How to make friends 101

Lil’ Roy Leigh knows how to make friends…simply eat a cookie! And share…of course! These three pooches were really thankful Roy Leigh knows how to share. And he has the cutest southern accent! (Roy Leigh was at our wedding…he just wasn’t born yet!)

March Madness hits the Gougers

Nothing in basketball is quite as exciting as the NCAA tournament, especially electronic brackets where you can compete against your family members and friends. Unless, of course, the NCAA includes the Hokies…then it is REALLY exciting! Though I only tend to care about Hokie Basketball (the Hokies lost tonight in the NIT…sadness), I still get super competitive in the brackets. I hold things against people, especially if Tech doesn’t make it to the NCAA (next year! I believe!). Like, for example, a certain person in our family going to a school that did make the tournament and another person in our family choosing Baylor to WIN a game!! Blasphemy! (Of course I still love both of you…<3) May the best Gouger win our bracket…Current top 3: Brent, Angela, and James!

From Sea to Shining Sea

The Wanderin Hokies are "wanderin" again....to California!! San Diego here we come...we have verbal orders to Southern California come this summer! (This is our 5th move since we've been married...in two years) I’ll be an Ensign on the USS Tarawa and we will move out there in July or August. It will be a 2 year billet, then we may get to travel the world some more! It will be great seeing where Angela grew up and getting to know the West Coast a little bit. If anyone wants to visit, we’ll take you to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, beaches, deserts, Vegas, Mexico, and more! Of course, you'll be sleeping on the floor because we can't afford more than a one bedroom...but you are always welcome!

Holla at our new tattoos!

Last weekend Angela and I were permanently “inked” while visiting what we consider our home, the Town of Blacksburg. We have been meaning to get tattoos for some time now, but have had a hard time finding both the time and correct way to go about marking ourselves. Our tattoos both symbolize Virginia Tech and what has become a defining moment in out lives. We never want to forget the horrors of last April and what it feels like to lose a friend. So, we got tattoos to represent our love of Virginia Tech, of our education and memories there, of Fall Football and Spring sunbathing, and of making and losing friends. We went to Ancient Art Tattoos on Roanoke Street, and had two very good artists. Tabatha tagged along to see the process. After all was said and done, getting vaccines is much more painful than getting a tat. Angela’s took only 20 minutes, while mine took over an hour in which a small gun “paints” an image into our skin. Right now our tattoos are scabbing over and will heal like a normal wound, except our pigment has changed! While we could have gotten these tattoos in VA Beach, we knew getting them in Blacksburg would be more special.

It's all about the Benjamin's...Baby

God blesses us so much with adorable newborns, and Benjamin is just that… adorable! Benjamin Stuart Howland was born on March 2nd and he was 7 pounds a few ounces. I was a little bit nervous about holding him at 2 hours old… but… really, he was this crazy tiny thing that kept squirming! I do much better now! ;-) AJ and Lizzie decided that he was a toy for them and that they were going to fight over him, but after a while AJ won, and was completely mesmerized by the little guy. He was like what did you bring me? He’s awesome! Benjamin is so precious, and he has the cutest little feet and toes. Plus he is the perfect arm warmer. I love it when he comes and visits us! Until he cries and then I give him back to mommy. Or when he needs his diaper changed…mommy! I feel bad hogging him all of the time though, because I feel like Jamie never gets to hold him! It’s just because he’s too cute! I’m trying to make sure he is a football player at Virginia Tech by talking to him about tech and football all the time, and the scholarship opportunities. His hands and feet are huge, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to be wearing his jersey’s one day…holla! Congrats Jamie!

What in the world are we up to?

We recently realized that we haven't really told anyone what we are up to on a daily basis in Virginia Beach! James and I are both in school, and we are both super busy. We get up in the morning and drive to opposite ends of the city, with James ending up at the Ocean and me ending up almost in Chesapeake at Regent’s campus. Ensign Gouger works/studies everyday from 7:30-5:00 (and sometimes earlier if they are PTing and playing Marines), and I am taking 3 classes at Regent. A great deal of James' homework and studying cannot be taken out of the building, so he comes home for dinner, and then often goes back to work, sometimes until 10:00 pm. So, we still don’t get to see each other very often. But, at least we are in the same city now! :-) I am a Graduate Assistant in the Undergraduate Advising Office at Regent, so I am working in the office 20 hours a week in addition to my classes. I love it though, and I work with incoming students on their degree plans, researching internship programs, and following up with students. We try to fit some weekend fun in, but it is interspersed with work! We should find out where we are moving in about two weeks, and we will definitely keep you updated!

Hollywood Cemetary

Baby Benjamin

One of the best things about new babies is new baby clothes and adorable tiny things that are way too expensive but absolutely adorable! Until recently, I had never been in a Babies-R-Us, but fell in love with all of the little baby things. That just means that our friends need to start having more babies so I can buy more adorable things. Jamie was only a week away from Benjamin arriving when she had her shower, and it was too fun. Most of you met, or have seen her older sister Jennifer, whom was with her first child at our wedding, and she had to postpone her shower because Roy Leigh decided to come for it! Jennifer made Jamie an amazing baby blanket, with hearts stitched throughout it. It was beautiful. We enjoyed an awesome time of passing around baby diapers filled with chocolate trying to figure out which chocolate bar had been melted and a ton of adorable baby clothes. I, of course, had to start him off right with a Hokie outfit, because really, you can never start too young! (This is going to be our kid one day....)

Corn Flakes are AMAZING!

If you ever feel the need to order fried ice-cream in Virginia Beach…beware….you may not be getting what you expect. In fact, you may get ice-cream and cornflakes covered with whip cream. And the waiter might give you a dirty look for ‘only’ ordering fried ice-cream. I can’t imagine the look I would have gotten if I had questioned the corn flakes…and asked why my ice-cream wasn’t fried. Oh the wonderful Mexican food you can get in the 757…that is truly one thing I miss about Texas.