First off, I apologize that I haven't blogged in forever! I have no idea where all of the time has gone!
Second, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year! I can't believe 2012 is over. This has been the most exciting year of my entire life, and 2013 will have to work very hard to compete. To sum up 2012 in a sentence, this is what happened to us: Rick and I both graduated from college, we got married, we went backpacking throughout Europe, then we drove all the way down to Del Rio and moved into our first house at Laughlin Air Force Base, we adopted the sweetest little puppy, and then a few months later I got my first engineering job and Rick passed IFS. 2013 will certainly be exciting with Rick starting pilot training and my job speeding up. Plus, a couple weddings and a couple trips home and hopefully many house guests down here will really keep us busy and happy!
So, unfortunately I caught the stomach bug that knocked out the rest of my family last week. I drove all the way to work, sent an email to my boss and drove all the way home. Blehh! Oh well, this gives me the chance to get you all caught up on what's happening with the Mundys! Thankfully Dulce has been cuddling with me all day.
So why haven't I blogged in a while? Two reasons: my life has been crazy busy and because my computer died. My dear computer made it all the way through my crazy college years, but just a few months of married life apparently did it in. So I recently got a new computer using the black Friday sales, but my computer has Windows 8 which I have been struggling with. I really don't recommend it at this point, but I'm still trying to give it a fair chance. (Below is a picture of a couple dozen cookies I baked to participate in the Officer Spouse's Club annual cookie caper for all of the single airmen on base and a picture of the candy I made for all of our friends)
Let's see, where did I leave off? Well first off, back in October (oh my goodness, it has been too long since I blogged!) my Mom and Aunt Linda visited us! Oh my goodness, it was so much fun to have more house guests and to show a couple of my favorite ladies our new home and town. (Below is a picture of Mom and Aunt Linda drinking Lime-a-Ritas on Lake Amistad, and a picture of Rick and I overlooking the Mexican border)
Shortly after, I had an interview with a company called Kimberly-Clark. I'm sure all of you use K-C products every day, including: Kleenex, Kotex, Huggies, Cottonelle, Scott, Depends, etc. However, K-C also has a professional care sector which makes soap, paper towel, and toilet paper dispensers that can be found at business bathrooms, as well as a health care sector that makes face masks, paper gowns, sterilization wraps, etc. They had been looking for a mechanical engineer for a while and hadn't been able to get someone with the amount of experience they were looking for and who was willing to move down to Del Rio and commute over the border every day. Yes, that's right, the job is in Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico.
K-C logo!
Above is a picture of the border crossing back into America.
Well, needless to say I got the job! It is much safer than I had imagined, but I am sure to be careful and aware at all times. I had a really exciting first week on the job because I got to go to Wisconsin to visit our machine. Basically, my whole job is to be part of an engineering team that will bring this huge machine that makes sterilization wraps down from Wisconsin to Acuna. A sterilization wrap is what medical instruments are wrapped in while they go through the sterilization process. A lot of work has to be done to the existing location, as well as coordinating the transportation down, and getting the asset up and running in a timely manner. I am happy to say that I have finally finished the onboarding process and am able to start really working. (While in WI we made sure to have the cheese curds, yum!)
During that time, Rick went to IFS (Initial Flight Screening) in Pueblo, CO. This is a pass/fail introductory pilot training course that determines whether the student can learn to fly quickly enough to do well during undergraduate pilot training (UPT). Luckily, Rick did very well and was able to come home in just 4 weeks. Now, Rick is scheduled to start UPT on January 24th, so he has a few more weeks of what he has been calling the "retired life" before the stress of pilot training commences.
Rick did not want to leave!
Unfortunately, Rick was at IFS during Thanksgiving and most of the Christmas season :( . Luckily for me, I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in Austin. We even had a deep fried turkey! Yummo! And it was cooked so quickly!
By the time Rick came home from IFS we had about a week until it was time for us to go to MA for Christmas. It has been so warm down here in Del Rio that it was hard for us to get into the Christmas spirit, but being in MA really helped! A couple snow storms really made it feel like Christmas.
Above is a picture of my Dad using the snow blower during a snow storm!
Then we got back from MA and we celebrated the New Year with some of our good friends on base. We had a great time! Now, we have to undecorate from Christmas and prepare for my parents' visit next week!
Until next time,
The Mundys
