Life in Paradise

Life continues to be wonderful!!!! Kevin and I are working like mad men, but we are excited to be having my brother Andrew down for a week with us in September before he heads off onto his mission to Ireland and Scotland (I'm SOO JEALOUS) for 2 years, and then in December our pals Emily and Jarvis are coming back down to see us for a week or more (don't know details yet) before they head BACK to China for another year working over there teaching. I'm then trying to convince my parents to come down at the beginning of next year since it'll just be them and Aaron.

Kevin now works at the theater with me, which is great, and the best part it we are never in the same area so we have completely different stories and things to talk about on the way home from work.

Don't let the motto of this state fool you. It is the Sunshine state usually until 3pm, and then it shoots over to its other motto.. the lightning capital of the world, with scary dark clouds and lots of rain and lightning. But it isn't scary unless you're standing outside. It's actually soothing to listen to.

We love and miss you all so much!!!

                              

Let's go to Girl's Camp!!!!

I was called 3 months ago or so to be the Ward Camp Director for the Clermont Ward. I was so excited, because I remember how amazing of an experience girls camp was for me, and how I had such amazing leaders, like Peggy Glem. Now something I learned was that camping in Florida is VERY different than in the Northwest. First, IT'S REALLY HOT!!!! Like they weren't lying. It was hot every second of EVERY DAY!!! It was 108* the whole week. At night it was 89*. Second, you drink and drink and drink and DRINK water SO MUCH! Third, showers do nothing for you... You get in you smell and are sticky; you get out, you immediately start to sweat and are sticky and soon enough are back to being smelly. Fourth, THEY HAVE ALLIGATORS IN THE LAKE!!! They named him Gus, and one night Sister Webber and I canoed across the lake and back and he was following us; we could tell because we could hear him growling a few yards away the whole time! Needless to say I did not go swimming because I like my limbs where they are thank you very much. Fifth, their bugs down here are meaner and leave nastier bites. I came home with 61. NOT FUN!!! Sixth, they have BEARS! And snakes, and armadillos and raccoons. Seventh, they have freak thundershowers that come in a split second and last from 10-60 min. And I mean they come from nowhere. So many times I sent my girls running for the lodge because all of a sudden there was thunder and lightning right over our heads.

                          

   

And lastly, they don't really have dirt. They have sandy dirt, which is worse cuz it gets EVERYWHERE!!!We had some issues with tent mates before, but I got a handle on it. We were the first up at camp on Monday morning, and had our campsite fully put together before any other wards arrived. We came up with 17 girls. By Tuesday almost around dinner time, we had 10. So many just didn't want to be there, didn't see the point in staying, weren't having fun no matter what I did. So needless to say I went to the bathroom, locked the door and cried, asking God why he even called me here, and what purpose I had, because I felt like a failure. I cried and asked Peggy what I was doing wrong, and if she could send some of her divine wisdom down to help me. We ended up being able to convince one of the girls to stay. By the end of the week, I finally knew why I was called to this calling. I was here to teach the girls that they can do hard things. I feel like I really got to know and be friends with these girls, and that maybe I was like a Peggy to them. They opened up to me, they wanted me around, and even now they still want me to be around them. At the end of Camp, they sang a song from the movie "Once I was a Beehive", and I love the lyrics because they were just like our camp experience this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELcebWoEx5k  if you want to listen to it... otherwise, here are the lyrics.
"Drove for miles up this dusty road, I felt so lost and on my own with you, with you.
Life has had me up a creek, but I've been up here this entire week with you, with you.
And I'm feeling a little better. and I think it comes down to a few small letters.
T-O-G- to the E, to the T, and then you add on her and  that's together.
T-O-G- to the E, to the T, and then you add on her and we're together.
Together keeps the bears far away off in there lairs, together we are dry in the rain.
Together, here we are underneath the skies of stars. Together we share joy and pain.
T-O-G- to the E, to the T, and then you add on her and that's together.
T-O-G- to the E, to the T, and then you add on her and we're together."

Several of the girls told me that if I wasn't coming up with them next year that they wouldn't be going. By the time I got home, I was smelly, exhausted (I left for almost 2 days- you try splitting yourself and time and love between 11 girls and tell me you're not exhausted), but I am ready for next year. I now know what I'm going to do differently, what I'm not going to do, and what I am going to continue to do.

Tuesday night I had to hold a devotional, and I decided that we were going to do something we did when I went to girls camp-- it's called the Liahona. As we know the Liahona is a compass from the Book of Mormon, and all compasses have 8 different points that they can lead you (N, NE, NW, S, SE, SW, W, and E). I tried to find the original, but of course only Peggy had it, so I had to improvise and make up my own. I thought at first the girls didn't like or weren't going to appreciate it, because you have a list of elements with descriptions, and you have to pick a girl(s) for which one you think they best fit. But at the end of the night, after the awards were all handed out, each girl said that they loved it and would love to do it again next year. Success! They learned what others saw in them, which most of the time were things they didn't notice about themselves.

Let's try to be parents

For the past 3 months we've been foster parents, to a cute, adorable, cuddly, sometimes difficult and hard to handle...


                                PUPPY!!!!!

Yes, we decided that we would try and have a puppy/dog and see if we could manage. It turns out that the dog that they gave us, we named her Angle, who was 2 had severe health problems, that were hard to keep up with especially with our busy schedules. They said that she was severely allergic to gluten, which I'm calling lies to, because we fed her only gluten free things and throughout her stay with us got progressively worse and worse. So much that she was constantly itching, scratching, and even biting herself bloody to where we had to bandage her paws up, and she wore a big cone 24/7. In the end, we decided that we don't have the time (both of us working 2 jobs) to take care of a dog like her. Though she was as sweet as can be, always wanting to snuggle and play, we ended up giving her back. But it was a blessing and fun to have her in our home for 3 months. We learned a lot about being parents from her, and we will never forget our "first dog" together. We still get updates on her, and the last time we heard she was doing well, but still not getting better. We love her still and hope she gets better and is no longer in pain!

WARNING: LOADS OF PICTURES BELOW

 

 

One year down, eternity to go!

wow!!! Can you believe that we've been married for a year!? THAT'S CRAZY!!!!! So much has happened but then it still feels like we just left the temple and were driving down here! We both still recall that day as if it were just yesterday! We still live by the words our sealer, President Gillespie said to us, "Never let the honeymoon phase end... keep it going as long as possible."

We decided to go to dinner at Olive Garden, which is not only my favorite place but we go there for all special occasions; always have, probably always will. Kevin got me chocolate, and a gift card to Ross, since he knows how much I love it there. Since we joke that we are like Carl and Ellie from UP, I made him and me an Adventure book, with all the big moments from since we first met up to date. He liked it. I'm pretty sure the people in the restaurant were confused as to why I was playing the music from UP on my phone but who cares! I love you honey!

Come fly with me lets fly, let's fly away!

This week Kevin had a chance to experience what it is like to be a pilot. Yes people, my husband flew a plane! It was a small plane, cessna172 for those who know what that is. He was very excited for this opportunity! What was cool was the instructor let me fly with them in the back seat. Naturally I took pictures the whole time because really, how often do you get to experience something like this?! Memories must be captured! I'm sure in 50 years we'll look back and just smile at how cool it was to fly over downtown Orlando and to be able to look down and see the world in a different view. Because it was such a small plane, the turbulence was a bit much due to all the heat waves bouncing back off the earth, but Kevin did super well with handling it. Though I hate flying, it was still great to go up and to see the huge smile on my very giddy and happy husband. Maybe this is going to be a hobby of his in the future. Who knows! But I do know that he had the time of his life learning about safety precautions and checking the plane before takeoff. The great news was the he understood a lot of what the instructor was saying because of the math and other engineering classes he's taken. It was a great week!


Ps: can you believe that in just 16 days Kevin and I will have been married for a year?! Holy lanta! The time has literally flown by!!!! Yet at the same time it feels like it hasn't. When we look at all the stuff that has happened we think "ya of course it's been a year! Look at all we've done and gone through together" but then it feels like just yesterday we were having a wedding! Like we say all the time to each other, "eternity isn't going to be long enough with you, I'm going to need more time than that with you." More in love now than the day we got married; the love just keeps growing and growing! ❤️

Hear ye hear ye!!!!!! Good news train pulling in

GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS!!!! Kevin has an interview with AMC tomorrow night! And then he has an interview next Wednesday with Disney at casting for either bus driver or attractions in the parks! If he gets hired for both its so longboard panda and hello Disney family!!!!! We're so extatic for him!!!! Please keep him in your prayers!!!!!! Ps: can you believe in 28 days we'll be celebrating our first anniversary?! Time has literally flown by!!!!! Crazy!!!! Pps: our best friends got engaged! Congrats Trevor and Tyler! We're so happy for you being happy and for your next adventure! Ppss: today is good, working hard and more and more in love every day with each other and the lord! We're living by sonny and Cher's song "I got you babe" look it up!!! :)

Life continues on

Not much has really happened in the past few weeks besides doing our callings, working, and applying for schools for this fall. We have been enjoying spending time with our favorite elders (Ballard and Vastbinder) before they get transferred. Last Saturday we went to the temple because my mom gave us tons of names. It was a great day. It's been sunny and like 80* the past week which I'm loving!!! We're trying to decide what we wanna do for our one year anniversary coming up soon. We can't believe it's already been almost a whole year! So much has happened, yet it still doesn't feel like time has really moved. Here's to eternity!

We love our Home!!!!

Since my folks brought down a TON of our stuff, I feel like our little apartment is more homey now that it was just a few weeks ago! Not to mention: We FINALLY have a dresser!!!!! No more living out of suitcases! Movin' up in the world! I have almost all of my kitchen stuff, which makes cooking meals a lot easier, instead of having to wash and rewash the same bowl over and over trying to cook one meal! Life just keep getting better and BETTER!!! Still in love with the amazing man that I get to call all mine for time and all eternity! He truly is amazing and a prince charming (he brought me home a rose and chocolate tonight just because!) He makes me feel like I am the greatest and most important girl in the whole world! We're working long and hard, and he has an interview for a job at AMC sometime this weekend. How great is this going to be? Working together and him being able to get his own Disney pass! YAY! More Disney days! Can you believe that we have only 46 days until our 1 year anniversary!? THAT'S TRULY CRAZY!!! It still feels like it was last week or something because we live every day like it's still the beginning. I can't wait to spend eternity with this amazing man!

You're a Wizard, Harry!

OH MY LANTA! We have some truly amazing and wonderful friends! Hannah and her husband Garett Francis- Miller are as great of people as they come! They took us to Universal studios today (which I have been DYING to go there since my college program 4 years ago!) and we had an absolute BLAST! And I, Jennifer Mueller-Roberts, went on Rollercoasters!!!! WHAT?! I KNOW! Unbelievable you say, and trust me you would be right but we have photographic proof! We first went on the Shrek 4D experience, then headed over to the Transformers 3D like indoor rollercoaster, then we headed over to Diagon Alley! And WOW does it look like you literally stepped out of the muggle world right into the movie! The shops are amazingly detailed and the Escape from Gringotts was the best and coolest rollercoaster ever! We got butterbeer and I finally Got a chocolate frog (which did not jump away) and it came with a Dumbledore card inside! It was so fascinating! they did such an AMAZING job at the attention to detail! After that we went on one more ride with was called the Rip, Rock and Ride roller coaster and I have never been more scared in my life of any ride like this one. I wish we could've gotten the video tape but the picture looks very similar to the ones my parents have of my face when I went down Splash Mountain when I was little. It was truly a MAGICAL day with such amazingly kind friends! We are lucky to have them in our lives and be able to call them friends.