Welcome Home, Small Vacation, Questionable Service, and Anniversaries/Birthdays!

Again, I have to apologize for taking a long time to write again, but most of you know I have been pretty busy. The first good news though is that Justin is back in Oklahoma and out of Iraq for good. Unlike other places you live I have a feeling that we will not be going back to visit this one for fun. :) It is great just to have him back in the states - we can talk on the phone almost anytime we want and I got to go and visit for nine days.

First, Welcome Home Troy and Justin!



(Thanks to Chris for letting me unknowingly steal her picture!)



The first part of that visit was Justin rushing from Oklahoma to take me to the New Kids on the Block concert in Dallas. Now I am sure you are wondering why I was in Dallas, and if I actually PLANNED it around the concert. Well, it was cheaper to head into Dallas - and it just HAPPENED to be the same weekend of the concert. If I had known the concert was that weekend, I would have still wanted to GO - so I am not sure I am as innocent as I look. Justin was nice enough to be happy to take me. Here we are there:



Kelly Clarkson was in the box next to us, so I was almost brave enough to ask her for a picture before the show. I decided to ask the box attendant to ask her. She was more than happy to take one, but that started a huge line which I felt bad about. She was a great sport though. Justin was facing the sun a bit and the flash on the camera got him, so he is not stoned - it was just a big bright in Texas!

Also in OUR box was a nice lady named Chef Blythe Beck. She has a new show coming up on the Oxygen network on "Naughty Cooking". It is homecooked recipes that are probably not that great for you, but family favorites. They were doing some filming from our box for her show (there was another guy there from E! with her) so we may even be on her show when she goes to the NKOTB concert. She talked to Justin about cooking for a long time and was great.



Justin seemed to think we look alike....ideas?

Here are some friends I met at the show, some from the cruise:



(Left to Right: Kelly, Latanya, Lisa, and Me) They came from Boston, Florida, and I think Kelly was from Texas just for the show. :) They also went to the Houston show the next day to wrap up the NKOTB Full Service Tour. I have no doubt they will be back, but they were a very welcome distraction the last year that Justin was gone and I am not sure what I would have done without that. So thanks to my pre-teen idols!

Oh and here are Angie and Cindy!



Here are the pictures from the concert, which Justin took, I took the video of Joe when security was a bit distracted since the band was in the audience!



Now, I am going to back up one day. I came to Dallas on a Thursday rather than the Friday of the show mainly because of the adventures I usually have while flying. There was a charity event at the Ghost Bar at the W Hotel in Downtown Dallas that evening for the Remember Betty Wood Foundation. For those of you unaware, Betty was the mother of one of the New Kids (Danny Wood) who passed away several years ago from Breast Cancer. I have participated in more than one of these where the money goes through the Betty Wood Foundation to Komen. It takes a lot to get me to a bar - as you could imagine. In fact, aside from the bar that I sat at on the cruise, this was the only time I went, and I went with a friend to be the designated driver for them. The party started at 9 pm and went until about 3:00 by the time we left. We had a VIP Table that gave me a great place for the back to sit. Here are some pictures from that.



As you can tell, the NKOTB were there. It was a great event, there was singing, dancing, and a lot of me sitting at the table sending texts to Justin since I was going to get to see him the next day. Being unaware of my surroundings and having a dead phone when I left, getting home took about three times as long as it did to get there - but we made it back safe. The best part of the night through was getting to see Jon Knight SING. Those of you who are NK Fans know this happens very rarely (at least not doing back-ups). I have some great video and I will post those here:

Joe doing "Single" in the Crowd



Jon (about half way through - up on the DJ Stand at Ghost Bar)



Jon at Ghost Bar Part II



I know this is getting long, but aside from keeping you caught up I thought I would tell you a slightly amusing story from yesterday. I was on the phone with Justin and he was running a guy who did not have a ride to WalMart who really needed to get there before the Western Union closed. Very nice of him since not all the soldiers have a ride. Justin had to do a few things, and during this I hear the soldier ask him to be dropped off a little north of the post to which Justin was protesting. I stopped him and said "Justin - please, for me, take this guy where he needs to go. It is a great opportunity to do some service, right?" Justin responded by saying "Yeah but that is a long way and I have already taken him all over...". I pushed it, and told him to be nice, and he reluctantly agreed which I thought was a bit weird. I talked to him while he was dropping the guy off - I can hear the soldier giving Justin directions, telling him thanks, and then the door closing. Being the nice, righteous wife I decide to say "See, it was not all THAT hard of you to take him out of the way now was it?" Justin responded by saying "You know where he wanted to be dropped off right?" I said "No, where?". Justin said "The local strip club, apparently he needed the money before he could get in." I guess I will be removing my foot from the back of my throat for the next week. If there are any people out there who can help with the extraction, please do let me know.

I know this is a day late, but I hope it is not short.



Two years ago yesterday, this happened:



No, we have not lived together much since then, and Justin has mostly been on the other side of the world - but it was a great day. Things are well and hopefully when Justin gets home around the 21st of August things will be a lot more normal. He is starting school at Ferrum as a Freshman and is looking forward to it (I will let him address this part more!). I think then we will have a pretty normal life.

Lastly, Belated Birthdays!



To:



Mom and Dad

and of course...Bubby!



Hope everyone is well, leave comments, and if I have not heard from you in a while - CALL ME!