Kindred Spirits

Andrea is one of my dear friends from forever ago.   She and I are kindred spirits.  Andrea is an amazing person and mother.  

Andrea is a convert.  She is an instinctively spiritual person.   When she was a teenager she was thinking about spiritual things while her friends were partying.  She never had an interest in that stuff.  She was baptized as a teenager and is the only member in her family.  I admire her so much for that.  We have been through a lot together. she has always been such an example of faith. 

On a less serious note- she came to visit me! She brought her 4 beautiful kids and drove down from Orlando.  Since she has already blogged about the trip I just cut and paste the whole post here and you can read about our trip in her words! Thanks Andrea, for doing the work for me:) Here you go...

On Friday, I got some courage and drove the children to Naples, FL. Jared had to work so he stayed home. Honestly, though, I think he would have hated it. I love him, but he's boring. Being boring is actually one of the things I love about him; it just means I have to force adventure upon him. This time we adventured without him and though things didn't go as planned (it rained and was freezing cold), we had a great time visiting with the Ernst family. 

 Grayson playing at Can U Dig It? Park. So fun. They had this huge excavation area with things to dig up. My children had a blast just running around barefoot and making "snow" angels.

Emily and Darren are finishing up CRNA school and will be moving soon. I HAD to see them before they go. I really love these guys and am so excited for the new adventure looming in their not-so-distant future. Emily and I got to enjoy a quiet dinner together (thanks, Darren for hanging out with all 8 children alone) and just talked as much as we could. We go years between visits, but it feels like no time has passed. That is a sign of a true friendship.

Although it was raining and freezing cold, we went to the beach anyway. We were able to dip our toes in the water, get a some shells, and fly a kite. It was so beautiful!

 My sweet children. They were such troopers on our adventure. Mom made them drive in the car for 3.5 hours and sleep in a strange place.

 Ethan was the bravest one. I think he would have gone in the water if I'd been willing to go too.

 Miriam got at least one handful of sand in her mouth. She enjoyed the beach very much.

Darren was able to get the kite up in the air. It was super cool.

 Grayson felt bad for this tree that had "died".

 Ellie found some awesome starfish.

 Snuggling with my girl. I wore a bathing suit, but definitely didn't need to.

 Kyle flying the kite. Emily and Darren have amazing children.

 All of us minus Emily. Emily is taking the picture. From left to right: Paul, Grayson, Andrea, Miriam, Ethan, Kyle, Darren, Landon, Ellie, and Gabe (in front).

 Gabe! He is a ball of energy. Emily is a terrific mother. I hope my children turn out like hers. She is one of my heroes.

Emily, Grayson, Andrea, and Miriam

Emily and I are pretty similar in build. She said looking at me was like looking in the mirror. If that's the case, we're both pretty cute! I love you Emily. Thanks for having us this weekend.

 Andrea- your so welcome!  Thanks for coming, it was great to see you!

Cold Spell

Florida had a cold spell last week.  Really it was cold.  I think it got down to 59 degrees. Some of you may be laughing, but when you live in Florida, your blood changes.  You become a Floridian.  So when it gets below 80 it ACTUALLY FEELS like it is 40 degrees no matter what the thermometer says.   Serious, ask any Floridian Doctor.  It's true. 

I was so excited I wore these boots Julia gave me and a sweater.  I also went swimming. It was a heated pool. Steam was coming off the pool- see- it was cold! 

I had to add this fun T-shirt that has been going around Facebook.  Those who survived know what it was like.

This one is great too.  Seriously- do you know how good it feels to wear socks when you have gone 3 years wearing nothing but flip flops??!!

      I have had 3 straight years of summer.  I would compare having beautiful weather everyday to having Christmas everyday for 3 years.  It gets old.  You want other sorts of days so that when Christmas comes it is special.  It's not so special if it's 85 every day. However, you do get all sorts of funny posts on the news and Facebook when it does get cold, for 2 days out of 365. 
       The weather here really is gorgeous.  Pretty much 85 and sunny everyday. But seriously, I am ready to live somewhere with seasons. I mean, seasons are FUN!  Why do people always complain about snow?  Snow is fun! Snow is beautiful! Winter is fun. I don't need -20 like it was in Rigby, but cold enough to wear pants without sweating would be so nice!  Actually, just imagine snow outside with a fire in the fireplace, drinking some hot chocolate, reading a book.  Hello heaven!  We had to put a fire on our TV screen and turn up the air conditioning so we could drink hot chocolate on Christmas this year!  Then we went swimming.  Maybe warm weather does have it's perks.

New Years 2014

Can it really be the year 2014?  It just sounds so sci-fi. Like in a movie you would watch in the 80's and it would show the future with everything modern, perfectly clean and flying cars and the year would be 2014.  Weird. Anywho- we had a great New Years.  Mostly cause Darren didn't have to work.  Last year he worked pretty much every holiday, so this year he got them off. Although I can tell he is still a little up-tight.  It is hard for him to relax when he is looking for a job and thinking about graduation and Boards.  I wonder where we will be next year. And what Darren will be like when he doesn't have so much weight on his shoulders. 
New Years Eve we had our traditional appetizer dinner at Micah and Jillian's, followed by fireworks.  I sat on the couch and thought about the New Years two years ago I sat on their couch- hugely pregnant with Gabe.  And last year with a 10 month old.  And this year with almost a 2 year old. Time is such a crazy thing.  I am trying so hard to enjoy our last couple of months here in Florida.  But at the same time I can not wait for Darren to get a job and for us to get settled.  But back to New Years.  Here are some picts.

Ellie- isn't she a doll?!

Our friend, Shane Klepko, is crazy about glow sticks, and rightly so! I mean, how fun are these?!!  He was kind enough to share with everyone, and we all had all sorts of fun glow necklaces, glasses, earrings, and other accessories.

Micah's fireworks.  I wish I could record him lighting these things off.  Micah loves fireworks.  He walks around in bare feet lighting these huge things.  Then he holds half of them in his hands as he lights them. 

My kids were drinking this Rootbeer all night.  When we got home Kyle was acting so hyper and it was midnight!  Darren looked closer at the soda to reveal- it had caffeine! No wonder.  LOL

Ok, so if you didn't know, I am a shellaholic.  In other words, I love shelling.  Well, the tide New Years Day was supossed to be really low.  So I got up early and took Gabe and went shelling.  It was beautiful and totally worth getting up at early even though I had gone to bed so late on New Years.  No pain, no gain.  Right?

Gabe had a blast walking all around gathering shells or just running away from me.

Shells in the trees! Occasionally at the beach you can run into a tree that people have put shells all over.  It is always so fun and artsy.  I love it! I always try and add a couple of shells.

Darren came to the beach a little later and brought the other kids.  Then we were joined by the Klepko's, McKenzies, and Megan.  We spent most the day at the beach and had a great time.

Some of our really good Naples friends.  William, Katie Jane, Anne Marie, Caroline and Shane Klepko.  Then Jillian and Micah McKenzie (holding their baby Nate) in the back with their 3 kids, Tess, and their twins Joshua and Liam in front.  Then Megan and Joslyn McPherson.  Then Darren, Gabe, Me, Ellie, Kyle, and Paul.   

And here is one of our family.  How fun is this?  I feel so lucky to be able to go to the beach all the time. AHHHH I can't believe it will be coming to an end soon.

That night we all met at a fun hamburger joint.  The kids sat at the ice cream bar and got banana splits.  This is Ellie with her dear friend, Caroline.  Moving is going to be tough for these 2.

Cheese! I love Gabe's cheesy smile.

I just couldn't resist taking a ton of pictures of this cute baby and Kyle. 

Life is good.  Life is really good. Sometimes you just need a day with family and friends to do nothing but play.  That's what Jan. 1st 2014 was.  I think it's an omen of how the rest of the year is going to go.  Good.  Really good.

Looking Back

Here are some random pictures off Darren's phone from the year 2013. They are in no particular order.

 Darren sleeping in the car.  Poor guy. He works so hard!

Hanging out at our friends house during a BYU football game.

Our friend's house Lanai.  Gotta love it!

Paul and Darren at a Fathers and Sons camp-out.

Kyle showing off- like always.

Darren and Rachie selfie

Part of our collection of shark teeth

LOL Darren took like 10 pictures of himself to send to Rachie wearing this shirt she gave him.

A cockroach at our church.  A common sight. 

Fishing!

Gabe's first movie, Frozen, which is actually what I wish I could have done to this baby. He was terrible through the whole movie!  All he wanted to do was walk up and down the stairs and up and down the isles and say hi to people.

I took this picture of this fun chandelier.  It can be yours for $16,200.00!!

And this fun rug:)  I didn't see a price and didn't dare touch it to check. 

And this fireplace mantel.  

2013 was a great year.  I never sent out a Christmas card this year.  Mostly cause we are pinching our pennies as we get ready to move.  I was going to send one out as an e-mail but just couldn't get  myself to do it. I'm sorry, call me a Christmas card snob, but I just think e-mail's are cheesy.  Last year when I wrote my Christmas card I thought, "next year at this time we will know where we are moving!"  Well, we still don't know! It could be stressful, as most of the other students have their jobs. But I have had a lot of comfort.  We have been praying for months to get a job that is the best place for our family.  In November and December I kept praying we could get a job by Christmas, so we could relax and enjoy Christmas.  But I had a strong feeling that there was a specific job that was right for us- and it would be available in January.  That gave me a lot of comfort and I was able to enjoy Christmas, my birthday and New Years without worrying about jobs.   Darren- not so much.  He was still stressed and applying like a mad man.  He has applied to over 30 jobs.  I keep telling him, "It's ok, something will work out." And I know it will.