Welcome to Miami

So first off I apoligize for all the of blog posts that are to come.

 It has been awhile and a lot has gone on.

A couple weeks ago me, Joanna, and Jenessa finally

 made our trip up to Miami!

Yay!

We rented ourselves a car and made the long drive up the Florida Keys.

It was crazy driving up a highway surrounded by nothing but ocean.

We stopped along the way at a place called Porky's

where they served Fried Key Lime Pie!

Yup never knew they had made such a thing but it was so good!



Fried Key Lime Pie



The Historic 7 Mile Bridge



We made it up to Fort Lauderdale and checked into our hotel before the

Rihanna concert.

(All thanks to you mom :)!)

The concert was fun as we rocked out in our amazing nosebleed seats haha.

(that's where all the of the true die hard fans sit haha)

The next morning we decided to be early risers and see the sun rise on the beach.

It had a completely different feel to the usual sunsets we get to watch.

It was very refreshing.

The rest of the day we hit up the shopping and South Beach!

Miami is so different!

Along the strip, people are outside of the restaurants trying to get you to eat there.

Kind of like what you see in sales except it was for food.

We got to stop by the store DASH which is the Kardashians boutique.

So cool to be there.

Me and my sisters love the Kardashians.

Then, we headed over to the ocean.

We had a lot of fun taking pics with the underwater camera

and playing in the 'waves'.



Miami was a success and we drove back down the Keys to

 home sweet home.



Chinese Take-Out

Our nights are usually spent at our apartment...

either on our computer, reading books, listening to music.

(since the only thing to do here at night is go to the bars on Duval)

Me and Jenessa decided to grab some Chinese Take-out

and have a little picnic on the pier.

We set out maps that were at the Chinese restaurant

and used them to sit on and place mats.

It turned out better than we had ever expected.

The weather was perfect and we got to watch

the sunset right off of the pier.

We decided that we need to start taking

more advantage of the nights we have here.

Party in the U.S.A.

Oh say can you see...

For the 4th of July we all went out

to the Casa Marina resort to celebrate.

There was a big production put on by Hospice.

The money to get into the celebration went to their cause.

Some of our friends that work at the Casa Marina

hooked us up with lounge chairs on the

beach that were regularly $125.

We got them for $6 each. Score.

The party had bbq food, games and music.

We had a great time watching the fireworks on the beach.

That was a first for me.

Completely different from watching them in Utah.

Overall we had a very successful day celebrating our nation's independence! :)

Tribute to break down.

The other week I was walking home from work to my scooter and I saw this dog...

Odie has a sister here in Key West!!

Her name is Rosie and she belongs to David,

a man that works at a shop on the corner of Duval.

Today I finally got to take a picture of her.

I never thought I would say it but seeing Odie's

look-alike actually made me miss the crazy and ugly dog.

Later today, me and Joanna were heading home on the scooter.

We were driving on one of the main roads

when the scooter started to come to a stop.

Perfect.

We had run out of gas.

I blame it on the scooter for the broken gas gauge.

So good news.

We were only about a mile away from our apartment...

so we thrusted the scooter onto the sidewalk

and started walking the scooter home.

It was such a great walk...

90 degree temperatures

72 percent humidity

pushing a 300 pound scooter.

We probably gave all of the passing cars some entertainment

for the day.

We finally got the scoot scoot home

and will have her refueled by tomorrow.

Tandem

When I came to Key West on my cruise,

(a couple years ago)

 me and Hadlee rented a tandem bike for the day.

Since the day I came here I wanted to rent a tandem bike again.

I remember having a really difficult time riding the bike with Hadlee and how long

it took us to get the hang of riding it.

When me and Jenessa went to go rent the bike, I had told her about how hard

it might be and how it took me and Hadlee a good 30 minutes to get used to it.

Lenny (the lady who worked there) had told us that many people have a really hard

time and that we definitely needed to trust each other.

We got on the bike...

sure enough we were a little wobbly like I had predicted.

But by the time we exited the bike shop, we were pros! haha

We rode around the back roads of Key West

and got to notice a lot of things we miss and pass by on our scooters.

Go girl, it's your birthday!

Today was my roomate Jenessa's 20th Birthday!

We have only known each other for one month but

I feel like I have known her for years :)

The other day we were sitting on the couch and

she turns to me and says, "You know at first I didn't think

me and you would be that good of friends...I mean...I thought

we would get along and all but I didn't think we would be way close."

hahahahaahahahaha

We laughed pretty hard after she said that.

I am grateful that I have gotten the opportunity to meet this sweet

girl and to celebrate her birthday with her!



We started off by going to breakfast at Key West's

famous La Creperie. It was sooo delicious!

Jenessa is OBSESSED with conch republic anything.

So we thought it would be appropriate to get her a conch

republic towel. We also got her a skirt she had been wanting.

After breakfast I had to go to work

but the girls went jet skiing around the island!

After work I got to take Jenessa out to dinner.

She chose to go to this cute Thai Sushi restaurant.

It was so cute and the food was crazy good.

I think I am going to need a wheelbarrel to get me back

to Utah. I have eaten out way too much!

We sat out on the deck and got to watch the beautiful sunset.

Little did Jenessa know that a surprise was waiting for her at home.

The girls decorated our apartment with streamers and 

music to welcome her home.

We had made a cake that is from this funny

youtube video that we watch frequently at the apartment.

Very fun day!

From Paddleboarding to Salsa

Almost everyday when i drive to work,

I see people paddle boarding out in the ocean.

Today me and Jenessa went to lazy dogs and rented ourselves some boards.

Can I just start off by saying I love locals discounts. We got

half off of the regular price. Score!

They let us go out into the open water

 by ourselves and we explored different canals, marinas,

got to see cool fish, and got a nice work out.

 We even got to lay out and relax for a bit on the boards.

 

Later in the day, I totally switched gears

and I got to go to a salsa class.

We met the lady who teaches the class, Lucy,

at a boutique a couple weeks ago

and she invited us to come and try her class that she does

with her husband every Friday.

Me and Joanna went and got our step on.

Lucy is such a sweet lady and we had a great time!



My Birthday Adventure

SURPRISE!

If you know my family, birthdays have always been a pretty big deal. I was lucky enough this year to get to celebrate mine here! My roomates outdid any of my expectations and started out by suprising me by decorating our apartment. I woke up to this...

I was like a young child on Christmas morning haha



My roomates bought be a tiara and other princess jewelry to wear throughout the day.

ALL DAY ADVENTURE

I was lucky to have the day off for my birthday and a few of the other girls had part of the day off. We went on an all day adventure excursion with fury. And the best part is on your birthday you get what is originally $160 for FREE. The adventure day includes snorkeling, parasailing, jet skiing, food and more! 

Snorkeling

The boat took 7 miles out into the ocean to the world's

3rd largest coral reef in the world!

We got on all of our scuba gear and jumped into the ocean.

Being out in the middle of the ocean and not being able to touch

the bottom kind of freaked me out but we had a great time.

Joanna could look at those dang fish all day long if she wanted...

she loves snorkeling



Parasailing

After snorkeling the boat took us to fury's water playground

to get seperated into groups to do the different activities.

Our group got to go parasailing first. Our group was so fun and we had a blast

dancing to the music on the boat. We met a cute family from New Orleans

who had the coolest accents.

 Me and Joanna went up together

and she had never gone parasailing before. She was hilarious screaming

and laughing the entire time. On our way back, our driver let me

drive since it was my birthday :)

Playground

In the middle of the ocean they had these giant blow up slides and climbing

walls. They also had this trampoline. We had to swim out to them and let's

just say that I am not a good swimmer at all. Doggy paddling is the best I can do.

Good thing they gave us noodles or else I don't think I would have made it haha.

 

Jet Skiing

The final activity was jet skiing. Me an Jenessa

went out together and took turns driving. Adventure day

was a success!



Sunset Sail

The adventure day still went on...Fury included a free

Sunset Sail in the package to cruise over the water to watch

the beautiful Key West sunset. Me and Joanna  went out together

and met so many great couples. One couple from Brazil even

invited us to stay at their home if we ever wanted to go and visit Brazil.

There are so many amazing people

 out in the world and I am grateful

that I have gotten this experience to get to meet many of them from

all over the world.

 

Marisa...our new friend from Brazil


Dinner Party

For dinner we made reservations at The Bistro.
A restaurant right on Mallory Square.
My friend Robert who works there helped
us reserve a nice table outside.
Dinner was so good and they brought out
a key lime pie cheesecake for dessert.
The girls got me the perfect present...a dress
I had been wanting from a store near our work.
Happy times :). My birthday was so great and I was so
blessed to have such great family and friends to make my 19th
birthday the best day ever :)!