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??

Today...

Today Tyler and I are going here....

then I'm hopping on a plane tonight to go here... So I can spend a couple days of work here in Salt Lake...

Tyler's going to fly out on Wednesday night, so we can head down to St George, so we can go here...

and go to the wedding of these kids on Friday...

We're excited for the week!

Laundry!!

On Monday we finally got these delivered...

For the first time, we're living in a place that didn't come with a washer/dryer! Since we plan on buying a home soon, we figured that it would be a good time to invest in a good set that will last us through our time in FL and beyond (hopefully!)

So, now that we finally got our washer dryer, i was able to do this:
7 loads of laundry in one day

Then i did 3 the next day! I had NEVER been so excited to do laundry! I love our new "front loader" washer and our dryer is so quick! They're both very quiet - which is something I'm not used to. But it's nice to finally have a manageable dirty clothes hamper again.

Yesterday we went to Tampa. Tyler had been out there a few times already, but it was my first time out there! We stayed the night at the Hyatt in downtown Tampa and Tyler had a few appointments yesterday and this morning. Here we are in St. Petersburg, overlooking "Tampa Bay"

Hope you all have a fun weekend! We're spending our weekend at stake conference with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland!

Southern Tour

After Tyler went to the Masters last week, he drove to Birmingham, Alabama for work last Monday. His new company, WattStopper, has an office there. They were training some of their clients on new products. Tuesday night I flew out to Birmingham and met him there. Then Wednesday we started our drive to Mississippi, where he had some more work to do. We stopped in Tuscaloosa, Alabama - home of the University of Alabama.

Of course, the first thing we HAD to see was the Football Stadium.

The only real connection I had to Univ of Alabama was that UTAH beat them in the Sugar Bowl!! So I flashed my U of U sign! (and might have been singing the Utah Fight Song)

Then we kept driving west and entered Mississippi, singing Johnny Cash songs along the way!

We were there on April 15th, so we witnessed the good people of Jackson in a huge TEA party.

The next day Tyler went to a big conference in Jackson (when I saw the movie by myself - see post below) And then that night we drove to Vicksburg with Tyler's sales rep, Bobby. He showed us around the Civil War town and took us to a nice Southern Meal where I tried Grits for the first time, not bad! This picture is of us at the Mississippi River, with a cannon from the Civil War. On the other side of the river is Louisiana!

The next afternoon (Friday) Tyler was done with work for the week, so we headed down to Florida. We drove through Mobile, Alabama and saw the lovely Gulf of Mexico! Then we finally re-entered Florida.

We started out in Pensacola, and drove along this little strip of land (at points less than 100 yards wide) with the beach on both sides!

All the houses on this little strip of beach were on stilts. The hurricane threat is pretty huge here, but we thought this house looked the funniest. It looks like its a space ship that will just take off into space if a hurricane hits!

Friday night we stayed in Destin, Florida. I had never even heard of this beach, but its a huge tourist destination on Florida's Pan Handle.

Saturday Morning we went to the beach at Destin. It was pretty warm but SUPER windy, so we didn't end up staying too long.

Then after our long trip, we drove through Tallahassee (ate lunch at a Florida State University hang out) drove through Gainesville (home of University of Florida Gators!) then finally made it back to Orlando.

Tyler hit up 5 states and stayed in 4 different cities in one week. It was busy! But we had fun checking out the South, our new neck of the woods!