Going ons

Just thought I'd bore you guys with some pictures from some recent outings we've had. Last weekend was Garin's B-day so went out and about for the day. First off we headed out to the beach. It was about as blue and clear as I have ever seen it, and it was more like a lake than an ocean, with hardly any waves. The picture doesn't do it justice!

Unfortunately it was VERY cold! When we got out of the car the thermometer said 31 degrees (and this was at 11AM!). The week before last was a very cold week, most days it never got out of the 40s. I had to check and make sure we were still living in Florida! Its not supposed to be this cold down here! Below you can see how bundled up G was!
That evening we went out to dinner at an Irish "Pub" called McQuires. We'd heard it was really good, but I wasn't very impressed. I got corn beef and cabbage and Garin got the Reuben, the Reuben was good, but my corn beef and cabbage left a bit to be desired. Oh well, it was a cool experience. I wish I would have taken a picture inside, but the whole place is lined with dollar bills...you become part of a "club" if you sign a dollar bill and staple it to the wall or ceiling. I saw a sign up from a couple of years ago that said they had counted $500,000 dollar bills, I'm sure there is many more by now. That's one way to build equity!

After dinner we headed over to the Pensacola Civic Center to watch the Pensacola Ice Flyers play hockey. Its a pretty amateur league...like 2 or 3 levels below the Pros. It was fun to watch though because it was actually slow enough for me to follow what was going on. No good fights though, bummer!

And then last Saturday we unfortunately had to say goodbye to some good friends of ours that will be transferring to the West Coast. We met up for lunch to say good bye. We are definitely going to miss them as they had become our church buddies and Haley and I have been meeting once a week for the past couple of months to do a Bible Study. I'm so thankful for cell phones/email/facebook/skype so that we will be able to keep in touch. I guess this is part of the military that I'm gonna have to get used to :(

My Pensacola chicas, now we'll be down to three :(

So, things are going well for us. Garin should be finishing up Primary within the next week. He went on a cross-country this weekend out to Austin, TX. He only has 5 more flights before he will be done with this phase. Then we have heard that he won't be starting the next phase until MAY! Might be a long Spring! As for me, I'm still enjoying my job. Just chugging along :) Hope all of you are doing well and that God is blessing you! Peace!

Christmas Time!

Well Christmas once again proved to be the most wonderful time of the year! Gotta love how everywhere transforms into beautiful Christmas array. We had a great time leading up to Christmas with MANY Christmas parties with friends and coworkers. We also got the chance to go to a Christmas concert put on by my FAVORITE Band, Shane and Shane:

I was fortunate to have 2 weeks off for Christmas and Garin got off Christmas Eve until the Monday following New Years, so we packed up and headed home to North Carolina. We got there just in time for the Christmas Eve service where my nephew had his baby dedication. Check out this dressed up hunk:

I know my blog is always filled with pictures of him (imagine what it will be like when I have my own kid?!), but of course I have lots of Mason pictures. He is just too cute. I just want to pinch those cheeks every time I see a picture!

This picture looks like he is actually interested in what is inside the gifts he received (he really was just going after the tissue paper...see below)

This was Mason's Christmas highlight - sitting in a pile of colorful paper - he had a BALL!
While sitting with Granddaddy, Mason became very interested in the Christmas tree
This is a very tired Santa
Check out his new wheels, yeah he thinks he is the man!
Saying goodbye to Aunt Lauren and Uncle Garin

While we did get to spend time with Garin's family, I neglected to take pictures ;( I guess babies are just camera magnets. But we did have a WONDERFUL time hanging out with Garin's parents, brother, sister, and family friend Ansley. Mrs. K once again kicked our tails in a fierce game of dominoes! I'm gonna have to stop playing games with her ;)

While home I also got the chance to celebrate my Birthday (28th at that!). Dad took us out to my favorite restaurant La Unica (can't find good Mexican like that in Florida!). My sweet sister told them it was my birthday and I got a wonderful serenade along with a great get-up!

On our way back home we decided to take a detour up to Asheville, NC to see some snow (don't get much of that down here) and to hang out for New Year's Eve. While there Garin thought we should hit up some snow tubing. After checking out one slope we settled with one at Sapphire Valley. We might have been the only adults flying down the hill without kids, but we did have a good time.

The Hill
Garin freeloading himself up the hill
Gotta love that white stuff...well when you live in Florida.

Thankfully we made it home safely and are easing back into our daily routine. After all the Christmas fun, I'm ready for things to slow down to a normal pace. Back to work...