My husband was promoted to O-6 this past Monday. He's a Colonel now! We both still find it hard to believe. Not everyone makes it to this rank and we know plenty of people who didn't who should have-and, are we really old enough to be at this point? I mean, I used to be intimidated by the Colonels and now I'm married to one! It was a great day and the days leading up to it were fun, too. I didn't sleep much because my mind wouldn't shut down long enough, but I was running on adrenaline. We are so thankful for this promotion and for everyone who was here to share in the special day with us. Joe's parents came in Wednesday for Thanksgiving. It was just the 6 of us on Thanksgiving Day and things went well. Joe made another delicious turkey on the grill. His parents brought him a "charcoal chimney." I had never heard of it but you use it instead of lighter fluid. Either way, the turkey was great and so was everything else, if I do say so myself! One of the desserts I made was a Honey Almond Citrus Pound Cake. So good!
Saturday, Joe's brother and his oldest daughter came into town. Ellie and Gracie had a great time with Jenna and it was great to have Tim in our house for the first time since 2001. My mom and Step Dad also came into town that day and stopped by for awhile before going to their hotel.
Sunday, my Dad and Step mom and my cousin and her husband arrived. Everyone came to our house for dinner that night. We had drinks and yummy appetizers and it was wonderful to have everyone here. I really missed having Granny with us and thought about her often. I surprised Joe that night with a DVD my sister made for me. It was lots of pictures of him throughout his career in different locations and then some of the two of us and some with the girls. He loved it and so did the rest of the family.
Monday was the ceremony. Joe's boss from his last deployment officiated and it was great to have him part of the day. I sent an invitation to a friend of Joe's from Pilot Training who was also in our wedding and he was there! We had not seen him since the wedding. He came with another old Air Force friend who was also in our wedding!
Right after the ceremony we served lunch to everyone. I had it catered by a local girl who specializes in lasagna. We had 4 different kinds and they all tasted great. She let me borrow a food warmer that can be plugged into the car outlet and the wall outlet and that little invention saved the day! She also brought us some yummy muffins. They were delicious and I asked for the recipe when I returned the warmer. She didn't give it to me but said that she sells them. But her young son said, " You mean the Pecan Pie Muffins?" And then I knew what they were called and what to google! I've already found a couple versions of the recipe.
Monday night, we took everyone who came in from out of town to dinner at Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria. It was such a fun night with great company and delicious food. It was a perfect way to end the extra long weekend.
I'll hopefully have some good pictures to post soon. The ones that a classmate took with our camera did not turn out very well and I'm waiting for others who took pictures to send them to us. In the meantime, here's one from our dinner at Gadsby's.
Flowers from the Colonel....
