New Year's Eve Symphony

Chris and I had to cancel our date to the symphony a couple of weeks ago when we had a snowstorm that caused the roads to be treacherous. Fortunately, we were able to have our tickets credited to our account with options to choose another performance anytime until May 2025.

Christ booked the New Year's Eve performance of "A Night in Vienna" with musical selections including polkas, waltzes, and marches. Misha was able to get a student ticket for $10 and joined us. She wasn't able to get a ticket next to us, but had a seat 3 or 4 rows closer.

Coming home, Chris saw a freeway sign announcing "Road Icy and SnowPacked". We thought maybe it was a mistake until we suddenly came to a section that was in the middle of a freak snowstorm. Cars slowed way down and still there were a few accidents. 

I made a prediction that it was probably clear in Firestone. Actually, the roads were clear again after five miles. Crazy but glad that we made it home safely.

Flying Home - Day 8

My alarm went off at 4 am! We had an hour and a half drive to the airport to drop Amy off for her 7:30 am flight. We left the airport to fill the rental car with gas, returned it and then checked in for our 9 am flight. Security was a breeze. 

Misha and I bought some croissants, a smoothie, and yogurt for breakfast. Our flight left ten minutes early, a good thing since we encountered weather along the way that would delay us about 45 minutes.

We arrived home just after 11 am. Unpacked, had some lunch, and got caught up on mail.

Kristen's Mission Email - Week 28

Hey people!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful week! I definitely had a Christmas to remember so let's get into it! 

• Music on Christmas Eve (w/ friends!) 
• CHRISTMAS W THE MISH 
• So much flat cleaning 
• Elect Princess 
• High standards in the AAM 
• We had a musical devotional on Christmas Eve run by some of our missionaries! We got together to sing carols and hear some awesome musical performances! 
• Our friend Christopher (who is 83 btw) came to the aforementioned devotional and then church on Sunday and talked about how enjoyable they both were! Some of his buds told him that meeting with us was a bad idea, so he had some questions for us, and afterwards said, "I'm so glad to hear that you believe that!" I hope everyone overcomes peer pressure like my 83 year old pal. 

MISSION CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!! We were surprised with videos from home (I definitely was not sobbing when I saw mine, because I literally talked to them like 30 mins before....that would be embarrassing if I did, right??😬), played games, ate good food, had a huge 80-person white elephant, district secret Santa, Kahoots, AND a funny video competition. Which my district won🫡 President knows comedy when he sees it clearly (I'll attach it to my Google Photos) 

Mission T-shirt from President

If we didn't win, I would have been distraught, that took way too much effort. Plus, I brought a coveted frog hat for white elephant which everyone fought over, and I'm very proud of that. This means I'm basically the funniest AAM missionary. I don't make the rules. 

We had our 3 hours of mandated deep cleaning for the transfer. This mission is relatively lax in comparison to Arcadia with the exception of cleaning, oddly enough! 

Kristen and Sister Bradbeer

We received a referral from a lady named Princess the other day. We rang her and the first thing she asked was when church was! I was like, "Okay pull up at 9:30 on Sunday". AND SHE DID!!! She showed up with a cutie little baby who didn't even cry during sacrament meeting and we were talking about baptism after 🤭🙏😏 she sounds elect to me. Pray for Princess!! 

President has high expectations for us this next transfer and new year (we receive transfer news Wednesday and move Saturday). He wants us finding at least one new person to teach EVERYDAY, to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days, and to memorize all the principles for the first three lessons! When he said all this, I was a little nervy! But this is totally attainable with the Lord on my side AND with some sacrifice on my part. 

The same goes for whatever goals you have for this upcoming new year! The Lord will uphold and magnify your efforts when you seek Him too! It may require sacrificing some things and some hard work, but you can do so much more with Him than on your own. 

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

IT'S TRUE!! I would encourage you to set a spiritual goal for yourself this year. Where do you want to see yourself and your Savior at the end of 2025? Prayerfully create a goal and a plan to make it happen. And when you include the Lord in your plans, you invite His power to complete them as well. I can't believe it's basically 2025, but I hope this is the best year for all of you. 

I'm so excited for what's in store, let me know what you're doing for New Years! God loves you so so much, and so do I. 

Sister Kristen Kline💗

Florida for Christmas - Day 7

We had a slow morning. Amy had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling great. (But she did an eye treatment, so there's that!)

Chris, Misha and I drove to Venice for the Saturday market. Amy stayed home to rest. We perused the market and then meandered through some of the shops in the downtown area. 

We spent the afternoon at Venice Beach. The sky was overcast, but the weather was warm as we sat close to the Venice Fishing Pier. It made for some interesting people watching. 

Lots of people were searching for petrified shark teeth along the water’s edge. We ate a picnic lunch at the beach before returning to the rental. 

Amy wasn’t feeling so hot. Chris and I went and picked up some dinner. 

Chris watched the BYU/Colorado bowl game. I packed up and showered since we would have an early start in the morning.

Florida for Christmas - Day 6

About a month ago, we bought an Urban Adventure Quest scavenger hunt for St. Petersburg, Florida.

We headed there on Friday morning, but first stopped at the Apple Store at the Bradenton Mall. Misha traded in her iPad for accessories for her new iPad. We arrived in St. Petersburg for a beautiful sunshiny day. 

The scavenger hunt took us a couple of hours as we progressed from the waterfront to the Renaissance hotel, a banyan tree and more. There were a couple of clues that were inaccessible and a huge sundial that was simply missing. 

We stopped for lunch. Chris and Misha had burgers, Amy had pizza and I found a Mediterranean restaurant for a takeaway falafel salad. Delish! 

We drove to Treasure Island to enjoy another sunset and then returned to the house to eat some of our leftovers.

Boxing Day in Florida - Day 5

Misha and Amy took off early for a day at Busch Gardens. They arrived fairly early in the morning.

It was less busy in the morning; the lines became progressively longer as the day went on. They had taken a lunch and left it in a cooler in the rental car. The opted for a lunch in the park at Chick-fil-A. 

They rode a bunch of rollercoasters, watched an animal show, and enjoyed a rest while watching the Holiday Magic Show. 

Chris and I hung out at the vacation rental for the day. He worked for some of the morning, I worked on the family blog and then braved the pool. It wasn’t terribly warm for a 70° day. The hot tub was much nicer. We hung out there for a while and then relaxed in the sun. It was a nice way to spend the day.

Kristen hung out with us.

Busch Gardens was about an hour away. Amy and Misha were ready to leave the park by 6 pm. Traffic delayed them a bit. They picked up a dinner order for us from Carrabba’s Italian restaurant on the way home and we feasted together.

Merry Christmas in Florida - Day 4

Chris and I thought that Amy and Misha would sleep in today since they were up later chatting with Kristen on Christmas Eve, so we took off on our morning walk around 8:45 am local. Amy texted us at 9:15, "Wake up. It's Christmas!" We responded that we were out walking and would be back soon.

Nice to come home to girls making breakfast. Amy's pancakes turned out so much better than mine and she didn't set off the fire alarm. Helped that I told her to start the burner temp below medium. Always have to get used to new stoves.

Chris and I showered while the girls finished with breakfast.

We gathered in the living room and enjoyed a fun morning. Amy and Misha both received combo Christmas and graduation gifts. 

We sent some gifts through Amazon.au and Target.au for Kristen for Christmas. Chris transferred some money to her debit card account since she uses that regularly.

We had leftover pizza for lunch and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. It was about 10° cooler on Christmas Day and overcast, so not the best day for being outside.

Trying to find a place to go for dinner, I spent some time looking at places that I "thought" were open. I finally submitted an order to a BBQ place about 15 minutes from the rental. Amy and Misha had gone for a walk around the neighborhood loop, so Chris and I jumped in the car, picked up Amy and Misha, and stopped for a few extra drinks at Circle K.

We arrived at the BBQ place and quickly realized that it was closed. Not sure why they would take my order if they weren't open. So, we began looking for a place to eat as many places were closed. We found a Chinese restaurant called New China and stopped to place a takeaway order. It was a hopping place.

The chances of having a good meal were 50/50 but it ended up being awesome. Even Amy enjoyed it and she's not always a fan of Chinese food. 

We watched "Fly Me to the Moon" together. Great movie if you are looking for a feel good story. It is fictional story drawing on real life events. 

We missed having Kristen with us, but watching mission videos on the Adelaide Australia mission page on Facebook helped us to see that her mission presidents and the senior couples really worked hard to make this a positive Christmas for all of the missionaries in their charge.

Florida for Christmas - Day 3

Chris and I completed our morning walk. His long legs means that his speed walking pace is a lot faster than mine. I could tell that I would have shin splints if I tried to maintain his pace and just said, "Go your pace and I'll go mine."

We had gifts that we sent to the rental as well as some that we brought in our luggage. We spent the morning wrapping everything.

Misha created Flat Kristen after picking up the printed photo at Walgreens. We had originally planned to rive to St. Petersburg. The traffic was crazy. We stopped in Bradenton at the Chick-fil-A for lunch and decided that we could go to St. Petersburg another day this week when we are able to get an earlier start.

Sister Kristen ordering at Chick-fil-A.

We drove toward Bradenton Beach after lunch. The sun was shining, but I wouldn't actually call it sunbathing weather. We enjoyed the beautiful and soft fluffy sand for awhile and then decided to drive along the coast back to Nokomis.

Sister Kristen at the beach with Dad.

Kristen relegated to the middle seat.

We talked with Kristen off and on throughout the afternoon. It was her Christmas morning in Australia. She was headed with all of the missionaries in the area to the mission home for a Christmas day celebration. They enjoyed a lunch with Christmas crackers, a gift exchange, a district video competition, and a white elephant gift exchange. Apparently Kristen's white elephant gift of a frog hat was one of the most popular, most stolen items among the missionaries. We also sent a 30-second clip wishing Kristen a Merry Christmas that was compiled with clips from other missionary families.

Kristen loved the video from home and had a teary moment.

There is a road in the area called Tamiami, pronounced Tammy Ammy. I looked it up and it is a combination of Tampa and Miami as the road runs across the state from Miami on the Atlantic coast to Tampa on the Gulf Coast. 

Bradenton was pretty hard hit by the recent hurricane. We saw numerous destroyed beach homes, sand piles feet high, closed parking lots because they were filled with sand, and the start of rebuilding. All next to homes that weren't touched a bit.

Siesta Key also sustained a lot of damage.

We arrived back at the rental, changed clothes and drove to Pinchers for a sea food dinner. Amy and Misha both had fish tacos while Chris had black grouper and I had gulf grouper. FYI, the gulf grouper was the tastier option.

Before going back to the rental, we stopped Enander's Winter Wonderland Christmas light display. This is a family that decorates their home and property with over 350,000 lights and 400 lit figurines. And it is FREE and attracts visitors from miles around. It opens the first week in December and lights up nightly until the first of January.

Kristen enjoying Enander's.

Kristen and Dad.

We had a Christmas Eve gift exchange at the rental, watched a video of the Savior's birth, and said goodnight. Misha and Amy stayed up until 1 am chatting with Kristen.

Florida for Christmas - Day 2

We are kind of enjoying this warmer weather for Christmas. It may not feel like a "normal" Christmas at home in Colorado, but we aren't minding it this year.

Kristen has already specified that she wants a Colorado Christmas next year. Since she is released from her mission on November 25, we can probably make that happen. We are thinking about going to Australia to pick her from her mission, but no concrete plans as of yet.

Chris and I are staying on our Colorado schedule pretty well (and actually sleeping better than we have been in the past month or so). We get up and walk in the neighborhood before breakfast. We follow the road that loops around the golf course and it is just over 2 miles. We thought this "Caution Alligator" sign by a pond funny. (Funny until you encounter said alligator!)

Unfortunately, I was making pancakes and didn't realize how hot the pan would get on medium (getting used to a new stove) and had a burnt-ish hue on most of the pancakes. And unfortunately, I didn't turn on the hood fan quickly enough and the fire alarm went off!

Amy and Misha were out of bed in no time. Fortunately it was already 8 am (Mountain Time) and 10 am local so they weren't too crabby with me.

They still ate the pancakes. Put enough syrup on them and they taste just fine! Syrup and fruit.

I brought protein powder and we bought some spinach and blueberries at the grocery store for a protein smoothie.

Chris worked most of the morning on year end calls. I sat by the pool and worked on updating this blog.

Amy and Misha went shopping and bought stocking stuffer gifts and our Christmas tree!

Once Chris was finished working for the afternoon, we drove to Leachs Key, not too far from the rental. It happened to be the perfect timing as the sun was just setting.

Misha and Amy took some creative photos by the beach. After a little photoshopping, we were complete.

Kristen's Mission Email - Week 27

Hi people! Happy Christmas Adam (Dec 23) 

I hope you're all looking forward to the holidays, because I know I am! I don't have any huge events to report and a lot of our friends are out of town/busy for the holidays sooooo here's a compilation of the small regular happenings of my life this week! 

• We've been trying to get more member meals at the request of president! 
• We had some success this week with a total of 2!! (That's our highest count) 
• There was a small music devotional put on by the YSA yesterday at the church building, which I LOVED. Nothing brings the Spirit faster than music for me. 
• We play volleyball each week with a large group of our members and their friends, which usually ends up being majority Polynesians. Who are really good at VB. And I am not. Get the picture? Regardless, I try to play each week and I should be better by the end of my mission 

• We did even more caroling this week! (All the verses😬) 
• We had a great lesson with our friend Christopher! He's a little forgetful (which may be why he's referred himself to us so many times), BUT he's really keen to learn more! He'll join us for the big Christmas Eve musical we have coming up. He is really well-learned in the Bible and has so many good questions about the Church!! Pray for Christopher! 
• I did a quick half day exchange with Sister Templeman which was so good! We went to KFC (where I've discovered my new fav order #wickedwings😋) and had a grand ol' time 
• We mowed a members lawn and she gave me yummy biscuits and sparkling water, I felt so posh. 
• The four woman flat has instituted "The Mega Bed" for the festivities of this week. Basically we smooshed all our mattresses into the living room and we watch CHURCH movies (don't freak out guys) on Sister Templeman's projector and have a sleepover all week. 

I love my personal study time. I cherish it. I often think throughout my day "All I have to do right now is make it to personal study" (shoutout atml-Adjusting to Missionary Life). But it hasn't always been that way. It wasn't until about 3 weeks before my mission that I started reading the scriptures daily. And even then, it was a chore. 

Then I got to the MTC and an hour seemed like way too long to focus on the scriptures. I didn't know how missionaries did it, much less enjoyed it. I made it to Arcadia, and my personal study material was a mandated 30 minutes in Preach My Gospel, 30 minutes in the Book of Mormon. 

I first thought it was too restrictive, how was I going to get something from it with them telling me what to read? However, I learned to love my personal studies. I stopped snoozing through them as much the further I got in my mission. It became a time for the Lord to give me revelation. It helped me realize I wanted to continue reading daily after the mission. Now I'm in Australia, and I read from all the standard works everyday. It has become something I love. And I understand more what it really means to feast on the Word of God. 

So, I guess the point I'm trying to get across is we don't have to love reading the scriptures. At least not right now. Getting something from them takes effort, something that seems daunting in our busy lives. I know it certainly won't be easy for me without a carved out time for it each day when I'm home. But as we spend more time with the scriptures, much like our families or companions, you learn to love them and to know them. 

I promise God speaks to us today through the words of prophets old. And whatever you seek in your life--peace, answers, a relationship with your Savior-- can be cultivated and found in daily scripture study. I know that there is power in the scriptures and the fact that they've been preserved, translated, and have made it into our hands today is nothing short of a miracle. So use God's miracle!! 

It's up to you to let it into your heart. Read (even a little bit) of your scriptures every day! And you too will learn to love it. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy time with family and celebrating our Savior this week! 

Love you all heaps. 

Sister Kristen Kline

Florida for Christmas -Day 1 Flight

Our flight to Florida (Misha, Chris and Jo) left early Sunday morning. Amy's flight was landing at the same time we were leaving the house on Sunday morning.

Misha came home Saturday evening to do some laundry...after a quick to Buccees with her friends since one of them hadn't been to the mega convenience store yet (Chris and I live about ten minutes from it and haven't been yet).

I had to leave the house spic and span clean since our new realtor is coming with a photographer on Monday to take more interior and exterior pictures.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight. Misha made a stop at Voodoo Donuts and Jamba Juice for a smoothie.

Chris declared his sprinkle donuts one of the best that he has had in a long time.

Our flight was uneventful. We barely missed the upgrade.

Amy returned to the airport with her rental car, turned it in, and then met us at our new rental car. Good thing she had already dropped her luggage off, I don't think it would have all fit!

Our vacation rental is a vacation home that one of Chris co-workers owns. He rented it to us for the week. We drove for over an hour and half before arriving in Nokomis, close to Naples and Venice Florida.

The rental has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an enclosed outdoor pool and spa, and plenty of places for us to spread out.

For dinner, we went to Mi Pueblo. Amy was craving guacamole. If we had wanted to sit inside, the wait was 45 minutes. The staff turned on the outdoor heaters by our table and we enjoyed the twinkling Christmas lights on the palm trees.

It was Kristen's P-Day so we chatted with her off and on throughout the afternoon. As you can imagine, being away from home and family for the holiday was hard for her. We will get to chat with her again on Christmas Day.

Amy's Flight to Florida

Unfortunately, Amy's flight to Florida was a red eye. It left quite late on Saturday evening, arriving in Florida around 6:30 am. She slept quite poorly on her flight, if at all.

After arriving, she had a rental car for the day that allowed her to go to the beach and find a few things to do for the day.

Since you have to be 25 years old to rent a car, this was Amy's first rental experience.

She was soooooo tired that she stopped in the parking lot of a hotel and slept in the rental car for an hour!

Yard Work in December

We have had an unseasonably warm December. I surely don't mind, though I know we could use the moisture.

Since we have a photographer coming on the 23rd for more listing photos, Chris spent a couple of hours doing yard work and cleaning up all of the fallen leaves. I helped by scooping the leaves up.

Spilled Dish Soap

I'm glad I looked under the kitchen sink. The large bottle of dish soap that I keep under the sink had somehow developed a cut in the plastic and had slowly been leaking soap for some time.  

Fortunately, every time we move into a house, we cut linoleum to size and put it in the cabinets under the sink. This saved us for sure as the base of the cabinet would have definitely been ruined. As it was, I took a metal spatula and scooped the soap into the garbage. So glad I found it when I did. I emptied the rest of the soap into an empty water bottle.

Jo's Health Update...Again

I think it has been at least a month that I have not felt fantastic. After my last doctor visit, I started taking some itch meds around the clock. 

I was still so itchy. I went back to the doctor on December 19th. I received another shot in my butt (not pleasant) and I was able to get more of the itch meds. The PA I have been seeing (my regular doctor has been out of office), also prescribed an ointment which seems to have been the miracle to getting rid of my itch. I have been so thankful for her. 

Eduardo

Amy sent a picture to the family of her friend Eduardo who comes into the credit union every Friday. He and Amy have become great friends.

He is the one that brought in small gifts for everyone the week before.

Ripped Envelope

Could this envelope have ripped any more perfectly?

Update on Monument House

In the past couple of weeks, the workers have poured concrete on the deck, under the deck and on the front porch. The eave troughs are being installed; we talked with Linsey the General Manager and have decided, with her encouragement, to add rain chains by the front door because the downspouts would normally be placed in front of one window on the left and a shutter on the right.

The spray foam has been applied to the exterior walls.