tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42050022983704337362024-03-13T08:38:21.426-07:00Eric and Patricia Gray's BlogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-88097231947904262272019-01-01T17:13:00.001-08:002019-01-01T17:15:55.946-08:002018 Gray Family Film - VIDEO<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every year I take a few minutes at the end of the year to edit together a Gray Family film. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's so much fun each year to look back and see all the amazing moments we had as a family. From birthdays to trips, to new schools, or just watching our kiddos grow each day, it was a remarkable year. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We are blessed. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">2019 is going to be amazing!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-87296288405956363292015-03-12T07:33:00.001-07:002015-03-12T07:33:13.032-07:00Our Wedding - Through the Lens (VIDEO)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/v/t1.0-9/221601_10100179853773630_1545012_n.jpg?oh=9d9b059ba5cbf225e48407f4a82fd23a&oe=55BD60F7&__gda__=1435325718_b1506cd9b171d0da13a48e8fc748440a" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/v/t1.0-9/221601_10100179853773630_1545012_n.jpg?oh=9d9b059ba5cbf225e48407f4a82fd23a&oe=55BD60F7&__gda__=1435325718_b1506cd9b171d0da13a48e8fc748440a" width="640" /></a></div>
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Four years ago today I married my best friend, Patricia Brinkman at the time. This has been without question the greatest gift of my life. Each year I spend sometime on this day going through the videos from the day on YouTube. I thought why not create a blog where I package all these videos up together. WARNING It's ALOT, and it's all wonderful!<br />
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Full Ceremony: This is awesome to go back and hear my Da's message to us, "Leave, Cleave, and Weave." <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/__HSlroANZM" width="560"></iframe>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RUTP01S_xwA" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b>Wedding Reception Intros and First Dance </b><br />
I still love our song selections.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-HfKPGluW4A" width="560"></iframe>
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<b>Patricia and Wayne's Father-Daughter Dance </b><br />
This was one of my fav videos from this day because I had some fun with the song and the video edits. The best part of this video is when Player says this is the 2nd time he heard this song. <br />
<b><br /></b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HBgUavX12iE" width="560"></iframe>
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<b>E & P Wedding Dance Montage </b><br />
<b><br /></b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d6o2XZqDpeY" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b>The Dance Mashup (Luda, Marc Anthony, Furtado, Shout and Sinatra) </b><br />
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<b>Eric's "Thank You" speech at the Wedding </b><br />
<b><br /></b><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aRGZ43NnuKE" width="560"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-57917125644582170912014-11-02T06:09:00.002-08:002014-11-02T19:03:52.861-08:00Sawyer's First Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KUq3NiEivIM/VFY6S_Gv3yI/AAAAAAAAG4w/2mpz8yF7HZ8/s1600/15692138052_3d98c6b184_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KUq3NiEivIM/VFY6S_Gv3yI/AAAAAAAAG4w/2mpz8yF7HZ8/s1600/15692138052_3d98c6b184_k.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></div>
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Sawyer's first Halloween was pretty uneventful as Mom, Dad and Sawyer all came down with a little cold. We could not let that stop us from taking some photos to commemorate her first Halloween. Between popping 1000mg of Vitamin C and drinking lots of water we managed to find time for a quick photo shoot.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tqWYXWOTdQ/VFY6QN4OKXI/AAAAAAAAG4Y/EhPUf9iwOVQ/s1600/15690447965_7b16ac8958_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0tqWYXWOTdQ/VFY6QN4OKXI/AAAAAAAAG4Y/EhPUf9iwOVQ/s1600/15690447965_7b16ac8958_k.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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The plan was to grab our pumpkin and create a small set with a ton of leaves in our front yard. I should also mention the weather decided to drop from the mid 80's to the low 60's with a chilling wind. Half-way through the first shoot we could tell we had a hungry baby that was not in a mood for modeling. <br />
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Later in the day we decided to change plans from the front yard leaves idea and head to the back yard. Sawyer's first costume was this awesome little "Tigger" onesie from her Abuela. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cJuc7fv0mYs/VFY6Qc-lJ3I/AAAAAAAAG4c/vIZRBhx72Q4/s1600/15505316447_8a30cd4acb_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cJuc7fv0mYs/VFY6Qc-lJ3I/AAAAAAAAG4c/vIZRBhx72Q4/s1600/15505316447_8a30cd4acb_k.jpg" height="412" width="640" /></a></div>
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As I set Sawyer in the yard Patricia asked me, "is there any Dodger poop or pee right there?" I confidently answered "never!" :) Sawyer also had a surprise visit from the Main Player who jumped in for a quick snapshot. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PjzmLm9Vw0c/VFY6RMyZdJI/AAAAAAAAG4g/PeTDRxNqexQ/s1600/15692134252_45745377d7_k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PjzmLm9Vw0c/VFY6RMyZdJI/AAAAAAAAG4g/PeTDRxNqexQ/s1600/15692134252_45745377d7_k.jpg" height="432" width="640" /></a></div>
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I had to close out the blog with a short video of the cutest "Tigger" ever.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4h2PEiot0l8" width="640"></iframe>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-18554109936475622632014-06-15T19:22:00.001-07:002014-06-15T19:22:03.725-07:00A Few Words about Dad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PwoyEhgaLfk/U55Txhzyt5I/AAAAAAAAG2E/mRSlH4ITaR4/s1600/183113_941385264460_1382737_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PwoyEhgaLfk/U55Txhzyt5I/AAAAAAAAG2E/mRSlH4ITaR4/s1600/183113_941385264460_1382737_n.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My mom asked her three sons to write a little
something about our father to be shared at their church. This simple
small request turned into an awesome project that we probably should have done
years ago. With that said enjoy three very different takes on describing
how great Don Paul Gray is. Thanks to Donna Gray for giving us this
opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj1PvkrrEqc/U55UgWqEMoI/AAAAAAAAG2M/s5sO5Qqz7wo/s1600/39172_832187712230_5135003_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj1PvkrrEqc/U55UgWqEMoI/AAAAAAAAG2M/s5sO5Qqz7wo/s1600/39172_832187712230_5135003_n.jpg" height="400" width="380" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From Eric Gray</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> (because
it's my blog and mine is the shortest)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Dad gave me a lot, mostly
good. He gave me his his loud booming voice, a heart for people, desire
to lead, his receding hairline, a slight addiction to Diet Pepsi, and the need
to do things "my way".</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a kid, my Dad and I
would do different projects together, and I remember at times telling my Dad
another way to do something and he would always say, "Son lets use my
brain". I find myself at times saying similar things to my friends,
on the basketball court or even at work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Through it all my Dad is
one of my heros. Over 10 years ago I was sitting in church and I heard a
story that changed the way I looked at my Dad and marriage. It's a long
story about my Dad standing by my Mom during some difficult physical times.
The way I remember it me, Dad, and my two brothers left Mom temporarily
at a hospital in Texas with her parents. The hope was she could get
better under their constant supervision. About half way through the trip
back to Louisiana Dad pulled what he calls a "U-lee" or u-turn and
headed back to Texas to get his wife. He walked into the hospital and
took his bride back home with her family. This was a story I never heard
until my early 20s and it shook me to my core. It showed me so much what
it means to make a covenant commitment, stand the line through the tough times
and tell the devil he will not win this fight. He is a strong man of God
who does not waver and a wonderful father. I hope I can be that for my
family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From Ryan Gray</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> (because he is the middle son)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of you have met
me before on my last visit to Quinlan but if I missed you, hello I am Ryan
Harper Gray. I am the middle son. That’s rights the middle son. The one they
all worry about but don't worry folk, because I am the most fun.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now let me tell you what
my extensive research as I scoured the internet for information on this strange
holiday we call Father's Day produced. According to Wikipedia Father's Day was
inaugurated in the United States in the early 20th century to complement
Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting. Alright, there you
go… …right off the bat. This made up holiday was created after Mother's Day.
Now what is up with that huh? Maybe some mothers felt a little guilty back in
the day. With that said, this gives us a little insight into Father's day and
why I personally love it. On Father's day there is no pressure. It's like a
holiday from stress. It should be called “No nagging day” because Dads really
do hate nagging. And gift… forget about it! Get him whatever, make him
something, just please, please don't make him pay for it to. I know my dad must
have paid for any gift he received when I was growing up because he was my only
source of money. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So here we are, on the
best holiday of the year, FATHER'S DAY. It's really a day for all of us because
Dads don't ask for much. So I will keep my compliments brief for mine.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dad we disagree on
almost everything, yet we have more fun talking to each other, than almost any
Father and son I've met. With that said, I still wish you were a democrat and
Jesus would have wanted it to. Ok, I don't know about that last part but he
definitely wasn't a republican… am I right people? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back to Dad, You did
it! You raised 3 boys and folks we weren't always easy. You showed me on a
daily bases what unconditional love was. Not by telling me, you love me, all
the time but by your works. You are a great Father, a great husband, and a
friend. We are all lucky to know you, because every day you wake up thinking
first about what can I, Donny Paul, give. You are not a taker you are a giver.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Unless we are talking
about pie. You will definitely eat all the pie. And while I am on it people…
stop giving this man pie! I mean does he look hungry. Ayways, sorry back to my
Dad. It's Father's day and you don't ask for much so here it is dad… You did
good and I love you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From Brent Gray</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> (because it's the longest)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hello Quinlan First Assembly! My mom asked me
to provide her a few words about my dad to read for the church for Fathers Day.
So here they are:<br />
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"A. FEW. WORDS. ABOUT. MY. DAD..."<br />
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Okay, seriously. Despite my best efforts, I found it impossible to say only a
few words about my dad. I desperately hope though I do not drone on and on,
drawing on some arbitrary or insignificant experience or anecdote, seemingly
forgetting about the clock, especially that magical time on Sunday that
we all look forward to each week like a six-year-old looking forward to
Christmas morning – that time being 12:00.<br />
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But, alas – I'm sure your pastor doesn't do this, so you wouldn't know what I'm
talking about…<br />
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In all seriousness. It really is impossible to summarize in a few words what my
dad means to me. To summarize that would be to summarize the 41 years I've had
on this earth, because not a day of the 41 years has gone by without my dad
having a significant and notable impact on my life.<br />
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And, frankly, I think I'm only now, in the last few years, beginning to realize
the significance of the roll my dad has played in my life. Not surprisingly, it
is my own children that demonstrate this so effectively to me.<br />
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I have a seven-year-old daughter, Sadie, and a two-year-old son, Jack. The
lessons I've learned in the last seven years about myself, my family, and my
God, and the enormous responsibilities I owe to each cannot be overstated.
Perhaps this is best demonstrated with a simple example. Sometimes in life, God
uses the most simple, mundane moments in life to reveal the most profound
things.<br />
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Our two-year-old Jack loves to be outside. So my wife Tammy and I spend a lot
of time just hanging out with Jack in the backyard. Our backyard is heavily
wooded with mature trees and shrubs. A few weeks ago Jack and I were in the
backyard. I didn't even really know he was watching me. For no particular
reason I picked up a stick off the ground and just hit it against a tree and
walked away. Probably about five or 10 seconds later, out of the corner my eye,
I see Jack holding a stick and walk up to the same tree and hit the tree and
walk away the same way I did.<br />
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I literally had to fight back tears. For whatever reason, in that moment, I got
it. And it struck me to the core. I have the beautiful, wonderful, and
absolutely frightening responsibility to set an example for my children.
Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, for them, I am the example
of what a man should be.<br />
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Now, what does all that have to do with my dad? In a word – Everything. Because
I've had the incredible honor to have had my dad, Don Paul Gray, the picture of
integrity, loyalty and perseverance, as the example for me of what a man should
be. I can only hope and pray that I can impart these same traits to my own children.<br />
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So – on this Father's Day, June 15, 2014, I salute you dad. Thank
you.<br />
<br />
Your son<br />
Brent<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-91183943433198793802014-05-31T11:52:00.002-07:002014-05-31T12:35:44.056-07:00Brent and Fam in Orlando<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10401872_10102523518056620_2073739852210619773_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://scontent-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10401872_10102523518056620_2073739852210619773_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Last weekend my oldest brother and his family were able to come into town for a short trip to Central Florida. It was the first time Brent and Tammi were able to meet Sawyer Beaux. It was awesome. I got home from work on Thursday and was instantly in a highly competitive game of soccer in my backyard. Jack and Eric vs Sadie and Brent. While team TN "won", we are still appealing due to the amount of illegal elbows thrown down by "sweet" little Sadie. :)<br />
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It was also great to introduce Sawyer to Sadie who kept saying over and over again, "She is so cute."<br />
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The first day Abuela Brinkman took over Sawyer duties and we were able to visit Universal Orlando Resort. I'm not sure I have enjoyed a theme park this much, but it was great to watch Sadie get scared on Jurassic Park River Adventure and smile as big as she possibly could on Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Do we look like tourists or what?<br />
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I also got to ride the Pteranodon Flyers for the 1st time because you have to have a child with you. During the wait Sadie and I played "thumb war" like 15-20 times. I am sure she would like everyone to know she won in the end.<br />
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To close out the day Jack stopped for a quick dance as he watched the parade go by. Because I work at UO I rarely get to see or experience the joy this place brings. Great to see it first hand.<br />
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One of my other favorite things about the weekend was watching Jack. He is almost 2 years old now and he is a tank. Patricia rightly nicknamed him Jack-nado. He picks up everything, stumbles, knocks over stuff, and gets into everything. He is such a fun curious boy. The above might make him sound like a terror. He is actually one of the most cuddly kids I have ever seen and we got a lot of Jack-nado - Uncle E time. <br />
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I also love to watch him eat. It was awesome. While at Universal I asked Jack-nado if he wanted any of these baby cheese puffs his parents brought while Brent and Tam were on a ride. Instead of taking them from me he just put his hand behind my hand and pushed all of these cheese puffs towards his face and attacked them. It was awesome!<br />
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The rest of the time we hung out, laughed a lot, and watched as Sadie and Sawyer became the best cousin friends ever.<br />
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What a great few days with my brother Brent and his family. Thanks to Tammi and Patricia for putting up with all the chaos. It was a blast. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-49731741579426854832014-04-19T14:30:00.005-07:002014-04-19T14:30:38.855-07:00Sawyer's First month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rt5gKQWYHkA/U1LPNr-h0TI/AAAAAAAAGtE/rqN0xdbssYc/s1600/OneMonth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rt5gKQWYHkA/U1LPNr-h0TI/AAAAAAAAGtE/rqN0xdbssYc/s1600/OneMonth.jpg" height="460" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div>
So many memories from Sawyers's first month. I thought this blog might be a great way to remember some of our favorite. In no particular order..</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Lots of diapers lots, of feedings</li>
<li>Going on a car ride to Krispy Kreme at 3am to try and get her to sleep. </li>
<li>Watching her wake up.</li>
<li>Daddy singing many made up and ridiculous songs like, "Prettiest little girl in the world"</li>
<li>Purchasing a swing after 2 weeks. Best decision ever!</li>
<li>Her first photo shoot in the dining room</li>
<li>Only being able to wear certain onesies because she is so tiny.</li>
<li>Her first bath was pretty awesome. (Read and see it here LINK)</li>
<li>Having so many close friends come by to meet her. I won't even try to name them all. </li>
<li>Shh'ing her to sleep so much I find myself shh'ing at work</li>
<li>First work lunch with my ladies. Chuys was a great choice.</li>
<li>Leaning what a sling at a restaurant was</li>
<li>Texting my "mom" friends questions. Thanks Heather, Amber, Eliz, and Jessica</li>
<li>Seeing my wife change from a wonderful wife to a loving Mom.</li>
<li>Getting to enjoy March Madness while hanging with Sawyer. Best time to have a kid ever.</li>
<li>Trying so hard to learn the "forumla" to get her to sleep. It was hard at times but provided so much bonding time.</li>
<li>Kim Allen was a lifesaver / baby whisperer</li>
<li>She slept in the Boppy lounger on Eric's night stand for a few nights early on</li>
<li>Eric wanting to always swaddle and put her to sleep, and PBG wanting to let her stay awake during the day</li>
<li>Sawyer was skilled at getting out of swaddles</li>
<li>All the dinners from so many sweet friend</li>
<li>Sitting on the patio</li>
<li>Learning the car seat</li>
<li>Trips to the park</li>
<li>Bath time with the Brinkman Grand Parents</li>
<li>Mommy Sawyer chats (which is Sawyer making noises, and PBG saying, mhmm in agreement)</li>
<li>Mommy learning to swaddle</li>
<li>Dad mastering the "Super Swaddle" </li>
<li>Learning how important the iPhone noisemaker app is</li>
<li>Spending lots of time with all the grand parents. (Abuela and Grandpa Brinkman, and Pops and Granny Gray)</li>
<li>Exercises with Abuela</li>
<li>Seeing Dodger follow, and protect Sawyer all day. </li>
<li>Late night and early morning devotions with Mom</li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-64963496659776077552014-03-28T18:18:00.001-07:002014-03-28T18:18:55.611-07:00Sawyer's First Bath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This afternoon Sawyer got her first at home bath. I am sure it was not necessary to get the entire tub setup for her 1st bath, as PBG reminded me, but it was a great backdrop for this video. Thanks to PBG for tolerating my passion for documenting Sawyer's "firsts".<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rqqzDagNhWw" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-74596550111977801432014-03-18T21:07:00.003-07:002014-03-18T21:07:26.554-07:00The Call - March 18th<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-llnHUWESYFc/UykUxnrLBkI/AAAAAAAAGqQ/zZWYLKY7b0A/s1600/IMG_1007-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-llnHUWESYFc/UykUxnrLBkI/AAAAAAAAGqQ/zZWYLKY7b0A/s1600/IMG_1007-1.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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This morning I went to work knowing we were one week away from Sawyer's due date, but my feeling of an early arrival a few weeks ago had changed significantly over the past week. I was starting to think Sawyer might be late. In my 9:30am meeting I got "the call" from Patricia. She had just left her weekly scheduled doctors appointment and her exact words when I answered was, "Do you want to have a baby today?" I responded like any loving husband would, "SHUT UP" She went on to tell me that the doctor said for a few reasons she thought she should go to the hospital where they will probably advise to induce. I ran home as she called her parents. I called a few family members and snapchatted the news to a few friends. (You're welcome) #SocialMedia After grabbing our bags and walking the dogs I was off to Winter Park Memorial Hospital. <br />
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When I arrived PBG was with her parents having just finished a few tests. She was in great spirits and was in no way in "labor". After a few hours the nurse very nonchalantly said, "we got the tests back, and were inducing today" While we knew this was going to be along day, I think we were all thrilled to get this started.<br />
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The next few hours were pretty relaxing. I started charging my cameras for the big moment while PBG relaxed. Around 5pm the parents got back from walking the dogs and Eliz arrived with a loaner birthing ball. It was great having Eliz here. Around 6pm the nurse started to deliver the Pitocin which I found out would get this party started. I learned more in 30 minutes with our nurse than I did during our 3 week prep classes. Once the medicine kicked in the contractions began. I think it was a pretty normal experience but I hated seeing PBG in pain. <br />
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She was awesome and timed the request for the epi perfectly. I was amazed at how awesome and focused PBG was as she was dealing with very difficult contractions and was receiving her epidural. Needless to say she felt great after this was done. The nurse was so helpful and even helped me coach Patricia better. I think it was great prep for what's coming shortly. At 11pm Wayne and I took off for a McD's run while PBG took a nap. We are so blessed by God, everything today has been great. That is the update for now. Have a great night friends. Tomorrow is Sawyer's Birthday. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-55225897149494712782014-03-15T19:28:00.000-07:002014-03-15T19:31:06.102-07:00A Shower for Sawyer Beaux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On February 8<sup>th</sup>, one day after I turned
thirty-one (aka thirty-fun) my sweet friends hosted a fabulous baby shower for
Sawyer Beaux. It was the absolute best! There were so many friends and family
present. Sawyer and I felt very loved and appreciated!</div>
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That day was quite rainy so Jessica had to change plans and
move the shower from her backyard to inside her house. Which ironically
happened when we hosted her shower at our house for Benjamin almost three years
ago <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
Everything was so beautiful and delish! Special shout out to Elizabeth and
Sandy for the oh so good Chicken Salad and to Ame for becoming a professional
baker and blessing us with the most wonderful cupcakes! </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQnSPn2kgZc/UvfkKQx1y7I/AAAAAAAAGpU/mQujE1hNSbU/s1600/DSC_0406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQnSPn2kgZc/UvfkKQx1y7I/AAAAAAAAGpU/mQujE1hNSbU/s1600/DSC_0406.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Kim Allen prayed and read a lovely devotional about being a
mother and mimicking Jesus. I have this in Sawyer’s room already and I’m sure
I’ll read it many many times. Everyone wrote a birthday card for one of her next 18
birthdays. That makes me super excited for her birthdays to come around because
I can’t wait to read the messages in the cards! I’ll do my best to be patient.
Thank you Isabel for the best invites, birthday cards and thank you notes
(still working on those) ever!</div>
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Not only did Sawyer receive some wonderful gifts she also
acquired an instant library! Eric and I look forward to reading her all the
many books she received. We are so grateful and blessed by all those who came,
especially from far away. That includes all of la familia. Y’all make
everything more fun and special, love you! Thank you for taking time out of
your busy lives to love on our baby girl. We love you!</div>
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--lxLeUrg5Tg/UvfjCcAYkvI/AAAAAAAAGpE/z3gyeqhXpfU/s1600/DSC_0364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--lxLeUrg5Tg/UvfjCcAYkvI/AAAAAAAAGpE/z3gyeqhXpfU/s1600/DSC_0364.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a><br />
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Shout-out to Amber who wouldn't turn around for this photo and to Jenny for the funny faces in the back!<br />
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Thank you to all the hostesses and everyone else that
helped… Jessica Meyer, Isabel Ibanez, Elizabeth Sloan, Jessie Daniels, Davey
Olsen, Lauren Berlin Roberts, Amber Eastwood, Carly Johnson, Amy Smith, Ame See
and Andrew Meyer and Andrew Davis (the muscle)!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-65939576907032987512014-01-11T12:40:00.002-08:002014-01-11T13:03:24.665-08:00Sawyer's Room & Stuff<br />
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<br />
Patricia is entering her third trimester and everything is going great. As we get closer to March 25th the nursery is starting to come together. We have an entire list to get done over the next couple months, including some sort of birthing classes, but today let's talk about the nursery. The painting is mostly done minus some very annoying trimming. The theme of the room is the sea, although PBG wanted it to be a mermaid room. I did ask PBG if "Under the Sea" from <i>The Little Mermaid</i> can be played each time you walk in, but that got shot down.<br />
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We started our registry a couple weeks ago and thinking about a few of the bigger pieces. I was lucky enough to find a great glider and nice changing table on Craigslist for a good deal. The table needs some touching up, and the Glider will probably need some help from Mrs. Nydia, but it was a steal.</div>
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While I've had some success around the house, not all of my projects end well. We planned on painting Patricia's old wicker furniture white, but I found out painting wicker furniture is kind of difficult. There are hundreds of crevices, and the paint is starting to crack. It's safe to say that this project was a fail. If you are in need of some badly painted wicker furniture it will probably be coming to a curbside near you. </div>
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Sawyer's book collection has begun....</div>
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Here is a snapshot of Sawyer's first wardrobe. Photo one - Eric's sporty selection. Photo two - PBG's "glam" selection. </div>
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Last but not least check out Sawyer's first dress. Thanks Benjamin Meyer. :)<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-72168589131799266872013-12-31T18:30:00.002-08:002013-12-31T18:32:33.636-08:00GRAYS - 2013 Year In Review Infograph2013 was such an amazing year. We have been beyond blessed and we are very excited about the new baby in 2014. I could not begin to list all the great moments we had this year but I did create this short infographic about some of the highlights for the Grays in 2013.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-781259214884630702013-09-14T13:46:00.002-07:002013-09-14T13:46:28.918-07:00Baby Gray is on the way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Six weeks ago today we were flying back from Chicago after a wonderful vacation. That evening PBG was tired and not feeling normal. She decided to take the test. After taking the test we were not confident that the result was a concrete yes or no because the 2nd "line" was very light.<br />
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As you can imagine this is a situation where we needed a concrete answer. At this time PBG texted one of her close friends a picture of the
test. I think PBG hoped her friend might tell us if this was a positive or negative,
but she was asleep (she texted her back in the morning very excited). PBG's next step was to go to the internet for answers. Apparently there is a website dedicated to helping you find out if a test is a positive or not. This still was not good enough for me, so at midnight I took off for the 24 hour Walgreens and showed up with the "Pregnant - Not Pregnant" digital test. I highly recommend this test. I don't know if it was just the long travel day but there was no well scripted cinematic, "we're pregnant" moment that I might normally hope for but it was still very special. A few minutes after the 2nd test was taken PBG took off for the restroom and the test read "pregnant"! <br />
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Needless to say while we were very excited we were also tired and went to sleep that night extremely happy. The next day PBG told a few people. Over the next couple weeks we started telling some close friends and family. Here is our 1st sonogram. <br />
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Today we are thrilled to share the news of this blessing with all of our friends and family. We are 12 weeks pregnant today and due March 25, 2014. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-66237835685537621532012-11-14T08:39:00.003-08:002012-12-10T18:44:43.197-08:00Our Foundation is on the Rock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On October 25th we officially moved into our new house. At the end of
the day we had a very special group of friends visit to pray over our new house, and dedicate everything that happens in
it to Christ. While we were so blessed to have these 9 people in attendance, we had countless others who couldn't make it that let us
know they were praying where they were at.<br />
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Let's back up a few months ago when we first had this idea. PBG and I were talking one day about what type of housewarming party we would have. As you might know we enjoy having groups of all sizes over to party and have fun. The more we talked about it the more I felt as though we were being challenged to start our journey out right. Mathew 7:24-27 says to build your house on the rock. While we were not physically building our house from the foundation up we wanted to make sure our beginning in this new house was in Christ and he was the foundation.<br />
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The night was perfect "Pastor" Bret Allen told a great story about how they have done this sort of thing when they built houses in the Dominican Republic (that was news to me but made me feel good). From there many of our friends spoke words of great protection, and blessing over us and the new house that God has given to us. We also heard many prayers for little babies. I might or might not have given a loud "AMEN" to that. After that we spent the next 15 minutes or so walking around the entire property praying and asking God to protect and bless this gift he has given to us. It was all so great and PBG and I felt so loved by our Lord and the people he has put around us.<br />
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After it was over we stopped for a couple pictures to remember this time. The plan is that the picture above will hang in our house for many years. Thanks to all who joined and to those who expressed their prayers via text, email and phone calls. We are blessed.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-56604772579873080392012-11-03T20:47:00.002-07:002012-11-03T20:47:51.501-07:00A Tour of our New House *VIDEO*On October 24th Patricia and I closed on our 1st house in Winter Park, FL. This is a short video showcasing our house and some of the 1st moments in our house. Most importantly the 1st time we walked into our house, and the 1st time Dodger explored his new home. I apologize in advance for the cheesy ending. :)<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Swhk4AAV5-A" width="640"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-2346069295672123562012-11-01T19:46:00.005-07:002012-11-01T19:46:56.137-07:00It's OFFICIAL, We are Homeowners!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So much has happened in the past week since we bought our first house but let me back up to the day. I want to apologize in advance for the length of this post. :) <br />
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We woke up at 8:30am to get ready for 9:30am walk through. As any big day in your life it can't go off without some small issue arsing. Our 1st issue was me telling PBG minutes before we leave that they might need a more formal form of a second ID at closing (they asked for 2 forms of ID and the night before I told her a credit card would work). Thankfully Patricia's mom had a copy filed away. We were on our way to the bank to pick up a cashiers check but not before PBG said in her cute playful girl voice, "You make me crazy." We laughed. <br />
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The bank was opened early and we got in and out pretty quickly. We even had enough time for Patricia to stop off for Starbucks. We met Anne-Marie, our realtor, for a walk through at 9:30am. This was the first time we had seen the house empty. It seemed so big. We were very happy. Not really knowing what to look for in a "walk-through" we just walked around and smiled at what we were about to own. After a quick photo session with Anne-Marie we were off to close near downtown Orlando.<br />
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Upon arrival at The Closing Agent we were greeted by our mortgage broker Barry Botwin. I have spent many minutes talking to Barry over the phone but had yet to meet the man that was helping me buy our first house. We all went into a medium sized conference room and began to sign a bunch of documents. PBG explained to the room how she loves to sign her name and I kept forgetting the date. After 30 minutes or so of signing, reading, and initialing. They finally handed us the keys to our new home. It was official!<br />
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We took a few pictures, and some how even got the "money man" Barry to seal this deal with JAZZ HANDS!<br />
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After closing we did what most people do, head to Target for cleaning supplies. When we arrived at our new house for the first time I set up the camera for a quick video of us entering our new house together (you will see this later on in the video of the day). We were so happy as we walked around and looked at the entire house. PBG's exact words were "I love our house!" <br />
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About this time is when we realized we had a second issue of the day. I forgot to call the electric company and I found out that we wouldn't have electric until the next day. So the idea of us staying in the house that night was just not happening. I was so disappointed. I think I was mostly bummed because it was my fault and something we could have avoided. <br />
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We decided to power through and start the cleaning process. PBG and I took on windows to start, then I scrubbed the baseboards while she worked in the kitchen and bathrooms. Along the way DIRECTV arrived to some how install service in a house without power. Thanks to the great service from DIRECTV and a very sweet neightbor who let us run a 60 extension cord from her front patio we were able to get that taken care of. <br />
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We had our first house guest on Wednesday as Katie Henderson brought us flowers.<br />
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Also Patrica's Mom, Dad, and Grandma came by and we had a little 4Rivers lunch. Picnic style in the non-airconditioned house. <br />
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At around 6pm PBG had to go into work for a bit and the dark of the night started to fall on the house without power so we had to call it a day. It was a long day, but one I will never forget. Something else I won't forget... always confirm you will have power on moving day. <br />
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The next day we had some movers help us in the morning, more cleaning in the afternoon, and my buddy Jake helped me get a small load from the parents towards the end of the day. Patricia left work at lunch with Emily and Katie and brought me a much needed Publix sub. During this time our prayers were answered and the power was finally turned on. <br />
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Our next blog entry will talk in more detail about our first evening in the new house where we had many friends visit to pray over and dedicate this property to God. We are so happy and feel so blessed. PTL!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-73533108851104977692012-10-23T19:59:00.001-07:002012-10-23T20:05:57.621-07:00Engagement Anniversary 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday Patricia and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary of us getting engaged. Before I get into the story of the day I know most of you are thinking, "this anniversary won't last very long. No one celebrates their engagement 10 years down the line." I hope and will try my hardest to prove you all wrong. If you know the story of our engagement it was awesome. If you don't you can read about it <a href="http://ericandpatricia.blogspot.com/p/proposal.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Nonetheless, this day 2 years ago was perfect, unique, joyful and matchless. I know we can't recreate it every year but I will do my best to remember it.<br />
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With all that said, yesterday was about as perfect a day you can have here in Orlando. <br />
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I booked us a hotel room at the historic Park Plaza Garden Hotel on Park Ave. This was supposed to be a surprise but sneaky PBG saw an email from the manager last week while in bed. I might have emailed the manager a week before and asked for a big discount. I might have played the "we are buying our 1st house on Wednesday card." Is that a card? Not only did they give us a huge discount they gave us the biggest room in the hotel overlooking Park Ave. Here are a few shots of the room.<br />
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PBG met me at the hotel, and when she walked in she just said, "happy" As she joined me on the balcony she reiterated, "happy." From there we had a short walk to the famous Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour. We had to hurry to catch the final 4pm trip. </div>
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<br />
After the boat tour we stopped by at Cocina 214 one of our favorite spots on the Ave to have a "snacklet" as PBG would say. While there I saw on Instagram that the Meyers were on the Ave so we decided to hang with them for a bit. PBG was still suffering from Pink Eye and it drove her crazy that she could not hold Benji.<br />
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<br />
We spent our evening having dinner at the wonderful Park Plaza Garden Restaurant, and relaxing on our balcony. This might be the greatest single day/date you could have in Winter Park. I am so happy I got to share it will my bride. <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-4706079819388490142012-10-12T13:37:00.002-07:002012-10-23T19:59:59.138-07:00We have a Closing Day<h3>
</h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I am
happy to report that after 4 1/2 months we have a closing day set. If you
read the last blog you know we had a few final hurdles. Our last big one
was the appraisal. If I understand it right the appraisal must be very
near the accepted offer price if it's not it's very difficult to get your
mortgage. Mostly because banks now a days don't want to give a mortgage
on a house that is worth less than the loan. If it appraised for much less
we would have to go back to the seller’s lender to get approval on a new price.
Normally that would be fine but we have to get this done before the 28th of
October. Since they took 4 months for the bank to approve our 1<sup>st</sup>
offer we didn't want to risk it going past that Oct 28th deadline. With
all that said the appraisal came in Tuesday and it went great. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Today we
locked in our insurance, and interest rate. Which apparently are really
good thanks to the market crash a few years ago. Thanks America. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Next up
our closing. We have 2 weeks until we sign on the dotted line. We
are so excited and feel like God's hand has guided this whole process. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With all
that said now we really have to get serious about a new sofa. We are
thinking an L shaped sectional for our soon to own bonus room. Anyone
have any suggestions?</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-64166364943957107922012-10-03T20:05:00.000-07:002012-10-23T20:00:13.827-07:00House offer Accepted - PTL!As some of you may know we put an offer in on a short sale home in Winter Park on June 3rd of this year. After the sellers accepted our offer and we moved in with the in-laws as we waited to hear back from the banks. This summer has been awesome living with Patricia's parents. Tons of family meals, movie nights, and evenings watching Dodger and Main Player on the hammock.<br />
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We were told that it can take up to 7 months to hear back from the bank. After about 2 months we were told things were moving quickly. So we started looking at furniture and began to get real excited. Each week I would email our realtor "any update?". Every week it seemed like I was hearing "we should know something next week". I thought if we could move in by Sept 1st, that would be awesome. Then a few weeks go by and I thought if we could move in by October 1st. Somewhere along the way I stopped dreaming of a move in date and was just trying to be patient.<br />
<br />
Last Thursday we finally got news the banks have accepted our offer, and we need to close before the end of October. PTL! We were so excited but as my friend Chris Van Slyke told me now the "work" begins. Well, we were waiting for 4 months so I was excited to get started with the "work".<br />
I am sure PBG doesn't want me to go into to great of detail on the blog but we have about 30 days to get our inspections, insurance and financing in order. If its not done by the banks' determined date we could lose the house. So after all this waiting there is a chance we could lose the house? AWESOME! With that in mind we are not waisting anytime. By Friday afternoon I had sent in ALL of our financial documents (FYI this is why you keep a actual copy of your W2s handy) Also on Friday I had received 2 home insurance quotes, and our realtor set an appoitnment for our inspection on Monday (today).<br />
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<br />
Today's inspection went well for a home built in the late 50s. Our one hurdle is Polybutylene piping. I had no idea what this was a few hours ago. Here is the truth about buying a house.<br />
<br />
- You want a house- you have to get a loan<br />
- To get a loan- you have to get insurance<br />
- To get insurance - you have to get an inspection<br />
- If there is an issue in the inspection (like poly piping)- you might be in trouble <br />
<br />
Now normally people have lots of time and can negotiate with the seller for fixes. In a short sale it's not as easy, especially when you have a hard deadline breathing down your neck.<br />
<br />
We have been so blessed and we are trusting that God has everything under control. While this process might have some hurdles I still want to find a way to enjoy the journey of buying our 1st house.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qw698pju7Nw/T9qPHFr27DI/AAAAAAAACGI/WofD9bfwQS4/s1600/1338575901275__kwipfn01_0_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="499" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qw698pju7Nw/T9qPHFr27DI/AAAAAAAACGI/WofD9bfwQS4/s640/1338575901275__kwipfn01_0_.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
BTW today was the 1st time we have been inside the house since we made our offer in June. We still love it and we are very excited for the NEW Casa de Grays. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-74895321406091095632012-07-31T13:17:00.000-07:002012-10-23T20:03:57.912-07:00The #GraysCaliVacay on Instagram<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">So I
realized weeks after we returned from Cali that I never blogged about it.
If this is your first time seeing this blog you should know it is partially for
you, partially for my parents but it's mostly a digital archive of my journey
with my bride <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PBG</span>. If you
don't want to read anything there are 275 pictures of the #<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">GraysCaliVacay</span> on <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Facebook</span> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheEricGray/photos" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">here</span></a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">I
was in LA for work and <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PBG</span> met
me out there. This was <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PBG's</span> first
trip to Cali. She was able to spend the 1st day with my brother Ryan and
his lady Tiffany. They took her up into the hills surrounding LA where
she posted this wonderful shot to <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Instagram</span>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">We
spent some great QUALITY TIME with Ryan and Tiffany. They have an awesome
little apartment up in Silver Lake. If you were wondering if the giraffe
made the trip to LA as you can see it did. I love the area of LA they
live in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">This
shot was grabbed at the famous Dresden from the movie Swingers. This was
at the end of a long day where we had lunch at the wheels off yet famous Santa
Monica Pier. Before going out to the Dresden we had dinner at this
awesome little local Italian restaurant, <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Il</span> <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Capriccio</span>. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bts2TlSonhU/UBfxh90SgBI/AAAAAAAADSY/T60PCk7QIE8/s1600/4ce1dbc8b1f711e1b9f1123138140926_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bts2TlSonhU/UBfxh90SgBI/AAAAAAAADSY/T60PCk7QIE8/s640/4ce1dbc8b1f711e1b9f1123138140926_7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">The
next morning we jumped into our rental car and headed up the Pacific Coast
Highway. It was so beautiful. It took us about 12 hours to get to
LA because I wanted to take a picture of everything. There were so many
gorgeous views we didn't stop for because it would have taken us all day if we
stopped every time. Here are a few. My favorite moments from
the <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PCH</span> was seeing <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PBG</span> taking so many pictures. Many
of our best shots on <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Facebook</span> are
from her. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">My
wife loves to nap, but for whatever reason she drives great at night.
After dinner in Monterey I was so tired. <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">PBG</span> took the wheel and took us up through Oakland and to
our destination. We left LA at 9:45am, and arrived in San Rafael at
1:20am. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">The
next day before heading into San Fran we spent some time in this park
overlooking the city. I have been to SF 4 or 5 times and I have never
been up here. What a view!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">I
could write a blog for each day of SF but to <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">conserve</span> <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">time</span> let me hit the high points.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">·</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">We
rode the <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">trolley</span> cars (Which
are awesome unless you take them to <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Fisherman's</span> Wharf.
There was an hour wait to get back on them. So I called a cab and had to
kick an old lady out when she tried to steal it.) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">·</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">We
checked out the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar at The <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Fairmont</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">·</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Had
a few great meals, dinner at <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Wayfare</span> Tavern
was my <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">fav</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">·</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; color: #222222;">PBG</span><span style="color: #222222;"> went
to the famous Swan’s Oyster Depot while I grabbed some pizza one day for lunch</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">·</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Had
dinner at the Beach Chalet in Golden Gate Park to watch the sunset(it was like
a sand storm)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">We
pretty much drove all over SF. Here is a shot of some of the things
we did or saw. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">The
last day we got off the beaten path and went up into Muir Woods outside
SF. This was so relaxing, it was a beautiful day, we took in a short hike,
and it was a great way to end our trip. I highly recommend it! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #222222;">The
#<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">GraysCaliVacay</span> was a huge
success. I have been so blessed to travel for work and for pleasure for
so many years. I am glad that I now get to see the world with my
wife. I look forward to many more trips with her!</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-39521967361320779632012-06-14T21:24:00.001-07:002012-06-14T21:24:54.820-07:00We Bought Our First House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qw698pju7Nw/T9qPHFr27DI/AAAAAAAACGI/WofD9bfwQS4/s1600/1338575901275__kwipfn01_0_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qw698pju7Nw/T9qPHFr27DI/AAAAAAAACGI/WofD9bfwQS4/s640/1338575901275__kwipfn01_0_.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our 1st house to be... </td></tr>
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Well let me be clear we haven't actually bought our 1st house. We our under contract for a short sale house but there is still a lot of hurdles to jump. I am sure most of you, if anyone reads this blog anymore, didnt even know we were looking so let me back up.<br />
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<b>3 months ago: </b>I spoke with a realtor friend of a friend just to get educated on the house buying process. We told her we were somewhere between 15-18 months from buying a house. Boy, were we wrong. <br />
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Fast forward a bit and we had looked at a few house online but nothing of much interest. If you don't know there is a bit of a lack of inventory in the Orlando housing department so we resigned ourselves to signing a new lease at Garvin at the end of June. <br />
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<b>June 1st: </b>We saw a house online and had some interest, here is how the listing read:<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i> This spacious home features a large
living room with French doors to the backyard patio. The completely
remodeled kitchen offers seating at the breakfast bar or the adjacent
dining room, solid wood cabinets, recessed lighting, newer appliances,
and silestone countertops. This open kitchen/dining area overlooks the
sunroom that is filled with natural light. New windows keep the home
cool as does the brand new air conditioner installed just last year
(transferable service warranty! With 3 full bedrooms and a small bonus
room that is perfect for an office, this home is flexible for any size
household. Other features include a custom closet in the master bedroom
and updated master bathroom complete with a decorative tumbled marble
and travertine tile. There is a newer roof installed in 2007 with
transferable warranty and beautiful parquet floors throughout most of
the home. Do not miss this opportunity to find such a move in ready
home at this price. Just minutes from Winter Park shopping and dining
and convenient to I-4!</i></span><br />
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That got us interested, so we drove by and we were more interested (I might have trespassed a little bit), then we decided to call the realtor and they had an open house that night. I won't spend too much time describing the house because I have pictures. It's a 1950s ranch style home near Lee and 17-92 (before you jump to conclusions and think that is not a nice area like PBG's dad did, he changed his mind once we drove him by the house). We liked the house as we entered the main room and the master bedroom (custom closets) but when we turned the corner and walked into this fully remodeled kitchen, dining, great room with an extra office my jaw hit the floor. Now I have seen too many shows on HGTV so I dialed it back in but I was floored and was trying to not act too excited. Needless to say we really liked the house. Part of me even thought this is a little too good to be true. We found out that they were only accepting offers until Sunday. As we drove home we could not believe we were not even really looking and now we are talking about submitting an offer.<br />
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<b>June 2nd:</b> The next day we wanted to take PBG's parents by but the house was full of showings all day and could not get an appointment. At the last minute the listing agent called me back and said if you can be there in 10 minutes I'm going to make sure everything is locked-up and you can walk through once more. We sped across town and the "Main Player" and the "Boss Lady" gave their approval. Now we are in FULL business mode. Talking to mortgage brokers, our realtor was on vacation so we were communicating with Sharon our stand in (who was awesome) about comparable prices. This house is DONE, I mean fully remodeled which is not what I thought
we would have for our 1st home. The list price was $115k. I knew after
walking through this 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1750 square foot house it was going to
have multiple offers much higher than that. That night on our drive home PBG and I went by the house for the 5th time in 24 hours. We prayed together about this house and spoke to my dad and he prayed with us over the phone. We knew we had to move fast which is tough with a big decision like this so we wanted to make sure this was God's will. <br />
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<b>June 3rd:</b> On Sunday I was leaving to LA for work and I left PBG to do EVERYTHING. In between flights I was calling PBG, calling our realtor and getting updates. Also while I was in Houston on a layover I wrote a short letter to the sellers that I hoped might tug at their heart a little bit. I just wanted to be a bit more human that a name and a number on piece of paper. I didn't think that they would pick us if someone offered them something more, but if someone offered something similar I thought it might help. More to come on this part... when I landed in LA PBG had gone to 2 parties, and also found time to sign an offer on our 1st house. She was awesome. She was so careful and going over every paper she signed with greater detail than I probably would have. As I arrived at my hotel in LA I felt a bit uneasy. I felt like our offer was good but we would lose it to a better offer. In short sales it's tough. There is NO negotiating. You submit one offer and cross your fingers they pick you. Around 6pm PT, 9pm ET, after I spoke with PBG I texted our mortgage broker and realtor to raise the offer. I still thought we very well could lose the house, but I felt very peaceful about our price. I went to bed in LA thinking 2 days ago we had not walked through one house and now we are putting down a fo-real offer. It was a crazy exciting 2 days and now we had to wait.<br />
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<b>June 4th:</b> Monday started one of my busiest work days of the year as E3, a video game convention, started. Around 1:30pm ET my realtor called me as I was in the middle of a live webcast and I could not answer. I texted her to call PBG. Then PBG called and texted, "when can you talk?" I knew something was up. At the time I thought maybe they liked the letter but someone offered more so they were giving us an option to raise our offer. PBG and I jumped on the g-chat and she told me they accepted our offer. I was overcome with emotions but had to calm down and finish the webcast. When it was over I called PBG and said "shut up!" Literally 3 days ago we had never looked at a house, we made 1 offer, and got our first house. The rest of the day PBG was signing more paperwork, and sending to our realtor. We were so excited, but I was soo busy for the rest of the week so it was hard to balance my emotions.<br />
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<b>June 5th: </b>At this point we had all the paperwork signed and just had to get our escrow check in by Friday. That afternoon I had a new friend request, it was the wife of the family selling the house. She was so nice and was excited for PBG and I but expressed how bittersweet it was for them. It was short, it was sweet, it almost brought me to tears. It was one of the kindest moments I have experienced from essentially a stranger. <br />
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<b>June 6th:</b> Thursday was the last night we could overnight our check for escrow and when we arrived at UPS we found out that overnight cutoff time in LA is 5pm, and it was 5:35pm. So we still had one more hurdle to get over for me to feel comfortable.<br />
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<b>June 7th:</b> Friday was a big day for 2 reasons. It was the our deadline to submit our escrow check. It also happened to be the day I received my annual bonus from work. This was just one of many reasons we knew this was all part of God's plan. His timing is so much better than ours. Who would have thought that out of 365 days a year our escrow check was due on the sameday we got our bonus? We are blessed. That Friday I woke up at 8am to walk to the big Chase skyscraper in downtown LA, and was there before it opened. When the doors opened I was greeted by a very nice man who helped me wire the escrow money out. <br />
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So here is where we stand now. It is a short sale so now we wait. Now the seller submits our offer to the bank and they have 190 days to accept it or counter to us. This process takes sometimes 3-7 months. In the meantime PBG and I are still moving. We are moving in with her parents, and have to be out of Garvin Street home by the end of the month. We are so excited to spend the summer with her parents, save some money, and be financially ready for when it's time to move into our house.<br />
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So many people put in so many offers and go through a long excruciating process when they try to buy a house. We feel so blessed that this has been relatively easy. God is good.<br />
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More pictures below. :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QdmcWzJx4RQ/T9qmwMdgdPI/AAAAAAAACGU/fmYB88skkqE/s1600/1338575901368__kwipfn02_2_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QdmcWzJx4RQ/T9qmwMdgdPI/AAAAAAAACGU/fmYB88skkqE/s1600/1338575901368__kwipfn02_2_.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front living room looking toward back yard and to the right in the kitchen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1czmmaBDw-Q/T9qmw3nwmsI/AAAAAAAACGk/dZ2PqHBwcSs/s1600/1338575902169__kwipfn04_4_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1czmmaBDw-Q/T9qmw3nwmsI/AAAAAAAACGk/dZ2PqHBwcSs/s1600/1338575902169__kwipfn04_4_.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">kitchen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PowqR_H8g_w/T9qmxUD7dLI/AAAAAAAACGs/zqK-_FWQJ7w/s1600/1338575902933__kwipfn05_5_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PowqR_H8g_w/T9qmxUD7dLI/AAAAAAAACGs/zqK-_FWQJ7w/s1600/1338575902933__kwipfn05_5_.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">dining looking into office and sunroom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fbipIaPJl2M/T9qoXlP10qI/AAAAAAAACHM/riiq4kgiNgg/s1600/photo.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fbipIaPJl2M/T9qoXlP10qI/AAAAAAAACHM/riiq4kgiNgg/s640/photo.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">backyard</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-87952054718679521372012-05-10T14:02:00.000-07:002012-05-10T14:02:48.328-07:00Patricia's new job<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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From November to a few weeks ago Patricia and I have prayed for a new opportunity for her. She was open to a new career and even contemplated going back to school. We prayed for more than a job but something she could really enjoy and dig into. As of 3 weeks ago Patricia started her job at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. She is the Student Ministries Administrative Assistant, and she says "and I hang out with kids." To many of you this isn't breaking news but for those of you that did not know, I wanted to tell a bit more details about how this came about.<br />
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About two months ago Bret Allen, PBG's longtime friend (now working at First Pres) asked PBG if she would be interested in this position. I was way excited. Like I said she considered many other things in the past few months, (one of which is becoming a professional calligrapher, which BTW if you need any work done she is actually really good at it). With no true direction we spent many nights praying about her "next right step."This was truly a God thing. We wanted to be careful as to not commit too soon but as the days went on it felt more and more like the best opportunity ever. There were so many positives but just to name a few: she would be working with a handful of friends, the church is downtown only a few miles from our home, First Pres is a wonderful established church with what seems like a vibrant church family. After a few weeks going back and forth during the interview process she finally had her 1st day. I was sad to be in NYC on her 1st day but I managed to get some flowers to celebrate my wife's big day. Did I mention how excited I was? <br />
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She is now in her third week and loving every bit of it. She is getting to work along side some really great Godly people. She is happy to go to work, even happy to stay late (which is new for me to see lol). I always had a feeling God would someday give PBG an opportunity that would let her use her talents she crafted while working at Young Life. At the end of her 1st week on the job PBG and I helped watch children at a First Pres Family Camp retreat at Southwind. It was a great opportunity for Patricia and I to get to meet some of the families she would be working around. It was so fun to see her work with these families and these children. I feel truly blessed to have such a Godly wife and I look forward to how he will use her at First Pres. <br />
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Good job bebe. You are the best!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-31262565981946657222012-04-23T21:06:00.000-07:002012-07-08T21:40:54.168-07:00Day off for Pancakes<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">There is nothing like a day off in the middle of the week with my wife. Last week I was able to peel away from work for 1 day to do something that we should have done months ago. Thanks to my friend Rob Semsey who told me about this. Thursday, Patricia and I drove from Orlando to The Old Spanish Sugar Mill in DeLeon Springs State Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">For those of you that are not familiar it is an old mill from the 1800’s that was reopened in 1961. Apparently it's packed with a 30-minute line out the door on Saturday mornings. We walked in at a lazy 1pm and were immediately seated. As you can see there is a griddle in the center of the table where you actually make your own pancakes. There is a small light switch on the side of the table that turns the burner on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">I can't forget to mention that you get to make your eggs on the griddle as well. You order a pitcher full of either wheat or white pancake batter, and for those of you that are more experimental than me (like PBG) you can get all sorts of pancakes toppings. PBG had sliced bananas, peanut butter and chocolate chips. I kept it simple… no toppings, just plenty of butter and warm maple syrup that they make from scratch at the mill. (I tried to buy some, and they don't sell it.) We had so much fun! I highly recommend ordering the bacon it’s amazing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;">If you are looking for something cool, new and fun to do you have to try this out. Oh and since I didn't say it yet the pancakes are awesome. There is also a spring there, swimming area and a boat tour. I wish it was a nice sunny day and maybe we would have taken in more of what this park offers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Before I left I had to try and climb this huge old historic tree. One thing I love about my wife is not only does she not stifle me when I want to act like a 14 year old, she encourages and takes pictures of it. It was so much fun until that park ranger buzzed over on her 4 wheeler and said "get out of the tree". </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Times;">Adults are so annoying. I decided to follow the rules and swung around the tree branch and dropped to the ground. I scraped up the inside of my arms pretty bad, but for some strange reason it was cool to get some small scrapes from doing something fun. To see more pictures check out this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100838823258500.2696648.23909928&type=3">Facebook album.</a> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: large;">If you want to visit the Sugar Mill website click here</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-83713175860432879932012-03-12T09:40:00.001-07:002012-03-12T14:49:01.588-07:00Our One Year Anniversary Live BlogInstead of writing a lengthy blog post, I have decided to post pics and write as we go. If that's ok with my wife. :). <br />
<br />
Write now we are at White Wolf Cafe before we head to Tampa. Cinnamon roll for me, bloody Mary for the lady. This weather is so perfect today. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Were on the road an look who is coming along. Dodger!<br />
<br />
Halfway there and my 2 co-pilots are asleep.<br />
<br />
By the pool at the Sheraton Riverwalk.<br />
<br />
We are here!<br />
<br />
Come back all day for updates, if you dare.<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7LxkaGR4LmQ/T14xTnhMXCI/AAAAAAAABTA/xVd4FZBLoYo/s640/blogger-image--955633128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7LxkaGR4LmQ/T14xTnhMXCI/AAAAAAAABTA/xVd4FZBLoYo/s640/blogger-image--955633128.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WF4jxX82llA/T15J-4HlDDI/AAAAAAAABTY/uI_U5YDCODY/s640/blogger-image-775600475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WF4jxX82llA/T15J-4HlDDI/AAAAAAAABTY/uI_U5YDCODY/s640/blogger-image-775600475.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3zTy_JIg22E/T14m_Zg8jkI/AAAAAAAABS4/bPginNn9OP8/s640/blogger-image-1665743293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3zTy_JIg22E/T14m_Zg8jkI/AAAAAAAABS4/bPginNn9OP8/s640/blogger-image-1665743293.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mYlD2KaHk54/T15J-TXtWMI/AAAAAAAABTQ/MExRwX3nDa8/s640/blogger-image--1644996266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mYlD2KaHk54/T15J-TXtWMI/AAAAAAAABTQ/MExRwX3nDa8/s640/blogger-image--1644996266.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ca8Mj3h4xow/T15vTEt0qxI/AAAAAAAABTo/PT0NdD39tcM/s640/blogger-image-658637255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ca8Mj3h4xow/T15vTEt0qxI/AAAAAAAABTo/PT0NdD39tcM/s640/blogger-image-658637255.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LJQi78TO19Q/T149_Y2GzBI/AAAAAAAABTI/P826l1ziCts/s640/blogger-image--397764335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LJQi78TO19Q/T149_Y2GzBI/AAAAAAAABTI/P826l1ziCts/s640/blogger-image--397764335.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GX7LertltpQ/T15hfH7n_oI/AAAAAAAABTg/3Gm4EfB42p8/s640/blogger-image--1036012139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GX7LertltpQ/T15hfH7n_oI/AAAAAAAABTg/3Gm4EfB42p8/s640/blogger-image--1036012139.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O60x79WTJII/T14m-_WpUjI/AAAAAAAABSw/uEgJWZr0kqg/s640/blogger-image-1029353335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O60x79WTJII/T14m-_WpUjI/AAAAAAAABSw/uEgJWZr0kqg/s640/blogger-image-1029353335.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-32191595540504988482012-02-09T14:31:00.000-08:002012-10-23T20:09:34.148-07:00Patricia's 29th Birthday Timeline [PICTURES]For those of you that don't know I love birthdays. Most importantly
mine, but now that I am married I have a 2nd birthday that I love.
February 7th. I also wanted to give a shout out to the blog biggest fan Sarah Stevenson. Patricia met her at our company Award Party and she almost asked for Patrica's autograph. I'm kidding, she was real cool. It's fun to know someone besides my mom actually reads this stuff. PBG might not read it if she didn't have to edit my broken English. (KIDDING bebe)<br />
<br />
Back to the story. <br />
<br />
10:05 AM - Patricia wakes to tell
me that I overslept. I walk into the other room come back to bed with
her 1st birthday card. Inside she reads some mushy stuff but most
importantly her 1st gift. The back read "I don't have to go into work
today. Lets party!" Weeks ago I worked on MLK day and saved a day off
for this occasion. In a very excited screeched, she yelled "Yay lets
party!" That was followed up with "OK good night" Which means let's go
back to bed for a bit. PBG is a professional sleeper. Most of you
might think you are good at it but she has a PhD. <br />
<br />
<br />
10:45 AM - I finally roll out of bed to cook her a great healthy
breakfast of champions. Thanks to my brother Brent for introducing me
to the new Bisquick plastic container. Genius.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DjJkdK3r5fY/TzRGPLWioMI/AAAAAAAABRw/U8Jw8vPmgzg/s1600/IMG_2074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DjJkdK3r5fY/TzRGPLWioMI/AAAAAAAABRw/U8Jw8vPmgzg/s640/IMG_2074.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
11:30 AM - Her Parents, the boss lady, and the main player, came over
with a balloon and chocolate cake. After a few stories, some
coffee and cake they took off and we finally got ready for the day.<br />
<br />
<br />
I spent hours trying to decide on what the afternoon activities
would look like. I finally decided on a bike ride, tennis, and fun
outdoor stuff, then the iPhone weather app killed that with stories of
rain, that never came BTW. I have long wanted to head out to Clermont,
FL to tour the Lakeridge Winery so that is what we did.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ymqFhepBiI/TzRGctQhoFI/AAAAAAAABR4/2Q3IM91AZKM/s1600/IMG_2080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0ymqFhepBiI/TzRGctQhoFI/AAAAAAAABR4/2Q3IM91AZKM/s640/IMG_2080.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
1:30 PM We took off for Clermont. As we jammed to Rihanna's "You
Da One" we started west. Having only had pancakes and cake so far we
thought a 4River stop in Winter Garden was needed. PBG killed some ribs
I stuck with the brisket sandwich. No sides as we planned for a nice
dinner in the evening. <br />
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3:00 PM We finally arrived at the winery. We watched a short
video and then quickly walked through the entire winery. It was so
cool. It was like watching an episode of "How It's Made" in person. We
walked along the catwalk to view the production area and then outside on the
balcony to see the spectacular view of the vineyards where the grapes
are grown and harvested. In the picture below you can see some of the
production area and the machinery. On the bottom left is where they do
their bottling.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AjSE-pSx9Tc/TzRG0UYnj1I/AAAAAAAABSI/0bvzkSkT4-A/s1600/IMG_2094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AjSE-pSx9Tc/TzRG0UYnj1I/AAAAAAAABSI/0bvzkSkT4-A/s640/IMG_2094.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
4:30 PM Wine Tasting began. Did I mention this is ALL free. If
you live in this area this is a must do afternoon adventure. Before we
got started they carded Patricia. I had to sprint to the car and back
with her ID so I didn't miss anything. I believe we tasted 8 or 9
different wines. It was so much fun. At the end we bought a few
bottles. My favorite was their chilled Southern White hers was
Cuvée Noir Reserve. On our way out we took a few pictures overlooking
the vineyards. FYI- the grape vines are all hibernating now (looks
dead). They will be back in march.<br />
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6:00 PM We headed back to Orlando. Patricia laid down for her
afternoon birthday nap as I got a few things ready for the evening. <br />
<div class="im">
<br /></div>
8:00 Dinner was at Mitchell's Fish market in Winter Park
Village.
Being that I don't eat fish my choice was easy the burger. Patricia
took a bit longer because she wanted to eat all the sea animals. While
she was deciding on her dinner choice I hid a few envelopes all over the
restaurant. Patricia would have to play 20 questions with me to find
out where these envelopes were and then go and ask the chef, bartender,
hostess, table 71, and 1 more. While all the envelopes had been dropped
off PBG finally decided on the biggest seafood plate in the house. She
could tell you more but I think it was crab, lobster, mussels, shrimp,
and a hammer head shark. The shark is a joke. After our apps Patricia
set out to find all the envelopes. I can't say she was excited about
this fun game but she played along.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is where I learn we are very different. If she presented me
with a scavenger hunt within the restaurant I would have broke out a
magnifying glass and took off like inspector gadget. She wasn't as
hasty. This is my bride getting her last envelope from the evenings
chefs. Everyone at the restaurant was awesome and played along really
well. In the envelopes where different types of sunglasses and she got
to choose from for her birthday gift. I don't think I would do the game again
but it was still a fun story. The food came and went and we were too
stuffed to move. The last gift of the night was 3 more envelopes.
Inside of them were homemade vouchers to a summer vacation that she has
been wanting. You can see all 3 below. </div>
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<br />
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She was way excited about these gifts. She has never been to
Cali and it should be quite a trip. If you are wondering the trip won't
be until June. After dinner I made a fire in our fire pit and we
enjoyed a glass of the wine we bought at the winery. While sitting
around the fire I printed up a few married couples questionnaires about
goals, life, all sorts of fun topics. One thing I learned is that she
remembers things much better than me.<br />
<br />
<br />
I swear that was the end of the date :) It was a fantastic
morning, day and night. I hope that every Feb 7th I can spend this much
time with the person I love. I love you Patricia, Happy Birthday!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4205002298370433736.post-53651527994200876782012-01-22T19:18:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:30:56.150-08:002012 My Gameplan<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
2011 has come and gone. I married my bride, my Mavs won the NBA
Title and I finally won a substantial fantasy football league. Here is how we rang in the new year..<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3GSBDNksasI" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
Most companies have an annual
review for their employees. Sometimes part of the review is setting
objectives for the upcoming year. At EA we call that "My Gameplan". So
instead of resolutions I thought I would post some of my objectives for
myself and my family in 2012.<br />
<br />
- Let me go ahead and get the obvious ones outta the way, pray more, spend more time with Jesus, be a better husband, son, son-in-law, put the seat down, party more with friends, enjoy life, eat healthier and update this blog more.<br />
<br />
OK, now to the serious ones...<br />
<br />
- Reach 1k followers
on twitter. If you would like to help me out @TheEricGray. Currently I
am at 889. Who would have guessed getting re-tweeted by the President
of the United States would only gain me 9 followers.<br />
<br />
- Have a
baller 1 year anniversary on March 12th. I am having a tough time
planning our 1 year because I watched too much 90210 and Dawson's Creek
growing up. I want every big event to be so awesome you would only see
it in a movie. Then you read about it here and get jealous your man
isn't that awesome :) <br />
<br />
- The most important thing to get
done in 2012 is prepare PBG for going back to school. Unlike me PBG
doesn't like to broadcast her whole life on this blog so you can talk to
her 1 to 1 but we have decided in the coming year or so she will be
going back to school/pursuing a new career. I am so excited for her, and how this will be an
investment in our family.<br />
<br />
- Get in shape: I have
made a bet with my buddy Jordan Kokel. Who can lose 20 lbs. I am trying
to get down to 175, he is trying to get to 199. (FYI he is much taller
and much fatter than me- joke) I am 2 weeks in and I am down about 5
lbs, @190. As my buddy Carlos would say "To the Top, Never Stop!" I
will try and keep you updated on the blog but don't expect shirtless
before and after pictures where I hold a newspaper. <br />
<br />
-
As part of getting in shape. I would like to learn to enjoy running. I
don't want to run a marathon or anything but I would like to be able to
run 8-10 miles a week and not want to punch a baby.<br />
<br />
-
Build stuff: I have recently gotten into Pinterest, and I am loving it.
Guys settle down there is so much more on Pinterest other than recipes,
knitting, or pictures of killers kitchen sinks. For example the boards
that I have are very manly Building Projects, Stuff for Dodger, and
Recipes. Sue me I'm trying to eat healthy. Currently I am building a
coffee table from wooden pallets. When I finish it I will post some
pictures.<br />
<br />
- Take my wife on more dates. I was awesome
at this before we got married. As the months have gone on I have been
more focused on keeping a budget than re-winning her heart every Friday
night. Pre-marriage date was dinner and dancing with some laminated
clues on what our next stop was. Post-marriage dates have been "I think
Biggest Loser is on tonight." OK, I'm not that bad but I could be way
better. And BL is a great show!<br />
<br />
<br />
- Read more: I am not a big reader but I am trying to
read more. I have already finished my 1st book of 2012, Steve Martin's Standing
Up! It was great. If you have any recommendations, I like true
stories, motivational books, educational books on social media or
business or maybe something that would make a fine chick flick. <br />
<br />
-
Pay off debt: PBG and I have done well for ourselves but much like any
young couple we have a small amount of debt. I would love nothing more
than to be debt free except for student loans by the end of this year.<br />
<br />
-
Travel: It might be hard to do the one above (pay off debt) and travel
but I love it. Traveling with PBG is one of my favorite things to do.
Last year I went to Dallas, Denver, St. Lucia, Cancun, and countless work
trips. I wish we could travel more, but the Grays might lay low this year. <br />
<br />
Some other quick hit things I would like to get done. <br />
Get a 2nd dachshund<br />
Follow more closely my retirement investments<br />
See the Mavs acquire Dwight Howard and Deron Williams in the off-season<br />
Ski- Please!<br />
Start side business - Please send me your ideas <br />
Win the GGFFL <br />
Get involved with competitive sports<br />
Volunteer more with EA or at Summit<br />
Pick things up and put them down<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626267588265249442noreply@blogger.com0