Hail to the chief!

That was the buzz in Midland this week! Tuesday afternoon, former President Bush flew into Midland to say a few words at his celebration event. He came with a whole plane full of people (including his wife and his parents), so from a very far distance away, we were not really able to see George W. Bush and then from an even further away point, we could see George H.W. and Barbara getting into their charter plane to fly home. They had about 20,000 people in downtown Midland, so since there was so much traffic expected, I was the lucky one that got an early release from school! Phil and I headed to the airport to watch the plane land, along with his co-workers and some of their families. This time, I was able to go out with Phil to get a closer look at the plane (in October, I stayed in the office). Wow! I knew it was big, but it really is huge.

After spending a few hours at the airport, Phil and I met up with his Uncle Lyle and Aunt Lorna, as they were in town for the night. They had been travelling through Texas and came to Midland to see us, as well as see the celebration for former President Bush.

That was the biggest news for us this past week. Phil and I have been enjoying a couple days of gorgeous weather (I guess all days here are nice, but these days were exceptionally nice). We were able to go out on our bikes after work the other day and then since he's been working the evening shift, I spent some afternoons running and working up my endurance for triathlon season.

I am still healthy (knock on wood), but I think this next week will tell if I am truly immune to my students. We had a few of them out sick this week, so the bug is just floating around our classroom, waiting to catch someone (hopefully not me)!

January

Can you believe we are already half way through January?!? Things here are flying by and it's only a matter of time before we are experiencing temperatures in the 70's... oh wait, we're almost hitting that already. Earlier in the week, I was all smiles as we finally had a few 'cold' days of temperatures in the upper 30's. Now, we're expecting mid to high 60's from here on out, and it's only going to get warmer. So, all of you need to schedule your vacations and head down to the tropics of Midland!
As for other news, not a lot has happened. We did add a new member to our family with the purchase of a new plant (okay, not really a huge addition, but it's new to our little house). It's a euphorbia dwarf apache red (I call it our cute little pink cactus plant). Basically, it's a plant that I can't kill :) I went to the greenhouse in search of something 'a little Texan,' and when I told the guy that I had a black thumb (instead of a green thumb), he suggested this plant. Of course, I have done nothing to it and let Phil do the work of watering and pruning it! It pays to marry the son of a farmer :)
School started two weeks ago, and thankfully (knock on wood), I have not caught any more viruses. It's been a hectic few days, but this week will be a 4 day week, as the kids have tomorrow off. Then Tuesday, we have an early release since President Bush will be flying in after the inauguration. So, this week should go by quickly. But then it's all 5-day weeks until spring break in March (goodness, what will I do when I have to have a real job with 5-day work weeks and no breaks during summer or winter?!?) I've been staying busy with morning exercise classes at the YMCA. I love the variety of the group classes and I have fallen in love with the Zumba class. It's an hour long aerobic class with a lot of latina-style dancing and moves (basically, we shake our hips a lot and dance to salsa-like music). There are about 50-60 women in the class and it's a lot of fun. Other mornings, I am doing spin classes, Body Pump (strength training) and random cardio sessions. This is all preparation for the Olympic distance triathlon that I am planning on doing in April. Goodness gracious!
Phil has been busy at work planning for President Bush's arrival (which means talking to Secret Service and increasing security), as well as planning for their yearly disaster drill (coming up in June). The disaster drill requires a lot of preparation, which involves the majority of the City operations, so a lot of thought has to go into it. When he's home, he spends his spare time playing his new video games and watching the football play-offs.
We were both very excited last weekend when we were able to see the UND vs. UofM hockey games. A co-worker of Phil's also went to UND and is a huge hockey fan, so he ordered the games on his TV and we went over to watch UND cream the U (sorry Minnesota fans)! We both realized how much we miss good hockey, so I think when it comes time to move, that may have some ranking in our options!

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone's 2009 has started off with happiness, smiles and joy.

Since I last wrote, things down in Midland have been a whirlwind! After Christmas, Phil and I prepared for my parent's visit. They arrived December 27 and the week that they spent down here was wonderful, and very much what I needed. After they got to Midland, they stayed one night before taking me away to visit San Antonio and the surrounding areas. Phil once again had to work, but I think he was okay staying home to play with his new video games from Christmas :)

We arrived in San Antonio late Sunday night, so it was up to bed to rest up for the days ahead. Monday, dad had to work (those husbands and their work-- I guess someone's got to earn the money while the other spends it!), so mom and I met up with one of her friends (Kathy) that lives in the area. First off, Kathy took us to a bridal store so I could get fitted for a bridesmaid dress for my friend Kayley's wedding. After getting business out of the way, Kathy was our gracious tour guide that lead us through the craziness at San Marco outlets. One word to describe the outlets: AMAZING! There were so many stores and goodies-- I was proud of myself for not buying everything in site :) We spent about 5 hours there and maybe hit about 1/5 of all the stores. Whew! After the stores, we drove to the town of Gruene and walked through the adorable streets of this historic little town. Here are mom and I outside of the Gruene Hall (random interesting fact: the cover of George Strait's first album has a picture of him standing inside of this bar/dancing hall). Then, back to the hotel to pick up Bob and head to dinner at Red Robin (yum)! The next morning, mom and I met up with Kathy again while Bob stayed at the hotel to work. We toured the Alamo, took in the sites around the town and then spent the majority of our day at the riverwalk, just walking and taking in the scenery. With all the walking and long days, mom and I were exhausted, so Tuesday was an early goodbye to Kathy before returning to our hotel for a nap. After dad was done working, we once again headed into San Antonio for dinner and walking along the riverwalk.

Wednesday morning, we headed back to Midland. Dad had to work the afternoon shift, so while he stayed at our apartment, mom, Phil and I went to gather some things so we could decorate our apartment. We finally got our wedding pictures, so we bought frames for those, as well as a mirror for the living room. The boldest thing was painting an accent wall in our bedroom. Mom and I surprised Phil by choosing the color and painting the wall while he was at work, so I think he's still getting used to it :}

New Year's was spent at the apartment and playing Dominoes. We taught Phil the game of 'chicken feet,' and of course he had beginner's luck and beat us all! We all made it to midnight, celebrated with some drinks, made a few calls to friends and family, and then crashed for the evening.

My parent's left early this morning to head back to CO. I think their trip was entirely too short, but I'm sure Phil thinks it was just right :)

The next time I see them will be in May when I head back to CO for Tom's graduation (maybe?!?), so hopefully the time will fly by quickly.

It was great to have visitors, so if anyone wants to head on down to Midland, we would love to have you!