2011 Christmas Letter

We went semi-paperless this year, opting to publish our 2011 Christmas Letter on the blog instead of putting it in our Christmas cards.  Click here to go the the letter.

Squashing Papa! October 20, 2011

Daniel, Papa & Emily

Sarah & Papa

College Football Lives Here- October 15, 2011

Yes, we love our college football at Camp Bowden.  Week 7 games included South Carolina at Mississippi State and Clemson at Maryland.  Daniel and I enjoyed watching the Gamecocks whoop up on Mississippi State on ESPN3.  That night, Greg and Emily cheered on Clemson in an amazing comeback game.

Go Gamecocks!

We didn't get the game on TV, so we had to watch it on ESPN3.com

Go Tigers!

Happy Girls- October 14, 2011

We were thrilled to receive a yummy fruit basket from Granny Gayle and Grandpa Charles!  Caroline was here for a sleepover, so it was the perfect treat for snacking!  Even Daniel enjoyed the strawberries and grapes.

Fun with Nana- October 11, 2011

Watching ESPNUs

Reading Game Day by Tiki & Ronde Barber

Birthday Date- October 10, 2011

For my birthday, Daniel made plans to take me to Miss Shirley's for lunch.  Then, Nana made a trip just for my birthday, so she came on our date.  She snapped this photo of me and my cute date.

Later that day, in Target, I saw this very cute baby outfit. I sent a picture to Debbie and Kathe, my two beloved sisters-in-law, asking for a new niece or nephew since my current ones are all old (but still cute as buttons), but their comments are not fit to share on a public blog.  Thankfully, I did not buy it.

Ricky Myers Day of Service- October 1, 2011

Sarah and I braved the chilly winds and planted what seemed like a gazillion trees with the St. Pius Youth Group.  It reminded me of a chilly day I spent in Hampton Park down by The Citadel in the early 90s with my service fraternity at CofC.  For years, every time I would drive by (usually during out trip to the Citadel's Candlelight Christmas Concert), I would look for the trees I helped plant.  I wanted Sarah to have that same sort of memory.

Mr. Mark and his tiny backpack!

Our first tree is planted.  The trees are on a golf course, so I was convinced I would be hit by a golf ball.  Thankfully, I was not.

Tree number two is much taller than the first one!

Sarah is just the right height for tree number three!

Tree number four is just by the road.

Greg's Penn State Profile! September 29, 2011

Greg was selected as a super-cool alumni to profile on Penn State's World Campus blog.  You may recognize this photo from December 12, 2009, but you'll see it again on the Penn State World Campus blog.

Hersheypark- September 24, 2011

For Sarah's birthday, instead of a party, we went to Hersheypark with the Marusaks for a day of fun.  We figured we would stay as long as Daniel could handle it, and that ended up being a solid 12 hours!  The park opened at 10:00 AM, and we closed the park down at 10:00 PM.  It was a fabulous day of fun!

Emily was a Jolly Rancher 

Sarah was a Jolly Rancher, but somewhere someone (perhaps Sarah herself) decided she was not a Jolly Rancher, but  a Twizzler.  This seems to indicate she is a Jolly Rancher, however.

Daniel was a Hershey Kiss.  Yum.

Daniel said, "No, thank you" to riding on a horse.

Daniel & Puppy

Sarah, Aunt Debbie, Emily & TJ

Daniel's first roller coaster!

The whole gang!  Scott, Kristen, Daniel, Greg, Sarah, Debbie, TJ, Emily & Julia

Aunt Debbie & Daniel

Julia & Emily

Scott & Kristen

Daniel & Aunt Debbie

I will take any opportunity to embarrass my beloved nephew TJ!

Debbie & Kristen

TJ & Sarah

College GameDay- September 23, 2011

Daniel's favorite thing to watch . . . ESPN's College GameDay from October 9, 2010 in Columbia, SC.  He watches it almost every day.    

Walking Home- September 22, 2011

Sarah, Daniel & Emily walking home from school

Navy vs. USC- September 17, 2011

I headed down for a quick 48 hour trip to go see the Gamecocks play Navy with Dad, Bernadette, Jeff & Kathe. While I took the awesome easy cheese picture and the cell phone picture, the rest are from Dad. Thankfully, his camera was not "professional-looking" enough to keep them from letting us in this time.

During our walk-about before the game, I was tickled to see Mrs. Preston (her daughter is a cheerleader for the Gamecocks) and Tommy Fechhelm and his son Ian. We even managed to see the team coming off of the buses, which I have never seen before. We were right in front of the Defense bus, and I am telling you it is hard to tell who's who without the uniform!

Of course, the Gamecocks were victorious, as they always are when I am present. It was touch and go for a bit, but I knew my team would pull through. Go Gamecocks!

After careful list-making and packing for our shrimp & grits tail-gate festivites, it was noted that the cheese was left behind.  Jeff and I were sent on a mission to find cheese.  FYI . . . Subway will not sell you just cheese.  After two gas station searches, we came back with Easy Cheese, and it worked just fine.

Before the game, Kathe, Jeff and I hung out by Dad and Bernadette's seats.  Everyone was on their phone, so I whipped out Pete to take a picture of them!  By the time I took out my phone, Jeff was done doing whatever he was doing, but I made him pretend.

Richard (a.k.a. Bubba) was at the game with Howard.  Dad snapped this photo while I was talking to him on the cell phone.  Howard is waving while Richard is standing next to him on the phone.

Jeff, Kathe and I were sitting further up around the 40 yard line.  While you may have heard rumors that I knocked the little boy next to me down, I can not confirm or deny the said rumor.  I don't think I did, but I can't be sure.  He was as excited as I was, so it could go either way.  He was fine, by the way.  You can't see the boy in the photo, just his dad.

Go Gamecocks!

Run, Latti, run!

We had lots of fireworks during the night.

It's no secret that I am Stephen Garcia's #3 fan, after Mr. & Mrs. Garcia, of course.  I like to think Dad took this picture just for me, as he does not share the Garcia love.

Go Gamecocks! September 10, 2011

Penn State was on the big TV, so Daniel and I were sent to the sun porch to cheer for our Gamecocks on the Bowden Bowl Bash TV.  Go Gamecocks!

Crabs- September 4, 2011

We decided to have crabs at the house since we didn't think Daniel would hold up for the length of time it takes to pick crabs (about three hours this particular evening).  Since some people were having shrimp & grits, the girls decided to decorate the paper with a North & South theme.  The crabs and crab-eaters were on the North side, and the shrimp and shrimp-eaters were on the South side.  Now, please spare me the Mason-Dixon line speech.  Virginia is the buffer, people.  This is the North.  Note that I had placed plates on the North side.  These were discarded quickly.

The North side of the table

The South side of the table

Daniel sat on the North side, but he had chicken

We had three dozen crabs, so we had plenty of leftovers for Debbie's delicious crab dip

Emily started on the South side, but moved over to the North side after her shrimp & grits