Port St. Lucie, Florida

We're pretty settled in our new home. The house has a lot of open space and not much small storage space. We thought we would need a third room for storage, but we did not need it. The house has a florida room which is basically and enclosed patio. We have a couple things stored out there, like bikes, but it's basically empty. We don't use the patio now either because it's hot. Maybe when the weather cools off we'll use it more. The house also has an attic we don't use at all. We downsized so much we don't have enough stuff to fill up the house :) What storage we do have is stored in our trailer which is parked next to the house. 

The main fun activity we've done here is go to the beach. We go several times a weeks. Here's some pictures of our first time at the beach. 

The boys absolute love the beach. They love running around in the shallow water, digging holes in the sand, bobbing up and down in the waves and looking for seashells. 

I've been the only one who has gotten sunburned. Probably because I'm the only white one :)

We've gone to several different beaches and though they all have sand and water, they are all a bit different. Some have big waves, some are shallow for a ways out into the water and some have lots of seashells. It's been fun to explore all the new places. 

We tried swimming/playing in the Indian River Lagoon in the Fort Pierce area one day. We drove past it one day and it looked nice, so later we went and checked it out. The water was really nice. It was warmer than the ocean and shallow for quite a ways. But, the people there were very sketchy people. We ended up leaving because we didn't want to around the people. 

The Spruce Bluff Preserve is a mile or so from our house. We went for a short hike on the preserve one evening. It was quite enjoyable. Lots of bugs which seemed to feast only on Adrian, which is the norm. 

It is very humid here. We notice the humidity more on the very hot days. We've had multiple people warn us of the hot summer that's coming. Apparently it will feel like we're boiling during the next few months.There are always bugs about. We don't go out of the house ever without putting on bug repellant. 

We came home to a visitor munching on our lawn one day. Since then we've seen him several times, along with a smaller tortoise we've seen in our backyard. We have an empty lot next door that's overgrown with brush and trees. We think they might live in there. 

The city put on a "Safety" community event. We got to see up close a helicopter, fire engine ambulance, school bus, coast guard boat, K-9 dog and some other cool rescue trucks. Levi could see bounce houses in the distance and he did not care about anything else but those. It was almost comical.

Here's the prettiest beach we've been to so far. We're not sure makes it look pretty. Maybe the sun and the time of day because all the beaches are along the same coast and are the same sand with the same water. 

This beach actually had a strong current pulling you out, so we did not play in water much at all. 

My parents came to visit!! They stayed for 10 days and left yesterday. For my birthday we went canoeing in the St. Lucie River. I was a bit nervous at first because I knew there were alligators. But, to our disappointment, we did not see a single alligator. I think I saw an alligator leg as it was walking off into the trees. My dad saw two big eyes disappear quietly under the water once. The water in the river is a dirty brown color, so you're not able to see in it at all. We did see quite a few big splashes ahead of us as we paddled along. I think that must have been the alligators hiding as we approached. There was one time we paddled into a small little outlet, as we tried to turn our canoe around there was a big splash right next to our canoe. We couldn't see what it was because the water was so dark, but it made me scream a little scream and we hurried to get out there. I still think it was probably an alligator right under our canoe in the shallow water!!

It was pretty funny to see my parents canoe. They zigzagged back and forth a bit trying to go straight :) Malachi did not enjoy the ride much. From the get go he was saying he wanted to go home and get the life jacket off.  Levi enjoyed it for a bit. Then he got tired and wanted to go home to nap. We spent 3 hours paddling on the river.

Here we are going under a tree that came out over the water. 

We went to a few beaches while my parents were here. We enjoyed time just relaxing and soaking up the sun. The beach is fun because the water is really warm and the air is warm when you get out. Every beach does seem to have a lot of seaweed. But, we've gotten used to it and don't mind it so much anymore. 

We got both the boys goggles. They really don't like getting the salt water in their eyes when we play in the waves. 

The main adventure my dad wanted to have while he was here was to go deep sea fishing to catch some great big fish. Adrian asked around and found a company they thought would be good. They ended up catching just little tiny fish. In fact, the biggest fish caught by anyone on the boat the whole day was a 7 pounder. The day was quite disappointing. We should have just purchased our own poles and asked around where to go and what to use as bait and fished off the piers and shores the whole time my dad was here. 

One day we saw our friend the tortoise back in our yard. Much to our surprise it dug a hole right next to the front our house and laid eggs. Then it buried them and made it look as if nothing there ever happened. Then, it went on its way. After some research we learned that in about 3 months the eggs will hatch. That should be fun to see :)

Another big surprise are the gigantic wolf spiders we have encountered in our garage. They trump all the big spiders we've ever encountered in Utah and Missouri :(

We've enjoyed our time so far. Adrian starts work July 1st so we've basically been playing for the last month while we get settled in. Adrian purchased a new car. A Mini Cooper. He says it's the funnest car to drive that he's ever owned. It's been a bit of a headache to buy it and get it registered, but we've figured everything out. 

We've been to our new church ward for about a month now. We have to drive 30 minutes to get to the meeting house. That's the furthest we've ever had to drive to get to church. The ward is very diverse. Lots of people from all over and many languages. It's different, but it's good to experience. There are two temples close by, both being about 1.5 hours away. We're assigned to the Orlando temple, but the Fort Lauderdale temple is close too. We have yet to visit the temples. Malachi does great in nursery. They say he plays well and sings the songs. Today when I picked him up he was roaring around the room and so were some other kids. The nursery leader told me they were roaring like dinosaurs. I asked her "was this Malachi's idea?" She chuckled and said "yes, actually". Ha, I find that really funny. At home we run around roaring like dinosaurs while playing hide and seek. All the nursery leaders kept chuckling at Malachi. They must all have girls for children because I find it to be quite normal :) Levi will tell you he hates primary. Today the Primary president told me they can't get a good consistent sunbeam teacher and because of that none of the sunbeams really know a teacher or each other. So, no wonder Levi hates primary, he's really not getting to know anyone and he feels like he's always with strangers. 

For my birthday Adrian bought a new handgun. He's worried of the possibilities that might happen to me and the kids. There is small park close by out house. The first time I went there a young man appeared to be taking photos of me and the boys. The whole situation with him was not normal. But, the neighbors say the neighborhood is safe and now that school is out that same park seems to always have people playing there. We went and shot my new gun for the first time while my parents were here. I'm still getting used to it and would like to get a bit more proficient in using it. 

I'm hoping to find some kind of preschool for Levi. I don't think I'll actually pay to take him somewhere, I always thought I'd just do preschool at home. I think I've found a program that's online for free that will be okay. I also wanted to put the boys in swimming lessons. Drowning is the most common cause of child death in Florida. I'm also hoping to find some kind of beginning music lessons for the boys. We think we'll like Florida. We're going to try to stay here when we apply for residency again. We're really sick of moving around the country so much. 

Doctor Tinajero

After 4 years of really hard work, Adrian graduated from medical school!! He was required to go back to Kirksville to walk, so that's what we did. We decided to pack and move at the same time. Instead of driving to Missouri, then back to Utah, then 2 weeks later drive to Florida, we just stopped in Kirksville along the way to Florida. Stopping in Kirksville only added about an hour on to our trip to Florida.

The KCOM class of 2015's pictures was up on the wall. Since Adrian was class Vice President, his picture was privileged to be in the middle.

Come graduation morning, we knew we needed to get to the auditorium early to get seats together. We arrived about 45 minutes early and the only seats available were on the third road, which happened to be the front row where they allowed people. So, we got a front row seat!! The kids were restless. It's hard for them to sit still for so long. But, they actually did really great!

Here's my attempt to entertain Malachi by taking selfies. 

Levi did not feel so well. He had a stomachache. He did pretty good though sitting through the ceremony.

Here's Adrian receiving his "fake" diploma. They mailed us the real one later. 

Here's Adrian getting the hooding on.

We are so proud of Adrian. Everyone all around was happy and excited.

Levi still did not feel well and was sad for all the pictures. 

Here is Trevor Wright and John Vashaw. They were Adrian's best studying buddies. 

The new doctors with their wives.

Adrian with his cousin Gaby and aunt Rosario.

Adrian with his cousin Edgar.

It was a happy day all around. It was fun to see his classmates and those we associated with that we had not seen in 2 years. Adrian did say that he was not as happy as he thought he ought to be. He still feels and little disappointment and discouragement about not matching and not knowing what his future holds. He saw all his classmates who knew what field they were doing and where they were going and he felt a little excluded, like he'd been put back a bit. Hopefully we find a new track soon and understand why we did not match.

Another big move

Our original moving plans for residency was to rent a large moving truck, tow Adrian's little eclipse and I would drive the Corolla with the boys and follow the moving truck. Once Adrian wreaked his car, our plans were tweaked a bit.  We then planned on Adrian driving the moving truck and me driving the Corolla with the boys. Adrian would then buy a commuter car once we got to Florida. Well, my dad had an idea of selling our Corolla and buying a truck and trailer to move ourselves instead of renting a large moving truck. The moving trucks were $4,000 to rent for what we needed. We would move now, in a year and then in 3 years, with each move potentially costing us $4,000 just to rent the moving truck. So, in the long run of paying to rent moving trucks we could put the money into our own truck and trailer and have something to show for it in the end. 

So, we made a  bold move and sold our Corolla and bought a truck and trailer. It was hard to sell our Corolla. It was newer and very reliable. We ended up buying a  2011 Ford F250. It was a fleet vehicle so it had a lot of miles despite it being fairly new, and because of that we paid a bit less. We also bought a 20 foot enclosed cargo trailer. They each needed to be tuned up for the long drive across country but they both ended up working very well for our needs. 

Since we were very limited on space using a 20 foot trailer instead of the 26 foot moving trucks like we were used to, we had to downsize our belongings. We sold our dinning set and couch we bought new 4 years ago. We sold all of our dressers, treadmill and other random items that were big or bulky. Surprisingly it was not hard to let go of a lot of our stuff. That's all it is, is "stuff". I gave most of our baby items to my sister who expecting her first child including all the kid clothes my boys have grown out of. We were able to fit all our belongings into the trailer. We weighed the trailer at a weigh station and it weighed almost 9,000 pounds. 

We survived our big move from Cedar City, Utah to Port St. Lucie, Florida. It was about 2600 miles. We were on the road for 10 days. The first day we made it to Colorado, almost to Vail. We were in the truck for 12 hours only stopping to get gas. The truck's evap system did not work well so it took us 20-30 minutes to fill the truck with gas each time. The boys had been sick just prior to having to leave and still sick for the first few days of our trip. I had games planned that for the boys that they played, but the biggest life saver for the trip was the dvd player to watch movies. The second day in the car was worse for the boys. They were sick of being in the car and they just wanted to get out and play. We were still in Colorado the first time we stopped for gas that day. Adrian noticed the caps over the wheel bearings to the trailer had popped off and grease had flown out all over the rim of the wheels. He came to me when he noticed and said this was really really bad. I could hear the stress in his voice. He was imagining every possible scenario he'd have to do to fix it. He figured he and my dad had put too much grease in the wheel bearings and that had popped the caps off. We were able to find a NAPA auto parts and the nice guy who worked there told Adrian his caps were just loose and they popped off. We easily bought some new caps, pumped a little bit more grease in and went on our way. It was really NOT a big deal at all :) We stayed in Salina Kansas the second night after another 12 hours of being in the car. We left early the following morning. I wanted to meet up with my friend from Missouri that afternoon so we left the hotel at 6 am. We just woke up the boys in their pj's and strapped them in the car, accidentally leaving Levi's new shoes. 

We met up with my friend Danielle in Columbia Missouri. She was my neighbor while I lived in Kirksville and I had not seen her in two years. We went to the park, got lunch together and walked around the mall for a bit. 

After Columbia, we had a short drive to Kirksville, Missouri. Adrian graduated on Saturday May 16th  and he was required to walk so we were forced to go back to Missouri for that. There was graduation events all week long. There were meetings that Adrian was required to attend so we had to be in Kirksville for a few days. Kirksville is such a small town that all the hotels in town were booked for graduation and we had to stay in Macon which in 30 minutes south of Kirksville. Levi was feeling awful and started to complain of a sore throat and stomach ache. Adrian stated that's classic symptoms and strep throat in kids so we had our Cedar pediatrician fax over an antibiotic to Kirksville. The pediatrician is a KCOM graduate and Adrian also rotated with him so we were lucky Levi did not have to go in anywhere to be seen, the pediatrician must trust Adrian's judgment.

Adrian's extended family from Georgia came to see his graduation. I'm glad they came because all of Adrian's classmates seemed to have loads of family there. I'm sure Adrian's parents and brother would have come if it were possible. My parents were able to watch it live online, unfortunately, Adrian's parents were not able to watch it online, though they tried.

We decided to head off to Nauvoo one afternoon since it was so close. Adrian's family is not LDS so he thought they might like to see a bit of church history. We arrived just as the last horse drawn wagon was leaving for a tour. Levi did not want to go on a wagon ride so Adrian stayed with him and the rest of us went. It was a tour I had never been on before so it was great for me. I hope Adrian's family got a good impression of the church. (This picture is not of the wagon we rode).

Here's Adrian's aunt Rosario and cousin Gaby by the Nauvoo temple. Our trip was cut short by the weather taking a stormy turn. I knew tornado conditions were forecasted for parts of the United States, so we were all a bit nervous with the dark clouds. We ate dinner and headed home.

The whole time we were in Missouri it was rainy weather. That made everything so green, greener than I remember it being when we lived in Missouri. 

After graduation on Saturday we went to Thousand Hills State Park. We rented a boat and some fishing poles for an hour. Levi threw a huge about not wanting to get on the boat and hating the life vests. But, eventually we all boarded the boat and departed. Both the boys loved being on the boat. Levi enjoyed it so much he's been asking to go for a boat ride here in Florida. Malachi is not a fan of life vests. His kept creeping up and making it hard for him to move his head.

Here's Adrian's cousins Edgar and Gaby.

Saturday evening we drove to St. Louis and stayed the night there. We wanted to take the boys to the St. Louis zoo the next day since admission to that zoo is free. But, the boys were so grumpy from traveling and being off their routine that we did not want to extend the trip, even for a day of play. We just wanted to get home and start getting settled in. We drove all day Sunday and stayed the night in Monteagele, Tennessee. It was a very sketchy Super 8 motel. After we had settled in Adrian and I both had bad feeling, so Adrian went and got the shotgun from the trailer and slept with it by his side just in case something happened. Nothing did of course. Our sleeping arrangement for the whole trip was 2 queen beds in the hotel rooms. Adrian slept with one child and slept with the other. We figured they would fight too much if they were put together. We traded off who slept with who. Levi was not bad to sleep with. Malachi on the other hand moved a ton during the night. The first night he even rolled off the bed, poor guy. Malachi likes to be right next to you/half on top of you while you're sleeping. Nobody got good quality sleep the whole trip.

After Monteagle, Tennessee, we drove a couple hours to Atlanta, Georgia where Adrian's cousin Edgar lived. We stayed with him for a few nights to visit. Edgar and his wife Sandy have two little boys who are close to Levi and Malachi's age (Eli and Aden). The boys all played well together. Adrian played with Edgar's boys and it didn't take long for them to warm up. Here's a picture of Adrian and all the boys. They all just naturally sat down by Adrian. 

We went kayaking at a lake by their house. Here's Adrian and Levi.

Here's Adrian and Malachi.

Levi received a remote controlled car (Killer Whale style) for his birthday. It's called a Morphibian because is floats and zooms around in the water as well as on land. All the boys loved this car. It stopped working after they submerged the controller and car in the water. They did not seem to care that it would not go on it's own. They pushed it around by hand on land and in the water. It started working again after everything dried out.

After a few nights in Atlanta, we desperately just wanted to get to our new home. We had wanted to stop in Savannah Georgia because I had heard it was so pretty there. We ended up just scrapping the trip and we drove all night long and arrived in Port St. Lucie at 8 am. We drove at night hoping the boys would sleep all night, and they did for the most part. When we arrived we did not have keys to our new house and had to wait for the real estate office to open. We were able to open the garage window and get into the house. Our first impression of the house was that it was dirty. It was a bit irritating since we spent days cleaning the house we just moved out of and now we had to clean this new one before we could unload boxes into it. There was a dead frog on the kitchen floor and a couple live lizard running around the house that I had to catch and release outside. Adrian stated he's never cleaning a rental house again after we leave because clearly no one else seems to do so like we do.

We were very blessed to get into this house. As we were looking for homes we had called the local bishop here to ask what neighborhoods were good and bad to live in. He put us in contact with a real estate agent in the ward who helped us secure the house. We were really discouraged at first. For weeks and weeks we looked at available rentals, but there was nothing that met our needs/wants. We wanted a 3 bedroom single family home preferably with a garage for $1,000 or less. We could find no homes like for the price we wanted. It seemed all 3 bedroom homes were at least $1200. We also needed a house that had a place to park our gigantic trailer. As time went on we started to settle for looking at 2 bedroom houses that were within our price range. Then one night a 3 bedroom house that was 1700 sqft with a single car garage popped up for $1,000. Adrian called the real estate agent late that night and she had us fill out the application and she would go check out the place in the morning. She went early the following morning and was quite surprised at the place. It was in good shape, large, had a place to park our trailer and was only $1,000, which she said the price was unbelievable. As she was leaving the property another real estate agent showed up to show the house to some other people. She immediately got in her car and drove as fast as she could to put in our application at the real estate office. Right after she did two other people came in behind her and put in an application for the same house. We were very blessed and got the house!! Another incredible thing about it is that they were willing to wait 2 weeks to start the lease for us, putting our move in date at May 15th. Everyone else was going to make us pay for the full month of May.

The day we arrived our bishop came over to meet us. Later, the Elder's Quorum President came and helped up move boxes in. We are amazed at the help we received before anyone had even met us.

Levi's 4th Birthday

We had big plans for Levi's 4th birthday because his last two birthdays he never got a party. Adrian wanted to invite his friends from his primary class and have a pinata at the park. But, as his birthday got closer, we realized that May 11th was the day we would hit the road for the big move. So, we celebrated early. We were so busy finalizing the packing and cleaning the house that we didn't have time to plan a party with friends. We had a family get together instead. That whole day Adrian and I were finishing up the cleaning of the house we were moving out of. My mom took both boys and made Levi a cake. Levi had told me he wanted a "construction cake" that was blue on the inside. That is just what he got!!

We sang happy birthday and he blew out his candles. He and Malachi ate the blue cake and loaded up one toy tracter with it. Then they would drive it over the table a bit and uload it on someone's plate. It made quite a mess.

He got plenty of gifts, the most he has ever recieved before for his birthday. Mainly because this is his first birthday he's ever had when extended family has been around.

After his party Adrian and I had to go back to the house and finish the last bits of cleaning. My mom put the boys to bed and we all stayed at my parent's house since everything we owned was now in the trailer ready to move. Our last day in Cedar was Mother's Day.