My Son The Artist

For those of you that don't know, Ryan is a very talented artist. He has now expanded his talent beyond the paper to painting murals on his walls. Here Ryan is painting a "watermark" design across the top of his bedroom wall.

He freehands all of is work.

This is a painting of a yin yang on one of his bedroom walls.

One day Ryan was spending a lot of time in his room, so I went to check on him. There he was painting again. He said that "this corner needed something". So he began painting a crumbling wall with bamboo growing behind it. This took his several days to finish painting all the little leaves on the bamboo.

One night Ryan couldn't sleep so he painted the bathroom. We woke up to a newly painted bathroom.

What a great gift he has!!

Where did the Hurricane Go?

The buzz on the news was that Tropical Storm Fay was heading right for Florida. It was predicted to hit just South of Tampa. That is right where we live. So, we took the necessary precautions to make sure we would be safe through our first HURRICANE. First I made sure we had lots of food in the house and had fresh batteries for the flashlights. Took down the trampoline and brought inside all our patio stuff. Then there was the task of putting up all the shutters on our house. I had never counted how many windows we have but now I know that we have too many. With lots of help, it only took us seven hours to finish the job. Now all there was left to do was wait.... This is Bryan, he works with Ron. Bryan and his brother, Rob (who works with Ron too) came from work to help us put up the shutters. They worked so hard to help us. Thanks
Even the Missionaries showed up to help us. They really just came by to visit so we put them to work. This is Elder Cheever helping us put the shutters over the kitchen window.
Elder Mounteer is hold the shutter in place while Ron tightens it up.

Both the missionaries were a great help.

After Ryan got home from work at 11:00 p.m. He helped finish up the last sliding door.
This is what the outside of the house looks like all closed up.

Now we live in a dark cave. It is amazing how dark it is when all the windows are covered up. We could hear the wind blowing outside but could not see anything. We finally opened the garage in the morning to let the dog out and to our amazement there was no storm. Just a LITTLE wind and rain. The storm had turned and hit land south of us in Naples. So there you go....If ye are prepared you shall not fear!! Now is the time to get prepared for all the storms in your life.

Family From Utah Come to Visit

Kenzlee and Ryan went out swimming and came back with

a sea urchin, sharks teeth, sand dollars and shells.

Andrew and Garrett taking a rest from the hot sun and turfing it on the skim board.

Dallas relaxing in the shade at Siesta Key Beach.

Jaycee keeping her head above water in our swimming pool.

Kenzlee and Jaycee enjoying a hot, sunny day at Siesta Key Beach.

I had so much fun with my sisters and their kids that I hope they come again next year!!!

I think Jaycee has the best end of this ride....

Dallas the pro......

Graduation Day!!

After twelve long years, we finally made it!!! We are so proud of Andrew's hard work.
Thanks for making us proud!

It's Always Fun When Friends and Family Visit

The fun part of living in Florida is having my friends come and visit. One of the down falls is I usually use their camera's to take the pictures so now I have very few pictures on my camera, OR maybe they are some pictures on my other camera, if only I could keep things straight. My friends, Peggy and Tauna, teachers from my old school came to see me the end of January. I have never laughed so hard in the last 20 years. Ron finally had to say,"we will not eat until you girls control yourselves." We had a blast!!!
Then Jan and Katrina came to see us. They brought Holly with them and we had a totally magical time.(You had to be there to understand the "Magical" part). All I can say is Holly needs some Cinderella slippers!! It is so fun to have them come but SO hard to have them go back home.
When the grand kids came the fun started again. They loved the swimming in our pool the best. We would go somewhere "FUN" and all they wanted to do was go back to "Bamma's Pool". They swam in the pool at least three times a day!! Saying good bye to them was the worst thing ever. I must of kissed little Annaka's face a million times. Then the boys all started crying. Oh that was hard. I miss them. Thank heavens for web-cams.
Around the first of April Ron's work sent both of us to Las Vegas. Everyone around here thinks Las Vegas is "the place". I was only excited because I was going to meet up with Heidi while Ron was in meetings. She was in Las Vegas to move her things down to Texas. (Good Timing)

Heidi and I took a short trip to St. George to see my mom and sister, Beanie. We both had a good time visiting them. Last but not least. The ALLIGATOR! OK look real close. I know it is just a baby but where there is a baby there is a MOM!!! Most mornings I take the dog on a three mile walk around my neighborhood. About a month ago I looked over and there was this alligator sunning himself by a small pond. I bet I have walked by that thing a million times but never saw it, so that tells me that there is other "THINGS" lurking around that I haven't noticed before. Maybe a flying squirrel. No, really I have seen bigger alligators but you really have to look for them. This on is a little scary because it is pretty close to my house. I will be on the look out and let you know!



Just a note: My nephew Justin and his wife Rachel, my mom, Marla, Heidi and Dan and Ron's parents, Jay and Myrna have all visited us. I just haven't found those picture yet. Keep posted.

Come one Come all...we have a blog!

Here we are in our warmth of the Florida sun, and I have started a blog for my parents. In the hopes that they will be able to keep in touch with us a little bit better. If not, oh well I tried my hardest. So after twenty years in Fruit Heights, Utah, my parents moved across country to Beautiful Florida.
Where my Dad will never have to shovel his walks and deal with an inversion. Where everyday you can go to the Beach, my goodness they are pretty. My Mom is tanner than I have every seen her. And Andrew has cut his hair. WOW how Florida changes people...ha ha.
The weather is nice this time of year..not too hot, or humid. We have had so much fun with bama and papa this week, My kids don't want to go back to SNOW.
They do miss us all I am sure, but it is really fun to come and visit. So everyone come and visit..jump on the next plane and come feel the warmth. Their new house is wonderful, my kids love the pool. The zoo is awesome and the beaches are fantastic.