Whitewater Rafting

Today we returned to Birmingham from a great weekend in the north Georgia mountains with Brad and Lindsey.

We arrived late on Friday after a long weeek of work for Cayce to our rented cabin. After a few hours of sleep we headed to the Ocoee River in Tennessee. We did a full river whitewater rafting trip that lasted 6 hours. Part of the trip covered the whitewater kayak course from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Jason fell out of the raft on highest class rapid of the river. It was scary for Cayce to watch but everything turned out fine and it was a great day.

On Sunday, Brad and Lindsey had to head back to B-Ham so they could get back to work. In the afternoon Cayce and I went for a hike to a huge falls and ate some great BBQ at Poole's. We went to this BBQ place because it looked interesting and when we walked up we found out that some people that we go to church with here in Birmingham (3 hours away) own it and work it on the weekends. Pretty small world.

It was a fun weekend all around. I love getting to see all the different places that are in this land of ours.

Catching Up

Well, it has been 4 months since we last posted and we have kept ourselves busy! Here are some of the highlights:

Jason's roommate from Wisconsin, Eric Fry, was married in May. The wedding was held in Beaver Creek, Colorado and we had an amazing time. It snowed on Saturday while we were hiking up the mountain and it was beautiful.

Immediately upon returning to Birmingham from Colorado, we started packing for our 5 year anniversary trip to Hawaii. Once again we went to Kauai and stayed in the same condo complex as we did on our Honeymoon. Kauai was just as beautiful as we remember and we relaxed and did a few things that we missed on our first trip.

We did a lot of relaxing on secluded beaches (Jason read 5 books and Cayce actually read 2!).

We hiked a few different times including a 7 mile round trip hike along the Na Pali coast. There

were some really scary sections, but we survived.

I also tried my hand at boogie boarding!

In addition to the trip to Kauai, we were able to go to Jason's friend Jerry's wedding on Oahu. The ceremony was beautiful, and the setting for the reception was out of a postcard. In addition to the fun we had surrounding the event, we were upgraded to the corner penthouse suite of the JW Marriott. It was truly stunning.

In June, we drove to the south eastern part of Alabama to Lake Eufala. Cayce's sister Lindsey and her husband, Brad, own a lake house and they invited us for the weekend. We always have a great time with them and Preston provided lots of entertainment, as usual.

1st Birthday AND 1st Sermon

It is still hard to believe that the babies are ONE! Preston turned one on February 20, and Logan turned one on February 25. We had a party for them on Saturday, February 27. Everyone came to Birmingham for the festivities. Lindsey made them matching birthday outfits, and Brittney made them matching "smash" cakes.

Here's Gigi with her two grandbabies. This was the first time they'd seen each other that weekend. They are never too sure of each other at first. Logan, especially, is never too sure of Jason. She keeps a close eye on his every move!

Here are the matching outfits and party hats that Lindsey's friend made. They were perfectly coordinated with the outfits.

Cute family photos:

Here are the cakes after they had been "smashed". Logan LOVED making a huge mess. She even helped Preston with his cake. Preston HATED being sticky and dirty. It was kind of funny and sad at the same time.

On Sunday, Jason was asked to preach. His first sermon went really well. He spoke in front of approximately 600 people. He is so gifted, and I am so proud to be his wife!

Happy New Year! (and everything else that's been celebrated since our last post)

We celebrated Christmas in New York with Jason's family. This is the view of his parents' backyard. It snowed just before we arrived and melted the day we left. We spent lots of time with family, ate lots of food, and Jason educated Cayce on how to do the shuffle in the ice/slush. It's impossible to get to the front door of your destination (quickly) from the car in windy, freezing conditions for fear of slipping and breaking something.



Dylan and Brooklyn enjoyed Christmas morning...lots of toys!

We celebrated Christmas with Cayce's family earlier in December. Preston and Logan were cooperative enough to allow us to take pictures by the tree.

Poor Logan...she already lost something in the bottom of her purse. Like mother like daughter! Love you, Brittney!

On December 5, we ran the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon. It was such a well-organized, inspiring run. The experience of running through St. Jude's campus was something neither of us expected. We hope to be able to run it again when given the opportunity. We also walked through the famous and historic Peabody hotel and saw the March of the Ducks.

In November, Cayce and her mother took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. They stayed in a little cabin on the top of a mountain. They also drove over to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore Estate decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful (and huge). It took them two hours to walk through the estate.

Jason was a lumberjack for Halloween (and Yukon Cornelius for Christmas).

October was filled with football games. Jason went to the Red River Rivalry in Dallas. Two of his friends from high school (Brent and Jeremy) met him there as did his friend, Karl, from Austin. He also ran into his friend, Geoff, from Austin.

We also tailgated at the Alabama/Tennessee game in Tuscaloosa with Brittney, Matthew, Lindsey, and Brad.

Need a Lift?

A few weeks ago we, again, drove down to Lake Eufala in southeast Alabama to stay at Brad and Lindsey's lake house. The house was owned by Brad's father before his death. We have had a few opportunities to stay with them this summer and do not pass up the opportunity, if at all possible. We had no idea, on the 3 hour drive to Eufala, that this weekend would be so memorable.

We arrived late Friday night and spent a few hours catching up with our hosts. We then hit the bed in anticipation of a busy day of water skiing, knee boarding, wake boarding, and riding around on Saturday. Saturday morning was beautiful and after waking up and putting the boat in the water, we were off.

Cayce, our resident athlete, hops up on her skis on the first attempt and even has been making great progress on slalom skiing.

After a few attempts by me to ski, we decided to head in for lunch and recharge. After lunch and a short nap by Preston, we were back on the water. Lindsey decided to go first and was tearing it up on one ski. Then she switched to the knee board and attempted a few unsuccessful 360s. She started to get tired and I decided I was going to give it a try. I got in the water and was ready to go, but when Brad tried to crank the boat, it was dead. We were adrift. After many attempts we were trying to put our heads together about what to do and trying to stay away from the rocks on the shore. We eventually drifted into a small cove and called the sea tow boat.

One small problem entered our minds as we sat and waited on our rescuer. Dark clouds were moving toward us...fast. I checked the radar on my phone and realized that we were sitting in the path of a pretty fierce looking storm. So, being the P90Xer that I am, I jumped out of the boat with the ski rope and swam toward a dock, pulling the boat as I went. When I reached the dock, I was able to jump up on it and pull the boat the rest of the way over and get it tied down. Amazingly, on the dock, we found a battery charger. Brad hooked it up to the boat, but after letting it charge, the boat didn't turn over. At this same time, the sky opened up. It started raining so hard. The lake house that owned the dock we were on was vacant, at the time, and Cayce, Lindsey and Preston were able to wait on the screened in porch.

As they were dry and warm, the sea tow pulled up and hooked up to Brad's boat. They towed us back to the boat ramp. It continued to pour down on us the whole time and Brad and I had a good laugh. We caught a ride back to the lake house and picked up the truck and trailer. After retrieving Cayce, Lindsey and Preston from the camp we returned to the boat and were able to get it on the trailer.

We were so thankful that we were not out in the middle of the lake when we went adrift. It would have been a whole different experience with an infant who probably would have been crying. We are also so thankful that no one was at the vacant lake house because I don't know how someone would have reacted, given the events that were going on.


On Sunday, everything was back to normal. Before we left the lake the sun came out and we were able to dry out the boat. As always, when we spend time with Brad and Lindsey we come away with a story to tell.

My friend, Mary

In late July, my friend from Austin came for a visit. Mary and I became friends at church in Austin, and we have kept in touch over the past year. I took Friday off from work. We spent the day eating sushi, watching a movie, and eating dinner on the back porch. On Saturday, we went to the local farmers market, Pepper Place, then went for pedicures. Jason cooked us a fantastic dinner that night. We had seared Ahi Tuna, grilled asparagus, and spaghetti squash. We played a game of Trivial Pursuit, and Mary kicked our butts in a game that lasted about 30 minutes. On Sunday, Mary's grandparents met her in Birmingham to pick her up on the way to the beach. Thank you, Mary, for a fun girls weekend!

On another weekend this summer, we took a trip to Hot-lanta with Brad, Lindsey, Matthew and Brittney. On Saturday we went to a Braves game where we saw Chipper and the boys take on Johan Santana and the NY Mets.



After tailgating for a couple of hours, we headed into the game. It was an awesome afternoon. The weather was perfect and so was the company.

Lindsey was on the JumboTron, Matthew and Brad threw the speedball faster than me and Brad and I were finally beaten at Ladderball.

On Sunday, we ate at a famous burger joint in Atlanta called the Vortex. They were featured on Man vs. Food and Cayce is the one who wanted to go. Matthew was the most adventurous of anyone by ordering the Elvis burger. It was a 1/2lb burger with peanut butter, fried bananas and bacon.

On Monday, Cayce and I took the day off from work and joined Matthew and Brittney at a Six Flags water park. There we some great rides and the weather was, again, perfect.