Beach Week

Yes...it is finally that time. We are headed to the beach this week, and I could not be anymore excited! Life around the Varden house has been quite busy the last few weeks, and we are both in need of a little of break. Keith actually left this morning to head down early and play at a youth camp with Stephen. Keith and Stephen are both part of "The Generation Band" and play each Wednesday and Thursday night for the youth and college ministries. God is moving in a huge way with these guys and He has actually opened so many new doors for all the guys involved in the band. Not only has God given them the opportunity to begin playing for church camps, but He has also presented them with the opportunity to begin the process of making a CD. Side Note: They are playing for the Union Hill Beach Camp, so please pray God moves in a mighty way in the lives of these youth!

Since I am incredibly scared to stay by myself my mother is actually going to spend the next few days with me! This means Chinese and Mexican food and chick flicks. Then...on Thursday we are headed to the beach! This will actually be my first vacation to take with my brother and sister-in-law, so I am really excited! Like most siblings, my brother and I did not get along very well as we are growing up. Jonathan and I are 6 years apart, so about the time I was at my annoying little sister age, Jonathan was beginning to hang out with all the cool baseball players, and he and his friends loved to see how hard they could make me cry. This lasted until I was about 12 and then he realized I was actually growing up. As the years have gone by our relationship has gotten so much closer, and I consider him one of my best friends. I also have the most incredible sister-in-law!

Samantha is also going with us to the beach. Ryan (her boyfriend) is playing baseball in Idaho right now, so we will just have to have fun without him! There are no major plans for the beach...just to read, tan, and eat great food! I am officially going to leave all of my school books at home and just relax! I cannot wait! I will post lots of pictures of our trip when we return! Until then I pray that everyone has a blessed week! Love Wins!

Lake Trip

We managed to make our first lake trip this past weekend. Keith and some of our friends headed up to my parent's house on Friday. The weather was suppossed to be absolutely horrible, but it was one of the prettiest weekends of this summer. I absolutely love the lake (Keith not so much) because it just feels like a mini vacation. I know that it is only 30 minutes away from home, but when you are there you feel disconnected from the world. We usually spend the mornings on the front porch rocking or sitting in the swing. Life seems much slower there...I just wish we could go more!

We woke up on Saturday and my wonderful mother fixed us all a Southern breakfast. We had eggs, sausage, biscuits, and some good gravy. It was so good! Then we all headed down to the water. Keith took us all innertubing...it was very painful. Keith has been known to be a little rough, but I think he reached a new point this weekend. Mallory and I were on the tubes and Keith was being really rough...long story short some how Mallory and I got thrown off and severly rope burned all at the same time. Mallory's arm looked horrible and I had it across my left cheek and under my nose. It hurt so bad, but no one was critically injured. Keith continues to say that it wasn't his fault, but I think otherwise.

The severe burns started after lunch. I promise it does not matter how much sunscreen you apply you always get burnt. Keith and I managed to do very well this time. I was a little tender on my shoulders and Keith had some serious pink cheeks.

Stephen and Pilgreen managed to ski with millions of boats and seadoos all around, and Keith proved that he stil had it! When Keith was younger (17/18 ish) he could wake board like no other. He could turn flips and get some serious air, but now he doesn't have that much time to practice...so he can't do all of that anymore. This weekend he tried, and he looked pretty good. He tried his flip at the end but did not quite make it...but he came really close!

After the conclusion of our wonderful lake trip, we celebrated Father's day with Keith's dad. Keith's parents left on Sunday for a 2 week vacation in Mexico...seriously! So please keep them in your prayers as they are away.

Sunday afternoon we headed out to City Stages. I can honestly say that I was not at all excited. I did not really like the idea of being out with tons of people in the heat of the day, but it turned out to be incredible. We actually just went to see The Basement and Daniel Bashta on the Coca-Cola stage. It was hot but it was incredible! There were hundreds maybe even thousands (I am not too good at estimating crowds)of people praising God. There has been a lot going on in my spirtitual life, and I feel that God is moving in a mighty way. He definitely has a plan for Keith and I, and I feel now, more than ever, that He is beginning to prepare me!

Overall, it was such a great weekend! I am looking forward to my next lake trip which will be...THIS weekend! Keith is headed out of town and I am going to spend a little time with my parents. I am also taking my 6th grade girls Sunday school class to the lake on Friday...it is going to be crazy, but I am very excited and so are they!

Until next week...

We pray that everyone has a blessed week!

A Relaxing Weekend

It's time for my Monday blog, and I must tell everyone about our relaxing weekend. We were able to spend Friday and Saturday at Keith's parents house. They have a beautiful back yard with a pool and the weather was beautiful. Keith got fried on Friday, so he did not enjoy the sun as much as I did but we still had a great time. We cooked out Saturday and spent the rest of the day swimming and sunning! Jack Johnson was the background music and life was wonderful.

We spent Saturday night celebrating one of our friend's big news! Ryan got drafted to the CUBS! We are all so excited for him. He is actually leaving today to begin his life as a baseball player. Samantha (Ryan's girlfriend and my old roommate)is going to become my tanning friend. We have already made plans to spend the end of this week at the pool. So good luck Ryan with your firt week! I promise to take care of Samantha. Don't forget us when you famous and GO CUBS!

Sunday was busy...as always! God has blessed us with a such a wonderful church. He has given us both such a great opportunity to spread his word to the youth. God is moving in a such a mighty way that we are left speechless...it is so wonderful. After church we headed to lunch and then back home where Keith was able to continue the relaxing weekend. He spent the rest of the afternoon alseep, and I did what I always do...I studied! We had an evening swim party for the Jr.High kids. Keith proved to me that he is still young! He was doing double front flips, back flips, and ganers! Thank God he did not get hurt!

Today...I am at work and Keith is golfing! I would be jealous but it is almost 100 degrees out there, so he can golf all he wants right now!

Life is Good!

Summer...so far!

Well it has been a crazy start to our summer...here is a little update!

School is so busy right now it is incredible. I am trying to finish as fast as I can, so my semesters are jam packed full of more nursing classes. My weeks are pretty much filled with reading and trying to complete assignments on time. I did manage to pull off some pretty descent grades on my first two tests, so I am rather pleased with the way things are going. I think that I am settling into my groove, so things are beginning to go a little smoother. The only problem is that by the time I have completely settled this semester will be over! I am very excited though because next semester I will take my first Graduate course! I will be one step closer to being finished, and I cannot wait! Keith is also getting ready to start again for the summer. He will be traveling to Louisiana twice this summer for classes. He has a few more days off before the hard work starts!

Enough about school here is a recap of the past two weeks!

Sumer, Keith's cousing, graduated from highschool. I know that I am only twenty one but I felt very old as we watched her walk across the stage. We are incredibly proud of her...so congratulations Sumer!

On May 26 the youth group that Keith works with left for camp. We took approximately 140 students and three charter buses to Tennessee. I stayed in a cabin full of 6th and 7th grade girls who were terrified of spiders, but needless to say they all survived! I cannot begin to explain how wonderful this week was. We had close to twenty students accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This camp could have not been any better! The students and leaders were able to experience God in a whole new way. The setup was simple, cell phone service was impossible, and the world seemed to vanish for a week. We were all able to experience God without any distractions...it was beautiful!

The twenty students who accepted Christ definitely made the week, but the students also got to experience many other things! One very adventurous thing they all experienced for the first time was no cell phone service! I love these kids, but it was so funny watching them stand in this big field with their cell phones raised to the sky. At times, there would be 25 kids out searching for service.

This camp had many outdoor activities that everyone enjoyed (including Keith and me). Each group spent a day either playing painball, running the adventure race, swimming at the water park, or riding down a 1000 foot zip line on the high ropes course. It was so much fun and luckily no one was injured! I did play paintball for the first time. Ohh my goodness...I don't see why this game is so popular...it hurt so bad! All and all the week was wonderful. The kids are already asking to go back next year!

By the way, Keith also got to raft down the Ocoee while we were in Tennessee...cheater!

This next week is quite peaceful compared to the last two. Their is a little school stuff to catch up on (the internet service at the camp was horrible!) Keith is also planning on taking up kayaking as his next hobby...it is definitely going to be interesting! The month of June is going to be rather slow. Keith leaves to play at a camp for another youth group at the end of this month, and my brother, sister-in-law, and I are going to meet him down at the beach towards the end of the week! I cannot wait!

Well...JP there is your blog update! I hope that everyone has a blessed week!

Love wins!

My Husband

I have to take a little time and brag on my wonderful husband. Keith knows that I have been a little stressed about going back to school, so he decided to do a little bit to help. Last night after I got home from work I walked into the kitchen and began trying to decide what we would eat for supper. It only took about 5 minutes of me rambling before Keith got a little upset! He "kindly" told me that he had worked all afternoon to dust and pick up the house. I then took a minute to walk around the house and notice all of his hard work. It was beautiful, and he even took a little time to make the bed (remember that rule about if you get up last you make the bed...Keith doesn't follow it, but today he did!) I just wanted to say thank you to Keith for being such a wonderful husband.

I pray that everyone has a wonderful week...the weather is beautiful, so take a little time to enjoy what God has blessed us with!

Beach Birthdays

Well, life is very busy right now, but I wanted to take a little time and share about the best beach trip ever.

Keith and I left home around 9:20 on Thursday night and headed down to the beach. I was absolutely determined to get there in a timely manner, and since my husband drives about 60 mph all the time, I drove all the way down. We finally arrived around 1:30. Amy and Sean had managed to stay awake and give us directions to the house. The house was so beautiful, and Amy and my birthday weekend had finally begun (Amy turns 21 on May 10), but all we could think about was sleep!

Friday morning I woke to the wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee. I love coffee, but Keith does not, so I don't fix it for myself. Steven had gone out earlier that morning and brought back some incredible doughnuts for breakfast. Shortly after this, we all headed to the pool. It was so wonderful. We and maybe 10 other people had this huge pool all to ourselves. It was about 80 degrees the sun was shining...I hope you can get the picture. Although the weather was beautiful the pool was FREEZING...and I hate to be cold! Even though it was quite frigid we did all manage to get in...briefly. Keith was a little more hesitant than everyone else, but he resulted into making a water slide out of the stair rail...yes he is a child! After lunch we all headed to the beach...this is where my skin started to fry. I must admit I had told Keith before we left home, "make sure you pack sunscreen because you know how easy you burn"...needless to say you reap what you sow. We spent about 45 minutes playing a game of massive horse shoes. Guys against girls..guys won...of course! Then I spent the next hour under Keith's tshirt and hat. We were able to get a little time in the ocean. Amy and I share one major thing in common...we don't swim in the ocean. I can remember a time around our 8th grade year where we spent hours floating in the water, but not anymore...knee high is as deep as we go! The waves were huge and the undertow was at it's worst, but it was so nice!

Later that night we all headed to Red Bar. For those of you who have not experienced this place you need to! It is basically an old shack filled with colorful junk, but they have some of the best food! This year I took a chance and I actually tried the crab cakes that everyone raves about...they were delicious. Amy and I also had the shortest birthday song ever sang to us by one of the waiters (we think he could have been high...it's debateable.) Notice the picture at the bottom...it was a whole apple covered in cinnamon and then fried...glorious! After this we did a little shopping...Amy found the perfect dress for her brother's graduation, and then we headed back to the beach house. Steven and Mrs. Theresa had planned the best birthday celebration for us. We had the coolest cake and goody bags filled with toys that kept us occupied for the next two days. I am so blessed to have these people in my life...they made this very important birthday the best yet!

The next day was not as sunny as the first, but we did not let it stop us! We headed to the pool expecting to get some of that overcast sun...nope, did not happen! The house was calling our name, so we left the pool and found ourselves on the couch watching an E true story hollywood story about lottery winners...it was very educational! Keith had been dying to go to the Polo outlet, and since it was not very sunny we all consented and headed out to shop...Keith's favorite thing! After this we ate at Pandora's...this place had the smallest crab claws that we had ever seen...they were so tiny! The highlight of the evening...the "all girl band" with the accordion and the fiddle...heck yes! Keith (the music man in the group) said they were horrible! Amy just liked the fact that they had an accordion!

After dinner, we had big plans...we were going crabbin! So Amy, Sean, Keith, and I headed over to Rosemary beach to catch us some crab...we stopped by Starbuck's first and this guy made me a frappucino he created all by himself...it was really good! Then the crab hunt began...Amy sat on the boardwalk because she couldn't imagine the crabs crawling on her feet, and Keith would not touch a crab to save his life (he has a major phobia of spiders and I think that the crab looked too similiar). I think that we finally caught 5 or 6 crab. Most of them were very small, but we did catch one huge one! We wanted to show Steven and Mrs.Theresa all our crab, so we decided that we were going to take them all the way across the street to the house. For some odd reason I was the lead bicycler at this point...Amy was behind me and the boys were trying to keep the crab from crawling out of the bucket! Then it happened...I almost killed my best friend! She told me if the road looked clear then go ahead and cross the street, so I looked one way it looked clear, but looked the other way and realized it was not, so I slammed on the breaks and the next thing you know Amy is laying over her bike on the road! We were both laughing so hard we could not breath...cars were passing by and there's Amy laying in the road laughing. I felt so bad...and once we finished laughing Amy realized that her back was actually hurt! Nothing serious, but it is possible that she does have bruise from my stupidity! Sorry Amy!

We all made it safely back to the house and the crabs and the back injury were proudly displayed! This was our last night, and it could not have been better. Keith and I woke up the next morning and left the beach around 8:30. It truly was one of the best beach trip ever! We caught crabs, listened to an "all girl band", I learned what a "Rosemary" is, Amy broke her back, we ate good food (minus the claws), and Amy and I turned 21!

Here are some pictures from the weekend!



The first day at the pool!



Amy and Sean in the freezing water



The house



Amy and Me at the Red Bar



Us and our very interesting waiter



Our Birthday dessert





Keith and Me after the Red Bar



Amy and her mom (Mrs. Theresa) laughing...most likely at the Rosemary



Isabella (my cuddle buddy) and Me...I fell asleep before everyone!



Steven and Me at the beach...when we discovered I was fried!



The beautiful birthday cake...Steven got it from Publx!



The bicycle bruise! My bad Amy!

Birthday Week

Yes it is my BIRTHDAY WEEK! I will finally be turning 21 on Thursday, and I am very excited! We actually celebrated my birthday with all of the family on Saturday. My brother and I are exactly 6 years and 5 days apart, so we always celebrate our birthdays together. This year was no different. We all (by all I mean my incredibly small family of 9) met at the lake and grilled out! It was really cloudy, so there was no laying out or boat riding, but it was still a really good day! The only down side was Keith was not able to be there. He was actually working at a block party that the church was hosting, so I cannot really complain.

Later that night, we went to eat with my best friend Amy and her boyfriend Sean! We ate dinner at the Village Tavern (which we highly recommend...definitely get the crab dip). We finished the evening with another trip to Whole Foods, but the highlight of the evening was Amy inviting us to go to the beach this weekend!!! Keith and I had discussed the possibility of going down for my birthday, but we really never made any plans. Amy's family rented a house in our favorite location and they have an extra room! So, Keith and I are going to leave late Thursday night and meet them all at the beach. I really do not think Amy and her family know how excited I am about this trip. First of all, I absolutely love these people! Second of all, we are quickly approaching May 7 (the day that I start classes at UAB), so this trip is perfect! I will be with people that I love (including my wonderful husband) and I will not have to worry about school or work! It will be glorious! Needless to say...I cannot wait for Thursday!

Sunday was also a very good day! My parents and my brother and sister-in-law actually came to eat lunch with Keith and I. I officially have cooked my second successful roast. Keith said that this roast was much better than the first (I guess that is a compliment). The food was great, but the company was the best part. As a child, we always ate Sunday dinner together. Jonathan and I got older, and Sunday dinners ceased to exist, so yesterday was definitely a blessing!

I also have a few more plans for my birthday week. I am working for the next 3 days, but on Thursday I am going to drive back to the lake and spend a little time with my daddy on my birthday. That afternoon my mom is going to meet me after she gets off work, and we are going to pamper ourselves with a pedicure and manicure (my last pedicure was the week of my wedding, so my feet are in desperate need of some work). And then that evening we will leave for the beach!

21 is not looking so bad after all!



P.S. Happy Birthday to my kindergarten teacher (we share the same birthday)!