Whirlwind

Out of nowhere, this past week turned into a whirlwind of a week hosting people at our house. First off, I noticed on Facebook that one of my childhood friends, Jessica (Wells) Rabun was in the Tampa area, so we met up for lunch on Thursday. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of us together. During my lunch with Jess and her family, I received a text from Robert telling me that his best friend, Spencer Jones and his fiance Hayley, would be coming down for a couple of nights to stay with us. So, they arrived late that evening and we had a great time hanging out the next day or so. We laid out by the pool, went out to dinner, and enjoyed the sunset on the beach before they had to go home.
Spencer & Hayley

After they left (Friday afternoon), that night Robert's friends from school dropped by unexpectedly and wanted to play some ping pong and pool. Afterwards, we were able to recover for one day before another unexpected visitor(s) arrived. This time the missionaries from our church decided to come over on Sunday evening for a visit/dinner. Just when I thought we were going to make it safe and sound through all of our visitors (Jess's 2 year old, friends, & 4 sweaty guys), one of the missionaries spilled half of a pitcher of bright red Koolaid all over our table, where it continued to pour off the side onto our ivory carpet....

YES, I know what you are thinking, it is as bad as it sounds. Luckily, Robert and I acted fast and we were able to get most of it out of the carpet. We will be trying round two tonight to see if we can get the now slightly pink spot out of the carpet. If you have any special cleaning secrets, I am all ears.

Other than that one "minor" incident, this past week was a lot of fun and we enjoyed staying busy. It was fun getting to interact with so many different people in such a short time frame.

Let's Make Some Waves

This weekend was spent out in the sun! We started it off with tennis, soaked up some sun at the beach, played 18 holes of golf, and then finished up the weekend with a boat ride out on the bay/gulf. We finally got a chance to take a boat ride around all the water that surrounds us. A lady from our church has a nice boat, and invited us out for a ride. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, and made us want a boat even more than we already do.

Captain Robert - I think he could get use to this. We had a wonderful weekend and wish we could play like we did everyday. We love the Florida sunshine!

Happy Anniversary

On Sunday, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Thanks for all the calls/cards. We appreciated it and are happy that our first two years of marriage have been such a blessing and some of the best years of our life.

Spur of the Moment

So this past weekend, we decided it would be a good time to make a drive up to Jacksonville. On Thursday night we called Robert's parents and said we were coming up. We arrived on Friday and had a wonderful night out eating with the Jones followed by a visit to our friend Spencer's new home. The following day was spent relaxing and playing in the pool.
Even Blizzard went swimming.
The boys had fun being boys. See how much fun you can have with just a floaty?

Robert will make a game out of anything.

Even with all the commotion, most of us were able to just relax and soak up some sun.

It was a fun trip where we ate out a lot, shopped a little, celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and visited family and friends. Robert's granny made us a beautiful quilt for our anniversary. It was very detailed and beautiful, she is such a sweetheart. Well, that pretty much sums up the whole weekend in a nut shell. It feels good to just get out of town for a little bit for some R & R. Except now I have to go on a diet. I ate way too much food this weekend!

My Favorite Time of Day

Besides the end of the work day, which just so happens to be just about around the same time.

Around 4 or 5 PM the sun starts making it's way over on the west side of our building. When it starts to set in the sky it makes the water sparkle like a thousand little diamonds shimmering in the sunlight. I love it, and every day I have to stop and stare as I am mesmerized by it's beauty. What can I say? I am all girl, and I love things that sparkle. I know the picture doesn't quite do it justice, but just imagine it a million times more beautiful and actually glittering.

Weekend Festivities

I love that the Atlanta Temple is closed for re-modeling because I keep getting friends from GA coming down to get married in the Orlando Temple instead. As a result, I get to be a part of all of their special days. This past weekend, we went to my friend Amy's wedding. We have known each since we were tiny little kiddos getting in trouble in Primary together. It was a beautiful and warm day outside and the rain held off just enough for everyone to settle in at the luncheon.

Some of the original GA group! It was great seeing everyone and catching up. After the luncheon and sending the bride and groom off for their cruise, Robert and I decided to spend the rest of our day at Epcot. Luckily it had rained a ton and continued to rain on us while we were at the park, so it wasn't that crowded. Luckily, we brought our ponchos! It ended up clearing up after 7pm, so we were able to see the firework show and walk around to all the countries.
The rest of the weekend was great. We got caught up on some movies like Dear John and Invictus, played tennis, went to the pool, and attended a church picnic where our girls held a bake sale for Girls Camp. We raised a good amount of money for camp, which is less than a month away!

Bump, Set, Spike, WIN

For the last 7 weeks or so, I have been playing 4 on 4 coed sand volleyball with some friends from Robert's school, Stetson. Last night we played our semi-final match, and won, which sent us to the championship game that night. Both matches went to 3 games - it was a hard fought battle, but we pulled it off!
I played the right side for both games. The first match I didn't play so hot, but after we pulled it out in a nail biter, I was determined to step up my game for the championship. Which thankfully, I did. I played much better down the stretch. In the end, I had to make a clutch play on match point in the championship game. It was 14-13 the other team, in the third game (which only goes to 15), and Kristin set me a beautiful ball which I put down for a kill. Phew, talk about being relieved that I made that play and didn't cost us the championship! So that took us to 14-14 where we ended up closing it out.

Service!

Here's the team minus two of our guys who had class that night.

My new friend, Kristin. She was our MVP! She had awesome sets and huge blocks! We will continue to play together in a summer league starting at the end of June.

The fan club and the team. We had the best fans who came out and supported us every week. It was a fun season, and I am looking forward to the competitive league in the summer out on the beach.

Highlights of the Matches:

(PS you do not have to keep reading. If you do, since this is kind of like a journal for me, you will have to put up with some of my ramblings that may only be significant to myself).

Brandon - aka team captain. He skipped class for us, and put down spike after spike. He passed great and put up some blocks for us as well. We could not have won without him.

Jennifer - what a good sport. She is completely a rec player, and the season started out a bit shaky for her. However, she totally stepped up to the challenge and progressed so much this season. She came through on some major points for us. In our semi match, she aced them to get match point and served it out for the win. In the final game, she dug this guys super tough serve, which resulted in a crucial sideout for us.

Kristin - In the championship game, she had two huge blocks on their best hitter. It totally got in his head, and I think really put the momentum on our side. We decided to play positions last night, and she graciously accepted to be setter, which she was fabulous at. She hussled her butt off, and gave Brandon and I some great sets to whail on even with a ref that calls everything.

Me - In the second match, I really started hitting well, which was a big relief. I hit some great down the line shots, and cross court. I had to play setter when Kristin was serving, and set a beautiful ball for Kristin in which she put down. The highlight of this was: I didn't get called for anything - my ball came off completely clean. Thank goodness because it was an important point and we needed that sideout and if you know me, my setting skills are not so hot.

All in all, we played 6 games last night. Each one going to a third and was usually tied up at 14 all in the end before someone finished it out. It was a great night of volleyball because we had some great rallies where everyone hussled and passed the ball in.