The Swamp

Part 3 of our trip took place at "The Swamp." I will just say this
about it. I'm glad that went mainly just to say that I've been, but
I don't really care about going back. ha It was fun except that:
1. We lost
2. It was miserably HOT
3. We had a family of EXTREMELY annoying FL fans in front of us.

Other than that it was great! ha

It was fun to get to spend time with David, Angela, and the kiddos

though. I guess that made the trip worth it. :)

Universal Studios 2011

Part two of our vacation was at Universal Studios. I LOVE Disney World
and Universal Studios. I actually wanted to go there on our honeymoon,
but the hubs said no way. Since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened
at Universal I have been begging Wes to take me. So....I planned our cruise
so that it would get over earlier enough in the week that we could go to
Universal a couple days before heading home. Clever I know. :)

We got off the cruise ship in Tampa on Thursday morning about 8:30. We
drove straight to Orlando to go to Universal. We closed the place down the
first night. We bought 2 day passes because we didn't know how much we
could get through in one day and we weren't sure how long the lines would be.
We got through both Universal Parks the first day and rode every ride that
we wanted to ride. The longest line we stood in either day was like 25 minutes
so we were pumped.


This is when we first got there on Thursday.


I was like a little kid running around. Wes told me he needed
to put me on a leash. I was so excited to be there! I absolutely
loved it. Pretty sure when we have kids, they will be my "excuse"
to go here on vacation. :)

Ripsaw Falls owned us! It was the longest line we waited in.

We rode it twice and got soaked both times. Good thing it was

a hot day and we dried quickly.

And the real reason I wanted to go to Universal so badley....

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was AWESOME! I

can't explain how much it looked just like the movie. Wes is

NOT a Harry Potter fan. He actually thinks its pretty ridiculous

and makes fun of me for liking it, but thats ok. I just feel bad for

him, ya know....He's missing out on so much. :) Wes was

definitely a good sport. He let me spend as much time there as

I wanted.

In front of the Hogwarts Express

Ahhhh....Butterbeer. It was like a party in my mouth. ha

It tasted amazing. I got the frozen one. The best way for

me to describe it is like a butterscotch/cream soda frozen

drink with a marshmellow tasting whip cream on top.

I wish I had one of them right now.

Wes enjoyed the butterbeer too. He made it known that

just because he liked the taste of it that doens't mean he

likes Harry Potter. Don't worry Wes, you will come around

....eventually. :)

About to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff

Wes and Captain America. I love this picture for some reason.

I think because I can see the kid in Wes coming out. :)

Farwell Universal. We shall meet again soon.

Our first Cruise

Wes and I went on our first cruise back in September. (yes I know, I'm
really behind). We weren't sure how we would like it and I was afraid I
might get motion sickness, but we were wrong. We both loved it. I think
it was a good length too. It was a 5 day cruise and I think thats plenty of
time. We had a pretty long vacation over all though. We left on a Friday
and didn't get back home until the following Sunday. I will post another
entry of the trip after the cruise, but for now it's just the cruise.

We left out of Tampa on the Carnival Inspiration. I think that is actually
one of the smaller Carnival ships but there was still plenty to do. The food,
like everyone says, was awesome. I think I gained 10 lbs but thats ok...It's
vacation, right? :) Soft serve ice cream 24/7...they sure did know the way
to my heart. There were water slides, putt putt golf, comedy clubs, casinos,
musicals, games, entertainment, etc. Wes and I spent most of our days on
"adult" part of the ship. This was a no kids allowed deck. Now dont get me
wrong I LOVE kids, but it was so relaxing. We just plopped down on a lawn
chair and could fall asleep because it was so peaceful and the view was
gorgeous. We will definitely be taking another cruise. Here's some pictures
from the trip.

This was the first night on the ship...well actually just a few
hours after we boarded. The sunset was gorgeous.


That's my husband just chillin....I love him. :)


Our first stop was Grand Caymen. This picture was on the
7 mile beach. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was so
much prettier than it looks.


Grand Caymen is famous for the town of Hell. Let me tell
you a little about Hell. It is literally one building with a post
office. haha We did send our parents "postcards from Hell."


Another picture in Grand Caymen....beautiful water


I just thought this was a cool picture


A night on the boat


The port in Cozymel. We both absolutely loved Cozymel. We had
the best time there. We both said we want to go back...not a cruise
the next time, but for a week.


We did a Dune Buggy excursion in Cozymel and we were so
glad that we did. It was awesome. We drove these little
dune buggies about 30 minutes to Punta Sur and we snorkeled,
visisted Myan ruins, a crocodile swamp, and light house. These
little things go a lot faster than you would think.


On the dune buggy about to take off


This was our waiter, Jose. He was the man.


Our last night on the boat, Beautiful sunset. It was a perfect
end to a perfect trip.

The Art Mill

A few weeks ago, Emily, Casey, and I went to The Art Mill in Cookeville. Emily
had been once before so she was basically a pro. It was mine and Casey's first
time and we weren't sure how we would do. I do not have one artsy bone in my
body so I didn't know if my painting would be worth keeping or not. Turns out
it was super easy and super fun. Our paintings turned out good if I do say so
myself :)

Babies, Babies, Babies!!!!!!!!!!!

Babies are everywhere!! A month ago I had 5 friends pregnant at
the same time. (1) Casey Cravins, who I've been friends with since middle
school and she is now my neighbor, (2) Ashley Rutledge, who I played
basketball with in college and we lived in the same suite and house together
shes the vowel in MAKM (therefore she can't ever be kicked out...not that we
would do that to her anyways :) ) (3) Chelsie Sells, who I've also been friends
with since middle school (4) Kristin Blankenship, who I played AAU with and
played against her in college ball and (5) Julie Smithheisler, who I also played
college basketball with and lived in the same suite as her my freshman year.

Anyways...I know only have one friend left who is pregnant and thats Chelsie.
Chelsie isn't due until December so we have a few more months to wait. Two
of those 5 were born on the same day, last Friday, August 19th. I got to visit
them both and here are the pictures.



Cooper Myles Cravins weighing in at 5 lbs 15 oz. Looks just
like his daddy in my opinion. He is the sweetest little thing.



Gracie Adalee Rutledge weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz. I'm not
really sure who she looks like just yet...maybe Adam, but
I haven't made my mind up for sure. Either way, she's
adorable.

So very happy for everyone. Do I have baby fever? Um......
maybe.... :)

BEEF

Beef? What in the world is Beef you might ask? That's my best friend. Not
as in the meat beef is my best friend. But as in my best friend, Ferran. Why
do I call her Beef? Thats a good question and for some reason as I'm typing
this right now my mind has gone blank. But if I happen to remember the
meaning behind it, I will let you know. I do know that I call her Beef and she
calls me Frank. As in Beef Frank or BF. Oh yeah now I remember. It's not
really that funny and it would be a long story that no one would really care
about so we will just leave it as BF= Best Friend and BF=Beef Frank...as in US.

What prompted this blog post? Well I got an email from Ferran yesterday and
all it said was, "Please update your blog. I need something to read at work today."

Since there's not a whole lot going on with me to tell about, I decided to give her
blog post she would enjoy. A blog post about her.

I really just want to give you a few reasons why we're best friends.

#1... My husband loves her ALMOST as much as he loves me.



#2. She fits in well with MAKM even though the F would
never work. FAKM just doesn't have a ring to it, but
either way...MAK approves of her.


#3. We both love the movie Baby Momma. And we're both
a little redneck whether we're in wedding attire or jeans &
tshirts.


#4 She loved her bachelorette party gift from me. haha

#5. We have matching wedding rings. We think Adam and Wes
got a buy one get one free deal but they won't admit to it.

#6 We're so intimidating that no one would dare mess with us.

#7 We rock this look

#8 We can say "Curls Gone Wild"

#9 We go back to high school football games together
(ok I think this was like one time we went together but
thats ok). Maybe I should just say that we both love Hogeye!

#10 We're 25 and we still act like this all the time.
When we're together, our husbands say they married

12 year olds and we're ok with that. :)

#11 We keep our cool when meeting famous people

#12 We have to pretend fight because we never really fight

#13 We climb rock walls together

And there are a million other reasons why she's my best friend, but

our frienship goes back to the days before a digital camera. Therefore,

since I don't have my photo albums handy right now, I can't put up

any really good, old school pictures.

Ferran I hope you have enjoyed this blogpost. Love you and thanks for

being a best friend!

MinneSNOWta

First of all, I want to go ahead and warn everyone that this is
going to be the longest blog post I have ever done. So it's your
own fault if you start reading this......it will take you a while. Second,
I want to explain WHY Ferran and I decided to take a trip to
Minneapolis (IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER?!?!?!) This trip was all
because of our sweet friend Danielle. We all grew up together so
we've known each other our whole lives. Basically we knew each
other from the womb...but seriously. After high school, Danielle moved
to Texas to be a part of the Teen Mania ministry, where she met her
future husband. So since high school we haven't got to see each other more
than once a year, if that. Danielle and Jordan got married in Sept. of 2008
and after the wedding they moved to Minneapolis (Jordan is originally from
Minnesota). So for the last 7 years Danielle has lived in a different state so
we rarely get to see her. Being the GREAT friends that we are, we decided
to make a little trip up North IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER (in case you didn't
get that point already).


Ok....we look awful in this picture. I know. You're probably thinking
why in the world would you post this. Ferran and I arrived in Minneapolis
at like 10:45 pm on Thursday night. Traveling always wears you out so
you can imagine how tired we were. Not to mention I HATE FLYING.
So I had been a nervous wreck the whole day. Then about the time we were
supposed to leave from Nashville, tornado warnings start. Then we get on
the plane and the pilot says, "I'm sorry folks we've had some mechanical issues
but don't worry its taken care of now." I mean really? REALLY? I'm like straight
panic mode now. Then he says because of the weather its going to be a bumpy
ride. Could it get any worse?!?! The plane takes off and its definitely a bumpy ride
to say the least. And I have been craving a chocolate chip cookie for about an
hour at this point. Then much to my suprise, what is Frontier serving on our flight?
You guessed it....CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!! I was pumped. I said this has
to be a good sign so my nerves were calmed a little bit by the little cookie treat. :)
Wow, I just got way off track on this post. But anyways....all that to say we were worn
out when we got to Danielle's apartment. But that didn't stop us from staying up until
2:30 AM talking, laughing, and catching up. So we had to take a picture to document
our fun first night together.


On Friday we went to the Mall of America. HOLY COW! We didn't
come close to visiting the whole mall. It was huge. Way bigger than the
mall in Cookeville. LOL If anyone knows the mall in Cookeville, it is now
a big empty building with one store in it.


Even though Frontier Airlines gave me a chocolate chip cookie on the
flight to MN, I was left wanting more. So we stopped at Nestle in the mall
for a little snack.


Ok I need to explain this story....We were just walking around the mall,
had just finished eating lunch and these 4 high school guys approach us.
They asked if we would care to be in a video with them for their Spanish
class. They said all you have to do is slap us. Seriously? Slap a complete
stranger? Who would do that? We would!! At first we were hesitant but
then we decided we would help them out. Ferran went first. They had to
do her scene a couple of times because they kept saying it wasn't beliveable.
She wasn't slapping him hard enough.



I love this picture because apparently this guy thought Danielle was
going to knock him out. Look at his face and she hasn't even slapped
him yet. hahaha


Well I went last and just to justify my actions, this guy that I slapped
kept saying Slap him harder! Slap him harder! (when Ferran and Danielle
were slapping the other guys) So before our "scene" I gave him a fair warning
and said that I wasn't backing down and since he kept saying Slap him harder to
the other guys, he was going to get it the worst. Well believe me he did!!! I actually
felt really bad afterwards. His whole face was red and my hand was throbbing. Notice
the position of my body and his face. You can tell I put my whole body into it. Poor
Little Guy. Oh well, he asked for it. Right?


This picture was taken at Jordan and Danielle's apartment before
going on our carriage ride.


We went on a carriage ride through Minneapolis. What was the temperature
you ask? Oh it was nothing really....just 3 Degrees!! But in all honesty, it didn't
feel that cold. They gave us a huge blanket to cover up with. Ferran and I also
wore our husbands hunting socks to keep our little toes warm. So it wasn't as
miserable as it might sound. We actually LOVED it. It was so much fun and so
so so pretty.



Ok for some reason we thought these next few pictures were hillarious.
We all took an individual and then put this border around it. Does anyone
else out there think they are as funny as we do?


Ferran had to get her "oven mitts" as we like to call them in the picture.
These are the gloves that Danielle let her borrow. And obviously, you can
tell why we called them Oven Mitts.


The serious, distance shot. Classic

Danielle's sweet friend Kayley went with us on the carriage ride and to

eat that night. She was a lot of fun. She probably thought we were crazy.

We told her tons of stories on Danielle and laughed the whole night. We

were glad we got to meet her. And I just want to add...that these two

Minnesotians complained about the cold weather more than we did. :)

Saturday morning we got up to go eat breakfast at Hell's Kitchen. This

picture is just taken downtown as we were walking to breakfast.

Thank you Danielle for capturing this photo. I love it.

Self explanatory.

On weekends, the waiters and waitresses wear pajamas. This guy

had the best ones for obivous reasons.

After Hell's Kitchen we went to Macy's and Target downtown. I love

this picture. Too funny.

Two story Target= Every girl's dream. We were amazed at the

escalator for the cart. Small town girl's I guess. :)

Quick pic in the Sky Way

And another....

Ok these pictures are funny to me too. We went up to the 12th floor

of the Macy's building and literally sat in the bathroom for probably

30-45 minutes. We were worn out so we just needed a little break. So

these next few pictures are in the Macy's bathroom.

Sooooo....Ferran took this picture and she told me to do the LA sign.

(Livingston Academy for those of you who didn't go to high school with

us). Too bad we were all too tired to notice that it was backwards.

Danielle had purchased this belt the day before for only $4.80. It literally

fell off of her about every 15 minutes. We would just be walking along and

snap...off it goes. We had just sat down inthe bathroom and there it went.

We had to get a picture of it.

Ferran likes to call her Danny Tanner.

Just a couple pictures of the city.

We wanted to see the Vikings stadium even though we're not really

Vikings fans. Here's a picture outside the Metrodome.

Ferran and Danny Tanner outside the Metrodome (Just for you

Ferran)

Ferran thought this picture was hillarious. We saw this bike "all snowed in"

one day and Ferran kept saying that she wanted to get a picture of it. So

after we left the Vikings Stadium, Danielle pulled the car over and let Ferran

run and take a quick pic.

Our last night there, Saturday, we went to Gutherie Theater to take some

pictures. Jordan a.k.a Gordon Bombay (as Ferran called him...I'm not sure

how she comes up with these names but its pretty funny) went with us this

night and took pictures for us. He was such a good sport. Not only for taking

our pictures, but for putting up with us while we were singing Nsync and Backstreet

Boys, while we were up at all hours giggling, and for watching senior memories with

us. :) Thanks Gordon

Just a picture of the city.

Typical us

As you've noticed from my other blog posts, my friends and I love playing

the...On the count of 3 say someones name or on the count of 3 say an

emotion. This one was 1.....2......3.....SCARED

Fiesty aka Ferran

Benchwarmers..... This one was hard for me because I was never a

benchwarmer. ha ha ha I kid I kid.

Just us

1.....2.....3.......4th Grade Smile

Us again

Our sweet hosts. Thank you both so much for letting us come visit.

We had such a great time. We can't wait to see you guys again this

summer.

Ok I had to end with this picture. So we were eating at Chino Latino's

(which was great I must add) and Ferran starts dancing at the table.

She's trying to be funny while doing this dance move with her hands. It

was kind of a put one hand up in front of your face at a time move. Well

I notice several ppl around the place looking at her and laughing which was

hilarious. Then I notice this guy right beside us and his date cracking up. We

end up talking to him and his date said that that was his favorite dance move

then he demonstrates. It was funny because Ferran was just being silly but

this guy thought she was serious and was pumped because it was his

favorite move. haha

WE LOVED MINNESNOWTA