New Years Update

I just realized that I never posted about our New Years.

The day before New Year's Eve, Daniel's college roommate and his family came to see us. They have a one-year-old little boy who is adorable. It was great to catch up with our old friends – staying up way too late and eating really rich chocolate mousse cheesecake while we visited.

Recipe from Blue-Eyed Bakers

New Year's Eve we went for a walk at a local park and visited Unclaimed Baggage – our guests always seem to want to make a stop here. After lunch they headed home.

It has been a long time since Daniel and I did anything extra special for New Year's Eve. This year we took Jack to Cracker Barrel. We have actually taken him to quite a few restaurants in his short life and normally he sleeps through the meal. Not this time. He got a little fussy and we discovered that he just wanted to sit in Daniel's lap so that he could watch us eat. We received really great service from our waitress... I think she just made extra stops at our table to that she could talk to Jack. When we got home we stayed up to watch the ball drop.

New Year's Day was gorgeous. We ate breakfast on our back porch and then took Jack out for his first ride on a four wheeler.

The day after New Years Jack and I headed to Nashville to spend some time with my family, including some of my extended family who had driven down from Canada and my parents. Jack is turning into quite the traveler – we had a three week span where we either had guests at our house or we were traveling to see family almost EVERY DAY.

We hope you had fun ringing in the new year.

Outdoor Adventures | 2011 edition

I spent a good part of 2011 pregnant, but that didn't stop of from having adventures. I also ran my first half marathon!


January
Snowboarding | Sugar Mountain, NC
Grandfather Mountain | Linville, NC

February
Training for Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, TN
Backpacking Trip in Sipsey Wilderness | Sipsey River National Forest, AL

March
Half Marathon Training Progress

April
Paddling the Flint River | Huntsville, AL
Walls of Jericho | Skyline Wildlife Management Area, AL
Country Music Half Marathon | Nashville, TN

May
Little River Canyon | DeSoto, AL
Rural Road Biking | Hollywood, AL
Mount Tom | Woodstock, VT

June
Highest Point in New Hampshire | Mt. Washington, NH
Quechee Gorge | Quechee, VT
Paddling Lake Sunapee | Lake Sunapee, NH
Dolphin Tour | Port Aransas, TX

July
Paddling Tennessee River from Mud Creek | Hollywood, AL
Lost Falls and Laurel Falls | DeSoto State Park, AL

September
Paddling at Lake Guntersville | Scottsboro, AL
Paddling from Bellefonte | Hollywood, AL

October
West Rim Trail | Cloudland Canyon, GA

November
We had a baby!

50 Taters

After living in north-east Alabama for the past year, I finally ate at 50 Taters. Don't get me wrong, I have tried many times to go to this local eatery but was always deterred {mostly by odd hours of operation... open on the third Sunday after the 5th Monday of the month or some such nonsense as that}.

They recently moved their location from the court square in Scottsboro, AL to the Walmart shopping center. I am a bit sad that I never made it to the location on the square as I am sure it felt more authentic, but I bet their business is increasing ten-fold now that they are located on Hwy 72.

We actually tried to go there about a week ago and were turned away because they were out of everything except cheeseburgers. How can a place known for its spuds run out of potatoes???

Anyway, today Jack and I ventured into town to meet Daniel and his co-workers for lunch and it did not disappoint. Daniel and I split a Loaded Tater with Pork and it cost less than $9 {including the tip}. I would definitely recommend that you check out 50 Taters {just know that they are closed on Monday and have some odd hours on weekends}. Also, if you go to late in the evening you might run into a situation where they are out of everything!

This year Daniel and I decided to make photobooks {using Shutterfly}
for our parents {the grandparents} of Jack. 

It included some of our favorite pictures of our little guy starting at his birth. 

These books were a huge hit {and a big surprise}. 

I love all of their faces as they opened our gifts. 

We love you all!

Word for the Year: Patience

For the past two years, instead of resolutions I have decided to choose a word that would represent a theme for the coming year. In 2010 the word was fortitude. In 2011, adaptation. Both themes proved to be fitting.

In an effort to continue this tradition, I have decided that the theme for 2012 should be patience: quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence. 

With a new baby we are learning to have patience with each other, especially when we are running low on sleep as well as patience with Jack during the times that he cries or pees or spits up on us for the umpteenth time. I have a feeling that patience will be a trait to carry us through much in the coming years. 

We will work to be patient with one another as we continue to grow in our marriage. We will face parenting with steady perseverance as we strive to raise Jack with even-tempered care. We will do our best to be diligent in our jobs – whether in the home or outside.

Words from previous years:
Fortitude {2010} ~ Adaptation {2011}

Books I read in 2011

For the last several years, I have been making the effort to read one book each week for a total of 52 books. Here is the full list of 52 books that I read in 2011. If you are interested, here are my lists for 2010 and 2009.

January

1) City of Thieves
2) A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 
3) Pioneer Woman's Cookbook
4) The God of Small Things
5) Away
6) Infidel

Febuary

7) Reading Lolita in Tehran
8) Ape House
9) Gardening When It Counts
10) A Walk in the Woods
11) Men and Dogs

March

12) The Happiness Project
13) Same Kind of Different As Me
14) Sarah's Key
15) Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
16) Out of the Silent Planet
17) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

April

18) Perelandra
19) That Hideous Strength
20) To Shield the Queen

May

21) The Doublet Affair
22) Jacob Have I Loved
23) Queen's Ransom
24) Summer of My German Soldier
25) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
26) Choosing to See

June

27) Half the Sky
28) The Thousand Mile Summer
29) The Man Who Walked Through Time
30) The Things They Carried

Jul

31) Ahab's Wife
32) The Rural Life

August

33) What the Dog Saw
34) Manic
35) A Million Little Pieces

September

36) My Life in France
37) And Baby Makes Three
38) A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for An Affair
39) Babywise
40) Gloryland
41) Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

October

42) Moby-Dick
43) My (not-so) Storybook Life
44) What to Expect When You're Expecting
45) The Imperfectionists

November

46) The Poisonwood Bible
47) Room

December

48) The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
49) The Hunger Games
50) A Christmas Carol
51) The Happiest Baby on the Block
52) Little Women

Top 10 List from 2011

We hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year! 

We are looking forward to 2012.

Our Top 10 List from 2011...

10. Learning to snowboard at age 30 is much harder than learning to snowboard at age six.
 
9. Sophie does not like bears. At all. Neither does Cheree.
 
8. There’s no reason to limit vacation souvenirs to overpriced T-shirts. Canoes make much better souvenirs, and it’s cheaper than renting one for a week.
 
7. That full moon causing labor stuff may actually be valid (or was it the morning’s kickboxing session, or the afternoon hike?)
 
6.  Packing your bags in advance for the hospital is overrated for your first child. You’ll have time after your water breaks - while your husband is finishing up grilling the steaks - before you head to the hospital.
 
5. Five minutes of cuddling with a sleeping baby can erase five hours of memories of his fussiness.
 
4. Vibrating bouncers for babies are magical.
 
3. Living close to two time zones means it takes two hours to get to Chattanooga from our house, but coming home takes no “time.”
 
2. It would seem that Christmas trees are larger in your living room than they appear to be in a 50-acre field surrounded by other large Christmas trees.
 
1. We managed to make it through another year with no trips to the ER! *We will now retire this since "no ER trips" has made our list the last 3 years!

If you are interested, here are our Top 10 List from Years Past 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | We skipped 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010