It Worked!

Since our last post, daring all readers to consider a trip to Florida if for no other reason than fresh-caught lobster, we have confirmed one visitor (plane tickets purchased) and another considering the trip seriously enough to inquire about scheduling. I will promise lobster caught by Kevin himself to anyone else who visits us. I cannot, however, promise the amazing surf and turf we enjoyed last Thursday night. Those were our last steaks. Sorry.

Will you visit us now?

Here is a little incentive for all of you who want to visit and just need a little push. There are some perks to living in Florida.

Coming Soon To Stairs Near You?

Can they do that with my laundry, too? Because that would make folding it much more fun.

Which Do You Want First?

The good news or the bad news?

We'll start with the bad news. We went kayaking on the beach. I know, it doesn't seem bad. But if you consider that Kevin had his cell phone and our car's keyless entry in his pocket when his foot slipped into the water, you might see things our way.

This caused our car alarm to start and not turn off for way too long, Kev's cell phone to completely die and also for us to miss the first part of the Saturday session of General Conference (a semiannual series of discourses by leaders of the LDS Church). Most people would be OK with missing the first part of one session, since there are 5 over the weekend. But we missed a big one.

You see, President Monson announced that 5 new temples would be built around the world in Japan, Brazil, Utah, Chile and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Yes, that's right, here in our own stake - literally minutes away from our home! Right now the closest temple is in Orlando. That's about 4 hours away. This is huge news around here. All the members of the Church are abuzz, my seminary students can't stop talking about it; friends who are not members mention it; the local news outlets carried the story.

In addition to this conference news, we got to watch the last session with friends while we ate a practice turkey. In the grand tradition of dinner at the moms', we stuffed and roasted a turkey. Why? Because Thanksgiving dinner is just too good to only have once a year. We all had a great time, especially Stellan, who got to play with his new buddy Kirk. Kirk's mom and I do Girls Camp together and she has adopted us into her playgroup. The two boys are about 3 months apart and look so much alike they could be brothers.

So obviously that's all part of the good news. The rest? I spent an evening being a grown up doing semi-grown up things! Maybe I should say being a person doing person things, as opposed to being a mommy doing mommy things. As a birthday gift, my friend Rosanna got us tickets to see Paula Cole. Yep, I went to a concert! It was in a small theater and was very intimate. She was great, very personal and very warm. Oh, and pretty darn talented. We got to meet her after the show. Here's a photo taken on my cell phone:

What? Not convinced that's really her? How about this?

Oh, and in further developments, Kev and I both got fancy new phones. Our contract was up, so we traded up to phones that are far cooler than we can afford to fully utilize at this time. However, we hope to not be poor forever and we hope to put these new exciting features to use eventually. Our phone numbers remain the same, so you can still feel free to call us if you miss us. Wink, wink.

You Were Right

While we were in CA, my good friends Vivian, Jerry and Levi came to the moms' house for dinner. One of the topics of conversation was a book Vivian had been reading. She described it this way: "It's about this guy who decides he wants to know everything so he reads the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica. It's called 'The Know-It-All' or something like that."
She then proceeds to say, "Krissie, you'd really like it."

As I sat a little stunned to be called out like that, I had to admit that sometimes I am a know-it-all, but I wasn't ready to publicly concede it. So instead I half-pretended to be offended and tried to defend myself. It was pretty weak.

Lo and behold, right around my birthday, guess which book arrives in the mail. And again, Vivian was right; I did enjoy the book very much.

The Know-It-All

My only consolation in all of this is to point out that while I may be a know-it-all, Vivian was the one who knew more than the know-it-all. Well played, Viv.