December 2014

December 2014

Finally got my H'owl's painted & hung.

BYU's bowl game was in...MIAMI!!!

I am a soccer fan...of Kathleen's, (one of my favorite seminary students).

Seminary love.  

"But I don't want to wake up."

Seminary - 1st term is complete.

I started very late to make sock monkey's for my class.  As the days wore on it was obvious I could not finish them to gift my students on the last day of the term.  Lane said, you have to finish them.  So, with his support, I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. to finish 10. (Esteban was the one student who's monkey could wait...he was already on break.)  I slept 1 hour on the sofa and then crashed after seminary.

Back to the future...later this month I will buy a pair of 

alpaca socks in Bogota and create this monkey for my sweetie.

Ward Christmas Party... 

I call this my split door wreath...

And my tall skinny white tree...

An unexpected visit with the Bullocks - enroute to a Caribbean cruise.

                                       ~ tiny version of a shepherd's dinner, 

                                   ~ wishing Lane a Marry Christmas,

                                   ~ my new nativity set,

                                   ~ cookies!

Next:

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM COLOMBIA

  

November 2014

Life in the fast LANE...or more apropos

 Life with the fast Lane.

November takes on 4 very different adventures:

1) We begin by finishing up our road trip to NC.

2) A trip to Cancún, we stayed in the area of Playa del Carmen.
It was considered a Vacationar - a blend of vacation and seminar.  
We enjoyed both phases but the photos only show the vacation portion.

3) Homemaking and seminary - ongoing.   





In seminary we raised a tent to illustrate the need to: 

                              ~ strengthen our stake

                              ~ expand the church

                              ~ seek safety or find refuge from the storms within our stake

That evening Lane & I watched "Malificient" from inside and had a sleepover.

We finish up our month of "Feasting on the Scriptures" with an 
oversized breakfast coupled with a birthday celebration for Brian.

4) Thanksgiving holiday in the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. 


We accepted the C's invitation to visit them while 
they are serving over a mission there.

Highlights included -- time spent visiting, decorating 
the tree with J, dining out and attending church services.


We also ventured out for a few day trips while 
the C's focused on their mission duties.

Photos near Playa Salinas
(SW of Santo Domingo)

Near Las Terrenas
(NE of Santo Domingo)

And a visit to this beautiful temple next door 
to their apartment in the capital city.


Photo for our 2015 Christmas card is taken with their lobby tree.

Ciao!

No turkey this year.  The C's served up some chicken 

and dressing before leaving for an appointment.  

We wandered around looking for a Thanksgiving 

buffet at the Marriott or the Hilton.  No luck.  

Wendy's french fries and frosty were the best 

we could do in the Caribbean.

I love life with the FAST Lane!

October 2014

SEMINARY  --  MOVING  --  FIRST VISITORS

Foremost in my mind most days is this amazing group of teenagers, aka my early morning seminary class.  They impress me!  This morning Chef Lane prepared and served a delicious pre-general conference breakfast.

I switched out our bedroom decor for a change of pace.

 Our apartment contract of 7 months doesn't expire until the last day of December.  But we have wasted no time beginning our search for a larger space -- something that will better accommodate this class and expected overnight guests.  We browsed online websites of dozens of rental properties, and hired a realtor to show us our potentials.  Nothing made sense to us.  

We had to like it enough to pay double rent as we fulfilled our contract with the one-bedroom apartment complex.  It needed to be close to our current address so that seminary families would not be too inconvenienced.  We wanted something with an extra bedroom and bathroom, with enough additional space to close out our storage unit.  A pool and garage would be perks.  After weeks of searching, our realtor called us Monday with a new listing, not even available for a showing until Wednesday.  Still, we drove over and walked the property, peering in the windows.  

Impressed with everything we saw, we filled out the standard rental contract and presented our offer on Wednesday after we did a walk-through.  Lane and I moved in Friday after seminary class.  It was a frantic weekend.  The only items we needed help with were the temple-door table, the 70" TV and the chaise lounge.  Our 4 full-time elders pitched in for donuts, chocolate milk and jars of Lane's homemade jam.

I love this house.

  The large windows, tropical backyard view, even the step-down.

I love the upstairs lookout over the railing.  

And the stairway tucked out of the way, which 

accommodates the tiniest powder room ever.  

Genius!

I've had amazing kitchens several times.  This one is among my top 2 favorites.

We have a guest room.  Come stay!

...and an extra H'owl' bath.

Lane even got his pool!

I like to get the car in the garage as quickly as possible.

Our first Miami tapioca night.  Not one of our kids came...

Date night was dinner at our favorite restaurant, 

"The Outback" topped off with this sunset.

Our first guests, Lane's sister and BIL, came and 

fished the Keys with us, and explored South Beach.

On Halloween I prepared finger food for my seminary students and then...

...we hopped in the car for a long overdue road 

trip to visit Lane's niece near Charlotte, NC.

(I went as Weird Carolyn)