Wow!

June of 2010 was the last time I was on here?!?! Holy cow!

So the other day I was thinking about my nieces and nephew, and the new ones that are on the way. And I ended up thinking about all the different names my nieces and nephews have called me. So I wanted to share them:

"Untle Turtis"
"Cursis"
"Curt Curt"
"Bob"

I'm wondering what the new ones will call me?

There are some other things that have been going on with me, too. I made an offer on a house and I'm waiting to hear on that. I sold my car a few weeks ago and I'm looking for a new one. And I'm working full time now for the Y. Oh, and I have a roommate. And I have a dog now. Well, it's temporary right now. I found a brindle boxer in the parking lot of the YMCA I work at. I'm trying to find the owner now, but the county says if no one claims him in 14 days that I can keep him. I named him Tyson since he's a boxer.

Okay, I think that's all for now. I'll try to be better about posting on here.

Been a while...

So it's been really long since the last time I posted on here. I've been really busy with work. Summer at the YMCA is our busiest time. We have summer camps all summer, and we hold at least 1 event per month. There are two events in particular that I wanted to mention because I got to meet a couple celebrities.

The first was Healthy Kids' Day that I helped with at the Steele Creek YMCA. One of the staff there was able to get Jonathan Stewart from the Carolina Panthers to come over and spend some time taking pictures and signing autographs. I got my picture taken with him too.

Then, a couple weeks ago we had our 10th Annual Golf Tournament at the YMCA, and it was arranged to have Freddie Couples come out and be there during the tournament. He stayed at one of the Par 3's, and he hit a ball or two for each of the teams that they had the option to play if they wanted to. They got their pictures taken with him while they were on the hole, and I rode out to have my picture taken with him too.

I also get to see other celebrities every once in a while at my YMCA. Josh McCown (NFL Quarterback), Dan Morgan (former NFL Linebacker), Ty Lawson (NBA Point Guard), and one day I was about to walk into my office when Brad Hoover (former Carolina Panthers Fullback) walked by. As most of the people who read this know, we went to school with Brad and his brother Joey. It was cool to see Brad that day, and to get the chance to talk to him for a few minutes. His 10 years in the NFL haven't changed the type of person he is. He's still the good old boy from Davidson County.

Besides work, I need to update everyone on my nieces and nephew. That's the real reason why I set up this blog. Well, Rylee and Brayden are both 1 year old now. We had a little party for them in Greensboro a couple weeks ago, and it was great! Both of them developing their personalities, moving all over the place, and trying to talk. Ainsley is as cute as ever. Her second birthday is coming up next month. She has moved from calling me "Bob" to calling me "Cursis." Every once in a while I still get a "Bob" out of her, but it's too cute to correct her. And CJ is just awesome! I went with Allen and the girls to a baseball game last weekend while I was in Raleigh, and it was so cute to see CJ watching the game, playing with Rylee, and trying to remember the words to "The Old Ballgame" when the 7th Inning Stretch came around. I love my nieces and nephew so much! I'm so glad I get to be their uncle!

My first blog post...

Almost 3 years ago, I made a blog post on my MySpace account. I went on there today just to see if I had any email or anything, and I saw this post:

"Saturday, May 05, 2007

Saying goodbye... Saying goodbye has got to be one of the hardest things to do. It was really tough the other night, because I had to say goodbye to my Rottweiler, McKayla. I had her since the day she was born in 2000. I watched her grow, raised her the best I could, and enjoyed every day that she was with me. A few years ago, it was determined that she had hip displacia in both of her back hips...which means that her hip joints basically didn't exist. Her hips were being held together by muscle, and nothing else. It was tough on her, especially standing up after laying down for a while. But she would never hesitate to run around the back yard and play with me, even if she would hurt. She wouldn't stop until I did. So, Wednesday night, I made the decision to ease her pain. I'm going to miss her, but she's not hurting now, and that's what gives me comfort. R.I.P. McKayla 11/13/00-05/03/07" The pictures are the only pics of her that I have at my apartment, and I had to take pictures of pictures with my phone to get the top 2. The first one is of her at 6 weeks old. The second one is of me and her at the top of Hanging Rock...even with her bad hips. The bottom picture is the last picture I ever took of her.

The holidays...

I don't keep up with this enough as I should. There's always so much going on that I could talk about, but it's also keeping me so busy that I don't think about keeping track of it here. And I want to keep it updated so that people can keep track of me...but the people that I'm most concerned with keeping up with me find out over the phone, for the most part. But I'll try to be better...

So...it's the holiday season. This is a great time of the year because I get to see my family more...especially the nieces and nephew. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my whole family...but the kiddos are so much fun. Mom's side of the family got together for our annual shopping day for Toys 4 Tots. It was fun, as always. My nieces and nephew are getting so big! I love seeing them and being able to play with them.

Work has been really busy. We just had our Breakfast with Santa event yesterday where we had right at 450 people come through to see Santa. Then, I met dad to look at some motorcycles. After that, I met Casey, Erin, and Ainsley at Costco for a little bit. Saturday evening, we went to dad's church for their holiday dinner. Then I went to a friend's house for a little while that I haven't seen lately. It was a very busy day!

This morning, I helped mom get all of her Christmas stuff out of the attic. She asked me if I need anything to decorate my apartment. I told her I don't get enough company to need decorations, but if company comes around, I know where I can get decorations ;)

Halloween, volunteer dinner, and other stuff...

The weekend after Casey and Erin moved back to NC was Halloween weekend. Kory and Allen were having a birthday party for CJ's 4th birthday, so I went back to Raleigh for the weekend. It was cute to see CJ and all of her friends at the party. She was a princess, and so were a couple of her friends. I spent alot of time chasing Ainsley around, so it's a good thing I took a nap with Rylee before the party.

Casey and I also did some stuff around their new house...put up some shelves, moved the desk from the top floor to the basement, and helped Uncle Ray run some wiring in the basement. It was also determined that I will be Uncle Ray's apprentice so that someone has an idea of how to do wiring when Uncle Ray can't anymore. I think Dane probably has a pretty good handle on it, but I don't mind learning a little about a new trade.

While I was in Raleigh, my laptop decided to crash on me. There's a few things that I lost, but I think I can salvage them from old emails and stuff. So now I'm in the market for a new one...at some point. J.R. is letting me use a laptop of his for right now, so I'm not gonna rush into it. But I'm leaning towards a Mac for my next computer. We'll see.

Last week was a busy week for me. At the YMCA I work for, we had a recognition dinner for the volunteers that have donated their "Time, Talent & Treasure" (that was the name of the dinner) to our Y over the past 12 months. We sent out over 700 invitations, and had over 250 attendees. It was great to see all the volunteers and reflect on everything they do for us.

Speaking of reflecting, I spent Tuesday reflecting on the past 11 years. Alot of memories played over and over in my mind...and it made my day great. Ultimately, the day didn't end the way I had hoped, but I capped it off by watching The Notebook...and that helped a little. Maybe soon...

What a trip!

Well, Casey, Erin, and Ainsley are back in NC! I woke up Friday morning at 3:15 in Raleigh to catch a flight at 6 AM to Texas. I landed in Texas 4 hours later, and met Erin and Ainsley in the airport. I gave her my keys so she could pick up my car when she landed. Then I went out and went with Casey to pick up the second truck so we could finish loading everything. We loaded until 4:30, and then I went to dinner with the ladies I use to work with at the YMCA in Texas. It was so good to see them.

I got back from dinner at 6 PM, and Casey and I were on the road around 6:10. We drove until 6:45 AM Saturday, and we decided to take a short break. We pulled over at a rest stop and slept in the trucks for about an hour. Then, we pushed on to Raleigh.

We finally arrived in Raleigh around 6:45 PM on Saturday. We unloaded a couple things that needed to come off of the trucks (with the help of some folks from the church ward they will be attending), then Casey and I went up the street to grab a bite to eat. When we got back, we both stretched out on the floor in the living room and fell asleep. We figured it out while we were getting dinner...I had been up for 41 hours, and Casey had been up for 38 hours.

I woke up the next morning around 8, and mom, Ronnie, and I started unloading a truck. We got most of 1 truck unloaded by the time Casey, Erin, Erin's mom, and Ainsley got there. A little later, Kory, Allen, CJ, and Rylee came over to help, and then Hannah, Brandon and Brayden shortly after that. We got everything unloaded, and I headed back to Charlotte around 4:30. After dropping Ronnie off at their house, I ended up back at my apartment around 8 PM last night.

It's wonderful to have all of the family in NC now...but Casey and I both agreed that we wouldn't be doing that again. At least, not anytime soon.

I hadn't seen Ainsley in 3 months, and when I saw her at the airport, she looked at me like she knew who I was, but wasn't exactly sure how. Well, yesterday, I walked by the kitchen and saw her with Erin. I stopped, looked at her and smiled, and she looked at me and said "Bob" and came running over to me! She finally remembered who I was! I'm so glad that all of my nieces and nephews are within easy driving distance now!

I spoke to a friend of mine today who was worried about us driving, and I told them about the trip. When they found out that we only stopped for 1 hour for rest, they were not very happy with me. They said that I told them that we would stop and get a hotel, and that was what kept them from completely freaking out. I didn't remember saying anything about a hotel, but they said that I did, and it was a good thing that they thought that we would. I'm happy to have such a good friend that cares about me like that. :)

Going to Texas

Well, in just under a week, I will be flying back to Texas. Casey, Erin, and Ainsley are moving to NC!!! I'm so excited to have them in NC, even though they will still be a couple hours away. But it will be nice to be able to go visit with them. I'm going out to help Casey finish packing up, then we'll be putting Erin's car behind a moving truck and driving back. It's gonna take 2 trucks, so that's why I'm going out. Erin will be flying out about an hour and a half after I land, so that she and Ainsley don't have to make the long drive. I'm only gonna be in Texas for 1 night, then we'll drive back Saturday and arrive in Raleigh on Sunday...at least, that's the plan.

This coming Thursday, I'm planning on driving up to Greensboro to meet Nicholas Sparks on his book tour for "The Last Song". I've already read the book, and it's pretty good. The movie comes out next year, along with "Dear John"...another book-turned-movie from Nicholas Sparks.

I'm trying out a new phone...the Blackberry Storm. I had to take the original one back to the store because it started acting up, so they gave me a brand new one. So far, it's doing good. We'll see how it goes. This is why I wanted to try it out though. I'll use it until the end of the year, and if everything is still going good, I'll stick with it. Otherwise, I'll get a new phone.

The nieces and nephews are growing like weeds. Allen just sent me a video of CJ dancing and singing...very cute! I haven't seen CJ and Rylee much, and it's kind of frustrating. Working part-time makes it tough to make the drive to Raleigh. I get to see them Thursday night because I'll be staying there to be able to get to the airport at Raleigh for a 6 AM flight. I hope that things work out sooner than later to where I can visit more without having to worry about gas.

Work is going great! I love the YMCA that I work for. The people are great, and the atmosphere is awesome! There's always something going on, which keeps it interesting. And the events are great! We had our fall festival, we just had our Grand Opening for our new Teaching Kitchen, and we are coming up on our Volunteer Recognition Dinner. This dinner is big for me, because it's honoring all the folks that I coordinate. We had 700 volunteers devote their time over the past 12 months. That's an amazing sense of devotion to the community!

Dad, JR, and I went to the Panthers/Redskins game this past weekend. We got to witness thier first win of the season! And Kory said that a guy from her office got engaged during the break between the 1st and 2nd quarters. Then, after the game, we were walking out of the stadium and bumped into Raymond Hoover (Brad Hoover's dad). I don't think I've seen him since I was in high school. It's always nice to run into people that you haven't seen in a while.

Anyway, just thought I would update since I hadn't in a while. I will try to update more regularly.