Jarrod Morris' father Bud passed away early Monday morning at his home in Henderson after battling a long illness. Bud was a long time employee of Alcoa and was married to Yolanda for 38 years. Jarrod is one of Mike's best friends and he has really been there for him through his battle with cancer. It's never easy to say goodbye to a loved one. Please be thinking of Jarrod, his mom Yolanda, and the rest of his family as they go through this difficult situation.

Go Orange?

As most of you all are aware, #1 plays #2 tonight in the big Tennessee showdown. #1 Memphis takes on #2 UT. Guaranteed to be a good game. I guess we will pull for the Vols as: 1) our favorite resident dentist resides there 2) Lofton hails from the bluegrass and 3) NOBODY can pull off that heinous push pop of a sports coat like Coach Pearl. Besides, my husband takes about as much liking to Calipari as a head cold. I was always worried that he would get into a fist fight with him at Freedom Hall!! HAHA!! So here goes, for what it's worth......GO ORANGE!!!

"If you're skating on thin ice, don't jump up and down." Mike Pace, when asked about the antics of his beloved Hoosiers' hoops coach Kelvin Samson. Here! Here!

Party! Party!

If anyone has been in or around our family for any period of time, it doesn't take very long to realize that we are quite the partying bunch. As a friend of mine said recently, "You all are just a party waiting to happen." Give us any excuse to get together to eat and laugh and we're there!

With Mike's 30th birthday last weekend, we didn't need a hunt for reason to party. We had an actual event to celebrate! So Melisa and crew decided to throw Mikey a surprise party. We didn't know if we could pull it off but then we remembered...he's a man - he's oblivious!! (No offense guys.) So Sunday after church, Mike, Poppy and Bret went back to Bret's house to watch the IU game while we girls got to work decorating and preparing for the party....all while the little ones scrambled around our feet. HUGE thanks to our resident party planner extraordinaire Miss Jodie for providing all the little extras that mean so much! While we were busy getting everything settled, Poppy and Bret had to properly time the ending of the ballgame with the beginning of the party. Bret kept trying to fast forward through commercials, halftime, etc... But Mike wasn't having any of it. More than once he told Bret, "...getting a little antsy aren't ya???" Finally he just said, "Give me the remote!" Anyhow, after giving him some lame excuse about Scott having car trouble in Atkinson Park (*see oblivious note above*), they finally got him there! He was welcomed with a big "Surprise!" by several family and friends. We all had a great time and it was nice to see so many friendly faces and catch up with people we haven't see in a while. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon of the big event.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy 30th Birthday to the One and Only!!!

STEWIE: (After Lois tries to feed him his broccoli "airplane style") "Damn you, Damn the broccoli, and Damn the Wright Brothers."

Fly Fishing on the Holston River

Mike and Melisa got some much needed R&R this past week in Gatlinburg. They stayed at Mom and Hope's condo and enjoyed some of the unseasonably warm weather on their trip. Melisa's mom Debbie was kind enough to keep Casey for a few days in Henderson. Then about mid-week Casey was able to travel down to Gatlinburg to see his Momma and Daddy too. Also during their stay in the mountains, Josh and Brandi made the short trip over from Knoxville and stayed with them for a day or so. Mike and Josh were able to take in some fly fishing opportunities on the Holston River. Their guide was Ian Rutter and he and his wife own R&R Fly Fishing out of Townsend, TN. They drifted part of the Holston River tailwater below Cherokee Lake and fished the part of the river that ran from Buffalo Creek to Indian Cave. And other than Mikey jumping in an outdoor swimming pool that he mistakenly thought was heated, it sounded like they had a great time.

Here is a link to Ian's website where he blogged a little of their trip and also some pics of the fishermen:

http://www.randrflyfishing.com/2008/02/05/warm-days-provide-great-tailwater-fly-fishing/