Come Home To Me Darlin'

You might look at these photos and say "Buuuuurrrrrrr." I say . . . hurry home Doug - I miss you! For the past 10 days, Doug has been here . . . on the Pipeline, in Alaska. It's a place called Deadhorse, Alaska in the Alpine area. The oil facility is owned by Conoco Phillips where he is doing a job. Doug is an engineer with Honeywell and helped design the fire alarm system which has been installed at this oil facility. In order to test and "get online" the new systems, Doug is required to be tested here and then be present for installation and testing of the system there.

After Thanksgiving, he will return for an additional 12 days to provide additional tech support for the system. His job is to design the panel boxes for these systems - it's pretty complicated but he's really smart and I'm very proud of him (specifically because he sent me photos of his dorm room at this place and it looks to be pretty harsh conditions - it's certainly no Marriott). He should be leaving there today and be home tomorrow by 3:30 (an entire 20 something hours of travel). I'll bet he'll want some WILD TURKEY for Thanksgiving?

Days of Our Lives TRAGEDY !!!

Days of Our Lives is DOOMED!

I just read on Yahoo that the beloved, long time soap stars John and Marlena got FIRED due to budget cuts. WHAT? The economy is so bad that they got rid of them? Couldn't they fire some of the ridiculous teeny boppers on there - the ones we don't know of . . . the ones that we make fun of whose wardrobe is extravagant - how about getting rid of Grandma Horton - she can't remember her lines anymore anyway - what about Stephano - he's been reincarnated 100 times! Get rid of some children and then bring them back from the dead - yeah, do that! John and Marlena though? The travesty! Days will never be the same! I used to plan my college classes around the show . . . perhaps this is why I never graduated?

College Bound Already?

This past Saturday, Doug and I attended Youth Saturday with Zachary and the Youth Group from our Church at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. This is an annual trip of many of the Southeastern Greater Presbyterian Churches (youth) and their Ministers and some families who wish to join or may want their children/teens to attend the college in the near future. The Dean of Education, the President, Faculty and Staff, Advisors and Coaches all come out and give tours etc., they provide a huge meal in the Cafeteria and then you attend a football game and basketball game in the evening. It's great fun and you learn tons of great stuff about the school, tuition, financial assistance, sports, classes and campus life. Zachary is considering Presbyterian College as one of his "picks" (now that he understands playing football for them might be a tad easier than playing for UGA or Navy).

Presbyterian College vs. USC Coastal Carolina (where I went to college)

Doug and I clearly didn't know what color to wear.

Some of our Youth @ the football game.

A mural inside the Science/Biology Building.

Biology Building - very cool stuff in here.

Beautiful Campus in deed!

This is us walking around with the kids taking the campus tour.

Campus tour (another youth group).

Campus life.

All the different Youth Groups from around the Southeast. (Zack in his wheel chair in the foreground). Poor kid!!

Our kids.

The band.

Basket Ball Gymnasium

The President of Presbyterian College and Dean of College.

School Days

Fun times in the hall at school! Mrs. Haralson (Abbey Grace's teacher from last year and Dad's cousin) bumped into Abbey Grace in the hall at school the other day and took these photos (it was "no uniform" day at school). She LOVES to wear her street clothes to school - it was orange and black day! We miss Mrs. Haralson so much but are so glad she "keeps tabs" on the little bow-headed girl!

The CMA's

In honor of last night's CMA's . . . I thought I would post a few pictures of Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood today - these were taken at the concert in Atlanta where Keith Urban shot his newly released (yesterday) DVD. Pretty cool we were there - in fact, this was our second time seeing him and without a doubt one of the best concerts ever! Carrie Underwood was stunning as well and we'll for sure go see her again when she tours our area!

Zack's Broken Leg . . . Mom's Broken Heart

My big ole fella has a broken leg. Yep . . . a growth plate, hairline fracture of the tibia. Monday night at wrestling practice, another kid his age fell on Zack's leg and bent it backwards at his knee as it was bending and his tibia broke. At the emergency room, they sent us home with some pain killers and said there was nothing wrong . . . oops - guess since there was no radiologist on staff at the time, they mis-diagnosed the fact of how bad it was. For two days he agonized over the pain. We finally got him all fixed up though - here are the photos. Poor guy - no wrestling season for him but he'll be back on the football field in no time!

My Mom's Birthday Fiesta Throwdown

We had Mom, Dad and Granny over for Mom's Birthday dinner Sunday night after Church (again, it was a whirl-wind, busy weekend of dinner parties for us this weekend). We cooked a pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, zucchini on the grill and black-eyed peas. Mom brought a pumpkin pie instead of a cake because that's what she wanted. We had cards and presents after dinner. It was a great time . . . . in fact . . . the photos will show you JUST what a great time it certainly was . . . SOME of us got a little "outta control . . " (we won't call names here) but I'll just warn you - my mother and her mother sure can PARTY!!

Dinner was yummy - now let's open some cards (that's what Abbey Grace said).

Pop's gives Honey a cool IPOD Nano.

No one can operate the dern thing! We're all electronically challenged. Hey . . . give it to Zack - he can operate it!

Beautiful clothes!

Oooo - more clothes!

Ut oh . . . someones been in the prop box.

Like Mother like daughter . . . or . . . wait . . .. like daughter like mother? Hey - Granny still has it in her . . . party like a rock star!!

Saturday's Dinner Party

Karen coming to the door thinking the party was for Kerry's Birthday

Decorated Table

Kerry decorates cakes . . . this one is so beautiful for Karen and Rick's Engagement party

My two great friends . . . Kerry and Dawn

Karen and Kerry and Karen's Fiance' Rick.

Wedding Bells Hanging in the Dining Room

Saturday night Doug and I had friends over for a surprise engagement party for Karen and Rick. We also had Kerry and William over (although William had to stay home with sick children) and we had Dawn and Gary over. We cooked grilled mojo chicken and baked potatoes. Kerry brought an awesome spinach salad with strawberries, pecans and feta cheese, Dawn brought this totally great green bean casserole that had artichokes, onion and Parmesan cheese and stuffing mix in it. To die for! (I burned the wheat rolls). The meal was fantastic and the fellowship was super. Kerry made and decorated a lovely engagement cake! We had a great time! It made up for the horrible loss UGA suffered to Florida (which we watched in the back ground during the party). Ugggghhh! Everyone enjoyed getting to meet Karen's fiance' - they are a very happy couple! Congrats to Karen and Rick!!

Halloween Friday

Wow! What a BUSY weekend we had! Friday after work I left early to drive out to Zack's school to pick him up from wrestling practice. I met Doug and Abbey Grace at Clark's Grove (Mom & Dad's Neighborhood) for the annual "Hallo-weenie Roast" in the big culdesac. Abbey Grace was dressed (as Zack always says) "gender-inappropriately" as a Pirate. Arrggghhh maties . . . She looked awesome too because at School on Friday she lost her FIRST TOOTH. Thus, the tooth fairy had to come visit us Friday night too - busy busy. We ate some hallow-weenies in the neighborhood and then went trick-or-treating. It was great fun. Here are some photos.