KEYS FOR THE WEEKEND

Kent and I took a few days and went to the Keys, the original plan was to take our brand new Toyota 4 Runner and pull the wave runners (boats) and play on the ocean but on Wednesday, the day before we were to leave we found out that the 4 Runner we were set to buy did not have the third seat that would allow us to take grandchildren and other people when they all come to visit so we had no car to pull the boats but we did have paid reservations, we went without the boats, Friday morning we are looking at the ocean and it is so flat and nice and we are wishing we could go out and play, we found a place to rent a wave runner and go on a tour  with a group.  On the tour we had some free play time, Kent and I took turns driving through the water, turning tight circles and having fun, we saw a turtle and tried to get close but it swam to the bottom and waited for us to leave. We then joined the group and found a reef to snorkel at, mostly reef/rock formations, we did find a ray hiding under the sand, after we went to shallow sandy area and sat in the water, still trying to figure out why people think this is fun, we see it at low tide around our home all the time. Wouldn't you rather be out driving your boat and pulling people on skis and tubes and things.  Next we took a high speed ride to and on the gulf coast which means we were on two oceans in one day, on the way back we came across a "heard" of spotted eagle rays, what a fun day.

This is a picture of Kent taking a picture of a large iguana 

we may not have the picture that Kent is taking because the camera got wet on the wave runners

 Later that evening after a nice shower we went back to town and had a nice dinner at Morada Bay

Tables were on the beach set up for sun set

 A band was playing

 We took a couple of chairs near the water to watch the sun set

 as the sun was setting this car came coasting across the ocean

 yes I said car - a pink car with the name "NAUTILIMO" across the side

 later that night we drove to another restaurant for a Key Lime pie dessert

while there we were entertained with fire

http://youtu.be/DJtNp2bBy-s

Saturday looked rainy so we decided against anything on the water, we drove to Key West

there was a marathon that day and we saw runners all the way to Key West, they had started in Key Largo, Key Largo to Key West is about 80 miles.  We did the usual in Key West, looked in a lot of shops, ate lunch and road a tour trolly, it was a fun day. we headed Back to Key Ilsamorada, planning dinner there however along the road we came upon a bad accident right at the beginning of Long Key Bridge. We were about 30 cars back so we guess the accident had happened about 5 before we got there. We were in a long line of cars but figured we should just wait based on the traffic you see on the Keys it could be backed up for miles.

 While we waited we watched a helicopter land, I filmed the landing and then when I turned the camera off realized that I wasn't filming at all. but I did get the video of the copter taking off again. 

http://youtu.be/kJ2pmr3uE8Q

After the helicopter left and the ambulances and the firetrucks we still had to wait for the tow trucks and the timing was just about right to catch another sunset and so there we were for the entire sunset...we shot a picture and 

and then another 

and another

You get the point I mean what else do you do when you are stuck on a 80 mile highway named over seas highway  for a couple of hours.  We had a late dinner which we enjoyed.
Sunday wound up the weekend with a quick trip to the church branch in Marathon, interesting experience, I counted 19 people including us and a missionary couple who were there for their first Sunday. A nice drive home.

HOUSE RENTED IN RECORD TIME

Our last tenants moved out just before Christmas, we weren't in a huge hurry to get the house in the paper again because we were so busy with a wedding and family Christmas in Utah, Chad's family visiting in January and so on, so we didn't get the house listed until February. At first I thought I had made a mistake in posting because we had no calls, then I did finally get a couple of emails at which point I realized that I had forgotten to include a picture of the house, that fixed I got a couple of more emails requesting more photo's, we only had the one of the outside of the house I told the people that Kent would be in town on the 6th and he would take pictures but that would also be the best time to come and see the house. Well there was a snow storm on Friday, Saturday and even some into Sunday....19 inches we are told (why not round it off to 20?)

When Kent got to Denver Monday he rented a Tahoe 4 wheel drive, drove to Elizabeth, used the neighbors driveway until he got to the crossover (repentance way.....named because if you took the wrong driveway you could fix your mistake without going clear out again), he turned into our drive and made it maybe 20 ft. before becoming completely stuck. He walked to the neighbors to get James and John to help him dig out and that's about when the people from Arizona showed up to look at the house. Kent said "I can show you the house but we will have to walk in." So in heavy snow up to their knees they trudged to the house. The woman had a very hard time catching her breath by the time they got to the house. They loved the house but couldn't get over the snow. (really we don't even get a storm like this every year) That couple I think regret not jumping on the house right away, they keep calling us to ask more questions like the house is still available but after they left another family, husband, wife and 2 boys showed up, the wife said she wasn't wearing the right shoes and waited in the car while Kent took the husband and boys to the house to look around. I hear the boys really loved the laundry shoot and were sending there jackets down to the laundry room. They asked Kent if we ever see critters and he said yes we have deer all the time, that's about when they reached the fire pit and caught two deer hanging around.

deer that showed up to help rent the house

They saw the house on Monday, had the paper work filled out on Tuesday, we had the driveway plowed on Thursday and the wife saw the house on Thursday afternoon on the way to the post office with their cashiers check which we had by Saturday morning and they had the keys by noon that day. WOW wish it could always be that easy. So here are a few of the pictures Kent took while there that won't be posted in Craigs list....at least this time around. Would you rent a house with this kind of snow?

Large Family room with wood burning stove
(this is where I like to set up my mattress when I go to visit the empty house in the winter -by the fire )

Family room looking to kitchen and hall way

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Back porch - some shoveling done to get to back yard

Front porch and walk - shoveled

fire pit - at least you can see the logs to sit on

house from fire pit

I really miss this place, can't wait until we are snowed in for a couple of days, digging snow with the tractor and drinking hot chocolate. I know....crazy.

NOT GOING TO BLOG ABOUT THIS

I have gotten so far behind in the blogging and I feel very bad at how much I have missed. This blog is kind of like a journal for Kent and I so I asked advise about catching up and moving forward. The advice I received was to forget the past and start with the now which is good advice and really helps with the overwhelming feeling of so much to catch up on. Only problem is that as I reflected back on the year I realized all that I won't be blogging about.

Starting with the visit we had from Chad and Shannon and family back in June/July, it rained almost the whole time they were here but we still managed to have a lot of fun. Like a trip to Disney Kingdom....Even Noah loved seeing the princess...really that is Noah trying to smile but the girls really loved the visit.

Noah was so happy that Grandad bought him a Mickey Mouse Ice cream

Grammy dressed the girls up and took pictures but didn't buy the outfits

And even though it rained the whole time we went to Miami area we still found places to stay dry

and the sandbar had the biggest conch we have seen there yet

Yep! too bad I can't share because after that visit in Florida Shannon and I (Judi/Grammy) loaded the kids up and drove over 2500 miles to New Mexico. We stopped in Savannah Georgia where we got so soaked in a down pour that a lady took mercy on the drenched, bedraggled children and bought them all an ice cream cone. Later, because it was raining just Shannon jumped out of the car (without her phone) to run into a park to take pictures our brilliant idea was for me and the kids to drive around and pick her up at the other side, only problem was that when I got to the other side ....well I would say there really wasn't another side. luckily Shannon thought to go to a center to look for a phone, in the mean time I thought to go back to where I left her hoping she would go to that point ...luckily we came across each other....scariest part o the whole trip even more scary than when the GPS quit working.
Along this trip we also stopped at an Indian village and danced with Indians, then drove through the Smoky mountains, we saw some historic places and interesting markers, honked the horn in all the tunnels and saw the begining of some trails we wished we had time to hike.

We drove though Tennessee, Nashville, Arkansas, Texas and a few other states, We stopped at Loretta Lynn's home for pictures, I wonder where I put them, they may all be on Shannon's camera.

While in Dallas, TX we hooked up with my brother, Rob and he treated us to a trip to his friends aquarium, We saw snakes, monkeys, penguins, all kinds of interesting fish and birds and other animals as well. This aquarium is a must see if you are ever in the area.

Later that day Rob took us to his new home, mostly finished but still under some construction at the time.

5 stories high with a fabulous view of down town Dallas from the roof

I won't be telling that the purpose or end of the trip was to get to Natalie and Doug's house to spend some time with them before Natalie's baby came and then I would fly Shannon and family home while I stayed a while longer with Natalie for the birth of her baby. I won't be telling that while we were still in Dallas we got a call from Natalie saying that her water broke and that she would be going to the hospital to have the baby so we better take the shortest route to her place.

The cousins did get to play with one another for a day and Shannon and I did do the midnight Harry Potter show without Natalie. and Shannon got to go to the hospital and hold Billy and the kids got to see there cousin Billy through a window. Then they flew home.

Billy was and is a very good baby

his brothers love him very much

it was fun to spend 3 weeks with Natalie, Doug and the boys

we all drove to Amarillo, TX to pick Kent and Jordyn up from the airport there.
and of course while in Amarillo, TX you have to go to THE BIG TEXAN for dinner, fudge

and the big rocking chair

this was Billy's favorite thing to do while I was there, it was my favorite thing to do to.

and of course the reason we were there was for the baby blessing.

and because I am not going to blog about it I will probably forget all the details of the road trip Jordyn and I took driving home. The first day we dropped Kent off at the airport in Amarillo TX and drove on to Brandon and Ali's house in Wichita Falls, TX. We spent the night and then drove to the Dallas TX temple (closed on Monday) and then made it to Houston where we spent the night and then went to the Houston Temple and Jordyn did baptisms.

After Houston we drove to Avery Island, Louisiana, saw some alligators (we have them in Florida) climbed trees (what Jordyn does best) saw the Tabasco plant then
made it to the Louisiana Temple (they only do baptisms and other sessions on certain days of the week, we missed).
the next day we drove into New Orleans and walked the streets to see the interesting shops, ate some Beignets and followed a map to see the old homes in the gardens area, we found the, above ground, cemetery very interesting. We drove through the night and arrived home the next morning. Yep I will probably forget about all of this because I won't be blogging about it.

Well it may not be to important to remember that I had only been home for about a week when a "family meeting" was scheduled to discuss Grandmother Rowland's health and care. So on the same day I dropped Jordyn off at the airport to fly out to Wisconsin to visit her boyfriend Ben and his family, I also caught a plane to Utah. Not much happened in that short time but I did get to see all of my siblings and I was able to go to Logan and see Chad's family and be there for Noah's second birthday.


Then the important visit of Ben Rhodes to the Florida area. We played on the water and had some other fun times but most important about that visit is.

the engagement. This is where and when he proposed

This is dinner after the proposal

this is the proposal area the next day when we went back to clean up.

These are some of the engagement pictures that didn't make the announcement

and what else am I going to forget about because I am not blogging?

The Girls Trip

Natalie and Jordyn and yep that includes me and Billy too.
Billy met his great grandparents for the first time.

We organized and planned a reception at the Aspen Center. Found a Wedding dress and started alterations

We also were able to make it to Candace Moyse Prytle's baby shower

and have a wedding shower for Jordyn the same day

There were men at the wedding shower but they were only there for the food, they stayed in the other room mostly.

lots of friends, family food and fun. what a great trip

Another trip or two I am not going to remember is that Jordyn and I flew to Utah again in November for good friend Kelli Christiansen's wedding and more fittings for the wedding dress. We returned home in time to have Thanksgiving day with Kent and Blake at Disney Epcot and Kingdom. Then I flew to Texas to spend a few days with Brandon and Ali as June entered the world on Dec. 1.

I flew back home in time for a hair cut and packing, then Jordyn and I took her "new" car and drove to Utah, stopping and Brandon and Ali's for Brandon's birthday, then a quick stop at Doug and Natalie's to hear Natalie play her violin in church and teach the RS lesson that day then through Colorado to pick up Jordyn's things at the neighbor's house (too late to see them and too late to see our house) then off to Utah just in time to pick Ben up at the airport.

Those are the things I am supposed to leave in the past, I have been given permission to start with Jordyn's wedding, and Christmas with the family which is still going back a few weeks so look forward to those in the next blog.