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Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas



We've had a wonderful Christmas weekend in St. Louis with the Dicksons. There was a marathon Yahtzee game, large amounts of good food, a special candle lit service at the church, and much laughing with the family.

We hope all of your celebrations this holiday season were joyful.


O holy child of Bethlehem
descend on us we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels.
The great glad tidings tell.
O come to us,
abide with us,
our God, Emmanuel.
-Phillips Brooks, 1868

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Quiz Time

A few irrelevant pieces of information:

Amber:
Birthplace?
Kankakee, Illinois
First car?
The first car I drove was an ’88 Ford Escort- blue, hatchback, manual transmission
Favorite pizza topping(s)?
I am an equal opportunity pizza topping lover. I like them all but my favorite combo is olives, tomatoes, sausage, bacon, onion, and mushrooms
Favorite restaurant?
A toss up between The Thai Place or The India Palace
First job?
Babysitting. My first ‘real’ job was as a receptionist helper at a pediatrician’s office.
Any nicknames?
Mom calls me ‘AJ’ Luke calls me 'BB'
Most embarrassing CD you own:
Yanni- purchased in the early ‘90s- Don’t judge me!
Milk or dark chocolate?
dark
Shower or bath?
shower
French Fries or onion rings?
Onion rings

Lucas:
Birthplace?
Johnson City Tennessee in what is now a nursing home
First car?
I got to use a Ford Ranger pickup in high school then got a red mustang in college
Favorite pizza topping(s)?
meat...hamburger, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon
Favorite restaurant?
here is where we prove that opposites attract as I am not big on Thai or Indian and am really more of a steak and potatoes kinda guy.
First job?
In grade school I worked as an errand boy going to the grocery store for a nice elderly shut in. or mowing lawns...but if you don’t start counting until Uncle Sam takes his cut then it was working on a Maintenance crew for a townhouse association weed eating over the summer.
Any nicknames?
Early on it was Bubba because I needed one that started with a ‘B’ since Aundrea was Bugs and Corrine was Bean. Later when I got to college I was known as Jed because I come Arkansas which people from KS consider deep south.
Most embarrassing CD you own:
I don’t embarrass easy but I would have to go with a Hardcore Christian Rap group called Apocalypse
Milk or dark chocolate?
A silky dark like Dove or Lindt- those that aren't too bitter.
Shower or bath?
shower
French Fries or onion rings?
It wasn’t long ago and I wouldn’t be caught dead eating anything onion but know I actually like a bloomin onion. I guess just about anything can be good when you put enough batter on it and fry it up nice

Monday, December 04, 2006

We Three Geese of Orient Are

Luke and I opened an advent present from his parents on Saturday. Inside the box was this charming trio.


But wait- there's more...





Yes, they came with festive miniature holiday costumes. Note the special features: the santa costume is accessorized with a wee gift bag and the elf costume not only has an elfin beard but pointy elfin ears as well. I must say, though, that the reindeer is my favorite even though it was quite difficult to get the webbed feet through the small holes in the costume. The antlers are so very merry.

We thought they deserved names.

How about Huey, Dewey, and Louie?
Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar?
Mary, Kate, and Ashley??

Obviously we are struggling. How about some help- dear Reader, do you have any suggestions?

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Baby, it's cold outside.

Things are snowy and stormy outside but here, inside on the couch, things are quite cozy. The Kansas City weather this week has been especially variable. People around here are fond of saying, "If you don't like the weather just wait 10 minutes and it will change." That axiom has proved to be quite true in the past few days. On Tuesday it was sunny and unseasonably warm. I didn't even wear a coat to work. The high was in the low 60s. Yesterday we were hit with a nasty ice storm. The freezing rain stopped falling last night and early this afternoon a winter snow storm rolled in. As I sit here in Olathe, at the southernmost part of the metro area, six inches of snow have already fallen with more to come. A foot of snow over a half inch of ice- now that's a recipe for disaster.

The awards dinner I was supposed to attend tonight was cancelled so instead I get to be at home out of the weather. This is just fine with me. I wish Lucas could be here, too, but he has a long night of work still ahead of him at the airport. UPS is in it's peak season and to call things there 'busy' is a giant understatement. Unfortunately, the bad weather will make his night more complicated. Even so, he stays upbeat. What a trooper.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Friday, November 24, 2006

We're so thankful

This is Avery our second cousin. He came to visit today along with his grandma and grandpa- Luke's Aunt Liz and Uncle Bill. Avery kept things from getting boring here and it was very fun to have him around today. He is really starting to get good at his letters and reading. The only downside to this is that we can no longer spell to each other something we might not want him to know about.

Hopefully as you read this you are feeling stuffed, relaxed, and thankful. I know I am. Lucas and I are so blessed and are very rich in relationships. Truly we treasure our friends and family. I suppose I'd better wrap this post up before it gets too terribly sappy...


For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Changes Afoot

As some of you might know (since we've been talking about it incessantly for 6 months) the Dickson kitchen is undergoing a bit of a remodel.

The original plan was to paint the cabinets and put down some new linoleum. We were afflicted with 'scope creep', however and before you could say 'amateur remodeler' we were, among other things, stripping and refinishing cabinets, laying ceramic tile, and taking down a wall.

The picture to the left shows an early stage in the project. The open space on the wall was where the fridge used to spend it's time. Here, Lucas is taking down a portion of the yellow tile backsplash.



Next was the task of removing the upper cabinets from the wall. This took a lot of work. They were very sturdily mounted. Our best guess is that the buiders wanted to ensure that the future homeowner could store his bowling ball collection there. Despite this, Lucas, armed with his crowbar, got them down.


Since we kept to a pretty tight budget, these cabinets were re-used as lower cabinets. Lucas built a platform for them which allowed us to elongate our countertop workspace.



Then the wall came down. Every step along the way has had some combination of improvisation, learning a new skill, buying a new tool, or doing it wrong the first time. Some steps had all of these elements.


Here is a picture of the current state of affairs. As you can see, there is still quite a bit of trim work to do but the kitchen is functional now. The sink and counter tops are installed making food preparation a lot easier than it was for the majority of the summer. Drop by sometime, we'll give you a tour.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A Happy Anniversary


Our marriage turned one year old today. We got the top of our wedding cake out of it's storage in our freezer and it still tastes pretty good.

It's hard to believe that 365 days have passed since we gathered with all our family and friends to say our vows and be pronounced 'husband and wife'. It's hard to believe 365 days have passed since the centerpiece caught on fire in the reception hall and the chocolate fountain went berserk and flung chocolate in a 5 foot radius.

We are eagerly anticipating what awaits us in our second year of marriage. There will be lots more adventures to enjoy.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Get Fuzzy


This made us laugh on Sunday.

Little Niece Ruby Comes to Visit



It was a very fun weekend at the Dickson house. Joel, Kelly, and Ruby flew in from Chicago for a visit. It was great to see them and Ruby entertained us all with her adorable smile and adorable cooing and adorable slobbering.

She is the sweetest, cutest, smartest little girl- you can trust me on this because I am completely biased, whoops, I mean unbiased.

We also celebrated with our friends Kim and John at their wedding on Saturday. It was a beautiful ceremony. Lucas and I couldn't help but reminisce about our wedding which was almost exactly one year ago.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Inaugural Post


The Dicksons are finally on the internet. Welcome to our blog. Our aim is to better keep in touch with all of our family and friends. We plan on posting weekly. Please check back regularly!