Summer!

We have had a very busy summer so far and here are a few highlights:

We went to Hilton Head the first week of June with Jimmy, Barbara, Wally, Emily, James, and Mary Elizabeth (my parents were on a cruise around the world and couldn't join us this year--they were literally riding camels and looking at pyramids!)

This is not a postcard, but if you ever go to Hilton Head and need a postcard we can give you copies of this picture.

Kelly and Maddie on the "Dolphin Cruise"Pet the cow, MaddieMaddie and I on our way to the Harbour Town poolWe stopped in Charleston, SC on our way back to visit David and Meghan Myrick and their daughter Olivia. Who would have thought that David and I would ever have daughters!After Hilton Head, Jimmy and Barbara got married in Greenville!!Then I took high school kids from Greensboro to Jasper, GA to a Younglife camp for a week. If you don't know where Jasper is, its near Dawsonville which is home to Bill Elliot-you know, awesome Bill from Dawsonville. On Monday we gave Maddie her "big girl" bed! She loved it until we left the room and then she started crying, but has slept in it great for the last three days. Maddie is going to be one great big sister.

More SNOW!!

Maddie was excited to see all the snow! Maddie in her "sled"...

Maddie came inside to enjoy some hot chocolate

And then Kelly gave her some ECU pigtails!

3...2...1...

Box+Hallway+Maddie=FUN!!

Snow! or "no" as Maddie calls it...

Maddie loves the snow and her boots!

Here she is looking out the window at the "no"

Maddie inside enjoying some of Kelly's chocolate cake and milk.

My buddy

My dog, Dakota, died last week while Kelly and I were in Memphis for the ECU bowl game. He was a special dog. I'll never forget when I brought him home to my folks' house for the first time...My dad bought me and my brother a house about a week later. I miss him a lot.

Yes I am a Pirate

Aaaargh! It has been a roller coaster season so far. That's part of the reason I haven't posted anything because I didn't want to jinx the team--apparently that didn't work. After going 3-0 and being ranked #14 in the country with wins over #17 Virginia Tech and #8 West Virginia, ECU lost the next three games including one versus the Wolfpuppies. My friend (and old Young Life kid) Jack Schultz is playing his first season as a Pirate and he is now up to date on how crazy football at ECU can be--up and down!They beat Memphis this past weekend and are now carrying a 4-3 record into a bye week. They will not play again until Sunday, that's right Sunday, November 2nd against Central Florida down in Orlando. Last weekend at the Memphis game, Kelly, my mom, Emily, and Barbara sat in the club level seats(warm and out of the rain) and my dad, Wally, and I sat in my seats(cold and in the rain) Here are a few pictures:OOne of my best friends, David Myrick, and his wife Megan were in town to visit this weekend. I got to meet their daughter Olivia for the first time. David, Megan, and Olivia are moving to Charleston! Kelly and I are so excited that they have moved back from the left coast. and... this just in...

It was just announced this afternoon, that East Carolina and Appalachain State will renew their rivalry that ended in 1979. App State will come to Greenville on September 5, 2009 to open the season for both teams. I have to admit I didn't want this game to happen, but then I remembered that NC State and UNC said the same thing about playing poor little East Carolina. So now I've changed my thinking and I can't wait for the game. I hope that all of you Appalachain fans will make the trek down the mountain to Greenville for some good times next year. This will be the first time that Kelly will be able to wear her ASU gear in the stadium in Greenville. And, we will not be having a baby in September next year in fear of missing this game. August and October are possibilities, however that might change depending on the rest of the '09 schedule.

Who let the dogs out???

These are my dogs-Dakota and Lily...and this is why they have been lying around being lazy since 3:00 this afternoon.

I fed the dogs this morning around 6:15 and headed off to work around 7:00. Kelly called me at 8:00 and told me that the dogs were missing. She drove around the neighborhood for a while and could not find them. I called the animal shelter to see if anyone had dropped them off--they didn't open until 12:00. I then called Animal Control and told them I had two dogs that were missing in the Lake Jeanette area. I called my neighbors so that they could be on the lookout. At about 1:00pm my neighbor called me at work and told me that a lady who lived on the actual lake (Lake Jeanette) had seen my dogs, so I immediately called her. She said, "yep, I saw your dogs this morning around 7:30 swimming out in the lake. They would swim for about 20 minutes, chase some ducks(that's what I'm talking about-my words-not hers), and then they would sit under the tree and take a nap. I guess they've been swimming for a few hours now. But they're not here anymore, I saw them up the street in another neighbors yard when I went to the grocery store, but come on by the house and I'll help you look for them." I left work and drove to the lady's house(which was awesome by the way--right on the lake!!) and we walked down to the lake calling for the dogs. No luck. Her neighbor came out, probably to see who was yelling in his back yard and he said, "oh you have two dogs, a black one and brown one? i saw them swimming in the lake chasing ducks and having the best of time. they would swim for 20 minutes and then lay down in pine straw to take nap. My wife and I took them to a house a few neighborhoods away and put them in the back yard." I asked him, "oh so when did you drop them off? 30 minutes ago? An hour ago?" He said, "oh no, about a month and a half ago."

So this isn't the first time the dogs have been on this little adventure. Who knows, maybe this is their weekly hang out spot. I think they are climbing the fence to get out because both gates were shut this morning.

My neighbor called me and told me that around 2:30pm Animal Control dropped my dogs off in the backyard!

As Millie Smith said, maybe my dogs were trying to tell me that the new "pond" in our back yard just isn't big enough!