Miracle on I-4

Driving on I-4 from Tampa to Orlando can in some

 ways be considered an extreme sport! 

I am not much for traffic to begin with so the

thought of driving on this oh so enjoyable stretch 

of road really makes my blood pressure shoot through the roof. 

Before I head off to The Temple 

I say a pleading prayer or two or three

..... NO TRAFFIC PLEASE!!! 

For some unknown reason I decided to pack along my 

camera on this little journey this time. 

I am glad I did, I caught it on "digital", the

 miracle on I-4 and I have a picture to prove it!

 It is just around 7:20 am, rush hour traffic time for sure

 and as you can see....WIDE OPEN LANES! 

A YUMMY 21

I always try to up the anti every family birthday 

and create a meal never to be forgotten. 

Even if our dear Joseph is on the other

 side of this earthly Vail 

celebrating his 21st  birthday with a 

big dinner, yummy dessert 

and a balloon release was a must!

We had chicken breasts stuffed with a spinach, 

sun dried tomato, Romano and mozzarella cheese 

and fresh basil filling topped with

 a mustard sauce....YUM!!!!!

 I served it with fresh pears and salad

 along with warm ciabatta 

bread and olive oil dipping sauce.

For dessert I made homemade chocolate cream 

filled eclairs, oooh were they gooood!!

To end our celebration we sent off the

 balloons into a star filled sky:)

It was a great family celebration of a very special day! 

(we missed having you with us this year Kate)

What a great blessing it is to know that

we are an ETERNAL FAMILY

and we have an eternity to come

that will be filled with celebrations:)

Decisions,Decisions......

On the VERY long journey from SLC to Rexburg

 the conversation went something like this.....

One of the boys..."Hey what are we going to

 do with Katie's room?"

Kate..."I don't care, I am not going back home, I hate Florida"

Josh..."Lets turn it into a workout room" 

(any of you that have seen my last few posts will 

have to concede that I NEED a work out room 

so I was of course on board with this one)

Justin..."What about turning it into a hobby room"?

Kate..."Wait, I am coming back to visit, 

where am I going to sleep"?

Joe...."We have two couches,....what 

about making it into a game room"?

Kate..." WHAT, WAIT, it is STILL MY ROOM".

Me...." I am going with the workout room"!! 

(this is my dream)

Kate..." HEY, It IS MY room!, I MIGHT

 JUST WANT TO COME HOME!"

Josh and Justin...." WHY"???!!!

After much pondering,  pleading and whining we 

came to a conclusion!

We decided to keep it Kate's room & guest room. 

SO boring I know!!! 

(the "mommy" side got the best of me)

Last year Kate wanted to paint her room a 

green/blue color like one at her 

favorite Disney World hotel.

After painting the entire room she decided it was not EXACTLY

 like she had wanted. It stayed anyway!!! 

(to be honest, it turned out more green than blue)

 This time we picked out and bought a new paint color. 

We have been painting our ENTIRE house and when it

 came time to open the can and start repainting 

 her room,  with extreme exhaustion in his voice Joe said,

" Just leave it! You can decorate around it" 

The challenge was on!

I found a Vera Bradley lamp at a local furniture store that had 

the same color of green in the shade and the pattern is 

called Daisy Daisy which is her favorite flower, 

so there was my inspiration. 

We painted our old furniture a creamy white to match 

her already existing pieces and put those in the room. 

Then I asked a sweetheart of a lady, 

Elizabeth Bryant (Elizabeth Writes) 

to paint two paintings (bushelandbloom) 

that would bring the room colors and theme together.

 She did such a great job!

(it's hard to see but there are green dots that 

match the green paint and bring it all together)

The room looks so bright and welcoming, it has 

almost a " cottage-bungalow" style to it.

(It looks so much better in person)

Joe surveyed the room after I pronounced it

 ready and always the business man, 

commented the guest will love it....

"for forty dollars a night (to cover expenses)

 unless your family....then it's eighty!!!"

Now it is off to finish the bathroom,

 then what we affectionately call "Katie's Wing" will

 be officially done and ready for her 

(IF she does ever decide to return:) 

or anyone else crazy

 enough to sleep over at our wild house! :)

Does this look like studying to you?

Where are the pics of Kate in the library or 

cramming for a test over the computer?

Non existent!  

Instead I see: Party pics

The Roommates:)

Looking so glam before going out on dates

   Date night in a tent? In Provo

Joe and I want to go back to school!

Rexburg, Big Jud's & goodbye's

On the morning of the 30th we awoke to a

 beautiful sunrise and a long day ahead of us. 

It was the day Katie was looking forward

 to the most, we were headed to Rexburg.

The drive from SLC to Rexburg is a long one but it was

 so pretty with all the fields and

 mountains covered in freshly fallen snow. 

As you get closer up to Rexburg you can see 

the Grand Teton's off to the right. 

They are so beautiful and Kate is so lucky 

she gets to snowboard there every Friday! Life is so hard!!

The Rexburg Temple is one of the most beautiful 

I have ever seen and the inside is breathe taking!

 After shopping and buying everything in Rexburg, we got Kate

 settled in and then headed for a local hot spot..Big Jud's. 

We were told it was worth the drive to Archer Id. 

and so we ventured out to find this hole in the wall burger joint. 

The place may be small but the burgers are as big as your head!

After the kids and Joe tried their very best to eat an entire cow 

( I had the chicken sandwich, the normal size thank you :)

They decided to tackle a dog bowl full of ice cream and toppings!

 Yes I did say dog bowl!  YUMMY!!

After gorging ourselves to death it was time to take Kate 

back to her apartment and say goodbye. 

A few hugs, giggles and I love you's later we headed back for SLC.

The boys hit the beds pretty hard. I do not care how old your kids are,

 they are all adorable when they are sleeping:)

 When the sun came up the next day it was New Years eve

 and time to head home to balmy Tampa:)

Provo Temple & the MTC

Sunday the 28th was the perfect day to take a drive to Provo. 

We headed south to see the Temple, BYU and the MTC.

Joe is the only one of us that has been to Provo, 

when he went into the MTC....

I won't even say how long ago that was:)

He said the MTC looks exactly like it did back in the 80's 

It was really neat to be in the MTC foyer

 with Joe and have the boys there knowing that it won't

 be long until they are going to be there as well.

(this pic is actually from the 80's but

 it looks just the same as it does today)

The Temple is so beautiful but so much 

smaller than I had expected it would be.

It was cool seeing all the missionaries crossing the street to take the 

same pics that Joe did so long ago and that the boys 

will take in just a few years.

(can you guess which one is Joe? hint: he has black thick hair) 

A sweet side note this picture of Justin, in that group 

of Elders and Sisters is a great friend of Kate's, 

her name is Katie also. She left to serve a mission in Chile just before 

Christmas. Kate wanted soooo bad to see her at the MTC but it is

 a closed campus with no vistors. So Kate was praying that she might 

see her walking to the Temple with all the other missionaries. 

Her daddy kept telling her it was "like finding a needle

 in a stack of needles" and that if she saw her it would be a miracle! 

Behold the miracle! standing there in 

that group of missionaries is Katie! 

They could not talk to each other but I think they were

 both so grateful for an answer to a little prayer.

Although I would LOVE for Kate to serve a mission, 

( I think she would be an amazing missionary!) 

I am afraid the next time she and her daddy take a picture

together at the Temple, she will most likely be in a white gown.

My future missionaries and the mom that 

will be crying her eyes out on the day they leave!

Hey I've earned the right to do so when the time comes!

SOLITUDE=PERFECTION!!

Whenever we have skied Utah we have skied in Park City or Alta.

Being with the kids this time around meant no Deer Valley  or Alta because they only snowboard. I wanted to change things up a bit a try a new resort so we headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon towards Solitude. 

It was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken and the resort is now on the list of my all time favorites!

 

It was the PERFECT day! 

Christmas Day and a Blizzard to boot!

We have been to SLC before at Christmas and knew that on Sunday EVERYTHING is closed! We (I) forgot to consider that it would be the same this time around. Christmas was on a Thursday so I figured more restaurants would be opened, who was I kidding? 

I must have thought I was going to NY or LA.

So considering our plight and our very empty stomachs we took a page out of one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Santa Clause and headed to (gulp) Denny's! Now mind you I am NOT by any means one that would EVER eat at 

Denny's unless it was the last thing on earth opened! 

It just so happens that was the case Christmas morning! 

It was GROSS but we all survived and have made a family pact 

NEVER to leave home at Christmas again, unless it is NY or LA:) 

We headed over to Temple Square after breakfast and enjoyed being on

 this sacred ground on Christmas morning.

 

There was such a beautiful spirit there and I can truly say standing next to the Christus statue looking up at the Savior on the day we celebrate his birth was such an amazing and humbling experience. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to feel the spirit so close and bare witness of our Saviors love.

 

It was a day of miracles, Joe actually got me to take a 

picture and smile while doing so!

But tell me, who wouldn't smile be surrounded by such amazing kids!!! 

They are my true miracles and greatest blessings:)

The weather had been calling for snow and boy howdy did it show up on Christmas night!

Once it started it didn't stop! We had so much 

fun having a snowball fight in front 

of the hotel and then having hot apple cider and 

sugar cookies in the lobby, YUM!

The next morning Justin couldn't wait to get 

outside to asses the damage

I must say for a Florida kid justin is

 pretty darn good with an ice scraper!

 I told him if we move back west he could have a

 business cleaning off cars after a snow storm. 

(That would last about a day I am sure:)