California Dream'n

Most of you know, if you've been following our blogs lately, that our favorite getaway spot is Santa Cruz, California. Our good friends Jen and Colin decided to tie the knot and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to congratulate them and headed out to the west coast. Now, you might think that this would be a relaxing trip, fun though it was, but it was a 36 hour turn around from Jackson, MS to Santa Cruz and back. We started off on Friday.

Friday January 11th

Lesley and I woke up early, about 4am, to catch our flight from Jackson international to San Jose. I wish I had a picture of us at 4, but it's not pretty. We made our flight and were excited to meet Mrs. Jacquie who so graciously set time out of her day to pick us up. We had a nice visit with her and ate lunch with her in Scotts Valley before meeting Jamie at her house in Santa Cruz. Next off we tried to hastily get ready to head back to Scotts Valley to meet Aunt Pam, Uncle Pete, Lynn, Eric, Emory, and little Sam. We had a really nice time catching up with all of them and seeing how big the kids were getting. It was by now late and we had a busy day the next day so we headed back to Santa Cruz and Jamie's pad.

Saturday January 12th

Now the wedding day has a arrived, but first I must explain about big waves. As the budding surfer that I have become, or think that I have become, I have become interested in waves, and none are bigger than Mavericks! This wave comes in only once a year and is the kind of wave that makes legends. It is, I think, no coincidence that this year Mavericks came in on this day. I begged Lesley to let me grab a board and hang on for dear life but we couldn't have me breaking every bone in my body today so we settled for a walk along west cliff. Now believe me when I tell you these were the biggest waves I had ever seen. I don't think the pictures do any justice to them. I couldn't hang out there all day though so after we saw the ocean for awhile we headed over to Brazil for breakfast and coffee. Ok, I had too much coffee. We had more coffee while we met with Jamie's brother Jeremiah at Pete's Coffee. So many friends so little time. We had to get ready for the wedding so we made our way back to Jamie's house to change and then headed up to Mount Herman on the way to the wedding to squeeze in a visit with Scott and Lynn. We had a great visit with them as well.

The Wedding

We really got to now Jen when we lived in Colorado and played ultimate Frisbee with her at the quad on the campus of the School of Mines. We moved away and Jen moved to Santa Cruz but we always stayed in touch. Jen met Colin and soon after, at our wedding, we met Colin. It was a lot of fun to be apart of their wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful reception . We danced, and ate and had a great time. We can't wait to see you two again soon. After the wedding it was back to Jamie's for some rest before we had to catch another flight back to Jackson.

Sunday January 13th


We met Mr. Ron and Mrs. Jacquie for our ride back to the airport early in the morning. It was fun to visit with them on the way to San Jose. We always have such a wonderful time in Northern California. The flights home were uneventful except for some Texans at DFW reminding some travelers that the Cowboys were going to win the playoffs because they were "in Gods Country"... and then the Cowboys lost, go figure. Now were back home, and back at work and excited for things to come...

P.S. Peter, sorry we didn't get to say hi but we knew you were busy so we took a picture of your bug and thought of you as we left the wedding.

A December Retrospective.

Hello Faithful Viewers! It's been awhile since last we spoke, but hopefully we can catch you up on all of our fun. You all may remember that the last time we blogged we had finally brought it all together in Mississippi. Well, since then we have had a lot of fun and I will try to start at the starting and end at the end but most likely I will leave some of the middle out but not on purpose mind you.

The Start.

As you can imagine December got rolling with a lot of work in our offices both at Ducks Unlimited, and Collins & Corbin. You know us though, we need to get out and have a little fun; so we took a short trip to Shreveport to do a little dancing and get the holidays kicked off right. We met Lesley's father for a fun night of Christmas dancing. It was a lot of fun. Lesley and I don't get the chance to dance as much as we had been so it's always fun to cut-the-rug up a little. Dancing aside, it is always a great and relaxing treat to visit the farm.

The Middle.

Once we returned to "Our Fare City" Ridgeland, Mississippi, we needed to get into the Christmas spirit. This proved to be a little more difficult than anticipated, mainly due to the fact that it was almost mid December and the mercury was still topping out around 75 to 80 degrees on some days. That being said we really miss the cold, dry days of Colorado. We pushed through the spring like days by decorating our little apartment with fresh greenery on our balcony, a wreath on the front door, as well as cuttings all around the interior, it smelled wonderful. This also happens to be the time of the year when offices have a Christmas get together or two. Santa came to DU! I was working diligently at my desk, trying to save the disappearing wetlands of the south of course, when what do I hear but the intercom heralding the arrival of one jolly saint Nick. I was instructed, along with all new and current employees to meet in suite E to meet the fabled man. We all had a chance to sit on his lap and remember days past when all we wanted was a "An official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock" or maybe a Christmas ornament with life savers inside. It was a lot of fun. The office was let free early and we all had a nice lunch together, "Thanks Santa". We had a chance to go to the Collins & Corbin Christmas party as well. I had a fun time meeting everyone that Lesley works with and playing a rollicking game of "Scene It". If that wasn't enough, we had a DU open house at my directors home for all of the families to meet each other and enjoy some nice Duck (what did you think we would eat, beef). This was the night before our long anticipated trip to Colorado.

Colorado.

The next morning we loaded up and left for our flight to Colorado. We were greeted by my Dad and Grandma at Denver International Airport. It was a lot of fun to see them both. Did I mention that It was snowing when we landed. We were so excited to finally get to see snow, and not have to drive a moving van through it. We had a tight schedule to keep and the first stop we had was to visit Lydia and Fuzz. Every year Lydia makes around 200 tamales to honor her mother, who taught her how to make them. We were lucky enough to share in this holiday tradition. They were so good. We had a terrific time visiting and catching up with them. The next morning was what I had been looking forward to for about two years, A ski trip. Justin, Chris, Lesley, and I were going to meet with our good friend John to hit the slopes at Loveland Ski area. It was an even bigger surprise when we ran into Gary,and Matt, our old friends from the mountain. It was 2 degrees when we arrived and it was the cold that I had been looking forward too. I forgot how much I loved snowboarding and being in the mountains it was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. I also realized that I am not as good as I once was at zooming down a frictionless surface (Snow) with another frictionless surface (Snowboard) strapped to me. After we were completely exhausted we headed back to Silver Plume to have dinner at John and Kelley's. My parents also made the trip to Silver Plume. It was loads of fun Thanks Guys! The next day we also had another treat. We met up with one of my best friends from College, Nate. Nate met us in Denver, downtown, at the best Margarita bar this side of Mexico, The RIO. We enjoyed catching up and sipping liquid gold. Next time we come to town were going to the CSU game buddy. This brings us to Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was great because we mainly relaxed and hung out with the Grandmas. We enjoyed, of course, Fat tire, something that doesn't exist in Mississippi, as well as my brothers favorite hobo lemonade. We all went to church together and came home to all kinds of gourmet food. We opened gifts and visited. Chris gave us the gift of giving as he donated money to buy necessities for an Afghanistan village. and Lesley and I received a new blogging tool, an 8 mega pixel camera. Everyone in our family was so generous and we thank you. (Notice from this point forward all photos are of a superior quality) Lesley also received some knitting patterns and pieces. She has been creating all kinds of fun projects. We went to bed only to wake up to a whole lot of snow falling out of the sky. Yeah.. We got a white Christmas! We had fun playing in the snow as well as playing cards and games with the family. Did I mention that we watched "Hot Rod"... ummm about 5 times. Ok, it was funny and if you haven't seen it watch it.... that's my plug. We had a lot of fun with Chris, Justin, Mom, Dad, Grandma LC, and Grandma Miller. We had to fly back to Mississippi the next day and that was just about the worst flight I have ever had, for multiple reasons... but I won't get into that.

The END.

Upon returning home we both had to head back to the office for a couple of days to tie up some year end stuff, but we could see the light at the end of the tunnel because we got 4 more days off. Ross, Lesley's brother, flew into Jackson to spend a few days with us and we celebrated Christmas with Jane, Tucker, and of course Baker. We started a puzzle, I think I finished the middle... Don't worry, we'll finish it. After celebrating in Jackson we packed up to go celebrate with Lesley's grandmother Chapple in Ruston, Louisiana. All of the little cousins were there and it was fun to share some time with them, playing in the poo... We loaded up and continued onto Gilliam to visit Lesley's Dad, and Grandparents there. We went out to a great dinner at Lil' Italiano, which is always wonderful. The next day we spent time walking around the farm with Ross, Bruce, and the puppies. Like I mentioned earlier it's always fun to go to the farm because the farm is just a little bit magical we think. Even Comanche was excited to see us. The chickens ran around like they do and the puppies, well the puppies do puppy things. That about catches us up to now. Next Stop California!

P.S. This is a video shot on Christmas day of Les and I making snow angels. Note, Les doesn't realize that even though there is about 6 inches of new snow today the ground is still hard underneath the snow.

Bringing It All Together

"Jeerreemmy, Jeerreemmy, Remember I'm helping you now but I'm yours for one third of the year later"

As most of you know Lesley and I have been living all over the country for a number of years, from Louisiana, to Arizona, and Colorado and now Mississippi. The moving has, in effect, spread not only us but our meager possessions across the country. In the past few months we have managed to move a chunk from Arizona to Colorado , and Louisiana to Mississippi. This was good because then we had concentrated everything to two locations, Colorado holding the most. One storage unit and my parents house. Thanksgiving, with our paid holiday's from work, would be the perfect opportunity to fly to Colorado and then drive a Penske truck back to our home in Ridgeland, MS. How hard could it be? Besides.... We would get to see all of our family in Colorado if for only a few hours. After work on Wednesday the 21st we drove to Jackson Int. Airport to catch our flight on the busiest travel day of the year, or at least that's what they say. Do to unforeseen events, and foreseen our plane was one hour and fifteen minutes late leaving Jackson. When we did take off at nearly 500 mph, 8 miles per minute, and flying like a little plane probably shouldn't, in fact the flight attendant could barely stand to teach us what to do in case of emergency because the plane was leaving the ground before she could finish. We landed in Dallas and ran to our connection that was suppose to be leaving as we reached the gate. We were reassured by the attendant at the desk that we hadn't missed the flight, and boarded our plane. To our delight we noticed that the plane was sweltering hot and no noise was heard from the engines... Our flight was delayed 50 minutes because the flight crew was not there. Anyhow, we made it to Colorado in the middle of the night so we could get a few winks before loading our truck and hitting the road, In the morning our yellow chariot awaited us. We got up early and made our way in the 12 degree air to the little storage unit that has housed most of Lesley's possessions for the better part of three years. We loaded all into the truck and drove back to my folks house to load the rest of my stuff. With the help of Tucker, Jane, and my mom we got everything in and it looked like we had a lot more than I remember. Grandma Miller was in Aurora, as well as my Aunt and Uncle and Cousins. The girls gave us a show and Justin tried to compete with them but didn't quite stand up to the challenge. Thanksgiving went by quick and next thing I knew the alarm was sounding its trumpet of "Get On The Road!" We loaded up the truck, Tucker and I, and the "Blue Dazzler", Lesley and Jane, and sped off down the road in the hope that we would miss the snow.... or not. We managed to make it about an hour down the road and the snow picked up and our speed slowed down, to about 35. We never did make it out of the bad weather. The first day snow and the second day rain. It rained all the way back to Jackson. We unloaded on Sunday with the help of Jane and Tucker, Thanks Guys, and finally had everything in one place. We're still unpacking but we can walk through the apartment without zigzagging. Is this the end of the excitement? .... Probably not....but stayed tuned as we try our hand at the deep south. Not to be left for last but the most exciting event was finding out the next monday that Lesley had passed the final part of her CPA. We celebrated of course. I am very proud of her!

Big n' Easy

The "Big Easy", The "Crescent City", or maybe just New Orleans, the true "Sin City". We just had a remarkable weekend to remember in one of the greatest cities in the country. but lets start at the beginning. We were invited to a wedding for an old friend of the Lynn family, Kyle Edwards. We tried to get geared up and leave work early to make our way the 3 hours from Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA, but you guys may all know how hard it is to get organized sometimes. We arrived at the wedding just as the bride was walking down the aisle so we slipped in to the back in our street clothes, as we didn't have time to clean up. As we enjoyed our view of the ceremony from the dark shadows in the back we were told politely to leave because this was a "private wedding". "That's ok", says Lesley, "We're invited" I guess we should have known better as everyone else was in black tie dress and I had on a flaming orange jacket and blue jeans. Well, the ceremony ended and we ran for the elevators to pull a James bond and slip into our undercover formal wear. On the way out one of the guests stopped Jane and said "excuse me where is the bathroom?" Jane says "I don't know." anonymous guest said "Oh, I thought you worked here." Well, things are starting off a little strange but this is New Orleans and they can only get stranger. The reception was fun Lesley, Newt, Kristy, Jane and I had a lot of fun dancing and, we enjoyed meeting Kristy. The best part of the evening was the formation of a "Second Line", which is a small jazz combo that marches around parade style showcasing the new bride and groom. This little parade took us weaving all around the French Quarter and past some of the great parts of New Orleans. We had sparklers and white handkerchiefs to wave around on our march. The next day we took our own tour of the city. We visited the famous Cafe Du Monde for some beignets and Cafe Au Lait. We ambled on and met Newt and Kristy for a soft shell crab half loaf at Casamentos. We took a drive through the Garden District and enjoyed the Huge, and I mean Huge, houses. At this point we decided to drive to the lower ninth ward to check out the hurricane damage. It is still very deserted and looks pretty much destroyed. There are blue tarps on everything and a crazy code made of symbols on the doors. The code is a circle with an "X" the x creates quadrants that have mysterious markings representing that the building had been checked, were there live or dead people, or animals, and then maybe a date. Back to the quarter to rest and get ready to do what people do in the French Quarter, EAT. I have heard a lot about Hurricanes and the damage that they cause in New Orleans, but there is another type of Hurricane that can also cause damage. Visit Pat O' Briens and you can walk out with liquid fury. I had never had a Hurricane so I needed to try one. We took our hurricanes and walked to Jackson square and then walked down to look at Old Man River, the Mississippi. Newt and Kristy left us to take a paddle boat ride and we took a carriage ride to learn a little bit about the history of the Quarter. There are many ghosts, vampires and the like hiding out on the third floor of most buildings in the quarter, but we weren't lucky enough to see any. We did see the "House of the Rising Sun", and the two oldest buildings in New Orleans, Jean Lafitte's blacksmith shop, and the convent where nuns invented mosquito net, both buildings are from about 1720. After another stop to watch some jazz and see men walking around in red dresses we drove to Jacques-Imo's for a fabulous dinner of alligator sausage cheesecake, and an assortment of the best food you could ever eat, to tell the truth, everything I ate was about the best I had ever eaten. That about wrapped up our trip because we had to leave the next morning. But, we couldn't leave without one last meal and we choose "Mothers". Mothers is the best ham in the world, or so they say, I gorged myself through the first two thirds of the sandwich before I was completely over taken by how much I had actually eaten...TOO MUCH. The food was great but the next three hours were, well, uncomfortable. That about wraps up our trip to the big easy. Next stop Penske.

No Place Like Home!

I know many of you out there may have thought that we would never stop and find a little place to call home, but we did. we have a tennis court, swimming pool, running path, gym, fishing pond, and abundant wildlife... No it's not a mansion on the hill, but an apartment at the point. We moved into our 600 square feet of heaven on Halloween and began setting up our home. We went bed shopping,
finally unpacked our wedding gifts, and Lesley bought (while I wasn't looking) some nice rockers. That very same week also happened to be Lesley's first day of work with Collins & Corbin, a CPA firm in Jackson. She packed a lunch and headed out the door and we have both been busy ever since. In fact, she is leaving on a work trip out of town for most of this week leaving "me" all alone. I suppose I will fill my time working on one of our wood working projects. I believe that I mentioned in an earlier entry that we had reclaimed some old wood from some farm structures and we are converting it into rustic furnishings. We are working on a book case right now but also have plans for a coffee table, and a set of bed side tables. Well a lot of exciting things are coming up in the next few weeks, but I can't spoil the fun by telling "you guys" about it now so make sure to check in often.

Coming Soon!

Have no fear faithful viewers, updates are coming. We have been very busy in the last two weeks. Lesley started her new job and we moved into our first marital abode. To put it bluntly I just haven't had time to update. The camera has been taking pictures though and the internet is coming to the Johnson home so hang tight.