Happy Birthday me!

For my birthday this year I decided to give my self a trip and go to Florida and visit my mission. I left on Thursday and returned on Monday.

I love flying and love the clouds. Sometimes I think I should have been a bird so I could soar free through the clouds and over the trees. I love the way the clouds look so peaceful and non disturbed. I know I would fall right through them but they look like something that would be so comfortable to just roll around in and lay there just to think. I think it would be so much fun to just fly and weave through them freely. 

Dorothy Daymont one of the members I knew while I served in Sarasota picked me up from the airport in Tampa and we took a drive to Orlando and went to the Temple. In all the trips I have made back to Florida I have never been able to make it to the Orlando Temple and I was really looking forward to this opportunity. 

It was such a gorgeous day. 

I would have to say out of all the Temples I have been in which has been a good number that this Temple was my favorite when it came to the Celestial Room. It was amazing and breath-taking on the inside. The colors in the Celestial Room were amazing. The Celestial room is already a place full of peace and comfort but this one was so warm and inviting through the interior colors and decorating. 

There were so many fountains on the Temple grounds. 

What a lovely scene. 

Freshly mowed grass trees and flowers a rich blue sky and the House of the Lord. 

Dorothy and John took me to dinner to the Outback Stake House. 

John and Dorothy have build the Nauvoo and Orlando Temples out of legos. 

Pretty impressive. John goes and does a walk around the Temple takes lots of pictures and does it as much to scale as he can. This is amazing at how accurate it is. He does some very nice work.   

I love the cute little plants around the lego Temple. 

Friday I decided to go relax at the beach. I went to the Siesta Keys beach. 

I love the beach here because the sand is soft and cool and it doesn't burn your feet when you walk on it. And the water is warm. The water was so nice to go out in it. It was fun to go to the beach and enjoy the peacefulness to the day. 

I really like the greenery in Florida. 

Especially the mossy stuff the hangs off the trees. I think it looks pretty cool. 

The sunset on Friday night was magnificent.

I love how the sun was illuminating the clouds. It was lovely. 

Isn't this a cute little picture? 

I keep this picture in my scriptures and every time I see it memories from my mission. I received this picture from a little girl named Gigi. Her family had us over for dinner after Gigi's baptism. While I was sharing the spiritual message with the family Gigi was drawing this picture. When I was done she said "Here Hermana this is for you"  It makes me smile. The last time I was visiting Florida this family had moved and they moved back. I was excited to get to see them. Dorothy didn't tell them that I was in town we just showed up and it was fun to catch up with them. When Brother Santos came down the stairs he says "I remember you" They are such a great and fun family. It was so crazy to see the girls again Gigi is 15 now. 

Gigi, Me, Sister Santos, Brother Santos, Gabriela

Sunday was my birthday and that coming Wednesday was Karen's birthday Dorothy's daughter. So Dorothy had Karen and her family over for dinner and we shared a party together. 

Karen Reed and I getting ready to blow out the candles.

Karen and me

They missed the picture of us blowing out the candles so they told us to try again. I am not sure what Karen was doing there. 

My new buddy Carson. We had a lot of fun together. 

Dorothy, me, John

My adopted brother Danny. He got all dressed up just for me. Isn't he handsome, just a little ham. 

I had dinner and dessert with Dorothy and the family and then I also got to go to the Hernandez's home and have a second dinner and cake. Vicky prepared an amazing meal it was so yummy. They asked me if I would like soda and I told them no but I will take agua pura. So they got me this glass for water. I asked them if they gave me the vase that they use for their plants and they laughed and said no it is our water glass. We never thought about putting flowers in it. It was funny and gave us all a good laugh. 

Me and round two with the second cake of the night. How lucky can a girl get to get two parties in one night. Boy did I feel loved. 

The spanish tradition for the birthday person is you have to take a bite out of the cake. And then when you go for your bite they push your face into the cake. Here is a short click of this occurrence. 

Me and all the icing on my face.

Danny thought it was funny that I had icing all over my face so I decided to share in the fun and give him a nice big kiss to share the icing. 

Can you see my teeth marks. 

Myra, Pascual and Danny enjoying their cake. 

Itzel and Myra my adopted sisters. 

Vicky asked me if I thought the icing smelled funny. I smelled mine and I told her no I don't think so. She said well here smell mine and when she did she smeared the icing over my face. I had to get her back and she wasn't to happy about that or at least she acted like she wasn't but I think she had a good time in sharing in the fun of icing on the face. 

I love this family. Pascual, Vicky, me, Itzel, Danny and Myra

Itzel, me and Myra

I love the smile here from Pascual. Usually it is so hard to get good pictures of them smiling but this one is a good one. 

This is in front of Dorothy and John's house. I had to get a picture with the palm tree. 

When I got home that night from my trip my roommate Amy had planned a surprise party for me. I got 3 parties out of my birthday this year. 

This is the note my home teacher left for me on my couch. 

Thank you to everyone for coming it was a lot of fun and Thanks Amy for being a great roommate and making me feel special.