Do you have a coat you don't use??????

Tis the season of Thanksgiving. I had talked to several of you about the coat drive at the Carbondale Mall but didn't have any details. Here they are. Bring your gently worn coats of all sizes that are collecting dust in your closets to the Carbondale Mall by the 15th of December. Hats, scarfs, & gloves are welcome too! There is a drop of box beside the Customer Service desk. They will be picked up and distributed to Coats for Kids this Christmas.

Turkey Trot

Today my husband ran in the Annual Turkey Trot that Herrin has every year. They have a 15k run, 5k run, and a 5k walk. He has been running most nights preparing for today and the future mini tri-athalon that he and 3 other guys are going to do in August. He did the 5k run and I did the walk. He finished in 32 mins. I finished in 42 mins. I cheated and jogged. The women in the "walk" catagory were NOT walking. Those women were speed walking demons. I had to jogg to keep up! I just have to say how PROUD I am of my husband. He did an amazing job today. I wish I could have seen him crossing the finish line. Thanks to Ryan's mom, grandma Phyllis, grandpa Al & grandma Mary for taking the pictures and cheering us on. The route took us into my parents neighborhood and my mom even ran out to take some pictures. I know that the other people in the race thought we were hilarious with our entarage with us. The 15k runners were amazing. I can't imagine having that much stamina to finish. They were great to watch. It was a great morning.

Before the Race

Taking off!

Ryan during the run

Ryan Finishing!!!!

Taking a Breather after the race

Me finishing

Baby Deadmond's Baby Shower

This weekend Ryan and I were invited to Jason and Jenna's Co-Ed Baby Shower. Jason's engineering firm threw them the shower at his bosses' house. It was the best baby shower Ryan said he had ever been to. Also the only one. They play several games and passed out awesome gifts. The food was great and we got to meet a lot of new people. Jason and Jenna as always were wonderful hosts. Thanks for the great weekend. You will see a lot of alcohol consumption in the following pictures. I can reasure you that the shower was very family friendly and classy. I just didn't take pictures of those moments for some reason!

The Proud ParentsThey are doing a vintage baseball themed nursery for the baby. The theme of the shower was sports. We were all asked to were our favorite baseball team gear. Well as you can tell, this isn't a baseball theme get up. Ryan refuses to recognize any other sports team other than the Bears. I went along with it.

Here is one of the games. Some of the guys had to drink beer out of a bottle. Most of them thought it would soooo easy! Much to their surprise it wasn't! Ryan did NOT win.

Another very touching moment. Ryan and Jason's boss bet eachother that they could shotgun a beer faster than the other. Of course they had to prove themselves. I swear Ryan drank it in 1 second. Yes, 1 second!!! He won. Surprisingly, I was so proud of him.
A congratulatory hand shake
We got home and Ry crashed on the floor. The cats followed right in.

Welcome Home Matt

Tonight we had a get together because one of our good friends was in town. This is Matt. We all went to school with him and currently he lives in Chicago where he is an amazing artist. Sadly, he was in town due to the passing of his grandfather. It was sooooooooo wonderful to see him dispite the circumstances. He is the funniest guy I know. We all have wonderful stories and memories of Matt.

Matt, hope this is worth you posting. I made sure

that my tooth was at a good angle. : )This would be a shot of the class of '99

Ryan, Matt, Tara, Nate, Katie, Miranda, and Kalin

Here's some big news.........

BRONSON & KATIE ARE EXPECTING!!!! She is due in the middle of July!!!

A HUGE CONGRATS to you both!Tobey swears that the pencil test can prove if it's a boy or girl.

So here we are testing it. If the pencil circles it will

be a girl, if it goes from side to side obviously it's boy. Bronson and Miranda patiently waiting. This test was also done on

Miranda by Tobey when she was pregnant with Preston.

To Tobey's calculations it's a BOY!!
Preston walked in the door and Sophia walked up to him and gave him a big HUG. Kids are so sweet.

Preston was amazed at Vance's walker.
INTRODUCING: James!!!!!

This beautiful baby boy is Tara and Joe's son.

He made himself right at home and fit in very nicely!

Here is James and his Mommy Vance, he always looks so alarmed by me and the camera attached to my hand at all times
Miss Sophia walks into my living room and goes "Tapee, look at Lala's (Melissa) tape". She managed to pull out only half of the roll. It was cute though. Nate was very amused!