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 :)