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For the third time in four years we won the tournament championship for the church league in Four Oaks. It was a trying season at times. We added four new players and all of us had never played together before. We had to figure out who was going to do what. Several nights there were only five players present. We ended up losing five regular season games including one we had to forfeit. Kenly FWB church had swept us during the regular season and we met them in the championship game. We came out a little sluggish but quickly caught fire thanks to Jayme and John. Lots of three pointers and pretty good defense gave us a huge lead near twenty points. We never gave up the lead although they came back and cut it to a one point lead. John nailed a huge three late in the game and a key deflection by yours truly sealed their fate. It was a sweet victory and a great way to end the season. Congrats to all the team an awesome season.

Well I made my first trip out west last week. Mom, Dad, Jayme and I packed up and headed out to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. It was an awesome trip. It was the first time Dad has ever flown on a commercial jet and the first time I’d flown since I was in 9th grade. We stayed at the J.W. Marriott in Phoenix. This is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed at on a trip. It was spectacular. We went to the Grand Canyon on Saturday morning and spent most of the day checking out the unbelievable views. You have to go and see it with your own eyes to appreciate how big and overwhelming it is. We also took a helicopter ride over the northern ridge of the canyon. It was a 30 minute ride and well worth the cost. It was pretty much the highlight of the day. On the way back to Phoenix we drover through part of the Painted Desert. The landscape in that part of the country is indescribable. Jayme has some videos of the helicopter ride on his site. Check them out. Here are some photos of our day at the Grand Canyon: Grand Canyon, Az

On Sunday we visited the opposite end of the state. Anyone that knows me knows I’m a huge fan of the movie Tombstone. I can pretty much quote the entire movie. I wanted to go visit the old town and check out places like the O.K. Corral and the Oriental Saloon. It was pretty neat to be there where Wyatt and Doc walked. We got to see the graves of the Clantons and the McLaurys. They were killed at the O.K. Corral by the Earps. Tombstone was out in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing else nearby except a small town named Benson. We had lunch there and decided to head down near the border and see if we could see a little bit of Mexico. I’m beginning to understand now why there are a lot of Mexicans in Benson, NC. It makes them feel close to home I guess. But anyway if you want to see some photos we took while in Tombstone click the link: Tombstone, Az

Yea it was a short trip to travel that far. I think I’m still suffering from the time changes. It was worth it though. We all had a good time and got home safe and sound. Here is a link to some pictures of Phoenix and the place were we stayed if you want to check them out. Phoenix, Az

These are two things that I tickle. It’s been HCR and bball up to my eyeballs the last few months. But I don’t have anything else to do so it keeps me occupied and busy. Our CD is available for anyone that wants one. I think they look excellent thanks to Jayme and sound excellent thanks to our musicians and singers. We ended up selling all of our first shipment one Sunday morning when we played at church. We ordered 200 more and just about half of those are already gone. We’ve also been getting some airplay on WPYB 1130 AM in Benson and WMPM 1270 AM in Smithfield. It’s pretty cool hearing yourself on the radio :)

Of course what would the winter be if we didn’t have church league basketball. It seems nice to get back out there and play after watching the championship game from the sidelines a year ago. I think we have an 8-1 record so far this season. We only have a few games left. Come on out and cheer us on. Only other thing happening is Jennifer and Woody’s wedding next weekend. Crystal and I are singing It’s Your Love and Bless the Broken Road. They are pretty challenging, but I think we’ll do a good job. I almost forgot the ski trip to Snowshoe, but that is a month away. Anyway, that’s it for now.

Well, I’m sitting here at work and our systems have been down all day long. I haven’t done jack squat. It has been a relaxing yet boring day. I thought I would take the last 30 minutes of the day and update my website. Obviously everyone knows that Grandma passed away on November 22nd. It was a tough time, but we know she is much better off now that she’s in Heaven. 2005 was a hard year for our whole family, but we got through it all. I’m looking forward to a good 2006. Good is all we can ask for.

On a different note, the CD is done and hopefully in the next week or two it will be ready for distribution. I think it turned out well for us non-professional record producers. I guess we’ll let the listeners be the judge of that. If anyone would like to have us come and play at your church shoot me an email or leave a comment. We hope to go and play more in the coming months.

It’s time for me to go from here and venture out to the RBC Center and watch the Pack. Max had an extra ticket to see the slaughter of UNC-Greensboro. I can’t turn down a chance to watch them play.

Well Mule Days was this past weekend. Didn’t quite seem the same as last year. I don’t think there were nearly as many people this time. But it was fun anyway. We watched the parade at Max and Crystal’s house on Main Street. She cooked a ton for us and it was good. I hung around and watched the State/Carolina game with Maximus. I’ll save my feelings on that outcome for another entry. Back at the campsite we cooked pork chops on the cooker for supper and had some veggies from the White Swan. A little bit of picking and singing followed the eating. What would Mule Days be without some cruising around town? We got in the back of Daddy’s pickup and rode around and got some funnel cakes. But you know the only time it rained all weekend was when we were in the back of the truck. It came down pretty good, but we survived. After that we ended up going to back to the house. All in all I had a good time. I think everybody had fun.

I have been applying for jobs and finally last week I got a call from Progress-Energy. I have to go ace a test next week but I’m not sure what happens after that is over. Please keep me in your prayers. This could be a great opportunity and there is a possibility of being closer to home. I’m going to try not to get my hopes up because I know what can happen. I’ll keep you posted if anything pans out.

By the way, I want to wish Brinley a Happy Birthday! She’s one of my oldest friends from college and she turns 25 tomorrow on 9/26. So Happy Birthday to you! She’ll soon have her own blog and I’ll link to it when its ready for those of you out there that know her.

Autumn. The second best time of the year only to Christmas. This week and last weekend have begun to feel cool and dry. Football starting up, leaves beginning to fall and thoughts of the State Fair in my head are getting me geared up for the next several months. Its almost time to break out the long sleeves and the jackets to fight off the chill of the early morning air. Maybe we can get up a mountain trip and go see those ugly leaves changing color. I know that’s what Grandma would say.

I guess I’ll give an update on my Labor Day weekend since everyone is on the edge of their desk chair. Friday I went back to the knee doctor and got a shot. It seems to be working well. Surgery may not be necessary at all. I went with Phillip and Steven to get the band a trailer to haul our equipment in. It’s very nice. We’re getting our logo on there this weekend. We played a little music that night. I had to work Saturday. Went out to eat and see Mr. and Mrs. Smith Saturday night. I went to church on Sunday. Tim and I hit up Reedy Creek for the first time in like 4 or 5 months. They finally got their greens so you can putt on them. It was a nice day and I shot a 90. Of course I watched the Pack on Sunday night. Took the nice day Monday and washed the mustang. I fixed some stuff around the house for Daddy too. Anyway, I didn’t go anywhere for Labor Day, but I still had good weekend and did a lot of stuff.

Our band is playing at a pageant Friday night in front of over 500 people. This is definitely our biggest audience. I’m pretty excited about it. I know it’s a pageant, but it’s still pretty crazy to get up in front of that many folks to sing and play. It’s going to be fun. We’re playing Saturday night at our church’s barbecue at 5pm. Everyone come get a plate and listen to us. How ’bout that mountain trip?

Well everything has been going pretty well. Dad is on the way to 100% again. He’s driving now and exercising everyday. He’ll be back out mowing grass and cleaning out the fish pond in a few more weeks. Hopefully he can finish up his shop and get some juice hooked up down there.

The trip to Burlington was really good. I think we were on our game that day. Other than we started 20 minutes early everything else went as planned. The congregation was really into our music and I’m sure they received a blessing from it as we did from playing and singing for them. We have a few more dates scheduled to play in the future. I’ll keep everyone posted. Maybe I’ll get some recordings up on here for you to download.

I think I’m just going to get my knee cleaned out in the next month and get it out of the way. I have a cyst inside and the doc seems to think that is what is causing my pain. I have to be ready for basketball season so I’ll just have the surgery and be done with it. More to come later.

Well I’m sitting here in the waiting room at Wakemed. They took Dad in about 11:30 so he could wait a little more before his triple bypass. He was supposed to go yesterday, but something with the schedule got messed up and he was postponed until today. They probably won’t start until 2 or so. Anyway, I wanted to update my blog a little while I’m here. We have highspeed here at the hospital so it helps pass the time.

Sunday the 31st, our band is going to Bible Baptist Church in Burlington to play and sing that morning. We have been practicing close to a month now and things are getting exciting. I think we are getting better as a group and we sound purty good. It should be a good service. Hopefully everything goes well.

I have been having some issues with my knee again and had an MRI done this morning to see what’s going on inside. It’s been hurting since before we went to the beach. I don’t know if surgery is going to be needed or not. Frankly, I don’t see how you can fix something with your knee without going in, but we will see.

Keep Dad and all of us in your prayers. I know he will come through the surgery fine and will be as good as new.

Well today I turn 26 years old. It doesn’t seem like I’m that close to 30 but in fact I am. I’m at that point where you go from being excited to be getting older to “uh oh” I’m not getting any younger! But anyway all is well. We had a great party for my aunt, Jayme and myself tonight. All my family was there as well as some special friends. We ate and opened gifts. After that we played music for about 2 hours. I’m really fortunate to have such special people in my life. If any of you read this I love you all very much. Thanks for everything! Check the link below for some birthday photos.

Birthday Pictures

After the Wolfpack fell in the 3rd round of the tourney I didn’t have a desire to post anything new since then. So I had some time tonight and thought I’d just tell those of you that care what’s going on in my life.

The new job I was getting stalled out at the moment. I think my eagerness to change jobs got the best of me and proved once again that anything can happen. I’m still in the hunt for it and I’m praying God will intervene.

I finally got my car fixed after months of hearing my tire eat out on the inside. I got my money from my government that overtaxed me and dropped 200 bucks to get the tires and brakes fixed. Seems nice now to have a steering wheel that doesn’t shake and tremble for 90 miles round trip each day.

I have a couple of weddings this month to attend. Next month I’m planning to go back to the mountains and play in the golf tournament like last year. Hopefully it won’t be thunderstorming like it did last time. Also, my 26th Birthday is coming up. If you don’t know my birthday, then shame on you. However, I will still accept your gifts. I guess we’ve decided we’re going on vacation the last week of June. To the beach of course. I haven’t had a vacation in nearly two years so I think I’m due.

In between all of this I’m still playing guitar at church. Our band is growing nicely. I’m hanging with all my family and hanging a lot of the time with the Triple T’s: Taltons, Taylors and Thomas’. Sometimes I get confused ;)

Anyway, that’s a little update from me. So what’s going on with you? Send me an email or leave some comments. I’d be happy to hear from ya’ll.