfectly timed knowing Jeff will be heading back to Africa for his last (I hope) extension until June.

We had a fabulous dinner at the "NINE" in the Palms on Saturday night to celebrate Mike's birthday - and I have never had such a huge & tender steak, nor a better bottle of wine to go with. It was so much fun people watching as were toured the strip at night and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. It was Jeff's first trip to Las Vegas and it was fun showing him all the sights and seeing everything as new through his eyes. He's not much of a gambler and he didn't try it for himself until the very last day when Mike convinced him to suck it up and put a $20 bill into the slots. His second pull won - and the $20 turned into $75 - and he was done - and completely satisfied with himself ;-) He'll never admit it - but I know he enjoyed that.

Here are a few shots I took while we were there:

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