I went to UF again!

Me at the Bookstore/Welcome Center

My momma and me

My daddy and me

So as you all know my mom met Tim Tebow and got his book signed, she gave me the book and told me to take pics with it by his statue :D

This is where the College of Journalism and Communications is located.

The Reitz Union is where the cafeteria and the Bookstore are located. I visited here often :P

The stadium!

*chomp chomp* A picture with me and Bull Gator, outside of Ben Hill stadium

This stadium is huge!

Me by the sign "Home of the FLORIDA GATORS"

A little fun fact-- This is where Gatorade was created :D

Soo I was back at UF this summer for the Summer Journalism Institute again! I honestly had so much more fun this year than last year and I learned more too. I think it was because I knew what to expect and I had already had a year of editorial experience so I understood the class more. I took the yearbook editors class again and thankfully the yearbook critiques were nicer but there were still some that irked me.

June 18th

This is the day I arrived at UF. After I checked in my mom, dad and I decided to walk to the Bookstore and the stadium. This was a big mistake! It was sooooooooo hot and we didnt really anticipate how long it would take to walk to these places so by the time we got to the stadium our feet were hurting. Anyways, I got two shirts and a bracelet from the bookstore and my mom and dad got shirts too. After the dreadful walk through the campus we went back to Beaty Towers, which is where I was staying for the 6 day institute, and I said my goodbyes and met my roommates. At 4:00 we met in the common room and walked to Weimer Hall, where we had class for the first time. Then an hour later we went to Gator Dining, which is not that bad but when you eat it for 6 days it's quite annoying. (But it did fulfill my love for crushed ice and french fries!) After dinner we had an activity where we had to get a partner, then get 2 more partners, then get 4 more partners, after we found our partners we had to go around and introduce ourselves. This quickly turned into a big conversation about tv shows and what show we liked best. All in all, the first day was exciting!

June 19th

This day was good. Meredith Cochie, the camp director, always gives a lecture about different things. These lectures are hilarious! She is sooo funny and I honestly cant remember what this talk was about because I was laughing so hard. She had to have been one of my favorite speakers, even though her talk really had nothing to do with journalism. Then we had our usual schedule with another guest speaker, professor John Freeman, who talked to us about photography. Tonight was also the night for our movie, we watched Easy A, which is a hilarious movie!

June 20th

A day like any other. Breakfast, class, lecture, lunch, lecture, class, dinner, check-in. Nothing to special. Our one lecture for the day was a camp director, named Steve Johnson, who went to the camp and immediately after graduating high school he got an internship at the St.Pete Times and then after college he worked for ESPN. Oh and today was also the day that my entire family went and met Tim Tebow. I. was. jealous.

June 21st

A looooooooooooooooooooooooong day. One of the longest and it included breakfast, class, lecture, lunch, lecture, class, q&a, dinner, and check-in. We had one lecture this day that was my absolute favorite! Holly Gibbs, an RA for the camp and a graphic designer for a travel agency, made a powerpoint with all of these amazing design tips and layout ideas. This presentation completely changed my perspective on layouts. After this amazing day I went to my dorm room and sketched all of these ideas for my school's yearbook next year and I was so excited after all of this.

June 22nd

The second long day. We had 3 lectures on this day and the most interesting was Kristin Harmel, a correspondent for People magazine. I want to be a magazine journalist so I was interested in this lecture. I remembered what she was going to talk about so it was kind of boring at times but I found her lecture interesting anyways. This was also the day of our SJI party which was kind of boring because no one really stayed for it so my roommate Natalie and I went for a walk. We went farther than I expected and at one point I was nervous because it had gotten really dark and we were on the other side of campus, far from Beaty. But we had fun getting to know each other better.

June 23rd

The last day. This was a presentation day and the spread I had been working on in yearbook was complete so it went in with all the other spreads from my class and was shown to the entire camp. These presentations are my favorite part because I like seeing what everyone was working on for the entire 6 day camp. At 12:00 my dad came to pick me up and we went to the stadium and bookstore again and then we left.

I had so much fun for these 6 days and I enjoyed it so much more than last year. I am really excited for next year's yearbook class because I have so many ideas.

I am fully determined to get into UF and be a gator.

GO GATORS!

Timmy Comes To Miami

Meeting Tim

Tim reading Jia's letter

Tim shaking my hand

I think this is Tim reading Jia-s letter again
The back of my head-formally known as Miami hair, just keeps getting
bigger and bigger!

Okay, he's handsome too!

The autograph, which now goes to Gainesville so Anna
can get some strategic poses

We waited in a 1,000 person line in the horrible humidity of Miami's trendiest bookstore (Books and Books) to meet and have books signed by Tim Tebow. Everyone inline was either Gatored-out or Broncoized (made up my own words) way more Gators. It was an EXTREME struggle for me as it was like waiting in line for a Disney World line. Twice my legs went out, thank goodness for my wonderful (and strong) husband.

Ok, so we all know this post is going to be soooo biased. I just love this boy, such great values, the fact that he is a phenomenal athlete only touches the surface of this boy. He is devout Christian that is not ashamed to let the world know, his Father and Mother are missionaries in the Philippines and Tim was actually born there. he goes there in the summer for mission trips.

When we did meet him Jia had written him a letter "Dear Tim Tebow: I was born in China, but I am home now. I am going to Alligator College, I love you, Ji-Lia Parnham. He stopped to read her letter, tell her it was awesome and did the "Gator Chomp" with her, then he complemented me on my t-shirt which said "Gators for Broncos" He said "I've never seen that one yet". He stopped to take pictures of everyone, unfortunately Katie didn't really have a great camera spot, but it was worth it all.

Said it before, I'll say it again, read this book! It is called "Through my Eyes" and no, I don't get any profit from this endorsement...

TAKING MY BABY GATOR TO UF

Anna and Mom in front of the Bull Gator
which is right outside of the football field

New monument to Florida's three Heisman trophy winners
Tim Tebow, Steve Spurrier and Danny Wuerffel
How Many colleges can say that???)

Can you tell I love Timmy Tebow?

Okay, so I really do

Florida Field also known as "The Swamp"
or
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Silly picture of Anna in the Student Union

Anna and her Daddy in the Student Union

Look how much taller Anna is than me,
she is still my baby girl though....

On June 18th Drew and I took Anna to her Journalism Institute at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (318 miles away) We went and came back in one day which took about 10 hours because we didn't want to leave Katie and Jia home alone.

You'll remember she went to this Institute last year on scholarship, she was not eligible for a scholarship two years in a row, so thank you Nona and Grandpa. This was a wonderful educational experience for Anna.

I am going to post some pictures that I took before we left, then of course the Tim Tebow meeting in Miami, then the pictures Anna took while she was there. It looks as though our life revolves around football, but that is truly not the case. Tim Tebow is a legend in Florida, and University of Florida is THE college to go to with a huge football program....

What a Week!

I have so many things, and so many pictures to share that it is a little overwhelming to me, especially as the time frame was all kind of lumped together...as for now, in is 4:15 a.m. (can't sleep) and we will be going to bring home our little Gator Girl in a few hours(5 hours there and 5 hours back...yuck) Anna really wanted me to come both ways, so I grinned and bared it, with the help of some calming medicine. I missed her so much, I don't know what I'll do when she goes for good...Be back with all the news and all the pics soon.

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY JIA! XOXOXO

Jia making all her wishes come true

Sponge Bob Cake

Jia and Katie at the Museum of Science and Discovery

Pretty Presents from Nona and Grandpa

Jia at the museum of Science and Discovery

Jia fixing her puppy in her new Vet station
She also got a Build a Bear credit card
so she can have more animals to take care of.
She also has her Dr. scrubs Halloween costume
(she found that and put it on later)

Our three miracle children
In Jesus' name we thank YOU

GOD

Random picture: You may think this is a rainy day in South Florida
Instead it is the Everglades burning 5 miles from our home, complete with choking burning
taste and ash flying around our heads...

Jia's birthday was assigned to her by the government of China-June 18. (tucked right in there with Fathers Day insuring that I will never have an Anniversary again-June 20 we are at 18 years!!)
Drew and I will be traveling to Gainesville (Go Gators!) on the actual day, so we celebrated yesterday. Here are some pictures of her perfect day!

JIA'S BIRTHDAY PT. 1 NONA & GRANDPA'S BOX

WELL, the festivities have begun-Jia wants a 4 day dream birthday. I think we may have two days. Today the exciting box from Nona and Grandpa arrived. I don't know who was more excited, Jia or Drew (because of the candy).

Jia's actual birthday is June 18th, but since Drew and I are taking Anna to U of F on that day, so our celebration is tomorrow. (I think I may have mentioned this before.)

Jia has high expectations for the day, here they are: Imax Theater: Born to Be Wild, Science Museum, Subway sandwiches and then straight to dinner, at that point we will be coming home, were she needs a minimum of 18 presents, a white cake and ice cream for Dad (because he doesn't like cake). So she has a busy day planned out, I hope we meet her expectations. Coming up: Jia's birthday pt. 2.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

"SUMMER'S HERE, I'M FOR THAT, GOT MY RUBBER SANDALS, GOT MY STRAW HAT!"
-JAMES TAYLOR

NOT ONE BIT OF SADNESS FOR THE PASSING SCHOOL YEAR FROM ANY OF MY GIRLS. I SHED SOME TEARS, MAINLY BECAUSE MY TWO BIG GIRLS WILL BE SENIORS NEXT YEAR.

BUT I AM THRILLED BEYOND BELIEF THAT THEY WILL BE HOME WITH ME ALL SUMMER. I CAN DO SO MANY MORE THINGS IF ONE OF THEM ARE WITH ME. THE SUMMER IS FULL OF PLANS,

NEXT WEEK ALONE: JIA'S BIRTHDAY (HER PLAN: THE IMAX THEATER AND THE SCIENCE MUSEUM, AFTER WHICH SHE WANTS LUNCH AT THE ATTACHED SUBWAY.)

THEN THE TRIP TO THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA TO DROP ANNA OFF AT HER JOURNALISM INSTITUTE, WE WILL GO UP AND BACK IN ONE DAY (ABOUT 10 HOURS, ANNA WILL STAY FOR 6 DAYS.) KATIE DOES NOT WANT TO GO AND SHE WILL BE STAYING HERE WITH JIA AND THE NEIGHBORS) AND I DO NOT LIKE TO BE OVERNIGHT ANYWHERE BUT HOME, HENCE, A LONG DAY OF DRIVING.

KATIE AND ANNA WILL START THEIR VOLUNTEER WORK AT THE DAN MARINO CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL SUMMER CAMP. THIS LASTS ALL SUMMER, THEY WILL BE WORKING WITH A TEACHER AND AUTISTIC, DOWN'S SYNDROME AND ASPERGER'S CHILDREN.

ANNA IS STILL A LITTLE NERVOUS THAT THIS MAY NOT BE THE THING FOR HER, IF SHE IS UNCOMFORTABLE, SHE WILL HELP HER DAD WITH HIS DRIVERS ED CLASSES FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE.

WE'LL LET YOU KNOW WHAT IS ON THE CALENDAR FOR NEXT WEEK....

WHITE HOT!

WE ARE FEELIN' THE HEAT!