We're Prego!!!!

After a year of trying, we're Pregnant!  We are so excited to be able to bring a little spirit into this world and cannot wait for the day s/he arrives!  I am just over 12 weeks and am due March 3rd.  The baby is super healthy and last week, when we had our second ultrasound, we saw s/he moving all around, doing somersaults and all the arms and legs.  It was quite amazing considering 4 weeks prior all we saw was a little bean.  

This picture is not the best but the baby's head is at the bottom left and one arm is sticking out by it's head, waiving hi to us.  We will be able to find out what we are having in just over a month so we will keep you updated.  We just could not be happier!  

A Very Late 4th Update & 3 Years o'Awesomeness together

Well, it has been a while but I will try and update our lives for the past month.  

First, we had the 4th of July!  We had a couple days o' fun including Fanfare & Fireworks on the 3rd with live Gainesville Band/Orchestra music while the fireworks were going off (think Sandlot) and on the morning of the 4th we had our ward breakfast & games and then had our own version of the Cul-de-sac of fire.

We borrowed a house just off a little lake that had a huge backyard and invited some friends from the ward to party with us.  After some good food & games, we went and did our own little fireworks show which was followed by the neighbors full on huge firework show (big fireworks are not illegal in Florida and they sell them year round).  It was a great 4th as usual.

Oh, and Mike was in charge of the camera so it was a bit sparse.

leisurely enjoying post-dinner activities in the huge backyard

Sitting on a great southern porch in rockers.

The little girls this year loved sparklers a used the bug-repellant candle to light them all night.

This picture is here because while we were watching the neighbors fireworks from the backyard by the lake, we heard some gator calls, but could not see any so we took a picture to make sure that they were not right next to us by looking for their eyes flashing. 

It was also our 3 year anniversary this week so last week we went down to Busch gardens and played there for the day and then went to the Tampa Bay Rays game against the Toronto Bluejays.  It was a good game but what was awesome was that it was 90's night and after the game, MC HAMMER did a concert.  By that time it was getting late so we only stayed for 3 songs to get home by 1am.  All of the songs he did at the beginning were his new stuff, (yes, he has new stuff) but our friends who stayed said that at the end he did some "Can't touch this" and other Hammer classics.  It was a fun and tiring day.  

I am so grateful for my hubby who is my best friend and who I could not picture my life without.  This has been an awesome 3 years and I am so excited to spend the rest of eternity with him. Thanks babe for all that you do and for supporting me at all times.  I love you!

Hello? Is anyone out there? I know that some people seem to peruse these posts with some regularity, so there must be an audience. Therefore, I have decided that it is about time that I made some sort of contribution to this collaborative effort. After all, I am the andmike part of rachandmike. So welcome to my very first blog post, depending on how it goes it might end up being my last one. (I could leave the blogging to the family expert, I love you Rach) So now that I have decided to try my hand at this whole bloggint thing I have to figure out what topic I feel so passionately about that I could write anything of any meaning. After pondering that for some time I realized that blogging isn't about things of deep meaning. (take a look at all the previous posts if you doubt me) In essence Rachel only seems to write about what we do in our boring everyday lives. So I decided to write about one of my new favorite things that I have discovered on the internet. (it is amazing how much there is to look through when you are at work but really have little to nothing to do) So my great discovery is the website http://www.pandora.com/ Now as everone is very aware, I am not the musical on in our house hold, but I think I have stumbled across something that all you music lovers will enjoy. (or maybe I am behind the times and everyone has already discovered this site before I did, in that case kuodos to you) You can enter a song or group that you like and the site will play other songs that have similar music qualities to the songs you like. It is pretty cool I think. Thanks for reading through my ramblings. I hope it brought you some form of enjoyment.

Seminary & Treking

So, a couple of weeks ago I got released from the YW presidency but did not have a calling for a while.  I was so bummed as I wanted to stay with the youth.  Well, I am with them again as their early morning seminary teacher for next year (spoke too soon).  I am teaching our ward & the 1st ward kids every morning at 6:45.  I am so excited but humbled as I now want to go back in time and take a lot more notes during my seminary years.  The curriculum is the New Testament and I have my first of 3 trainings this Saturday down in Orlando so I will for sure take notes.

If anyone has any great memories or ideas about seminary, let me know!  

On Friday we joined the YW/YM on their Trek down just south of Orlando on a Church cattle ranch.  It was so fun to be with the kids, we were on the activities committee which meant going down for a day and playing games and joining them in a hoe-down.  We were in charge of a sack-race, javelin throw & a hair washing station where we would wash all of their hair if they wanted it.  

A Cute Pioneer Couple

The kids dancing, and they enjoyed it!

I just loved this picture of Mike as my cowboy!

This picture is for Gracie.  It is a baby gator that we found when we went to the bat house on campus.

Gville has been Super Sized!

It is now official, Gainesville has it's first Super anything as of last month!  Gainesville, for those of you who don't know it well, is a hippie-college town that does not believe in large businesses coming into town or expanding/building roads.  

Anyway, to get off my soapbox, we have a SUPER WAL-MART!  The city finally let them build on the east side of town which is not known for being the best part of town, but it is still exciting!  I was so excited to go, I had Mike take a picture which he thought was so nerdy of me.  He has yet to understand blogging life.  I saw things in that store that I have not seen since Utah: Rainbow chip icing, frozen hashbrowns/potato products, real chicken patties, and many more things.  

(low-quality phone pictures)

We also went on a hike with the YW, even though I got released from my position with them. :(  They needed another Priesthood holder and Mike is always the one they go to.  It was a 10 mile hike along the Suwannee River.  They did really well even though it was quite hot that day. I will miss working in the YW program.

This is what hiking in florida looks like... flat and lots of trees

Picture around the 8th mile... this was about where we got to the song "there was a hole"

The Suwanee river was super low and was a dark red color from the cypress trees that surround the river.  The girls kept calling it the river of blood.