Home for the Holidays

Oh Sadie!

Well tonight was a hard night in the Teten home. We had our hopes set on Sadie the Publicist from San Diego to ultimately win the bachelor Lorenzo's heart. Shockingly he chose someone else. While the other girl was sweet and lovely . . . she was no Sadie. But John and I are hopeful! We want Sadie to find the godly man she wants and deserves. (she was just blinded by Lorenzo's floppy hair-do)Go Sadie . . . we can be friends in real life if you want?

Thank You!

My family is the greatest. This was the first Thanksgiving that John and I were away from our family. And to our surprise and utter joy we recieved a gift in the mail. It was filled with warm thanksgiving wishes, pictures, drawings, music, and tokens of love and fun! Man oh man it was so heart warming. We had so much fun with it.Here is the box of love. And yes I am wearing a down jacket in the apartment! It has been chilly here in Florida, and we were determined not to turn on the heat. Which is good because right now it is 75 outside.

We love the Straights, Hofmanns, Luzes, and Schlitts. Your thoughts meant so much to us! And we get to be home so soon.

A Day on Campus

John and I have an incredible job in which spending half of a day every week alone with our bibles and Jesus is written in our job description. So we headed to campus this past week to get some time away from our apartment. And here are a few of our pics.This beautiful chapel sits on the shore of Lake Alice. It is incredibly quiet in there and usually empty according to students.

Look who came to join us. Little Gator and his friend Plastic Bag.

And then we finally found the snout and eyeballs of Mama Gator across campus on our way home. I just wanted everyone to know that John and I are faring well here. As you can see we have been making friends all over campus.

Enough Said

My Favorite New Driver

My brother recently celebrated his 16 Birthday. And he called me last night to tell me about his new car. How exciting Brandon, congrats on a new age . . . a new ride . . . and transportation freedom. I will be your wingman anyday (by that I mean I will be a passenger)
Here are some pics of this studly brother of mine with a Straight signature Ford vehicle.
And there are some football pics coming, but lets reflect on my little brothers former size, before we marvel and his athleticism.
This is the little guy now! Not so small anymore, but just as goofy and jovial as ever. You can tell by the look on his face that he is contemplating his next pricision move to beat the opponent soundly.

Brandon happens to be a ladies man, and "changes girlfriends more often than his underwear" according to my Dad. But I sort of agree. But I guess that means that my brother is aware that these silly high school girls are not worth too much fuss. I am behind you all the way Brandon.

It had to be done!

I had a great halloween with some of my bible study girls. They came over to our apartment and we watched bewitched and ate pumpkin bread. But in reminiscing past nights of yore with my good friends I happened upon this picture of the best halloweener I know. Mrs. Becca Duvall, she is the one to credit for this amazing dragon/alligator costume. What a gal! Thanks Becca for being is so many of my good memories. I hope you wore this on Halloween this year.

68 degree

The temperature here in Gainesville is worthy of a post today. It is 69 degrees!! We have our windows open and my toes are cold. It is a glorious feeling. And because of this temperature change, our fellow Florida citizens are wearing long pants and jackets! I decided to wear shorts and flip flops in hopes that i might produce a goose bump even. John and I are hoping to enjoy some more cooler weather as it gets closer to winter!

First Visit!

While friends and family enjoyed the first snow of fall, we had our first visit in our warm and muggy land. Team Teten came this week to spend some time in our home and see how we live our lives. It was so great to have them here, we just wish that they could have stayed longer, or at least come back in a couple of weeks. If only Florida were not so far away. It does feel like a distant land, considering we are still sweating outside while windows are being scraped off every morning in Colorado . . . and Montana for that matter.My family, what good guests. It was so comfortable and enjoyable to entertain them for the weekend.
The best part of Teten time is the card playing. We LOVE to play cards! What a good looking table to do it on too.
Sisters! I love my little sister Amy. She is a beautiful and talented ball of greatness.
Good morning beautiful. I am sorry to make so many girls jealous by posting this picture. Who wouldn't want to wake up with a head of hair like this. She has a constapillow on her head!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us. It is so healing to have family and friends come visit. You are welcome anytime to stay in our home. We love you!

Gator Growl

This past week was homecoming for UF. School was closed on Friday and we went to Gator Growl. It is the largest student-run pep rally in the world! It was pretty crazy to sit with 40,000 other gator glad fans and watch comedians, entertainers, football players and lots of spirited students, cheerleaders, band members, and gator alumni who have had season tickets their whole lives and pulled into town yesterday to tailgate for the nest 48 hours. Football and sports in general is a whole other world that I am trying to immerse myself in. I commited a swamp sin when I turned down a free ticket to the Alabama game. But somehow riding my bike (because car transportation is a joke on game day) into a tailgating frenzy of fans and try to find my husband among 90,000 people sounded worse than running errands in shopper-free stores. But the good news is that the Gators won, my husband and our students are happy. Let the Gator Growl! (to any gator opponent who might be reading this and feel offended . . . my disclaimer is that I am not a true gator . . . I just own and increasing wardrobe of gator attire . . . thats all)

My brothers first homecoming!

Here are some pictures taken in Fort Collins before my brothers very first homecoming dance. It kills me that I missed this very momentous occassion and was not able to give my brother the sisterly embarrassment he deserves. Good thing April was there to cover all bases and pictures (thanks april).
Brandon took his girlfriend Emily to homecoming and I have to say that my brother looks amazing! And Emily looks very pretty in her red dress and long locks! This is the first time I have ever laid eyes on my brothers girlfriend. I look forward to meeting her and assessing the situation. I have heard only good things about Emily.

Giddy tiptoes they look great!
Brandon you look entirely too great for your own good. I hope you had a wonderful time and I hope to be apart of these major milestones by broadcasting them over my blogg! Love you bud.

let's talk groceries ladies!

I know it seems a little too domesticated of me to be sharing the latest in grocery news as a young wife. But this just simply cannot go unnoticed. So for all of my fellow grocery getters who want in on the best deals and need to watch their grocery spending then I have something for you! It is called The GroceryGame. I am still trying to figure it all out myself. But it is a grocery sale resource. It tracks your local store(s) of choice and local newspaper coupon adds and tells you what to buy this week. The Grocery Game will highlight the best deals so you know whether or not to buy something that may or may not be at its lowest price. It is a little overwhelming at first. But I know I have saved a lot in the past month.

The key is that you are supposed to stock up when something is at a very cheap cost. And then you are not forced to buy it when you run out at its full value. Some people plan there whole meals around what is on sale . . . i have not gotten that far.

An example: Last month I spent around $170 on groceries and saved about $90 and I still bought some things at full price. That seems pretty good, but the grocery all-stars are saving hundreds and spending under $50. Maybe there is an elite grocery guru network that I do not know about?

Anyway if you are interested then the link is above, and I would be happy to answer any questions about this over-the-top-but-very-useful tool someone was kind enough to share with me.

Our Home

Well it only took 2 months to show a spec of our home in G-ville, but here it is. This is our home, where we hang our gator gear, you know the usual. But John and I love our home, and it is our haven of Teten love!


location of amazing meal production! Or at least I am working on it.
It is a tiny little kitchen with no airflow, but who doesn't like to sweat in the kitchen . . . wait I sweat everywhere, I love in Florida.
Where we ate most of our meals until we finally bought our table. And not only is it our dining room, but our guest bedroom too. Please take a long look at your future accomodations at the Teten home!
It is really pretty spacious. All-inclusive hide-a-bed room with view overlooking what might be a ghetto, we are still not sure. Site features free bike use, outdoor pool, laundry room and bi-monthly pest control. (only 3 roaches have graced us with their ugliness since we moved in) another one of the reasons why the Teten abode is ranked highest among the best places to visit family and friends.

Just me, Mrs. Teten about to enjoy our date night of sushi, pinot grigio, and Monsters Inc. What else are you looking for in your vacation destination?
Anyways we love our home, and we love being married. And we want to share it with you even if it is through pictures and not in person.

Our Trip to Tampa

Last weekend we drove to Tampa (about 2 hours south of Gainesville) for a Florida Regional Staff Meeting. We spent the weekend at a hotel on the beach of St. Pete. I have never been to such a fun conference. We had time at the beach, and learned a lot about doing ministry on college campuses.This is outside our room . . . gorgeous huh?

And to top it all off we got to go to a Yankees game, they were playing the SunDevils. Oh Baseball . . .
Thanks to our regional director and his beautiful wife, Dave and Jan. John and I had a wonderful time and I cannot wait to spend more time with our Florida team.

UF Campus

The University of Florida campus is gorgeous. There is lush greenery and palm trees everywhere of course. But the buildings are beautiful and old as well. Not to mention there is a huge stadium right on campus. For those who live in Fort Collins: imagine driving down Laurel St. going west and looking to your left you see a stadium that seats 90,000 (bigger than hughes and invesco combined) instead of Parmelee. How crazy is that. And of course all of their games are sold out here. We will be lucky to get to be in "the swamp" for a home game.

This is our new bike. New for us because we bought it at Goodwill for $10

This is one of many ponds around campus. I guess at any time a gator could be hanging out in one of them. Today it rained the whole time we were on campus from 7am to 3pm.


John and I working our table at a Student Organization Fair on Wednesday. We were giving away $50 to Moe's (a very popular burrito place) It was enough to get plenty of students to fill out our survey and we had the chance to meet a bunch of great students.

My Husband

This is just a quick tribute to my greatest friend, John. I was just pondering the other day how smooth and easy it has been to be so far away from everything that I know and love so much. My friends, family, and free drinks at Chipotle. And truthfully there is only one reason why I have been doing so well. The Lord is showing me His love in wonderful ways through John. Without him I would for sure be a wreck. But his personality and patience enables me to slow down. He is also my biggest encourager. John makes me feel validated as a woman, a wife, a minister and a daughter of Christ. Man I love my husband.

Ocoee Rafting In Tennessee

For Labor Day weekend we took students on the annual Florida Navigators rafting trip in Ocoee Tennessee which is about 7 hrs from Gainesville. It was so much fun we camped for two nights and rafted in between. The Ocoee River plunges 269ft across 5 miles. It is the same river than olympian kayakers competed in for the '96 summer olympics in Atlanta. It had up to class 5 rapids. It was a little intimidating with that kind of background but so much fun. I cannot wait until next fall to do it again. I am sorry that none of the actual rafting could be captured. So our campsite will have to do.

A Weekend of Fun: Photo Edition

So the weekend is over, my sister is married, and we have to return to Florida. We had to take every picture possible before everyone headed home. Here are a couple of them.


Oh goodness, those Tetens are cute! Just my husband and I.
Brandon and John had to exert their manliness, they showed Steamboat who is boss.
John's cuddlier side . . . these are the men in my family. Good lookin group.
Oh the womens. What a strong group of amazing mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.
Whoa, who thought it would be funny to take a picture where everyone is kissing their other? Lets hope my brother finds a better mate for next time. Actually forget that . . . stay away from those girls Brandon, they fog the mind. No good. Just keep lifting weights.

John and I enjoyed every moment of this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding and it was so good to get some family time. Best wishes to the Hofmanns and i cannot wait to see my family again.

A weekend of fun: Reception Edition

The wedding was beautiful, until I have pics of the actual ceremony you will have to believe me. But we can go straight to the reception! April looked amazing, she was so calm and collected to whole time, and she was the star of the dance floor too. Things got started at 6 pm and I hear the last late nighters were out until 2amApril looking rediculously good, and myself, we are just cuttin up the dance floor.
Uncle Darin, Aunt Lanae and Grandma watching the hooligans on the dance floor before showing them how its really done.
the bride, mother of the bride, and matron of honor!
John and Brandon, enough said.
The beauty.

Oh just us!

What a fun night, there was enough dancing to last me a couple of weeks. There was enough laughter to last me the night.

But there was not enough family to last me 3 months!

More pics to come!

A Weekend of Fun! Rehearsal edition

So the location for this weekends festivities, is in beautiful Steamboat Colorado. On the hillside overlooking the valley. We have 26 people staying up here in the two houses we rented. It has been a little colder than we wanted, but the view is still unbelievable!

Our View
The couple practicing those important ceremony moments.
My family: Dawn, Grandma, Darin and Gary. Spectating the practice.
The back of our weekend home. All set up for the dinner. We even had live entertainment. A local country band serenaded us into the week hours of the morning.
Our dinner was catered by a local chef. It was amazing. Corn on the cob, brisket, beans, and beer.
My two favorite men! My bro Brandon and my hubbie!
One night down, the next one two lives will join into one. We cannot wait for some Hofmanns.