I love...SeaWorld!

This past Saturday we decided to take a trip to Sea World. Back when I bought Robert's birthday present, the tickets to Busch Gardens, they were buy one get one free tickets to Sea World. It was a birthday gift that kept giving.

P.S. We forgot our camera, but luckily we had our iphone, so we were still able to get lots of pictures. However, they are just not the best quality! Thank goodness for camera phones, otherwise, I would have been really sad if we didn't get any pictures.

I was really excited to visit this park because I was six years old the last time I went to SeaWorld. Shamu was my favorite when I was little and still is! Who doesn't love Shamu?

It was another perfect day at a park with no rain, front row parking, perfect weather, and the lines were once again minimal. We rode every ride in less that 15 minutes and in the front row, except for Atlantis (we will get to that later).

Word to the wise: if you plan on arranging a family vacation to Orlando to visit all the parks, go during October - November (not during thanksgiving) and you will get to do everything you want without waiting in huge lines!

The dolphin show was the first show we went to, and we loved it! I love dolphins because I think they are such happy animals. Robert and I even got to pet them later in the dolphin exhibit.

Just showing off my animal trainer moves...

Manta was a really fun roller-coaster and our favorite.

Now, the infamous Atlantis ride, which I did not ride in the front two rows because according to the park website, these are the only spots where you get drenched. So, I thought we would be fine in the back, and the park employee agreed with us. No worries, right? I mean, I saw others getting off the ride without water damage. However, this was not what the gods of Atlantis had in store for me. As you can see in the above picture, there is a large drop that causes all this water to shoot up and splash everywhere. Well, you may be thinking well of course, the water splashed you when you fell from that large tower. No, no I came out unscathed, just like I had hoped. Robert and I were both dry as could be. So, I am thinking we survived, and no worries just a little bit left in the ride. Just one more dip.

Well that dip is why I am writing this novel. Unfortunately for us, we were not as lucky on timing as those good folks in the picture above (the ones riding on the left going up back into the tower) because when the boat behind us hit the bottom of the hill and splashed all that water into the air. That water went only one place, not at the good people sitting in the back two rows, but at us! The water shot right over the wall and completely drenched me!

How could they? I was supposed to be safe, and I was minutes from finishing the ride. Lesson learned, water rides are not to be trusted!

Luckily, I managed to keep most of my hair dry, so I didn't look like a crazy frizz ball walking around, and my clothes dried up pretty fast. I think riding a couple more roller-coasters at fast speeds helped me speed up the air-drying process.

Here's the after math.

We also took some time to get a closer look at the marine wild life.

And to play around in the jungle gym...


In you go...

It's nice to feel like a kid sometimes. Who needs to grow up?

Here we are waiting for Believe, Shamu's show to start. We watched it twice. We also watched two other shows that day with acrobats, pirates, and sea lions.

There he is!

They are beautiful creatures to watch. The shows were amazing. Even though we saw the same show twice, it was completely different. There were different trainers and completely different tricks.

We decided to really test our luck with water and sit in the soak zone. Uhh...I think Shamu can really make a splash...what were we thinking?

Here it comes. Well we lucked out this time, the people next to us got soaked, but somehow we survived without a drop on us. It was hilarious. Everyone in front of us was soaked and left the show. We had so much fun!

The show was amazing, so inspiring, that I had to buy a t-shirt that said Believe!

I love my shirt.

Like I said, it was a perfect day.

Update!

I know it has been a while since I lasted posted, hence the four posts in a row. We have been pretty busy lately. What have we been doing lately that keeps us so busy you may ask? Well, let's see where to start...

We play trivia with a bunch of Robert's Stetson classmates every Tuesday night down at the Horse and Jockey. We love trivia night! On Wednesdays, we are down at the softball field for Robert's intramural games. They don't let spouses play, so you can find me in the bleachers cheering the team on. Don't worry I am not the only one in the stands. Lots of people come to hang out at the game, so I have gotten to know lots of Stetson students. I mean don't get me wrong, I would definitely rather be playing, but my life on the bleachers hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Fridays and Saturdays are filled with Rob's flag football and other fun things we schedule to fill up our weekend like going to the beach, laying out by the pool, shopping, tennis, golf, visiting family, etc. Then comes Sunday, the day of rest. For some...haha! Robert is branch clerk, so he gets up at 6 am to go to meetings and doesn't come home until well after church is over. I am serving as Relief Society 2nd counselor, so I am also staying pretty busy with that. Tired yet? I think someone is...

I caught him snoozing on the job.

Octoberfest of Birthdays

3 out of the 4 of Rob's immediate family members share the month of October as their birthday month, so we decided we would have a celebration to celebrate all three!

Robert's - October 2
Teri's - October 7

Austin's - October 25

Rob's grandparent's were there for the festivities as well.

Present time! I think everyone got gifts that they liked. :)

Our New Place - Picture Included

Come on in,

So, the place is still not a 100% finished, but I figured I cannot hold out forever on posting pictures. So, here you go! Just remember before this we lived in an itsy-bitsy tiny apartment, plus sold all of our furniture before moving, and oh ya now we have doubled our living space from before. Not that I am complaining. We love it here, but it is hard to decorate a place twice as big.

Our place is great, we now can have enough seats for guests to sit down. Remember those days visitors of old place? Well come stop by now, we got enough couch space for all!

Our combined dining/living room.

Our new entertainment center and TV that we love!

My kitchen that is twice the size of my last one! I love it!

Our guest bathroom before - (wall color: yellow).

And now...this is our one and only finished room! I know, not very impressive for how long we have been here, but after a while you just do not want to do any house projects.

Our new bedroom set that we bought with our wedding money. Thank you everyone who contributed. We love it!

Welcome to the danger zone! That's right, this is our spare bedroom/my office. In case you did not know, I work from home. I spend half of my days in here. It is also our place where everything that has not found a "home" is stored.

Well folks, that's all for now. I just realized I forgot a to take a picture of our bathroom. Well, I think you can do without that one, right? That's what I thought. It is so nice to have two bathrooms now, ours is located right in our bedroom.

Just for a grand finale, here is a Florida rainstorm, or I mean a wall of water dumping out of the sky. Visitors are welcome!

Brett and Sarah's Wedding

Brett and Sarah Boot married in the Orlando Temple on

October 10, 2009.

It was a beautiful wedding and my very first temple marriage to attend (besides my own, obviously). I was happy that it happened to be one of my closest friend's wedding. Seriously though, Brett and I go way back! From playing basketball after mutual, weekends at the lake, random crazy adventures with the boys, Italian music, my senior prom date, Zaxby's, etc. Oh, and we both married converts! We had such a great time, thanks for inviting us Brett and Sarah to share in your special day.

It was just so nice to see and catch up with some of my old school Georgia friends like Marcia. Literally, we have been friends since her 6 year old birthday party. Good times...

Congratulations you two! Best wishes for a bright and happy future together!

Happy Birthday Robert!

Robert's brithday was on October 2nd, and we had a fun time celebrating it. His birthday this year hit on a Friday, so I decided to surprise him with a fun filled day at Busch Gardens! I love surprises! I woke him up with a big box wrapped with shiny blue wrapping paper and watched eagerly as he tore it open to find two little tickets to Busch Gardens. He was so excited! I had to persuade him to still go to his early morning class, but promised I would pick him up right afterward. As soon as class got out, we hit the road for Tampa. In less than 45 minutes, we were outside the park ready to start our fun adventure.

It was the perfect day! Now that tourist season is over, and it being a weekday, we practically had the park to ourselves! We were totally spoiled. We were able to ride in the front of every ride. The longest line we waited in probably lasted 15 minutes tops. We got to the park at 11:30 and we were ready to leave by 5 because we had done everything there was to do!

This was my favorite rollercoaster of the day. It is called the Shriekra because the first drop is completely vertical. We definitely rode in the front on this one, and I was not prepared to be stopped right there where those people are in the picture for like 30 seconds. You had no idea when it was going to finally drop you! I loved it! It was so exhilerating to be on a rollar coaster and free fall at the same time.

Busch Gardens is not just about rollercoasters, but it has a zoo in the park as well. We were able to get up close to lots of animals. Which is perfect because if you know anything about Robert, it is that he loves animals. Hence why Busch Gardens made for the perfect gift!

Florida lawn ornaments...

A tree top jungle gym.

I had to get a picture of the hippo. I think they are fascinating.

Umm...this horse is huge! I look like a midget. This was one of Robert's favorite exhibits, he loved petting Bud the Clydesdale.

Haha, I love this picture, isn't he cute? I love meerkats. They are so funny to watch.

Best birthday cake ever! It was perfect size, we weren't stuck with a bunch of left overs and these cookies are to die for. They are Robert's and mine favorite! We are glad we live so close now to a Great American Cookie shop.


Happy Birthday Rob! I love you!