the countdown begins

We have so much to be excited for in the next 3 weeks! Tomorrow (technically today), we are going to Des Moines. Sean is going to golf with friends and I am going to get to see so many people who I miss since we moved. I am going to get my hair done (woohoo!), do some hair and have 3 photo sessions lined up! I'm super excited that we're staying at Cory and Melissa Morris's house for the weekend and Melissa and I will get to chat for hours! Tate will surely have fun playing with Brady and Carly while we're there too!

Then, upon our return, the race will be on to prepare for our 2 WEEK vacation to Florida!!!! I seriously feel like making a paper chain...for myself. I am THAT excited! I still have some items on my list that I would like to check off before we go. I really want to visit a local winery with the DeCooks next week if we can all squeeze it in. Also, we will likely just need some "DeCook Time" in general. :) We spend a lot of time with them and will miss them while we're in Florida. Wish they could join us!!!! Also, we hope to have some time with Sarah, Mike and the girls next week. When we get back, school will be starting shortly there after and since it seems like virtually all of our local friends and families are teachers, we try to soak up as much quality time with them in the summers as we can! Summer will practically be over when we get back! WHAT?!?!?!!! Didn't summer just start?!

We are driving down to Florida...we've NEVER done that before. We are flyers all the way. However, we just couldn't ignore the incredible savings it would be for us to drive now that we have the Prius with such great gas mileage. The only problem is that the Prius isn't terribly large. We have to fit Sean's golf clubs and our luggage along with all the other necessities. We will figure out a way, but it will be TIGHT! Is it weird that I'm excited for the drive?

Since we are driving, we decided to make a couple day trip out of it. We are taking a different route down to Florida then when we come home. On our way down, we will be driving to Birmingham, Alabama the first day. It will be a lot of time in the car the first day, but we'll survive. The reason we are going that way is because from Birmingham, we are heading to Tallahassee, Florida which is only about 4 1/2 hours away. For those of you who don't know, Tallahassee is home to the Florida State Seminoles who are Sean's 2nd favorite college team after the Iowa Hawkeyes. He has ALWAYS wanted to see Doak Campbell Stadium and some other various things on the FSU campus. So that's what we plan to do over lunch time on the 2nd day when we drive through there. We will check out the campus and eat lunch somewhere on the campus and most importantly, check out the stadium and surely take lots of pictures! Sean also has a friend who lives in Tallahassee that he hasn't seen since they lived together in college. We may try to catch up with him over lunch while we're there. After that stop, we will head to Venice and stay there for 10 days! Knutsons will be joining us the next day. The guys will be golfing several times and the gals and kids will be by the pool or at the beach pretty much every day! So I am sure to be a lobster upon my return! Ha. We are also really looking forward to spending time with Chris, Brenda, Bode and Boone while down in their neck of the woods! Chris has a BIG birthday while we're down there that we look forward to celebrating with him and also plan to just hang out with them whenever they're available!!! They will work during the week, but we'll be there for 2 weekends when they'll be available. Yay!

So lots of stuff going on in the next 12 days before we leave! Then I hope for 2 weeks of fun, rest and relaxation!