Fall Fun and Ethan's First Halloween!

    It's been about four weeks since the last post, my computer's HDD is almost completely full, so I've been trying to use Rebecca's laptop more, part of the reason for the family blog lacking an update in a while.
In the last few weeks:
We went to a pumpkin patch and bought a few pumpkins, one large, a few small(none are carved...STILL)!

(click photos to enlarge)

Ethan dressed up as a monkey for his first Halloween:

     Ethan's had two more teeth break the gum line and are showing on the top! Six months, four teeth!  JUST today, November 19, 2009, Rebecca saw TWO MORE top teeth showing, making the total now six!  Getting a picture of the top teeth has proved rather difficult, so we are going to work on it tomorrow and see if we can get some funny pictures of them.
     Ethan had his six month doctor appointment, another visit, and he's doing fine...I'll get the data sheet from Rebecca and type up his "statistics".
     I(Scott) made a doctor appointment for a diabetic checkup.  My HBA1C(hemoglobin A1C) was 6.1, which the doctor said was, "near non-diabetic" levels...below 6.0, they consider non-diabetic levels.

     Rebecca entered her lab, in a hospital Halloween contest, and won FIRST PLACE!

(click the photos to enlarge, make sure to try and read the lab's slogan)

     Our friends Joel and Izabella had their first child, Kaleb, on October 30th.

     Our friends Nathan and Miranda visited us over the weekend and met Ethan for the first time.  Like our typical visits, we stayed up late, drank LOTS of coffee, played games, talked, watched movies, ate great food, and on Saturday we drove out to a mall and looked around for a few hours.

 

                                   


                        

A Busy, but Fun Weekend!

Friday, October 16th:
We packed up around noon on Friday and headed out to the NC State Fair.  We arrived a little after 1pm and met up with one of Rebecca's coworkers.  We enjoyed walking around and just eating food!
This year's list of "Fair Food" split between us:
Deep Fried Pecan Pie
Deep Fried Double Cheese Burger
Maple Syrup Cotton Candy
Roasted Corn on the Cob
Mangeroon Candy Apple
Two Peanuts
Italian Sausage

(Ethan at the NC Fair)

(This was an edible cake or something on display at the fair)

After getting back from the fair that afternoon, we went to Joel's and Izabella's house for dinner, and Richard and Melinda were there as well.

Saturday, October 17th:

Saturday, we woke up and loaded into the car around 9am and headed towards Charlotte for the Carolina Renaissance Festival.  It was about a two hours drive to the CRF, and Ethan slept almost the entire way.  The weather was cold(in the 50s), so we made sure Ethan was layered with many clothing items, and topped it off with his costume we bought him for CRF.  His costume was extremely popular with random people walking around, and we kept getting comments like, "Ohh look, a baby dragon!"  There were about six random people that asked us if they could take his picture, and of course we said yes(this made me think about setting up a dragon picture shop next year kids!).

We stayed at the CRF from about 11:30am until 4:30pm and arrived back home around 7pm.  We were pretty tired from all the traveling on Friday and Saturday.

(Pirate, Princess, and Dragon)

(Princess and Baby Dragon)

Family Portraits: For Expecting or New Parents, What to Expect

The question: Would it be more cost effective to take family portraits and purchase the prints from the portrait studio, or would it be more cost effective to take family portraits and purchase the image rights on a CD, allowing you to print your own pictures?

Rebecca and I were blessed with our first child, Ethan, in April this year. When Ethan was almost four months, we scheduled to have family portraits taken at a portrait studio, in one of the larger retail merchandise stores, because we had received a coupon for 40% off.

Before we arrived, we had decided on a picture package, which would include 14 portrait sheets and the cost of the package was $169.99. I was thinking we would spend right around $100 after the 40% discount was applied.

We arrived, not really knowing what to expect, other than to wear similar colors. We took our photos, then the photographer told us she would upload the photos and show them to us, so we could make decisions on what photos we liked.

I left at one point to go change Ethan's diaper, while Rebecca and the photographer continued looking through the pictures. I came back from the diaper changing and they were at the end of going through the photos.
The photographer showed me the choices, by flipping through the photos saying things like, "You're getting 2-5x7s, 1-8x10, 4-3.5x5s, 8 wallets..." and she was saying it fast, like she was auctioneer almost, while flipping through the photos on the computer just as fast it seemed. I just nodded my head and said something like, "Sounds good!"
The photographer then ended by saying how we could have all our photos on a CD, and we would have the copyrights to print whatever we liked and even put the pictures on the internet to share with our friends and family. At this point, our total had crossed a certain price range, so the Image CD would, "Only cost us $29.99."

Well, one dirty diaper changing and about twenty minutes later, we were checking out for a grand total of $253.86($271.00 after tax). $253.86 was with a 40% discount, the regular price would have been $384.84! We had purchased the Image CD, the initial package we had agreed upon, and 10 photo sheets in addition to the original package as well.

"How did you go $150 over, your original package estimate of around $100?", you may be thinking. After deciphering the receipt AND reading all the fine print in the photo pamphlet, I started to see how the price added up.

The initial portrait package we had decided on, included 14 portrait sheets for $169.99. We ended up with 20 photo sheets, but were charged for 24 sheets. The reason is because, "Multi-Image enhanced portraits...equal two portrait sheets", as the pamphlet reads. What that means, is we purchased four photo sheets, that were multi-image, containing two or more photos within each picture, so we were charged for 8 sheets, when it was really only 4, making our total 24. That made us 10 sheets over the 14 included in the portrait package, and the cost of the additional 10 portrait sheets was $91.91.

(Example of a multi-image photo on top, single image photo on bottom.  Multi-image photos are counted as 2 photo sheets, even if they are printed as normal sizes)

I also didn't consider the sitting fee and the Image CD in my initial price estimate of around $100. The 40% discount did not apply to neither the sitting fee, nor to the Image CD. The sitting fee was $29.97 and the Image CD was $29.99. When you add up all the numbers, you get $253.86.

For the total of $253.86, we received:
22 - 5x7s
4 - 3.5x5s
4 - 8x10s
2 - 10x13s
1 - 10x20
8 - wallets
= 41 pictures.

At this point, you may need a coffee break.

If Rebecca and I had ordered JUST the Image CD, after shooting the photos, the Image CD would have cost us $99.99 by itself, and then we would have also payed the $29.97 for the sitting fee.
Our total without ordering any picture prints, would have been: 
$129.96 + $8.77(tax) = $138.73.
The difference we would have saved, is $132.27.

Could we have ordered 41 photos ourselves, with the same lustre finish on the photos and the 10x20 photo printed on canvas, for less than $132.27 from an online site or in a store? Also, could my wife and I have edited and created multi-image photos that looked nearly as good as the ones from the studio?

Below, I've compiled a brief list some popular websites people recommend for printing photographs, and the amount it would cost to print our 41 photos.  Only one website had ALL the sizes we originally purchased, others didn’t.  Some websites offered a lustre finish on photos, some didn't.  It should be noted with the orders below, it’s assumed we are able to reproduce our own multi-image photos like the studio.

MPix.com is only site I've found that has all of the same sizes, lustre finish, and choice of canvas printing for a 10x20, like the portrait studio offered. If we had ordered the EXACT same order from MPix.com, as we had from the studio, our total would have been:
$99.79(pictures) + $5.95(S&H) = $105.74.

Using MPix.com, we would have saved $26.53.

Shutterfly.com was the next site I tried.  The first thing I noticed was that Shutterfly.com didn't have the 3.5x5, 10x13, or 10x20 size prints. Also, I didn't see an option for lustre finish on Shutterfly.com. I priced 41 pictures on Shutterfly.com, using picture sizes as close to the missing sizes as possible. Instead of 3.5x5, I used 4x6. Instead of 10x13, I used 11x14. Instead of 10x20, I used the 16x20. For the 41 pictures ordered off Shutterfly.com, the total would have been:
$74.41(pictures) + $12.47(S&H) + $6.73(tax) = $93.61

Using Shutterfly.com, we would have saved $38.66.*

Snapfish.com is another site I tried.  As with Shutterfly.com, Snapfish.com doesn't offer the lustre finish and the 3.5x5, 10x13, or 10x20 size prints weren't available either, and I substituted those again: Instead of 3.5x5, I used 4x6. Instead of 10x13, I used 11x14. Instead of 10x20, I used the 16x20. For 41 pictures off Snapfish.com, the total would have been:
$58.09(pictures) + $8.44(S&H) + $5.16(tax) = $71.69.

Using Snapfish.com, we would have saved $60.58.*

Costco.com was the last site I tried. Costco is a warehouse club, that requires a yearly membership of $50 to use the stores services. Costco.com, like Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com, didn't offer all the sizes, but it does have lustre finish. If you are already a member at Costco, ordering prints from Costco.com is the cheapest site I've found for prints.  I again substituted picture sizes: Instead of 3.5x5, I used 4x6. Instead of 10x13, I used 11x14. Instead of 10x20, I used the 16x20.
Assuming you're a Costco member, for 41 pictures the total would have been:
$27.81(pictures) + $1.88(tax) = $29.69.
Using Costco.com, we would have saved $102.58.*

*It should be noted, again, that the orders on Shutterfly.com, Snapfish.com, and Costco.com didn’t have the same sizes as our order from the portrait studio, only Mpix.com had the same options available.  Also, Shutterfly.com and Snapfish.com don't offer the lustre finish, from the choices I saw.  We also would have had to create our own multi-image photos, if we wanted the exact same order, which we purchased from the studio.

New Birthday, New Toys, New Pictures

New Birthday...

So, this past Saturday, October 3, was my birthday and I turned 27. Rebecca and I are debating this being the "Year of the Reverse", where instead of moving forward in years, we'll start going back down, so if that's the case, I'm now back to 25!

As mentioned in the "Bible study blog", I was surprised at our Life Group and marriage study during the week with "Happy Birthday" singing, candles in a powdered donut and candles on a cake, and a gift.

Saturday we had a baby shower at our house for some of our friends, the McMillons. After the baby shower was over, I went and picked up our dogs from PetSmart, where they had gotten baths and were out of the house for the afternoon.

Saturday evening, I opened my cards and gift I received in the mail, then I cooked one of the gifts and ate it with Rebecca. We played with Ethan, and relaxed on the couch watching a television series on DVD, that we borrowed from the McMillons, for the rest of the evening.

New Toys...

Sunday evening, Rebecca, Ethan and I loaded up in the car and drove to Lowe's Home Improvement to see if they had a mirror Rebecca had seen in their sales ad...it's a decorative

mirror for the dining room. We arrived and they had the mirror in stock, on the way home, we stopped by Wal-Mart.

Rebecca had said she wanted to see if they had something for Ethan...they did, and we got it for him.

New Pictures...

Me, Rebecca, and Ethan on my Birthday:

The gift I cooked...a loaf of bread from Zingerman's, it was really good!

I'm walking, while Ethan practices standing on my feet:

Ethan hanging out in his new toy:

The Weekly Bible Studies...

The weekly Bible studies:

On Wednesday, September 30, we went to our Life Group to watch the week's lesson from The Truth Project and discuss it with the others in our Life Group. We eat before/during the video presentation, and this week Rebecca, Ethan, and I provided the food along with the Malcolms.

Rebecca prepared some waffle mix and cut up some fruit before we left. We brought our new Cooks Belgian Waffle iron we recently purchased from JCPEnney's with us so we could cook waffles, and Jackie cooked a breakfast casserole.

The Life Group surprised me with a candle, powdered donut, and sang me "Happy Birthday".

The week's study was, Anthropology: Who is Man?.

Friday night, Rebecca, Ethan, and I went to our friends' house, the McMillons, and had dinner and our marriage Bible study. Rebecca surprised me with a cake, gift, and balloon. After eating dinner and the cake, we discussed chapter four out of Sacred Marriage.

Chapter Four is titled, "Holy Honor: Marriage Teaches Us to Respect Others".

In Life Group, a lot of the video discussed how if there isn't a God, how do people determine what evil is and also showed the problems with things taught in schools, like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

In the marriage Bible study, we discussed a chapter on respect/honor. I think it's easy for me to think I should be GIVEN respect, but it's difficult sometimes for me to remember I need to GIVE respect. I enjoyed how the book showed in the scriptures that we are commanded to respect others. It was a refreshing look at the subject of honor/respect.

How We Painted the Dining Room

We had been debating for a couple months now on what shade of red to paint our dining room. We finally decided on a shade and started the painting process last Saturday(Sept. 26). We didn't buy any primer initially, and tried one coat of paint on a wall, then decided to go get primer for the remaining walls. I primed most of the walls, and Rebecca painted them. She finished painting the dining room Friday night/early Saturday morning.

Here's a before and two after shots:

Great customer service and a new family job resume picture!

Before we went to Virginia Beach, I had mentioned to Rebecca how I would like to take "dress up" pictures with Ethan.

Well, we drove to VA Beach, and Saturday morning Rebecca went to a shop to look for an umbrella stroller for Ethan. Directly across from our hotel she saw Flashback Old Time Photos and told me about it. After lunch, we walked over and decided to take some pictures. We bought a couple of pictures, and left with them and I kept thinking after we left..."Strange, they didn't offer us a CD or anything."

Well it kept bugging me, and I ended up calling them the Thursday, September 17, after we had gotten back from the beach. I was told to call back on Friday, and speak with the manager which I did.

Long story short, their equipment was messing up, which is why they weren't offering CDs or digital copies of the pictures....BUT, the manager downloaded the pictures to a Compact Flash card, took it home, then burned the pictures to a CD and mailed them to us(he even included the memory card for safe measure in case the CD didn't burn correctly)! The package arrived on Friday, September 25.

Yes, we did pay for it, but the manager didn't have to do it and he didn't even act like it was a big deal and I greatly appreciated him taking his time to do it for us.

If you're ever at Virginia Beach, and looking to take some "Old Time Photos", I highly suggest going to Flashback Old Time Photos. If you stop by, say hello to Jay for us. They have two locations on Virginia Beach:

2018 Atlantic Avenue

1702 Atlantic Avenue

So, what pictures did we take?

With all the talk of a down economy and very little job security these days, we decided to create a family job resume portrait.

Our new family job may soon be off the coast of Somalia.

Random Happenings of the Last Two Weeks!

My parents and grandma left NC on Tuesday, September 15. Their flight was a late afternoon flight on Tuesday. Before they left on Tuesday, my mom and grandma taught me how to play the card game, Shanghai Rummy, which was fun.

Rebecca, Ethan, and I went out to the Greek Festival in Raleigh,On Saturday, September 19. There was live Greek music, people dressed in Greek clothing doing Traditional Greek Dancing, and lots of Greek food. I(Scott) had the Greek meal, mousaka, which is a layered eggplant dish. Rebecca had lamb kabobs, I think... We also shared baklava for our dessert. The music was pretty loud, so we didn't stay very long with Ethan.

Scott and Ethan at the Greek Festival.

Mr. Ethan looks like he is wondering what the loud noise was.

Rebecca, Ethan, and I went to Michael's(the craft store) and bought a frame for one of the family portraits and then we walked down to Barnes & Noble. This was on Monday, September 21.

While we were at Barnes & Noble, we put Diana Gabaldon's new book, An Echo in the Bone, on hold for Rebecca. Rebecca and I then each ordered a Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

This was the first of two strange events while ordering food during the last two weeks. We asked for the seasonal Pumpkin Spiced Latte, expecting it hot, not cold or frozen, and somehow the drinks were prepared blended and iced...we just looked at each and laughed about it, not saying anything to the guy that fixed them for us and we enjoyed them cold.

Later in the week, I went to pick up the book we had reserved for Rebecca and while I was out, I stopped by Panera Bread to pick us up supper. We both got a "You Pick Two" meal, with half a sandwich and a half order of soup. I ordered their black bean soup only to get home and end up having potato soup instead...again, I enjoyed the potato soup, and didn't call to complain or anything. I just find it odd how it happened twice in one week of ordering food items, that the orders ended up slightly different somehow.

So, the questions are...should I have said something, but just taken what I had, or said something and made them fix it right? Or just enjoy the food that we ordered like we did? What would you have done?

Sacred Marriage

Over the period of the last two years, we've had the privilege of reading and going through several marriage books and studies with some of our friends.

I(Scott) would say the purpose we are doing these studies, isn't because our marriage is struggling, but because we want to keep our marriage on the right track with Biblical insight. Reading different authors' opinions on the topic of marriage, with a Biblical backing, is a way we have found to help us in that area.

Some of the books and studies we've been through are:

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Two Becoming One by Don and Sally Meredith

Cinderella Meets the Caveman by David E. Clarke

The Book of Hosea (from the Old Testament in the Bible)

Each book or study has had things we agree with, and things we disagree with, but we've enjoyed reading them and discussing them together and taking them as an opportunity to work on our marriage together.

Right now, Rebecca and I are having the privilege to read through the book, Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, with some of our friends. We are reading one to two chapters each week for discussion, and so far we have read and discussed the first three chapters of the book. Sacred Marriage has become my favorite marriage book, even though we are only a few chapters into it right now.

Have you read any marriage book(s) or been to any seminar(s) that encouraged you on where to keep the focus of your marriage? If so, we would love to know what those have been. If you have any questions about any of the books/studies we've been through, feel free to ask us about them and we'll gladly give our opinions on them.

Virginia Beach!

My parents and grandma flew up on September 11th and we rented a van, and loaded it up then traveled up to Virginia. On the trip up, we dropped my grandma off at my Uncle Steve's house near Richmond, VA and ate supper with them.

Then Rebecca, Ethan, my parents, and I continued on from my uncle's house Friday night, and arrived at our hotel on Virginia Beach a little after 10p.m.!

We stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites Oceanfront, right on the boardwalk(not really boards as it's actually paved!?).

We stayed three nights, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and checked out Monday morning.

The hotel had a "free deluxe continental breakfast" every morning that we ate, but we would go out for lunch and dinner.

Saturday morning right outside the hotel, along Atlantic Avenue, there was a Shriner's parade and my dad went and watched that for a little while, and my mom and Rebecca went looking at some shops. I stayed in the room with Ethan while he was trying to take his morning nap.

Here's a run down of our events:

Friday: Checked in around 10p.m.

Saturday: Ate breakfast around 9a.m. at the hotel.

Saturday after lunch at SUBWAY, Rebecca and I took "old time photos" with Ethan at a shop right across from our hotel, the pictures should be uploaded soon.

Saturday afternoon, pawpaw stayed in the room with Ethan while he was attempting another nap. Rebecca, my mom, and I went walking along the boardwalk...the walk back is where I decided to get low bloodsugar...I can count on one hand how many times in five years this has happened and of course it would happen when we get to the beach! Two cokes and about 20 minutes later I was fine, and we continued our walk.

Saturday night we drove out to Captain George's Seafood Restaurant because we had heard from the workers at the hotel, as well as a lady when we were leaving the hotel, that it was, "REALLY GOOD!". It was a huge buffet, and I was able to get crab legs for the first time in a long time, but it wasn't as good, in my opinion, as what everybody was saying. If you ever go to Virginia Beach and people are recommending Captain George's...just know it's like a typical buffet, with some seafood though.

Sunday: Sunday morning we ate breakfast, then decided to go to visit the Cape Henry Lighthouse. After not knowing where we were going for an hour, we finally discovered the location...which was only 10 minutes away from our hotel!

We grabbed lunch at McDonald's on the way back to the hotel.

Sunday afternoon, my aunt, uncle, two cousins and grandma came over from near Richmon, VA and spent the afternoon hanging out at the beach. They left after supper, which was at Angelo's By The Sea. After supper, we went walking down the baordwalk and took some photos by some of the sculptures along it.

Monday: Packed up, ate breakfast and checked out around 9:30a.m. and headed back home.

The Five Year Flashback

This is a work in progress...

July 10, 2004: Rebecca and I were married in Louisiana!

July 11-17, 2004: Honeymooned in Miami, Florida on Miami Beach!

August 2004: Involved in a car accident where a woman rear-ended us,

while we were sitting at a red light.

October 3, 2004: My 22nd Birthday, the day we picked up our second pug, Barret.

November 2004: First Thanksgiving together as a married couple

December 2004: First Christmas together being married

January 2005: Made a trip to North Carolina, so Rebecca could interview at two hospital locations to decide on an internship to finish her degree. We stayed with our friend Nathan in South Carolina and were introduced to his "friend" Miranda. We also watched Napoleon Dynamite for the first time EVER, with Nathan and Will.

May 18th/19th: May 19th was the release of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, so we had a Star Wars party at our house on May 18, with food and friends...then we all traveled together to the movie theater to watch the midnight showing. Rebecca and I dressed up for the movie, along with two other friends, S. Breland and Eddie.

May/June 2005: Rebecca was accepted at both hospitals she interviewed with, but decided that Winston Salem was the better fit. We packed up the house with the help of friends and family, and hit the road for North Carolina. This time, we had everything with us, not knowing where we would be moving in Winston Salem. We stayed at our friend's, Nathan, again in South Carolina, until we found a house to rent in Winston Salem...this was the crazy trip where we proved ourselves idiot pet owners(just ask our dogs and they'll tell you what happened, they actually lived to bark about it).

July 2005: I started working at Best Buy in Winston Salem, Rebecca was working at Johnny Carino's about 40 minutes away from our house, right outside of Charlotte, she transferred from Louisiana to the location.

July 10, 2005: Our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary!

October 2005: Miya had her first, and only, litter of puppies...seven total, five survived and we kept one, Lili.

December 2005: Laying in bed one night, I smelled smoke, looked out the kitchen window to see flames coming from a house in the neighborhood. The house was lost, but everybody got out without injury.

July 10, 2006: Our SECOND wedding anniversary.

July/August 2006: Packed up our entire house by ourselves and loaded it onto a moving truck, then unloaded it into a storage unit...talk abour horrid!

August 2006: Cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel

August 2006: Moved from Winston Salem, NC, to Carrboro(Chapel Hill), NC where Rebecca started working at the University of North Carolina Hospital

October 10, 2006: Rebecca took me to the Nintendo Fusion Tour concert in Winston Salem, NC, where we heard Relient K(among other bands) and were able to play the Wii before it was released.

November 2006: Drove to Columbia, SC to try and camp out with our friend Nathan, in order to buy a PS3 and sell it Ebay...we were successful in driving to Columbia, but we were not successful in buying a PS3 as the lines had already started the Friday night we showed up.

June 9, 2007: I was a groomsman in Nathan and Miranda's wedding in Columbia, SC.

September 30, 2007: An entire apartment building, in our complex, burned to the ground.

October 2007: Went to Washington D.C. for my first time ever. Had a great time with Rebecca and my mom and dad.

November 6, 2007: Involved in a car accident, another person I knew! My car and her car were totaled.

November 2007: Visited family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.

January 2008: Started looking at houses with Rebecca.

April 2008: Signed papers/initial contract on house. Visited family in Lousiana and celebrated Rebecca's b-day with family.

July 10, 2008: Our 4 year wedding anniversary was spent driving to a car auction in Greensboro, NC, trying to find me a car! We did get back into town and went to downtown Chapel Hill and had some hot chocolate with cayenne pepper from a cafe.

July 18, 2008: Closed on the house and moved into it that night.

July 2008: Received a 'free' car from our friends', Will and Jenna, neighbor. A 1993 Toyota Corolla, nicknamed Oreo.

August 10, 2008: Rebecca told me I was an expectant Father...

August 15, 2008: Traveled to Charlotte, NC with Rebecca and met Nathan and Zach, to watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars on opening night.

September 2008: My family, mom, dad, Wayne, Heather, and Truett, all flew up and visited us.

October 2008: Rebecca's mom and grandma flew up and visited us.

November 2008: Rebecca's dad came up for Thanksgiving.

January 2009: Flew down to Louisiana and visited with family, Rebecca's mom had a baby shower planned, and it went extremely well and Rebecca was surprised because she had no idea it was planned.

April 2009: Crazy, awesome month! I was diagnosed with MRSA, two weeks before our son was due. I was on antibiotics, and had three visits to the clinic...then was given the clear. Rebecca was diagnosed with some sort of bacterial infection, and she was put on antibiotics as well.

Our son, Ethan, was due on/around April 15th...he decided he would be like his mom and dad are going everywhere and be late.

April 27, 2009: Went to the hospital for induction, a day of Pitocin induction, with very little(if any results).

April 28, 2009: Morning started early, with more Pitocin for Rebecca. Our son, Ethan Alexander Mullins, was born at 9:41p.m. this night!

May 30, 2009: Ethan's first trip outside of the house(other than to doctor's visits). Trip to the mall to visit the Lego store's grand opening weekend.

June 2009: Ethan's first time flying. Flew to Louisiana for my PawPaw Pete's funeral.

July 10, 2009: Five year wedding anniversary!

July 2009: Mrs. Christine and Cara(Ethan's cousin) flew up and visited us for a few days. We had fun and actually discovered Pullen Park in Raleigh.

September 2009: My parents and grandma flew up. Rebecca, Ethan and I, along with my parents, went to Virginia Beach for a few days.