Costume Contest Winners!!

A few weeks ago www.thenest.com was hosting a couple's Halloween costume contest, so I decided to submit a picture of Sayre & I dressed up as Peanut Butter & Jelly from last year just on a whim... I didn't think we'd get chosen, but I thought our costume was cute so I sent it in. Welllllll, today when I was browsing the website I fould this:

http://ideas.thenest.com/love-and-sex-advice/real-couples/Slideshows/couple-halloween-costumes-2009.aspx?page=6

Woohoo!! We made it! :) It's slightly cheesy, but it makes me happy ;) Happy Halloween, everyone! We're volunteering at the "Pumpkin Patch Party" at Christ's Church tonight as "Trunk-or-Treat" volunteers, so I'll probably be posting pictures of that soon. I love fall :) there's always so many fun things going on this time of year!

Alaskan Wedding

No, we didn't get married again ;) but we did just get back from a whirlwind trip up to Alaska for Aly & Pat's wedding! Our only regret was not being able to stay up there longer, but we were very happy that Sayre was at least able to get off for a few days. The ceremony, reception, and super fun Alaskan family clan sleepover was held at the beautiful Black Rapids Lodge, which is about 2 & 1/2 hours away from Fairbanks. (We all said our prayers as the wedding cakes made their way that distance!) The lodge is so unique and has so much character and detail to it! The owners are so incredibly sweet and did absolutely everything they could to help everything go off without a hitch!

Anyway, I'm still not quite sure how they pulled it off in 2 months, but Aly & Pat had such a beautiful wedding weekend & ceremony! I'm so happy that we were able to be a part of it and spend some more time with everyone up there :) Hopefully next time we go. we'll get to spend more time than just a weekend. Here's a link to some more pictures highlighting the weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/lljeannet/AlyPatSWedding

Who would have ever thought that within just 4 & 1/2 months I would go from being an only child to having 3 new sisters-in-law and a new brother-in-law!? I'm one lucky girl!! Too bad Sayre didn't hit jackpot like I did ;) but at least he's added another boy to the force... God knows he could use some more boy-power with all that girl-power floating around!

Oh, I also wanted to send a little shout-out to my new blogging buddy Margo! :) Thanks for reading our little blog! Can't wait to hang out with you and everyone else some more in the future! You should totally start a blog... it could be about those new cute pups you're going to be getting! ;)

Continuing to Enjoy the Weather

The weather today was picture-perfect once again. I can't even begin to describe how happy beautifully cool fall & spring days make me :) Anyway, we took advantage of it again today by taking a stroll downtown after we went to church & grabbed some sushi (that has become our Sunday routine). Downtown Jacksonville has this great eating & shopping area called Jacksonville Landing full of little shops and tons of restaurants. In the middle of it is a pavilion where they have free concerts every Friday & Saturday night. We haven't experience that yet, but it was nice to go down there and check things out. There were a lot of people out there enjoying the wonderful day. It's also very close to the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium, so as we were parking we saw a funny little grill someone made out of a beer keg... hence the picture in the collage. Anyway, it was another amazingly cool & relaxing day!

Fall is Here!!

Fall has finally made its grand appearance here in Jacksonville and we couldn't be any happier! All week I prayed for rain as I watched the looming clouds overhead, only to be disappointed day after day when the rain just wouldn't fall. It wasn't until late Friday afternoon that we felt the first few drops fall from the sky. Sayre marveled at my glee over the rain, but since he did not grow up in the south, he didn't know that rainy weather in the fall usually means that cooler weather is to come... and boy was I right!! Thank you, God!

Last night we had a wonderful evening at "Date Night" at one of the churches we attend here. I had almost forgotten about it, but luckily Sayre remembered! Anyway, they had a really nice catered meal of prime rib, green beans, potatoes, and "shrimp creole" (or an attempt at shrimp etouffee... it was alright ;)) It was really nice though because they had large tables set up everywhere which gave us a chance to meet a few new couples and spend some time getting to know them as we ate before going and listening to a wonderful orchestral concert. Listening to the musicians perform made me think about my days in band in elementary and junior high school and how enthralled I was by music back then. I really miss playing an intstrument. There's just so much peace and beauty to be found in music like that.

Today when we woke up and turned on the weather channel I squealed when I heard it was only 53 degrees outside and the high was only going to be in the 60s! Sayre laughed at me, but I know that deep down he was happy too. We decided to take full advantage of the beautiful day by taking a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo! It was a little crowded (probably because everyone else had the same idea as we did), but I was really impressed by the zoo facilities. It was really big (especially compared to the Baton Rouge Zoo) and they had some beautiful gardens and grounds to walk around. We took our time strolling around, riding the train, and seeing all of the things that the zoo had to offer. They even had a great pier that you could walk down to enjoy the water. We spent about 2 & 1/2 hours there and then grabbed an early dinner at CiCi's pizza before coming back to our apartment to enjoy the remainder of the afternoon soaking up the breeze on our balcony. Currently Sayre is reading a C.S. Lewis book as I sit here and blog :) Yes, we know, we are such an old married couple already haha but we wouldn't want it any other way!!


Click here to see more pictures from the zoo!

Busy October

Whew... this month has already been busy and we're only 7 days into it! This past Friday, Sayre's XO had a little luau at his house to honor the officers leaving the ship and to welcome aboard the new ones (such as Sayre). They asked for everyone to bring something, so I made a yummy fruit dip that Julina had made once for us in college and also a pina colada cake. The cake wasn't quite as pina colada-ish as I had hoped, but it still tasted like a very moist coconut cake so I was happy and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Next time I'll puree some more pineapple and add that to the batter.

Saturday evening we had the pleasure of watching the Navy vs. Airforce and LSU vs. Georgia games with Abby & Paul. We were so glad that Paul was in town & that they were both able to come & spend some time with us watching two awesome and action-packed games! Abby made some awesome Mexican dip to snack on and during half time Sayre cooked up some great steaks for us too! Overall it was a great weekend with great friends.

Right now I'm writing this blog live from my parents' computer room ;) Sayre let my dad borrow me for a few days to surprise my mom with a little visit. She's been missing me quite a lot lately (for some reason it didn't sink in for her until long after the wedding that I'm gone... before that I think she was too distracted by the wedding among other things). It's really nice to be back home spending some time with them, but I do also really miss my hubby. We've gotten very used to always being together now, and it's hard to be apart knowing that sometime in the future he'll be deployed for long periods of time, but I cooked up a few extra meals for him before I left to at least keep his tummy happy :) Before you know it, I'll be back over in Jacksonville (I return on Saturday actually) and then we'll be heading up to Alaska soon for Aly & Patt's wedding!! We can't wait!!