Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas full of friends, family, and great memories. We will be spending the holidays in Austin, Texas with the Flett Family. We will be meeting Cori's parents and sister there. I'm sure Shannon and her family have a lot of fun things planned, and we are definitely looking forward to the trip.

Please remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas, and may God bless you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My "Little" Sister

Photo from the Columbia Missourian Newspaper

Cara is doing a great job at Stephen's College in Columbia, Mo. I got to watch her play a few weeks ago - and I am very proud of her!

GO STARS!!

Watch Cara (#10) drain two free throws.

Red River Gorge-ous

We spent another weekend enjoying Kentucky's scenery. This time we were in the Red River Gorge in Daniel Boone National Forest in Eastern Kentucky. We spent Saturday hiking trails and viewing the last of the peak fall colors. We saw 4 natural arches which the area is well known for. We camped out that night with Murphy & Oakley. We all really enjoyed the weekend (not trying to rub it in to our friends and family still snowed in by the SD blizzard)!

Fall Back

We spent the first day of Standard Time at Otter Creek Recreational Area which is located on the Ohio River near Ft. Knox. The Autumn colors were beautiful - lots of reds, oranges, yellows, even burgandy. We enjoyed hiking with the dogs and taking in another wonderful Fall day.

Oakley's Birthday Paw-ty and Halloween

Oakley turned 1 year old, which gave us a good excuse to invite Joe, Mel, Lacy and Wrigley over for a "paw"-ty. The dogs enjoyed pupcakes and other treats.

We carved pumpkins for Halloween and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. We didn't have very many kids this year - so David and Joe ended up eating most of the candy. We were told that we had the "best jack-o-lanterns in the neighborhood" - so we got that going for us!

Shawn & Tamara Got Hitched!

We also were able to see some good friends during our trip home. David was a part of the wedding - as an usher and vocalist. It was great to see everyone and catch up. We are already looking forward to the next wedding so we can come home - who's it going to be??

Congrats to Shawn and Tamara Kerns!

Fun with the Fam

We spent a few days back in South Dakota and we were able to do some of our favorite things: hang out with family and enjoy the Black Hills. We spent a day at David's parents place in the hills. We enjoyed good food, good company, and the boys provided great entertainment as always. We had a great time.

Miss you all already!

Autumn in the air

We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and took a hike at Bernheim Forest. The trees are just starting to change colors and temperatures were in the 80s. Can't beat it!! We also took a nice drive and passed several bourbon distilleries. The "smell" of fall was in the air there too.

The City That Never Sleeps

My first trip to New York City was quite an experience. I attended the 52nd Annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Meeting and gave a presentation about some of the research which I did for my Master's Thesis at U of L. In between sessions I played tourist for a while and did some sightseeing. Our hotel was basically right in the middle of Times Square so there was always alot of craziness going on around there. I also got to see the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, the Dave Letterman Show studio, Grand Central Station, Radio City Music Hall, Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Another highlight was getting to see the famous Broadway musical "Phantom of the Opera". The real highlight of the trip was having my flight cancelled and getting to spend the night in Jersey!! (can you sense the sarcasm). All in all, it was an awesome trip and I cannot wait to go back.


View from my hotel



World Traveler

Drool in the Pool

Oakley ended the summer with a swim at the local pool. She was joined by 50 or so other dogs. They had a blast running, jumping, and doggie paddling after each other. The same rules apply though: NO DIVING!

Last Days of Summer

It is so hard to believe that the Summer is almost over. We had a very eventful and exciting summer - Mexico, camping, road trips, concerts,... We are now looking forward to Fall. We have season tickets to the U of L football games - GO CARDS! David is teaching an Industrial Engineering class to Sophomore and Junior students. We are keeping busy, but always miss our family and friends back home and throughout the country.

Road Trippin

Wow! What was supposed to be a scenic 8 hour drive from Greenville, SC to Memphis, TN turned into an 11 hour road trip filled with winding roads, construction, and small towns (and their 25 mph speed limits). We did get to see some new and beautiful parts of the country, but just didn't expect to see them for that long!! Overall, we traveled through 10 states in 1 week, and were able to add some newly visited states to our list (Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia). While in Memphis, we got to visit Graceland - the home of Elvis Presley. It happened to be "Elvis Week" and the 31st Anniversary of his death. We both felt somewhat out of place since we were not covered from head to toe in Elvis apparel, we were not part of any Elvis fan club, and David forgot to grow out his Elvis style sideburns. We ended up in Columbia, MO and met Cori's parents and her sister. We helped move Cara into her new dorm and also spent time visiting some of the region's wineries.

Cumberland Falls Campin'

We spent last weekend in the great outdoors -- camping, hiking, and swimming. We went to Cumberland Falls - which is just outside of Corbin, Ky. Cumberland Falls is a beautiful waterfall known as the "Niagra of the South." We hiked about 4-5 miles and then David and the dogs cooled off in the Cumberland River. We learned that Murphy and Oakley love the water and are both pretty good swimmers.

Amos, Willie, & Dave

We have gotten to see some pretty awesome concerts in the last couple weeks. We started out with Amos Lee. He played a sold out show at this really unique venue -- it seemed like an old firehouse or something. We also got to see him play a short acoustic set at a local music store with probably only 50 other people there watching.

Then last Friday, Dave Matthews Band and Willie Nelson came and rocked at Louisville Slugger Field. It was our first time seeing either artist, and they were both definitely impressive. Willie opened the show and played for about an hour and then DMB came out and put on a show for over 2 hours. Dave & Willie even joined together for a pretty sweet rendition of "Gravedigger". All in all, we got to see 3 really great artists play some live music in a couple of really memorable venues.

4th of July with the Hollands

We were lucky to have Eric, Melissa, Buddy, and Savannah Holland visit us for the 4th of July Weekend. We went to Churchill Downs and saw some races, we spent a day in Nashville, TN, and toured downtown Louisville. In Nashville, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Opry Land, and the Gibson Guitar Experience. We had a lot of fun with our niece - she is getting so big. Murphy and Oakley enjoyed the time with their cousin Buddy.

Best in Class

Ms. Oakley graduated from Obedience Class.


She was the Top Student in the Class (nevermind she was the only student)!

Mexico

Hola! We spent a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for the Barnes-Loranger Wedding. We had a great time. We went deep sea fishing and saw a lot of dolphins, turtles, and manta rays. We each caught 30-40 lbs Yellowfin Tunas. We sailed a catamaran in the ocean with Captain Dan and First Mate Miaken. We enjoyed trips to town - Puerto Vallarta and Bucerias. We also took time to relax on the beach and by the pool. We may have tried a few adult beverages on our trip too. But what happens in Mexico - stays in Mexico. Megan and John had a beautiful wedding on the beach and we had a lot of fun catching up with old friends and making new ones during the week.

May Daze

It is so hard to believe it is already Memorial Day Weekend. May has gone sooo fast! We started out the month with some visitors for the Derby. The Derby Roster included: Micah Peters, Tate Johnson, Shelby Knutson, Bob Hodgson, Melanie Andersen, and Louisvillians Joe & Melinda Price. We enjoyed the Derby Festivities from the infield of Churchill Downs. The "Booze Belts" once again worked to get the goods past the Security Guards. We didn't see a lot of the horses in the races (it is so packed in the infield, you can only see the races on the huge jumbo TV's around the track) but we did see a lot of crazies in the infield.


I am sorry to say that no one won big off their bets - so everyone had to go back home and back to work/school the Monday after. We were sad to see everyone go, but there is next year: DERBY 135. So start making plans to attend!

We also were visited by Cori's sister Cara and her boyfriend Matt. They had just finished up their Freshman Year of college and needed a break before going home to Rapid City, SD. We had a great time with them. We went to the Louisville Zoo, hiking in the Jefferson Memorial Forest and Cori and Cara got tattoos from a guy named Psycho. We had a great time!