Halloween Fun

Lately, every Thursday night we have been getting together with a group of friends for dinner. We rotate house and food each week. This week it was Danny and Leigh's turn to host. It has been a blast hanging with each other, and we have started to become a group that does everything together. In lieu of Halloween, this week was dinner and pumpkin carving night.

My two closest girl friends in the area Leigh and Kristin.

We also had to make time for the FSU football game going on, as we had two big FSU fans in the house. Dinner was fabulous, our friend Danny smoked us some pork. It was amazing! We love our southern barbecue.

After dinner we got to work on carving our pumpkins.

The best part, not! No one likes cleaning out their pumpkins, but it is worth it in the end. Look at what hard work can turn into:

Our pumpkins now look great on the balcony all lit up, I love how I can see them all day. It definitely adds to the Halloween feel around the house.

Finding That Perfect One

On Monday night, Robert took me out on a fall date to pick out our pumpkins. HA! I wish it felt like fall, we are still in the high 80's, so even though it felt like summer, we tried to pretend. I miss the leaves changing and the temperatures cooling down, so I can crave those warm treats that come out this time of year. Knowing this, Robert tried to create a nice fall atmosphere for me by taking me out to a local pumpkin patch. I love going to pumpkin patches, even though these pumpkins had to be brought in from somewhere since FL's agriculture isn't really conducive to growing pumpkins.

Robert went for more of the bumpy look, so he could make his pumpkin look scary.

We had a fun evening picking out our pumpkins together.

It's important to pick out that perfect one, next step, carving them.

Happy Halloween!

The Boys of Fall

Besides studying, these boys stay busy playing fall flag football.

Team Huddle

Set hike!

It's a good day when you win.

Happy Birthday!

To Robert!

This past weekend we celebrated Robert's 24th birthday. We had to start early since his birthday actually falls on General Conference weekend, so we dragged it out as long as we could. (Click http://new.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng to find out more about or to watch General Conference and http://www.mormon.org to find out more about the LDS church).

To Start Off:

On Thursday night, we went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill with three other couples from Stetson. It was a blast and dinner was great. Not to mention when they brought out Robert's birthday treat, we were serenaded in Italian by our waiter. It got me excited for our trip to Italy next year. After dinner we headed back to our place for some ping pong, pool, presents, and cake. I made Robert a banana bread cake. I was sad I didn't take any pictures of our night out, so I have re-created it.

On Friday, Robert had the day off from his internship, so he went golfing with a buddy of his from school. That night we went out for ice cream (thanks to my sister and Ben for providing him with a gift card to his favorite ice cream place - Cold Stone Creamery) and a movie. We saw Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which we highly recommend and enjoyed.

On Saturday, we rolled out of bed had some cinnamon rolls and hung around the house until General Conference started. In between sessions, we went out for some snow cones and played tennis. That night we stayed up watching the endings to the big college football games.

Sunday started out with a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We watched some more General Conference and relaxed. It was such a great weekend, and it felt like it lasted for a long time. We both did not want to get up this morning and start our week again. I think Robert had a fabulous birthday and got completely spoiled, which is how it should be for such a great guy! I am so happy to have him in my life.

Some things you might not know about Robert:

His favorite candy bar is a Butterfinger.

He does not have any cousins.

He longs to throw a baseball around while in a china shop, so watch out!

His nickname in high school was Prep.

He loves animals and wants to own a dog, penguin, squirrel, and tiger.

He has a heart of a child.

He still flexes his muscles for me.

He has a Mickey Mouse shaped birth mark.

He loves to learn about gangs by watching Gangland on the History Channel.