The Highlander Family: Darby Makes Three!

Well, I'm finally getting around to this post! The past month has been absolutely crazy. We've had so much going on between the holidays, Darby, work and travel. It's been exciting though, definitely no complaints here!

First and foremost, I'll give everyone a quick update on Darby (or Darbs for short). He's absolutely wonderful. He's been such a perfect addition to our family. Now that's not to say he hasn't been A LOT of hard work or a pain in the butt sometimes, but we have learned so much just from caring for him and working with him on training and good manners. He's already so much a part of our family that we can't even remember what it was like without him! Of course I've included some of my favorite photos below. I swear he grows every single day, he's on his way to being that 90lb dog the breeder warned us about :-)

Quick update on our travels - we spent Christmas Eve here in Gainesville with both of our parents and Josh's sister Caitlin. Afterward we headed up to spend the rest of the holiday week in Crestview and had a nice, relaxing time there. After a few days back in Gainesville we got on the road and headed up to Asheville, NC. We stopped for a night in Toccoa, GA and visited with my grandparents and great aunt and then it was on to Asheville. We had the most beautiful little cottage with a wrap-around porch overlooking the mountains. I attached some photos of our trip below in an album. We also got to visit with Rich and Carol (friends of my parents) and then our friends Jamie and Jeff Doehne in Charlotte. It was such a wonderful trip and Darby was a trooper traveling quietly in his crate the entire time (minus one time he got sick from the winding roads!!).

After the Asheville trip I spent 5 days in Ponte Vedra Beach for work. The hardest part was that I had to be there during the college national championship football game!! Of course I watched with my coworkers and Josh was with our friends in Gainesville. As many of you probably already know by now, our Gators WON and are the #1 team in the nation, woooooo. Even more exciting, our quarterback Tim Tebow will be back again next year. We can not wait!! Living in Gainesville during a national championship year is something else. I included a photo below of my boss and I in the fountain at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club (they had giant gators, how appropriate!).

We've finally settled back in to our normal routine in Gainesville. This weekend will be the first when we've both been home and have no major plans, phew, I can't wait! We don't have any more trips planned, for a little while at least. Just lots of work on the house - the fence, decorating, the yard, etc. It's a lot of work but we love every second of owning our own home.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a blessed and Happy New Year! 2008 was a year of change and new beginnings for us and we're really looking forward to what 2009 has in store.

Love,
Jenny and Josh