Catching up..Christmas

I haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with our blog lately.. too many events I guess you could say. :) So I thought I'd be slightly un-lazy and post links to some of the family photos online..

Smith Family Christmas: http://www.dropshots.com/chadandkara#date/2008-12-26

Dial Family Christmas: http://www.dropshots.com/chadandkara#date/2008-12-27

Miller Family Christmas: http://www.dropshots.com/chadandkara#date/2008-12-22

We also had our annual holiday party with our friends here in Austin. We had a great time and were so grateful that SO MANY friends were able to come this year. :)

http://www.dropshots.com/chadandkara#date/2008-12-20

and I'll end with this year's Christmas card.. :) Thanks to Abby for being so patient with me. :)

The end of Fall..

Abby and I took a walk today and I realized just how late in the year it is. It has just zoomed by with Christmas now less than a month away. Unbelievable.. Chad and I got to spend Thanksgiving with both of our families this year. I've attached a few pictures.. Though I'd love for time to slow down a bit...I'm really looking forward to Christmas with my sister. At least now I can enjoy all the decorations up since Halloween and carols playing on the radio since the election.. :). Kinds makes you wonder if we're truly getting to enjoy all of the seasons.....

Trip to College Station

We took mom & dad to the OU/A&M game in College Station this year. Chad scored us a pair of tickets next to his Grand-parents' seats, so we were all able to sit together.. and not in nose-bleed.. Go Chad! :)
We got to campus early enough for a slice of pizza, the parade of band and corp, and a few snaps. Here are a few pics of around campus and at the game..

Austin LiveStrong Challenge 2008!

Ahhh..October.. Time for birthdays and wearing yellow! :) The Austin LiveStrong Challenge was this past weekend.. and what a great weekend it was! $3.5 million was raised for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, 3200 cyclists rode on Sunday, and 2700 run/walkers did the 5K with me and Chad on Saturday!

I didn't get any pics on Saturday.. so waiting on Kreutz Photography to post theirs.. but I DID get some great shots on Sunday! The first on the left is me and Brenda..

My buddy, Laura, had just finished her bike ride.. and here's Lance finishing!

My dear friend Renee is going through chemo now..and took a pic with Sex and the City star, Evan Handler, who was diagnosed with leukemia at 24.. I bought his new book, It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive..and am really enjoying it.

and to my fabulous Team Dell friends who did the ride.. Will & Rachel..Ian, Trista, and Kara.. sorry John - I only got a pic of your rear-end.. :) SO proud of you guys!

not OUr Red River Rivalry year..

Well, OU/texas weekend has come and gone. We hosted a party at the casa complete with keg and cookies. Most of my OU friends were unavailable this year, so there was a LOT of burnt orange in the house.

including the food that Angela brought. :)

We definitely weren't lacking in the food department. Hot dogs, queso, black bean dip, spinach dip, chili dip, fruit salad, egg rolls.. Egg rolls?? Thanks Cheryl! :)

I changed shirts a few times.. but it didn't seem to help the Sooners. We ended up losing by 10 to the #5 team. Not too bad. It was a really good game between two really good teams.

or that's what my therapist is telling me. :)

FYI - chocolate shakes work ALMOST as well on depression as shopping. :)

Either way, it was a fun day with great friends. I'm glad everyone came over! And THANKS to Angela for taking lots of fun pics of the day.. :)

Back in Austin

Well, we're back home..getting back into the swing of working and mowing lawns and cleaning.. boo.... I started another Bootcamp last week. It's through Dell and during lunch, so it works out for my schedule pretty well. New instructors who aren't as "hard-core" as the previous ones I had. which is ok. :) They still keep us working with fun drills and lots of core work. I've also found a new yoga instructor. She's teaching at the Round Rock Dell campus and teaches very similar to the instructor I learned from. So it's VERY tough, but all about breathing and alignment. I like being centered. :)

I had my annual IT Golf Tournament benefitting the March of Dimes on 9/26. It was a big success! I'm hoping to be able to turn in a donation to MOD of $7500! We had 50 golfers this year. Which is a little lower than usual.. but we made up for it by getting THIRTEEN sponsors! :) Next year, my goal is to get the prizes donated..

Other than that, we're not doing a whole lot right now. We've got friends coming over this weekend for OU/texas. LiveStrong Challenge is coming up on 10/25 weekend.. I need to get out the Fall/Halloween stuff.. and my 31st is coming up in two weeks! you know..the usual October fun.. :)

sistene chapel sneaky pic

Forgot to post this one.. :)

Pictures!

Well, the pics have been posted. I guess that closes the vacation.. :(

http://www.dropshots.com/chadandkara

We had SUCH a great time. Each location was so amazing that we have a hard time picking out favorites.. between riding a boat-bus in Venice, seeing the statue of David, experiencing Florence with the Garnetts, drinking wine and watching the sunset from our terrace in Cinque Terre, eating pizza by the Leaning Tower, walking around the corner to see the Pantheon in Rome (and the Colosseum, and St Peters, and the Duomo..), or walking the surprisingly still intact streets of Pompeii wondering how they didn't twist an ankle on the cobble stones when all they were wearing were flats with laces up the calf.. :)

Call us - we'd love to talk about any and all of it. :)

Heading home!

Italy was fabulous and we can't wait to show off all the pics! They'll be posted here soon! www.dropshots.com/chadandkara

Heading to Pompeii

We're on our way to Naples and Pompeii today. We're going to be archaeologists..digging through the ruins of the town that Mt Vesuvius destroyed in AD 79..Aug 24th to be exact. :)
Its our last full day in Italy and we're a little sad. Its been such a fun trip!
Dad - you would have loved the meal we had last night. Chad had lobster linguine..it was SO good! All three of our dishes (app and meals) had the tastiest little tomatoes. Even smaller than what we know as grape ones! Everything is served shell on here..mixed in with your pasta. Makes eating daintily a little tough. Haha!
Fingers crossed that the weather holds today.. I planned for summer and its just a tad overcast..

What a day!

Our morning was spent touring the Coloseum, Forum, and Pantheon..while the afternoon was in the Vatican City. And boy are our feet tired! What amazing sites though! Its absolutely unreal how HUGE and beautiful everything is in real life. Even things you see and then walk to..its just jaw dropping. I'm pulling pics off the cameras now. So glad we brought the laptop! 8gb still wasn't enough for all the pics!
Tomorrow we go to Pompeii.. Fun!
Pics are outside the Coloseum, the Pantheon from our lunch table, and on our way to Vatican City.

Just arrived in Cinque Terre..

View from the terrace..laying in a lounge chair.. :)

Florence!

We've been gaving a great time with John, Kim, Will and Claire in Florence! We've seen the Uffizi gallery, Accademia, Medici chapel, Santa Croce..and are going to the Duomo tomorrow. Wine is flowing, the Keens are holding up fabulously and the new camera is fantastic!
Hopefully we'll get pics uploaded tomorrow!

No pictures?!

Medici Chapel in Florence is cool.. But you can't take pics! Sneaky camera phone pic of the dome.. Oh well.. :)

A day in Venice..

Grand Canal near Rialto Bridge..

Ahhh..Venice..

Well, we have arrived! Our flights were very smooth to Chicago O'Hare and on to Rome. We stayed up late on Wednesday night hoping that would make us real tired for sleeping on the plane.. Didn't exactly work..we got about 2 or 3 hours each. Haha! So instead of being able to enjoy the Italian countryside on our train to Venice..we dosed. At least we'll have plenty of other opportunities! The train ride was good after a short "change of plan".. Our first choice of train was full which delayed is an hour in the Rome train station. So we people watched..fun!
Now we're showering and are about to go explore Piazza San Marco..its 2 blocks from our hotel!
The attached pic is from the window of our hotel room. :)

Layovers..

Sitting in Chicago in the Admiral's Club. Watching CNN cover Ike. Sure hope our friends are safe..

The backpacks have been good so far. We're already learning how to pack a little differently to be more efficient. And we're already debating whether bringing the laptop was a good idea.. Extra weight or handy when we take a ton of pics..? We'll see.. : )