Giving Thanks...

So, this post is much over due! It's the day after Christmas and I'm just now posting about Thanksgiving! To say the last couple of months have been busy would be a gross understatement. But, amidst the madness we had a very nice Thanksgiving in Tampa at my mom's house.

'Round here, we all pitch in for our Thanksgiving feast.

Ashley is the pie-lady and this year she made many-a-pie. She made a delicious pumpkin pie and tried valiantly for our family-favorite, homemade banana cream pie. Her efforts started very optimistically...

But, two of the three ended up looking not quite so pie-like.

They were delicious mistakes nonetheless and mom was able to work her magic on the third attempt. It may seem like a lot of effort for one pie but, it was totally worth it!

Greer did a lot of dishes and didn't stay dry in the kitchen very long.

I make Aunt Rochelle's rolls (I guess that makes me the roll-lady). They were tasty this year!

New this year, Dave deep-fried the turkey. It was mighty tasty and very fitting I think given our long-term residence in the South. He watched many You Tube videos that convinced him he was taking his life in his hands by frying our bird and we appreciated his death-defying cookery for the delicious turkey and laughs it produced.

Mom always sets an elegant table and we use the nice china and silver. Although, when we're doing the dished someone always asks why we don't just move to paper plates and plastic utensils... I suppose now it's because we're tree-huggers.

Braden always plays with his food, always the olives and occasionally the mashed potatoes (Hey, Dad, Ashley and Braden. Do you remember "the bird that swooped and pooped right in my eye?" :-) For our other readers, you definitely had to be there!)

This year Greer got to sit by Jeff. Ashley, our resident Emily Post, was adamant that it was not proper to sit right next to your spouse. So, I got to sit and enjoy the view from across the table. :-)

The day after Thanksgiving, we helped my mom put up her Christmas tree. I just thought this was a funny image...two butts sticking out of a Christmas tree.

Jeff (not so) delicately placed the angel on top of the tree

And we all enjoyed adorning the tree. We don't subscribe to the "too many ornaments" idea around here. Luckily, this tree was extra tall and there was plenty of room!

We finished the weekend by heading home for the Florida/Florida State game, which was Tim Tebow's last game in the Swamp. It was awesome. The Gator Walk was insane, the fans were rowdy (even for a less than impressive FSU team) and everyone stayed until Tebow and the rest of the seniors left the field. It was one of my favorite moments as a Gator thus far (11 years and counting...).

To honor Tim Tebow, many fans wore eye black, including me and Ashley of course!

And here I am with my favorite Gator, for whom I am most thankful. Every day we recognize how blessed we are and are thankful that our lives are filled with so much joy.

Prayers Are Answered...

Charity has prevailed upon Ashley and she has sent me the pictures from Thanksgiving! Blog updates coming soon...

I Promise I'm Still Here

Hello, my faithful readers. I promise I'm still alive and well. I have much to blog about:

1. Thanksgiving

2. the last home game of the season

3. our decked halls

4. a baby shower

5. girls weekends in Park City

Yes, this all occurred in the last two weeks! Unfortunately, I cannot commit to when I'll get this done for several reasons:

1. I'm stressed (see numbers 1-5 above) and am trying to minimize so that I can enjoy the holidays

2. Ashley is holding our Thanksgiving pictures ransom and because I'm OCD, it all has to be posted in chronological order. Perhaps we should all pray for her to have charity and send them along anyway before Christmas when I will meet her demands.

3. I'm tired, refer to numbers 1-5 above

4. The next couple of weeks are not going to slow down! (Up next: 3 Christmas parties, YW in Excellence, Christmas shopping, several work deadlines, and a partridge in a pear tree!)

So, be patient my friends and good things will come. I promise it'll be worth it (especially my account of #5 above)!

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas to you all!

Dedication...

Just before I left on my trips we receive the bound copy of Jeff's thesis in the mail (my dissertation remains unbound--I figure it's like a wedding gift, you have full year, right?). I had forgotten that he dedicated his work to me. And while this may seem like a small detail (after all, I'm sure you can imagine how diabetogenic gingival epithelial destruction and periodontal disease really melts my butter (note: read with sarcasm)), it actually says a lot.

A thesis, let alone a master's degree, was not something that Jeff wanted to complete. He didn't want to spend two additional years in school in order to spend the four that he really wanted to, or labor over his petri dishes of cells (sometimes on nights and weekends), or send many mice to meet their maker, but, he did it for us, our little family, and especially for me, because despite his boasting about having a "sugar momma," he really wants to take care of me and any little Jeff's or Amy's that may eventually join us. I admire his persistence and am thankful every day for his willingness to do whatever it takes (regardless of how unpleasant it may be--ask him why they don't have windows in the labs in the dental tower at the health science center) to achieve his goals and provide for our family.

So, his dedication is "To my wife, Amy Tobler" and for that I am very grateful.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I know we did! It was nice to finally see the Gators firing on all cylinders against Georgia yesterday and we enjoyed watching the game with the da Costas. Their little man is too cute!

Jeff loves Halloween. This year he was Elvis for his dental school halloween party. Not too shabby for throwing something together in 30 minutes with stuff we had in our closet! Not many guys will have white (temple) pants in their wardrobe!

I finished my first cake decorating course and really enjoyed it! Although, I don't think I'll ever consume buttercream icing again. I'm done for a few months since I'll be traveling so much in November and December. Hopefully, I'll be able to start the fondant class in January. It's so nice to have something creative scheduled every week and to learn something new! This was my cake from my last class. Those little roses are harder to make than they look!

I have back-to-back trips to Philadelphia and Atlanta next week and Jeff has another round of tests. We're also tailgating with my Dad, Betsey and Ashley this weekend for the game. All good things! We should resurface in a couple of weeks just in time to get ready for Thanksgiving!

What We've Been Up To...

I've been a bad blogger lately. And for our few faithful readers, thank you for your persistence and your patience!

Jeff has started to settle into his school routine, which means that I'm settling into my new "single wife" routine. There are many days where he leaves before I wake up and gets home after I'm all ready asleep. He's working hard and doing well and I'm using my new-found free time to explore some of my creative interests!

I finally started my cake decorating class and I really enjoy it! I love to bake and the class is very helpful. My first week I made this...

This week we're learning how to do boarders and flowers and I'm excited about that. We use buttercream icing and after making about 8 cups of it every Sunday, I don't think I will ever truly be able to enjoy it again. All that Crisco...I can't imagine it actually looks all that different from its original form when it deposits itself securely on my thighs. Sigh...

We're also in the middle of Gator football season! It was homecoming weekend and we enjoyed Gator Growl and the game last night was pretty intense! I'm still recovering!

Waiting for Growl to start. This is year they had Dana Carvey, the Jabawokeez dance crew and O.A.R. I thought the Jabawokeez stole the show and I really enjoyed OAR. Jeff didn't really care for them but, I liked it!

A quick picture with our friends, the Savages, after one crazy game! Notice that I'm wearing a sweatshirt!! I can't tell you how happy I am that fall has come to Gainesville!

Domestic Divas

Since Jeff has another round of tests this week and I would've been a single wife all weekend, I decided to head to my mom's for a weekend of estrogen and domesticity with my mom and sisters. We made and canned a bunch of chili (pronounced "chilla") sauce and I finally got to make the Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls (which I highly recommend; as an aside, is it weird that she makes me want to move to a ranch in Oklahoma? Or maybe leave my post as a professor and be her intern?).

Greer has started taking guitar lessons. She serenaded us for a few minutes.



Our finished product, the chilla sauce. Once you try it, you won't eat eggs or roast beef without it. (Unless you're Jeff and prefer gravy and ketchup)



Hey, Greer. Do you like the cinnamon rolls?



Careful, Ashley. We don't want your mouth getting stuck open, again.

iLove...

My new...

and my new...

In addition to feeling trendy and cool, I'm impressed with the speed of the operating system and software. I'm one happy Apple customer and I cannot wait to welcome the iPhone into my life!

And, of course, I love this guy too. He studies so hard all the time. He even occasionally studies the insides of his eyelids.

Our new wheels...

At long last we have joined the ranks of the two-car households! We held out as long as we could but, after trying to make the first week of dental school work with just one car, we [I] became strongly motivated to buy a new car. We are happy to announce the arrival of our new truck! We love it and it loves us. We look forward to many years of hauling stuff, tailgating, and parking where ever we want on game days.

He's on his way to a D.M.D.

Jeff is officially a dental student! He'll be wearing this pretty blue number every day for the next 4 years!





I'm so proud of him. We are both excited that this last phase of his education is under way and he's enjoying spending his days learning stuff that interests him. It's been a hard adjustment for me. I never see him and I'm having to resume the household duties that he kindly took care of all summer long. I miss my personal assistant!

Our Vacation After Vacation

Less than 48 hours after we got back from our Caribbean cruise, we headed out to southern Idaho for a fun-filled week at my Dad's house. It was a GREAT trip! We all enjoyed getting back to our roots and my dad is one of the funnest people I know!

This was our destination. With all of us, my step-brothers and sisters included, we really contributed to the population for the week!



It's a place where this is normal...



and you can spend a whole day sitting on the front porch. Although, our porch-sitting time was pretty limited. As you'll see, we kept very busy!



My brother, Braden, brought his girlfriend, Cassi, to meet the fam. She's so cute and, thankfully, I don't think we scared her off!



We had some fun cruisin' in the Jeep, which is one of my favorite summer past times. I can't tell you how many times we piled all of our fun Utah girls in this thing for many different adventures!



This time, it was Ashley, me and Cassi piled in the back.



We spent a couple of days on the boat at Bear Lake. The first day we were so cold! Yes, I wore a sweatshirt to the beach. There's just something fundamentally wrong about that.



We were all a little hesitant to jump into the 65 degree water. (Especially me and Jeff since we had just returned from the 80 degree water in the Caribbean!)





Generally, everyone made a face like this...



or this...



or this when the jumped in the water.



Braden was more brave and flippied himself right in ("Flippied" may be a new word. I'll inform Wikipedia).



After your body goes numb, you can muster a smile. This is fun after all.





We had quite a lot of water sports talent aboard this fun-boat. My dad is 55. Can you tell?



Braden eventually got up on the wake board.



Which was a relief to him because he didn't want to be shown up by his girlfriend...



...or his sister (Ashley).



Erick was pretty good.



And Jeff was really good! My hot hubby still has it. Let's take a moment and appreciate his arm muscles. Go ahead, appreciate 'em. Aren't I a lucky girl?



This is as close as I got to getting up. After 3 tries, it was time for lunch and when we went back out to try again, my attempt was thwarted by my near-death (not really, but it was scary) close encounter with the propeller and the under-side of the boat. My hot hubby jumped in and saved me. My hero! He (has) saved me in every way possible... (Name that movie!)



So, I traded in the wake board...



...for the knee board and all was right in the world.



Ashley and I had a lot of fun doing this...



We also had a few fishing adventures! First at the carp hole...



Cassi's first fish ever...








Then we had an early morning fishing excursion up the canyon for some rainbow trout.



Jeff was the first one with some success.



I mostly just tried to stay warm while being Jeff's beautiful (albeit extensively clothed) assistant.



We had evenings of shooting. Bows and arrows first. My dad imparting his wisdom on Jeff.



Jeff was a pretty good shot. Although, by the time he actually released the arrow, the elk would have ample time to give him a once over, sing the national anthem, and then walk slowly away.



Ashley was a natural-born hunter.



I was a little less natural. This bow tried to shoot me! These compound bows take 60 lbs of force to pull back. In my prideful state I thought, "I work out, I can definitely do this," but as you can see, I needed the strength of two men to make up for my weak back muscles. In my defense, Ashley couldn't pull hers back by herself either. I just wasn't able to capture it for our posterity. We both had lengthy talks with our trainers (Jeff for me, a paid professional for her) when we got home.



Cue the Robin Hood music...




We also like to shoot guns in our family. Really, I don't think we have enough guns to go around...















Awww...isn't Braden a good boyfriend!?!



We took the 4-wheelers up the canyon for a hike to Bloominton Lake one morning.





We were among the wild flowers...







...and were one with nature.





We had some old-fashioned family photos taken.





My dad was especially proud of his over-educated "skank ho" daughters (yes, my dad used the term "skank ho" and was especially proud when he remembered it after great effort and a good couple minutes of thinking about it).



In the end, we all were so happy to have had a week remembering our roots. After all, we have many "onion layers" and this is just one of mine.



Thanks Dad and Betsey for a great week! We loved every minute of it and will definitely have to do it more often!