Rocking in 2013 with the Fields

We have been fortunate to be able to see the Fields several times this year.  We were so happy to find out that they'd be coming through Savannah after their Christmas travels on New Year's Eve!

As I've probably told you before, Ryan is Curtis' best friend.  Probably the closest thing he has to a brother.  I love seeing Curtis light up and get so excited whenever he gets the opportunity to spend time with this godly guy.

They had a great time making s'mores together in the fireplace.

Here's one of our little family.  I thought this was sweet. :)

Here's Ryan and his wife, Emily.  Whenever I spend time with her, I love her even more!  She has such a heart for others.

Of course, our night consisted of playing Rock Band.  One of our favorite things to do with the Fields.

We named our band "2013" to rock in the new year!  We were getting high scores on all the songs we played.  It was a great start to 2013!  And we have many more things to look forward to this year. :)

All of Curtis' Roommates Are Now Married

Curtis had three close roommates in college - Ryan, Josh and Jeffrey.  They all took bets on who would get married first.  Everyone thought Jeffrey would be the first.

Here's how the weddings actually occurred:

6/7/2008 - Curtis and I

5/28/2011 - Josh and Alicia

10/15/2011 - Ryan and Emily

7/1/2012 - Jeffrey and Jessie

We are so happy that we were able to come to Jeffrey & Jessie's wedding!  Curtis served as an Usher.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  So, I've taken this picture from the official photographer (not trying to infringe on any copyrights) - if you want to see more pictures, please go to Valentina Glidden Photography.  It completes the roommates all getting married.

The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to meet Jessie.  Jeffrey first told us about Jessie at Josh's wedding...and by the time Ryan's wedding came around, he was ready to marry her!

We are looking forward to many years spent with all 8 of us (and their families as they increase).  I've never met such incredible, godly men before.  All four of them are very strong in their walks with the Lord.  Three of them have now graduated from seminary, two of them are pastors and the other two want to be missionaries in the future.

Gallivant through Florida

From May 27 - June 15, Curtis and I took a 3-week vacation and traveled all over the state of Florida.  Our goal for the time: to relax and to get refreshed.  If you look at the map below, you can see all of the places that we stopped.  Our final destination was Key West, which was to celebrate our 4 year anniversary.  I'll have a separate post for that part of the trip.

If we would have traveled this non-stop, it would have taken us over 30 hours to get back to Savannah!

Here's the highlights from the first 2 weeks:

We were able to spend some time with my family while we were in Jacksonville.  Here's a nice picture of my mom.

Let the relaxing begin!

All the boys (my dad, brother Ben and Curtis) relaxed.

Here's a picture of me with my immediate family minus my older brother.  I like how we arranged by height without even realizing it.  We could be in one of those AT&T commercials with the "bars."

We also stopped in to meet our newest cousin, Alan David.  He was only about a week old when we met him.  He's pictured above with his proud mom & dad.

Here's Curtis holding Alan - he was such a sweetheart.  Actually, both of them are. ;)

Not only did we get to see Alan, but we also got to see my grandparents.  I forgot to take their picture though - that's a bummer!  Curtis and I also spent some time with the newest youth pastor at my old church, Pinewood - it's always encouraging for him to talk with other pastors.

One day, we were able to spend some time with Randy & Debra Warren.  I almost forgot to take a picture. This was taken right before I drove away.  We had a great time together!

OK, now for a small segment on our sweet kitten, Lion-O, before we head on to our next stop:

We left Lion-O with my parents in Jacksonville while we gallivanted around.  When he first arrived, he hid in this large cat litter box to get away from the other cats.  Haha!

Lion-O had to adjust to being around my parent's cats - Buddy & Teddi.  We had to separate them at first. Notice that Lion-O is on the other side of the sliding glass door.  (Note: The cats did eventually get a long - they spent 2 weeks together while we were away.)

Teddi curled up Curtis.  It was really precious.

Before we left Jacksonville, we celebrated Lion-O's 1 year birthday (June 3) by giving him some cat milk.

And on with our tour...

We headed to Gainesville and stayed with the Fields.  Even though Emily was not in town while we were there, her hospitality was definitely noticed!  She prepared for us by providing lots of food for yummy meals.  Ryan did an excellent job of cooking them.   

Ryan took us to a new part of Paynes Prairie that Curtis and I had never visited when we lived in Gainesville.  It was really beautiful there.  It was a little hot though. 

We were looking at the alligators behind us before we took this picture.

I liked this candid shot of the best buds talking.  Curtis loves spending as much time as he can with Ryan.

They had a great time together.  Even Emily's cat, Vince, joined the party!  

We also had the privilege of getting to hear Ryan preach at his church (and where I attended in college), Creekside Community.

One of my closest friends, Kaylen, also lives in Gainesville.  I was so glad that we were able to spend time with her and her husband, Jono.

Group shot!

Not pictured in Gainesville: We also spent time with our RUF campus minister, Steve Lammers, and his family; I was also able to spend time with another good friend, Jenna McMicken.  All of it was very refreshing to our souls!  We praise God for giving us so many good friends that encourage us in our relationship with the Lord. :)

Next stop - Beverly Hills, Florida to see the Lauranzons.  We met this beautiful family (back then it was only Robyn & Brandon) in St. Louis during seminary.  They were good friends that we met with weekly. Brandon now has his first call at Seven Rivers Presbyterian and we were so glad we were able to stop and see them during our trip!

I fell in love with Karis.  I think she fell in love with me too.  She seemed to get upset whenever I would leave her presence.  I love her expression in this picture!

It was like old times!  I hadn't seen Robyn since we left St. Louis almost 3 years ago.

Then, we traveled to Orlando for the day and spent time with the Donovans.  Curtis and I really felt encouraged by our time with them!  Jess makes such a cute pregnant woman, doesn't she?  She is due in August and we can't wait to find out what they're having (they're keeping it a surprise).

Next up...we went to Melbourne to spend some time with some of my dad's side of the family.

This is my cousin, Elle.  She was playing around with my iPod and gave me about 10 photos that looked almost just like this!  She's a big fan of sticking out her tongue.

We went to Sebastian Inlet to bask in the amazing weather.  Elle and I bonded a lot.

There weren't that many people there that day so we had the place to ourselves.  What a fun day!

Elle was showing off some of her crafts that she has made.

One of our final places to stop was in Fort Myers to see Curtis' parents.  It was our first time getting to visit their new church. We had the opportunity to check out a really awesome ministry called ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) and tour their facilities.  It was so cool to see what a difference they are making in third world countries that don't know what type of plants grow best in their area.

We also visited the winter homes of Henry Ford & Thomas Edison.

This is the largest Banyan tree in the United States.  I had never seen anything like it!

 It was absolutely gorgeous there.

I think we left right before the rain came.

While we were in Fort Myers, we stayed with a family that owned this beautiful cat named Lexy.  I was so excited to meet her because I was really missing Lion-O.  She was a very large cat!

We attended church at New Hope Presbyterian and got to hear Curtis' dad preach.  Curtis even got to read the Word before he preached.

And now that we have our vacation hats on, we are ready for our final anniversary destination - Key West!

Stay tuned for another excited post about our final week in Florida. :)

Fields Visit

After Ryan & Emily were married last year (see post here), Ryan & Curtis planned for the four of us to meet up in Savannah.  We couldn't wait for them to arrive, especially Curtis!  Although the three of us (Curtis, Ryan & I) have spent lots of time together, we hadn't had the opportunity to spend time with his new bride, Emily.  

One of the new traditions of spending time together includes playing Rock Band 1 & 2.  Here's some action shots:

Oh, the drama!

Lion-O just took it all in.

The next day, we went to Tybee Island to introduce the Fields to our beach.

The weather was amazing and so was the conversation.  Imagine - two young pastors and their wives discussing world issues at the beach. ;)

The water was really refreshing!

I really enjoyed getting to know Emily.  In the little bit of time that I spent with her, I could see her caring heart for others and her love for Ryan. :)  I look forward to continually getting to know her throughout our lives!

Of course, these two best buds were on Cloud Nine together!  

We also played mini golf, introduced them to Just Dance 3 and showed them all over downtown Savannah. 

Hanging out with Johnny Mercer

What a fun and memorable weekend; we can't wait to do it again!