Utah Trip

Okay! Tomorrow we leave for our much-planned, much-anticipated trip out West. This trip will take eleven days, fifty-seven hours of driving, four days of rafting forty-eight miles, camping at an elevation of 8,600 feet, and one portable toilet. We may be changed people when we return. We both can't wait to forget about work and stress and to spend this adventure together, experiencing nature, each other's company, and probably many other unanticipated things. Once they heard that we would be without cell phone coverage on the rafting trip (which we are doing by ourselves), Phillip and Vickie got us our Spot: a personal satellite tracking device. To keep your eye on us, check out http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0BNEJmdMGOMxiLMyIvqldRnrGXfTHXPeA. As soon as we return, I'll post our pictures, which I'm hoping will be amazing. Wish us luck!

Moving Day

Well, goodbye Home Crap Home. Saturday marked our first move of the summer, and everything went smoothly - huge thanks to our families for taking yet another day to lug around our life. It felt a bit sad to leave the first place we lived together as a married couple, and we love Decatur in general, but we're excited to start this next phase of our lives. And we won't miss our neighbors one bit!! We are now comfortably settled into an upgrade: Phillip and Vickie's basement, a space nicer and probably larger than our entire house in Decatur! And to answer the question on everyone's minds - Gizmo is settling nicely. In fact, today, just twenty-four hours after moving in, she tried to climb her first wall. A good sign. So begins the summer. And I take a deep breath as we jump in...

Master's Graduation

(Pics: Julie and BF, Stacy / Julie and brother, Michael, at party). Yay! I graduated from Georgia State this Saturday! JD and I agree that we had a great weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came into town for the big day, and JD's parents, Phillip and Vickie, also fought the traffic. I was surprised at all the support because this was my third graduation, and I have one more to go! Surely everyone's getting tired of it all now...

Mom and Dad threw me a wonderful party Saturday night; we all had a lot of fun laughing and relaxing in the garden together. It was perfect weather for a barbecue. Mother's Day brought church and a lazy day in Marietta. We are all trying not to think of what Mother's Day will be like next year.

Now my Master's degree is officially completed, and I am looking forward to four more years before I start earning some real money! Actually, I can't wait. Now I just have to put off those students who keep e-mailing me, complaining about their Fs...

In Memorium

Meow Mix/Midnight Snack was a good fish;
He touched our lives and entertained our cat,
But now he has gone on to fish heaven.
Death by toilet.

JD flushed him - still alive! - instead of packing him up for the move. Poor Gizmo still sits and stares at where his bowl used to stand, unable to resign herself to the cold, hard truth. Sometimes I join her, and we think together over the year that Meow Mix/Midnight Snack served us so faithfully as only a beta fish could.

Julie & JD's Adventures

One of my favorite sisters-in-law, Mrs. Lindsey Pond, talked me into starting this blog. I guess since JD & I are moving to Illinois in August, it might be nice to stay in touch this way with family and friends - not that I'm convinced everyone will want to know our every move!

We have so much on our plate right now: my graduation this weekend, moving in with the parents in two weeks, driving to Utah in three weeks, a baby shower for our best friends, a Children's Literature conference in June, a trip to Hilton Head in July, and moving to Illinois in August. I can hardly sleep at night thinking over all these crazy plans. But life is so exciting right now. One day, we'll look back and wonder how we handled it all. Or maybe we'll still be living it up!