Dog and Dog Take Tucson

Dog and I just spent a great three days in sunny Tucson, AZ where we hiked, swam and ate. It was really pretty perfect. My only regret is my evident lack of photography genius. If you click here to see our pictures, you'll see that I took about 47 of the same shot, and none of anything particularly interesting. Which is a real shame because we took some incredible hikes that even included a snake. Dog got a shot of the snake, so hopefully soon we'll have some new, better pictures. Right now, enjoy looking at a field of cacti, over and over again.

And truly, if you enjoy hiking and the outdoors, Tucson is your place. But we also felt that this was the right time of year for it. Warm, but not hot. Very pleasant weather with a breeze and everything. And even though we didn't see any of these things in nature, we were told that you could see a mountain lion or a big horn sheep or a javelina at any moment. I guess that's the hook. Oh well. Maybe I should look more closely for those things here in Baltimore.

My Wife, the Birthday Girl!

Admittedly I am nervous about my first post (yes, this is Kevin and not Amy for once), but nonetheless I will struggle through this and do my best...please forgive me for littering my wife's wonderful blog with my stupidity.

The reason I am putting up this post is because today is my wife's birthday! It was on this day 22 years ago that my wonderful wife was born. Below is a picture of Amy enjoying her gifts at her parents house in Cleveland yesterday. It was a great trip, and even though we left yesterday and are already home, we were able to see her parents, Nana, the Goodmans, Susan and JC and Joshua, and Mark and Roni and Elyse. (Check out some pictures here.)

Through the past 8 months of marriage I have to come to realize that I must be the luckiest man on earth. Seriously, being married to Amy is one of the best things that has happened to me. My wife is a wonderful listener when I need someone to talk to, makes me smile when I have a bad day, and loves me even when I'm at my worst.

My favorite part of our marriage is the time we spend together and how she is able to make everything fun. Whether it be taking Luther for a walk, going for a quick drive to walk around Washington DC, having 'pizza night!', or celebrating 'garbage eve' (Sunday & Wednesday if you are interested), Amy finds a way to just make even the simple things in life fun. As a result, even the bad days are good days.

Well I'm not good at discussions like this, so I'll try to keep it simple as I end it: Happy Birthday Amy - I love you! You're the best thing that's happened to me! Thanks for making our marriage a fun one!...and sorry about the lame yoga blocks I got you for your birthday...

Friends and Family (and a request)

...Remember that song "Friends and Family" by Trik Turner? Great song.

We have had non-stop celebration around here. Kevin's parents came to visit this weekend and we enjoyed a nice time of birthday gift opening (someone in the family has a birthday this weekend) and birthday cake eating. Kevin's parents always think of everything...they make every event super special and fun. They dragged a cake the whole way here from Philadelphia. It was really a wonderful surprise to get to host them for an evening. Our friend...nay...Godsend...Glen came over as well. We would be nowhere without Glen. He housed Kevin for a month or two before we got married and he recently leant us his fabulous treadmill (which Kevin actually uses and I think about using). He has also volunteered to help us move and is a good Guitar Hero companion of Kevin's. Anyway, great weekend all around!

And then I visited Pittsburgh for two days earlier this week and was treated to an incredible dinner by Sharyn. Those of you who know Sharyn know that she does everything top-shelf. Amazing meal. And an amazing time of watching Seinfeld reruns, too. We laughed until our faces hurt watching the one where Kramer takes a picture of everyone in the apartment building in an effort to get them to be more friendly and social with each other.

Oh, and please let it be documented that we enjoyed dinner with one BDC several weeks back(the bcarmel who recently commented on the blog). It was a lovely evening and we were remiss not to mention all the fun we had. Even though he's a snob from Columbia...since we are evidently rednecks from Reisterstown. BURN! Anyway, here he is in Mexico. No idea why I have this picture or who took it.

***Please take a moment to participate in our reader poll out to the right panel on our blog screen. Many thanks! This in no way indicates that we're having a girl, we just don't have any great girl names yet.***

Home Sweet Home

Well, we did it.

We bit the bullet and bought a house in Reisterstown, MD. Here we are enjoying our new kitchen. Check out the pictures here and let us know when you're ready to come visit! Oh, and we're closing at the end of April, so you should know that if you've clicked on this website, we've recorded your email address and now you're committed to helping us move*. See you in early May! We've got a great backyard for cooking out, so we'll certainly feed you!

*This is a joke...we are not tracing our readers. But can you really live with yourself knowing that it's just Kevin and his soon-to-be-7-month-pregnant wife moving all alone? Just name your price...we'll see you in May.

Welcome, Team Vile!

We were recently lucky enough to be a stop on Casey and Chris's tour of the eastern seaboard! They made the long drive from Oklahoma to visit friends and family and we had an awesome time when they came to see us. We met up at the Natural History Museum in DC and then had a nice dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill near Pennsylvania Avenue. After that we went back home and introduced them to Luther as well as Kevin's Elvis wine collection. From there Chris and I both retired to bed and Casey and Kevin played Guitar Hero until somewhere around 4:30 am. Only true Guitar Heroes have that level of dedication.

Then the next day we introduced Casey and Chris to the gourmet world of Chipotle before they headed down to Chris's brother and sister-in-law's place. They acted very impressed and we are grateful for their acting skill. Check out pictures from the weekend here.

The next day Kevin and I headed down to the elusive Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. We bought the year-round membership, so we're hoping some faithful Vileation Nation readers might come visit so we can go back! We didn't get to watch the movie in the visitor's center and Kevin is less than pleased, so please come visit so we have a reason to return in the very near future. Check out the pictures here. I totally get why Washington wanted to live there, it's a beautiful place. And I bet he enjoyed all the museums as much as we did.

So that's the latest out here...hoping to get some belly pictures posted soon. That is, between my feedings. Today's big treat was Taco Bell and ice cream. I'm going to try to not make a habit of that. But those commercials about cheesy melts or something were just wearing me down. Now I've had my fix.

Baby on Board

We had the big ultrasound experience yesterday where we got to see our little person move around and kick and stretch and all that fun stuff! Unfortunately we didn't get to see TOO much of that because our little person also likes to stay crunched up in a ball. Which gave us many nice views of its spine. And very few views of anything that would indicate gender, so we're still ready for a big surprise in July! Click here for pictures of the ultrasound shots along the way. We're hoping that because this person likes to stay crunched up and sleeping (in the "fetal position" of course), he or she will continue to like to do that once they're born. We need a good sleeper. Pray for a good sleeper. This person's mother is a good sleeper and cannot imagine living with someone who is not! (I know, all you experienced mothers are laughing and saying "ah, the naivete.")

It also appears that we better start saving for braces because I think we have a thumb-sucker. Or a Nittany Lion since it looks like our baby may have a paw.