Easter Weekend

Here are some photos from Easter weekend. We had a great time in West Palm Beach visiting with my family. On Friday we got to see our good friends Kyle and Harmony Abney. They have a wonderful home in Palm City and they treated us to a delicious dinner. It’s always great to catch up with the people you don’t get to see as often as you’d like. The Abneys are huge Gator fans so we usually see them during the fall but it was nice to finally visit them in their hometown!

We spent Saturday at my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rick’s in Ft. Lauderdale. My uncle cooked a delicious Easter dinner with the traditional fare. The highlight of the visit was watching my cousin Katie play with Darby in their pool. He was so excited to have someone to swim with! He would jump in with her and play around in the water and you could just tell that he was at home. Labs are huge water dogs so that’s no surprise but I was definitely a nervous nelly mom watching him. He had a little trouble figuring out how to get out and would often swim to the edge of the pool instead of the steps. After a while he seemed to get the hang of it. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to get him out! Looks like we’ll be investing in a kiddie pool for the backyard this summer.

On Sunday we did our annual Easter tradition and got up early with my parents to head to the beach for sunrise. I was a little nervous when we first got there. It was a dog beach so Darby was welcome but as you can imagine, Easter sunrise is really meant to be more of a spiritual, calming event. As soon as we set foot on the sand Darby started in with a couple of loud, deep barks! He was more than a little overwhelmed by the experience. Sand, water, people, dogs, so much going on! He calmed down though and we got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise. Afterward Darby played in the water, swallowing most of it, and licked and jumped all over every dog that came up to greet him. He made friends with a female weimeraner, that was his favorite! (there’s a video below)

After the beach we had an amazing brunch at my Aunt Sandy’s. She made biscuits and gravy, breakfast casserole, maple sausage, French toast and mimosas! Such a great way to end our visit at home.

We have another big event today! It’s our 2 year anniversary! It’s so hard to believe it’s actually been two years, the time has really flown by. We’re celebrating with a dinner out tomorrow night but our real celebration is this coming weekend. We’re heading up to our favorite place – The Village Inn at St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. It’s such a relaxing and beautiful place. We can’t wait! I’ll share some pictures when we get back, and for once they won’t all be of the dog (he’s going to the Vacation Station while we’re away!).

Take care,
Jenny and Josh

Easter Weekend

The Closet is Done!

Another quick post -just had to share some pics of Josh's new closet!! If you remember back to early March, Josh's birthday gift from Jenny was a new closet. Well sort of. He got all the materials to build it. Funny, Jenny thought she was going to put it together herself while Josh was outside working on the fence, and then surprise him. Good thing she didn't attempt that. It would have ended badly...

Next time we hope to share pictures of the new fence. It's been a labor of love for Josh, and months in the making, but our indestructible, hurricane proof, five gate, dog protecting, termite proof, fade resistent black fence will soon be ready!!

Emily is getting married!

My friend from Gainesville, Emily Speichert, is getting married this June to a great guy (Chris Meng). This past weekend was Emily's bridal shower and bachelorette. We had way too much fun and it was so great to celebrate the upcoming wedding of one of my favorite girlfriends! We can't wait for the wedding. It's June 6th at West Point in NY. We'll get to make a quick trip to the city while we're there which should be a blast, it will be Joshs' first trip to the Big Apple!

Enjoy!

Emily opening her gifts - these were Tervis Tumblers, she was quite excited!

The cake was amazing, strawberry filling with a cheesecake frosting, yum! (love the topper)

I won bingo and my prize was a Peterbrooke chocolate Gator!!!

Adorable tote bags from Allison, Emily's twin sister and Maid of Honor...

Kristin and Katie relaxing in our room at One Ocean in Jacksonville Beach

She'll be embarrassed for this one, but I had to get a picture of the fun ensemble the bachelorette had to wear out for our girls night...

Quick Photo and Video Update

Since my last few posts have been mostly text updates, I thought I would share some photos and video with everyone. The video below is Darby and his first real down!! He has been able to sit/stay for quite a while and does very well with that. We never tried down though until he learned in our training class. Normally he'll go down with a little "assistance" but I actually caught his first real down on video! The best part, once he's down he'll stay there until you tell him to get up regardless of distractions (tennis ball rolling by, new people walking up). Training class = money well spent!


The other photos are captioned so you know what's going on!!

Josh and I had a fun date night recently. We made pizza at home and then went to see the movie Taken with Liam Neeson. The movie was good but let's just say it wasn't the best acting we've ever seen.

Darby lost his front two canine teeth! We were such proud parents. Josh and Darby searched the carpet and we found both of them. I'm sure the tooth fairy will come and bring him a nice soft toy to chew on....

Yet another project for the house! Josh has been working on the trim but was sidetracked by more pressing needs in the yard (the fence). He got back to work on the trim and Darby was quite the little helper. The boys worked on the trim late into the night and finished all but one arched window.

Josh’s 29th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Josh turning the big 2-9. Hard to believe that in one more year he’ll be in his thirties, I shouldn't talk though, I’m not far behind him.

Josh’s mom and dad came to visit and Josh and his dad spent most of the day Saturday working on the fence. It was Mom H’s birthday on Friday so we sent her to the spa for a massage and I was off playing kickball for charity (more on that later). Saturday evening we had an amazing dinner with the family at Restaurant Deneno’s in downtown Alachua. The food is wonderful and it’s got such great atmosphere. We love going for special occasions. Before church on Sunday Josh unwrapped his presents. His parents got him a Craftsman Miter Saw and my gift to him was a custom closet. The only downfall is that he’s got to build it! I had envisioned me putting it together while he worked in the yard on Saturday but when I went to Lowes (side note, Alachua now has a Lowe’s!!) I realized the boxes weighed a TON and there was no way I was putting this thing together. So needless to say Josh has to build it but once it’s up I will be organizing his things and putting it all together. Although it doesn’t sound like a very exciting gift, Josh desperately needed it since he so selflessly gave me the bigger closet and every single drawer in the dresser.

Let’s see what else – I played in a charity kickball tournament which was a lot of fun. We made it all the way to the quarterfinals, not bad for a bunch of public relations professionals. I’m very proud to add that I got a double (or whatever you call it) and made it to 2nd on my own kick! Darby also started his training class. There are six puppies – an Australian Shepherd, a Viszla, a mutt named Angus, a German Shepherd, a Maltese and of course Darby. It’s pretty hysterical to watch all these puppies and their owners. Out of the six Darby is tied for most well behaved, the Australian Shepherd is pretty good and has gorgeous blue eyes. The Viszla’s absolutely nuts, but really sweet! The Maltese refuses to walk on his own and will only sit in his mom’s lap and the German Shepherd is already bigger than Darby and he’s three weeks younger!! Hopefully when I post again Darby will have learned some new (good) behaviors. For now he’s learned how to heal and to walk without pulling, which is critical for a lab on his way to 90lbs! Oh yeah, he’s got the sit and stay part down. We just need to work on the “come.”

Alright, I’m trying to keep the posts shorter so I’ll stop here. We’ve got a fun filled next few weeks with Gator Nationals, Easter and our two-year anniversary!! Speaking of Easter, we’ll be home in West Palm Beach so we’d love to see as many people as we can while we’re home.

We love you all and hope everyone is doing well.

Jenny and Josh (and Darby too!)

P.S. Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy!

Darby checking out the closet materials

Josh and our neighbor Troy working on the fence

Jason and Annabelle taking a break from kickball

Beautiful tulips I picked up at the market, I love spring!

Gorgeous sunset as seen through our neighbor's backyard

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Josh and I will be spending our day working on the fence and the house and then tonight we'll have our annual Valentine's tradition. When we first started dating Josh was still in school and we didn't have enough money to go out to eat so he cooked a gourmet dinner for me at home. We've done that every year since and tonight the menu includes cashew crusted chicken over coconut milk jasmine rice with steamed broccoli and fresh rosemary bread along with a delicious buttery, California chardonnay. Yum, I can't wait!

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and happy Valentine's Day full of love!

Here are some out takes from our family photo session:

Random Updates

I have some good news on the work front. The Gallup Organization (same one that does polling) developed a survey that helps determine what a person’s talents, or strengths, are based on a series of 34 different talents. My company (and many other Fortune 500 companies) use that information to help their employees find work that is meaningful to them and also allows them the opportunity to be successful because it relies on their strengths. Every time a new employees starts at RTI they take the strengths finder. They learn what their top 5 strengths are and then they meet with a Strengths Coach to talk about what they’re good at and how they can use it to their advantage in the workplace to be happier and more productive. My top five are Input, Discipline, Achiever, Competition and Focus. I won’t bore you with the details of each but I will say that knowing what I’m good at and frankly, why I make the decisions I do sometimes, has really helped me to be better at my job and to be able to work better with those around me who might not share my same desire for discipline and structure! Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because I was recently asked to be a Strengths Coach for my company and I’m super excited about it! I’ve seen firsthand how it positively impacts people at work and since we spend 40+ hours a week there we might as well learn to enjoy it! (And a lot of people compare it to Meyers Briggs or other personality tests but this is different, it focuses on your talents and what you’re good at AND gives you useful ways to use that information in the workplace).

On to another subject - Quite a few people have asked us if we’ve found a church here in Alachua and the answer is yes! We started attending First Baptist Church of High Springs back in July of last year after visiting several other local churches. It was the perfect fit for us. It’s traditional in certain areas (music, structure of the service, core values) but very contemporary in other areas (diversity of congregation, programming, etc). Josh and I recently joined the young couples life connections class (Sunday School) and are very glad we did. It’s a group of people our age who are married and going through a lot of the same life experiences that we are. We only just started attending but I definitely think it’s something we’ll continue and we’re looking forward to getting to know everyone a little more. We appreciate the fact that it’s not “stuffy” and that the people that attend come across as genuine and “real.”

Of course I can’t post without a quick Darby update. This past weekend was Darby’s first trip to the park! He was allowed off of the leash to play with his new friend Maggie (My boss Nancy’s golden retriever). He did really well! He ran around like a maniac and anywhere that Maggie went, he would go. Thankfully she listens really well and when Nancy would call her back she would come, with him right on her heels. The only time he misbehaved was when Maggie spotted a couple sprawled out on the ground having a fried chicken picnic. Maggie went straight for the chicken and Darby went bounding on top of the couple. Needless to say he scared them and probably got them a little dirty, but who lays down in the middle of a park to make out with dogs running all around !?!?!?!

Enough for now, I’m going to get this posted and up before I forget. Next time I’ll use my camera more so I can share photos and videos!

Love,
Jenny

Our first videos!

This is my first attempt at posting videos on the blog. I hope it works!

For those of you that haven't met our newest family member in person, here he is:

Darby Makes Three!

Well, I'm finally getting around to this post! The past month has been absolutely crazy. We've had so much going on between the holidays, Darby, work and travel. It's been exciting though, definitely no complaints here!

First and foremost, I'll give everyone a quick update on Darby (or Darbs for short). He's absolutely wonderful. He's been such a perfect addition to our family. Now that's not to say he hasn't been A LOT of hard work or a pain in the butt sometimes, but we have learned so much just from caring for him and working with him on training and good manners. He's already so much a part of our family that we can't even remember what it was like without him! Of course I've included some of my favorite photos below. I swear he grows every single day, he's on his way to being that 90lb dog the breeder warned us about :-)

Quick update on our travels - we spent Christmas Eve here in Gainesville with both of our parents and Josh's sister Caitlin. Afterward we headed up to spend the rest of the holiday week in Crestview and had a nice, relaxing time there. After a few days back in Gainesville we got on the road and headed up to Asheville, NC. We stopped for a night in Toccoa, GA and visited with my grandparents and great aunt and then it was on to Asheville. We had the most beautiful little cottage with a wrap-around porch overlooking the mountains. I attached some photos of our trip below in an album. We also got to visit with Rich and Carol (friends of my parents) and then our friends Jamie and Jeff Doehne in Charlotte. It was such a wonderful trip and Darby was a trooper traveling quietly in his crate the entire time (minus one time he got sick from the winding roads!!).

After the Asheville trip I spent 5 days in Ponte Vedra Beach for work. The hardest part was that I had to be there during the college national championship football game!! Of course I watched with my coworkers and Josh was with our friends in Gainesville. As many of you probably already know by now, our Gators WON and are the #1 team in the nation, woooooo. Even more exciting, our quarterback Tim Tebow will be back again next year. We can not wait!! Living in Gainesville during a national championship year is something else. I included a photo below of my boss and I in the fountain at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club (they had giant gators, how appropriate!).

We've finally settled back in to our normal routine in Gainesville. This weekend will be the first when we've both been home and have no major plans, phew, I can't wait! We don't have any more trips planned, for a little while at least. Just lots of work on the house - the fence, decorating, the yard, etc. It's a lot of work but we love every second of owning our own home.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a blessed and Happy New Year! 2008 was a year of change and new beginnings for us and we're really looking forward to what 2009 has in store.

Love,
Jenny and Josh

Asheville Trip

Darby's Homecoming

Turkey, Turkey and More Turkey!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! What a great start to the holidays. Josh and I were excited to host our first Thanksgiving for both of our families this year. Despite the lack of furniture we were able to make do and everything turned out perfect. Josh's parents and my parents were there along with Caitlin and her boyfriend Mike. Our good friends Rich and Judy Parker also joined us and brought along some delicious food! I have to admit though, I got out of a lot of the work this year. In addition to the roasted turkey I only had to make two other dishes - gravy and corn pudding. I will take some credit for the table setting though, I pulled it together with a little help from my Martha Stewart Living magazine (that really makes me feel old!!). I've got plenty of photos below. If you haven't seen Josh in a while you'll notice the large animal on his face, I mean beard :-) He was growing it out for the "winter" but he recently shaved it off. He wants Darby to know what he really looks like when we finally bring him home.

Speaking of Darby, only 2 more weeks until we go pick him up! We can hardly wait. So far we've collected a few things like collar and leash and plenty of stuffed play toys from his new family and friends. He's going to be one lucky dog, being the first grandpup and all. (Our breeder created a web site so we could watch him grow - http://www.robertradcliff.com/darby/index.html)

Quick recap on the month that's passed - Josh has been hard at work (along with both of our dads) on the fence. So far the old fence is down and come January he'll be putting up the new one. It's no easy task, that's for sure. I recently took a trip to St. Simon's Island, Georgia with a few of my girlfriends. We had such an amazing time (photos below) and it was so incredibly relaxing. If you've never been to the Georgia coast this is definitely a place you should visit. The people are friendly, the scenery is beautiful and it just has this wonderful feeling of calmness (of course the southern hospitality is wonderful too). While the girls were off on our trip the guys decided to do a little camping and fishing. Let's just say the weather dipped below freezing and the fish were NOT biting. I'm sure it was great bonding time, but us girls were glad to be warm and cozy by the fire in St. Simon's.

Up next - Let the holiday parties begin! This year we have 9 parties to attend. Well, I do at least. Josh will go to most (even if he's kicking and screaming). We'll spend Christmas Eve in Gainesville with our parents and Caitlin and then Christmas Day we're heading up to Crestview to see the Highlander family - Darby in tow. After a few days back at the office we'll be packing up again. This time it's off to Toccoa, Georgia for a night with Grandma and Grandpa Wills. We're stopping through on our way to Asheville, North Carolina. We've rented this great little pet-friendly cottage in the mountains and we have our tickets to the Biltmore already. It's our Christmas gift to each other this year, the first time we've ever not done gifts. I have to admit, not having to shop for Josh will be a welcome relief. He's always such a tough one to buy for.

Well, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! We really do miss our friends and family that we don't see very often, even more so at this time of year.

Love,

Josh and Jenny

Thanksgiving

Kristin, Katie, Emily and Jenny

St. Simon's Island

Darby O'Gill Highlander - 5 weeks old