Florida vs Florida State

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is always the Florida vs. Florida State football game. This year we gave our tickets away to Collin and Heather Vataha, good friends from Boston. Collin has always been a huge Gator fan and Heather wanted to surprise him for his birthday and take him to a game. What better game to go see than Florida vs. Florida State. Matt and I were able to get tickets as well and join them and Bob and Lisa for the last game of this season.

For Matt's Christmas present from my parents, they bought him the Nike coach's polo. Every since we arrived in Gainesville Matt has been eyeing the Gator Nike dryfit gear and now he finally got one. Mom and Dad gave it to him early so he could wear it for the big game!

We planned to tailgate around 2 pm. Collin and Heather arrived earlier and we headed to campus to show them the University. It was a great experience for Matt and I as well because we saw all sorts of new things that happen on "game day" that we had never seen before because we usually just got to the Law School to tailgate.

It was really fun to show friends around campus. I gained a fresh new amazement , uniqueness and awe about the University that I think I had lost since that 1st football game 2 years ago.

Here are some of the pictures of the things we saw and the places we went.

If you look closely at the top right picture, the guy is riding a motorcycle that he has turned into a gator. He added a gator head and gator skin and was wearing gator boots. People here are nuts!!

It was our last tailgating for the season. We were sad to see football season come to an end. We feel so blessed that we have had a chance to experience Gator Football.

The game was at 7 pm and was on ESPN. Everyone was excited and the stadium was really loud. We had different seats than we had ever had before. They were awesome!! We were 6 rows from the endzone. It was like TEbow was throwing it to us. We were right in the line of the cameras too. Heather got on the big screen, but only parts of my arm made it! I took a ton of pictures since this was the last game of the season. It is funny to reflect back over the season. Not only is the weather totally different, but we've experienced some great football.

If you look closely at the uprights you can see the football going through!

At the end of every game Tebow walks around the edge of the entire stadium and give everyone a high five. This time we stayed around to see it.






This season it was the fiersome foursome that sat together. We had some great memories this season with Bob and Lisa. They are such true, genuine, and fun friends. We love you guys! We are so thankful that God put you in our lives. Gainesville wouldn't be the same without you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom and Dad came to Gainesville for Thanksgiving this year. We cooked a 15 lb. turkey (we're planning on LOTS of leftovers) and all the fixings. Mom and I went shopping the day before Thanksgiving to get all the supplies. We prepped as much as we could the night before. We got up early Thanksgiving morning to make the stuffing, stuff the turkey, and put the bird in the oven so we could eat around 2 pm. As Mom and I stumbled down the stairs I said to her, "So this is what it's like to cook a turkey huh?" Both Mom and I went back to bed and took a 2 hour nap. That sure was nice.


We enjoyed GF cranberry bread, GF zucchini bread and cappuccino for breakfast.


Here I am

Matt learned how to carve the turkey.

Here we are before we eat. Bob joined us for dinner. We missed Lisa as she went home to be with her family.

Bob and Matt did the dishes, while I crashed on the couch and Mom crocheted. Thanks boys; it was such a treat to relax after the dinner was over.

San Diego Chargers

On Sunday, November 18th Matt and I went to see the San Diego Chargers play the Jacksonville, Jaguars in Jacksonville, FL. Matt traded our Florida Football tickets vs. Tennessee to get the Charger tickets. Surprisingly there were many Charger fans. We sat in a section of Charger fans. On the way out of the stadium we got harassed a little because the Chargers lost. We were sad, but the game was still fun. On the way home we stopped at Scott and Lindsay Diley's house for dinner.

Kevin, Valeri, Keegan and Finley visit us

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted anything on the blog. The camera broke and Matt and I had to get another one. So now I am back in business. :) We lost all the pictures that were on the old camera, so here are the pictures from the new camera.

Kevin and Valeri, Keegan and Finley and Valeri's parents and sister spent the night at our house. They were driving from Minnesota to Miami to spend Thanksgiving with Valeri's family. We had a quick visit, but it was great to see them.

Keegan is in first grade and he loves writing numbers. He is in the "600 club" at school, meaning he has written the numbers from 0 to 600. His goal is to reach 1,000 and once he gets to 1,000 he will write them backwards.

Matt and Kevin went for a run together on campus.

Here is the family on Charger Game Day!! Keegan does not have his shirt on because he let me borrow it becuase Matt and I were going to the Charger's game in Jacksonville. Matt and I went to the game after going out to breakfast with Kevin and Valeri and kids.

Guster Concert

For Lisa's birthday, Bob surprised her by taking her to a Guster concert. Matt and I met them there and surprised her. The Guster concert was on campus and outdoors. The weather was incredible and by the time the concert started the temperature was in the 60's with no humidity. Lisa did not know who she was going to hear. She kept asking questions to sneak the answer out of us. Lisa was looking around to see if there were any clues about who was playing. It was so funny because Bob was wearing a Guster t-shirt and she never caught on.

Lucy and Dustyn joined us as well. We all brought dinner and blankets and enjoyed the awesome weather waiting for the 1st band to play.

In trying to take a group picture, Matt had to sneeze. He tried to hold it in, but couldn't. This picture was caught just at the right time, as I was laughing at him for sneezing.

This picture is much better.

This picture was taken when Lisa realized that she was at a Guster concert!! Bob and Lisa have been to several Guster concerts and this was very special for her to be here for her birthday. Bob had even taken her to hear Guster on one of their first dates.

The concert was awesome. It was neat to be so close to the stage. My favorite part of the concert was the bongo drum player. He was amazing. He would throw his whole body into his playing. Bob told us that one time he met him and he tapes up his hands becuase they get bruised from the playing.

Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon

On Saturday, October 6th Lisa and I ran the Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon. It was truly a memorable time from start to finish. Matt and Bob did not come with us and Lisa and I were determined to complete the whole adventure on our own.
We left Friday afternoon in the pouring rain and drove to Scott and Lindsay Diley's house, outside of Jacksonville. We had a great time hanging out with them and we ate a big meal of pasta to get ready for the race. Scott prepped us with directions of how to get to Alltell Stadium for the start of the race.
When we woke up on Saturday morning it was dark, thundering and lightening and raining. We drove to the stadium without getting lost, which we were so proud of! Before the race started we were already soaked. We had many reasons to just quit and drive home, but we stuck it out.
The race was really fun and took us along the St. John's River in Jacksonville and then along the River Bank and Landing and then back to Alltell Stadium. The race ended in a park across from the stadium. In order to cross the finish line we had to run through a 50 yard strip of solid mud, since it had been raining so much. Our shoes were coated in the mud. I did not have th best attitude about the mud and really did not enjoy the finish line because I was so mad that my sneakers were ruined. But I was excited to finish the race. I guess the end of the race fit the title of the race, Marine Corps. Anyways...just as we were walking back to our car there was a man from the race who was hosing off everyone's sneakers. I was so grateful.


Just stretching after the race. It finally stopped raining just in time for us to drive home!


Here is the running shirt we got. It is not my favorite shirt so I figured I better take a picture with it now since I may not wear it again. LOL. We completed the race in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not bad for having 6 miles be your longest traning run.

Here is our soaking wet sneakers after 2 hours plus of rain and then getting hosed off. You can also see our wrinkled and prunned feet from being in wet socks for so long. I think Lisa's feet were worse than mine! We did get really cool Marine Corps cofffe mugs.

After the race we went back to Scott and Lindsay's house and showered and then went out to lunch. Lisa and I then drove home. We had so much fun and laughed the whole time. God blessed us with a great weekend and a great time together. We celebrated later that evening with pizza and individual pints of ice cream!!

Way to go Lisa and Christen. We were so proud of ourselves.

Here is Scott and Lindsay. They bought a house in Jacksonville and are redoing several different rooms. Here is the work they are doing on the bathroom. It really looks great!

Show me your thunderbolt!

I just thought that this picture was too cute. This is Keegan and Finely our niece and nephew, Kevin and Valeri's kids. Every Sunday for breakfast on Charger game day Keegan and Finely have blue milk and eggs and sing the Charger song.