The Garners

Happy Birthday Heather

2010-07-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

What a difference a year makes. Instead of going out to dinner with friends or traveling like last year when we were in Paris, this year I celebrated my birthday with a quiet evening at home with my new baby. =)

Jerusha brought over dinner and Kevin picked up a Goodberry's cake. It was a perfect way to spend my birthday.

There is a first time for everything!

2010-07-25T14:07:00.000-04:00

First doctor's appointment.

First trip to the mall.

First trip to Target.

First trip to Chick-fa-la.

First bath time.

First trip to grandma Baird's house.

First time playing BINGO.

First trip to Cracker Barrel.

First wedding.

First luau.

First time meeting best buddy Zane.

First 4th of July.

Looking forward to many more firsts.

First week at home...

2010-07-25T13:52:00.000-04:00

Now that Jacob's home he is:

Sleeping with duckie.

Hanging out with Scruffy.

Jazz hands!

Sleeping on mommy's lap.

Hanging out with daddy.

Bringing baby home

2010-07-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

All bundled up in my State gear:

Happy family about to head home:

Welcome baby boy, you are going home:

Ready to go!

First car ride:

Welcome home banner from grandpa's work:

Meeting big brother, Scruffy, for the first time =)

Back in May...

2010-07-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

We had a baby boy!

Named him Jacob Allen Garner.

He was 7lbs 8oz.

Family picture taken on day 1.

Mommy & Jacob

Daddy & Jacob

Such a cutie!

He slept a lot during those first couple of days.

Family picture taken on day 2.

Jacob's birth story

2010-06-06T16:23:00.001-04:00

Jacob has arrived! Following is the story of his birth, mostly for our own record-keeping, but we are happy to share it with everyone as well.

We went to the doctor on Wednesday morning, May 19th, for our 40 week checkup. We declined the vaginal exam because we had not progressed in the last two weekly checkups. The doctor suggested we schedule an induction just in case for Thursday, May 27th. We were eager to soon see our son, Jacob, arrive.

Wednesday evening, after work, Heather noticed she had started to have slight mucousy bleeding. We thought she was starting to lose the mucous plug. Otherwise, we had a normal evening; taking a walk, going to community group, and then coming home and watching Glee on our DVR. We went to bed around 10:30.

Around 11:00, Heather started to have contractions. Kevin encouraged her to try and sleep, but the contractions were just too strong to sleep through. Around midnight, we started timing the contractions because they just weren't going away, even after walking around and changing positions. They were about five minutes apart and 30-45 seconds in length. We were surprised at how close together they were already, but we knew to wait for at least an hour and see how they were progressing. By 2:00am, the contractions had progressed to 2-3 minutes apart and 45-60 seconds in length, so we began to gather things for the hospital. Around 3:00am, Kevin called the doctor and got authorization to go the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital around 3:30, Heather was dropped off at patient registration while Kevin parked the car. Heather was immediately whisked off to labor triage in a wheelchair, even after asking if she could walk. Fortunately, Kevin was able to catch up by the time Heather was wheeled into the elevator.

In triage, Heather changed into a hospital gown and laid on a triage stretcher to get a electronic fetal monitor (EFM) and contraction baseline. After wearing the EFM for 30-45 minutes, the nurse checked the monitor and performed a vaginal exam. Heather was at 2cm, 90% effaced, and +1 station. The doctor and nurse did not feel the baseline nor dilation was adequate, so Heather had to wait another hour on her back and side – completely still and no sitting up – before we could be checked again. After an agonizing hour with contractions still coming around two minutes apart, the nurse performed another check and there was no progression. The doctor required 4cm to admit us, so the only option was to wait in triage until 4cm or go home and labor there. The nurse told us we were not in active labor, but she thought with our pattern of contractions we'd surely be back in a few hours and Jacob might even be born by afternoon.

We got home just after 6:00am, confused because the contractions were so close and consistent, even after going from home to car to hospital to car to home. Heather drew a hot bath to labor in, while Kevin tried to rest for a few minutes. After about 15-20 minutes, the contractions began to intensify, so we tried laboring while straddling a straight back chair instead with Kevin applying counter-pressure on the hips and back. While that helped, the contractions still intensified, and Kevin was so tired he was unable to coach effectively. Around 7:30am, the pain was really getting to Heather, so we tried a few other positions. Those other positions only increased the discomfort and we decided to call the doctor again just after 8:00am. The office told us to come there to be checked, but with Heather's progression so far and the closeness of the hospital, they authorized us to go straight to the hospital. En route, we called Heather's mom, Pam, who was going to join us for the labor at the hospital; we also called Kevin's parents and left a message that their grandson would surely be born that day.

We arrived back at the hospital by 8:30am and this time we parked first and walked together to patient registration. Heather was in extreme discomfort, having to stop 3-4 times for contractions on the way to registration. We once again were taken to labor triage and placed on a stretcher to be checked and hooked up for EFM. Around 8:45-9:00am, Heather was checked and was verified to be 5cm dilated, 100% effaced, and +1 station. At that point, we could be admitted to the hospital. Heather was offered Nubain to help with the contractions, which were still consistently just over two minutes apart and around a minute in length. Heather also received an IV line to get fluids in her because it had been so long since she'd had a real meal.

Around 9:45am we were moved to the labor and birthing room. Our nurse asked us about receiving an epidural. We asked her about receiving help laboring without one. She said that she had a lot of experience with all sorts of births. She left the room for us to talk about receiving an epidural, but never returned – instead sending in another nurse. The new nurse, Norma, talked to us about natural birth – she had three children unmedicated herself, and was willing to help us. Meanwhile, Heather's contractions were getting even more intense. We had to stop talking while contractions came on and Kevin and Norma helped Heather relax and breath through them. During this time, Heather was still confined to a bed to get the needed fetal measurements. Heather wanted the epidural, but Kevin reminded her all the reasons we had gone over to avoid the procedure, including the increased chance of slowing down labor and interventions such as vacuum extraction and C-section. Between the pain and the exhaustion, however, we decided an epidural was the best way to get us through the pushing and birth. The nurse heard our discussion and interjected to ask when the last time we were checked. It was now around 10:15-10:30am, and after we told her about an hour ago, she decided to check Heather before the epidural. The check took forever and she looked to Kevin with a quizzical look and then said she thought that Heather was 9cm, but she wanted the doctor to verify; she said if she was right, Heather might not even need the epidural. We were very surprised that in less than two hours, Heather had gone from 5 to 9(ish) cm.

Our doctor, Dr. Harden, arrived to check Heather's dilation for himself. Dr. Harden originally was not our favorite doctor at Heather's OB practice, but after having many appointments with him, we added him to our shortlist of favorites because of his lack of agenda and nonchalant attitude. Dr. Harden checked Heather and said she was more 8-8.5cm because the cervix was not evenly dilated; he couldn't guarantee that she'd be ready to push soon and even made a comment that it could be another couple of hours. Once Heather heard that comment, she was more adamant on receiving the epidural, even though realistically she had labored to almost full dilation and would probably be pushing soon. Fortunately, Dr. Harden performs his own epidurals, and was able to administer it to Heather almost immediately.

Heather was finally able to relax some once the epidural quickly took effect, but around 11am, just a few minutes later, Heather was feeling pressure and an urge to go to the bathroom. At this point, the nurse got a little nervous, checked her again, and was we discovered Heather was fully dilated. She called our doctor and we decided to have our water broken to help Jacob move down the birth canal. When the water was broken, there was some meconium. Heather's mom, Pam, arrived in the laboring room right after the water was broken. It was great to have her arrive and help out with the pushing and birth.

Now that Heather was fully dilated and the water was broken, she was allowed to rest a bit before trying to push. About 30 minutes in, Heather tried to push, but the nurse decided he was still too high in the birth canal and did not want her exhausting herself by pushing too soon. So she decided to allow us to labor down and wait until he was at a lower station.

Around 12:30, our nurse went to grab a quick bite of lunch and she had another nurse help fill-in while she was gone. The temporary nurse was a little confused about our status when she arrived, thinking we were not fully dilated. When we told her that we were ready, but just laboring down, she decided it was about time to push a baby out. She started breaking the bed down and pulling the stirrups out – which we were surprised about since during the hospital tour they suggested that they weren't really used any more. In the process, she also fiddled with the original nurses monitor setup and moved Heather around and did not correctly position the contraction monitor or EFM so they were not working properly. Now that we were pushing, our nurse arrived back from lunch.

Pushing was an adventure with the epidural. Heather could feel some pressure, but the fill-in nurse was eager to direct her to push without real guidance from the contraction monitor. Our main nurse was helping really well and some progress was being made, but Heather was getting frustrated by the direction on pushing when she didn't always feel the contraction pressure. She eventually started to directing her own pushes, since she could feel some pressure. We see Jacob arrive at the end of the birth canal, so Dr. Harden is called in to catch him. Once he arrived, he helped out, trying to stretch the perineum to prepare for crowning and birth, which was coming very soon.

Jacob arrived at 1:27pm on Thursday, May 20, 2010, within about 45 minutes of beginning pushing! He had his nose and mouth suctioned due to the meconium, but was then placed on Heather's chest. Jacob was able to nurse within a few minutes and most of the newborn procedures were done while he was on her chest. His Apgar scores were 8 and 9. Kevin was able to cut the umbilical cord and blood was taken for a cord blood donation. The epidural was turned off, with just over two hours of usage, mostly spent laboring down. Heather had a second degree tear, which the doctor stitched up at that point; unfortunately the epidural was beginning to wear off quickly and the stitches were very uncomfortable. She was also given Pitocin and a fundal massage to encourage her uterus to quickly contract.

We were given a couple of hours to bond as a new family. Eventually, Jacob was weighed and he completed his other newborn procedures. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was measured at 20 inches long. He was given Erythromycin eye ointment to prevent infections and a vitamin K shot, which caused him to scream for quite awhile. We opted to not give him the Hep B vaccine while in the hospital. Also, he was left unbathed for the first 36 hours. After about two hours, we were also moved to a postpartum room and Heather was feeling about 85% or so confident in walking – the epidural wore off fast.

We were in the hospital until Saturday, May 22, and released around 11am. Below is a link to some photos of Jacob's first two weeks of life outside the womb. We are so excited he is here!

Jacob's first two weeks

39 weeks!!!

2010-05-14T14:26:00.008-04:00

I'm officially at 39 weeks! The past few months have gone by so fast!

Here is a brief look back at what's been happening...

I went on my last couple of work trips during the first two weeks of March. Fortunately they were short trips to St Louis and New York. I was grateful to have all my trips completed by my 30 week mark. Sitting in airplane seats and sleeping in hotel beds were starting to become really uncomfortable.

We had our first baby shower on March 13th. It was thrown by Kevin's family in Seagrove and we had a great turnout. We are really thankful for all the cute clothes, diapers, wipes, and other fun stuff we received at the shower. =)

Here are a few photos from the Seagrove Baby Shower:

Seagrove Baby Shower

The next weekend on March 20th my family threw a baby shower for us in Greensboro. Thanks goes to my mom, grandma, and all of their friends for putting together such a fun shower. I had a great time hanging out with old family friends, friends from high school, and even friends from college -- it was a great mix of people. We received some key baby items like the playpen, bumbo, and baby swing - plus lots of clothes, books, and toys. Thank you to everyone who came!!

Here are some pics from the Greensboro Baby Shower:

Greensboro Baby Shower

My good friend from high school, Courtney, threw a joint Bridal/Baby Shower for me and our friend Rene who is getting married in June. It was fun catching up with old friends! Courtney and I went to elementary, middle, and high school together. Rene and I went to middle and high school together. It's great still having close relationships with these girls! I was also really excited that Ashley was able to come with her two babies. It's crazy to think how much our lives have changed since high school. I think the best thing about blogs and Facebook is that even though you live in different cities and don't see each other often we are still able to stay connected.

Here are some pics from the Bridal/Baby Shower:

Baby-Bridal Joint Shower (Courtney)

At work my friend, Joanna, organized a baby shower lunch. We went to one of our favorite lunch spots, William's Gourmet Kitchen. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures but I had a great time hanging out with co-workers. People were very generous and had contributed to a Target gift card. Also, we received some cute clothes, toys, and a Burt's Bees bath set.

The next day, April 17th, we had our final shower with all our Raleigh friends. It was a joint baby shower for Angie and me thrown by our friend Aubree. Angie is also having a little boy named Zane -- they are about 6 weeks behind me and Jacob. We're hoping Zane and Jacob become best buds! During the shower we played some fun games, ate some delicious cake, and opened lots of great gifts!

Here are a few pictures from the shower - more to come at a later date!

CG Joint Baby Shower

In April we had our last Bradley Class. It felt surreal knowing that this was it - no more weekly instructions on what to expect or how to prepare for Jacob's arrival. I'm really glad we took the classes - even if we end up not having a totally natural birthing experience. I'm thankful for all the insight and knowledge that the classes gave us. I feel like we have a ton more wisdom on what to do if we need to have any interventions. Also, the classes gave Kevin and me the opportunity to really discuss our feelings and thoughts about the pregnancy and birthing options. It was a great catalyst that forced us to open up with each other and talk about expectations and how our lives are about to change forever.

We also took a weekend intensive labor/delivery class at Wake Med. This was a good review and it gave us a few Lamaze breathing techniques. I'm still a bigger fan of Bradley techniques over the Lamaze breathing but I'll take whatever information/knowledge I can get - who knows what's really going to help once I'm in the mist of labor.

Kevin had a short work trip down in Florida at the end of April. I was at 37 weeks so we were all holding our breath that nothing would happen. As much as I want Jacob to arrive - it would of been stressful for Kevin to be out of town and have to fly back with me being in the middle of labor. Thankfully nothing crazy occurred and Jacob is still currently hanging out in my belly. =)

May 3rd I started my first week of maternity leave! It's been great being at the house and getting all the last minute things done. The first week I was able to pretty much finish Jacob's nursery (photos coming soon!) and wash all of Jacob's clothes. This second week of leave I've been able to really rest and relax which I'm extremely thankful for!!

The hope is for Jacob to arrive sometime between now and next Friday!! We'll see if that happens - if not he has another week before the doctors start talking about inducing.

Thanks to everyone who is thinking and praying for us! Sorry we haven't done a better done at updating the blog - hopefully the next update will be about the birth of Jacob! =)

3D Ultrasound

2010-03-11T22:05:00.005-05:00

Today, we had the opportunity to meet our son virtually face-to-face. We went to Prenatal Peek in Durham after work and Heather had a 3D Ultrasound. Heather's mom and dad came into to town for the special occasion, as well. The staff at the facility were very friendly and made us all feel very relaxed while we got to see what Jacob looks like. Check out the photos from the session below.

More Ultrasound Photos

Third Trimester

2010-02-26T17:30:00.000-05:00

We're now in the 3rd trimester at 28 weeks!

This past month we have really started to prepare for little Jacob's arrival.

We started going to Bradley Method classes to learn various labor and birthing techniques. Kevin and I have both really enjoyed these classes and look forward to the class each week. We're learning so much about the labor and the birthing process. I feel like the more I learn the less fearful I am about giving birth. The knowledge I'm gaining about what to expect during labor and what could happen to the baby has definitely made me feel more empowered to make decisions on how I want our delivery to go.
Kevin finished the upstairs construction and remodeling!!! Since last fall, we divided our one big bonus room into a bedroom, a separate office/loft area, and a linen/storage closet. We also tore down half of the wall at the top of the staircase, replacing it with columns to make the staircase and hallway feel more open. To finish off all of the remodeling, we painted the new rooms and the hallway and installed crown molding. We'll post some pictures and maybe video later this weekend of the remodeling effort.
Kevin also painted and installed crown molding in Jacob’s room! After taking a few months to think about the nursery theme we picked out Forest Friends by Carter’s. We painted the room about the same color green that’s pictured online. We tried to match it to the green that’s behind the owl and deer. It was hard for me to make a final decision regarding the nursery theme primarily because, compared to girl themes, I couldn't find any boy themes that I really liked. I really like the animals in this collection, though, and thought they were cute. Hopefully, Jacob will like them too. =)
We picked out a crib. It’s on order and should arrive by the end of April. I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival because I really want to get everything set up in the nursery.

Now we just need our baby! He is currently only 2-3 pounds, so I guess it’s alright if he stays put for a couple more months, but I’d be okay with an early May delivery. Mother’s day is May 9th – hint…hint…Jacob =)

My work traveling will be coming to a stop soon. Last week I was in Spokane, WA. Next week I'll be in St Louis, MO, and then the following week I'll be in Long Island, NY. The trip to NY should be the last traveling for awhile. It’s been manageable but the bigger I get the more uncomfortable things like sitting on the airplane and sleeping in hotel beds become. I also do maintain a small fear that something bad will happen with the baby while I’m on the road. The only traveling I have planned during late March and April will be driving to our parent’s houses in Greensboro and Seagrove.

To let you see how I'm doing, baby belly-wise, we've been taking photos during the first six months of our pregnancy. Now that I'm in the third trimester, here's a look at Jacob's current home (my belly) thus far:

25.5 weeks

2010-02-09T17:39:00.002-05:00

Ultrasound pic at 25.5 weeks!

He's looking right at us! His head (eyes, nose, mouth, chin) is clearly visible looking straight out of the picture.

Baby Update

2010-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'm now 22.5 weeks along! Last Thursday we had a doctors appointment; it was nothing major but it's always exciting to hear the heartbeat. :-) We go back in 4 weeks then after that it's every 2 weeks. A few weeks ago I started to feel the baby move and my belly has really popped out. It all feels so much more real now!

Scruffy started testing some of the baby gear we've gotten so far. He's just as excited for baby Jacob's arrival as we are.

Two down, four to go

2010-01-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

I had 6 site visits I needed to complete in 2010 before baby Jacob arrives.
2 in New York, NY
1 in Denver, CO
1 in Spokane, WA
1 in St Louis, MO
1 in Long Island, NY

I am now 2 down with 4 more to go!

This past week I traveled to New York. One of the best things about having sites in NY is that I get to hang out with Kristen!!

Next week it's off to Denver.

It's hard to believe I only have a couple more months before my traveling becomes restricted. I've always had a job where travel was somewhat of a requirement.

Lots of life changes are happening!

Boy names are hard

2010-01-15T14:47:00.007-05:00

It's official - we've picked out a name for our baby boy!

Jacob Allen Garner

If you're a good friend you probably know that both Kevin and I really thought we'd have a girl. It was already made up in our minds that we'd have a girl named Kaitlyn Jean Garner - although the spelling of Kaitlyn was never 100% determined. But in mid-December we were shockingly surprised that she was a he. ;-)

Shortly after the shock wore off we realized now we would need to pick out our top boy names. In my opinion picking out a boy name was a lot harder then picking out the girl name. But ultimately it turned out not to be that hard of a decision. Basically Jacob was one of the few names we both really liked. We also like Jake - so feel free to call him Jacob or Jake =)

2010-01-03T18:59:00.010-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been 6 months since our last post!!! Hopefully we'll be better at posting more regularly in 2010 then we did in 2009. Here is a review of whats been going on in our lives the for the past 6 months.

End of May/beginning of June we were able to spend a wonderful two and a half weeks in United Kingdom and France. We mainly stayed in the UK but were able to spend one night in Paris. With both a little planning and a little luck we were able to spend Heather's birthday in Paris with a fun and romantic night at the Eiffel Tower. We're still working on editing and labeling our pictures, but until we sort through all 1351 photos here is a list of some of the highlights.

Bath for the ancient Roman baths
Stonehenge
Avebury - another, larger stone circle
Driving the Romantic Road through the Cotswolds
Hiking in the the Lake District
Edinburgh, castle and other sites
Visiting several Scottish & Northern English castles, manors, abbeys, and ancient forts
York Minster and city wall
Dover castle and secret war tunnels
Kew Gardens
London, including London Eye, Tower of London, British Museum, Madame Tussauds, and Kensington Palace
Paris, including the Louvre and Eiffel Tower

We jumped right into summer after returning from Europe. In July, we visited Flat Top Lake again for July Fourth. We started some minor construction in the upstairs of our house in August: we converted the bonus room to a bedroom, office loft, and storage closet. The construction is mostly complete, but there are a few things that should get wrapped up in January. Also, to finish off the summer, we stayed with Bill & Susan with some other friends for the weekend at Sunset Beach.

In September, we found out that Heather was pregnant - we are both really excited! :-) Then, in December, we found out that we are having a boy! All our family and friends thought it was going to be a girl so we were really shocked to hear that it's a boy - Kevin was especially excited about learning he was going to have a son. Most importantly everything has gone well so far into the pregnancy; both Heather and our boy are healthy and doing well. Our due date is May 21st and we have officially made it to the half way point in the pregnancy. We are counting down our weeks now until we can meet our son. During the next 5 months we have a lot to accomplish in order to get ready for the baby's arrival, we'll try keep y'all updated. ;-)

In October we traveled across the mountains to visit our friends Courtney & Greg at their home in Knoxville. It was great to see them; we hadn't visited Tennessee to see them since their wedding. October also brought Nathan's, Heather's brother, 21st birthday. We can't believe he's so old now! It seems like yesterday he was a little 12 year old. We finished the month with another fun Halloween with lots of trick'r'treaters in our neighborhood, and we also got to care for the parents a little with water bottles and snacks while the kids gathered candy.

November hosted our 3rd annual cruise to the Caribbean. This year we went back to the Western Caribbean but on a different ship than we sailed on for the previous two years. This year's cruise was also very special because Heather's brothers were able to come. They kept Kevin busy both during the day and at night while Heather took it easy since she was at the very end of her 1st trimester. Heather had a great time relaxing during the cruise but it's definitely a different experience when you can't drink and want to go to bed early each night. A lot of cruise pictures have already been posted on Facebook, but we'll include a link for Picasa in another post. We discussed cruising again next fall but ultimately thought it was too soon with a little baby. Hopefully we'll be back to cruising in 2011! ;-)

Also in November, our families came to Raleigh for Thanksgiving. This event has became a wonderful tradition having both sides of our families at our house for the holiday. We cook the turkey and everyone else brings the sides and desserts. We're hoping that this is a tradition that will continue throughout the years.

In December we saw Matthew perform in two productions of The Nutcracker. The real Nutcracker and a spoof of The Nutcracker called The Cracked Nut. Matthew did a great job in both shows!

The morning of Christmas Eve we drove down to Kevin's folks' house and spent the day with his parents, sisters, and nieces. We had a great time hanging out, eating, and opening presents. That night we drove to Greensboro and spent the night at Heather's parents' house. We slept in on Christmas morning and patiently waited until Heather's brother Nathan got off from work at noon to open presents. We all got some great gifts!! We had a late lunch then Heather, Kevin, and Matthew all went out to see a movie. The next day Heather was able to grab breakfast with her high school friends Rene and Courtney. It was great catching up with both of them! We did a little baby shopping that afternoon and then both of us were able to meet up with Heather's high school friend Brandi and her daughter Skylar. It's such a joy to catch up with friends you haven't seen in years! Late that night we headed back to Raleigh and have been enjoying our extended holiday vacation. Both of us go back to work on Tuesday and will be jumping into the business of life. Heather has two work trips this month - heading to New York and Denver. Kevin will be concentrating on finishing the upstairs construction.

Keep tune for future updates, including posts linking to photos from these events. We promise to do better this year!

Congratulations Abby!

2009-06-12T17:00:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday (9 June 09), my niece, Abby Lee Richardson, graduated from Randleman High School. We are all very proud and excited for Abby. She is my sister Cassandra's oldest daughter. I remember when Abby was born. I found out that I was an uncle while I was at school one day in the beginning of sixth grade. I remember changing her diapers and pushing her around in a stroller. It's been a long time since then, though. Now she's all grown up and graduating high school. Heather and I both wish her the very best! Enjoy some photos from the evening:

Abby's Graduation

Blog updates coming soon

2009-06-12T16:55:00.004-04:00

We're a little bit behind on updating the blog with photos and happenings. Over the next week we'll be posting about some stuff from earlier this spring and we'll also post about our recent vacation to Great Britain and my nieces graduation this week. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to.

Traci's Birthday & Cane's Game

2009-04-11T16:16:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile since the last photo roundup. Here are a couple photos from the 20th and 21st of March. That Friday, our friend Traci, from our community group at church, celebrated her birthday. We had dinner at Outback with her then a few of us went to City Limits Saloon for drinks and dancing.

Traci's Birthday 2009

Saturday, my work had organized a group ticket buy for the Hurricanes vs. Washington Capitals. It was my first professional hockey game and both of our first times seeing the Canes play. It was a fun time, and the Cane's even pulled off a good win for us that night after a slow start.

Canes Game (21 Mar 2009)

Katina's Birthday & Snow No. 2

2009-03-07T10:33:00.005-05:00

Weather in North Carolina has been very up and down for the last couple months. Most days have probably been around the normal 45-55, but there have been several swings into the 30s and below as well as the 60s and 70s. In January, one such downward swing led to our first significant snowfall of the season (and probably the last few years). At the beginning of this week, there was another such swing.

Last Friday, February 27, was one of the pleasant warm days, and our friend Katina from our community group at church had her birthday that weekend. Her birthday was on Saturday, but we had a get together pot-luck meal on Sunday afternoon in her honor. Happy Birthday Katina! Click the album link below her cutting her birthday cheesecake for a few photos from then.

From Katina's Birthday

Saturday and Sunday were getting progressively colder and the rain that weekend turned to snow overnight on Sunday, so that we woke on Monday to our second signifant snowfall of the season on March 2nd. We worked from home again, just to avoid any possible troubles with other drivers. I took a break in the morning to take a few shots including the one below of our slushy street. Click the link below the photo to see the rest of the album.

From Snow! x2

And look at the temperatures now this weekend: 70s-near 80. I guess it's appriate that Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend. I wonder if another snow will try to sneak in before the start of spring later this month? Regardless, we'll enjoy either day, pleasant or snowy!

Deer in Field

2009-02-21T20:00:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, February 21st, Roger and Angie were over at our house. We were having dinner when we looked out the back window and saw the sight of these eight fellows in our backyard. Quite a nice surprise. I went out with the camera and got several photos of them. You can click the link under the photo to see the whole album. The last shots are of one of the deer stealing bird seed from the neighbor's bird feeder.

From Deer in Field

Goodbye Grandpa

2009-02-17T10:14:00.004-05:00

On Valentine's Day, early in the morning my grandfather, my dad's father, passed away in his sleep, being 83 years old. He was diagnosed with colon cancer last year and after nearly completing his chemo treatments his body began failing him. Grandpa was well-loved by his brothers & sisters, sons, grandchildren, and great grandchildren who still remain. I'm thankful that he now has rest with his Father in heaven. Below is a photo of me and Grandpa when I was young. A photo set of the flowers and graveside from the funeral is below, as well. In the album, there is a video of doves being released at his funeral, also.

Grandpa and I when I was a young

Grandpa's Funeral

Happy Birthday Lisa

2009-02-08T10:01:00.005-05:00

I'm back-dating a few posts here, but I need to play catch up. On Feb 7th, our friend Lisa from our community group at church had a celebration for her 50th birthday at the Cardinal Club, which is at the top of the Wachovia tower in downtown Raleigh. We were honored to be invited and it was a fun night of eating great food, talking, participating in a little trivia of decades past, and listening to some great singers perform. Check out the album below to see some fun and silly photos from the night and the great view. Take special notice of the M&Ms, they had Lisa face on them! :)

Lisa's 50th Birthday

Snow!

2009-01-21T12:33:00.007-05:00

In case you didn't hear, yesterday was a snowy day here in Raleigh. Because of the weather, Heather and I ended up working from home. After we got done with work, we got to explore around the neighborhood a little and have fun in the snow with some friends and Scruffy. Check out the photos at the album link below. We also took two videos of Scruffy in the snow, which you can see below, too.

Snow!

Scruffy waddling along frozen path

Scruffy jumping through the snow

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T08:16:00.011-05:00

Heather & I had a great Christmas this year. We got to take off a few days from work and celebrate with friends and family. We took off Tuesday through Friday of Christmas week and Monday/Thursday/Friday of New Years week.

Sunday before Christmas was performance day. First, we visited my parents church, Needham's Grove Church, between Seagrove and Robbins, NC, to see my mom sing in the church's annual Christmas cantata. My mom sung beautifully (props to mom), and the cantata went well. I'm glad we were able to come to support her. Right afterward, we traveled to High Point to see Heather's brother, Matthew, dance in High Point Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker. Matthew danced several parts including a spectacular Arabian, where he kept his dance partner off the ground in challenging acrobatic moves a good percentage of the time. After the show, we went to Harper's Restaurant at the Shops at Friendly Center in Greensboro for dinner with Heather's family, including her grandfather who was in town.

On Tuesday, after only one day of work for the week, we had Christmas for the two of us, since we'd be at our families for the next three days. We had lots of fun opening our gifts for each other (including a few gifts, mysteriously, from Scruffy, our dog). Here are a few photos from the gift-opening (just click to see a larger version). From first to last: our tree, Heather and Scruffy sorting, Kevin's large presents, Heather struggling with Kevin's bad wrapping, Scruffy trying to eat a giant candy shaped gift, Kevin & chocolate covered coffee beans, Heather with NC State serving-ware.

On Christmas Eve, we went to have Christmas with my family in Seagrove. We spent all day with my parents, my two sisters, and my three nieces. We had a great Christmas Eve lunch and opened presents afterward. It was a lot of fun. We got some great gifts, including tools for me and jewelry and home decor for Heather. We brought our Wii to play and my nieces had fun playing with it and Scruffy. We also staged our annual family photo (see below). Here are a couple photos from the day (click for a larger version). You can also see more in our Christmas photo album, or by clicking on the photos and using the < and > controls.

We left late that night from Seagrove and drove to Greensboro to spend the next two days with Heather's family. Christmas afternoon we opened gifts and had Christmas lunch with Heather's parents, her two brothers, and her grandmother. We got several fun gifts, including a ice cream maker, Pampered Chef cookware, clothes, some Wii games (including Wii Fit & DDR), and some filters and a lens for my camera. After lunch, we went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was pretty good. After the movie, we met with family friends, the Hunts, to have Christmas with them, including dinner and some games. When we got home we played Wii games into the wee hours of the morning :). Here are some photos from the day, including a photo of us opening presents, one with my new lens of Heather's mom (check out the blurred background), and me playing Wii DDR. There are more photos in our Christmas photo ablum, or you can click one of the photos to enlarge it and click the < and > to see more photos.

On Friday, the day after Christmas, we slept in. We were supposed to meet with friends, but those plans fell through. I did get to meet up with my friend, Matt, who lives in Winston. It was really good to see him. Unfortunately, our afternoon was interrupted with Scruffy getting into an accident while playing with Heather's parents dogs, and he had to be taken to the emergency vet for stitches. He had to wear an Elizabethan collar and was all drugged up, so we took him home that night to rest in his own home.

On Saturday, Heather got to have lunch with some of her college friends: Kristen, Jerusha, and Jessica. They came back to the house after lunch and played Wii Fit together. Here's the group in front of our Christmas tree:

We relaxed around the house Monday and then met Heather's friend, Judy, after she got off work, so that we could buy some stuff to put into care packages for two of their friends from high school who are overseas, Rene and Danielle & Josh. Here's a photo of Heather & Judy with the contents of the care packages at Target.

We went back to work for just Tuesday and Wednesday the week of New Years. On New Years Eve we had some friends from church, college, and work over for drinks and appetizers and desserts. We talked, ate, drank, played Wii, and rang in the New Year together at midnight with Champagne. We took a few photos and a couple videos, both of the Wii, from that night, click the album link below to see the photos or play to view the videos:

New Years 2009

Overall, our holiday was great. Good times with friends and family. Scruffy had trouble with the E-collar that he had to wear (we got him a soft one after a couple nights of trouble sleeping), but after he got it off and his stitches out on January 2nd, he's been good as ever. Now, our lives are gonna have to adjust to the non-holiday schedule, including waking up early for work and back to eating non-holiday meals. But it's all good, and we are looking forward to a great 2009!

Raleigh Ringers

2008-12-31T09:34:00.003-05:00

Our friend Aubree had tickets to the Raleigh Ringers' -- a hand bell group -- holiday concert on Saturday before Christmas (12/20). One of her friends from work is a member of the Ringers. It was something neither Heather nor I had ever seen before, so it was a good time. We went with Aubree and her husband, Luke, plus our friends Hao & Laura. Here's a link to some photos from the afternoon.

Raleigh Ringers Concert

Happy Birthday Susan

2008-12-31T08:55:00.004-05:00

We had a blast celebrating Susan's birthday a few weeks ago! The plan was for everyone to meet up at a Mexican restaurant in Durham and then go bowling. Unfortunately, Kevin and I had another party to go to that night, so we had to miss the Mexican dinner, but got to meet up with everyone at the bowling alley.

The bowling was fun but I will admit that I'm MUCH better at Wii bowling!!!

Here are some pictures from the night.

Susan's Birthday 2008

Merry Christmas

2008-12-28T19:08:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas (sorry, a few days too late). We'll post some photos from Christmas and give you a longer post later this week. Anyway, have a happy holiday!

Cinderella

2008-12-22T13:37:00.005-05:00

Earlier this month, our friend Lisa invited all of the ladies from our community group to see Cinderella presented by the Raleigh Little Theatre. Her son Andrew was one of the performers and it was fun watching him sing and dance on stage. The play was great! The only thing it was missing were the mice signing "Cinderelly, Cinderelly Night and day it's Cinderelly..."

While the girls were at Cinderella the guys went to see the Bond movie Quantum of Solace - then we all met up later that night at El Rodeo for some yummy Mexican food!

Here are a few pictures from the night.

Cinderella

December has been an extremely busy month for Kevin and me. Just this past weekend we went to two Christmas parties, a birthday party, a hand bell performance by the Raleigh Ringers, a Christmas cantata at Kevin's parent's church, and saw Matthew dance in High Point Ballet's The Nutcracker!!! We'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

Looking forward we'll be in Seagrove on Dec 24th, then in Greensboro Dec 25th & 26th, and then back in Raleigh for the rest of the holidays. We're both looking forward to having a few days of just relaxing and enjoying the Christmas season!

Life from Cruise to Christmas

2008-12-18T21:40:00.003-05:00

Well, if you were wondering what happened between our cruise in October and now (almost Christmas!), besides Thanksgiving and the new blog design, then we have a treat for you. After the cruise, we met up with Roger & Angie and some other friends at the State Fair. Then it was Nathan's 20th birthday party, before we knew it. By the end of October, Kristen had visited town for a party at her parents house and celebrating Susan's taking of her PE exam, and Halloween had come in the Garner household, especially for Scruffy.

Right before Thanksgiving, our community group got to stay at a friend's beach house on Bald Head Island, which was a blast, even though it was freezing outside. And lately we've been getting more and more in the Christmas mood, as we dressed the dogs (ours and Heather's parent's) after Thanksgiving and my work had a Christmas party at Second Empire downtown, which we had fun dressing up and going to.

Here are the photos from all of those events from the cruise until now. Enjoy them at the album links below.

State Fair 2008

Nathan's 20th Birthday

Giera Party & Susan PE Celebration

Halloween 2008

Community Group Beach Weekend

Dog Christmas Outfits 2008

ARA Christmas Party 2008

Cruisin' into Fall

2008-12-16T22:04:00.007-05:00

From October 5-12, Heather and I went on an Eastern Caribbean cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. We went with Heather's parents, Pam and Dave, and our friends, Roger & Angie. We had a good time relaxing at the beach and exploring Old San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Phillipsburg & Marigot, St. Maarten/Martin. The weather was great, the company was excellent, and we can't wait to go back next fall. I've captioned some of the photos to help figure out where we are and what we're doing. Enjoy the album at the link below.

Oh, and sorry it took us awhile to post the photos. We're also gonna try to post some other stuff we did this fall on the blog shortly. Hopefully from here on out we'll be a bit more diligent! :)

Cruise 2008

New Blog Design

2008-12-11T21:22:00.003-05:00

For anyone who reads our blog using Google Reader or other feed readers, this is just a hint to check out the actual blog website to see our new design. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T21:59:00.008-05:00

Thanksgiving was really good at our home this year. Both the Bairds and the Garners got together at our house to celebrate for the second year in a row. I'm really glad that our families are able to get along so well. We took a few photos of the families, both together and separately, and you can see them by clicking the photo album link below. Just in case you were curious, we had quite a great spread, too, for the holiday dinner/lunch. Here was our menu:

Turkey
Ham
Stuffing
Dressing
Cranberry sauce
Green beans
Corn casserole
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Squash casserole
Mac and cheese
Broccoli and cheese
Potato salad
Okra
Biscuits and 4 types of rolls
Pecan pie
Cherry pie
Pumpkin pie
Chocolate pie
Orange cranberry bread
Pumpkin bread
Persimmon pudding
Apple crisp
Coffee, Tea, Koolaid, Sodas

Heather's parents, brother, and grandmother spent the night and she, her mom, and brother woke up and shopped from 4am until 9am. My sister, Dana, spent the night, along with my nieces April and Amy, and Dana and I went shrub shopping for the front yard. We bought and planted three azaleas (Encore, Autumn Royalty) to replace the dying seven and an osmanthus fortunei to screen the HVAC on the side of the house. As a bonus this weekend, we put up the Christmas decorations and cleaned the garage. All in all, it was a good holiday.

Thanksgiving 2008

Updates and photos soon

2008-11-14T08:18:00.006-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since we've posted. We'll be putting up some pictures of our cruise vacation from last month soon, as well as some other stuff we've done over the last month, like the State Fair and Halloween. We also need to update the design of the site, trying to make it look fresher and nicer.

Because I really don't have anything else to publish here, I'll post the PDF I made for my sister to help us landscape our yard. I'm very proud of it, because it took forever to measure the house and yard and to draw it up in OpenOffice.org Draw. It could be better, but hey, I'm not a designer.

Property Diagram

Southwest Trip, Day 10: Hoover Dam & Las Vegas Finale

2008-10-22T13:18:00.007-04:00

On day 10, Friday, we awoke in Williams and left Canyon Country Inn and the Grand Canyon area behind us, heading for Las Vegas via Hoover Dam.

Our first stop, at Hoover Dam, was very interesting. We decided to pass up the big dam tour and went for the basic dam (power plant) tour. After a video in the dam movie theater, we took the dam elevator down in to the depths of the facility. We walked through some dark dam tunnels, seeing the inner workings of the dam, including some big dam pipes and big dam generators. Overall, it was a dam fine experience.

Driving from the dam, through Boulder City, we stopped for to get our parks passports stamped for Lake Mead NRA and had a great view of Lake Mead. It didn't take long from there to get back to Vegas, where we checked into our last hotel of our vacation, South Point, and took a break at their huge beautiful pool.

Our last night in Vegas, we got dressed up a little and went for dinner to Ah Sin, a sushi restaurant at Paris Las Vegas. After a lovely dinner, we crossed the street to watch some of the Bellagio fountain shows up close. As we watched the fountains danced to Elvis's Viva Las Vegas, Lee Greenwood's God Bless The USA, and a nice classical piece -- Elvis being our favorite, we enjoyed gelato in the warm desert air. We finished the evening with a stroll around the Paris, including our last visit to La Creperie for one of their delicious berry crepes.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada sign for a few last pictures to remember our vacation by. The next morning we awoke early and headed back to Raleigh via Dallas. Thanks again to Roger & Angie for providing transportation back and forth to airport, to Hao for checking in on the house, and to Heather's parents for watching Scruffy while we were gone!

Here are the photos from our last day:

Southwest Trip - Day 10 - Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

Southwest Trip, Day 9: Sunset Crater & Grand Canyon National Park

2008-10-22T13:17:00.007-04:00

On day 9, Thursday, we traveled back up to Sunset Crater National Monument, where we spent the morning hiking amongst the cinders and lava fields. It almost felt like we were back in Hawaii, where we honeymooned. Afterwards we drove to the east entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park, arriving around noon.

We spend the rest of the day until sunset at the Grand Canyon. After a lunch at a cafeteria outside of Grand Canyon Village, we walked out to the rim at Mathers Point where we enjoyed views for several miles along the rim trail. We hiked until we reached Grand Canyon Village again and the Bright Angel trailhead. We took Bright Angel trail about a half to three quarters of a mile into the canyon and then back out again, trying to make the canyon feel just a little bit closer for us. We ate ice cream as we waited for the colors of sunset to light up the canyon walls, then we headed back south to Williams where we enjoyed a dinner in a cruising-themed diner along Route 66. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 9 - Sunset Crater Volcano NM & Grand Canyon National Park

Southwest Trip, Day 8: Grand Staircase National Monument & Route 66

2008-10-22T13:16:00.008-04:00

On day 8, Wednesday, we sadly left the Desert Thistle for the last time, saying goodbye to our new friends, proprietors Maureen and Warner, their cute Scotty, Mackenzie, and their Newfie, who we met for the first time that morning. We took one last trip on the Zion shuttle bus into the park to buy some souvenirs at the Zion Lodge. We left the park through the east entrance on our way south to Arizona and the Grand Canyon.

En route, we enjoyed views of the Vermilion Cliffs and other sites of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, as well as the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Glen Canyon Dam, and Lake Powell. Traveling south through Arizona towards Flagstaff we spotted two other national monuments and decided to visit them at the last minute. The first, Wupatki, is the ruins of an ancient Native American pueblo. We took a nice stroll around the pueblo and several photos. The second monument, Sunset Crater, we didn't make in time to get a passport stamp, so we decided to come back the next morning before going to the Grand Canyon.

We made it to Williams, Arizona, and the Canyon Country Inn, our home for the next two nights, where we had a dinner of leftovers from the previous night and then enjoyed a stroll along Historic Route 66 through town. We found a cute place where we enjoyed two large slices of pie, at Pine Country Restaurant. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 8 - Grand Staircase NM, Wupatki NM, Williams, AZ

Southwest Trip, Day 7: Bryce & Zion National Parks

2008-10-22T13:15:00.008-04:00

On day 7, Tuesday, we again woke up and enjoyed breakfast at the Desert Thistle. Between breakfast and getting ready, we ended up with a later start than we'd intended. The late start compounded with road construction delays had us arriving at Bryce Canyon National Park around midday. En route, we did enjoy the scenic drive through east Zion along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway, including a trip through the 1.1 mile narrow tunnel with windows carved to outside the mountain and some great views of Checkerboard Mesa and other slick rock on Zion's east side.

After arriving at Bryce and visiting the visitor center, we traveled to the amphitheater (not technically a canyon, Bryce is a natural amphitheater) entrance at Sunset Point. From Sunset Point, we hiked the Navajo Loop trail by Thor's Hammer and through Wall Street into the base of the amphitheater. We took a connector trail to the Queen's Garden trail, which took us back up the canyon via the Queen's Garden to Sunrise Point. We walked the rim back to Sunset Point, where we had lunch.

After lunch, we took the scenic drive to Rainbow Point, where we hiked the Bristlecone Loop trail. Bristlecone Pines are the oldest single living organisms on earth, with one tree in California aged at nearly 5000 years old. The trees in Bryce are as old as 1600 years.

We left Bryce and traveled back to the Zion area, on our way enjoying the beautiful Red Canyon of Dixie National Forest. Once back in Zion, we hiked the Canyon Overlook trail, a steep, narrow trail to a spectacular overlook of Zion Canyon. We timed the hike just perfectly to see the beginning of the sunset behind the canyon walls. After hiking back down and traveling though the tunnel, we were inundated with the beautiful colors of a Zion sunset and got some great photos. We enjoyed a nice cozy dinner and some drinks at Wildcat Willies in Springdale. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 7 - Bryce Canyon & Zion National Parks

Southwest Trip, Day 6: Zion National Park

2008-10-22T13:14:00.006-04:00

On day 6, Monday, we awoke at the Desert Thistle, our bed & breakfast home for three nights in Rockville, Utah, just outside of Zion National Park. After a tasty breakfast, we quickly got dressed and proceeded to the park visitor center to plan our day. We rode the shuttle bus (park roads are closed to individual vehicles during the peak season) up to our warm-up hike of the day: Riverside Walk. This paved trail follows the Virgin River from the Temple of Sinawava to the beginning of the Zion Narrows trail, where the trail enters the river and heads for the impressive Narrows. Unfortunately, we did not have the proper gear or enough time on our trip to hike the river and narrows, but it gives us a good excuse to return to Zion in the future.

After Riverside, I persuaded Heather to take the long hike the West Rim trail to Scouts Lookout and see if we wanted to hike the last half mile to Angels Landing. Up the side of the canyon walls we went, through Refrigerator Canyon -- a slot canyon with lots of interesting rock formations --, up Walter's Wiggles -- a set of difficult switchbacks climbing above the slot canyon --, to Scouts Lookout, a plateau before the chain-trail to Angels Landing. Here at the lookout, we had our lunch. We decided that after a tiring, yet exhilarating, hike so far, we'd forego the treacherous last half a mile to Angels Landing.

After the hike back down into the canyon, we hiked the Kayenta trail to the Emerald Pool trails. We saw the middle pool, got lost for a little following my guidance, and then headed up the canyon-side to the upper pool. On the way, we saw one of my teammates from work, Jen, who was on vacation with her husband Bret, also. We knew that each other would be in Zion that day, but doubted that we'd happen to meet, little did we know we'd be timing our march to the upper pool perfectly to meet. After a few obligatory photos of the four of us meeting on the trail, Heather and I finished our journey to the upper pool and back down to the Virgin River at the canyon floor.

Our last short hike of the day was to the viewpoint for the Three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, just off the shuttle route. Before leaving the park, we also watched the park introduction movie at the park museum.

That night, we enjoyed some Mexican food at a restaurant in Springdale. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 6 - Zion National Park

Southwest Trip, Day 5: Death Valley National Park

2008-10-03T14:45:00.006-04:00

On day 5, Sunday, we headed into Death Valley National Park from our motel in Lone Pine. It was a long barren drive into the valley, where we passed Panamint Valley, Stovepipe Wells (where we started descending from sea level), Mustard Canyon, and Old Harmony Borax Works. The interpretive trail at the Borax works was interesting, although the heat and hot wind were almost unbearable.

At the Furnace Creek visitor center we stopped to refill our water bottles and try to find shelter from the sun for lunch. We ended up on a bench outside a general store and restaurant, making our sandwiches in the 108 degrees of the shade. After lunch, we took the road to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. On our way, we stopped at Devils Golf Course, a large area of gnarled, sharp salt formations. At Badwater, I was nearly blown over by the hot, dry winds. Surprisingly, the "bad" water at Badwater is just salty, because it drains from the mountains onto a the salty exposed floor of an extinct dried up lake.

After leaving Badwater, we heading via Pahrump and Las Vegas, Nevada, to Rockville, Utah -- our home for the next three nights at the Desert Thistle Bed & Breakfast. On our way, we passed through the Virgin River Gorge, a beautiful canyon formed by the river. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 5 - Death Valley

Southwest Trip 2008, Day 4: Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks

2008-10-03T14:24:00.006-04:00

On day 4, Saturday, we headed into Kings Canyon National Park from our hotel in Visalia. I thought it would be best to tackle the north-south corridor through the two parks by starting at the northern entrance at Kings Canyon, since we'd have to drive south after leaving in the evening. Little did I know that the route from Visalia to the Kings Canyon park entrance was a narrow windy road through mountain countryside. Needless to say, Heather wasn't able to enjoy the ride much as it made her dizzy and nauseous.

Things improved after we entered the park and headed to Grant Grove, our first sight of the giant trees for the day. We took the walking trail through the grove and stopped at some of the famous house-sized trees, including "the nation's Christmas tree", General Grant himself.

After a stop at the visitor center where we enjoyed our picnic lunch, Heather drove down the Generals Highway with great views of the Sierras to Sequoia National Park and the Giant Forest. Giant Forest contains many of the largest specimens of giant sequoia, and consequentially largest living things, in the world, including the General Sherman tree. After a walk through the Giant Forest grove, we drove via a tunnel carved in a fallen sequoia log to Crescent Meadow, a lovely sequoia-lined meadow John Muir called the "Gem of the Sierras." Walking through the meadow was surreal, as we were often surrounded by dozens of giant trees. We also barely missed a bear spotting!

As we drove out of the park, we enjoyed the views leading into the valley again. We skirted the western edge of the Sierras until a crossing in the low mountains dozens of miles south of the park via Lake Isabella. We drove into the night along the eastern edge of the Sierras north to reach Lone Pine, California, just outside of Death Valley, where we spent the night at Mount Whitney Motel, in view of the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 4 - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

Southwest Trip 2008, Day 3: Hollywood and Santa Monica

2008-10-03T14:12:00.007-04:00

On day 3, Friday, we checked out of Paris and hit the road for the Los Angeles area. After missing In-N-Out the previous day because it was too far off the strip, we spotted one in route to LA and enjoy one of their famous burgers as we finished the drive to our first stop, Hollywood.

Hollywood ended up being a quick stop. We parked in the Hollywood & Highland Center parking deck and walked up the block to Graumann's Chinese Theatre. It was extremely busy and there were tons of people soliciting you for stuff on the street, from religious proselytizers to "maps to star homes and crime scenes" to weirdos dressed in costume wanting you to buy photos with them. We walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame over stars to the mall for a view of the Hollywood sign. After little more than a half hour, we were done with Hollywood and ready to get on our way to see the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica.

On our way to Santa Monica pier, we passed through Beverly Hills and by Rodeo Drive, both caught on camera in our album below. The pier was pretty fun. We walked out on it, enjoyed the views at the end of the pier, relaxed some on the beach, shared a bowl of guacamole at a Mexican restaurant with a view at the end of the pier, and finished up our pier experience with a cone of ice cream.

After we finished up, we headed north to the San Joaquin Valley and to our hotel in Visalia, less than an hour outside of Sequoia National Park. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 3 - LA, Hollywood, Santa Monica Pier

Southwest Trip 2008, Day 2: Walking the Vegas Strip

2008-10-03T13:58:00.007-04:00

On day 2, Thursday, we woke up at our hotel, Paris Las Vegas. We visited the pool mid-morning, then got ready and headed out onto The Strip. We headed south from our hotel, visiting:

Lions at MGM Grand
Street scape of New York New York
Conservatory at Bellagio
Shops and casino at Caesar's Palace
Waterfront at Treasure Island
Waterfall and garden at the Wynn
Canals and shops of the Palazzo and Venetian
Bar at some tiny casino for $1 margaritas
Flamingos and other wildlife at the Flamingo
Eiffel Tower at Paris for spectacular views of the Strip, the Vegas valley, and surrounding mountains

After all that walking, we had a good dinner at a "street" cafe in Paris, Cafe St Louis. We took a drive up to Fremont Street to finish off the night, grabbing a crepe from the Paris shops as we returned to our room. Here are the photos from the day:

Southwest Trip - Day 2 - Sightseeing in Vegas

Southwest Trip 2008, Day 1: Intro and Flight

2008-10-03T12:19:00.015-04:00

To celebrate our 2nd anniversary, Kevin and I decided to use some airline miles and take a trip to the Southwest. Our first thought was to travel between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City - visiting everything in between Zion National Park and Yellowstone National Park. But since we were using airline miles and didn't want to spend too many hours driving from one state to another we ended up picking Las Vegas as our central location and then did a big figure eight loop hitting as many sites as possible.

The itinerary for August 27th through September 6th was, by day:

Fly to Las Vegas
Sight see in Las Vegas
Drive to Hollywood/LA, sight see, relax at Santa Monica pier and beach for awhile, and drive to our hotel outside of Sequoia
Hike/walk around Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and drive to hotel outside of Dealth Valley
Drive through Dealth Valley National Park, do some sightseeing, and continue drive to B&B outside of Zion National Park
Hike Zion National Park
Hike Bryce National Park, driving through Red Canyon
Drive to B&B outside of the Grand Canyon, sight see along the way
Hike Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Grand Canyon National Park
Drive back to Las Vegas, stop for a tour at the Hoover Dam, relax at pool in Vegas, and enjoy nice dinner on Vegas Strip
Fly home

We took a lot of pictures during our trip (over 1000), so it has taken us awhile to filter through them and narrow them down to the best and/or most interesting. We've gotten up to day 5 - so we're halfway there! ;-)

On day 1, Wednesday, we flew from Raleigh to Las Vegas. The flight went fairly smoothly, with no delays and a layover in Dallas. We arrived around midnight, checked into the Paris Las Vegas hotel and enjoyed a good night's rest. Here are the photos from the flight:

Southwest Trip - Day 1 - Flying to Vegas

What a difference one year can make...

2008-10-02T07:42:00.027-04:00

It will be our one year anniversary being homeowners at the end of October! A lot of changes have been made to the house during the past year. Every wall on the first level has been re-painted and now we're starting to discuss new colors for the upstairs. Here are some comparison photos of what the house looked like before we moved in to what it looks like now. =)

Living Room (before) - pinkish red color below the chair rail and a textured yellow/green color above chair rail with homemade plaid window treatments and a green fireplace/mantle.

Living Room (now) - we painted below the chair rail a deeper shade of red (aka NCSU red) and we painted above the chair rail a creamy tan color. Also, we painted the fireplace/mantle area a deep brown color. Since this photo, we've also replaced the fan with a dark brown bladed stainless steel model.

Kitchen (before) - the cabinets were green and yellow/cream

and the eat-in area was the same pinkish red color as the living room. Also, note that on the right hand side of the picture above shows the hallway as two shades of green.

Kitchen (now) - we painted the cabinets white and the island back.

And, we painted the kitchen walls a bright yellow.

Our bar area (showing off the yellow).

Here is the hallway that leads to the dinning room - we painted below the chair rail a deeper more olive green color and above the chair rail is a creamy white color.

Dinning Room (before) - above the chair rail the walls were painted in alternating strips that had a top layer of a sheer gold glaze and below the chair rail was a mint green color.

Dinning Room (now) - these are the same colors from the hallway picture (olive green & creamy white) - also we bought a new dinning table that's stained black with a tint of red in it. The dinning room is still kind of empty - we're always on the look out of a good serving table that can be placed against the back wall.
Also, you can see the very corner of Scruffy's crate on the left hand side of the picture =)

Downstairs Bathroom (before) - it was sponge painted with brownish red and gold colors.

Downstairs Bathroom (now) - we painted it (my favorite color) purple!!

I really love the way this color turned out. Also, since this picture was taken, we took down the standard wall mirror and put up a decorative white framed mirror.

And, that's all the walls on the downstairs level! It's onward to the second floor now =)

First room we're going to paint - the nautical themed room - yeah the ceiling is painted blue...this will be a fun...hopefully we'll have this room, our master bedroom, and our master bathroom painted by the end of the year!

Southwest Trip Photos Coming Soon

2008-09-29T14:49:00.003-04:00

Just thought I'd mention that the photos from our big Southwest trip we went on earlier in September are coming soon. We just have to pick out the best ones to share, since there are over a thousand of them. We're going to try and get them posted before we go on our cruise next week. Keep an eye out!

Grandfather Mountain

2008-09-29T14:34:00.005-04:00

Join me in welcoming Grandfather Mountain to the NC State Parks System. Today, the state officially announced its purchase of the private mountain park for inclusion as a state park. I remember going to Grandfather Mountain as a kid and being scared walking across the Mile High Swinging Bridge, seeing the bears and other animals on display in the park, as well as enjoying the very windy mountain views. I'm glad that the mountain will be joining the state parks, a source of many fond childhood memories, including both family vacations and scouting adventures. If you haven't ever been to a state park in North Carolina, then you should consider planning a trip today!

2 years already!

2008-08-26T12:47:00.003-04:00

Today is our 2 year anniversary =)

It's hard to believe that these last two years have gone by so fast. Some big moments from the last few years include - buying a house, moving, buying a car, painting every room on the downstairs level of our house, and hosting Thanksgiving Day dinner with both sides of our family.

Some people have asked us this past weekend if it feels like two years - and in some ways it feels like the wedding was just last month but in other ways it feels like we've been together forever ;-) meaning that I can't imagine not being married!

Angie's Birthday

2008-08-24T22:21:00.006-04:00

I almost forgot, as I'm here updating our blog with photos from the summer so far, that we had some good ones from Angie's birthday at home group Wednesday, July 30th. Oh, did I mention that my wife made that yummy cake? ;)

Click to see more of Angie's Birthday photos

Hao's Upper Mid Twenties Pirate Party + Sunset Beach

2008-08-24T21:49:00.003-04:00

Saturday, August 2nd, Hao had a bunch of people over at his house for his birthday. Since he has what looks like a boat for a deck in his backyard, his party ended up being pirate themed. Unfortunately, Heather had to walk the plank, because she was spending the weekend hanging out with Kristen and Susan at Sunset Beach. Check out the photos below.

Click here to see the photos from Hao's

Click here to see the Sunset Beach photos

West Virginia Independence Weekend

2008-08-24T21:32:00.004-04:00

So, we haven't been blogging a lot lately. Sorry about that. Last month, we went up to Roger's parents' house on Flat Top Lake for Independence Day. Here are some photo selections from the weekend. Enjoy!

Click to see the entire album from our trip to Flat Top Lake

Mountains with Matt

2008-07-02T21:58:00.005-04:00

Weekend before last (20-22 June 2008), Heather and I both went to visit friends. She went to NYC with Susan to visit Kristen, I went to the NC mountains with Matt. We had a pretty good time. On Friday, we drove up in the morning, set up camp around noon at Kirklands Creek Campground near Bryson City, NC, then headed to the Tail of the Dragon, US 129 through Deals Gap at the NC/TN state line, enjoying every curve that the TSX could handle (here's a photo to prove we were there!). Then we drove up to Cherokee and went to Harrah's to gamble $5 away at the penny slots. It was my first gambling experience; crazy, eh?

Saturday we went to the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park where we hiked in the morning, ate a picnic lunch, and then went tubing down Deep Creek in the afternoon. After navigating the rocky creek for a couple of hours, we left the Deep Creek area of the park and drove through Cherokee again to the main park entrance along US 441. We took the winding US highway up to the NC/TN state line where Clingmans Dome is located. For being the highest point in the park, it was pretty easy to get to; although the last half mile and 300 vertical feet was a fairly steep trail that kept most of the visitors out of breath (not us though... all that working out is paying off). After the hike, we took headed back to the campsite where we grilled chicken over the campfire. We went to play pool that night at a bar called Mickey's in Bryson City.

Sunday we broke camp and headed back to Winston, where I dropped Matt off, then headed back home to Raleigh. An awesome weekend. Check out the album link below the picture.

From Mountains with Matt

Heather's Birthday 2008

2008-07-02T21:39:00.003-04:00

Here are some photos from Heather's birthday party (7 June 2008) we had at Hi5 and Bogart's downtown. Sorry it took so long to get them downloaded. Click the link below the photo to take you to the album.

Click here for the rest of the photos-> Heather's Birthday 08

More Patio Furniture

2008-07-02T21:30:00.002-04:00

Yay for Target patio furniture going on clearance!

Lesson of the Day

2008-07-02T12:55:00.002-04:00

Note to Self: Check hands for paper cuts before applying alcohol based hand sanitizer.

Hot Hot Hot

2008-06-06T17:57:00.002-04:00

In case you didn't notice, it's hot! The car said it was 99 at one point on my drive home from work.

Beach for the Day

2008-06-06T12:03:00.005-04:00

Heather and I, along with some home group friends and one of their families, went to Wrightsville Beach for the day last Saturday, May 31. It was a beautiful day. The sun was hot, the water was warm (after the initial cold shock), and the wind was a-blowing. Matter-of-fact, the wind was blowing so hard at one point that it uprooted our umbrella and nearly took out some of our neighbors on the sunny beach. We got the beach around 10:30 and left around 5:00, with a little break at lunch as we walked around looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a selection -- we found out later that if we'd went just a half-mile or so away down the beach we would have found plenty of lunch spots, although I'd wager that our stretch of beach was less crowded. After we left the beach, Heather and I, along with Roger and Angie, went to the Wilmington downtown riverfront in search of a good meal, which we found at the Water Street Restaurant and Sidewalk Cafe. Both Angie and I had the spicy crab-stuffed mahi, while Heather had a delicious looked fish sandwich and Roger had a pecan-encrusted grouper. It was all quite good. Afterward we walked the riverfront and took a few photos on my cell phones. As the darkness after sunset set in, we walked back to the car, stopping at Kilwin's for some quite delicious cones of ice cream.

It was a long drive back home, but we still were in bed by midnight. What a great beach break for the day!

From Saturday Beach Break

Roughing It

2008-05-28T13:13:00.007-04:00

Kevin and I, along with some friends, went camping this past Memorial Day weekend. A carload of us headed out of Raleigh around 2:00pm on Friday afternoon, which surprising was only an hour later then planned. We intended to camp at Hanging Rock State Park, but to our disappointment all of the camp sites were already taken by the time we arrived. So, after being encouraged by a ranger over the phone that if we arrived within 35 minutes we'd get a camp site at the neighboring park, we headed on to Pilot Mountain State Park. Unfortunately, the last camping spot was taken literally minutes before we arrived. One of the Pilot Mountain rangers suggested we go back down the highway one more exit and there was a family campground available. This campground turned out to be kind of sketch, and consequentially also expensive, option for us. So after four-plus hours driving, we stopped on the road side to review our options, which were mainly to keep on driving to Mt Airy. Luckily, with some help from Google and some quick U-turns we made our way to Mayberry Camp Grounds. We set camp for the night and awaited the second car of friends to arrive.

The next day, we awoke bright and early and headed back down to Pilot Mountain to see what things we could do in the park. We picked up a trail map at the information station and headed to the summit.

Click this link to see album: Home Group Mem Day Camping

From the summit, we went hiking on a few trails:

Little Pinnacle Overlook, 0.1 mi, easy
Jomeokee, 0.8 mi, moderate
Ledge Spring, 2.0 mi, strenuous

We got back to the parking lot right at noon and unpacked our lunch and headed to a picnic table. After turkey sandwiches and Pringles, we headed down to the river section of the park to try and find a meadow to throw a frisbee and relax a little.

Once we got to the river section of the park, we had to ford Horne Creek twice and then miraculously the forest opened up into a big meadow perfect for frisbee with plenty of sun. Angie and I laid in the sunny grass not far from the creek, while Kevin, Roger, Luke, and Aubree threw around the disc. After the frisbee throwers got tired, we all sat at picnic table and rehydrated as we planned to find the trail to the river.

We all got back in Roger's 4Runner and forded the creek one more time before we got the trailhead by the river. We walked the 0.5 mile Bean Shoal Canal Trail across railroad tracks down to and along the river. It seemed like the trail was just going to go on along the river, so we decided to turn back after we had seen enough of the Yadkin River and walk along the railroad tracks that paralleled the river back to the car.

We headed back to our campsite, where the guys went looking for some wood for the fire. After they collected some wood, we all played Bocce ball until it started to get dark. We had hot dogs and baked potatoes and sweet potatoes for dinner, followed by s'mores for dessert.

It was a good, fun weekend. We packed up and left Sunday morning, so everyone could get back by the 11:30 service at church. Kevin and I, however, had planned to meet my parents for brunch and to celebrate my dad's birthday, which was also good.

In Case You Missed It

2008-05-19T22:23:00.002-04:00

It's pretty much been my birthday month around our house. You'd think I was vain or something. But anyway, we finally had a party for my birthday, and I got to share it with Luke, and well, the dog. Luke's birthday is May 16th. In case you forgot, Scruffy's was May 9th.

It was a pretty good time. We did a traditional cookout theme: hot dogs, hamburgers, and the like. Roger was kind enough to run the grill and Aubree brought the decorations and a trifle. It was a lot of fun between the Wii, making another fire in our patio fire pit, our new patio furniture, and yet another heated game of Sequence.

Oh, let me do a little explaining of these photos below (you can click the album link below the first photo to see all of them from that night). Luke, Scruffy, and I go to blow out our candles, but I, being the bright one, lean over to blow them out not realizing the dog was in biting range of a tasty brownie. Then of course the last shot is the realization of "Oh crap, the dog almost got a brownie." Classic.

From Kevin, Luke, & Scruffy Birthday

Oh, and let me throw a shout out to my beautiful wife who, as always, made our house welcoming and hospitable to our friends. She's amazing.

Mothers Day and Birthday

2008-05-11T22:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers' Day. Happy Birthday to me. Yes, I was born in 1980 on Mothers' Day, May 11th. That fact makes my mom so happy she usually starts reminiscing and crying a little. For this holiday, we went to Heather's parent's house on Saturday, spend the night, and then went to my parent's on Sunday. I don't have a photo from then, unfortunately, although my neices probably took a dozen. To tide you over, here's a photo of Pam (Heather's mom), me, and my brother-in-law Nathan.

From Mothers Day 2008

Also, with some of the birthday money I got, we bought bright red (Go State!) adirondack chairs from Garden Ridge in Greensboro. Scruffy and I enjoyed how comfortable they sat. :) Oh, and did I mention that since his birthday is two days before mine, his grandmother Baird got him a cute little outfit. If you can't tell, he's a little lifeguard.

Patio Furniture and Birthday

2008-05-09T21:53:00.003-04:00

So, we got a patio dining set. It was very exciting and a very good deal. Scruffy was also excited because a couple days later it was his birthday. He turned three on May 9th.

From Scruffy and Patio Furniture

Tuesday Afternoon

2008-05-07T11:32:00.005-04:00

Yesterday Kevin and I took scruffy on a walk to the greenway that's near our house. It's about a mile from our house. Here's a pic of me and scruffy =) We're looking forward to taking more walks now that it's warmer outside!

Also, yesterday we finalized our decision on what patio set we wanted to buy. Hopefully tonight we'll be able to pick it up! I'll post photos once we have it assembled =) For awhile now (well, at least since October) I've been wanting to decorate our screen-in porch - and getting the patio set is the first step in that direction.

I'll start posting more photos of the house. We've done a lot to it since we've moved in - now every room downstairs has been painted a different color then what it was when we moved in!

Also, a note to all of our friends - we bought 2 more Wii controllers this past weekend. We now have 4 total - let the tennis tournaments begin =)

Weekend Fun

2008-05-05T10:08:00.008-04:00

Kevin and I definitely had a fun filled weekend! It started Friday night with tacos and margaritas. Using the excuse to break in Kevin's new grill - we had some friends over for grilled chicken and fish tacos. We were also able to use our fire pit for the first time!! Needless to say - it was an exciting night ;-)

From Dos de Mayo

I headed out Saturday morning to Hunt's Farm (northeast of Raleigh) to go strawberry picking. I hadn't been since I was little and I forgot how much fun it can be and how many fresh strawberries you can get at a great price!! We now have tons of strawberries - in fact I brought some with me to work today for lunch =)

Later in the afternoon we went to the dog park with Scruffy and some of our friends -another first for us! It was really funny to watch all the dogs interact. Scruffy has this thing about marking everything - even people - which can be a bit embarrassing.

We all headed to Chick-Fil-A for dinner after the dog park and then back to our house for some Wii. I'm glad we've been able to use our Wii lately - we got it mainly as another way to hang out with friends. We also got 2 more Wii controllers - the more the merrier. ;-)

Oh - and I almost forgot - another highlight of our weekend was giving away our swing set via Craigslist. Our yard looks so much bigger now that the swing set is gone!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Fish

2008-04-30T11:39:00.002-04:00

I got a fish to entertain me at work. His name is Clifford, because he's a (big) red fish.

Orlando

2008-04-29T13:02:00.005-04:00

Kevin and I went to Orlando this past weekend (Thurs - Sun). We went down for a conference held by Kevin's work, but for me it was 4 days being in the sun and relaxing.

We flew down Thursday morning and headed straight for Cocoa Beach =) . It was nice outside, except for three minutes of rain, and we were able to get in about three hours of solid beach time before we headed back to Orlando. Thursday night Kevin just had some intro meetings - but Friday and Saturday he was in meetings all day - so I got to lay by the pool and work on my tan ;-) Friday night we went down to Downtown Disney and had dinner with some of Kevin's co-workers. It was fun walking around downtown disney and the weather was perfect. Saturday night was the awards banquet - this wasn't too bad considering it had an open bar. Sunday we checked out early from the hotel and drove over to SeaWorld. I was super excited about SeaWorld - it was the first time I'd seen a whale in person and I was able to touch a dolphin (twice)!! As we were leaving the park - Delta called us letting us know that our flight had been delayed for 2 hours we were suppose to fly out around 7:20pm and now it was scheduled for 9:00pm. We left the park anyways and went looking for a place to have dinner. We ended up seeing a Logan's Steakhouse and were able to enjoy a peaceful dinner instead of rushing to the airport. Once at the airport - we stilled had some time - so we had drinks and dessert at the Outback close to our gate.

Overall I would say that the short trip was relaxing and fun - even better then Kevin's last work conference which was held in Denver (these things happen every 2 years). I definitely hope they go to another warm location next time around.

Recovery

2008-04-16T11:37:00.006-04:00

I have now officially gone a week without my gallbladder. The recovery really hasn't been too bad. I actually feel better then I thought I was going too - which is good considering I already had made plans way before the ER experience last week to travel to Orlando next Thursday.

So - here's a recap of the last week - well lets make that the last month or two...more just so I can remember what all has happened.

Two months ago I started having serve chest/stomach/back pain - in all I would say I had 4 major "attacks". Three weeks ago (on a Sunday night) I had my worst attack which lasted a solid 10 to 15 mins (in which I vomited) and then it took me about 40 more minutes to fully recover until I felt like the pain was going away. The next day I called my doctor and was able to make an appointment for the next day, Tuesday. I visited my doctor and told him what happened Sunday night and how it had happened on two other occasions. I also mentioned some of the other digestive/GI issues I'd been having. So he told me that it was most likely a food/dairy issue and asked if I ever considered giving up dairy. I said no - I kinda like cheese and milk - my favorite comfort foods are grill cheeses and a big bowl of cereal. After saying that he just looked at me and said - well, how about you stop eating dairy products for the next two weeks and then call me. I said - alright, I'll do two weeks if that stops the pain. He also took some blood - but those results came back a few days later as 'normal'.

But over the next two weeks - nothing really changed with the pain. And then the weekend before I hit the two week mark things went downhill. I had a non-dairy brunch at IHOP Saturday afternoon and afterwards felt horrible. I had no energy the whole day - taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. I couldn't eat anything for dinner - I still felt like my stomach was full can could not eat anymore. The next morning I felt the same way and eating even finish eating one eggo. Then around 12:45 that afternoon I had another attach of serve pain where I could hardly walk or talk. It lasted about 10 minutes and I knew that something was just wrong - normal people shouldn't experience that much pain!

So Kevin took me to the ER around 1:30 Sunday afternoon. And, since I took them I was having chest pain - I was rushed in for an EKG. But that came back normal - I really didn't think it had anything to do with my heart. I peed into a cup and was told to go back to the waiting room. And, we waited...and waited....for about 5 hours in that waiting room =/ On several occasions we tried to leave but the nurses at the front desk keep talking me into staying. But by that time I felt great - no more pain at all - and I was even getting a little hungry and just wanted to go and get dinner. But we stayed and around 6:30 or 7:00 I was taken backed to the ER. That's when things really go interesting. They gave me an IV and did an ultra sound. I just wanted them to tell me what was wrong - I really didn't think I would be admitted. But the ultra sound showed gall stones in my gallbladder - apparently a lot of them. And, the blood work they did came back showing that my pancreas levels weren't looking good (I'm not even sure what that means - but I guess it was bad) - they admitted to the hospital and said I would need surgery to remove my gallbladder as soon as possible.

So now it's about mid-night and Kevin was suppose to flying out for work in about 7 hours at 6:40am Monday morning. So he's making phone calls to work and family while I'm waiting in the ER for them to find me a room in the hospital. Kevin runs home and gets a few things for me - and gets back around 2:00am. They aren't sure when the surgery will be - they say maybe Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday - it's all dependent on the results of my blood work through out the week.

I 'wake-up' Monday morning - after being woken every four hours for someone to take my temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and at one point for someone to draw blood - I'm taken to get an MRI (but it was called MR-something) of my stomach/gallbladder area. I get the results back later - and it's good news!! There are no gallstones in my bile ducts!!! This means they don't have to fish around my bile ducts looking for stones and nothing is being blocked. I meet with the surgeon and basically now I'm just waiting. I'm told if my blood levels are good in the morning - then I'll be scheduled for surgery. If they aren't - then I wait another day.

Tuesday morning I'm told everything looks good and I'm put on the stand-by list for surgery. Also, I'm told that another room (a real room) has opened up in the hospital and I'm being moved right away. Up until then I was in the observation unit with just a bed and sink and a curtain as a door. So I get moved to the 6th floor - and not 5 minutes after I get to the new room - I'm being told that they had an opening and I'm about to go into surgery!! It all happened so fast that I really didn't get a chance to think about it. I was taken to the surgery prep room - I don't really remember too much except that a guy across for me was getting an IV - the guy next to me was having x-rays and I had to put white stockings. A few people came in and out of my area asking me a few questions - I was given a different IV - and that's really all I remember. I don't remember ever leaving that room.

Next thing I remember is waking up in a different room - tired and not being able to see. I think mainly I couldn't see because I wasn't wearing my glasses or contacts. As soon as I awoke I was taken back to my room it was around 2:00pm now. Waiting for me in my room were Kevin, my parents, and Kevin's parents. I remember having things strapped to my legs, my IV had been moved to my other arm and, I had on a blood pressure sleeve that keep taking my blood pressure. I don't remember too much from that day - lunch was waiting for me in my room when I got their - but all I had from it was the grape juice. Then I slept most of the day until they brought dinner - I ate some of it - but it was still a liquid diet.

Wednesday morning had some breakfast - first solid food since the half eggo Sunday morning! A few hours later I was told I could leave =) That afternoon and night were rough - it was hard to move and painful to stand/sit or lay down/get up. Also, I had to sleep on my back that night - which is something very uncomfortable for me to do. But I got through it - and each day keeps getting better.

___Okay that's enough for now - geeze that's such a long post - I'll try to be better at posting each day instead of summing up weeks at a time =)