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)!

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!