LSU vs. UF

Two weekends ago Trent and I set out to make the 9 hour scamper to Baton Rouge following behind our friends, Craig and Cassie. We had a late start on Friday since we all had work and school, but it made for getting to Tallahassee right at dinner time. So of course we stopped at my parents house to quickly scarf down some food before eventually getting to our surprisingly nice Denham Springs, Louisiana Quality Inn around 3 am. Just in time to get in a little nap before going to the College Gameday Show at 9:00 am. It's a good thing we went though, because I'm pretty sure no other Gator fans were able to make it there in time. Either that or they were scared away by the crowd chanting "Tiger Bait" while simultaneously pointing at them.

Cassie is from Louisiana so that's why she is sporting her purple and gold. I love this picture of them.

And this one is fantastic too. It really captures her 6 month + pregnant look.

Ready for Game Day

At College Game Day

Did I mention how classy the LSU fans were? Notice the finger behind Cassie's head.

At the game just prior to kickoff.

This was our view from the amazing seats on the lower level in the midst of LSU alumni. Next post is going to have a video of one LSU Alumnus which highlights how bright they are. (I just need to get my sister to upload it for me). We made history at this game, some 93,000 + fans made it to the stadium that night, more than ever before at the Tiger Stadium.

We had such a good time. I was all excited about making this post when I got home, but then I realized we left our camera in Tallahassee. My sister ended up uploading the pictures to snapfish and sending them to me, but by the time I got them the enthusiasm and energy to post was gone.

We unfortunately didn't record Game Day while we were gone, so we cant see for ourselves, but some of our friends were kind enough to text us and let us know that they saw us on TV. Evidently the camera captured Trent going crazy surrounded by LSU fans, and since he was able to lift me on his shoulders I was able to do the Gator chop right behind Chris Fowler's head. It took all but two hours of him lifting me up when Fowler started talking and setting me back down when Fowler was done to finally get it right, but in the last few minutes of the show we figured it out and I got a few seconds of TV time. One of my favorite road trips by far, one that makes me excited for all the football road trips we hope to take in the future.

Summer Wrap-up [Part III]

Back on track and ready to get caught up for good. August was a whirlwind of a month, it came and went before I could even blink my eye.

PUERTO RICO

We wanted to take one last vacation before the new school year so we hopped on a plane for Puerto Rico with no plans in mind but to relax and enjoy the island views. We decided to s

tay at a hotel on the beach in Dorado, a nice little town out side of San Juan because we liked the idea of being away from the city. Some of our adventures in Puerto Rico include a trip to Old San Juan, the Barceloneta Outlet Mall, El Yuque Rainforest, Flamenco beach on Culebra Island and a relaxing day at the Dorado Beach.

KATIE AND JOE

Upon our arrival at the Orlando Airport we met up with our good friends from BYU, Katie and Joe. Katie was my roommate Sophomore year and she was in town for Amy's (another one of our roommates) wedding. Joe went

through the accounting program with me at BYU and has a great job at Deloitte in Southern California. We had so much fun with them while they were here. We took them to see the alligators first thing. We also went out to eat at Calico Jacks for oysters and to Sonny's for some Florida barbecue. They were here during my 23rd birthday so we rented tubes and went down the Ichetucknee River. While we floated down the river we saw turtles, fish, birds, deer, raccoons, and even

river otters. Thanks Katie for sending me the picture from our rafting trip.

BIKE RIDE TO TALLAHASSEE

On August 21st Trent rode the back highways from Gainesville to Tallahassee, 150 miles in total. He left early in the morning just before I left for work and I drove up after work, arriving only a couple minutes after him. All day he just peddled and peddled and peddled. For some reason I was so nervous about the trip all day and was so relieved every time he called to check in.

DENTAL SCHOOL

As I mentioned before, Trent had two first weeks of school. He had what he thought was the first week of school but actually turned out to be orientation.

And then of course he had the first week of actual school, scrubs and all.

The first picture is of Trent and his friend Jeff. I had the honor of taking them both to school on their first day of Orientation. The next picture is of Trent with his bike. No- I did not follow him to school on his bike just to to snap a picture of him in front of the school. I drove him to school and he stashed his bike in the back of the truck so that he could bike home later that day.

Starstruck

Spoiled. Absolutely spoiled. Let me take a quick break from my Summer Part I, II, III to tell you what went down at Beef-O-Brady's tonight. First of all Trent and his buddy, Lane Fowler, got to the restaurant at 4:45, it is very, very important, after all, that they get there in time to get the best seats in the house. Coach Meyer is going to be there for his radio talk show, Gator Hotline, and rummer has it you can get your stuff signed.

An hour and an half later I show up and find them sitting on the front row [or cloud nine, however you want to look at it]. Another hour later, Coach shows up with his two kids and the show begins, Trent can't get over how close he is to Urban.

During the first break Trent goes up to Urban and has the book that he read this summer, Urban's Way, signed.

I follow by getting one of Lane's books signed and the shoulder of some ugly UF shirt that Trent wanted signed. [Peeing our pants right now].

Then some chick with a microphone walks by, and Trent asks her if he can ask Urban a question for the call in show. She says yes. [freaking out with the camera ready to capture him asking the question]

He asked some bogus question about some second stringer making his way to first string.

Show goes on, and there is another break, we ask one of Urban's assistants (who happens to have played basketball with Trent) if we can get a picture with Urban [pushing our luck? maybe], he says sure and Urban obliges. [Picture with Urban? ecstatic]

Then Trent mentions briefly that we are from Utah. I could just about rehearse the rest of our 5 or so minute conversation with him but let me just touch on the basics- He asked us where exactly we were from, what high school Trent went to, If we are LDS, then he went on and on about how much he loved Utah and the people and how he got to go to General Conference a couple times and sit at the very front with Orin Hatch... then we told him about when we met Joseph B. Wirthlin about three years ago at church and we told him that Trent wants to go to Dental school at the University of Florida and he told us that when we go to Florida to tell Urban that he said Hi... Coach thought that was really neat, especially since his good friend Elder Wirthlin has since passed away... I told him how when that happened we laughed about how we never thought we would actually get the opportunity to pass on the "Hi" for Elder Wirthlin, but we were happy to be wrong about that. [over the giddiness, now we are just having a relaxed conversation] Urban asked us what our name was and told us that it was really good to meet us. What did we say in return? Nothing, absolutely nothing. We looked him in the eye as we shook his hand and just smiled in a star-stricken gaze trying to figure out if this was really happening... After all it is kinda similar to this reoccurring dream that Trent has been having... haha

Summer Wrap-up [Part II]

July brought with it two visits from Trent's family. First was a one week visit from his mom . We had lots of fun exploring Florida with her. We went to St. Augustine to see the old fort and to Jacksonville Beach to have dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures-Trent also took her out to Paynes Prairie a few times to see the alligators. Judy was not a fan of the proximity of the alligators and used whatever means she had to ensure they kept their distance.

Trent also took her to Cedar Key, Palm Coast, and Flagler Beach to scope our time shares for a future visit. We also took her to campus to see the dental school, and also to the bat house to see the bats fly out at dusk.
Next, we had a visit from Trent's dad, Gene. Our visit from Gene was very...low key, we wore him out quick. Trent took him to Paynes Prairie, Orlando, Flagler beach, but mostly his visit was spent relaxing at the house or by the pool.

We had lots of fun with Trent's parents! Thanks for visiting :)

Summer Wrap-up [Part 1]

We have had a very busy summer. In July when I started to get behind on my blog I decided I would try and soak up all the "Trent time" I could before he started school. As rumor had it he would be crazy busy, which means I would have all the time in the world to sit my lonely self down at a computer and update the blog. I *thought* the first day of school was August 24 but it turns out that was actually orientation, and the next day too, oh, and there was a third day of orientation. And then 4 days off before school really started and then a week later there was a holiday, all of which means a longer summer and less me-time to create this much delayed summer wrap-up post.

Trent went to a group members house tonight to work on a presentation. Looks like me-time kicks in today. In fact, before he left he tells me its time for me to update the blog. He lays out a game plan, suggests I do this Part I, II, II system, and prays at the dinner table that I will be able to finish my blogging before he gets home, what?? So here we go...

Part I is June 2009, btw.

One of the only things I can remember about June was our trip to Elberton, Georgia to visit Jeff, Stacey, and their sweet baby Cheyenne. We hadn't seen them for just over a year when they left Utah to take a football coaching position in this small town just outside of Athens, very close to where my grandma lives. We were so excited that they were moving south and we were just crossing our fingers that we would be able to follow them there the next summer. Just yesterday I was telling Trent how I miss the days when we would hang out with Jeff and Stacey into the wee hours of the morning, we would just get more and more giggly and couldn't help but hang out longer. One time we actually had a sleep over. I am getting off topic, lets just say Jeff and Stacey are one of our favorite friends and we are glad that we only live 6 hours apart and are able to occasionally get in our late night laughs with them. While we were there we went to the UGA Sanford Stadium (where we walked around the whole thing until we found a cracked door to sneak in through), went to dinner with my grandma, went running, Trent and Jeff played basketball, went to the Clemson Stadium (where we touched the famous Howard's Rock which the Clemson football team touches prior to every game, we also got VIP access to the suites upstairs), ate at Mac's Drive inn, visited Little John Basketball Court, and we got to see their beautiful new home in Athens. Here are some pictures
Whoops can't read my captions. Try clicking on it to make it bigger.

The things we will do for free food

Wear a cow outfit to chick-fil-a today and get a free meal. We were the only one's in costume this morning- we got a few funny looks, but we had fun and thought it was totally worth it. Get your own cow costume here.

Welcome to Gatorville

We have been in Gainesville for almost two months now and have made it out to the La chua Trail twice already to observe nature and the slew of alligators that live in it. Our very first visit to the trail was with my brother, Alex, and his family along with my sister, Amanda, and her daughter. The second time was with Ryker, my sister's husband, when he came to visit. It's almost gauranteed that if you come and visit us in Gainesville, you will get taken down to this La chua Trail, which is also refered to as Payne's Prarie, to see the gators. The first 500 yards or so is fenced in and raised above the water. But after that its wide open with no fence-- just water, gators, and a nice little trail to walk along. The aligators haven't shown any hostility so far, and unless that changes we plan to continue our frequent visits.
Trent's usual involvement with this blog that I call "ours" is slim to nothing, the exception being this very post. I think he has reminded me at least once a day for the past week or so to post the pictures of the gators. So, per Trent's request, please enjoy the following slide show.

California, Arizona, Orlando Trip

This is so frustrating... I have so much to blog about, but so little time. And before I can blog about anything else, I have to get this post off my chest. It's another picture post, this time featuring pictures from our little trip from sea to shining sea.

We left on May 26th, our three year anniversary. We stayed the night at the Marriott Renaissance, which is some fancy hotel near the airport that we found on hotwire.com.
ps: hotwire is awesome for last minute reservations. However, you may think you are getting a good deal for a four star hotel, and you are, except for the fact that you have to pay though the nose for everything that is supposed to be free-- like parking, internet, etc. oh, but the weight room was amazing and it was free, phew.

Here is Trent in the little waiting area by the elevator, the hotel decor was wild

From Orlando we flew to Orange County where we got to see Katie and Joe again! I was in awe on our short ride from the airport to their adorable apartment in New Port Beach because it was so beautiful. It was around 2 o'clock, the sun was out, but it wasn't too hot, and there were tall palm trees lining all the huge roads. But the very next day June Gloom set in and we didn't get to see too much more of the sun. ANYway, Katie and Joe did such a good job entertaining us. Katie took us to Balboa Island via bike ride and ferry, made amazing smoothies for breakfast, had our favorite casserole pre-made, ready to throw in the oven, and took us to two of our favorite restaurants- Sweet Tomatoes and Red Robin. We had so much fun with them. Here is a picture with Katie right before we left.
From New Port Beach we headed to Temecula where we got to see Emilee and John at their rehearsal dinner. They are such a cute couple- we love them.
From there we headed south for San Diego to go to the wedding. The Temple was so beautiful, but I didn't get a single picture because it was raining. After the wedding we went to Balboa Park and Anthony's Seafood Restaurant, a favorite from Trent's childhood memories. We had a nice veiw of the Pacific Ocean
After our short stop in San Diego we went up to Menifee to go to the most fabulous reception I have ever been to. It looked like it was right out of a Martha Stuart magazine, everything was simply perfect.
Here is Trent shaking Johns hand towards the end of the night
Trying to capture the scene, it was so fun.

Next stop: Arizona. We flew into the Phoenix airport and got to see my Grandma, Uncle Brent, and cousins Ashley, Celeste, and Michael. Here we are with my adorable Grandma Jessie.

The next day we went to the community beach park at my sister's in Gilbert.Trent's sister came all the way up from Tucson (2+ hour drive) just to spend a few hours with us at the beach then turn back around and drive us back. On top of that she is pregnant with baby #2. We only had one full day in Tucson but we were able to cram a lot of fun stuff into it. This is easy to do when your host lives in a neighborhood with its own water park type of thing, gym, mini golf course, jogging trail (which I wouldn't recommend using at mid afternoon--but hello? it's Arizona, who would ever even think to try that one?). Here is a nice shot of their whole family at the mini golf course.
And our entire family too.
Trent with little Addie. It was so much fun spending time with Sabrina, Brett, and Addie.
After our quick stop in Arizona we flew back to Orlando where we stayed with my other Grandparents, Meme and Lee, for a couple of nights at their timeshare. Here we are at Downtown Disney.
We found a store called "Trent," at least that's what it appears to be at first glance.Trent found the neighboring ESPN store to be much more entertaining.We had Kalil choose her favorite helment.
I think she was a little more excited about the UF one than the FSU one :( She has that, "why is this on my head" look on her face.When we got home Kalil got to take a bubble bath in Meme's tub, so I put my swimsuit on and jumped in too.
Meme and Lee took us out to eat at a really nice seafood restaurant, Landry's- it was so good.
Lastly, our trip to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Since this post is already too long, I consolidated all of our NASA pictures into one.