Christmas Lights at Opry
Walked around the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas lights. Enjoy the pics.

 

 

 

 

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Lucy's New Hoodie
We bought lucy a pink hoodie, it says "royal fashion princess". She's not really a fashion princess. The only time she wears dog clothes is in the winter, when it's really chilly. I especially like how the hood doesn't really fit her head.

 

 

 

 

Although I haven't blogged before in the past, I've always felt compelled, but even more so recently. I was actually drafting my first post yesterday, but I've just heard about some close friend's family members that have passed away, and it kind of led me to change some things.

Kathy and I just got back from spending time with my side of the family in San Antonio. It was a great trip. For nearly the first time on a Holiday, my entire family was in the same place, it was great! And with the recent passing of some friend's family members, it makes me all the more thankful for my family, and Kathy's family. We're all a little rough around the edges, but then again who isn't. And although everyone in the fam may not always agree with each other, I am still so thankful to God for everyone one of them.

Life truly is precious, and our time on this earth is short. We live in a wonderful country, in a very unique times, and I just pray that we/I don't lose sight of what is truly important in life... God, family, friends, and positively impacting other people's lives.

I just want to say I love my family, and thanks for everything. Also, if it is on anyone's heart, please pray for my good friend Cathleen Pittman and her family. She recently lost her father to a terrible accident. More information can be found at the link:

http://obit.porterloring.com/obitdisplay.html?id=608748&listing=Current

God Bless!

-j

New Apartment
On September 12, Joe and I were finally able to move into our own place, after having lived in TN for 9 months! Could've had a baby in that time. ha! Below are pictures of the apartment before we moved our stuff in.

This is our apartment viewed from where we park our cars.

This is our front door.

Our kitchen, with the old cabinets.

The dining area.

Living room, with fireplace and addtional window.

Living room, with ceiling fan and sliding glass door to patio. There is a storage closet off of our patio.

My favorite, a walk-in closet!!! I believe Joe gets about 1/4 of the space for his clothes and shoes. :O)

The bathroom, with updated lighting and a curved shower curtain rod. Still has the old cabinets, which will be replaced at a later date.

New stove and my other favorite, a new fridge that doesn't leak water!

New dishwasher and sink.

Another favorite, a washer (see above picture) and a dryer (see below picture). Yay, no more walking to a laundry center.

Hood to Coast 2008

This past August, Joe and I flew to Portland, OR to run one of the largest relay races in the world... Hood to Coast. Check out the relay at Hood to Coast.com.Both Joe and I ran on our former employers' teams. I also had a good friend on mine fill a position on the team, due to an injury to a former teammate. It was great fun. Enjoy pics.

 

Kathy and Nicole

 

Hood to Coast "Van" (we ended up with a cozy suburban)

 

Star Wars decorated Van, complete with theme song as the van would start up the engine.

 

Kathy & Joe at Exchange 1, Joe has already run his first leg, and I was waiting to run my 1st leg.


Me before my first leg, look how happy I am.


Matt and Kathy.
One of our good friends was also running in the race and I saw him at the first exchange too.


The Finish is in sight! Here is the view of the finish line from a distance.


The Finish Line, how sweet it is.

Joe gets credit, see link below.

www.drjeffcornwall.com

4th of July at the Kangas Household The tradition is to grill out and shoot off fireworks from the yard. So my parent's were there, my Uncle's parent's were there and his Sister and her family. My other Aunt was there with her family, so we had a good sized group of family and fireworks.

 

Artisitc Photo of Mom and Me
Really, I didn't know the camera was zoomed in that close, when I went to take a pic.

 

Action shot of the family gathering. You can see the smoke from one of the fireworks they set off.

 

My Dad, like a kid in a candy store!

 

A reservior engineer should be able to figure this out!

He actually exists!
In June, I went to Dallas to visit Joe, we were able to connect with a good ol' friend of ours from college. Below are a few pics from our visit.

 

BRANDON

 

Joe, Kathy, & Brandon

 

Joe & Brandon eating some gelato! yum!

 

Brandon & Kathy eating some gelato!

Backpacking & Camping

Joe and I went on a mini-backpacking/camping trip a couple of weekends ago. It was near Nashville, so it was close enough to test out backpacking. In case we forgot anything major. We didn't, but we thought of things we'd like to have next time we go.

Lucy went with us, that was fun, she was exhausted when we got back home. The hike was 6 miles into the campground and 6 miles back to the car. She probably walked a million steps on her little paws.

Substitute Teaching

After a couple of weeks of substitute teaching, I have to give a shout out to teachers who do this every day during the school year.

I've enjoyed most of my days substituting. It really helps when you sub for a organized teacher. I've had Seniors in High School, all levels at Middle School, and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th at the Elementary level. Next week, I'll get to experience the Kindergarten kids. Let's hope they are good, b/c I have them for 3 days straight. ha!

I've had a few students try to fake an illness or injury so they can go to the nurse's office, a.k.a. get out of class pass. e.g. Had a student say he ate his spaghetti too fast at lunch and that his tummy was hurting. SO I told him to wait it out and see what happens. Well after several attemps of asking to go to the nurse, he decided that if he spit on the floor and then raise his hand to say he threw up - that maybe I would believe him and send him to the office.

Gross, he spit on the floor and his seat, so I made him wipe it up. Sure enough, when it was time to go to recess, he was feeling all better. Nice.

Tennessee Driver

About a week ago Joe and I got our TN driver's licenses. yay, we are now legal to be driving in TN. Then about 3 days later, I was hit while driving my car. A cute little old lady hit me and not the other way around. Still waiting for the police report.

Below are some pics of my lovely car. And for those of you who don't know, yes, that is the car I've been driving since I was 17!!! She still works.