Last of the activities before Christmas...

After we laid the wreaths at Arlington we had some friends over for a Holiday meal. I was having a bit of holiday cooking withdrawal...we traveled this year for Thanksgiving and we are traveling again for Christmas...so I need a cooking fix. So we invited a few of our close friends over (about 12 or 13 people) and had a wonderful meal.

We don't have a lot of pictures because we were all too busy eating and visiting to remember to take too many pictures. But, Asher loved the train table as did all the other kids...Tim, Daniel, Micah and Ava...we just failed to take pictures of everyone...we'll do better next time!!

We had a couple of new friends join us...David and Ronnie. They are young soldiers from Ft. Meade, they are both from Alabama and they are attending church with us. We enjoyed spending some time with them.

It was just a house full of extended family and it was great!! We love all you guys!!

Then on the 19th Jerry took me to see the Nutcracker at the Warner Theater! It was fabulous!! We don't have many pictures from that either...but they won't allow pictures so we did the best we could...one on the outside and one on the inside...may not have many pictures but we sure had a good time!!

Last but certainly not least was a night with Jim Brickman!!! It was his Holiday show so you know it was great!!

Jim had Tracy Silverman with him again and...

...Mark Masri. Anne Cochran was there too but we didn't get a good picture of her...too many fans around her!! This was a group of hugely talented people and it made for a very lovely evening.

So, hopefully have have got everyone caught up on the before Christmas events...we have one more hurdle to get over at work...the annual Christmas breakfast, where we feed 300+ people in our headquarters spaces...it's a little hectic at times but it can be done. This will be our 3rd time to prove it that we can make it happen!! So, wish me luck...tomorrow is the big day (23 Dec) and after this it will be on to the Christmas travels. I will have lots of blogging to do when we return!! So, to all our friends and family - have a wonderful holiday...Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!!! Be safe and enjoy time with your family and friends...Jerry and I plan to!!!

Laying Wreaths at Arlington

On the 13th of December we went to Arlington to be a part of the laying of the Christmas wreaths. Arlington is a very special place just on a regular day, but if you ever have the opportunity to be a part of this activity I would highly encourage you to do so. We were there very early, at around 6:30 am. The state police from Maine escorted the semi trucks all the way from Maine to Arlington. It was a very touching sight to watch as those big trucks came through the cemetery...

This is a picture that Jerry took before...

This is a shot of the crowd before we started...they estimated that there were about 3,000 people that came out to help.

This is the line, waiting to get the wreaths...everyone was there for different reasons. There were three brothers that stood in front of us (their ages from about 60 to 75), they were there because they had a brother buried there. There were folks of all ages, young and old...the Georgetown Football team was there, there were boy scouts and girls scouts, families, young soldiers were there to help. It was just a great event...I think the pictures speak for themselves...

It was a very special day for us, a day that made us think about real sacrifice, that made us thankful, made us feel humbled and made us so very proud to be an Americans.

Tayden's Christmas Program

Our next adventure was going to Tayden's first Christmas program. Jerry and I both were able to fly out to see it. He was really cute and he did a great job!! We were very happy to be able to be a part of the fun!! We love you guys!!

Trip to NYC w/ Jenny

Well, I feel like I am always behind with the blogs anymore...but there just seems to always be something going on which keeps me from sitting down in front of the computer!! So...back to the catch up...the first weekend in December Jenny came up...she and Jerry started off the weekend with a father/daughter day in DC. I think they had a great day, saw some neat things and just enjoyed the time together. Then the next day...

It was off to New York City!! We left on the bus at about 6:30 am...it was a fun bus ride and once we got there we had to start the day with a New York bagel!!! Boy was it good...then Jenny had to talk a street vendor into giving her a great deal on a hat (it was really cold!). That talent came in handy later when she got some more great deals from street vendors...

Then we spend the day looking around, doing a little shopping (with about a million of our closest friends).

We had a late lunch at Planet Hollywood and after taking in a few more sights we got back on the bus and headed back home...it was a great day! We are really glad Jenny was able to come up and go with us!!

Thanksgiving in Idaho

Well, we got to spend Thanksgiving in Idaho this year. It was great to get to spend some time with the family out there.
We gave Mom an early Christmas gift...a digital picture frame with pictures of all of us...she thought that was pretty cool.





Then there was the opportunity to get to play with Devon...he is really growing and talking and keeping Christy very busy!!

There was the ever important eating and with two growing teenagers in the house you had to grab food fast!!

But as you can see there was plenty for everyone.

This is Mom's new place, it is really nice and just the right size for her. We helped her get a few things done...we got her Christmas tree up and Jerry put some shelves in her garage so she could reach things a little better.

We took a drive out to Christy's one afternoon and Devon had to take our picture. He sees his Uncle Jerry with a camera all the time, so he is pretty sure that is the normal way to be!!

The trip was over way too quick and we had to head back to the beltway...but we both feel very blessed that we were able to make the trip and spend time with family. We love you guys and miss you a lot.

A Night With Jim Brickman

As most of you know I have been trying to play catch up with the blog entries. Well, this is the one that finally catches me up. Jerry and I got to go to a Jim Brickman concert on Saturday night. We were lucky enough after the concert to get to spend a few minutes with Jim. Jerry was able to share with him how much his music had meant to him as he was deployed to some very far away and not so pleasant places. It was a very nice evening with a equally nice ending. Thanks to Jim Brickman for all he does to support out troops as they serve around the world.

Our New York Get Away...

Let the New York Adventure begin...I am not sure where to start with this one except from the beginning...we boarded the train at BWI and off we went...

Everything was wonderful, from our hotel to our first walk in Central Park.

Lady Liberty...

The beautiful views...

We shopped...

There were taxis everywhere!!

We ate fresh bagels everyday and boy, were they good!

We saw the Rocketts Show, from the 1st row!! What a great show!!

We walked some more in Central Park. We did more than our fair share of walking, but what a wonderful weekend it was!

Of course we had to do the carriage ride through the park, the views were beautiful...

A self portrait in the carriage...

This is the fountain from the movie "Ransom"...

This was just a very pretty picture that Jerry took in the park...

There was so much more that we did and I would love to post all 500 pictures that Jerry took, but the blog would probably explode, so at least you get a little taste of the wonderful sights we were able to see. Then after a magical weekend it was time to go home. So we left our cozy hotel on the Upper West Side and headed on the Subway back to Penn Station for the train ride home. New York is not somewhere where I think I would want to live but it sure is a wonderful place to visit for a long weekend. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it, especially if you go with that someone special!!