First Air Force Friends

The Betzold family made their way down from Idaho to California (smart people!) and made a detour to come see us on the tail end of their vacation.  Last we saw them was when they were stationed at Hill AFB in Utah and we were in Idaho.  Casey and Jamy were our very first Air Force friends.  Jonathan and Casey both were sent to Nellis for "casual status" immediately upon their commissioning back in 2001.  Casey and Jamy had been married a little over a year (us about 6 weeks) and had their baby son, Andrew.  We became fast friends back during the time of 9/11 (Jamy and I hung out in their apartment together, freaking out, while the guys went to work on base, not knowing what to expect)...back when we were all poor as dirt on our husbands teeny tiny 2nd Lieutenant salary so we hardly ever went out (once we did go to Olive Garden, and another night they got a sitter and we went to the top of the Rio to the Voo Doo lounge then to a club called "The Beach") so we filled our nights with board games, usually Pictionary...back when the transmission on Jonathan's car died and we borrowed their truck, because they had 2 cars and we only had 1 at the time.  We had our first Thanksgiving as a couple with them and we then followed them to Columbus, Mississippi for pilot training where Jamy and I would go for walks around base at night and stop off at the shoppette to buy a candy bar to eat on the way back to our homes.

The girls so badly wanted Alivia (7) to stay for a sleep over and talked non stop about her the next day.  Sadly we directed them to the Aliante Station hotel down the road since we cannot accommodate guests yet on our home.  They had so much fun together!

The kids gathered around our giant kitchen table for dessert.  

Their son, Andrew, is now 10.  He was just 1 when we first met him and he was the sweetest baby!  I wanted to have kids immediately after meeting him, but we decided to get Alby instead (who clearly did NOT want to go back to Vegas since he's still on his adventure).

Jamy and I.

Casey thinks he'll be in town next January for a business trip so they are hoping to leave their kids with grandparents and come hang out with us again.  Since we all are making a tad more money these days, maybe we'll splurge and go to Olive Garden for dinner, or maybe we'll just stay in and play board games.