Hello again! We hope you are all doing well - and we're waiting for you to come visit! We have enough room - seriously! Come on! We went to the US a couple of weeks ago - as always, it was GREAT to be home - it's fun over here, but it's always nice to spend some time on US soil. Jill got to spend time with her dad for his birthday, and of course, she took care of some shops and restaurants with her mom. I got to spend some time with my family and have some good ole southern cooking! Good stuff - miss that around here! My nephew Landon is starting to talk - he's smart - he must take after his uncle! We also got to go to my ten year High School Reunion. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone - it was like a bonus for me because it's hard to see all of my friends when we come home - and to have so many friends in one place - it was awesome! I can't believe it's already been ten years! Thanks to Steve again for planning our company meeting around this trip.

This was the best overall flight we've had between the UK/US so far - we're usually sprinting to make our connections, signing "lost luggage" forms, or changing our arrival plans because of delays. We actually landed in Birmingham early this time. While we were in the airport for our return flight, I was telling Jill how nice and smooth this flight had been. Just after she got the words "don't jinx us" out of her mouth, we hear that our flight is canceled because of the hurricanes - our plane is too small to go through the storms in NYC, so they re-route everyone to Atlanta so they can get on a bigger plane and get to NYC that way. Well, by the time we would have gotten to ATL and flown to NYC, we would have missed our connector to London. So we have to wait until the next day. At least we were in BHM and we weren't stuck in another city. The weather was bad again the next day, so we got re-routed through ATL and skipped NYC all together. It worked out well because we ended up landing at the same airport as Scott Carter and Kim (who were on their way to visit us) and only an hour before them - this was nice because we got to meet them at the airport when they arrived instead of them having to find our place after 1 hour of sleep.

While the Carters were here, we had a GREAT time! Maybe I should have said "Mrs. Carter-to-be" - that's right, Carter and Kim are engaged - he proposed the night before they left to come visit us. Something must be in the air over there - Matt McNeese and Amy are engaged as well. A BIG congratulations to all of you!

So the Carters arrived on Friday - same day we got back from the US, so we all got to have jetlag together. We showed them a little bit of London that weekend, Kim tore up the vendors at Portobello market, and we all went to Windsor Castle on Sunday. The whole town of Windsor is really cool - it's a neat looking little town, and having a castle chilling in it makes it even neater. I don't really know how to describe the castle itself - it is one of the biggest castles we've been in - we saw the State Rooms, China Room (lots of old china and silverware), and the world's largest dollhouse (it's bigger than our flat). It is definitely worth visiting if you come to London. There's a really long road that leads up to the castle appropriately named "The Long Walk". It was worth the walk for the view - but don't ask our women - they shopped instead of coming with us to check it out. It was so long, we would have gotten a cab back to our "meeting point" if we would have seen one.

We also rode in the London Eye - the largest Ferris Wheel in the world. Each "eye" can hold over 20 people and it takes 30 minutes to go all the way around. Ask Jill how high it goes - she was scared the whole time. The view is incredible - it's right on the river and you can see Big Ben and the Parliament really well. We had a great time - we recommend the London Eyeball to everyone. We also had front row tickets to the West End Play "Saturday Night Fever". That was a great play - Jill was dancing in the audience by the time it was over.

One night before we went to bed, Jill opened the window to let the cool breeze in (remember, this is the only AC we have). Guess what song we heard coming from a nearby party - give up? Sweet Home Alabama - no kidding. At least they have good taste in music over here. We played Uno a few times while Carter and Kim were here - we didn't realize how much we miss playing little games like that - it's the little things that we end up missing that we never would have thought of. Anyway, Jill is currently wearing the Uno Champ Crown. She tore us all up - actually, she smoked me worse than everyone. I came in last place most of the time - everyone thought this was sooo funny - everyone but me. The new quote that came out of this was "This just isn't your game, is it Brad?" Ha ha very funny. Just let me know when you're ready to play against me in a card game that actually requires skill :)

For those of you that had the pleasure to live in the fraternity house while Carter lived there, you'll probably remember his signature shower move - throw ice cold water on you and run. I messed up when I reminded him of those days - cause I was greeted with an ice cold cup of water during my shower the next day - and he knew that I'd be gone the next day before he got in the shower, so I wouldn't be able to get him back - that's ok, Kim will get him back for me soon enough (is it my turn?) I about fell out when Carter walked out one day with glitter all over himself. He borrowed some of Jill's "glitter lotion". I didn't know you wore glitter, Carter. Maybe I'll send you a bottle for Christmas. Kim and Scott are now London experts - they were actually giving directions to people who lived here - can you imagine that scene?

The only thing we've done since they left is go to a Madonna concert at Earl's Court. She's been performing for over 20 years - and yes, she's still that good! Jill, as you can imagine, had a blast - this was on her "must do in my lifetime" list. Kathleen will be our next visitor - she'll be arriving in late September. Until then, we are heading to the US again - we're actually leaving tomorrow. I know we just got back from there, but this time we get to stay a bit longer. This is going to be great - other than seeing our families (which is always the best part of the trips home), I'm heading to Prattville for my annual Fantasy Football Draft Golf Fest. Ten of us meet every year, play so much golf we can't move, and hold our live fantasy football draft. We'll be playing the Robert Trent Jones course there - 90 holes worth - 36 on Friday, 36 on Saturday, and 18 on Sunday - and this does not include our potential practice round on Thursday. We'll do the draft one night (I have the first pick - let me know if you have any suggestions) and play a Texas Hold 'Em tournament on the other. Porkbellies, you better bring your A-game!

I will try to recover from that weekend with a week at home - I'll be working all that week, but I'll get some good family time in there. The next weekend, Jill and I are heading to the football capital of the world - Tuscaloosa, AL. We'll be meeting up with my pledge brothers from 1994 for a little 10 year reunion of our own - they're bringing a couple of RVs down from BHM - this could get ugly! So we are pumped about seeing everybody and extremely excited about getting to see the first Bama game! Roll Tide!!

Don't forget to check out our updated pictures (London, Windsor, family, and friends). We're looking forward to seeing everybody during our US visit - new babies everywhere! Our door is still open - visitors are welcome! We love and miss you all! Take care and God bless!