Some Important Issues

Well, as most of you are thinking I am referring to this :

(yes, that is a 3.5 hour line to vote my friends. You are welcome America for sticking it out. Secret is I did it for the free "Guac the Vote" at our fave restaurant. And Florida is STILL undecided a day after the election has already been called, WTF Florida? Get with it).

Politics are on everyone's' minds, but I want to get down to some real issues here with Florida life. And some real crazy ones I might add. There are some obvi majorly differences here in Florida as compared to living in New Mexico. We have all kinds of crazy wildlife and super lazy/crazy people. See evidence below:

Two twin snails on our nightly walk with Barkley. If it's dark in our neighborhood, all I hear is crunch, crunch, crunch when we are walking. I don't want the lights on, I know I'd be disgusted with the amount of snails I murder nightly.

Bad picture, but the largest snake I have ever seen in the wild. This is on our porch. I was on a friendly little job with Barkley, and this just came slither creeping along. Eww is all I have to say. I didn't even know what to do, so Barkley and I just stood there for a good 5 minutes before it slithered away.

Oh, that's Dylan in the attic because we have a possum that lives up there. I know what you are thinking; just call a professional. But our HOA is stupid and they assured us the possum is not in the attic but on the roof. They were wrong. Idiots.

Oh, and my favorite of all. There is a major cart return situation here in Florida. It is my number one pet peeve ever. These pictures have been mostly taken at various Targets across the area, but that is not the only guilty retail chain. People here are ridiculous. If a cart return is 3 feet away, they will still just leave there cart right next to where they are. It's like a foreign concept to them to return a cart to its home. Please see below (Note: these are all taken on different dates and locations)

Let's go catch a wave

While all my friends are bragging about how wonderful fall is, the crisp air, and getting to bring out the fall boots, I am here in 90 degree Florida weather. I'm indifferent about it. While I do get a little jealous when I see my friends getting to put on their Uggs and skinny jeans, I forget these thoughts as soon as I drive 10 minutes from my house and get to have a view of the ocean. Don't get me wrong, I love fall, like really love it, but when else am I going to be able to brag about living in a place that is year round pool weather. The locals tell me it's going to start getting cold in January, like maybe 68 degrees. Don't worry, I packed all my winter jackets for the event of "Winter" in South Florida. It is rumored to last a whole 1 1/2 months.

While we are here though, Dylan and I are trying to go to the beach as much as possible. It's not that often considering Dylan is a study machine, but yesterday he came home from school early, and we decided to try one of the beaches we haven't visited yet. We went to this great little beach called Hallouver Beach. It was pretty amazing, and no one was there, well at least where we were at. Funny thing, there are 2 Hallouver Beaches, one is normal, the other is a nudist beach, no joke. Well Dylan and I pulled into the wrong parking lot at first, only to be directed to the normal beach parking lot since I was not getting nude with a bunch of strangers (I contemplated it, but decided against it). Don't worry though, our beach was RIGHT next to the nudey beach, I tried not to look and no I did not take any pictures (Dylan took my phone away).

Check one

Remember that one time we got caught in the ghetto? Yeah me too... It was awesome. So, on Friday night, Dylan and I had the most brilliant idea to take the Metrorail (think subway above ground) in Miami from the suburbs where we live to downtown Miami. Seems like fun, right? I mean commuters do it everyday, so it must be cool. Well the trick with these commuters is they do it during the day, in daylight, when it's really crowded. So our brilliant idea of riding this metro-ghettoness-rail at night time was, well, to say the least, uncomfortable. We boarded the train at 8pm, because everyone in Miami goes out late and we wanted to fit in (don't even worry I basically had to eat a snack that equalled the size of a dinner before we left because I am like a grandma and eat the early bird specials). We were basically the only ones on the train besides a bunch of African American men wearing shirts that said "SECURITY". My guess is they were bouncers at some super ritzy club. The train broke down not once, but twice while we were on the metrorail, so instead of waiting for the next train when we had to exit the broken down one, Dylan decided we'd just walk to the stop for the metro-movers (these little trains in between metrorail stops that take you to places inside of downtown, not on the main path, but just like clubs and restaurants and stuff). I did not like this idea. Walking to the metro mover included walking for 1 1/2 blocks of the most ghetto-ness, non lighted streets with 8 (did you read that 8!!!!) sleeping homeless people. The whole time Dylan is speed walking, leaving me behind, and I'm shouting at his that this is suuuuuch a bad idea. I was so mad. Luckily we made it to the metro-mover in one piece, only to ride it with even more ghetto-ness (think like crack-whores, no joke). We finally made it to our destination, this way cute little outdoor mall called Bayside Mall where it is poppin on a Friday night with a bunch of honeys trying to get it on. We ate at the food court, and then just headed back to the station since we had to be back by midnight because that is when the parking lot closed.

In short, we rode the metrorail, we can check it off our Miami To-Do list, and we're done with it. I'll take my air-conditioned car, thank you very much

Bienvenidos A Miami

We're HERE!! I kind of forgot about blogging in the midst of all this moving madness. I can't even explain how crazy moving across the country was/is, but we are loving life here in Sunny Florida. The weather is awesome, the beach is amazing, and the people are one-of-a-kind, literally. We started our little trek on July 28 for a 3 1/2 day trip filled with fun and lots of fast food. Barkley was the #1 trooper riding with Dylan, and I, of course, got to ride with my mom. Gina is the best... seriously she spoiled us so bad paying for gas, food, buying us groceries, etc. I don't know when this kind of treatment stops from your parents, but I hope it's not anytime soon.

Our little while in Florida was crazy to say the least. We didn't have electricity for 24 hours which equalled sleeping or not sleeping in a house that was 88 degrees, Dylan dropped/threw his iphone on the ground, we were pregnant when we got here and then not anymore, being without our furniture and all our stuff for 3 WHOLE WEEKS, being jobless (which is actually pure awesomeness), and having to take Barkley into the vet for an eye infection. It was craziness, horrible, bad, but we are all good not and we are working through stuff.

Life in Miami is different. Dylan has been studying like a mad man, I've been looking for jobs/taking it easy, and Barkley has been loving all the time I have at home with her. I knew Dylan would be studying a lot being in Med School and all, but I had no idea it'd be this much. It's Bo-RING when he's not here, but I know it will be worth it. I'm picking up some hobbies, learning Spanish, and just enjoying some time off after a kind of hectic little bit. I'm kind of in retirement right now, but I'll be back in the workforce eventually.

Overall, things are good. Here's some pics of our life, which are really just lots of pictures of Barkley.

Moving Truck!! This is after it FINALLY arrived after we'd been waiting for our stuff for 3 weeks.

Dylan didn't let me drive with him that often, and Barkley didn't like it either. She likes being co-captain and didn't want me in her seat.

Remember that one time when we had a hurricane and tornado warning in one night. Yeah that was fun hanging out in the bathroom all night.

Pbest wedding reception ever. My new BFF at church had the most bomb wedding ever with pass-around liters of diet Pepsi. Best idea ever.

Gertrudes... Mejor Amigas.

BORED!! Dylan is always studying. Luckily I have lots of Netflix to catch up on. Hello Pretty Little Liars and Mad Men.

CAMP

I am lucky enough to have a job where I can take days off and get paid. It really is the bomb being an adult with a real job. I used a few of my vacation days this past week and went to Girls Camp with my little babies. We had almost 30 girls go to camp this year, so there was some extra help that was needed. I, of course, having no kids or other plans but work was able to go up for the week. Easy decision: a) work for a week OR b) go to camp and love your life not working. Duh.

 

The week was really great, spiritual, wonderful, etc. Not to get too churchy, but I really love getting to work with these girls. They are so fun and great, and it was one of the best weeks I’ve had in a long time. Girls Camp will forever hold  a special place in my heart. The first time I ever bore my testimony was at Girl’s Camp, and I really believe that for a lot of the girls (and me), that is where testimonies are born. There is no other place where we get to have a week set aside to just be together as girls (or women), and get to experience serving one another, and learning our capabilities. I loved seeing the girls’ personalities come out, and by the end of the week they were all being friends with one another. I just loved it. Ok, enough sap, here are some pictures:

 Funny story about this one. We went shooting one day, and I had to keep raising my hand because I kept pushing my bean bags off the front of the shooting table. The Boy/Man Scout did not think it was funny.

The Graduate

This is one of those occasions that I get to brag about my husband. If you are already annoyed, then stop reading. But I’m so proud of Dylan. He graduated with not one, but two bachelor’s degrees in 4 years. Most people can’t even get one degree in 5 years (I’m a 4 ½ year-er, so I am super impressed).  Dylan has worked so hard in school, studied so many hours, taken so many tests, and even had time to hang out with me sometimes. He’s on some sort of Dean’s or President’s list (good GPA, but because he’s not of another ethnicity, UNM doesn’t want him for Med School… boo, but more on that later). He’s pretty great.

 

We spent the day going to breakfast with my grandparents (they are old and don’t have to go to boring ceremonies and stuff, so they got to skip the graduation stuff). The ceremony was very UNM-ish. Ghetto if you will. They were letting people get up out of their seats whenever they wanted, some kid opened a flask (of alcohol) and took a big swig before he walked on stage, and there were hoochie mama dresses like I’ve never seen before. I love New Mexico.

 

Enough with the stories, here are some pics of my graduate.

 

Now we are 4 years down for school, and only 4 more to go (plus residency….one day we’ll be done).

Hey Mrs. Wilson

The last post was somewhat depressing, and I can't believe I forgot to document such a great/important/wonderful event from March.

I again made a quick trip to Utah for other Rachel's wedding. My BFF from forever and ever ago got married to her long time lova Danny Wilson. Deep down, we all knew Rachel and Danny would end up together, and it's about damn time they finally got their butts to the temple and sealed the deal. I couldn't miss work for more than a day because of a big project/job change going on, so I left on a Wednesday night and was home at 7am on Friday morning so I could get back to work. It was a quick trip, but it was so wonderful to be there for such  a great day.

It really was the best day. I stayed with another BFF Whitney who I hadn't seen in a long time, and we were maybe late to the temple because we were eating at Cafe Rio (whoops). The temple was really special and wonderful, and I'm so glad I got to be there. Rachel is the reason I am where I am, and that I was able to get married in the temple, and it was so great to be there to see her get married to her sweetheart. Rachel (and her family) mean a lot to me, and it was so fun to get to spend so much time with them. Rachel looked amazing, and picked a very Rachel Dress.The reception was adorable at this cute little cottage at "This is the Place". It was very Rachel, and very low key which was really fun. A lot of my fave girls were there that night, and it is just the absolute best to be with friends. All of the girls in this picture below are the coolest cats, and I am so glad I got to catch up with all of them. (Camille-o it was so good to see you girlfriend. I miss living with you and getting to talk about our issues/watch tv etc etc. You're the bomb.com and I'm so glad we got to bond for a few over our lives).

Words can not express what these next 2 girls mean to me. The pics pretty much sum up Natalie and my relationship. She is tickling my armpit in one of the pics, hence the squinty smile/laugh. Natty is like my BFF x10 since I've moved to NM. We may be in different states, but we even work out together everyday (don't ask, it just works for us). She is a little gem when I come to Utah, and has taken me to the airport at 5am on both occasions. That's love.

R. Sharp, Whit, and I all lived together freshman year in the dorms, and since then we have been BFF/soon to be neighbors one day if our plans work out. I love these girls. Too bad my eyes were squinty in this pic.

This is me and Rach in action. This is pretty much all we do when we're together. We're the biggest dorks, but that's the best part is that we can be ourselves.

And let's not forget the highlight of the night. While Natty and I were at a late night stop to Wally World to look at nail polish, we found a fresh dog turd in the aisle. The best part is the Wal-Mart worker thought it was me, and came up to me, looked me in the eye, and said "That is disgusting, who would do that?". Yes intelligent Wal-Mart woman, I was not only able to go to the bathroom with no one noticing, but I made it real small like a little animal.