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  • December28th

    A Merry Christmas had by all

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Travel

    Cute DogChristmas was wonderful this year! My wife and I went up to visit my maternal grandparents on the 22nd. We had a great time! On Christmas eve, we always gather for a large meal and open our presents that night. So, we went over to my Aunt & Uncle’s house just down the road and had dinner there. In total, there were about 40 of my relatives there!

    After the big celebration, we drove home that night and had a great Christmas service at our church on Christmas day. It was great to see all of our friends and family at church that morning.

    Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we all decided to wait until Monday to open our presents. So, on Monday morning we all woke up early and ran downstairs to tear into the gifts. We all got a lot of great things; some of the highlights were: my father-in-law getting an HDTV, Allan getting a new iPod, me getting 20 tokens for the local driving range, and my wife and I getting a pack-n-play for Caleb. We got a lot of great presents and ate a lot of great food, but the most fun was getting to see all of our family. Christmas was definitely a great success this year.

    View the Photos

  • December20th

    Zeit-what?

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Cool Sites, Tech

    Google Zeitgeist

    I’m not exactly sure what the word “Zeitgeist” means, but I thought this was pretty cool. Google has posted all of their year-end search trends with their corresponding dates to show exactly what people were searching for and when. At first glance, this doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but when you take a look at what events were occurring when people were searching on certain topics, it becomes pretty interesting.

    I don’t have much more to say about it, but you can check it out for yourself…if you want.

  • December15th

    Last days before Christmas

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Work Life

    Today was my wife’s last day of teaching. During lunch, I went up to the school to help her move all of her stuff out of her classroom. She’s really excited about having some time to get ready for Caleb and also have a little time to relax.

    For those of you who don’t know Mary Beth, she’s an avid reader. Over the past year and a half, she’s constantly been reading books that she had to read, either for grad-school or in preparing for teaching. Now, she’s really excited to be able to read anything she wants. So, for all of you relatives and friends that don’t know what to get her for Christmas, look no further than Barnes & Noble…

    Speaking of Christmas…I’m starting to get really excited! The office is starting to get a little quieter as everyone begins to take the rest of their vacation for the year. I can almost hear the Christmas clock ticking as we count down the last 10 days before presents, family, food, and fun. My wife and I are heading up to Gravette, AR in a week to spend a few days with my mom’s side of the family. It’s always fun to go see my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles out in the country. I’m sure there will be plenty of four-wheelin’ and dirt bike ridin’ to go around.

    Drop me a note and let me know what you’re planning to do for Christmas…

  • December7th

    IT’S A BOY!!

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family

    CalebMy wife and I went to the doctor’s yesterday to have our 20 week ultrasound. The ultrasound technician said that the baby looked very healthy and there was no doubt that it’s a boy. We were so excited!

    Right after the appointment, I got on the phone and started calling family. My mom was the first to hear and she was really excited. After talking to her, I called my dad to tell him the news. He was really excited that we were “carrying on the family name”. Next, I talked to my sister and she was so excited that Carter would have a boy cousin to wrestle around with. So, needless to say, all of my family was ecstatic about the news.

    After all of the excitement on my side of the family, we went over to my in-law’s house to tell them the news. Mary Beth’s dad literally jumped for joy and her mom screamed with delight! We showed them the ultrasound video and pointed out all his “male parts” (in the words of the ultrasound technician). There’s no doubt, he’s all boy.

    After all of the excitement settled down a little bit and everyone had heard the news, I went about trying to convert the VHS tape into a digital format to e-mail to relatives and put on my blog. For some reason, there were technical difficulties and I was unable to convert it. I might try again later, but for now the pictures will have to suffice.

    I still can’t believe that we’re going to have a son…

    View the Ultrasound photos

  • December2nd

    10 Things

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Random Thoughts

    Apparently there’s some kind of “blog infection” going around whereby someone lists 10 things about themself and then proceeds to list 10 other people that should continue the trend. I was “infected” by a fellow WordPress blogger, Becca, so here goes nothing:

    10 Things About Me:

    1. I’m a PK
    2. I’m going to be a Dad on or around April 24th (Three Days after my b-day!)
    3. I graduated from Harding University
    4. I’m left handed
    5. I was a HUGE Michael Jordan fan growing up. Me and my neighborhood buddies used to practice basketball while listening to “I wanna be like Mike”.
    6. I have the cutest puppy dog in the whole world
    7. I play a mean game of ping-pong
    8. I drink Diet Mountain Dew for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
    9. Before my mom married my dad, she always wanted to have a son named Barry. Think about what my name would be…it’s not pretty.
    10. I love getting things for free

    10 6 People: (I don’t know anyone else!)

    1. Derek
    2. Dustin
    3. My Mom
    4. Jeremy
    5. Elijah
    6. Matt
    7. Trey

    Considered yourselves infected…

  • November28th

    Giving Thanks

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family, Spiritual

    Thanksgiving Dinner Table We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My wife’s family and I all decided to head up to their cabin to celebrate and give thanks. There was tons of food, family, and fun.

    While we were there, we decided it would be fun to read through “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” again so we would have the story fresh in our minds before the movie comes out in a few weeks. It was great to just sit by the fire and listen to a wonderful story told by a wonderful author.

    We also did a little bit of eating while we were there. My mother-in-law and my wife made an amazing Thanksgiving feast that was enjoyed by all! I probably ate too much, but hopefully I can run enough this week to cancel it out. :)

    On Friday all of the girls went shopping and the guys went golfing. We had a great time golfing, but it was so cold that we had to quit a little bit earlier than planned.

    Overall it was a great weekend. Mary Beth and I even found time to go pick out our Christmas tree and put up our Christmas lights.

    I’m so thankful for all of the great things in my life: my wife, my future child, my family, my church, my friends…the list could go on and on. Thank you God for all that you do for me…

  • November16th

    Boy or Girl?

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Home Life & Family

    That’s what everyone keeps asking us and we still don’t know yet. The good news is that we will find out on December 6th, but for now we can only guess. My wife has a feeling that it’s a girl, but I couldn’t tell you either way. Some people say that if the heartbeat is above a certain number then that means it’s a girl, but of course that’s just an old wives’ tale. (Who are these old wives that just sit around making up stuff anyways?)

    At this point we don’t really have a preference, but in the end we just want to know to that it’s a healthy baby. I think it would be really fun to have either a boy or a girl. Let’s hash out the advantages of each:

    Boy:

    • Wrestling partner
    • Carry on the family name
    • Future golfing buddy
    • Don’t have to pay for the wedding :)
    • Father/son camping trips

    Girl:

    • Much cuter
    • Daddy’s little girl (Need I say more?)
    • Father/daughter dates
    • Someone to play “dress up” with

    I guess we’ll all find out on December 6th…

  • November1st

    History on Display

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Random Thoughts

    On Sunday afternoon, my brother-in-law, father-in-law, and I went to see the historic B-17 and B-24 bombers on display at the Hot Springs Memorial Airport. It was amazing to see these massive machines as they would have looked sixty years ago.

    We even listened to a WWII veteran from Sardis, AR tell his amazing story. We was a gunner on one of the B-24s and his plane was shot down over Brussels, Belgium. He lived secretly with a family in Belgium for seven months before finally coming home. The Air Force had no knowledge of him being alive, so they told his family that he was presumed dead. It was amazing to hear this story and to see some of the photos he had in his album. It really made me proud of all of our soldiers that have ever served and are currently serving.

    » View the Photos

    I have two family members that are currently serving our country over in Iraq. If you’d like to send a note to one of them to show your appreciation for their service in Iraq, use one of the links below:

    » Matt Hendren
    » Jason Gornto

  • October20th

    The Astros win the Pennant!

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Hobbies, Random Thoughts

    I was never much of a baseball fan growing up. I spent most of my energy playing and watching basketball as a kid. Of course, just like most other kids, I would occasionally go watch the local major league team play. For kids like me growing up in Houston, TX the team to watch were the Houston Astros.

    I have many good memories of going to the Astrodome with my dad, friends, or my church youth group. It was always a good time! I remember one such occasion when I was a senior in high school. My dad just showed up at school one day and told me we were going to see the Astros play in a playoff game that afternoon. Not only was it great to spend time with my dad, but I also got to see the ‘stros compete in the playoffs. To this day, that remains my fondest baseball memory. The Astros didn’t end up winning that series and they haven’t had much playoff success since then, but all of that changed last night with their 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

    This is a big event in the city of Houston. The Astros have never made it to the world series in their 50 year existence as a team. I’m excited for Houston and for the Astros. Hopefully they can win it all!!

  • October12th

    TV on an iPod?!?

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Free Stuff, Tech

    iPod Video

    Apple just released their new video-enabled iPods today. Along with this big news, they also announced that you will now be able to buy TV episodes (maybe movies too?) from the iTunes Store using iTunes v6.

    Wow! This could really change the way that entertainment content is distributed. Just imagine if you could buy an episode of your favorite TV show (without commercials) whenever you wanted to for $1.99. Is it worth it? I’m not so sure that I’d pay $1.99 per episode for any of my favorites. The only way that I could justify paying that would be if I cancelled my Dish subscription. It’s a very interesting concept, though…

    What does everyone else think?

    1. UPDATE:
      I’m trying to get a free video iPod now from the same company that I got my other free stuff from. You can get a free one too.

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