All Done!

All done with finals, tests, studying, etc.! Whahoo!

Fun Weekend!

In between our study sessions this weekend, Jeff and I finished up the parade of homes with the Copelands and Greenhalghs. It was a fun day and our favorites from last week were still our favorites this week. We finished our afternoon with a great dinner at the Olive Garden. For some reason, Jeff and I never seem to go there but, we both had delicious dishes (I had the stuffed rigatoni w/ chicken and Jeff had the steak gorgonzola alfredo) and are likely to return.

It's finals week this week. Both of our exams are on Tuesday so, were gearing up for what will be a busy start to our week with a couple of long days. It's finally sinking in for me....last class ever, last exam ever, last time I have to study ever... All pretty exciting!

As a more random note....Jeff and I were talking today about how we enjoy all the wildlife around us. Just sitting on our back porch this afternoon we saw a blue jay, two male cardinals, one female cardinal, a woodpecker, a hawk, and our usual assortment of lizards and squirrels. We're so blessed to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by so many beautiful things!

Have a good week, all!

How do you celebrate you last class ever???

By skipping it!! So, yesterday was to be my very last day in class as a student (It's pretty hard to believe I couldn't possibly go to school any longer without changing professions!). When the alarm went off at 7am I thought to myself....go to my last class? Or sleep in? After all, it was the last time I could skip class and sleep in. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would've chosen to sleep (Jeff was grateful)! I have my final on Tuesday morning and then I'll just have my dissertation to complete (which is progressing nicely)! Yeah!

Jeff has been busy with his end-of-semester tasks as well. His trying to register for what will be his last class in his master's program so that he'll get to spend his last two semesters just doing the project for his thesis. He's excited about a long break from classes before he (hopefully) starts dental school.

Other exciting news....Lost and Grey's are starting new episodes tomorrow night! I can't lie, I've actually enjoyed the forced hiatus from TV since the writer's strike. I've had the opportunity to re-evaluate how involved I want to be in these shows and have chosen just a few (Brother's and Sisters, Lost & Grey's) to follow. It's been so nice to sit on our back porch and read/chat with Jeff instead!

Unproductive Weekend

Jeff and I had big plans this weekend to be productive and work on all of our end-of-the-semester school work. Classes end for both of us tomorrow (his for this semester, mine forever!) and we have loads to do. Saturday morning began well. However, we were quickly distracted when Cassie and Craig invited us to the Parade of Homes. The builders in the area put this event on and it features a few dozen new home throughout Gainesville that they let you walk through. Needless to say, we went and didn't get anything we wanted to done! We enjoyed it so much that we're doing it again this Saturday...visiting a few of our favorites and a bunch we didn't get to see and hopefully taking some pictures!

I did find the following online...it's the sketch and floor plan of our favorite home. It has become our new dream home (and the Copeland's too). Some day....








We capped our unproductive weekend off last night by attending a BBQ at Brent and Erin's. We had a great time and definitely busted our diet!

Orange & Blue Debut

I hope you all had a great weekend! We sure did! Friday, Jeff played hooky and went to the beach with some friends. I, unfortunately, was not able to go...all part of being a grown-up working full time! I did get to have a fantastic dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant on Friday night with Ashley. It was good to catch up and the food was delicious. Saturday we all got up bright and early and headed to campus to enjoy the Orange & Blue game festivities. ESPN's College Gameday was broadcasting live from the Swamp so, we spent a little time trying to get on tv and cheering as good-gators do. The game was fun, they estimate about 61,000 people attended (really, to watch a scrimmage). We managed to find a spot in the shade that we were really grateful for. We celebrated the game by treating ourselves to some chicken nachos at the Ale House, which are my favorite football treat and are so unhealthy that I can only enjoy them during football season (four more months 'till we can have them again...).

All-in-all, a pretty great weekend! It's great to live in Gainesville and even greater to be a Gator!

Pics of the College Gameday guys. Kirk is as handsome in person as he is on tv. Too bad he was a Buckeye...










Amy & Ashley in our orange & blue



Brent's last even as a UF student (That's why he has that sad-looking face...)


The team takes the field...

First Signs of Fall Football...

Anyone else ready for football season?? I am so excited for the Orange & Blue game on Saturday! For those not familiar with UF football, this game is the annual spring football scrimmage. Really, tens of thousands come to Gainesville to watch the team scrimmage. It's so fun and will be even more exciting this year because ESPN's College Game Day will be broadcasting from here! Tebow, Kirk, college football...sounds like a great day to me!

We had a nice relaxing past couple of days. We enjoyed General Conference at home and treated ourselves to a handful of the new, limited edition, strawberry milkshake oreos...they are so tasty! I highly recommend them! Jeff made it home from Texas safely and it sounds like he had a good experience at the conference. I'm just happy to have him home!

Hope you all have a good week!
Go Gators!

Coming Soon...

New on my "to-do" list is to create separate blog for just my recipes. It seems I update them too quickly! I'm hoping to start working on this over the weekend but, it'll have to take a back seat to my dissertation for a week or so! I'll post a bunch of the ones from past posts once I have it up so, stay tuned...

As a quick update, Jeff is in Dallas this week presenting some of his research at a conference. It's his first "business" trip and it sounds like its been a good experience so far. He comes home tomorrow evening and I'll be happy to have him home!! Just in time for a nice General Conference weekend at home...

I've been working on my dissertation with renewed vigor this week. My first paper is just about ready to submit for publication (I'm shooting for next week) and I've been busy running the statistical analyses for my second paper. They are coming along nicely and I'm hoping to have a draft of that paper ready by the end of May. I think I may have convinced my committee chair that a December finish is definitely feasible and I'm still pretty optimistic that I can do it.

As an interesting commentary, I was watching the NBC Nightly News last night which included a story about a research study that concluded that humans really don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. While this was interesting, I thought Brian Williams' concluding comment was great, something like, "This further supports our view of research...just keep waiting and eventually a study will be published that confirms your way of life." The geeky, research scientist in me thought this was funny. :-)

Tasty Dinner

Jeff and I just had a lovely dinner on our little patio over-looking the golf course and we enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd at least share the recipes since you all couldn't enjoy our little patio and the beautiful spring weather!

The recipes are for a chicken, rice & veggie soup and goat cheese drop biscuits. The soup recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, the "Picky Palate," and the biscuits are from on Oprah show that I heard about. Check out my "What's cooking..." section on the right!

I hope you all have good things coming your ways this weekend! We're looking forward to some time at home and the warm, Florida sunshine! (For those of you who aren't lucky enough to be in Florida...I bet you wish you were!)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, All!

We've had a nice weekend. We were able to attend a BBQ at the home of one of the UF dental school admissions committee members on Saturday afternoon and were really glad we stayed in Gainesville to attend. The food was delicious and it was a great opportunity to meet the College of Dentistry's Dean, Dean of Admissions, and admissions committee members in a casual setting. Since Jeff is applying in May, we thought this was an opportunity that he shouldn't miss.

With that, however, we weren't able to go to my mom's for our traditional Easter gathering in Tampa. We were disappointed about that but, we did have our good friends, Brent & Erin over for Easter dinner. I made my first brown sugar glazed ham (actually, Publix made it...I just glazed it and warmed it up!) and tried a new dessert recipe (see pic below and recipe in my "What's Cooking..." section). It was all tasty and we always enjoy spending time with Brent & Erin. They're leaving Gainesville soon for Washington and we'll definitely miss them!

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter celebrations! Amid all of the bunnies and candies, it is wonderful to be able to remember and celebrate the atonement and resurrection of the Savior among family and friends!




Our Easter Chocolate Trifle...Yum!

Vegas Pics

At long last, here are a few pics from our Vegas Vacation last week. We had a nice trip and aside from our flight issues (the one we missed and the dreadful red-eye home) and the two days we spent in the car driving through the desert (although good conversation made this bearable)! Also, I apologize for the underlined font, I can't make it go away!

Enjoy!



The Bride & Groom, Clark & Rachel



Jeff & little man, Charile, ready for the wedding.



All of the boys, except for Elder Jake who is in Canada...



Rachel & her cupcake cake. Those little things were so tasty! Just like twinkies (from what I can remember)!



Amy, Kim & Jan



Charlie in his Gator Jersey...a gift from Auntie Amy & Uncle Jeff. Little Gators are so cute!



Another one of our little Gator.



Jeff telling Chad how to double his money at video poker. Jeff was actually pretty good at this. He put in a dollar at one of the machines at the airport and ended up with $5 about 10 minutes later!



One last picture before we adjourn until Christmas!