Goodbye Sun...

...we'll see you in 10 days!! We're off to (cold) Seattle for the Tobler-Family-Christmas-Extravaganza!! (or circus...we'll see how it goes!) We're both really excited to spend Christmas in a cold, snowy place. Especially since it's going to be 80 degrees here today! And with the Tobler family...there's always plenty of fun to be had!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!

'Tis the Season!

It seems like we've been celebrating since December 1st! This past week was filled with a handful of fun holiday parties. We had one with the Copelands last night and did our traditional Tobler-Family-Graham-Cracker-House-Build. We all brought a couple of our favorite holiday goodies, watched the Heisman presentation (I still think Tim Tebow is the best football player in the country), and built houses. We made a great mess and had fun doing it!

Everyone getting started. Even though we had a year to think about it, it still took us a while to figure out what to do!













Cassie making a mess with her "glue"



Craig showing us his schematic for his graham cracker yacht. It ended up looking more like an ark than a yacht and met a quick doom when it collapsed. Cassie was not happy with their product.



Walmir giving Craig pointers.



Our finished products:

Walmir's (we missed you Irene!)



Me and Jeff. It started as a skyscraper but, was quickly changed to a church at the end.



Blaine and Hillary were so good, they made a great school bus and the Eiffel Tower!





The boys helped Craig throw this together at the end (since his yacht sunk...)

The Greatest Week Ever!!

This past week has been one of the greatest weeks ever for us! It's been filled with much excitement and celebration (we're both home sick today because we've been celebrating so much) and to make it better, it was topped off with the Gators winning the SEC Championship and likely securing a bid to the national championship game in Miami!! Hopefully, we can parlay our luck into some tickets for the big game!

GO GATORS!!

Celebration Bonfire

When I asked Jeff what he wanted to do to celebrate his dental school acceptance with our friends, he said he wanted to have a bonfire (he's been hanging onto some stuff that it's now time to get rid of). So, Friday night our friends the Copelands had us all over for a bonfire and smores!

This is Jeff's box full of burnables...old DAT prep books and notes, application materials, etc.



He was happy to burn these two books!






And especially the old rejection and waitlist letters...



Ahh...beautiful.

It's Official!!

Jeff received his paper invitation to be part of the UF dental school class of 2013! We found ourselves wondering if it really happened over the past two days so, it's nice to have some hard evidence that it wasn't a dream! (Apparently we weren't the only ones wondering if it was a dream. The admissions secretary said several people had called back wondering if "that really happened.")

It came in a tube, which surprised us...








It "popped" open and a few of these little Gator confetti's burst out. Isn't that fun!?!



There was a "Gator Dentist" toothbrush inside



And the official letter and invitation










Jeff's been grinning ever since! We've put the deposit down and now we just have to wait for him to start in August!

Christmas Came Early...

Jeff was accepted to UF's dental school this morning!! Yeah!!! The phone call we've been waiting for came at 5:54 am. I don't think either of us have ever been so happy to be woken up so early!

I am so proud of Jeff. He has been working toward this and waiting for this blessing for 3 years. He didn't give up and willingly did everything he could to accomplish this goal. A huge burden was lifted for us today and I cannot express enough my gratitude for answered prayers and the many opportunities that have come our way that have brought this about.

I don't think you'll find two happier people today! We're going to celebrate tonight! (and probably tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after,...) Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a nice couple of days at my mom's house in Tampa. We certainly have much to be thankful for and it's always nice to have a special day to appreciate it all.

I love cooking with my mom and sisters. We each have our responsibilities for dinner:

Ashley and Greer made the sweet potato souffle. It is absolutely delicious!!





I make the dinner rolls



Jeff read the book he has to write a paper on and turn in Monday



Braden slept



We never do the "Black Friday" shopping thing. Instead, we helped my mom put up her Christmas tree and decorate her house.







It was a fun time and we're excited for the holiday season!!

Tail-Gators!

We decided to tailgate last weekend for the football game. It was rainy and got progressively colder as the day went on but, it was a good time! Plus, it gave us an excuse to buy and consume all sorts of goodies that we normally wouldn't have!

"See the end, be the end."

I'm scheduled to defend my dissertation February 4th! Whopee!!

My Turn for a Tag...

I was tagged by Rachel and Janet. I actually love reading these but have never filled one out myself!

8 Things I'm Obsessed About Right Now
(In no particular order)
1. finishing my dissertation
2. working out/dieting - I'm desperate to lose my fat!!
3. making baby blankets...so many procreating, so little time!
4. Gator Football...OK maybe this should've been #1!
5. Getting Jeff into dental school
6. Jeff
7. Reading Blogs
8. Saving money to buy new appliances

8 Words or Phrases I Use:
1. Hey, love...
2. I love you
3. Wah, Wah (I picked this up from Ashley)
4. Thank you
5. Good morning, Sunshine
6. Good night, love
7. Go Gators!
8. Sure...

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Extreme Makeover - Home Edition
3. Brother's & Sisters
4. Private Practice
5. American Chopper
6. The Office
7. Gator Football
8. Gossip Girl

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Worked on my dissertation
2. Went to Sam's Club
3. Had a dinner date with Jeff
4. Watched "Get Smart"
5. Worked on a baby blanket
6. Blog-surfed
7. Smiled and Laughed
8. Knew I was loved

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Dragonfly Sushi and Sake Company
2. Sisters Cafe - for breakfast
3. The Fat Tuscan - a new favorite for lunch
4. My kitchen - I can hold my own in the kitchen...
5. Bento
6. Rolls N' Bolls
7. Carrabbas
8. Del Frisco's - only once in NY but it was fantastic!!

Two Confessions...

1. I cry every time I watch Extreme Makeover - Home Edition

2. I started listening to Christmas music last week! 'Tis the season!!

We Voted!!

Regardless of your political ideology, we hope you did too!

Fun With Dad & Betsey

My dad and step-mom, Betsey, have been in town this past week and we've had a lot of fun! They got to participate in the UF homecoming festivities with us and we all went to Jacksonville yesterday for the FL/GA game (Go Gators)! Some of our fun pics are below!


Playing Gator Tailgate Golf before Gator Growl. I am not very good at this game yet!



Betsey



Jeff was good at this game from the start!



Betsey, Dad, Me & Ashley at the UF/KY homecoming game. It was a fun blow-out!



Me and Jeff

Trunk-or-Treat...



Jeff, handing out candy next to his pumpkin



Jeff's scary pumpkin

We spent a couple of nights hanging out at our local state park playing games and roasting marshmallows. We enjoyed seeing all of the wildlife!




UF/GA Game in Jacksonville



We got to park 10 spaces away from the stadium entrance. Walmir really hooked us up!



Waiting anxiously for the game to start



Enjoying the rout...



Craig & Cassie. Craig was nervous at first but, things got ugly for Georgia pretty fast!



See, their fans left the game pretty early...



But the Gator faithful stayed to celebrate!






Jeff in the "outdoor cocktail party" aftermath. Yuck!