Happy Holidays. Have you ever seen the movie Parenthood? It’s a movie that came out in 1989 staring Steve Martin and a huge cast. There is a scene in the movie that totally describes how I feel right now. I think it was during a dinner scene and the Grandmother had the following dialog:

[Gil has been complaining about his complicated life; Grandma wanders into the room]

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

Life really does feel like a roller coaster right now. My Dad was recently diagnosed with Prostrate cancer. The good news is it sounds like it has been caught early and treatment will begin in a few weeks. My Dad has beat cancer before so I really feel optimistic about him beating again. My Cousin has been in the hospital for the past 14 days with a strange hand infection that multiple doctors have not been able to identify. You see people going through pain and it really makes you appreciate your health. The roller coaster had been going up the last couple of days too. At Christy's most recent doctor appointment she was told that everything looks great with the new baby. Her next big appointment is on 1/12/09. I am 99% sure we will be able to find out the sex of the baby and also look at the chambers of the heart and all that other good stuff. Wed night dinner at church was a little more special this week. After dinner all of the kids & parents built Gingerbread Houses. Here are some pictures.

So keep on enjoying the roller coaster ride it is way more fun than the merry-go-round. Merry Christmas. Love ya

Thanksgiving 2008

We just got back from a great few days off. We spent the night in Pensacola on 11/25 and enjoyed most of 11/26 with my grandparents. Nanny had apple pie all ready for us when we got there. While Palmer played with Nanny I helped Pawpaw add some music to his MP3 player. My grandparents are pretty tech savvy. Not only do they have a Netflix account, but they both have MP3 players….by the way my grandfather is 81 years young. We headed over to Spanish Fort Alabama late on 11/26 and got everything unpacked. We stayed with Christy's grandmother who also hosted Christy's Mom & Dad. As soon as the "pack and play" was set up and the bags were all in place Jerry and I enjoyed a nice cigar and 2 hours of football, golf and politics talk. Thanksgiving day was packed full of family. Tom provided the turkeys again this year. Turkey #1 was cooked on the "Big Green Egg" wow it was good…however Turkey #2 took the blue ribbon. Turkey #2 was deep fried. This method of cooking is becoming more popular and there is no doubt that word of mouth is convincing people to give it a try. I would never try to do it myself, but if you have a chance to try a deep fried turkey you should. After turkey at Christy's grandmothers house we made our way over to Fairhope Alabama to see Christy's other grandmother and that side of the family. It was a full house, everyone was in town for the week. The guys got up early to play golf while the girls went shopping for black Friday deals. I got to play a nice golf course called "Timber creek". Got off to a really slow start, but squeaked out a nice little 87. Palmer got a cold while we were away. Christy and I both think this was caused by being off of her schedule for so long. She woke up Sunday morning around 4:00 am ….so we packed up the car and headed back to Atlanta. It is so nice leaving that early there were zero cars on the road. I took some great pictures during the week. I will post some here in the next couple of days. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday. It is hard to believe that Christmas is only 3 weeks away. I better start shopping. Talk to you soon. Rick