Living Life to the Fullest

So the past 5 months have been busy for the Jennings family, but if you've been keeping up with the blog, you already knew that! But today, June 15th, life looks like it might start to settle down. Tyler is out of town tonight, but he’ll be returning tomorrow and then neither of us has any plans to leave the state for at least a month. That’s saying something for us! When I got home from Atlanta on Saturday (yes we went on another work trip – sorry I didn’t blog about it yet - here's a couple quick photos from the amazing aquarium there)

Anyways, when I got home from Atlanta (which is only a 6 hour drive!) I was happy to put my suitcase AWAY and not leave it out on the floor of our bedroom.

Kali, a couple posts ago you told us you didn’t know anyone who travels/has as many adventures as us, and that we’re living life to the fullest. It hadn’t really all set in with us until we read that and talked about it. We obviously realized we were traveling and busy, but because we were so busy we didn’t think much about how unique these experiences really are. We truly have been blessed to see so much of this part of the country and experience these adventures together! We really have been taking advantage of this time and living to the fullest.

Neither of us has ever lived like this before – by “like this” I mean “out of a suitcase” or “from hotel room to hotel room.” Between school and jobs, we couldn’t afford to take more than a couple vacations a year. Luckily, living in Orlando, we’ve been able to work our traveling into Tyler’s work. It’s been great to take advantage of this time before we have kids to travel and see the country together. Add in trips for a brother’s wedding, another brother's high school graduation, and a family trip to Mexico along with our work trips – and you have our year in a nutshell thus far.

In 2008, I finished up my degree at BYU and began working full time in the stressful busy world of public accounting. The only trips we went on last year was one weekend in Vegas, 4 days at Huntington Beach and then AZ for the holidays. I think we went on more trips in the first 3 months of this year! I just looked at Tyler’s Facebook profile, at all the different “Mobile Photo Uploads” he’s posted from this year. There are 64 pictures, from January 14th to today. To name a few we had pictures in:

Provo – Alcatraz – Floor seats @ U/BYU Basketball – Meeting Dwight Howard – Tabernacle in SLC – Tampa – Baltimore – Lots of Golf Tournaments - Palm Beach – Talladega – Alabama – Mississippi River – Daytona – St. George – Miami – Disneyworld – Jacksonville – Mobile – Cancun – a town called Jennings, FL – Atlanta – and today, NASA

I really doubt we’ll ever have another 6 months like this again! In the coming years Tyler will be able to work more from home, but since he’s new he needs to get the face-time with the clients and sales reps so he can get to know them. I’ve been working for my CPA firm in Salt Lake remotely from Florida, so I’ve been able to tag along for all these trips. We're hoping to start a family soon, but until then I'm able to tag along pretty easily.

So all in all, 2009 has been a very exciting year for us. But now most of the traveling is over and its time to actually settle down and become residents of Orlando!

PS I really hope I don’t look like the Seriously So Blessed Blog with all these posts about happy life and fun trips… I promise, we have bad days too! Also I’m not pregnant with twins or president of any wives’ clubs or going to the Spa and “Anthro” weekly ... well not for now anyways!

Cancun...

So, we are back from Paradise - and survived the flu! It was actually the PERFECT time to go to Mexico! Our resort was only at 40% occupancy and everyone was taking extra precautions because of the flu. There was big bottles of hand sanitizer everywhere and they checked everyone's symptoms at the airport.

So anyways, we enjoyed our hotel room view
We stayed at the Royal Sands & Spa, I promise there is an R behind Steven's head...

Every day, Tyler and Michael took time to lanch Steven in the pool, they got pretty good at the back flip.

Our big adventure of the week was a personal tour of Chicen Itza provided by Erik Martinez, a local stake president down in the Yucatan Peninsula. He has his Masters degree in Anthrolopogy & gave our family a tour with an LDS spin on the ancient Mayan City. It was an amazing experience and definitly worth the 2 hour drive out there.After the tour we had an amazing "Mayan" lunch and then, since we were pretty hot, we were going to stop by a "Cenote" which is an underwater cave. Our tour guide had set this up, and we really didn't know what to expect, we weren't so sure about swimming in a cave - but we were not dissapointed!

This was our first view of the water.

It was so much fun jumpin off the cliffs and swimming in the crystal clear water!

To sum up the rest of the trip... we went snorkeling, saw a sea turtle, sting rays, crabs, held a live starfish, played some crazy water volleyball, basketball, tried yoga with Pepe, road bikes down a busy road wearing bright orange construction vests, got lost in the sketchiest part of town trying to find the church building, ate amazing tacos, tried to bargain in the flea markets, and did lots of swimming in the amazing warm ocean!! It was a great trip and the week went by way too fast!


We took some quick pictures on the beach on our last night and they turned out great, even though this first one was taken by some random maintenance worker haha.

Greetings from Mesa!!

For the past week I’ve been in Mesa for 2 events. Sadly, Tyler wasn't able to make it out to Arizona with the new job and all... but we'll be together in Mexico next week. Anyways, the events were:

#1 Graduation

My brother, Michael, graduated from Mountain View High School on May 21st. He turned 18 on May 20th so it’s been a busy week. We had a graduation party at our house with Tia Rosa's catered (Mesa's favorite Mexican joint)

Here we are with the graduate and his "shrine." Paige and I had both worn the same graduation gown, it was a bit long on us and a bit short on Michael. We both had the traditional shrine set up too.
The only bad part about the night was that Mesa had one of their rare nights of rain, and the graduation takes place in Toro Stadium - outside. We thought and hoped that it would stop raining before graduation started, but sadly it didn't so we quickly changed our outfits to include sweat shirts, hats, and ponchos.

The rain wasn't bad compared to what I've seen in Orlando recently, but most of the people around us had umbrellas, blocking the views. It did rain the entire time, but finally stopped right as we were leaving. The ponchos might not have been complely neccessary, but it kept us dry and we had fun looking ridiculous.

Michael will be keeping the family (well, siblings) tradition alive and will be going to BYU in the Fall!

#2 Jill's wedding

One of my best friends, Jill Gillespie, was married in the Mesa Temple yesterday. It was such an awesome day. Jill and I have been friends since Junior High and were Freshman Roommates at BYU. She was married in the same temple, same room, and by the same sealer as Tyler and me 2 years ago. The sealer was Brother Perkinson, our other roomate, Jill Perkinson's, Grandpa who does an amazing job.

Jill looked great ... I'm so happy for her, and Tyler and I both love her new husband - Ross.

Here is Jill with her nephew, Jack - Jack & Jill!

Jill and me at her wedding...and then
here was Jill and me at my wedding, 2 years ago!
Jill and her friends

Jill & Ross at their first dance

Now I'm hanging out in Mesa until Saturday when my family and I fly to Cancun. We're going for my brother's graduation trip / our summer family vacation. Tyler will be flying from Orlando and I'll be meeting him in the airport down there. We're excited to hang out at the beach for a week, snorkel, and check out some ruins. We're just hoping that we don't get sick, cross your fingers for us!

Welcome to Miami Buenvenidos a Miami!!

We've done a lot to recently, but most notably, we finally made it to Miami! After Tyler had visited Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Tampa, St Petersburg, Gainesville, Boca Raton, Lakeland, Melbourne, Daytona, Cocoa Beach, Destin, & Sarasota over the past 3 months ... we now went to the biggest city in the state.

One of the coolest parts of the trip was the drive down, right after we left they launched the shuttle, Atlantis. You probably saw it on the news, maybe? But we were able to see it from the freeway in Orlando!

We didn't really do a whole lot of partying at the beach because both of us were busy working (Tyler visiting people, and me on the computer in the hotel room) .. but we had fun! We checked out South Beach, the Biltmore hotel, one of our fav restaurants,-HOUSTON'S, and the Coral Gables area. Miami is a crazy/fun place to visit, but i have to say, i'm glad i live in Orlando :-)

Tyler Speaks..

Well - I just want you all to know what a great adventure the last few months have been. It's been a little over two months since we've moved out to Windermere (Orlando) and as you can tell we've been all over the Dirrrty Dirty South.

I have had an opportunity to ponder this change a lot - I have been so grateful for RACHEL. The smiles, hugs, sentence finishing {we're getting to know each other pretty well} date nights, kisses, etc. are really just always given at the moment I need them. We have made this jump without any parachutes.. and for now I feel comfortable saying we have landed safely.

We have met a lot of new people and the Munns family has really let us into their home (thanks so much to Abbie McKinnon for contacting her aunt - who turned into our realtor/ my new adopted mom). I will be grateful for Jacque Munns eternally. We have had the opportunity to get new callings here in the ward. I'm serving in the Young Men's and Rachel is teaching the 9 year olds in Primary.

We also had the chance to hear Elder Holland at our Stake Conference - three sessions!! He really had some amazing insights - the one thought I wanted to share with all of you is something he said in his first meeting. He said the only thing he has to look forward to for the rest of his life is meetings - meetings everyday for the REST OF HIS LIFE!! He wanted us to make sure we didn't have meetings just to have them, but to make sure there were actionables. That because of the meeting something would change, someone's life would be benefited.

On another front... I want to let you all know that Trav's and Alise's wedding was very much like they are - to the point, beautiful, and spiritually strong. I have never seen a couple leave their reception on time.. Travis left the line at 8:40 - cut cake, danced with parents, and when he saw the clock was 9 pm he was ready to leave!! It was so classic.. we got him to dance for two more songs and then he was out.. We wish them the best as they begin their lives together!!

In conclusion.. Rach wanted me to comment on golfing a few weeks ago, better late than never, right? Augusta National is by far the most beautiful golf course in the world.. that setting is immaculate, an ideal layout for a golf tournament. I wish I could go sit there and meditate. I'm sure Tom lost count of how many times I gasped, smiled, or said "We're really here!" - the place is really amazing. Something everyone who is a golf fan needs to experience. It really is golf heaven!

Once again.. please come see us here in Orlando - we got some hook ups for anyone who wants to come visit - Disney is really down the street! COME SEE US!!

DisneyWeddingDisney

So we're back in Florida! And we did really do all those things I talked about in our last post .. plus more ..

We went to DisneyWorld's Magic Kingdom last week!

We only went for a few hours, but it was enough to get into the Disney spirit. I really think we're going to love living so close to Disney. We bought our annual local pass, so we can go to all the parks, waterparks, and a golf course whenever we want this year. It also includes lots of other discounts and free parking, so pretty much, we'll be at Disney every weekend haha. Also, for all you friends out there, we have hook-ups with people who work at Disney, so if you want to come visit, there's a good chance we'll be able to get you in for FREE!

Jasmine is my hero. I'd like to be her at DisneyWorld if I could pull of the outfit... Tyler went on Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribbean for the first time and we had a great time! The great thing about having the annual pass is that you don't feel rushed at the park! We just went on a few rides in Adventureland & FrontierLand, and then called it a day. The only bad side is ... there is no INDIANA JONES ride at DisneyWorld -- sad!

After we went to Disney, Tyler dropped me off at the airport and I headed to SLC. Tyler joined me a couple days later, then we went to Travis and Alise's wedding in St. George.

The wedding was great - nice weather, good company, and great times! Below are some of my pictures, I'm going to see the rest from http://ashleyswapp.blogpsot.com once she posts them later this month!

Coming out of the temple...

David Perry, the Jennings family's adopted son/videographer filmed an amazing video of the day. I'm pretty sure this dip was included. The video isn't online yet, but all three of the other married Jennings kids can be found here: http://davidperryfilms.squarespace.com/blog/2009/2/25/meet-the-jennings.html

The 6 Jennings kids, from youngest to oldest...

This little girl was the star of the show, Reese! Kristi and Phil's little girl is getting so big! Being the only grandchild, she had paparazzi around her all weekend!

The reception that night was at a golf course that overlooked St. George. It was really beautiful!

This year really is the year of Weddings for me and Tyler. We had Jamie's in January, now Travis' in May, I'm going to one of my best friends Jill Gillespie wedding in Mesa in 3 weeks, and we also learned of 2 additional weddings that we will most likely traveling for in the next few months...But I'll wait until the details are official to make a public announcement about those weddings!

Ty and I left Utah on Monday Morning, with a 3 hour layover in Phoenix. We used the time to hang out with my mom and sister, Paige. So we were able to be in Utah, Arizona and Florida all in one day!

(PS we went to Epcot Tuesday night just for a few hours -- we both finished up working around 5 and decided to head over) It really is crazy how close we live to Disney. We don't see or here any of the tourist traffic because we live on the opposite side of the park entrance. But luckily, we know about the empoyee entrance which is only about 5 minutes from our front door.

And did you know that there are manatees, sharks and dolphins at EPCOT??