Thursday, January 22, 2009

Enjoying Florida

When we arrive the people we were renting from were still living in the house when we pulled up to unpack our things. They had the understanding that they needed to be out on the 9th. We arrived on the 5th. So the first night we had to get a hotel . And then the next two night we
shared the house with the family. It was weird. Luckily the upstairs was cleaned out so we made up the beds and slept there. While the other family slept in the Master Bedroom. It all worked out. Our sweet new friends Brother and Sister Skinner helped them find a house to rent super fast. They are Awesome. We finally moved in on the 9th. We are very grateful to my mother who helped me drive down and then stayed a couple of days to help me get settled. We are also very grateful to Andy who came to help David get set up at their first show, but stayed a couple of days extra to help us move in as well. Thanks so much to the both of them. In truth the whole journey down was a real blessing, the Lord definitely was looking out for us.




The beach in Hollywood only about a 20 min. drive. We will be able to come to the beach often. There is a fun Oceanwalk with resturants and shopping boutiques. We did find out that the waves are Not big . We thought it was just at low tide. But all along the coast the waves are small. I'm okay with that, it's a little safer for the kids. And the water is always warm. Yea.




Joshua's first day of school.

He has a dress code. They can wear any color of shirt but it has to be a polo style. No jeans, cargo pants. Nothing with pockets, so we also had to do some shopping. He had a little bit of a hard day. Since his grades were so good in Idaho . They put him in some AP classes. So he came home with a ton of homework. He's doing better now and making lots of friends, that helps. He goes to school from 9am to 3:30pm.


The other kids are enjoying school as well. They too come home with a ton of homework. The schools here have more rules to follow. Schools are very different from Idaho. Gabe goes to school all day. They go from 8am.to 2pm . Gabe is loving it and doing good. He also has to learn all new sight words. And learn how to add. Which he didn't learn at Dalton. So we have to play catch up. But he's doing great. That's Gabe for you!



This is our Chapel. Yes, its yellow.

Members here have all welcomed us with open arms. We have been invited for dinner twice in one week. David also has received a call as the first Counselor in the YM, Surprise, Surpise. I'm still waiting. But I'm okay with that. We go to church at 1pm. So we have alot of time in the mornings.




When Andy was here, he went shopping with us and he saw these things, he just had to go back to the store and get this picture of a potato. ( we think) This spanish grocery store (Sedanos) had some very different grocery items, one of which was an entire Pig's head, Yuck. But we have found out that they have good prices on fruit and veg. But the workers all speak spanish. So I won't be going in without David, as everyone here automatically assumes that I speak spanish. Most people here speak both lanuage, so communicating so far hasn't really been a problem. I am getting better at understanding it than speaking it. It's like playing pictionary. It's been fun.

Traveling to Florida

Finally made it.

It took six days. In order to avoid as much possible winter weather as we could. We decided to Drive to Billings MT, and then dropped south as quick as we could, crossing through Wyoming, Colorodo, and into New Mexico and Texas. Once we reached New Mexico, we knew we would
be out of any winter driving. We then cut across the bottom of the country through Arkansas, Mississipi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennesee, and into Florida. We were very blessed to have a safe trip. We didn't have truck, car or weather problems at all. The kids did great. They kept themselves pretty busy. Gabe rode with David most of the way. He wanted to ride in the big truck. We didn't do much site seeing. David really wanted to get there, to make sure he had at least a couple of days to get things settled, before he started his first roadshow, so I had to try to take the pictures while we drove. So most of the pictures didn't turn out too good. But I ended with a few. My Mom was able to help me drive. It was alot of fun spending the time with her. It was very hard to see her go .





We had to stop for gas so I was able to get this picture.
So Cute!



They all did so well. Micheal surprised us and was the best one. He laughed and giggled and had fun. For six days asked us if we were in florida yet. Of course with all that traveling and no time to stop the car was disgustingly dirty and had definitely seen better days.


This is the view that my mom and I saw for six whole days. We had all the writings on the trailer memorized. Sometimes we had to change it up and pass him.




Got a good picture passing through Tennessee. We also enjoyed driving through Alabama. It was the prettiest. Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico. Oklahoma and Texas. Ugly.

We went through 12 states. Crazy.






Birthday Boys

It was the last time we will have a big family Birthday Party together. Gabes birthday is the 27th of Dec. and Michaels is the 28th. Its been nice to have the birthdays so close it makes it easy to plan a party. They enjoyed spending it together. It was like having Christmas all over again. They got tons of presents. Thank you to the Grandmas and Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and Counsins. They had a blast.








The whole crew.

We had the party at our house, But it felt a little weird because the house was pretty well empty. We were all ready to move out within the next few days. So we had plenty of room for all the kids to run around.



My favorite Things:


M- My mom

I- I love to play with Gabe

C- Can play x-box. Especially the skate boarding game

H- His train set

A- A lot of kisses and huges

E- Especially likes to be at home

L- Loves being with his family


G- Great helper and loves hanging out with Dad

A- A very good bike rider. He learned when he was three.

B- Busy Bee. He has a lot of energy and keeps us busy.

E- Especially loves playing with cars, and knows the makes and models of some .


Merry Christmas

Christmas Sunday


What beautiful Girls !


What Handsome boys!Christmas Eve with the Westover family.

We all went to the Priebes and the kids opened their homemade gifts they made for eachother. Its a night for the children. They all had a great time.



Christmas Day at the Rinallo's.

All the kids are ready to open their presents.


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Snowed In

The kids had a snow days today. We got about three feet all in about 12 hours and it is still snowing . It was crazy. The kids were thrilled of course. The day started at 6:00 o'clock to listen for school closures then David had to started shoveling us out. We would normal use our ATV, but we sold it a couple of weeks ago with the other things we got rid of. David was out in it all day. This is our last snow fall. So the kids played outside all day. They came in a few times to warm up and have hot chocolate. then out again.
This picture of the kids is trying to stand in the snow. That's how deep it was.

So Beautiful!

This is how deep it was to get out to the Hot tub.
The snow was almost to the railing.

The kids love to go in the Hot Tub when there is snow. They love to run and to dare eachother things to do. This is one of the many things the kids are going to miss.
They were in twice today. The kids were playing like crazy. We are glad that it snowed before we moved. Today was so beautiful. We will miss these days.




It's Frosting Time

Every year since I was a little girl my family has frosted sugar cookies. Its always been a blast. In the last couple of years my Dad has become a little more into it. He frosted 10. That's 5 more from last year. They looked super good. I think having all the Grand kids makes all the difference. All the kids did a good job and there wasn't a big mess. Ya. We all had about 36 cookies to take home. But of course they are gone in a couple of days.



As you can see David, Josh and Micheal really got into it this year. Football was on. And Josh thinks he's to old to frost cookies. But they still had a great time together just seating there. Maybe next year.





Saturday, November 29, 2008

We are Moving


It's true we are moving. A couple of weeks ago we got word that we are needed in Miami. David will be working for Scooters America again. They also needed someone who could also speak Spanish. So that's how we became the lucky ones. The family is excited for new adventure but the kids will miss their cousins. We leave Jan 1st. It will take about five days to get there. David starts work on the 5th of Jan. He will be working ten days on , and ten days off. He will be selling Scooters in the Costco's in a 50 miles radius . He is so excited to be with this company which again. We have been very blessed. We understand this is where we need to be. We will miss all of our love ones and our good friends.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

A Night to Remember

Josh, Matt, Papa, and our cousin Steve Young had the opportunity to go down to a University of Idaho football game in Moscow last Saturday. Steve is a Sargeant Major in the Army Special Forces and has been here for two weeks on a recruiting assignment . Saturday was Veterans appreciation day at the U of I, so he was invited to make a presentation. To open his presentation he repelled from the raftors. Josh said it was super cool. Because he has the highest rank which can be awarded to an enlisted soldier, he was basically treated like a celebrity and was able to get the boys media passes, which allowed them full access to the field and teams. Papa gave them his camera to take pictures. At the end of the game one of the soldiers picked up the game ball and gave it to the boys. They had an absolute blast and felt like celebrities themselves. Matt and Josh are great friends and they both love Football, so this was perfect for them. This is something that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Thank you Steve, Papa and Grandma Westover for taking the boys out for an amazing time.



Sadly the team lost, but they all had a blast anyway.