Month: December 2025

2/26/25

Mom surprised us by picking strawberries at Cross Roads Farm!

2/14/25

Mom made us cards:

There were lots of fun little gifts inside the gift bag from Mom:

Dad got us some amazing and fancy candied apples!

Should we eat it now!?

Lizzy gave Dad a treat bag!

Rachel made one for Dad too!

Mom had gifts for Dad too:

She had some treats for him too:

Lizzy and Mom both got him Swedish fish:

Dad gave Mom some treats:

And flowers:

Rachel gave Mom an awesome card:

It was all in Spanish!!

Apparently it was an assignment for her Spanish class!

Some dark chocolates:

Lizzy gave Mom some fitness equipment!!

And chocolates!

Later Dad and Mom spent there Valentine’s date night at a Gator gymnastics meet:

Some of the proceeds went to cancer research:

1/29/25

Rachel entered an environmental art contest. Students in the county submitted art work depicting local wildlife and environmental topics. Art pieces submitted were displayed in the county administration building for a couple of months and the winners will be featured in the 2026 Saving My Alachua County Calendar.

Although she didn’t make it into the calendar this year it was a beautiful submission!

1/25/25

She’s already teaching herself how to play!

She’s hoping to start a band!

1/24/25

Lizzy was in the District showcase for theater again!

They announced their group to the judges:

And then performed their skit:

Lizzy and her best friend Yara performed to the song Party in the USA between performances:

This song and dance has become a tradition in their theater career at GHS.

There really got into it!

Lizzy had a solo performance for the judges as well:

She sang “Dead Mom” from the Beetle-juice The Musical:

Congratulations Lizzy on a wonderful district showcase!

1/20/25

For Mom’s birthday she wanted to go kayaking with the manatees! We drove to Crystal River and launched our Kayaks from Hunter Springs Park.

It was a little chilly out but not too bad with coats and gloves:

A manatee swam right under Rachel’s kayak! It was as big as her kayak! We saw dolphins too!

And ducks:

We headed in the direction of the dolphins and watched for the manatees:

There were pelicans too:

We caught back up with the dolphins:

The birds and the dolphins were fishing in the same spot!:

We were right near them!

They swam around and around us!

We finally caught up to the manatees:

One, a juvenile manatee, came right up to Rachel!

He wanted to be petted!

Lizzy got to pet him too!

He stayed with us for a while!

We kept petting him:

That was an incredible experience!!

On our way home Dad’s truck stopped. Turns out his gas gauge is broken and we ran out of gas. We ran towards the gas station and mom stayed with the truck.

We thought it was closer so Lizzy and I came back to the truck and Dad ended up getting a ride to the gas station. After getting gas another person stopped to give dad a ride back to the truck:

The whole thing took about 40 minutes and we were back on our way home!

Later that evening we celebrated Mom’s birthday at home too. To Mom Love Rachel!:

A water collection bag for backpacking!

A handmade card from Rachel:

Another beautifully artistic card from Rachel!

To Mom Love Lizzy!

A new LDS Temples calendar. It’s not the usual big one but Mom loves it!

A handmade card from Lizzy:

Lizzy’s card are always entertaining!

Another awesome card from Lizzy!

Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce gave Mom a beautiful card:

Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce gave Mom a new work shirt:

Mom loves hiking memoir books!

15lbs:

20lbs

25lbs!

30lbs!

Four new Kettle-bells to match the ones she already has. Now she has a full set of two 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, 25lb. and 30 lb kettle-bells:

We sang Happy birthday and brought out her favorite little cakes that
Dad makes for mom:

Happy Birthday Mom we hope all your wishes come true!

01/23/25

Mom got a birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Beck (Dad’s parents):

They sent a very nice card for Mom’s birthday:

Grandma Beck does such beautiful work!! So very pretty and thoughtful!

1/15/25

We apparently were bugging dad in his office and so he locked us out. When he went to the bathroom we locked him in the bathroom!

Where’s Daddy Luna? No helping!

1/12/25

The Araque’s brought a birthday present for Lizzy:

Beauty products are always nice!

Thanks Patricia and Franklin!

Dad wasn’t home so they left a present for him too. He opened it when he got home:

A chef apron for the chef of the house:

Ginormous grilling mitts:

1/11/25

Rachel is now old enough to be a YCL (Youth Camp Leader) and Mom was just called to be the Stake YW Camp Leader! Today we had our first YCL YW Camp planning meeting:

It’s going to be a great Rachel was happy that the themes she wanted were chosen!

1/10/25

Rachel has been taking a High School ceramics level 1 class and she is already really good at it!

Each of these were specific assignments for the class.

The coil assignment:

The pumpkin assignment:

The mug assignment:

This assignment required a rattle. The bird rattles when you shake it!

Beautiful work Rachel!