There's No Place like Home!

We had the chance to go home to South Dakota and visit friends and family. Michelin was sponsoring an event put on by the School of Mines - so Cori was able to go and represent the company. We drove home so we could stop and see Cori's sister Cara in Columbia, Mo and catch one of her softball games. Go Stars! Then we were off to Philip, SD to visit David's family before going on to Rapid City.

In Philip - we shared dinner with all of David's family - grandparents, parents, and brothers. The dogs sure enjoyed the wide open spaces - they could run around and chase the wild animals. It was definitely a lot colder than the Kentucky winters we are getting more and more used to.

We were able to catch up with some friends while we were in Rapid City. We were able to see Cori's grandmother Cam and Keo - who inspire us to live life to the fullest! During the conference banquet we spent time catching up with some of our professors - Dr. Kellogg, Dr. Kerk, and Dr. Matejcik (Frank). There just never seems to be enough time to see everyone and do everything.

We had a nice weekend with Cori's parents and grandma. David got to experience his first ice fishing trip. The weather was great, 50 degrees, which rarely happens when you are ice fishing. The men caught 4 keepers - trout. The nice weather allowed us to all go for a nice hike with the dogs.

This trip sure made us realize how much we miss the beautiful Black Hills and all our friends and family. However, we are very grateful for the opportunities we have been given here in Louisville. We are very thankful and blessed to have each other (and Murphy and Oakley too), our job and school, and the opportunity to experience new and exciting things every day. With everything that is going on in our world today it is often difficult to "look on the bright side" - but we find comfort in knowing that we have so many loving and supportive people in our lives and God-willing we can get through anything that is thrown our way.

The icefishermen and Oakely.

Cara pitching for Stephens College.

Enjoying Sylvan Lake.

Sylvan Lake iced over.

Dave and Ethan (the wrestler).

Here's trouble...

The Ville is alive...with the sound of music!!

David, Matt Nathanson, and Cori.

Joshua Radin jammin out.

In the past couple months, we have gotten the chance to see two awesome artists, Matt Nathanson and Joshua Radin, perform live. We got the chance to basically enjoy a private performance by Matt Nathanson and then Joshua Radin played a live show at Headliners here in Louisville. This is the same venue where we saw Amos Lee, and this show was just as amazing. They are both great vocalists and songwriters. Check them out if you are ever in the mood for some good, easy listening music.

A Chill over the 'Ville

A pretty big snow/ice/rain storm came through Louisville. There were a lot of limbs and branches that fell because of the weight of the ice and snow. We had a few limbs in our backyard - but no damage to the house. We were also lucky that we didn't lose our power. The dogs sure enjoyed playing in the yard. They tried "helping" us clear the branches from the fence and yard.

Here's a picture of our neighbor's tree - it is so weighed down that it is almost touching the ground. We are just waiting and hoping that the branch doesn't come through our front window.

The ice on the branches is about an inch thick.

This tree doesn't normally come into our yard - Murphy and Oakley thought all the new branches in the yard were so cool. They kept pulling on the trees and they trying to lick the ice off them.

Mother Nature's beautiful artwork.

Texas Christmas 2008

The whole family (David, Cori, Murphy, and Oakley) piled into the old station wagon (i.e. Malibu) and began our 2008 Christmas adventure. Our first stop was Oklahoma City, OK where we visited Cori's Aunt Karen and cousins Sarah and Amy. We enjoyed sightseeing and spending time with the girls. We continued on our roadtrip by heading to Texas. We spent the next 10 days in Dripping Springs (outside of Austin), TX with Cori's Aunt Shannon, Uncle Stratt, and cousins Misty and Stratton. Cori's parents and sister were there also. Highlights of the trip included:

• Cutting down a 16' Christmas tree (we later found out that the ceiling is only 13'!). Everything really is BIGGER in Texas!!
• Visiting the University of Texas campus. HOOK EM!
• Enjoying great food and drinks...Salt Lick BBQ, Rudy's BBQ, Dirty Martin's Kum Back Place, Stubbs, and Shannon's Kitchen!!
• Spending the day sightseeing in San Antonio -- The Alamo, Riverwalk, The Old Market, and much more
• Spending time outside hiking and walking with family and the dogs
• Christmas festivities -- Stockings, Church, Food, Presents, Food, Wine Tasting, Food, Games, Food...did I mention we ate really well?!?
• Seeing David's family in Lake Crystal, MN via webcam
• 6th Street!! Austin's downtown street famous for bars and live music
• Watching old family movies -- hard to believe that we ever looked and acted like that
• Visiting and touring Fredericksburg, Texas -- a fun little German town
• Gospel brunch at Stubbs BBQ - great music and MORE food!
• Playing pictionary -- who knew we had so many excellent "artists" in this family!
• Sharing laughter, love, and food with everyone
  

If you can't tell, this trip definitely helped inspire our New Year's Resolution -- losing weight and getting back in shape!!

Hope that all of your holidays were special and memorable.

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)!