Favorite Visitor

We were lucky enough to get a visit from Mark's brother, Darin, in June. We had so much fun spending time with him! I can honestly say that he was one of the most courteous visitors we've ever had. He was always trying to help, pay for things, was so nice and grateful, and so clean! He even did our dishes. Talk about a great visitor! These are some things we did while he was here. I won't elaborate but these are some of the pics from Seaworld, the beach, a downtown water taxi, and the Everglades.

Haircut and Birthdays

Before I get started on my Birthday fun, I want to write down a funny story about my last haircut. About a month ago, I was having one of those days when I couldn't stand doing my hair anymore. I got a flyer in the mail for a $13 haircut at a place close to my house and I figured, "How bad could it be? I don't have anything going on this afternoon. I think I'll make an appointment."

I should have gotten my first clue when I walked in the shop and there was NO ONE in the place besides two hairstylists. The hairstylists were both black and I am not saying that black ladies can't cut hair, but lets be honest, we have different kinds of hair. I still went for it and told the hairstylist that I wanted to keep my hair long but wanted some layers. For the next 15 minutes, I listened to the two hairstylists chat about Will Smith, Oprah, and Tyra Banks and watched clumps of my hair fall to the floor. I was already worried seeing all that hair on the floor when she made it a million times worse by telling me that she had snipped her finger because my hair was "so slippery!"
Well she finally finished the butchering job, turned me around, and said, "How do you like it?" I was surprised to find short hair in the front and even more surprised to see that it was still long in the back! She gave me a mullet!!! Luckily, I left and didn't let her "fix it".
Besides the fact that I was afraid of touching my hair since blood was probably wrapped all through it, I was trying to tell myself that the cut wasn't that bad when I got home. I pretended that nothing was wrong and asked Mark how he liked it. His response was, "It looks...um...silly." I then realized there was no getting around the fact that I had a mullet.
I wanted to cry for the rest of the day and couldn't sleep that night because I kept waking up remembering my ugly hair. Luckily, the nightmare ended the next day when one of my friends in the ward fixed it for me. She cut off the mullet and now it is short all the way around. Surprisingly, I really like the cut now. Remember though, if you are ever sick of your hair and are tempted to go to a cheap place...Don't do it!

On to birthday fun...
My birthday this year was hands down one of my favorites! I have wanted to go on a water taxi through the water streets downtown since we moved here and Mark agreed to go for my birthday. Our driver was more like a tour guide and pointed out Lucille Ball's old house, Andy Griffith's old house, Dave Thomas's house, and many more that had been used in filming a bunch of movies. We also saw these huge yachts. If you ever wonder what rich people do with their money, that's your answer. These mansions were amazing! It was so much fun! Thanks Mark!

But the birthday fun didn't stop there, we found out some important info on my birthday about a real "birth-day" coming up in our family. We found out we are having a little girl!!! Mark and I were both shocked because we called the baby a "he" the whole first trimester. I don't believe in motherly instincts anymore because I really thought I was going to have a boy. We are thrilled with either though. My first due date was the day after Thanksgiving. I thought it was pretty appropriate because Mark and I are SO grateful for this amazing miracle. It has been a long journey and sometimes it seemed like this day would never come. Now that it has, we are hoping we get to keep her because we already love her so much! I loved the ultrasound because she kept moving around and opened her mouth over and over again. Here are some of the pics...

When I found out I was expecting, it was a surprise for both of us. I had been to the doctor that morning to find out if I was pregnant and was disappointed because I thought the office had implied that I wasn't and didn't want say it to my face. I called Mark and told him that I wasn't. After moping around that afternoon, I got a call from the office about 5 hours after telling me that I was! I couldn't wait to tell Mark! It was Mark's birthday that weekend so I hurried and wrapped some presents up and let him open a couple early when he got home. It seemed like that "surprise" present took forever for him to open but it was well worth the wait.

Home Sweet Home

I had a plan after we moved in to post some before and after pictures of our condo after we finished working on it. Well, it has been finished for a year now and I have only posted the kitchen pictures. By this time last year, I was so sick of working on the condo that I didn't want to have anything to do with it besides live in it. Now that some time has gone by, I am finally ready to finish it. Here it goes....

What was the condo like when we moved in? Well, words can't describe the feelings I had as we discovered moldy walls and carpet, pee smelling bathrooms, crazy decorating, wallpapered doors, walls, and ceilings (yes-that's right I said wallpapered ceilings). The wallpaper I might I add, had been halfway ripped off then painted over. I think this next picture of the front entry light switch sums up the whole place for me.

These are the before and after pictures:

Kitchen


The Front Room



The Middle Room


The Master Bedroom


The Bathrooms





Condo Before


Condo After


And that sums it all up, folks. Time to "outen the lights."

Celebrate!!! Stache Syle???

Mark's dental class thought growing mustaches and having a "Stache" Party on the last day of finals would be a great way to celebrate the end of their 2nd year and 17 finals. Although it was pretty funny to see mustaches, it was not my kind of celebration. For me it was more like a celebration when Mark shaved that thing off! You can see what I mean in this next picture. Who wants to kiss that? :)

When Mark was finally done with school he had a week break and we celebrated for real. We decided to get up extra early and go see the sunrise at Fort Lauderdale Beach on his first day off. It was amazing!


I had a day off from work during that week and we got really lucky because on that one day off, there was one camp spot left at Bahia Honda State Park in the keys! We had wanted to go there for a long time but the campsites were always booked! It was beautiful! The water was so clear and shallow so it made snorkeling so fun!




That night we drove to Key West to see the sunset and have dinner.

We woke up extra early again the next day to see the sunrise in Bahia Honda. We were able to see it on top of the old highway that used to run through the keys.




I was so happy! Everything had worked out perfectly for this trip. Especially since I had heard the mosquitos were bad and I had only seen a total of two the whole trip. I was obviously wrong though because the next day I was in agony!!! I found out all those little gnats that were following me around the whole trip weren't really gnats. There is a little Florida bug called noseeums that live by the beach. They are even worse than mosquitos because they itch for SO much longer. It took almost 2 weeks for the itching to get better! My legs looked like I had the chicken pox and I will probably have scars from all the itching I couldn't help doing. How many bites did Mark get??? Zero of course.