Florida

I'm going to try and keep my blog updated now that my life has gotten a little more interesting. This will be an easy way for family and friends who are interested in what we're doing here in Florida to stay up to date. 

A month or so ago, Brig was provided with a job opportunity here in Florida. After a lot of discussion, we decides to take this chance and have ourselves an adventure. There were a lot of unknowns, but we felt it would be fun and exciting to take a risk and move to Florida! When would we ever get a chance like this again?!

Two weeks ago, we packed up our car and left our home in Orem to move to West Palm Beach, Florida. We could only pack anything that could fit in our trunk and backseat of our car. We did not yet have a place to call home in Florida, we were "flying by the seat of our pants", so to speak. 

The first day we drove to Albuquerque and stayed the night at a super 8 motel there. It certainly wasn't the four seasons, but we survived. 

Broken locks, scotch tape holding the floor down, holes in the wall, most likely bed bugs.... Glad I didn't have a black light with me. It's all part of the adventure, right?

The next day we drove through Texas and stayed the night in Dallas. Thankfully our hotel was much nicer. We were just sad that we couldn't stay longer and experience more of the Dallas area. 

Our last day of the road trip was the longest, although after driving for 2 straight days, you get used to the car and 12 hours doesn't seem so bad. We drove through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and finally arrived in Florida. 

Brig's friend and former mission companion Eric has been living in Destin, Florida for the past year, and was kind enough to let us stay at his apartment for a few days. We had just missed the first meeting in West Palm, and the next one wasn't for a few days. Eric had already gone down to West Palm to start working, so we stayed with his wife Ashlie and hung around Destin. 

Their apartment is literally right on the beach. To say it is gorgeous there would be an understatement. The sand is white, water is blue, and the temperature is 75 degrees. The sand is so fine it squeaks beneath your feet. We spent those few days laying on the beach, getting sunburned, eating as much BBQ and fried seafood that our bodies could handle, and having so much fun taking a much needed vacation, even if it was only for 2 days. 

On Friday we left Destin and headed down south. We stayed in Gainesville for the night, then arrived in West Palm Beach on Saturday. While in Destin, we spent a lot of time looking for housing, but were having a hard time finding anything temporary. We aren't sure how long we will be here; it could be as short as a few months, but finding anything with less than a 1 year lease was nearly impossible. We eventually found a place in Wellington, just 20 minutes outside of West Palm. Thankfully it is fully furnished, so we actually have a bed to sleep in! (We were convinced we would be sleeping on an air mattress for 3 months.) We couldn't move in for a week though. So we lived from hotel to hotel, trying to find the best deals on Hotwire. 

It has taken a while for things to get started with Brig's job, but we have only been here for a week and are patient. :)

We are now in our place and starting to settle in. We have noticed that in general, the people here are just so kind and friendly. We feel very lucky to have this opportunity to break out of our comfort zones and grow through different experiences. 

We're still getting used to some things... Like the bugs. We ran into this beauty on our walk the other night. Brig almost ran right into it. 

One thing we can't deny is the beauty of this place. 

Sometimes it is difficult not knowing where we'll be or what's going to happen, but it sure is exciting! Sometimes you just need to take a risk. The journey is always worth it!

I like to ride my bicycle

For my graduation present, Brig (with help from his parents) got me a new road bike! The weather has finally been warm enough, and we're not so busy training for a half marathon, that we've been starting to ride!! I forgot how much I love road biking. Thank goodness to Brig for introducing it to me almost 2 years ago!

Last Saturday, Brig, Abe, and I rode from our house up to the top of South Fork Canyon and back, about a 28 mile ride. It was GORGEOUS!

Sunburst Mirror

Don't ask me why I've been so crafty lately. Since we moved into our new apartment in February, I've been trying to decorate on a very tight budget. It seems to be taking forever, but we're slowly getting there.

I saw this sunburst mirror diy project on pinterest, I loved it, and it seemed doable enough for me. All it took was some wooden skewers, cardboard, glue, spray paint, a mirror, and some time. 

I probably should've taken some pictures during the process... but I didn't.

Anyway, I figured this was a pretty good deal. Instead of spending between $150-$300 on a mirror, I could make two for under $15. Sweet!

The Utah Valley Half Marathon

Well, I finally did it. For almost three years, I have had a goal to run a half marathon. When I was on a study abroad in London in 2009, my sister-in-law Claire told me she was going to run a half marathon in St. George, and she wanted me to do it with her. I started training by running in Hyde Park, and even ran a whole 5 miles one day (I was so proud of myself! haha) but it got cold and rainy, and Claire ended up pregnant a few months later.... go figure ;). Ever since then, life kind of got in the way, and I made up excuse after excuse about why I couldn't run 13.1 miles. Finally, this past February, I was done making up excuses. I knew I would have a little less stress and more time to train after I graduated from BYU in April, and I also knew I wouldn't back up after paying 75 bones to sign up. So I did it. A few months later, my husband Brig and his brother Abe and sister Abi and her husband Dave decided it would be fun to run it as a family, and I am so glad they joined me! Even though we didn't run together, it was fun to be together at the starting line.

I got sick about 4 times during my 16 week training, which made it really hard to keep increasing my distance. I didn't run as much as I wanted to, but I ran more than I ever had before. 

Me at the starting line

 Right before the race

 I finished!!

Doing this half marathon was one of the best things I could've done right now. (Thank you Claire for being my inspiration!) It was so much fun to run with so many people and to be inspired by all the marathoners! There was so much adrenaline running through my body that I was able to run the entire thing (even though at mile 10 I thought my feet were going to fall off...)!! I never thought I could do it. I gained confidence in myself and reminded myself that I can do hard things. 

Now I'm addicted! I'm planning on running at least 1 or 2 more halfs this summer and my long-term goal is to run the Utah Valley Marathon next year!! Here's to more training!!

Vegas

I know I know... this is a little late. But I finally uploaded these pictures from my phone and thought I'd share.

Brig and I wanted to celebrate my graduation from BYU by going on some sort of vacation. We hadn't gone on a real vacation since out honeymoon, so we were excited when we were offered a few nights at a  condo owned by a couple in Brig's parents' ward. It was a beautiful condo, and it felt nice to be able to just do nothing for a few days! It was nice and warm down there; a perfect escape from Utah.

We couldn't really afford to go somewhere far, and Brig and I couldn't miss work for very long, so Vegas was the perfect location. Although I was sick the whole time (seems to happen every single time I leave town...) we had a great time!

We didn't have the best luck with food on the trip. We went to a Chinese restaurant with great reviews, but terrible food. Nobody spoke English there, so we somehow ended up getting enough food for 5 people and didn't eat any of it.

 Eggs benedict. Better than the Chinese, but only by a little bit.

 Best part of Las Vegas! For some reason, these fountains have always been so inspiring and beautiful to me. One year, I came down to Vegas with my parents and my mom and I sat for 2 hours and watched 8 fountain shows in one night.

 Bellagio conservatory gardens

 Laying out... ignore the paleness.

 On our last day of the trip, we finally had good luck with a restaurant. A friend suggested we go to Hash House a Go Go, and it was a hit! This was my yummy banana brown sugar pancake. I could only eat about 1/4 of it, even though it was so good!!!

We were planning on going to Zion's for a few days after Vegas, but I just didn't seem to be getting better (ended up with a sinus infection), and didn't feel up to hiking in 90 degree weather, so we went home early. Kind of a bummer, but all in all a good vaca!!

Chairs

My mom bought these chairs at an antique store in Cedar City for only 12 bucks each last year, and I've finally gotten around to re-doing them! (I should 've taked pictures of them before my dad took the old seats off... they were a really ugly green and orange velvet pattern...)

I couldn't decided what color to paint them... finally landed on a pale yellow.

 The finished product! I got the fabric on clearance for $5 for a yard and a half at JoAnn's.

 Before and after...

I love how they turned out. Many thanks to my mom for helping me paint them, and to my dad for helping me with the re-upholstering! Now on to my next project...

Baby

Last week my sister Bethany had her first baby. YAY!!! I didn't get to see him until yesterday; I can thank my horrible cold for that one. He was born on March 16, 2012 at 5:56 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces, 20 inches long. Official name: Calvin Jacob Hoyt. He is ADORABLE. :) Cheers to Jake and Beth; let's just pray they can get some sleep!

p.s. I always think newborns are a little funny looking, but Calvin really is cute ;)