Another week in Paradise

This past week has been a quiet one compared to the previous weeks--I think. Pa was busy with meetings all day every day and sometimes into the evenings. This gave me a chance to work on a couple of projects I brought back with me.

I finished the quilt I had tied in Evanston just in time for some cooler weather. It's not a Wyoming warm quilt, but just right for a cool Florida night. I really like the color and it is perfect for nights when Pa is away on business.

After our ward's Relief Society Super Saturday, Pa and I went shopping to pick up a couple of things we needed for the house and brought home a couple extra items. This little guy, our hermit crab, sits outside on our porch ledge. He is much bigger than a real hermit crab, but perfect for our house. He was just what we were looking to give our outdoor space the beach look.

We couldn't resist this colorful tropical plant either. Its pot is a coconut shell. Very unique and very Florida looking.

I also finished scrapbooking our Arizona hike, too. I'm not really good at scrapbooking, but by the time I finish all the pictures I have to do, I'll be pretty good at it.

I can't believe it is November already and the way time flies it won't be long until we are flying to Wyoming for Thanksgiving. Can't wait, but I am not excited about the cold and the snow. I guess I am too soft for the winter.

FLORIDA=Travel

Ma Turner has been in Florida now for two weeks and I have seen ALOT of the state. Florida is not at all what I pictured it would be. I thought palm trees and swamps, but it is a lot of pine trees and brush, too.

Pa's job is much like his job with CWI when we lived in PA, only on a much larger scale. He has jobs all over the east coast and since we are living in Florida now, I will take the opportunity to travel with him to check out some of the jobs in Florida.

Our first trip took us to the "panhandle" to check out the work in Panama City and Destin. (While he went to work, I stayed at the hotel which was right on the beach.) Tough job, but I was up to the challenge.

We left Wed. afternoon and arrived in Panama City about eight that night. We stopped at a restaurant that featured "head on" shrimp. It's not so easy eating shrimp that have eyes staring back at you.

Sun setting on the panhandle. October 20, 2010

After Pa checked out the job in PC, we headed toward Destin, but first we stopped at a beach along the way. (Beach #1 for this trip) Sorry, no pictures.

This is the beach at SanDestin, where we stayed. (Picture taken from the balcony of our hotel.)
Beach #2 for this trip.

While on our way home on Friday, we stopped at St. George Island State Park and had a picnic, walked along the beach there, and took some pictures. (We stopped at the local Piggly Wiggly store for our picnic supplies. Yes, that is the real name of the grocery store.)

Pa walking along the St. George Island beach. Beach# 3 for this trip.

Light house on St. George Island

We arrived back home late Friday night aftera very fun trip to the panhandle. But, the weekend was not finished.

We got up early Saturday morning to head to Orlando. Pa had volunteered us to be chaperons for the the youth temple trip. It was a GREAT day. I'm glad he made arrangements for us to do that.

Just let me say that I really, really, really like our ward here in Sarasota. We are in the Lakewood Ranch Ward. The members are very friendly. Pa is the ward mission leader and so we get to spend a lot of time with the missionaries assigned to our ward. Right now it is a set of sisters, Sister Turner from Ogden and Sister Fox from Kanab. I love having them come over for visits which they do quite often.

(The first Sunday I was here, it would have been the 17th, this ward had a baptism and Pa Turner did the baptism. Pretty special night.)

On the 25th the sisters and the sister that Pa had baptized came over for family home evening. It was a very fun evening.

On Wed., the 27th it was time to pack up again for another road trip. This time we were heading for the Atlantic Coast. Our first stop was in Orlando to look at a job not too far from the Disney Theme Parks. Sorry we didn't have time to stop to see Mickey and friends. We traveled on to Daytona Beach. We stayed the night at the hotel next to the speed way. I'm not much of a NASCAR fan so I didn't get too excited about that. The next morning we drove to a job just south of Daytona and then traveled on to Boca Raton to spend the night. After a delicious pizza dinner, we went over to the DelRay beach for a night time walk along the beach. I love walking on the beach.

The next morning it was time to check out another job and then we drove to Fort Lauderdale. We stopped at an outdoor kiosk and started our Christmas shopping. We had a great lunch of crab legs and then slipped over to the beach.

Fort Lauderdale Beach

We headed for home, driving across Alligator Alley--no alligators were seen, but I saw some interesting birds along the way. We stopped in Naples for the night and then drove home. After a nice nap, we went over to Lido Beach for an evening walk. Apparently, At. Armand Circle is the place to go "Trick or Treating" because it was packed with kids and grownups all dressed up.

After church on Sunday we headed over to Siesta Beach for the afternoon. We took the beach chairs and had a very relaxing afternoon of reading, dipping in the gulf, walking along the beach and listening to the drum concert that is held every Sunday evening. It was a perfect way to spend a bright sunny afternoon.


We have done a lot of traveling over the past two weeks, but now it's time to slow down a little and work on some projects I want to do while Pa spends a lot of time working in the office. I have been asked to do a class at the ward super Saturday this week and Pa's bosses are in town this week, so we will be staying home.