We love to celebrate the holidays and Valentine’s Day is a fun “Loving” holiday we really enjoy!
Mom gave Dad quite a spread with fresh herbs, bread and cheese:
He seemed pretty happy!
Lizzy and Rachel had a full table of “Love”:
You can never go wrong with gourmet brownies!Dad is looking pretty hard at these brownie’s. . .perhaps you girls could share.A Valentine’s message from mom:
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Lizzy & Rachel,
Being Parents of two daughters is a wonderful and cherished blessing! Sisterly love is also a wonderful and cherished blessing! As your parents we share our hearts with both of you equally. As sisters this Valentine’s Day, you will share all these nice gifts with each other!
Wishing You Both a Very Happy Valentine’s Day!
With Love, Mom & Dad
Now back to the gifts. . .
I think they like it!That’s a lot of stuff to share!Lizzy’s cards are always “Extra” special!
Gifts are nice too:
Can’t go wrong with candy for Dad!I don’t think he’s planning on sharing Lizzy. . . but you have some to share with your sister.A Very nice card from Rachel too.. still don’t think he is going to share his candy with youeither.
More Candy For Dad!
All his favorites in one day!How about a kiss on the side of the head!
From Rachel to Lizzy:
Handmade cards are always nice.This was “extra” special too!A treat from the bakery.Meringues!
What’s happening!?!
She shared with Rachel AND Dad! (mom respectfully declined the ball of sugar).This looks good!Sisterly Love!
Time for mom to give Dad MORE gifts!
The happy couple!He’s all set now!
Lizzy to Mom:
Definitely “Extra” special!Love!Can’t go wrong with Dark Chocolate for mom!
Rachel to Mom:
Very nice card with calligraphy!I love you too Rachel!!Raspberry filled dark chocolate, YUM!More Dark!
Last but not least, Dad to Mom:
And a gift:
More backpacking gear! They are almost ready to go!
Happy Valentine’s Day Patricia!
Patricia came over and we had something for her too!
We made some cards and had some special gifts for mom to celebrate her birthday!
Rachel has been working with paper crafting and came up with this pretty design for the front of the card.Mom needed a clip for her phone. Thanks Rachel!Rachel did some nice pencil drawings for mom as well. Fitness themed is always a win!Mom LOVED this painting!!This painting up in the gym!Lizzy made a card for mom too!As always an awesomely creative and loving message!An Echo Dot Plug In. We can plug in a lamp and use Alexa to turn it on and off even when we are away from home! “Mom are you going to fight with Alexa with this too?!” Mom has trouble getting Alexa to do what she is asking. So, she often “fights” with Alexa.A card from Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce.
Presents from Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce!
Organizing and fitness – how can you go wrong with gifts like these (for mom anyway!).
Of course anything hiking is an awesome choice too! Dad got mom a tent for backpacking!
This is what it says:
“Happy Birthday Dear Heather
You’ve got your tent for the AT, but it’s missing something: trekking poles!
So It’s time for another trip to REI. There we’ll get two sets of trekking poles so that we can set up the tent.
Are you excited? It’s all starting to come together! Soon you’ll be ready for the trail.”
Happy Birthday Cake! mom loves this mini hear cakes with chocolate cake, chocolate mouse with a chocolate coating on the outside!Make a wish Mom!
Happy Birthday Mom! We hope you had a great day! We Love You!
It was a beautiful Saturday so we decided to drive out near Ocala and hop on the Florida Trail.
Rachel and I hiked from this trailhead last year and we enjoyed it so much we were excited to come back.We headed down to the water first thing this time. When Rachel and I were here last time we hadn’t noticed how close the water was near the start and we stuck to the trail. It is such a beautiful day for this!Luna is so happy we are all together on this hike!Time to actually get on the Florida Trail (Orange Blazes).Rachel spotted this edible fungus. Nope we didn’t try it, we just took a picture and left it alone.
We made our way back down to the water.
The water is much higher than when we were here last time.The twisty tree roots are still here!Lizzy “pretending” to drink from the spout.Time to climb back up to the trail.
We decide to go a little farther up the trail this time.
Another pretty spot by the water.Lizzy found an interesting spot to relax.Rachel found a friend!
This is our first Christmas (since Lizzy was a newborn baby, having been born December 14th, 2009) that we have not traveled to NY for Christmas.
We slept in a bit and then came out to the stockings all laid out on the sofas:
Although the stockings were very tempting we First opened the gift about Jesus (this box was made many years ago by Elizabeth and over the years the girls have added to the box).
Lizzy went through each item and shared her testimony about the savior and His Gospel:
Scriptures are right on top.The Articles of Faith are on the back of this card.Jesus in the manger.Jesus IS the reason we celebrate Christmas!
Luna had waited very patiently for her stocking!
Time for the girls’ stockings:
Bob Ross mint tin.
Dad’s turn:
Dipping oils for bread.
Mom too:
Dark Chocolate – mom’s favorite!
We have somehow acquired two cats (Mrs. Kitty and Big Mama) in addition to our two, Shadow and Windy. Big mama is the feral mama cat in the neighborhood that comes to the door multiple times a week (sometimes twice a day) for food. Miss Kitty is a neighborhood cat that has basically become our indoor/outdoor cat. All that said, we have a very large stocking for all the cats!
This “Special Kitty” cat food is specifically for Miss Kitty. She is the only cat that likes it out of all the cats and she comes “home” for it twice a day.
Time for Bunya’s stocking:
Time to open our gifts. Grandpa and Grandma Beck sent us a box of gifts:
Lizzy read us the card:
Grandma Beck makes beautiful baby dresses. The girls are planning to save them for when they have children. Dad got a huge bag of bit-o-honey candies.
Uncle Chuck also sent gifts. Lizzy read the card:
Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce also sent gifts:
Grandma Joyce has been making the towels. It is a great tribute to Grandma who made these towels for many, many years for all of us. We miss and love you Grandma Grandma!
There were gifts for Luna too!
The Bad Dad Calendar:
Treats!
Gifts from the girls to mom:
Rachel painted a picture with an Appalachian trail blaze for mom.She LOVES IT!
And from Lizzy to Mom:
This Awesome T-Shirt for Mom’s personal training!!
The largest gift was for Dad!
Rachel’s turn:
Acrylic Paints!
Lizzy too:
Pants – the ones she wanted!
And this book!!
Mom:
Blue tooth ear buds.
We exchanged our presents to each other:
From Mom to Dad.Twilight Books for both girls from mom and dad.Dad is getting mom a hiking backpack for Christmas. This is something she will need to go to the store and get fitted for the perfect hiking backpack.
We were not able to make a snowman for Grandma Joyce this year. Hopefully we will be able to go to NY next year!
Since we are still in a pandemic and can’t go to NY for Christmas this year, we decided to go on a little hiking trip. We were able to get an Airbnb in Pensacola, Florida. We invited Patricia to join us! We packed up the car and were on our way:
Luna was excited to be going on the trip with us!
We drove to our first hiking location: a section of the Florida Trail.
We went to check out the river before we started the hike:
It was a very nice start for the day ahead!
Time to get on the trail!
It was a nice and cool morning but I suspect it will get quite a bit warmer throughout the day.The girls are leading the way.
Luna was ready to go but mom wanted a pic of the map.
The Florida trail is usually very well marked and maintained. However, we did come across a blow-down (a fallen tree across the trail).
Not a problem for us!
We got to see sections of the river along the trail:
At times we were able to make it down to the river:
We took a longer break at this one:
This hill was fun to slide down:
It was also fun to run up!
Dad and Lizzy raced up. Although Lizzy had a very large head start…
This is much harder than it looks!
Dad still made it to the top first:
It’s okay Lizzy, it was super hard not to slide back down with each step. In fact mom actually only made it up halfway before having to go up another way!
We found entertainment along the trail as well:
We discovered a cool sink hole:
Rachel found this fungus!
Such a cool mushroom!
And then we came upon this!
It was a loop trail and we made it back to the trailhead!
A very nice hike!
7.9 miles!
We headed to our Airbnb located right on a peninsula near Pensacola, FL.:
We headed out over the bridge to the peninsula.We had the whole house!
The canal was right in the back of the house!
The inside of the house was very nice too!
The beach on the gulf side was just a few minutes walk from our Airbnb. We decided to use our flashlights and go check out the beach:
The water was COLD!
We got some rest and the next day we went on a second hike. We parked near another river and took a moment to prepare for the day:
The trailhead was a short walk down the road:
Juniper Creek Trailhead.
This is a big old tree Rachel pointed out!
This trail also went along beside a river. We found this little beach area to explore:
The sandy beach was great!
Back to the trail. Portions of this trail was also part of the Florida Trail. We came upon a shelter:
Rachel decided to tidy up.
The trail was well maintained but we did come upon a very easy blow-down:
And some little bridges:
We even did some trail running:
We found another beach!
Beautiful!
Time to explore! Lizzy decided to JUMP to the island!
That was Fun!
Rachel’s right next!
Back to the trail Lizzy found a throne:
Another beach!
We heard about a sandstone formation that was a must see on this trail. After some searching we finally found it!
We climbed down and had fun exploring this awesome site!
We made it back to the road.
That was so much fun!8.4 Miles!Time to head back to the Airbnb.
When we got back we decided to head to the beach before the sun sets!
The water is Cold!Beautiful sunset!Beautiful girls!
Then this:
Santa!?
The next morning Lizzy, Luna, Mom and Dad went for a early morning walk on the beach; Rachel and Patricia stayed in bed.
We had one more short hike as we headed back home:
We decide to visit a ghost town:
This was also the site of a famous mansion:
There was also a small hiking trail:
And this cool abandoned bridge:
We had a nice time exploring but now it’s time to get back home and get ready for Christmas!
There is one more BIG thing that has to happen before we celebrate Christmas. . .
Dad Has Surgery!
December 24th, 2020
Christmas Eve.
This was a planned and scheduled double hernia surgery, not an emergency situation, but it needed to be done, so why not Christmas Eve!
6am getting ready for surgery:
He did great! Well. . . the doctor did great:
We love you Dad!
Because of the pandemic we could not go to NY this year and spend Christmas Eve with our cousins so later that evening we decided to each open one small present. The girls exchanged gifts and mom and dad exchanged gifts:
