Merry Christmas!

We hope you are having a great holly-day season and wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2012! We are doing well, running to and fro the past few weeks as we got ready for Christmas, and now pausing to enjoy Christmas day. Mom Emery is with us, which makes the holidays more special, and she is doing well. Jacob is enjoying the break between semesters, Megan and the boys are enjoying winter break from school, and Sue is having fun staying on the go and doing interpreting assignments here and there. Since I am off on Sunday/Monday right now I am enjoying the holidays but feel for my people that are covering the operation at work (thanks, guys!). Life is good!

Happy Holly-days!

We had a good but different Thanksgiving - Sue and the kids went to Florida to celebrate with our family (thanks, Mom and Dad, Chris and Erica, and everyone else!), while I stayed home to work. We had a Thanksgiving-style feast when they got back on Saturday, and had lots of fun with our friends that came over to celebrate with us. It was neat - they had gone to Japan for a few days and our feast was their Thanksgiving dinner! We decorated for Christmas today - the tree is up, manger scenes and lights are all over the place, and Stephen, Kevin, and I put up lights on the porch and in the front yard. We're still hoping to put out a nice manger scene in the front yard, but haven't found or made the right one yet. Hopefully we'll get it done this year :-) Hope you're enjoying the holly-days as much as we are! Drop us a line, give us a call, or stop by and see us - we'd love it!

Happy birthday, Megan!

Our daughter turns 18 today! She is doing so well with everything, from school to leadership in church to friends to family, it's awesome to see her develop in to the fine young woman she is! Way to go, Megan!

Staying busy, having fun

Sue and I are running around doing lots of stuff with the kids. We took Stephen and Kevin to the county fair a couple of weeks ago (the picture above :-), went to football games, a campout, shopping, working, reading, and doing all the fun stuff that we do to keep our family going. Whew!

Happy birthday, Michael!

My brother celebrates another birthday today!  We had a good time with him and his family down in Florida this past weekend, which was a nice treat.  He gets to celebrate while still in Florida, which is something he rarely gets to do.  Have fun celebrating you Michael! 

Happy 50th anniversary!

My parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary today! They've done a lot together over the years, and are now both in their 70s, but doing great. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Happy birthday, Kevin!

Our youngest is 10 years old today - woohoo! No more single-digit children, which is a new feeling for us. Kevin is doing great in school, and has even joined the Legos Robotics club there. He is doing well in karate, and is just fun to be around. I'm looking forward to all that he will accomplish in the future!

High school football season

We enjoyed going to the game tonight to see the band play at halftime. It was hot and muggy but good to see Megan leading her clarinets and having a good time with her friends. The boys had fun cheering and going down to play beside the stands, and it was good to see Sue walking up the bleachers after being gone for a week. Jacob is out practicing with the GSU band at the Georgia Dome, and I'm getting ready to work tomorrow. Life us good!

Blue car, yellow bathroom, a lots of fun!

We bought a used Kia Spectra this week in an attempt to save some money on gas.  With it wavering between $3.50 and $3.79 per gallon we have been spending lots of money just to go back and forth to our jobs, so we are hoping that this little car wi get great gas mileage and save us money.

It was funny, though - Sue said the only color car she didn't want was silver, but all the used cars we cod find in our price range were silver!  This one is rebuilt, and we got a good enough deal that we had enough left to paint it.  Sue picked an electric blue and it looks sharp!

She also decided to paint our master bathroom this week.  She picked a bright yellow, and after she was done painting she was afraid I would freak out because it is so bright.  My initial reaction was "What the ..." but otherwise I'm fine with it.

The kids are back in school already, and Jacob is done with the summer semester and is eager for the fall semester to start.  He'll be taking 17 hours, but some of that is marching band again and the rest of his classes look OK.

Hope things are good with you! 

It's our 24th wedding anniversary!

Sue and I decided to celebrate our anniversary in a different way this year - we went whitewater rafting. It was a lot of fun despite me being a little nervous about the whole thing. Our guide Paul was great, and enjoyed having just the two of us in the boat with him. Beautiful weather, scenery, fast class 3 and 4 rapids, and Sue even swam through one of the rapids (under our guide's supervision :-) Lots of fun!

Great trip to VT

We had a good time camping in and visiting family in Vermont this past week. It was a lot of fun seeing Herb and Bev Hodge and all their family. We got to go on a hike with Dick, Carol, and Marvin, which led to a great view of the town of Fairlee. Many thanks to all of our cousins that helped make our visit to Vermont great!

Mission trip went well, family is having fun summer

Sue and Megan made it back from Nicaragua just fine after spending two weeks down there on a mission trip. They had a great time, made some good connections, and are ready to go back! Stephen is off at summer camp with the Boy Scouts, Kevin is having fun at VBS with one of his friends, Jacob is doing well in college, and I continue to work through the weather with all those airplanes. What a fun summer!

Happy birthday, Jacob!

My first-born is 19 years old today!  He's doing well in school,  working, and having fun.  Good job, Jacob!

Happy Birthday, Stephen!

My son turns 12 today - woohoo! He is doing well in school, band, scouts, and church, and is lots of fun to be with. I have to work tonight but we are planning to take him and some of his friends to see Thor this weekend. Happy birthday, Stephen!

Good time with parents here

We've enjoyed having my parents at our house for a few days. They came up to celebrate Stephen's upcoming 12th birthday and it was a lot of fun getting to celebrate Mother's Day with the them, too! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Happy Easter!

We have had a good Easter week here. I got to go to Florida and paint one of the houses down there and generally relax and hang out with my parents, which was fun. Sue and the kids did all their normal stuff, then we had an Easter egg hunt with some friends on Saturday, and today we going to church and then just relaxing. I hope that you are celebrating our risen Savior, too. Happy Easter!

Spring Break with the Hollys!

Sue and the kids are off to south Georgia to visit Valdosta State University, the college Megan thinks she wants to go to. Jacob made it back to Atlanta after his trip to see his girlfriend, and I get to work during the Masters Tournament with all the extra traffic it brings. Life is good!

Life is good!

Thigns are going well at our house! Sue's book is up and available, Jacob is doing well in college, Megan is having a good junior year, the boys are doing well, and I am having a blast at work. We're getting in to a very busy time in our house, so we'll have to trust in the Lord as we blaze through all these things coming up...

Happy Birthday, Sue!

Sue celebrates another birthday today - woohoo! Her brother Dan is in town, so we are hoping to see him this evening. She is having a great time, doing well in interpreting, mothering, and keeping me straight. Happy birthday, Sue!