December 29 & 30

I have to admit that when I woke up Wednesday morning, I thought "only three more days for the December daily posts!" It seems many of our days have been so similar lately that I was sure y'all were getting tired of reading about us playing dominoes and watching movies, and I was almost out of ideas for photos to document our days at home. Then I got a call from my nephew which turned these two days into a house full of guests and lots of fun!

December 29

Trey called at noon to ask if he and Andrew and his buddy Eric could crash here that night because the Army was giving him free tickets to the Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas at SMU on Thursday. I spent the next couple of hours cleaning house and putting on a huge pot of spaghetti for supper. I was almost finished when Mama & Daddy showed up for a visit. Mama had finished another of the pillows she made us as anniversary gifts! We played dominoes until Trey, Andrew & Eric arrived, then we all enjoyed supper before Mama & Daddy headed home. I gave Andrew a bath and we all watched The Fantastic Four movie. Robbie, Trey & Eric worked on the puzzle while I put Andrew to bed.

December 30



When Trey picked up his free tickets on Wednesday, he mentioned that he would be staying with family so they gave him tickets for us too. The Armed Forces Bowl started at SMU at 11 am, so the five of us were up and all ready to go by 9 am. We parked on the other side of the SMU campus and enjoyed the walk to the stadium as we had never been on the campus before. It was full of game day activities, a really nice campus even on a gray windy winter day. Army won the game against SMU 16 to 14. We took Trey & Andrew & Eric out to eat at La Finca Chiquita on the way home, and after a short visit here they headed back to Killeen. We watched The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings movie before heading to bed.

During the game, they paid tribute to each of the five branches of the military by having current, past & retired members of each branch stand as they played their song. Here's Trey's buddy Eric standing and being recognized for his previous service in the Marine Corps.

And here's Trey standing as an active soldier in the United States Army. Trey is currently based in Fort Hood, Texas, but is being deployed to South Korea in February. He was here for our family get-together, however I had not anticipated seeing him again before he left for South Korea, so I really enjoyed this visit!

Overall, a fun two days and we are enjoying a nice quiet day at home today, ready to ring in the new year.