Despite being away from our family this year Matthew and I tried to make the best of our time in South Florida over the holidays and with help from a few recipes and each other’s company – We had a wonderful new kind of “white Christmas”.

We started off by decorating our little home in the festive nature.

I love to decorate our tree in red, green, and gold with nutcrackers all over. We have a couple special ornaments that are fun to seek out. The angel was a special find that I love very much.

Though we didn’t have as many presents as usual under the tree – our kitties were anxious to help us open them.

Every year, the kitties begin to feel festive in their holiday collars. Reggie enjoys his Santa-esque collar.

Sammy on the other hand goes for Christmas glam with sequins, jewels and feathers (that they surprisingly do not attack or pull off J)

As we began to get into our stockings the kitties became very anxious for the wrapping paper and toys alike

Sometimes, the excitement shines in their eyes

But no matter how much they like their toys – they love the wrapping papers and boxes

Our first attempt at a family Christmas photo – Reggie took it to be a cuddle session and missed his shot.

Merry Christmas 2010!

Matt took the photo too early and caught my excitement

This was supposed to be my cool excited pose – even with the bag upside down. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for my favorite holiday treat!

Matt had to work Christmas Eve so he enjoyed a frozen CPK pizza afterward

Christmas Day included time at the beach followed by watching the Heat basketball game after

Our new kind of “white Christmas” – fluffy white clouds and nice “white” sand

My paradise

One of our new favorite recipes included a Christmas Quiche. Ours included ham and bacon for Matt's evolved taste palette.

Easy Quiche:

• 1 ½ cups of shredded cheddar or mozzerella cheese

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 1 cup milk

• 3 eggs, slightly beaten

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

• 9 inch pre-baked pie shells

• 1 dash pepper

• A dash of garlic powder

Directions

Prep Time: 0 mins Total Time: 1 hr

1. Toss cheddar cheese with flour.

2. Add milk, eggs, and parmesan cheese (if using), salt, and pepper; mix well.

3. Pour into unbaked pie shell (pre-bake to avoid soggy).

4. Bake at 350* for 50-60 minutes or until set.

Variations include:

10 oz. pkg frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained

4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained.

Add 1 cup finely chopped ham

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped pimentos.

8 slices crisp bacon cooked and crumbled

1/4 cup chopped green onions.

Add a 4 oz, pkg. sliced pepperoni

1/4 teaspoon oregano leaves, crushed.

Add 1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage cooked and drained;

10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, cooked and well drained;

1/4 cup chopped onion

If you choose, Top with thin tomato slices just before serving.

My first Christmas dinner – ham and all. Sadly, we forgot to capture a photo of our Baked Apples dessert.

Over the last month Matthew and I celebrated our first Nova Homecoming. We got to attend a tailgate in Shark fountain where we shot free throws for a free shirt, got to enjoy lunch together, and hung out with our friends from my office. After the Tailgate was the annual raft race on the lake where students build their own boats and race them against other groups and clubs to win some money to cover their costs.

This last month, we also got to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with no one from our families. We were lucky enough to have the privilege to join one of my Nova best friends Gina and her family, the Mercanti’s for dinner. Hannah, my Nova soulmate, also came and joined us. The day before I had the opportunity to make our own Thanksgiving dinner (sorry no pictures, it was a traumatic experience). For my fellow grad assistant friends and Matt, I successfully made a delicious turkey, stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and crock-pot mac’n’cheese. For dessert, crème brulee!

Over the weekend we did very little black Friday shopping. Matt stayed home while I spent over an hour in traffic for a handful of wal-mart DVD’s and Blu-ray’s. I returned to sleep and for Florida to be winterized – well… at least our apartment (photos to come!). We decorated for Christmas and wrapped it up like a normal holiday weekend – Matt goes to work and I went to a Dashboard Confessional concert. Working at Nova gives you perks – including free tickets through the radio station.

Next up this month, Dolphins football games, snorkeling in the bay, and our first Christmas on the beach… all in preparation for Matt’s first day of Grad School – Jan. 3^rd!

Wish us luck!

Feeling good, feeling great

This last week we were able to host Matt's parents here in Ft. Lauderdale. It was wonderful seeing them again and being able to show them around our new home. We made it to the beach and out to the Seminole Reservation where we took an airboat ride through the Everglades. It was really cool.

Another great highlight was before we went out for an early birthday - we heard that Matt has been accepted into the Nova Southeastern University Marriage and Family Therapy Masters program! We're so excited and proud.

Disney Delights

Over Labor Day weekend Matt and I drove up to Orlando (about 3 hours) and spent our time playing at Disneyworld. (Sorry for no pictures! We took them with Disney Photopass and are too poor to pay for them)

Matthew had been to Disneyworld once before when he was a child and it was the 80's so I thought that a trip to see the mouse was in order.

We had so much fun starting off the tour in Epcot and enjoying some great German food at the Biergarten - they even wished us a happy belated anniversary:) Sadly, we did not enjoy all the rides as much as the food. After we rode Mission Space - we decided to take a couple hours to sit and wait for the world to stop spinning. We were very relieved for Dramamine being sold on the Disney black market (When I say black market, here's what I mean:We could not find any dramamine out on the counters or shops, but when we asked, they pulled it out from a storage box below the counter and charged us a ridiculous amount for two pills). After we got over this dizzy spill, we visited first aid for some blister relief and found out we could have got dramamine for free. It is now marked on all my disney maps :)

We then visited Magic Kingdom and had a blast on Space Mountain - for some reason, it felt a little more rickety than the one in Disney. We decided that we would stick to Peter Pan and the three foot fall should a ride stop. We really enjoyed our Jungle Cruise and visiting the Laugh Floor with Monsters Inc characters. I think we added two more potential jobs to Matt's list.

At Hollywood studios we got to see a lot of shows! We visited Ariel's Voyage to the Sea followed up by a cool Mickey bar to Beauty and the Beast. We ate at Pizza Planet after riding toy mania, where Matt finally beat me on the highest score.

Later that evening we made our way to the Boardwalk where we sat under a patio and people watched in the rain. No rides, no characters, but still one of my favorite moments of the trip. We also made a stop to the ESPN club which is not as cool as ESPN zones (no individual tv's at each table) but at least they did have a live radio broadcast.

Our last day we visited Animal Kingdom where Matt found his favorite ride - Expedition Everest. We enjoyed it so much we rode it twice! We also watched the really cute Finding Nemo show and enjoyed the up close experience we had with the animals on the Safari.

We wrapped up our trip with a sunset ferry ride and dinner on the bay at Downtown Disney. It was really sweet - even the delicious chocolate covered strawberries and caramel apple we picked up there!

Over the last couple of weeks we have been busy with school and work.

Matt had an interview for the Marriage and Family Therapy grad program here at Nova *fingers crossed*. We should hear back about a second interview within the next week.

I had my first week on duty in South Florida and I feel like Dorothy - I am definitely not in Utah anymore. I'm lucky that none of the incidents were major or extreme. Mostly it's the large number of calls I got. Hopefully this will slow down for the next time I'm on-call... next week.

I have an upcoming work conference for Florida NASPA next week in Orlando but i'm excited because it'll be more an overnight trip and most likely, Matt will be working. I will be participating in the case study and hope to get my act together for it.

I've also been starting with my first few class assignments and submitted my first grad paper yesterday. It feel so weird being back in the game but thankfully, it hasn't been too hard of an adjustment.

Right now, we're just finding time to have our weekly date nights and get things organized for school and work. We're really looking forward to having Matt's parents come down in October and my upcoming birthday.

How old is too old?

Thank you all who sent sweet birthday notes to Matthew this year. We had a wonderful day celebrating Matthew's 28th birthday with our friends the Laney's and Fontoura's at a local sports bar and grill here in Florida. The best part was the surprise element! For those of you who know me, i'm not great at keeping things in suspense. I have a hard time enjoying any surprise but Matthew is the opposite. I wanted to make it special and coordinated a fun little evening for him that involved good food, good people, and games.

This month the pace has picked up a bit. I started classes this week. Along with becoming a graduate student, I am also co-teaching a class at NSU. It's been new and different but I am enjoying every minute of it. We survived another year of RA training and check-in's and are looking forward to getting into a more established routine. Matt just submitted his application to NSU and we've got our fingers crossed that he can start in Winter term.


We have a trip planned to Disneyworld over Labor Day weekend with our friends Rob and Sheree and we hope to post some pics of beautiful Florida with that.

Still going strong!

Today is August first. Four years ago Matthew and I were married in the temple in Nauvoo, Il. I just wanted to blog about how wonderful these last four years have been. We have had huge obstacles to work our way through (immigration, lack of money, job changes, moves across the country...) but we have had some wonderful highlights! I felt like sharing some of my favorite moments of marriage (PG rated) and highlighting some of our favorite people who made these memories with us.

August 2006 - Married in the Nauvoo temple. This day was so wonderful and we were so happy to have Matt's family and my mentor and friend Jill supporting us through that.

July 2007 - Playing in Logan with my niece and nephew. We explored the town and canyon while our niece and nephew stayed with us for a few days.

October 2007 - Our trip to Las Vegas where we celebrated my 21st birthday

December 2007 - Christmas in Indiana. Visiting with Matt's family, Euchre at Grandma and Grandpa's and date night with the Peyton's

June 2008 - A trip to Chicago with the Peyton's. Good food, great company, and Wrigley Field!

December 2008 - My cousins from Venezuela came and hung out with us

May 2009 - Matthew's graduation.

August 2009 - Camping and Boating at Bear Lake with the Fisher's and the Eldridge's. So fun!

September 2009 - Florida trip... what started it all

December 2009 - Christmas in Utah - both my family and Matthew's gathered together to celebrate in one location.

March 2010 - Disneyland with the Cook's and Allen's. What a magical moment

June 2010 - Moving to our new home in Florida. The biggest adventure yet to come...

Noticing the little things

Oh how I love rain! I've always enjoyed rain more than sunny days or snowy evenings. I love the sound it makes, the smell that comes after word, and the cool breezes that accompany it in. Now more than ever the rain is a relief from the exhausting heat that is constantly here in Florida. I know most people around here find it a huge inconvenience (truthfully, so does my hair) but it's the time of day I look forward to most!

Sometimes you have the light misting that lingers but the best rainfalls are when it pours. It literally looks like a waterfall from our patio. When you're outside it's like a shower and i've learned that you never go anywhere without an umbrella because the weather changes on a dime!

We've also had our small dips smooth out. I finally got my license fiasco finalized! After 8 hours (seriously!) at the DMV I walked out with a license in my hands displaying very tired, sweaty, and pig-tail wearing beast named Heilit. I thought they were going to use the picture I took the time before and mail it to me... but that would be way too efficient. It worked itself just in time because our title from Utah just arrived and we were called by the tax collectors that we can go register our car. We decided to do the lawful thing and take care of that. After shelling out about $500 we walked away with our "Family First" plates - endorsed and sponsored by Tony Dungy! Pretty much we rock it out here. Little point of information - the specialty plates are not why it cost us so much, or else I would have been Uber crazy!

On a super cool, you-can-all-envy-me moment - Matthew and I had the privilege to go to a book signing for Julie Andrews new childrens book... *pause for drama*... and it was awesome!

Surprisingly, the Borders by our house was the only one that did not issue tickets and was not sold out, nor did we have to camp out all night or stand in line for 8 hours, unlike the DMV. We had a very pleasant wait outside for less than an hour and then got to wait in the store for about another hour and a half reading books until we met her. She was EXACTLY how she appears in her movies only better since she spoke to just us two! She called Matt brave for coming out with me to her signing (which was for her book "A very, fairy princess") and then was sweet as can be by referring to all young women as princesses and asked about our little princess that we were sending the book to (my incredible niece, Brigitte). Of course, we got another copy for my little family library but it was all so wonderful and for less money and time than we could have hoped for! I absolutely love books and though I missed the $1 sale at my home Borders in Logan, My new Borders out here has surpassed expectations :)

On Monday, I got to set up my office and get moved in a little. Truthfully, I was not expecting to have an office but I was so excited to see I did and it was huge! I started putting up my pictures and toys and already it's beginning to feel so comfortable. My office is located in the main Housing and Reslife office for the university and as Matt and me were putting things away, we were so warmly welcomed by loads of people and a cute grab bag. I even got some new Shark flair and am stoked to wear my shark pride shirt around campus. Matthew was introduced to my directors and they were really kind and inviting. They even suggested my first paycheck going to him directly for his extra work helping me set up my office but we'll have to see about that... haha

We know that things are about to pick up with my job starting next week and flowing right into the school semester next month. Matthew's also officially out of training and picking more shifts at Red Lobster. We're working hard to set up some personal time with each other and take some measures to share the load (like a chore chart!). I've really happy with the man I married and his willingness to support me through all of this, even if that means he has to vacuum :)

Still waiting for visitors to come out but our schedules have started to stabilize a little more and are ready for reservations! We heard from the locals that September, October, and January are the least busy times for the theme parks... just saying.

The good things in life

This week I stumbled across some photos I took the day before we left Utah. I wanted to share these with my friends and family because I love how special these people are in my life and it was a good moment in my life.

Matt playing Xbox with Cisco and Brigitte

Hanging out at Jay's birthday party in Millcreek Canyon

The Koenigs

Hanging out with the kids and Ian, our friend, at the Pie... Matt looks photoshopped in but he's the reason we were all there. This night we also got to see Crystal, Ian's wife, and my friend Aubrey and her family.

We have also had some wonderful assurances that we are in the right place. Matt has been blessed with a job that let's us spend time together and yet given him a new opportunity to learn and grow. We also are excited about the huge sports news taking place here in Southern Florida. We have three huge power house players that are on the Miami Heat (basketball team) and Matt is excited about his professional sports adventures that are to come these next few months.

We're still having some small hiccups with getting things organized (I have yet to receive my license) but we know that this is where we need to be. We've also started making some great friends and hope for more good things to come :)

Monday Madness

Last night, after over 20 years, I met my Aunt Ilse. Ilse is my mother's sister and also my Godmother. Aside from a few pictures of my Catholic baptism and a few other ones strewn about, I haven't seen her since my family left Venezuela. I was so excited and happy at meeting her. My wonderful cousin Monsi invited Matthew and me over for dinner and to meet our Aunt who had been in town for the week. It was great meeting her because it's so nice to reconnect with that side of my family and get to know my mom a little more through that extension.

Something we learned is that Munchmeyer women are inherently similar in their personalities. Warm, kind, beautiful, a little eccentric and nervous creatures, but overall - absolutely wonderful! So many of the mannerisms i've picked up from my mother are seen in most of the Munchmeyer women. And for better or worse, i'm looking forward to becoming like them.

I also got to meet Monsi's awesome step sons - David and Cristian. They were really kind and connected well with Matthew. Thank goodness for the international male language of sports. Though most of the conversation was dominated in Spanish, my aunt spoke German with Matthew and David Jr. kept the conversation going in English with him. Monsi shared her wonderful cooking skills with us and made us some Venezuelan food... Arepas! Mmmm...:) She also shared their limited supply of Toddy which Matt found he loved more than regular American Chocolate milk. We also got to see little Ilse (Monsi's daughter) in her wonderful dress up outfits. She was Cinderella, a ballerina, and her cute peace outfit. She really is a little doll.

Ilse- My Aunt and Godmother.

My Taunte Ilse and us

From left to right and front David (Jr)- Monsi's step son, David - Monsi's husband, Cristian - Monsi's step son, Taunte Ilse, Little Ilse - Monsi's daughter, Me, Matthew, and my Cousin Monsi

Monsi's daughter Ilse and me.

Yesterday was a bit of a scramble for us. We had planned for a beach trip in the morning and after a mad scramble of finding our beach towels, packing a lunch, and figuring out how to use our new sun -umbrella. We were on our way. The weather was wonderful and thanks to a sun block of SPF 90 - we had no burning happen :)

Ft. Lauderdale Beach

In March, the sea turtles come and lay eggs on the beach. All over the beach are these roped off sections protecting their eggs.

They say that the eggs typically hatch in October. We hope to go out and watch the little "Crushes" swim out.

Sand, sand, everywhere... this was our faces after discovering that you can't avoid getting it in everything.

We love our sun!

We made friends with some tourists from Michigan who volunteered to take pictures of our pasty selves... Hopefully in a few months we'll darken up a bit.

For some reason, we always do these really awkward prom poses... even at the beach...

I asked Matt to do his "man" pose and he went straight into a tackle.

When I asked him to give it another shot, he wanted to show off some leg.

Enjoying our day...