Superbowl weekend!
We haven’t updated in a while, but we’ve been legitimately busy! Last weekend, Tobin’s grandparents, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Norma Jean, came down to visit, and we had a great time with them! We played cards (Gpa Tom and I smoked Tobin and Gma Norma Jean in Euchre…but kings in the corner and golf were a different story!), watched Casino Royale, went to church together, and visited the Naval Aviation Museum and the beach. It was a full weekend, we had a great time, and we have no pictures of it! Well, we do, but they are on Grandma Norma Jean’s camera. Well, I do have a couple pictures of Tobin from my phone, so that will have to do!
The first is Tobin ready for work! And the second is at the end of our beach visit with the grandparents. It was a little cold, all we did was get our feet wet!
Tobin started API on Friday. It was an inspection day followed by briefings, and he will actually start classes on Monday. Of course, he also has to be there early for a PT test. (physical something…training?) He was told he would be doing a lot of swimming for API. Yikes! I’m glad he’s a better swimmer than I am.
And an announcement…our puppy was born yesterday (Friday the 30th of January), and in 8 weeks or so we will be going to pick him up! There were three males and two females, so we will go visit in a few weeks to pick out our male. 
If anyone has any pet crates or odds and ends they would like to sell us, let me know! We’re in the market now.
We’re also working on selling the Prizm. We’ve had several interested calls, we’ll see how that goes.
And Superbowl is tomorrow! I have to pay attention to more than just the commercials, the guys at work will expect me to know the score. Have a great weekend, everyone!
Volleyball!
That’s right, my favorite sport is in session once again! Tobin and I are playing in a church league in our brand new gym. It’s a lot of fun, and we are getting to know some of our fellow life group members a little better, which is wonderful! We have had two open gyms, and next week is our first tournament. Pumped!
Tobin starts API on Friday the 30th, one step closer to flying his planes! And I have picked up some new responsibility at work; I am now part of the Scrap Reduction Team (ooo…hold the applause), which is supposed to occupy 50% of my time. I’m learning to adjust my other tasks for this new job. I’m glad I keep getting to learn new things and face new challenges!
And last but NOT least…we are getting a puppy!!!!!!!! I’m so excited, I haven’t been sleeping very well. I have lists made and pretty soon I’m going to be making a call to the vet, I have lots of questions…aaaand, the puppy isn’t even born yet! Haha, I know, I’m ridiculous. We managed to convince our home owner to allow us to get a dog; AND he lowered our rent, which we didn’t think he would do. Also, I finally located a Shiba Inu breeder in Pace, which is seriously 20 minutes from our house. The next closest breeder is around 4 1/2 hours away, so I was very excited to find them! We went out to their kennel to visit and met the parents. The mother is due early February, so late March or early April, we will be getting our puppy, a black and tan Shiba. We chose a male, but we’ll take a female if there aren’t any males in the litter.
Pictures of puppies, so you can smile too!
Lots of Pictures. I Mean Lots.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! And New Year! We sure did. There was a lot that went on in the past couple of weeks, and I have lots of pictures, so I had to pick and choose what to put on here (there’s a lot of ‘em), but I couldn’t put them all up. So, I’ll try to go in chronological order.
First, Tobin and I were hurrying to get a cabinet painted before the Boltons arrived for our Christmas celebration. Mostly it was Tobin, but I did get to help a little. Here is a before and after picture. It’s so pretty now! It has become our game cabinet, on the bottom, and we need something to display in the top. Still working on that. Oh, and Tobin did get it done in time.
Before: After:
Also, we had to trim our crooked tree quite a bit to get it to look partially straight, so we had lots of clippings left over. I decided to make a wreath with the trimmings. Here’s the result! Haha, it looks so sad in this photo, but it looked good on the front door and smelled great! Our bush in the front of the house grows red berries in the winter, so I included those in the wreath as well. I’ll be an artist yet! Ha.
My birthday landed in the middle of our holidays. Twenty-three now, folks! Can’t believe it. I went to work on my birthday, but when I came home for lunch, I couldn’t wait anymore and opened my present from Tobin. Here’s his beautiful wrapping job; on top is a giant paper crane he folded for me with a poem he wrote inside. Isn’t he great???
This is one of the things he got me…a sweater dress and tights! Those are the balloons he put up…and the tree, of course! I also got a pair of white pants, they’re so comfy and warm!
After work on Christmas Eve, Tobin and I went to a Christmas Eve service. When we got back, the Boltons had arrived! I opened the rest of the gifts…here’s me with some of the haul.
Then, we headed out for a birthday/Christmas dinner at a local hibachi grill. Here’s all of us in the picture…and almost all of us have our eyes open! From left to right: Erin, Tobin, Jacque, Bill, Mike, and Kellan. Grandpa Jim and Grandma Dixie and Leighanna and Dominick couldn’t make it because Dominick had pneumonia. We missed them! It was still a great visit, though.
On Friday, since we knew the rest of the fam wasn’t going to make it and the forecast predicted no rain that day (false), we decided to head about an hour away to a motocross park where we could try out Tobin’s four-wheelers (we finally have them back!). Kellan had also purchased one, so we had three to drive. Here the boys are getting ready for their first time out. We mostly rode the trails, but there were also at least three great dirt tracks loaded with jumps and turns. The trails were great, tons of turns, hills, mud, and water…and obstacles! I thought I might hit something, but I made it out alright even with the narrow entryway. Tobin hit a tree once, but otherwise we were ok!
Here they go on their first trip!
Kellan…a little upset, his four-wheeler was acting up. But he fixed it!
After the trails. They were a tad muddy.
See. Very muddy. This was right after T rode on a track instead of a trail. Those jumps were CRAZY. Some of the dirt bikers were getting very high. We just tried to stay on the ground, although BIll and Tobin got some air. I was light enough to get a little, but that was more than enough for me!
Wasn’t this clean after a trail ride. My shoes will never be the same.
Tobin coming over a jump!
We had a wonderful Christmas and have been enjoying our New Year’s celebrations as well. Pensacola had a Pelican Drop (instead of dropping a ball like in New York), the pelican was HUGE!
Tomorrow, I go to the dentist to get my wisdom teeth out. Yikes! And that’s about all for now. Sorry the post was so long!