Hi All,

I know it’s been awhile but we sure have been busy around here. I have been hard at work securing websites for my side business as well as maintaining my current websites and of course the most important one rfmd.com So far I have several new sites mediabrewer.com, The Neal Tractor Museum, Frye Heating and Air, and Paul Milam. They are all in different stages of completion like mediabrewer is up but not with the right theme, the tractor museum is in design, as well as Frye heating and air, and Paul’s site will be managed by me with a third party doing the actual development. So this is an exciting time to see if I can really handle doing all of this without letting my home-life or my work slip. So far I have been able to handle it all but it does cause me to be very busy so well see.

Jess has been hard at work trying to get into the groove of now having two babies to care for. We recently had to switch formula from one labeled advanced to one labeled good start because baby Same has been very fussy and gassy. We also switched bottles so that we where sure to knock it out. He seems to be doing much better now. Daniel is taking to the new addition very well. There are times that he requires one of us while we are trying to take care of Sam but for the most part it all seems to click together. At least he hasn’t asked us to send him back .

So about this weekend we started off visiting my mom’s (me-maw) so that she could get her baby fix and then set off early Saturday for a trip to the mountains. This is the first LONG trip we have decided to undertake after having baby Sam. Steve one of his paw-paws or his great grandmother (Maw-Ri) had never seen him before so we hoped to have him all dressed up for the occasion. When Daniel this would not have been possible as he used to get very car sick on long trips. I must say the trip went very well. He was fussy sometimes but for the most part he just hung out and looked out the window. We found an awesome yard sale along the way and got a pack and play as well as a mirror for my car that mounts on the headrest all for under $10. We then visited with Steve and his Maw-Ri for awhile Daniel amused himself there by throwing bottles around and they never looked happier to see a new baby. We then visited Steve’s brother as they had just bought a house. We then took a beautiful trip through Floyd and then went to maw-maw and paw-paw’s for a visit and to relax a bit before the hour and half drive home. Daniel and the girls played really hard and Sam kept Jess and maw-maw very busy. She will surely blog about this trip as well on merryheartcrafts.com so there will be some really cute pictures on there. We had a lovely outdoor meal. it was so nice, cool, and serene up there I didn’t want to have to come home. I also got to fix Maw-Maw’s computer so she could post to her blog. We stayed as long as we could before driving home and the drive home was very nice, Jess and I always love to be able to spend so much time together we get to catch up on each others lives without interruptions for the most part.

Today we are going to try and pick up the house from the tornado called Daniel that came through it and then rest and relax before I have to go back to work.

Hope your weekend went as well as mine.
David Bates

Update: Maw-Maw must be slacking as I got this post up before she could… and she said I never updated my blog

I started my journey on Tuesday at 4am and flew to Atlanta we stayed in ATL just long enough to huff it across the terminal and catch our flight to Denver. The flight to Denver was over 3 hours long and we flew over 500MPH. The coolest part of the trip was watching the GPS while we flew. Cities flew by as though they were street names, it was very cool. We landed at about 11 our time and we grabbed our rental car and headed for the hotel.

It is about a 20 minute drive from the Airport in Denver to the hotel in Broomfield. While driving to the Hotel we both noticed that there where no mountains. In fact we both looked at each other and said “Where are the friggin Mountains?” There was not a single mountain in site for the entire drive and me and Kim both were disappointed that we would not see any. So we got to the hotel and checked in.

Pictures of trip to Denver from Airplaine:

Once we got settled at the hotel we then drove to work. We were told before we left that there would be a cookout at the facility at 2:00 so we rushed over so not to miss it. We got there at the perfect time I went straight through the line being sure to meet the people that was supposed to show us around. The menu was hamburgers and sausages… yes sausages and they were delicious. They even had put Jalapeño’s on the line. While I was stuffing the sausage into my mouth we met the main guy we came to see, he asked how our trip was and if we liked Broomfield. I said the food was great but that we were disappointed because we couldn’t see the rockies. Surprised he exclaimed… What do you mean you can’t see the mountains? I then asked if he had a place close by that we could go to see them and he said sure just turn left out of the parking lot. Now I gave him a strange look because I had just drove from that way and I figured that if there had been a mountain there I would have seen it… Right? So I agreed to follow his direction once we got out of the office. We spent several hours then touring the facility and video taping several areas of the building. The office had a meeting at 4:00 though and after that all of the workers were dismissed so me and Kim took off to find some mountains, and mountains we did find.
This is the view just to the left of the parking lot for RFMD Broomfield:

It turned out that it was just foggy when we drove in and the mountains were covered. I guess it was God’s way of giving the mountains a majestic reveal.

That night we had the most amazing dinner at Carraba’s and I went back to the hotel and got in the Jacuzzi… Wonderful

Day 2:
On day 2 we got up and drove quite a ways to the nearest IHOP and as we were telling each other that we had traveled to far we noticed this great spot to film the mountains from… take a look below and see if you agree:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8NOd81sF6o

we then ate at IHOP and went in to work. we filmed until about 2 and then headed for the airport.
This time we were routed through Cincinnati to get back to Greensboro but it was a fun flight.
A Pic of the flight back:

All in all it was a great trip and I had a great time.

Thanks for reading:
David Bates

Daniel wants to swing

I love going to the mountains. There is something about going there that is instantly calming.
We visit Floyd, VA when we go to the mountains, it is a small community set right off of the blue ridge parkway. The place that we stay is about 1/2 a mile from the parkway around Smarts View park.
It is always about 10 degrees cooler in Floyd than it is in Greensboro so it is always refreshing to go there. Also there is the fact that we are on about a 1,000 acre farm so there is none of the busy noises like there is in Greensboro. We always have a good time. Today we took some pictures while we where out and about so I could include you on our get-away.

Hope your having a good weekend. Enjoy the pictures
David Bates

Once he saw the Doctor the theories began to fly… Pink eye, dust, chemical reaction from shampoo, and many more. Finally after two doctors we were told that it probably wasn’t pink eye and that it could be a scratch on his eye so they would prescribe antibiotic drops. So me and Daniel go home and Jess goes to CVS to get the drops. Let me just say that whatever drops they are they where like wonder drops. Daniel instantly started to feel better.

Upon a closer inspection from the Hawk (Jess) we saw the scratch on his eye. He is doing much better now with his eye… it is no longer red and he doesn’t try to hold it closed anymore.
I hate that the little guy had to go through that, but I am also glad that there was no permanent damage.

Thanks for Reading
David Bates