Kalyn and I decided to both take a week off from work and just hit the road and go SOMEwhere. This was our first real vacation since we’ve been married where we didn’t have to BE somewhere or DO something.

We’ve been having a blast, just relaxing and seeing sites. We left this past Saturday, and so far our travels have taken us to Nashville, TN, Charlotte, NC, Rock Hill, SC, Asheville NC, the Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge, TN, and now central Tennessee

Friday evening we headed into Nashville with the Tallents and Jessi Haskin to check out the Opryland Hotel. That was really neat. While in the parking lot we watched a tour bus turn a corner and clip a shiny black car with a large “Intimidator” decal on it. This car proceeded to throw it in reverse and back into the car behind them. Pretty funny to watch… you probly had to be there

We made it home from our road trip Saturday afternoon. We took our time unpacking and settling back in. Sunday after church we went to see Shrek the Third again a second time. That movie is hilarious – full of great quotes! Since then we’ve been getting back in the groove with work and business. Kalyn’s trying to get over a nasty head cold she must’ve picked up on the trip.

We managed to pack quite a bit into our three day visit… shopping at the outlet mall, horseback riding, working with Papa Curry and the kids on their project in Austin, spending time with Kalyn’s family, boating and jet-skiing on the lake with the Dudleys (I didn’t quite manage to get the hang of water-skiiing), a cook-out with family and friends Sat evening and then our return flight home to Missouri on Sunday afternoon.

Then last weekend, Stan Krystal and Kaila were here for a visit. Friday I played my first ever round of golf with Stan and Matt, and enjoyed it much more than I expected. On Saturday Kalyn’s grandparents arrived for a visit, and Saturday afternoon we threw Joe and Christine a baby shower at hour house with her family in town from Jersey.

Sunday we went to lunch at Lamberts Cafe – home of the throwed rolls – with the family, then visited some shops in Branson before heading back to our place to hit the pool and chill for the afternoon.

On Monday Stan and Krystal hit the road to travel back to Texas and we spent the day relaxing and chilling at the pool

If any of y’all find yourselves anywhere near southwest Missouri this summer, be sure to give us a shout and stop by for a visit! Kalyn and I love to have company… c’mon out!

This weekend was loads of fun, if only it didn’t have to be over so quickly. Saturday Kalyn and I headed into Springfield. Joe Fetters and I went biking on the Frisco Highline trail while our wives visited the mall and sundry other shopping locations. The biking was quite enjoyable. The weather was absolutely perfect. We covered about 16 miles of trail – not too bad considering I haven’t done much riding at all in about 3 years. Thanks Joe & Christine for an awesome weekend hanging out with y’all.

Today Kalyn and I went and picked up a new gas grill for our back deck – thanks Matt & Trina and the Currys We’ll definitely have many summer evening cookouts with the new barbie. We’ve also been having quite the fun playing Halo 2 with the Xbox Live subscription – thanks Stan & Krystal and Colie & Brenda for the Xbox gear I have a long way to go before I become anywhere near competitive, but I’m having fun!

My ‘day job’ has had some interesting twists and turns in the last several weeks. Our release department finished upgrading customers to the current version of software, and the development group won’t have a new version ready for release for several months. So, they’ve moved me over to another group doing very similar work moving customers to new servers when they run out of storage space. On top of that, we seem to be playing musical supervisors. I’m told that will be solved tomorrow, and from what I hear, it should be an ideal scenario for me.

Tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary… I’ve definitely been blessed with the absolutely best wife ever!

So there you have an update from the Zman. If anyone’s interested in my new Xbox Live gamertag, drop me a line, and I’ll ponder whether I want to allow you to beat up and kill me online

Our house is coming along quickly. All the decking is on, and today we stopped by and saw that the windows are now in as well.
We are looking forward to the completion, when we will be able to move in and get settled!

Today was ridiculously long at work, even though it was busy, the day just seemed to drag by. Oh, well…such is life! I have Wednesday off so I think Tim and I are gonna see if we can look at Cabinet options. Fun Stuff!
Our Christmas tree is up and adorned with lights and all sorts of ornaments. The house smells like Pine, many little Christmas dishes/ candles, and things.

We are looking forward to heading up to Jersey for Christmas.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, that’s about all the news from here. Have an awesome week y’all!!!