Cirque du Soleil Saltimbanco

Omar and I was able to go and see Cirque du Soleil Saltimbanco for FREE. It was through work as I was there to build relationships with different matches. It actually worked out perfectly. Omar is a lover of Cirque du Soleil and one of his goals is to go to all the different Cirque shows that exist. We went and saw the La Nouba in Orlando together while we were dating. He had seen it 9 times, 8 other times with ex-girlfriends. He told me that was usually the last date he would go on with them before he broke up with them. It was the other way around for us, I tried to break up with him the day before the show, and look at us now...MARRIED!

The day before I found out about the free tickets, Omar asked me to go and buy us some. The cheapest tickets are $100. I was not excited about paying, but we ended up getting the free. Sweet. Online I learned that, "Saltimbanco is the oldest of the Cirque du Soleil shows and was the inspiration for all future performances. The name comes from the Italian “saltare in banco” which means to “jump on a bench”—experience urban life and all its lively inhabitants. The story takes you through a dreamlike world in a city where diversity is the link to hope. Like all Cirque de Soleil shows, it tests the ability of the human body and will leave you amazed."

I must say that both of us were not nearly as impressed with Saltimbanco as we were with La Nouba. It was just really different and it was hard to understand the story line, if there was one. There was not nearly as many acrobatics either. This one was a traveling Cirque and so perhaps there was not enough room to have a large stage to do more acrobatics. We decided we would have been very disappointed had we paid for the tickets.

Home from Bulgaria

Waiting for Kelly to come out!

Kate excited to see Kelly

Kelly arrives!
The Pratt kids came to see Kelly too
The group to see Kelly
Kelly with our new cousin and President Pratt


So Kelly, my sister, returned from serving her mission in the Bulgaria Sophia mission. I had not seen her for 18 months. My mom went and picked her up in Bulgaria and they toured around the country for a little over a week. The flight came in at 5:30 PM on Thursday. I took off Friday to spend with my sister and drove down Thursday afternoon to meet Kelly at the airport. With the help of Erin Pratt and Erica Pennell we had a group of people meet Kelly at the airport to welcome her home. I had tried to organize a group to invite all of Kelly's friends to come (any amazing sister would), but her webpage was in Bulgarian and I couldn't read it - go figure. I then tried to use my account to see how to change it to English and it then my Facebook changed to Bulgarian. Needless to say, my Facebook is still in Bulgarian.

They even made cute signs as you will see below. We had a great time and turnout. We went and ate at Abuelos Mexican restaraunt after meeting Kelly at the airport and my aunt Diana and Uncle Turner met us there as well. Friday morning at about 4 AM, I woke up to go to the bathroom at my mom's house and noticed that Kelly was awake from jet lag. I ended up staying up with her and looked at pictures and then Kelly, my mom and I went to an early temple session. Saturday we went and saw my dad. I was just plain exhausted the lack of sleep from the day before killed me. Omar had come in town on Friday to work in Orlando for the weekend. I went back on Sunday so I could teach my new Sunday School class. It is hard to believe my sister is now home. Time just flies by these days.

Southern Boil and Birthday

So one of my few friends here in Jacksonville had her birthday. She was in the Young Women's presidency with me and her name is Casey. It was really nice of her to invite us and it was just plain delicious! We had a good time talking, eating, and Casey and I even went for a walk later that evening around her neighborhood to work off all the food we ate. The Boil had shrimp, crab legs, whole eggs, potatoes, corn and sausage.
Does that look perfect, or what?
Casey's step-dad made the yum-yum boil
Casey, the birthday girl, with one of the large containers of the boil
Victor (Casey's husband) and her step-dad with 1 of the 3 pans of food.

A "Wicked" Night Out!

So Omar and I went to Wicked last Wednesday. It was wicked awesome! I loved it. It was actually Omar's first broadway show and he seemed to enjoy it as well. Our seats were probably the best in the house - we had tons of leg room, our visibility was amazing and we got the seats for a great price. I had never been to that theater and everyone would walk by and ask how they could get those seats. We just lucked out since I ordered the tickets online. Go me! Anyhow...the show was not what I was expecting and it totally explained what appears to be the "true" story of the Wizard of Oz. I recommend it. Even if you have not seen the Wizard of Oz go and see it becuase Omar still has never seen the Wizard of Oz and he liked it.

Movin' On

So there has been a major change in our life for the past 2 weeks. We are now attending an English ward and left the Spanish Branch. This is something that has been coming for quite a few months now. If it hadn't of been for my new calling to be Young Womens President in the Spanish Branch last November/December we would have left the Branch in January when we moved to a new apartment. We finally felt after a few more months of serving in the Branch that it was time to move on. It was hard and in ways is still hard for me to leave. To serve the Young Women has always been my wish and dream. The Young Women's program changed my life while growing up and I wanted to give a little bit back. I feel that I did what I could at the time, but it was time for Omar and I to leave so we could continue to grow spiritually ourselves.

So far we both really like our new English Ward, the Mandarin 2nd. There seem to be good people. They have already extended a call to me, but I have not been sustained (so it is still a secret). Relief Society has also asked me to sing on Mother's Day and I have been invited to join the choir.

We haven't really made any new friends yet. But it took us a while to make any friends in the Branch. The nice thing this time is that the people will actually live close to us. In the Branch our closest friends are about a 30 minute drive on way!

I must admit that I have a lot more free time now. Young Women's was becoming more stressful than my job of running Clay County! I am thinking of ways to keep my Spanish learning in tact. I do not want to loose everything that I have gained with the language. I might join a Spanish class and try to work with speaking Spanish to Omar more. We will see. Life is good.

Whose afraid of the Swine Flu?

NOT US!!! I guess at least not yet, because we just booked travel for a cruise in December that part of it goes to Mexico. We will be gone for 7 days on the Carnival Glory (yup this is a picture of our ship - how pretty it is). 224 more days until our cruise! How exciting!

We will leave from Miami and then go to:
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Roatan Isle, Honduras
Belize City, Belize
Cozumel, Mexico