Whirlwind

The last week and a half felt like a blur, I was so busy. To start off the wonderful month of December, I traveled back to Utah for work.

(view from office window)

I spent three great days in meetings, catching up with fellow employees, and working hard. It was a lot of fun going out to dinner and seeing everyone. However, I didn't sleep well, so I started off my long and busy week off very tired. Fortunately, on Friday my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Shari were driving up to Ogden from Cedar City, so they swung by to pick me up in Provo on their way. I went up to Ogden to spend the weekend with my mom before traveling back home to Florida. Thanks to my Uncle Kevin who took care of Grandpa, so mom and I could get out on the town and go shopping.

We picked up Grandma Tolsma and had a great, but busy day shopping. I couldn't seem to find any jeans that I wanted to buy. Luckily, at the last store I found them! Now, I have a cute new pair of jeans. After our eventful day out shopping, we stopped by at this Nativity event being held at one of our Church's facilities.

It was beautiful. The people who put it together did a fabulous job. I loved seeing all the unique Nativities. Some came from diverse parts of the world. They had beautiful Christmas music playing in the background and it helped to really bring the true spirit of Christmas.

It was a quick trip, but we had some down time too. We had a make-over night, where I showed her how to style her hair and we learned some make-up tips.

Before I could leave, we had to get the tree(s) up. We had a peaceful evening decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. Even Grandpa had a great time rockin' out.

At the end of it all, it was time to go home. However, I misread my ticket (darn red eye flight) and missed my real flight. Luck was on my side though (minus the flight change fee) - they had just enough room to still get me home on the itinerary I wanted, so I avoided a major disaster there and made it back to Florida just in time to unpack...

Then pack up again, this time for Orlando. Robert had just completed his final when we headed over to the Baseball Winter Meetings. He was invited to attend the events and meetings as part of his new job at Minor League Baseball. It was a fun event to watch all the sports announcers report on the events and trades occurring, etc.

Needless to say, Robert was in heaven and had a wonderful time attending the meetings and trade show. The only downer was that he had to drive back and forth each day and night, but I think he will say it was well worth it.

After getting back from the meetings and unpacking, we packed up again and headed back to Orlando for our annual Disney trip with the Fountain family.

We had a fun filled weekend park hopping and celebrating the season together.

Brotherly love. Austin sure loves his Mickey Bars, his favorite treat at Disney.

What could be better than a hot and fresh Turkey leg? A free hot and fresh Turkey leg. That's right we scored this Turkey leg for free. Of course, we had to gobble and act like Turkeys in front of everyone, but it paid off. Robert was happy!

Best part of the trip - strolling down Hollywood Studios streets watching the dancing lights and playing in the snow. That's right, even in FL they can make it snow. :)

We had lots of luck on this trip, we received free fast pass tickets because I was wearing a BYU hoody, got right onto the Rockin' Roller-coaster, free parking, and more.

Merry Christmas!

Phew! That was one busy week and a half. Now onto the Holiday rush. I hope you all are enjoying your Holiday season.

Turkey Day

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with Robert's family at his grandparent's home.

What else do you do after eating a great meal? Play golf of course! It is starting to become a tradition now on Thanksgiving that we go out and hit the course for a few hours after dinner.

I have to brag, that Robert and I took 1st and 2nd this time in our little tournament we played.

We had a nice Thanksgiving spending it with family. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend too much time together. Robert's finals started right away, so we returned home and Robert began his marathon of studying.

So that left me with a lot of time to...

Sleep and try to pre-occupy myself with craft projects.

I stayed busy making block letters and flowers. I also got all of our Christmas decorations up. It's a good thing I had a lot of things to do because I would have been so bored. Robert literally studied all day long.

Here are a few of my finished products:

Finals are almost over, Robert has one more left!

Tri-Champion

Another semester for Robert is about to draw to a close, but before the studying can begin, Stetson Intramurals have to finish their playoffs.

And so the story of Rob's best semester begins...

Service!

Double trouble.

Robert and his doubles partner Aaron Swift won the Stetson Doubles Tournament, and won a $50 gift card to Sports Authority. (It's good to know our tuition money is well spent).

Batter up!

Apart from playing in the softball league, Robert helped with the umpiring.

Come on ump that was a strike!

Robert lead the team in pitching. MVP :)

They did it! Last year this team lost in the finals, but not this year.

More? Yes, the very next day after the softball finals, Robert's team won football too.

Robert is very proud that he can now say he is a tri-champion.

To cap it all off, Robert was asked to stay on as a permanent intern at Minor League Baseball (MiLB). His dream come true! He will continue to work for MiLB through each semester and summer as a paid intern until he graduates, and he will also be doing a judicial internship with a federal trial court judge.

Then after all that? Well, we hope all that hard work continues to pay off and he can continue to work in the sports field. I am so proud of all his hard work and efforts to pursue his dream.

Do you want to see my Pokemon?

That is all I heard last weekend, "Jo Jo, do you want to see my Pokemons?" I went home last weekend to Georgia, and my two cute nephews wanted to show me and tell me all about their latest interest of Pokemon cards. In case you do not know what these are, and frankly, I still have no clue...I have provided a picture. They are cards with strange creatures with special powers, etc. They never tired of showing them off, and in lieu of their excitement, I have dedicated this post to them. Here are my two favorite Pokemons:

Keatnaz - 130 HP

Has the ability to rock your socks at Toy Story 3 - the video game. Don't be fooled by being his partner in the game, if you are too slow, he may just leave you behind to fend for yourself. He is a sneaky challenger, so watch out!

Special Power: Speed

Kadenog - 120 HP

He destroys and conquers (Bam Bam). He does not give up easily and will challenge any worthy opponent.

Special power: brute strength

After all that Pokemon exposure from the boys, I needed some girl time. My niece Kayla and I had a salon party. Just in time!

First, she gave me the royal treatment, and then painted my fingernails.

I followed up with painting her toes and fingernails as well.

Nothing caps off a party better than eating some brownie mix!

Thanks to Lori and Jason for picking me up, letting me come crash their house, drive their car all around, and for all the yummy food they provided! I had a blast hanging out with you guys all weekend.

So the whole reason why I made a trip up to Georgia was so I could go to Alabama to see the long time high school sweethearts, Kitty and Gavin get married!

The happy couple! It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Gavin had everyone crying at the wedding. You can definitely tell the love these two share for each other.

At the reception.

It was great to be home. I was able to see lots of friends and spend time with family. I loved being able to get back. I miss the "south" a lot and all the beautiful trees, especially in the fall when they change colors. Florida weather never really changes, although it would have been nice if I could have brought a little warm weather with me as it was a pretty cold day for a wedding. It was a great weekend trip and I am glad I was able to go.

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!