Thanksgiving in Cleveland - the Sarah Show!

For Thanksgiving weekend, Garth and I went to Cleveland to spend the holiday with his sister, Amy. Garth's parents rode along with us for the long ride up north. It was great to finally see where Amy, Carl and Sarah live!

I took a ton of pictures while were there...admittedly, most of them were of our favorite niece, Sarah! Here are some of my favorites...

Miss Piggy - Sarah shows off her pigtails

"What do you mean this is YOUR phone?"

Sarah was also quite taken with my cell phone. She even dialed a couple of people - thank goodness she called my family members and not someone else!

Silly Sarah, tricks are for kids!

I don't know what Sarah is doing here, but doesn't she look all grown up?!

Sarah's Aunt Katharine (Carl's sister) came over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was great to see her again!

One of Sarah's favorite things to do was pull all of the CDs out of the entertainment center. She liked identifying the colors on the CDs. In particular, she was always searching for the blue one (notice the blue Disney CD), a green one (another Disney CD) and a pink one.

After pulling all the CDs out, she liked to stack them back up. The stack is almost taller than you, Sarah!

You've almost got it!

Sarah also LOVES for people to read books to her. She was always bringing books to anyone who was willing to read. Here she is with Aunt Katharine. Aren't her pigtails cute?

Uncle Garth reads to Sarah. I love how she's looking at Garth!

"Gee, Uncle Garth...I'm not so sure about this Cinderella"

I even got my turn reading Sleeping Beauty.

One night, we went to dinner at this great Stir Fry place called Stir Crazy. Unfortunately, Sarah made a bit of a mess on her clothes. So, we had to do a quick chang-a-roo at the restaurant. She was perfectly fine being topless at the restaurant. I snapped this quick pic before they got her cleaned up. I thought it was too cute!

I have more pictures from our trip...stay tuned for the continuation of our Cleveland adventure!

Afternoon at Arrington

Today, a group of people from our church went to Arrington Vineyards for a picnic. This was a great idea when we planned this a month ago when it was 70 degrees outside. Even last weekend, we had that temperature. Today, was a mere 45 degrees! Luckily, the deck was enclosed and we didn't freeze too badly. All in all, it was a good time despite the cold weather.

Ryan, Kim and Brian in the tasting room.

Dave and Erin in the tasting room. Wasn't the raspberry wine SOOOOO good?!?

Garth and I out on the deck.

Here's our whole group. We're looking forwad to the Christmas party next month!

Heading Home for Homecoming - Day 4

On Sunday morning, we had to go back to my parents house to pick up Bailey. My parents were kind enough to dog sit. Before going back to Nashville, we took a some more pictures of the new puppies. Here are my favorites....

Heading Home for Homecoming - Day 3

Back to Homecoming weekend...

We started the day by tailgating with Sarah and Kris' family. Kris had smoked some pork and it was fantastic! We certainly appreciate all of the work Sarah and Kris did to put the tailgate together. They have quite the setup! I wish I would have snapped some pictures of it.

While at the tailgate, our friends Brendon and Katie stopped by. It was great to see them! They told us they are expecting baby #2. Congrats to them!!

This is the beginning of the game as the team runs onto the field. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the stadium was packed - so fun!

Us at the game

We spotted my cousin Kurtis (#78) on the sidelines. Kurtis grew up a mile from my house and attended the high school that I went to. He is the first person from my high school to play Division I football in college. We're so proud of him!

The game in action...

It turned out to be a blowout. Mizzou beat Colorado 58-0. This was starkly different from my first Mizzou game. My Uncle Lee and Aunt Erin took me to my first game my senior year of high school. We played Colorado then too, but it was Colorado who scored the 50+ points. There were also a LOT fewer fans in the stadium during that game. Certainly, things have changed in 11 years! Anyway, we had a great time at the game!

Thanks to the Smith family for letting us stay with them!

Witnessing History

This morning, we woke up with the answer to a question that has taken nearly two years to determine - Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Last night, we witnessed a historical election unfold. Many thought this day would never come. But, it did. And it proves that the spirit of America is strong. That we, as Americans, believe anything is possible.

I realized this morning that when Garth and I have children, they will never know what the world was like before we chose an African American to lead our country. I can't begin to understand the turmoil of the civil rights movement or the days of slavery. But, even in my lifetime, I've lived in a world where riots broke out L.A. following the Rodney King trial and witnessed other countless stories of inequality. Certainly, the election of Barack Obama does not end racism. But, it proves that our country is capable of looking past the color of one's skin, the strangeness of one's name or the uniqueness of one's heritage. Our country, unlike so many others, offers tremendous freedom and opportunity.

Electing our country's first African American President is historic enough. But, I think this election goes beyond that. The record number of voters in every category - young, old, black, white - was incredible. The enthusiasm for taking part in an important aspect of our country's political process was astounding. People were happy to wait in line to cast their votes. Extraordinary numbers of people volunteered for both campaigns or get out the vote efforts (I know we got three calls last night to see if we voted!).

I'm especially proud of my generation, whose stereotypical apathy has previously shown that this demographic couldn't be counted on to show up when it counts. But this time, young people realized that they could make a real difference in the outcome of this election. Perhaps the young vote became mobilized because they felt, finally, that someone was listening to them or that their vote actually mattered. Whatever the reason, I think we should be proud that so many Americans acted upon their right and privilege to vote.

Our country has many challenges ahead. I hope the enthusiasm generated from the election will be channeled toward participation, interest and involvement in the political process. It doesn't matter if you voted for McCain, Obama, Nader or Barr, we must work together if we hope to accomplish change for the better in this country.

Heading Home for Homecoming - Day 2

Here's the next of our Homecoming trip. Jenna's birthday was the day we arrived, so on Friday we went to lunch to celebrate. Paula was able to squeeze us in between classes, so it worked out pretty well.

Us kids at Applebee's

The fam (except mom - she was taking the picture)

Mom's dog, Jewel, had a litter of puppies a few weeks ago. They were about 4 weeks old when were there. They were so cute!

Us with the puppies. I took a lot more photos a couple of days later, so look for those in an upcoming post!

On Friday evening, we headed to Columbia to meet up with our friends Sarah and Kris. We went to dinner at Sophia's, one of my favorite restaurants while I was in college. It was great!

Sorority sisters and former roomies - Sarah and me.

After dinner, we headed to Greek town for campus decorations (aka "house decs"). Basically, it is tissue "pomped" boards that are hung on scaffolding. The boards serve as the backdrop for a kid-friendly skit. This is the house dec for KD and Phi Kap. It is based on the movie Cars. This picture does come close to doing it justice. It looked awesome!

We went to a couple of our favorite bars, Harpo's and Shiloh. At Shiloh, I ran into a bunch a friends that I was on Summer Welcome with. This is a few of the people from that group - Nathan, Christen ("CT"), Chris ("CD") and Morgan. It was great to see them!

Heading Home for Homecoming - Day 1

Last weekend, we headed to Missouri for Mizzou's Homecoming. Last weekend was my first football game at Mizzou since my senior year, so I was really excited to go. I took a LOT of pictures, so I'm going to break up the blog posts.

We left on Thursday, so we could have time to go see my family. As always, we're not really thrilled with the 8 hour drive, but we make the most of it.

This time, we got stuck in construction traffic. Boo! So, what's a bored girl to do? Take pictures of it!

Garth talking on the phone as we sit in traffic.

Meanwhile, Bailey just sleeps in the back seat. Isn't she cute?!?!

When we finally got out of the construction traffic, it was dusk in St. Louis. I thought the sky looked so cool behind the arch. This photo was taken as we were crossing the Mississippi River while in the car, so it doesn't nearly do it justice!