Roses are red

For the few that only read my blog and aren't on Facebook, our family of 2 is going to be a family of three! Clearly Josh and I like to do major life changes and events on top of each other. First the move, Josh has a new job, and soon we'll have a baby! I guess that's just how we roll.

Florida is awesome! We're all settled in a cute little town home in the lovely town of Windermere. We're both still adjusting the the heat, but I'll take it over the cold any day. It has been fun to see some friendly faces from our time here before. Josh and I both hope that Orlando will be home for a long time. We are both tired of moving across the country.

Most people want to know how I've been feeling--not bad! I had a rough 1st trimester, but my nausea has finally subsided. Aside from a never-ending backache and getting used to being more round, I feel like I'm doing pretty darn good. The other question we get asked is if we have decided on a name for baby girl. Truth be told, no we haven't. We are narrowing it down to a few names that we really like and then we'll decide on one once we meet her. Our lips are sealed until she's here and named!

Migrating south

Sometimes there's a change in the wind, and you have to adjust your sails because you know you are about to be blown in a different direction. Josh and I were taking a walk a couple of months ago, and I told him that I felt that our time in Idaho was coming to a close. Sure enough, a much-desired position with a great company popped up a couple of weeks later. Josh is thrilled about his job offer, and we are looking forward to moving back to Orlando -- a place that holds many happy memories and dear friends.

Yes, I'm sure there will be some eye-rolling as people realize that this is my fourth move to Orlando. I guess that's just how life goes sometimes. Perhaps fourth time's a charm.

We'll be heading out the last week of August and are in the midst of packing our lives up here and getting details worked out for our life down there. Moving is such madness!

We've had a wonderful two years in Rexburg, and I will be sad to say my farewells. My heart always tugs a little bit for Idaho when I'm not here. Luckily, I can always hop on a plane when I miss the people and the mountains a little too much.

Here's to a bright new adventure!

I hope that April snow showers bring May flowers

I figured I'd write a quick update about what we've been up to since our trip to Hawaii.

We've been cold! January-March is one of the toughest times of the year 'round these parts. It's cold with a side of freezing! Luckily, I think we're almost to spring. The Rexburg wind is picking up and hopefully it will blow winter away without blowing us away! Skirts are dangerous to wear during this time of year.

Josh has been his usual charming self. He works hard and occasionally let's me beat him in rummy and Monopoly Deal. He's been doing some very impressive work at the BYU-Idaho Center. He wouldn't want me to brag too much, but he's really contributed a lot to the university. He continues to impress me with his cooking skills.

I'm mostly just trying to stay out of trouble. I'm enjoying my job and always finding ways to spend our money (haha, kidding - mostly). I've unsuccessfully tried out for two musicals and was only offered choral parts in both which has been disappointing. I'm counting down the days until it's warm enough for us to spend some time outside!

We have a couple of fun trips planned for the upcoming months. My brother, Tim, is coming home from his mission in just over a week! After spending a couple of weeks in Florida, he'll be heading to Boise for a couple of months to see family and try to make some money. So Josh and I will be driving up to Boise to spend time with my family.

In early May, my parents will be coming to visit us in Rexburg! We are so excited to have them come. Let's hope the weather behaves for them!

As soon as my parents leave, we'll be heading to Houston for a few days to spend time with Josh's family. It has been way too long since we've seen the Foster family, so we are really looking forward to our time with them.

Life is great!

Aloha!

Sometimes really cool things happen to me. Cool like a free trip to Hawaii. Yep, that happened to us thanks to a very good friend and her generous family. I'm not going to go into the details of why we were there, but it was some work and some play. Mostly I was just happy because it was WARM! And we saw the ocean every. single. day. In fact, this was the view from our condo

We ate delicious food. And met really nice people. And drank coconut juice. And wore flower leis. And let the humidity heal our cracked lips and skin.

In some ways it made me miss Florida. We were there for 10 days, and it was long enough to start feeling a little Polynesian (minus my blindingly pale skin).

Anyway, I figured I'd tell most by sharing some pictures.

 Amy and her family were so kind to greet us with traditional Hawaiian leis. Mine smelled amazing!

Here's Josh with his lei. He is standing at the balcony of our condo. AMAZING VIEW! 

We are so happy to be in Hawaii 

The beach at Turtle Bay 

Check out those waves 

We went to a fresh fruit stand. Yum! 

Here's the group (minus me because I'm the photographer). The Keelers, Amy and her Dad, Les and Josh (I'm sure his eyes were with us in spirit). 

We went to the Dole plantation and had a Dole whip with fresh pineapple. Delicious! 

You could get fish feed for 50 cents, so me and Amy decided to try it and the fish went crazy! 

 

Our first time at the Polynesian Cultural Center 

Aloha! 

Learning the hula 

Clearly I was born for this type of dance 

As was Josh

 Awesome entertainment

Hawaii is pretty incredible because you have the ocean on one side... 

And mountains on the other !

Cracking macadamia nuts 

Our tour of the macadamia nut farm 

Our tour guide was great 

blowing the conch

So cool! 

We had so many delicious coconut flavored things! 

 Flower goes on the left for someone who is married!

Our tour included a boat ride where we saw beautiful scenery and saw when Gilligan's Island and parts of LOST were filmed 

 That mountain was so beautiful!

Pearl Harbor 

We did the audio tour; you can see the memorial in the background 

USS Arizona. Such a sad part of American history. It is neat to see how the ship has turned into a reef and is full of aquatic life. 

Hawaii is breathtaking 

Hanauma Bay

The shaved ice was one of the best things I have ever tasted in my life!

This pineapple smoothie was also a little slice of heaven.

Sorry for the picture overload, but it seemed like the easiest way to share a 10 day trip. We'd love to make it back to Hawaii someday! Mahalo