This is my buddy...this is my pal



I can't believe I've been in Florida for 6 months already and that my friend Kimmi came out for a visit this week...from Wednesday to Sunday, for a 2nd time since I moved.  We like to keep things low key so not lot of plans were set in stone.  We are movie buddies and would see one almost every weekend when I lived in Utah so we saw "Skyfall" ,"Fun Size", "Lincoln", and "Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 2"...I know I know that's a lot of movies but we had a lot to catch up on.  

 

Kimmi wanted to go to the beach too...we decided not to go swimming, but to just relax on the sand for a bit.  Rach and they boys came along too and Gavin had a blast chasing the birds with Kimmi.  Before we hit the beach we went to Jaxsons for lunch.  When we pulled into the parking lot Gavin said, "we need to put our heads in the holes to be icecream" and of course we obliged. 



 

Me, Gavin, & Kimmi 

The Americana Hotdog...I ate about 1/2 of the dog sans the bun...I had no idea it would be so big! 

 

The Peanut Butter & Chocolate Sundae....I went into an icecream coma after a 1/3 of this! 

 

 

On Saturday Rach and a few of her friends participated in the "Pretty Muddy Run" down in Hialeah.  Kimmi, Doug, the boys, and I drove down to support her.  Gavin was so afraid that mommy would get him dirty that he kept backing away from her when she finished.  

 

?    ?  Wendy Clasen, & Rachel



To be continued.....

Celebrating my 36th B-day! I can honestly say when I was younger I couldn't even fathom being in my mid-30's...time sure does fly!



Me & Dad

The Saturday before Mother's Day the ladies on my Mom's side of the family got together to have a tea/farewell party for our Mom's and to say goodbye to my Mom and I.  It was so much fun dressing up and having a proper tea party! 

Back: me Mindy, G'ma, Gina, Darcy
Front Colleen, Bri, Makaela, McCall, Mom

I waited too long to write all this down so I'm not sure if my time line is correct, but I believe Dad and I headed out on May 25th for our trek across the country.  The drive went relatively well other than a leaky window seal on the driver side.  The 1st and 2nd days out were rainy and my Dad got drenched and we couldn't talk to each other without shouting so on our over night stop in Missouri we met up with a mechanic that added an extra seal to the door...but they did it wrong so we had to add a layer of packing tape after he finished up.  The ride was quieter and there wasn't any more rain.  Oh this was hilarious....one of the guys working on the window asked where we were from and we told him Utah, and he made a comment about Mormons being in there.  Then he hesitantly asked if we were Mormons and if we had compounds that we lived in around the State.  I laughed out loud at that and his co-worker was shocked that he asked.  We answered a few questions and I think he seemed satisfied that we are Christians.  The truck was a pretty rough ride and my Dad made fun of me for bringing my body pillow ad regular pillow with me...however he was mighty glad to have body pillow as extra cushion.  Never mock my preparedness : )  We made it to Fort Lauderdale on the 30th and closed on my place and then Doug and Rach helped us get unloaded....we got it all done that day and I had all my boxes emptied and broken down within a week or 2. 

The Sunshine State

Do I have a story to tell!  My parents have been trying to sell or have talked about selling their home for years.  Last year it was on the market for 6 months and only 3 people came to look at it.  This year it was on for less than a week before they found a buyer.  It was meant to be, and here's why...they applied for a service mission in Hawaii and were told they were definitely needed....by July! 

I was going to have to find a different place to live and figured why not make it a big move.  Hyrum and Anne's family have been in VA for almost a year, Jason and Becki's family moved to GA a few months ago and Rachel and Doug's family were moving to FL and I felt like Florida was the place I should be. 

I had a month to find a place to live, get packed up and out of Utah.  I flew to FL at the beginning of May to meet up with Rach and Doug and Liam to go house hunting.  We did research on apartments and manufactured homes and discovered that buying a manufactured home would make more sense financially and allow for more living space/yard space then renting would soooo the Shaw's and I are now the family's "trailer trash"!  The community is well maintained, there are no renters allowed, it's all owner occupied, and they do background checks on people and if they don't pass they aren't allowed to buy in Rexmere Village.  I'm skeptical so I did a little checking of my own and looked on the sex offender registry and was pleased to see no preverts live in the community.  As we looked at homes in Rexmere we each happened to like homes that just happened to be right behind each other....how awesome is that...to be backyard neighbors! 

I think this is the biggest snap decision I've made in my life!  I generally study things out, research, and take opinion polls before I make choices.  I'm not gonna lie it was really hard to leave my friends and extended family, but they made it a little easier by putting together several gatherings to say goodbye.  I'm truly blessed to have so many wonderful loving people in my life. 

back: Niki Hein, Kimmi Howell, Me, Kristen Cottrell

Kim Titus, Cari Davis, Marianne Gardner, Amy Butler

To be continued! 

Friday Celebration!

Bri's been going to school for the last year and a 1/2 and finished up her certificate for...I think it's medical assisting.... so a celebration was in order! I'm so proud of her, she is such a smart and dedicated woman and I wanted her to know that. So on Friday I met up with her and the kids. I wanted to get her a gift and thought about doing a spa cerificate but then thought I should go to Ulta instead to look at perfume...I saw the DKNY "Pure, Touch of Vanilla" and remembered that she wore "Vanilla Fields" in high school and figured it was a safe bet. I totally nailed it...when she opened it she said she'd seen it and had wanted to get that scent! Woot Woot! Sometimes I think I give gifts for selfish reasons, I get so much joy out of seeing the giftee's happiness.

We went to Color Me Mine and had a great time being creative. Afterwards we headed over to Smashburger for dinner including shakes and fried pickles! Yum...I love fried pickles!


Makaela's extra credit project

T-Rex and Elliot

Bridger and dinosaur egg

Bri being the assistant to all

Me and my tea for 1 set

Busy Week!

Normally my life is pretty quiet, but I had lots to do this week after work.

Tuesday was Relief Society Weekday Meeting...as a member of the presidency I was in charge of ordering and bringing eclairs...yum!

Wednesday night I went to dinner with my fabulous cousin Darcy, it was fun eating salad and getting caught up.

Thursday night I went to dinner with my friend Cari from the Branch...well she got married a few months ago so I haven't seen her much and it was also nice to catch up with her too.

Friday night I signed up for a Social Committee activity and was set up with a really nice guy named Mark. It was a fun activity and nice to spend time with a cute guy....I think my last date was almost a year ago....but who knows...the older I get the less sense of time I seem to have! We went to dinner and asked questions about each other and then went back to the church to answer questions about what we learned or should've learned at dinner and then played the "newly date game" We didn't sign up to participate on the panel, but they tallied the audience answers and Mark and I tied for 2nd place....its good to be a listener.

Today my Visiting Teachers came over and then I met my pal Amy at a bead shop and made another bracelet, then we had dinner and got pedis!

Sunday I have presidency meeting, a Fellowshiping Committe brunch and then church...I am worn out from being so social!

Fasting & Faith

It's been a long time since I've done a full 24 hr fast, but last week my parents and I decided there were a few things we needed some help with. One of those needs is growth of our company, we've started looking at ways to increase the client base and sought some guidance on that. After we broke our fast my mom asked me if I'd received any answers and I told her "not really"...I wasn't expecting the heavens to open up, especially since it had been a while since I'd put a lot of effort into that small sacrifice. However, 2 days later I got a phone call from a client that hadn't renewed his contract with us when we bought the assets of the old company through the bankruptcy courts in 2010 and he said he wanted to enroll again! I was amazed and touched by that phone call. Calls like that haven't been rolling in all week, but that one call did show me again how much the Lord cares and that He really does hear me and loves me and wants me to succeed. It is by small and simple things!

Arts & Crafts

I made it myself! My friend Amy found a bead shop in Murray that offers free classes so yesterday we decided to give it a whirl! It took about 3 hrs and $45 worth of supplies, but I must say I'm very impressed with the outcome....this could become a new expensive hobby! : D