A Diva's Birthday...

Sara's birthday party was Friday night. Her actual birthday, as I mentioned earlier, was Wednesday, but Friday night was the event she really had been looking forward to. For her 8th birthday her mom and dad rented a limo to ride her and 6 other little girls around and take them out to eat at Tokyo (a Japanese Grill in Monroe). Sara and Sheri (Byron's sister) asked me to ride along in the limo and what an expereince that was. I listened to the "Hannah Montana Movie" soundtrack and 7 very excited little girls singing at the top of their lungs. Here are some pictures from the party!

Here's the "Birthday Queen" getting ready for her ride!

"The Birthday Queen" and her "Princesses" enjoying some Sparkling Grape Juice on their way to dinner.

Sara even allowed Spencer to ride along with them...isn't that sweet!

However, when all the girls arrived back at Sara's house Spencer made a "No Girls Allowed" sign to keep the girls out of his room.

Special Day!

Today is a special day for two reasons. The first reason is it is Sara’s birthday. Sara is mine and Byron’s niece.
Happy Birthday Sara! I can hardly believe you are 8 years old. You are such a smart and beautiful little girl and Uncle B and I are so thankful to have you as our niece.

The next reason that today is special is because three years ago today B and I went on our first date. I still like to think about that day and our many firsts…I really think that is one of my favorite feelings in the world (you know the new dating feeling) and I will always remember each one of them. Our first date is very fitting of our personalities. First we went to O’Charleys. We don’t really eat there a whole lot, but we decided on there because Longhorn’s was a 3 hour wait. If you know anything about Byron and I you know that when we are hungry we do NOT like to wait! After eating went to see “Santa Claus III” with Brandy and Chris (our sweet little matchmakers). We still love that movie to this day and it is kinda funny that Brandy and I picked that movie because Byron is very strict about not celebrating Christmas until Thanksgiving has had its time! So being the sweet guy that he is, and not wanting to make a big deal on the first date, he took for the team. So there was my sappy “dating anniversary” story. I hope you all enjoyed.

Now I leave you with some pictures...

This is from our first summer together…You know I like “our firsts” and I love summer!

This one is from our first New Years.

And this is the day we got engaged =)

Fall = Football

If any of you know anything about the family I have married into you know that Fall=Football for the Spence's. They just plain LOVE football...any kind of football. My family has always been more of a basketball family. I like football and I am learning to love it a little more, but I am taking a "football break" today. After going to Jacksonville last weekend for the GA-FL game, where I was inappropriately dressed (jeans and turtle neck---which I later changed into a short sleeved shirt) for blazing HOT temperatures, and watching the Bulldogs get beat...once again...I am going to sit this one out. Nothing against the dawgs or Byron, but I am just plain tired. Anyways with all of that said I have a couple of pictures from some of the games however, there are NO pictures from the miserable game in Jacksonville...I was TOO hot to even lean over and get it out of my purse. =)

The Vanderbilt game was a cold one...here we are before it began. We had great seats and a wonderful time in Nashville!

Sidenote: You will notice that my husband is in a ski hat under a visor in some of the pictures...this is a great disappointment and I tried to get him to take it off...he wouldn't and just wasn't a battle worth fighting.

I LOVE hot chocolate...especially when it comes in a very nice souvenir mug...even if it does have Vanderbilt on it!

Here we are after the game...we actually won this one!

What have I done for you lately?

Let me answer this question. Nothing...absolutely nothing. I have officially failed as a blogger once again! After lots of encouragement (Anna) and a couple of "rain days" off from school I have finally been motivated to end my blog hiatus and return with an update.

Moving along let's begin in July. At the end of July we took a wonderful family vacation (with my parents, aunt, uncle, cousins, and sister). It was so much fun. We ate LOTS of great food and enjoyed every ounce of sun we could get (and ya'll know I like some sun)!

Here's a family picture...we do not enjoy taking your standard everyone smile and fake it picture so my sister and I enjoy these kinds...Here we are at our absolute FAVORITE place to eat in Daytona. If you have not tried "Aunt Catfish's" you must immediately. It is fabulous...cheese grits, huge salad bar, seafood for days, and cinnamon rolls to top it all off! Warning: Just because the wait staff all wear tags that say "cousin bob, cousin sally, cousin brenda" it does not mean they are related...do not ask this my mother did and it was quite embarassing. Here we are catching some waves...Ashley and I love to ride waves at the beach, Byron does too...he's just not that good at it...it might be his size?
One last picture of our very nice trip to the beach! Byron got sick on the way home so this is one of our last "happy" moments for a few days =)

After we returned from the beach we had a party at our house for all of my best friends and their husbands and babies. We really don't get to see each other that much anymore so we are sooo excited when we get the chance to get together! We are getting older and SOME of us are having kids so it gets a little harder to hang out, but when we do it's like we have never even been apart...I love those kinds of friends!
To conclude the summer Byron surprised me with tickets to see "Grease" at the Fox. It was the best surprise ever...we had great seats and my sister and cousins were able to come along!

Now school has started back, it is flooding outside, and we are busier than ever with homework, papers, and online discussion chats! Byron is doing his Master's online at the same time I am working on my doctorate...so needless to say we are busy...Prayers accepted. Don't worry I will be back blogging soon...it is a great way to procrastinate =)

Sleep-Over!!!

On Monday night we had a first...Sara and Spencer (niece and nephew) came over to spend the night and the next day swimming. It was a lot of fun...swimming was not all that great due to clouds and rain, but we made up for it with the Wii and the Chick-Fil-A playground! Here's some pictures.

All ready for bed, eat some popcorn with chocolate milk (ewwww...Spencer's choice), and watch a movie. The plan was to go for a night swim...wear them out...and then watch a movie (Bolt...I am pretty sure Byron liked the movie the best) to make sure we didn't have any little homesick children.

Worked like a charm!

One of my Favorites!

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays! I just love it for several reasons....it happens in the summer and I am a teacher so I am usually stress free, it is HOT outside and we usually spend it by the pool, I get to sit in the sun and get a tan, one word=FIREWORKS, our family always spends at least some part of it together, and grilling out!

This year was extra special because it was our "1st Married 4th of July" and we got to host it! One of the many perks of having a pool in the backyard! Here are some pics...ENJOY!

Brandy and I riding in the back of the Jeep! It gets really cold in there at night!

The pool...so refreshing!Hot Boiled Peanuts and Watermelon...a 4th of July must!!!

My Aunt Cindy, Uncle Robert, their daughter-in-law Stephanie, and her son Jay came over...we were sooo happy to have them. My cousin Brooks is in Basic right now and he has not seen Jay in months....they get to see eachother next weekend and Jay walked around with his mommies cell phone waiting for Brooks to call. It was so sweet and it really made the 4th of July have a whole new meaning! We are sooooo proud of Brooks and Jay can't wait to see his Daddy again!!!

We went to Gratis for the fireworks. It is a small small town near Monroe and we were very pleasantly surprised! It was like a huge tailgate party all afternoon waiting on fireworks. The show lasted about 30 minutes and it was wonderful! We also met up with some dear friends and played games.

My sister Ashley and I.

The pic above is of Dana and I...we have been best of friends for as long as I can remember...I LOVE this girl!

The twins are all ready for Fireworks...they are so fun at play with! Sorry Amanda...I totally did not mean to cut you out!

Byron and I watching fireworks...I love him!

Sunday morning we decided to go for a Patriotic look at church...I love matching...shhhhh don't tell Byron!

Hopefully that wasn't a picture overload! Sara and Spencer are spending the night with us tonight and the day tomorrow so another post will be coming soon...stay tuned!

You're the God of this City

So my sister just returned a few weeks ago from India. My entire family (minus me) have been to India several times and love the children and people of India. My Dad is actually the regional missionary for South Asia (he still lives in the good old USA though). The group went to do basketball camps with the children of India and ended up working with many of the "Compassion Children" that some of you might actually sponsor monthly. Check out the video that Ash made about the trip...it is really amazing and touching to see the children and how desperately in need of help they are!
Here's the link http://kcohoon.blogspot.com/.