Four years ago, Stacy made me the happiest man alive when she and I were married in a small church in Lexington, NC.

The last four years have been the happiest of my life, and I am so happy to have Stacy, Brianna and Jacob in my life. It seems like it was so long ago that we were married, yet it also feels like time goes by so fast.

Thank you Stacy for always being there for me, and I know we will always be there for each other for a very long time to come.

P.S.
I'm still waiting for that 'I will obey' part of Stacy's vows to come true.. I'm sure it will some day!

Okay, I understand that Hurricane Ike puts pressure on the oil companies with refineries being shut down temporary, or chances of being shut down (I'm still not clear of whether they were or not yet)... however, I think making anywhere from .40 - over $2.00 increases within 24 hours or less (!) fits the "price-gouging" theory.




(taken in Troy, NC on September 12, 2008)

Update:

A report from our local news at 10pm tonight stated that several gas stations did indeed run out of gas today, and spokespersons for the two oil pipelines that supply gas to the Piedmont Triad said they are operating on a reduced rate. Apparently the Colonial Pipeline runs from Houston through the Southeast U.S., into Greensboro, N.C. and up the East Coast. The Plantation Pipeline runs from Louisiana runs through Greensboro and north into Virginia.

On another note, (at no surprise really), a large portion of Texas (where the storm will actually hit (!), is staying steady with gas prices around 3.50 - 3.65

Even with extremely warm temperatures today, Stacy and I ventured out to take Brianna and Jacob to the Winston Salem Air Show. It is pretty safe to say that although we are all sunburned now, both children really enjoyed watching all of the airplanes flip and do tricks in the air. Of course, they also loved the rock climbing, power jumping and other attractions too.

After waiting for what seemed like eternity for Jacob, he finally lost his very first tooth. Knowing that everyone else his age has lost at least one tooth, Jacob was really beginning to question this entire ordeal. Much to his surprise, he lost his bottom front tooth during breakfast this morning, without a clue that he even had a loose tooth! For him, the biggest concern is whether the tooth fairy still visits "even if you don't have the tooth." Yes Jacob, the tooth fairy will still come.

Wow, I didn’t realize it had been so long since we updated this blog. I guess that goes to show that I haven’t kept up with the “online world” lately. I’ll try to update with the latest going on with our family in this one post, but be prepared for a very long post!

Brianna and Jacob returned to school last Monday. I honestly think I was the one who was most nervous. They were not only going to a new school, with new teachers and making new friends, but on this very same day – they were going to start a new daycare after school. All summer, they had attended summer camp at the YMCA. We already discovered that Jacob wasn’t adjusting well because of his inability to adjust well to large crowds. We were informed that when school started, they would actually not only be with the same group of 75+ kids, but an additional 150-200 kids! I immediately began looking for other locations for after school care. They are now attending a location that only has 35 kids – this is so much better for Jacob and Brianna is really enjoying the smaller environment as well. Needless to say, both children adjusted very well the first day and Brianna talked non stop the evening of her first day. Jacob had very little to say but at least he didn’t refuse to go back the next day!



We are in the process of a lot of projects around our new home. Hopefully we will remember to take pictures as we progress. I am sure we won’t be completely finished until spring time next year (or later!) but I think we will be pleased once everything is finally finished. By the way, if anyone knows of any tips to keep fingerprints and other marks off of walls, please share! It has only been 3 months since these walls have been painted and I am already seeing the marks – ugh! Maybe that is just my OCD of cleaning coming out of me but still…it’s driving me crazy!

We are very excited to know that our cruise is less than 150 days away now – 141 to be exact! For now, our concerns are just focused on whether these not so nice storms do any damage or not to the Bahamas. I’m sure they can do a lot of repairs and it would look a lot better by January, but I am guessing we may want to rethink where we go if any of the major storms would happen to do any massive damage there.

Speaking of storms, North Carolina is in danger of two that I know of currently. Hanna, which is supposed to arrive sometime Friday night into Saturday morning, should hit land around our coastal line. However, we are being told that with the way that this particular storm has changed so much, they aren’t taking anything for granted. For now, we should just see a lot of rain and some wind. (Really thinking positive here!) In the instance that the storm would move any closer to Raleigh or further west, we could see a lot more damage in our area. At this point, it is so hard to tell. I will say I don’t see us in any direct danger, but if the storm path would change, we could very well see damaging high winds and flood levels of rain. Ike, a very stubborn storm (ironic? lol – sorry Isaac!) seems to be a bit more powerful currently but is still so far away that there is absolutely no way in telling which direction it will go really. The professionals seem to think it could possibly follow the same path as Hanna but aren’t 100% positive just yet. The one thing that I am concerned about is that I hear the weather men compare these storms and their paths to Hurricane Hugo – really not a storm we like to compare things with!)

Am I the only one that is already thinking of Christmas shopping? I would really like to be finished by Thanksgiving this year, sooner if possible. I thought Brianna would be really hard this year but she has actually given me a two page wish list. Two pages!?!?