My 2008

2008 was something else for Angie and I. Here's the year in review.


Angie and I both changed jobs this year (which I can't say was planned in either case). Angie took a break from her full-time position working with the blind and visually impaired. Now, she teaches part-time in the resource room and English at Meridian High School. I left my teaching job at ISU (and the commute that comes with it) to teach at Richland Community College.

We dialed it down a bit this year when it comes to traveling. Our longest vacation of the year was a five-day trip to Carbondale in June for a church conference. Even though it was brutally hot outside, we enjoyed being in Southern Illinois for a few days. In July, we spent a weekend with Angie's mom and dad, along with her sister Sherry's family, in Wisconsin Dells. In late September, we went to St. Louis to see one of Angie's high school friends get married. Finally, we went back to Carbondale in early November to visit the Staleys (read my earlier blogs for pictures of that trip).

Over the summer, I used the time between full-time jobs to work for my father at the M.E. Barber Company. Angie worked at Scovill Zoo, acting as a liaison between the teachers and the animals for the Zoo Crew kids' program. For an animal lover like Angie, it was a pretty fun experience.

And of course, there's the biggest news of all: In June, we found out that we'd be expecting our first child! We're expecting a baby boy in late February. Honestly, I can't wait for him to come. Seeing him move in Angie's belly is so exciting. He is such a blessing already. Pictures of the nursery will be posted very shortly, so stay tuned.

As 2008 has come to an end, I have a lot to be thankful for. I have spent the last couple of days thinking about this year, and all that happened. Sure, there were a few things that Angie and I wish hadn't happened. However, I feel like there were enough good things to be thankful for this year. And most of all, I thank God for providing for us all year and being there for us all the time, as always. I feel like I grew personally this year through both the good and the bad in 2008, and I praise God for the opportunities He has given me to grow.

I don't know what will happen in 2009, other than the fact that our lives are going to change forever when our little guy comes along. I do plan to write down some goals for the year, and I hope that I can be writing again in this blog on December 31, 2009, detailing the successes of the year.

I plan to keep up with the blog throughout the year. Also, Angie and I now are each on Facebook, so check it out. We wish you all the best in 2009.

Our Christmas

We had such a nice Christmas. We enjoyed time with our families, and got way more than what we expected. We can't thank our families enough for their generosity.

The winners of the "clever gifts for Andy" award are my father, who bought me a flannel shirt just like what Clark Griswold wears when he puts up the outdoor lights, and Aaron, who bought me an Albuquerque Isotopes t-shirt. If you didn't know, the Isotopes were named after a reference to an episode of "The Simpsons."

Once again, our families went overboard on the gift-giving, and we are thankful.

It's Christmas Eve, everybody!

Here's our Christmas tree. We went with a lot of red bows this year. Angie did a great job envisioning what it should look like this year. This is a relatively new tree; we got it around the first week of January in a post-Christmas sale.



We wish you all safe travels tonight, and don't forget to leave out the cookies!

Christmas in Chicago

Right before Christmas, 2005, we took an overnight trip to Chicago. This was our first trip as a couple. We did a whole lot in just a couple of days, including seeing the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza, taking a carriage ride, going to the top of the John Hancock Building, seeing Navy Pier, and just checking out the sights and sounds of Christmas in the Windy City. I'll always remember this trip. Here we are in front of the Christmas tree by the John Hancock Building.




We were watching the Bears game Monday night when they had an overhead view of the Chicago skyline, and it made us want to go there again some Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Christmas in the Caribbean

We spent Christmas 2006 on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon. I thought I'd put up these pictures, since most of you who are reading this are in the midst of an incredibly long stretch of lousy weather:

Here's the Christmas tree on our ship, the Explorer of the Seas. Our ship departed on Christmas Eve.

Before departure was the mandatory evacuation drill. Of course, we're not above being ridiculous during times like this.

Here we are just before our departure.

And finally, we took this picture on Christmas morning. It ended up being our Christmas card photo the following year.

We took a lot more pictures than this, of course. It was an incredible experience, and we can't wait to do it again.

Christmas in Nashville

You know how last week, I said I'd have pictures throughout the week? Well, I got a little sidetracked with final exams. So, last week I showed a few pictures of our trip to Knoxville last December. Later on, we drove over to Nashville. We saw a lot of things and took a lot of pictures, but I'll focus this on the Christmas pictures.

We have the pictures of a nativity scene and the Christmas tree from the Opryland Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel, although very pricey. Plus, there was a bowl game that week, so just about every hotel room in the area was sold out. Hopefully, we can stay there someday. Just like Knoxville, we had an awesome time in Nashville, and it was a little hard to go home. Thanks for reading.

Christmas in Knoxville

I plan on spending this week posting pictures of our past Christmases. Today, here are some photos from our trip to Knoxville, Tennessee last year. We went there the weekend after Christmas for a family wedding. Here were some pictures from our walk through downtown Knoxville.

Here is the nice downtown tree. The weather was really nice this weekend; sunny, highs in the 50s. It was a pleasant walk around town.

Here, Angie is standing next to the giant Christmas present. I love her so much that I gave her a gift that is almost as big as she is. No, I'm just kidding. We all know that I can't afford to give her such a gift.

And finally, here is Angie talking to Santa. Also, some idiot is taking pictures of her in the background. Santa was using his down time the weekend after the holiday to take tickets at the historic Tennessee Theatre. Angie is asking Santa some intriguing questions. Fun fact: Santa spends all year there, except for Christmas Eve.

We had a great time down there, and we later went on to Nashville. More pictures will follow. Bye for now.

P.S.: This isn't the first post involving Knoxville. Click here for an earlier post from Knoxville with an interesting picture.

The First Christmas Photo of 2008

Merry Christmas, everybody. Here's the first photo of the blog for this year. It was taken in front of the tree at our old church last Christmas.

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 3

We ended our weekend trip to Carbondale on Sunday, November 2 by attending morning services at Vine Community Church, where Noble is now on staff. The service was great, and it's amazing what they are accomplishing through the Lord. Then, we got lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill, and headed over to Giant City State Park. The fall foliage was beautiful, and it's a nice park to visit no matter what the time of year.

Here are some final pictures from the weekend:



Here we are, with the Devil's Stand Table formation in the background.


Here are the girls standing on a rock.



And the Staley family. Angie took this picture, and boy, is it professional quality! She could have charged $100 for this picture.

It was a wonderful weekend, as you can tell by the last three posts. But there was more. In fact, the weekend ended with a bang!

On the way home, I was headed north on U.S. 51, just west of Ashley, when a deer ran out in front of the car. Going 60 MPH, I had no time to react, and ended up hitting it square in the front of the car. The collision caused nearly $6,000 in damage. We had to have the car towed to nearby Nashville, and we had to stay overnight at the Best Western in Nashville. We rented a car and returned on Monday. Quite a way to end the weekend.

In all seriousness, we thank God that we were not injured, and our little guy did just fine. It didn't take away from the fun we had over the weekend. We'd like to thank the Staley family for hosting us, and we look forward to coming back someday.

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 2

After spending Halloween evening at the church with the Staleys, we had a great night in their house. Their house is really neat, especially during such a nice fall weekend. It's hard to put into words how nice the weather was this weekend. It was a level of beauty that simply breaks your heart.

Angie and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood on Saturday morning, and then we all decided to head down to Paducah, Kentucky for the afternoon. Paducah has a nice riverfront, known as the lowertown, and it was a nice day to enjoy it.

Here, we are about to dig in to a tremendous sundae called the '37 Flood. This was at the Ice Cream Factory on Broadway. We were pretty lucky, as this was the last day they were open before closing for the winter.

Here we are next to the city's flood wall, decorated with images of the old days of Paducah as a port city.

A lot of people were out on the river that day, enjoying a nice fall Saturday.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of the trees near the Staleys' house. They live in a nice little neighborhood off of Pleasant Hill Road. The first picture is the tree in front of their house, and the last one is the view from their balcony.

The final report from the weekend trip comes tomorrow. Plus, stay tuned for the surprise ending!

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 1

Angie and I got to spend Halloween weekend in Carbondale, visiting with Noble and Lynnette. It was such a fun, jam-packed weekend, so I'm going to divide the pictures into more than one blog. On Friday night, Halloween, we arrived in time to see Noble and Lynnette's girls at the big Halloween party at Vine Community Church, where Noble is now on staff. You should have seen this party. You have this large church, and then the whole thing is decorated to look like a giant spaceship. Here are the pictures:

First, here are the pictures of the main sanctuary, which was converted to a space theme, and had six bounce houses. That's right, people, I said six bounce houses. Try to top that one, Sherry White.

The junior high room features a climbing wall, and you can see a zipline in the upper left corner.

The class also includes an old bus which was converted to a stage. Here, it was made into a spaceship.

Here's their youngest daughter, Anna, in a ball pit.

And finally, here are all three girls (L to R): Anna, Kate, and Emma. Emma and Kate were dressed as pink robots.

The evening was quite a production, and we really enjoyed it. Stay tuned this week for the remaining pictures of the weekend.

Thanksgiving Video

My Aunt Renee shot some video of Thanksgiving dinner with my family. There were 18 of us total. It was quite a time. You can see just about everybody in this video, including the girls. However, the most you see of me is the back of my head. That's how I would have wanted it, though. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujxWnK7eVEk

TurBaconDucken

My father-in-law sent me this link, where some people have taken Turducken and wrapped it in bacon. What an amazing concept.

http://bacontoday.com/turbaconducken-turducken-wrapped-in-bacon/

After reading this, I was even more amazed to find out that this is part of a website called Bacon Today. It's a website about all things bacon. Wow! I've surfed the internet for about ten years now, and never saw such a thing. I'm just amazed that it took so long for me to find a website about bacon. Check it out: http://www.bacontoday.com/

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

My Brother's on the YouTube!

If you'd like 3 solid mintues of entertainment, check out my brother Aaron's video on YouTube. He's part of the New Acoustic Metal Experiment, a tuba quartet that plays heavy metal music (yes, you read that right). Here's their first video, where they play Thunderhorse by Dethklok from the animated series "Metalocalypse."

That said, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qiz6n7Dlpk

Let me know what you think.

Another Big Birthday

Angie's grandma celebrated her 90th birthday on November 13. We had a celebration over at Sherry's, and we all had a great time. It sure is fun to have her around. Here are some assorted pictures with her daughter, granddaughters, and great grandchildren.

Linda's 60th Birthday

Back in October, we all celebrated the 60th birthday of my dear mother-in-law, Linda Austin. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

Here, Linda is having a moment with Brianna and Jonathan. Such a good grandma.

Speaking of grandmas, here's the mother of the birthday lady, Grandma B. She celebrated a big birthday herself recently. Look for more pictures in a future blog.

Angie was five months pregnant in this picture, but Bill was even more pregnant.

The ladies, plus Chase.

The Wii was a big hit. Here, Bill is playing Mario Kart with the grandchildren.

This made the adults jealous, so they played some Wii of their own. You can't tell, but Jeremy is using his home-field advantage to blatently whip us at Mario Kart.

More adults joined in. Jenny is clearly giving it her all. Most of the kids have left the room by this point, and we're starting to lose Zach. I don't think the kids are supposed to lose interest before the parents.

It seems funny that the guest of honor is only in one of the pictures, but that's Linda for you. A fun evening was had by all. And this is just the beginning; watch for many holiday gathering pictures in the coming months.

It's Been Awhile

Sorry that I haven't put anything new on this site for the past two weeks. I guess life just gets in the way. I hope to have some new stuff up soon, though.

Cheers,
Andy

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone. Here are some pictures from our niece and nephews from last year. Have a fun and safe holiday. And thanks for your support for the first month of the blog.

"Little Guy" Update

Here's the latest: Angie had a checkup on Tuesday and the "little guy" is developing just fine. Thanks for the prayers and the good words. We'll tell you more as we find it out over the next four months.

A Cat Fix

Dear blogging community,

Here is your cat fix for the day. It's a picture of our youngest cat, Striker, in the closet.

Isn't that nice?

And now, I will answer some of the more intriguing questions regarding this post:

1) Yes, when I said "youngest," I implied that we have more than one cat. In fact, we have two. Our oldest cat is named Daphne. But we don't have enough cats to have the "crazy cat lady" title.

2) We prefer Scott toilet paper and Sparkle brand paper towels.

3) Those are Christmas towels above Striker. They have to go somewhere the other 11 months of the year, don't they?

4) The stack of towels that Striker is laying on is what we call the "dog towels." In other words, we don't use them for ourselves, but for wiping off the dogs' paws when they come in and it's wet outside. So we weren't worried about Striker being on those towels.

5) Yes, we also have dogs. And you may have noticed the apostrophe is after the letter "s" in "dogs," implying that we have more than one dog. Yes, we have two dogs, Dash and Maggie. But we don't have enough dogs to have the "crazy dog lady" title.

6) Speaking of "crazy cat lady," while in Seattle two summers ago, we were in a store that had a "crazy cat lady" action figure. Here's a picture:

7) No, we didn't just go to Seattle to take pictures of bizarre toys. We were killing time before going on the Underground Tour.

8) Yes, I will have pictures of the other pets in future posts.

9) Thanks, and you have a great day, too. Good bye.

The Beer Tasting

Last fall, our family had its annual beer tasting. We've done this a few times now. My dad always runs the show, and the format changes each year. I recently came across my notes from last year's event, and I thought I'd share them with you.

Last year, there were 13 beers. With each beer, we were told the type of beer, and which percent of online voters liked the beer on a popular beer website. At the end, we had to guess how many were imports, which one was my dad's favorite, and the capital of Bolivia. (We do not question why this needed to be known.) In the end, we were told the exact names of the beers. Here's how it went, and the comments I made.

Beer #1:
-Type: Kolsch Ale, originated in Koln, Germany
-Approval Rating: 89%
-My Comments: Nice
-And the beer is...Goose Island

Beer #2:
-Type: American All-Malt Lager, deeper malt flavor, bitterness
-Approval Rating: 97%
-My Comments: Still good
-And the beer is...Bells Lager

Beer #3:
-Type: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB) Ale, low carbonation
-Approval Rating: 96%
-My Comments: Me likey!
-And the beer is...Left-Hand Brewery

Beer #4:
-Type: Spiced Beer (Vanilla Porter) Ale, can be almost anything
-Approval Rating: 86%
-My Comments: Sweet, but not too bad
-And the beer is...Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

Beer #5:
-Type: American Porter Ale, malty, citrusy hops
-Approval Rating: 99%
-My Comments: Count me in the 1% (who don't like it), if you know what I mean
-And the beer is...Sierra Nevada

Beer #6:
-Type: Witbier
-Approval Rating: 94%
-My Comments: Not too bad, not too good
-And the beer is...Avery White Rascal

Beer #7:
-Type: American Amber Ale, balanced with toasted malt taste
-Approval Rating: 90%
-My Comments: Okay
-And the beer is...Black Dog Ale

Beer #8:
-Type: English Brown Ale, malty, sweet, low hops presence
-Approval Rating: 93%
-My Comments: I don't know how to feel
-And the beer is...Wolliver's Brown Ale

Beer #9:
-Type: Altbier Ale, smooth, balanced between hops and malt
-Approval Rating: 93%
-My Comments: Weirdy weird weird
-And the beer is...Otter Creek

Beer #10:
-Type: Rye Beer, made with rye, some bitterness
-Approval Rating: 99%
-My Comments: Really bad, I mean honestly, people!
-And the beer is...Red's Rye

Beer #11:
-Type: Oatmeal Stout Ale, oats added to mash for smoothness
-Approval Rating: 95%
-My Comments: A new low
-And the beer is...Goose Island

Beer #12:
-Type: Irish Dry Stout Ale, lower carbonation
-Approval Rating: 95%
-My Comments: Passable
-And the beer is...Guinness Extra Stout

Beer #13:
-Type: Schwarzbier Lager, smooth, tastes light, looks dark
-Approval Rating: 98%
-My Comments: I think it's okay; Really, when you think about it, it could be worse. But overall, in the grand scheme of things, what is beer anyway?
-And the beer is...Sam Adams Black Large


Now, on to the final questions.

How many imports?
I guessed 8. It turns out there was only one import.

Which is Steve's favorite?
I guessed #7, the Black Dog Ale. I can't remember the correct answer.

What is the capital of Bolivia?
My guess was "Olivia." Wow, I'm just a regular Bob Hope. Of course, I was wrong. There were two correct answers: Sucre and La Paz. Bill Austin got this one correctly, mainly by sending a text message to his son to look it up. This is why Bill is a top-notch businessman.

There were many awards in the end, although none as memorable as those given during the first beer tasting. In the first go-round, somebody who shall remain nameless received an award for giving a high rating to Natural Light (these are blind taste tests, after all), and my grandmother won an award for giving a high rating to a strong Guinness.

We learned a lot, we enjoyed each other's company, and we found out just how strange America's taste in beer is. Honestly, look at how many beers had an almost unanimous approval rating that turned out to be terrible. And that's how it goes, folks.

Who Needs Leaders? Be a Follower!

Are you enjoying this blog?

I can't hear you! I said, are you enjoying this blog?

Good. Well, if you enjoy it, why not follow it. On your right is a link where you can sign up to be a follower of The Hynds Quarters. If you're proud to be a supporter of The Hynds Quarters, than you can choose to follow publicly. If you'd rather keep your allegiance private, than you can do so privately. Either way, it's an easy way to keep up, and you can know when something has been updated.

There's no better way to keep up with the Joneses (or in this case, the Hynds, but if you want to keep up with the Joneses, be my guest).

I'm Not a Criminal After All

If you tried to access this blog last week, you received a message that this has been suspected to be a "spam blog." It turns out Blogger's automatic spam detection software thought that this blog was just being used for spam. Nothing's perfect, so they sent me an e-mail, and I e-mailed back. A few days later, after some programmers looked at it, it turned out not to be a spam blog after all. Maybe it was the name of the blog, "The Hynds Quarters," that gave it away.

In all seriousness, I'm glad that Blogger is doing this, since it frees up bandwidth for us legit users. And, really, it was quite fun to wonder what you all thought when you opened it up last week. What an impressive first week to the blog.

Rest assured that I will never use this blog to offer low mortgage rates, get-rich-quick schemes, or meeting up with your former classmates. And you can take that to the bank!

Spoon River

This past Saturday, Angie and I went with the family to the annual Spoon River festival. This festival takes place in Fulton County and includes a lot of crafts, food, and scenery. Here, in picture form, are some highlights of the weekend:

Here are Angie and I in front of the river in Bernadotte.

A few minutes later, our nephew Caleb wanted to be in the picture. About five minutes earlier, Caleb did not want to be in the picture with his own family. This proves once again that there is nothing more steady and predictable than a four-year-old boy.

And here's our other nephew Chase playing in the leaves.

We had a great time. We saw the nice fall colors, we purchased a nice outfit for "Future Hynds," we ate some of the best caramel apple slices around, and we had a nice cookout with the family that evening.

Stay tuned to The Hynds Quarters. There are more fall pictures to come.

Tie Me Up, Mr. Metal Cowboy

Just for funsies, here I am pretending to be lassoed in by a statue of a guy on a horse in Knoxville, TN last December. Expect more pictures like this on this new blog - it's what we do.

Welcome

Welcome to The Hynds Quarters - a new blog about the goings on in the Hynds family. I hope to use this to post pictures and videos, and provide updates of the non-stop action that is our daily lives.

It's worth noting that it was three years ago today, October 1, 2005, when Angie and I went on our first date. So it's a pretty cool day to start this.

Funny thing - some of you might remember my last blog on Xanga (September 2005-January 2007). When I started that blog, most of my postings were about the White Sox, because they were about to win the division and ultimately win the World Series. And today, I happen to be posting this the day after the Sox beat the Twins in a tiebreaker game to win the division. Could another World Series title follow? We'll find out.

To end the first post, here's a picture of our trip to Arthur last fall, where we posed with the scarecrows.

Happy blogging, everybody!