The week of Christmas

This week of Christmas has been super busy! We had our first guest come visit us in our new place, our friend Kim. Ryan and I also celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. It was our first Floridian Christmas away from home and it was beautiful. The weather was 71 degrees. We celebrated on Christmas Eve with my parents, then on Christmas day we had my parents over for a huge brunch filled with pancakes, bacon, biscuits, eggs, etc. It was such a nice day. Ryan volunteered to work at his job on Christmas so we got to spend some of the day together. We both played Santa for one another, and Ryan did a good job! The new Twilight movie was stuffed deep into my stocking! My parents bought me new tea cups for my new tea set that Ryan bought me for our anniversary. Now I am all set to have tea parties! We ended up with a lot of neat gifts for Christmas. Christmas Eve is always so magical. I missed being around my brothers and nieces and nephews but hopefully next year we can all be together. Our Floridian Adventure gets better by the day. We both love our new little home, we love our town, we love our jobs, we love everything about it. We just miss our friends and family. Merry Christmas!

Our new place

We have been on the hunt for the perfect place to live.. And believe me it has been a hard search. One because it is SOOO much more expensive to live in Florida, plus we didn't bring any furniture, so we have been looking for a furnished place, and plus it's hard to find something in a decent price range living on the island where the beaches are. We lucked up and found a fully furnished condo that is 2 doors down the hall from my parents. The only thing we need to bring is our clothes and toothbrush is what the landlord said lol.. After viewing the place we fell in love with it.. Pictures just don't do it justice, and it is spacious, for living close to the beach. The only downside was the price.. We didn't know at the time that it was out of our price range. So we called the landlord and told him we loved it and really wanted it but it was way too much for our budget. He asked how much we were willing to pay and the next day he called us back and accepted!! We were thrilled! We will move down the hall probably some time next week! I will take my own pictures of course. but i am posting a few from the Realtor' s page.

Other than finding a place, things are going quite well.. We are loving the warm weather. Ryan has started taking Ukulele lessons, I have met some new friends, our jobs are going well, and we are still loving our adventure.

Getting Adjusted

I thought I would have blogged a million times during our journey here, but I have been slacking. Mainly because we try to be active and try not to be inside as much as possible. Ryan finally made the move here in August. We were only away from each other for about a month. Ryan got a job with CVS Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician, he has about 7 years experience in that field so he found employment quickly. I on the other hand have been on and off with jobs, every job I took I hated and I was really missing working at my old job. I kept comparing every job to my last job, so I decided to go back to the world of finance and I am glad I did. I was offered a Senior Teller position which is a supervisor position of my new branch. I am still in training but I love it so far.

Our journey so far has been great and trying at the same time. We still have not found a place to live. My parents have a place here in Clearwater that we have been staying in until we find our own place, which will be within the next month. We have decided to stay in the building where my parents live. It is really nice here. Plus the rent covers your Cable, and water bill. It is on the Island of Clearwater so we have instant access to the beach. We love going to the beach but we try to limit the times we go, because on the weekends we like to go and when we do it still feels like we got a vacation in lol.. We don't want to spoil the fun.

Ryan has joined The Tampa Bay Ukulele Society and a huge group of Ukulele players meet up once a month to talk and have a jam session, and also play songs together. I thought it was going to be pretty boring, but I actually like it. Plus, I get to sit with the other wives who watch their hubby's play. It is a nice way to meet friends. I have found that Art is HUGE down here and I am looking into taking art classes. I really want to learn how to do Blown glass in the fire, also fused glass jewelry. So that is one thing on my to do list.

We also love to get out on Saturday's and try a new restaurant and discover new towns. We have been to several and of course we have already branched out to Orlando for my birthday., We went to Universal Studios and The Hard Rock Cafe. For our anniversary we hope to go to Disney, and we want to explore the Kennedy Space Center.

We have also had our first visitor! Our friend Kim came down to celebrate our birthdays together and she plans to return again in December. We had a lot of fun showing Kim our town and our new hang outs. We sure do miss our friends and family but we are loving our new adventure as Floridians. - Here are a few new pics. Enjoy

Our Building

The pool and it overlooks the back end of the bay/ocean
Orlando

The Blues Brothers
Madeira Beach with Kimmie

A little late but always Great!

Every year I like to celebrate the fact that I am a Mormon. It is true, and I usually celebrate with my Baptist family lol.. My parents are super supportive and proud of the life I chose to lead. They will usually take me out to dinner and buy me something I like. One year they bought me a really nice necklace with the Temple on it. Or a book I want, just something as a reminder of how far my life has come. This year was my 11th year of being baptized and receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior. I always like to reflect on my life and what I would have been like if I had not accepted Christ in my life. I have regretted a lot of things in my life but I have never once regretted the decision of accepting The Gospel. I have by no means perfected my religion and a lot of times I struggle with the fact that I am the only sole person in my family that is LDS. I am far from being perfect and I am still working on my progress as a Christian. Sometimes I am on fire, and sometimes I feel like I can only take baby steps. Being a member of my church always brings me the BEST memories I have ever had. This year I decided to reflect on The Singles Ward and my time there. I have truly been blessed!

Jill and I became instant best friends in the singles ward. We met at a singles ward activity. We were inseparable, we are like sisters and I we could always relate to each other. I still keep Jilly beans near and dear to me and I can't wait until she comes to visit me!


Justin, on the left: He came to singles ward one Sunday and he sat in the back. I went up and said HI, I am Jen I am cooking dinner for my roommates tonight and we are having some people over. Would you like to come? He came, and ever since then we had a special friendship. Justin and I have been friends since I was 20 years old. We still go on double dates and we also worked together for years at my previous job in Lexington.

Steve, In the middle: Showed up one night to FHE in a trech coat.No one knew who he was. He was newly divorced and drove an hour to come to FHE. Again, I said, HI, I am Jennifer do you want to sit with me and my friend? We also became instant friends. He, Justin and I were like our own little group we would have hair dying parties, we would crash parties, go see live music, he would always bring me ice cream when I was sick, he would take me out for ice cream when I was sad, brought me flowers when I had surgery. He was just Awesome! He and Justin would hang out at my parents house. We were all sad when Steve got remarried and moved to Idaho, no one has heard from him since. The last we heard was that he had 2 babies. We miss him!


Lee: I met Lee when he came home from his mission. We were in Gospel Essentials class, my roomate at the time asked him to go to dinner with us all one night after an FHE lesson. He came and gave me the nickname Columbia, we were goofs and one day we were at a stake dance and he said: you know what? We should take dance lessons together and the next week we enrolled in Arthur Murray. We learned fast and we went to competitions in Cincinnati we became really close friends. Our last competition we received a Bronze medal. One night around midnight he called me and said he wanted me to meet his younger brother. I said when? he said NOW. I was like WHAT? He said yeah we are heading to your house now and we are bringing food.. His little brother was GRANT! The last time I saw Lee was at Grants Wedding with his wife and kids. He moved away to Utah and served as a Bishop. I still get the scoop through Grant. Miss you my friend!

Ahhh Grant! When I met Grant it was out of this world something special. When we met the night Lee brought him over, we felt like we had been friends for Eternity! He was still in high school but it was like we were just reunited. We hung out every single night from about 11pm until 6am until I had to go to work the next day. We never ran out of things to talk about and we had the BEST of times. We laughed so hard during our friendship, we went to Perkins almost every night, we talked about going on a mission at the same time, he ended up going and I ended up getting married. He was my biggest fan and I was his. Our friendship was purely spiritual as in we went through the same spiritual things at the same time. He always said I would end up marrying Ryan and he was right! He pushed me to date him, and gave me dating advice. We could talk about anything and no one judged anyone. Til this day I still have Grant on a high pedestal and we make sure we keep in touch at least once a month. We still have this huge spiritual connection that no one could ever break. We have a friendship song, and it's called send me an Angel. When we hear that song we think of each other as each others angels. He is one of the biggest gifts from God sent to be my eternal friend. Seriously, who doesn't love Grant? He is an amazing Spirit with many Spiritual gifts.


Well as you can see, my blessings keep getting longer by the year. These were just a FEW of friends from Singles Ward. There were gazillions more that touched my life but I just didn't have the room to squeeze them in. I am proud of my choices in life. Look how much Joy Christ has brought to my life. God Speed until my 12th year

1st week

I have to admit, my first week here in Florida was pretty bad. I was completely home sick. It never hit me that I was moving away until I got here. I cried and cried. I have been away from my hubby and I really miss him because Florida is supposed to be our new adventure together and I felt a little lonely. I am here with my dad but he has been out and about with his fishing friends. My new job at the airport was supposed to be an easier less stressful job but it was the opposite. So I have been on the job search once again. I have had a few calls and have been lining up interviews. My first week I knew nothing, knew no one and kept getting lost everywhere I would go.

I am now going into my 2nd week and I am starting to LOVE it. I drive by the ocean everyday. I get giggly when I see the palm trees sway. I can go swimming anytime I want. I know where I am going, and people at the marina actually know me by name. Kind of like cheers! I was coming out of a little shop looking for my dad when someone said HEY Jennifer are you lost again? lol. I thought that was pretty funny it's nice to know that people know you. The locals are giving me all the inside scoop. I am scouting out places to go. I lucked up on finding a Cheddar's restaurant here. I LOVE Cheddar's so I was super excited! Florida also has THE BEST 80's radio station I have ever heard, they play all the underground 80's music too. They also have a lot of 80's bands that come thru here as well.. So that is a double bonus. So needless to say this week has been pretty good!

I also found out that my sweet hubby might have a job that will start in late August. With this economy we were scared we would be apart for a few months. We have really been putting our faith in the Lord that things will come together. I am ready to start this adventure and I pray that it will be a good one! Thought I would post a picture of the 1st time Ryan and I ever came to Clearwater back in 2008. Kind of hard to believe we live here now :)

A good Memory

Last year me and my best friend Kim went to a concert to see one of my favorite non-punk bands Better Than Ezra. I had seen the band a few times before and this was a free concert in Louisville. Ryan had planned to go with me but he couldn't take the time off work. I had no one to go with. Kim had just had major surgery a few days before, but she said she would go with me since she knew I wouldn't go by myself. On the way there, she was like ummm ummm, by the way it's not that punk music you listen to is it? I was cracking up. I said no and played her a few songs. She had actually heard them before. That night was one of the best times ever spent with Kimmie. I felt horrible that I made her go into the "Pit" where people jump around but I wanted to be close. She was such a trooper for 1st off going with me, then to have had major surgery and to be there celebrating with me was a BLAST! I can't believe it has been over a year already since we went but I just wanted to post the memory of that great time we had. After the concert we went to The Hard Rock Cafe and on the way out to our car we passed the tour bus and there was the bass player!!!! She said go and I will take your picture with him.. We were standing literally a few feet away, I had my opportunity but I chickened out. I was star struck. I kicked myself for that afterwords. I am posting a few pictures of the night and a video of one of my favorite songs by them that remind me of Kimmie.


We were down in this. I found this picture from a newspaper
I took these from where we were standing.

Moving to Florida

We just found out a few days ago that we would be moving to the Tampa Bay area! Ryan was accepted into school there, we both felt it was what we were supposed to do. We asked Heavenly Father that if it were meant to be for us to be there he would help provide the way. We just weren't expecting it to be so fast! We started looking into schools in Feb of this year. We at least wanted to apply to schools in an area we could enjoy. We both love the Clearwater Fl area and luckily he was accepted. After we found out he was accepted I started applying for jobs and got a call back from the St Petersburg Airport. I went down for an interview over 4th of July weekend. Last Saturday they called and said I got the job and I report the next week. That only gave me 7 days to plan to move. I was shocked and excited at the same time. Ryan is still looking for a job and he will join me as soon as he does.

We are both excited and blessed that were are given this opportunity. I will start my new job in a few days working at the St. Petersburg/ Clearwater Airport. It was hard to say goodbye to all my friends but we know we will see them soon, and they are excited to come visit us.

We will be about an hour away from Disney World, 4 hours away from Miami, and we will be in the Tampa metro area. We have lots of options to play with and explore. And did I mention we are in walking distance to the beach? We plan to be beach bums. We are also looking forward to not having to scrape the ice off of our car every winter :) I am posting a few pictures of our neighborhood.