February Happenings

Wow, it is a little ridiculous how far behind I am in blogging, but I am going to do my best at catching up.  Life for Kevin and I has been busy with work and church callings, but we have managed to make some fun memories over the last 5 months.

February 19th marked one year in our house, which was crazy.  The past year has flown by.  When we moved a year ago, my parents and sister/unpacker extraordinaire were here to help.  My parents decided to come back and visit that same week, and Kimberly came down from New York.  We loved having them here.  I am thinking we should make this a yearly tradition.

Here are a few pics from their visit.  We attempted to go to Vizcaya, but apparently they are closed on Tuesdays.  I felt like a total idiot, but we made the most of it and enjoyed a yummy meal and some shopping instead.  Mom, Dad, and Kimberly took a trip out to Shark Valley when Kevin and I had to work.  Then Mom, Dad, and I went to the Coral Castle after Kimberly had to return to New York.

Apparently Dad wanted to be included in the glamour shots, haha.

 

 This is the Florida table.  I am pointing to where we live on the "map", in case you are wondering :)

We loved having them visit, and I loved the evenings of just chatting and laughing together. The only down side was that Jeffrey was not here.  Hopefully next time he can come!!  And Madison of course. (Wedding post coming soon.)

Still Christmas Around Here...

We celebrated our first Christmas in the new house, and although it was a little quiet with just the two of us, we had a really relaxing and enjoyable weekend. It was nice to just stay home together. Recently we have been super busy with work and church callings, so it felt like a vacation to stay home, haha. Kevin nicknamed our house "Meador Grande".

We didn't manage to get all the decorations out until December 11th...so I warned Kevin that all the decorations would stay out until January 11th to get the full effect. I love all things Christmas, and since we were gone the first weekend in December, we didn't get our tree until the following weekend. I also feel completely justified because the Latin folk keep their decorations out until the 6th of January for Three Kings Day.

For those curious few...that little critter is called a vicuna, and was a gift from Kimberly when she went to Peru. I thought he should grace us with his presence for the holidays. Doesn't he look cute by the pinceones, haha?
The beautiful carolers my very talented Grandma Stadtmueller made for me years ago.

Cali (the girl in the high-waisted red pants) hosted a holiday party that we attended. I couldn't find a funny sweater for myself, so I just opted for Christmas colors. But I did have green shoes on, so that's a little more fun, right?

We went to see The Nutcracker at the Ziff Opera House in downtown Miami. I hadn't seen the ballet for at least 10 years, so I was pretty excited. We (mostly me) enjoyed getting dressed up for something a little out of the ordinary.
Christmas Day we took a self-timer photo (to document the day of course), had Andre and Daleth for dinner, then were joined by more church friends for dessert and socializing.
Kevin's 30th birthday!!! Can you believe it?? I made creme brulee and allowed Kevin the honor of torching the vanilla sugar on top. We opted for 3 candles since ramekins are only so big!Like I said, I am still enjoying the holidays over here with my tree lights gleaming and a cup of cocoa on the coffee table. Only bad part is that Kevin is still at work (11 pm on Friday night) doing his year-end inventory. All I can say, is that he will be excited to be home for the weekend.

We have so much to be grateful for, most important being the birth of our Savior. I love the feelings associated with Christmas, the focus on family, and the generosity shown. Here's to a happy and healthy 2012!!

TRIKW- December 3rd

After several months of training and anticipation, Kevin completed the Key West sprint triathlon. It was windy the morning of the event, but overall Kevin and his friends had a great time and they all survived. It was awesome to be there and be part of all the excitement for the event. There were a few olympians participating, and a lot of hard core athletes. I was amazed to see a 9 year old and an 11 year old participating. That shows some courage! The open swim is what scares me, but they did awesome! I took this picture of Kevin a few minutes after he actually crossed the finish line and texted it to family members, especially since my mom was worried for Kevin's safety. I was actually standing along the sidelines about 200 yards (?) before the finish line so I could get a better picture due to the crowd at the end. As he ran by I was screaming his name and cheering. Apparently he didn't notice or hear me because he later told me that as he crossed the finish line, he was looking around for me, and he didn't see me anywhere. HOW SAD!! I had to explain that I was hoping for the best picture, and since we had no idea when he would be passing by, we were just keeping a close watch. As soon as we saw him rounding the corner, I took my picture taking position, and Daleth ran her pregnant self over to the finish line to snap a picture (which I don't have yet).

Here are the events of the weekend. First order or business, load up the bikes from our house down to Andre and Daleth's house. Once there, we put the bikes on their car rack to head down to Key West. Only after stopping for breakfast, of course! We all took Friday off work to give ourselves an extra day for the weekend adventure.
The boys wanted to attend the safety meeting, which might have been mandatory, but regardless was super helpful as they had no idea what they were doing. It was helpful for me too so I understood how the morning would play out.
The look of excitement and anticipation!
They had this amazing sand sculpture that was part of some contest on an HGTV show...along with the one at the top of this post.


The morning of the race. The boys dropped all their gear at the transition area, went to body marking, and came back up to the room to pick us up.







Kevin running past after the swim. He didn't even look at me for the photo op. Don't worry, I talked to him about this missed photo opportunity, haha. We were all screaming and yelling, and I got nothing. I guess he was focused :) The swim was tougher than they had anticipated due to all the wind.
Waiting in line to get his print-out of results. Overall, his goal was to complete the thing in under 2 hours, and beat Robby, haha. Robby joined last minute and was pretty confident that he would beat Kevin and Andre, so that was their main goal. Mission accomplished! Kevin finished at 1:53, and Robby finished about 10 minutes later. As soon as it was over, they were already talking about doing it again next year, and possibly a few events between now and then!!
Oh, I forgot to mention that we were staying at the Casa Marina, which was hosting the event. Let me tell you, this place was beautiful. It was located right on the water and had the most amazing hammocks between the pool and the beach. Andre used his points to get us a shared room, and we basically had a slumber party Friday and Saturday night.

After the boys showered up, we spent the afternoon at the pool enjoying the 80 degree weather. Definitely doesn't feel like December here, but I was grateful for the warmth and the time to just relax. That evening, we went to Hot Tin Roof in downtown Key West. We dined on their covered patio area where we watched the sunset and the yachts passing by. Dinner was delicious, then we strolled down Duval Street to catch their annual Christmas parade. We stopped for frozen key lime pie dipped in belgian chocolate and it did not disappoint. The parade, on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment, but we enjoyed the company. Key West isn't necessarily the classiest place around, and there were some bar hoppers that were standing near us. Let's just say we were happy when they left!

Overall, It was a beautiful weekend and I was very proud of Kevin for his accomplishment. Until next time...