Life is Beautiful

Time goes by so fast. It seems like each weekend I say, I've got to post on the blog, and sure enough another weekend comes and goes before I finally get to the blog. Time these days seems to be whirling past us and we've hardly had a moment to catch our breath. This is our second holiday season in Wichita Falls, and while the weather has begun to turn more chilly (although today was a beautiful day) it still doesn't seem quite like the holidays. Stores have been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween, and the trees are just now changing color, but I think the adult life combined with everything that's going on, has let the season seem to fly by. That and the season change here is not like Chicago.

This year, Mason and I decided that since we're going to California/Nevada for eight days after his graduation, that would be our official honeymoon since we never got on one after the wedding. We're very much looking forward to the vacation (our first official- on a plane trip) with no stress of pilot training or school really hanging over head. We also decided to treat ourselves this Christmas, which meant two large presents to share. I got a kitchen aid mixer today to help aid in all the holiday baking ahead of me, and Mason purchased a new fancy digital camera. We're both very EXCITED about our purchases!

Working backwards, Mason's assignment night is just around the corner. December 5th seems to come out of my mouth in some context everyday. It's just so scary to think about- that the last 14 months of hard work Mason's put into flying is about to come to some result. Mason will be moving on- but to what, we're not sure...Today we met with the whole class and the guys made paper mache heads which will contain their assignments. Assignment nights are hard to describe, but they usually have a theme. Ours happens to be "Merry Chuckmas" since the guys class patch was Chuck Norris. It should be interesting. Our class is one of the first to not have their assignment night at the Officer's Club, in awhile, but this means we are getting to have catered BBQ! Yum-o...I somehow decided that it would be nice of me to bake all of the dessert for the group of 400 people that will attend...not so smart, but I'll get a change to test out my mixer!

On the 4th I'm also hosting our ESSG spouse meeting. It's kinda like having all the most critical women at your house for a social, although no one would ever say anything mean in front of you. I think the goal is just going to be- clean house- for that evening. We're having some of the guys from Mason's flight over for Thanksgiving and it should be really nice and fun. I'm just looking forward to the break from work.

School has been very busy lately. It's progress report time, and the kids are starting to get winter break itch, and it seems like I'm sending home a child with lice, strep, or the stomach flu each day-- I love purel!

This weekend Mason and I mostly rested around the house and got work done. Mason PASSED his advanced formation ( a HUGE checkride) last week, and so now he's back to making those fun low-level formation maps. As a high point of the weekend, we won $109 at the casino tonight! So Awesome!

Bandy, a guy in Mason's flight got married last weekend in Dennison, TX, so 5 of us piled into someone's car and drove out there for a 7pm wedding. It was super fun, especially watching the two-step dancing at the reception. It's really amazing to watch. Sunday, we drove in the opposite direction to OKC, and got to see Coldplay in concert. It was AMAZING! Our seats were great and we just had a really great time.

All in all, life's good in the casa de Ellen & Mason