Hello everyone! I’m finally making my debut on the A-Team Blog. Better late than never, right? For the past two weeks or so, Andy and I have been blessed to have some time together since he was back in the states for R&R. This coordinated perfectly with my spring break, so we had plenty of opportunities to have fun stress-free!
A few days after Andy arrived in Dallas we boarded the plane to Las Vegas. For all of you who have been encouraging us, NO we did not get married in Vegas. J I had never been there before, so I was pumped! The only thing that put a damper on the first day of our trip was our super early flight, which turned me into a zombie for most of the day. Andy quickly learned that I was serious when I told him I was not a morning person. He was nice enough to let me sleep on his shoulder on the plane though, and I made him vow to schedule a later flight for our next trip. When we finally arrived in Vegas he gave me the grand tour of the city and we even ventured into the suburbs. I was quite amazed at just how long The Strip actually is! Over the next few days my feet would understand that very well too. During the days we mostly walked around and explored the sights and ventured into all the casinos. I love how each hotel has its own theme and feeling. My favorite was the Bellagio because they had a beautiful garden display in a courtyard in the middle of the hotel. I told Andy that we definitely need to stay there sometime! One night we also watched the fountains out front, which were really cool.
We stayed at Treasure Island, which has a “Sirens of TI” show nightly. I was expecting fun pirate ships, but instead we were treated to skimpily-dressed girls singing and dancing. I had to laugh because it was actually pretty corny. The pyrotechnics were impressive, though. We saw two shows while there; Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere and The Phantom of the Opera. Both were amazing and definitely the highlights of our trip. I think during Mystere my mouth hung open for the entire two hours because of sheer amazement. It’s crazy the stunts those people can do; they’re almost super-human! I can’t wait to see another Cirque show the next time we go back. The Phantom of the Opera was very special because that’s Andy’s favorite musical of all time. I had never seen it before, so it was fun to experience it together.
I left Vegas with about the same amount of gambling skill that I had going in: pretty much zero. We mostly stuck to the slots and found our new favorite…. Wheel of Fortune. It was great because it had a giant wheel that you occasionally got to spin. Every time we got the bonus Andy would stand up and clap and say “Big Money, Big Money!!” Everyone around us was amused. We attempted to venture to the Blackjack and Roulette tables, but shied away when we saw the $15 minimums. We played video versions of them though to brush up on our skills for next time. We didn’t win any money, but we sure had fun.
Andy compiled a great video of our trip, so if you’re interested in seeing it you can check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=715487166013
When we got home from Vegas, Andy’s parents Randy and Sheri headed to Dallas for a visit. We had a great time with them just relaxing and exploring some things around the city. We also ventured up to Henrietta for a day to see my parents and celebrate my birthday early with them. This was the first time our parents had met each other, but everyone got along great, and I think they are even more excited for the wedding now! On the actual day of my birthday we hit up the Dallas Hard Rock Café for some great food and Andy took me shopping for my surprise birthday gift: a diamond necklace and earrings set! They are gorgeous and he definitely outdid himself. I told him that setting such high expectations before we’re even married might make him regret it later, but he just smiled. That probably means he’s just going to wrap them up and give them to me again for every holiday in the foreseeable future.
Last but not least, the time we had together was a great opportunity to knock out some wedding tasks that required a groom. I took Andy to the Los Rios Country Club, where we’re planning on having our reception, to show him the site and solicit his opinion. He loved it and we’re confident that it will be the perfect venue for our big day. We also shopped for wedding bands and set up our registries, which was much more involved than I ever would have imagined. We probably spent about 5-6 hours walking around Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Macy’s. Who knew there were so many things to buy when you’re planning for your future home? I was glad Andy was with me for this task though so he could help me coordinate things and make sure I didn’t forget about his preferences (the very few that guys actually have when it comes to this stuff). We also met with the woman at St. Joseph’s who is the coordinator for our marriage preparation process. We went over our FOCCUS test results, and it actually looks like they will let us get married, haha! We were happy to see that we scored pretty high in most areas and that we’d already discussed most of the issues presented. Of course, as a teacher, I was looking for that A+ at the top of our paper, but sadly I didn’t get it (it’s not exactly a “test” anyway… more like a questionnaire). We’ll just have to be satisfied with the knowledge that we make a great team (I mean, we ARE the A-Team after all).
Sadly, I had to watch Andy get on a plane to go back to Iraq yesterday. It was heartbreaking to have to go through the process again. It will be hard for both of us to get back to our routines after getting to experience what “normal” couples get to have every day. At least we are now one step closer to him coming home for good! He should be arriving back to Kirkuk within the next couple of days, and when he has time, hopefully he can post and fill in all the fun details that I'm sure I left out!
