2010 SO FAR

So I am sorry it's been so long!
With the move and the holidays and starting school my time has been limited.
So we moved back to Ogden and are living with Debbie, Bretts mom. Living with Debbie is such a blessing to us right now! School is just up the road for me and we just got faster internet so Brett can stay home and study all day. So I am taking some dance classes and business classes up at Weber State, I love all my classes! Brett is studying his tail off, trying to get ready for Step 1 in February. He has about 12 books to get through and is really working hard!
Our studies keep us pretty busy but I am also teaching dance at my mothers studio Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We like our new ward, Brett goes every Thursday to play church ball. I like to go and watch, he's a baller for sure! It's been great seeing all our friends and family whenever we can! knowing the roads we are driving on and not worrying about getting lost all the time is wonderful!

After Brett takes this Step 1 we can apply for rotations which we are hoping will be a 2 year stay and we can catch a break from moving every few months. There are lots of options out there for rotations so we havc no idea where we will be living in the next 5-6 months.

Sorry this is short but I have homework that somebodies got to do... better get to it!
Hope you all are well!

This week has been a fun one so far!
I made my first loaf of bread ever! Also I made a big batch of halloween sugar cookies and Brett and I frosted them. We sent a Halloween package to Casey and since he is on his mission we made these missionary ghosts!

We went to a really nice steak house here to celebrate our friend Erins B-day!

This is us at the university of Miami vs Oklahoma game!

Bretts first day of school here in Miami. To the right Michelle to the left Jake, our neighbors who are also students.

I found this cute apron in bed bath and beyond. It says Domestic diva! I don't think you can see but the pink bow in the center has rinestones on it! CUTE!
We are doing good in Miami, we both are just pluggin away at school and only have 6 weeks until we move back to Utah.

Hope you all have a happy halloween!

My pics are in backwards order but that is ok.
The one above is Brett and I at a super fun place called the cocowalk. We are eating dinner on a balcony over looking the coco walk, a indoor/ outdoor mall.


The jersey Brett is wearing I gave him for our anniversary. It's a Utah Jersey, Brett has always said he would love to see me in football pads so for our anniversary I granted him his wish and stuffed on of his old jerseys with all the plastics grocery bags I could find. Then I took him to a park by our house and he taught me all there is to know about the game of footaball. Ok not all there is to know, but I learned some routes and plays.

Mom and I at the Georgia border!

mom and I at the Laquinta, where I left a pair of pants a a shirt that I probably won't see again. We are holding up 3 because it's our third day on the road trip to Miami!

This is outside of the Olive Garden The Nelsens took us, Casey and him comp out to dinner. It was so fun to see Casey! He is working hard and enjoying his mission!

Dinner with the Nelsons and Casey!

Casey and someone elses comp.

Vanna White showing us the lovely Kansas border sign!

Mom and I on day one actually this would have really been day two but it was hotel one.

This is the Dolphins stadium here in Florida. The stadium isn't far from our house and we found a good deal on a preseason game so we were able to see the Dolphins play the panthers the day after we arrived in the states.

This was back in the Bahamas, if you look closely you will see a yaght that we are showing off.

This is on the cruise from the Bahamas to Ft.Lauterdale. We are sitting on the front of the ship. You can see the captian station behind us. It was super windy out on the open ocean. We saw these flying fish that were really cool!

Also back in the Bahamas, man Brandon and Tori are just fun people and we miss them a lot.

Well we are settled and getting into a routine here in Miami. The apartment is great and our neihborhood is wonderful. It would be nice if we knew how to speak Spanish though. Brett took his Comp Test yesterday and we are glad to have that over. We won't find out for another week the result but he studied hard and did his best so I know he did great!

Miami

We are on the 10 day count down for the move to Miami!

Brett has an exam tomorrow and also next thursday and then he is done with 4th semester!!!

We are excited for him to get into hospitals and clinics and get to do more hands on learning! We are moving to the Coral Gables area which we hear good things about from previous residents. We will be in Miami from Aug 21st - Dec 7th. I have never lived in a big city like Miami so we will see how it goes!

Brett and I are taking the cruise ship over to Ft. Lauterdale on the 21st we are planning on getting him all settled and cozy for his study-a-thon for the comp. While he is busy studying I will be flying home to Utah ( :( sadly only for 24 hours). I will be picking up my mama

, the car and my cute Dog Koellie.

Mom and I will be driving through Oklahoma on our way to Miami and we are so lucky that we are able to stop and have dinner with Elder Call ( Casey) and the Neilsons the family that he lives with. That will be so fun!!! Mom will be staying in Miami with us for a night before she flies home to the fam again. I am looking forward to the road trip with mom and Koellie! not looking forward to leaving Brett though!

So Miami will be another adventure we can add to our list. We hear great things about it and are really excited to go to some games and fun places.

The 5th semester students are SUPER busy in Miami they are going to hospitals, doing shifts in the ER, I talked to one a few weeks ago and he assisted in removing bullets from a guys leg... I tried to imagine Brett digging for bullets.... Or cutting the pants off the guy.... interesting thought. I don't think Brett wants to do emergency medicine though but the experience is still very cool! Brett is studying like a mad man for these last two tests. The test he has next week is a 6 hour accumulative exam!

Pic of Coral Gabels the city we will live in.

Here is some info about Miami:

Established in 1896, Miami had a small population of 1,500 people. Back then Miami was mostly used for vegetable and citrus plantations.
Miami sure has grown since those days. Known today as the melting pot of North and South America, Miami is the habitat for people of all nations, and it sure shows in the variety of cultures one sees here.

This is the corinthian where we will be staying, it is furnished and allows dogs!

Spacious Apartments Furnished in Downtown Coral Gables location. Apartment has living room, dining room, and kitchen. Remodeled Unit with over 850 sq. ft./ 1050 sq.ft. of living space. Beautifully renovated kitchen, with new granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. New Marble Bathroom with premium fixtures. Master bedroom (14 X 13 ) with Walk in Closet. All Lines/Towels/Kitchen and Bathroom accessories included. Central A/C, Oversized Balcony Great Panoramic views of Downtown Coral Gables, Downtown Miami and Coconut Grove. Building offers New Fitness Center, New Pool, Gated Parking and Tele-entry access system. Interior lobby and hallways with marble floors. Walk to Miracle Mile. Miracle Mile is a street that has lots of shops and restaurants and fun things to do on it.

We are looking forward to the next 3 weeks there will be a lot of hard work to do but we are ready for it!

funnest week ever!

So last week was a really busy one but we decided it has been THE funnest week ever!
We were able to spend time with lots of great friends and also got to spend a lot of time together.

On Wednesday evening our friends Brandon and Tori took us out to a nice restaurant called China Beach.

While I was in the restroom they told the waitress it was my birthday dinner so after dinner I got an awesome birthday song and this huge piece of delicious cheesecake!!!

That night we went to their house played games and saw fireworks off the balcony!
This week my birthday was on friday. So on Thursday Tori, Katy and Aileen surprised me after lunch with a trip to the salon for a manicure/ pedicure! it was so fun and felt so nice! I had never had a pedicure before and I decided that I love them! The best part though was being able to hang out with the girls. We don't have much more time here in the Bahamas so making the most of it is a good idea.

Brandon and Tori were so funny they gave me a card with 5 ec in it.... ec is the money we used while living in Dominica and is worth about 1.60 here or in the states. They did it as a joke and we thought it was really funny!

So I woke up on my birthday to a decorated house and yummy smelling breakfast thanks to my wonderful husband!

We had a bunch of unused balloons so we decided we would have a water fight! at 8:30 AM!

We filled all the balloons and left them on Brandon and tori's door step. We knocked and ran.

So they opened the door to find some water filled balloons and this sign!

We were ready for them! They tried to be sneaky and get around us but we got em! Water balloon fights at 8:30 am are really fun!

later we went to lunch in the port and Brett bought me a pair of earings and a really cute bracelet. It was fun having a lunch date for a change. For dinner Brett made my favorite chicken alfredo. We were given some peppers from a woman in the ward and Brett used one called a goat pepper.... I guess the Bahamians love them.... it was the hottest thing we had ever tasted we were eating with sweaty faces and runny noses because of it! although dinner was really spicey it was really good! Then later friends came over for ice cream cake. Yes that's right Brett made an ice cream cake all by himself! it was so awesome! everybody loved it and it tasted great too!

After ice cream I schooled everyone up to round 4 of phase 10 and then we headed out to see some more fireworks. July 10 it Bahamas independence day so there were parties everywhere. We found out that the fireworks wouldn't shoot off until midnight and so we went walking on the beach with the full moon.

This picture is us on a huge life guard chair!

The prop club, one of Brandon and Tori's favs was close by so we went there and found an empty dance floor so the six of us. Us, Brandon and Tori, Knema and aileen had fun dancing funky for a while!

We made our way over to were we thought the fireworks would be and sat and waited. We were sitting on the side of a large canal hoping the fireworks would be fired from the opposite side. Sure enough we were the ones with the best seat in the house! they went off almost right over our heads! it was so AWESOME!

It really was one of the best birthdays I ever had.

Saturday was the banquet for the fourth semester Ross students. Brett was looking sharp and I finally got to wear the dress I bought when I went home. We had a nice dinner and had fun being with friends. There was a dance floor there and we danced a lot, more than I thought we would. When people started getting tipsy we left. but overall it was a really great night!

Here are some pictures of the fun we had at the banquet.

Modeling With Genoveva

So here is the link to Genovevas photography blog. She was teaching another woman in our branch some photography tips and My friend Aileen and I got the pretend like we were models for a day!
I was looking through her wedding blog and found out that she actually was the photographer for Richie Howards wedding... what a funny coincidence.....
Hope you like them!

http://genwayment.blogspot.com/2009/07/kellie.html

4th of July

Paul Sweeney: “How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy.”
This last year has really been an eye opener while living outside of the United States. I have realized that I was and am a very blessed person. Growing up I never worried about not having food to eat or clothes to wear. Instead I picked through the food on my plate or didn’t eat it because it wasn’t hot enough. In school I remember not wearing many of my clothes because they weren’t in style. I got a job at age 16 not realizing how important a job is to some people. I would complain about having to work and then after earning a paycheck or two blow it on something too frivolous to remember.
I was a decent student but I hated English class, I didn’t realize that many people of the world would pay anything if they could just learn how to communicate in the English language. I came to understand the importance of government and how it can make or break a people and nation.
I have become grateful for living in a country that has dairy farms so you can have fresh milk at the grocery store and not have to survive off of food storage milk. I became very thankful for the clean water that runs from the tap of my home in Ogden. I never once, growing up ever worried that the water might make me sick or might not be there when I turn the faucet handle. This past year I have realized how some places in the world do not have a dependable police force we have seen a drunk driver smash into someone’s home and the officers just laughed and let him walk home no ticket or jail time.
I have asked myself so many times in the past year why was this other person born here... in a country where it is so poor they will never see anything else, and I was blessed to be born in a place where I had every opportunity in the world sitting on a platter waiting for me to take it. As I watched people washing their laundry in the local river I wonder why them, do they wish for something better? Why me? I complained that the washer happened to be in my room growing up. I should have been thankful that we had our own washing machine so we never had to wear dirty clothes.
As I helped with English Classes in Dominica I asked the people where their families are and how long since they have seen them. For some it has been decades and many countries apart. For some of those people they crave America so bad they can taste it. They work for a while on an island to get enough money to get to the next island that is closer to America. All I have to do is book a ticket and I am home.
I realized I am thankful for so many daily things that I took for granted in the U.S. Electricity, water, A/C, internet, school, sunny days, sidewalks, street lights, warm showers, milk, diet coke, drive through, ice cream, friends and most of all family.
This 4th of July will be the first that I truly truly truly am grateful and thankful to my heavenly father that I was born in America to a good family who loves me. I wonder who I would be today if that one circumstance was changed. I have enjoyed traveling and living in different countries the places and people are amazing. The last year has been so awesome the people and places are seriously great! But there are things that you realize you take for granted when you don’t have them and America and all that comes with it is one of them.
I want to say to all my friends and family that I love you and I miss you and I hope you remember that you might not be wealthy or famous but you do have the freedom and liberty to be what and who you want and I think that is really cool.
God bless you and God bless America!