Our Dinner with an Astronaut

So recently I have thought about deleting my blog. I don't do much with it anymore and everyone that I tried to recruit to blogging has left me for "easier" ways of keeping in touch. I realize that only about three of you actually visit and read my posts, and I appreciate all three of you!;) SO-I'm not going to delete my blog. I'm actually going to use this as more of an online journal and maybe eventually have it printed out for future generations to read. I figure I have been better with this than any other journal. So from now on I am not editing what I say in my posts. I'm going to write exactly how I feel,say what I want to say,and BRAG about the most important people in my whole universe....MY FAMILY. And I'm not going to worry what people think of these posts-there are, after all, only three of you! haha!

So get ready....I'm about to BRAG big time about my husband. If you can't handle these kind of posts-you may want to leave now. Otherwise, get ready for Paul-fest, because I'm so proud of him I can hardly contain myself!:)

So a few weeks ago Paul was nominated and selected for an award at work called the "Launch Honoree Award." Well, last night was the award ceremony and dinner in Ogden for the honorees and I got to actually see just what a big deal this award is. As they passed out the awards, they talked about some of the accomplishments and contributions that person has made to ATK-and I had NO idea how much Paul had been doing. I mean, I know how much he works and how hard he works, but I'm kind of clueless as to what he does all day. I was so proud of him! They had the spouses of each recipient walk up with them while they accepted their award and I just felt so proud to be with him! They acknowledged how much he had contributed in only 3 1/2 years with the company and they also thanked all the spouses(which I thought was nice-since I feel husband-less at times!) But here is the part I about died over......

We ate dinner with an astronaut!

And I'm not talking like in the same room, a couple tables over.....NO!-he sat right next to Paul and me eating prime rib! Now to some, this may not be a big deal. This was a HUGE deal for me, people! One of my favorite movies of all time is Apollo 13(not joking)-I will watch that movie every single time that it is on! Holy crap! And here is the thing. I didn't realize that he was an astronaut for about the first hour of dinner. Him and Paul were having boring "engineer" talk and I was kind of zoning in and out. Finally, the MC of the night went to the podium to hand out awards and he begins to rattle off the resume of "the astronaut." He explains that this guy has completed FIVE space flights. At this point I am looking around the room to try and find the guy that looks like Tom Hanks or at least Gary Sinise(Apollo13 again..)and then they say his name. Kent Rominger. The guy sitting right. by. Paul.- stands up. I thought I was going to crap. I had sat here for an entire hour letting Paul talk shop with THE ASTRONAUT! I had a million questions.....(which much to Paul's embarrassment-I asked him most of them!) Anyway...here is his picture-he doesn't have the stache anymore. For you space geeks out there(NATE-I know you get this!) you can google him and see all he has done. VERY smart guy-and so nice. He didn't mind my questions at all...he thought it was funny.

Anyway, Mr. "space-man" Rominger was there to hand out the awards and have a professional picture taken with each recipient and their spouse. Yeah. I'm going to have like an 8x10 of Paul, me and Mr. Rocket Man in my house. I'm sure I will look like a tub of lard-(20 weeks along now)-but it is going in the house somewhere. Paul says it won't.....it will! It may go up in the closet, but it will go up!

Okay-back to Paul! Because after all it was his night. And it was all about him....(and the astronaut.) I'm so glad that he has been recognized for all his hard work. When he got a job at ATK-Thiokol, I remember thinking, "What am I going to do with a husband that gets home at 3:30?" (I grew up with a Dad that worked until like 8 at night, so that is what I am used to.) I didn't need to worry....he works A LOT. And for the most part, I'm good with it, because when he gets home, he makes sure that he is all ours. Work is left at work-most of the time. I also feel the praise is long over-due. He worked his tail off in graduate school and his first job didn't really make us feel "rewarded" for that time and effort. I think we now feel like school was, in the end, worth it. So...I'm extremely proud. And so glad he is mine. :)

Now, we get to go to Florida-and this time we are really going! It is hard to leave two kids behind with their own busy schedules, but good thing I have two grandmas that are willing to help. If all goes as planned, I should be watching a space shuttle launch on Friday. They told us we get VIP seating for it and we are also touring Kennedy Space Center. I'm so excited-and SO glad that I am not sick anymore. They are sending a professional photographer along with us and he will take pictures of ALL of the trip and of us. I have so few pictures of me and Paul because I'm always behind the camera! So, I will be posting all the pictures from the award ceremony and the trip to Florida when we get back. We extended our trip by a few days so that we can play around(this is after all our "early" ten year anniversary trip) and we are hoping to go see a Florida Gators game... My husband is somewhat of a college football fanatic!

As a side-note: We still don't know what we are having...I have had a lot of people ask me that lately. Here is the funny part-the baby's legs are so tightly crossed together that even if we wanted to know, they couldn't tell me! My doctor said she has never seen a baby cross their legs that tight and not move them at all. We did get a look at it's head/skull. It looked like a cross between Easton and an Alien. ;)