Welcome to the Dirty Thirties!

We decided to really celebrate our entrance into a new decade by taking a weekend trip to San Antonio, TX. (See post below for details and photos.)

However, an occasion such as this also requires a party in town with friends. Therefore, eleven of our friends (and two adorable kids) joined us for a dinner out in El Paso.

The Birthday Kids

Our very good friends, the Welches
(He is in BOLC III with Cam; She is my crafty buddy!)

Leslie is another classmate

The Radcliffes came too!

Miclos is yet another classmate

The cute camera-hog daughter of our friends, the Dubys

The beautiful freeway and power lines

Weekend Adventures in San Antonio

In honor of our third anniversary and 30th birthdays (all which fall within five weeks of each other), we spent a weekend in San Antonio!

It was always a city on our List to Visit and since our beloved Cougs would be playing Notre Dame in the Alamodome ON Cam's 30th birthday, it was a hard decision to make!

We spent all Saturday morning visiting the Alamo ruins along with our fellow Coug and ND fans. We took the self-guided tour through the chapel, visited exhibits in the Long Barrack (the last strong-hold of the Texan defenders against the Mexican Army), listened to Park Ranger talks, and, of course, shopped at the gift shop!

After a morning spent immersed in the rich history of the city, we decided to explore the miles and miles of Riverwalk that run throughout downtown. We took the 30 minute guided boat tour and learned several interesting facts about the city and it's architecture. We explored shops and restaurants. We also passed many, many, many fans dressed in their Crimson finest and were greeted across the river by shouts of "Go Cougs!"

When it was finally time to head to the game, we joined the large stream of fans with high hopes for a good game, if not a Cougar victory. Unfortunately, the wrong team won, but we did run into a former high school classmate and another friend that worked with Cam at the CUB!

Before flying out Sunday, we spent the day touring the four other missions in the San Antonio river valley. All of these missions had similar designs: chapel, rectory, housing for the native population, protective walls, etc. The missions are in varying stages of preservation and excavation, but they each have active congregations that still worship weekly in the chapels built in the mid-1800s.

All in all, we had a great weekend and it was especially nice to get away from home to celebrate some very special days!

Fun times in San Antonio

The Five Missions of San Antonio

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, I turned the big 2-9 today and I have nearly reached the end of childhood. This is the last birthday where I can honestly claim that I'm still not a grown-up! (You have to act like an adult when you hit your 3rd decade, right?!?) Even though I'm married, have a career, and have been living on my own for 10+ years, it means nothing! I still have one more year of my 20s left and I'm going to use that time to be as immature as possible! Ha-ha!

To kick off this glorious year, I, unfortunately had to work. Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my "special" day, but since we often act like we are kindergartners (throwing fits, taking naps, and eating paste), I decided to pull out the old grade school trick and brought in my own birthday cupcakes! Also, when I got in this morning, I did have some very yummy carrot cupcakes (my favorite!) WITH candles waiting on my desk for me. So, it was a cupcake bonanza!

After work, I had a very lovely dinner (and show, of course!) with my friend, Ruth, Tommy and Audrey, her two kids. I tried shopping for my own birthday present after dinner (Don't worry! Cam gave me permission to do so!) but didn't find much that piqued my interest.

When I arrived home, I found the snail mailbox full of cards, the email inbox full of e-cards and some very cheerful flowers waiting for me on the doorstep to go along with the great gift I received last weekend from my parents. I feel so blessed that I have so many wonderful people in my life that love me as much as I love them! Thank you, Family and Friends! You're the bestest!

Update from Cam #5

Unfortunately, I did not receive a phone call from Cam this past weekend. It is likely due to two reasons: either (1) someone in the squad/platoon got in trouble and lost everyone their phone privileges for the week or (2) they were out on a "camping trip" over the weekend and were unable to call. Hopefully, it is reason (2).

Thankfully, to combat my lack of contact with him, I did receive two letters in the mail from him this past week! Yeah!

The first letter brought some very welcome news. Cam said that he will be getting two weeks vacation to come home around Christmas! Hooray!!! That means I will get to see him TWICE in December, the first being a trip back to Ft. Jackson, SC the first week of December for Basic Graduation! I hope that will tide me over until I get to visit him next for Commissioning in April '09. That also means that we will be able to spend time over the holidays with our families.

The second letter contained much more info regarding what he has been up to lately. They were set to have rifle qualification on Election Day (Nov. 4th). Cam was a little concerned that he wouldn't be able to make the "Expert" qualification as he had to have his rifle replaced a couple days before the qualification try. His previous rifle was "one of the biggest piles of crap rifles [he's] ever seen" and it had started double firing during his practice. He went to the gunsmith to get a replacement part and the gunsmith told him it wasn't worth replacing the part. Thus, he ended up with a new rifle.

The platoon also had to do a 6K road march in full "battle rattle" pre-dawn one day. Cam said that while they were marching, he didn't notice the cold. However, it was a different story once they stopped marching.

For Halloween, the Drill Sergeants treated them to packages of M&Ms. Cam knew that if anyone ate them, the D.S. would make them burn off those treats, so he chose not to open his bag. Unfortunately, several others in his squad had devoured theirs and Cam was ordered him eat his own M&Ms. And, of course, everyone got to work off the treats later...

Lastly, he wanted me to extend a big thanks to those of you who sent him birthday cards! He really appreciated your thoughts and well wishes and enjoyed hearing from you all!!

Happy Birthday, Cam!

Cam turned the big 2-9 today, and yes, he IS a Halloween-ie! I just hope his drill sergeants took it easy on him today. Maybe I'll hear all about how that DIDN'T happen when he calls on Sunday!

I opted to celebrate Cam's birthday yesterday with a dinner out with friends at his favorite local restaurant, Silver City Brewery. We toasted the man-of-honor with a nice pint of frosty brew and yummy pizza (his dish of choice there). We even sampled a few desserts! I mean, how can you have a birthday celebrate and NOT eat dessert?!? Thanks to Jessica and Justin for providing stellar company on this celebratory night!

Hope everyone had a wonderfully festive Halloween and got their fill of Halloween candy! I know I did! Unfortunately, I might have to eat even more as there was a poor turnout of trick-or-treaters this year. At least I was visited by a very beautiful Sleeping Beauty and her dragon of a little brother (Ruth's little ones, Audrey and Tommy)!

Happy Halloween!!!