3 minute update

at 12/11/12 12:24AM *

Kristen and I are living in Folsom, CA with Rylann. Kristen is due on Dec 17 with baby #2! Kristen has done great the whole pregnancy. She's awesome!

I started running with a bunch of dudes from church when we moved to Northern CA. I ran a half marathon in 1:58 in April and 1:48 in Nov. I hope to run a 50K in Feb and I signed up for a 50K in March--The Way Too Cool 50K. 50K is 31 miles(at 31 years old). I'm 25lbs lighter and just getting started.

Peace out.

Glad you are well! I am running some, too, but mostly 5Ks. Good luck with your 50K!!!

by desi at 12/11/12 5:48AM
Thanks for the update! It's always good to hear from you. :)

by mjintexas at 12/11/12 10:46AM
Boom.

by jenn at 12/11/12 3:26PM
The way you wrote that sounds like Rylann is due on the 17th.

by krazykrizn at 12/12/12 11:47PM

What have I been doing the last 11 months?

at 09/13/10 11:15PM *

The last 11 months...where to begin? Kristen and I went to NYC in December 2009. We went to Alaska in May 2010. We went to Steven and Stephanie's wedding in San Jose. We are expecting an LB to be born to us in Feb 2011. I started running races. I love teaching the high school class at church.

Alaska

We took a cruise from Vancouver, BC to Seward, AK on Holland America. We stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. In Ketchikan we we snorkeling(it was cold, but we wore thick wetsuits) and we saw tons of fish and kelp forests and colorful starfish. In Juneau, we went on a zipline course that was super fun and we explored the area. In Skagway, we learned the history of the city and had a good time there. I gained 15 lbs on the cruise b/c I ate so much food. Room service was included, dinners had multiple courses, and it was fantastic! The ship went into Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords National Parks. Those places blew my mind! We saw a glacier calve. That glacier appeared to be maybe 200 yards wide...it was over a mile! Beautiful everything everywhere you look!

Once we got off the boat, we explored Seward (church-the preacher had killed a bear the day before, Exit Glacier) with the preacher's wife who Luke Matthews hooked us up with. We met an awesome couple on the cruise and they came to church with us. We left Seward on a train going to Anchorage, where we rented a car for the rest of our trip.

We drove up to Denali NP, where Mt. McKinley is located-which is the highest point in North America at 20,320ft! We stopped at the hippie town of Talkeetna and on the way, we got our best look at "Denali" the Great One. I was driving about 100 miles away from the mountain and when I saw it, my mouth dropped and I couldn't close it. I got chills all over my body. It was such a majestic peak and it looked enormous from 100 miles away! We stayed in a cabin near a creek before going into the park. We went on a bus tour of the Nat'l Park and we saw snowshoe hares, grizzly bears, dall sheep, caribou, moose(outside the park), and bald eagles. The whole trip was totally amazing-best trip ever! The sun set at midnight-ish and came up around 4:30am. If you ever have the chance, I recommend visiting any and all of Alaska. The people were the most rational people I've ever been around.

Baby-Making

My beautiful wife and I are expanding our family by one! We find out in 1.5 more weeks if it'll be a boy or girl and we are so excited. Kristen has had some "morning(and night) sickness." She is barely showing at 16 weeks. Becoming a father is a little daunting. I had a great dad and now that I'm almost a dad, it is apparent that he taught me a lot I hadn't considered. He included us kids in so many things for OUR benefit. Whether it was riding to the dump or mowing the yard or fishing. He showed us kids what it means to be a father.

Running Races

I'm still not sure what got me started. It could be a sermon coupled with a visit from Rosemary. I ran a 5K on 8/21 and a 10K on 9/11. Now I'm training to run a Half Marathon in December at the St. Jude's race in Memphis. So far I have lost about 5 pounds and I wouldn't mind losing 10-15 more.

I never thought I'd see the day when I rarely check on pleonast. I found my pleo shirt from the Pleo Bash in Tampa, which I didn't even go to. I hope everyone who reads this is doing great and serving the Lord with all you've got.

Congratulations! :)

by deusvitae at 09/13/10 11:48PM
Congratulations on the baby!!! So happy for you :)

by ambre at 09/14/10 3:23AM
Congrats to you both!! :)

What all did you get to do in NYC. I went in 2002 and would love to go back.

by desi at 09/14/10 7:52AM
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa about the baby!!!!! and AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE about the running!!!!! See you have come over to the Dark Side about races!! whahahahaaaaaa

by sunnylee at 09/14/10 1:15PM
You're going to be a great daddy!!

by krazykrizn at 09/14/10 1:21PM
congratulations!

by fullofgrace at 09/14/10 11:16PM
Ummm...You linked my daughter, Steph, in your post saying that she married Steven. As far as I know (and maybe you know something I don't seeing as she is far away at FC) she isn't married yet and I think her boyfriend, Ethan, would be pretty upset if she married someone named Steven! LOL
Congrats on the baby, so exciting!

by sar at 09/15/10 1:21PM
Sounds like fun times! Congrats!

by lastoflakewood at 09/15/10 5:29PM
Yay, Will!! CONGRATS to you guys!!!

by ewalker at 09/15/10 5:44PM
Congrats Will! You are going to be such a great dad! We were supposed to go to Alaska on a cruise this past May as well....however, the day after we booked our cruise last November, we found out we were expecting. The cruise line just wasnt keen on the idea of a 32 week preggo boarding the ship. :0) Congrats again!

by kris at 09/15/10 8:24PM
My wife and I want to do an Alaskan cruise someday. Her parents went on one awhile back and loved it. We also just had a baby, so get ready. And congrats! I was going to do the Marine Corps half marathon last Saturday, but since I have a baby and I'm now training for my deployment, I couldn't find the time to train for the marathon.

by navydoc at 09/15/10 8:33PM
CONGRATS!!!!

by kerifieldsrice at 09/16/10 9:15AM
So very happy for you guys! What a great update. :)

by mjintexas at 09/17/10 10:18PM
Glad things are going so well for you two! What an amazing trip to Alaska. This whole becoming parents thing is pretty surreal, huh? Our little one is due in just a few weeks - happy that our babies will be close in age! :)

by jess at 10/22/10 11:51AM
for some reason i loved those visits to the dump :) i have my pleo shirt too and i slept in it a few nights ago :)

by rosemary at 11/10/10 10:31AM
how's life in the land of Goombas???

by thedelmccouryband at 02/07/11 2:02PM

What have I been doing the last 4.5 months?

at 10/25/09 4:04PM *

The last 4.5 months of my life are previously undocumented in blogular form and well, we just can't have that.

Marriage
I've done a lot and had some major life changes in this time. First, I'm married! My darling, Kristen, and I got married on June 20 in CA.

Wedding
All my boys were out there and we had a great time leading up to the day. We went hiking in Black Diamond Mines(I love the CA golden hills!), took an RV to a group of 55 friends at a SF Giants baseball game, spent time with family, and had a bonfire on a beach. The wedding was really cool. The bride was beautiful! I knew I'd probably shed a tear when I first saw and maybe I did. We wrote our own vows and we had an All-star cast of people officiating, photographing, ushering, maiding the bride, manning the groom, participating in the audience. It was a great day and a great night! Our ceremony was fairly normal, except at the beginning when(Kristen's idea) the preacher had everyone there raise their hand while he polled them on who had ever "changed our diapers", or "attended church with us" or we are "friends with on facebook." It was a good way to start light and get everybody into it. The place we wed was a beautiful outdoor venue. Flowers and vegetation were bountiful.

Honeymoon
For our honeymoon we went to Maui. I always said I wanted to go to Hawaii or Iowa on the honeymoon. Various discussions and some arm-twisting later, we decided on Maui. We had the absolute best time on the honeymoon. We went snorkeling, stayed at a great resort, rented a convertible, flew in a helicopter, rode bikes down the volcano-mountain, went to a comedy-magic show(complete blog post could be done on this hilarious night), went to a luau, some lots of time on the sandy beach and a rocky, blowhole-infested beach, ate at Humuhumunoukunoukuapua'a restaurant(I wrote that without looking it up), and generally had the time of our lives. It was great. I saved up all my life to be able to do something like that.

Marriage has been a lot of fun and a huge learning experience. It's a lot of give and take. I have a deeper sense of love and I know it will only get deeper. Kristen is great. She knows when we need to talk about something. And that helps out a lot, b/c I like to avoid talking about stuff for as long as possible(not good). She's been great someday we'll have babies(not today)!

Dog
We have a dog whose name is Timber. He can with the woman, a packaged deal as my father-in-law said. He is an inside-outside dog. I grew up with only outside dogs and I really don't understand inside dogs. But I am going along with it and trying to make the best of it. I think I'm just not a dog person.

In Law Visit
We are making our home in Dothan, AL and if you saw my house before marriage, you won't recognize it now. It definitely has a woman's touch and I like it. Kristen's parents came for a visit recently and we had a great time. I've really enjoyed getting to know them and see how they live. I'm thankful to have another set of such wonderful parents! They helped us wallpaper, backsplash tile, paint and decorate while they were here. They worked much harder than Kristen and me. I'll have to not be such a bum when I visit them now, haha.

Half Dome
We went back to CA for the Morro Bay singing and camping and surfing in August. Met some great Christians and had a great time camping for 3-4 days before driving back to Nor Cal and doing the "dumbest thing we've ever done." And that thing was hike Half-Dome at night. And the participants were Binh, Brandon Ward, Noah, and Sethro. After sleeping in tents/outside for days and getting no sleep, we arrived at Yosemite National Park at midnight. We began the hike at 1am hoping to ascend to the peak of Half-Dome in time to see the sun rise. It usually takes 6 hours and the sun rose at 5:30ish. We didn't make it on time. About 30 minutes in, I was almost ready to give up. But I surely wasn't going to be the first one to give up, so I kept going. We all had bouts of laughter, fright, and being dumb. And we all made it to the top. The crest of Half-Dome was awesome. It was like we'd defeated our worst enemy. The trip was 16-18 miles round-trip. We almost died many times. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I wanted to die on the trip back down. And I think I told each hiker that I'd never hike with them again. That is a lie. I'd go anywhere and do anything with those guys. After the hike, they had to drive me straight to OAK, so I could get on the red-eye to Atlanta and work the next day. I fought dehydration and slept on the plane ride back 100% of the time trip-- I went to sleep before it left and woke up after we landed.

090909
Nine Party was awesome this year as usual. There was a good mix of new people and the regulars. I've been going since 2002 and this year I almost didn't make it. But I did make it and brought my wife for her first nine-a-licious experience with all the donkeys.

Football
It's the fall and you know what that means. It's football time in Tennessee! UT has a new coach-Lane Kiffin. So far he has proved he can recruit and annoy other coaches in the SEC. He has also shown he can get his guys ready for big games. Yesterday we lost a heartbreaker to Alabama. I live in Alabama. And I hate Alabama. I feel pretty good about our Vols the rest of the season and the seasons to come!

Fantasy
The last 2 years, The Deli Meat(my team) has dominated the league with a bunch of guys from church and I have won the Golden Bobblehead trophy. Well, this year I'm at the bottom of the league. I'm terrible. I made the worst trade of my life involving Peyton Manning. I've only won 1 game so far. I'm the laughing stock of the Wiregrass Warriors. But that's fine. It's still fun, but it is more fun to win.

Philippians
I'm teaching a class this quarter at church on the book of Philippians. We are taking it a few verses at a time and it is going great. Kristen gave me the idea that each person come up with a main point/theme and a question for each class period. 70% of the class we are discussing themes and verses and everyone in class is participating. Then we have time for a thought question or two. Involvement has been great. I'm chronicling the comments and thoughts from each class and I plan to make a little book for everyone when the class is over.

NaNoWriMo
Speaking of writing books...I'm writing a novel. Maybe more than one, but we'll see. November is National Novel Writing Month and if you visit NaNoWriMo you can learn about how to write a novel of 50K words in one month. I'm gonna try to do it this year. So, this blog is like training for the real deal starting Nov 1! If you want to join me at NaNoWriMo, please do! It is a pretty funny website and I think it should be fun.

I'm loving life right now and I hope everyone is not bored to tears and is doing great!

That's great dude! I wish I could have made it to the 9 party. I'm in 10 fantasy football leagues. I know what you mean about making some bad choices. I hope to go to Hawaii someday. My little bro lives there on Oahu.

by navydoc at 10/25/09 6:16PM
Wow, sounds like you have had quite the adventure over the last 4.5 months! I'm glad everything is going well for you.

by jhunt21 at 10/25/09 7:49PM
I am glad to hear things are going well. The other day I was on Facebook procrastinating and not doing my work when I came across a random picture of you and Kristen in Nashville. You guys were standing by the lovely fountain beside the symphony and Josh's office was in the background. I think he might have been waving to you out his window :) Maybe sometime in the near future we will stop in and see you guys on our way to Thomasville. Have a great week!

by spence2b at 10/25/09 8:37PM
Iowa?! Glad you picked Hawaii for your bride's sake, if nothing else! :)

by curlie at 10/25/09 9:26PM
It's funny you say you are having trouble getting use to an indoor dog...our dog is indoors and my hubby thinks it's weird that she is indoors and sleeps in our room. He keeps saying dogs are suppose to be outside. LOL.

I'm glad things are going well!! :D

by firebolt at 10/25/09 10:04PM
Wow, 'bout time for an update!! Thanks for commenting on my blog. Seriously...most of my blog comments from 2005 were from you, dave, byron, kyle naish, lp, lydia, sometimes trevor, laura hinely, and other randoms. Now it's mostly moms. Which is fine, but I miss the diversity!!!
I'm glad your life is so varied and interesting and that you are learning a lot. I wonder if I'll ever get those phone calls from you anymore that say, "Is this normal!?" Maybe when you and Kristen are ready for babies the calls will return! Until then, GodBless Y'all! :P
PS: I saw the end of the Vols/Bama game. So disappointing. Greg was jumping up and down right before Cody blocked that kick. What a BUMmer!

by megan at 10/26/09 8:53AM
So excited for you guys!!! Bummer about that game :\

by adampual at 10/26/09 10:46AM
that sounds like an AWESOME past 4.5months!!! I hear ya on the marriage..definitely a life changer and eye opener! I like it too!

by sunnylee at 10/26/09 6:26PM
So glad to hear from you and that all is well!! Hope we'll all meet up sometime, we need to get to know this beautiful wife of yours! :)

by jess at 10/26/09 6:33PM
How ironic...I live in Alabama and hate Alabama too! :)
Alabama should have lost that game...hands down.

Glad things are goin so well for you and Kristen! :)

by rica5219 at 10/26/09 7:02PM
will, i was with you this whole blog until paragraph 10, sentence 8.

so i will say this. you SHOULD have won, but you didn't :)

by sarahisaretard19 at 10/26/09 10:12PM
Good to hear form you Will!
Congrats on getting married:]

I know another guy whos doing that writing thing as well, Good luck with it.

by i_am_a_sheep at 10/31/09 4:31PM
What's your profile name on nanowrimo.com? I signed up.

by ben at 11/01/09 10:08PM
Very much enjoyed the update!

by mjintexas at 11/03/09 5:07PM
How did the novel turn out? I watch ol' John Spence crank out some beautiful metal fence work w/ a portable Lincoln Electric the other day. We later got a severe finger wound cutting some of the wood pickets that went on the fence. I did my first welding, horrible. I cut my first metal pipe, horrible. But still fun playing with terriblly powerful tools! We'd love to have you guys over for a visit anytime!

by coulter at 12/10/09 9:25AM
happy
holidays!

by fullofgrace at 12/24/09 12:52AM
Will, I love the alliteration!

by leahhallnoats at 07/29/10 5:39PM

Geneva, AL

at 03/12/09 11:09PM

Tuesday afternoon, a guy killed family members and people he didn't even know before driving to a fabrication shop(called Reliable Products) and killing himself--totaling 11 people dead in all. You've probably read the story or seen it on the news. It is such a terrible thing to describe or hear about.

Kristen was in AL this weekend and she flew back to CA on Tuesday. Rosemary was originally scheduled to drop Kristen off at the airport in Birmingham on her way back to TN as she was on spring break. Since we won't see each other for a month, we decided I'd take the afternoon off and drive her up to B'ham to catch her plane. On the way home, I almost stopped dead in my tracks when I read the news about the man in Geneva who killed all those people and ended up at Reliable.

Geneva is a town 45 minutes away from my house. Reliable Products is a great customer of the company I work for. I called the welding supervisor and he said he was fine and everyone at Reliable was fine. I told him I'd still try to come by this week as they are going to buy another one of our welding machines.

Not to be overly dramatic, but if Kristen had not suggested that I take her to the airport, I would have went to Reliable Products that afternoon. Granted, I probably would have been gone before the shooter arrived, but who knows? I've stayed there all day before, I could have stopped and got gas in Geneva or Samson, where the shootings took place.

Tomorrow I am going to Reliable and meeting with some people who were there when the guy came in. It will be a weird experience for sure.

Tonight, I read "Five People You Meet in Heaven." The guy dies and goes to 'heaven' where he meets these people who are connected to his life and explain certain aspects of how and why events happened and affected his life. I thought it was a neat and touching story.

I know that people tend to think the world revolves around them for good and bad, so I will admit this may be the case for me. But it feels like God was using Kristen to take care of me. And I am thankful for that. I encourage you to pray for the devastated people in Samson and Geneva.

I'm glad you weren't there. And I'm sorry that your friends in AL have suffered this terrible loss. It's so awful.

by mjintexas at 03/12/09 11:40PM
WOW..that will make you think for a bit. I was sad to hear about him killing his family.

by alex at 03/13/09 12:30AM
definitely something to think about. Glad you're okay that's for sure.

by rica5219 at 03/13/09 12:35AM
Wow. I thought about you when hearing the story the other day, bc I know how close it is to Dothan!

by kris at 03/13/09 7:24AM
It's such a tragic story. I'm sorry for those families who lost loved ones but I'm grateful you were okay. And I know Kristen is too!!

by megan at 03/13/09 8:08AM
"Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a great book. Glad you are safe. Looking forward to the cabin next week.

by kevin at 03/13/09 8:08AM
God's in control for sure. I hated to hear the news of the shooting, but I'm glad to know you and your customers are ok.

by auamy at 03/13/09 10:52AM
It is tragic in every aspect. I am so thankful that you changed your plans. God is good and has worked through Kristen many times. It was weird though, because on Tues. night I went into the nurses lounge to get something and I heard on the TV the newscaster saying "Thank you (so and so), reporting for the Dothan Gazette ( or something like that)". I looked at the TV to see if it was Dothan, AL, but it didn't say, and I couldn't tell what had happened. Then the next morning when I opened the paper, of course the shooting was all over the front page, even a map of the area, but no mention of Dothan. I'm not feeling too good about Kristen moving to such a violent place.

by slicksgirl at 03/13/09 11:59AM
Not at all weird. She isn't your wife yet, but God uses Stacey to take care of me all the time - of course, He would do the same for you!

by madtomkidd at 03/13/09 3:16PM
Wow that is weird will, things happen in weird ways sometimes.

by volschickg at 03/13/09 4:50PM
Such a tragic event - I didn't realize how close you are to the situation. SO glad you are ok! It's amazing how things work out sometimes - so much to be thankful to God for!

by jess at 03/15/09 1:56PM
I did when read about that story. Very sad. And God was watching over you (as He always does)!

by i_am_a_sheep at 03/17/09 7:34PM
I'm so glad Kristen saved you!

by millychloe at 03/18/09 9:07PM
I'm so ready for you to give me a hug! (and kiss)

by krazykrizn at 03/27/09 6:07PM
plural please

by krazykrizn at 03/27/09 6:08PM

California

at 11/12/08 7:11PM

I told Kristen Warren that I love her.

Your thoughts?

32-51 of 51 comments « prev 1 2 3 next »

Good post.

by tnerbydoom at 11/13/08 9:06PM
Were you wrapped in a mink blanket when you told Isaac you loved him?

by say_no2unibrows at 11/13/08 11:16PM
^ good question.

by alex at 11/14/08 8:48AM
you might have the record number of pleonast friends

by kytar_heel at 11/14/08 10:37AM
I certainly approve of the choice! :)

by mritchie47 at 11/14/08 11:32AM
I love her too!

by chapwoman at 11/15/08 1:19AM
P.S. Let me give you a little warning about your loved one- Change your password.

by chapwoman at 11/15/08 6:48PM
No way - Nick todl me the same thing yesterday...do you think thats a good sign? Ha ...congrats! Glad things are going well for you!

by nicoleg at 11/16/08 11:03PM
i may've been one of the first people to read this post, but didn't respond because i was thinking "okay who wrote this really?" your last few posts haven't been from you, so i was waiting for you to post and say this wasn't me. but i see you posted when and that she said it back... so i'm thinking it's real.... so if it is real :) yeah for you & her. bring her to NY so i can meet her and see you again... make a family event and bring your sister too :)

by kelly at 11/17/08 6:38PM
sounds like hogwarsh to me.

by dave at 11/20/08 7:10PM
yay!

by rissaj at 11/23/08 8:19PM
That is awesome....now read my post & then immediately lay on the ground and be thankful!! Ha! Hey, its pretty special when someone tells you they love you. I am so happy for you!

by kittyhawk at 11/24/08 10:31AM
i think i love her too

by lilbec at 11/25/08 8:40AM
I don't know what to say....

by autatalicious at 12/02/08 2:33PM
brownchickenbrowncow

by isaacgholman at 12/03/08 11:18PM
EWWW... Okay Just Kidding that is Great! You have my Approval! Something that is not given out often to my good friends BF's consider yourslef blessed!

by vanessam at 12/08/08 11:30AM
I was in suite ix nearly a decade ago, back at the beginning of the nine. The Maestro once blew a single soft note from my trombone that moved an entire dormitory to their feet in the wee hours of a blessed FC morning. Fire alarms, police lights, bath towels, boxer shorts, an angry Rene Anderson, a disassembled trombone...and hours of entertainment. One night of many to be remembered from C-dorm, suite 9.

by dwboyd at 01/04/09 2:24AM
Careful with those words, a few syllables can pack a powerful punch.

by dwboyd at 01/04/09 2:26AM
Thanks for the text!!!!!!! :-)

by sunnylee at 01/06/09 11:33AM
Hey, this is Abraham's daughter, Carissa's Mom, just wanted to say congrats, and God Bless

by lilah at 01/08/09 7:13PM