Greetings from Texas

After 2 months, a whole lot of packing (and unpacking), way too many mortgage papers, and a really long road trip, we are back. Since the first of March, everything has been a little nuts. Whether it was the movers losing, and subsequently finding, half our stuff to me flying back and forth from Texas to DC, we have been a little spread out to say the least. But everything is coming together nicely now (except for the flying back and forth which is still going on).

So here is the timeline for our move over the course of two weeks.....

Mar 13 - Movers come to pack our stuff
Mar 14 - Movers pick up our stuff until 1030 at night
Mar 15 - Movers come back to pick up the last of our stuff since they didn't bring a big enough truck the day before (we love them...really we do)
Mar 17 - We get completely out of our house on base - yes, we left the rats there - and begin the half country trek to Texas
Mar 18 - Have lunch with Matt's grandmothers, mom, brother and sister-in-law in Gadsden (where we find out some interesting news from Derek and Lynn - more on that later) and then have dinner at Tokyo with Pop, D and the girls in Tuscaloosa that night.
Mar 19 - Rest in Tuscaloosa - Taco Casa for lunch - Matt happy
Mar 20 - Off to Mobile (With UHaul trailor in tow)
Mar 21 - Visit in Mobile with Kerrie's parents, Grandmother, and brothers (see pics below of K and Mo in the woods)
Mar 22 - Off to San Antonio (still with UHaul trailor in tow) - Long Day - But got to see Tiger Stadium for first time in 2 1/2 years (that long of a break will never happen again) - 13 hours later, we arrive in SA
Mar 23 - Close on the new, beautiful house...and spend the first night sleeping on air mattress - very romantic I think
Mar 24 - 1/2 of our stuff arrives - mind you, the half without the mattresses - Matt curses under his breath as he pulls the air mattresses back out
Mar 25-26 - Shopping, Furniture Deliveries, Unpacking, More air mattresses
Mar 27 - Other half of stuff arrives, Mo and K's first day of school
Mar 28-Apr 2 - Lots of unpacking and little sleep, I fly back to DC on the 2nd

I flew back down last weekend to visit for Easter and stayed for 4 days. As you can see below, we have been pretty busy with the house but had to make the trip to Seaworld last week because, well, Karlyle demanded it. Morgan really loved the roller coaster - you can totally see it in her face. Kerrie's mom also visited the girls while I was away and has helped a ton with the fabrics.

As for me, I am chilling in a 2 bedroom condo in Alexandria with a good friend from work. I have the typical dormroom/Kirby-Smith setup - IKEA bed, $30 TV stand, lamp on the floor, $10 nightstand. It's like I went back in time 10 years. Next thing you know, I'll be skipping classes and sleeping til noon. Not that I EVER did that at LSU.

Anyway, now that things have somewhat settled down, this page will be updated much more frequently so check back soon. As different rooms in the house come together (mind you, we have pictures below but nothing is finished), we will post more pictures.

On another note, a special congrats to a couple of our brothers. My brother Derek and his wife Lynn found out about a month ago that they are expecting their first little one sometime in November. They spring this news on us in the middle of Ruby Tuesday's in Attalla, Alabama. They had Karlyle come over and whisper to me if I wouldn't mind being an uncle. Nice touch.

Also, Kerrie's brother Johnny (aka, BFKAS - brother formerly known as Stephen) is getting married next week in Jacksonville. The girls will be driving over from San Antonio and I will be driving from DC. I love gas prices. Kerrie loves the DVD player in the Yukon.

Alright, I believe that is long enough. If you want to know anything more about what's going on, then freakin' call us. My hands hurt. Have a great weekend.