For the first time since we left Utah and landed in Puerto Rico, I took a trip off the island to meet my friends in Orlando! Shelley turned 40 a few weeks ago and we couldn’t get away with that big birthday without a trip to celebrate! We came from three different spots and ended up in Orlando within a few hours of each other and it was such a sweet reunion! Oh how I’ve missed these 3 wonderful humans. We didn’t have much of a plan before we got there but ended up with 5 days completely full of fun! Mostly we were just so happy to be together and catch up on lost time. Among the mix though came lots of laughs, fun and late nights.
One day we rented bikes and rode along a beautiful trail and through quaint little towns. We walked down to a huge lake and saw baby alligators and lots of different birds. It was so fun to be in bikes for half a day and see the town in a different way!
We also got pedicures, walked around downtown Disney, took a super fun yoga class with silk hammocks, ate so much food I can’t even believe it, went to the temple together and laughed and laughed and laughed! It was just what I needed and SO MUCH DANG FUN that I didn’t even want to say goodbye after it was over. I love these ladies so much and am so glad we got to celebrate Shelley’s big day face to face!
Meanwhile back at home, josh held the family together and got everyone to and from where they needed to be for a few days. To be honest, I’m sure they had so much more fun with their dad than mom could ever be!
When I got back to the island, we had Josh’s cousin and family here and got to spend a few days with them before they headed back to chilly Canada (think negative 20 chilly!) It was so fun to see them and be with them and show them some of our fav spots! We took them to Old San Juan the last night they were in town and we loved walking around the beautiful city with them. We ate pizza and gelato and even stopped in and watched a choir performing at one of the old churches. We ended up overlooking the dock and watching the cruise ships come in and out of port. This is one of my favorite places in the evening because it’s so nice and cool and fun to see so many things going on around us. We loved having Drew, Bronwyn and family in town with us and hope we get to see them again soon!
At the end of the week Rhen and her class got to take a trip to San Juan and be a part of the game show “Puerto Rico Gana”! They were all audience members and some even got to be in the show and up in stage. Rhen loved being there and part of the crowd and they even got to meet the host after! She said it was so fun and she was so happy she got to be a part of that.
Some other happenings this week:
Spike ball in the pool - a new fav.
A new Elder arrived in the branch. Elder Bedke was transferred to the Virgin Islands and elder Ashton joined elder Barnes in our branch!
Josh bought some new plants for the yard. One is a gorgeous orange hibiscus that I can’t wait to plant.
Desh continues to get tips on his push-ups.
We found a new favorite restaurant - Pa-onde-Sea.
Josh and I took donuts to Rhens class for her birthday. It was so fun to see her blush as her classmates all joined in singing happy birthday to her!
Saturday we celebrated Rhen’s 14th birthday with a party and some of her friends! I can not believe that she is already 14! This spunky girl came into our home in a whirlwind and hasn’t stopped since she arrived. Wow it’s been such a fun ride with her!
She had some of her closest friends over to swim and play ping pong and had cake and ice cream as we all sang Happy Birthday to her! We are so blessed to have this girl in our family and love the important part that she plays in our mix. We wouldn’t be Beutlers without Rhen!
14 year old stats:
Height: 5'8" - 95%
Weight: 156 lbs - 93%
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