FLORIDA!

Keenan and I went to Florida years ago to visit our friends Richard and Mo Russell. We had a great time. Mo turned 65 in February and we've been friends for 20 years. Time to celebrate so I went back at the end of April, during my break from BYU semesters.

I got there late Monday night. Really late. It took me all day to get there with layovers, etc. We went straight to their place in Leisureville and got settled. As we entered their neighborhood, I said "did that sign say what I really thought it said? Do you really live in Leisureville?" YES! It was going to be a great week. It was so great to see our good friends.

I'll back up a bit. I met Mo 19+ years ago when we lived in Richardson, Texas. I was assigned with Heidi Heidt to be her visiting teacher. I thought it was a crazy assignment because I was pregnant (with Melia) and she had some "Asian flu." That's what I was told. She didn't feel great. They thought she might have picked up something Richard brought back from his work assignments in Asia. Maureen proved to be a great friend. She taught me how to paint walls and furniture. She helped me decorate our whole house. Once when we were visiting Utah, she painted the girls room the cutest pink color. It was called pink lemonade. She threw me a baby shower when Mel was born. It was really sad for me when they moved from Richardson. We've kept in touch the whole time. They've lived in Utah, Vegas, Florida, and back and forth. They've stayed here when visiting. I went with her to Boise once to visit their son McLean. I introduced her to Hot Tamales on road trips. She spoils me on my birthdays, sending me a lovely cake on my 50th. She also spoils our kids on their birthdays, Christmas, and missions. They are great people. I've learned a lot about generosity from the Russells. They've never been wealthy, but are very generous.

Mo and Richard just moved to a place in January. It's very much a work in progress right now. I had to promise to come back and see the finished product. Can you believe what they've done so far? She's so talented.

Beautiful corner off the living room

Little sitting area by Mo's desk

Mo's work desk off the kitchen

View of living room into eating area

My room. Aka: guest room

Mo's bathroom/guest bathroom

Tuesday: I woke up and Mo said she had figured we would do the quintessential Florida thing and go see some flamingos. We went to Flamingo Gardens and rode the train, saw lots of lovely foliage, pink flamingos, and people-friendly peacocks. It was so fun. We also went to see the Fort Lauderdale Temple and went to the outlet mall. I blew my souvenir budget right there when I found the perfect purse for Mel. It was $90. I had planned to spend about $20/person. As a result of the perfect bag for Mel, Allie got a designer wallet, Kamiko got a Star Wars windbreaker from Disney, and Keenan got Star Wars flip flops and a t-shirt from Palm Beach. We had yummy lunch at a favorite Mexican place in Fort Lauderdale.

Keenan called this a pineapple tidbit

What?! There are cats and flamingos?

I got that close!

The purse that started the spending

 Wednesday: Went to Palm Beach. We saw Papa Trump's house, Mar-a-Lago. We also drove around town where there are very high end shops. Went back to Leisureville and relaxed by the pool and did weights in the fitness center. It's a 55+ community, so I felt young. We also went to eat dinner at one of their favorite places: Key Lime House. It's right on the water and is open and breezy. No walls, really. Just the front of the restaurant and tables under a roof along the back. Water, yummy food, breeze, and their signature key lime pie. Mo says when Richard has a rough day, they go to Key Lime to unwind. Not too often, but it's their favorite. I can see why. We also picked up Richard at the airport that night. He'd been traveling for work. I had brought chocolate chip cookies to them that Kamiko had made. Richard got his cookies and some left-over salad from me and Mo.

Papa Trump's house

Papa Trump's flag

Key Lime House

Look at this!

Dock off Key Lime House

Thursday: Back to the beach in swimsuits this time. We stayed a couple of hours. We also got Cuban food for lunch/dinner. I love vacationing with Mo because it's not all about food. We generally ate breakfast then grabbed lunch around 3:00. So, 2 good meals/day. That was enough for me. We kept busy and drank lots of water and I had my soda. She spoiled me with soda and fixins for smoothies for breakfast. The Cuban food was great. We got a yummy pork plate with rice and beans. Sauce and pico de gallo for fixins. Then...we went on a boat...Richard and Mo had bought tickets for a cruise of the intracoastal waterway of Fort Lauderdale. The cruise started at 7:00 pm so we got to see the sun go down and see the beautiful lighting on the super expensive houses. We saw a yacht that is worth over $60 million. We also saw Johnny Depp's yacht that he later sold to JK Rowling. We saw a yacht that costs $5,000/day just to have it docked there. WHAT?! There were only about 8 people on the cruise that could have held over 100. We lucked out. If there had one fewer person, they would have cancelled the tour. So glad we got to go. We just sat and relaxed and saw pretty things. The host told fun facts about real estate and yachts along the way.

Isn't this the cutest 7-11?

My Cuban food

Note the water temperature

Dear friends: Maureen and Richard Russell

Friday: ORLANDO! WHAT?! Can you believe my friends took me to Orlando for the day? Richard took the day off of work. We left around 9. It's about a 3 hour drive. We went to see the Orlando Temple. So now I've seen all the temples in Florida. Richard had to get some garments and socks. We drove through Celebration, a planned community that is very Disney-like. Everything is cute and clean. Then we shopped at the Disney shops. There's an outdoor mall with Disney stuff, high end stores, and other shops. I found Kamiko's jacket and Keenan's slippahs there. We ate yummy food at House of Blues. I had a veggie flat bread. It was so fun to just soak in the Disney vibe. We didn't get near a park. It's way spread out. We got home from our adventure at about 10:00 pm. What a day.

Celebration Hotel

Why do I love yellow houses so much?

Cute bathroom in one of the Disney stores

Awesome bathroom in House of Blues. Florida loves color!

Lego store 7 Dwarfs

Orlando Temple

I haven't mentioned yet that the weather was PERFECT the whole time. It was warm and breezy every day. Orlando was 96 degrees but lovely because there was a light breeze. Richard and Maureen said it was the best they'd seen in a long time.

Saturday: I had to get up early and leave. SAD! It was a nice flight home. I flew to Dallas, then home. Only 1 layover this time. I had 2 on the way to Florida and one of them was quite long. It was good to get home because we have a missionary to get ready. I also made it home in time for my good friend Jamie's wedding. Jamie used to be my neighbor. We've known each other for almost 17 years.

She and Bob got married at her church at 6:00 pm. I flew in around 3:30, got home, showered, and went to the wedding. What a fun-filled friend week, topped off with a friend's wedding.

Lunch in Dallas. WOW! I'd forgotten how delicious this place is!

Almost home. See the Y?

There's the G. I live somewhere in that foreground, off to the left.

I'm blessed with great friends.