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...

Oasis

As promised, here are some photos of our new home. I have not posted pictures of our Master because it is our last project and we also want to leave an element of surprise for those who come out and see us. I also posted pictures of our closets (tacky, I know!) but here's a little example of my organization skills as requested by some.

Our view from our apartment.

Reggie is fascinated by the palm trees and bugs!

Our guest room (AKA: family room) - Can you guess the theme?

Between Matt's golf clubs and the sports memorabilia is the new bed and bedding just for you!

Matthew organized this all on his own

The organized closet with our emergency kit.

The guest closet we call our storage closet... we own A LOT of clothes

I found a way to organize my purses!

My new desk! A little smaller than before but well organized - thank you Office Max. Below are some more random shots of our guest bedroom.

My patio and new bike (AKA: Ponie!)

We love enjoying our outdoor space and my small garden

The Master bath... a compromise of colors between Matthew and my style.

Our Master closet is nice and tidy. There's more to it than the picture shows.

My wonderful laundry room! Our matching front loading LG Washer and Dryer are just amazing! and we love them.

I have an actual pantry and it's organized to my taste.

The guest bathroom's medicine cabinet. We're supplied for any visitor to come :)

We've put up some pictures of Logan Canyon in our guest bath...

Tried to make it look and feel more like a hotel bathroom.

I like things matching.

The living room.

I love my green wall with our dark wood furniture and couch.

The entry way and my children's/YA books

This apartment was meant for me - built-in bookshelves!

The dining room and our new dining set.

A great open layout.

I love this part of the room. It was made just for food and family!

My wonderful new kitchen.

Good things to come

I just wanted to announce that Matthew got his first job offer this afternoon. It's for a server position at Red Lobster... yes, I know that means Sebastian is no longer singing, but I am! We're excited for this to come in and are still waiting to hear from some of the other companies he interviewed with this week.

On another note, almost all of our stuff got here and is pretty much put away or up on the walls. We're missing our curtains hardware :( but it's replaceable and we're just glad to be done and have it like home. Picture of most of the rooms will be up this weekend... with the exception of the Master. I am still waiting on some key pieces of furniture to be purchased before I can show the completed project. As for our guests... the Biehl Bed'n'Breakfast is ready to go! We are stocked and anxious for our first guest... P.S. whoever comes out first gets first dibs on the well stocked freebies! If you're still debating how to raise the money to come see us - hopefully our relaxed oasis will tempt you.

I am officially registered as a Shark and am excited for my class load... A lot of topics that have intrigued me as a professional and now I get to expand on it. They'll mostly be night classes but i'll be busy doing my GA position in the day. Things are just working out.

We also heard that my Aunt Ilse, my mother's sister, is in Miami this weekend for her granddaughters ballet recital and I am so excited to see her! I don't have any memories of this aunt since the last time we saw each other I was just a little toddler. I'm also so happy to see my cousin Monsi and her sweet little girl. I hope to post pictures of this get together too!

The many things that start with the letter "H"....

We'll begin with "Home."

We have officially arrived and checked into our new apartment here in Florida. Though we have yet to receive our belongings (our moving truck broke down in OK and is delayed another 5 days) - we're home! We've also been grateful that we have more belongings than we did as newlyweds. For example, a bed! We were lucky to have purchase an air mattress and then our good friend Benton donated his lovely queen to us when he moved away this week. We also have a shower curtain, bar stools, and a coffee table so we are managing with meals, showers and mini dates (thank you youtube!).

"Hot" + "Humid"

Do you know what this results in? Really bad hair days for Heilit! It has been reading 96 degrees on average but doesn't even reflect the major humidity we're facing too. It's been a huge adjustment for me and i'm starting to realize how much extra water I need, along with my limits of playing outside. After a bout of heat exhaustion a couple days in - we're surviving the weather pretty well and looking forward to our afternoon rain showers that cool us down.

"Hungry"

There are sooooooo many amazing places to eat around here that every time I hop in the car my mouth begins to water... Mo's, Steak'nShake, Buca di Beppo, Chick-fil-A, and these are just some of the names that are average. We have loads of local places and different ethnic cuisines that I'm just anxious to start eating out once a week to start trying them all!

"H2O"

Water, water everywhere! Two days ago I spent an hour with Matthew relaxing by the pool, in two more days we will be going to one of the many nearby beaches we have... each afternoon we have lovely tropical rain showers that replenish the beautiful, lush landscape and relieve me of the heat... I think I have found my own personal oasis. I love all the fun water options I have to play in and I'm looking forward to more... like cruises, everglade/swamp tours, rides up the waterway/canal, and finding a lagoon to kiss Matt in!

"Heart"

Even though it's such an exciting adventure I definitely miss my family. I really miss knowing that Cisco and Brigitte were so close but i'm already saving pennies to get them out here quickly. I know that soon I'll get to have them close to me again and i'll have my heart put back as one. On the other wonderful hand, I have Matthew. I'm really blessed to be able to be with the one I love and that no matter what we do or don't have - we're still Happy.

"Happiness"

I've really felt happy and content knowing that this is where the Lord would have us and all the little miracles he's given us to make it happen. He can work wonders. All this extra time and lack of funds has also really given me and Matthew the opportunity to spend quality time with one another and reconnect. We've also been blessed with extra time for personal scripture study, prayer, and time to meditate and ponder. We've got a list load of errands but it's wonderful having time to dedicate an hour or two a day to reconnect with our Savior and father in heaven. (read the "Don't be in a hurry" in this month's Ensign- it really helped us see the good of it all).

"Heilit"

As usual it's about me... but really, it's for those that I love. I promise to have photos posted of our beautiful oasis soon... but I do need to get my furniture in so you get the full effect. Also, here's a standing offer to any of our beloved friends interested in visiting - we would love to have you! If you pay for a ticket, we will have a comfy space for you in our home! :)