Coast to Coast

This past week John and I headed to California for David Turner's wedding. We left Jack with my parents while we were gone. This picture was taken on the drive to NC just after we told him we'd be leaving him for 5 days. Look how sad, yet handsome, he manages to look. He's smart. He knew he had to look sad for us, but on the inside he's thinking "YES!!! Twenty-four hour a day attention, getting whatever my little finger points to, and having everything I do be translated as cute!" Thankfully, he was excited to see us when we returned. Thanks for watching me, Mimi, Poppy, Mema and Deda!


It's been a while since I posted a dirty eating picture. This was spaghetti night at the Usserys. Jack is fully capable of eating with his utensils, but has recently decided that he prefers using his hands instead. Oftentimes, he'll just still hold the fork, but shovels the food in with his fingers anyway. Strange, but it seems to work for him.

The amenities at Hampton Lake opened up a few weekends ago, and it was incredible! It's every mom's dream! There's a pool with a lazy river and waterfall, a splash area where the water shoots out of the ground, a playground, a beach, and as many umbrellas to cover up at least a third of the SC population. I only wish Jack recognized the place for it's value. We went the other day with our next door neighbor and all he and Jack wanted to do was play with the shower that washes your feet off before getting into the pool and the mud puddle that inevitably formed while they were playing with the shower. Whatever. It kept them entertained!

So California was just as great as we had hoped. The weather was awesome. No humidity, and to preggers, here....that's music to my ears. The evenings were a cooler than I had imagined, but we got by with the clothes we packed. David and Lauren had a beautiful wedding, with one of the best ceremonies I had probably ever witnessed. We were so excited to meet their friends, be with our HH/Atl friends and get to relax. John and I know that a vacation like that won't come too easily after September arrives!

And speaking of the arrival of Lil' Uss #2, the baby is a BOY! Yes, I had decided not to find out. We had actually missed what seemed to be our one opportunity to find out when we had our ultrasound a few weeks ago, but....John had been making some comments about wishing we had found out with this one. (He had also wanted to know with Jack, but I refused.) After feeling pretty convicted that I had been pretty selfish in completely disregarding his opinion, I decided to give him another chance to find out. At one of my routine OB visits, my doctor did a quick ultrasound, wrote "it's a boy" on a piece of paper (without me knowing what it said), and I gave the envelope to John for an early Father's Day present. I told him it was his choice if he wanted to open it, but that I would be fine (meaning more happy) if he decided to shred it in my face. He decided to open it and I'm so glad he did because he was more than thrilled to know that we're having another boy! We had both felt that we were having another boy, so I didn't even feel like a surprise had been tampered with. It felt right. And yes, we do have a name that we're leaning towards, but we're not telling for fear that we'll get the cover up smile face in response that really means you hate the name.

Suckers and Hand Holding

This past weekend, all 7 of my Sr. year college roommates came to visit. We didn't do much other than hang out, talk, catch up, lay out, and spend some good ol' girl time together. Which was perfect. And fun. And much needed. Thanks, friends, for making the trek to Hilton Head to visit. Please come again soon!!! Here's a picture of the gang. (I'm the big one:)


Jack has been as entertaining the last few weeks as always. He got a tricycle, which has been fun. It's got a push bar on the back so John and I can push him without bending over and inevitably falling. Jack can't quite figure out how to pedal, but he enjoys it anyway. He also got a helmet, which is the funniest thing you could ever imagine seeing. It's the only thing he will let you put on his head without having a full out tantrum. It's odd. I would definitely prefer to wear a baseball hat. Maybe he feels cool in his helmet? I'm sure that will change one day soon. I'll post a trike n' helmet picture soon.

Jack's big boy bed has arrived! He's still in the crib for the time being. We're so nervous that he's going to climb out of the bed and ruin his good sleeping habits. Maybe we'll put him in it sometime in June or July. We'll see. I'll post a picture of his room soon. We still have to paint it and decorate it, which will be fun.

Here are the Ussery men with their suckers. This is a treat we give to him only occasionally. He had his first sucker experience after his last doctor's visit. It only took one, and now he's hooked.


And here's the latest Shelby/Jack picture. They sometimes hold hands, which is so adorable. Jack has started reaching up for our hands when we're walking around. I love it. Dirty fingernails, sticky palms and all. It's one of the many fun things to experience as a parent. Jack is usually wanting to show his independence these days, but ever so often, he'll reach up with his chubby fingers to remind us that he still needs help. He can get so frustrated when he can't do something, so we're working on him asking for 'help, please', which usually comes out as "hep peas."


One more funny Jack story: The other day Papa Johnny and Gigi were over for a quick visit. We had just walked Scout and were showing them how Jack likes to play "Santa" and give Scout his treats when he's finished doing his doggy business in the yard. We also informed them that Jack will sometimes eat the treat himself instead of giving it to the dog. So, we give Jack the treat and tell him to give it to Scout. He puts the treat to his lips and looks at us. I tell him, "Don't put that in your mouth." He looks at the treat, looks at me, looks at the treat again. Then....the runs to his time out corner, sits down and starts eating the dog treat! It's like he weighed the options and figured that the dog treat was worth a few minutes in time out. Unbelievable.

Tonight we're going to Jackie's high school graduation! Congratulations, Jackie! We're so proud of you and we will miss you so much next year! Go Wolfpack! (And Tarheels, of course!)

Sweet Tea

Since Easter we have been on the road again. Go ahead. Sing the song. It's a good one. John, Jack and I went to Atlanta with Gigi and Papa Johnny to see Jeffrey play against the Wolfpack. Georgia Tech swept the series with 3 wins, which was great. Jack was a handful for the first game. He wanted to climb up and down the bleachers while throwing his sippy cups and raisins all over everybody. Luckily, most of the folks there remembered what it's like to have a 20 month old and no one punched us in the face for bringing him along. The Sunday game went much more smoothly as we learned that Jack does better if he has some room to roam. He liked screaming towards the ball field whenever the crowd would get into a play or whenever they were arguing a call from the umps.

Here's the visual synopsis:



Jack is getting more and more attached to his Daddy. John will catch him imitating his motions. If John's sitting on the couch, Jack wants to. If John has his legs crossed, Jack crosses his. This picture was taken after Jack's first encounter with Dippin' Dots. He liked them! He'd take a bite, rub his tummy and say "UMMMM!!!"

After the games at GT, the players stand along the fence to sign autographs for most of the little boys and girls that have come to watch. Jack enjoys playing on the field and running in the grass.

Three Men and a Baby

Bathtime continues to be one of Jack's favorite things. He calls it, "Baaf", like he's a Brit who can't pronounce the 'th' sound.

Jack got yet another haircut last Wednesday. This was the most trying time yet in the hair cutting chair. We didn't go back to the place with the cool plane seat, but went back to our roots at Tara's where the lady does the best job and has the most patience. Patience trumps cool chair. After the haircut, we came home, brushed all the loose hairs off and turned on the bubble machine.

This was the beginning of Jack's first Jeep Ride. We put his carseat in the back and went for a short drive across 278 to MiTierras (our favorite Mexican restaurant). John and I both asked ourselves if that was a good idea or not, but he drove very slowly and we only drove 1 mile total. But who did we run into at MiTierra's but the pediatrician that I work for and his family who had a nice view of the parking lot while we drove in. We managed to escape without any scolding and with only one comment, "We didn't know you had a Jeep!" It's not ours, though. Needless to say, Jack loved the ride and returned home safe and sound.

Just a cute picture of Jack and John.


This is Jack with Gammy, my grandmother. We visited with her several times while we were in Greensboro this past weekend for my cousin, Josh's, wedding. Here Jack got a taste of sweet tea, decaf, of course. And he loved it....of course. And that's all he wanted from then on out....of course. And then someone who will remain nameless decided to give him caffeinated sweet tea. Not a good idea. He's hyper enough without drugs. I guess his Southern blood couldn't resist the yummy nectar that is sweet tea. We had a good trip seeing a lot of our family. Thanks for entertaining us all weekend!!!

I made the HORRIBLE mistake of forgetting Jack's Elmo at home when we left for Greensboro. But Mimi and Poppy came through and bought Jack his 3rd Elmo. He seemed to know the difference but at least we had something to offer him when he would ask for his precious Melmo. Well....when we got back home to Bluffton on Monday, I was changing Jack's diaper and he yells, "Melmo???? Where are you????" very clearly. I've never heard him say that before. It was so funny and cute.

Baby #2 Update: We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning. The baby is measuring right on target for his/her September 22nd due date. We did not find out the sex of the baby, but we're feeling strongly that it's a boy. We'll see! I'll try to post pictures if I can figure out how to do that! We got some great shots of his/her feet and one cute profile of the baby sucking their thumb. Halfway there!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! We hope you had as great of a worship experience as we did this morning at church! Despite John being sick, and now Jack having a fever, we've had a pretty good day!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with taking Jack to the beach, John busting his buns at work, and me carrying myself to doctor's visits. I'm happy to report that we heard Baby #2's heartbeat this past Monday. He/she was moving around a lot, but we were able to hear a strong, healthy heartbeat! It's amazing what all is going on without us having to do much more than take vitamins and drink lots of water! And no, we will not find out the sex of the baby. It's exciting not to know, but we are both thinking it's another boy, which would be wonderful. (But we'd be thrilled to have a girl, of course!)


John is Jack's best friend, I think. Whenever he gets home from work, it's "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" and Jack wants to wrestle and rough house with his dad. It's really cute to see how he already looks up to him so much.

Two Sundays ago we took the Usserys boat out for an afternoon spin with Jason and Lauren. The weather was gorgeous! Jack hated his life jacket, but once he got over it, he loved sitting at the wheel and driving. We saw one dolphin, but it didn't come close to the boat, unfortunately. Jack did get to see a lot of other boats and birds, which he enjoyed.

We're still having our weekly lunch meeting with Kim, Shelby and JP. Our group has expanded with Lauren (Jason Weaver's fiance) and the Albert girls. I'll have to take more pictures this week. Jack is so difficult at restaurants these days, crying "UP! UP!" whenever we put him in a highchair, and basically having a fit at least half the time. But, we still go for tradition's sake, hoping he'll turn his attitude around one of these days!

This is Jack, Jay and Carter in the church nursery last Sunday. This picture made Jack look like such a big boy to me....sitting at a little table with tiny chairs, eating his goldfish next to his buddies. I had to keep the nursery that same day and Jack spent half the time crying because I was holding or playing with other children. He has a pretty bad jealousy problem. Today, however, he didn't have a jealousy problem, just a screaming problem. We got paged from the worship service for the first time because Jack wouldn't stop screaming. After 30 min, they gave up and called John to the rescue. I felt so bad for the nursery workers, that they had to hear that for so long, and I felt bad for Jack, like he had gotten his name on the board or something!

This is Scout's Easter outfit. He's wearing his doggy polo!

The Easter bunny did visit today, although I think the Easter bunny tops all other secular holiday observations as being the dumbest for sure. But we did it anyway, and Jack seemed to enjoy his toys even though he didn't feel so well. His favorite was his Mr. Potato Head and his books.

Jack is trying to feed Scout a treat, but also contemplating if he should eat it himself. This isn't the best picture, but it's the head to toe of Jack's Easter outfit, which we all know is important. We did have to go with a long sleeve shirt instead of short because it was so cold this morning! Hopefully it'll warm up again soon and we can go to the beach!

Happy Easter!

Fort Wars, Atlanta, Jack Being Crazy

Two weeks ago our nanny, Jennie, was sick so I had to stay home from work to care for Jack. It was a rainy day, and I had a lot of energy for some reason, so I decided to build a fort for Jack. This plan was actually mentioned in our last posting. Little did I know that the construction of one little for would turn into a John vs. Erin Fort Building Competition. No. Make that WAR!!!

The first fort pictured is my puny, novice effort on Day 1 of Fort Wars. I was so proud of it! Jack loved it, too. He liked reading his books with his Daddy's camping head lamps on!

The fort below is what I came home to on Friday morning after going into work for a few hours. Jennie was still ill so John stayed with Jack for a couple of hours. When I walked in the house, I could tell I had been outdone. John's fort had two entrances to my one, more square footage, and better use of materials overall.



But I can't lose. Well...I can lose, but not without putting up a decent fight. So, GAME ON!!!

This is what happened:


After a trip to Lowe's ( to buy the tarp/fort roof), a trip to KayBee Toys (to buy the tunnel/Entrance #1), and forty minutes of hard work, I had constructed the Mother Ship of all forts, ever. And Jack clearly preferred it above anything he had ever seen in his life including Elmo. We kept the fort up for about a week until we realized we would actually like a place to sit while we ate. All of our kitchen table chairs were used in the fort process. It was fun, but I'm afraid that I will come home one day and my fort will have been outdone. Again. But for now, I have the bragging rights for sure. And I'm obviously using them as I write almost an entire blog about it.


Jack fell asleep one day at Target. I think we go there so much for diapers and other baby stuff that he feels like it's his second home. Obviously he's comfortable there! The duck under his head was a toy I pulled off the shelf to occupy him while we wheeled around the store, but then he fell asleep on it, and I ended up having to buy it!

Two weekends ago we went to Atlanta! Jordan and Trevor had flown in from Boston to celebrate Gigi's birthday with the entire family. Jeffrey had 3 games against Virginia Tech, so Jack experienced some baseball. He enjoyed climbing on the bleachers, pushing his wagon around with Jordan and Trevor and looking out for Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot. At first Buzz was a little creepy, but then Jack warmed up to him and couldn't stop asking for him. It was great to have the family all together!

Jack got another haircut on Saturday. We went to a different place this time because we heard the kid's chair was really cool. And the rumor was true! Isn't this the coolest hair cutting chair you've ever seen?

Jack's newest trick is sliding head first off of the ottoman. We don't like this new trick. It's scary.

This is one of those pictures where I look at Jack, and I'm amazed at how big he's getting! I had to buy him a new pair of tennis shoes today because he had outgrown all of his others. The shoes look so HUGE!

And as for other exciting news, Jack is going to be a BIG BROTHER in September!!! We're all very excited about another baby! That will probably mean even fewer blog posts than we can post now with the little amount of time we seem to have, but it'll be twice the entertainment!

Hope everyone is having a great afternoon!

GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!! GO HEELS!!!!!

18 Months

Jack turned 18 months old last Friday! I can't believe that he's a year and a half old now. Time is flying, Jack is growing, and we're having so much fun with him. He had his 18 month check up on Tuesday, and he was healthy. He's still tall, skinny and his head is giant. That's what happens though when you're abnormally smart and your cranium has to expand to hold all of that excessive knowledge. Or that's what happens when your parents are blessed with super skull size. We're betting on the former.

Along with the growth in physical size, Jack's growth in attitude has been astronomical. He's having tantrums now, and despite how aggravating and outright maddening they can be, John and I cannot help but to laugh (in secret of course) at how funny Jack expresses his emotions. We've been trying time out with Jack, which we think is working somewhat. We'll make him sit in the corner away from all of his toys and away from us. He'll sit there and look at us and then scream, then hit the wall, then shake his head, hit the wall again and say "AHHH!!!". It's just funny to think that in his mind, all of those things sound like good options, like "This will show them!!!" If I could install a hidden video and record one of these episodes, I would, and then I'd put it on You Tube so everyone could enjoy it. All in all, though, Jack continues to be well behaved. He's great at saying please ("peez") for anything he wants, and he's getting better at saying thank you ("ay-ooh") in return. Very cute.

Here's what the little guy has been up to lately.



This is the ball pit that we got Jack for Valentine's Day, because we all know that you can only show your love to a child by getting him more toys. Especially when they're toy deprived like Jack. Ha! John and Scout decided to join in the fun. The balls in the pit are red, green, blue and yellow. I reasoned this purchased by saying it would help him learn his colors, which it has. He's pretty good at recognizing blue. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't buy the ball pit because it reminded me of my childhood joys spent at the Burger King playground on Summit Ave. Matt, you know you loved it, too.

Jack enjoys the playground at Belfair so much! It is a pretty awesome playground afterall. He likes to climb the stairs by himself and slide down the slide without any assistance. Jack prefers belly-down, feet first. This picture was taken at the chain ladder part of the playground, which time and time again proves to be the greatest physical challenge to Jack. He'll steady himself on one chain rung of the ladder, but when he picks one foot up to move upward, the stationary legs starts wobbling, he ends up straddling the lower rung and his legs are too short to get him off. I wonder when we pull up to the playground and Jack realizes where we are if part of him dreads the chain ladder attempt of the day. Probably. It does look painful.


Jack tried to kiss Shelby yesterday at One Hot Mama's. He didn't quite hit the target, but the both laughed and thought it was funny. By the way, Shelby is a new big sister! Her brother, JP, was born on January 13th, and he's such a cutie. I'll post a picture of JP soon.

This is the face John and I get right after we repremand Jack for doing something he's not supposed to be doing. This is pre time out face.

Jack is pretty much self sufficient at the dinner table now. It gets messy, especially when it's ravioli night as pictured above, but he's learning.

A few Saturdays ago, we went to the beach for an hour or so with Jason and Lauren. Jack was a maniac trying to get to the ocean! He made a beeline as soon as we got there and our attempts at distraction failed miserably. "Jack, no, no...you're mistaken. There's no water here. What?? That big body of blue that we're letting Scout play in? Only a mirage, buddy. Here's a shovel. Go play in the sand that just been replinished by the beach anti-erosion committee that's really not sand, but more mud with dog poop mixed in. That sounds like fun, now doesn't it?" He just wouldn't buy it.

Jack is proving to have the skills of an artist! He scribbles and eats the crayons with the best of them! Thanks to nanny Jennie, Jack has made some beautiful artwork that is displayed on our refrigerator door! Turns out he likes abstract!

Hope everyone is doing well. If you're reading this today, please pray for our nanny's health! She's got the yucky stomach bug that's been going around. And pray for Jack. He has a fever, but it's not slowing him down! I'm at home from work today. It's raining outside, so we're going to build a fort. More for me than for him.
And cheer hard for the HEELS tonight! They're playing GT at GT.

Confused

This is Jack's happy face after learning that UNC beat dook last week! He couldn't stop smiling.

We've been busy since the last posting. We went to Atlanta two weekends ago with Josh and Erin Hall (one of my college roomies and her hubby). It was a lot of fun! We went on the Coca Cola tour which was neat. They let you try a bunch of Coke products from other countries. Very interesting/disgusting! I can't remember where this particular soda was from, but if you're ever out of the country and you find yourself purchasing a soda called "Beverly"...try to find yourself giving the soda back and getting your money. It's terrible. I believe someone described it as dumpster juice with fizz. And who names a soda "Beverly"? I'm no marketing expert, but I'm not so sure that the word "Beverly" screams refreshing. Jack enjoyed watching the coke machines fill the bottles, and he danced to all of the old Coke commercials that were playing. We also got to see Jeffrey play in an intra-squad game. I wish we had some pictures, but we were all so busy chasing Jack that we didn't get any really good ones.





These above two pictures may explain why this blog is titled 'Confused.' Jack enjoys emailing in the nude and bathing with his clothes on!

Jack loves bath time more than anything, so usually, when we turn the water on, he'll run to the tub and do this excited little dance/cry until we put him into the water. Two nights ago, we realized after he was quite for a second, that he had actually climbed into the tub, FULLY CLOTHED! It was so funny, but a little scary, too, knowing that he could get in there by himself. He then took his post bath naked run around the house, climbed up into the computer desk chair and started clicking and typing away. He's got things a little mixed up.


Jack made his Mama proud when he showed interest in her shin guards last night. Everytime he throws or tries to catch something, people say, "He's gonna be a baseball (basketball, football) player." No one ever says he'll be a soccer player. Soccer's cool for guys, too, right? I mean, I don't see David Beckham getting any grief over it. Of course, John didn't like the fact that he took a liking to something pink, but we tried to look past that. We both thought the shin guards made him look like a hockey goalie anyway. Either way, it'll be fun to see what he's eventually interested in. Right now, it's Elmo, Mommy, Daddy and raisins!

GO HEELS!!!

Tonight we play dook. CHEER HARD!!! Thought you might enjoy this little picture.

Jackie turns 18!!!

John's sister, Jackie, turned 18 on the 10th! Happy Birthday, Jackie! Her parents were kind enough to host a surprise party in her honor at Berkeley Hall. We think she was really surprised. Unfortunately...I didn't take any pictures! She looked beautiful in her dress! I'll post some pictures if I can get some from Genie. Here Jackie and Jack are posing in her kitchen. Jackie is excited that Jack recognizes her and gets excited when he sees her. By the way, Jackie's going to NC State next year! GO PACK!!!

Chuck, one of John's UNC roommates, got married on the 13th! His bride's name is Angela. Dr. Angela. And Dr. Chuck. Nauseating, really. Just think how smart their kids will be.

The other day when it was 80 degrees outside, I thought Jack might like to mix art time with outside time. And I was right. He colored with his new crayons. The huge ones that are for little kids. And he loved it! He got more on the driveway than the paper, but he did manage to complete his first masterpiece, which is hanging in his Daddy's office. Scout went on the outdoors art field trip, too, as you can see by the hairy paw in the background. Scout and Jack continue to be best buddies. Every time we pull into our driveway, Jack begins his repetitious "doggy, doggy, doggy" chant that doesn't stop until we're in the door and he's received a few licks from his hairy older brother. It's cute.

This is Jack's Elmo doll that he affectionately refers to as 'Melmo'. My Mom and Dad got Melmo for Jack while we were on our vacation over New Years. Since then, he has not slept without Melmo. In fact, he gets fretful near bedtime when Melmo is nowhere to be found. This weekend my parents are coming to town and bringing a back up Melmo with them. Just in case. And I should probably start calling him Elmo instead of Melmo. I don't want to be one of those parents who starts calling people and things what their children do. John would be 'Da-da' and Scout would be 'goggy'. And I would be strange.


Jack is so full of personality these days, and I think this picture shows that. He had just gotten out of the bathtub and was getting ready for his post bath naked house run. It's seems to be his favorite way to dry off.

John and I are doing well. John continues to be busy with work, which is a good thing. Our New Year's resolution is to take our house, room by room, and get rid of the stuff we don't want or need anymore. So far, we haven't made much (any) progress on that, but hey, it's only January, and there's something freeing about that. Like the feeling of a Friday night once you've started a weekday, 9-5 job. You know what I'm talking about. The go to MiTierra's and scarf down an entire chimichanga and glass of sweet tea because no one will care if you are overeating cause it's Friday night feeling. Maybe I'm alone on that one.

Christmas Vacation

This Christmas we traveled all over the place: Greensboro, Las Vegas, Sedona, Scottsdale/Phoenix, and back to Greensboro again! We spent Christmas with my family and then headed to NV on the 26th-2nd. Jack stayed behind with my parents. It was so hard leaving him, but very worth the time spent with my husband and the Ussery and Smith families!


Santa visited Jack in Greensboro. He got a basketball goal, this Superman that sings 'Itsy Bitsy Spider" (John think this emasculates the super hero), some books, an Aquadoodle, a lawnmower, stacking blocks and some UNC shirts. His favorite gift was a singing Grinch that Gammy gave to him. We're on the 2nd set of batteries already.


Here's Jack amidst the chaos.


Gigi, Jackie, Jordan and I posed for a picture underneath the glass pansies in the Bellagio hotel. They had some of the best Christmas decorations I had ever seen. That night we watched the dancing water fountain show in front of the Bellagio. Very Oceans 11, huh? We stayed at Caesar's Palace. I was confused most of the time just trying to find the elevator to our room.

Another shot in the Bellagio. These are all the original Ussery kids plus the 'additions' (Trevor and me). Believe it or not, John and I managed to see Vegas without gambling a penny. We did get to see Seinfeld perform, which was hilarious! After Vegas, we headed to Sedona. What was supposed to be a 5 hr drive turned into about a 7 hour drive due to traffic over the Hoover Dam and a pretty impressive snowfall in Arizona.

We finally made it to Sedona! Jordan had planned a rock climbing adventure for us, but we had to cancel because of the snow. Rats. But we did get to hike some trails. One trail led to this red rock formation. Some of us were more daring than others. John, Jeff, Jordan and Ramsey climbed to the top while the rest of us stayed below (Jackie, who wanted to climb farther, Austin, Logan, Trevor and me).

After Sedona, we headed to our final destination: the Phoenician! What a beautiful resort! Among our activities were: golf, hiking Camelback Mountain, working out, relaxing, Pilates class, bellydancing class, Bocce, ballroom dancing class, lying by the pool, sleeping in, playing Catch Phrase and Pit, kicking the soccer ball, throwing the frisbee, tennis, etc., etc! We had so much fun with the Smiths and Ussery! Thanks for the vacation!!!

Here is Mr. Smith, Ramsey and Trevor teaching a tennis clinic at the Phoenician, which is mainly the reason we were able to go. Unfortunately a nasty cold ran among our group for part of the trip, but it seemed that the Smith men pulled off a great clinic. And I would know because I am a tennis expert. Jordan and Mrs. Smith played Hale Irwin's wife and daughter and BEAT THEM! WHOO HOO!!! I noticed that in order to be accepted among the Smith/Ussery crowd, you have to be at least moderately competitive.

Here's a view of one of the pool decks at the Phoenician. So beautiful. The weather was cool for this time of year. Highs in the mid-sixties. But the pools were heated and you could pull off sunbathing during the afternoon.

This picture was taken about 1/4 of the way up Camelback Mountain.



Why we thought staring directly at the sun was a good idea, I will never know. But, alas, we made it to the top of Camelback. From here you could see over all of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Breathtaking (and blinding)!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

Jack played, ate, ran, visited and talked the ears off of Mimi and Poppy (the Grandfather formerly known as PiPi). He regained his appetite and along with that a few extra pounds, 4 new molars, some new toys, and another black eye. I don't think he missed us one bit, but we sure were excited to see him again.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Best wishes for a wonderful 2007!