Mark 's Birthday and Spring Break

It was Mark's birthday last month and Mark wanted to celebrate by having a Beach BBQ with friends. I love get togethers with friends because you always have so much great food and you only have to make a part of it. It turned out to be so yummy and lots of fun!

Along with Mark's birthday, we also passed the 4th anniversary of our first date. I remember loving how much we thought alike when we hung out for the first time and it has just gotten better and better ever since. Mark is my best friend. I seriously want to be with him every second I can--even if he does get sick of me following him around and asking him what he's doing next! I love you Mark!
Us about 4 years ago...

Since we moved here, Mark and I have really wanted to go camping in Florida. We finally got the chance during Spring Break when we went to St. Augustine. We were lucky and were able to reserve the last open campsite at Anastasia State Park. The campsite was right off of the beach, was beautiful, AND we finally got to use our big tent again that we bought with our wedding credit. Here we are modeling our great set up job...

Here we are modeling our great sleeping job...

Here's Mark cooking me some good food...

and us taking a "hike" (or more like a short stroll) on a camping trail...


This was the beach by our campsite. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen!! The sand was so white and fine and the waves were in perfect rolls. This was my favorite part of the trip.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S. and is where Ponce De Leon sailed to the Fountain of Youth. We were able to see a fort that was built in the 1600s out of seashell limestone called coquina. So cool!

Coquina Quarry

Living Quarters

The Schoolhouse

The other thing we did during Spring Break was fly to Utah for my sister Emilee's wedding. I came home so happy for Matt and Emilee! I love them both and am so glad that they found each other!

Feelin' Crafty?

I am always up for a good craft. There is something about doing crafts and projects that makes you feel so good about yourself when you complete it. It is so satisfying. One of my friends introduced me to Mod Podge and I love it! Here is the Valentine's project we have been working on...



The last little project I did was recover our dining room chairs. Here is before...

And here is after with a little Florida flare. :)

Marchin' Proud

We had the most eventful Martin Luther King Jr. Day ever! Mark and I did the the Give a Day, Get a Day program where you sign up for a day of service and get a free ticket to Disney World. We signed up to walk in a Martin Luther King Day parade near our house. All we had to do is sit for 2 hours until the parade started and then walk really slow for 30 min and wave to our fans. Easiest service I've ever done. We took some great advice given to us by my sister Katie the night before the parade. She said to "march proud"...and we did. :)

After we had marched proud for a little bit, we decided to stop at the "Swap Shop" on our walk back to our car. We found a great car collection, flea market, and an awesome farmer's market. Next time I want to suck some sugar cane off a stick or want a gallon of coconut juice, I will know where to go.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.

What have we been up to in the last few months? After not posting for a while, I figured it would be a lot easier to catch up in pictures, rather than words. Here we go...

Mark had knee surgery in the beginning of November. Even though they shaved half his leg for the surgery, he took it like a man! We got to hang out all day and watch movies when the surgery was over. It was great, for me.
After that, it was time for Thanksgiving. We went to see the 3D Imax movie, "A Christmas Carol" at the science museum then went to have dinner with friends. Here we are at the museum...


Mark also worked hard, as always, on becoming a dentist. Here is his December project, gold crowns. He made them so shiny that if you look carefully, you can see his smile in the reflection. :)

While Mark was working hard in school, I was getting ready for the Christmas Recital at one of one of the schools I teach at.

After school ended we went to the beach with some friends, played "beach scrabble"...

and also went to Hollywood studios.

This picture was taken in honor of me since the movie "Splash" was made the year I was born.

Here is Mark in line for the Toy Story ride--Our new favorite!

Me enjoying patriotism--Muppet style

Our favorite thing we did this trip was see the dancing light show they had going at night. Notice how magical it was...bubbles and everything! :)


Hmm...which of these is not like the other?


We also went to Blizzard Beach waterpark...

Seaworld...



Epcot...


and to Utah. Brrr was it cold!

While there we went to see the lights at Temple square with some Florida friends, Brock and Tara.

It was beautiful the night we went because of the fog that was surrounding the temple. We got some great shots of the temple...

plus a romantic one too! :)



We stayed at my parents for Christmas. It was really fun but for some reason I only have a couple random pictures that we took. One of which is the following sock shot we took Christmas morning. I thought it was hilarious what everyone was wearing. All the girls had their cute Christmas socks on and the boys of course had their "regulars" on. Mark in his Brazilian flip flops and my Dad in his black work/church socks.

This is the other random picture we took on Christmas. Too cute! Katie and Addie in their matching aprons.

We also got together with my Utah friends for dinner and games and Mark got together with his friends.

We spent New Year's at Katie's house. She and Judd made it extra fun by taking us sledding on their four wheelers. Mark had fun driving...

I had fun riding with Hallie...

And the kids had fun riding around in a blow up rubber raft...until it popped in 3 different places.

We also got to meet Emilee's new fiance Matt. We love him already and are so excited that he is joining the family!

All in all, we've had a great past couple of months.

Halloween Party

Mark and I went to a Halloween party last night. While I was trying to decide what to dress up as, Mark and I were at the dollar store and came upon the most perfect looking "Where's Waldo" glasses you have ever seen! Of course I couldn't resist and decided to be Waldo. All I had to do to complete the costume was wear a red shirt with masking tape stripes and a Santa hat--simple. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made because I won first prize in the costume contest! Unfortunately, I couldn't walk very far wearing the glasses so I couldn't wear them too long but apparently it was long enough for people to vote for my costume. Mark also had a great costume idea. We have this huge rubber spider Mark saves to scare me with every now and then. He taped it to his shirt along with a couple other little spiders and went as Spiderman.

Here is me and my friend Mel as Waldo and a mechanic.

This one is of Mark, Pumpkin head, and me.

Here is Mark eating the candy apples I made. I must have cooked the caramel too long because they came out like superglue instead of caramel. It took Mark forty five minutes to chew the whole thing and he vows he will never eat another one again!

Friend Visit

I was lucky enough to get a visit from my friends in Utah. We have been friends since elementary school and when we got together, it was like nothing had ever changed. It was great! We did some fun things while they were here but I have to admit that my two favorite things we did were eating a ton of muddy buddies and talking until early hours in the morning. I can't wait until we are together again!

Getting a pedicure

Beach time

Key Largo

Cheesecake Factory

The Everglades