Spring Training

When I started writing this, spring training was in full force. Now we are in the final week! We're both ready for the season to start, and for our bedtime to be later than 9:00pm. Spending all day (every day) in the sun watching baseball is exhausting! I mean, playing baseball.. must be exhausting...

AJ's parents and little brother visited, and it was so fun having them here. They spoiled us by cooking so many yummy meals, we already forgot how to make our own dinner. Having supportive family is such a blessing in this lifestyle! 

I got to spend a couple days with my college roomie and best friend Kassie this month also! The stars aligned and their vacation was the perfect time for me to make the quick drive to Sarasota. I have been in Sarasota with them 4 separate years now! I love that place (and that girl). 

My husband (who puts my blog writing to shame) has posted a few amazing articles this month about his spring training experiences. He is pretty amazing. You should read them.  Here are the links:

The Old Man and the Wall 
An Unexpected Twist
Learning From My New Friends

Baseball season

We had the pleasure of having more family visit last weekend- Josh and Kristen! 

We played "pool games" (most were made up games involving a mini soccer ball and a pool side basketball hoop) and ate every single meal outside. 

They had never been to Fort Myers, so the first day we went to the Twins complex to show them around.

Only a few players were there the first day, and when we went again the day they left the number of players had more than doubled. More and more players are showing up every day to prepare for spring training, and there's no denying that baseball season is upon us!

I made myself a promise to embrace every moment this season. I sometimes take for granted how amazing it is that I have the opportunity to travel around the country with my husband while he plays baseball. 
I'm excited to see where this year takes us!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope your day is filled with love... and chocolate.

Polar vortex in the sun

Our first visitors of the year have come and gone. We had a blast with the Cooks! 

The "polar vortex" pushed a little cold air down to southern Florida and it was in the 60's for a few of the days they were here. In true Minnesotan fashion we were still at the beach. 

When they visited last year, AJ had just been moved to AA so he didn't get to see them. Maddie loved having her Uncle AJ here to play in the water with her.

Maddie's signature move, putting her finger in your ear

We love having family and friends visit us during the season. We miss them already!

Florida or bust

We are settled into our new temporary home!

The 28 hour drive was long, but much more bearable because we were able to be together in one car. I am still a master at back of the car tetris-like packing. Every little spot in our SUV was used to its full potential. We listened to every playlist we have on Spotify (more than once), the duet playlist being my personal favorite. 

We were so happy when we saw the sign for Fort Myers, and even happier when we were greeted with this backyard sunset...

Christmas Cheer

Merry -a few days late- Christmas! 

Our Christmas festivities lasted all week long! We have been soaking in every moment because we are going to miss all of these people soon. We are lucky both sides of our family live in Minnesota, so we were able to spend time with everyone.

With the Pettersens we had a "3 day extravaganza" and instead of doing presents, surprise activities were planned for each day. The theme was Dream. Play. Serve. Each day we did things that represented one of those words. 

Our hearts and bellies are full and we are ready for the adventures 2014 will bring!

Thankful

It feels like I wrote a post about October, blinked, and it became December! 

As usual, the off season is flying by. I have an excuse for the blog-cation I took. I've been spending my nights working at the hospital and my days sleeping with black out shades and a noise machine.

When we first came home, I had been working at corporations/offices giving flu shots. It was only a couple days each week, so I was hoping and praying for something more to come up. Just when I decided I was going to work as a nanny, my agency called me with a 4 week RN job at a hospital, ending December 9th. It couldn't be better timing! I will be done just in time to spend lots of time with our family and friends before we leave for the season. When I chose my major (pre-AJ) I couldn't have imagined it would be such a perfect fit for this lifestyle. I am so thankful for a job that allows me to travel with my husband.

AJ and I will be leaving the snow behind, driving the 27+ hours to Florida on January 1st. Since AJ had wrist surgery, he has been doing range of motion exercises only, which he can do on his own. After Christmas he will be able to start doing actual baseball stuff. So he will be doing all of that at the Twins facility in Fort Myers. Perfect timing for us because I am going back to the same hospital I worked at last year for a 4 month contract job that begins January 7th!

We are currently unpacking and repacking our lives into "coming with us for the season" and "stay home" boxes. I think we're going to do a little better this year. When we were packing to come home at the end of the season we were laughing at the amount of unnecessary things we had. This year we are on a strict list. Sooo we can never have more than 4 people over at once because we're only bringing 4 plates. *Don't worry Pettersen clan, our FL house is fully furnished ;)