29 December 2006

In time for the New Year

Well, it's time to change the blog tune and I can't think of any other song I would want to play right now.

This is a tune that I was unaware of until a great friend of mine played it on a fishing/camping trip this past fall. I believe that this was a song that he heard his dad play from time to time and thus it incurred special meaning for him. After hearing the song and the words, it is a very good song and I am proud to include it on this blog. The song consists of 4 great singer/songwriters. The first verse belongs to none other than Willie Nelson, then onto Kris Kristofferson, only to be followed by Waylon Jennings and to round out the quartet, Mr. Johnny Cash!

I was a Highwayman....you sure meant alot to us all 'Quil and you will be missed forever! Thank God for great Fathers....

25 December 2006

It's Christmas time...in Traphill!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this finds you and yours well and full of Christmas time joy.

Wow! What a hectic last week. Christmas parties, doctor appointments, last minute shopping....almost makes you glad it's over.

On Wednesday, Crystal and I went to the doctor for the "half-way" checkup. That's right, we're halfway thru the pregnancy stage already! We were scheduled for the sonogram at 9:30 am. Our particular sonographer has an excellent record going. In the last 15 years, she has been wrong about the sex of a baby TWICE! Anyways, she was taking all the required measurements and she made sure that we wanted to know what we were having. Crystal and I discussed not wanting to know, but in the end we decided that it would be easier for us to find out, plus, it was just about to kill us both to NOT know. After about 25 minutes into the sonogram, the baby was still not wanting to cooperate. The sonographer had Crystal lay this way and that. Finally our stubborn child decided to give us a view and we found out that we are going to have.............(take a look at the video and turn up the volume)



For those that didn't watch the video, you will find out later! HA!

That evening we attended the first annual District 7 Christmas party. This is the district that I work in. We had never had a party and I decided that this year would be a good time to start one. More about the party (along with pictures) can be seen HERE.

On Sunday we traveled to my folks place to to have Christmas with mom and dad, my sister and her husband, and our two nephews. We were also able to spend some time with David and Brandy and kids, as well as Shawn and Shelly and kids, and even got to see David and Lynn Blythe (Dave & Shawn's folks). Then it was back home for "our" Christmas Eve.

On Monday morning we headed up to Mt. Airy (yes, Mayberry) to share a Christmas breakfast with Crystal's folks and her brother Jarrett and his girlfriend Tiffany.

Crystal and her mom and dad ( I apologize for Crystal's poor taste in colleges!)

Then it was back home to finish off Christmas '06 together alone...which will be the last one of our lives "alone", for next year we will have our......... HA HA! must wait a little longer!

Crystal then decided that since Christmas was in fact over, it was time for the tree to come down and it did, but here's a picture when it was up.



Oh yeah.....we're having a SON!

15 December 2006

How well do you know me?

I got the idea for this from a friend on Myspace (Thanks Garron). It is a simple test to answer questions about me to see how much you know about me. Click on the leaderboard below and you will be taken to the test itself. Answer the questions to the best of your ability and let's see how you do!

This will be interesting to watch...

Leaderboard
Create your own friendquiz here

09 December 2006

State Championship

The "Buckin' Elks" of Elkin High School won their fifth 1A state championship football game today. The Elks have won 4 of the last 5 state championship games!

The contest was held today at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Elks faced the Manteo Redskins. Manteo fielded a great team, one of the best that the Elks have faced this year. Unfortunately, the Manteo Redskins were a predominately running team. While the run was what catapulted them to the state championship game, it was not enough to overcome an amazingly good Elkin team. By halftime the score was 21-7 in Elkin's favor and the Redskins were forced to go to the air to try to score some points. Their passing game never amounted to much and the Elks prevailed 28-7 to win their fourth title game in the last five years!

Congrats to another great Elkin High School football team.

Elkin High School State Football Champions! 1967, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006

Go Buckin' Elks!

For those that are interested, here are the video highlights.

A new feature!

As of today, I have added a new feature to the blog.

Tunes

I will be posting a new song hopefully weekly. Most likely it will be something that I am currently listening to or seasonal. Give it a listen if you get a chance.

The first song to start us off is "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen. Welcome to the Holidays folks!

Just click on the pink "play" button on the player on the right side of the screen.

If you're interested in having this song for yourself click HERE to download.

01 December 2006

Changing

If you have checked the blog on Friday December 1st, you've obviously noticed some changes. This is still a work in progress and I hope to have it completely changed over and completed this weekend. Keep checking in and thanks for reading!

*Update: It looks like it didn't take me as long as I thought and I got the update done sooner than I expected! Take a look around...it's not really a dramatic change....but let me know what you think. You people can post comments ya know!

30 November 2006

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful time this past holiday weekend. It sure was a busy weekend here at our house.

On Thursday we hosted Crystal's parents Chester and Nancy as well as her brother Jarrett and his girlfriend Tiffany. They were to arrive around 11:30 am to have have Thanksgiving lunch. At approximately 10:30 am Crystal's beeper went off (she was on call). So she had to leave to go to work! Her family and I had a very nice lunch while she was at work and she finally got home about 2:00 pm!

My folks, Gene and Sandy, as well as my sister Jessica and her husband Shannon along with our nephews R.B. (Bubba) and Benjamin arrived at about 4:30 pm for supper. We got all the food prepared and had another nice Thanksgiving feast. Talk about being sleepy from all that turkey!

Friday morning saw the arrival of our good friends Shawn and Shelly Blythe and their two kids Elizabeth and James. The kids had a ball playing with Sage and Maddie while the grown-ups got a little rest. That evening we all loaded up and went to "The Depot at Cody Creek" over in Dobson instead of having more turkey day stuff. And as usual, it was excellent. They have some of the best ribs I've ever had. After supper the girls and the kids headed back here to the house while Shawn and I traveled down to Elkin High School to catch the third round of the 1A state playoffs. The past few seasons have seen Elkin with a tremendous football team and this year is no exception (State 1A Football Champs '02, '03, and '05). It looks like they have a very good chance to bring it back to Elkin this year too!

We said goodbye to Shawn and Shelly on Saturday morning and tried to straighten the house up as best we could. Saturday evening ushered the arrival of David and Brandy Blythe (David and Shawn are brothers) and their two kids Cortlyn and Koda. Dave and I deep fried a turkey that evening, the first time I had ever had one, and boy was it delicious. We spent the night playing games (Taboo, etc.) and had a good time visiting. We all headed off to bed and low and behold at approximately 3:30am Crystal's wonderful beeper went off again! She had to drive to Winston, do a scan, and turn around and come back home only to get right back up again. We went to Cracker Barrel...mmmmmm....for breakfast to round out the Thanksgiving weekend for 2006.

So here's my thanks for a great family and great friends. To those that we didn't get to spend time with, we hope to see you soon.

20 November 2006

Finally

After going the two previous seasons without taking a deer, I have ended the drought.

I was able to take some time off work and hunt this past week. Dave came up on Wednesday to stay the night and hunt with me on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday, the weather forecast was not very favorable for the upcoming days. Rain and wind were supposed to be nailing us pretty hard.

I got up at 5 am on Thursday morning to check the weather and radar. It was pouring and the radar reflected what I could hear hitting the roof here at the house. I naturally went back to bed. At approximately 9 am I was awakened by Dave who had woken up and realized that the meteorologists had somewhat missed the forecast. The rain had subsided and the wind was nowhere to be found. We quickly got up and got things together to head to the hunting club.

At approximately 10:45 am we were in our stands. I realized that I had not called Crystal to let her know that we had gone hunting. About 30 minutes later, my phone started vibrating in my shirt. It was Crystal. As quietly as I could, I answered the phone to let her know that we were hunting. Just as I was telling her that, I caught movement. Low and behold a deer was walking down a 4wheeler trail getting close to me. I quickly let her know that a deer was approaching and quietly closed the phone. After closer examination I could see that though the deer had a decent body size (I was hoping it was a doe), I could make out some small spikes on his head. He walked to within about 50 yards of me and I decided to let him walk, wanting to wait on something bigger.

He proceeded on down the 4wheeler trail and out of my sight. After he left, I began to think about my past 2 deer seasons where I did things very similar and allowed deer to "go". I hadn't killed an animal since the '03 season (which was a 6 point with a bow). 30 minutes passed and I began to regret letting this guy go. Wanting to get some meat in the freezer, I decided that IF the deer did return and offer a good shot that I would take him.

I had no more than made that decision that I heard some noise ruffling the leaves coming down the hill in front of me. To my surprise, here he came again. This time, down the hill, across the 4wheeler trail, and down to the creek not 15 yards from my stand. He took a drink and then just stood there. After watching him basically right under me for at least 5 minutes, I finally decided it was time to take him. He turned and gave me a very good clean shot and I pulled the trigger.

Once the smoke from the muzzle loader cleared I could see him lying exactly where I had shot him. He didn't take the first step. A nice clean kill shot and it was all over inside of 30 seconds.

Now that the "drought" is over it's time to return to being picky and selective about what I take. Bring on the big boys!!! Please?! :-)

01 November 2006

Geocaching

Some of you may have seen the link that I have to the Geocaching website. Geocaching is an activity that Crystal and I enjoy doing together, well most of the time anyway. Right honey?

In a nutshell, using a GPS receiver, you input given coordinates into your GPS unit and then go find the "cache". A cache is usually a small box (tupperware, old ammo can, etc.) that has been placed by someone that has placed small toys, trinkets, etc. into the box to be traded. Mostly this is for the kids so it is mostly kid's type stuff. Think of it as a high-tech treasure hunt. The cache 'owner' then tries to hide the box in a secretive spot so as to make it difficult to find and also so it can't be found accidentally by "muggles" (Harry Potter fans will know what this means...and, yes, that is how the Geocaching community refers to the none cachers). After hiding it, the owner will take the coordinates with their unit and then enter the coordinates into the website and others can then go search for what they hid.

Now, I gave that very simplified explanation to relay this story.

Crystal and I placed a cache of our own in January of 2005. It is located up off the Parkway relatively close to where we live. Anytime another Geocacher finds a cache that you placed and logs their find into the website, an email notification is sent to you. This is suprisingly alot of fun in itself since you kinda get to hear what others think about the spot you chose, how much fun they had, etc.

Man I'm using etc. alot in this post! :p

Well, this is the last notification that I received:

"October 18 by Ted (354 found)
Nice hike in. The container has been broken into umpteen pieces and the contents scattered. The lid and one of the ziploc bags have bite marks. I did my best to gather the contents into the two good ziplocs and then placed them together at my best guess for the right location."

Of course, given the location of the cache and the description that 'Ted' gave, I automatically knew what had destroyed our container. I was able to find some time today and headed up to the cache site to replace the container. My assumption was correct.





Notice the 'bite marks' in the lid. That is most definately a bear!

So, now who wants to go find our cache? LOL

Seriously though, if any of you think you may want to try out some Geocaching, just let me know. We'd be happy to let ya borrow the GPS unit or maybe even go out caching with us sometime. It is alot of fun for the kids as well. Can you imagine if we coulda went out in the woods with a little handheld computer and found 'treasure' when we were kids? And not all the caches are in boxes in the woods. There are 'micros' which are usually sign only logs that are placed very strategically right in the middle of cities. You'd actually be suprised where some of these things are.

31 October 2006

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.

I myself am sitting home alone while my wife is at work (not her usual schedule). She agreed to switch shifts with a coworker so she could take her daughter Trick 'r Treating. Isn't she sweet?

About a week ago, Crystal brought home a rather large pumpkin and cleaned it out. For some reason that evening I decided to get a little creative...with the help of the internet of course. So I downloaded some patterns and started carving away. The pumpkin was so big that I put 3 different "scenes" on it.

The first is a witch riding towards the moon.



Then a spooky tree...



And finally, a ghost with a jack-o-lantern. (This pic isn't so great)



For some reason I got the bright idea that it would look better if I tied all the scenes 'together'. So I cut out the two columns of pumpkin that are on either side of the tree. And in my defense, I thought it looked pretty dang good. However.... :)

I failed to take into account the size and therefor weight of the pumpkin itself which, in turn, after one night began collapsing on itself! :(

Which leads me to what I did this evening. Crystal got another pumpkin, although this time, a much smaller one. She cleaned it today and I carved it this evening. This time I was lazy though. Plus I wanted to get it done just in case we had any trick or treaters come by. We haven't! But I really didn't expect any since we live on a 'private road' surrounded by only the Casey family, which has grown by one as of yesterday. Anthony and Brittany welcomed into the world yesterday a healthy baby boy. Congrat's to them.

Again, Happy Halloween, and we'll be seeing ya later!

24 October 2006

Happy Birthday


My oldest nephew celebrated his 11th birthday today. Man, where do the years go? Happy birthday Bubba...love ya buddy.

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. It seems I am at a loss for quality material to relay thoughts about. I have moved the game camera to the "hunting club" that I joined this year. I placed the camera last Wednesday and checked it on Saturday only to find that it had only taken 3 pics! Apparently I'm gonna have to find a better spot to hunt!

Anywho, we're doing fine up here in Traphill. We just passed 11 weeks of pregnancy! Crystal continues to be nauseated at certain foods at all times of the day. Hopefully after passing this first trimester her stomach will settle down some.

Here are some pretty cool baby development stages that were achieved in week 11:

* Nearly all structures and organs are formed and beginning to function.
* Fingers and toes have separated

* Hair and nails begin to grow
* The genitals begin to take on the proper gender characteristics - It will be just a few more weeks before your ultrasound can show if you are having a boy or a girl!

And here a few of the processes happening this week!

Week Twelve

* Vocal cords begin to form
* Those precious eyes begin to move closer together
* Ears shift to their normal place on the side of the head
* Intestines move farther in to your child's body
* His or her liver begins to function
* The pancreas begins to produce insulin
* Your baby's average size is now at a whopping length: 2.13 inch

Simply amazing really.....

04 October 2006

That time of year

It's actually been here for a few weeks now...hunting season. I have been only about 3 times so far. This time of year it is bow season, so you have to be extra good because you have to be so much closer to the animal to get a successful shot. Anywho, my lovely wife allowed me to get a "game camera" this past weekend. For those that are unfamiliar, it is a simple digital camera mounted inside a waterproof casing that has an infared motion sensor and flash that will snap pictures any time something activates the motion sensor.

Just from hunting the few times I've been out this year, I know that the deer are moving thru this area (on our property) because the corn and apples that I have put out are disappearing rather quickly. I have also seen a doe with what looks like a yearling (born last year) with her...as seen here: (mom in the foreground)



I put the camera out on Sunday (1 Oct.), consequently, that was also our first wedding anniversary! I retrieved the camera this afternoon (Wed. 4 Oct.) as soon as I got home from work. It had taken 36 pictures! As with the previous picture, all but one of the photos were taken after dark...just what I had suspected and was afraid of. Deer are very smart creatures and very tough to hunt. I suppose that's alot of the appeal for most people. It wouldn't be very much fun if you could open your window and shoot them huh?

I had already guessed that they were using the area mostly at night and pics like this really confirmed that.



This is the same two does from above with mom being the in the foreground again and only the eyes of the younger doe can be seen.

Most of the pics are very similar to these. However the one exception I mentioned, the only one that was not after dark, captured another deer altogether!



Notice the light starting to filter thru the trees in the background. I haven't been able to determine if this the break of day or just before dusk. I need a camera that has the time and date imprinted on it! Obviously this is a small buck, without a doubt just a lil over a year old (fawns are typically born in June and July). This is what is called a spike because he has two antlers with no points branching off. It is however pretty good length for the antlers. Some would refer to this as a "cow-horn spike".

Now, the camera snapped some pictures of what may be another small buck. From the angles I've seen, I can't determine if the pic of the spike above could possibly this small "4 pointer".



Same deer? Possibly. Could've had his head turned just enough that the other points just didn't show up in the first photo. Who knows? We need more proof! :)

This is already proving to be more fun for me than I had anticipated. Maybe it's a part of the scientist in me that wants to know what's going on...especially when it's right here in our backyard.

Stayed tuned.....I'm sure I'll have more to come!

29 September 2006

Our first picture of the baby

We had our first baby appointment today. Crystal had to have the usual tests (blood work, ultrasound, urine samples, etc.) and everything was, in the doctors words, "Perfect"! The sonographer taking the pictures measured the baby twice and you can see the results on the photo itself (1.43 cm and 1.37 cm) which converts to right at one half of an inch. We were able to see and hear the heartbeat as well! 158 beats per minute...said that was right where it should be. Everything looks good! They gave us a preliminary due date of May 14th.

I think today's visit really helped it all to sink in now. It is still hard to believe that next May I'll have my own lil one here! I'm (we're) REALLY looking forward to it.

And now, here's the baby...

19 September 2006

The Crocodiles are Crying



In Memoriam - STEVE IRWIN.

THE CROCODILES ARE CRYING

Endless visions fill my head – this man – as large as life

And instantly my heart mourns for his angels and his wife

Because the way I see Steve Irwin – just put everything aside

It comes back to his family – it comes back to his pride


His animals inclusive – Crikey – light the place with love!

Shine his star with everything he fought to rise above

The crazy-man of Khaki from the day he left the pouch

Living out his dream and in that classic ‘Stevo’ crouch


Exploding forth with character and redefining cheek

It’s one thing to be honored as a champion unique

It’s one thing to have microphones and spotlight cameras shoved

It’s another to be taken in and genuinely loved


But that was where he had it right – I guess he always knew

From his fathers’ modest reptile park and then Australia Zoo

We cringed at times and shook our heads – but true to natures call

There was something very Irwin in the make up of us all


Yes the more I care to think of it – the more he had it right

If you’re going to make a difference – make it big and make it bright!

Yes - he was a lunatic! Yes - he went head first!

But he made the world feel happy with his energetic burst


A world so large and loyal that it’s hard to comprehend

I doubt we truly count the warmth until life meets an end

To count it now I say a prayer with words of inspiration

May the spotlight shine forever on his dream for conservation


…My daughter broke the news to me – my six year old in tears

It was like she’d just turned old enough to show her honest fears

I tried to make some sense of it but whilst her Dad was trying

His little girl explained it best…she said “The crocodiles are crying


Their best mate’s up in heaven now – the crocs up there are smiling!

And as sure as flowers, poems and cards and memories are piling

As sure as we’ll continue with the trademarks of his spiel

Of all the tributes worthy – he was rough…but he was real


As sure as ‘Crikey!’ fills the sky

I think we’ll miss ya Steve…goodbye

- RUPERT McCALL 2006.

14 September 2006

Sadie Badgett is here

Crystal and I got a small glimpse into a world that we will be emersed in next May. Erin (and Todd) had baby Sadie today. She is a beautiful lil thing. Mom and dad were both wore out when we saw them, however I'm sure in a couple of days you will be able to check their blog and get lots more info and pictures of Miss Sadie. But for now....

04 September 2006

We have some news

I'm simply going to post a picture because I'm not really sure if it has completely sunk in and I don't have the words to express myself as of yet.

20 August 2006

Meet Maddie



Well, here she is. We picked her up yesterday. She is MUCH smaller than I expected.



As you can prolly tell, Crystal has pretty much done nothing but take pictures since we got her. Maddie had a big day yesterday with lots of traveling. She did great in the car, and luckily for us, the folks that we got her from have been doing this for quite awhile. She is basically already housed trained. All we have to do is take her outside and set her down and she "does her business".

Sage is still somewhat unsure of her new buddy. She basically ignores her for the most part. I'm sure they'll adjust to one another.



The girls in my life are gonna have a fun week this week without me. Crystal will be taking care of both the dogs alone for Maddie's first week with us, but I'm positive she can handle it. I'll be out of town for the better part of the week in meetings and then on to beautiful Graham County for what is being touted as "Troutapalooza 2006" for the weekend. I am also postive that when I return that I will have two very spoiled dogs to deal with!



Hope this finds everyone well and will talk to you soon.

13 August 2006

Finally Crystal makes a comment

I can no longer be quite here in the blogging world. My husband has stepped over the line with the "Deadskins" comment. I am sure he just said it to make me mad. Hello to all the new bloggers. I was glad to hear that both Erins, Todd, Rodney and Sally were on here now. Hope to hear from Sadie soon. Good luck you guys. I will post some pics of the new girl in the family after we pick her up on Sat.

My favorite time of year

Last night was a very long awaited night! It seems like forever since the first weekend in February when we all last got to watch a football game. But the season is back now and happiness can again be restored!

Ok, that might be a little much, but I am still glad it's here. Football season, cooler weather....this is truly the best time of the year! The Panthers had their first pre-season game last night and they looked unstoppable, the starters anyway. Jake and the boys on offense easily drove down the field and picked up a quick score on their first drive and Julius and the boys on defense forced a "3 and out" with a sack coming from #90 himself.



It was a good start to the young season, although I do know that the Bills are most likely one of the "easiest" teams that the CATS will face this season. Well, with the exception of maybe the 26th of November matchup with the Deadskins (how's about a friendly rivalry TB?). LOL

So I'll leave you with a phrase that should captivate us all...."Are you ready for some football?"

11 August 2006

Adding another pack member

We have been talking about getting another dog and after some discussion and decision making, we have decided to get one. Crystal started by going thru local adoption places and shelters. Most of these places have their own websites with pics of the animals they currently have. After seeing how much some of theses "adopted" dogs were gonna cost (not to mention I hate the thought of giving money to some of these blatant 'anti-hunting' groups), we decided to try to find one from a breeder.

After some searching and cruising around on the World Wide Web, we found one we both agreed on. Crystal contacted the breeder and the one we were interested in was still available so we have sent a "deposit" so they will hold her for us. She isn't quite old enough for us to pick her up yet, but she should have her last vet checkup and be ready to go probably by next weekend. Assuming nothing happens between now and then, our pack will grow by one soon. So without further ado......



I will try to get more pictures up after we get her and of course figure out what we're gonna call her.

10 July 2006

New ride!

After having my 4Runner for a little over 5 years, I (we) decided it was time to trade it in and get something more dependable and fun. So without further ado....here it is!



Oh how FUN.....

03 July 2006

Busy

I've obviously been away from the blogging world for awhile. This time of year is always busy for everyone I suppose.

During the past month, Crystal and I were able to go down to the Outer Banks for a week long vacation. We spent the week with my folks as well as my sister and two nephews. The weather was great with the exception of wednesday when the remnants of the season's first tropical storm moved thru.

The following week I had to take a work trip to Athens, TN. We participated in a workshop on the Mayfield farm. Yes, the Mayfield farm....as in Mayfield Dairies. They are an extremely nice family and Mr. and Mrs. Mayfield themselves provided and cooked bbq ribs and chicken for the 160+ participants! If you like snow cream that we've all had in the winter, at least when we get snow, you've got to try their Snow Cream ice cream. It has the exact same taste and texture as the home made kind. Amazing! And of course, my personal favorite....



I hope all is well with everyone and have a great 4th of July!

15 May 2006

The Wedding!

We are back from the wedding of Rodney and Erin, now "officially" the Phillips!



It was a fun weekend and beautiful wedding. We were able to spend some time with old friends and got to make some new ones. Rodney and Erin are now enjoying their honeymoon in Ireland. Erin Go Bragh! For those that don't know, click the link.

A small collection of pictures that Crystal was able to take at the wedding and reception can be viewed here.

Erin and Rodney, we love you and hope you find every happiness together!

08 May 2006

A long hiatus

Many apologies for the lack of posts. It's been a hectic few weeks. We've been trying to get settled and set up to make this place look like home.

Crystal (after swearing she'd never have plants) has been planting flowers and even some tomato and cucumber plants!



We even have a friendly greeter to "Welcome" you here!



Believe or not, we ordered our furniture for the house at the end of March. Everything with the exception of the dining room chairs were delivered on the day we closed (12 April). Incredibly, as of today (8 May), we still have not received our chairs! I'm really looking forward to eating at the table.

We're slowly but surely able to get photos in frames and get pictures on the wall.



(Can anyone guess what's on TV?)

We look forward to more of you being able to come visit us. And check back soon for pictures of the wedding...no, not ours. Two of our very best friends are FINALLY getting married this weekend. Rodney and Erin are gonna officially become Mr. & Mrs. Phillips!

Hope everyone is doing well. And we hope to see you soon....

23 March 2006

A new home

For those that don't know, we are under contract for a new house. After searching the market for over a year, we have finally found what we've been looking for. It's a beautiful log cabin on just over 3 acres!



We are hoping to close before Easter, and of course, y'all will be invited for the "house warming/my b-day" party!

A link to more pictures of the house can be found here.

20 March 2006

To the top.....

Our good friends David and Brandy Blythe came up to spend some time with us this weekend. We decided since it was such a nice day on Sunday to go for a hike. The top of Stone Mountain here in Wilkes County was our destination. The hike went pretty good for a while until we started to make the last climb for the top. That got us all huffing and puffing but we pushed on and were rewarded with a spectacular view.


After spending a few minutes on top enjoying the view and resting, we headed back down. Even Sage was tired as we neared the vehicle.

14 March 2006

Hello blogging world!

So I've decided to follow the lead of my good friend Brandon Lockwood and join the world of blogging. His family blog can be found here.

With all the new happenings that seem to be taking place and a new chapter of our lives about to start, I thought that this may be a good way to keep everyone up to date.

Stay tuned....