Thursday, December 28, 2006

Our blog begins...

Hello all. Since we are far away from many friends and family, we have decided to create a blog to keep everyone updated on our lives. We hope you enjoy. We have recently spent the holidays driving across several states to catch up with our two families, and as always, it was great to see everyone.

We started by heading the 380 miles to my mom's in Maryville, TN, and as you can see by the picture, "Grams" is quite the happy camper with her grandbaby Cooper. Becky (my sister) and Nathan (brother-in-law) came over to my mom's as well while we were there, since they also live in Maryville. We made our way to pick up a nice new 42" HD-TV for my mom, and I can now safely tell Brandie what I want for Christmas 2007 - a 52" Sony Bravia LCD TV. Sweetie, you better start saving. :)


After a few days with my family, we drove the 420 miles to De Kalb, MS / Philadelphia,MS, to catch up with Brandie's family. Here is a picture of Brandie, me, Justin (Brandie's brother), and Rebecca (Justin's wife). We had a really nice Christmas at her mom's and dad's places, and we managed to fit in several movies, more food than one can imagine, some beaver hunting, some 4-wheeler riding, a bit of hiking in the woods, a bonfire, and many afternoon naps. It was a nice, relaxing time, and I am slowly getting everyone's names correct. Some may laugh, but there must be 100 people in Brandie's family.

After a many good days in MS, we drove the 720 miles back home to round out our 1500+ mile trip, and we had a great time. Of course, I did catch some much deserving flack about my 1992 Honda Accord, when we realized the leaky truck was too wet to store presents. But, I'm very glad to report that we did the whole trip on just over 3 tanks of gas in that old car, and boy, do I love when we roll past 450 miles on one tank. It just doesn't get much more exciting than that. :) We spent a quiet New Years Eve at our house, and today will be filled with tearing down the Christmas decorations and tackling the boxes once again. Our unpacking has turned into a multi-month job, but we are getting close. We must finish before everyone starts coming to visit very soon. Brandie was beating me up yesterday about starting our taxes, but I can safely safe that we were ready to submit on December 31st if we would have had all of the forms. Of course, that will take until early February, but it is nice to have that ready and waiting. I absolutely love tax time!

I hope everyone had a nice holidays, and we'll catch up with you soon. I'll leave you with a fun picture of Justin and me as we are about to head out for some night beaver hunting. For those who know me, that should be a funny sight. Happy New Years!