Marley & Me...

Craig and I, along with his mom and uncle, went to see Marley & Me over the Christmas weekend. What a good movie it was! I truly can't say enough about Marley & Me. I think anybody--animal and non-animal lovers alike--would LOVE this movie. I can't tell you how many times Craig and I looked at one another, knowing that we had experienced a similar "Marley moment" with Sydney. I guarantee you will laugh, probably cry, and leave the theater with a deeper appreciation for your family--human and otherwise! Definitely a two thumbs up movie!

Upon arriving home we were greeted by Sydney, sweetly wagging his tail as we opened the door to Craig's mom's house... what an adorable sight, especially considering the movie we had just seen. The only problem was that we had crated him before we left... in the same crate he spends 7-8 hours in every day while Craig and I are at work. Apparently Sydney had a "Marley moment" while we were at the movie. Somehow he managed to bend the frame of his metal crate, which caused the front side of the crate to collapse inward, giving him his freedom. He then proceeded to tear his bedding into hundreds of little pieces and break two large chunks off of the plastic tray that lines the bottom of his crate. Thankfully, nothing else in the house was disturbed. I wonder if he's trying to tell us that he's getting too old for the crate?!?

Winter's Definitely Here!

Yesterday Craig and I decided to pay a visit to Allendale Mansion to try to take some pictures for our Christmas cards. It was pretty chilly and I think we managed to take a few really nice pictures. Anyway, while at Allendale it began to snow. This wasn't our first snow this year--it's actually our 5th--but it turned out to be the most substantial snow so far!

So Craig and I rushed home and then back out to Fall Branch Christmas Tree Farm to pick out our tree. It really was such a fun day to pick out a tree... the snow really put us in the Christmas spirit!

When we got home we had to take Sydney out to play in his first real snow. Needless to say he LOVED it! He ran all over the yard eating mouth-fulls of snow.

We hope you all are enjoying your winter as much as we are!

Weekend at Warriors Path

Saturday--Hiking the Devil's Backbone and Fall Creek Loop Trails with Craig and Sydney. What a beautiful hike... especially with all of the fall colors.

Sunday--Kayaking on the Holston River's South Fork with Craig. Again, a gorgeous day!

Wedding Weekend in Greenville!

This weekend our good friends Laura and Travis were married! We were so happy to be able to share in this wonderful weekend with them. The wedding took place at Gassaway Mansion... it was absolutely beautiful. Here are some of the hilights...

Congrats again to you both! We're so happy for you!

Happy 40th Rob!

Saturday our friend Rob celebrated his 40th birthday. The birthday bash took place at Bays Mountain Park and was, of course, Mexican themed. We enjoyed meeting and talking with Misty and Rob's other friends. I was surprised to learn that some of Misty and Rob's friends are regular volunteers with Habitat... who knew Kingsport was such a small town?!? It was fun talking with them about the different Habitat experiences they have had over the years. Craig and I also enjoyed looking through some of the childhood, high school, and other pictures of Rob that were displayed at each table... especially the one of Misty and Rob dressed up like pirates... and no, it wasn't on Halloween either!

Anyway, here are Misty and Rob who we just love!
And here's Misty and Rob's Mom, Jan, getting ready to set

Bay's Mountain on fire... boy that was a lot of candles!

Food and Friends!

Daniel and Danielle came over last night for dinner. Craig got a new grilling cookbook recently, so we decided to try grilling some baby back ribs with a tomato-tequila sauce. Ribs turned out to be a little more complicated than I had expected. Anyway, the dinner turned out well and we really enjoyed the time we got to hang out with our friends. Can't wait to do it again!

Weekend in Review!

Craig and I began our weekend Thursday evening by going to Abingdon, Virginia to the Barter Theatre. This time was saw a play called "Comin' Up a Storm." While the play was very good, I must admit that it was not a funny as I had built it up to be in my head. Even with the slight disappointment we managed to have a great time.

Friday was Craig's 26th birthday! We were so lucky to be able to celebrate his birthday with my sister Erin and our friends Jared, Melanie, and Brett who all came to stay with us for the Labor Day weekend!

Saturday we all went whitewater rafting on the Upper Nolichucky River in Erwin, Tennessee. Thanks to the heavy rains we had last week the river was absolutely at it's best! This trip consisted of 10 miles of class 2-4 rapids. Out of the four groups on the river that day I have to brag and say that our group was the only one that did not have someone fall out of the raft... unintentionally that is. Several of us became Nolichucky swimmers after being pushed out of the boat by the sneaky person sitting next to us! Jared and I took turns "riding the bull" which is when you ride on the very front of the raft while going over a rapid... extra style points were earned by throwing our arms up when we crossed the waves. Needless to say we all had a great time. Unfortunately we weren't brave enough to try taking the camera on the river with us, so the only pictures we have were taken after we got back and got cleaned up. Here's a picture of our group with our guide John (in the red shirt) standing in the middle.


Sunday we decided to wear out our lower bodies as we had worn out our upper bodies rafting the previous day. We all went biking down the Virginia Creeper Trail. The scenery was beautiful as usual. I think by the end of the day we were all wishing we had padded biking shorts like Jared wore.

We rounded off the weekend by having a few drinks on the newly revamped patio, catching up with each other, and recovering from all of the strenuous activity over the past two days. All in all it was a great way to spend the holiday weekend! Too bad it's back to work tomorrow.