Florida Christmas Party

December 18th, we picked up our Eldest son and headed straight to Miami. We arrived in Miami at 1:45 a.m. after a drive through Alligator Alley, which was driven expertly by one youngest son, said, Kyler Jay Brower.
We had a lot of fun, We went to Church for Christmas Sunday and watched Sharon play a beautiful rendition of We Three Kings (?)
than I was so lucky to be able to sit in Sunday School where Sister Berry gave a wonderful lesson. Then even more luckier, I got to sit in Relief Society where Sharon gave a wonderful lesson on Holding the Sabbath Day Holy. I met and talked to a beautiful women named Eangela (?) She was coming back to the church for the first time since she was a teenager. I was so blessed to talk to her, she was sweet, she was sincere and she was extremly friendly. Thanks Sharon for making each of us turn to a neighbor and talk about Keeping the Sabbath holy! 
We had a wonderful ham dinner. Then the Activities started, We opened presents. We got a game from Sharon’s family and we got a great Popcorn bowl with 4 little bowls with the Disney characters on them!   After opening our gifts the Grandparents and mary went home. Then the games started. We had given Sharon’s family the game Disney’s Cranium. So we played that and the played on the Wii.
Fun Times were had by all.

Mormon Messages: Create

I love this video!

Picking Names for Our Christmas party at Sharon’s

So, this year we are picking family names to trade presents with. The original plan was to each have a family member to buy a gift for, but as of yesterday that has changed to us for instance buying a family gift for my parent’s and Mary and also for the Finlinson’s for our family party in Miami in a few weeks.

We are going to be going to Maryland the day after Christmas so our usual time of exchanging gifts around New years won’t happen since we wont be home until the 3rd of January. Everyone wants to see Devin so this will work out perfect. Here our is the name exchange event and a few pictures of Kyler’s cousins picking on him!  hee hee

 

 

Happy17th Birthday Kyler from the Grandparents and Aunt Mary!

 

So, Kyler’s birthday as I said in a previous post is November 13th so when we were over for the Thanksgiving weekend. My folks and Aunt Mary celebrated Kyler’s birthday after the sweet Finlinson’s left to go back to Miami.

Kyler was given a dollar for each year he was born and then a boast. He will enjoy that while going out with his friends!

 

  

Counting his funds…

  

A teenager always loves MONEY!

The many faces of the family or Baby Roman takes over the camera!

 

So, I have to admit, this little boy has totally taken over my camera every time our families are together. How can you not with those blue eyes and that great big huge smile?

And here are candid pictures of those people that he loves and who love him back: sorry, the person behind the camera had no mirror to share her ownself…

     

And then for the special event of the weekend: A wise and loving Man plays his violin!

All my life I have lived in a musical family. We have my dad who plays the violin so wonderfully, and can tickle the ivories sometimes. We had my grandma Field who played the piano, sang amazingly and bowled a crazy game of Pins. My mom sings. Sharon, who sings, plays the Violin and a baby sister, Diana who can sing, play the violin and tried her hand at the flute and the violin. Then there was me… I  play the piano, played the clarinet (but stopped,) and sing! Until my Grandma Field passed away singing was fun but my range was more tenor, alto and 2nd soprano. then after Grandma’s Heavenly journey, I think she blessed me with the ability to channel her singing talent and pull her true soprano. I am blessed to be able to do that now. I seriously hear her singing sometimes when I sing. I love it!
But, also after my Grandma Passed away, my dad sort of stopped playing his violin and it saddened the rest of us especially my mom! This morning, He broke out his violin and gave us the greatest gift ever! He and Sharon played, and played and played. It was absolutely beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes. Then we sang, and sang and sang. I got to sing Edelweis while they played. My mom’s request brought tears to my eyes and we had to do it 2 times because every time I looked at my mom, I started crying and couldn’t sing.

Kiara sang joyously,

Indigo sang,

my dad even got Dagmar the Clubhouse manager to sing Stille Nacht and O Tannenbaum. So fun!    

My dad has a talent that he shouldn’t waste and even though he hasn’t played for so long, he still has the most beautiful tone. I guess it is like riding a bicycle, you never forget how to play, or maybe that is the inner spirit speaking to him where he doesn’t ever forget! It was like he had never stopped playing!
When I was younger, he played in the Murray Symphony and it was so fun to watch him play. I have always loved that. All holidays were filled with music but the Christmas Holiday was the one that always moved me the most. We sang Hymns, Christmas jingles and ALWAYS, always honored my grandpa and grandma Field with their most beloved songs. My Grandma always loved that… So, that is what we did today…

Rich and Mary always enjoy a great show!!

To bad we couldn’t get my kids to get up and Sing. Kenna refused to sing and Kyler who sings wonderfully (opera and all,)  but thinks it is too cool to sing. 

These two have some mad Violin skills…

My handsome Matt who can’t hold a tune does thorouly love listening to our family shine. He has always been the best rooting audience for us over the years! Thanks Honey, I love you!


Thank you Daddy for sharing once again your gift and for teaching us the love of music!

Breakfast in North Redington or who would think this eclectic place was off the Bay & across the street from the Beach? It is Perfect!

 

So, The Finlinson’s and us the Brower’s stayed at the Sails Hotel in Redington Beach. And we all decided we wanted to go to Breakfast at IHOP. But, the problem was we couldn’t find one that was really close and so we map quested it. Matt and Sharon said what about a Mom and Pop’s shop in town? Sharon map quested it and we found this adorable place called the Sweet Sage Cafe. They have been in that location for 20 years and we ever knew it was there. It is right across the street from The Tides. Crazy…

Enjoy our experience!

Isn’t it such a sweet cafe?

Through this arch was the neatest environment. It reminded me of Key West, then we met the proprietor and she said that she had grown up on Key West and that is why it has that vibe. I would love to run a Bed and Breakfast or a little café like this. Awesome!

 

They even decorated for Christmas. Lovely

Kyler texting of course!

Beautiful Sharon

 

Rich and the kids

I loved the look of the café, so fun!

The kids looking at the menu to see what they want to order. Poor Indigo’s meal didn’t come until late and then it was all wrong and it finally was right. I think the kids got the best meals of all!

ME

       

This is the bathroom: It was really fun!

Inside the café was a gift shoppe, these were my favorite sites in it.

This mannequin reminds me of Harley Quinn the side kick of the Joker,The Batman Cartoons of the days of yore when Devin was little. Quinn as I am calling her, gave Indigo the creeps. I don’t know why she just did, so I had to take a picture to remind indigo of what Quinn looked like. I think she is adorable (Indigo and Quinn.)