Christmas Decorations and Party!

Our Tree!
Our Table for Our Dinner Party

Thanksgiving and Christmas Festivities

For Thanksgiving, we went to Ashley's family's house. We got to spend Thanksgiving with Jay's and Ashley's families! It was a great time with lots of food and shopping! While Jay went to Buloxi, Ashley celebrated Melissa's baby shower! See her cool cake below!

Kojak helping decorate for Christmas!


The sailboat cake that I made for Melissa's baby shower.

Melissa with her cake!

When I was hanging out with Stacy, Kojak was very interested in Abita, her black cat. He would watch her from down the hall, then he would sneak down there to see what she would do. He is so curious!

Me and Jay at Thanksgiving at Ashley's parents house

Annie, Jay, Ashley and Kojak after a big day of shopping!

Debbie, Billy, Annie, Jay and Ashley

Chuck, Courtney, Jay, Dad, Ashley and Nanie Thanksgiving Weekend

More Fall Fun

Here is a quick run down of all the fun that we have had so far this fall!

• In the beginning of October we went to the U2 concert. Bono is such an amazing entertainer!

• We threw a Baby Shower for Ben and Joy! I am very proud of my King of the Jungle Lion cake. :)

• My friend Kristen and I painted a jungle mural for the Bryants.

• The Bryants had their first son, Joshua Benjamin Bryant on October 23. We visited them in the hospital. Look how tiny he is!

• We celebrated with Meg the night she found out she passed the bar!

• We went out on the town with Stacy and Ryan for Halloween. And yes we are proud of our costumes. :)

Jay left me again to go to NV, UT, and CA. He even got In N Out! But at least he had a good time.

We celebrated Jack's 25th Birthday at Dante's Down the Hatch and then at Moe's and Joe's.

And in the middle of all of that I passed my Montessori Certification Exam! Now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

The Darcys visit Athens

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Its Fall!

Wow, its hard to believe that its been three months since our last post. We had a busy summer after the fourth of July. Ashley finished her summer classes and has started the fall session. She recently passed her qualifying exam for her montessori certification. She will take her final exam in November!

In August we had a string of fun visitors! Ashley's mom and dad came for a few days. We did a lot of shopping and eating! The following week, Ashley's brother Chuck and girlfriend Courtney came for a week. We had a blast showing them the World of Coke, comedy clubs, and lots of good food! Then Jay's mom and sister Annie came for a week! We had a great time with them- we went to the bodies exhibit! After that 3 week period, we went through visitors withdrawal.

For Labor day weekend, we actually decided to stay in town! It was nice to be able to rest at home for once. We went with the Morgan's up to their college town, Athens, home of the dawgs. We had a great time spending time with them, walking around and seeing their old haunts.

Jay has been busy with work and recently went on a trip to Colorado and left Ashley by herself for 2 weeks! He had a great time and met some new friends!

We were disappointed that we were unable to attend our friends Nick and Christina's wedding last weekend. Congrats Nick and Christina!

We are excited for the fall! We will be going to Octoberfest in North Georgia and going to VA for Thanksgiving!

Fourth of July

We have been so busy over the past three months! Since Reilly's wedding, Ashley went to the beach with Becky. We travelled to Daytona Beach and spent some time with Aunt Cindi and Uncle Jerry. Ashley started summer school (and will be done THIS week!)

Over the fourth of July weekend, we went to Tennessee to visit with Andrew and his family. We both had Friday off and drove up that evening. On Saturday, we did a 800 yard swim (whew!) and Jay came in second place (second to the captain of the W&M swim team no less)! Later we went to a cliff and Jay jumped off multiple times! Ashley stayed in the boat and took pictures :). Later we enjoyed a great dinner of smoked meat and watched the group of boys set off fireworks. On Sunday we went to church with Andrew, his mom and Claudia. After church we went to an old favorite- Lisa's kitchen- for lunch and headed on the road.

Reilly's Wedding!

Look at those mountains!

Arriving after taking pictures!

Mr and Mrs Reilly Flynn!

All the Groomsmen!

Jay walking down the aisle

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we travelled to Ridgway, Colorado for Jay's highschool friend's wedding! Jay flew in on Friday for groomsmen activities and the Rehearsal dinner. On Saturday, the groomsmen visited a Hot springs pool and the wives walked around town looking at the scenery. It is so beautiful there! On Saturday night, we went to the bride's parents ranch for barbeque! We also saw an amazing display of fireworks all for the Bride and Groom! On Sunday evening, the rain stopped and the sun came out right before the ceremony (which was outdoors!) Then they had a great reception and dancing until after midnight! We got up Monday morning and headed to the airport. We got home safely after a great weekend!

Lara's Wedding!

Bridesmaids!

At the Reception: Jay, Ashley, Lara, Phil, Rebecca, Kirsten

Mr and Mrs!

We are a little late updating because we have been so busy! In April, we went to Long Island to celebrate Ashley's college roomate's wedding. We stayed in Long Island Friday and Saturday attending the Rehearsal and Dinner as well as the wedding. It was such a beautiful celebration! We have known Lara and Phil since 2002! So it was a blast seeing them make the next step into marriage as well as seeing old college friends. On Sunday, we went to the breakfast brunch to say goodbye to everyone and then headed into New York City. We went to the Pegu Club then Agave for dinner and ended the night at the Villiage Vanguard Jazz Club. On Monday, we did a little shopping then we headed to airport! Here are some pictures of the great weekend!

Germany

This past week, we traveled across the Atlantic to Munich and Berlin, Germany! We had a great time exploring, learning the language, and trying the Bavarian food. We traveled overnight on Tuesday and arrived in Munich at 8am. After dropping our things off at the hotel, we walked around Marienplatz, a square with fun shopping and the famous Glockenspiel. We saw a very neat performance at 11am where the clock plays music and figurines dance.

Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz, Munich, Germany

We had our very first Bavarian meal of Bratwurst and then headed to the BMW museum. We learned many facts on the history of the BMW vehicles as well as saw some really neat concept cars for the future. Jay had a blast in this museum but Ashley was very jetlagged and tried very hard to pay attention!

Jay at the BMW Museum

After the museum, we went back to the hotel for a short nap before dinner. We visited the Hofbrauhaus for 1 liter steins and pork knuckles (which were surprisingly good!) The Hofbrauhaus is one of Munich's oldest breweries and has a traditional German band and waitresses in traditional dirndl dresses. We visited this brewery every night we were in Munich! The comradary and hospitality there is so welcoming! We met some really interesting people there.

Jay working on his second stein!

After a good night's rest, we visited the Deutsches Museum, which is Munich's science museum as well as visited the Marienplatz for more shopping. The next day we visited Dachau, the first concentration camp in Germany. It was snowy, cold and wet which made the experience that much more powerful. The camp was so eerily calm and orderly. After walking through the museum part of the camp, we walked around the grounds and saw the living quarters. There is one small building tucked in the very back of the camp that had the derobing room and 'showers' on the left side and the crematorium on the right. You could not leave the camp, especially this building, without feeling the heaviness and severity of this part in history.

The Gate leading into Dachau which reads: Work makes one free

We felt such a connection with Munich while we were there, so it was hard to leave for Berlin. On Sunday morning, we woke early to fly to Berlin for three days. Once we arrived in Berlin, we explored the city and walked to all of the big sites- the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Holocaust Memorial. Monday and Tuesday we visited some art and history museums, continued shopping and went to the top of the Reichstag. We visited Checkpoint Charlie and read some of the incredible stories escaping to West Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate

Ashley on top of the Reichstag

Checkpoint Charlie

On Wednesday, we flew home after experiencing a language barrier, seeing some incredible historical sites and of course having a lot of fun!

Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we traveled to northern Virginia to visit Ashley's family. After going to the church service that evening, we had our traditional chili at Nanie's house. On Christmas day, we opened lots of presents- including fun toys for Kojak, cookbooks, giftcards, and stuff for Jay's new car. The day after Christmas, Jay's family came up and we went to the Air and Space Museum. That night we had dinner with our old Atlanta friends, Nick and Christina. On Saturday, Ashley visited with some friends and we had some good ol' family time that night. On Sunday, we caught up with some high school friends and had our last family dinner of the vacation. Ashley's brother, Chuck, came down with us to Atlanta on Monday. On the way south, we visited Jay's aunt Jacky in Richmond. We had a great time with Chuck! We went out to eat, visited the World of Coke, and saw two movies. Ashley also was very productive working and reorganizing around the house. We really enjoyed the week and a half off and we're all rested to start work on Monday! Pictures to Come!