The BIG 3 - 0!

This year it was my turn to turn 30. Last year Shawn hit the milestone with a surprise birthday party at Laser Quest (laser tag for those out of town). For my birthday I decided I wanted to keep it fairly quite and simple, imagine that. We, Shawn, Marcy, Andrew and myself, went to the Black Bear Jamboree Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge. Shawn did surprise me with a beautiful Tinker Bell cake and Ben & Jerry's chocolate chunk mint ice cream. YUMMY! I will add a picture of that as soon as I can remember to do it. Now begins the countdown to Christmas! Our Christmas cards are in the mail and all our gifts have been wrapped and are ready to ship. Feels good to have all that done, now there are all the Christmas parties to plan and attend.

Thanksgiving travels.....

Folks have been waiting to hear how Thanksgiving was and what we were into. We spent Thanksgiving in Knoxville, with family and friends. It was a wonderful day, good food and great company! Thursday night, after stuffing ourselves, we took off for Nashville. We had a hotel reserved so we could do some Black Friday shopping at the Opry Outlet Mall. No, we were not up at 3:30 like a lot of people were, we got up around 6 or so and were at Bass Pro Shops by 7 am. We shopped for a good 6 to 8 hours straight before Shawn let us stop and eat. It was a successful shopping day and we were able to catch a movie, visit the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and have our feet up by 7 that evening. What a day! The next morning we were not so early to rise and shine. After a restful night we headed to The Hermitage on Saturday. It was a little chilly to be wondering around the estate of General Andrew Jackson but we did it anyways and enjoyed it all. In all the traveling we did growing up we never made it to The Hermitage. It is worth a trip and there is so much to learn about our history.

Now we begin planning our Christmas trip. We have decided to fly down to Florida and drive back. UT has landed in the Outback Bowl.....again....and we are not sure we will go this year. Which only means they will win.

A little follow up story to "Home Tweet Home". It did get purchased and the owner sent the office a nice 'thank you'. Our tree now resides in Alabama, kind of funny to think of it traveling that far. They owners love it and are happy to have it in their home. Another happy ending you could say.

Fantasy of Trees

I headed up the volunteer effort to decorate a 7' tree for the annual Fantasy of Trees benefiting the East Tennessee Children's Hospital. Our theme was "Home Tweet Home", a play on words to create a bird and birdhouse theme. More than half the ornaments on the tree are hand made with natural materials we collected and ties into the mountain homes we design. The entire office is very proud of our tree. I am happy to have it completed. It was a lot of hard work and very well worth it! Hopefully the tree will bring in lots of money for the hospital. I was thankful that my office let me do this and put their name on it as well. It really turned out to be a great group effort, many in the office contributed an ornament or two, and an opinion here and there.

Another PASS letter!

Test number two done! Only took SEVEN weeks to find out.

Happy Halloween

This year we decided to be Fred and Daphne. Friday night we went to Marcy and Andrew's for their party but Daphne had to fly solo for a bit till Fred and Scooby were done solving their latest mystery at the local high school football games. Sunday we carved our pumpkins, more like "transformed" them into the Autobot and Decepticon symbols. We can not wait to put them out front and light them. Shawn has been having fun this year decorating the condo for Halloween. For a couple days I would come home and he would have something else in the front yard. Luckily we have a small front yard! years though.

Go Big Orange!

Here are the guys all dressed up for Saturday's game. Mac loves wearing his jersey. He has a South Doyle football shirt too that he likes wearing. Being a Tennessee fan was not so bad this weekend. Tennessee had a season changing victory over the Georgia Bulldogs. With Tennessee winning it helped cheer Shawn up, the high school team is not having such a good year. There is not much to report here. I am still waiting for the Pass/Fail letter for the last test, going on week four since I took the test. Dad is coming into town this weekend, we are looking forward to his visit.

Diaper Cakes

So here are what diaper cakes look like, or at least my design and creation of a diaper cake. The core (or structure) of the cake can be anything, I rolled up burp clothes and swaddle blankets for my cakes. Once you have the core you roll up the tiny diapers and build your cake. It takes lots of elastic (and diapers) and some ribbon. I have shown a picture of a "naked" cake before I put on any of the little baby decorations. You can decorate the cake however you like. I used socks, wrist rattles, booties and teething rings. To help keep things together (and cat hair out) I wrapped the entire cake in some gossamer to complete the look. It also helps in transporting the cakes as well. I had lots of fun putting these together and Shawn is seeing dollar signs, as in I am in the Diaper Cake business now. The pictures are kind of all over the place, I can't quite seem to get that part figured out. Anyways, some may wonder why all the cakes I guess. Well two of the coaches wives are pregnant this year and one is expecting triplets. Luckily one of the triplets was a boy so I was not just seeing pink everywhere! Lots of babies will be running around the football field next year! So here is the only cake I am really good at making.......no kitchen or baking required! I wish this could be a scratch and sniff page, the cakes smell so good too, just like little babies.

Not much else to report. Shawn's football team is not doing so hot this year, it has not been the kind of year that it should have been. Right now their record is 1 and 3, and it really should be the other way around. Frustrating season to say the least. I am waiting a letter in the mail about my second test I took. I am in worse shape waiting for the Pass/Fail letter then I was heading into the test!

Princess and Pirates

Here you go Granny, your pictures! I even put you and Pa on our website. Your mouth is not open in this picture! So for Labor Day we were in Disney World, imagine that. We to the Princess and Pirate party at the Magic Kingdom. If you know the Knapps (or the Dochtermanns)you know that if there is a chance to dress up or pull out the inner child, we are going to do it. So here is "Princess Buttercup " and "Swabby". We had fun of course, like we wouldn't! Marcy and Andrew were pirates as well, hopefully I can add a picture of them someday in their costumes. We got out bags to go around the park and collect booty (chocolate) and ride all the rides we wanted. Next to Granny and Pa is a picture of Marcy and Andrew during our mini golf adventure in Florida. Shawn beat us all of course with Granny hot on his heels. The rest of us did not even stand a chance and Andrew did all he could do to tie with Pa for the last place.

Lineman Challenge

Our "kids"

So here are all our "kids". The dog came with Shawn and two cats came with me. Three animals were not enough so we added another cat to the clan just over a year ago. Thanks to my sister being a vet tech I end up taking in stray animals from her clinic. Thanks Marcy! Shawn has his fingers crossed that one day a pug will need a good home. Mac is the beautiful bug-eyed face below, he is pushing 8 years old this year, Marcy says that he is a "senior" in dog years. Mac is what we call a "solid" Boston Terrier. He has never missed a meal! The newest addition, and the one on top of the cat condo is Georgia, named as Georgia O'Keeffe. We mostly call her Georgie Porgy. On the lower level of the condo is Maurice. he is "the original" to the entire clan. He hails from Virginia, I picked him up on my way south from the clinic where my sister was working at the time. He turned 6 this year, which means I have been here 6 years too! "Mo" is the snob of the family, I think he holds a grudge e against Shawn for bringing that smelly dog into the house. Finally we have Joey below, "Joseph" for short as Shawn calls him. He actually came from a local shelter, the only one I had to pay for. He is the lover boy and loves to give hugs, even if you do not want one. "Jo-jo" is a year or so younger than Mo. That is it, our zoo of animals.

ONE Down and EIGHT to go!

The paper says it all......PASS!

Just checking in....

Not much to report on these days. I took my first (of nine) exam last week. One step closer, assuming I pass, to getting my architecture license. I really could not tell one way or the other if I passed. What I think to be a right answer can differ from those who made the test and grade it. This exam covered Mechanical and Electrical systems, which includes fire prevention as well. Lots to cover in one test!

To fill some space and keep this blog interesting I have some filler photos to put up. I have a couple of the cat condo that my office designed and built for charity, the local animal shelter. It sold for $1500, beating the next highest seller by $500! Felt good to be a part of something for a good cause. In one photo you can see that Joey enjoyed the condo for the night that I had it at home before delivering it. I also have a picture of my office from the perspective of my chair. It is a lot more open that the last office, just "feels" more creative and architecture like.

Construction and Football

Shawn and I have been busy little bees as usual. In the diaries of starting a family last week was a roller coaster for us. I have been taking some pills to help things along and I have chalked it up to more experiences in the world of hormones! This past weekend I volunteered again with Habitat for Humanity. I have attached a picture of the house. Back in the beginning of June I helped kick off the house, which is to be built by all women. On that day we set the entire flooring system! This past Saturday we finished up the drywall work......Dad would be proud with my work. I did not get to "sparkle" like I did as a kid but I did get to draw lines on the wall. It was hard work but fun. While I was working hard Shawn was out in the sun watching his football team. His guys finished third in a "Linemen Challenge", which is good, GO DEFENSE! Oh, and just for fun on Sunday we moved my sister, AGAIN, making it move number four.

Williamsburg Viginia

We traveled to Williamsburg, VA for July 4th. Shawn had never been and the last time I went I was knee high to a grasshopper. We had a great time and Shawn did not let us rest until everything had been seen. We also went to Busch Gardens and on the way home we stayed a night at King's Dominion. Again, Shawn would not let me rest until every ride had been riden, some even twice. Shawn got to hang out with Thomas Jefferson some in Market Street, Mr. Jefferson was not all that talkative. When we got to Williamsburg we were warned that the British were in town as well. They had set up camp right in the middle of the "city". We also made a trip out to Historic Jamestown and toured all the sites to be seen there as well. We were lucky enough to get there in time to get a guided tour from one of the park rangers.

Before and After

For those who have not seen yet....I CUT OFF MY HAIR! Back in May I cut the curls off and donated them to Locks of Love. Hopefully there is a child or two out there wearing my hair. How funny is that to think about? They easily cut off the required 10 inches and had some to spare. It is really amazing to me to see how different I look with it gone. Not sure if I will grow it long again anytime soon.

See how this goes

Hello all!
Since family and friends are spread out this seems to be the best way to stay in touch and "see" everyone. Hopefully the older generations can figure this out and view this and the pictures we hope to share.