October 2008: Niagara Falls!!

When mom came to visit us in Ohio we decided to drive up to New York/Canada to see Niagara Falls. We spent 1 night in New York and 1 night in Canada...the falls were a lot more impressive from the Canadian side! Of course we had to do the whole Maid of the Mist thing...we got soaked, and you can't really see much from the boat because there is water spraying eerywhere...but it was neat to get splashed by the falls at least. While we were in Canada we ate a restaurant named Kelseys twice...we went back the second time because they told us they would turn on the Fl/LSU game for us...even though we would be the ONLY ones watching "American football"...there were apparently several more important hockey games on. But we stayed and watched the whole game at a bar in Canada...lol Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

ok...so still catching up from 2008...this is a good one: Fl. vs Tennessee September 20, 2008

Chad, Jeff, Leigh and I drove down to knoxville, TN last september to watch the Gators destroy Tennessee. We had a great time and at the end of the game we got to see Urban Meyer and all the players..including Timmy! It was awesome : )

It wouldn't be a road trip without Cracker Barrel!

Driving down to Knoxville

Morning of the game

Playing cornhole in the parking lot....I'm pretty sure the guys won

Jeff and our inflatable Albert

Albert made an appearance at the alumni luncheon

This sign was up on the top of a school bus that was painted in gator colors

Albert taking a quick swim

duh da duh duh duh da da.... gator bait!

Game faces

Timmy practicing his throw : )

Huddle up

Somehow I got the ball in mid-air

Gators win!

Tennessee is Gator bait!

Waiting very impatiently for the team to come out of the locker room...where is Tim Tebow??


"AHHHH (squealing like a little girl)....OMG I just saw Tim Tebow!!!!...ahhhhhhh....I'm so excited....etc., etc."

SEPTEMBER 2008......ooops i found more picture from september!

It seems like September was a busy month! I have tons of pictures from then......in September Chad would have just gotten back from SOS so I guess we went out and did a lot of stuff to catch up for the missed month!

Gang's all here......(that's for tiff and steph to appreciate)

It looks like Jeff is in trouble and doesn't even realize it

We were out to dinner at a local Mexican place called Elsa's.... they have the best margaritas!

This was after several "bad juan" margaritas...

It looks like a hurricane came through...oh wait ...it did! Hurricane Ike hits Ohio aka "The week the lights went out"! The hurricane (tropical storm by the time it got here) definitely brought some strong winds that knocked down a LOT of power lines and trees. The entire city was out of power for a week. The local news station did a special called "The week the lights went out"...everyone around here acted like the world was ending...although I can't make too much fun because that's what I act like when there's a blizzard

A random weekend day...Chad is eating peanuts and Casper wants some really badly.....this is a pretty typical scene around here.

Another typical scene around here...Casper sitting in the rocking chair

One of the many gator football saturdays : )

Out at Dublin Pub...downtown Dayton

At a Cincinnati Reds game with Kate, Bryan and his mom....and new baby Carter

Carter was only a week or two old and got to go to his first baseball game!

update by month until i'm caught up..JULY, AUGUST, & SEPTEMBER

So I am going to just post some pictures from each month from July to now (which is February...I can't believe I'm THAT far behind!). This is my attempt to get up to date and start maintaining this page again. So here goes....
SEPTEMBER 2008:

This was a Sunday after church trip to home depot...I have no idea why I had my camera, but I'm glad I did!

After the first win of the season we had to go out and take a picture with our flag!

Chad and Casper watching the game

Our first game of the year....Florida vs Hawaii

Albert always has to watch the game with us

AUGUST 2008:

Chad was TDY for SOS the whole month of August so me and Casper had to hold down the fort. We did a little redecorating while Chad was gone : ) I took this picture to show him what the bedroom looked like after my shopping spree at West Elm

I was trying to get a picture of me and Casper for Chad since he was gone for so long....but Casper wasn't happy that I made it a marathon photo shoot with about 30 total.

JULY 2008:

July was a sad month for us....Chad's Granny passed away after several months of deteriorating health. She loved Gerber daisies and there were so many beautiful ones at her service. We took this one with us to take some pictures of it to remember how beautiful everything was. Chad's Granny will be missed dearly, but anyone that knows Chad knows that he has a lot of his Granny in him! We love her and think about her often.

During our trip back to Pensacola..... backyard pool party : ) This is Grayson and Hannah getting ready to run and jump into the pool.

Chad's brother, Scott and our niece, Hannah

Gavin flying into the pool!

Although you probably can't tell.....that's Chad underneath the float coming after Gavin...just imagine the JAWS theme playing in the background : )

Chad and Casper : )

finally...pictures from vegas

So I know it took like 10 years to get these pictures up...but finally here they are! Because there are so many (and there were several hundred more I could have added) I will just let the pictures tell the story : ) We had a great time though...one thing I would recommend to anyone that wants to go to vegas- don't do it in July!! It was SO hot!

vegas pictures coming soon

There are a TON of pictures from 4th of july, Atlanta and Vegas.... I'm getting caught up slowly but surely...so just be patient with me. I will try to have the pictures up soon..at least I've put some other new pictures up recently..check out the last two posts for the new-ER pictures. I'm only a couple months behind! : )
-Lauren

Dinner with friends in Ohio

Back in June our friends Kate and Bryan came over for dinner to celebrate mine and Kate's birthdays....mine was the 14th and hers was the 20th...so we had dinner and make a cake...my first bundt cake. It was beautiful and yummy!

Look what I made!!

Of course we had to play super mario cart on nintendo!

Riley is Kate and Bryan's dog....her and Casper are girlfriend and boyfriend!