MLK Jr. weekend

How wonderful to have a 3-day weekend after the first week of school. It was nice to have a day off, but I don't think we really needed it yet. However, we decided to enjoy the day and go see some sights. We ended up going to Cowpens National Battlefield, a Revolutionary War historical site. It was cool to actually see something that I'd learned about in school. I even wrote a paper about it at BYU. The funny thing about this battle is that it actually took place in a cow pasture. It was an American victory big time-only a few Americans were killed/wounded/captured while more than 500 British suffered the same. The thing about battlefields is that most of the time they're just empty land without much exciting to see. We got lucky though, because (being in the south) there were people dressed up doing a reenactment of the battle for the 226th anniversary of the victory. We hadn't remembered that it was in January, so we got there and there were already a couple hundred people there. It was fun and a bit strange. Oh well, it was a good day off of school and we got some interesting pictures (which I forgot to bring-next time they'll be here).

Another thing of note this week is that my brother came home from his mission. Don't worry, it was an honorable release ;) he's been out for two years and home for two days. He was in the Tempe, Arizona mission and is now freezing to death in the Portland, Oregon area while deciding what to do with the rest of his life. I told him to come visit us, but he just laughed. He thinks you need money for things like that. Oh wait....

Anyway, that's about it for us this week. Just back to the grindstone for Joe and back to normal life for me. At least American Idol has started now... something to do while Joe's doing homework in the evenings. Hope y'all are having fun wherever you happen to be.

January!

The past week or so since we've been home has been a bit crazy, but I think we're about to settle back into our old and somewhat boring lives. Here's a bit on the crazy... Our flight from Portland to Atlanta was about an hour and a half late leaving, which totally ate up our layover time in Atlanta and we ended up running from one gate to the other. Thursday last week we spent the entire day shopping-getting food and spending the gift cards that we got for Christmas. Friday we played Age of Empires II like all day, when we weren't sleeping. Saturday the Colts won their playoff game, which was great. Sunday was the most calm church experience for quite a while, and we got ready for Joe to start back at school Monday, after which things became back to normal... After this Sunday things will get downright boring...

This week we have Choir practice before church, then we speak in Sacrament Mtg., then I'm subbing for the Primary chorister and Joe teaches primary, then I have Women's Choir, then there's a Primary fireside called "Eight is Great" that I have to be at Sunday night...if we survive it will be good. Monday is a holiday, and we're trying to decide what to do; stay in Charlotte and go to one or two of the many museums, or go to the Biltmore estate in Ashville.

As a last note, congrats to Andy and Nancy Heiss (baby to be born in July) and Matt and Shelley Allen (found out baby to be born in May is a boy). Good luck to you all and congrats! Here are some final pics from our trip.

The week between..

So, the week between Christmas and New Year's is always up in the air-at least with my family. Christmas was nice, we had lots of food and candy of course. Karen got TONS of presents-I don't know if we can fit them all in our suitcases, we might have to ship some stuff back. So after Christmas we didn't do much. On Thursday we went to the beach, which means that I've been to both oceans in one year! I think that's nifty because I'd never been to the ocean before in my whole life. Karen has been great; she's a real trooper. She loves playing with her young aunts and uncle and the grandparents. She is not going to like going home and being stuck with mommy anymore!

Happy New Year! It was fun to stay up late and all that (Karen didn't make it though) but I realized that Midnight here is 3am where I'm going back to on Wednesday. It made me tired just thinking about it. However, with all the junk food, movies, and puzzle going on-besides all the people-I managed to forget that and have some fun. I thought it was nifty that they had a youth fireside on New Year's; I didn't go, but my sister and parents said it was really nice.

Well, it's been a really nice holiday vacation. We're pretty much ready to go home now, but it has been so nice to see everyone and spend time with family before we go back out on our own. I hope all of you had a great holiday season and have some great resolutions for the new year. Some of mine include (of course) losing those few (okay many) pounds and reading the NT and possibly D&C-I'll have to work out a schedule for that still. Everyone be sure to have a fun time the last week or so before school starts back up and real life takes over again! I've got to sort out my pictures so here's just one to get the year started.