It's 2009...March 2009

I just noticed that my last blog was in November of 2008! I guess it's time to update this thing, or delete it forever. However, I'm sure the one follower of my blog would be so upset if I discontinued!

So, to update everyone on all that's going on in Richmond... we have had a busy year so far.

Will continued to have ear infections so we got tubes in his ears. He has not had infections since then, but he does have strep this week...fun, fun!

Ellie is still enjoying preschool and had a blast playing in the snow a few weeks ago! She had a wonderful art show at preschool in February. She had some excellent pieces to display! :)

Will turned one in February! We had a wonderful birthday party at Yaya and Poppy's house. It's hard to believe that a year has past!

Brian is still enjoying his job. He has a bit of traveling coming up, which I don't like, but I'll survive! He is speaking at a conference in New Orleans in April.

We are currently looking for renters for our house in West Columbia. If you know anyone that is interested in renting, please spread the word! The house will be available August 1st. We would love to have someone we know in the house, but we know that might not happen. If you come across anyone that is interested please give them my info!

Well, I guess I'll go for now. Perhaps I'll update a little more frequently...you never know!

My Blog Facelift

I am slowly learning how to work on my blog...it takes awhile since I seldom even look at, or update the blog. So I have now added this cute background. I'm not sure it's my favorite, but it will do for now. Maybe later I'll feel the urge for a new look or to figure out how to do more stuff. I think I'm tapped out for now!

Not much going on this weekend for the Autrys. Little Will has a double ear infection, but he is still a happy baby! Other than the runny nose and barking cough, you wouldn't even know he was sick. On a funny note, at his doctor's appointment he weighed in at a big 28 pounds! As Brian put it, "he is a MOOSE!"

We are looking forward to Bonnie and Jason visiting next weekend, and Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! Time flies! I must say that the leaves up here are absolutely beautiful! I really need to take a picture and post it, but I know the picture won't do it justice!

I guess that's all for now. Maybe one of these days I'll come up with something exciting to post!

It's November!

So I must say that I love the fact that it only took me 10 minutes to vote today! There were only three different positions I had to vote for...I didn't have to read all of the long verbiage about some law that I have no idea what it means! After voting, Brian, Ellie, Will and I headed to Chick-fil-A to get our free chick-fil-a sandwich! It was yummy! However, it took longer to get the sandwich than it did to cast my ballot!

Speaking of Chick-fil-A, I have yet to display pictures of Brian and the Osage team at the Chick-fil-A Charity Dodge Ball Tournament. Osage didn't make it past the first round, but it was very fun to watch! They started out a little rough, losing the first game VERY quickly, but they had a little winning streak for a while. It wasn't enough to advance them to the next round though...I can't say I was disappointed. We were there for about three hours and Ellie, Will and Mommy were ready to go!
Will was sporting his head band...he was ready to play...or maybe just eat!





We enjoyed our trip home to Columbia the last weekend of the month. We were very busy trying to see everyone and sorry that we couldn't spend more time seeing people. We are hoping to be home longer at Christmas, so maybe we'll have a little more time for visiting with people then.


Ellie had a great time at the State Street Fall Festival. She went as Tinkerbell and Will as Yoda. I'm not sure Will will ever forgive us for that, but he sure was cute!



The last of my big events for the month was my trip to the New Kids on the Block concert...thanks to my friend, Stacy Kirkland! My brother Brett is slightly devastated that I would attend such an event, but it was pretty entertaining! We had a great time! It certainly takes you back. Let me just say that the crowd went wild! :)


Thanks, Stacy! I had a blast!

Last Week

We had an exciting time last week. Ellie's preschool class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch and Brian's company had the groundbreaking for their first plant! I also got in a little fender bender, but it wasn't bad. Will slept through the entire thing!

So the pumpkin patch was at this farm only about 10 minutes from our house. They had a lot of animals for the kids to look at and feed. Ellie was a little scared of the large horses, but she enjoyed feeding the goats. We got to ride on a hayride to the pumpkin patch where they were able to walk right out in to the patch and pick their pumpkin off the vine. It was really neat. Will went too, so we only got one pumpkin. I couldn't carry him AND a pumpkin!

Friday was the groundbreaking for the Appomattox BioEnergy Plant. We drove down to Hopewell, VA, which is a little less than an hour away. They had a nice ceremony with people from the community speaking as well as some of the Osage people. Ellie got to meet some of Hopewell's finest police officers. She had fun wearing her honorary policeman sticker the rest of the day! Brian even got his "backside in the paper, " as he put it. You can check it out here. The picture shows Lawrence, John, Brian and Henry. Brian worked with them at Nexsen Pruet. They come up for the big event. After the ceremony they had a luncheon that the kids and I didn't go to. No kids allowed! We made an attempt to go to the park with some of the other kids, but my little fender bender took place in there somewhere. Ellie was at the park though so she got to play while mommy dealt with the car.

Friday afternoon we drove up to see Bonnie and Jason in Charlottesville. I guess that was my first official trip to Charlottesville. We were only there a few hours so maybe next time I'll get to see more of it. Keep Bonnie and Jason in your prayers. They are pregnant with a little girl, Alivia! She is due in February.

We will be heading to Columbia for Halloween, but hopefully I'll have other "exciting" things to write about before then!

Squirrels, U-Turns, Family and Friends

Okay, so I came up with something I DON'T like about VA. First, I had to get my car inspected...most of us from SC remember what a pain that is. Thankfully the car didn't need any extra work. I'm not so sure about Brian's...his will probably need a good bit! :)

The other thing I must say that drives me crazy are all of the medians in the road which only allow you to turn in one direction. Therefore you have to drive down to the next light and make a U-Turn. I have made more U-Turns in the past 5 months than I have in my entire life! :0 I will say that the traffic does move pretty smoothly though!

What's up with this squirrel? He sat on our deck for at least five minutes sun bathing or something. After a while, he flipped and looked the other way...very odd!

On a good note, we have enjoyed spending time with some of our friends and family. Toby and Stacy Kirkland came up to visit two weekends ago. We had a good time watching football and eating!

We also went to Field Day of the Past. They had food, rides, tractor pulls. Ellie had fun riding the motorcycles! :) You should have seen her face when it started. She wasn't expecting it to start and she was very surprised!

I rode a ride with her, but those round and round rides make me feel sick, as you can see!

Jason's (Brian's brother) birthday was last week! So, this past weekend we went to Lynchburg, VA to see Jason and Bonnie. Brian's Mom and Dad came up from Columbia too. We also had a good time watching football and eating! Does it get any better than that? :) Ellie and Will were worn out by the end of the night.

On Thursday, Ellie's class is going on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures.

Friday is a big day for Brian's work. They will have the ground breaking for their first plant in Hopewell, VA. Brian said there might be a few protesters so that should be interesting! :) Maybe I should make my own "Pro-ethanol" sign to carry! :)

Ellie and Will

Ellie started preschool last week and she is really enjoying it. It is a little different from HABC Preschool, but she has adjusted well! Mrs. Piehl is her teacher. Ellie is the purple octopus in her class. This week her job is to check the weather in the morning. Last week she had the job of saying the blessing, which I'm sure no one heard since she is so quite in those situations! :)

Preschool is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Every morning I have to drop her off in a car line, so I don't get to walk her to her class. She is such a big girl walking in there all by herself. It is really cute to watch.

Will went to his first Kindermusik class today, which Brian thinks is a waste of money...it probably is, but we had fun anyway! He laughed and watched the teacher the entire time. It was too funny! He got a cute little toy, music car today to play with at home. Thankfully it is not too loud! We got to take his friend Luke a birthday present - he turned 1 last week! Happy Birthday, Luke!

Not too many exciting things to write about today. Our friends Toby and Stacy are coming to visit this weekend, so perhaps I'll have more to write about then! :)

Why I Hate Virginia...and my husband!

So all of you reading this probably know that Brian and I moved to Virginia in April of this year so that Brian could take a new job at Osage Bioenergy. Most of you think that Brian drug me here, and you would probably like to think that I am unhappy and want to come running home to South Carolina. That's why I have named this blog, "Why I Hate Virginia...and my husband." I figured it would get your attention! Did it work?

So I thought I would use this blog to let you know how things really happened and to keep you up to date on how things REALLY are in VA. The good, the bad, and the ugly...hopefully more good however. Now, I do not claim to be a writer, so please forgive all of my typos and grammatical errors. I do appologize in advance. I hope that you will check in every once in awhile to see what's going on in our little world.