Sorry it's been so long since our last update, but we've been in the States for a long time and decided not to write again until we got back to London. We were home for Christmas, and just got back here on January 30th. The original plan was to come back on the 23rd, but once again, we had flight issues. Our flight was delayed from Birmingham to Atlanta, so instead of missing work and flying out on the next day, we stayed in town for another week. You should have seen the surprised looks on our parents' faces when we walked back in the door and said that we'd be here for another week. You'd think they didn't want us to ever leave!

So we get on the plane the next weekend (we made it to Atlanta this time), and Jill sees these five men dressed in suits with earpieces. She talks me into asking them what they're up to, and one of them finally tells me that they're in the Secret Service and that we'd soon see why they were there. All of a sudden, they all stand up - two go towards the back of the plane and the other two towards the front. I'm thinking that they're about to take down a passenger that just boarded, but instead they are just protecting Jimmy Carter. He walks through the entire plane and shakes everyone's hand on board. This is the first time either one of us has ever shaken a president's hand. Needless to say, this is the safest we've ever felt on a flight - I think there were six Secret Service men in total.

We were in the States for a total of seven weeks - and we loved every minute of it! Ashley and her kids came in town the week before Christmas - talk about a house full at Gigi's (that's what the grandkids call my mom) during the holidays - Ashley, Reilly, Kelsey, Shae, Billy, Bill, Landon, Ryan, Mom, Dad, Jill, and me. My parents are probably enjoying some peace and quiet now that we're all gone! It was great to be able to spend so much time with everyone. The kids are great - Kelsey has lost some teeth, Reilly's growing like a weed, Billy played games with the grown-ups and did better than most of us, Landon is a show-off and likes you to watch him and say "Saw that?", and Ryan loves to throw up on his uncle Brad (I'm talking 9 out of 10 times - at least). A bunch of us went out to the Husky Ranch to see Levi during Ashley's visit. The kids had a great time and they didn't want to leave. We'd like to thank Mavis again for taking such good care of him while we're overseas!

We took a trip to Mobile to visit Jill's dad and relatives before Christmas, and he had everyone over for a nice feast. It was great to see everyone again - the kids are all growing up so fast! Jill got to go and visit Paige and her family while we were there - Mason looks like his daddy and Carter looks just like Paige. Both of them are as cute as can be.

Christmas shopping was fun this year - seriously - because I got it all done in one day! It was a LONG day, but Ashley and I knocked it out. Jill on the other hand, spent every waking moment at the malls with her mom. Thanks to Alan and Allison Crotwell for having a nice Christmas get-together at their place - that was a lot of fun and it was nice to see all of my college buddies. We all went to church on Christmas Eve, and then we spent some time with her mom and Mike - we ate lobster and opened presents before heading over to Shae's hot house. We were all over the place on Christmas day - we saw the kids get their stuff at Shae's, then we had our Christmas at my Mom's, and we ended up at Jackie's house. Landon's favorite gift this year was a box. His phrase of the day was, "Wow, a box!" So much for buying the expensive toys!

At Jackie's house, we watched some football in between naps. Later that night, we all headed out to see the movie, The Producers (remember that we all saw this live in London when Jackie and Mike came to visit). Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful Christmas! Jill and I got all kinds of good stuff - Jill got some diamond earrings and a LV purse, and I got a new set of Nike Slingshot golf clubs and a new putter. Now I can't blame my high score on the clubs :) It's cold over here, so I had to take advantage of the weather and play as much as I could before we came back (except the time that I played with Geno and Charlie in 30 degree weather with a wind chill that felt like we were in Scotland in the middle of winter). Overall I got to play Tannehill twice (sinking a 30-foot birdie putt once), Bentbrook, RTJ (Valley), and Highland. I shaved a few strokes off of my score, but I could still use some more playing time to get used to my clubs.

Since Jackie and Mike weren't around for Jill's birthday, we all went out to Bonefish to celebrate again - man she sure does drag out her birthdays! Shae had her birthday dinner at Ichiban - I think that's about the 40th year in a row now. We had lots of nice dinners while we were in town - I think my family went broke while we were there! The prime rib and snicker pie at Bert's on the Bluff is delicious. The Cajun Steamer by the Galleria is an outstanding seafood restaurant - we'll definitely be going back there again. And of course, one of our favorite steak places - the Village Tavern - we met Grant and Kelly there one night. They're adjusting to "normal life" well, and expecting their baby in about a month. What about Mexican, you ask? Well, Jill had so much Mexican that she actually got tired of it - but only for about 24 hours. She was right back in it after that though.

We got to see a lot of kids at Pablo's during one of our many visits to this venue - Mason is a spitting image of Rusty, and Campbell looks like 50% Wade and 50% Ferra. Coleman and Camden are getting big, and all of the kids are as cute as can be. Speaking of babies, we finally got to see Wells Johnson (Chance and Leslie's baby), and he's a cute one too! It was great catching up with you guys. My sister Ashley just found out that she is having another boy - he's due in early March. Congratulations go out to Rusty and Vicki, Joe and Jen, Charlie and Lauren, and Kim and Beau, who are all expecting their second. Congratulations to Russ and Stacey with the birth of their son Braden Stuart (6 lbs. 15 oz.), and to Clint and Ellie on their recent engagement. And finally, congrats to Taylor Hicks for making it to Hollywood for his singing on American Idol - good luck with that - we hope that you win it all!

What else did we do while we were back home? Christie and Jacob had their annual Dirty Santa party - thanks for another good time (very good chili again). The "bride and groom bobble heads" made their 3rd consecutive appearance this year, but Brandi got the best gift - a nice floral arrangement. We had a nice New Year's Eve dinner at Los Angeles with Jacob, Christie, Bill, Melissa, Jon, Brandi, Lee, and Suzanne. We followed that up by meeting up with Cone and friends at Cafe Firenze, and then finally over to Julie's house - congrats to her and Rob for their recent engagement!

We had our annual New Year's Day lunch at Jill's mom's house - outstanding food - thanks for that! We all went to Shae and Billy's for the Bama bowl game (Roll Tide), and then I flew down to Orlando for work after that. Our company has some very exciting things lined up for this year and I'm really excited about that. It was great to get to work with everyone in person for a change. And Steve, thanks for all of your hospitality - you have a very nice place! While I was there, Jill got to spend some time with Kathleen, Kim, Amy, Kerrie, Heather, and Cathy. Good luck to Heather with soccer tryouts!

We attempted to have a "poker reunion" at Lute's house, but after sending out 50 emails we only ended up with five players, so we just played a few Hold 'em tournaments. Lace is a closet player - he whipped us all in the first game before he had to go. I won two, and Shae and Jacob won one each. Lute, sorry you didn't win any, but thanks for hosting it anyway. We had a few "game nights" with Shae, Billy, Jacob, and Christie - Katie is a beautiful girl, and Landon is all about showing her his muscles. She follows right behind him when he runs all over the house. We took Landon and Ryan up to Chuck-E-Cheese for lunch one day - if you haven't been since you were a kid, adults are now allowed to play in all of their stuff - slides, balls, etc. I can tell I'm getting old trying to climb up all of that mess. We did get to meet Jay Barker and chat with him for a while.

Jill and I gave my dad the "Band of Brothers" boxed set for Christmas, and my parents and I watched all 10 episodes before I left - and they were at least 1 hour each. If you haven't seen this, I strongly recommend that you watch it - it's amazing what those guys went through for all of us. I can't wait to watch the extra documentary that came with the set! For those of you who get the Birmingham news, you may have seen our picture in the travel section. We submitted a picture of us from Cornwall, England a while back, and they ran it in January. Several people saw it and got in touch with us - some people that we don't even know. Thanks for all of your kind comments. Among those who got in touch with us, one was my 8th grade English teacher (I hope I haven't made any mistakes writing this update). I haven't talked to her since then, and it's great to be in touch again after all of these years. We're looking forward to meeting you for lunch some time!

We're watching the Super Bowl right now, and it's after 1am and it's only halftime. The Rolling Stones are playing in the halftime show right now, and that reminds us to tell you that Mick Jagger actually lives up the street from us. He lives in a nice house overlooking Richmond Gardens and the Thames River. Jill just made a huge discovery - we were just complaining about having the British commentary for the game, and she just found out that "option 2" gives us the commentary from John Madden. This is great news, but now we wonder if we have had this option for the last two years and not realized it... Ladies and gentlemen, you are reading the writing from the 2005 SFBL Fantasy Football champion. That's right, I finally won the Super Bowl in my fantasy league - congrats to Wade for coming in 2nd place (glad I didn't trade you Larry Johnson the 10 times that you asked me to). I won the college bowl pick 'em and I was also the Super Bowl runner-up in the DDFC Fantasy Football league. Good year for the Gamblers!

When we got back to London, we went to get in the cab and I went over to the driver's seat (remember that they drive on the other side of the car). I guess it didn't take me long to forget this and let my instinct take over. As soon as we walked into our flat, I realized how small it is again. We were so spoiled over the last couple of months to be staying in big houses again. We're very excited that my parents will be coming back to visit us again - they're going to meet us in Switzerland in March, and then come back to London for a few days (and head up to Scotland for a night). Shae and Billy have also finally booked their tickets - they'll be here in April, and we'll all go to Paris together as well. And Jackie and Mike are in the middle of making their plans to come over again as well. We can't wait for all of you to come visit! Be sure to check out the updated pictures from our US visit (Family, Friends, and us). Thanks again to our families for putting up with us for so long, feeding us, washing our clothes, etc. (it felt a little like coming home from college again). Well, thanks for taking your time to read this update - be sure to catch the next one as we will be summarizing our two years of living here. Until then, take care and God bless!