The "OK" Life

Hemingway House

2012-01-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

We went to the Hemingway House tour. Omar wasn't interested so he stayed in the car. The tour was about 45 minutes long and was really interesting. His home in the Keys he lived in for a while but when he divorced the wife who owned it he never returned to the Keys. That wife left it to him when he died and when Hemingway passed he left it to his sons who then sold it. The person who owns it now made it to the tourist destination it is.

When we got to the location I had to go to the bathroom really badly. I was pointed to where it was somewhere in the garden. There was a boys stall and a girl's stall. One person was in front of me at the girl's stall and I would have been willing to go to the boy's stall, I had to go so badly, if there had been a free time. The woman in the stall that we were waiting on took over 15 minutes!!! Seriously. Every time a guy would go into their stall, right then another guy would walk up to go next so it was never not free. Over 10 guys went into the bathroom before the lady came out. It was ridiculous. I kept asking the lady in front of me if she was sure someone was in there (the person in the stall was in there prior to me showing up in line). She said she was sure. When I finally went to the bathroom, the stall was huge and so nice - no wonder she was in there so long. There was a whole sitting area. I bet she was just sitting in that nice comfy sofa chair laughing that we were waiting to to go to the bathroom.

We learned about the Hemingway cats and how Hemingway was very accident prone. Merchant ships thought that 6-toed cats were good luck. Hemingway's son found a 6 toed cat and kept it. The cats multiplied and the cats there, about 30 of them or something are the descendants of the original. Each female is allowed 2 litters and then is fixed. Only 2 males are not fixed. One of the oldest cats died the day of our tour and all the workers were mourning. He was 14 years old. We asked what they do with the cats when they die, they said that they don't go to the Vet, the Vet comes to them. There is a special burial place in the garden. There are outside cats that try to get in, but the Hemingway cats won't allow them. They can go anywhere they want in the house or on the grounds.

Garden

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway man cave where he did a lot of his writing

Hemingway's 4 wives

His cats

Hemingway cat drinking from the fountain

banana tree

garden fountain - the bottom part is a urinal from Sloppy Joe's

Duval Street: Florida Keys

2012-01-15T21:30:00.000-05:00

Our first whole day in the keys we spent near Duval Street. My mom and I went shopping taking our time through the shops.

I found this really cute KW bracelette, which stands for Key West, but since it was my maiden name initials & I really wanted it, so splurged and bought it.

I loved this painted tiles - they were set in wood frames made from real lobster traps. I think for a future nursery I would want something like this in it and do an ocean or sea theme

these purses were so cool - made out old hard-bound books

I love this sea collage made from the traps again

thought something like painting my own fish could be cute for a nursery too

My dad and Omar we sent off on their own as they were getting bored at our speed. We met up for lunch and then walked back to the car and saw some of the shops that each group liked and wanted to show each other. We went and got our wetsuits for Dry Tortugas and walked around the marina and found a seafood restaurant and ate appetizers for dinner.

interesting - i can only imagine

There were some really cool pelicans

Sunset

We had fun in the hammock store. My mom loved the one she was in. Omar and I ended up buying 2 hammocks - not shown here. They are hanging on our porch and we love them - thinking about buying 2 more so others can join us.

Florida Keys - Driving down to Key West

2012-01-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

At the first Key we stopped at the Visitors Center to use the bathroom and to get an idea of what we needed to be sure to see on the way down. We wouldn't have time to stop on the way back up because we had booked snorkeling on one of the keys and would be gone from 9am-3pm.

I went up to the lady that worked there and asked her and she pulled a map out and started drawing lines at mile markers and she started spewing out what I could see on the way down. She told me 5 different things and was going so fast I couldn't keep up with her. I told her she was going really fast and she said, "I know honey its fast, just keep up." I was shocked. She would then stop in the middle of our conversation to make sure that every person that walked in signed her visitors book. I think she cared more about the book than anything.

She told us that we should stop at a turtle nursery, see Hemingway's boat, some nature trail place, and then to go to No Name Pub to see the million dollars on the walls. I asked if all the things were free and she guaranteed they were.

First stop was at Sportsmans where Hemingways boat was located. We looked around outside at the Marina and didn't see anything. We did see a menu for a restaurant there and were all shocked that dolphin was all over the menu. Later when we saw dolphin on all the menus in the Keys we asked a waitress about it and she said that was what they call "Mahi Mahi". We had never heard that before.

We had to ask someone where the boat was and was told it was literally INSIDE the Sportsmans store (a retail chain selling outdoors stuff). So we walked around the ship inside the store.

I commented how funny that Omar can't hold on to his glasses for a month and yet we still have Hemingway's glasses when he is already dead!

Our next stop was the sea turtle nursery which actually cost money for an hour and a half tour, unlike what the lady told us. We didn't really want to do that so we then went to the nature trail place which also cost money and so we left there too.

The main thing that she told me that we should see was the Key Deer. She put a line on the map and opened another booklet which was the Key Deer Preservation area. She pointed at a picture of Key Deer in the water and said you will see the deer here. I said "You just go to the mile marker and you see the deer?" She then got all crazy and was like, "Yes! You just see them like the one in this picture with the water, they are everywhere!" I was thinking that maybe it was like a petting farm or something. Key Deer are miniature deer and are endangered species. We drove to where she said and couldn't find anything. We drove around looking at the houses and looking for Key Deer. We saw some in someone's yard. They are so cute and it was sad becuase we saw a sign that over 200 of them were killed last year!

Love all the unique mailboxes

We were pretty much ready to get to the our condo and decided to skip the No Name Pub. We got to our condo a few minutes after 5pm and they closed at 5pm so they put an envelope with our key in it. The condo was nice and was not but a 5-10 minute drive from the main strip Duval Street.

That evening we went and ate at a Cuban Restaurant El Siboney. It was pretty good.

We then went and walked around Duval Street some and then bought a pie at the Key Lime Pie Factory and went back to the condo.

This was a crazy bike this guy was riding

Omar and I didn't sleep well any of the nights we were there. Starting at about midnight the roosters would start crowing every 1-2 minutes, literally!!! Everytime I would start to fall asleep, the rooster would crow again. It was horrible. Roosters are all over the island. I think I could live in the keys if they didn't have roosters.

Sea Days & Debarkation

2012-01-15T21:19:00.001-05:00

There was only 2 sea days on this cruise. Last cruise we participated in a ton of activities on board. This time, I just wanted to relax a lot of the time. I think I was just exhausted from working so much the previous year. I really wanted Omar to participate in the Hairy-est man contest but he chickened out at the last minute. He told me later that he thought it would have been weird because there would be other girls rubbing his chest and back to feel how hairy he was. He told me he would do it next time if I wanted him. We shall see.

I spent part of the time basking in the sun on deck. I couldn't find a lounger that wasn't taken so found a stack of them and told people to move there loungers over so I could place another one down. Honestly, so many people just put their stuff on a lounger and never even use it which is frustrating to those that actually want to use one.

There was a trivia game that I got chosen to be a participant. Lets just say that I lost. But it was still fun

There are 2 cruise elegant nights. I realized in Miami that I forgot to pack dress shoes for Omar. I told him he could just use his special water shoes instead of us buying some dress shoes. It was funny when people would notice it, they would give him a weird look and then they would say, "That's so cool!"

Inside the cruise ship is freezing - I was thankful for Omar's suit coat

Don't you love Omar's dress shoes?

From our balcony

We sat at the same table every single night except for the last. We really liked our waiter

Rarely could I stay up late. After we started stopping at ports, Omar would normal take a nap, but I would not be tired. By the time we ate, and would go to the early show time at around 8:30pm, I would be falling asleep in the show! Omar even had to take me back one night because I fell dead asleep at the beginning of the show. I really liked 2 of the shows - one was this juggler/comedian. He was HILARIOUS - actually more comical than the first set of comedians that came on the ship for the Comedy Show. This other was a hard core magic show, Las Vegas Style. We did go to the comedy shows on board - the second set of comedians that came on the ship were really funny. Late at night there was a card magic trick guy and we liked going to that and he would even come to our dinner table and do tricks just for us too.

Last time Omar got the $40 soda pass that allowed him to get unlimited sodas while on the ship. This time Omar said he would give it up and not drink soda on the trip if I would give him $50 to play at the casino. I thought why not, he wanted some entertainment and all he would play is the $50, once it was gone it was gone. We would have spent at least that on soda, so no loss. He would go at night when I was sleeping usually and watch people play. He learned how to play Roulette and actually won $400! That paid for our excursions and stuff. Hopefully I don't have a gambler on my hands now.

We decided to do the same thing as we did last time when we were leaving the ship, to not put our bags in the early pick-up the night before. We would just handle all of our bags on our own. Our deck, Upper Deck, was pretty much the last deck called. We had no problem getting off the ship.

We later met my parents and Jeff and Erica Foster at Omar's Honduras restaurant he found last time we were in Miami - Adelita's Cafe for breakfast. Following breakfast which ended up being more like lunch we drove their car to a parking lot near the airport and the four of us (my parents and us) drove down in our car to the Keys.

Grand Turk

2012-01-15T20:34:00.001-05:00

This port was surprising to me. It is a newer port for cruise ships and I loved it!!! You pull into port and you really feel like you are in the Caribbean. Drop Dead Gorgeous Waters!

We booked again through the ship because there was nothing that I could see online for booking through other companies. I am so glad I did too because after talking with the locals they told me that all their scuba and snorkeling books up months in advance.

We did the ultimate snorkeling adventure which cost $55.95/pp.

This excursion will show you why Grand Turk is one of the world’s top dive destinations.

Join us for an unforgettable snorkel experience.
Your adventure begins with a short walk from the cruise terminal to the boat where experienced adventure guides will provide your snorkel equipment along with a safety briefing and instructions on the use of your gear.
Then, you are off to your first destination, the pristine Horseshoe Reef. See a myriad of colorful fish as you snorkel in 6-12 feet of water.
Your knowledgeable crew will guide you through the reef system identifying the various tropical fish and coral formations.
Fish identification cards will be provided to help you learn the various species of fish while you are snorkeling.
After experiencing the shallow reefs, you will reboard the boat for a short ride to your second stop off of Round Cay.
Here, you’ll see why Grand Turk is one of the world’s top dive destinations.
Enjoy the turquoise waters and marvel at the amazing coral and marine life that inhabit this reef, before reboarding your boat for the relaxing ride back to the cruise terminal.

This was seriously some of the best snorkeling I have ever done. I was in water heaven. I swam way all around all of the reefs venturing by myself and the guides would just make comments to Omar like, "She really likes water doesn't she?" Thank goodness I have an understanding husband.

Do you see the peacock fish camouflaged on the bottom there? Very cool.

Omar gave a kind donation to the beautiful seas while on our boat trip. He blames me, I didn't even realize he brought them but his 2 week old glasses that we finally got for him are somewhere in the Grand Turk waters. He hasn't had a pair of glasses make it a whole 2 months I think since we have gotten married, next time it will just be lasik surgery for him I think.

Barracuda!

After the excursion we walked around the beach to this local place and ordered something to eat. I got the conch salad and some conch fritters and it was very average. It was interesting talking to a lady inside one of the stores selling some really beautiful jewelry. She was telling me how most people on the island actually work for the government of the Turkos Islands and how tourism really isn't that big for the people there yet. She told me that it is VERY expensive to live there - milk costs $12/gallon, loaf of bread is $8.

After eating Omar was tired and went back to the ship while I went over to Margaritaville where there is a HUGE pool with a swim up bar and FloRider which is like "Wipeout" from Water Mania where I grew up (basically a constant wave to boogy board on). If you do want to do FloRider you can do it by booking it on your own when you are at Margaritaville and it is like $40 for an hour and a half where on the ship it costs about that much for an hour. I hung out at the pool and then went back to the ship.

Grand Turk Total = $134 ($112 snorkeling; $2 ornament; $26 food)

San Juan, Puerto Rico

2012-01-15T20:05:00.001-05:00

This was the port I was most excited about because I was going to see my mission mom, Mari Carmen Rivera Cotti (my trainer), who lives in Puerto Rico and she was going to show me her "isla encantata" (enchanted island). I was the first person from the mission to come visit her and I have been wanting to see Puerto Rico. I loved it!

We got in at 7 AM to that port and left at 2:30 pm. Hermana Rivera and her husband were able to stay the night in San Juan to wait for us. She lives 3 hours away from San Juan in the mountains. They took us to El Yunque which is the Rainforest. It was about a 30-45 minute drive away from Old San Juan.

We climbed up a viewing tower to see a spectacular view.

We then did a 40 minute hike up and down throughout the rainforest to get to a beautiful waterfall and pool.

Omar and I went swimming and it was FREEZING! But it was beautiful. We spoke to some people that were at the falls from a different cruise ship. I asked how much they paid and they said it was $100/pp!!! They paid over $500 for their family. I was shocked. We paid nothing as admission is free.

Talking to their tour guide I guess they came to the waterfall the opposite way by driving up much further in the rainforest and taking tons of stairs down. It is a much easier hike than the one we did. They then go back the way we came because it is easier and quicker on the return. There is a museum you can go to that we chose not to visit that costs a few bucks and you can do an hour tour for $5.

We were hungry after the rainforest and so we found a place on the side of the road and got a bunch of puerto rican food! So yummy. Following eating we went to Old San Juan took pictures at the fort and all around the fort.

I found where I want to be buried - talk about beautiful!

I was going to go into the tower - but it reeked of urine! So sad.

We looked at the old homes and ate some yummy ice creams. We had a great time and already want to go back and spend days in PR so we can go see the other beautiful areas.

The bricks were all such a beautiful, pearly blue hue

Puerto Rico total = $68 (Food $51; ornament $9; Ice Cream $8) - our hosts wouldn't let us pay for gas so we bought lunch and ice cream

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

2012-01-15T20:03:00.000-05:00

It was raining when we got to port in St. Thomas. It cleared up pretty much, but drizzled throughout the day.

I booked an excursion through the ship for St. Thomas port of call. It got good reviews and I looked online for different options by doing stuff on our own and I couldn't find anything with a better price doing the things this excursion had to offer. This was called, "Kayak, Hike, and Snorkel"...

A unique, multi-eco experience awaits you in St. Thomas’ Mangrove Wildlife Refuge & Marine Sanctuary. On this excursion you will:

Kayak, snorkel, and hike through a 16-acre uninhabited island with breathtaking views.
Leave the pier in an open-air safari bus to the marina.
Be provided with a safety briefing, instructions and equipment. Board your two-person sit-upon kayak and paddle through the tranquil waters and protected mangroves of the inner lagoon.
Make three stops for informative explanations of the area’s ecology and wildlife along with amusing local folklore. Keep your eyes open for iguanas, egrets, herons, pelicans, and frigates.
Leave your kayak at a scenic beach for an invigorating hike to Red Point cliffs, tidal pools and a blowhole.
Don your mask and plunge into the fascinating underwater kingdom. See starfish, conchs, stingrays, and puffer fish as you explore a beautiful coral fringed mangrove nursery.
Enjoy a snack and then glide your kayak back into the water for your return trip to the marina.

I was pretty dissappointed with this excursion. I think something that I don't like about going through the ship for things is you spend SO much time waiting to get started. We waited forever to board the taxi to the kayaking location, 20 minutes just sitting in the taxi at the site, then another 20 before our discussion started before we could board the kayaks, then when we were done another 20 minutes just board the taxi to go back. So the whole excursion maybe was 2 hours and 2 hours was just spent waiting.

We kayaked through one of the largest mangrove habitats in the world. It was nice, but since I am from Florida I think it was not as exciting to me as to others. We didn't see any animal life during the kayaking trip. We then came to this little island that was seriously made of mangroves, and coral. We then snorkeled a little bit, but the snorkeling was some of the worst I have seen.

Everything just looks dead and like moss

some of the only fish we saw - it was pretty shallow and with unexperienced snorkelers they kicked up the water a lot making it very murky

I think Omar and I enjoyed most the hermit crab race we had. This island was COVERED with hermit crabs. They have no idea why or how there were so many on the island. There was thousands of them. We each chose a hermit crab and drew a big circle and had a race for whatever crab could get passed the circle first. Omar's got 2nd place! Mine didn't even start to compete until after the race was over!!! I think I scared him. He was a big frisky guy that was moving around like crazy. He nipped me with his claws and I dropped him so I think he got scared to come out of his shell.

After the race we walked through all these trees to a little area of rocks where the water would blow through, took some pictures and went back. This was the most expensive excursion we did $89.95/pp and it was the most dissappointing. we talked to a lot of people later and St. Thomas was their favorite port so I think I just chose the wrong excursion for us.

St. Thomas total = $192 ($180 excursion; $12 ornament and souvenir)

Nassau Bahamas

2012-01-12T22:10:00.002-05:00

January 2nd we arrived at the Bahamas very early.

I couldn't find a specific excursion that we were interested in so we decided to just adventure out to see what there was. We didn't realize that January 2nd is a HUGE holiday for the Bahamian people. They started a New Year's Parade at midnight that morning and it went strong until close to 11 AM!!! This parade was hard core, the costumes, the music, everything was spectacular. I can't imagine what it was like at midnight when it started because there was confetti ALL over the streets. These people can party!

I wish the cruise line had let us know about this celebration because everything didn't open until pretty much noon and we had to be back on the ship by 1:30 pm. Omar and I walked around town and found ourselves at the Governor's House at about 8 AM. We asked one of the policeman armed with his machine gun how far of a walk it was to Atlantis Hotel. He looked at both of us and said, "You look strong and healthy, it will probably take you 20 minutes."

20 minutes later we were just getting to the HUGE bridge that went over the water. Tons of taxis passed us as we walked and tried to let them pick us up. On the bridge we flagged down someone to come take a picture of us. This will probably be a one time walk on that bridge for us.

It is not very easy finding the right way to go to get to the hotel once you get across the bridge, we had to ask people. In general the hotel is very nice. You can't see too much at the hotel without paying for a half/full day pass or be a patron of the hotel. We still got some nice shots. I was not able to find online very easily how much it cost to buy a ticket to the water park. The cruise charged $160/pp, if you buy it at Atlantis it is $120/pp. I was so glad we didn't buy the tickets especially since the park doesn't open until like 10am-5pm.

Omar did $2 in slots - he didn't win anything - slots are actually VERY complicated to understand

We then took a taxi over to Fish Fry. Everyone recommended it. We waited for it to open by walking over to the beach. I was going to go swimming, but the water was FREEZING! That explained why we saw no one in the water.

The restaurant filled up quickly and service was poor. The for sure do everything on Island time. Omar ordered a red snapper fish, the whole fish fried and I got their conch salad which was to DIE for! Best conch salad ever.

We saw everyone going to a side stand to order these ice creams and so we decided to get one on the way back to the ship. They were so delicious. It was like a pina colada and strawberry daquiri ice cream or something.

We went to the straw market which everyone talks about needing to go see. A lot of the shops were closed or just barely opening due to the holiday. But the ones that were open all really sold the same thing. We really didn't buy anything. I wasn't too impressed with the straw market, and would be okay skipping it next time.

When we were waiting in line to get back on the ship I asked the vendors nearby how much it was to go snorkeling and it was about $15 less than doing it through the ship. I think I will be doing that next time.

Bahamas total: $95 ($26 taxis; $34 lunch; $23 souvenir and ornament; $10 ice cream; $2 casino Atlantis)

Embarkation Eastern Caribbean Cruise

2012-01-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

New Years Day we went to breakfast with Erica and Jeff in Coconut Grove at Berries on the Grove. This time we parked at a lot that I reserved in advance. It ended up costing us $68.33 from Sunday to Sunday reservation with Premier Parking USA. It even included a shuttle so we didn't have to get a taxi like we did last time. We had no problems and I would use them again.

I did notice while we were getting checked in that they have gone automated with check-in. Where people used to check you in, they now have kiosks. We got onto the ship at about 1:30 pm just in time for us to be able to go into our cabin. Cabins don't open up until 1:30pm.

We knew lunch would be served on board as well, but we weren't hungry at that time. This time I brought our bathing suits with us if we decided to go swimming while waiting for our luggage to be delivered later that evening. Of course I brought too much clothes this time too. All I brought was 1 outfit a day, but when you wear a swimsuit most of the time, you don't always need an outfit. Packing was a little bit of a challenge for this trip. I had a Miami bag, our bags for the cruise, and then another separate bag for our trip to the Keys. The Miami and Keys bag stayed in the trunk of our car.

You can see our luggage

Omar surprised me by upgrading us to a balcony!!! I loved it! Carnival I guess called him about 3 days before and offered it at an awesome deal that he decided to try it out. It was very sacrificial of him as he was looking forward to staying in his dark small quarters where there is no window. As a joke at work they called him a "vampire" because he would prefer darkness more than light. Omar was not as excited about the balcony, but I must say it was so nice to be able to be sit out there as we sailed in and out of ports and to just relax.

Our view of Miami from the balcony

We chose anytime dining which we much preferred over the specific dining time. We learned after the first night that it is best to go right when they open if at all possible because our first night we waited about 30 minutes to get through the line, but were seated right away when we finally got to the beginning.

This time I am going to include as best as I can what we spent on the cruise at each port.

New Years in Miami

2012-01-12T20:12:00.000-05:00

Omar had some last minute jobs on Friday December 30 while I packed for our 2 week adventure. We then drove down to Miami with a stop in Daytona Beach for lunch to use a Groupon that we had. Erica and Jeff Foster were our hosts until we were to board our ship on New Year's Day.

We got there about dinner time and we went to Coconut Grove walked around and ate at Jaguar. We had a delicious meal. We went back to their town home later that evening, watched a movie and Erica and I stayed up until 2 AM talking. That was really late for me, but I guess Erica stays up usually until at least 4 AM.

The next day we did a ton of stuff which was surprising since we didn't get started until about 11 AM. Jeff made us his family secret recipe Sausage Balls for breakfast. Erica and I got pedicures at the best place she has been able to find so far in Miami. I must say it was very disappointing service. It was like a speed pedicure, they spent maybe 20 minutes for the whole thing and the guy who did mine wouldn't even look at me no less speak to me.

I did a New Years Eve Glitter Gold

We went to this crazy parade to celebrate New Year's called the "King Mango Strut". Occupy was part of it as well. We really didn't get a lot of what people were talking about as part of their protests shown below.

They are talking about Steve Jobs

Omar of course loved this one

We ate at Versailles for a late lunch, famous for their Cuban food and got some treats at their bakery after.

We went over to Coral Gables and looked around at the homes and took pictures as well as went to the special Venetian pool. It was closed, but it was beautiful and I would love to go in it when it is open in the Spring.

A police officer drove up to us and we thought we were going to get in trouble or something. He then asked if we wanted him to take a picture of us. We were like sure, thanks. He then said impatiently, "well give me the camera so I'm not late for work." This was the picture he took

I had no idea that there was a Biltmore hotel in Miami. Actually Miami was really built around the hotel itself. It was very impressive. There was a Jewish Wedding going on and there was some really cool ideas that they had.

they used these keys for the guests to pick up to know what table they were sitting at

There were 15 floors and we wanted to see what was on it. We went to the first elevator and walked in with this other kid. He pressed floor 13 and we pressed 15. The kid, probably about 16 years old. Just looked over at us with a look like he had to go #2 really bad. Later we realized he was probably just confused with us going up to floor 15. He got out and it was a little hallway and only one door where he had to put his card key in door to open up to his room. Floor 13 was his whole floor!

We continued up and floor 15 opened and there were pictures like in a museum on the walls opening up into a hallway but there wasn't a card key entry that we saw so we exited. Omar went first down the hallway with me following and before all of us could get out of the elevator he whispered get back in the elevator. We rush back into the elevator and he was like it was the bedroom and a lady was sitting at a table drinking tea. It was all just pure luck that we even got up to that level. There is only one elevator that goes there and you have to have a key card to open the elevator, which we happened to be there at the same time someone was accessing it. The 15th floor also has a door once you get off the elevator but the person there left it open so we were able to go straight into their room! We had to laugh at the whole thing.

After the Biltmore we went back home to sleep for an hour before the long New Years Eve celebration. After some convincing to Erica we took the train to downtown park for NY's Eve Celebration. There was a sing-off competition between Ludacris and Mike Posner. I had never heard of Mike Posner before. There was food, and the countdown with fireworks over the water. We had a nice time

Taking the train was a good choice due to traffic. Even with going to the train during the fireworks and not waiting for it to end we didn't get back to the house until after 1:30 AM. If we had drove it would have been probably close to 3 AM.

Home Sweet Home

2012-01-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

We just got back from almost 2 weeks of pure Sunshine Paradise in places I had never been before. This vacation flew by way too quickly. We were greeted at home by a gorgeous Full Moon as we pulled into the neighborhood. I can't believe its over. I now have so many additional places and trips that I want to add to my list. I feel so blessed that we were both able to take time away from work, and it appears that we still have jobs to come home too. I also am so thankful that we could afford such a wonderful trip. Here is all I have to report on from the last 2 weeks...

Our itinerary was:
Friday, December 30 - finish packing & drive to Miami
Saturday, December 31 - New Years in Miami with Jeff & Erica Foster
Sunday, January 1 - leave Miami on Carnival Glory 7 night Cruise (Eastern Caribbean)
Monday, January 2 - Nassau, Bahamas
Tuesday, January 3 - Day at Sea
Wednesday, January 4 - St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Thursday, January 5 - San Juan, Puerto Rico with my Texas mission "mom" (trainer) Mari Carmen Rivera Cotti
Friday, January 6 - Grand Turks
Saturday, January 7 - Day at Sea
Sunday, January 8 - Drive to Key West with my parents
Monday, January 9 - Key West
Tuesday, January 10 - Dry Tortugas
Wednesday, January 11 - Stops along the Keys and drive back home
Thursday, January 12 - Day of recuperation
Friday, January 13 - Back to reality!!!!

This picture doesn't do justice to the gorgeous moon!

Christmas in Savannah

2012-01-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

My sister Kelly was going to close on a town home she was buying in and my mom decided to drive out with her to Utah and stay for the closing. Since my sister Lindsey is also living up in Logan to go to school there my dad decided to go out there as well for a few weeks. That meant that Omar and I would be on our own for Christmas this year. That was fine because I had to work Christmas Eve until 3pm and then again on the day after Christmas (a Monday). So to me it was like not even having Christmas.

Omar and I decided that we would go to Savannah for Christmas Eve. He was able to easily book a hotel with his cheap rate and we stayed at the Double Tree this time. We got there at about 6 pm. Omar made reservations at the Pink House for dinner and then for lunch on Christmas Day he had reservations at the Chart House. He originally wanted to eat at the Pirate's House but it was going to be closed.

We walked around and went in the 3-4 stores that were still open on Christmas Day. We then walked over to the Pirate's House area and learned that they are open for Christmas Eve and so we called and changed our Pink House reservation to Christmas and ate there for dinner. We were both starving and actually ended up being done with dinner by the time our original reservations were at the Pink House.

I don't think we will eat at the Pirate's House again. I got the pecan encrusted Tilapia and it was honestly so flavorless I couldn't eat it! I sent it back and just got a wedge salad instead. Their shrimp and grits was super duper delicious. We took one with us to go it was so good.

On the walk back Omar had to go to the bathroom really bad and this homeless guy stopped us for money. We honestly had no money. He then asked for my food! I didn't want to give up my food because I knew I would get hungry since my salad was small and everything was closing. We kept walking but we both felt bad. Once we got back to the hotel, Omar later went back and gave him some money. He was really grateful. I think he honestly was homeless.

The next day we just walked around and took pictures. It was picture taking paradise because there was really no one around like their normally is so it was easy to get shots we wouldn't be able to in the past.

Our reservation was for 12:30 pm for Christmas lunch. We sat in the basement. The house was INCREDIBLE and just huge. We were down where the bar was but everything was lit by candles and a fireplace. The food was wonderful. I would for sure go back as the menu changes.

When we left it was raining and we decided to just go home. We got home about 4 pm and opened the gifts that Eddie and Megan (our in-laws) got for us. We then just relaxed until work the next day. It was great to just get away for a little while and to feel like it wasn't just a normal Sunday off.

Bowling with the Hills

2011-12-23T18:49:00.000-05:00

A few months ago Brandon, Brianna, Omar, and I went bowling and to dinner as from some Groupons that we bought. Bri just posted some pictures of it on Facebook and I didn't want to miss out on remembering the fun night that we had.

Christmas Parties!

2011-12-23T17:05:00.000-05:00

The same day as my Christmas Cookie Exchange was the evening of our Ward Christmas Party. I was supposed to bring a vegetable and had bought all the ingredients to make this vegetable diavan recipe from pinterest. however, I never got time to make it. After the cookie party, Omar took his cousin Carin out shopping while I worked on getting a bunch of primary stuff done for the next day at church. When they got back about 2 hours later we went to go get pedicures and when that was done it left an hour before the party. So we went over to Publix and I bought their Greek Salad to bring with me.

The party was nice, there was food, each table had a gingerbread house to decorate, and then there was a nice Christmas program with different performers from the ward. I was worried that it was going to be a really long program with how many people were performing, but it went really quickly and we the party ended even early.

Lise Long singing "Chestnuts Roasting"

Carin helping Charles Schrieber with our gingerbread house

After the Ward party we went over to our neighbor Tracy & Gina's house for their party. There was tons of food, but we weren't hungry. There was also quite a few of our neighbors there as well as the 2 ladies that work at the model home selling the houses. One of them, Sydney, eats like nothing but candy and cookies (seriously) and she has so much energy and so crazy! Well you can see she got Omar to have a good time too...

We also decided to try to invite some couples from church for a Mexican Christmas Party earlier this week. This was just a bad party planning year because we invited like 10 different couples and only 2 others were going to be able to make it. So our big party idea didn't work out for what we were going to do, so we were just going to eat and play some Settlers. However, the day of the party I came down with terrible cold and didn't want to get anyone else sick so we had to completely scrap our whole party. That was pretty sad. I guess it was just no meant to be.

Carin Comes To Town

2011-12-18T21:18:00.001-05:00

Omar's cousin decided to come to town from Guatemala. It all happened in about a week. In Guatemala clothes are very expensive and so it is actually much cheaper to fly here and shop til' you drop. Which is exactly what took place here for a week period while she was in town. She brought like $6k with her to spend on stuff. She got a lot of stuff too. I must say I was most grateful for her. She helped with cleaning and of course she cooked. Sometimes she would get bored and when I would get home from work another thing in my house would be organized and cleaned. I couldn't get her to stop and relax! I got her to be sort of a party animal too since we had like 4 parties that we went to and 2 of them were ones we hosted. I think she had a good time.

Aren't these the cutest place settings?

Hand painted Nativity Set from Guatemala

She brought these very nice items with her for me from Guatemala. We did some fun things with her too - but not everything that I would have liked to. We are seriously thinking about going to visit her and her family in Guatemala this coming year.

We Won The Lottery!!!

2011-12-18T20:49:00.002-05:00

Omar got a call for his dad who asked him to buy a lotto ticket for one of the customers staying at his Hilton Hotel who wanted to participate in the big lotto going on in Florida. I had no idea this was a big one to attract attention from people out West. Of course we don't play the lottery or believe in gambling, but Omar said that as he got the ticket for the person he was thinking about if he was to play and to win the lottery what he would buy. He then started thinking about how there really isn't anything that he would want or need as he is so blessed. He told me how he has a beautiful wife (I liked that one), is part of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, has wonderful family on both sides (and none of them are crazy), a job, a home, smart phones, and we have good health. What more could he want and need?? He truly has won the Lottery!

Super Saturday

2011-12-18T19:22:00.001-05:00

We actually didn't make these plates but I really liked it, the Young Women made them.

Ashley and I with the cute Santa Cupcakes we made

November we had Super Saturday at church which is basically a craft day. This was my first time being able to participate in one. It was a lot of fun. I made a Christmas block, and a temple block, as well as did some etching on my dishes.

2nd Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange

2011-12-18T16:58:00.002-05:00

Meghan, Judy, Ashley, Allison, Kate, Lise

December 10 was my 2nd time hosting a Christmas Cookie Exchange. I thought this year would be an even bigger turnout than last year, since I invited over 20 people, but only 5 were able to make it. I think it must have been a bad day. It was a week later this year than lasts, but now with my job I need to have it after Medicare Annual Enrollment is over. Even though we were small, we had a great time.

Last year I made this ham breakfast casserole, but this year I got inspired by Pinterest and thought I would try some new ideas out. I made Cinnamon French Toast Bake, which I thought was super yummy and so easy to make. I also did make your own parfaits. Of course there was the traditional hot chocolate along with our exchange.

We spent our time talking and eating and really didn't play any games this year except for the mystery cookie game. This year I made a cookie of Martha Stewart's called the Rosemary Pine Nut Cookie. The winner again this year was Megan Southerland and everyone liked her name the best for the cookie too. I think the name was Winter Pine Forest (or something like that). The only other game we had was the game with whoever says the word "cookie" would lose the bell necklace they were given when they arrived. The winner of the game was my neighbor Judy.

Since we were a smaller group that meant each of us got 1 dozen of each person's cookies, which made it very easy for the exchange part.

I am already looking forward to next year.

Trans-siberian orchestra

2011-12-08T22:22:00.001-05:00

We went to the trans-siberian orchestra tonight. We took omar's cousin Carin with us from Guatemala. Omar had always wanted to go and this year we finally bought tickets. It was the most family friendly show I have ever been. I must say it was very refreshing to go to something with no foul language or really anything innappropriate. It is like a rock-n-roll concert with orchestra. Everything was centered around Christmas and the reason for the season. It actually got me feeling for the first time this whole season what the purpose of Christmas is! The lazer light show, pyrotenics and just their ingeniuty was amazing!!! I did chuckle many times because they introduced their dance choreographer as part of the orchestra. The reason that is funny is because I really only noticed that they swayed their long hair in huge rock circles. They are all known for their long hair in case you didn't know. There were some songs that sort of dragged out to me. Overall we had a good time.

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Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

2011-11-26T21:15:00.001-05:00

I feel so blessed that I had off the whole Thanksgiving weekend. I was one of the only ones at work that did and I totally needed it. I have been working so much recently and now my next day off isn't until December 9th! (besides Sunday of course when we are closed)

WEDNESDAY
Omar and I were supposed to drive down together after work to Orlando to spend the holiday with my family. He ended up having to work till late that night so we had to drive separately. The only place I can find a swim suit is at Everything But Water and the closest is in Orlando. I called them to see if they have any sales going on for Black Friday, which they didn't but they were having a sale right then and so I asked them to save the suits that were my size which they did for only 24 hours. Wednesday I got off work and drove down the Florida Mall. I found 3 of them and 2 cover ups.

After the mall, my sister, Kelly, and I went and saw the new Twilight movie. It wasn't the worst of the movies so far, at least. The movie ended after midnight so CVS started their Thanksgiving specials. Kelly and I bought a ton of stuff!

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving was wonderful. My whole family was there with exception of Lindsey. Nancy came with her boys, and Aaron came with his boys (Nicole didn't come - she was working on dinner for her parents). It was nice being able to spend time with Croix and Levi (Aaron's 2 boys) as they really had no idea who I was. Also, my mom's Uncle Jim came from Tallahassee. I met him when I was a little girl from what everyone told me, but I didn't remember him. I really enjoyed meeting him and talking with him.

It isn't Thanksgiving without going through the ads and making our list for the Black Friday Game Plan

I love my meat carving artist!

Nancy's Family

My family with Jim

This was the first time I really every got a spend any time with my cousins - it was nice talking to them

Croix and Levi so wanted to pet the cat

This year we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, creamed squash, creamed onions, pumpkin pie, french apple pie, sweet potato roll, and ice cream. This year we didn't go to a movie like our normal tradition - there were just no good movies out.

I was so tired from getting to bed at close to 3 AM in the morning and waking up at like 8:30 AM to help get stuff ready for Thanksgiving meal, at lunch time, that I wanted to go to bed early. Omar really wanted to go and watch the 49er's football game at Buffalo Wild Wing's since my parents didn't have the channel for it. He convinced me to go with him, and my dad came as well. The place was not open and it happened to be right next to Walmart which had opened a few minutes earlier for Black Friday so we thought we would go check it out.

WalMart was a MAD house - I had never seen it like that for any Black Friday thing before. My dad found a GPS for my mom for Christmas and they let him take it even though the deal wouldn't be available until after midnight (It was 10 PM when we got there). They were actually letting everyone take what they wanted prior to midnight so long as it wasn't the TV's and laptops. It was awesome, Omar and I found an XBox with the Kinect for $150!!! With a deal like that we couldn't pass it up. Now we have all 3 of the game systems (Wii, XBox, PSP). We walked around Walmart about 10 times just checking everything out until we decided to wait in line at about 11:15 to check out at midnight. We waited longer having the lady get us ringed out than anything. We totally chose the wrong line, she was SO SLOW. I am sure she just didn't care since she was going to be there all night anyhow. We got home a little after 1 AM - so another late night for me.

FRIDAY
Kelly was invited by the Pratts to go to a mud games activity at their farm. I had never been out to the farm oddly enough and wanted to go. We got there a little before 11 AM. I guess their crops had flooded due to the rain so they dug a retention pond and put the dirt pulled up to raise their crop bed. So we were going to play in the mud. We played ultimate Frisbee and my team won. We then went and did a tug of war over the pond. My team lost and that water was REALLY cold. It was fun spending time with all the Pratts and to meet Tanner's new wife, Sarah.

Tug of War over the retention pond

the gang

We're Debt FREEEEE!!!!

2011-10-13T17:19:00.001-04:00

Omar and I are DEBT FREE!!! We have been working on this since we got married little by little. We have paid off over $36,000!!! So no we have not paid off the house yet, but all other consumer debt is gone. We paid off credit cards, student loan, our car, and more. We should get the title in the mail any day now, that was the last thing we paid off. This opens up a whole new world. Just not paying a car payment a month is huge for us. Now we can really work to save, save, save. Then starting plugging away on the house.

A lot of this was thanks to Dave Ramsey. We went to his Financial Peace University (FPU) when we first got married. His baby steps have helped us to keep organized.
Learn more about becoming debt free by going to www.daveramsey.com it can change your life too.

LDS Cannery

2011-10-06T08:43:00.003-04:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes strongly in the importance of not only being self-sufficient, but in preparation for the future through food storage. During this economy there have been plenty of people that I know that have lived off their food storage due to job loss and financial difficulty. Omar and I have been working on our own personal food storage. We have a long way to go and I still need to learn how to really use it, but at least it is a start. Last year was the first time I was able to actually go to the cannery and it is a lot of fun. I mean who doesn't love wearing cool aprons and hair nets!

Quotes from Latter-day Prophets of God:
"Nothing destroys the individuality of a man, woman, or a child as much as the failure to be self-reliant." - President Heber J. Grant
"Get out of debt, pay off your mortgage and get food in your homes." - President Gordon B. Hinckley
"Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account...if you are saving and planning for some item which merely adds to your comfort or pleasure, you may need to change your priorities." - President Ezra Taft Benson

myself and Brianna's friend Amy

Bri and Amy

Cow Lick: Daytona Beach

2011-10-05T09:43:00.001-04:00

I have no idea how I skipped over our adventure of going to Cow Lick in Daytona for ice cream. We went after BJ's for a sweet treat. Cow Lick boasts homemade ice cream. It is a pretty cool little shop with a lot of old school video games and pinball machines. Omar of course went straight to those like a little kid. I wish I would have gotten some pictures.

My dad, mom and I began looking at the ice cream. There was one ice cream holder with about 8 flavors and I asked if that was all they had. The 2 boys that were attending looked at me like I was retarded and pointed to the far corner hidden was another set of 8 flavors. I couldn't decide what I wanted so I asked if I could have a sample. I sampled 1 and then asked for another kind of shyly, but not seriously (I mean why wouldn't they give me a second sample?). I thought he was joking but he said okay like it was horrible to have more than one sample. The samples were the smallest I have ever had at an ice cream shop before.

There was one more flavor that I just wanted to try to make my decision and I asked for one more. He then said, 2 is the limit PER GROUP! He then said that I had eaten all the samples for all of us. I was like are you kidding me? Per group? I was like well we are not in the same group pointing to my parents. I mean there were 4 of us and we were going to buy our own stuff anyhow - how could they only give us 2 samples between the 4 of us? That wouldn't even allow all 4 of us to have 1 sample! I gave him a hard time and he gave me one more sample. My parents both got a sample and then Omar got a sample. When Omar got the sample and shared his little lick with me the guy got very apparently upset that he had shared it with me. I couldn't believe it.

Obviously we are all adults and are paying customers and there was nothing posted about this 2 sample max per group rule. The whole time we just laughed in the store about the 2 sample per group. The ice cream was good and the price was also cheaper than most ice cream shops. Maybe that was why they have that rule. There was a tiny chalkboard on top of the toppings bar I thought about going up there and writing on it - Only 2 samples per group!

Daytona was a laugh the whole time. It was just a place that there really is nothing to do - you go to TripAdvisor and there was like 4 items listed....so sad. I guess that is what I get for not pre-researching this little excursion. I can now check Daytona Beach off my bucket list, if it was ever on it in the first place.

Omar's 30th Birthday

2011-10-02T22:07:00.001-04:00

Omar's birthday was this last Wednesday. I of course was working till like 8pm and so we didn't get a chance to celebrate on his big day for his 30th birthday. Omar and I are not much for giving gifts to each other. I am more of a "create a memory with me" kind of person, and he is more about "give me some good food" kind of person. Birthdays mean nothing to him but another day, whereas for me it means a whole month of celebration. So to celebrate I am going to list

30 Things About Omar

1) Omar loves meat
2) Omar loves Entemmann's butter loaf bread
3) Omar loves NFL football
4) His favorite football team is the SF 49er's
5) He is good at cleaning the house
6) He is a bbq mad man
7) He opened the Northeast FL region for his company
8) Omar loves his field of work
9) He has 2 brothers
10) He is from San Pedro Sula, Honduras
11) He became a US Citizen this year on January 11, 2011
12) He likes rollerblading
13) He has huge arm muscles
14) He is really into Japanese Anime
15) He is an amazing kisser
16) He is an uncle to 2 adorable little boys Jayden and Tage
17) He loves it to be freezing in the house
18) He takes pride in his yard work
19) He likes to take multiple showers a day if possible
20) He is very laid back
21) Loves staying at home relaxing
22) He can be considered a professional sleeper on occasion
23) He is going bald much to my disappointment
24) He is in the Elders Quorum Presidency for our ward
25) He is bilingual
26) He is always helping other people
27) He is good at fixing things
28) He does not like clutter or like to hold onto keepsakes
29) He supports me in everything
30) He is a loving and kind husband who I love greatly and feel so blessed to have in my life

I LOVE YOU OMAR SPILSBURY !!!

Breakfast with Bri

2011-10-02T21:26:00.002-04:00

One of my only friend's Brianna told me last week that they are moving to Orlando for a job her husband Brandon got with Fidelity. I was distraught and so she took me to breakfast at this fabulous place in Jacksonville right across from the water called Metro Diner. It was SO delicious. Thanks Bri!

Their version of shrimp and grits - doesn't that look incredible?

Bri with her california style eggs benedict

We had a great time talking and then browsing over at Fresh Market. It was funny because at Fresh Market she wanted to buy some coffee for a new bath bar (soap) that she is making. That is what she does, makes soap. Well neither of us know anything about coffee since we don't drink it. We had to ask for help about what kind we should get as well as had the lady grind up the coffee because we had no clue how to do it. So funny. I think the lady thought we were crazy.

Daytona Beach

2011-10-02T21:07:00.000-04:00

While Omar and I waited for my parents to arrive to check in we walked around on the beach. The water was perfect - it felt like how it did at South Beach. The water isn't nearly as pretty though. It after 4pm when my parents were all settled and we didn't want to get into swim suits with it being so late. I almost wish we had looking back on it, because a cold front came in and it was cold going into the water the next day.

We drove around for about an hour looking at the different houses and sites while trying to find a restaurant that my mom went to with one of her teacher conventions that she thought was really good. We finally were able to find it, "Aunt Catfish's" and it is right on the inter-coastal. We sat outside which was nice and cool and there was live music. The view was pretty too. The food was so yummy. They have this incredible salad and fixin' bar to go with it with good old southern favorites like cheesy grits, baked beans, cornbread, etc. We had a nice time here.

We were stuffed by all the food and then we decided to go to a movie. My parents have seen pretty much everything out except the new Taylor Lautner movie that just came out called "Abduction" so we went and saw that. No one but my dad even knew what it was about. I don't think I have ever watched a movie in a theater without knowing what it was about first. It was pretty good. After that we walked around the pier area of Daytona Beach. They have carnival rides there, but it is like $5/ride. Too expensive for my blood. The pier is closed for renovations, but it was neat going to that area.

Saturday we woke up and took a walk all the way down to the pier.

We then went to breakfast in the morning. We went to Mike's Galley. It was SO good!!! They bake their own bread and baked goods. I think we had a little of everything. Eggs Benedict, french toast, cinnamon roll, pancakes, eggs, grits, home style potatoes, potato casserole, fish sandwich, etc. It was a place I would definitely return to. The prices were pretty good too I thought.

After eating there we went and relaxed at the pool reading and talking.

After a few hours of that we went to the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light Station Museum. It is home of the 2nd largest lighthouse in the country. It was really nice. They have done an incredible job restoring the place. They even have the original buildings that the lighthouse keepers used to stay in restored into a really great museum. It was very interesting learning about their lives there are Mosquito Coast (that is what Daytona Beach used to be called).

We walked up the 203 stairs to the top of the lighthouse. Can you imagine climbing that with 40 pounds of kerosene? I can't. The view was incredible and the breeze was so nice and refreshing. It would have been really scary to be up there at night with a storm or hurricane though. The lighthouse keepers would take shifts every night of 3 watches to make sure that light would not go out and stuff. What a boring job. This was well worth the $5 we paid to enter.

We then went and had a late lunch at BJ's on the water. It was recommended to me by a friend. It is more like a bar, and boats can dock there and you walk up to order. The food was good though.

We went back to the hotel and hung out at the beach some more. We then had the debate to leave or stay and decided to go that evening to Buffalo Wild Wings for a late dinner and to watch the UF vs Alabama game. We stayed for the first half. That was my dad's first experience ever going to a sports bar.

The next day dad and I went for another long walk together and then we packed up and left. Omar and I drove on the beach when we left just so I could say that I had done it. I don't think I will be coming back to Daytona in the near future. If I do, I think it would be just a day trip and I would drive my car on the beach.

Daytona Beach - a bust?

2011-10-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

I have been to Daytona Beach once in my life, but I honestly don't remember it all. Now looking back on our little excursion, I might know why. Daytona Beach is probably the one place in Florida that I think I would be okay with not returning to later on.

I saw a Groupon (it was not from Groupon itself, but a similar site) for a 2 night hotel stay in Daytona Beach for $60 and it was right on the beach. Normally we always stay at a Hampton Inn or Hilton due to the cheap deals we can get through Omar's family. The funny thing is that I totally didn't think of getting a hotel through them, it later occurred to me. Well I thought, that is a good deal and it is right on the beach...why not?

I asked my parents if they wanted to join us and besides my mom mentioning that the place looked sort of dumpy. I thought, it looks pretty nice from the pictures and hey we are right on the beach it can't be that bad. I told her it would be an adventure. I later realized that the weekend we chose was the weekend of Omar's birthday so I figured we would celebrate that as well. I didn't even think well Omar is not a big beach fan nor would he want to go to Daytona since he goes there 2-3 times a week at least for work. Get the idea, that not much thinking was happening with this trip, right? This is me being spontaneous...not a good idea, I guess.

So off we went. Omar and I left the house about 11 AM and he had a 2 jobs to do in Daytona Beach before we went to the hotel. Daytona is really only about a 50 minute drive from our house, which was nice, but made me later realize that a day trip would have been sufficient. After his jobs, we puttered around over to the hotel stopping at a pawn shop that was having a tent sale just to browse.

We pulled up to the hotel and I was like, "oh my, my parents are going to flip!" We just laughed and laughed that we would be staying here. I read reviews the day before of the hotel and got mixed reviews, of course I didn't think to do this before purchasing the Groupon. I was in the moment when I bought, imagining what a great trip we would have. We checked in and payed our $7.50 in room taxes (that should give you an idea of what this place is like). It was definitely worth no more than $30/night. I asked the lady upon checking in if they had a lot of success with the Groupon and she said they had over 300 people buy it in the first day. I asked how much rooms normally go for and she said $79/$89 per night.

We walk into our room and just laughed. This place was supposed to/advertised that it has a kitchen with an oven, stove, fridge, etc. Yeah there was just a little closet space (not an actual closet) with a mini fridge and a microwave sitting on top of it. The bathroom did have bar soap but the shampoo was one of those free plastic samples you get in the mail sometimes. There was a tiny little table and it had a tablecloth over it that had stains on it. We pulled the table cloth up and the table was much nicer so we took the table cloth off.

I realized that the reason people stay at a place like this is because they have rooms that are for smokers and you can bring pets. I didn't even know that hotels would let smoking be allowed anymore. The day before we left this guy came down to the pool with his dog and asked how he would get back into the pool area with the locked gate. My mom and I told him that there is a pass code you need in order to get back in and they gave it to you at check in. We told him what it was. After about 20 minutes he came back up and couldn't open the gate and my mom had to open it for him. We heard him muttering as he walked by, "for $85 a night and I don't even get a pass code." We just laughed. We later found out that he actually got a deal online that was for $69/night. He said when he and his wife pulled up to the place that they both said "What a dump." they demanded to see the rooms before they stayed and that he walked into the room and told my mom, "Now these are NICE rooms, I mean real nice." It took my mom everything not to be like, "are you kidding?"

The whole weekend we made fun of the place. It kept us in good spirits. Some of the jokes were:
"only the best for Omar."
"What is that noise, a cow, a long fart, or....oh, wait that is the toilet flushing."

We did anything to avoid staying in the room. We talked about leaving the last night and going home to sleep in our own beds. My dad convinced us to stay so we could get another walk on the beach in the morning. He had been a walking maniac, he probably walked 4 hours the first day on the beach and I know that I did hour long walks both Saturday and Sunday mornings with him. My mom asked if we were going to end up leaving in the middle of the night and not tell them. If she hadn't said that we probably would have because of what happened next.

Saturday night we went to bed and were awakened at 4:15 AM to loud pounding on our door. Omar opened the curtains right next to the bed and there were people yelling, are you guys okay, and this creepy guy staring into our window. They kept saying they heard strange noises and crying. They then went to the next door and did the same thing and the people next door started cussing and telling them to get outta there. Well I thought that was weird and wondered why they would do that. Omar just calmly responded, "Oh they probably thought someone was dead in one of these rooms and wanted to make sure that wasn't the case." Lets just say I could go back to sleep because then our neighbors who were so upset by the whole thing started smoking. The smoke was so strong it was coming through the walls and the adjoining door. It was a horrible night. I later thought, I wonder if they heard me? I had just finished a dream where I had been crying and Omar tells me that I cry really loud in my sleep and he usually wakes me up. He didn't notice it, but maybe the people heard it and came to check? So weird.

Yes, this hotel was not fun, but that isn't the main reason why Daytona was such a bust.

Rebekah's Baby Shower

2011-09-25T19:29:00.000-04:00

My friend Rebekah from my last ward I was in is pregnant with her first baby and is due on November 1. Her ward threw her a baby shower, and I was fortunate enough to have been off on the day it was scheduled so I got to go. I also was able to help them decorate in the morning, There was a large turnout with over 30 people. Rebekah is so special, kind, thoughtful, and so giving. She was recently released as Relief Society President for many years and was always serving everybody cheerfully. She is going to be a great mom!

Larry King

2011-09-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

In August I listened to Larry King's "My Remarkable Journey" Biography and Memoirs. If I were to have the option to read or listen to this book I would for sure choose listen. It was cool because Larry read it. When it would come to parts that other people close to him would be sharing their memories, they would speak. The way it was completed made me feel like they were sharing it for the first time, because it included laughs, and other pauses that was not just like reading a book.

I found this book very interesting. Larry King is not a young guy, and I knew he had a show called Larry King Live, but I have maybe watched 2 episodes of it before. Hearing how he grew up, what makes him tick, how he got to where he is was just amazing. I truly felt like there will not be another person like Larry King again. But then again, it made me feel like the way he sees people - he doesn't see them as famous or regular people - he sees people as all being amazing and that we can learn something from everybody. I truly felt that I would be interested to listen to some of his previous shows.

I was so shocked at how sexual he is. I mean really 8 wives? Not even the wives, so much was about women and how many he loved and made love with. I guess we are talking the 60's, but wow - he really is not an attractive guy - plus he smoked for so long. Gross. The thing that I still don't quite understand is what his current wife sees in him. Mainly I wonder because she is Mormon or LDS just like me and he is of no religion and does not believe in God. It honestly shocks me. I don't know how religious she is specifically, but still that would be so difficult - plus they are like 30 years in age difference. People think it is because of money - but she was a multi-millionaire on her own prior to the marriage.

I was surprised at how much history he shared, just his thoughts about the various presidents as he has known all of them. I by far not a history buff, and actually consider myself quite clueless in this arena, but it was very interesting. This was a quick 8-9 hours of my life in the car and I recommend it.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-06T19:44:00.000-04:00

After my high school reunion activity on Saturday afternoon, I spent the rest of the weekend with my family. We went to Downtown Disney in the evening, which was super busy. I had not been to Downtown Disney since I worked there prior to getting married (so 3.5 years). I don't think when I even worked there that I ever walked around so it had been many years since I had done so. Virgin is gone and they are now building a bowling alley. They got rid of the super overpriced McDonald's and now they have a chicken place that is like Pollo Tropical but is more South American style. We ate there for dinner. I got the salad which was quite delicious. I had a bite of my husbands chicken which was good, the beans and the sweet plantains were average. I went into Basin which still was the same with the exception that they have make your own candles now too. I saw Maribel who I worked with there.

After Downtown Disney we went and got ice cream at this really cool ice cream shop that used to be this bike store in Downtown Kissimmee. They make their ice cream with liquid nitrogen. You choose the toppings they add the milk and voila you have your own ice cream creation. Pretty sweet! I got the honey cinnamon - it was AmAZinG!!!!

Sunday I went with my parents to church and it was good to see all the old families I love. I have to share that Sister Strickland came up to me and expressed that she had been thinking of me recently and wondered how I am. Her daughter, Naomi, who I babysit for MANY years, is now expecting her second child. That is so crazy, she even beat me to getting married. So funny. She then went on to tell me how I was the most amazing babysitter. I asked if I could record her because so many people think I am not good with children. She was shocked that anyone would think that because I was so good with kids. Just had to share that for all of those out there who tell me I am bad with kids.

I went to Brother Barrietiero's class on family and marital relationships. It was an interesting class. The bulk of it was review, but he brought up some really interesting things that I just never had thought about before. Anger is the result of lack of control. Lack of control stems from our unmet expectations.

That early evening we had chicken a la king for dinner with salad and fruit trifle. So yummy, my request. Naomi Gunnels came over and we enjoyed catching up. We then played Mad Gab and Pit.

About 8 pm we headed back to St. Augustine and Lindsey came with us for the Labor Day.

Labor Day we woke up and went to eat at Waffle House. Omar then went home to do yard work and Lindsey and I went to the beach. If you are feeling bad for Omar, don't...he doesn't really care for the beach. There is this beach that Brooke Pratt and my sister Kelly found that is supposed to be so nice and empty. I told my friend Brianna about it and she found it and told us how to get there. I am still not sure if this is the beach or not, but we went...of all names it is called South Beach. It is quite the opposite of the Popular South Beach in Miami.

It is about 10 minute drive from Michler's Beach which is the closest beach to our house. We had to pass North Beach and then Middle Beach - very unique names, right? The beach is on a preserve so there are no buildings. It costs $3 to park, you just put the money in a little blue envelope and put a thing on your visor in the car. I don't know how they really know if you paid, but it is only $3 and it helps to keep up the beach. We go there at 10 AM and there were only 2 other cars there.

The walk to the beach is much shorter than the parking lot from Crescent Beach. You do cross A1A and the beach is right there. I was shocked at how empty it was. Lindsey and I just looked at each other because we had never been to a beach with only one other person on it. The waves were actually pretty big too. I was surprised people were not surfing there. Maybe the waves didn't last to long before breaking was why they don't surf there. I would say they are some of the bigger waves I have ever seen in Florida. It was a nice beach.

That night we had Brandon, Brianna, and Bryce come over for a BBQ. We had chicken drumsticks, potatoes, corn on the cob and they brought a Caesar salad. For desert we had root beer floats. The Hills are movie watchers and so we watched 2 movies together - Rio, and then I Am Number 4.

10 Year High School Reunion

2011-09-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

THE DRAMA
My high school reunion was over Labor Day Weekend. There was quite a bit of drama regarding the planning of the event. Nowadays there aren't lists with contact information to reach out to all the class members, if there was most likely it would be so out of date it wouldn't matter. Everything was done by Facebook. If there was someone we knew who graduated with us that hadn't been invited we were to invite them. There were some people from our high school class that totally disagreed with how this was being handled and that everyone should receive invitations in the mail and it should be a formal event like a prom. A big debate ensued and it got pretty nasty on our Facebook page for the reunion. I didn't join in at all...and just thought how some people maybe haven't changed since high school.

FRIDAY NIGHT
I picked Omar up from the airport where he was getting back from a week long trip out there. He went smack dab into Hurricane Irene and was one of the last flights to get into New York. Omar was not excited about going to the reunion at all with me, but it was one of the deals that he had to go if he was to go to NY. We went to BJ's for the pizza buffet. When we got there, Jeremy Buxton was the only other one there. He was our Class President, I think all 4 years, and basically planned most of the reunion from being stationed all the way over in Hawaii, poor guy. It was about an hour before really anyone else came. We were expecting about 50-60 people and about 20 showed.

The OHS v. Ocoee football game was next. Omar never went to a game in high school which I think is plain crazy since he was ROTC and his brother also played. Omar was tired and so I took him to my parents house and I went to the game alone. I am glad I went alone because he would have been bored to death. I was able to visit with Mr. Carswell and Mrs. Ferguson. The school is completely different! It isn't quite finished yet, but I can just say "WOW" it is not the school that I went to. This actually looks like a school now - not a pit.

New School not open yet

vs. old school

Me and Mr. Carswell - it might be the last time I see him, he retires this year and will be moving out of state. He even remembered my name!

Marc Horne (and g-friend), Christine Bradford, Sara and Matt Sparks

After the game everyone went to 3 Sisters Easy, which is a popular bar in downtown Kissimmee. It didn't exist when we were in high school, but really nothing did in Downtown Kissimmee at that time. I wasn't going to go originally, but realized there would be a lot of people wouldn't go to anything else but the bar. It was a much bigger crowd there. I ended up spending most of my time outside with Christine Bradford, Christina Watson (new last name now though), Alaina Mayes (new last name now), Marc Horne, Jared Stewart, Sarah Summers and Matt (who are married now). I was one of the first people to leave about midnight - everyone else left when it closed at 2 AM. I couldn't stay awake any longer.

BBQ
The next day was the bbq at Elks Lodge. There was a ton of food. The turnout was pretty decent, but it was mainly all the same people.I did get to talk with Christy Gay, Nicole Collabella, Mark Ferguson, and some others. There were people that I wish had come to the reunion that didn't, I'm not sure why, especially since they live locally. Too bad.

Jeremy Buxton and I

OUTCOME
All in all, I am glad I went to the reunion. It was interesting how many people asked me about my brother. He did graduate the year before me and we had a lot of mutual friends, but we never spent time with them together - they were always separate friends. I think Michael kept in touch with more people from high school than I did, especially since he went to school in-state. Most people thought I was living somewhere out West still. We probably won't have one for another 10 years, and hopefully next time it might be with another class too since most of my close friends from high school graduated before and after me.

Jaguars Game

2011-09-02T19:47:00.000-04:00

My friend Tiffany Copeland got tickets to go to the Jags vs Rams game on Thursday September 1st. We paid $10/each, thank you USO, and we sat in the Honor Rows seats. I thought that was pretty funny. I have sat in Honor Rows seats before with Big Brothers Big Sisters. This time at least, we didn't have someone monitoring bathroom breaks and it was not nearly as crowded. We parked the car in the same lot we normally do, near the historical society by the ball field. It isn't but a 10 minute walk probably to get to the stadium, but the parking went up since last I went there. I remember it being more like $10 to park, it was $20 this time. Bummer. Especially surprising with it being a pre-season game. Tiffany is pregnant and I thought they would let her bring her BPA free water bottle empty into the stadium. We walked all the way there and they wouldn't let her so we walked back to the car and then back to the game again. We missed the opening but that's no big deal. It is interesting how I don't think I even watched half of the game. It was so not entertaining. football really never is for me anyhow. We had a good time talking.

July Books

2011-08-17T20:47:00.000-04:00

This past month I read 2 more books. I don't know if audio books count as reading, but anyhow.

This was my first time reading a book by Dean Koontz. It wasn't that this was a bad book. I have read worse for sure, I at least got through the whole thing. But the book was very frustrating to me. Dean Koontz is SO descriptive, so much so that it would bore me. The plot was interesting and many aspects were very creative, it just took too long for any action. Lets just say that for 2 hours to pass in the book was over half the book! Really, do we need to be that descriptive? The unfortunate thing with audio book in this case is I couldn't scan to get to the stuff I cared about. I had to listen and listen and listen, because who knew when something important would happen. I don't think I will be picking up another Dean Koontz novel though.

After learning a little more about Bob Barker in Chuck Norris's autobiography I happened to come across Bob Barker's. He is one interesting guy. I of course watched him on the Price is Right, and enjoyed him. I did not realize that he was host of another show called Truth or Consequences. It was interesting hearing about those stories and make me want to go and watch a few shows. Something that really stands out to me about Bob is that he never did try to get laughs or fame by putting others down. Everything he did was about building others up and he would work to make them funny, not to be funny himself. I like that, I wish more comedians were that way. I never realized how involved he has been with animal rights, now the whole "help control the pet population, have your pets spayed and neutered" makes complete sense. Not only has he been involved with animal rights, I would deem to say that he has been central and a key player to all they have accomplished. It was a good book.

My First Time

2011-08-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I mowed the yard for the first time in my life. Well, that is not completely accurate. I tried when I was probably 12 years old to mow the lawn but couldn't push the lawn mower, so never tried again. Omar always points out when we drive in and out of our neighborhood all the houses that the wife mows the lawn.

He has been super busy the past 2 weeks and has not had a chance to mow it. So of course it is really high. I thought since I had the day off yesterday and it would be good exercise I would give it a go. I got my junk clothes on and popped a Zyrtec because I knew the grasses would kill my allergies.

I got the lawnmower out and called Omar. He told me I need to fill it with gas. For the life of me I couldn't get the gas can to open to let the gas out of the canister. It had some crazy weird safety on it with no instructions. So I was going to mow as much as I could until it ran out of gas. He then tried talking me through starting it up. The UPS guy showed up in the middle of his explanation and I was embarrassed so I told him I would call him back. He just kept saying, "ask the UPS guy, ask the UPS guy." So I did. I mean the UPS guy comes to our house pretty much everyday so it is like we know him right? I told him I have never mowed a lawn and asked if he could start it for me. He started checking the oil and everything. I was like "wow" he is thorough. I showed him the gas can and it took him a few minutes to figure out the safety. He then turned it on and showed me how to use it. It was amazing how helpful he was!!! He told me he always tries to mow the lawn for his 67 year old mom but she won't let him.

I was so proud of myself for mowing the grass. The whole time though I felt so bad. I can only imagine how many creatures I killed. In my wake I would see animals jumping out of the path of the storm. It was a sad sight. I just hope none of them were frogs, I love frogs and it is the baby frog season.

I didn't do as great of a job as Omar and there are a few spots where I missed a few blades of grass. But I did trim the hedges and even cut my african daisy plants because they have grown so wild that they look like weeds. They haven't had flowers on them since I bought them. I don't know what the deal is with them.

It was a good workout too. I wore my heart rate monitor and it stayed about 167-169 bpm consistently. I burned 317 calories and 9.9 fat. It took me 58 minutes to complete.

Freckles

2011-08-13T09:14:00.000-04:00

As I was running this morning I heard the song by Natasha Bedingfield, "Freckles". I don't think I have heard this song before. It really caught my attention. Last night I went and saw the movie "The Help" as part of a girls night with some people from my ward. These two things just made me really think about the strength that comes from loving yourself for who you are. Sometimes that is hard, when really there are so many things we have been blessed and given by God that He loves about us - why we don't notice them like others sometimes do, is beyond me. The sad thing about it all is just that people have such a natural tendency to compare, and to want to pull others down thinking it will help them feel better about what they have to offer.

"The Help" really just made me so sad. So sad at how I think in some ways the world has not changed too far from how it used to be - it is just masked better now because it isn't as tolerable. So sad that people are utterly cruel to others that are still God's children and our brothers and sisters. I look forward to the day when we all see that we are on the same playing field and that unity is what will cause us to achieve our highest potential. Until then, I will work to love myself and others.

I used to care so much about what others think about

Almost didn't have a thought of my own

The slightest remark would make me embark

On the journey of self doubt

But that was a while ago

This girl has got stronger

If I knew then what I know now

I would have told myself don't worry any longer its okay

Cuz a face without freckles is like a sky without stars

Why waste a second not loving who you are

Those little imperfections make you beautiful, lovable, valuable,

They show your personality inside your heart

Reflecting who you are

I wondered if I could trade my body with somebody else in magazines

With the whole world full at my feet

I phantom worthy and would blame my failures on the ugliness I could see

When the mirror looked at me

Sometimes I feel like the little girl who doesn't belong in her own world

But im getting better

And im reminding myself

Cuz a face without freckles is a sky without stars

Why waste a second not loving who you are

Those little imperfections make you beautiful, lovable, valuable,

They show your personality inside your heart

Reflecting who you are

Cuz a face without freckles is a sky without stars

Why waste a second not loving who you are

Those little imperfections make you beautiful, lovable, valuable,

They show your personality inside your heart

Reflecting who you are

Miami Trip Day 3: The Keys

2011-07-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Jason told Omar about this Honduran Restaurant that is right near our hotel. Omar was so excited. We went for breakfast there our last 2 days. Omar got his baleadas (they are the 2 folded over tortilla things). That is his most favorite food. It is so simple too - just tortilla, refried beans, and this liquid creme. I just got some eggs since I couldn't eat much. I really wanted sopa de res (beef soup), but they don't have it available for breakfast. I love how the simple things make him so happy.

After breakfast, we decided to go to Biscayne Bay National Park to do some snorkeling at one of the keys. We talked about going to Shark Valley, which is the the north end of the Everglades and bike their 15 mile bike path through the Glades. Rentals had to be returned by like 4pm and it was supposed to rain all afternoon so we decided that was probably not the best choice. My friend Ismael Vergara who I knew before Omar and I began dating looked into us going snorkeling in Florida City, but they are closed on Sundays. Yes, we were doing this on a Sunday. He heard the National Park was pretty good and so we went there. It was about a 30 minute drive from Ismael's house in Kendall.

At the park you can rent kayaks, paddle boats, and even do what we did, have a boat take you out to one of the Keys and snorkel. It was $90 for Omar and I. Not too bad for the boat ride - about an hour out, an hour of snorkeling including equipment and a boat ride back. I guess they had a groupon a few months back - too bad we missed it.

When we got to the Park we took the elevator upstairs. I must say that was a huge mistake. We were talking in the elevator waiting for its doors to close (it was so slow) when we realized that it had to be the largest breeding pool for mosquitoes ever. There was probably 30 mosquitoes on each of us - no kidding. We then got stuck inside the elevator getting attacked. Talk about wishing I had left the bug spray in the car.

Before we boarded the boat the Park Ranger did a 20-30 minute talk about safety, reefs, animals, etc. All the while Omar is jumping up and down killing mosquito after mosquito. The Ranger must have been immune because he had about 10 of them around his face and he didn't even flinch.

From the boat you can see Miami in the distance. I wish I could remember which Key the Captain told us we went to. There are so many!

I love snorkeling. The purple fans were gorgeous and I saw a lot of really cool fish. I must say due to my throat I had to come up a lot and spit because it just hurt so much. I was so glad though that we were able to do this.

After this we went to La Perla which is a very well known Peruvian restaurant in Miami. It is actually in Kendall. Of course Ismael is Peruvian and recommended it. It was delicious. We had pretty much all their traditional dishes. We had chilcano (fish soup), Inca Cola (Omar got that, I don't really like it - it is their Peruvian soda), lomo saltado (it is like steak, tomato, onion), papa a la huancaina (eggs, potato, olive with this yellow thick sauce over it), we had one other dish that I cannot remember what it was. It was super yummy. We also had their traditional ice cream which is imported from Peru. It was small but yummy. It has some special fruit in it that I had never heard of that I guess is really only in Peru. I want to try their ceviche next time, I guess they have really good ceviche - I was just not in the mood. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Ismael. I look forward to being able to go to one of his gigs in Miami next time we visit.

It was a great birthday trip. If you ever want to know what to get me for a gift - I don't care about presents- I like experiences. This was a good experience and memory.

Miami Trip Day 2: Everglades

2011-07-26T20:29:00.001-04:00

I got a groupon to go on a boat ride in the Everglades. So basically it was 2 for the price of 1 ($27 each is what we paid). I have always wanted to go to the everglades, but I must say this was sort of disappointing. I could see how this would be exciting and really cool for someone who is not a Florida native and grew up going to Gatorland yearly, but for me it was kind of like being at Gatorland again. Maybe all the everglades look like this, I guess I really don't know. But this seemed more like a tourist spot than a real experience. We still had a good time though.

We were picked up in South Beach and taken by bus. Our first stop was the dolphin mall (first sign of tourist trap that we dropped off people at a mall and picked people back up after our tour) and then we headed to the South Everglades. There is a long canal on the road and you could see a lot of gator. There was even a dead gator on the side of the road.

We arrived at Gator Park Trading Post and one of the last thing our bus driver mentioned was that the mosquitoes have been really bad here in the Everglades, but they sell bug spray. We left the bug spray in the car accidentally and I didn't want to buy more bug spray. We figured we could handle it. Everyone was buying bug spray like crazy, if we stayed close enough to them no bugs would bite us right? Right! I must say I don't think we even saw a mosquito while we were there. They totally were just trying to get us all to buy their overpriced bug repellent - I am so glad we didn't fall for it.

We saw gators and some birds on the air boat tour. The air boat was of course fun when it started going fast. There was definitely a specific area they were supposed to stay within and it I think due to the drought they were hindered in going out to far due to the potential of getting stuck.

One thing that the air boat guide mentioned was about the grasshopper, and just how they eat crops and all this stuff. People were freaking out on the boat that the grasshopper might hurt them. It is pretty sad how the grasshopper was kind of one of the items most discussed in the everglades.

After the boat ride we were herded over to this viewing area for a gator wrestling show as well as they showed us a few other animals like a skunk and baby gators, etc. It reminded me a little of Gatorland again. After the show we could pay to hold and take a picture with a real 3 foot gator. It seemed like the bus would never come. This was a long trip for really a very short tour.

Later that night we went back to South Beach for dinner. We were going to go to Joes Stone Crab restaurant but it was crowded and we didn't feel like spending that kind of money. It was nice because we were able to meet up with Jason Cisneros, Omar's cousin. I haven't seen him since high school. He seems to be doing well. For some reason I didn't take any pictures while were were out. I think I was really not feeling too well. We ate at this restaurant on Oceanway that had a little of everything. The food was really good too. I got a pesto pasta, I tried to find whatever would be the easiest to swallow. I hadn't really been eating/drinking much. Omar got this fish that was amazing and Jason got a steak.

Miami Trip Day 1: South Beach

2011-07-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

After Calle 8 we went to South Beach. We drove along Oceanway a little while and looked around until we found a parking garage on 13th Street. I must say that was the parking place we ended up using the whole weekend. It was about a block from the beach and you can pay by the hour - it was only a buck an hour. We did learn the hard way that on Saturday/Sunday nights (weekends) after 9pm even if you are there for like 45 minutes it is a flat rate of $15. You can't find parking for cheaper than $15 on weekend evenings on South Beach. A lot of people later told us that it is better to take a taxi to Southbeach because they are pretty reasonably priced and you don't have to worry about parking and driving around there. I think it worked out very nicely for us to drive ourselves though.

South Beach

The water was just incredible - not hot not cold, perfect! I don't think I have felt such amazing beach water before

Relaxing on South Beach

The other side of South Beach

We spent time relaxing at South Beach and playing the water. We were there when the hottest part of the day was gone so I wasn't as worried about getting burned. After that we rinsed off at the public shower outside. There were so many people waiting for it. We rinsed really quickly. This lady that her kids were playing in the water when we got there took it after us and started literally washing her kids hair and bodies like it was their shower. All the people in line were getting so mad that the lady and the crowd started fighting. It was pretty crazy. After we put our beach stuff in the car and put some regular clothes over our swimsuits we went walking around Oceanway to find a place to eat.

We think this was a gay bar and that this might have been a transvestite. There are all sorts of people in South Beach. This guy (?) did a split like I have never seen was crazy!

There are people walking everywhere and you can see that most people stopped to watch the show

This was probably my favorite meal of the weekend. So delicious. It was before I ended up getting sick too. I had this mahi mahi fish with a pineapple sauce, sweet plantains and asparagus.

Our view was of the street so we could people watch

The moon was incredible at South Beach

It was probably about 11pm when we headed back to the hotel, we had walked miles. We went to the pool which was still crowded and then went to bed. That night I got sick. I have never had something like this before. My temperature must have been so high. I had shivers that shook my body all night and I chattered my teeth all night, but was sweating like crazy. I would wake up about every 30 minutes, and basically didn't sleep all night. In the morning my lymph nodes on the side of my neck were so huge it hurt to swallow my own saliva. My legs were achy and I felt horrible. But alas, we had only been in Miami one day and I wasn't about to let this sickness keep my from enjoying it.

Miami Trip: Day 1 Calle Ocho

2011-07-26T19:55:00.000-04:00

We drove from Orlando to Miami to celebrate my birthday. It took about 3 hours. We were both so hungry and decided we wanted to eat first. We put in the address for La Moon which is a Dominican restaurant that was featured in Man Vs. Food television show. Little did we know that we put the wrong side of Calle 8 to go to. We ended up getting lost and realized we were not far from the hotel. So we checked in at the hotel first and then decided what to do from there.

We stayed at the Downtown Hilton. It was really a nice hotel. I guess it used to be part of a mall, so the entrance is really funky. This was the view from our room.

We got an amazing rate on the hotel since Omar's dad works for Hilton. I think we ended up paying about as much a night as we did for parking. Parking was $28/day! Unbelievable. We decided to get ready for the beach. We ate food at Calle 8 for lunch and then went over to South Beach for the rest of the day.

La Moon - where we ate lunch

This is the food I ended up eating. It was an arepa with like 3 different kinds of meat in it with cheese. It was good

This is the Supermoon Perro that was part of Man Vs Food Challenge. It is basically a hotdog with all this crazy stuff on it.

I could only handle one bite - this is considered street food in DR (Dominican Republic) but it was quite disgusting for me. There were like 5 different sauces and mayo was the base...vomit! I just wanted to try it for the sense of adventure

Yes that is a quail egg on top. You can see Omar's food - it had one of the largest pieces of chicharrones I have ever seen

We walked around Calle 8 area - I saw this building and just thought the trees were so cool

Bathroom Adventure

2011-07-25T09:30:00.000-04:00

About a month ago when Omar and I were heading down to Orlando we decided to stop at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets because of an awesome deal my sister told me about for shorts at Eddie Bauer. The shorts were all $15 each and I got an additional 10% off! You can't beat that, and it is so hard to find long shorts. So we bought a bunch.

Before we started the rest of the drive down to Orlando I decided I should go to the bathroom. Omar pointed to the bathroom and went to the car to wait for me. I ran into the bathroom and thought it was odd that the toilet seat was up. I cleaned the stall and did the squat routine. After I was done I walked out and went over to the sinks to wash my hands when I in horror made eye contact with a man at a urinal. I was shocked. How on earth did I miss that I went into the guys bathroom. I continued to the sink near the urinal and began to wash my hands, still in shock. I just kept saying out loud, "I am so embarrassed...I didn't see anything." I walked over to the air blowing machines to dry my hands. Meanwhile, the guy at the urinal is just laughing. He is laughing and more guys start to come into the restroom. I suddenly start thinking, what am I doing? Washing my hands? I need to get out of here. I ran for the exit and the car. Yeah lets just say Omar and I both got a kick out of it. I can't believe I actually took time to dry my hands.

Visiting Sister Hill

2011-07-25T09:24:00.000-04:00

My last mission companion was Shannon Hill. She is now Shannon Day. We served in the New Braunfels area. I was her step-mom. That means that she had only one companion in the field before me who was her trainer (mom), so that made me her second companion or step-mom. We had a lot of fun together. She came in town to Orlando for a convention with her family. It worked out perfectly. I was able to drive down to see her and eat dinner with her the night before we left for Miami. It was fun to meet her parents and husband. We went and ate dinner and talked. I hope to one day go out and visit her in Bakersfield, CA.

My 28th Birthday

2011-07-24T22:43:00.000-04:00

My co-workers wife makes cake pops - they are so delicious!

Melissa and Allison

Meghan is a little baker and just finished throwing up the pizza

I can't believe I am 28 years old! My real birthday was this past Wednesday. I must say it was the saddest birthday ever because it was the height of my illness. I was to work a 10 hour day, but was going to have a good attitude about it by getting a bunch of freebies for my birthday. A lot of places give you free food and ice cream and I thought why not? I had the hardest time waking up that morning and went to work feeling so exhausted that I didn't think I was in my body. I made it through my scheduled appointments and about 2 pm (half way into it) I decided that I had to go home, I felt so horrible. I went and got a free sub and went home and forced myself to eat it. Everything was so painful. I slept for 4 hours woke up for an hour and a half and then went back to sleep for the night. I had plenty of birthday wishes but it was sad to be so sick. I think the illness from Miami was just catching up to me.

So I planned a little birthday get together with some girlfriends that live here in my ward last night (Saturday). I wanted it to be low key and small. We made our own pizzas and I asked everyone to bring their favorite topping. We had artichoke hearts, olives, bacon, onion, pepporoni, chicken, and some other yummies. We made 3 pizzas and had tons of leftovers. We also had watermelon, chips and dip, and of course cake pops and ice cream. I had a really nice time talking and playing Rockband. It was the first time a few of the girls had ever played it. I was so glad I didn't cancel it. Friday I found out that I didn't have mono like the doctor expected, which was a relief. I just didn't want to get anyone else sick. Here is to another year getting older.

Paddleboarding

2011-07-24T18:33:00.008-04:00

Using their state of the art equipment to learn how to get up on the paddleboard

Omar has a quick recovery from what could have been in the water a fall overboard

Outside the All Water Sports ready to go!

The one Bri ended up using here was one and 40 made in the world - it cost $1800!

paddling out to deeper water so I can stand up without potenital injury

Me trying out the inflatable one - it did keep my feet cooler though

Bri and I both bought groupons to learn to paddleboard. The lessons are normally $40/hr, so we basically got 2 for 1. Bri and Brandon got their first babysitter ever and we were off to paddleboarding yesterday before my little birthday shindig. It was so much fun.

They had a ball with a board on it that we practiced paddling and getting from the kneeling position to standing. We then all got our own paddleboard to use and began. We were at a salt water river or something. I never even noticed it before. The water was pretty dirty and it looked like gators would love it, except it was salt water.

When we got to the dock (it is a boat dock where people go boating) our instructor asked us who we thought would be the best at doing this. I said Bri would be because she is so good at yoga and stuff. So she got the inflatable one. Little did we know that was the hardest one. She lasted about 15 minutes and fell in. Thankfully the instructor let her use his (which is what is shown in the pictures). I tried the inflatable one after we got back to see what it was like - it really is hard. It is very wobbly. I guess the reason that people get inflatable ones is they are cheaper (about $200 cheaper - typically an inflatable one is about $400) and it is easy to take it with you. I was thinking it would be awesome to have one, but you would need a place to store it and they are just plain huge! Not only that but you would need a vehicle that could carry it - they weigh about 40 pounds and are so long. I guess that is why people get inflatable ones - they are portable.

The instructor says it takes an extra day to get used it. I guess beach paddleboarding is completely different and different boards that you use. I can imagine it being difficult. In general paddleboarding was a breeze to learn and not hard to get and stay up.

Omar and Brandon had a race on the way back. Brandon ended up heading for a tree and he was in the lead. I told him to do his back yoga move and he tried and rammed into the tree breaking off a branch. Omar won by default.

We didn't bring our camera with us. We saw this guy with his family of in this little boat that he had built. It was the craziest thing ever - it was like a little box car probably 5x5 or something and there were 6 people in it (not small people either). Just chilling on the river. I wish I would have had a camera - it was the craziest thing ever. I have no idea how it floated. I asked him how he got the boat there and he said he stuck it in his car. I asked how he got it in the water and the daughter was like he put it on his back! We also went to a place that the instructor usually sees a lot of manatee when it is low tide. It was high tide so they were hiding.

4th of July 2011

2011-07-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

our tent has come in handy quite a few times now

Bri, Bryce, and I

Brandon and Omar

Hard at work bbq-ing

This wasn't even half of all the people that came from our ward

Our ward at church decided to have our 4th of July activity at the Beach. We went to Vilano Beach. It is a beach I had never been to before. Lets just say doubt I will want to go there again. It was the most painfully shelly beach ever! I ended up having to wear my sandles even into the water because my feet were getting shredded. In general it was a beach that had good waves, and had some rocks that made it a pretty looking beach, but not a kid friendly beach by any means. If our ward ever decides to go to that beach again, I think we will not be going. We stayed longer than we thought we would and there was a really good turnout. The ward provided hamburgers and hot dogs and we had plenty of chips and sides.

After the beach we went and saw Transformers 3: Dark Side of the Moon in Imax 3-D. It was actually a pretty good movie, better than the 2nd one.

Following that we went and got a sub at Firehouse and went to Brandon & Brianna's house. They have a neighbor that usually buys a ton of fireworks and we were hoping he would have done so this year despite the ban. Due the amount of fires we have had this year in our area there was a ban on fireworks. We played Apples to Apples and waited to hear some noise. We went out and there were 2 neighbors doing a few fireworks, but that stopped abruptly as the police came flying down the road to put an end to that. The neighbor got in a verbal argument with the cop, I am surprised he wasn't arrested. Lets just say that was the end of any fireworks. All in all it was a good 4th and I was so grateful to have not been at work that day. Believe it or not Florida Blue was open and there were 4 people that came in and bought insurance on Independence Day (pretty ridiculous I think).

The Last Shuttle Launch

2011-07-10T10:04:00.003-04:00

Bryce and I waiting for the launch

Carl (Brandon's cousin), Bryce and I waiting for the launch - you can see some of the people who came hoping to catch a glance

I have seen the shuttle launch from the pad before, and of course growing up in Kissimmee I have seen it go off from home numerous times. The last launch was this past Friday. I actually had the day off. The weather has been very overcast and rainy the past week, which is what we need badly here - rain! My friend Brianna told me that she was planning to go to Michler's Beach (the closest beach to our house -15 minute drive) here in Ponte Vedra hoping to see the last launch. I decided to go too. We got there about 30 minutes before the launch was to happen and the clouds were heavy and black. The launch happened although there were a few moments were no one was sure if it would happen. Unfortunantly we were not able to see anything. It was amazing to see how many people were there to try to see it. I heard there were millions of people down at Port Canaveral. Although I didn't see anything, I am glad that I tried and will be able to remember where I was the last time a Shuttle was launched into space.

Weight Loss Update

2011-07-04T10:09:00.000-04:00

So I had some rocky points in the last 3 weeks. I was over a week behind in the competition. But really the competition for me is just to have something to be accountable for to keep me motivated. I ended up losing .6%. The thing is that I am fine with that. I have been working on my diet and lets just say that most of it consists of fruits, and veggies now. I also have been working out 4 days a week. Which is much better than my average of 0-1 days/week. I think that I have been building muscle back again hence not much weight loss. I know that I need to measure myself as that is the best way to keep track of my progress. But I can never find my tape measure and that takes way more time than just standing on a scale. So that is my next goal. Here's to a new month!

June's Books

2011-07-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

So this past June I read 2 books.

The 3 Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees)
by Patrick Lencioni

I found this book to be attention grabbing. I found so much truth as to why jobs can be miserable to people. I thought the auther completely portrayed the way to bring meaning, purpose, and satisfaction into a job. It truly does need to be measurable, and people need to feel they are known and cared about.

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World

by Bill Clinton

It amazes me how much the Clintons have done and the experiences they have had. I think Clinton showed how there are ways for everyone to give. I really enjoyed the chapter on the non-profit Heffer, as my husband is from a third world country and I can totally see the people benefiting from an organization like Heffer. I read this book as there is something about the non-profit world that excites and interests me. I would love to work for one again.

Sea World Orlando

2011-07-03T20:02:00.002-04:00

Last month we had a weekend planned for Orlando. This was a weekend where we were going to go to the temple and then to Ikea to buy a peice of furniture. The temple fell through becuase the morning of, I couldn't find my temple recommend anywhere! We were dressed and ready to go and everything. I was so dissappointed. We still went to Ikea and found the cubby hold storage book shelf we were looking for, but they were out of storage. That night we were supposed to go to the Blue Man group with my mom and dad but the discounts that we were supposed to get fell through. So we will have to wait until another time. We ended up having Erin, Brooke, and Brooke's husband and daughter over for a bbq. It was really a nice time. The next day we went to Sea World. All-in-all it was a good weekend. We had a nice time.

waiting in line for Manta Ray - it was air conditioned there and they had aquariums to look at in line - you would never find something like that at Disney

manta ray is crazy how you end up on your stomach for the ride

Omar only cared that he got his turkey leg - I must say they are so delicious. It was even yummer that we got them for free!

I love me some stingrays - I was teaching all the people around me how to pet them without food and then how to feed them when you have food. I got very wet and probably spent a good 30 minutes here

Who is this character anyhow?

Omar's best friend manages a lot of the carts and restaurants at Sea World and gave us free tickets to get in. Last time Omar and I went to Sea World together was when we were dating and I got sick for some reason when I go there so we left after being there for maybe an hour. This time we went on all the rides, except for Journey to Atlantis because the wait was posted as 90 minutes. However, Sea World always adds 30 minutes to their wait times it seems. Journey to Atlantis is a ride I don't care too much about, I enjoy rollercoasters. I haven't really seen their shows in a long time too. The shows were pretty good. I must say that I was most excited about the Sea Lion & Otter show, but I was kind of dissappointed. It was not as good as I remember - it is definetly a show for little kids. I have always wanted to see the Sea World Rocks Show - but it isn't until like 8 or 9 at night. We didn't end up staying that long. We got there at 10 and left at 5pm. I was actually surprised we ended up staying there as long as we did.

Inspired

2011-06-09T21:59:00.001-04:00

There is this guy that I work with named Robert. He tells me all the time that I am his mentor. He is a great guy and he has inspired me. He is so giving and always thinking of others and working to improve himself. He reads a lot. One fiction and then one non-fiction book. He let me borrow the chuck norris audiobook which inspired me to listen to audiobooks. I now have a library card in my county and have borrowed some audiobooks. I am totally enjoying it.

Robert is one of the most thoughtful and giving people. He is always working to be a better person, he is honest, and will bend over backwards to help someone.

He decided to create a weight loss competition for 3 months, ending in august for whoever can lose the most body weight percentage. The prize is 250 bucks cash from him. Along the way there will be check ins and surprise giveaways. I joined it, I did pay 10 bucks to do so. That was not because of the money, but it is proven when u buy in you are more vested. I am a week behind since I just learned about it, but I have a good 30 pounds to lose. I think it is possible. I will be occasionally posting how I am doing. I know most women won't share their weight. I don't care because it won't be my weight for long! Wish me luck and keep me good.

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St. Augustine Beach & Alligator Farm

2011-06-07T16:40:00.000-04:00

While Nikki was here, Jeff really wanted to see Gators and so we went to the Alligator Farm. I guess I should have gotten an annual pass in the first place. Oh well! We stayed about 2 hours here, playing in the park area, observing/feeding the gators, and just walking around. We did make it to watch one of the feedings. They fed the gators dead rats. After that we left because it was lightening and thundering.

Poor Amie was sick while she was with us. I don't know what the deal is with Heavenly Father sending all sick children to our house while they stay here...it means 1 of 2 things. 1) Our kids are going to be very sickly so we need to get used to it or 2) After dealing with sick kids so much we might not want to have kids!

This was a nice moment when she was happy - I am sure she is like this most of the time.

We went to Alligator Farm after going to St. Augustine Beach for about 2 hours. I am glad that we packed light, since we didn't stay too long. Amie did not like the beach and was upset most of the time, but Sissy totally loved it. That girl has a crazy sense of adventure! She could not stay still if her life depended on it. It was a very overcast day, which was nice becuase the son was not blaring, it was humid though. The girls both liked the splash pad. We got there about 11 AM - probably a little earlier than that - and the tide was already up to the stairs again like before. Tide is just crazy at that beach - so unpredictable.

St. Augustine Carousel

2011-06-07T16:32:00.000-04:00

While we were waiting for the chocolate tour we went to the Carousel that is near downtown St. Augustine. It is a $1 to ride and parents ride free with their kids. She was nice and didn't even charge me. It was a good ride for a buck. Also there is a really nice handicap accessible park right next to the carousel. I was amazed that they even have a teeter totter. I thought those had been banned from parks these days because you never see them there anymore. I realized later that the park is right next to the St. Augustine Main Library. I went back and finally got myself a library card! Woohoo!

Whetstone Chocolate Factory

2011-06-07T16:22:00.001-04:00

Nikki loves chocolate and so I thought it would be perfect to go to the chocolate factory tour they have in St. Augustine. The family Whetstone have been making chocolate since the 1960's. A lot of the chocolates we see in the stores, they helped develop. They no longer work with companies like Mars, Nestle, etc. because they don't like the corporate game and what they do to the purity of the chocolate.

The tour itself is normally $7/an adult, but I had a Groupon which got one in for free. Pretty sweet! Plus, they give each paying customer a $2 off a $2 or more purchase. For even more sweetness.

The tour was cool, they show where chocolate comes from, how it is made, nutritional benefits, how to be a chocolatier, and you tour the factory, plus try all sorts of yummy chocolates. We tried:
*AVILES Blend Milk chocolate (31% Cocoa) - A Swiss formulation with a light sweetness and predominant milk flavor
*SAN MARCO Blend White Chocolate (0% Cocoa) - A Balanced creamy light caramel taste
*DE LEON Blend Dark Chocolate (47% Cocoa) - A reddish cast with a fruity, winey flavor
*MENENDEZ Blend Dark Chocolate (72% Cocoa) - European style low roast aged to provide a mellow balanced flavor
*Artisan Chocolate Piece - we tried the mint chocolate, and toffee chocolate shells.
*They also let us try maple nut fudge and key lime pie fudge. Both were SO delicious. The fudge was most definitely my favorite.

We had plenty to try and that alone paid for probably in surplus what we paid for the tickets.

Recognize this scene? It is from the "I Love Lucy" episode where they worked at the Chocolate Factory - I love that one!

It was a good time and I still have Omar and I's groupon to use for when he has time to come with me.

Yard Wars

2011-06-01T19:18:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day was work day for Omar and I. Omar's most recent thing has been our yard. I feel like we are almost in yard wars with our next door neighbor. Our neighbor, Mario, is a super nice guy and he and Omar talk a lot. His yard is gorgeous. It is always perfectly trimmed and it is the most perfect shade of green, and the landscaping looks perfect. Did I mention it is perfect?

Omar didn't want to do mulch, so he did lava rock. Now with lava rock he needs something to keep the rock from getting in the grass. So we just got curbing. Now we need new bushes since our bushes did not come back. Now we need something for our mailbox so it is prettier. On and on...It amazes me how much work and MONEY a yard is. I almost dred this project being completed because Omar already has a list for the next thing for our house.

My parents came for Memorial Day and my mom helped me pick some plants to finish off our front yard for the time being. Here is our finished product. Pretty huh?

Fire!!!

2011-06-01T19:06:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning and was sneezing like crazy. I have training for the next 3 days for the Sandler Sales System and so will be going to the main office. As I was walking up to the main office I began sneezing again, which for anyone who has heard they are not small cutesy sneezes. They are the heart pounding, body shaking, loud sneezes. "Bless You" this guy called out to me and then began talking about the fires. The fires that I guess I am just oblivious have been occurring all around St. Johns County. They think that they are all caused by the same arsonist. That was the first time I had heard about it.

Lucky for me I had training today which allowed me to come home at 4pm. If I had left even 30 minutes later, I would not have been able to get home due to road closures. As I pulled into the road leading up to my neighborhood all I saw was black smoke and FLAMES! There was the news station lining the street and neighbors outside. I began to wonder if we would be evacuated. My first thought - "Oh no, I have been thinking seriously about a need for a 72 hour kit, but haven't done anything yet!!!" Not cool, especially since I am not a big procrastinator. I see the home sales lady, Sydney outside the model home and ask her if I should be worried. I was told that it was under control and not to worry.

I took this picture with my cell phone from my backyard. I took one as I was driving by the flames, but am not sure what happened to it.

Our friends Bri and Brandon might be evacuated (I guess it isn't under control like I was told), they live on the other side of 95 in the Gables. Scary stuff. I begin to Google "Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Fires?" Still not quite sure. I think I am going to work on my 72 hour kit now.

Jacksonville Jazz Festival

2011-05-31T09:43:00.012-04:00

After the beach Tiffany, Lindsey, mom and I went to the Jacksonville Jazz Festival. It was free, which shocked my mom and Tiffany. When I think of the large scale of the festival, I don't see how they could contain it to make it cost money. I have been to a lot of festivals in this area and most of them are free. If they cost anything it is usually like $2-5/pp. This even took over a HUGE chunk of downtown Jacksonville. There were thousands of people in attendance. Most everyone brought their own chair with them, but you could also purchase a VIP ticket and there were chairs set up in front of the stage reserved for those people.

One of the stages

Tons of people attended the event

There were musicians playing at the Landing with vendors outside. There were actually vendors everywhere selling art, crafts, clothes, hair stuff, food, etc. You could walk from one stage to the next and have plenty to look at and purchase. There was a huge stage set up in Hemming Plaza and another a few blocks down from that. The first day they even used part of the FL theater for a jazz competition of some sort.

We walked all over the place and went to the FL theater. I had never been in there before. It was gorgeous! There was a ballet rehearsal going on and they let us walk around a little bit to see what it was like. I really hope to see a show there soon.

We parked at the convention center and took the Skyway (sort of like a mini-monorail) in to Hemming Plaza. Since we had 2 cars that was the cheaper route. Tiff was going to drive back home after we were done there. It ended up costing us $4 for the sky way, 50 cents each person, each way.

All sorts of people came - I don't quite get this one though

We'll see if Lindsey ends up being a winner of a new car!

For sure next year I will want to go again and spend more time there.

Memorial Weekend: Crescent Beach

2011-05-31T09:34:00.002-04:00

I was amazed that I had a full weekend off AND the holiday, it is awesome how that worked out for me. My parents, and sisters came up to spend the holiday with us. We decided that Saturday would be a less crowded day at the beach then Memorial Day so we went to the beach.

Kelly and Mom relaxing under our tent

Dad chilling on a towel - the old school beach way

You can't hide corn from my mom - she will find it

My friend, Brianna has been telling me for some time how her favorite FL beach is Crescent Beach. It is about a 30 minute drive South from our house, the beach just below St. Augustine Beach. So we decided to go there. My friend Tiffany just moved to St. Mary's, Georgia from Alaska and she came and joined us. Brianna also invited her friend Christine and their family to come too.

Lil' Bryce!

Omar buried Christine's son in the sand, he loved it

Lindsey soakin' up the rays

We had a great time. It was perfect weather, sunny all day, but there was a nice breeze. Brandon brought his Emergency Essential Volcano grill and Omar cooked out hot dogs and corn. Christine brought the corn sort of pre-cooked. I never heard of doing this before, but it drastically cut down the corn cooking time. She microwaved the corn on top of wet paper towels for 4 minutes and then wrapped them in a beach towel for 5 minutes. Then you only have to cook them for like 5-10 minutes on the grill. It was delicious!!!

The Grill Master Omar

We had kites that the guys enjoyed flying, as well as brought soccer throw (the game you see people play at tail-gate parties often). It was a pretty beach, not the most beautiful I have seen in FL, but still really nice. We ended up parking the next entrance AFTER Ft. Matanzas. It was not crowded which was so nice. If you go to the entrance at Ft. Matanzas you can drive your car on the beach a little bit and park. With all the stuff we had that would have been much more convenient, but more crowded. We had to walk about 1/2 mile with all of our stuff through this preserve. It was cool though because we were able to see gopher turtles digging holes. I never realized that gopher turtles dig holes that over 345 other animal species enjoy with it. I love turtles!

Tiff practicing her soccer throw skills

Brandon in front of Crecent Beach

I was so proud of Omar. He has never spent so long at a beach. I think over all we were there for almost 6 hours. He really doesn't like the beach and he didn't complain too much. Next week will go to another beach when Nikki comes. I wonder which one.

"Against All Odds" Chuck Norris

2011-05-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

A work colleague told me about this book he got from the library and let me borrow it on cd. I really enjoyed listening to his son's narration of the book, and think that maybe audio books might be the best way for me to "read" for the next while as I drive to and from work.

I was shocked at how much I actually enjoyed this book. Chuck Norris is one incredible guy! I really knew nothing about him. I don't even think I have seen one of his movies and have never seen a Walker Texas Ranger episode. Now, after learning about his past and his beliefs and values, I can honestly say that I want to see some of his stuff. He is someone that did not have an easy life, but truly God had plans for him. This book was entertaining and thought provoking. It helped me to think more about the importance of visualizing success and that we have to work hard for our dreams, they will not just happen. Now, I just need to figure out what exactly my dreams are because I know God has plans for me too.

Atlanta Temple Open House

2011-05-22T19:37:00.000-04:00

I remember going to the Atlanta temple for a few years when I was younger with the Gunnels Family. It was the closest temple for us and so our families would go there for Thanksgiving and the adults would do temple work while us kids stayed at the hotel. We then would go over to Stone Mountain together. I remember I was so excited that the next year was finally going to be MY year that I would be old enough to enter the House of the Lord. I was so looking forward to our trip to Atlanta when we learned that Orlando would receive its own temple. I remember the Open House of the Orlando temple it happened when I was 11 years old and I was not old enough to help put the white booties on all the people that would go on the tour for the Open House. I remember feeling so sad about that.

That Atlanta Temple is one of the oldest temples currently and was undergoing extensive renovations which necessitated a close for a year. I had never been inside the Atlanta Temple.

My Uncle Marshall was finally released from ICU and had been home a few weeks when the Atlanta Temple Open House began. I thought it would be a great chance for Omar and I to go through the Temple and to bring my aunt and uncle through who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. I wanted them to see what the sealing room was like where Omar and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity. There is something so amazing about the Temple of God, the Spirit there is indescribable and I hoped that with my uncle's recent experience that he might feel the peace and love of God there.

It was interesting how it all worked out. We had originally asked off work to go to my Uncle Marhsall's Surpirse 50th Birthday party in Hernando Beach the same weekend as the Open House. However, due to the unfortunate circumstances that occurred landing my uncle in ICU for 2 weeks, that celebration was postponed. I knew of the Open House and thought with us having the days off that it would be a perfect time to go and visit my Uncle and hopefully have both my aunt and uncle come with us to the Temple Open House tour.

Our tickets were for the first day of the Open House, April 9, and it would go on for a few weeks where anyone from the public could come inside the temple. Sadly, my aunt and uncle did not attend with us, but we really enjoyed our time at the temple. We also were able to spend time with both of my uncles as my Uncle Turner came up as a surprise for Marshall's birthday. We had a great dinner party for him and the next day we all attended Marshall and Dianna's church together where they recognize the miraculous recovery of my uncle. It was a nice weekend.