Christmas 2010 Pt. 2

Here it is December 25th 2010.
We awoke to a blanket of snow on the ground.
Forrest had never seen snow, so we let him out for a little while.
I don't think he liked it too much. Does he look happy to you?

We spent the rest of the day and into the evening just chill-lax'n.
Didn't make it up to the Godfreys for Christmas Day Dinner( the roads were
a little slick).

Christmas 2010

Christmas Tree 2010

We put up our Christmas Tree for this year on Molly's Birthday.
The other
picture is of
one of my
favorite ornaments.

The Pool Table

The long awaited pool table is here and all set up. David did a GREAT job of putting it
together. It had to be perfectly balanced and covered. And it looks terrific in our sun
room.
Anyone want to play a game?

Wicks' Visit to Tenn. Aquarium

Here we are at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. I think everybody's favorites were
"petting" the sting-rays and small sharks in a low tank, and the butterfly room.
We were there over the Halloween weekend, so into the evening people started showing up
in costumes.
After the Aquarium we walked down the street to a cute restaurant/pub.
It was great!

I'm Baaack!

So, this is my second attempt at coming back.
Cyberspace is a place where nobody hears you scream... or so they say.
No air, you know.
I've never understood that.
I swear I can hear my own children across the vacuum of space.
My radar extends all the way through the known solar system. At least, that's what I tell them.

Sleeping Beauty?

Here's Matthew in one of his more sedate moments.
Working the third shift really takes it out of you.

You Say Tomatoe...Pt. 2

Here are some updated pictures of my tomatoes in our backyard.
We also finally put back up the swing that was taken down for
the house addition. So far its been too HOT to do much swinging.
But the tomatoes are doing great. And we are enjoying them very much.

Canada 2010

Were back from our trip to Canada.
Our visit to Sean and Tracys' is ALWAYS great fun.
We got to go out on the lake with the boat.
We went out to eat at some really great places.
We went to a drive-in movie one night.
We got to watch a lot of Top Gear on the tv.
We took some really wonderful walks in beautiful parks.
We climbed up a 200 ft. tower and looked at an overview of hundreds of miles.
But most of all, we got to visit with our very dear friends.
I think it was the highlight of our summer this year!

Life Continues...

When I returned from my trip to the Carsons' I found that Carmel(our cat of 15 yrs.)
was continuing to decline in health. The next Monday I took him to the vet and after
running some tests, they found that he was in kidney failure.
So that week we lost a dear friend. We gathered as a family and decided to bury him
in the backyard by the honeysuckle fence. Ben carved Carmel's name into a large rock that he'd brought from a field by our house.
About a week later Ross brought over a black, long-haired kitten that he'd found out
side his apartment by a dumpster.
To make a long story short...his name is Forrest(as in Forrest Gump) and he is staying with us. It's like having a baby in the house again. He's into EVERYTHING!
He purrs as loud as Carmel used to.
Life does go on.

Carson Family Trip May 2010

I'm finally just now getting to download my pictures from my trip to see the
Carson Family in May. I had a great time! Everything went really well and we
had a lot of fun time together. The only mishap was my running over the mailbox.
Poor Mailbox...
One of my favorite things was going on our bike ride. I also liked walking to the
bus stop every morning with the kids.
Another favorite was going to lunch at a great tasting Japanese restaurant with
Steff and Sophia.
Another favorite was riding scooters around the basement with Grant. And Laura
and Emma and I got to do some jewelry making. I also got to see Laura do her
gymnastics and got my own violin concert.
Emma let me sleep in her bed while I was there. Thanks!
Steff baked the best bread, and I got to have grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.
And we ate outside in their screened in porch. I also liking playing Old Maid out
there.
I even liked watching television with Russ in the evenings. I think I might be hooked
on CSI.
But most of all, I LOVED all the shhhugggarrr from ya'll.
What great memories! Thanks for letting me be a part of your lives.

Huntsville Tea Party Rally 4-15-10

David and I gathered with approximately 2500 other patriots in a parking lot across
the street from the downtown Post Office in our town of Huntsville, Al. They had several good speakers and even singers for the crowd. They also had petitions, signs,
bumper stickers, a raffle, and registration for a number of volunteer organizations.

David and I took our own signs- The first one was a quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"When Injustice becomes Law, Resistance becomes Duty." And the second sign was:
"What about the Constitution do you not understand?" When we left the rally after
about an hour, we gave our signs to others who didn't bring their own signs. They
gave me a "high-five" and thanked us.

Today I had to really search hard to find any reference to the tea parties Nation-
Wide. But I did find them. 202 photos of tea parties around the country, in just
about every State in the Union. Boston had 10,000 gather. Not one word of coverage
from any of the major "news" networks. Imagine that!

Mom & Molly's Great Adventure

Well, Mom & Molly's Great Adventure is now just another page in the story of our lives.
I flew out to Salt Lake to help drive her and her stuff home. Our trip was approximately 2000 miles through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and finally Alabama.

The Adventure started on Friday afternoon, April 9th. when I touched down in SLC Airport. We spent the rest of the day at Temple Square and the parking garage down-
town by a Mall. We visited the Conference Center (which was my first time) and walked
around what used to be the Hotel Utah. It's been almost 26 years since I've been there.
David and I spent out wedding night there so many years ago.
That evening we drove a couple of hours to Rock Springs, Wyoming and ate pizza in our
hotel room.

The second night we stayed in Percival, Iowa after having no luck in Lincoln and
Omaha, Nebraska. We ate Wendy's salads in our room at 10:30 P.M.

After a 13 hour drive on Sunday we arrived at home around 8:00 P.M.
We're both glad it's over.

You Say Tomato...

For at least three years now, I've been trying to grow tomatoes.
Each year I put out my tomato plants and water them. And each year
I watch and wait for them to grow and produce. And each year...nothing.
This year I've planted them in hay bales. In each bale is a mixture of
pea moss, compost and vermiculite. I have tomatoes, pole beans, and onion
sets.
So, we'll see how it goes this year.
I think the only reason why I keep trying is because I happen to be very
stubborn.

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break seemed to come up upon us before we knew what happened...
Plus it was a little earlier this year than in the past. March 15-19.
It was kind of a last minute fluke, but we made reservations for a apartment
in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Matthew, Ben and I drove down on Wednesday morning. We arrived that afternoon.
We quickly unpacked and headed out to the beach. The weather could have been a
little better. It was overcast and slightly chilly, but we braved it anyway.
Later on in the evening, Ben and I walked on the shoreline. It was great!
The next day the weather was a little better, and we headed for the sand again.
Our apartment was just across the street from the beach so it was easy access.
We took a light lunch in the room and spent the rest of the day at the beach.
For dinner we went to a place close by that had an all-you-can-eat fish fry.
Yum! Matthew and I watched a movie on our portable DVD player in the room while
Ben surfed the television for the rest of the night.
The next day the weather was wonderful. It was sunny and warm. We spent the day
at the beach again walking, relaxing in the sand, building sand castles(or digging
holes). Ben got a skim-board and tried that out.
In the evening, for Matthews' 22nd Birthday we went out for BBQ and steak in town.
We got a great chocolate dessert, and Matthew was sung a birthday song by the staff
at the restaurant (he wasn't too happy about all the attention).

Saturday morning we packed up and came home. Took us an extra hour and a half
because of stop and go traffic. There was a car wreck just outside of Montgomery.
And a sink-whole in I-65 by Cullman that slowed us up. Even so,
we had a great Spring Break Adventure!

SISTER REUNION 2010

The Second Annual Sisters Reunion has come and gone.
I can hardly believe how quickly it went.
It was 5 days of fun and visiting with all of us together.
Chris was able to spend another few days leisurely enjoying the South.
I think the very BEST part of the whole deal was the visiting.
But along with the visiting we went to the OpryLand Hotel and the Orpy Mills Mall
for a dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. We went to The Space and Rocket Center,
(and while there watched an I-MAX movie, and everyone but the pregnant lady took
a shot at the climbing wall). We also prowled around Unclaimed Baggage and stopped
off at Hammers. We ate BBQ and fried fish at Greenbriers, and went to the Harley Shop twice. Everybody loved Mo's for dinner. So Chris and I went there for lunch
too.
We took in a walk on Big Cove Greenway and a short walk at Lake Guntersville.
And Chris and I made it to the local Waffle House for pecan waffles and hash browns. We also made it to Franklin, Tenn.
And went to The Carnton Plantation where the Battle of Franklin took place during
The War Between The States. We stayed in Nashville one night by the Cool Springs
Galleria.
It's been quite a time! I am already excited for next year.
Thanks again everybody for the great time. I was having such a great time, I didn't take all the pictures that I'd planned on.
Thanks to those that held down the fort at home so we could do this.
I love all ya'll!

Molly @ School

Molly is well into her second semester at BYU-Idaho.
She's still loving the classes, the snow, the SNOW Blowing
trucks, and the other school activities.
But most of all she loves her room mates.
At least that's what it looks like...

Scary Aztec Pot Man...

Ben recently had a project due on the Aztec Civilization.
As part of his project he had to produce some kind of visual-aid.
After researching it out, he decided to make a pot like the kind
they would have made. They had pots with scary faces on them.
Thus, Scary Aztec Pot Man was born.
Kind of freaky, huh?