Happy Retirement

Yesterday, Alex and I accompanied my dad and mom to his retirement party at work. We had lunch in their cafeteria with Shane and Bear. Guys, my apologies - I didn't get a picture of you three together!

It has been a hard decision for my dad to decide whether he wanted to retire or not but he finally decided to do it. It was somewhat of a bittersweet day. These are men that he has spent 8 hours a day with, many times 12 hours a day, every day, often Saturday and Sunday as well. Not only are they his co-workers but they are his friends. You know, there IS a difference between a co-worker and a friend - anyone can be a co-worker but not everyone can be a friend.

They had made him this nice blanket with an iron on picture and had all of his friends sign it.

There were a few funny stories told on him - but in the end, what happens at the lab, stays at the lab.

We heard about funny bantering that took place every morning.

There was a gag gift.

He always jokes that my mom won't even let him drive by Hooters, so they got him a Hooters calendar. It was a calendar with portraits of twelve BEAUTIFUL... owls.

There also were some very sincere comments made. This man especially could have brought a tear to my eye had I let him. This is Bear - he served as one of our hosts for the day.

Some of these men I felt like I knew but had never seen before. I had talked to them on the phone, I had swapped e-mails with them, and heard lots of stories about them and their families - especially this man, Price. Now I have a face to put with the name.

Aaron is another one that I had heard lots about. These two became good friends while they worked together before Aaron moved to another department.

Alex and per Papaw.

These are some of his friends who had previously retired and came back for his retirement party. I have known them since I was born, I think.

I was certainly glad I was able to go with him for this special day. I will remember it always and be grateful for the opportunity to share it with him.

Homecoming 2010

What better day to post pictures of my beautiful niece in her homecoming attire than on her birthday. Today, Holly turns 18! Eighteen years ago today we spent the night in a waiting room waiting on this very precious gift. We were so excited and anxious for her arrival that her grandparents even beat the expectant mom and dad to the hospital. Who knew when they called and said they were going to the hospital that they didn't mean RIGHT THIS MINUTE? She has been bringing joy and happiness for 18 years now.

Last Friday was homecoming at her high school and she and her best friend Kendra had both been voted on to be in the homecoming court.

This picture is a little too slanted - almost makes me dizzy but they are still a beautiful couple - Holly and Ryan.

Holly and Kendra looked beautiful with their "very handsome boys, too" (as 4 year old Landry put it).

Kendra and Clint.

Holly and Ryan.

And the winner is?

Kendra was crowned homecoming queen for 2010. She made a beautiful queen and came home, hung her crown up, and went duck hunting the next day. What a girl!

FHJRS - Cleveland

Alex had her first volleyball tournament this past weekend. They did a whole lot better than I thought they would do with a 3rd place finish out of 5 teams. But, they did beat two teams and came VERY close to beating the other two teams. I think further into the season we will see a huge difference. They still looked a little unsure of themselves and this is the first time many of them have ever been on a volleyball team - I am expecting great things from them...

Volleyball is no longer played the way we played it - or maybe we just played it wrong. You have certain players who play particular positions, with a first hitter, second hitter, and third hitter. There is now a Libero. And they serve overhanded. I am learning this game slowly but surely. In the picture above, all three front row girls started out in the middle (it all has to do with the rotation), then they go to their "position" after the ball is served. (Al is the 3rd one from the net).

They also now wear very tiny spandex shorts. Not sure why they were those...

In this picture, Alex is starting out behind the girl on the back row (another rotation issue). As soon as the ball is served she goes to the net to get in position to set the ball to the third hitter. At times it looks like she is running from the ball but it's not "her hit". She has to get in position because the girl who has first hit is supposed to hit it to her so she can set it. I think. I'm still learning.

Also during the day, they have to referee games. I guess that's how you host a tournament and make lots of money off of it, you let the girls and coaches do the reffing, then you don't have to pay for refs out of your profit. I love the way they are looking at Alex in this picture (really they are looking at the ball) but it almost makes you think she should get a good head start and RUN!

Before each game they did this little chant. We could hear them doing something but they were off in the corner so we couldn't see them. When I went over there they were doing this... They were doing their "thing". Some of them (Alex) looked quite self conscious doing this but hopefully they will get over that, too.

PW's Cinnamon Rolls

On my day off this week my friend Heather and I decided we would try to make the cinnamon rolls from Pioneer Woman's cookbook. If you don't know who Pioneer Woman is DON'T GO HERE http://thepioneerwoman.com/ TO READ ABOUT HER! You will get addicted to her blog, you will have to read Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, you will have to look at her pictures, and peruse her recipes. It will take no less than three weeks, and until you finish every installment of Black Heels you won't be able to sleep.

I am not sure if PW knows it or not but she has a twin, apparently they were separated at birth, she needs to talk to her mother about that. The similarities between Heather and Ree are uncanny, right down to this... Heather doesn't have Charlie but she has Barney.

This is our beautiful assistant.

Ya know how kids always wanna lick the beaters? After the dough had been mixed up it had the appearance of cake batter and she wanted to taste it.

Nope, not quite cake batter.

So far so good, we had the dough rolled out and saturated with butter. Our trusted assistant was helping with the cinnamon and sugar, and all that was left was rolling it up.

That, is where we had trouble. We think next time we will let the melted butter cool a little so that it won't ooze out when we roll it up. We hated losing so much of the butter, sugar, and cinnamon.

Ya know how after a dog gets wet and it shakes and water goes everywhere? That is what the flour looked like coming off of our beautiful assistant. She gave a good shake and flour puffed up like a cloud around her.

I didn't get a picture of them with icing - I forgot to do that - but aren't they pretty?

We did this little project at Heather's house and she says she is still finding flour and icing. Everywhere.

A Garand Day

For a couple of months now Anthony has been wanting an M1 Garand, a WWII gun. He got some money for Christmas and that is what he wanted to spend it on. As a surprise, Tony took a day off to drive to Alabama to get him this gun. He had the option of purchasing it through the mail but you're not guaranteed to get the model you want that way. Anthony was sure that he wanted WWII era. So, what would any good Daddy do? Take the day off, go to Alabama, and handpick the gun with the matching Springfield parts and the serial number consistent with the ones used in WWII, of course. He drove over 8 hours but still made it home before Anthony got home from school.

My plan was to hide it so that I could get a good picture of him when he saw it. That certainly didn't happen. He walked in the front door and it was almost like a magnetic reaction. He was drawn to this gun standing in the corner of our dining room.

Happy? Ya think?

This made his day. His week. Who am I kidding? His YEAR!

I was very surprised at how heavy that thing is! I wouldn't have wanted to carry that across Europe. Or across the yard for that matter.

And then they were gone. They had to go shoot it.