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Go Tarheels!!

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So this weekend we went to the UNC-Clemson game at Chapel Hill. Talk about an amazing experience. We arrived about an hour prior to the game starting and had some food in the courtside club. They had all kinds of free desserts, drinks and appetizers. Steve gorged himself on warm brownie bites and these chocolate mousse thingy-ma-bobbers. :)

The game was way better than the game in Richmond. Don't get us wrong, we love UD but the Tarheels play on an entirely different level. The game in Richmond was disappointing. The Flyers lost to the Spiders (lol) and the stadium was really small. There are probably high schools with bigger arenas! Anyway, the Flyers were down the entire game and the Spiders just kept hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer. It was fun to spend the night in Richmond though.

We had dinner at a place called the Capitol Ale House and it was okay, but a little pricey. Steve had French onion soup and then this kielbasa and pretzel thing and Cathy had a chicken ceasar salad that tasted like anchovies. (YUCK)

We drove home on Sunday and stopped in Nashville (NC) for our first taste of Bojangles. If you're not familiar with Bojangles... it's an over-priced KFC but instead of being tasty, it's really gross. LOL. They're known for their sweet tea and biscuits. Whatever. Lunch made us both sick and wishing that we stopped somewhere safe, instead of trying something new.

Back to the UNC game... in case you missed it, the heels were down the entire game. The average was nine-points down. At one point they were only six down, but that's as close as they ever got. It was a big deal because Clemson has NEVER won at the Dean Smith Dome. Not in 53 years... every time Clemson plays Carolina... they LOSE. This was a game to go down in history! All the way until the final seconds of the game we were down and then somehow we managed to tie the score and force an overtime. The crowd went absolutely ape-shit and it was as if they had just won the national championship game!

Five additional minutes were added to the clock and it was time for OT to begin. They were down for most of the 1st OT and then they were able to come back and tie it up and force a 2nd OT. Unheard of!! Once they started the 2nd OT they took control of the court and ended up winning 103 to 93. It was amazing! People we losing their minds and going bananas. The people around us were celebrating and grown men were crying like little children.

On the way out we snatched some cups and popcorn buckets (you know the ones that are super expensive and everyone leaves behind) as tokens of the game. We're too cheap to buy them ourselves, but we grabbed like eight cups and two buckets. :) Steve grabbed one for his boss Tom (he went to Clemson).

Cathy goes back to work on Thursday. Just in time for Valentine's Day! Steve is the greatest man alive... he sent Cathy a dozen baby roses today and she got them delievered and was totally surprised! They're in a really nice vase and smell soooo good! We're going to celebrate Valentine's Day either today or tomorrow by going to Outback (yay)!

Until next time... take care and be well!
:)
The Walkers


Update

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Hello! We hope everyone that reads this is doing well. We're okay... hangin' in there. Steve went to the oral surgeon last Thursday and had his tooth extracted. It wasn't as bad as he thought, but it was still pretty painful. He's still recovering and has pain.



We went to the UD vs Richmond game on the 26th. We drove up to Richmond and arrived just in time for the game. We were excited to see Dayton (ranked 14 at the time) beat the Richmond Spiders, however, we were shocked at their performance. Richmond's team was hitting three-pointer after three-pointer and UD did nothing about it. No clue what the score ended up being, but Dayton was crushed.



Anyway... Steve had his birthday last Tuesday. He's 33 now. Cathy made him a birthday cake and made him dinner. She also bought him a UD Basketball t-shirt and a UD business card holder (glass) for him to use at work. His co-workers went all out with gifts. Apparently they call him "Bevis" and decided to take the theme as far as they could go. They bought him lunch and then also gave him a placemat that said Happy Birthday. On the back were numerous pictures of people with mullets (they love his mullet picture that's on his calendar at work). They also gave him the Bevis and Butthead Do America movie and a Bevis bobble-head. All wrapped in mullet-picture wrapping paper.



The calendar that they love so much is one that Cathy made for Steve for Christmas. It has pictures of friends and family thoughout the calendar and because Steve's birthday is in January, he is the spotlight for the month.



Anyway, that's the latest... Cathy enjoyed spending February 5th sitting outside reading a book in 75 degree weather. Does it get any better??



:)
The Walkers

Our First Snow in NC!

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We were able to experience our first snowfall here in NC this last weekend. Cathy had a Junior Circle outting planned for Saturday and she had to cancel it due to the weather predictions. Though she could have still had the event, the snow started to fall around 3pm on Saturday and kept falling until Sunday.

In other news, Steve went to the dentist and found out that his tooth will need to be extracted. He has an appointment on the 31st to get it pulled. He's not sure if they'll be doing a bridge or something else. He's really hoping that the bridge is a last-resort.

Cathy tracked out yesterday. She taught all day and then at 4pm she was free at last! She's been having some issues with her team. They do not communicate and as a result, there are a lot of bad feelings and resentment among them. Cathy gets along with all of them for the most part, but is easily frustrated with their words and actions. She was more than ready to track out simply to remove herself from the team!

This weekend we're going to the UD vs. Richmond basketball game in Richmond, VA. We'll be getting a hotel for the night and coming home on Sunday. Steve was emailed by the UD Raleigh Alumni club about the event and we decided that it'd be a lot of fun to go to a game and support the Flyers. They're ranked #14!!

In other basketball news, one of Cathy's students, Anna, has grandparents that are really into UNC sports. The grandpa attended UNC and has season tickets for football and basketball. Earlier this week he sent Cathy a letter that thanked her for all that she does as a teacher and offered her two tickets for the UNC vs. Clemson game on the 10th. Cathy was so excited!! We're both really excited to go to a UNC game!!

That's it for now. Nothing else really to report about!!

:)
The Walkers

The end of 2007

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Sorry that it's been so long since we've blogged!! We're not sure where the time goes, but it definitely goes and then it's been a month and we're behind!!


The last time we wrote it was the day after Thanksgiving and Steve's dad had just arrived for a visit. He stayed with us through Monday and then drove back to Indiana.


We went to the Burt's Bees Christmas party on the 9th of December. To use the word "interesting" would not express how different the party actually was. They held it at a museum and then it was open for exploration. They had several "stations" set up throughout the museum with food. We went to the butterfly house and had some cocoa. Though, we were quite disappointed because the invitation said there would be a hot cocoa bar... and it was just a big thermos thingy filled with generic cocoa. We also went on the train ride... oh so fun! LOL At the museum we weren't sure how it all worked, so we assumed the food in the general area was all that they had to eat. We stuffed ourselves with meatballs and other "junk" and then decided to go explore and as we went around the corner and into a new area of the museum, we saw a carving station with beef and ham, a big salad bar and a potato bar. To say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement.


Cathy got to meet Tom (Steve's boss) and wasn't too impressed with him. He was rather arrogant... which is comical because he always uses the word arrogant to describe Steve. He was "Joe Cool" and had a bunch of punks hanging around and laughing at all his lame-ass jokes. Cathy told Steve that he reminded her of the "cool guy" that everyone wants to be friends with.


At the end of the party they had an awards presentation that we stayed for. The CEO said that there were multiple people nominated and he wasn't going to announce all their names, but he'd let everyone know who was nominated for each award via email. Steve didn't get an award (he didn't expect to), but to his surprise, he was nominated and received a certificate and a $25 gift card to Harris Teeter.


Cathy finished the 2007 year on the 21st. She had her holiday party on the 20th and came home with a ton of gift cards and special presents from her 4th graders. The parents took up a collection and bought her a $150 gift card to the spa... for her to go and relax after all her hard work teaching. She also got some cute handmade gifts. We went to dinner on the 20th with Lisa and Katie (Cathy's coworkers) and had pizza at Mama Mia.


Cathy's principal has announced that she's leaving Oak Grove. She'll be opening a new school in Wake County and February 1st will be her last day. She asked people to consider coming with her to the new school, but Cathy most definitely will not be joining her. Cathy was very happy to hear the news. She likes her principal and came to Oak Grove because of her, but has had some issues with her. It'll be a good change for someone new to come in February.


We flew to Indiana on the 21st. Our flight was very delayed and we didn't get into Indianapolis until after 11:30 pm. By the time we got back to Steve's dad's it was after 1am. We stayed with his dad and Sue Ann Saturday and then got up Sunday and drove up to Michigan to visit Mitch and Jess. Cathy had wanted to arrange a visit with Beckie (she was home from Arizona) but the timing didn't work out for us. We stayed Sunday with Mitch and Jess and then got up Monday and had breakfast at Bob Evan's before leaving to drive to Westland.


We arrived in Westland around 10:30 at Cathy's parent's house and then we went Christmas shopping. It's been a tradition for years that on Christmas Eve, Cathy goes shopping with her dad and brother to shop for her mom. It was really important to Cathy that she be able to continue this tradition this year, so we made sure to get there on time. We went to the mall and then headed all over hell and half of Georgia to find a Nintendo-DS for her mom. We finally found one at Costco and then while we were there, there was a guy buying a Wii. Cathy's dad really wants one. We headed back to the mall to have lunch with her mom at Olga's and then we finished our shopping. We dropped off Cathy's dad and then we headed to two different Costcos to see if we could find a Wii for her dad. Unfortunately, no one had any.


We checked into our hotel and then headed back over to her parent's house for dinner. We had pizza and watched The Polar Express. We left and went to the hotel for the night. Christmas morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to her parent's to open presents. Scott gave Cathy the Simpson's movie and then Cathy's dad gave Steve the Simpson's movie. It was funny. Steve also got a bottle of Maker's Mark and then the rest of our gifts were sent to NC so we got them when we returned home.


We went to Fr. Terry's for Christmas dinner. It was nice seeing his sister and then Mary Breeding and Francine (family friends) were there too. When we were done with dinner, Cathy's mom joined us to go see a movie at Emagine. We saw Juno (very cute). After the movie we dropped off Cathy's mom and then headed back to the hotel.


We packed up our stuff and headed back over to Cathy's parents on Wednesday and we went "day-after-Christmas-shopping." Another holiday tradition of the Ghrist family. They go shopping the day after Christmas and everyone can get one gift that they didn't get from Santa. Before we went shopping we met for lunch at BD's Mongolian BBQ. It was sooooo good. We hadn't had Mongolian BBQ since May!!! Scott came with Gunnar (his friend Emily's son) and then we headed to Target. Steve got the new Jason Aldean CD and Cathy got a wireless transmitter thingy for her iPod and some pens.



We said our goodbyes and then drove back to Indiana. We met everyone at a place called Joe's for some pizza. It was the out of town get together for everyone coming in for the wedding from out of town.

After eating pizza at Joe's, we drove back to the farm and stayed the night in the barn.

We got up Thursday and started running errands with Steve's dad. We went to the country club to pay for the reception, we went to the tuxedo place and picked up 11 tuxedos for the wedding party, and then we went to the hotel. We stayed at the hotel for a bit then drove to the rehearsal. It was easy-peasy and then they had the rehearsal dinner. Steve's dad gave him a John Deere pocket watch as the best man gift (it even makes a tractor sound). Then we went to the Silver Dollar Lounge for the bachelor party (yes, Cathy came too). We watched football and then had some beer and then drove back to the hotel (Steve was the DD).

Friday morning we got up and met Steve's dad for breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel. He was getting more and more nervous and could barely eat. We went back to the room and had some time to read Harry Potter. We ended up going to Bob Evan's for lunch before we had to get ready to leave for the wedding. Cathy's parents arrived at the hotel around 2:15 and that's about the time that Steve and his dad left for the church. They were supposed to be at the church around 3:00 for pictures. Cathy and her parents arrived at the church around 3:30.

The wedding started around 4:30 and it was packed. There were people standing in the back because there weren't any additional seats. The wedding was perfect and Steve's dad and Sue Ann were blissfully happy. Steve did a fantastic job as the best man. :)

We drove together to the country club and Cathy's parents followed us over. The reception was beautiful and everything went perfectly. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Steve's best man speech was heart-felt and perfect, and caused quite a few tears. Steve's friend Greta and her husband were there and so were Mitch and Jess. They all sat with Cathy's mom and dad and then we eventually joined them.

We got back to the hotel Friday night and crashed from exhaustion. Saturday morning Steve's dad and Sue Ann had a breakfast for everyone staying at the hotel. We went down and had breakfast with them and then everyone went back to their rooms to get their things for check out.

We headed back to the farm for a luncheon and then a bunch of people came over to watch them open gifts. We weren't able to stay very long because we had a long drive to Indianapolis ahead of us.

Cathy's mom and dad drove us to the airport and then we caught our flight back to North Carolina. We had a very short flight (only an hour and fifteen minutes). Cathy called her friend Katie and she came and picked us up (saving us $60). We got home and dropped our stuff and then headed over to Matthew's house (the boy from Cathy's class that took Ned for us) and picked up Neddy. He was very excited to see us!!

We got home late last night and watched the Patriots cheat their way into the history books (lol). Then we crawled into our bed and slept like babies. There's nothing like your own bed and five cats having a kitty party to celebrate that you've returned home!!

So... that's about it. LOL. We decided to do absolutely nothing today and so far we've done exactly that. Tomorrow Cathy is going to go into work and get some lesson plans done for Wednesday. We don't have anything planned for New Year's eve... but we're more than okay with that.

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and have an even better New Years!!

:)
The Walkers


Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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We survived our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina! It wasn't the same without family... and it made us sad to not have that connection during the holiday. Cathy was especially sad. This was her first Thanksgiving without her parents in 31 years.

We have had a nice week though. Last Saturday, Cathy's dad came for a visit. She was so excited to see her dad and get to show him the house and the area. He came down to Virginia to pick up an engine for the baby Beast (Steve's old Mustang). Since he was only three hours away, he came down and stayed with us from Saturday through Tuesday.

While he was here, he helped Steve build some much needed shelves in the garage. Almost all the boxes are off the floor and put up. Steve thinks he wants to build more, because there's still too much stuff to actually get the cars inside the garage. We went to see Burt's and took a tour inside, and then drove over to Cathy's school and showed her dad where she works.

Steve was off Monday and then Tuesday had to go back to work for the day. We both were off on Wednesday and Cathy met two of her fourth graders at the movies with their parents to see Enchanted. She said she really liked it. Then she went shopping at DSW and got some shoes (like she needed more right?). Anyway, she spent the remainder of the night getting some things made for Thanksgiving. She made the greenbean casserole and then the turtle pumpkin pie. She also brined the turkey...

We got up around 9am yesterday (Thanksgiving) and checked on the turkey. It was still somewhat frozen... so we went into plan B and soaked it in the sink. Fortunately, it was a smaller bird and defrosted with no problems.

We started to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but Cathy was really upset about it. She had hoped to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it wasn't showing here. There were THREE channels showing the stupid Macy's parade... but not one for the Detroit parade. She ended up turning off the television and listened to music instead.

Cathy had read that oven bags can make a HUGE difference in the juicyness of a turkey, so we went to Wal-Mart to pick some up. We also got some Subway for lunch and then came home.

Our dinner was wonderful. Cathy's turkey was absolutely perfect and she was excited because it was her first turkey. Steve was very impressed ;) We had greenbean casserole, cresent rolls, stuffing, turkey and gravy, Cathy's grandma Ghrist's green salad and then turtle pumpkin pie. It was tasty and we were both pleased with how it all turned out.

Today we slept in and then cleaned up the house for Steve's dad. He arrived around 6:30 tonight. He'll be staying with us for the weekend and Steve is super excited to show his dad around. :)

Enough for now... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
The Walkers

Such is Life...

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It's been about two weeks or so since we last wrote... sorry. It's not like anything really MAJOR has been going on, we just lose track of time!!

Cathy is finally tracked out! She was really nervous about tracking out of her classroom for the first time. She's got some really amazing parents though, and all she had to do was ask for some help and they came! She worked late on Wednesday and Thursday and when she came home Thursday night, her room was done! She had to take everything off the walls... and then clean the room for Katie (she's tracking in when Cathy tracks out).

On Friday the 19th (Cathy's last day), we went to Chili's for dinner and then the haunted forest with Katie and her boyfriend Judson, and then Lisa. Katie and Lisa work with Cathy and we're really glad that she has them as friends. There's nothing worse than working somewhere new and not knowing anyone. Fortunately, the two of them have very similar personalities to Cathy and the three of them get along so well.

Anyway, we went to the Silent Forest at Walnut Creek (place we saw Kenny Chesney in August) on Friday night. It was fun... rather expensive ($15 each) and they didn't take anything but cash. We laughed our way through the forest part (not very scary) and then we were led into two different haunted houses. The scariest part was at the end... there was a guy hiding in the port-o-potties!!! He scared Lisa to death!!

We debated doing something more, but the longer we stood there and talked, the later it became. We ended up just all going home. It was fun though! It was the first haunted house that we've been through together! Usually Steve hates them, but he was a big sport this year and decided that it could be fun.

Saturday we didn't do anything but sit around the house and do nothing but relax. We had plans for Saturday night... we met over at Judson's place, and then he and Katie drove us to Lisa's place for a party. Her party was fun. We played flip-cup... it was Walker vs. Walker... and of course Cathy won (wink). Neither of us drank a whole lot, but we had fun. It made us both realize how old we are... we'd rather stay home and chill out watching tv than go out!!

Hopefully we'll be able to start a family soon... and that'll help move us to that next part of our lives. We're ready to expand our family and have some kids. Our neighbors all have kids and the one neighbor, Gary, always laughs and tells us that we got it right by not having kids... he always says this when his boys are crying or fighting. It's funny.

Cathy is going home to Michigan on Thursday. It'll be the first time that she's seen her parents since June... she's super excited to see them! It'll also be the first time that Steve will be home without Cathy. He's been away on business and been without her, but he's never been the one home without her... it's always been her home without him! We're going to miss each other a whole bunch.

While Cathy is home she plans on meeting some friends for dinner and catching up and then she is going to spend the rest of the time with her parents. She is going to the cider mill with her mom and then for sure going to Mongolian BBQ with her parents. She'll be home from Thursday to Tuesday. It's supposed to be really cool here while she's gone (in the 60s).

Okay... we'll write again soon!
:)
The Walkers



It's Been A While...

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Sorry about not posting in a long time!!! We're both doing well and wanted to give an update to how we are, for those of you who actually read this (we bet not many read it).

On Thursday, Cathy's cousin Corey and his girlfriend Heather came by for a visit. Corey is the son of Cathy's mom's sister Margie. Heather has her whole immediate family here (Greenville we think) and they drove down from Michigan to see her brother before leaving for the Navy. While they were here (in NC) they decided to come and see us and we were super excited!! They got here around 5:30 pm and came with FAYGO (three two-liters) and BBQ Better Maid!!! Cathy was SOOOOOOO excited!!!!

We went to the Bass Lake Draft House for dinner and enjoyed having the time to talk to them and hear about what they've been doing. They said that they don't plan on staying in Michigan much longer and they hope to move to NC in about a year or so (Cathy was very excited to hear that).

After dinner we drove back to our house and said our goodbyes. Cathy was so happy to finally see some family (she's been homesick since we've been here) and to know that they cared enough to not only come and see us while down here, but to bring Faygo and Better Maid for Cathy (she had blogged on myspace about all the things she missed about home and they were on the list)... really made us feel good.

On to other news... Steve is still happy with Burt's Bees. He has his days where he loves what he's doing and then there are days when he feels like he was hired to do one thing (something that he was excited about doing) but is actually being asked to do something completely different. He doesn't have the complete "team" experience that he needs to do his job well, but he was told that it takes time. So for now, he continues to give 100% and work hard, no matter what the job is that he's doing.

On Saturday, Steve had to be up at 5 am for a training that he did at 7am. He provided drinks, muffins, cookies, donuts and mini-cupcakes for everyone. Cathy thought it was really thoughtful and when she asked him how the group responded, he said they didn't say anything, but they ate everything.

Cathy had a HUGE all-day field trip on Friday. She was up at 4:45 am getting ready and then left the house by 5:30. Her parents and kids met her at school between 6:00 and 6:30 am and then their bus left for the coast. Cathy's class went with another 4th grade class (the other teacher's name is Lisa and she's one of Cathy's friends at school).

They went to the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship in Wilmington. The kids watched a movie about the ship and then they were set "free" on the ship to explore. There were many levels and they got to go down through the stairs and see all kinds of neat things. (On Saturday, Cathy was getting some additional pictures for her slide-show and she saw that there are parts of the ship that are haunted!!!!)

After the battleship, they went to the beach at Fort Fisher to have lunch. From there they went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The group had a presentation on whales and dolphins and then they were allowed to look around and see all the sea life. Cathy was not too impressed with the aquarium. She said that the aquarium at the Toledo Zoo has more interesting fish than the state aquarium does. Pretty odd considering that this NC aquarium is on the ocean and the closest body of water to Toledo is Lake Erie!!!

From the aquarium they went to the beach again (same place that they ate lunch) and spent about an hour and a half playing on the beach. It started to rain... and rained from about 3:00 all the way to 7:00. The kids got soaked, but they were all told to bring a change of clothes for the ride back (smart thinking).

Cathy's group returned to her school early (they had expected to return by 8:30 and instead arrived at 7:30) and then once the kids were all gone, she and Lisa went to grab dinner and some much needed drinks.

That brings us to today. We're going to go to Outback tonight to celebrate Cathy's birthday (she turned 31 on Tuesday). You'll have to read Cathy's blog to read about her birthday at school.

We'll write again soon...
The Walkers