Class-Vegas

Alison and me during Family pictures out in Las Vegas. We got to see Alison's sister Amanda take out her endowments and get sealed in the temple. Alison has tons of photos of it on her facebook page. It was a great time going out there and seeing her family. 

 Mama and Papa Rakes wanted a family picture since we all wont be together for another couple years. It was fun. Garret is huge and Leah is cute. I did not get to teach them the ways of phase 10 but next time it will happen! If Alison has a job teaching we will go to Montana to see her family for Christmas!

Class has started again for us at UF. This time the History department finally got me. Yes I am taking an African course. It is a requirement for me to graduate. I have no interest what so ever about this part of the world but will be able to learn a little bit about it by the end of May. Some requirements colleges have are so crazy. Taking this class and a language class are the 2 requirements that make me just go ???. Also while buying our books for classes Alison got a parking ticket. She parked (and knew she was not allowed to park there) ran inside to the front desk and asked about having a book... they answered "no" and she went outside probably 3 minutes later and had a ticket. UF enjoy your donation for your crappy parking system. 

Spring Cleaning

After an exciting game of flag football we spent the whole weekend cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of "crap" that has built up over the year! We had a huge trash can bin that we filled and emptied 3 times. We went to Goodwill twice, sold old clothes at Plato's closet (garments made a lot of clothes useless for Alison!), and we now have 3 hall shelves empty for us to use for whatever. It feels so good to have a nice clean home. We are not done yet but got the organizing done. We now have the bathroom and kitchen to organize and clean. We figure we got one more year left here so let's try to make it nice and clean. 26 years later I finally understand about having a clean house. Better enjoy it now before I have kids who make a mess.

Today I got free lunch at MOE'S again...thank you Birthday coupons! Also After selling Clothes to "Plato's closet" we got back $16.50....I know it's nothing near what we spend on clothes but it was better than just getting rid of them and getting nothing! 

Summer time

This summer I will only have work and one class. I need to find something to occupy my time. I love learning about German soldiers on the eastern front so if anyone knows some good books or movies then let me know. I know we will get our moneys worth out of NetFlix but reading a good book is always nice. 

If I do not get any good suggestions then I will be playing ALOT...I mean ALOT of video games. So many video games Alison will take a bat to the XBOX 360. So give me some summer ideas on facebook or through my email. Summer is finally here!!!!

New Phone

Last night we saw Marley and Me....really cute movie. If you even have a hint of wanting a dog or having a baby then don't watch this movie. It is a great movie about the family. We enjoyed it and we are afraid we will lose the privilege of living next to grandpa since we will have a dog! If you have not seen it put it on your netflix list.

The time has come. I have a new phone! After tinkering with my mom's phone I decided to go with the one she has. So far I have not picked out my own cell phone. I just go with what other's have around me. The only person jealous of the new phone is Alison. Her phone looks like a fossil with my phone in the room. When i figure out my new phone number I will let you know. I think Andrew and my dad have the new phone number so ask them! ;)

GATOR FOOTBALL

The Orange and Blue Spring Football game was this past weekend and WOW! We had an attendance record of 65,000. It was a full house! Parking was also CRAZY! Usually we start at $20 a spot and go down but instead we went up since parking was getting full every where! It was a great day and atmosphere. Brantley is the backup QB to Tebow and he did awesome. We will be okay when Tebow is gone! Football season is a religion down here in the south. 

HISTORY of SCIENCE

This picture is of Galileo....really it could be a a picture of me now that its towards the end of the semester. Just got done with History of Science class last night...Boring! One more psychology class...thank goodness....but Spanish goes on another week..egh!. I look forward to putting this semester behind me. I know the summer will go well and I hope to have energy and enthusiasm for the fall semester....Also Alison needs to find a job for the fall! Pray for her success!

Easter

For Easter we spent it down with family in Orlando. What a weekend it was. Every time we get together with the "cousins" they put on a crazy show! The real highlight of the weekend was when Max put a stuffed animal near grandpa and he thought it was a real mouse and flipped. I really thought grandpa was going to die right then and there of  a heart attack. It was really funny. We got our ORANGE and BLUE Easter basket and it was an overall great weekend! Good seeing everyone! Grandpa said we can not live near him in Orlando if we have a dog...so no pets for us right now! Next weekend is the ORANGE and BLUE spring football game! We will see if we can break the attendance record of 40,000+....!

NETFLIX

We are loving NETFLIX. So far 2 movies down and a lot more to go. This movie last night was awesome. Since I am going to be taken German I left the German language on and had English subtitles. The movie had some great parts when it came time to show factory to factory fighting and also a great scene of a thousand  soldiers trying to leave on a plane made for 50. Great movie and it makes me hate the Russian winters even more. Next up on the list....

Alison is watching NETFLIX online right now. So life is good. We can send the movie out on Monday and by Wednesday have a new one. We are enjoying it and suggest it to everyone. It saves a fortune in renting fees and we have gotten our moneys worth with in a week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Yesterday was Alison's birthday. For the most part she thought she was going to spend her birthday alone since she had class all day and I was playing basketball. (I was only playing basketball to help with her surprise party). At around 8:30pm she gave me a call when I was on my way home saying "I am lonely come home, it's my birthday I want you to be here." Little did she know I had a little something planned for her. At around 9pm I knocked on the door and she came to open it. There was Her friends and me yelling happy birthday. Britani got her an ice cream cake made of her favorite ice cream "Phish food", her friend Tricia brought some flowers for her, and I got her.....

A new Perfume she had been wanting. I also got her some lotion and NETFLIX. Most people feel I will be the benefactor of her presents.....movies and good smells! GOOD TIMES! So Alison got to have ice cream cake with her friends here and we spent the rest of the night goofing around. I love you Alison and thank you for being a great wife! Happy Birthday!

Conference

Conference....good times. Alison and me stayed home and watched both Sunday sessions. What a good time. I am always curious about what other people think of conference and what they got out of it. From my understanding it was "HEY, STOP WASTING TIME, STUDY MORE, LIFE IS ONLY WHAT YOU MAKE IT SO DON'T TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED!" Alison and I have a goal now to go to the temple at least once a month! Once we graduate we are going to try and live close to the temple. If we live in Orlando we will try and go once a week followed by PHASE 10 with Grandma and Grandpa.

The Free Food Way

Just got another email for my birthday. Alison and I went to Applebee's and had a nice sit down dinner with all the old folks who eat dinner at 5:30. When ever we go out now it is for free or a major discount! Love those food coupons I get in my email! Anyone else got any more fast food places or restaurants that I can sign up for? Alison got a coupon for a free entree from Moe's that is good for a week...so more free MOE'S...WELCOME TO MOE'S!

German

Since Spanish class was not going so well I decided to pick up a new language class. Any guesses? yep, German. You think learning German would be hard and I am sure it would be but I am not taking a language only class. It will be a class that teaches BASIC German language and culture. So instead of being bombarded with language learning we will also have a break to learn about other things the German culture has to offer. So wish me luck and I know it will be great. We are hoping learning this helps for when we move over to Germany for awhile. Living in Europe would be great so that I could see the sites of WW II and other historical things that most people would never get a chance to see.

FREE FOOD

The other day my boss gave me a coupon for a free ARBY's sandwich coupon. He told me he got it through email. This got me thinking about what other free coupons are out there. I most recently had a birthday and got a Free Smoothie coupon and enjoyed using it 3 times. So Alison and I went to all of our favorite food places and signed up for their email list and the next day our inbox was filled with free coupons! The Best one is MOE's. They gave me a free entree coupon for my birthday ($6-8 value) and also gave me a Free cup of Queso Coupon ($5 value)! So we planned on not eating out anymore but with free food galore...why not? I suggest if you want to eat out and not spend alot or any money at all...then sign up for email lists. Great way to save money and eat out! Subway is also a good one...for signing up for their email you get a FREE 6-inch sub with purchase of a drink! so Go for it and sign up for emails!

9 months and still Golden!

For our 9 month anniversary Alison and I went to the temple. It was a special day going to the temple but even more special since we got to be there to see Katherine go through for her first time. It was also nice to see my wife work with the youth. I am so blessed to have her. Behind a successful man is a hard working women. She is truly a strength to me in everything that I do. She helps with my school, work, and even church callings. I look at my patriarchal blessing and now fully understand what it means. Alison I love you and look forward to spending eternity with you! I hope I can be the husband you deserve.

March Madness and Brackets

This is one of the best times of the year for sports. This true tournament really can decide a winner! I love filling out the brackets and watching all the games. I love when a small-nobody school comes out of no where and shocks the world. It's great when David slays Goliath but for the most part Goliath kicks the crap out of David. Good times. I will let you all know who won with the brackets out of our family! Alison is mad I filled out 2 brackets!

Filling out brackets can be so fun! If you never filled one out then you are not an American! You need to march your butt back to communism and forget about it all! Just kidding. We will give you a chance next year to redeem yourself!Brackets are a way of life! The Gators will be on the brackets net year and probably be a Sweet 16 team!

GATORS