At the bequest of the ladies I work with I have updated the blog with my weekend in paradise!
On Friday morning, bright and early (well more early than bright, seeing as how it was 4 am) I woke up and stumbled around my apartment completely exhausted and totally excited! After getting everything re-situated with my suit cases I grabbed them up and trekked over to the Salt Lake Express Shuttle spot. Now normally I hate the shuttle, but this trip was awesome! I ACTUALLY SLEPT!!! And I don't mean like the 20 minutes in between pick up spots, but I think I woke up maybe 3 times the entire 4 hour and 50 minute bus ride. Needless to say it was great!
After gettin off in the BEAUTIFUL AND WARM Salt Lake City (I hope yall caught the sarcasm) I proceeded to check my bags and sluggishly make my way through SLC security. Sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport, I got a call from Derek as he was drivin to work. Temperature in SLC= 30's Temperature in Florida=72. I could feel my skin warming and I was ready to break out the shorts! The best kind of flight is an uneventful one, and that is exactly what I got.
After a quick stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico I landed in Houston, Texas. What should have been a quick hour and a half layover I was supposed to be on my last leg and into Panama City. As I was standing in the terminal at 4:45pm ready for my 4:50 pm flight I looked around me and it dawned on me that no one was moving! No passengers standing, no attendants at the ready... nothing.
Looking around me I was confused and saw this gentleman. After asking him if he was also flying to Panama City, I was shocked when he replied in anger about the delay! Ummmmm WHAT DELAY!?!?!?!? He looked at me and said, "You haven't heard!?" Oh no, I could tell this is going to be bad... apparently my flight which was supposed to land at 7:25 pm would be delayed to leave until 7:35 pm! Unfortunately, the wifi was not working in the Houston airport and I was bored out of my mind.
Finally our plane arrived! The entire 1 hour and 30 minute flight, I could not stop movin in my chair. I was so excited, I was counting the seconds until I got back to Florida.
And then... I WAS HERE!!!! Getting off the plane and seeing Derek, I felt like I was home. Because of the delays in my plane, our plans were nefariously thwarted, so we drove home, just happy to be together! After getting home we decided we wanted to exchange our Valientine's Day presents and he ran off to his room and I began tearing through my suitcases looking for his presents. Derek came walking into my room with this GIANT STUFFED TEDDY BEAR!!! He is so stinkin cute! Then Derek handed me this little box. I of course knew he hadn't wrapped it because even i couldn't wrap a box that nice! Inside was this absolutely GORGEOUS necklace Derek spoiled me with! It has 11 little diamonds in the little heart and I love it!
Then it was my turn!!! I began pulling boxes out of my suit case and with every box his eyes got wider and wider! He was so excited! So I handed him his first box. After ripping it open a bunch of candy fell and and I handed him the card. I had made him a candy-gram that we could stick into the album I made him for Christmas. 
Then I handed him his second present which was the game Jenga (which i loved as a kid!). He already knew about his next present, but he was excited nonetheless to finally have it. I made him a T-Shirt, using a black tee, contact paper, and bleach. If you can't tell Derek is a HUGE Browning fan, so I made him a T-Shirt that says it all. "Browning Born, Browning Bred". 
Then I handed him his last present which I knew he was going to love. because for the last 4 months he has talked about wanting to see it. I got him hot chocolate mixes(b/c he LOVES hot chocolate), Kettle Corn (b/c he LOVES Kettle corn), and the movie Red!
On Saturday we got up and went driving around town, stoppin off at Krysti’s (Derek’s sister) new house. Later in the afternoon, Derek and I decided to take Cassidy (Derek’s sister) and Hollie (Derek’s cousin) down to Panama City Beach. We drove down to Pier Park and walked around the outdoor shoppin area. We stumbled across a Laser Tag arena and HAD to play! The gentleman at the place asked up if we wanted to play Free-For-All or if we wanted to play teams. 
Of course, Derek and I teamed up to play against the young ins. After a lot of old people jokes and ribbing from the girls, the Green team set off against the Blue Team. The game was made all the better by the fact that Cassidy screamed every time she was shot so we always knew where she was. Hollie and Cassidy were always together so we got two shots in once we found them. Ultimately, the Green team was victorious with a win of 186 to 26. THE OLDIES WON IT!!!! Derek and I walked away with a swag in our step, but we were sure tired and winded afterwards!
After walking around the center and took a drive down the Panama Strip. It was absolutely beautiful and sunny! The temperatures got up to about 83 and I couldn’t even think about going back to Idaho. 
Derek wanted to take us to his favorite pizza joint so we drove down to Mellow Mushroom. The pizza was so good (comparable to Olio’s Pizza) only better. After stuffing our face we drove back to the house and Derek and I watched RED, which was one of my Valentine’s presents to him. We laughed the whole time!
On Sunday we went to his ward, where everyone in the ward preceded to flock to us, either to meet me or warn me about the guy I was marrying. I can tell my future is going to be an adventure living in Bristol!
The whole family got together at the House and we had family dinner together. The night was still young and Derek and I have proved that we were too! We decided to lay down some serious dance moves in Just Dance on the Wii! It was so much fun! Derek was the "Defending champ" and everyone kept warning me that he was "Really Good". Always optomistic, I was just hoping I wouldn't look like a fool! I get my controller in hand and we start busting some dance moves and what would you know... I WIN!!! Every time (excluding the first round where Derek beat me)! It was so much fun I couldn't stop laughing! (Look at my facebook page for some videos of us dancing! You won't regret it!) Derek and I(being OLD) were totally winded after a few rounds and took a break in the kitchen(where else! :) ), where Derek's Dad made us homemade donuts! YUMMY!!!!! They were sooooo good!
On Monday Derek and I got to spend the morning together before he had to go to work. While he was at work, I worked on some homework and met up with Scott Ammons (Derek's Cousin who lives in Cali, but was visiting Bristol at the same time I was!) Scott took me to White Springs in Bristol. This place was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!
The clouds were big and puffy and the sun was peakin through and the water was clear and everything was so peaceful. Scott was telling me about the "Glory Days" down at White Spring and I could hear the music and the laughs ringing around the valley. I wished that the place hadn't closed and began dreaming of restoring the place to its former glory. After leaving the Springs I went back to the house and I decided I was going to be a useful Fiancee and I was going to take on the daunting task of cleaning Derek's car out. WHEW... it was a big job! I decided to make myself even more useful (and pass the time until he got home) and I was going to clean his room. Let me tell you... I have my work cut out for me in the future! I barely made a dent, before I needed to sit down and rest. While amid my blissful rest, who should saunter in but Derek! A WHOLE HOUR EARLY!!! :) It was great! We sat down and talked about our future and planned our finances and worked it out to get a used truck, because we're going to need two cars when I'm going to school and he has to work.
Of course the time seemed to fly, despite our valiant efforts to stop it, and like all good things, my weekend in the beautiful Bristol, Florida had to end. This weekend has made us excited for the future and the day that I never have to leave Bristol or Derek again!
