E is for Engineer, F is for Football, G is for Germany...

Last weekend was Parent's Weekend at the Academy, which means we all got to go to class with our cadets on Friday, watch one of their big parades and enjoy parking in the middle of nowhere. I go to school with Matt a few times a year already so I can: a) know what on earth he is talking about when he tells me about all of his classes, b) get him plenty of attention, and c) continue my studies to become an engineer. Just kidding about those last two, but I do like pretending I know what's going on in those ridiculously hard classes.

Anyway, school was especially fun on Friday because Matt's capstone partner was gone so I got to fill in. Right now they're working on building something that can get this 3.7 million pound machine:

In and out of this one safely & easily:
(Trust me, it's a lot more complex than it sounds--I just wanted to spare you all the gory details.)

Good thing I was there to solve the problem for them.

That would be me getting a kick out of the sketch I drew during the brainstorming session. I'm not really familiar with the technical terms for things, so the main components of my creations were labeled football crane, lazy susan, pizza pan and grocery store belt. Genius, right? There's a reason I majored in Communications and not some technical headache.

Onto the parade! It's not too much fun for the cadets to have to march and stand at attention for an hour plus, but it's really neat for everyone else to watch.

Matt's squad (13)--the Bulldawgs. He's in the second row, third from the left.

Matt was happy when it was over:

Then... it was on to football! Matt coached his JV boys on Friday & then the varsity team whopped SUU 41-7 on Saturday.

Go Falcons!

Matt was busy with the team, of course, so I tailgated with Jodie, Preston & all of his buddies (they came for his birthday party) and then watched the game with our friend Kristi (who's boyfriend is a cadet).

On Sunday night, the Hendricks' neighbor Sarah was having a dinner party and invited us to tag along! Sarah's friend from Germany, Matthias, spent the summer with them so they were having a big authentic German meal with their friends before Matthias went home. Matt served his mission in Munich (where Matthias is from), so we were really excited to go.

It was fantastic! We had so much fun making friends with everyone, hanging out with Matthias and gaining 7 pounds each from the delicious German food. Matthias immediately became one of my favorite people in the world when he told me that I'd be able to get around Germany saying "ick" instead of "ich." (I've been trying unsuccessfully for the past year to learn how to hock up a hairball to pronounce "ich." It means "I" in German, which means my learning has been stalled while I've focused on trying to learn that basic little word haha.)

Matt's taking Matthias to school tomorrow and we're hoping we'll get to see him in Munich next year!