2018 Went by in a Blink

Well, it's official. I'm a failure at the family blog. My time is spent elsewhere and that's okay I guess. However, for anyone who still wanders by...We are all doing well.

The girls are in college, the boys stay busy with band/track/plays at school, Nathan has moved teams several times at work and is finally happy (I think...), and I run around trying to do everything at once like I always have.

We met some of our goals for 2018. Nathan and I both lost some weight, we completed some projects around the house, but the best part was the trips we went on. Nathan and I drove down to Dallas to see Les Miserables in May. It was a quick trip, but lots of fun.

Later that month we went to Ireland. That was probably the highlight of the year for me. The countryside was beautiful and Dublin was awesome. I was comfortable enough walking around on my own while Nathan was at work. We went so he could teach a class there for a week. He worked during the day and I wrote like a mad person for the most part. However, I did get out and explore some too. Then he would come home at night and we'd get out together.

Cliffs of Moher

Trinity College

Glendalough

In August, we took the kids on another cruise, along with my mom and one of my aunts. We relaxed, actually went to the ship gym three times, and I managed to lose 2 lbs on the trip!

Snorkeling in Belize

 

We all accomplished various things I could list, but the best parts of the year were the things we did together. I'm looking forward to making more memories with these crazy people I love in 2019.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Smoking and Memorial Day Hike

When we lived in Charlotte we had a handful of friends who were really good at smoking meat. Now that we've moved we found we missed that a lot. So this weekend we bought a grill and smoker and are now in the process of learning the tricks of the trade.

Monday we spent the first half of the day hiking with some friends. We went to Devil's Den and traipsed over two of the trails there before playing in the creek. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the day.

 Lovely cold air was flowing up from the ground here. 

 On Yellow Rock

 Bradford zombies crawling out of the cave.

 The cool family...or is that cold?

 Even Chewy got in to swim.

This is how we all felt when we got home. 

Settling in and Christmas Lights

I've set a goal to start posting more on this blog so our family and friends will know what we're up to. Every Sunday I'll try and post a little something.

We are all unpacked and decorated for Christmas. That was one of our goals because the kids thought it would help them feel more at home with the tree up. Here's a short tour I made for my writing blog.

Our first weekend in Arkansas, we went to the lighting of the town square. The kids grumbled, but I liked the small town feel of the event. Lots of families walking around, funnel cake, cotton candy, and carols over the loud speaker. There's also an outdoor skating rink that we will eventually make it to.

This weekend we drove down to Fayetteville to see the lights on their square. We got lucky and they were having quite the event as well.

All in all, we are starting to relax and enjoy our new home.