Sunny Miami

We arrived in Miami very late last night.  It was actually this morning by the time we checked into our hotel room.  We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day and headed out to explore the Bayside area which is directly across the street from our Holiday Inn (yay for points) Hotel.  Well first we actually walked a block on our side of the street to the CVS pharmacy for some last minute supplies.  

I had left my prescription sunglasses in a taxi in Israel last year.  Since our efforts to recover them weren't successful, I was thrilled to find some clip-ons that actually fit my regular glasses for only $16.95!!!  Needless to say, I am thrilled!  

Steve took this postcard photo this morning.  Since seeing this area of Miami, my opinion of the city has greatly improved.  It is beautiful here.  We will be adapting to the humidity the best we can.

The Bayside area is filled with lots of touristy shops and eateries.  Very few of them open before 10 a.m. however.  We finally shared a delicious fruit smoothie and an almond pastry for breakfast.  Of course, there weren't any crowds yet but I'm sure it will get busy as the day progresses.  There are lots of tour vendors, including boat tours, etc.

We will be taking a 10-minutes taxi ride to the cruise ship very soon but I just wanted to do this quick post on the hotel wi-fi.  We will see how well we are able to relax on this 10-day Panama Canal cruise as there are lots of sea days and only four ports.  We are used to lots of action.

Spring Forward...

We left CV early Monday morning instead of Sunday night due to the raging snow storm we were experiencing.  I believe we got another 5-6 inches of snow so we wanted to drive through the canyon pass in the daylight.  All went well and we were able to reach SL in time for Steve to catch his fight to Vegas.  He was bound for the big Con Expo,  the worldwide huge construction extravaganza held every three years.  He has attended many times but was always one of the employees working the vendor booth.  This year he was a guest.  His consulting employer paid his expenses so he could attend the show and see all of the displays.  It was also a great opportunity for him to reconnect with many friends within the industry.
His boss also purchased a ticket for me and included me in all of their activities.  I only had to pay for my airfare so I joined Steve on Tuesday afternoon after my morning Broker Network mtg.
This huge room pictured above and below was our hotel room.  It was the biggest hotel room I have ever stayed in.

Tuesday evening after I arrived, we headed out to the Brooklyn Bowl, a gigantic two story bowling alley with a stage and an arena. It was hosted by Case but the dealers spent $180 a head to bring their employees and customers.  They served slider sandwiches, chicken wings, drinks, and desserts.  Since the alcoholic beverages were included, many people were having a fabulous time. Some people bowled and there was a full blown concert featuring country singer Chris Young and 9 band and sound support members.  Most of the people in the front of the arena were singing along and knew the words.  He was very good and when I looked  him up, he has won some awards and been nominated for many awards.  He said that one of his songs hit #1 on the charts this week.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day walking around the thousands of displays both indoors and out.  We have many more photos of us with equipment but I believe that I have included some of the more interesting photos.

The show is HUGE and we heard from someone that if one walked every aisle of the show, it would total 50 miles.  We did not walk every aisle, but we did walk a lot.

There was an entire section from China and another one from Korea.  There was also a very large area from Germany.  By the afternoon, it was pretty crowded.  We were smart to do most of our looking in the morning before the crowds arrived.

Here are a couple of the sales people who currently work with Steve at Century Equip. and their wives.  We honestly didn't sit down much.  We wanted to see as much as we could.

Fortunately Steve saw many friends from his working days.  He enjoyed catching up and hearing about the success stories of many people he helped to mentor and train.  He loved seeing them and finding out that they are doing well.

Here is Steve in the China hall.  One of Steve's friends is now VP of Kobelco.  He was so happy to see Steve that he invited us to have lunch in their private customer dining area.  The sandwiches were great and it was really appreciated.  Steve had a hamburger and soda for lunch on Monday and it cost $17.  The few food booths at the show had very expensive options.  Steve felt ripped off as the food wasn't really very good.  Vegas has gotten very expensive in recent years.

CNH is celebrating their 175th year in business.  Steve was happy to see his friends, but he didn't miss working the show at all.  In fact, I think that he enjoyed just seeing the show.  It was fun to meet his friends and view so many interesting displays and huge pieces of equipment.  Big can be fun!

This old  J. I. Case steam engine was beautifully restored.

One of the last things we saw at the show was an experimental excavator where some of the parts were made by 3-D printing.  We visited with a professor and a graduate student who were very involved in this project.  The guy demonstrating the machine was a really great friend of Steve's who kept praising Steve and thanking him for his support over the years.  This was a fun project and reminded us a lot of Jeff Case's work with 3-D printing.

That evening one of the owners of Century hosted 15 of us for dinner at his favorite Vegas restaurant.  The wait staff knew Ryan well and just kept bringing out additional side dishes besides our main course.  The waiter also brought out a couple of dessert plates with several desserts on each plate. Many of the people had the lobster following the boss's lead.  Steve had lobster and lamb chops.  He said the lamb was some of the best he has ever eaten.  I went for the salmon which was delicious.  We are certain that this was a very pricey dinner.  It was quite the fantastic dining experience!
We flew home the next morning.  Two days was enough of Vegas.  We were ready to be home.

I had a few business things to take care of Friday morning and we spent some time washing clothes and packing.  My crocus are really starting to bloom now and once again the snow has mostly melted.  Yahoo!

Friday afternoon, we drove up to CV, eager to get some work done on the rental fix-up.  We worked for a few hours Friday afternoon and about 5 hours on Saturday.  We were pretty happy with our progress.  We had a late start as we needed to purchase more paint and see a couple of potential office spaces for Adam.  He has to move out of his current office this Wednesday.  He has a temporary place but hopes to find something more long-term soon.  I think he's tired of moving his office.

We are really liking how fresh and clean the grey-toned paints are looking.  The house is feeling bigger and brighter.  Change can be a good thing.  Below is the living/dining area.  We painted the vaulted wall a darker gray to give the room depth.  It turned out fantastic!

We think this gold turned gray bedroom looks much fresher and brighter too.

The dark brown hallway is much brighter now also.

 In between rolling paint, Steve also worked on pulling up the linoleum floor in the bathroom and the carpet on the stair way.

We painted the master bedroom with a darker accent wall.  It was previously all white which had yellowed over the years.  The new paint is richer looking.

 Tonight I stepped outside to see this gorgeous moon rising over the eastern mountain.  I had to attempt taking a picture.  If I were Jackie, you could really appreciate this view.

We are tired but mostly ready for my primary lesson tomorrow and our final packing for our flight to Miami tomorrow afternoon.  Of course, daylight savings starts tomorrow so we lose an hour of sleep.  Another adventure begins soon!

BONANZA at Shopko!

 The first Wednesday of every month is senior citizen's day at Shopko.  They give an extra 15% discount to customers 55+.  I usually stock up on essential items and browse seriously through the clearance and sale items.  It would be accurate to say that I LOVE senior day at Shopko.  In fact I call it Old People's Day!  This week I hit a bonanza!  I got 5 pairs of pants (3 corduroy and 2 jeans), two sweaters, a pair of pajamas and 6 pair of socks for $39.32.  Just ask me if I was EXCITED!  That meant that I now have a big pile of clothes to donate to DI since I am trying to stick by the rule to donate an item of clothing for every item I purchase.  I'm generously donating this time.

The next day, my sister Jackie's birthday, I noticed these crocus trying to bloom in my SL yard.  Oh, there's hope for spring!  Yahoo!  I also donated blood to the Red Cross on Thursday so I am feeling a little weak in the legs.  Friday I had a referral listing appointment in Alpine for a home worth about a million dollars.  That one would be fun to sell!  We will see if they choose me or not.

Today, Steve worked for 10 hours and I put in 8 hours on our renovation project at our Meadowbrook rental which flooded recently in the basement.  We are now working to correct the water issues and redoing the rest of the house so we can put it up for sale.  We are looking at some other investment options that may require a little less physical labor. 

 Today we painted the kitchen/dining room changing it from gold and brown to light gray.  We have ordered new stainless appliances and we appreciate Adam coming over to help Steve move the current appliances out of the house.  Some are in the garage until we can post them for sale.  The washer and dryer are in the back of our pickup.  We will save them for future use.

We think the kitchen will look really nice when we get the new appliances.  It feels light, fresh and clean.  It has pretty nice cabinets and hardwood floors.

 We are definitely tired tonight but I needed to finish up some things for my primary class and we have early church tomorrow so we ended our day at the Meadowbrook house by 7 p.m.  We are happy with the results of our labors today, however.  It felt good to get the entire kitchen and all the kitchen trim painted today.

Our Winter Break...

Left to right - Kristen, Bob, Korinne, Hilary, Jenna, Britton

A couple of weeks ago at Roots Tech we ran into my cousin, Bob Clifford and his wife, Kathy.  He was scanning old slides.  Since then, he has been sending me a few awesome photos.

Last Thursday was an education marathon day.  Before we left to go to the airport that evening I had attended two different CE classes and the Realtor Day on the Hill with the legislature.  That is usually informative.  Senator Mike Lee is shown below.  I missed the dinner with our legislative representatives because we had to leave for the airport.  Texas here we come!

We arrived in SA really late and arrived at Tiffany's via taxi about 1 a.m.  She was up first thing in the morning to take Abigail to the dentist.  After a "no-cavities" checkup, Tiffany and I were able to keep our appointment at the temple for a session.  With a brief stop at nearby Kneaders, we headed home for lunch with Steve and Abigail.  Then Tiffany took us across town to the SAS, San Antonio Shoes, factory store.  It was a quaint, interesting place.  We loved the 5 cent popcorn and the extra $20 off from their sale shoes.  Tif didn't sign us up for a factory tour because I told her we didn't need any shoes.  With that $20 off incentive, however, we couldn't resist.  We got some really comfortable shoes that we think will be great for our travels.

Here is an employee hand-sewing some children's shoes.  It was amazing to us that they still do that.

That evening, we got our first taste of the family karate lessons.  Shawn has been traveling so much that he hasn't been able to participate but both Tiffany and Abigail are progressing nicely.  While we were visiting, Abigail passed of all of her stripes for her next belt test so she will be testing on Wednesday.  Good luck, Abigail!

Friday morning, we were out of the house fairly early.  Tiffany had all of her stuff packed in the car to teach her classes.  Friday morning is Abigail's homeschool co-op enrichment activity day. We were impressed by how well everything was organized and the variety of classes.  The classes last for 10 weeks and Tiffany teaches 2 classes while Abigail attends 3.  Tiffany teaches writing and card making.  Abigail takes classes in horseback riding, painting and dance.  Every parent teaches or assists with two classes and has 1 class period to socialize with other parents or prepare.  They even had potluck snacks that were quite yummy.  Someone brought a fabulous Greek salad.

The co-op meets at a Christian church campus--I do mean campus.  We had never seen a church that had multiple buildings for the different age groups like that.  We were wowed!

We sat in on Tiffany's card making class.  It was pretty entertaining.  Then we went to observe Abigail in her painting class.  We also walked around the campus a bit, made some phone calls and enjoyed the socializing and snacks with Tiffany after her second class.  We brought lunch to eat before going to the Rodeo and Stock Show but I wasn't very hungry from our yummy snacks.

The first thing we did upon arriving at the show, was walk through a big semi-truck display on welding.  They had these cool simulators to train welders.  Both Steve and Abigail took a turn trying it out.  It was pretty interesting and fun for them.

As we were attending the show during the last couple of days of the 3-week event, most of animals had been judged and moved out of the barns.  In the first huge display barn, they were setting up a welding display and competition for FFA and 4-H youth.  This whole building was eventually filled with gates, trailers, portable BBQ units, etc.  Their work was extraordinary to us.  Here Tiffany, Abigail and I pose in our cowboy boots and rodeo attire.

We had a fun visit with these three young men from Boerne who had designed and built this fantastic portable BBQ grill.  Steve loved asking about their materials and design and they loved showing off their work.

The tall boy in the middle was the designer and all three of them built it.  I think that they worked for a while just to purchase their materials.  This was not made of junk.

I loved this fancy gate that was on display.  Only in Texas would they add the scripture from Psalms 96:12 "Let the fields be joyful,..."

Abigail was chosen to be a cheerleader at the pig races for team #2.  Our pig barely lost at the last second.  No prize for her.  It was fun though.

Abigail built a lego car that came in second in a big race.  She was pretty happy with that.

There were lots of cowboy vendors and other vendors who sold everything imaginable.  It was fun to see their stuff.  There were lots of food booths and everything possible on a stick.  Abigail tried the cheesecake dipped in chocolate.  It was pretty tasty and since she couldn't finish hers, we got a bite.

There were several amazing sand sculptures.  The artist was finishing up one of them.  The details were incredible.

Aibgail also participated in a pedal tractor pull.  She pulled the most weight the farthest, but the young kids had lighter loads and a couple of them beat her.  Her tractor pulled 200 lbs. She did well as she is very competitive.

Tif, Steve and I shared an apple dumpling.  We won't get this again.  The Amish dumplings are much better.

We loved this army band who played swing, jazz, etc.  Their music was very enjoyable.

I think our favorite part of the rodeo is the beginning where they put on a very patriotic display with the flags and their horsemanship.  They always have a beautiful rendition of the national anthem and an opening prayer in the name of Christ.  We love that.

The rodeo was really good.  A cowboy from Victor, ID won the bareback riding competition and another cowboy from Beaver, UT won the saddle bronc riding event.  There were more riders from UT and ID than ever before.  Abigail wasn't feeling very well and Shawn was home ill too, so we ended up leaving before the concert which was Rascal Flats.  It had been a long day.  Next time, we will probably divide it into two outings.

On Saturday, in spite of Shawn's not being up to par, we drove to Banderas to an outdoor shooting range that Shawn likes.  It was great weather, sunny with no wind.  Shawn is a master marksman.  He is amazing to watch.  He is also a very good teacher so he got Steve and I into the action.  Abigail's gun misfired and so she wasn't able to shoot anymore because the other guns had too much kick.  Tiffany usually uses Abigail's gun so she didn't shoot either.

Steve did an excellent job hitting the target.  My first round all landed somewhere on the target, but the second round was not so good as I missed a few times.

It was a very nice outing.  Since it is Shawn's birthday on the 27th, we wanted to do something he would enjoy.  We ended our afternoon with dinner at a Hibachi restaurant.  We were glad that turned out since Shawn got really sick for the next two days and we weren't able to celebrate on his real birthday.  We had planned some fun celebrating.  Darn!

Abigail has a pet named Oreo.  He is a guinea pig who makes lots of little squeaks when he is happy. He really squeaks when she holds him and feeds him kale.

Abigail got roller blades for Christmas.  She wore them outside for the first time walking with us.  We walked several times and she played one afternoon with friends.  By the end of our visit, her skill level and confidence had greatly improved.

On Monday afternoon, we left Shawn home to sleep in peace and we drove to a Wild Animal Safari park about 45-60 minutes away.  Abigail was in heaven.  She loved the animals coming up to the car begging for the food we had purchased to give the animals.

The ostrich really pecked at the window.  We didn't want to feed it from our hands and it didn't seem to realize that it needed to pick up the food we had thrown on the ground.

Abigail's favorite animals of the day were the llamas.  She is really into alpacas too but there weren't any at this animal park.

These baby goats were only a day or two old so they were pretty cute too.

That evening, we went to another karate class for the girls.  Abigail is diligently preparing for her belt test on Wednesday.  

While we were together, Abigail and I worked on a project crocheting newborn baby hats for our Zimbabwe baby kits.  Our first one fit her doll perfectly.  Out second one turned out much better.  We also had a little tangle with her roller blades in the interim.  

After two days of rest, Shawn was off again to work with an early morning flight to Dallas.  We left after lunch to fly home to Utah.  Silly us.  When we arrived home, we took our walk through the snow.  We should have walked in Texas in the morning when the temperature was 73 degrees.  When we landed in UT, the temperature was 37 degrees and it was colder than that by the time we went walking.  Thanks to Tif's family for a wonderful Texas visit.  We loved our short break from the cold and snow too.