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!
  • navydoc
    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
  • jhunt21
    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
  • spence2b
    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
  • curlie
    Iowa?! Glad you picked Hawaii for your bride's sake, if nothing else! :)
    by curlie at 10/25/09 9:26PM
  • firebolt
    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
  • megan
    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
  • adampual
    So excited for you guys!!! Bummer about that game :\
    by adampual at 10/26/09 10:46AM
  • sunnylee
    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
  • jess
    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
  • rica5219
    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
  • sarahisaretard19
    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
  • i_am_a_sheep
    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
  • ben
    What's your profile name on nanowrimo.com? I signed up.
    by ben at 11/01/09 10:08PM
  • mjintexas
    Very much enjoyed the update!
    by mjintexas at 11/03/09 5:07PM
  • coulter
    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
  • fullofgrace

    happy
    holidays!
    by fullofgrace at 12/24/09 12:52AM