Life just seems to truck on by while we blink.
We've been renting the house where we live for the past year.  For 9 of those months, we've been trying (and trying, and trying) to purchase it.  It has been tedious.  And frustrating and exasperating.
We moved in partially, but still have boxes in the garage that we haven't even unpacked, because we thought we might be moving and didn't want to unpack these boxes just to repack again.

We also got embarrassed with the background in our skyping and online video conferencing.  Along with other food storage furniture, we had the food storage shelf, laden with food stuffs that couldn't withstand the garage heat of the summer, along with toys, and covered with a shower curtain.  Embarrassing.

My husband and I woke up on Saturday ready to move things around.  We've been stalling (for 9 months) since we didn't want to haul 2-4K lbs around this house (translation - up the stairs), just to move it all over again in a few months.  But we woke up 'over it' as we've been using the distributed food storage program which involved furniture in all rooms made from food storage.  Not very attractive, but that's how it has been this past year. Classy might not even be the right adjective. 


We got rid of some of the 'college dorm' like furniture.  (Like the tv, dvd player, and speakers all on a coffee table against the wall for example.  We've got a few ideas still on the backburner, but we have consolidated almost all of our canned (#10) into our extra room.  If you were planning on a visit, due to lack of visitors, we've re-claimed 12 inches in the guest room.  We now have an entire wall of food storage - floor to ceiling - the entire length of the room.  I think it is impressive, and it isn't even an eyesore.  Finally. 

We moved the love seat no less than 5 times, and lots of shelves and shelving units.  My muscles are sore.
We sigh relief though everytime we look over into our family room.  Hurray for that.

West Palm Beach & the Famous Toilet

We spent this weekend in West Palm Beach with some family that came into town (ahem - that town, not ours) .  We spent the day at the beach (of course - where else?), and then headed out for some dinner.
We tried out a cuban restaurant, and while the atmosphere and live music was really cool, the food was disappointingly a little bleh.
We decided to check out the street and shops scene and stumbled upon a splash fountain, and an outside dance party in the plaza. 

After shaking our hips to a few songs, we headed into Sloan's ice cream shop.  It was whimsical with awesome painting - everything looked hand painted, with amazing details, and it reminded me of cotton candy.  Here's a link that you should check out so that your jaw can also drop http://www.sloansicecream.com/about-us/

As soon as we hit the door, our youngest daughter urgently needed the bathroom.
We had no idea that this awaited us:
 
Yep - the bathroom door is glass.
We looked around and saw that the boy's restroom was also just as see through as the ladies.
We panicked.  My husband said no way.  I said - you stand guard, I'll help her hurry.  I thought - what kind of a place is this?  How weird. 

We got in and shut the door, then turned the handle, and the glass instantly fogged like this, and we heaved a sigh of relief, and hurried so that the fog didn't run out (in case it was on a timer or something)

Today when I got home, I was trying to figure out how to describe this bathroom door, and looked online.  I found several articles that rated this bathroom as one of the 9 most incredible bathrooms, as well as reference to this bathroom having made the Travel Channel's 10 most outrageous bathrooms list.
And to think we used this famous potty through pure luck.
I'm really sorry about the potty post, but really - it was so cool.  

Mom and Me week

During flute camp week, our youngest and I got to spend some fun time together, so we decided to put our Disney passes to good use.
We spent the first day at the Epcot center.  In Mexico, we discovered a ride we'd never seen or done before, and then had lunch at the Mexican restaurant.  We think that my chicken tortilla soup is better than theirs.
  

We spent the next day at the Animal Kingdom.  We took the train ride and got to see a ball python, and learn all about snakes.
AND touch them.

 

We spent our third day of the week in court - dealing with local housing issues which still have not been resolved, but have been extended for a couple of more months.
We enjoyed the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and we think we've figured out a system to get the most out of our time in futureland where we stayed the whole time.
We did Monsters inc. laugh floor twice just to see if we could figure out if they plant people in the audience to pick on.  We also wondered if they use the same jokes.  No on both accounts.  We still haven't quite figured out how they do it.

On Friday we decided to hang around UCF because it was so stormy and we would had to leave early for the flute camp concert.
We got pedicures, and then little missy got her hair trimmed.  Pamper pamper.

Our summer seems to have finally started!

Honeymoon Island

My husband needed to work in Tampa last Friday, so we hitched a ride.
The girls and I did some shopping (they love shopping) while dad worked, and then we headed out to a Honeymoon Island, a beach that had been recommended.
Last week, Florida got pounded with tropical storm Debbie, and the gulf coast was no exception.  We were glad that some of the beach was left, despite some of the debris and part of the island off limits due to the flooding.
We really enjoyed the super gentle surf, and the warm water - it was so relaxing.
We enjoyed digging around with our toes in the water and finding seashells and sand dollars - the girls would then dive down and retrieve the treasures - we found lots!


A walk down the beach - we get excited when we find rocks in Florida because there are so few.
Sea oats

We stayed around for the sunset over the gulf of Mexico.  It was spectacular.  

The girls and I

 

Flute camp

Our daughter attended flute camp at UCF a couple of weeks ago
She was the youngest of the four middle schoolers.  When they first started, everyone was nervous and afraid to talk to each other.  She decided to break the ice and started telling jokes, and by the end of the week they were all great friends - looking forward to next year already. 

Final performance.  The performer on the far right is her private teacher who we LOVE!

The high school group performed several pieces - several full orchestral pieces using piccolo, concert flute, alto, tenor, and bass flutes.  It was pretty cool! 

 

 

 

Storms

Almost every day this past week, we've seen mother nature flexing her muscles and we've stood in awe at the remarkable power that comes from the sky.  


This past Wednesday a storm hit around 2:30 that had our windows rattling from the thunder.  Along with the thunder, lightening is a pretty scary thing here.  "In the United States, cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur approximately 30 million times each year, most often in Florida and along the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico".  (wonder.cdc.gov)
We've learned to head for cover if we even hear thunder, because Florida storms don't mess around. 


After the storm on Wednesday, we headed out to run some errands, and found this 1.5 miles from our home. 

 

Apparently, a tree was hit by lightening, and was blocking the road. 
An ambulance was nearby as we detoured through a nearby church parking lot.  I looked over and saw the attendant pulling out a chain saw.  My jaw sort of dropped!  
As we continued on our way, we saw lots of trees down, littering the roadways.  
I was grateful we'd been inside with a roof over our heads during that storm.   

Lane and Aubree, Sisters, Family, Music and the spoken word

Here's my brother and sister in law as they exited the temple after being sealed to each other:
All of the sisters and inlaws (except for the new girl - maybe we'll photo shop her in)

The immediate family members who were at the wedding

We stopped by Gossner's for some yummy root beer milk (and mango and banana and strawberry and vanilla - we love their flavored milk and cheese curds)

On Sunday morning we went back to temple square and attended Music and the Spoken Word.  An inspirational weekly broadcast that has been ongoing for 83 years!
The tabernacle choir sang, and we were uplifted.  It was gorgeous! 

 

The Christus, City Creek Malls, Logan LDS Temple

We saw the Christus in the north visitor's center at temple square


We took a break from temple square and headed across the street to City Creek Mall where our girls tried on almost every shoe in the mall.
It was an outdoor mall, and it even boasts a Tiffanys.  Quite Posh as my friend Heather would say.
While I wanted a little blue bag or box, I don't think I'm high enough maintenance for that place. 

We spent the evening with my husband's family and siblings - pizza and games, it was really nice.
On Saturday we drove up to Logan, Utah where my youngest brother was sealed to his sweetheart for time and eternity in the LDS Logan temple.

We waited around for a while, waiting for them to come out afterwards...and my husband took some shots
Here's my brother (just younger than me) and his wife.  

My youngest sister (whose husband and kids didn't make it and we really missed)

My grandmother

Family shot

 

Temple Square - Salt Lake City, Utah

While at temple square in Salt Lake City, Utah, our oldest daughter had the opportunity to enter the Salt Lake Temple and perform baptisms for the dead with her cousin who met us there.
Here's a link with information on why Mormons do baptisms for the dead
http://mormon.org/faq/baptism-for-the-dead/?gclid=CM-mk-yPybACFQSxnQodckXNYw

 

 

We spent time on Temple Square, and enjoyed visiting the Family History Center/Genealogical library.
Later we took a tour of the Church History Library.  There, we found information on some of our ancestors and learned some things we didn't previously know.  If only we'd had more time - we could have spent a week in there!  We will definitely be going back.

Idaho Falls Temple & skipping rocks

After getting our fill of West Yellowstone and Island Park (and rain and snow and cold)
We decided to head south for some warmer weather and wedding celebrations.
Since our kids don't get out much (West at least anymore), we decided to stop in Idaho Falls and see the LDS Idaho Falls temple.
My husband stuck our daughter in a tree
 

We had a cranky kid on the way home (all of the cousins were suddenly gone and her 'in car' entertainment disappeared).
We pulled off for a breather and to skip some rocks.
FYI, Florida has no rocks.  If you see some, they were purchased.  Skipping rocks is something we miss, so we had our fill.  We threw a stick out and worked on target practice.


After arriving at grandmas and getting in a good night's sleep, we headed to temple square in Salt Lake City.  The following pic was taken by our youngest daughter - maybe it was her height that gives this photo such a cool view  

 

Mammoth, Rainbow and buffalo

Mammoth Spring

Our daughter who was somehow cajoled into actually nicely posing for this photo - a rare phenomenon indeed. 

And another rainbow (after we got caught in a down pour (and this isn't a warm Florida downpour))
Pretty erratic weather.   

Finally, the bison who was pacing our car