Someone turns the big 4-0!

Clayton, Chris, Jeff, Joe,and Michael after they surprised Jeff with a visit the weekend of February 6th 2009(Scott Johnson is missing from the picture but he came too but arrived a little later)



Charlie's Steakhouse for dinner on Jeff's birthday 2/11/.



Owen and Grant Celebrating with their Dad.


Jeff's 40th Birthday had many parts which took a lot of planning on my part and many other people who love him. Thanks to everyone who was involved...you know who you are!!!

The first big event was that Jeff's great group of friends from college arranged to all fly to FL from different parts of the US. Jeff had no idea that they were coming for the weekend and they all surprised Jeff outside by the car and scared the pants off of him!!! From there all of his friends from Celebration met over at our house that night and went on a "monster bus" ride in the woods and after had a big bonfire. They all seemed to have a manly good time and there were many stories to be told once they arrived back home. Next, the college buddies and Jeff took off the next morning for Tampa for a morning of boating and celebrating "Gasparilla" in Tampa. This is a yearly event where pirates "invade" the city of Tampa and there is a lot of partying and celebrating going on(a perfect place for these guys right?) The guys returned Sunday to Celebration for a evening of poker with the Celebration crowd again. Overall it was a great time had by all and if you would like more details you will have to convince Jeff to tell you! The guys don't have any pictures from this weekend--wonder why?!

On Jeff's actual birthday he wanted the whole family to get dressed up and go out to Charlie's Steakhouse for dinner. We had a nice time there and that is when Jeff got his "big" gift for his birthday. He was told he would be going to Chile on a fly fishing trip with his friend Michael at the end of March. He was surprised and estatic! It was a great birthday of Jeff and we hope he knows how much he is loved!

Pinewood Derby 2009

Daddy working on getting the car just right!



Owen's car is the green "gator" of course! The "Green Machine"



Ryan, Justin, Owen and John watch as the cars race.

Cub Scouts hosted the annual Pinewood Derby this January and what a cool event it was. This was our first year participating in the event and the whole family got involved and had such fun.

Jeff had the most fun I think...he designed and built the car and got pretty excited about it. Owen helped a lot with painting and assembling the car which turned out pretty cool looking. Our car didn't win the race but it didn't do too bad either. Overall it was a great experience for all of the boys in our den and for our family as well!

Look Mom no training wheels!

It's been a long time since I have posted and there is lots to catch up on so I will try and just hit the highlights! One of those highlights was that on 1/4/09 Grant learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Here is one of the video clips from that day. He learned it on the first try and has not looked back!!!

Go Gators!

Rhett's first Gator gear!  We're all cheering on our beloved Gators to hopefully a National Championship!Gooooo  Gators!!!!

Rhett is 5 weeks old and is now 11 pounds 6 oz. and now 22  3/4 inches long!  A future Gator football player for sure!

New Year's day party at the Zollinger's

The host's Rob & Terri

Men planted in front of the TV's.

Kids playing flag football.

Adults conversing and eating...an all day activity!

Our friends Rob and Terri Zollinger have an annual New Years Day party where they open up their house and let practically the whole community in to celebrate the new year.  They have tons of food and the kids ride bikes and scooters, play football, play Wii and just plain have a good time. The adults stuff themselves, watch football all day and enjoy each others company! It is a really fun time and we look forward to their party all year! Here are some pictures...enjoy!  Thanks Rob and Terri!!!

New Year's 2009

Grant did not "see" 2009!

Owen barely hanging on for 2009!!

Happy New Year!  We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home this year where we made homemade pizza and we let the boys try and stay up late to ring in 2009.  Grant made it to about 10:30 PM before he fell asleep and Owen hung on to see the ball drop on Times Square and then they both promptly went to bed! 

Here's to a happy and healthy 2009!

Merry Christmas 2008

Family dinner out post stomach virus!

Grant's Christmas gift to Mommy & Daddy!

Rhett dressed for the occasion!

One of our Christmas trees Owen and Grant helped decorate.

This was one busy Christmas season this year and as a result very few pictures were taken by Mommy.  Daddy did a good job of taking video but Mommy was preoccupied this year(wonder why?) As a result these are the best pictures I got this year.

Jeff's sister and her family and Jeff's mother and her husband Tom came to celebrate Christmas in FL this year with us.  It was nice to have family in town but we were plagued by a powerful stomach virus that downed 8 out 12 of us this year.  Luckily Rhett and myself were spared or else I think Rhett would have spent his first Christmas in the hospital.  It was one nasty virus but fortunately everyone seemed okay after 24 hours.  We did manage to have a sick free Christmas Day but Christmas dinner just wasn't the same...needless to say we had lots of leftovers!!