Christmas Vacation 2010 Part 1

We have had a wonderful Christmas vacation this year! The story of this Christmas vacation starts a few weeks before Christmas. We got an email from Becky’s sister Emily, who until two days ago was a missionary for our church, was stationed in Clarksville, TN asking us to come to Clarksville for Christmas and stay with Becky’s cousin who is stationed there at Fort Campbell and we could all visit together for a few hours. Missionaries don’t usually get to see their families on their missions, so this was an unusual treat. She said that she wanted to visit with us, but we all know that she really wanted to visit with her brand-new niece. We thought we’d have some fun so we told her that we had already committed to other plans for Christmas and that we were sorry. Then we made plans with Becky’s cousin to come and visit.

Fast forward a few weeks. My last test was on Friday the 17th; it felt so nice to be done with homework for a couple of weeks. We spent the first few days just hanging around the apartment, sleeping in, watching movies, and reading books. A friend loaned me the last book in the Harry Potter series and so I spent a lot of time at the first part of the break reading it.

On Thursday the 23 we packed our bags and left for Clarksville, TN. We encountered some bad weather on the way, but arrived safely. Becky’s Aunt, Uncle, and 2 other cousins were also visiting as well, so we had a full house. We talked and played games, and drove around to look at the lights. Sophie was the center of attention for most of the time. On Christmas Eve we called to my family gathered out West and listened while my younger brother opened his mission call. He has been called to serve in the California Arcadia Mission, English speaking. We are very happy for him!

On Christmas Day Emily had scheduled a baptism for one of their investigators. She knew that her cousin’s family would be there, but she didn’t know Becky and I would be there. When we walked in the door her jaw dropped. She ran and hugged Becky and said “You lied to me!” It was a fun surprise. The baptism went well. I was even asked to give the closing prayer…in Spanish! I took a year of Spanish in college, but my Spanish has rusted a little over time. I was grateful for the chance to participate in that way. After the baptism Emily and her companions came to visit at Becky’s cousin’s house. We had a houseful! It was like a mini-family reunion in the East while the rest of our families met out West. We had a delicious meal and spent the rest of the day talking and mingling.

Christmas Vacation 2010 part 2

The next day was a Sunday, so Becky and I attended an early morning church service and then hit the road. We drove for 5 hours and stopped when Sophie had had all she could handle of driving. We spent the evening in a hotel in Sevierville, TN, which, we learned is the hometown of Dolly Parton. The next morning we went to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. We really loved the exhibits there. It was expensive, but worth the money. The videos and pictures below will show it better than I can explain it. We really like Gatlinburg, TN. It’s a neat little family-friendly vacation site. It kind of reminds me of Jackson Hole, WY, only bigger. After the aquarium and a delicious lunch at Corky’s BBQ we headed for home. This will be one of my most memorable Christmases ever I think. I really enjoyed the trip, and I’m so glad that I have my favorite traveling companions with me: Becky and Sophie.

You can see in this picture that Sophie has had about all she can take...she's ready for lunch!

Okay, now she's all better

And what
else do you need after lunch but a good nap?

Here's the whole family

Here's Sophie, burried under wrapping paper from the presents.

Christmas Vacation Part 3

This first video is of the penguin exhibit at the aquarium. The penguines were very active and energetic. It was fun to watch them swim around.

This video was taken in a long tunnel they had that ran underneath the pools. You stand on a little conveyor belt that shuffles you through the tunnel. They bring you right inside the displays! It's a really cool experience.

In this video Becky goes hunting for a horseshoe crab dinner

Sophie's Baby Blessing

Today Sophie was blessed in church; Stewart gave her a very nice blessing. We are grateful to be her parents; she really is a good baby. Sophie was blessed in the same dress I was blessed in 28 ½ years ago. It was made by my Grandma Lucille Willard. I thought it appropriate for her to wear it seeing we named her Sophie Lucille, after both me and my Grandma Willard.

The only thing that could have made this day any better would be to have our families here to experience the joy of the day with us. Since we did not have any immediate family here with us Stewart asked his colleges from school, Joe Sorber, James Bishop, and Derek Rodeback to participate in Sophie’s blessing. These three families moved out to West Virginia at the same time we did, so in a sense we have all become each other's family out here. He also had his former counselor who served with him in the Young Men's Presidency when he was first called, Doug Bogus. He and his wife were the first people from the ward that I really got to know. Shortly after we moved here the Bishop and his family had a 24th of July celebration at their home, the Bogus’s came up and started visiting with Stewart and I as soon as we got there. Since then they have become great friends to us, we feel so blessed to know them. We also had the 1st counselor in the Bishopric stand in as well, Brother Robert Williamson.

It was a great day and we are grateful to all our friends that made it special. We know our families wanted to be here and were here in spirit, thanks for thinking of us, we love all tons. Since I know you all love pictures here are some pictures from the day’s events.

The Mustache

Last month was prostate cancer awareness month, aka Movember. So in honor of the month of November and in order to raise awareness about prostate cancer, all the guys who wanted to participate at the school grew mustaches. Stewart was one of them… below are the pictures I took to document his facial hair experience. All I have to say is thank goodness its December now… I missed kissing my freshly shaven Stewart.

First half of the month

Second half of the month

We're in Trouble

Sophie found her thumb this past week, at first I thought it was just a random thing… well I was wrong! I have caught her sucking her thumb several times since, I guess we have our work cut out for us getting her to stop this bad habit before it becomes a habit… wish us luck!