Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas with the Taylors!

We just got back from spending Christmas with the Taylors in Birmingham. Here are some of the pictures.... of course almost all of them are of Abby! Looks like she enjoyed her first Christmas! The pictures are a little rough because the camera started to do something wierd part way through the holiday.






Friday, December 21, 2007

Our E-Christmas Letter

Dear Friends & Family,

Every time we open the mailbox and find someone's well-written Christmas letter, Becky feels guilty. We can't even sign a card and get that out to the mailbox! So Becky decided to use these wonderful technological advancements to quickly get one out!

The Taylors have had a busy year! In February, Becky celebrated her seventh anniversary at the community center. Hard to believe that it has been that long! She continues to enjoy serving the families in that neighborhood and the growing Somali and Sudanese population that are using the services of the center. Also in February, was Jeff's birthday!

March was probably one of the busiest months on record! On March 9th, we closed on our first home. We are LOVING it! It was new construction, so all we had to do when we got here was unpack. Becky's mom and dad joined us for the fun! Two days after we moved in Jeff was unexpectedly promoted to manager at his company... just in time for mortgage payments! He continues to work many hours dispatching carpet and ventilation cleaning technicians around the city, dealing with customer service calls, and making sure the day goes smoothly.


On April 1st, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a hiking trip to Fall Creek Falls State Park, about two hours from Nashville. We were also celebrating Becky's round-numbered birthday.


April 16th was a day that will stay on the minds of Hokies for a long time. The day was spent watching news coverage online as the horrible details unfolded. But in the middle of all of that tragedy the phone rang. Our niece Abby was born a week early! She is a cutie! We are looking forward to spending her first Christmas with her.


Abby at only a few weeks old



Abby at six months, playing with Uncle Jeff


Summer was a busy one! We did manage a trip to Gatlinburg with the Taylors. And in August, Becky spoke at a national conference in DC for the Department of Housing & Urban Development's Neighborhood Networks initiative. While there, she got to spend time with her parents, Becky B, and a few of the Garriotts! Poor Jeff was stuck home alone for a few days.

I'd like to speak about this fall, but I'm not sure where it has gone. Time is seriously flying! We did get to spend Thanksgiving in Pasadena with Becky's parents. It was a nice time to relax!

We are spending Christmas in Birmingham with Jeff's family this year. And are looking forward to seeing them all again.

We hope this letter finds you well! Merry Christmas!!
Jeff and Becky

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Decorated for Christmas!

Since I've been told I need to post more often (thanks for actually checking the blog, Marta!), here are some pictures of our house all ready for Christmas. Not as much as we wanted to do this year with the new house, but time got away from us!


Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! Jeff and I are starting a new tradition where he and I just exchange ornaments for Christmas. Hopefully in a few years we'll need a bigger tree to hold all of them!


The beautiful wreath Jeff's mom and dad sent us for our door!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

$500 Diet Coke

We noticed last night on our way to dinner that Coke fridge packs were 3 for $9 at Walgreens... according to their electronic sign out front... so we decided that after dinner we'd stop and stock up! In the five minutes we were in there, someone decided to ram into the back of my precious vehicle (named Cordell if you didn't know). Fortunately, someone who saw it was nice enough to wait until we came out to tell us what happened. I probably wouldn't have noticed for days! He gave us the best description he could of the "perp", but didn't catch a tag number.
So my diet coke addiction cost us $500 last night (that's our deductible)! Cordell goes in for repairs on Monday. =(



Saturday, August 11, 2007

Becky Goes to Washington!

I just got back from spending almost a week in Washington, DC for a conference with HUD. They put us up at the Grand Hyatt... quite nice!


Thursday night Mom & Dad drove down and we had dinner with Uncle Chuck, Aunt Debby, Katie, and my friend Becky!

The Beckys!


With Mom & Dad


The view of the atrium at the hotel from the 12th floor where I was staying.


Saturday, June 30, 2007

Rafting Pictures




Pictures from our rafting trip on the Pigeon River in east TN!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Gatlinburg Vacation

Just got back from Gatlinburg for a Taylor family vacation! We had a great time and got lots of rest... nice to be home though!

This was our cabin at the Gatlinburg Falls Resort.

We finally got to meet our niece, Abby! She is a little over two months old now and a very good baby! She's decked out in her Auburn gear for the Taylors.



Jeff relaxing on the rocking chair porch!


On our way home, we stopped in Knoxville to meet Kate... and to see Evan & Marta! Kate was born five weeks ago.