Last weekend was Ande's family's 59th annual reunion. Ande and I hosted the event this year for the first time, along with help from her brother and sister-in-law. We think the reunion was a great success. I think the greatest thing was that attendance about doubled from the previous year's reunion. We got VERY close to having 100 people there! To support the reunion, Ande and I started a website, http://www.woodfinfamily.net, to host information about the family reunion. Since we started the site, it just keeps growing in scope. Ande just finished uploading a 350+ picture photo gallery of all the pictures we took during the reunion. As we get more and more pictures from past reunions and old family photos on the site, this will become a great repository of information for future generations. We are also thinking of many ways to expand the site so it can house all the history of the family, or should I say families, that fall under the "Woodfin" umbrella. We hope to capture stories from the past so they don't get lost to future generations. So come by the Woodfin Family site and let us know what you think.
I guess I should start this category with a short post about me and my family.
I'm Trent. I turned 41 in February of 2007. I'm married and have 3 children. I'm a computer software designer/architect/developer, whichever is needed for the next task. I do contract programming for the most part right now. I've always got a few ideas in the air for getting a new business going on the internet. If I don't spend too much of my time here, then I may see one or more of those ideas actually make it out the door one day. You can keep up with all of that in my programming and business development categories. In my spare time (which isn't much) I've picked up a new found interest in guns. From hunting at a friend's ranch to target shooting at the range, I'm soaking up all I can. I wish I had more time to devote to becoming a better shooter. I just picked this up in the last few years, and I'm hooked. I'll discuss this in my Guns category. My other hobby is woodworking. I have a great workshop set up in my garage and love making sawdust! And yes, you guessed it, I have a woodworking category.
Earlier this week (6/27/2007) I celebrated my third wedding anniversary with my wife, Ande. Ande is a nurse and after staying home with the children for a few years, she has recently returned to nursing. She's working at a nursing home and rehab center that just recently opened (Trail Lake Nursing and Rehab). It is the nicest facility of its kind that I have ever visited. It is not the typical nursing home atmosphere. Ande is also very active in the PTA at our children's schools, serving on the Board in some capacity for the past 3 years. She also helps out with the children's programs at our church, Arborlawn United Methodist Church.
Our oldest child is Mallory, who is 11. She is a member of the Texas Girls' Choir. The choir is amazing and Mallory will have some great travel opportunities with the choir in the future as she works her way up the ranks. When she isn't doing something with the choir, she is either in the pool, painting her nails, picking out clothes or watching TV. She is the typical 11 going on 19. This scares me more than I want to admit.
Next is Gates. He is 9 and all boy. He has recently found a liking for basketball. He loves shooting around in the driveway. He is becoming a computer nut like dad. He loves spending time on the computer and on his GameCube. It is amazing how fast the children can pick up the video games, even at a young age.
Our youngest is Briar, who is 5. Her favorite activity is tormenting her brother and sister. :) She is busy dancing. You can very seldom get her to walk a straight line. She's always twirling and swinging around. She loves to sing and does so every chance she gets. She was born on September 11, 2001. Yep, mom was in the hospital getting ready to give birth and watching all the news coverage that day. Briar has also become a fan of the water and loves to swim whenever she gets a chance.
So that's the make up of the family. We live in Fort Worth, TX. I've lived in Fort Worth since I was 3 days old. Ande hails from Albany, TX, a small town in west texas. She's a country girl trapped in the big city with me now. Someday, we hope to get out the city (but not too far) and live the good life on a big chunck of land.