Beergaritas.

One of my very best friends from high school is moving to Texas with her daughter next week.  Jenna and I have been friends for about 12 years and we've lived within an hour of each other almost that whole time.  I'm sad to see them go, but I'm excited about the excuse to head south.  Yesterday I went to Jenna's to help her plug away at packing and cleaning with her aunt.  

When we realized we had done enough work for the day, we all got cleaned up and met some friends at Plaza Morena to kick off Jenna's last weekend in town.

 Jenna's Beergarita

The weather was beautiful! I'm still excited about how nice it has been lately-patio dining in March!  We ate dinner then went to Koryn and Tim's, Jenna's aunt and uncle, for a bonfire.  It was early enough that Letty could hang out for a little while, too.

Just because it's Jenna's last weekend here, we went to the bowling alley for one drink (I'm not much of a bar-goer around here...at all).

Can't wait to visit!!

The Home Stretch.

My FRG (Family Readiness Group) duties seem to be picking up as the end of this deployment nears.  We've got a great FRG team and a lot of awesome families, lucky us!  We decided to have a fun event this month to celebrate being so close to the end.  The event?  An afternoon at Wow! Zone in Mankato.

 The kids had a lot of fun!

 So did the grown ups.

As you can see, our youngest FRG member is pretty popular.  Here she is meeting one of her favorite soldiers, Lance, for the first time.  He came to say hi since he's home on R&R for a couple weeks.

Our "almost home!" cake.

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As if I didn't get enough of Addison Sunday at our FRG event and the walk we took afterwards, she came to hang out last night so Cassie could run some errands solo.  We may have giggled a little bit :)

Saint Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day in Kuwait:

These photos were taken in the middle of the day Kuwait time...in the middle of a sandstorm. 

 

 

St. Patrick's Day in MN:

 This was a "saw your own firewood" party.

 Just hanging out in the tree house.  Brenna told me not to put this on Facebook, and I promised her I wouldn't.

And here's a snapshot of the weather in both places this weekend.

This was the weather at 10:30am in Minnesota and 6:30pm in Kuwait.  Not fair because of the time difference, you say?  Well, our highs have been right around 80 all weekend.  Theirs? 77 and 66.  This is still winter in Minnesota, and they're in the desert.  Some things just don't make sense.

And by March you mean June, right?

Unbelievable weather.  Smack dab in the middle of March and we've got highs of 81, lows in the 60s?  When is that sneak attack blizzard coming?  Knock on wood...

I love Fridays.  I think I can honestly say Fridays are my favorite day of the week.  I work Mon-Thurs, so Friday is my day to relax, get some cleaning done, relax more, and start the weekend early.  This is a typical Friday morning for Rowdy and me...

He just cuddles up and we have lazy time as long as possible...until I get the itch to be productive.  So, I got quite a bit done around the house today.  Saw some over-ripe bananas in the process so I made a delicious loaf of banana bread, then we were off to Albert Lea to visit Kelli.  With weather like this, it's been a treat to start walking outside earlier than usual.  Kelli, Rowdy and I did a 6-mile walk around the lake in Albert Lea.

 The mermaid statue just looked neat :)

Of course, after a 6 mile walk we needed some sustenance.  Today was the perfect day for grilling.  We went to Kelli's parents' house and sat on the deck with, you guessed it...

Summer Shandy.

Rowdy ran around playing with their dog Lucky-he was so tired but couldn't resist playtime and all that room to run with his new friend.  He's exhausted!

This has been an absolutely perfect week weather-wise.  I went on a walk and grilled with Cassie and Addison on Tuesday, went for a 3.5 mile walk with Rowdy yesterday...

No complaints here!

Spring Forward.

My daylight savings weekend was a success!  I don't work Fridays, so my weekends typically start Thursday evenings-this one being no different.  After work Thursday, I picked up my Little and we headed to a fitness event Big Brothers Big Sisters put together.  We went to West Hills Tennis & Fitness Center for some pool and gym time.  We swam, played basketball, and tried some workout machines. 

Fridays are my days to get stuff done around the house.  I continued sifting through storage bins and trying to get more garage stuff put away...still working on the pesky little mouse problem.  We went 9 days without catching or seeing a mouse, and just when I thought we were home free one scurried out from under the lawn mower.  Anyway, after some cleaning, I headed to a friend's house for lunch, my newest Army wife friend to be specific.  Her husband left for Basic Training less than two weeks ago.  We ended up visiting for almost three hours before I was headed back home for a nice, long walk with Rowdy-outside!  He's gotten so good at walking on the treadmill with me, but it's been nice getting back into walking outdoors.

Saturday morning I packed up Rowdy, picked up my dad, and we were off to visit Angie, Collin, and Vicky for the weekend.  Angie and I met when we were three years old living across the street from each other.  Our parents would play cards and we would get into all kinds of trouble.  Angie and her family moved away the summer before kindergarten, but somehow we've stayed as close as ever over the past 20 years.  (20 years, can you believe it Ang?!)  My dad and I stopped to visit my grandpa on the way.  He likes to read what's on everyone's shirts, so I wore my Minnesota Gophers (his alma mater) shirt to get him talking.  It worked.

The drive to Sartell is a long one even as an adult, but seemed like an eternity when Angie first moved.  This sign is how I knew we were so close and it's still exciting when I see it now.  Saturday's weather was perfect for early March, so we grabbed some beers and hung out on the deck.

Wasn't long, though, til we switched it up and each had a Bloody Mary.  This was actually my very first, believe it or not.

My dad, Collin, and Rowdy had fun playing in the snow.

As we moved into margarita time, we brought the fun inside.  

Collin is quite the cribbage player, so my dad challenged him to a game. 

I think it's safe to say the weekend was a success!  Although we might need to have a do-over when Tony and Trevor can join us.

Even after losing an hour of sleep, Angie and I were up bright and early (before our parents!) cleaning and cooking.  They raised us, the least we could do is make them breakfast, right?

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It won't be long before my updates and Trevor's can be written together!  It seems like Trevor is as busy as ever preparing for redeployment (at ease, that's their word for homecoming).  In fact, he's about 90% packed.  Soon they'll ship his stuff to the States, and him!  I'm still in the habit of looking for cards to send him when I'm shopping, but no need now, we've passed the mail cut off date!  He's very anxious to just get to the States, and home, of course!  As soon as there are dates to share, I'll do just that.