Thanksgiving comes to Memphis

Turkey (check), homemade apple pie (check), green bean casserole (check), high-powered water sprayer (check), two dogs that don't get along (check), amusing game of Balderdash (check) - by now you may get the picture: this list refers to a great Thanksgiving holiday at the Maurers!

Jimmy and Marilyn drove down from Michigan and BethAnn and Kyle drove up and over from Austin to spend our first Thanksgiving with us in our new home! We had such a great time sharing it with them. After the 11 hour drive, which landed BethAnn and Kyle here around 12:30 am on Wednesday, the three of us (BethAnn, Kyle, and Jonnett) went and did the Turkey Trot. Kyle was playing the part of Speedy Gonzales, running at an impressive 6:42 min/mile pace! Jimmy spent Thanksgiving morning cleaning our deck with the power washer, and now it looks brand new.

The dinner went off without a hitch. Jonnett made an amazing apple pie to top it all off. We spent the next few days in a sugar coma, but managed to make it over the the National Civil Rights Museum.

The museum is built at the Lorraine Motel, which is the site where Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. You know Memphis, famous for all things violent. Actually, the city is proud to announce that it is no longer #1 in violent crime, apparently if you use different data you can get down to #8. But that's beside the point. We all had a good time, and we got to go out Jonnett's friend from Peace Corps, Jen, and her new bf Zac. It was good to reminisce about Togo, hang out and go COSMIC bowling.

Sunday came too quickly (although not for Gus and Stanley who were more than ready to not share space again!). We were sad to see everyone go, but it just makes us look forward to our next visitors...any takers?

Check out our other pictures from the weekend here.

Welcome to the world Alden Arthur!

Congrats to our dear friends, Matt and Erica! Alden Arthur is the luckiest little boy around to have parents like these two. And let's just say that he is so darn cute, again, lucky guy, thanks to his parents!. We just found out yesterday that he was born 6 days ago, and we haven't stopped talking about it since. We are so happy for the both of you and we simply cannot wait to meet the little guy. Cheers to lots of naps, diapers, and eating in the coming months (maybe not in that order!).

Oxford, MS

After the long month on Hematology, we took advantage as quickly as we could to get out of town for a small retreat from the madness. The first weekend in November, we made a trip down to Oxford, MS, just about an hour or so south of Memphis.


First stop was the Ole Miss Football game. Jonnett's co-worker's wife hooked us up with some box seats, so we enjoyed our first SEC football game in style. Ole Miss played Northwestern State (LA) and just barely beat them. Yes, we were interested in the game, but mostly we were interested in seeing the culture of the SEC Football, as we had heard so much about it. The Grove is known as the best tailgating in the country. It is tent upon tent, but it is what is inside the tents that is the amazing part: fine china, catered food, flat screen TVs, women wearing cocktail dresses, and we have heard that some even have chandeliers. The tailgating is before and several hours after the game, win or lose. It is pretty incredible and quite a site to see.




After the win, we walked through the beautiful Ole Miss campus to the town square, where you could actually imagine the covered wagons pulled up in front of the local saloon.




That evening we had a delicious dinner at the Yocona River Inn, a quaint restaurant located about 15 minutes outside of Oxford in what looked like an old gas station turned restaurant. Can't go wrong with a restaurant that encourages you to bring your own wine!


We had a lazy Sunday that started with breakfast at the only place in town that served breakfast, but it was worth the wait. The owner is from Portland and served coffee from Portland...aah, a fresh taste of the Northwest. Afterwards we visited Rowan Oak, the home of Nobel Prize winning author William Faulkner, and enjoyed a walk around the grounds.


After we realized that we had gained an hour due to the time change, we decided to head back to Memphis and take advantage of the beautiful weather with a picnic at a local park near our neighborhood. It was a great, rejuvenating weekend. Back to the grind...

BethAnn and Kyle get married!!

September 29, 2007: St. Joe, Michigan

We headed north for the weekend to help celebrate the last of our families' weddings: BethAnn and Kyle. Scott and I were both in the wedding, so it was quite eventful, to say the least. You couldn't have asked for better weather or a more beautiful location (right on Lake Michigan). The wedding wasn't complete without BethAnn and Scott putting on quite the dance display to "Bye, Bye, Bye". I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Congrats to BethAnn and Kyle!

Apparently, Scott and his cousin Jeremiah had a good time!

Where does Hematology hurt? Everywhere.

Unfortunately, this was the theme for the month of October, as Scott worked on the Hematology floor at the hospital. In the spirit of the Depression commercial, we can safely say that "Hematology also hurts everyone." He had to carry this pager that seemed to go off pretty much at every inopportune time (even Stanley felt the effects, as he would sit cross-legged waiting for Scott to get off the phone to take him outside.)

No, this is no excuse for neglecting our blog. In fact, we don't have a good excuse, just our apologies, as I am sure you are all dying to see what is going on in the good ol' South!