Turtles, Mothers and Food.

Greetings, friends.

I had a wonderful visit from my nurse, broker, motivational speaker, P.I.C., best friend, therapist, batman... and most importantly, mom. She helped me accomplish so many things! [I'm not entirely domestic savvy yet :].] We had a cornucopia [yep. I used it.] of fun each day. We went to so many beaches that are so close to home! We found AMAZING restaurants right on the waterfronts, swam with sting rays and insane little fish, watched The Office [what else?], spent time with Zane, had ice cream every day, shell hunted, woke up and went asleep to the greatest weather... aaaand the list goes on. We LOVED Siesta Key, as it is the #1 beach in this nation. You heard me CA and HI.... deal with it. We ate at The Cottage twice... because it was so necessary. Greatest restaurant in these here parts. Anna Maria Island was like a dream; Mom and I both felt like we were on a far off, pristine, celestial island [we were 25 minutes from home]. We ate at The Waterfront [literally] twice. AMAZING ribs and Wahoo. We ate at both restaurants twice because, they were so frigging glorious, we demanded that Zane experience said bliss. Ordering at The Waterfront was identical to the Portlandians ordering at The Gilt. [If you haven't the foggiest, you must watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LBICPEK6w]. I loved showing off our amazing ward to Mom! I got two callings; nursery teacher and chorister. [Should be called nursery drill sergeant.] While at church, a 15 year-old boy gave a wonderful talk on the importance of attending church.                             Mom looked at the program and saw that this boy's brother is serving his mission in St. Petersburg, where Dad and Thomas were vactioning! He has an amazing story. He was adopted [along with his older brother] from Russia when he was three. He and his brother joined the church about five years ago. They are the only two members of their family that are LDS; he now goes to church, by himself, every Sunday. His brother joined the Air Force and was studying Russian when he got his LDS mission call to Russia! This young boy hopes that his brother will somehow find his biological parents and teach them. Mom's visit was so amazing, can't wait 'til she comes back. How can she stay away from paradise? Zane and I are having the greatest times with our favorites [Kristian and Malori and Dawson!]. Games, ping pong, swimming, dinners, desserts, church. et cetera. Malori and I are so elated! We've got doggone Great Escape customers!! It's a glorious opportunity. More time together, more time with adorable animals, more time with our neighbors, more time outside. While on the subject, I wish I had a bit more of it. Time, that is. Sometimes I look at the clock with a Kristen Wiig stink eye and think it's just picking on me. [haha just kidding. can you imagine if you saw me doing that? weird.] I spend almost all day with Zane in our cozy apartment studying the crap out of my Sports Medicine book. I have the utmost respect and empathy for Zane, Catherine, Kristian... and anyone else on the planet who studies anything medical, scientific, chemistryish, and the like. Catherine and Zane have been doing so much to help me study and learn, I can never thank them enough. The other day, Zane and I were outside minding our own business [aka talking in baby voices and quoting The Office] when we spotted a woman screaming, "They're biting me!" First of all, WHO WOULD WANT TO GET NEAR SOMEONE SCREAMING THAT?? Zane forced me to growapair and see what was up. There was a parade of newborn snapping turtles! So many of them were hit by cars on their first quest to the water :[. We did all we could to search for more of them and take the survivors to the lake. I am officially, a turtlehugger. It's Zane's birthday month! Each day, from the 4th to the 29th [exactly, and including, 26 days until his big day], he wakes up to two small boxes and picks a piece of paper out of each. One box is filled with reasons why I love him and the other has things I will do for him that day. :]. I wanted him to have a wonderful birthday month, not just a wonderful birthday. Back to studying, dog walking and birthday party planning :].