tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24006792794641250082024-02-07T14:42:49.668-08:00Courtney and JohnCourtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-24033554139726561092011-06-14T10:34:00.001-07:002011-06-14T10:47:27.190-07:00Mile-A-Minute<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHXbnFl0QBdb1y_GId6xi3UhXZXKUSWSg3Gy89xbQxK_AT6ShjVUnRORw0HBzTj4seCBYL6qLXxX8ciw8cGb_a0OxiGfsmTKEntEuGzZZ5i3ATESDMmosklvjEwDQm53Pp_Th0T58rA2-S/s1600/DSCN0890.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHXbnFl0QBdb1y_GId6xi3UhXZXKUSWSg3Gy89xbQxK_AT6ShjVUnRORw0HBzTj4seCBYL6qLXxX8ciw8cGb_a0OxiGfsmTKEntEuGzZZ5i3ATESDMmosklvjEwDQm53Pp_Th0T58rA2-S/s400/DSCN0890.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618130693286629058" border="0" /></a><br />I have been trying to broaden my horizons lately by learning new skills. One of the new things I have learned to do is crochet. I have made two blankets now and am working on a third. I just finished this one about a week ago. My first project was a baby afghan and I am doing another one now. John taught me also how to turn bowls on the lathe and I have made two so far. I am not great at it but that's what practice is for! I still have a two quilts to finish too. Definitely keeping busy!<br /><br />If you would like directions for this pattern just let me know. I typed them up with pictures so that I would be able to make it again.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-29378376968368479512011-01-01T15:35:00.000-08:002011-01-01T15:54:18.685-08:00My New Year's ResolutionsI will post later about everything that happened here for the holidays but for now I wanted to put in writing my new year's resolutions:<br /><br />Physical:<br />1. The Goal: Get fit and make exercise a priority.<br /> The Plan: Exercise 3- 5 times per week and increase intensity as necessary<br />2. The Goal: Lose 10 lbs: my pre-wedding weight (why does marriage make us fat?)<br /> The Plan: Reduce calories, eliminate junk food and exercise<br />3.The Goal: Don't drink my calories.<br /> The Plan: Drink more water. No soda or sugary drinks (an <span style="font-style: italic;">occasional</span> hot chocolate is okay but that's it!)<br /><br />Mental:<br />1. The Goal: Keep up to date in my field<br /> The Plan: read articles and websites weekly to see what is going on and stay fresh on terminology<br />2. The Goal: Learn a new subject<br /> The Plan: Spend my down time more productively and use online and audio lectures to learn a new subject - I am excited to pick something new to learn about :)<br /><br />Spiritual:<br />1. The Goal: Read scriptures more regularly<br /> The Plan: Just do it! Haven't come up with anything good yet :S<br />2. The Goal: Make our home more Christ centered<br /> The Plan: Read scriptures and pray together, have FHE weekly and monitor what we watch on TV<br /><br />Finacial:<br />1. The Goal: Put more money into savings<br /> The Plan: Stick to a budget and prioritize needs over wants. No impulse shopping.<br />2. The Goal: Budget more effectively<br /> The Plan: make a budget that we can stick to, evaluate the budget each month, use only cash on expenses to help track money more easilyCourtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-60309876549516560112010-12-10T11:58:00.000-08:002010-12-10T13:30:54.004-08:00A week with my niece<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Disclaimer: I have a ton of cute pics to put up but they take FOREVER to post so I am giving up!<br /><br /></span>Day 1: The first Friday of December I met my sister half way between her house and ours to pick up my niece Shayla. She stayed with us for about a week while her parents closed on their house and moved. We took Shayla to the ward Christmas party Friday night to see Santa. Carrie wasn't sure when she would get a chance to take her so she was excited for us to take her and get some pictures with Santa. Well, at 18 months I guess she is a little not into Santa (which she pronounces "Santan" and it sounds a lot like Satan) more like a lot not into Santa. We tried to get her to take a picture with him and she cried almost immediately after we put her on his lap. We even tried to prep her by telling her that Santa would give her candy, I think we told her that about 2 dozen times. It still didn't make a difference.<br /><br />Day 2: John's birthday was on Tuesday so went celebrated on Saturday by going to Stone Mountain park. We got the day passes which let us do all of the activities in the park. We started out going up the skylift and walked around the top of the mt. It was so cold and windy up there that my eyes were streaming tears. They have a plantation set up where they moved old houses from different parts of GA to make a plantation like it would have been back in the early 1800's. It was neat getting to see all of the antique furniture and old buildings. After the plantation, we went to the 4D theater where we saw the Polar Express. Then we rode on the train and played mini golf. Shayla really liked putting the balls in the hole and stealing the balls as we were trying to play. She also liked running around on the course while other people were trying to play. There was a parade at the end of the day with Santa and different Christmasy people. And of course they had mistletoe. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9LnKQoyOc2z1Is42wRmU2O6gp9q8OTvsWS5PcCDtDE8U0nHuR4kz42Q5r3cWjy_T8SABqydcyKVqj3zsTqQNy0MLRFRbdPMsQxoMukLU3H3X4RJdpnpN0R44dgEpZi39_2ZsWuwobfhe/s1600/DSCN0751.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw9LnKQoyOc2z1Is42wRmU2O6gp9q8OTvsWS5PcCDtDE8U0nHuR4kz42Q5r3cWjy_T8SABqydcyKVqj3zsTqQNy0MLRFRbdPMsQxoMukLU3H3X4RJdpnpN0R44dgEpZi39_2ZsWuwobfhe/s400/DSCN0751.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549155799143321858" border="0" /></a>I guess a fake 'Satan' is okay but not a real one.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6fAgzvzMB6pdGA2RiRJPYvMSijFppqTy9yfV0O7XEWsi_IP54SUiXvoIfyzf1gR-CEf6g9N2iBKMK4CMt7G8rpDIUgL5SZJKYFbt7LqNtwHW1Nsj9alAAi1KBHxojkp-J1UcwMKXQR2a/s1600/DSCN0750.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP6fAgzvzMB6pdGA2RiRJPYvMSijFppqTy9yfV0O7XEWsi_IP54SUiXvoIfyzf1gR-CEf6g9N2iBKMK4CMt7G8rpDIUgL5SZJKYFbt7LqNtwHW1Nsj9alAAi1KBHxojkp-J1UcwMKXQR2a/s400/DSCN0750.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549161527945699346" border="0" /></a><br />Day 3: On Sunday we went to decorate Christmas trains and houses with a family that has sick children. This was the same family we did things with on Thanksgiving. This family makes me very grateful for my health and blessings. It is amazing to me how well the kids all get along with each other and how nice and polite they all are. Even with everything going on in their lives they still have such good attitudes.<br /><br />Day 4: On Monday Shayala and I made sugar cookies and decorated them with sprinkles which she dumped on the floor. After that, I decorated the cookies and let her eat them. We took the cookies to our neighbors for FHE and so that they could see Shayla. The neighbors on both sides of us love her and have us visit every time she comes. She always racks in the goodies when we take her to see them and this time was no exception.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAaEr1WGgAmo0kgin-IsTDF7mQtpJ0zolYI5mdBtVIkTPyFcIohxpQaFsNtFYQFIpnbbGebcAF620apFYQhyphenhyphen4NQUwikoplRO0_NlLjQbNXbUegSDlX68Mq_KW0PBGuD2bp0C1vzpQ5uQx/s1600/DSCN0755.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAaEr1WGgAmo0kgin-IsTDF7mQtpJ0zolYI5mdBtVIkTPyFcIohxpQaFsNtFYQFIpnbbGebcAF620apFYQhyphenhyphen4NQUwikoplRO0_NlLjQbNXbUegSDlX68Mq_KW0PBGuD2bp0C1vzpQ5uQx/s400/DSCN0755.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549150366187952706" border="0" /></a><br />Day 5: Tuesday was John's 25th birthday. We had a little party for him after he got off work. He requested chicken pot pie for his birthday (he requested it last year too). I don't make it very often because I have never found a recipe that I really like. I got a recipe off the internet and tried it but think I will have to go back to square one for next year's attempt. After dinner we played a few games and had cake. We left Shayla with my parents while we went to see the new Harry Potter. I think splitting it into two parts was a good idea since it let them go into more detail in the story.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQEkJA1mqYEOmlh7sk-mUqW0JY4ZBDKhU8fbnnQLIP_elyB8FlQynQ8oLqext9b84mvm-IY3QbW5AbEznza7BqjvMGrQETldP2WKkEdIGAjogvZKPi5iDbHd8i8CmIkrz9zWURAAF2Z0h/s1600/DSCN0759.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQEkJA1mqYEOmlh7sk-mUqW0JY4ZBDKhU8fbnnQLIP_elyB8FlQynQ8oLqext9b84mvm-IY3QbW5AbEznza7BqjvMGrQETldP2WKkEdIGAjogvZKPi5iDbHd8i8CmIkrz9zWURAAF2Z0h/s400/DSCN0759.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549147385239907682" border="0" /></a><br />Day 6: Wednesday we got an email from a company that John has applied to work with requesting that he come for some preliminary testing on Thursday afternoon. We weren't supposed to bring Shayla home till the weekend when we went up to help Carrie and Brian move. We decided if John was going to go up to SC we might as well bring her back and help them move that night instead. That evening we watched a movie (which she pronounces "boobie") at Shayla's request. She just started liking movies and asked to watch them all week. Her favorite was 101 Dalmations because it was a doggie movie.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhAhgmYbaHb1Hy-3t96MXLAQZMZv4LTghhyAUygkixr1aw79gUBVK7cMTaaEbQxbpjlYZS61zLEotTYfKv_ITJQ_kVKFcs-IZdx_JDTOAYON90uRSsTXimNQHjB66c1HnO036q8Aw7zcy9/s1600/DSCN0756.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhAhgmYbaHb1Hy-3t96MXLAQZMZv4LTghhyAUygkixr1aw79gUBVK7cMTaaEbQxbpjlYZS61zLEotTYfKv_ITJQ_kVKFcs-IZdx_JDTOAYON90uRSsTXimNQHjB66c1HnO036q8Aw7zcy9/s400/DSCN0756.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549148466555236562" border="0" /></a><br />Day 7: I started getting all of Shayla's things packed when my dad came downstairs and said that my mom was not feeling well and needed to be taken to the doctor. My dad, John and I were going to go up to SC to help them move but we decided that someone needed to stay here with my mom and since I don't have very large muscles it was decided that I would be the one to stay. So I finished getting her all packed up and we ate breakfast together. While we were eating she randomly says "Go Gators"! I had told her to say it a few times in the week but she knows all by herself now who to cheer for. I feel like my week was a success :) It was fun to have her here but I am glad to have time to myself again!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhAhgmYbaHb1Hy-3t96MXLAQZMZv4LTghhyAUygkixr1aw79gUBVK7cMTaaEbQxbpjlYZS61zLEotTYfKv_ITJQ_kVKFcs-IZdx_JDTOAYON90uRSsTXimNQHjB66c1HnO036q8Aw7zcy9/s1600/DSCN0756.JPG"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAaEr1WGgAmo0kgin-IsTDF7mQtpJ0zolYI5mdBtVIkTPyFcIohxpQaFsNtFYQFIpnbbGebcAF620apFYQhyphenhyphen4NQUwikoplRO0_NlLjQbNXbUegSDlX68Mq_KW0PBGuD2bp0C1vzpQ5uQx/s1600/DSCN0755.JPG"><br /></a>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-8391053032163423482010-11-28T19:33:00.001-08:002010-11-28T20:06:00.516-08:00My Birthday WeekendThis time of year is crazy for most people with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all within a few weeks of each other. Well, we in the Gordon household wanted to make things exciting... why don't have both of our birthdays, our anniversary plus the normal holidays oh and moving and watching my 18 month old niece for a week all in a six week time frame? It makes for a crazy couple of weeks but so far it's started off well.<br /><br />Around the beginning of Oct. all of the pecan trees start dropping their nuts and continue through the beginning of Dec. I started collecting the pecans from my parent's four trees. While I was out there, I also started picking my neighbor's up for her too since she is 94 years old and can't get out and do it. Well, it turns out it was a good choice because this same neighbor has a cabin up in north Georgia in a town called Helen. Our neighbor didn't have anyone using her cabin for the weekend of my birthday and she was very grateful for us picking up her pecans that she let us stay in her cabin for the weekend. My family has had a time share in Helen for about 20 years but they just sold it and it is a really cute town to visit so this was a treat for us.<br /><br />We left for Helen when John got off work on Friday and got there around 7. I had made dinner to take up there and we spent the evening stuffing ourselves and sitting by the fire. The town of Helen is Alpine themed and all of the shops and buildings have to have alpine themes. There aren't many chain stores or restaurants either. Also the Chatahoochee River runs right through the town which people float down in the summer. We went window shopping on Saturday in the town and found a few Christmas presents for our sisters. We also went on a short hike around a lake in Amicalola State Park. We stayed through Sunday morning which was my actual birthday. Sunday afternoon we had oldest sister, Christy, and her husband, James, over for dinner. My mom made an awesome dinner and birthday cake.<br /><br />A few days later was Thanksgiving. John had to work which was pretty crappy but I guess that's part of being an adult. My parents and I went to one of my mom's friend's house for about an hour to make Thanksgiving goodies with her grandchildren. We made little turkeys out of chocolate rice crispy treats and pilgrim hats out of cookies and chocolate covered marshmallows. When we got back Christy and James were there and John came home soon after. He was able to get off at one instead of three which was awesome since the turkey got done much earlier than expected. My aunt also came but everything was done so early that we started a few minutes before she got there. We spent the afternoon playing games and went shopping at Michael's. The only Black Friday shopping we did was the midnight rush at Walmart. I have tried to come up with something exciting to get for Christmas but there isn't anything that we need or want badly enough that we don't already have.<br /><br />We put up the Christmas tree on Friday as per tradition. We also helped my parents put up and decorate their tree. Another tradition we have which I always forget is eating Mexican food on Black Friday. We started it when we were dating and John remembers every year and I forget every year. Anyway, I will put up pictures of everything later on, it takes too long and it's getting late.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-23562399519985302032010-10-30T20:18:00.001-07:002010-10-30T20:34:12.714-07:00We LOVE Halloween!John and I carved pumpkins a few weeks ago with two other couples and just didn't get it out of our system (see previous post). Today was the ward Trunk or Treat party and they had a pumpkin carving contest. John and I being the competitive people that we are decided that we wanted to enter. We each decorated a pumpkin. Mine was a headless horseman with a flaming pumpkin head and John's was a witch making a potion and putting a newt into the cauldron.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGXfrFfkq9LqOzDbA4UWrLB_ghosuyvsiyaf63pFSyqawjWn_a9wlHdZR9wwLqNhSJlpDBst-tyY6KWR95rvflaelL6sbQ7Pq4cehoro9SaOjLdvPjMQOFOxwHHsHwM24vs9d7y9pIFwEY/s1600/PA300224.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGXfrFfkq9LqOzDbA4UWrLB_ghosuyvsiyaf63pFSyqawjWn_a9wlHdZR9wwLqNhSJlpDBst-tyY6KWR95rvflaelL6sbQ7Pq4cehoro9SaOjLdvPjMQOFOxwHHsHwM24vs9d7y9pIFwEY/s400/PA300224.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534044834428427874" border="0" /></a><br />HEADS UP<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUEJgmRjJ3MjqkoDrhKS1TeNsaeRLSxqQgXZpDAForfR6FdlNC0bJNNOcicm9yReNY2xtBNcUoZiud6EJdF4yP0JvLdzZEaWeTGBIe-SYNerNfeWePKOz0-P_rlQkm9fXiIlhIOQnx2oq/s1600/PA300223.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUEJgmRjJ3MjqkoDrhKS1TeNsaeRLSxqQgXZpDAForfR6FdlNC0bJNNOcicm9yReNY2xtBNcUoZiud6EJdF4yP0JvLdzZEaWeTGBIe-SYNerNfeWePKOz0-P_rlQkm9fXiIlhIOQnx2oq/s400/PA300223.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534045321837855346" border="0" /></a><br />EYE OF NEWT<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRwXl7aWmNvkBElbNKLJqMlMSFG3vBRIoMk2GExKHRQ13WkquSZGhpixzvbDD0q3ZBbU0KGJTgqNGthE4VcJF-mGBTOvsnMcT8_v9WcIF5oeEaHG2ep0Y95K_tICXh55Rpdha9Uav9Tfb/s1600/PA300221.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRwXl7aWmNvkBElbNKLJqMlMSFG3vBRIoMk2GExKHRQ13WkquSZGhpixzvbDD0q3ZBbU0KGJTgqNGthE4VcJF-mGBTOvsnMcT8_v9WcIF5oeEaHG2ep0Y95K_tICXh55Rpdha9Uav9Tfb/s400/PA300221.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534046470998238194" border="0" /></a><br />We also dressed as Beauty and the Beast. I pulled my Belle costume out of the vault and we turned one of John's suits into a Beast costume. We spent quite a while painting his face this afternoon and I made him some furry hands which shed everywhere and were super fun to wear since he couldn't really pick things up with them on. He won the scariest costume and my pumpkin won the carving contest. A few people wanted to get pictures with us in our costumes which was cool but a little weird when we didn't even know some of them. One little girl looked at my costume and I think she thought she was in Disney World. A lot of kids were scared of John with his face painted but a couple kids wanted to pet his hands. All in all I think it was a pretty successful costume.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKzPqgwo7sebBycnuvyS0MKmq5VMEpdAB7Ylfelh3LLIvE_hXxZe9Z2kND5eER2kEF-u3jGqjuttvSvIQ-F47Z_Jv6oK208ug9tGh-YM0b2x_ycrvIOlfeO7wdpIw7vMrP4ihd42imwsr/s1600/DSCN0623.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMKzPqgwo7sebBycnuvyS0MKmq5VMEpdAB7Ylfelh3LLIvE_hXxZe9Z2kND5eER2kEF-u3jGqjuttvSvIQ-F47Z_Jv6oK208ug9tGh-YM0b2x_ycrvIOlfeO7wdpIw7vMrP4ihd42imwsr/s400/DSCN0623.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534047290490190514" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzzvN3RdlTj4N8gCUcMMqkt7I30NvvSIUrUr5fDYvhfKNsxMkjMuxec1e5K24RiJYECS2DNvS8gdKODIl-khj0px9kxSovv5jRSGyKJ63Xrs63RJc3J1yGY_6q1_XBvzm6B1myHJrCw2r/s1600/DSCN0621.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzzvN3RdlTj4N8gCUcMMqkt7I30NvvSIUrUr5fDYvhfKNsxMkjMuxec1e5K24RiJYECS2DNvS8gdKODIl-khj0px9kxSovv5jRSGyKJ63Xrs63RJc3J1yGY_6q1_XBvzm6B1myHJrCw2r/s400/DSCN0621.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534047743902376658" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrZ74ccLmYR1JumgVOQj9cxXmyPYO7E7PNPs3McMmxd-hPzfql0ojlP06EYSxxqZM_fZLtUQsZxFw3C3hxsWX-PJT5MVlaHy91EM7QCGT9ZfZ-4CNvLMwPlswFjdt1W87GaYNixUH96jW/s1600/DSCN0626.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQrZ74ccLmYR1JumgVOQj9cxXmyPYO7E7PNPs3McMmxd-hPzfql0ojlP06EYSxxqZM_fZLtUQsZxFw3C3hxsWX-PJT5MVlaHy91EM7QCGT9ZfZ-4CNvLMwPlswFjdt1W87GaYNixUH96jW/s400/DSCN0626.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534048204387331330" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Also, for John's work they had a little halloween party on Friday. He dressed up for that as an 80's workout man. His costume was very... uh, interesting. I don't think he knew they were doing a contest but he won first place and got a $25 Home Depot gift card. </div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-17016828477069645452010-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:002010-10-30T20:09:14.965-07:00CampingLast weekend John and I went camping with my sister Carrie, her husband Brian, and my niece Shayla. We went camping in North GA in between here and Greenville (where Carrie and Brian live). The plan was to meet in the afternoon and camp Friday night then go our separate ways on Saturday. No surprise here - plans changed.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Carrie and I had talked on Thursday morning to finalize plans and were planning on meeting at the camp ground around three. That afternoon I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that Carrie was coming over that night. "Carrie who?" was my response. I was totally confused because there had been no mention of that when I talked to her. Carrie and Brian ended up getting here on Thursday night because they wanted to do a little work on their car Friday before we went camping. Things with the car ended up taking longer than expected so John and I took Shayla with us and went to set up camp. John had a cold and wasn't feeling well so I got to drive. We realized when we were already on our way that we didn't have the address to the campground to program into our GPS so we had a super fun time trying to find the place with the directions from their website... their directions should definitely be rewritten! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CVpSOscGwf_0hYRdZr1brdKc7e4XGoTI7aEtEOjaeVgVB4yQPTWnEHiLaSVpPlWfsfySBkJgT5QArCnj9bmxABnaKj2EVdFOdfVxaKSaUx2wfp3eTKrlwFBURQCJabk-BdYNZTf-gNnQ/s1600/DSCN0581.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CVpSOscGwf_0hYRdZr1brdKc7e4XGoTI7aEtEOjaeVgVB4yQPTWnEHiLaSVpPlWfsfySBkJgT5QArCnj9bmxABnaKj2EVdFOdfVxaKSaUx2wfp3eTKrlwFBURQCJabk-BdYNZTf-gNnQ/s400/DSCN0581.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534034861540970722" border="0" /></a>We had a really nice campsite on the lake. The grounds were really nice and the bathrooms were even clean! When we got there it was my job to occupy Shayla and collect firewood while John was trying to pitch the tent. Periodically we would wonder over to check things out and when I would get near where the tent was I thought it smelled like gas. We got our fire started and our tinfoil dinners cooking while Carrie and Brian were on their way there. That night we did the normal camping things... fire...dutchoven... tinfoil dinner...smores...ghost stories (okay no ghost stories). Oh and we also burned an entire trashbag full of documents Carrie brought so that they didn't have to shred them all. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1fuxi1ifflFGHzBB1mJXBbwTpbWj9CQa0uEUJTjyWYLiqAh0rTzQB29fsNhktDFY55Kv-TLcYEeotq8V7PMMQuFcqcytu67f1zfM1HgOUbmqv-eN4M3gfoY14kWXK3wxGFvjxJm0e1RY/s1600/DSCN0585.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1fuxi1ifflFGHzBB1mJXBbwTpbWj9CQa0uEUJTjyWYLiqAh0rTzQB29fsNhktDFY55Kv-TLcYEeotq8V7PMMQuFcqcytu67f1zfM1HgOUbmqv-eN4M3gfoY14kWXK3wxGFvjxJm0e1RY/s400/DSCN0585.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534035895397859682" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJ2zLv3CVpD1TxlYqfE_NH833jEAkB6tCIuHDh9ClJL1XrLNRLZu5bnkzlLuAaDah-FpuC7oR4F0A9qjcyRMNgYKvVaLE33HR4MTpkUO49nZVXhvmaj1Va-7s0XbsdPf8lDuaTvQ-YNA6/s1600/DSCN0587.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJ2zLv3CVpD1TxlYqfE_NH833jEAkB6tCIuHDh9ClJL1XrLNRLZu5bnkzlLuAaDah-FpuC7oR4F0A9qjcyRMNgYKvVaLE33HR4MTpkUO49nZVXhvmaj1Va-7s0XbsdPf8lDuaTvQ-YNA6/s400/DSCN0587.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534037036557578610" border="0" /></a>The next morning the guys were in charge of breakfast while us ladies huddled around the fire. The temps had gotten down into the 40s. Not too bad but cold enough that the fire felt very nice. They made us pancakes, bacon, and potatoes. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3DpfFAF6kuGRnhWaRiXmqUwhgGPVLXIOxkkBkshFxbiyYkyxATz1Km8dUTxZJgAEftFqnIp0cppT2pFdLEjKEsN41LLUnCnf9TM4EUw6WH0jzBRS3aSHfMUcNp_ipfiN_EkGl_4L9Vyf/s1600/DSCN0588.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3DpfFAF6kuGRnhWaRiXmqUwhgGPVLXIOxkkBkshFxbiyYkyxATz1Km8dUTxZJgAEftFqnIp0cppT2pFdLEjKEsN41LLUnCnf9TM4EUw6WH0jzBRS3aSHfMUcNp_ipfiN_EkGl_4L9Vyf/s400/DSCN0588.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534039081288341362" border="0" /></a>After that we broke camp and that is when we realized that John who could not smell because of his cold had set up our tent on what must have been a gas leak from an RV that was there before us. We had to air out the tent for a few days when we got home to get the smell out... that is a whole other story that I am not going to get into... let's just say it rained unexpectedly while it was airing out... more like poured.<br /><br />Pancake Face. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL5fQ0UvRLsBsFWlfjLtABM0QZUavEi-fTjL7kiMPRHs3ZWzue27M9_yFrJdf5s_cvYvTXHU3ExuQ9hvicLN5cC9s29VwdkIK9Ks4KCBleqcTkCtoPKjk8AG4qXE0-dX0MN4D2aejg71l/s1600/DSCN0592.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL5fQ0UvRLsBsFWlfjLtABM0QZUavEi-fTjL7kiMPRHs3ZWzue27M9_yFrJdf5s_cvYvTXHU3ExuQ9hvicLN5cC9s29VwdkIK9Ks4KCBleqcTkCtoPKjk8AG4qXE0-dX0MN4D2aejg71l/s400/DSCN0592.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534039566485892946" border="0" /></a>While everyone was breaking camp, I took Shayla to the playground to occupy her. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSMWnO2GLqb61Mbg8_oQ5ke4JkmSQZ2jOKYeZEZhGq8546WFOs8uc22oLfi2DMaPw3isdfYpBkxUc_1ClfLlJAJ0V-Cir4PrFBG7EA3ESZlN8UncvuEVGg51gxUj3XxojyVyNhL7Dw5UC0/s1600/DSCN0597.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSMWnO2GLqb61Mbg8_oQ5ke4JkmSQZ2jOKYeZEZhGq8546WFOs8uc22oLfi2DMaPw3isdfYpBkxUc_1ClfLlJAJ0V-Cir4PrFBG7EA3ESZlN8UncvuEVGg51gxUj3XxojyVyNhL7Dw5UC0/s400/DSCN0597.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534041639776175970" border="0" /></a>She was very funny and tried to use the little bridge as a slide and was pretty disappointed when it didn't work like a normal slide. This was after she had already been down the real slide. What can I say - kids are weird. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92FsxmBwIkwHhYJdX7msiJuXTN-AcZzJfqF_Orz9Fw4qGdX6jYXnogDDkR3LpDTRQ2mBYeO0axD2E3fqIzJGSnBh7JEHUv3F5OZT0oZxk4z30GQAw-j8SyUeTD7CXySg3xYIjnYeicCrX/s1600/DSCN0595.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92FsxmBwIkwHhYJdX7msiJuXTN-AcZzJfqF_Orz9Fw4qGdX6jYXnogDDkR3LpDTRQ2mBYeO0axD2E3fqIzJGSnBh7JEHUv3F5OZT0oZxk4z30GQAw-j8SyUeTD7CXySg3xYIjnYeicCrX/s400/DSCN0595.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534040902273069666" border="0" /></a></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-36426970725479284512010-10-16T16:01:00.000-07:002010-10-16T17:17:17.920-07:00TravelingThe last few months has been filled with traveling for John and I. We have made several trips to South Carolina to start the moving process and to visit Carrie, Brian and Shayla. I also made a trip out to Arizona for 10 days to visit my brother Jeremy and his family and to see his new son's blessing. Then we went to Florida to visit John's family for his parent's 40th Anniversary party.<br /><br />My mom, dad, sisters Carrie and Kelley, my niece Shayla and I went out to visit my brother Jeremy and his family for about a week and a half. Jeremy and Jamie had baby #3 in late July and it was a little boy named Carter Allen Morriss. He was about 5 weeks old when we got there and TINY! I forgot the made them that small. We stayed at a time share for part of the time we were there down in Sedona. My parents and Jeremy's family traded off going back and forth between the time share and their house in Sedona. Carrie and I stayed there most of the time and we had a good time swimming and hanging out. This is the view from the center of town. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6xwR4EzERi69GKCyWQyPv_HmmXAsGcb5c5qDJ9qaAomneGhbzWQPNk67aE9RE60hg1KxMg3P_JH8b9qUUvwTx65QilVS-pcpj11DsrJ91Q2d3v0Iooy_n0Sc5a64uz_Eo_Xn_jjAw9AZ/s1600/DSCN0439.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6xwR4EzERi69GKCyWQyPv_HmmXAsGcb5c5qDJ9qaAomneGhbzWQPNk67aE9RE60hg1KxMg3P_JH8b9qUUvwTx65QilVS-pcpj11DsrJ91Q2d3v0Iooy_n0Sc5a64uz_Eo_Xn_jjAw9AZ/s400/DSCN0439.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528785898034686722" border="0" /></a>I had a lot of time to spend with my nieces and we took them to play at the mall playground one night.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Makayla is almost 4.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aaWOXTDVbhf4vOy2T9_egEafL0CePFMGxwfi4BELwZvBiBlxFZy0VBNLkM0R8IkJf7U57Oztx1VBXwBXZvI4T5S-WPFHMR4EmhD_FHyMQ8vAgqFLWvFWfdFaHvHJlwKhuQE9wn52Sj8M/s1600/DSCN0469.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aaWOXTDVbhf4vOy2T9_egEafL0CePFMGxwfi4BELwZvBiBlxFZy0VBNLkM0R8IkJf7U57Oztx1VBXwBXZvI4T5S-WPFHMR4EmhD_FHyMQ8vAgqFLWvFWfdFaHvHJlwKhuQE9wn52Sj8M/s400/DSCN0469.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528796523522403106" border="0" /></a> Natalie is 2 1/2 and Shayla is 18 months. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHlaKTuMy2LXQlu0d14UrkO9Gi35lZOM8UADjIHHkgFKn_N83Xox5otVM2KiHzJrDOxJLb7npA3O8MfsBVqFn2I19MaUHXfQM6tLaZ0gXSEsFSnT3rUV7TqSi0mt7bup2neTZheqFhLYh/s1600/DSCN0485.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHlaKTuMy2LXQlu0d14UrkO9Gi35lZOM8UADjIHHkgFKn_N83Xox5otVM2KiHzJrDOxJLb7npA3O8MfsBVqFn2I19MaUHXfQM6tLaZ0gXSEsFSnT3rUV7TqSi0mt7bup2neTZheqFhLYh/s400/DSCN0485.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528801132101900818" border="0" /></a>They loved the little carousel at the mall that you put quarters in.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmYNa6JLIpGJy5c_dHVxDcwqkoC2CUDXURnkPmV_8tnUHlDf9nP6ox1LKsQfoetPR8drI4lkMwh4uDqvu-EBTeOzEqrSPzbiFU2f3QgDL5mcq4tHZDBSoiDdV5TfW91T42Kg9GsCgRTtLi/s1600/DSCN0473.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmYNa6JLIpGJy5c_dHVxDcwqkoC2CUDXURnkPmV_8tnUHlDf9nP6ox1LKsQfoetPR8drI4lkMwh4uDqvu-EBTeOzEqrSPzbiFU2f3QgDL5mcq4tHZDBSoiDdV5TfW91T42Kg9GsCgRTtLi/s400/DSCN0473.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528802116532342178" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I am not sure why I don't have any pictures with Jeremy and Jamie or any of Carter. I know we took family pics but I think they ended up on someone else's camera. Oh well, trust me, he's a cute baby. He actually looks a lot like Makayla which I think is really cute that you can see the resemblance between them.<br /></div><br /></div>The weekend of Sept 24th we went back down to Gainesville to go to John's parent's anniversary party. It was a surprise party and our job was to make sure they got to the party on time. It was kind of crazy getting them there but we did and the party ended up going well. We also got to be on Bruce's (John's dad) radio show that morning before the party - we are celebrities now:)<br /><br />After the party, John and I met one of our friends and went to Gator Walk before the UF-Kentucky game. Gator Walk starts two hours before the game and all of the players and coaches walk through and give high fives to the crowd. We were right at the front and got to touch pretty much every player on the Florida team (again note how I said we are celebrities now). <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAjNC5SaqLHh5ni_b8EhSSrI9mcLkcDroDP3GT1NJh4wE4JE4QstT2ThexJdIIcwcVZkTvINWztngNWUBmspPDAhgT8A6zDlariuhpbJcSA6xbQfOh9-3a2p_CL7FfKySIAqVRLAYzdiy/s1600/DSCN0499.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAAjNC5SaqLHh5ni_b8EhSSrI9mcLkcDroDP3GT1NJh4wE4JE4QstT2ThexJdIIcwcVZkTvINWztngNWUBmspPDAhgT8A6zDlariuhpbJcSA6xbQfOh9-3a2p_CL7FfKySIAqVRLAYzdiy/s400/DSCN0499.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528795357235220354" border="0" /></a>We got tickets for free from John's work for the game. They were high up but ending up being pretty decent. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8OlprVtpVh_RuMPtDIP5ceNjoAHJjJo-vXgxwMAqj9F9jFiOeI9uNwtObgL7Zw1znmpz7JvEhCN_wsDLyfP38SdSxm8YVv3vCW6lvNOyW2mh0SLsimusELW8RXeB595_AUVTPt5cCZ2x/s1600/DSCN0522.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8OlprVtpVh_RuMPtDIP5ceNjoAHJjJo-vXgxwMAqj9F9jFiOeI9uNwtObgL7Zw1znmpz7JvEhCN_wsDLyfP38SdSxm8YVv3vCW6lvNOyW2mh0SLsimusELW8RXeB595_AUVTPt5cCZ2x/s400/DSCN0522.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528794419322328594" border="0" /></a>Sunday morning we went and visited John's grandma and he gave her a wooden toy he made for her. We got to eat lunch with her (well she got to eat). Then we went back and had a big family dinner at the Gordon house.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kzq4sdl6D-S_ZwnIV8mpVI7Me7W2cESrljXIfAUH-uZ9Eyy0ojAz4aorTJQDBYXZeeSOOv0ZFfOdd46cYT5Kypb3bcsDCtOibpd9n1YejXXexxbGcqfZBHdHbF1nIjRID71GkfRepL2T/s1600/DSCN0536.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kzq4sdl6D-S_ZwnIV8mpVI7Me7W2cESrljXIfAUH-uZ9Eyy0ojAz4aorTJQDBYXZeeSOOv0ZFfOdd46cYT5Kypb3bcsDCtOibpd9n1YejXXexxbGcqfZBHdHbF1nIjRID71GkfRepL2T/s400/DSCN0536.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528791819930123010" border="0" /></a>Last night we carved pumpkins at my friends Jana and Dave's house. We probably take pumpkin carving more seriously than most people and that could be seen in the fact that I was still carving our pumpkin at least 30 minutes after the other two couples had finished. John took out the guts and I did the carving because last year I did the guts and he did most of the carving.<br /><br />Jana, Dave and baby Tate carved a bat. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdOCOe6AYf49uiaw0CFrJTih-SESXngmdnrF_7YwEOTotbnD4e9pYVh-OMBCMitXLy6y72e5a8brJ47rntV8J1MgpYONWm3CBVEoNEr_dEjPl3-7We29v1Nj4N0gTCa3Q1VHcxVC-QXNI/s1600/DSCN0561.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdOCOe6AYf49uiaw0CFrJTih-SESXngmdnrF_7YwEOTotbnD4e9pYVh-OMBCMitXLy6y72e5a8brJ47rntV8J1MgpYONWm3CBVEoNEr_dEjPl3-7We29v1Nj4N0gTCa3Q1VHcxVC-QXNI/s400/DSCN0561.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528788781288963410" border="0" /></a>Jenna, Josh, Cameron and Carter carved a cat. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84MZ9kVj3IoetOktf-fnFssAAEfFh8CjBjnquCWZfTHJEe_iGA0bKQAByCJrLnV6sGC5cuYnxChYEZyh31mQQWw4Z_4TWwMWY9hp3IGY37eEkX-xAWGDmxofHMfoJXRpxzyaiIcj8nhq0/s1600/DSCN0560.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84MZ9kVj3IoetOktf-fnFssAAEfFh8CjBjnquCWZfTHJEe_iGA0bKQAByCJrLnV6sGC5cuYnxChYEZyh31mQQWw4Z_4TWwMWY9hp3IGY37eEkX-xAWGDmxofHMfoJXRpxzyaiIcj8nhq0/s400/DSCN0560.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528788196584832098" border="0" /></a>This is our AWESOME pumpkin!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsoeOa2f_dIseNzdyMK9e5Xmd8F-SFFzl81KED7ChTqjhSDLfB9APO1MNQyNo43YuK7aDsJhZZt5Bx0dLnQgbKZHtDa6idLV3pGFonfOFxxR12SoC17mRHOlUR4UQAKCdhmUHA25K1-i9/s1600/DSCN0566.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsoeOa2f_dIseNzdyMK9e5Xmd8F-SFFzl81KED7ChTqjhSDLfB9APO1MNQyNo43YuK7aDsJhZZt5Bx0dLnQgbKZHtDa6idLV3pGFonfOFxxR12SoC17mRHOlUR4UQAKCdhmUHA25K1-i9/s400/DSCN0566.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528787187461201314" border="0" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1V5SvJRZhgbd7w3GpcwdpYeZ5HxR2WF1jExhKB0FEDgkIJJbVcO9kj9i38zKbaVApp79JiUAJo_c0xL4DDU0S8PDAg56NFkKiJX2QSQ0Aa15iUyEzAEebvhlb30F4MSFIo0s_1C_D581/s1600/DSCN0556.JPG"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaCD9iG0O9O0KStBUXrZNumkuWYgvUSpZh7XIDgVlItiW3_kvLqy6TNYqqTG3OD3-Juu-3dQEmguUYPMKu-0hpZVK8H51XAIbjOVXNTnVd7nujCFHxMs2BBGPVVz1U67vwHOfG6Atok3a/s1600/DSCN0570.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaCD9iG0O9O0KStBUXrZNumkuWYgvUSpZh7XIDgVlItiW3_kvLqy6TNYqqTG3OD3-Juu-3dQEmguUYPMKu-0hpZVK8H51XAIbjOVXNTnVd7nujCFHxMs2BBGPVVz1U67vwHOfG6Atok3a/s400/DSCN0570.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528786653306991794" border="0" /></a>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-21750514753589850062010-07-22T18:16:00.000-07:002010-07-22T19:41:38.754-07:00Wood wood wood<div style="text-align: left;">Since we have been at my parent's house, we have both spent some time in my dad's workshop doing some wood working. We started out making two end tables. They are made out of oak and painted black.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5S-xuWWckDDUZT1jZ3cnLiDUGt0XavK95rwufmo2GzVLEQp1KtyyeaPvRNUgLDQzltSdLYrQO9aJChZg_NQjqsOSaYU_Tf_84iNLGe9gF8IVI1Xbq8DBcK7wovY_9wDpK7SDi2nsVEH9_/s1600/DSCN0390.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5S-xuWWckDDUZT1jZ3cnLiDUGt0XavK95rwufmo2GzVLEQp1KtyyeaPvRNUgLDQzltSdLYrQO9aJChZg_NQjqsOSaYU_Tf_84iNLGe9gF8IVI1Xbq8DBcK7wovY_9wDpK7SDi2nsVEH9_/s400/DSCN0390.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496906897256599714" border="0" /></a> My next project is still in the works but I started to make a kids toy which I will show when it's finished. But here are John's recent projects:<br /><br />Ring Holder: This is a ring holder he turned on the lathe for when I take my rings off at night or when I do dishes. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXZkxscFHfoTKLtnDR45LDWNOV_UUXrbWETME7lg4w-urTX8YkC20Vw-3OBuwEh0ju-grbpQAiYKJSZEIEfZSy08btD6Z-I-N0naDE9Zgmz4rgIsrU58L3arFK_GrXBazL5lcFugEiX1p/s1600/DSCN0402.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXZkxscFHfoTKLtnDR45LDWNOV_UUXrbWETME7lg4w-urTX8YkC20Vw-3OBuwEh0ju-grbpQAiYKJSZEIEfZSy08btD6Z-I-N0naDE9Zgmz4rgIsrU58L3arFK_GrXBazL5lcFugEiX1p/s400/DSCN0402.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496907870293375986" border="0" /></a>The last three are from a book on vintage toys we got from the library.<br /><br />Climbing Bear: By pulling on the strings, the bear will climb up to the top.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84TqXDMomi3nYzQk1MHN5R5YR2uNCcA1KISsf6dKXzLrxtFTyNQXo5HQg5zd48PmTMpUOK2gIQPQKroUY2FGBgWKJ0bXt_H9h3XgfDQb6rIbSRYhb_8dUmXM1dEbg-_-_g5fy6y5Arnt4/s1600/DSCN0398.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84TqXDMomi3nYzQk1MHN5R5YR2uNCcA1KISsf6dKXzLrxtFTyNQXo5HQg5zd48PmTMpUOK2gIQPQKroUY2FGBgWKJ0bXt_H9h3XgfDQb6rIbSRYhb_8dUmXM1dEbg-_-_g5fy6y5Arnt4/s400/DSCN0398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496908522844133874" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib96XQkr4ibHawfBIEXa-mKi-pi5pMTLCETqoD5KzXT9gf7WyrNzIYbXXvm6GLox1M0ROkLIlR85YO6-_pFgVjVunyI01cqYVaLDMsgEaz4U-heqgsHfCBZiFIjKOPsszcnAoF5J0s-vlN/s1600/DSCN0400.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib96XQkr4ibHawfBIEXa-mKi-pi5pMTLCETqoD5KzXT9gf7WyrNzIYbXXvm6GLox1M0ROkLIlR85YO6-_pFgVjVunyI01cqYVaLDMsgEaz4U-heqgsHfCBZiFIjKOPsszcnAoF5J0s-vlN/s400/DSCN0400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496909331883873874" border="0" /></a>Acrobat: This is last one he finished painting tonight and is weighted so that it will continually roll up and down the ramps. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xYBynznUZ5Itan3y-ixwBWgvUqvM7fRz9qetrPOKM_-2CT_S6XKhBYDD9JJIZ69c_pypUBF8LVFmNZitHzGHBDW4BcmMxaU4LEkPwlDenHg-fQXm3jeRcm6-MWfKjKV6enx9aKHOv7-A/s1600/DSCN0392.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xYBynznUZ5Itan3y-ixwBWgvUqvM7fRz9qetrPOKM_-2CT_S6XKhBYDD9JJIZ69c_pypUBF8LVFmNZitHzGHBDW4BcmMxaU4LEkPwlDenHg-fQXm3jeRcm6-MWfKjKV6enx9aKHOv7-A/s200/DSCN0392.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496909728917634290" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYoAIISkI5z12Bvd9kpGiDOQ8Xn2HuXyY8Tg136r1lLPAElNN0JGbE0i7xLJz6QTWeO65LyGte49B4k7eZgrj-s1ciuZRW1bGpUFdHf70M3cEx-94zXnn5ciRPuNfaowcvkhSj674QSoNc/s1600/DSCN0395.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYoAIISkI5z12Bvd9kpGiDOQ8Xn2HuXyY8Tg136r1lLPAElNN0JGbE0i7xLJz6QTWeO65LyGte49B4k7eZgrj-s1ciuZRW1bGpUFdHf70M3cEx-94zXnn5ciRPuNfaowcvkhSj674QSoNc/s200/DSCN0395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496910469718666786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHLfuOS31ydq04XavcGAnLt4FNEkL4bhiBh1IUlVt2i3A19PZvZor57TXiogcfKpZqFYmHBG9OgoapLK87g85oxtOVZZ2VBA8AkTS-EzcjhEe6at-J3FRCrotun_2Lul6G-cH1vTwE-P1/s1600/DSCN0397.JPG"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyIoM1IpCHIlIM8DWY6_-Q2BqZ8-QHd1K0HPJ4FNtFrLEQSsXs-SSqKmyinr9pKXbshylHgv0pjIa8h1aqVpQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></a><br /><br />Will of the Whisp: My dad made this one and is a rain drop that falls down the pegs.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHLfuOS31ydq04XavcGAnLt4FNEkL4bhiBh1IUlVt2i3A19PZvZor57TXiogcfKpZqFYmHBG9OgoapLK87g85oxtOVZZ2VBA8AkTS-EzcjhEe6at-J3FRCrotun_2Lul6G-cH1vTwE-P1/s1600/DSCN0397.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHLfuOS31ydq04XavcGAnLt4FNEkL4bhiBh1IUlVt2i3A19PZvZor57TXiogcfKpZqFYmHBG9OgoapLK87g85oxtOVZZ2VBA8AkTS-EzcjhEe6at-J3FRCrotun_2Lul6G-cH1vTwE-P1/s400/DSCN0397.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496921260266991314" border="0" /></a></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-50946807986609988922010-07-22T17:56:00.001-07:002010-07-22T18:10:27.691-07:00Our SummerSo our life has been a little bit hectic since my last post. <span style="font-weight: bold;">A LOT</span> has happened!<br /><br />1. Decided to move to South Carolina - lots of reasons behind this but ultimately we felt it was the right choice for us.<br />2. Sold our house in April and moved in May to...<br />3. Moved to GA for the summer to stay with my parents and put all of our stuff in storage in SC.<br />4. Wrote my thesis and finished my graduate school :) - finally got the confirmation that it was submitted correctly this afternoon!<br />5. John transferred to an office here and just got a promotion :)<br /><br />In a nutshell, that has been my life recently.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-31212677721280509652010-01-01T18:47:00.001-08:002010-01-01T19:12:23.039-08:00Kitty #2<div style="text-align: left;">John and I got our first cat, Kayala, in the beginning of Sept. She was pretty lonely during the day so we decided she needed a friend. We got a male tabby at the Humane Society in mid October about 6 weeks after we got Kayala. We named him Kacee and he has done a good job of keeping Kayala company and being a lot of fun to have. Since we don't have kids yet, we only have our cats to brag about and we think they are super cute and super fun but also a lot of work. They tend to get into everything we don't want them to get into and they recently got fleas even though they've never been outside. It has been so much fun trying to get rid of all the fleas - not! Kayala had a thing for laying under the Christmas tree and Kacee loves to get into the tinest spaces he can find. They also LOVE to spread our toilet paper! Kacee is the first one below and Kayla is the second below. She is more grey while he is a little more orange. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFzEplGt9YVTsKVLbfYQxGP7ef01LVUG4VZJ6fsmOXb1VrzH7NF7IsKDh3MTpkTPeSM0BaGQczGyyERLdSDkKHV1dkAdvrBsWpOvM1c-tOQW2uDrqa4rzlFg3CoDAjx_LPB8b4FIinjZf/s1600-h/DSCN0108.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFzEplGt9YVTsKVLbfYQxGP7ef01LVUG4VZJ6fsmOXb1VrzH7NF7IsKDh3MTpkTPeSM0BaGQczGyyERLdSDkKHV1dkAdvrBsWpOvM1c-tOQW2uDrqa4rzlFg3CoDAjx_LPB8b4FIinjZf/s320/DSCN0108.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421972063309267730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9NregA_FLjHYNXszQOe1fS_iwSlxrs7qqZObQ-97DHymi8yyps3vRZ5ZtlDYmqbDsOf7ZjtcDKhitTJnRR9VNh3yQwJBTzUeFltk-uHsS2tsLOmouulkQggmWnGjCah4r3_YrUne7HZV/s1600-h/DSCN0164.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9NregA_FLjHYNXszQOe1fS_iwSlxrs7qqZObQ-97DHymi8yyps3vRZ5ZtlDYmqbDsOf7ZjtcDKhitTJnRR9VNh3yQwJBTzUeFltk-uHsS2tsLOmouulkQggmWnGjCah4r3_YrUne7HZV/s320/DSCN0164.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421972784728074114" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPdoM6rIrvDYftVlnrlbl8KO_6pm4ZFS218k5Ts2fV6AMiZ_x_6I0tBdnC0shewwtnwcRn4G3-mu5YOmx0A-21_dyLrpkPyVidVQgINTkxdJJZO97ktJFb2DOErt1g8LcXplWDWSBS96x/s1600-h/DSCN0204.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPdoM6rIrvDYftVlnrlbl8KO_6pm4ZFS218k5Ts2fV6AMiZ_x_6I0tBdnC0shewwtnwcRn4G3-mu5YOmx0A-21_dyLrpkPyVidVQgINTkxdJJZO97ktJFb2DOErt1g8LcXplWDWSBS96x/s320/DSCN0204.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421973543483088530" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZY7uyMEj9F-PwYxQSxxuK-WCrDMiL7x_vE0RxCBAPkl0uENIPDd4mBPq6Bhyphenhyphenx7rUZyo7YmyhYHIqxsPFNvzfJMC_1zV8qy-aEt3TojozdCHUFGX1koLoqKY_wc6_Ty5qeW0r47n_DTYi/s1600-h/DSCN0248.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZY7uyMEj9F-PwYxQSxxuK-WCrDMiL7x_vE0RxCBAPkl0uENIPDd4mBPq6Bhyphenhyphenx7rUZyo7YmyhYHIqxsPFNvzfJMC_1zV8qy-aEt3TojozdCHUFGX1koLoqKY_wc6_Ty5qeW0r47n_DTYi/s320/DSCN0248.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421970906243795298" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGnyR3MTAXrlzkEDarTrcM49mlu-2pwS0d5a6H226kdr65ItqyHFcn_G1qP5N5I0obSsjEzUAD5a3oXY_0RNyC-wDKsTBm_HHdB54fglyfyy5MBnS9Rf6H3FsvwFncKOjvM4TVk0zJC2Z/s1600-h/DSCN0112.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGnyR3MTAXrlzkEDarTrcM49mlu-2pwS0d5a6H226kdr65ItqyHFcn_G1qP5N5I0obSsjEzUAD5a3oXY_0RNyC-wDKsTBm_HHdB54fglyfyy5MBnS9Rf6H3FsvwFncKOjvM4TVk0zJC2Z/s320/DSCN0112.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421973153660552354" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCvfsAs-WRRRqSViez14SJ8W81x-Pvj7r1e9fXO-tD0osjFg8-6SJABiCCqgtf8SD8I28WEma1c1sCPMYek5P8o4K0H7HWJXBzuPgED6MV9eEmGmytqWsgSr1oBTTnAZvJbJnNPUATmqv/s1600-h/DSCN0240.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCvfsAs-WRRRqSViez14SJ8W81x-Pvj7r1e9fXO-tD0osjFg8-6SJABiCCqgtf8SD8I28WEma1c1sCPMYek5P8o4K0H7HWJXBzuPgED6MV9eEmGmytqWsgSr1oBTTnAZvJbJnNPUATmqv/s320/DSCN0240.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421970431102736210" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08BYICFcsfuG8FF4S3JBgOyhyYyFockZbG1SKftP1NvYiC9IRZyWSFC6t3cfiJxrRI1vOp8mpyBDv-7UjFH36x31laLDGnspkVhZ6_mItImbkh6QPGcN9U3_jzBVAKNpIlhuUCVZcUF61/s1600-h/DSCN0103.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg08BYICFcsfuG8FF4S3JBgOyhyYyFockZbG1SKftP1NvYiC9IRZyWSFC6t3cfiJxrRI1vOp8mpyBDv-7UjFH36x31laLDGnspkVhZ6_mItImbkh6QPGcN9U3_jzBVAKNpIlhuUCVZcUF61/s320/DSCN0103.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421971760573108882" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIBsvXnT0-vpZqlpAWiV74-41oB5TG_-x6CnE5cPTimyvPuwJxRcGXMg5jbZNe3pb1ORcjoA07SSLpa5USrkRjkj9BVTvJyTT-WDGgEF6Ud9pVxsX3xCInsC8k2-Lx7sz1glW8OUSESnP/s1600-h/DSCN0088.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIBsvXnT0-vpZqlpAWiV74-41oB5TG_-x6CnE5cPTimyvPuwJxRcGXMg5jbZNe3pb1ORcjoA07SSLpa5USrkRjkj9BVTvJyTT-WDGgEF6Ud9pVxsX3xCInsC8k2-Lx7sz1glW8OUSESnP/s320/DSCN0088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421971423404074210" border="0" /></a></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-59671685329038061202010-01-01T17:10:00.001-08:002010-01-01T19:20:34.467-08:00I am a bad bad blogger!Wow, it has been about two and a half months since my last post! A lot has happened! Here is a quick update:<br /><br />Birthdays: John and I both had birthdays recently, mine was in November and John's was in December. We didn't do anything too exciting for either of our special days but they were fun and I finally got a new camera since mine broke back in July! It is so cute and my favorite color -RED! Best of all it's really small and fits much better into my purse. It also has a lithium battery that lasts forever and a new memory card that holds TONS of pics!!! I didn't get my camera till after my birthday but here is a picture of John on his birthday:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXMi0ZoMqwRkk_JjzE6JKrzKJmWPPxM5fK65tT-_maywH8Je0MyqF33L5v-C0YJMEoEPgnGLtYYRTF4W28iKEEy-vNAwZH4m8U-itsj0FKzFy1k5_RiX4G2OkOznWavwuGH_mGY3w93lt/s1600-h/DSCN0123.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXMi0ZoMqwRkk_JjzE6JKrzKJmWPPxM5fK65tT-_maywH8Je0MyqF33L5v-C0YJMEoEPgnGLtYYRTF4W28iKEEy-vNAwZH4m8U-itsj0FKzFy1k5_RiX4G2OkOznWavwuGH_mGY3w93lt/s320/DSCN0123.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421955733211089810" border="0" /></a><br />Thanksgiving: We went to GA for Thanksgiving this year. All of my siblings and nieces were there. It was great to see everyone especially my brother and his family from AZ since we don't see them very often. We ran a 5K while we were there, got family pictures taken and did lots and lots of black friday shopping. Mostly we got random things for ourselves but we also stood in line super early to get my dad a blueray player for Christmas.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Me with Jeremy and Jamie's youngest daughter Natalie:<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpSnN0sB7-MtWc9FZL91JmfZdbEElxoYPOaxj1Z_-wIYgymtFGuRmgKdh7woe4LXVzdMDZZXe5T-Z45iDvHr8B25kFzms60a4z8CkHE8qkYKLW9dZZAqk8LvUKGJK-gMhNWJ3x8-91YtYo/s1600-h/DSCN0023.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpSnN0sB7-MtWc9FZL91JmfZdbEElxoYPOaxj1Z_-wIYgymtFGuRmgKdh7woe4LXVzdMDZZXe5T-Z45iDvHr8B25kFzms60a4z8CkHE8qkYKLW9dZZAqk8LvUKGJK-gMhNWJ3x8-91YtYo/s320/DSCN0023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421954580512117698" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">John with Carrie's baby Shayla:<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBT6lMe4O76Wq5Ue6TsL7vzEPdd6kziUl7C95a9QvNhKg7EVk-EWb2n58YnWtiOweI6_eb7sF8P02hyphenhyphen_xRFA6-trYrpUwrchqWfjibyFnHBr97XrySSYlavHEWyM8fZYPiiWH7jHuT6-q_/s1600-h/DSCN0037.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBT6lMe4O76Wq5Ue6TsL7vzEPdd6kziUl7C95a9QvNhKg7EVk-EWb2n58YnWtiOweI6_eb7sF8P02hyphenhyphen_xRFA6-trYrpUwrchqWfjibyFnHBr97XrySSYlavHEWyM8fZYPiiWH7jHuT6-q_/s320/DSCN0037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421953985661661842" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Carrie, Brian, Jamie, Jeremy, John and I after we ran the 5K in Conyers, GA on Nov. 28:<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhX4nJ36LOsBhJAdI4lOgjDYZNRwBQUdCs2yaANDo5P8sUSksl9-QiyrG_E9VXsscpk0jHqakClXC9J8PJPeT3De_ywdMDQdbBucTK0sTXdSLCMJV1jZkxkk2VIjrt8KCCWB58P4oDDNSq/s1600-h/DSCN0055.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhX4nJ36LOsBhJAdI4lOgjDYZNRwBQUdCs2yaANDo5P8sUSksl9-QiyrG_E9VXsscpk0jHqakClXC9J8PJPeT3De_ywdMDQdbBucTK0sTXdSLCMJV1jZkxkk2VIjrt8KCCWB58P4oDDNSq/s320/DSCN0055.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421953081897820706" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">Our first Christmas tree: John and I got an artificial tree from my sister and her husband who weren't going to use it this year. John and I have different opinions when it comes to ornaments and decorations. I love trees that are coordinated with matching ornaments and white lights. He is more of a random, homemade ornament kind of guy. I thought we had a nice compromis. Most of the ornaments matched but we had a few that were homemade wooden ones John and my dad had made.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">This is a picture of John while we were putting the tree together.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5m8SsvUT7DHH7l5kGcNmu197T0admtimFTzaXJtgoFlWXRF_7MwV41CYV0xlwz_j7Zm_IqADTPw4ZQzH4O8cAs_WWJk3pJuxBHmHaOmO3VWahjIBYJ5cEZS87D9qMCjxsfdiZVr8NDRKA/s1600-h/DSCN0090.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5m8SsvUT7DHH7l5kGcNmu197T0admtimFTzaXJtgoFlWXRF_7MwV41CYV0xlwz_j7Zm_IqADTPw4ZQzH4O8cAs_WWJk3pJuxBHmHaOmO3VWahjIBYJ5cEZS87D9qMCjxsfdiZVr8NDRKA/s320/DSCN0090.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421949797329088178" border="0" /></a> Here is the final product:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyxdPX1L0riNoJyIs4WmOIuwwcBUGmTbRxWI_WGDpWZuhXUPeT8-pzAdWU5KTO_JSLqbH4gjDyQC-XHCHYkNVIoJztZ9dI-gokA3xo4Crk-9IsyN_t0SMMlOzzhd5ynvZdBUM6CY7hSiX7/s1600-h/DSCN0151.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyxdPX1L0riNoJyIs4WmOIuwwcBUGmTbRxWI_WGDpWZuhXUPeT8-pzAdWU5KTO_JSLqbH4gjDyQC-XHCHYkNVIoJztZ9dI-gokA3xo4Crk-9IsyN_t0SMMlOzzhd5ynvZdBUM6CY7hSiX7/s320/DSCN0151.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421960122171337106" border="0" /></a>Our first anniversary: Can you believe it has already been a year?!? Me either! For our anniversary, we went to dinner at one of my favorite places, Ruby Tuesdays. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWHE0ALP7u42ovh13sOG0D5Tz4fQMLyVoKv7yfp92MCfJ0S0jrqHNxCqy5FXIzT8o9I_gyMhMhJmmYQl181KPlxjmNweMSOW-d1z9sNziJvtz5a31_CvOiaKGSla-EY6NQrRKohVAuu3Ub/s1600-h/DSCN0182.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWHE0ALP7u42ovh13sOG0D5Tz4fQMLyVoKv7yfp92MCfJ0S0jrqHNxCqy5FXIzT8o9I_gyMhMhJmmYQl181KPlxjmNweMSOW-d1z9sNziJvtz5a31_CvOiaKGSla-EY6NQrRKohVAuu3Ub/s320/DSCN0182.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421962478375490930" border="0" /></a>We did a little shopping afterwards and John bought me a new ring which I love: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFYAdrBY4zBvIncIfBRuM5Pca2jaV8nXUDNdeh_dc671GZ2QrCtvTImWkINGu-gc885r-AFd3vCJ1aKkU01BcWNpuKnC0cS0ntWvLnM5hFeRWJoQZfpYgg0dMs83V__N0W2TOwG2sAiXJ/s1600-h/DSCN0195.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFYAdrBY4zBvIncIfBRuM5Pca2jaV8nXUDNdeh_dc671GZ2QrCtvTImWkINGu-gc885r-AFd3vCJ1aKkU01BcWNpuKnC0cS0ntWvLnM5hFeRWJoQZfpYgg0dMs83V__N0W2TOwG2sAiXJ/s320/DSCN0195.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421963044095950514" border="0" /></a>and I got him a new coat... very romantic! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhpSBh9ycVcAhHIGFkUX6XnfNTtH-nynhvO2eKZDAw4VJgUEMIza4X5SSenNzy3ZpuPCjWLdODraEhwbNSFl86MgD6eDcx3r5xnES0fMfYq9GRbSUo62fyV9js0rgwVwVcOG5x2hquBJU/s1600-h/DSCN0187.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhpSBh9ycVcAhHIGFkUX6XnfNTtH-nynhvO2eKZDAw4VJgUEMIza4X5SSenNzy3ZpuPCjWLdODraEhwbNSFl86MgD6eDcx3r5xnES0fMfYq9GRbSUo62fyV9js0rgwVwVcOG5x2hquBJU/s320/DSCN0187.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421963308978261138" border="0" /></a>After the shopping, we went back home and ate the top of our wedding cake and had some sparkling cider: <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nJqckPFMcc3RqMOulkSC8C36Nm40DkWK910fQWrqLUR4G9Lgw_Ph6meuMoxa5W9-7x1Btdn-2NCzZAQVCDzcoPY9bfEUR3UKr94gSAewNCNRJwxjekefdHl4IVR3NFHx1ADMQXiqxo44/s1600-h/DSCN0194.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nJqckPFMcc3RqMOulkSC8C36Nm40DkWK910fQWrqLUR4G9Lgw_Ph6meuMoxa5W9-7x1Btdn-2NCzZAQVCDzcoPY9bfEUR3UKr94gSAewNCNRJwxjekefdHl4IVR3NFHx1ADMQXiqxo44/s320/DSCN0194.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421961680893081266" border="0" /></a> and danced to a new CD I put together. We also put together some items for a box of remembrance.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Visit from my parents: My parents came in town for about a week in mid December to help us with a few things around the house. My mom and I did TONS of baking while John and my dad fixed the furnace, replaced a window that has been an issue since we moved in, and fixed some rotting wood on the underside of the roof. It was really nice to have them around for the holidays to make my first Christmas away from home a little easier. Also, it was really really nice to get those things fixed! We also got to go to the Temple with them on their last day here. On the way back we were rerouted home because of a detour. We had to go pretty far out of the way because there were no signs how to tell us to get where we needed to be. This prompted one of our Christmas presents. When we were coming out of the Temple, John and I were taking a picture when one of the security guards came up in his golf cart. He told us to jump on and he would take us to a great place to take pictures. It was a nice sunny day and we had a great unblocked view of the Temple:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSOMsoWuv5-G59FXhfHPGaraGtoawQ0JHT4A20tpNJQ1DhOQFOFw4n2bIOA6htJFjYBRwVAj8DDreufI4SNMp0Rj-yEdebH2ZLXHNld_C7Lwo1dKglTfvmEC7biGUSeo5KjR2ZSMWCs16/s1600-h/DSCN0138.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSOMsoWuv5-G59FXhfHPGaraGtoawQ0JHT4A20tpNJQ1DhOQFOFw4n2bIOA6htJFjYBRwVAj8DDreufI4SNMp0Rj-yEdebH2ZLXHNld_C7Lwo1dKglTfvmEC7biGUSeo5KjR2ZSMWCs16/s320/DSCN0138.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421966147554731266" border="0" /></a> Christmas: We spent Christmas day here in Gainesville. Chirstmas eve we opened one present and then moved our mattress out into the living room. We watched movies until pretty late and then slept by the tree. In the morning we woke up and opened the rest of our presents. We got some pretty good loot: new 700 TC sheets, games, movies, a homemade puzzle (from John) and game (from my dad), gift cards, flower bulbs, a noodle spoon, and the big item was a new GPS. I decided we needed one after getting lost on our way home from the Temple. After we opened presents, we started baking for dinner. We went to John's grandmother's house for Christmas dinner where we met all of John's siblings (except one), parents, and other family. We had a big dinner with so many dessert choices... apple pie, cherry pie, mississippi mud pie, coconut cake, banana pudding, oreo dessert... so GOOD! After that we went to John 's parent's house where we had a bonfire and ate s'mores. We had a pretty early night because John had to work early the next day but it was a very nice Christmas. After John got off work the next day, we headed up to Atlanta for a few days with my family.<br /><br />New Years: We went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and to dinner for New Year's Eve. The movie was really good. Afterwards, we came home and watched some football until it was time for the ball to drop. This is our first picture in 2010!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_H_mSmGnE8485VbMwG2D1Zo6lq4T_SEHIzQXmGAKn9JdmKRS53qR4ASKPScHttgEj4Kmko9Jx0Gz2y9lcEdMhti8rXEFNTqELx9wxBeXfPpBPYTbGfQY_6znf2Vw57yAEUl8c9Us07B2/s1600-h/DSCN0251.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_H_mSmGnE8485VbMwG2D1Zo6lq4T_SEHIzQXmGAKn9JdmKRS53qR4ASKPScHttgEj4Kmko9Jx0Gz2y9lcEdMhti8rXEFNTqELx9wxBeXfPpBPYTbGfQY_6znf2Vw57yAEUl8c9Us07B2/s320/DSCN0251.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421961919176714002" border="0" /></a><br /></div></div></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-47609809623924891622009-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:002009-10-04T10:29:58.588-07:00Life as always has been busy but uneventful lately... well mostly uneventful.<br /><br />John likes to go play flag football on Mon and Sat with some guys from church. It is pretty much his favorite time of the week so even though he has come back hurt a couple times I try to be a good wife and go let him play. He bruised a rib pretty bad back in July and couldn't lift anything heavy for several weeks so I wouldn't let him play again for a while. He finally got better and had been playing regularly again. Well about two weeks ago he came home from playing and we were talking about how his game went. After a little bit he says "I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you, and don't freak out but... I hurt my knee pretty bad". Ok well what does that mean exactly?? After icing and wrapping for a couple days it was swollen so I made him to the doctor who referred him to an orthopedic doctor. He ended up having to get an MRI and finally finding out this week that he had torn a ligament and bruised one of his bones. He has been doing some exercises with my leg weights to strengthen the joint again but he won't be playing again for a few weeks much to his dismay.<br /><br />Last night I had a few girl friends over while John was at the church watching the priesthood session and gorging himself on ice cream at the priesthood ice cream social. It is nice to be able to spend time with friends and I must admit that I ate a ton too because everyone brought over tons of goodies. We had also made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast so it was a very unhealthy but yummy day!<br /><br />We have been trying to get little things done on the house and continue making progress. Also, I am teaching a lab section this semester so I have been a little busier than normal with that. We are trying to get the last bedroom done so that we can bring back all of the furniture for it when we visit my parents at the end of the month. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-9254395556071170382009-09-08T06:43:00.000-07:002009-09-08T07:03:34.084-07:00Our New AdditionJohn and I have a new addition to our family (no, I'm not pregnant). We got a kitten on Saturday from an animal rescue organization. They have a no kill policy and rescue animals from the county shelter that are about to be euthanized. She is 4 months old and we named her Kayala. She has all of her shots and is spayed already but might need to be declawed (especially if you ask John). She hasn't quite figured out yet that she can jump up onto things which is a good and not so good. Because she doesn't know how to jump she won't be a problem getting on the counters and table but to get on the couch or bed she stands on her hind legs and reaches up to attach her claws and then pulls herself up the rest of the way. This doesn't work so well especially when we are in bed and she uses John's arm to be her anchor. That happened twice in a row the other night and she drew some blood both times. She is still a little shy around us and hides if we walk toward her but if we leave her alone she usually comes to us and wants to be petted. I had to take the pictures on my phone because my camera broke so they aren't very good. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLX8YUPXASUotM4O2a88TZjfkRdrhRNEuEUMInunLz0F7cSY6ZjQmB8jdjuXteaZO2f3k42F0-h_6ifKLvdu3tPt2PBoAFOTK2RCpv1VcpxYoxctGUFsJmf2jXzRCqDBUhfOUuQMDH8Ya/s1600-h/0907090926.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLX8YUPXASUotM4O2a88TZjfkRdrhRNEuEUMInunLz0F7cSY6ZjQmB8jdjuXteaZO2f3k42F0-h_6ifKLvdu3tPt2PBoAFOTK2RCpv1VcpxYoxctGUFsJmf2jXzRCqDBUhfOUuQMDH8Ya/s400/0907090926.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379095206839682466" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lFPwCqe4bcbGdHpa0IWam7lRjSC_rb0wnqb7XDbOcVBZ34am1nuoBKIQOg4NF1JHaeqmPIZ-ZFASN5t1_uLS4QSIEQPnfDehLb52GCyfT9GGAxoLZ-UYtZ7BgekTIQjGGITyhBi0zrLc/s1600-h/0907090924a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lFPwCqe4bcbGdHpa0IWam7lRjSC_rb0wnqb7XDbOcVBZ34am1nuoBKIQOg4NF1JHaeqmPIZ-ZFASN5t1_uLS4QSIEQPnfDehLb52GCyfT9GGAxoLZ-UYtZ7BgekTIQjGGITyhBi0zrLc/s400/0907090924a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379095037085073010" border="0" /></a>In other news this weekend, we went to the see UF pound Charleston Southern into the ground on Saturday night. It was a pretty good way to start the season and we were SO glad it was a night game. For the past couple of years, the first game of the season starts and noon and here in Florida at noon it is HOT! The weather has started to cool off a little earlier than most years and the game didn't start till 7 so we had a pretty nice time. To top the evening off, my alma mater, BYU, against the odds beat Oklahoma! What a day! I love football season!!!!!!Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-74232665019977171222009-08-24T08:10:00.000-07:002009-08-24T08:20:13.545-07:00All moved in!!!!After weeks and weeks of prep work, we finally moved into the new house!!! Tuesday morning the Elders Quorum from our ward came to our apartment around 8. They loaded everything into a truck and then unloaded it. They were done by about 10:30. I think I will get help every time we move now. Before we got married, I moved about once or twice a year and every time I had help from my family but this was SO much faster and easier! <div><br /></div><div>We had some help from John's parents and my sister getting us unpacked. We still have a few rooms to organize but the main things are in order - bathrooms, kitchen, living/dining room and our bedroom. We just need to organize the extra bedrooms and then we will be done!!! Although at the moment we aren't feeling a lot of pressure to get that done. Now that the main pressure of getting things ready to make the house livable is gone there isn't a lot of incentive to organize the junk that we can just lock away and not have to look at. I guess I am spoiled with all this extra space. We took a few pictures of how things are coming out and will have to post them soon. I keep promising pictures but I am having a hard time following through :S</div><div><br /></div><div>In other news, the new semester started this morning. I am going to be a TA this semester over an Honors Biology lab and we have been having a lot of organizational meetings for it. Our first lab will be next Monday and I am looking forward to it. John started classes this morning too. He wised up to the undergraduate life and decided to start his classes a little later in the day especially now that we live farther from the school. I think it should be a pretty good semester.</div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-49288277679588137622009-08-13T11:19:00.000-07:002009-08-13T11:26:24.790-07:00My New Calling<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The Stake Exec. Secretary called Sunday and wanted me to meet with one of the counselors in the Stake Pres. last night. He also asked that I bring my husband along - you all know where this is going. </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Well, I tried not to speculate too much on what this meeting was going to be about. We started out the meeting with the normal small talk and then it begins "Sister Gordon, we would like to call you as a (wait for it................) Stake music specialist" What the heck!!!!!!!!!!! Are you serious???? My response was pretty much shock and mostly disbelief but he assured me that I didn't need any musical talent. He said normally in a situation like this my job would be to lead choirs (um, does it matter that I can't lead music) and pick music for them to sing (or read it?? or even sing for that matter). My job mostly would be administrative. He set me apart right then and the whole time I was trying not to laugh. As we were leaving the office (actually we met in the mother's lounge) he told me that he was told to be prepared for this reaction. Apparently my bishop told him that I wasn't musical which is very true. </span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Needless to say I had a really good laugh at this and so did John. He said it was a calling he didn't think any Morriss would ever have. It definitely was a surprise. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">In other news, we have been working to get the house ready to move in to. We are moving on Tuesday and are trying to get all of the painting done before then. We had started out with a big 5 gallon bucket of paint. We ran out and thought that we would only need about 3 more gallons. John went back yesterday with the recipe they used to make the first batch and got us 3 gallons of paint. When we started painting today, the new paint was close to the same color but definitely NOT the same!!! We painted one room with one of the new gallons because we had already started but have to take the other two back and get the right color. Only a few more days before the big move and still lots to do but it is coming together. </span></span></span></div></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-72084236584433367302009-08-06T07:30:00.001-07:002009-08-06T08:02:39.039-07:00I can't believe it's August!!Wow, the summer is really flying by!!! July was a pretty busy month for us. I went to Hawaii for a week to go to a conference with the American Society of Plant Biologists. I will post lots of pictures later but I will give a quick run down of the trip. We (my advisor, me and a post-doc from my lab) left Gainesville Thursday morning around seven and arrived in Honolulu 14 hours later at 3 in the afternoon. We spent the first day checking out the area around our hotel and getting situated. The hotel we were staying in was HUGE! It was actually a "village" made up of 6 towers that were all around 30 stories tall. In the middle of the towers there were a lot of shops, fountains, and statues. My favorite thing to do every morning was to go walk down to the beach at around 6 ish (it was hard to get adjusted to the time change so I got up a lot earlier there than I would have liked) for my morning call to my honey. While I would talk to him I would walk around and the first morning there I found a little place where they had about 6 or 7 little penguins. Just up the walk way they had flamingos and parrots too but the penguins were definitely my favorite.<div><br /></div><div>The first full day we were there we went on a hike through a crater called Diamond Head that used to be a volcano and up to the southern lip which looked out over the ocean. The view was BEAUTIFUL but it was a steep climb getting up there. At the top you could see all of Honolulu and Waikiki beach. After the hike we drove up the eastern coast of the island and stopped at a lot of scenic places to take pictures. We ate lunch in Chinatown in downtown Honolulu and then walked to see the capitol and Royal Palace where the Hawaiian kings and queens used to live before Hawaii became a state. </div><div><br /></div><div>Saturday morning we went to Pearl Harbor which was really cool. We got to tour a real WWII submarine which was one of my favorite things we saw the whole trip (besides the penguins). It made me appreciate all of the sacrifices that the soldiers made for our freedom seeing the tiny space and conditions they had to live in. Next we rode a boat out into the harbor to visit the USS Arizona memorial which is a battleship that was sunk in the bombing of the harbor and is still on the bottom of the harbor. It was also very neat to see. Last we toured the battleship the USS Missouri which was the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of the war. If I had seen it before the submarine, I would have thought that the soldier's sleeping quarters were small and cramped but compared to life on a sub these guys had spacious accomodations. </div><div><br /></div><div>After all the site seeing it was time for us to head off the real reason we were there - the conference. We listened to lots of talks and I had a poster that I presented there as well. I walked around on the beach a lot but only went swimming once - kinda sad. It was actually my first time ever seeing the Pacific ocean. It was a good trip but I was very glad to come home at the end of it.</div><div> </div><div>We left Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon and got into Gainesville around 8 Thursday morning. John came to pick me up and take me home. On the way home he asked if I wanted to go home right away or if we could drive down a little farther before we went home. It didn't take much to figure out from a question like that that there was something he wanted to show me so I said that it was fine. We drove down to 34th Street which has this wall about 100 yards long that has at least 50 coats of paint. It is basically one huge graffiti wall that anyone and everyone uses to paint messages and memorials on. When we drove by John pointed out one section that he had painted while I was gone that said "I heart Courtney" in red paint. He had been wanting to paint the wall forever and with me out of town for a week he finally got his chance. Most people would probably not find it too romantic but I thought it was cute. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, that same afternoon that I got back from Hawaii, we closed on our house! It was a busy day to say the least! My dad also came into town that night and we went over to the new place to make a game plan of projects that we wanted to get done first. Over the last two weeks we have been working hard to get a lot done but no one worked harder than my dad. He was there everyday for at least 10 hours a day doing electrical, plumbing, carpentry you name it he did it. We also had John's parents and sisters over to help one Saturday with some cleaning and yard work. We are still a long way from being done but we can definitely see (and smell) the progress we are making (John ripped up all the carpet which was really really stinky and now it smells SO much better). </div><div><br /></div><div>We have taken lots of pictures and will post them all once we get a chance with all of other things going on. We are going to a friend's wedding this weekend which I am excited about. I haven't gotten to see a sealing other than my own so it will be cool to be able to see that. Then next week my parents and sisters will be in Orlando and we will get to go visit them and stay at their resort for a weekend. And during all of this we somehow have to get our apartment full of stuff over to the new place. Life is busy but we are very happy and blessed. </div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-38726696173843345012009-07-15T11:58:00.000-07:002009-07-15T12:29:42.224-07:00It is already the middle of July and I thought I should post something before I head out of town tomorrow. Nothing too exciting has been happening here in the Gordon home so I haven't felt like posting but here goes...<br /><br />Fourth of July weekend was a pretty busy for us. My parents came down on Thursday night before the Fourth to take a look at the house we are buying. Since there are a few things that need to be fixed in the house and we will definitely need my dad's help to do it we thought it would be a good idea to have them see it before we closed. We went over Friday morning to meet the realtor and look around. John and my dad spent the afternoon pricing out building materials while my mom and I shopped around for "girly" things for the house like paint colors and curtains. The next morning our ward had a Fourth of July breakfast with games. My parents left after that which gave us a little time to go buy some fireworks for that night.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-q4rfwVjU1YzvRieCHA0qMpgji4yWdbtn3xDzvnaspA2FaTsnWKyCYD6s-S17aNbzhe1bzntZgm1E-yT1_huqeDm1KJi2-_awDdjgn6D9pqEL1cQVsx9SVxyb6MlFyuYD6ytDTdZ610Ko/s1600-h/S8000163.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-q4rfwVjU1YzvRieCHA0qMpgji4yWdbtn3xDzvnaspA2FaTsnWKyCYD6s-S17aNbzhe1bzntZgm1E-yT1_huqeDm1KJi2-_awDdjgn6D9pqEL1cQVsx9SVxyb6MlFyuYD6ytDTdZ610Ko/s400/S8000163.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358768194230630882" border="0" /></a>For the festivities, we went to John's parent's house to have a cook out, play games and shoot off fireworks. All of the family from Gainesville came over so it was a full house. John and I were in charge of cooking the meat which wasn't the best plan. I was kind of distracted while Iwas eating my burger and didn't realize that it was not cooked very thouroughly until I had almost finished it. All of the food was really good and we ate TONS. Afterwards we played some games while we were waiting for it to get dark. Finally, it was the time John had been waiting for all day! He put on quite a nice little fireworks show for everyone. Later that night while we were getting ready for bed, I asked John if his stomach felt a little weird. He told me he felt fine and we went to bed. About an hour later, I learned my lesson about making sure your meat is cooked all the way. I have a great husband though who took very good care of me during the night.<br /><br />July 10th was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. If you went to Chick-fil-a dressed from head to toe as a cow you got a free combo meal. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. John kinda thought I was joking about going but I printed off these "starter kits" online that had some cow spots, ears, a nose and an Eat Mor Chiken sign. We cut everything out and taped it onto ourselves along with some homemade hooves and extra spots. We did this in the parking lot and while we were getting dressed up it started to pour outside (what else is new it's FL?). John was really hesitant to do this at first but I was like hey it's free food and who cares who sees us. As we were waiting we saw several people getting out of their cars with spots and signs and some kids had even painted their faces. When we saw that he (and me too) were much less hesitant). We finally got sick of waiting for the rain to stop and went through the monsoon to get inside. When we got in there it was a zoo! There were tons of people dressed up, the big chick fil a cow was there and even a guy making free balloon animals. He didn't do a monkey though and so I got an elephant. Pretty much as soon as we walked in we saw one of our scouts and then his family also one of the other couples that we know came in while we were ordering. It was definitely funny to see what so many people will do to get free food one lady even made herself paper udders and taped them to her stomach. It was a pretty entertaining evening and I am posting the pictures we took. We didn't take the camera inside because of the rain but have some from the car.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlpLqaKYg5A0YWt-kKCTd9gJTZ3d3_1UOOL2yY3mXt4eCsJLVlj5k95bhh5TBGwoxRJ3ogGSUS8EFmujfnasktRTRQqsNU3GFrFZg5taaraaRkfscW6lJHV_loJg33fwKRLuMa-sLBx0a/s1600-h/S8000181.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlpLqaKYg5A0YWt-kKCTd9gJTZ3d3_1UOOL2yY3mXt4eCsJLVlj5k95bhh5TBGwoxRJ3ogGSUS8EFmujfnasktRTRQqsNU3GFrFZg5taaraaRkfscW6lJHV_loJg33fwKRLuMa-sLBx0a/s400/S8000181.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358768444768263138" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeWQfTQBcZrPn4ZviJh9vi1xxONUuTEzONx9Jpwlwb5Da2-hMqXL8ATxiG8nSONQMwApPbOBIrvCCs2pLdnnOQAqdrwuP3ooTsJJMFISij7LlltTWDR6ysaZvVD1jmFXnicDNuhSGoVty/s1600-h/S8000182.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeWQfTQBcZrPn4ZviJh9vi1xxONUuTEzONx9Jpwlwb5Da2-hMqXL8ATxiG8nSONQMwApPbOBIrvCCs2pLdnnOQAqdrwuP3ooTsJJMFISij7LlltTWDR6ysaZvVD1jmFXnicDNuhSGoVty/s400/S8000182.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358768369388256802" border="0" /></a><table valign="top" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="b"><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="b" valign="top" width="100%"><br /></td> <td valign="top"> <br /></td> <td class="bb" align="center" valign="top"><br /></td></tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td><img src="http://www.myfamily.com/p" height="1" width="10" /></td> <td bgcolor="#999999"><img src="http://www.myfamily.com/p" height="1" width="1" /></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#999999"><img src="http://www.myfamily.com/p" height="1" width="1" /></td> <td colspan="3"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-61918369385425850142009-06-28T17:52:00.000-07:002009-06-28T18:00:16.076-07:00Date Night<div style="text-align: center;">My old roommate Stacy and I had been trying to get together to catch up for a couple of weeks. Usually we would just go to lunch or something but we decided to allow our husbands to come along and so we planned a date night. Stacy and Jay had us over to their new apartment and we made pizzas and then watched a movie. They had tons of toppings to choose from and then we had some really really yummy pie afterwards. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFkOfoTuXwam50PBKGVqDZYt8wHWVQS3kzDbiq2qXn1Zb8Z4cxknfdud2cJXzGduwwysopWIVih0Z3DwgCdSfcovulLBK5N45O9JK1xQ7fDpL0SbpP0chRHRIslwIUpAEXzTk5fkD6NQF/s1600-h/S8000156.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBFkOfoTuXwam50PBKGVqDZYt8wHWVQS3kzDbiq2qXn1Zb8Z4cxknfdud2cJXzGduwwysopWIVih0Z3DwgCdSfcovulLBK5N45O9JK1xQ7fDpL0SbpP0chRHRIslwIUpAEXzTk5fkD6NQF/s400/S8000156.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352547253658945586" border="0" /></a>Stacy and Jay making their SUPREME pizza. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAsEjmugS2BfeDS25nI0_J0BnVrIR9zjMNePGI9MZMI0yTURBIfwuZUO6ZJ8o1ck9AHag9VEO4r5kPUnAJehyphenhyphenkKz_YI7MEWYCruyEtIJ7uMzkfMwAwrWdIZSI5QbQyzrNJ6sBBeo9TFr7K/s1600-h/S8000155.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAsEjmugS2BfeDS25nI0_J0BnVrIR9zjMNePGI9MZMI0yTURBIfwuZUO6ZJ8o1ck9AHag9VEO4r5kPUnAJehyphenhyphenkKz_YI7MEWYCruyEtIJ7uMzkfMwAwrWdIZSI5QbQyzrNJ6sBBeo9TFr7K/s400/S8000155.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352547470222237026" border="0" /></a>John adding EXTRA cheese. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9CFbFsCmOOWiBvzU0NRWhu1Kwluq-UD9IXuHvhPQbfgulRPilzwazmCRNNIl01BaBm5gP68GcvxinNKR39cks-B4R0ccmyeQ3Inh3FbsMROJPxB7_FMV_MkI2RBdQbOP54dJXbDPH0mij/s1600-h/S8000154.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9CFbFsCmOOWiBvzU0NRWhu1Kwluq-UD9IXuHvhPQbfgulRPilzwazmCRNNIl01BaBm5gP68GcvxinNKR39cks-B4R0ccmyeQ3Inh3FbsMROJPxB7_FMV_MkI2RBdQbOP54dJXbDPH0mij/s400/S8000154.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352547375440462290" border="0" /></a>Yummy pepperonis!<br /></div><br /><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-86759913593465177742009-06-22T19:31:00.000-07:002009-06-22T19:53:36.673-07:00Six month anniversary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglT0CzffSQiiBodyIWDNTh30KmXMfhwwthclqLiVdHSGO9HXjHEr7_OoOVl4w6j8lVO3ICWUulowl802cG5GvHf0hqQd1q4mBhQNL5fT-J9RE_kvEz6rKh-STZA5XlLZYWmfVGNmS5UsR/s1600-h/S8000096.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglT0CzffSQiiBodyIWDNTh30KmXMfhwwthclqLiVdHSGO9HXjHEr7_OoOVl4w6j8lVO3ICWUulowl802cG5GvHf0hqQd1q4mBhQNL5fT-J9RE_kvEz6rKh-STZA5XlLZYWmfVGNmS5UsR/s400/S8000096.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346147512465074" border="0" /></a>John and I went to Crescent Beach for the weekend of our six month anniversary. We got there late Friday afternoon and went for a walk on the beach. It was really hot but out by the ocean it was nice and breezy. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUyHqou9CFVFb3j-87lRIYv69iohUBRqiqDDMSw97c0zNOBLzENDTdI4_nJW5nUKFU381uclnFfhGrrDKSDPbFxMPNE5vtpJkwLczxn9FaHm5I5_8bC9aiNu-S-1IKoUVNMferKHbqUwr/s1600-h/S8000103.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihUyHqou9CFVFb3j-87lRIYv69iohUBRqiqDDMSw97c0zNOBLzENDTdI4_nJW5nUKFU381uclnFfhGrrDKSDPbFxMPNE5vtpJkwLczxn9FaHm5I5_8bC9aiNu-S-1IKoUVNMferKHbqUwr/s400/S8000103.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346036313858114" border="0" /></a>We had a nice time wading in the water and goofing around. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQ65roKnPRfU8CrZ5Jt58ZYopCir7fXk-vx7FOmgyvRhapa14FhRjxUMW-lfGbwIZEqGFbz7djIZicDSG0w0W5eF-HlHcNTUamH4YrZfwYBjJHEpFcjO7G7Ay-6f5NsvqpgMGbgWBpUJO/s1600-h/S8000108.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQ65roKnPRfU8CrZ5Jt58ZYopCir7fXk-vx7FOmgyvRhapa14FhRjxUMW-lfGbwIZEqGFbz7djIZicDSG0w0W5eF-HlHcNTUamH4YrZfwYBjJHEpFcjO7G7Ay-6f5NsvqpgMGbgWBpUJO/s400/S8000108.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345966834000770" border="0" /></a>For dinner we drove up to St. Augustine and ate then we went and walked around the old fort there. There were lots of cool places around the fort and the walls were not made out of rock but out of what looked like crushed shells in mortar. We went back to the beach that night and took another long walk on the beach. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxw8b90OcHaln7YThFVc5kgnPZjwGTnk9CL7XbFGCG9L1KClHLG5rTihOCJiEW9VTvH54Flb9BvdfW2VxVFtwBFOcf-4qcd9IvYMN_hNDtm_aBweVtyFzZQGAdAnNdQkS5zV8GkSKXw9h/s1600-h/S8000111.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxw8b90OcHaln7YThFVc5kgnPZjwGTnk9CL7XbFGCG9L1KClHLG5rTihOCJiEW9VTvH54Flb9BvdfW2VxVFtwBFOcf-4qcd9IvYMN_hNDtm_aBweVtyFzZQGAdAnNdQkS5zV8GkSKXw9h/s400/S8000111.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345870202680914" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmQjnICyU9G-wqGViGpMfReVyR4r0UbOTOnwqW7SwKQYUmMKaFljvMjOBGKYWhysDBU5wMDdwGJW6hLaJaIpa1l5LuoustzYGreSzo5rh1L0lB8_pjXhc_HcK0tSYHRIyejhwEnlr1mPL/s1600-h/S8000114.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmQjnICyU9G-wqGViGpMfReVyR4r0UbOTOnwqW7SwKQYUmMKaFljvMjOBGKYWhysDBU5wMDdwGJW6hLaJaIpa1l5LuoustzYGreSzo5rh1L0lB8_pjXhc_HcK0tSYHRIyejhwEnlr1mPL/s400/S8000114.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345738849797826" border="0" /></a>Saturday morning John and I went to the outlet malls in St. Augustine and shopped for several hours. John was surprisingly good natured about shopping for so long and was even willing to shop longer. After shopping we went back to the beach to make a sand castle. We started out making a castle and as we got going John decided that he wanted to make a stadium instead of a castle. We ended up making a replica of Florida field complete with the spiraling walkways, upper decking and tunnel for the players to come out of. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3c5e3GYZw_fXe0cxtH7-xM32fA1j1jyPBTEn8sysqgIceuXvTVkDJu1nVbEexLOhAjejXP3cxfWawev9FODconA9FdNnxvcDee8BjQ36ws4IP6wpJpdvWmu-lKAUNRAuYZFYSiXiZBk-/s1600-h/S8000130.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3c5e3GYZw_fXe0cxtH7-xM32fA1j1jyPBTEn8sysqgIceuXvTVkDJu1nVbEexLOhAjejXP3cxfWawev9FODconA9FdNnxvcDee8BjQ36ws4IP6wpJpdvWmu-lKAUNRAuYZFYSiXiZBk-/s400/S8000130.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345647900649202" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuYuahdaetgEcNB1Fk-bBiAPcpegRwlQ64-QAla_NT4l8MqrYU6OvaZ45b9LvvNICeP-Mq0xwvfpguacmlN5Nt0oIilmC27XJ9Mftwvp5KLOHsTGpeh3qbvYR7kJmDv1zYILO1GMevgWZ/s1600-h/S8000132.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuYuahdaetgEcNB1Fk-bBiAPcpegRwlQ64-QAla_NT4l8MqrYU6OvaZ45b9LvvNICeP-Mq0xwvfpguacmlN5Nt0oIilmC27XJ9Mftwvp5KLOHsTGpeh3qbvYR7kJmDv1zYILO1GMevgWZ/s400/S8000132.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345493673219554" border="0" /></a>Sunday morning we woke up early to see the sun rise over the ocean. We got out there about 20 minutes early and waited for a while. It was very pretty but unfortunately it was too cloudy to see the sun. The weekend was really nice. We didn't have an schedule we had to keep to or any where we had to be. Nice and relaxing - just the way we like it!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JXCD062gdAr5m8lbTPaYnNwGBhvPIn5ZfOzUIKd6udJqkAkRiW9o3QzLgHUVCYeyFkJPktx2RKQ8OqY5m0uyJ2S6KTH8EMGxQTdFhAxFijMIea09PehNfZtqYUdizdRlFuZj9bJP9KXa/s1600-h/S8000143.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JXCD062gdAr5m8lbTPaYnNwGBhvPIn5ZfOzUIKd6udJqkAkRiW9o3QzLgHUVCYeyFkJPktx2RKQ8OqY5m0uyJ2S6KTH8EMGxQTdFhAxFijMIea09PehNfZtqYUdizdRlFuZj9bJP9KXa/s400/S8000143.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345398572374306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgK-i0-63j56oyWVqCtAncsnR9e0ONoGpVzHroTMx_YybXJoU54bRnkEniDCrrWYhBYpJLL93sLlXdTBTQN3cMEoVTER6zN7ks3KJk8yL97gwCqOGN6iBYYBPu8kPSA1t_PzF2O87dop4z/s1600-h/S8000146.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgK-i0-63j56oyWVqCtAncsnR9e0ONoGpVzHroTMx_YybXJoU54bRnkEniDCrrWYhBYpJLL93sLlXdTBTQN3cMEoVTER6zN7ks3KJk8yL97gwCqOGN6iBYYBPu8kPSA1t_PzF2O87dop4z/s400/S8000146.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350345275915491602" border="0" /></a>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-2344006784129980762009-06-09T14:11:00.001-07:002009-06-09T14:30:46.480-07:00We bought a house!!!John and I have been looking at houses for a few months and finally put an offer on one. We have looked at dozens and dozens of houses in Gainesville trying to find one that had potential but was still in our price range. We finally decided to put an offer on a four bedroom one and a half bath 1200 sq ft house. It needs a little work but a lot less work than most we looked at. Also the price was really good and they accepted our initial offer which was kind of surprising. We won't be moving till sometime in July so we have a little while to decide on paint and carpet colors. We are both really excited but also a little in shock that we will be making such an adult step in our lives. We will post some pics when it gets a little closer to the big move. I am sure we will post some before and after shots too so you can see the transformation.<br /><br />Also, today John and I hid our first letterbox. For those of you unfamiliar with letterboxing, to start you go online (letterboxing.org) and look up letterboxes in your area. You print out clues that lead you to a small box usually hidden in a park. Once you find the box, inside you find a hand carved stamp and a small pad of paper. You take your own stamp and pad along with you. You then stamp your stamp in the book you find and stamp the stamp from the box in your book. Basically, you follow clues, find boxes and collect stamps. It is a pretty fun hobby because it gets you outside and you also go into areas of parks that you normally wouldn't see. Anyway, John carved a stamp and we created our own "trail name" kind of like a screen name but for the letterboxing site and we went out and hid our box. We then came home and posted the directions to find it. From the site we can also monitor who finds it to be able to keep track of it. I have been finding boxes for about a year but this is the first one we have hidden. If you haven't tried letterboxing, it is a great way to get outside and have some fun with the family or by yourself. It is starting to take off in a lot of areas so there are a lot more boxes to find than there were even a year ago.<br /><br />Completely unrelated - we went to see Star Trek this weekend. We hadn't been to the movies since November when we saw Twilight. Ticket prices went up again here so I don't think we will be going again any time too soon especially since we bought a house. It seems like summer time is when all of the good movies come out because there we a lot of previews that looked really good. I guess we will have to wait for them to come out on video.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-62269248061311273422009-05-31T17:27:00.000-07:002009-06-01T08:38:15.373-07:00The temple and pokerWe started off the weekend by going to the Temple on Friday night. We left for Orlando around three and usually when we are going to the Temple we are in a hurry and don't have time to stop anywhere beforehand (which I know makes John secretly very happy). I have been wanting to visit Old Time Pottery for months and this time we finally had time for a quick shopping trip before we went to our session. After shopping we still made it to the Temple a little after five. As we sat waiting for our session, John's brother Burt and sister-in-law Lydia walked in unexpectedly and ended up being in our session - guess it was fate that we ended up going shopping beforehand so that we could be in the same session. During the session, I was able to do the work for my great grandmother.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgja_lYSrzTV0K3laPsC-A52JITyFsCzCvoIB9zax-zxYM8ewf6uZx3Hngs93ZJWVSXfUL0UbCPUp_tVPkl2hkOGDU9VxDMnV9nlVjD-UeDNfpny0SWTrbFwUeOuIoEkwRi2bjtZGs4pWrx/s1600-h/S8000076.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLskAhyphenhyphenpDXfk-8RC8kq5nL-sCeM2fvJTOBm89dTRhOO9XnszPpAvmkliloOLZsX9TKhQZjYcMtB_QKc5MUEY0e89yxxIAfga4QkyMFVAXnB0C4upN0ZxCXyie21MmLHjcn2s9uZ1SDeMK8/s1600-h/S8000074.JPG"><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLskAhyphenhyphenpDXfk-8RC8kq5nL-sCeM2fvJTOBm89dTRhOO9XnszPpAvmkliloOLZsX9TKhQZjYcMtB_QKc5MUEY0e89yxxIAfga4QkyMFVAXnB0C4upN0ZxCXyie21MmLHjcn2s9uZ1SDeMK8/s400/S8000074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342150142013765458" border="0" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a><div><div style="text-align: left;">After our session, the four of us went to Downtown Disney for dinner. We walked around for a little while trying to decide what we wanted to eat. We were going to try the Rainforest Cafe (which is the only picture we got) but the wait was an hour and a half - not gonna happen. We kept looking a found a place called the Earl of Sandwich - bet you can't guess what they served. Anyway, we got sandwiches which were pretty good and then walked around a little more. We even got to sample some chocolate in the Ghiradelli store. It was a good evening but I don't think that I will be visiting Downtown Disney on a Friday night for a long time. <br /></div><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgja_lYSrzTV0K3laPsC-A52JITyFsCzCvoIB9zax-zxYM8ewf6uZx3Hngs93ZJWVSXfUL0UbCPUp_tVPkl2hkOGDU9VxDMnV9nlVjD-UeDNfpny0SWTrbFwUeOuIoEkwRi2bjtZGs4pWrx/s400/S8000076.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342155078312011602" border="0" /><div><div style="text-align: left;">Saturday John and I had some friends over to play poker. We had invited a mixed group of our single friends but it ended up that the guys that we invited couldn't make it so it ended up being John, myself and four other girls. Any single guy probably would have enjoyed themself but too bad for John that I get him all to myself :) It ended up being a pretty good evening even without other guys though. We had lots of laughs and some really good food. I ate so much candy though that I was sick to my stomach after everyone left. I think it was worth it though. <br /></div></div></div>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-80444401318301860022009-05-26T12:56:00.000-07:002009-05-28T10:41:08.303-07:00Memorial Day WeekendJohn and I went to GA to visit my family for Memorial Day weekend. We left after work on Friday afternoon and got in around around 10 that night. My sister Carrie and her husband Brian also were visiting and they brought their month old baby Shayla too. She was super cute and it was very nice to be able see her while she was still small. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_0e11c2rxRatLl_6L5yh-wdVbVdBWpcdGkltYc97wYEc5rBmCnzLwm4T6iJ3eW-Vb60fFibflraQ3wslLuT8_PzVmkRrSlYwSIJQsLP4G3s4Pr-dgX_z0K5DhwJaRYAYzpkKeXkXCtTo/s1600-h/S8000009.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_0e11c2rxRatLl_6L5yh-wdVbVdBWpcdGkltYc97wYEc5rBmCnzLwm4T6iJ3eW-Vb60fFibflraQ3wslLuT8_PzVmkRrSlYwSIJQsLP4G3s4Pr-dgX_z0K5DhwJaRYAYzpkKeXkXCtTo/s400/S8000009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340931136040184882" border="0" /></a>On Saturday we girls spent a lot of the day shopping and the guys spent most of the day down in Dad's workshop.The boys all turned things on the lathe and John started to make a really nice bowl out of sasafras wood. He will get to finish it next time we go up there. He also made himself a new back scratcher because he is always asking me to scratch his back and he thought it was probably a good idea to make himself one. He kept it a surprise from me all day until he showed me that he had carved and painted it as a duck. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdoLH5KNYaGLFl4-ZcORCCQaUEenXIY9rnH3kXruWhhXbWw7UMSQt69ijALaS_clcEUS2AP5b51OQuRA1B6sDWvInprrj3tlfUvg0bFGfWHU9OpJ7Imckp45pZhR6K15W4M_EiL7wEU5eS/s1600-h/S8000023.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdoLH5KNYaGLFl4-ZcORCCQaUEenXIY9rnH3kXruWhhXbWw7UMSQt69ijALaS_clcEUS2AP5b51OQuRA1B6sDWvInprrj3tlfUvg0bFGfWHU9OpJ7Imckp45pZhR6K15W4M_EiL7wEU5eS/s400/S8000023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340228051802762210" border="0" /></a>It is pretty cool. On Sunday Christy and James came over and we had a huge turkey dinner and then played games for a while. Monday was a pretty busy day. We ran errands for a while and Carrie and I went and visited one of my friends. Dad wanted to have a little photo shoot out in the yard. He has been working pretty hard on the garden and with all of the rain they have been getting it looks really good. They will have tons of veggies to can in just a couple of weeks. We got to take lots of fresh herbs home which was super nice. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6oXCf3zFtsi8v_CrkIf30C5hYfrLo8rLQjn9Tvc1FbsUrv_NH14Oi_zrpY7bRZfWKhyphenhyphenHbijZf49ubCfgvsKMYotSOD3QeNwbrZwFIlGHcUg-Tf7hK471kZcOeqGFA6y0iI4OOjlGXD8O/s1600-h/S8000028.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6oXCf3zFtsi8v_CrkIf30C5hYfrLo8rLQjn9Tvc1FbsUrv_NH14Oi_zrpY7bRZfWKhyphenhyphenHbijZf49ubCfgvsKMYotSOD3QeNwbrZwFIlGHcUg-Tf7hK471kZcOeqGFA6y0iI4OOjlGXD8O/s400/S8000028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340229989005476642" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9N3CT8IdQCKLPg9bGyPVF2LnfwYX4zam31YSVWiN5muZuk47zcHeBKyQiLx6yp-60yDoZ9Q-bVNGv17f1SrhoLoftgE-4KtXULWuWIzNbbgUB2lVC3QbgNecyfDLfMKQ1MILi68Dvugs8/s1600-h/S8000043.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9N3CT8IdQCKLPg9bGyPVF2LnfwYX4zam31YSVWiN5muZuk47zcHeBKyQiLx6yp-60yDoZ9Q-bVNGv17f1SrhoLoftgE-4KtXULWuWIzNbbgUB2lVC3QbgNecyfDLfMKQ1MILi68Dvugs8/s400/S8000043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340231005776843714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7NbiAJ6ex-hdQ64LeEvz7_ZarvbPR0qUgjjbV2WYodFjuH0TeEad5VMrB0ABLcgSpgrBcZNN5FnpD4E7HZ5_IvSOaQJfTgW4LylxawKPL94Ff_i1sdH9w01T8F9lrovvftwA-xblnQb6/s1600-h/S8000009.JPG"></a>Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-3257391851353436012009-05-18T10:38:00.000-07:002009-05-18T11:07:52.095-07:00Playing in the RainThursday John and I were on our way to an appointment and it started thundering and a couple of minutes later it started pouring down rain. It was our first thunderstorm since last summer. We both looked at each other and said that if it was still raining after our appointment that we should go out and play in the rain. We came home and changed into some t-shirts and went out and stomped around in the puddles and splashed each other for about 20 minutes. We got thoroughly soaked and had tons of fun. Everyone that drove by looked at us like we were crazy but I secretly think they were jealous.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-70480735460151234742009-05-11T09:02:00.000-07:002009-05-11T09:22:13.609-07:00Mother's Day WeekendThis past week we got to spend lots of time with John's family. His youngest sister Monica's birthday was Saturday so we had a surprise party for her on Thrusday. We left early Friday morning for a town called Crystal River where the annual retreat for my program was being held. I had to give a presentation that morning and John stayed to hear me speak. He got pretty bored though and left to go do other things while I listened to talks the rest of the morning. Our room was really nice and had a huge super comfy bed and a great view of the river. We got to go swimming and hot tubing that night. The next morning we went to the last of the presentations and then it was time for the beach! The beach was about 10 miles from our hotel so how could we not go? We were only there for about an hour but we both got pretty burned and are still sore.<br /><br />Saturday night we went to another one of John's sister's house to celebrate Monica's actual birthday. The Gordons do birth"weeks"s not really birth"day"s. They have this cool X-box game like Karoke called Lips with microphones that you sing into and compete against someone else. It's pretty fun and we got to play for a while that night. Sunday was mother's day and we took John's grandma to church. She is in our ward but can't go very often for health reasons. She seemed to really like going and I think it really made her day. We all met over at her house that evening for dinner to celebrate and give John's mom her presents. We made her a mini scrapbook called a brag book with pictures of all her kids and grandkids. We also got to talk to my mom on the phone for a while. It was a pretty busy weekend but we also got some time to have fun and relax too.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2400679279464125008.post-73863800023138220082009-05-04T08:56:00.000-07:002009-05-04T09:31:33.872-07:00Wicked!!!!!!!!!!John and I went to see the Broadway play Wicked on Thursday night in Jacksonville. I had been wanting to see the play for several years and asked John to get me tickets to see it for Valentine's day. He picked me up from work and we drove to Jax for the show. We got a little lost trying to find the theater but the frustration was totally worth it. The show was absolutely AMAZING! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MoVpZ-0Z1vpsP0nV8x5a9YEjbcbFJE2AL4pqwS5lI8CwoqzTICwkSJHWn_1f9eqe88b8i6SRpMBTd8BoUZ1WwKZycBspEXuVSjG6hChHpsYaEyTYdYeJfGxra3f4uzEW0zN0Mu0Q0425/s1600-h/S8000503.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MoVpZ-0Z1vpsP0nV8x5a9YEjbcbFJE2AL4pqwS5lI8CwoqzTICwkSJHWn_1f9eqe88b8i6SRpMBTd8BoUZ1WwKZycBspEXuVSjG6hChHpsYaEyTYdYeJfGxra3f4uzEW0zN0Mu0Q0425/s400/S8000503.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332000508955840114" border="0" /></a>Before the show we went to The Landing which is kind of a glorified outdoor strip mall. It was right on the bay and a beautiful afternoon. We were able to walk right down to the water and take some pictures.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbgZbfE3xCWIwQL77Gck_4Itq4lGzYFZT1zmLVT1C7jE5oFzhK08aK_Bthr3NN9L3QodpOjcRJ-uv7VUMJkJc88-gNiKo_fYHOU3MvviqYvNCUV0cCTPScGOuaAIiuKE73GFnl2UjCQAq/s1600-h/S8000522.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpbgZbfE3xCWIwQL77Gck_4Itq4lGzYFZT1zmLVT1C7jE5oFzhK08aK_Bthr3NN9L3QodpOjcRJ-uv7VUMJkJc88-gNiKo_fYHOU3MvviqYvNCUV0cCTPScGOuaAIiuKE73GFnl2UjCQAq/s400/S8000522.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331998674684328610" border="0" /></a> We took lots of pictures while we were waiting for the show to start. This is John with the program for the show.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSl0qzUETGz8f6DhUFT4snA2PhzCNDxedmGvXQ-Y6697iUYonS5iSUTaqoV5m8LiaEKL66MozEJUSTc5oKgSpw18lIqZLi5Hgocck5iU1s-HV-oMpJQUbECNxk2PgJ0asnLZQPKIkBRQJ/s1600-h/S8000513.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTSl0qzUETGz8f6DhUFT4snA2PhzCNDxedmGvXQ-Y6697iUYonS5iSUTaqoV5m8LiaEKL66MozEJUSTc5oKgSpw18lIqZLi5Hgocck5iU1s-HV-oMpJQUbECNxk2PgJ0asnLZQPKIkBRQJ/s400/S8000513.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331998808586297954" border="0" /></a>This is me with a poster of Elphaba. This was probably one of the best plays I have seen. I would highly recommended seeing it.Courtney_and_Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11796096519309658644noreply@blogger.com1