Christmas Visitors

After my trip to California (see previous post), we had a few visitors come to stay with us :) Jerry and Bev flew in on Thursday evening, and we were able to enjoy the holidays together. On Friday, Kevin and Jerry went to play golf at the Biltmore Hotel, which I believe is the oldest golf course in Florida (built in 1925). Bev and I ran a few last-minute errands to get ready for the weekend festivities.

That afternoon, we headed towards the beach for a nice dinner and harbor cruise. We ended up eating at Chophouse Miami, and it did not disappoint. We all ordered churrasco steaks with chimichurri sauce.

After stuffing our faces, we headed to Bayside to catch the harbor cruise. It was a little chilly, so we opted for the ship that had the option of indoor seating. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed the views of Star Island and the "exclusive" Fisher Island (that had ferries going back and forth every 20 minutes, hahaha). The homes were beautiful, but it made me realize how ridiculous some people are, like the guy who planted $10k palm trees from Africa around his entire property. What a waste of money!!

Christmas day we had the missionaries for breakfast, which included belgian waffles with "dip" eggs on top, bacon, and orange juice. One of the Elders was able to skype with his family, and then it was time for our call with Elder Clark :) I was really excited to talk with my little brother, and we had a great conversation. The time went by much too quickly, but he will be home before we know it. After our chat with him, we opened a few presents and headed up to the new house to look at the progress. We hit the movies while we were up there, and saw "The Tourist". I enjoyed it, but the boys thought it was too predictable.
The missionaries came back for Christmas dinner after we found out that their dinner appointment had fallen through :( We decided to go for a Mexican-inspired meal, featuring lime-cilantro chicken and black-bean salsa as an appetizer. Although it wasn't really the traditional Christmas dinner, I figured we needed a change since we were eating steak the day before, and the day after Christmas as per Kevin's b-day request. It was really nice to have the missionaries over and it made me really think about my brother.
After the Elders left, Kevin and I had to buckle down and finish our talks that we were giving on Sunday. We stayed up till almost 2 in the morning, then woke up at 7 to get ready for church. Right as church was about to start, we lost all electricity and Kevin turned to me with a huge smile and says, "Happy Birthday to me". Hahaha. He thought he was going to get out of speaking, but that was not the case. After about a minute, the power went back on, but would go off again every 10 minutes. When the power went off as I was speaking, the Bishop handed me a flashlight, and I attempted to carry on as if nothing had happened. Let me tell you how weird it is to give a talk in complete darkness. I did tell the audience that I felt like I was telling campfire stories!! It was very interesting, but turned out alright in the end.

I then headed to Young Women's for my last meeting! I was released last week from my calling, and although I knew it was coming since we are moving soon, I was still super sad to say goodbye to my girls. I made them a little handout with a note attached (which Bev helped me put together), but I totally lost it when the YW president asked me to share my testimony with the girls. The good news is that I know I will see them around because we are going to be in the same Stake when we move, and I was called to be in the Stake YW presidency :) So, I am looking forward to those adventures.
We really had a nice visit and it was fun to have company for Christmas. Thanks for a great trip :)

Going Home

Due to Kevin's crazy work schedule around the holidays, and the fact that he is unable to take any time off, I headed to California by myself for 6 days. And what a lovely time I had :) Of course, I wish Kevin could have been with me, but I really enjoyed the time with my parents and sister Kimberly. I flew in super late Thursday night and was greeted by my Dad. We enjoyed chatting on our car-ride home, and our talk somehow turned into us quizzing each other on the Articles of Faith, haha. (Note: this is not completely random. I was talking to him about the talk I had to give the following Sunday on the new mutual theme-which is based on the 13th A of F.)

Friday morning, Kimberly and I headed down to my mom's school to help with her class party and see my mom in action. Everyone wore their pajamas and they were having a ball. Kimberly was in charge of holiday bingo and I was in charge of helping the kids make greeting cards. The kids were adorable. But not as adorable as my mom doing the 12 days of Christmas song. Here is a little snippet for your viewing pleasure :)

That evening, we headed to the ward Christmas party, which turned out really nice. It is always nice to see familiar faces and to catch up with some of the people that I admire and respect so much. Saturday, we ran a few errands, went to lunch at my favorite place, and headed home to make a yummy dinner of tomato bisque and panini sandwiches. Unfortunately, I started feeling sick as we were preparing the food. Long story short, I think I had the flu for a day and a half, and I was REALLY sick. Luckily, my parents took such great care of me while I was ill. It takes a mother's love to stand by me and just wipe by face in between bouts of throwing up. Not my favorite day and a half, but I was grateful for how my parents cared for me. I was thankful that my Dad was willing and able to give me a blessing that night when I was feeling like death.

The last few days of the trip were spent doing holiday things, like making salsa for the neighbors, stuffing and mailing Christmas cards, puzzle-doing, shopping, eating, talking, laughing, and crying together. I love my family a whole lot and look forward to the next time I get to see them. Unfortunately, I took about 0 pictures from the weekend because we were either too busy, or one of us was sick. (Note: After I got over the flu, Kimberly came down with something for almost 3 days.) I did, however, take a picture of the fam when they got home from Church, which I unfortunately had to miss due to my sickness!

Key Largo Half Marathon

This is almost 2 months late, but I figured I would blog about my first half-marathon. My friend Daleth and I had been training for almost 6 months, and we ran the Jewish Fish Bridge Run in Key Largo back in November. Our goal was to complete the whole race without stopping, and we accomplished our goal (with one pit-stop to use the lovely porta-potty along the trail). It was a beautiful trail over the bridge and up Highway 1. It was amazing to have the ocean on both sides of us as we ran, and I only felt slightly worried when I saw a sign that read, "Crocodile Crossing-Next 2 miles." Daleth commented that hopefully the crocodiles would eat the people in front of us first, haha.

I had told myself that I didn't care about the time we got as long as we ran the whole thing, but when people with white hair passed me, I felt a little ashamed. I still was happy to accomplish my goal, and we ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 48 minutes, which is roughly a 12.8 minute mile. Needless to say, we didn't win for our division, but it was a lot of fun to participate in something like this. People told me I would get addicted to running, which I don't think is the case, although I did enjoy the exercise and friendship I developed.

The picture is from when we picked up our race packets, and I still need to get the rest of the pictures from Daleth!! I am sure there are some nice sweaty pictures of us at the finish line :)

Ski Rixen

One of Kevin's favorite new weekend adventures involves going to a cable park in Deerfield Beach called Ski Rixen. Basically, it is a series of cables and pulleys suspended over a lake so you can enjoy wakeboarding/skiing/kneeboarding without a boat. You start out on a platform that is level with the water. When your pulley comes around, it pulls you off the ramp at about 18 mph and it pulls you around the lake, with about 8 other riders. It sounds easy enough, but I can assure you it is not (more on that later).

You don't need your own equipment to ride, but they do require your own equipment if you want to try any of the ramps or rails. Of course, Kevin wanted to try the ramps, but his equipment was in Texas. So, when we made a a trip out there in September, Kevin came back with his board, helmet, and life jacket. This all makes me a little nervous, so I told him he better not break his face. He tried one of the ramps for the first time about a month ago and I was there to document it. I have included the first two attempts for your viewing pleasure.

I don't know why, but I really love that second video. Something about the way his hand flaps back and forth in an attempt to somehow balance himself. Makes me laugh every time.

We haven't been back since because we have been busy, but I am sure his jumps will get bigger and better, haha. Nonetheless, it makes him happy and, I quote, he "needs a little adventure in his life."

a few changes...

Since the last post, I was assigned to work at two different schools. I am at Olympia Heights Elementary School on M, W, and F. I am at Banyan Elementary School on T, Th. It has been interesting to say the least because the therapist that was there before me had not left much documentation and the files were definitely not up to date. I have spent the last 3 weeks trying to get things organized, figure out the school system, and pull the 80 kids I have on my caseload for therapy twice a week. I start at about 8:15 and pull groups of kids for therapy until almost 2 everyday. At that time, I am supposed to do all testing, paperwork, and meetings by 3:15 when the kids get out of school. I am not sure how they think it is possible, but due to the lack of funding in the schools they don't want to pay me past that time. This has been a source of much discussion/debate.

Since I was hired through a contract agency, I am voicing my frustration to them, but in the end, it is the district that is paying the agency...therefore the agency tells me not to work past 3:15 if the district won't pay for it. In theory this makes sense, but in reality I am not going to leave if there is work to be done, and I want to do a good job and actually make an impact with these kids. Side note: the previous therapist had not pulled the kids for therapy for the first 6 weeks of school, so the teachers thought I was the greatest thing when I came to get the kids :) Hahaha.

I hope I don't sound too negative because I am definitely grateful for my job and the kids are a lot of fun, but the politics of the school system is very interesting. I also found out on Tuesday that they are switching me to a middle school in place of one of my elementary schools because they are putting a district speech pathologist at the school I have been at. I am not sure the rationale or how that is fair after I finally got things settled, but I am embarking on a new journey come Thursday. In talking to my young women at church today, I found out that one of the girl's younger sisters goes to the school I will be working at. Mind you, the school is for grades 6-8. She had lovely stories about a kid who had a fresh tattoo (sixth grader) and beat some kid because he accidentally bumped into his tattoo, and about two girls sharing knives to cut themselves. Scary right? I think I was still wearing winnie-the-pooh sweatshirts in the sixth grade. Hahaha.

I will keep you posted on how things play out. Hopefully the kids receiving speech therapy will be the angels of the school :) I can always hope!!

bilingual by tomorrow

I have some good news!! I finally started my job yesterday after 6 weeks of waiting. The bad news is that they thought I was a bilingual therapist :( I am attempting to channel all those Spanish skills I had once upon a time so that I can fulfill my role as bilingual speech therapist.

I am on a Pre-K Diagnostic team that does assessments for kids 3-5 that have been referred for an evaluation. They are also seen by a social worker and a psychologist. All others members of the team are fluent in Spanish, which is not a huge surprise to me since I do live in Miami. When I first arrived we sat around and talked about how we are going to make this work since I am lacking in the bilingual department. I felt pretty awesome since I was only half solving their problem of being without a speech therapist. Fortunately, they were assessing a child in English that day, so I was in luck, kind of...I would bet my life that the child has severe ADHD. Luckily, I was able to assess him first, before he lost all wits.

Today I went to work with a therapist in a different region and actually administered one of the tests in Spanish. That was interesting. As a side note, my Dad told me last night that it was probably about time that I became bilingual due to my current location and that I should set aside a few days a week where Kevin and I only speak Spanish to one another. That could possibly be a disaster, but hey I guess it is worth a try. It just might be kinda quiet around our place...and I might have to revert to sign language.

So, I am going to work tomorrow in my current position, but that position might be changing, hahaha. I will keep you posted.

why i love miami

I had this idea last Friday night that I wanted to go and watch the sun rise on Saturday morning. Well actually, I mentioned wanting to go watch the sun set on the beach with a picnic, and Kevin reminded me that we are on the wrong coast for that, hahaha. So, we opted to wake up at 5:30 to get to the beach on time for the sunrise. We were heading to Hollywood beach, which is North of us, but it seemed to be getting lighter and we were worried we were gonna miss it, so we just took the next exit and headed toward the beach. We ended up at Hallandale beach, which was beautiful. It was a little cloudy, but the weather was perfect and I absolutely loved watching the sun come out for the day. There was something very relaxing and calming about the whole experience.


While we were sitting on the beach, a lady on a four wheeler stopped by a little roped-off section of the beach that we happen to be sitting near. I had no idea what she was doing, but she put on some gloves and began digging in the sand. After several minutes of digging deeper, she came up with a handful of turtle eggs. I felt like a little kid as I watched in awe as she brought out handfuls of eggs. Occasionally she would bring out broken shells, or throw something into a bucket. My dad would have been so proud because I went over and started talking to her. I was curious how they knew the turtle nest was there, and she said that it had actually hatched out the night before. They are trained to look for the tracks, etc. So, they rope off the area and dig it up the next day.

I learned a lot about turtles in the 5 minutes I talked with her. Apparently turtles can lay up to 95 eggs at one time. That is a lot of eggs!! They only have to incubate for about 45 days before they hatch out. She had 3 little baby turtles in her bucket that didn't crawl out of the nest because turtles can dig down anywhere from 3 to 7 feet when they lay their eggs. The rest of the eggs were never fully developed, thus wouldn't be hatching. It was kind of gross because she had to open each egg to make sure there wasn't any developement.

She offered to let me go down to the water with her while she released the turtles. They were just about the cutest thing you have ever seen. I tried to take a little video, but once the wave comes, it is a mystery where the turtle went, hahaha. Good luck little guy :)

Labor Day Weekend

Needless to say, Kevin was in heaven over the weekend as we spent time at the lake. I think that is one of the things he has missed the most about Texas (besides family and friends of course). Every time we see a body of water here in Miami, Kevin will say something along the lines of "We could totally ski on that water". He misses it a lot, but we were lucky enough to have a perfect day at the lake on Saturday. As mentioned in previous post, we took a last minute trip to Texas for the weekend. We flew in super early on Saturday, and after some delicious breakfast burritos courtesy of Bev, we headed out to the lake. The water was beautiful, the temperature perfect, and the company lovely :)

That evening, we went out to Babe's Chicken, which really does have the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. I ordered the chicken strips and they were delicious. We also stopped by an old fashioned candy store near Babe's and picked up a few treats.

Sunday we headed back to our old Grand Prairie ward for church with our friends Vance and Julianne, who also used to be in the ward. They were sweet enough to have us over for breakfast that morning as well. It was awesome to see old friends and remember why we loved that ward. Only the Bishop knew we were coming, so it was kind of fun to be a surprise! That afternoon, we got together with our old Arlington friends, which was a blast. The Sturgills hosted the afternoon and provided yummy food for everyone. We missed a few friends who couldn't make it, but it was so great to catch-up with friends and meet two new babies that were born after we left. We really do miss these friends a lot. Below is a picture of Maddy and I. She acted as if she didn't know me when we got there, but by the end we were reading books to each other. She always had creative titles for the books she read to me, like "The bugs you never, never, never, never, never knew even existed." Hahaha. Creative kid :)
Doug, Tracy, and Britton Myers. (Cooper was at home with family taking a little nap.)
Mike and Kevin just doing their thing. We really do have great friends back in Texas and it was great to pick up where we left off.
Me, Tracy, and Danielle.
Mike, Maddy, Hudson, and Danielle Sturgill.
We headed back up to Flower Mound for dinner Sunday night and enjoyed time with family. Monday was another day filled with attempted boating, hahaha. The water was so choppy I felt that I was in the ocean. It took all my balance and energy to stay afloat, so I could hardly do anything on the board. And I definitely felt it on Tuesday because every muscle in my neck and back was sore. It made us even more grateful that Saturday was such a perfect day.

Overall, we had a wonderful three-day weekend and were able to pack a lot in to the schedule :)

{Visitors}

I have been terrible at blogging recently, but wanted to document the visit from Jerry and Bev. They came to visit us at the end of August and were able to stay for the weekend. Jerry had to head back to work on Monday morning, but Bev stayed until Tuesday afternoon. And since I haven't started my job yet, I was able to spend the days with them while Kevin had to work.

We enjoyed their company and were able to show them around Miami and took them to the beach we like in Hollywood, Fl. It was actually slightly less humid than it had been during the whole month of August, so I figure they were just good luck :)

While they were here, we were discussing the upcoming holidays and when we would be able to go to Texas for a visit. As we looked at the calendar, we realized that things weren't very promising with both of our work schedules. Well, later that night, Jerry called the airlines and found that he had points available if we wanted to go to Texas the next weekend for Labor Day. We were excited for this opportunity, and had a great weekend (post to follow).

Thanks so much for two great visits in two weeks!!

our last minute vacation

Meador Family Reunion

On July 23rd, we flew to Denver, Colorado for the family reunion. We had a great time and it was awesome that everyone made the effort to come from all over the country. We didn't get to Colorado till almost midnight on Friday, but Saturday morning we headed over to the roller-skating rink to meet the rest of the family.
I hadn't been skating in years, and I am pretty sure the last time I went I was dressed in 80's clothes and was accompanied by all my college roommates :)
Kevin participated in the limbo contest, but I opted to man the camera instead!



We spent the majority of the afternoon in Uncle Larry's backyard. Events included bocce ball, baseball, and a little football after family pictures.


We did a lot of sitting around and chatting...which is what family reunions are for in my opinion.
We ended the reunion with a family home evening about missions, since one of Kevin's cousins just returned from a mission, and another one of his cousins is leaving on a mission this month. All members of the family that had served missions talked about their experience and offered any advice to the future missionaries. It was a great testimony builder, and great to learn more about members of the family. Grandma and Grandpa were then presented with their surprise gift that Jill(cousin) coordinated. Everyone contributed scrapbook pages about their family, and it turned into a beautiful book.

We will look forward to the next time this happens!!!

Proud to be an American

It was very interesting this year to have the Fourth of July fall on a Sunday! I was honestly surprised at how many people came to church because even when the weather is bad, people tend to stay home. Not only was it a holiday yesterday, but it was also rainy all day. We had a great turnout and a really interesting testimony meeting. The majority of the members of our ward were born outside the US of A, and talked about the gratitude they had for this country and the great freedom and opportunities it has provided for their families. I really wish I was more patriotic because I know I am lucky to live here, but I feel like I should have a more intense gratitude for my country. I am gonna work on that :)

Our Bishop gave an awesome testimony about the founding fathers and how this country was formed for a divine purpose. A place where religious freedom could exist so that the church and Gospel could be restored to the earth. He spoke about how the Gospel emanates from this country. Anyway, it really gave me something to thing about.

We met up with some friends from the ward, including the Bishop and his family, for fireworks later that night. We were supposed to head up to Ft. Lauderdale but the weather was REALLY bad up there. We ended up staying in Doral and had some of the coolest weather we have had in months. Here are Daleth and Andre...
Jeff (the Bishop), Tara, and Will (in the background).
Us girls :)
Kevin was adorable playing with the kids. Him and Andre were playing soccer with a group of kids, and then little Katie wanted Kevin to play a game with her where he would throw the ball in the air so she could go get it. Never got old for her, hahahaha.

Four Awesome Years

On Thursday, June 24th, we celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. We went to P.F. Changs for dinner and enjoyed a very relaxing evening together. We have loved these last four years and are excited for the years to come and the adventures they will bring. I love Kevin a whole lot and I feel so lucky to be married to my very best friend.

Erin's Wedding

I returned last week from a wonderful trip to Utah for my best friend Erin's wedding to Ian Checketts. I flew in super late on Wednesday night and had a little sleepover with Erin and one of her mission companions. We spent the majority of Thursday and Friday doing wedding errands and hanging out with old roommates :) It was seriously a great few days. We all got together for dinner on Thursday night and had fun reminiscing about all the funny things we used to do. After dinner, we made pazooki (an old favorite) and laughed the night away.

Brie, me and Ambree

Erin and Molly

Mr and Mrs Checketts exiting the temple.

The sealing was awesome and was performed by her mission president who happens to be the Temple President of the Oquirrh Mountain temple. Erin looked stunning. I loved her dress :) Fun fact...I was with her when she bought her dress back in April and she actually purchased her dress from the same little shop that I bought mine at :)

The bridesmaids...me, Monica, and Ian's two sisters Lauren and Hannah. Poor Lauren had surgery on her ACL a few weeks before the wedding and ended up having another surgery the day before the wedding due to an infection. She was a trooper to show up in heels!!
The old roomates all together again. It had been over a year since we were all together, and it was definitely fun to see each other again. I miss these girls...and the funnest part was how we just picked up where we left off.
Needless to say, it was a little windy outside the temple. And by that, I mean that it was probably the windiest day of my life. It was a little tricky taking pictures because you had to choose between holding your hair, or holding your dress. Molly opted for the dress. Haha.
It was a little less windy at the reception, which turned out really nice and I loved the decorations. Just imagine a lot of wrought iron, topiaries, beautiful flowers, and hanging lanterns in corals and creams.
Me and the beautiful bride. Erin and I were roommates in college for a few years and have remained friends ever since. I really love this girl and it was fun to be there for her special day. Now that we are all married, we decided that we are going to start planning annual girl weekends to stay in touch...since we no longer live very close. (Oregon, Utah, Florida, and soon-to-be California)
After the wedding and clean-up, I bummed a ride back down south with Brie and Jeff to visit family. I only was able to spend about 24 hours with the Robinsons, but it was a great 24 hours :) We of course took Sunday pictures, and here is my cute cousin Heidi and my cute Aunt Lori.
I will look forward to the next trip...