Thanksgiving festivities

Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital was a little

unforgiving this year and scheduled Jake to work all 

day on Thanksgiving, plus all night. 

So we celebrated Thanksgiving in other ways.

Thanksgiving decorations from my mom, including fall leaves from Utah!

On Monday, we had the missionaries over with a new convert
and her family to teach them about
Family Home Evening.

After the lesson and a fun game, we made
turkeys out of junk food.

The kids thought that was pretty great!

Me with the missionaries and some of the Haitian members in our ward.

Proud of our little turkey creations.

On Saturday, Jake and I had a "re-do" Thanksgiving,
with all the trimmings.  I got a bunch of recipes from my
mother and grandmother, and spent the whole day cooking. 

I must say that things turned out pretty tasty!

The only glitch was that my stuffing turned out more like
croutons (I didn't know it needed to be covered in the oven),
but luckily we had a spare box of StoveTop in the pantry,

so we whipped that up at the last minute.

We did our turkey breast in the crockpot, and it was delicious.

The spread, compliments of two hands, one crockpot, and a very busy oven.

Jake with his feast (note the cranberry sauce that is still in the shape of the can).

 Because of the excess amounts of food, 

 we had the missionaries join us, which was nice
(although not pictured).

So despite the crazy work schedule,
our first Thanksgiving was still pretty great.

Visitors!

We have had a steady stream of visitors over the past few months.

That's the reason we got an apartment with
a spare bedroom, so it's been great!

Although he didn't stay at our place,

we had fun when our buddy Brad

came to town for Labor Day weekend.

We got a group together and ran around
Universal Studios for a day.

Harry Potter world was definitely the highlight.

Butter beer for all!  Everyone loved it except for me.  

 Exploring the shops in Diagon Alley.

 With Brad in front of Hogwarts.

There are talking paintings in there!  So well done.

Next, my parents and 3 siblings (Cameron, Andrew, and Dallin)

came to visit in October, thanks to UEA.

We did 3 parks in 3 days, starting with
Universal Studios, then the Holy Land Experience 

(bet you've never heard of that one),

and then Disneyworld, including Epcot.
We had a blast!

Highlights including playing battling each other on the Wii 

each night and celebrating Cam's and Dallin's birthdays.

 Epcot.

Magic Kingdom.

Birthday dinner (we had pot roast and Mickey Mouse cake).

In November, we've had a few friends from DC

drive through on road trips and stay with us.

First came Simone and Sarah Dawn.

We had fun taking them to 4 Rivers
(the most delicious BBQ place in town)

and Jeremiah's Italian Ice (they loved it so much we went twice).

The best part of their stay was going to the Jazz game together

and cheering on as the Jazz beat the Magic!

At the brand new Amway Center.

Go Jazz!

A few days later, we welcomed Devany to Orlando.

She and I spent a lovely day at Cocoa Beach, and then made
enchiladas for dinner with Jake and his best man Brock.

 Lunch with Devany.  We had our own private pier!

Game night, debuting "Left, Right, Center."

I mostly included this pic to show off our 

faBulous, comfY coUch

and the Ikea table that Jake put together

(hidden message? I don't know what you're talking about).

Well, that's all for now, but keep in mind we are accepting

reservations through June 2013!

The reason we moved to Florida...

Last week, after a 30-hour call shift,

Jake requested we make use of our rare afternoon

together and drive to the beach.

So we packed a picnic, hopped in the car, and drove

off to Tampa!

We were excited to use our picnic basket

and lovely beach blanket

(wedding gifts from my MTC companions!).

We lounged all afternoon, enjoying

blue skies and 90 degree weather.

And that, my friends, is why we moved to Florida. :)

Our first Halloween

I have never dressed up in a "couple's costume" before.

I wanted to this year, but Halloween

just kind of snuck up on us and we

were not prepared.

Well, 10 minutes before our ward Halloween party,

Jake had the great idea that we could go as

international Red Sox fans!

So it's kind of a couples costume. And don't worry,

we have big plans (on the more creative side)

for coming years.

The next day, we had the missionaries 

for "dinner in a pumpkin."

It was an experimental meal for me,

but it turned out great! I think

we'll be making a tradition of it.

While I cooked the meal, Jake

took over the seeds.

Jake was recently called to serve as

our ward mission leader.

So this was a good chance to get to

know the elders in our ward.

We have English speaking elders

and Haitian speaking elders.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

We are FINALLY bloggers

I have repeatedly been told that I should have a blog,
and my response was always the same:
"Blogging is for married people."

Well, I'm married now, and out of excuses. :)
And those people who wanted me to blog back then
want me to blog now.

So we're giving it a try. Hope you enjoy!