Merry Christmas to All!!!

We are headed home to WA this evening to spend the holidays with our families. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

A New Addition to the Family - Victoria Ballard

Please join us in congratulating Cousins Tony & Laura on the birth of their first baby girl VICTORIA REESE BALLARD. Laura went into labor early Sunday morning, but being a typical little girl, Miss Victoria showed who was boss by refusing to leave her snuggly spot in mommy's tummy. She was finally delivered by c-section Monday night. Mommy and baby are doing great. Congratulations Laura & Tony!!! We are so excited to meet Victoria.

An early Christmas present?

Hello again everyone. Hope you're all having a great holiday season. Nikki and I can't wait to come home for Christmas in a few weeks. I'm especially looking forward to it since it's been a couple years since I experienced one back home with family and friends.


Nikki and I are also eagerly awaiting news from my cousin Laura and her husband Tony as they are in the midst of having their first child (Victoria) today down in Arizona! She posted a blog on her site this morning that contractions had started and they were on their way to the hospital!! Looks like the makings of an early Christmas present for the family. The timing of our pregnancies couldn't be better as Laura and I were the closest in age within our crew. Now our little ones (both girls) will get to grow up just a couple months apart. Great planning huh!

Nikki and I went to our first parenting class this weekend. The purpose of this one was newborn essentials which taught us things like bathing, changing diapers and the voodoo of wooing our upset child to sleep. I got to be the guinea pig for changing diapers where I proved to be an absolute pro. Never mind that I was working with a stationary doll. I'm sure that real babies stay just as still right? I think we both came to the conclusion that even though there was a lot of good information in this class, taking care of a newborn is going to be one of those things where you do most of your learning on the job

Other than that we'd like to keep Nikki's mom in our prayers as she recovers from a recent trip to the hospital. She's home and working her way back to feeling 100% and we can't wait to see her when we fly in for the holidays. Hope everyone else is doing well and we'll chat with you again soon.

Remembering Others This Holiday Season

Now that December is here and the holiday season is in full swing, I thought it was important to remember all of our brave men and women willing to be parted from their families to ensure that you and I are able to spend time with ours. My husband is one of those brave and wonderful men who proudly served this country last holiday season in Iraq. As you celebrate and enjoy the holidays this year, please remember to take a moment to think of those brave men and women of our Armed Forces and their families.



'Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this dwelling did live.


As I looked all around, a strange sight to see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking on the mantle, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.
Medals and badges, awards of every kind,
a sobering thought came alive in my mind.
This house was different, it was dark, it was dreary.
I had found the home of a soldier, I could see that most clearly.


The soldier lay sleeping silent, alone.
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.
His face was so gentle, room in such disorder,
Not at all how I pictured a U.S. soldier.


Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up on a poncho, a floor for a bed?
Then I realized the other families that I saw this night
Out there lies the soldiers who are willing to fight.


In the morning around the world, children would play
Grown-ups would celebrate a bright Christmas day
But they all enjoyed freedom, each month through the year,
because of soldiers like the one lying here.


I couldn’t help but wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in lands far from home.
The very thought brought a tear to my eye.
and I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.


The soldier awakened, I heard his rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Core.”


The soldier rolled over, and drifted to sleep,
I couldn’t control it, and I continued to weep.
I kept watch for hours, so silent and still.
as both of us shivered from the cold night’s chill.


I didn’t want to leave him on that cold, dark night.
This guardian of honor, so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over with a voice soft and pure.
He whispered, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”


One look at my watch
and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend,
May God bless you this night.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

We are now relaxing after enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving feast prepared by my mom (a fabulous cook!) We are so thankful for our familiy and friends and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy Weekend!

What a busy week and weekend we have had! My parents arrived Thursday evening and will be visiting with us until next Sunday. They probably thought it would be a relaxing trip for them but we have kept them pretty busy with little projects. We did manage to give them a break Saturday evening when we went to a wedding of one of my dearest friends from law school. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jason and Jen Karlin - we had a fabulous time at your wedding!!!!!!! It was so much fun to get dressed up for a night out on the town.

Today we planned on relaxing but decided instead to hang border in the 'lil fish's room. As you can see from the pics below, we could be pros ;-)  It was a bit more involved than we anticipated but we did a pretty good job and had fun. We even covered the light switch plate. Just a few more things and the nursery will be all ready for the princess.

The biggest news of the week is that Garrett finally felt his little girl move and was very excited. Hopefully she continues to cooperate and gives him a few more kicks over the next couple months.

Other than baby stuff and work, we are getting very excited for Thanksgiving. It is one of our favorite holidays and we are so happy that my folks are here to celebrate (and cook!) with us. Garrett is really looking forward to my mom's pecan pie. It is so nice having them around! Of course, I am looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving for the annual shopping trip with my mom. We always have such a great time and find some wonderful deals. After returning from shopping (and taking a much needed nap!) we will get our Christmas tree and start decorating the house. This is such a fun time of year

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Decision 2006 . . .

As many of you know, we thought the military would be moving us to a new location (preferably closer to the West Coast) sometime next summer. Well it turns out that Uncle Sam is having budget problems and has decided to extend all Air Force personnel (minus pilots) to four year tours. While ordinarily that would be a great thing, allowing for more continuity, in our case it felt like a death sentence. The thought of another year of commuting and surviving another likely deployment seemed like too much to bear. We tried everything we could think of to get the Air Force to move us - we even considered going to Alabama where Garrett would become an instructor at an officer training school (not something he wanted to do), thinking it might be fun to try living in the South. Unfortunately, nothing worked. So then we figured it was time to cut our losses and say goodbye to military life, especially since they are trying to convince people to get out of the services by offering large amounts of voluntary separation pay. However, we love being in the military and really struggled with the decision of what would be best for us, especially since we had no clue what to do if we got out of the military. Finally, after a very long couple of days, a lot of stress, not much sleep, and a ton of praying, we made a decision last night . . . we are going to stay in the Air Force for a career and take whatever they throw at us. This means a couple of things. First, we will remain in New England (assuming they don't change the policy again) at least until Summer 2008. Second, it is a very strong possibility that Garrett will be deployed again for another six months during our time here. I hate the thought of this and know that I will question our decision if/when this happens but I also know that we made the right choice for us. Fortunately, we have wonderful families who have agreed to help out by coming out here for alternating six-week stints to help with the 'lil fish while I'm at work if Garrett does get deployed.


The best part about this whole ordeal is that it forced us to examine what we want and don't want. Although stressful, it was a great learning experience and we discovered quite a few goals and fears neither of us realized we had. We know that everything happens for a reason and perhaps the reason behind this speedbump was to figure out what we really want to do with our lives. Although we feel confident with our decision and know that it is right for us, we also know that there will be difficult times ahead and we ask that you keep us in your prayers.

The crib is finished!

As you can see, we got the entire bedding etc. for the crib finally. This stuff actually should have been first to arrive but the trials and tribulations of getting UPS to deliver our stuff intervened. Not to belabor the troubles we had but their delivery schedule of 10:00 to 2:00 with a requirement of a signature upon delivery really made it difficult for two folks who work everyday, 1 or more hours from home to sign off. I'm sure we are not the first delivery they've made where this was an issue but it sure seemed like it. Oh well, we got our stuff finally with only minor inconvenience and aggravation.


We officially toured the Brigham and Women's hospital on Saturday which is where we plan to have the baby. Nikki had been there before but I was very impressed with the place. You could definitely tell that they specialize in child birth so no complaints on my end. Nikki's getting more and more kicks and other forms of movement as the days go by which is exciting. Unfortunately, I have felt a grand total of zero of those kicks. No matter how much coaching I do, the little one is not listening to me yet. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.......

Busy Getting Ready for the 'Lil Fish

What a busy weekend we have had! The babytizing of the Fisher residence has officially begun.

On Saturday, we picked up our princess' crib which was an adventure in itself. Picture this -- torrential downpour and windstorm going on and the box our crib comes in was way to HUGE to fit into our car. Uh oh. Luckily we were able to unpack the crib a bit to find that it was really three smaller boxes inside which we were able to somehow get inside the car. Aside from being drenched, we definitely dodged a bullet.

We also did some random shopping on Saturday and found yet another Halloween outfit (caterpillar) on sale for a price we couldn't resist.

So all in all, the little one is good to go for her first two Halloweens (huge relief to have that taken care of........). After we got home, we got the crib all assembled officially checking off that parenthood milestone making for a pretty great day. Saturday would later gain "perfect" day status when the Cougs spanked UCLA catapulting them into the top 25 (AP) for the first time in three years and the Dawgs fell short once again effectively closing the book on any bowl game aspirations they might have had this year.

Sunday continued Saturday's perfection as the daylight savings fairy flew in and gave me an extra hour of sleep. We then went to church where they were having a bake sale ~ we made some very delicious Nordy bars.

Afterwards, we cruised over to Babies R' Us and got ourselves a baby mattress for the crib and registered for all kinds of stuff. Registering is always fun but I gotta tell you that I am still pretty clueless with the baby gadgets. The research is ongoing but we were able to zap lots of fun stuff for the kiddo. Hope everyone has a great week.

A Relaxing Weekend

We had such a fun and relaxing weekend. We planned to go out to eat Friday night but wound up ordering pizza and eating it by the fire. It was a very stormy evening so sitting by the fire was great! On Saturday, we went in search of a Red Robin that we heard had finally opened in MA. Turns out it is only about 15 minutes from our house and is in this huge shopping complex that we never knew existed. It was Heaven!!! Apparently the folks out here are as excited about Red Robin as we are because even going at 1:45 in the afternoon, we had quite a wait. The restaurant did not have the Red Robin feel that we are used to but the food tasted the same so we were happy. After lunch we decided to check out the rest of the shopping complex - did I mention it is HUGE? Garrett's cell phone was on the fritz so we stopped into Cingular to get him a new one. He wanted the new black Razr. Now mine was doing fine but since I was eligible for a new one (and I thought Garrett's was really fun) I wound up getting the new PINK Razr - I know, how silly but I do love it! After becoming stylish with our new semi-matching phones, we went to Babies R Us right next door just to take everything in. We were a bit overwhelmed by how much babies need! We went home and subscribed to Consumer Reports and spent numerous hours researching every baby item imaginable. Armed with this new knowledge, we decided we would go back next weekend and really focus on the registry. Who knew such a little person could need so much?!?! After church on Sunday we went to our favorite mall so that I could spend some of my birthday giftcards on some maternity tops - my regular ones just don't cut it anymore. It was successful, but more exciting - we got the 'lil fish a Halloween costume - a GOLDFISH! How cute is that?


Well that's about all that is going on with us. Hope you have a great week!

Pics of our 'Lil Fish

We finally scanned in some photos of our princess and decided to share - as you can see, she is quite a looker . Our two favorites are below - she tells us she loves us and cooperates by opening the legs!!!  Hope you enjoy!!!

Apples & Pumpkins

What a perfect Fall day in New England . . . clear skies, lots of sunshine and crisp air with temps in the low 60s. It doesn't get much better than that! My mom had never been apple picking so I decided it was high time she experience this fun pasttime. We went to Clearview Farm, an orchard not too far from our house, and spent the morning picking some very delicious apples. Of course we had to taste one and agreed that it was the best apple we had ever had. Unfortunately, there were no carmel apples there so we were forced (yeah we really had to twist our arms ) to go to another farm stand where we got carmel apples, mums, and baby pumpkins. The carmel apples were made as we waited, making them warm, messy and very yummy!!! We had such a great day, as you can see from the pics below.
 

I'm going to hate to see my mom leave next Friday but I'll survive since she'll be back for Thanksgiving (when she'll bring my dad too!)


The only thing that would make this weekend better is having Garrett home. Thank goodness he gets home next Friday night! I know we survived six months and this has only been five weeks but I really miss the guy and cannot wait for him to get home

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend as much as I am.

Two more weeks in Alabama

Well, I've been down in Alabama at Squadron Officer School for three weeks and have got just two more to go. It's been fun and all but I can't wait to get done and back to life in MA. I know, I know, how could I possibly be getting sick of Alabama? It will be tough living without the grits, monster trucks and rebel yells but I've got a lot of pink to be buying when I get back and I just can't wait to get started. Seriously though, I/we are really excited to be having a little princess and if anyone has any suggestions for good, intimidating shotguns I should start shopping for just let me know. I figure it will come in handy 15-16 years from now...............


Nikki's mom flew into Boston yesterday morning and will be there until I get back which is great! Nikki has been a real trooper the last couple weeks but I feel much better now that she has someone there to help her out. Plus I hear that we are getting stocked up with home made chicken soup and lasagna. Nothing to complain about there.

Hope you all have a great week!

Garrett

It's official . . . we're having a GIRL!!!

No mistaking it, the Fishers are having a little GIRL!!!

our beautiful BMW

We got our car back from the autobody shop on Wednesday and she looks as good as new. She should since her the backend is new!!! There was more damage than first thought but, fortunately, no damage to the frame. What a relief to have her back. I must sing the praises of BMW once more. I truly did not feel much impact when I was rearended, however, the other guy's car looked totaled and the autobody shop said they could tell the car was hit very hard. I am so impressed that so much damage could be done and I barely felt a thing and had absolutely no injury - I was not even sore! I originally bought the car for safety and am now a complete believer - I will never buy another type of car :)

The 'lil fish is on ???her??? way . . .

Although 'she' was a bit uncooperative at 'her' ultrasound, it appears the 'lil fish is a girl!!! Since we want to know for sure, we're having another ultrasound in October to check again.

Fun in the Sun!!!

We just got back from a very fun and relaxing weekend in Washington. Everyone was extremely excited with our news - the moms were especially happy because it meant they could finally talk about it (they had been under a gag order since the 4th of July and were ready to burst!)

We spent the majority of the weekend at the beach house on Treasure Island and the weather was perfect - sunny and in the 80s

On Sunday, we had my entire family out for the day and the guys all had fun getting dumped off the intertube - although, we are not too sure Kyle was a fan of the tube even though he did not get tossed.

My best friend Cori and her husband Kevin also joined us for the day. Cori is also pregnant and due 12 days before us - we could not have planned it better if we tried! Sunday evening, Cori, Kevin, Garrett, and I took the boat down to Olympia and had dinner at Anthony's. It was a great time and fortunately, we made it back to Treasure Island minutes before the sun completely went down or we would have been in for a very exciting (or scary) moonlight boat ride.

On Monday, the Fishers and my parents came out to the beach to join us and it was another perfect day.

Leaving was very difficult. Weekends like that make us want to move back to WA!

Now it is back to work (and rain) it seems that summer is over for good, at least in Massachusetts. Oh well, the Falls out here are usually quite nice.

We hope that you enjoyed your "last" weekend of Summer as much as we did. Stay tuned for updates on the 'lil fish . . .

We're expecting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Fisher Family is growing and the 'lil fish is due to arrive February 12, 2007. Stay tuned for more updates . . .

Luck runs out with Boston drivers :(

Anticipating a very long day yesterday, I drove to work (figured the client would rather pay the $30 for my parking than the $160 cab ride home). Imagine my surprise when I finished the project early and was able to leave by 5:30!!! I was thrilled, however, the feeling didn't last long. Leaving at this time meant driving in the rush-hour evening commute on the Mass Pike (I-90). It was a clear sunny day and traffic was very slow moving, lots of stop and go. As I was about 5 to 10 miles away from my exit, all of the lanes again began to slow and come to a complete stop, paying attention, I did the same. Unfortunately, the driver behind me did not and rearended me. I was not hurt, just frustrated .

I promptly called the police (thanks Mom for the good example and advice ). I wanted an accident report filed to make sure that I was not held at fault. I know I said I wanted an accident that was not my fault, but this is enough!!! The other driver was very apologetic, and I was nice to him (he felt terrible, there was no point in making him feel worse) but am still annoyed. He said he only looked away for an instant - let this be a lesson for all, an instant is all it takes! He was lucky that traffic was so slow to begin with so he was not going fast when he hit me and neither of us were hurt - I cannot say the same for the cars. As you can see below, my car probably suffered a couple thousand dollars damage - his car was far worse. Because my car was still drivable, I went home after the report was filed (officer told me to leave) so I do not know whether the other driver was cited but I have to assume so.

Once I got home, Garrett assessed the damage and took the pictures below while I called the insurance companies.

Fortunately, the other driver's insurance company (at least last night) was very accomodating and pleasant. They opened a claim (he had not called yet) and told me an adjuster would contact me by end of today (Friday) to schedule the appraisal. They also offered me a loaner car. Hopefully, this will continue to be an easy process. If not, our insurance (USAA is a fabulous company!) assured us they would cover the damages, waive the deductible, and go after his insurance. One way or another, it will get fixed.

Although not hurt, I am definitely shook up, probably why I am writing this at 5 AM instead of sleeping . I hope everyone will take away from this what I have - cars can be very dangerous and we must be alert and focused at all times!!! I may think twice now about using the cell phone or changing a CD while driving . . .

Lucky Las Vegas

We just returned from a fun-filled weekend in Las Vegas! We had a fabulous time visiting with our wonderful friends, the Johnsons and Kevin Pullium (aka the "Triple P"), who drove over from LA. The weather was HOT and and we loved every minute of it!!! We arrived fairly late on Friday evening but managed to stay up even later to visit with the Johnsons. Saturday morning we were up early to play with the girls (two adorable little ones - two year old Taylor and four month old Aubrey). This was the first time we met Aubrey and she is every bit as cute and fun as her big sister. Although we already knew Taylor, she hadn't seen us in a year and was a bit shy for the first couple of hours, but that didn't last long and pretty soon she was more than happy to be holding Aunt Nikki or Uncle G's hand when in public!

We all headed down to the strip to check out the dolphins and tigers at the Mirage. Taylor and I were especially into the dolphins, who were quite playful and seemed to enjoy showing off with flips. We went to the Nordstrom Cafe for lunch (I love that place!) where we met up with Kevin before heading back to the Johnsons for some relaxation. The girls took naps, which looked pretty good but the adults resisted.

Saturday night was adults only. We went back to the strip and had dinner at Diego's in the MGM Grand. After dinner, we checked out some other casinos before winding up at Hooters Hotel and Casino (some Air Force guys were having a party there and we got to see some folks that we haven't seen in years). There was not much gambling on our part. I stuck 25 cents in an electronic poker game and wound up winning a dollar. I gave 50 cents to Garrett and we each played the quarter slot machines. Garrett one $12.50!!! That may not sound like much but it's not bad when you consider he started with 50 cents . Not being big gamblers, we cashed out!!!

Sunday was very relaxing. We all went up to Mt. Charleston and had a picnic lunch. I think this is the one part of Vegas that is not 100+ degrees, in fact it was quite pleasant. The rest of the day we hung out at the Johnsons' chatting and playing a fun game called Settlors. Johnson smoked us all both games! Before going to the airport for a red eye flight, the Johnsons took us back to the strip to enjoy some gelato and see the water show at the Bellagio. It was amazing.

Once at the airport, we had about an hour to kill before boarding the flight so we decided to each play $2 on the slot machines. I promptly lost my $2 but Garrett hit the jackpot (okay maybe not the jackpot but he did great). On his second dollar, he decided to max bet, smart move because we were playing the Wheel of Fortune slots and he got to spin the wheel. He landed on 500 (which amounts to $125!!!) We promptly cashed out and decided he was the luckiest guy around! So all in all we spent $5 gambling and walked away with $137.50, we were quite proud of ourselves!!!

Although it was a short trip, we had a fabulous time and hated to see it end. We realize how much we miss living near our Johnsons and look forward to the day when we can have "date night" more regularly. Thank you guys for a wonderful weekend, we miss you already!

Now it's back to the real world. Fortunately, in two weeks, we will be back in WA for Labor Day.

Hope you are having as much fun as we are this August!!!

Relief from the heat

Although it has been a very hot and muggy summer here in Massachusetts, we finally got a break this weekend with blue, sunny skies, temps in the mid to upper 70's and no humidy we are in Heaven!!! Unfortunately, we have not had much time to enjoy this great weather because of work, but hopefully that will lighten up a bit in another couple of weeks.


Last weekend, while I was inside reviewing emails for work, Garrett sanded and stained our deck. He did a great job. The only one unhappy was Salem, who was not allowed outside for a whole sunny day - life is tough when you're a kitty!

This weekend, I spent the majority of the time working (I still have 9,000+ emails to review by the end of the week - what fun!) and Garrett cleaned the house (and made me some very yummy chocolate chip cookies). We did manage to take a break yesterday to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - sadly, we did not leave room for desert but the food was great. Then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean II - not too impressed but it was nice to take a break.

Fortunately, next weekend we are taking a much needed break. We are going to Las Vegas to visit our friends, the Johnsons. We cannot wait to see them and meet their newest addition, Aubrey. Until then, we will be working hard to make sure that we don't have to bring any work with us - fingers crossed!!!

Hope you are enjoying your final month of summer!

Lots of nothing going on . . .

Not much new happening in Massachusetts. The weather out here has been toggling between blazing hot and torrential rain storms which has made doing anything active outdoors pretty tough to do. Work is still keeping us busy as usual. Nikki's workload is picking up again now that we are well clear of the 4th of July holiday season. She took part in her first mediation last week which she would describe as interesting, yet unproductive. Apparently the other side didn't really want the issue to be mediated and it looks like they may be going to trial. Should add some excitement to her day if that happens.


My week was pretty normal. Lots of meetings.......wrote some reports......etc. We had a change of command on Thursday though which broke up the monotony. My boss' boss who is a Navy Captain (not to be confused with an Air Force Captain) retired and we got a new Navy guy to take his place. Captain Westerbeak (the new boss) seems pretty cool and is in a similar commuting situation as Nikki and I. His wife has an ambitious career and is working in the Boston area while he is in Hartford. Needless to say, we'll at least have that to talk about if I'm ever in a pinch.

Well that's all for this week. Hopefully next week will surpass this week’s excitement level. Shouldn't be too hard. Later.

Summer time . . .

As you can tell, we have been a bit lazy with this blog lately. Sorry about that, things got a little hectic and we never seemed to make time for the updates. Oops! Lots has happened in the last month but to save time (and to avoid boring you too much!) we will stick with the highlights . . .


On June 16th, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It is so hard to believe that 5 years have gone by so quickly. In many ways, it feels as though we were just planning and celebrating the wedding, yet in other ways, it is hard to remember not being married. So much has changed in the last five years but we love being together and are looking forward to at least another 60 or 70 years! Since our Nantucket trip was our anniversary celebration, the actual day was pretty simple and relaxing - we got takeout from Vinny T's (our favorite italian restaurant) and enjoyed a romantic evening at home.

Since then, we have kept pretty busy with both work and play. We spent one weekend down on the Cape for a wedding. The weather was horrible but the wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun. We also learned to play bocce ball (neither of us is very good - practice is definitely needed!!!)

For the 4th of July, we went home to Washington to visit with family and friends. The weather was beautiful - warm, sunny and absolutely NO humidity - we were in Heaven! We took advantage of this great weather by spending much of the time at the beach house on Treasure Island soaking up the sun and wake boarding (G not N!) It was a very special trip because it was Garrett's first time back there since returning from Iraq and most people had not seen him in over a year. We celebrated with a large family party at Puerto Vallarta (his favorite mexican restaurant in Port Orchard) We had such a great time that we are going back over Labor Day and are hoping we have a repeat of the great weather

This weekend we have been trying to relax and clean the house and yard since we have been gone so much lately. It has been a beautiful weekend and we are sad to see it coming to an end. We have so many small children in our neighborhood and we cannot help but be envious of them being on summer break, we miss those days!!!

Not much else to report now but we promise the next update will be more timely :) Hope you are all enjoying a sunny, happy summer . . .

Another week down . . .

Well, we made it another week. Now we are finally in June and are looking forward to coming home to Washington at the end of the month for the 4th of July! Can't wait.


Nikki worked some haillacious hours this week. On Thursday she left work at about midnight which ended up being a lot earlier than she was thinking. She figured that the clients probably didn't want the kind of work she was coming up with at 4:00 in the morning so she punched out early. This lawyering stuff is definitely not turning out to be much of a 9-5 but she's enjoying it. The important news though, is that after all this time in physical therapy, she is back running and ran 2 miles around the park at Hanscom today without feeling even a touch of pain! We are both really excited that so much progress is starting to be made. Before long, she'll be back to running marathons!

Our last dance class was on Saturday and in the end, we feel like we came out of it with 3-4 dances that we could actually pull off if we ever get the opportunity some day. We definitely got the foxtrot and waltz down. We are also pretty comfortable with the hustle and the tango but there are a whole lot of moves that we haven't learned yet so don't start thinking "dancing with the stars" quite yet. Let's just say we can do the basics if a song came on. We'd probably know a lot more if some of the slugs in our class had any rhythm whatsoever though. We'd spend 75% of the time relearning all the moves that we had down months ago because of all the bumbling going on in the class. "I don't get it"......Agggggghhh!......we've only learned it ten times already!! Oh well. At least we learned some stuff.

It's looking like we both will be about as busy this coming week as last week and there is no telling when that routine is going to end while we are here. At least we have an end in sight as our stay here on the east coast will be expiring in just about a year. YEAH! Other than that, I am avidly looking forward to another episode of Lost this week so I can get caught up with the Z man and finally let him rap about all the craziness that went on this past season (he's wanted to for months). Hope everyone has a great week and we'll talk atcha soon.

Happy Memorial Day

We just returned from an amazing weekend trip in Nantucket. This was our first visit and we could not have picked a more beautiful weekend. Although it was foggy and rainy Friday night when we arrived, we woke to bright, sunny skies every other day. The weather was clear, sunny and warm with temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s.


On Saturday, after enjoying a breakfast of fresh fruit and granola (provided by our inn keeper), we walked around the town checking out the shops, museums and art galleries. The island is so quaint! All of the homes are large and have shakes on them. In the afternoon, we returned to our bed-n-breakfast, The Century House  for cookies and rest. That evening we got to see Nantucket in party-mode for the holiday weekend. We decided to eat at The Tavern down at the Marina so that we could see everything. It was a lot of fun and food was great. Garrett loved his lobster rolls and I enjoyed the catch of the day - not sure what it was but it tasted great!!!

Sunday, we decided to rent bikes and explore the island. We wound up biking about 20 miles and saw some amazing beaches. We started by going to Surfside Beach, about a 3 mile ride from town. This beach had a ton of waves (hence the name!) but the water was chilly! We put our feet in but that is about it. Then we biked out to Sconset, where we had a picnic at the beach before biking to the Sankaty Lighthouse. By this point, we were a bit tired so we biked back to town. We had such a great time on the bikes that we decided we will have to purchase some so that we can continue the fun. We got back to our B-n-B around 4 PM, just in time for some cookies, showers, and relaxation before going to the White Elephant for dinner. It was a great place, overlooking the harbor.

Sadly, today we had to return home, but not before we spent another couple of hours enjoying the island. It is a wonderful place and we highly recommend that you visit there at some point. We only wish we hadn't waited so long to do so.

On another note, we want to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! We hope your weekend was a wonderful as ours!

Back to running!

Well it's official, I am running again!!! I had a followup appointment with my surgeon on Monday and he gave me the go ahead to try running again (with strict instructions to not go overboard). So on Tuesday, my physical therapist had me run on the treadmill and it was AWESOME!!! I'll admit, it felt a little weird at first and I had a slight twinge of pain for the first minute or so, but once I got going it felt great! He only let me run for 9 minutes (3 of which he made me jog slowly while holding on - that takes coordination!) but I loved every minute of it. He is going to let me run a full mile tomorrow - I cannot wait! We have to get me up to 3.5 miles by June 15th when I am taking part in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge in Boston. It is such a great race, starting at the Boston Common, running down to Fenway Park and back. Last year there were 14,000+ participants! Then Garrett and I have our first 5K of the season two weeks later. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Garrett's first blog

Nikki is making some big time progress in therapy and will probably get to run again as early as next week! We are both really excited to get back to running 5Ks and the weather is finally starting to shape up so the timing is perfect.


Salem made a new friend today while we were tackling our post-flooding jungle of a lawn today. Our new neighbors have a baby rotwieler who had escaped from his captivity in their garage somehow and decided to come play at our house. The two of them were exactly the same size and one would think that they would make great friends but ole Salem got a little skittish around the pup and decided that the claws needed to come out. We ended up having to get him safe inside behind the screen door and go find our neighbors to make sure they knew where their pup was. Hopefully they do a better job of keeping him inside because the little guy is way too small to be out on his own roaming the neighborhood.

Nikki got to go to one of her frind and coworker Kate's bridal shower this afternoon in Wellsley. She had a great time and our gift was a huge hit. Can't go wrong with a martini shaker and all the fixins to make some cosmos. Have a good week!

Spring has sprung at the Fisher's

What a great weekend we have had. Yesterday was a little too drizzly to work in the yard so we decided to do a bit of Spring cleaning inside before our dance class. Yes, Garrett and I go to ballroom dancing every Saturday evening, and I must say, we are getting pretty good. So far we have learned the Fox Trot, Waltz, and Hustle. Last night we started learning the Tango. Now we just need a good wedding to go to so we can show off our moves


Today, it has been very sunny and clear so we finally got to work in the yard and start planting the vegetables in our garden. We finished planting the tomatoes, peppers and herbs. Hopefully next weekend we will be able to plant the zucchini and squash.

Spring has arrived!

It's hard to believe we have only been home from vacation for a couple of weeks. I think we're both ready for another one! Work has been keeping us extremely busy (reason that we didn't add an entry last week). In some ways, it is nice to be busy because the time passes quickly, but when we don't see each other until 10 every night, it gets a little old! Fortunately, we are planning a mini-vacation to Nantucket over Memorial Weekend. Can you tell we are trying to see everything in New England before we move? Once we do that, the only thing left is NY City, hard to believe we haven't done that one yet! We met a great couple in St. Lucia who live in the City so we are hoping to visit them sometime in December.


On another front, we got our car back yesterday and she looks fabulous! She even has the new car smell still. I am so amused that is took nearly four weeks, cost thousands of dollars, and on the receipt, the body shop describes the work as "minor repairs." Go figure!

For those curious about the "knee saga," it looks like I may get to run as early as next Saturday. I am so ready! Now that the weather is getting nice, I want to get out there. Even Garrett has started going for runs outside. I told him he picked a fine time to start doing that. I think it is a bit insensitive, but he claims he is just making sure he will be able to run with me in the races, yeah right :) This week consisted of three brutal physical therapy sessions. I think Dutch takes pleasure in causing me pain. However, I can't be mad when I see how much progress I am making. When I started this whole ordeal six weeks ago, I could barely move my leg, now I can fully straighten it, and I'm bending to about 140 degrees. The bending is the hardest and most brutal part of therapy (I have no shame, I scream out loud for all to hear) but I'm getting so much better and I can attempt running when I can bend 145 degrees. Since I was only at 128 degrees on Tuesday, I think (and Dutch agrees) I am progressing very quickly and should be there by next Saturday. Of course,I think I could jog now but Dutch wants me to wait, and then when I do start, I have to do it on a treadmill in front of him. He is such a slave driver! Oh well, I'm done until Tuesday.

This weekend, assuming the rain stays away, we are planning to work in our garden. The strawberries and raspberries look great already. Now we are planting the veggies. We love having fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs during the summer. Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in a climate where we could have our garden year round. Then again, I would probably miss the snow. Can't win :)

Hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mayo yesterday!

Our St. Lucia Vacation

What a week we had! As you know, we left for sunny St Lucia last Friday evening. We had a layover in Atlanta before boarding the plane to St Lucia on Saturday morning. Our excitement mounted as we approached the island. Little did we know that despite being such a small island (14 miles by 27 miles) the drive from the airport to the resort took an hour and followed very narrow, windy, mountain roads. This was an adventure in itself! When we finally arrived at the resort, we were in for a bit of a disappointment. Although the resort was beautiful, our suite left much to be desired. The best way I can describe it is to refer to Revenge of the Nerds II. If you have seen this movie, you will understand. After the nerds are forced to leave the beautiful hotel, they wind up staying in that dive where an alligator lives in the pool. I kid you not, this was our impression of our first suite. Perhaps you notice I said "first" suite. This is because we decided on the spot that we would not stay in that room. We immediately contacted the concierge and asked for a new room - we offered to pay whatever they wanted but told them we would not stay in that suite. Originally, they were less than helpful, so we marched back into the concierge office and told them that if there was no other room available, we would be leaving on the first available flight. We explained that the suite we booked was based on their descriptions and pictures from the website. While they would have loved to have disputed this with us, we pulled out the Blackberry, went to the Sandals website and showed them pictures of the suite. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words . . . we were provided another suite that was quite lovely as you can see from the pictures. If only our troubles ended there. Unfortunately, we spent the majority of the vacation having to be the squeeky wheels just to get basic service such as housekeeping. We are not sure what the deal was, but it appeared that we fell through the cracks and were forgotten. We even had to hassle them on our last day to get our checkout documents (which were supposed to be provided the day before departing). To top it off, we called for bellman assistance with our bags (as was required by the resort's policy) and they failed to arrive after an hour so Garrett carried our bags to the Concierge office where he was told by the manager that he did not need to do that. Well Garrett explained that it appeared no one else was going to do it. The manager was speechless. This may have turned out to be a good thing because fifteen minutes later, he informed us that they had hired a private car to take us to the airport so that we would not have to ride the shuttle. This was a nice touch but a case of too little, too late. I think perhaps they were concerned about the evalutation form, and rightfully so. We had much fun filling out that form. This is not to say that our vacation was a bust, it was not. We had a wonderful time together, made some new friends, and have great tans. Our time to just relax by the pool and on the beach was what we were looking forward to most going into the trip and in that regard, the trip was perfect. St Lucia was also a very beautiful island so it made for a wonderful backdrop in all our pictures!

Kayaking fun . . .

Always fun to dress up for a night out :)

I am not convinced that Sandals is terrible, after all we had the best time at Sandals Negril on our honeymoon, however, I strongly discourage anyone from visiting any Sandals in St Lucia as the customer service was a notch below where it should be.

We arrived home early this morning due to airport closings in the Southeast last night. It was a long day of travel but Salem was thrilled to see us and it felt so good to get even a couple of hours sleep in our own bed. Now we are just getting back to the fun of work and cleaning up the house. Fortunately, we came home to warm, sunny weather.

On a completely different note, we would like to welcome our newest little Johnson (Aubrey Danielle) to the world. Our wonderful friends, Justin and Tiffini Johnson, welcomed their second little girl into this world on April 15th. Big sister Taylor is quite impressed and a perfect little helper. We will be flying to Las Vegas in August to meet our new "niece" and cannot wait!

We hope you all had a Happy Easter and are enjoying your Spring!

The Saga Continues . . .

What a week we have had. . . Anyone who knows me and my driving history, probably figured it was only a matter of time before I got into another accident (especially with the way people drive in MA). Well on Thursday it happened! I should begin by saying that I am completely fine, not so much as a bump or scratch. And, contrary to what you are all likely thinking, this was not even remotely my fault - there is a first for everything :) When I was driving to physical therapy at 5 AM, I noticed a semi wheel-well in the middle of my lane. I had three choices: swerve to the right and go down a minor cliff, swerve to the left and hit the car next to me, or hit the wheel-well. Fortunately, my driving has improved since I was as a teenager, and I opted for the responsible choice - I hit the wheel well. Originally, I thought it just took out my tire. I pulled over to the side of the highway (a very scary experience in itself!) and called Garrett, begging him to come rescue me (he did). I then called for roadside assistance. After what seemed like an eternity, Garrett arrived and assessed the damage. Not only was the tire blown, but the front bumper and front right side were damaged - USAA estimates the damages to be at least $4100 (thank goodness for insurance!!!). The car was towed to the body shop and is currently being repaired. Major bummer to happen to my new car but at least I am okay and didn't hurt anyone else. In a very strange way, I am a little happy to now say that I have been in an accident that I did not cause - trying to look on the bright side of things!


My other big news of the week is much better . . . I am starting to see my quad!!! After the car was towed, Garrett dropped me off at the subway and I went to PT (I refuse to miss a day for anything). On Thursday, my therapist "Dutch" told me he thought he saw the muscle flicker. I didn't see anything but I decided it was a positve thing that he thought the muscle was beginning to return. Well this morning at PT, I saw it! Usually when he tells me to tighten my muscle, I cannot see (or feel) a thing, but this morning I both felt it and saw it. Even better, my left leg bent (with a lot of PAINFUL help from Dutch) 95 degrees. This may not sound like much, but trust me, it is a HUGE improvement. I try very hard at PT to just grin and bear it but during this morning's bending, I was begging him to stop, of course he didn't and I survived. I am definitely making improvement and feel that I am getting stronger every day. I have no doubt that Dutch will have me running in time for my two June races. More importantly, he will have me ready for the half-marathon and full marathons that I am signed up for in October and January (Garrett thinks I am completely nuts!). Everyone needs a stress reliever, and running is mine. It is the one time that I get to be completely selfish and enjoy myself and my thoughts, so I refuse to give it up!

Aside from all of that excitement, we are really looking forward to leaving for vacation on Friday. We cannot wait to spend a week relaxing on the hot, sandy beach! We promise to post pictures of our "fun in the sun" when we return.

Spring Forward

Well here I go again . . . It is finally starting to feel like Spring here in Massachusetts. Last week we even had temperatures in the low 70's and it was AWESOME. Today it is sunny and clear, a little cooler than I would like but I refuse to complain. At least it isn't snowing anymore. Garrett is outside working on our yard right now. We are hoping to get a jump start on the lawn this year.


Well despite my best intentions, it looks as though I will not be running for some time. I had some minor complications with the knee surgery that caused most of the major muscles in my leg to shut down. It is frustrating because I spend so much time building up my muscles and they disappear practically overnight. At this point, I do not have enough muscle strength to even straighten my leg completely. Fortunately, I am now going to physical therapy a couple hours a day, three times a week. I have gone for three sessions and already I feel that there is improvement. I found a great place right near my work so it is very convenient. I also feel that I am in excellent hands with Kennedy Brothers. Not only does half of my law firm go there, but they also train athletes for the Boston Marathon and are the official therapists for the UAE soccer team. My therapist "Dutch" assures me that as long as I follow all of his instructions, I will be running again in 6 weeks and will be ready for another half marathon by the Fall. The therapy is brutal but I love it because I feel that I am recovering (albeit slowly . . .). I am signed up for two races in June so I am hoping to have no problems by then. Until then, I will work hard in therapy and try to walk without a limp - I think I look pretty silly right now, but I'm getting better :) I'll continue to keep you posted.

Not much other new stuff to report right now. We are just counting down the days until our vacation . . .

Hopefully, you too are enjoying Spring weather!

Happy Spring

Well here I go . . . this is my first posting on a blog. We decided it was time to create a new website where we could share our latest news and photos with friends and family.

Life has been very good to us lately. Since returning from Iraq in January, Garrett has been readjusting to life in Massachusetts. It is wonderful having him home and we truly appreciate everyone's support during the time he was deployed. We hope that you will continue to keep all of our military personnel in your thoughts and prayers.

Shortly after Garrett's return, his parents and brother came out to visit and celebrate Christmas with us. It was a great time and there is certainly something to be said for spreading Christmas celebrations over a three-month period - opening presents never seems to get old!

Over President's Weekend, we took a much needed romantic weekend getaway to Vermont. We stayed at the Thatcher Brook Inn, a very cozy and romantic bed and breakfast located between Stowe and Waterbury. It was so relaxing to sit by the fire and just enjoy being together.

Check out our one-horse open sleigh ride.

Our horse Jumpkin was very playful! We had a fabulous time and have decided we will definitely to go back before we leave the East Coast. From snow to sun . . . we leave for our sunny vacation to St. Lucia on April 14th and can hardly wait. Admittedly, we have had a relatively mild winter but we are still looking forward to escaping the cold and relaxing on a hot, sandy beach.

Other than spending time together, we are spending a lot of time working. Garrett is still working as the military liaison to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, CT. It keeps him busy but he finds the work to be challenging and fulfilling. I am now an associate at Bingham McCutchen in Boston, MA. So far, my practice focuses mostly on securities defense. Although I never dreamed I would enjoy this, I didn't even know what securities were a couple of months ago, I find that I really like this type of law - who knew! I'm still not sure if this is something I want to do long term but for now, I am having fun and learning so much.

We are also gearing back up for racing season. I use the term "racing" very loosely since we do not run very fast but we always have a good time. We ran our first race of the season on March 12th, a five mile race through Boston. It was a very scenic route that took us through all of the major parts of the city. We had a lot of fun. Two days later, I had knee surgery to clean up some scar tissue from my last surgery in 1999. The recovery is slower than I would like but I am getting better each day and have every intention of being back on the racing scene by the end of April - I'll let you know how that goes . . .

Well this is all for now. Until next time . . .