Video of Neighborhood

Who knows how long this video will be up before Sony takes it down for content violation. So, if you want to view it do it sooner then later. http://www.youtube.com/user/MrTysonjharris#p/u/0/yDGh_Dd6QGs

Last Week

Hello all! I have been meaning to post something for several days and I haven't gotten the time. Whenever I sat down to write something Lilly or Tyson would demand my attention.

On Monday of last week we got all of our stuff and I spent the week unpacking. Everything is out of the boxes and the apartment is starting to look like home. We have our guest room set up for anyone that wants to come and visit. The only thing left we have to do is to hang some pictures and buy curtain rods.

Although I have been hard at work unpacking we have managed to have some fun. We went to the pond in our apartment complex and fed the ducks. Herbie didn't like the ducks and was a little scared of them. Lilly could have cared less. We ended up sharing some of our bread with a cute little boy that was more excited about the experience.

After visiting the ducks we went and walked around the shopping complex close to our house called Birkdale Village. Everyone would stop and talk to us and tell us how cute Lilly is. It seemed like everyone that was walking around had small children and small dogs. We fit in perfectly.

There is a Barnes and Noble in the complex. I told Tyson it was dangerous for me to be so close to that store. I'll try not to go crazy and spend all of our money.

Another fun thing we did was go to Concord Mills. Concord Mills is the largest mall in North Carolina. In our guide book it says this mall is the biggest tourist attraction in North Carolina. It was fun and we have already found Mike's favorite store...Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World.

"Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World offers the most comprehensive selection of Fishing, Hunting, Camping, Boating, Golf and Outdoor Gear, that you will find anywhere under one roof. More than just a fishing and hunting store, you'll find a tremendous selection of outdoor and casual apparel, gifts, toys and merchandise for the entire family, with great brands, all at a guaranteed low price!"

Now he has to bring out his family to come and visit. It was fun going through the mall and deciding which stores everyone would like. We also took that horrible picture of me in the racing jacket at the Concord Mall.

We have had a lot of you ask how the ward is. Everyone there is really nice. The ward, to me, feels kind of small. Most people are in their mid-30's. We already have a dinner set up with two families. They just reorganized the relief society, primary, young women's, elder's quorum and young men's. So Tyson and I will not be put in any presidencies for awhile.

Lilly had her pediatrician appointment yesterday. I love our new doctor. Lilly weighs 14 lbs 2 oz (50%) and is 25 3/4 inches tall (85%). The doctor told me Lilly is perfect and that she looks like a dumpling. She told me that Lilly will probably have my body shape. You would have thought Lilly was dying though the way she carried on about her shots. She cried the whole way out of the building and for another 5 minutes in the car. It was embarrassing sitting there in the waiting room and making her next appointment with her screaming.

I think that is it. Angela - I got Gretchen and Jake's pictures. They are so cute. Thank you for thinking of us!

You might be a redneck if your best jacket has an advertisment on the back of it. - Jeff Foxworthy

Paddle faster, I hear Banjos!

I was watching the evening news last night when I learned that Charlotte is considering passing a noise ordinance that would ban playing banjos on the porch after dark. For some reason the moment I heard this Burt Reynolds and this picture popped into my mind.

Karen's First Weekend In NC

The moving company is scheduled to arrive next Monday and not having any furniture other than our bed has been tricky for Karen. Working from home has turned into working from bed and as you can imagine, Karen has found balancing work and the baby from the comforter isn’t really all that comfortable. Even watching TV can be complicated when the set is sitting on the floor. So, all this made us think it might be a good time to go buy a new bedroom set.

With the sun shining and temps reaching up into the mid-80’s it was a perfect day to take a drive up along lake Norman to Hickory; the furniture capital of North Carolina. Hickory is home to Hickory White, one of the oldest furniture manufacturers in the United States; established in 1902 and is still operating at its original location.

As far as Hickory goes, the local story is that under a huge Hickory Tree in the mid 1800’s, a log tavern was built and the surrounding area quickly became known as the city of Hickory Tavern. In 1863 the city was officially established but later in 1873 the city’s name was changed to its current name of Hickory.
Our destination in Hickory was a furniture outlet call Hickory Furniture Mart. It’s a mix of about 100 furniture outlet stores and shops covering a million square feet and all housed inside a four-story complex. The place has everything you could imagine to furnish a house such as furniture, lighting, art, rugs & even fabrics.

Karen and I spent about 3 hours walking throughout the entire place. We visited Amish Oak and Cherry first where their bedroom sets had some of the finest craftsmanship I have ever seen but were about $8,000. So, we went over to Basset Showcase Gallery where they had a lot of nice furniture but they were still around $5,000 dollars. So, we went over to Heritage Furniture outlet and they were a bit less but at $4,000 still.

Frankly, this was more money then we wanted to or in the case of Amish Oak and Cherry could even spend; especially since we just bought a king size Simmons Black Natasha that cost us a small fortune.

By this time we were getting a little tired of shopping and Lilly was becoming fussy. So, we decided to head back home.

Along the way we stopped into Mooresville to fuel up and get something to eat. This is where we found a little BBQ pit called Sonny’s

At Sonny’s they serve good ol’ Southern food and plenty of it for cheap. The have all sorts of yummy food. Everything looked so good that I couldn’t decided what I wanted, so I just got a plate that had it all; pulled pork, BBQ pork ribs, beef brisket and BBQ chicken with sides of slaw, beans, mac & cheese and garlic toast….yum!

There is nothing like 5,000 calories for dinner.

After dinner we drove back to Huntersville and went through a few neighborhoods to look at houses. Karen isn’t comfortable with buying a house yet, the move is still too new but I thought it would be a fun thing to do after dinner. After an hour of driving it started to get dark so we headed for home to turn in for the evening.

I think it was a fun first Saturday for Karen and it was definitely a fun Saturday for the three of us to be together…too bad Herbie had to spend it at home all by himself.

Here is a home in Huntersville, NC. This one is just a few miles from our apartment and is listed at $184K. In the South, you can get a lot of home for around $200K.

Welcome to North Carolina

Getting from Utah to North Carolina was quite an experience. The flight from Utah to Phoenix was the worse. Herbert decided that he did not like his carrying case and sat there scrapping at it and whimpering the whole flight. We got worse looks from people then if we had a screaming baby. Tyson gave him a second sedative pill so he would make it through the next flight.

The second flight was going a little better. Herbert was whimpering a little quieter and stopped scrapping at his carrier. I thought we were going to make it through without any major breakdowns until… about 30 minutes before we landed, I accidently bumped Lilly’s head against the seat in front of us. Then she lost it and wouldn’t calm down until the flight was over. Lilly and I will be flying together again but I will never ever bring Herbert on a flight with us.

For anyone that might be flying with a dog make sure to double the prescribed sedative pill before you get on the flight.

I knew we were on the way to the South when the guy next to us got on drunk (at 8:00 am) and had a long discussion with Tyson about NASCAR. He asked us what city we were moving to and then asked Tyson if he was working for a NASCAR driver. Apparently, the town we live in has a couple of NASCAR pit-crew individuals living here. That 5 minutes was the longest conversation I ever had about NASCAR in my life.

Now that we are here in the apartment I really like the area and the apartment. We live in a really cute complex that has a pond with ducks and little creeks that run around it. We have a couple of ducks living outside our section and we look at them through the windows. Herbert loves having windows and a deck. Although, he doesn’t like the loud telephone guy that lives next door. We try to keep him quiet because we don’t want to pay the $250 pet fee.

There is also a swimming pool on the property. It hasn’t opened up yet but I already got a swimming suit for Lilly. We are all prepared to take full advantage of it.

Next to the apartments is a really cute shopping center. It kind of looks like the Gateway, in Utah but a little fancier. We drove through it on Sunday and there were a lot of people walking around. Most of them were around our age and had kids. Tyson says that they have live music there during the weekends.

That is all I have explored so far. I am reading a guide book and am excited to go to some of the cool places during the weekends. We’ll be all prepared for our first visitors.

The only thing that we need now is all of our stuff. Tyson called today and the truck checked-in in Illinois at 12:00 am. It has been a nightmare being here without anything but a bed. Lilly is so fussy because her only options are laying down or being held. She just wants her stuff back so she can play and sit in her bouncy chair. We finally got her one of those bouncy saucers. I am going to try and figure out how to upload video on the blog so you can see how cute she is on it.