Florida Trip

DJ's yearly CSVA conference happened last week, so I decided to take the week and travel with him. We haven't been able to have a vacation just the two of us since 2019, so we were way overdue. Plus, a week with no kids and him in meetings, meaning I was free to do as I pleased, like sit at the pool, sleep, etc. sounded like the perfect Mother's Day gift. 

His conference started on Monday, but we have family in Florida so we flew down on Saturday to spend a few days with them. Our wake up call was at 3:45 so we could be at the airport in time for our flight. 

We made it to Atlanta where we just so happened to be on the same flight as his mom. She decided to take the weekend and meet us (and her other son & his family) in Florida. 

By 2:00, we were having lunch by the ocean with DJ's brother, sister in law, and our nieces and nephew. 

After lunch, we headed out to the beach. 

These "fish bones" were all over the sand. We honestly had no idea if they're fish bones or not, but they were literally lining the sand where the tide had come in! 

We cleaned up and headed out for dinner.... the elevator had this fishing boat picture, and we thought it totally looked like DJ was on the boat fishing- ha! 

We had pizza and some karaoke time at our dinner table, and then went back to the hotel to hang out and play some games. 

Sunday morning rolled around and we were on the beach around 11. 

Not a bad way to spend your Sunday. 

I spent the day on the beach reading. We ate lunch. DJ played spike ball with the fam, and it was basically perfection. 

A few more beach picks before we had to say goodbye to the sand and salt water. 

We were so thankful to have the time with his mom and his brother's fam!

Our beach time was greatly enjoyed, but Sunday evening we had to say goodbye and head to downtown Jacksonville to the convention hotel.

(swimsuit here)

We attended a welcome party Sunday night, and had a late dinner out, then Monday, DJ was off at meetings. 

After a morning workout, I parked myself on the roof top pool for the rest of the day. Monday night we went to Top Golf with the convention. 

Tuesday morning was cloudy, so I thought I'd go for a walk down by the river. By the time I made it outside, the sun was out, and the river walk didn't go down as far as I would like, so I started walking downtown to see what I could find. I had read about a candy shop, and I figured I wasn't too far away so I headed there to grab treats for the girls. 

Sweet Pete's was huge and whimsical inside. It would be every kid's dream! 

You could watch them make the candy, and taste their sea salt caramel. Delicious. I grabbed lollipops for the girls, a box of caramels, and chocolate dipped g-free oreos to take home. 

I stopped for lunch and made my way back toward the hotel. 

From our room we had a great view of the bridge, and a battleship. I had wanted to go take a tour of it, but it wasn't opening until June. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon poolside reading this book. (So good if you're a business owner!)

We had dinner that night at Ruth Chris with one of DJ's vendors and the staff from Florida. 

Wednesday was basically the same. I worked out, and went to the pool while DJ had meetings. 

(Cover Up Here)

Wednesday night was DJ's award dinner and casino night. DJ was awarded Video Coordinator of the Year for the Big 12 conference. (So proud of him!) and then we finished the night with casino games and giveaways! 

(Top here, pants sold out)

Having the week away was the Mother's Day gift I wanted. I think it's every mom's dream to just have some time for themselves to rejuvenate and not have to worry about activities, and cleaning and dinner and laundry. 

Let's Get Away

Last week was DJ's collegiate sports video association convention over in Anaheim, California. He flew out on Monday and I met him there on Wednesday. It's been several years since I've had the chance to travel with him to his conference, and I'm so thankful that my parents were able to come down to keep the girls so I could go. 

I arrived in Anaheim around 3 and rested until it was time for his awards dinner and casino night. 

DJ has been in charge of the awards ceremony the last two years but took a break this year. We were able to catch up with several friends that we've met throughout his years as a VC, and even a few of his former students who went on to their own careers in college football. 

Thursday morning, we woke up to rain but that didn't stop our plans of heading to Disneyland! I have to admit, I was so excited about Disney, but mostly because we were getting to experience it without our kids! I know that sounds awful, but there was no major planning on our part. We didn't have to book character meals, we didn't have to ride tea cups or Dumbo or try to calm whiney tired kids. 

We had planned to arrive to the park at 8, but didn't make it to the park until 10 because of the rain. Everyone I had talked to said to just go during the rain and enjoy it because lines would be super short, but since we knew it was just us and we'd have the entire day, we decided to wait until the rain stopped. Literally as soon as we arrived, the rain ended and the day was gorgeous! 

I did a little research on their Max Pass system, since it's different from Disney World's Fast Pass, and it was super easy to use. As soon as we walked in to the park, we scheduled a max pass for Thunder Mountain Railroad and basically walked right on. Afterwards, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, did the Haunted Mansion, and then saw the line was super short for Splash Mountain so we headed that way. And y'all, we got soaked!!!  Like, we had to ring out our socks and dry off in the bathroom with the hand dryers. 

We landed a Max Pass for space mountain, and grabbed a quick snack. We probably had to wait the longest for space mountain, but that's because they had to shut down the ride a few times. 

After space mountain, we headed to the Nemo submarine ride while waiting on our next max pass for Matterhorn Bobsleds. 

We ate a late lunch, went on Buzz Lightyear, rode the train, walked through toon town, met Mickey Mouse, and decided to wait in line for Indiana Jones. We had scored a max pass for it, but it wasn't for 9:30, and by that time we had basically ridden pretty much everything we really wanted to ride. So, we waited in line for Indiana Jones, then went on the Jungle Cruise. 

We finished off our evening with a dessert, and rode the Snow White ride and the Pinnochio ride. I mean, we seriously rode a ton of rides! 

We stayed for the fireworks but because of the wind, it turned out to be a light show, so we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. 

Friday morning we got up, and ubered to Huntington Beach. 

We walked the pier and watched the surfers and volleyball players on the beach. 

We brought our swimsuits and a towel, but it was chilly! 

So, we opted for a yummy lunch instead! 

We decided to walk through the town and went to the surfers museum. 

Then we decided to book a whale trip over in Newport Beach. 

We arrived about an hour before we were scheduled to leave, so we grabbed a snack and walked by the water. 

Since we knew it would be cooler out on the water, we bought long sleeve t's and set out on our adventure. 

Cheers! 

Unfortunately, the water was rough! The captain of the ship made the call to turn back around for safety, and even though it was a bummer, he totally made the right call. 

This guy loves to be on the water. 

We asked someone for a local restaurant recommendation, and they highly recommended Bearflag. 

DJ had salmon and I had fish tacos. 

They were so good! 

Saturday morning, we slept in and boarded our flight home.

I'm so thankful we were able to take a few days and get out of town. It definitely did us good after the year we've had with moving, starting over in Austin, and trying to find a new normal here in Texas. 

Working It Wednesday: Marriage Edition

Hey guys! I'm linking up with Shay and Erika for Working it Wednesday! This week, we're sharing how we keep our marriage strong! And I'm looking forward to reading through everyone's blogs to get some date night tips and more!

DJ and I have been married for 11 years, as of this past December.... 

I'm going to start at the beginning because I really think that decisions we made when we began dating have impacted our marriage today. 

When I met DJ he was a student video coordinator for our college's football program. I was beginning my first year of graduate school. We were busy. He told me from the very beginning that I needed to understand that football was a big part of his life and that it would get in the way of our dating. He would be gone a lot, and I needed to be okay with that. We spent every minute that we could together... Our dates were often a quick lunch at our college cafeteria, or me hanging out in his office after a practice. And then we would see each other for dinner. It became very normal for me to hang out with him at his work, and I would often stay up with him until 2 am while he was editing game film. I had to understand that football was always going to be there, and we had to be creative when it came to those first few months of dating.

And, it totally worked, because just three short months later, we had picked out my engagement ring, and our wedding bands. And a month later we were engaged. Our engagement lasted a year, as I wanted a December wedding. 

And boy, did football really get in the way then. Our college team became bowl eligible for the first time in a very long time. That meant that one of our groomsmen had to step out because he needed to travel with the team, and family had to step in to film the ceremony because DJ's other student workers, had to be in Louisiana. The day after our wedding, we flew to Lafayette, Louisiana because the New Orleans bowl had been relocated thanks to Hurricane Katrina earlier that year. 

We celebrated our honeymoon at a football game. 

And I still didn't think I knew then the impact that it would have on our lives. 

In fact, we just celebrated our 11 year anniversary, at... you guessed it.... a bowl game. 

During the season, we just don't see each other often.

So, while this may not apply to everyone, it applies to keeping our marriage strong. 

1. Understand that he won't be around much and be okay with it. 

2. Put your big girl panties on and deal with it. 

3. Don't hold grudges or keep up with everything I've done vs. everything he has done. 

4. Try to see him as much as possible. Sneak in time at practices, try to have a quick dinner together as a family, and go to every home game. 

5. Have a date night once a month. 

Our team also has a weekend dedicated to a wives trip, and I make sure that I go so we have some time away together. 

Thanks to football, we've lived in 4 states. I had to understand from the very beginning that we may move often, and I promised him that I would go where he needed to go. If he had a job offer today and he felt that is where God needed him, I would be 100% in. 

Since we were traveling for our bowl game on our anniversary, we made sure to carve some time out to spend, just the two of us. We headed out to explore South Beach and just enjoyed walking around. We've always loved to explore new towns, which is probably why we are okay when it comes to moving. 

In the off season, we enjoy traveling. We may take a quick weekend away just the two of us, or we go as a family and explore something new. Even if we take a trip to visit our families, we enjoy being together.... now, he may tell you that I prefer to sleep or read while he drives, but we're together! Ha! 

We meet for lunch. If DJ is off or is able to take a long lunch, he'll either surprise me and bring me lunch, or we meet. We use to love doing this when we lived in Indiana, and now that my job is more "in the office" we're not able to lunch as often as we use to. 

We're a team. I think that to continue having a strong marriage, we have to be a team. At the end of the day, when you both work full time, and run kids to after school activities, and sometimes, he puts in more than an 8 or 12 hour day... we still have to be a team at home. We divide and conquer, so while one us cooks, the other will step in to clean. Or while one of us does laundry, the other will make sure the girls are bathed. During the season, I am often solo, but when he's home and able, he's willing to step in and help. 

Divorce is not an option. When we were dating, we both new and agreed that divorce wouldn't be an option. So, we work at it. Marriage takes work, and there's times that we argue about money, or we get upset with each other, because maybe I do start keeping up with all that I've done versus all that he's done, or there's a time that I am just done with football season and totally over it, but in the end, we made a commitment and neither of us are willing to budge on it. 

So, I'm thankful to do life beside this guy.