Enjoying God's Beautiful Creation

I can't believe it has been a week since our trip to the Beach. What a great experience it was to be with our family again all at once. Before we left, there were plans to go deep sea fishing, parasailing, rent jet skis, shop, golf and lay on the beach. It was about the 4th or 5th day we were there until I realized that we weren't going to get to several of the things on our list. I will say that I wouldn't trade any of the days.

We got there Saturday afternoon about 3:00. That day was pretty much gone after getting everything unloaded and making the infamous trip to Wally World. It never fails when my whole family goes to Wal-Mart that we don't come out with 2 (or 3) carts full of who knows what. The funny thing about that is knowing we will be back in a day or so because we will need something we didn't get or will already be out of things.

Sunday being church day, we were able to have a little devotional on the balcaony looking at the ocean. What a gorgeous view of the reason for living! There being about 35 of us on the beach that week made this devo that more inspiring. After our devo was the beinging to life on the beach for a week. We packed up our beach chairs and headed down to the water! Not long were we sweating like crazy because it was so toasty. The next adventure was a trip to Jo Patties! This is a seafood fresh market. It is kind of crazy! You walk in and there are fish in ice all over the place. Once you get a number, the people behind the counter ask what you want. You can get any fish you would ever want. My dad wasn't the fondest of grilling seafood. That didn't take long! He is the bested at grilling cedar plank salmon. Not only that, he is great at cooking jumbo shrimp wrapped bacon!

Monday was spent entirely on the beach. We would wake up about 8:30, hang out at the beach house for a while then head out to the beach about 9:30. That would last till about lunch time then it was time to nap or recoop in the air conditioning. After a trip to Joe Patties again, we grilled out Monday night.

It wouldn't be a vacation for my family unless golf was included. You bet we dook advantage of some great courses while we were there. Tuesday was one of those days. There were 6 of us so we did a little scrammble. Me, Corey and Dustin against Dad, Chad and Scott. We were tied going into the last hole at -3. Of course we goofed with a boogy and they had a par. Go figure! It was great fun though. Wasn't even that hot with was very nice. For dinner, my parents went to eat with some friends so me, Dustin, Corey, Amber, Marisa and Morgan took it upon ourselves to go eat at Landry's. It was a great time. We had some great food and of course even better times. Once we got back to the house, out to the beach to look for crabs. Those are the scrariest little things. You just do not know where they are going to come from or go! I will never forget this night! I started the night with a brother and sister and ended the night with a soon to be sister-in-law. I can't express how happy I am for Corey and Amber. Corey has truely found an amazing future wife. Congrats you two!




There is nothing like golfing in Florida 2 days in a row. This course was a beauty. You could see the ocean off in the distance. I would have to attest that this course was a little more challenging then the previous. When the golf pro says there is water on 16 of the 18 holes you know you are in for a treat. With that being said, I did shoot an 87, which I was VERY proud of. Not to mention that Dustin beat me for the first time in a few rounds, won't mention it was just by a stroke. We had a blast! It was just Dustin, me and my dad this round. Once we got back to the beach house, we were out to the water. Wednesday was supposedly the clearest day of the week. There was a sand bar that formed about 50 yards from the sand. The water was clear as it could be. We could see to the bottom of the ocean.

We couldn't come to shop on the last day we were in Florida, so we went Thursday instead. A trip to Destin is just about a 45 minute drive. There we have an awesome outlet mall. We didn't intend on staying very long but with everyone going I figured it would be longer of a trip than orginially planned. Not only a Nike outlet but also an Under Armour outlet. I'd never been to an UA outlet before so that was cool. It was bigger than we thought so we had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. We used to have one here in the city but it has gone out of business in the last couple years. No worries, the girls did get a shirt from the manager. The Crab Trap was for dinner. We sat out on the patio, which was a beautiful view.

Friday, for me, was reserved for the beach only. I got up and laid out there almost all day. Went in for lunch then went back out. Corey, Dustin and Dad went golfing again at the same course we golfed at Wednesday. Yeah, they liked it that much! I did mention it was nice right? $80 nice... since it was the last night, we didn't really have a lot of food left to eat so we went out to a local Italian restaurant. It was pretty decent. Our waiter seemed to like us, he even brought out a cheesecake for Corey and Amber for them being newly engagement. Friday was also our family picture night. There wasn't much of a choice as to what we were wearing. The traditional khaki and white was Mom's first choice. So, of course, that is what we went with! Here are a few pictures from our photo shoot on the beach....




I couldn't believe the week was over but soon came Saturday. It started early as we were leaving the houses by 8:00 in order to get to Jackson before the start of the USA/England game. We did make it in enough time..... so no need to panic! It was an absolutely amazing week with family and friends. We had late night game nights and early morning trips to the water. How else is there to spend a weekend! I am truely a blessed person in a blessed family!