Beach Vacation take 1

     We had the best vacation this weekend. We left Friday morning headed to Destin, FL. I had never been there, even though I grew up in Tally. Our trip started off a wee bit stressful though. We had set the alarm for 5am, to get up and finished packing before my dad dropped my brother off at 6:20am on his way to work. Weelllll, our alarm never went off, and poor Matthew stood on our porch knocking on the door for almost 40 mins until I finally woke up and felt the house kinda shaking. I still couldn't hear the knocking and Matt had left his cell phone at home. I felt kinda bad, but it was still kinda funny because it was poor Matthew's birthday. Anyway, we had a late start due to that, and Matt forgot to bring Raelee's pack and play from my parents with him, so we had to swing by there first. We still made good time to the beach, though we were making better time before Brad was pulled over and given a ticket! We decided to stay at a state park that was near Destin, we could drive there in about 15 mins, but it was waaayyyy cheaper to rent a cabin then a motel room. I was so happy when we arrived, because the cabins and park were super nice, we will for sure  be going back many times.
     The beach was AWESOME!!! The waves were perfect, maybe just a tad on the too big side for Raelee though. She was not very happy until we got her out to past where the waves were breaking, then she was okay. We had a little float for her, she actually started to fall asleep in it a few times. Once again, I revived my love for boogie boarding. It.is.awesome! I love whenever I catch an awesome wave, that makes you feel like you're flying and was able to ride it all the way into shore.
     My sister and her husband were able to come down Friday night. They didn't find out until like 10 pm that they were going to be able to come, so we were excited about that. I however was not super excited when I woke up at 230am to find out that Lindley had set the AC on 65!!! We. were. freezing! Poor Raelee was wimpering in her little bed. I turned the AC back up, but at some point they turned it down again. Brad and I were so cold that we coudln't muster up the strength to get out of bed and turn the AC back up, we just put Raelee in the bed with us and tried to sleep. It's funny how at the early hours of the morning my brain does not work well, I should have just woken Lindley and Michael up to see what was going on, but I didn't want to wake them. I'm so nice! We found out the next  morning that their air vent was closed off in their room(but they didn't realize) so they though the whole cabin was as hot as their room, they didn't realize they were freezing us out. Needless to say, we all slept much better the next night lol!
     We were able to eat at two fun restaurants in Destin; Bubba Gumps and PF Changes. Yummy food! I recommend both spots. We also hit up the outlets, bought me some GAP :) Next time I'll have to take some extra moola with me. We saw the coolest thing too when we drove over the Destin bridge, we could see a sandbar just under the water halfway out and it was COVERED in boats and peeps on floats and in Kayaks, there were floating concession stands and blow up slides going into the water, it was crazy fun looking. I wish I had been able to get a pic. We drove down scenic route 98 through Destin which follow the coast, and dang that place is busy! There was not an inch of sand left to lay down your towel. When I saw that, I was so glad that we were staying in the park and able to go to the beach there. It was still gorgeous, but way less people.
     All our beach pics are on my iTouch, and the cords to upload are at Brad's office, so I'll upload them later.

We saw this next to the road leaving my parents.

Our cabin

The porch, wish I had one of these!

Raelee with her mimi mouse

Brad, me, Raelee, Matthew, Michael, and Lindley

Chillin on the porch

My sis and her hubby

Raelee, Lindley and I

Summer fun!!!

     Summer has arrived!!! This is my absolute favorite time of the year in Tallahassee. Even though it was 102 yesterday! I love summer, and all the activities that come with; the beach, swimming at Wakulla, hiking, camping, sports, just hanging out in the yard with Rae in her pool... I am kinda bummed because my favorite swimming hole is still closed! So dumb! The state bought the sinkhole probably back in 2003, cleaned it up, put in hiking trails, diving platforms, and docks, then 2 years ago somebody found some law that said a state owned swimming facility had to have whatever type of bathroom and this place only had an outhouse. Sooo its too expensive to build the bathrooms for a free swimming hole, so now no swimming. So sad! That place is gorgeous, warm water, rocks surrounding it, no alligators, 70 feet deep. Loved going there! I remember back in 2003, I went swimming there with my group of friends at midnight! Probably not the smartest thing, but soo scary and fun! Oh and it was always fun to do a quick lookout for the ranger and then to climb the tree really quick and jump out! What a rush! I'll never forget my BFF doing a triple backflip out of the tree lol.
     I am so excited about this summer because Brad has EVERY Friday off work, AND..... I just went part time at work!!! The dream has come true lol! I'll still work two days a week, but with 12 hour shifts that's WAAAYYYYY better than three days.
     Our fun started over memorial day weekend. My parents were going to Orlando for the state homeschool convention that my mom helps with every year. We normally go every year, but I ended up having to work that Saturday, so I couldn't go. I asked everyone at work if they could work for me that day, but it was a no go. My parents were leaving super early Friday morning, and Thursday night I got a text from one of my co-workers and friend, that she could work for me if I still needed her too. So after several text and calls with my charge nurse, then to my assistant manger, I was able to be off and go with my parents!. We had such a fun weekend. We stayed at the Gaylord Hotel in Orlando Florida. Such a neat place. Raelee loved being able to walk around in the atrium. We had fun at the pool, except Raelee is a little too brave I think. Dad went with us to IKEA and I was able to buy 2 of the 3 items I've been trying to get FOREVER! I could have bought the third item too, but we didn't have anyway to bring it back to Tally. Trying to carry the boxes into the hotel and then back out to the car to tie them on top the day we left was an adventure! We sure entertained the people around us lol. It was fun to be able to go out of town with just my parents and Raelee. I don't think I've ever gone with them without the rest of the siblings around.
     So Brad's excited about summer to start playing golf for real. Not just every few months. He has a plan and practice schedule worked out, sooo maybe by next year the PGA tour? Just kidding!

 

 

the graduation ballroom

mom after the graduation. She announced names

Raelee with my parents.

Miss independent.

Raelee and I during the graduation

What a catch!

Me

Some assembly required? How about all assembly required!

Practicing to be Brad's caddy

Just do it!!! Monday Funday!

     I have been CRAVING the beach. I am a beach girl, love, love, love being there. Other than a waaayyyy too quick trip to the beach while in the Bahama's I haven't been since I had Raelee. So obviously Rae has never been. How sad that our Florida baby had never seen the beach! Well, schedule's have just not worked out for us to go as a family, so finally I decided to just do it and go with Rae the next time I could. Brad was okay with us going without him. I begged, bribed, nicely asked my little bro to go with us for safety's sake and we hit the road this morning. Well, the plan was to leave at 9am, but as it always ends up, we didn't leave Tally until after 10am. That was okay though, cause it worked well with Rae's nap time and she slept the whole way there. It was so nice to be on the road. It has been forever since I've driven through Crawfordville, Panacea, Carribel, and Lanark Village just to name a few of the little towns on the way to St. George Island. I grew up driving on these roads, all the time, many days a week, and its very relaxing to be surrounded by the greenry on the two lane roads, listing to country music, and not seeing too many other cars. I could feel the stress leaving me as we drove. We made good time, less than 2 hours to the beach, and we arrived just in time for lunch. Raelee was in love with the seagulls. Matthew threw some food to them(big mistake cause then they wouldn't leave us alone) and they came flying in. Raelee was soooo excited, it was so cute to watch.
     The water was gorgeous! It was the perfect temperature, and the beach wasn't too crowded, just enough people, I don't like it to be super crowded, but I like to have other peeps in my sights. Raelee liked the water, she mostly enjoyed it, every now and then she would act like she thought she was supposed to be scared, but the rest of the time she was laughing and squealing, and kicking her legs in the water.
     Matthew found a bunch of sand dollars, which was pretty cool, cause I've never found one before that wasn't broken. The sad part was Matt and I did not put sunblock on, because we were only there a couple hours, and whew we got burnt! Matt worse than me, but still!
     Driving back home was super relaxing too. We took the shortcut and drove on some back roads, so it was pretty much all woods back to my parents house. I really needed that, it was so peaceful. I'm so glad we went to the beach today, and I'm going to try to have many more adventures this summer,even though its hard to pack up the car and all the supplies for Raelee without Brad. I need to feed that adventure side of me. I've missed it the last few years. Hopefully it will help me deal with the stress at work better.

lunch time

    

sand dollars

Saturday

     What a fun weekend we had!!! Now that Brad's out of school, we are all pumped and excited to get our life in order. Sooooo...yesterday was laundry day! Dun dun dun! Sadly, the laundry frequently piles up around here, as does some other non-essential housework. When the wife is working 12 hour days at a hospital taking care of others all day, and the husband is working full-time and in school full time at night , just taking care of the child and making sure everyone is fed is about all that can be accomplished. So we are super excited now to catch up on the house. Anyway, back to laundry, I do make sure its clean, its just the putting away part that gets hard. But we put away all the laundry AND cleaned out our closets and drawers(you are welcome goodwill). We even made it through the sock pile! I am super proud of us! Next week...organizing the office!
    After the housework was done, we went and visiting with Brads parents and brother. It was good to be able to spend some time at their house. Brad's mom had put together a video of Raelee's video's she taken, it was super fun to watch. Raelee LOVES to watch herself be a star!
     Then date night!!! Whoooohoooo! We went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. You know what? I didn't really want to see it at first, buuutttt over the last few weeks as I've seen previews, I decided that it actually looked interesting, and it was! I really, really enjoyed it! Good plot, not too crazy, scary mermaids. I say its worth seeing. I was kinda bummed, cause we got there early to make sure we got good seats and were going to take Cold Stone ice cream in(which they've let us do before when we've gotten there early) but it was a no go this time :(   Soo we got Dairy Queen instead after the movie. A good friend came to see it with us, and we walked her to her car after, cause parking lots+dark=dangerous! When we were walking back to our car, we got to observe some of the ghetto potty mouths that Tallahassee has to offer. I forget now that we live on a nicer side of town how not nice and uncaring some people are. Then I got a blister on my heel, so Brad tried to piggy back me, which made us both decide we have GOT to start exercising and get in better shape. I'm sure we were pretty entertaining to those around us! So goals of the week: Stay up on the laundry and exercise!

videos of Raelee

Here's some videos we took of Raelee in the last few weeks. The slide video is from today. Today's the first time she's climbed it by herself.

nominee

     Last week I found out that I was my departments nominee for nurse of excellence 2011. What!!! I was shocked! Now I know that I am an excellent nurse, not being conceited just true, but I'm more the quiet, fly under the radar kinda coworker. I work with some awesome women, who have taught me soooo much. I still view myself as the newbie, but I've been working there 6 years now, and trained probably half then nurses there now. Anyway, I was surprised, but happy that my coworkers felt that way. The hospital had an awards ceromony last Friday afternoon to kick off nurses week, and they announced of the nominees of every dept. It was so fun. It worked out well that my dad is an RT at the hospital cause he was able to hold Raelee while the awards were being handed out. And Raelee was a hit!!! She was hamming it up, clapping and cheering, so cute!
     Last night was the banquet. All the big places in town that employee nurses were there to announce their winners of their facility's nurse of excellence. It was held at the University Club, which was super nice. I started getting nervous as the winners were announced and were giving speeches. I wasn't told about that part! Anyway, CRMC's winner was TBA, I think there were 17 nominees including me. I didn't win, but thats okay, it was still nice to be the winner of my dept.and to have a night out with Brad.
     We actually had two date nights in a row. The night before was our 5 year anniversary. Crazy that we've been married that long! My dad watched Raelee and we went out for dinner at the outback, and then went to see Thor after. Pretty good movie AND we found out that Governors Regal Cinima has movie's mon-thurs for $5.00. Pretty good deal! It was kinda weird though because the actor who plays Thor looks alot like Heath Ledger, the way he smiled and talked. It made us sad that Heath has passed on. A Knights Tale is one of our fave movies. Anyway, back to happy, I was sooooo surprised that Brad bought me a Pandora bracelet! I love it! I only have one charm bead to start with, it's a shell with a little gold star fish on it. Brad picked this one cause he calls me shell and because I LOVE the beach so much. I have been wanting the bracelet for awhile, but never said anything to Brad about it, but one of his coworkers told him he should buy me one and he was like, "Shelley would love that!" and I do! It'll be fun to add charms for occasions in life :)
     So its been a very fun week, but sooooo tiring too! I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and I'll be working this weekend. FYI I work 12 hour shifts, they make for very long and tiring days. Wed and Thurs I was able to leave early to celebrate our anniversary and the banquet, but I still had to wake up at 5am those days. I am sooooo tired today! I probably would have slept all day if not for Raelee. Thankfully she slept in unitl 9am today. Thank you baby!

This is how we found Rae in her crib Monday night

Anniversary!

Rae in her carseat getting ready to go see Grandpa

Tomorrow is here!!!

Tomorrow is the day Brad and I have been waiting for since 2006. Brad is GRADUATING!!! I am so so so excited!!! We were talking tonight about all the changes in our lives since he started college and I though I'd share:
1. Brad was the manager at ChuckECheese's and I started working as a nurse(RN).
2. Brad started working at Mathers Electric as an apprentice electrician. 3. We got married!
4. Brad cut his hand at work and almost lost a finger. Had surgery and lots of stitches and couldn't work for three months while his hand healed. Big time blessing from the Lord that it did heal, the surgeon wasn't sure if the surgery would work.
5. A few months after starting back at Mathers, Brad decided that the risk of injury wasn't worth it, and started working at Nature's Finest as a Pest Technician.
6. Brad was in a wreck that was a hit and run( he was okay), but from this we decided to buy our Honda CR-V.
7.We bought a house!
8.Our house flooded and we had to move in with my parents for almost 2 months while it was being repaired.
9. Brad tore something in his knee playing baseball and almost had another surgery.
10. Brad was promoted to manager at Nature's Finest.
11. We became parents.
12. Brad started working as a Financial Accountant at Canopy Oaks Elementary School.
13. Leaving Grad rehearsal Brad was hit by another car on Capital Circle. Had it happened less than an hour earlier during rush hour there would have been injuries for sure. Thank you Lord that Brad and the other driver are okay and that Raelee wasn't in the car with Brad. Oh and that he was driving his beat up car and not the CR-V.
      Also in during this time, Brad's dad had two heart bypasses done and many other surgeries on his heart. We had deaths in the family. Two of my siblings got married. Our well broke. Our AC unit for our house was stolen. Friends came home from missions. We went on a cruise. Our BFF's had babies...I could keep typing all night I think!
     Quote by Brad "All in all, it's been an awesome experience"
     I just want to say how proud I am of Brad. He's the first in his family to go to college and it wasn't really something that he had planned on when he graduated high school. I am so proud of all he has juggled during this time. He has been an amazing husband and friend. He is a great father. I am most proud of Brad because he has worked full time all these years, and for most of them he was also taking a full time load at college. That was not easy. We've felt bad cause we've had to tell family and friends over and over again, "we can't do (fill in the blank) cause our schedules are too busy". We weren't just saying that, they really were! We're excited to start on this new chapter of our lives and be able to spend more time with family and friends. Congrats Bradley!!!xoxoxo