Celebration Dinner

We went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Maggiano's, to celebrate our anniversary. The girls like it too so we brought them along. And Grandma Murray too! They provided the entertainment.

Flower & Garden Show

It's been a long cold winter. It was so nice to get out and see spring flowers everywhere. 

We could only find a place to park at the very top of a parking garage for the festival. One benefit was that we got this great great few of the historic downtown.

Take your Child to Work Day

Every year Clay's company hosts a day for parents to bring their children into work to learn what they do. This is the first year Rebekah was old enough to go.

See if you can find Emma & Rebekah in this picture:

 They had high school students come in and talk about robotics with the kids. Rebekah was enthralled.

Awards Night

Emma got on the all "A" honor roll again for 3rd quarter in middle school.

Happy Easter

This year both the girls got little Lego sets in their Easter baskets. Rebekah really enjoys Lego's and especially the new Lego Friends. Emma enjoyed getting the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express, though she is not as into Lego's. 

 Then the girls got really hyper on all the candy that was in their baskets. Here they are demonstrating that crazed look that comes from consuming too much sugar. They are eating a Lindt chocolate carrot.  

Biltmore Estate

Sheri had all kinds of crafts and activities planned for the girls. We had a great time hanging out together.

One of the things the girls enjoyed the most was tie-dying eggs and decorating them with gems and fairy tattoos. It was a fun experience for the girls.

 Another day we got to visit the Biltmore Estate.

I felt like I was walking up to Downton Abbey. 

The architecture was really cool. I loved all the weird gargoyles carved in the stone.

 The house was so HUGE! So big and so many rooms. It was overwhelming.

The gardens were amazing.

Everything was in bloom and beautiful. It was so great to see. It made me happy just to be there and walk around. Emma even commented that it was the first time she had seen me smile in a while. 

Yes, it has been a long winter. 

 While we were on the tour we saw this:

Its a mother ground hog carrying her baby back to it's home (or an new hole, I don't really know why she would be carrying her baby out in the open like that, I don't even know how many babies ground hogs have...)

We noticed this cool path up to another lawn and gazebo. We wanted to walk up there and check it out, but it was raining. That did not, however, deter Emma. You can see a little purple spot on the photo below as she was running back down the path.

Clay goes hiking for Spring Break

The girls and I went to NC to visit my cousin without Clay. 

Clay wanted to hike another section of the Appalachian Trail.

Our neighbor, Wes, went with him. 

They drove down to Buchanan, VA. They spent the night and got an early start in the morning.

Over the next 3 days they hiked 41.4 miles south to Roanoke, VA.