Yard Update!

Today I received an email from "Casting" with the subject line of "America's Most Desperate Landscape." I was so excited/nervous to see what the email said. Was it a thanks for entering, but we've selected someone else email? Did they select us!? Did they need more information?? Well here is what it said:

Hi – my name is XXX from XXX. We produce the show Desperate Landscape for the DIY Network. Thank you for submitting the picture(s) of your yard to DIY's "America's Most Desperate Landscape!" We really like what you sent to our website, but we need to see more.

Please make a video of your yard and family. Make it as fun and creative as possible.

Send the video to: XXX

We also need you to fill out the short questionnaire and e-mail it back to us with a few more pictures of yourself, your front yard and your neighborhood. If host Jason Cameron and the Desperate Landscapes crew determines that it's one of the worst, you could be one of 4 finalists heading to the Today show! You'll compete for the right to have your front yard completely overhauled on DIY Network's Desperate Landscapes.We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. If you have any questions, email me.

Thanks, Casting Producer

Grant and I immediately called Tess to start a new video. We filmed at the Ponte Vedra Beach sign on A1A, the TPC Sawgrass sign, Mickler Beach and in our neighborhood. We edited the video and also filled out the questionnaire. Now we are bruning the video onto a DVD to mail off to the producer tomorrow! I am so excited!!

We'll definitely keep you posted if we get selected to be on the TODAY show!!

--Becky, Grant & Penelope

Heeeey Penelope!

Here are a few photos with our daughter, Penelope Alexis. :)

Family Matters

Here is a photo of the family on Easter Sunday. Nick came home from Colorado Springs for the weekend. We used to take for granted that we all lived in the same house/town/state. Now that Nick is done with college and interning in Colorado, I know that I miss having all of my siblings around. Nick and I have had our moments growing up, but as we've grown older and wiser we've also grown to appreciate each other.

When Nick started college at UF he had the choice to live in any dorm on campus. I was shocked when he chose to live in the building that I managed as a graduate student. Nick lived one floor above me. While we didn't hang out all of the time, it was nice to know that he chose to live near me and came to me if he ever needed anything.

During college Nick grew into a very compassionate and smart young man. He's made friends and professional contacts through his work for the Independent Florida Alligator as well as numerous newspapers across the state of Florida. He has interned with mlb.com (covering the Chicago Cubs) and now with the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, CO. In the near future he is going to have the opportunity to fulfill one of his life-long dreams, covering the Olympics. Who knows where his career and life will lead him; I just hope that it leads him to success and happiness...and not too far from home!

I am super proud of him and glad to have him as my brother.

While it is exciting to see my siblings grow up and become professional and accomplished young people, it is also hard to imagine that one day we might all live in different parts of the country and rarely spend time as a family. In fact, we will all start our own families and traditions. Hopefully we can continue to value our family unit and remain involved in each other's lives.

Our first dinner party

On Sunday night we had our first dinner party at our new house! We invited 3 other couples over.

Andrea & Jeff : Our new friends we met when we bought our breakfast nook table off Craigslist

Erin & Billy : Erin's my first and only college roommate and Billy is her fabulous fiance

Stephanie & Sean : Stephanie is an ARNP that I work with and Sean is her former long-distance and now local boyfriend

We decided to have the dinner early in the week. We weren't sure what we'd make, but Steph offered to bring a salad, claiming that she is known for her salads including homemade dressings; I asked Andrea to bring a dessert and Erin offered to bring a side dish. That left Grant & me for the main course...so we decided to buy a grill!

We were lucky that Stephanie and Sean had done all of the leg work and bought their own grill just a couple of weeks ago. Grant and I headed to the store on Saturday, the day before our dinner party, and I called Stephanie to see which grill she got. It was an easy purchase because it was the grill that Grant liked the best as well. Here is a link to our new grill!

With a new grill, the choice for a main dish was easy. We made some great Hawaiian chicken. Everyone loved it! Stephanie's salad was amazing - almonds, craisins, grapes, gorgonzola cheese, amazing dressing! Erin made great potatoes and Andrea made chocolate chip cheesecake from scratch. :)

It was so much fun spending time with our friends and getting to know everyone better. We loved entertaining at our house too! Stephanie even brought her two Jack Russells over to play with Penelope. It was a shame that Penelope wasn't in a playing mood. She spent much of her time in my lap!

Updated link to our video

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/pac_ctnt_988_leader/text/0,,DIY_26336_85211,00.html?pn=10&pageref=Photo_Video-1011648&vw_arrange_order=DESC&vw_sort_order=BY_RATING#

The YARD!

So I have been teasing what our plans are for our yard. I'll start in the beginning...

When we bought our house we spent significant time and money fixing up the interior in order to make our house a home. Now, it is time to fix up our yard.

I was at the gym, watching the TODAY Show. A segment came on that included landscaping ideas from the DoItYourselfNetwork (DIYNetwork). At the conclusion of the segment they mentioned a contest. The DIYNetwork was teaming up with the TODAY Show to redo a landscape! The contest is called "America's Most Desperate Landscape." You could upload a photo or video (<10 minutes in length) by April 19th.

When I saw this I called Grant...mid-run on the treadmill...We decided that we had to enter. I checked out the contest rules and saw that it was being judged on 3 primary criteria: personality, originality and creativity. I thought...we can definitely pull together a video with all three criteria.

The first step was to locate a video camera. I knew that my Mom had one that she used to video tape my little brother, Zack, playing basketball. I called to see if we could borrow it. She said sure, but Zack's friend had lost the power cord...so it had no battery power left.

Grant and I ordered a replacement cord online and waited for it to come in. When we got it in the mail we started brainstorming video ideas. We asked my sister Tess to come over and help us film the video. She came over and we filmed our segment.

We wanted to involve some other people in our video. We asked our real estate agent to do a cameo as a local expert as well as four of our favorite neighbors. Penelope also had her say in the video.

We had all of the segments taped. The next step was to upload the video from the camcorder to the computer. We borrowed a cord from my brother's friend, but it didn't fit into our computer. We located a cord at a local office supply store and I picked it up on Friday.

Friday night we uploaded the video clips and spent Friday and part of today editing it.

It is now uploaded on the DIYNetwork site. Click here to take a look at rate our video!

Backyard Update 1

We borrowed my parents' video camera to help with our plan for the backyard...however, my little brother's friend who borrowed the camera last lost the power charger. We've ordered a charger on Amazon.com and it should be arriving in 2-6 business days...updates to follow our charger delivery!

Have a great Monday everyone!!

Becky :)

Our Party!

We broke in our new home for it's first party last night. We were so glad to see so many friends and family members come! We had several neighbors come from the Circle, coworkers, our family from here and from Daytona, as well as new and old friends. I think the happiest member of the party was Penelope! She loved meeting so many new people and seeing some of her favorite friends.

Near the end of the night we heard some yells from the dining room...Penelope found a way to get on top of the table and headed right to the pepperoni pizza. I think she has a new favorite food. I just hope she doesn't remember how to get on the table anymore!

What I enjoyed most was having some of our friends meet each other. I know that we'll have to plan more get togethers at our place...primarily because our friends all got along so great and secondarily because we have so much left over beer as well as 4 bottles of red wine and 2 bottles of champagne!

For all of you who came and read this -- THANK YOU for coming! For those who live far away -- come and visit and we'll throw another party in your honor! :)

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Becky :)