Snow!!

As promised, here are some pics of the snow that we got over night last night. It wasn't all that fabulous and it was gone by noon, but I realize that most of you folks probably don't get snow all that often (or ever) so these are for my peeps down South!!

This is the view from our front yard.

Home sweet home.

Sweet Millie with snow on her nose... she was practically rolling in it!

This weekend, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Ashley and baby Bennett came to visit Blake and I. We ate, watched a movie, played cards, played a little Settlers of Catan and spent a little time in freezing cold Winston-Salem.
When they got here around 11 on Friday night, the temperature was hovering around 10 degrees. It was rather cold to say the least, but they were troopers and we had a great time! Here's a picture of me and Benito when they first got here. He had on the coolest footie pajamas featuring Uga and a sweet toboggon. And he was rockin' it!

Mornings started with breakfast (although I think this picture might have been a dinner shot). But breakfasts didn't look much different for Bennett, maybe a little more smashed bananas :) But that precious smile was definitely around a lot!

There were also a couple of rounds of Settlers of Catan. Ryan won the first round, bringing Blake's reign of victory to an end. Then, yours truly took it home in round two. Thank you very much!
We also introduced everyone to a card game called JACKPOT. It was pretty awesome until Mom and Dad stomped us all.

And then, where there is Blake, there is Guitar Hero. So, we thought we would take a moment to get Bennett acquainted with the new game.


I see a Guitar Hero champion in our future. Who knows, maybe one day he will even beat Uncle Blake.
And, when Bennett was not playing, he was dancing. .. and clapping!

Oh, and by the way... don't let Ashley fool you, she is a rockstar! She's what you might call a Guitar Hero "sleeper." She's just plain good.

Millie handled the full house ok. She had a few moments of sweetness here and there in addition to her moments of being a headache. Some of the sweet moments took place on the couch with Mom, as you can see below. Mom's arm was Millie's pillow of choice.

We were pumped to have everyone up here this weekend. Despite the FREEZING cold weather, we had some good old fashioned family time and that was super good to the soul.
I love you guys, thanks again for making my weekend!

PS- We are expecting 1-3 inches of snow tonight, so if we actually get it, I will be sure to post some pics tomorrow. It will be a winter wonderland for atleast 3-4 hours until it melts :)

Nothin' Much

Tomorrow, when I go back to work, I imagine that at least a few people will say, "What did you do this weekend?" To which, I will reply, "Oh, nothin' much." But to you, my blog reading friends, I will tell you that we did do a few things that were fun or productive.

For example, in order to make our guest bathroom more guest-friendly, we added this little cabinet. It was a plain little white cabinet, but Blake had the great idea to add a piece of tile to the top to match the floor and shower. Then, he changed out the boring white handle to a cute little brushed-nickel handle. Then he added the little feet to the cabinet to get it up off the floor. My husband is quite brilliant. I love it! Check it out below.
























We also went to hang out with some friends and watch the Steelers / Chargers game. Now, while you all know that neither Blake nor myself had any stake in this game whatsoever, it did turn out to be a great photo op.
















If you read Blake's post, you may have had questions about the afore mentioned "Freakway Boys" and how they got this name. Well, they are the guys that Blake plays flag football with and they happen to live on a street called Creekway. Hence, the flag football team named "Freakway" came to be. And thanks to my new great camera, you get to see their smiling faces (plus a wife, a fiance, and our good buddy Jason)! I am a pretty big fan of these folks. They make me laugh, a lot.

Finally, it was our third anniversary this week (January 7th) and my sweet hubby brought me these beautiful roses. We also went to dinner at an excellent restaurant called Milner's American Southern and I thought it would be fun to put a link to the restaurant's web site on here, but they don't have one. I will try to pick a better spot next year so that you guys can stay in the loop. But, I will take a moment to say that the past three years with Blake have been wonderful. Through good times and ok times (let's be honest, there haven't been many "bad times") it's been pretty amazing. I love you, Blake.























Next weekend, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Ashley and Bennett will be coming to visit. So, get ready, b/c Bennett is one cute kid and I plan on taking lots of photos.

And Happy Birthday MOM!!!! I hope you have a great day! I love you!!!

Have a great week everybody!

Sara Kate's first post

So, I have been thinking about what I should write on here for a while... I think that I have not posted anything quite yet because I would really like to avoid writing things like "I am sitting here watching Superstars of Dance." Wait.. did I just say that. Forget that comment.
Rather, I would like to make comments that are worth the time that you spend reading them. While I can't guarantee to meet that criteria, I will try my best to make posts that give you a bit of a glimpse into our life here in Winston-Salem.
So let me begin...
This weekend we took Millie to a new dog park. It isn't new in general, just new to us. Saturday was a beautiful day and we couldn't resist being outside. Unfortunately, the dog park wasn't as awesome as we would have liked, but we did get our daily Vitamin D and I had a chance to play around a bit with my new camera and snap a few shots that I think are pretty cool. This one is my very favorite. I seriously might have to get a frame and put this on my desk at work. That's one good lookin' dog.























Here are a couple more pics, and hopefully as my technique improves, you will see a lot more.






























































So, there it is, my first post and I hope you enjoyed it. It may not happen on a regular basis, but for now, I will shoot for more often than not. How's that for vague? So, until next time....

Oh No! Not Another Blog

Why on earth does the world need another blog?
Although I have asked myself this question every time I've seen a link from someone's Facebook or MySpace account, I have finally been talked into actually creating one. All my reason tells me that I'm not funny enough or interesting enough for anyone else to read, but with Sara Kate's New Year's resolution/new camera, we figured it was time to at least give it a shot.

With that as a backdrop to why we have decided to start a family blog, I would like to start off with a top 10 list of great things that we have experienced since moving to Winston in July of '07.

10. Wondering how anyone could ever not want a dog. Millie is ridiculous!
9. Getting involved with CollegeLife/YoungLife.
8. Choosing a house that is 2.1 miles from my office 5 miles from Sara Kate's office.
7. Being officially to that point where Dinner Clubs are a way of life.
6. Meeting and livin' life with the "Freakway Boys".
5. Watching Sara Kate get involved and love her book club.
4. Having beer and wings with my wife at Buffalo Wild Wings.
4. Remembering how much I missed playing flag football and doing something about it.
3. Being able to meet home for lunch with my wife nearly everyday.
2. Bringing our kitchen into the 21st century from the 60's.
1. Realizing that God has blessed us with amazing "community" here.