Florida Girls Trip Weekend Getaway 2019

When you have girlfriends who live literally all over the world, sometimes it is hard to get together regularly! These are my friends from our Misawa times. My special close friends that I really don’t have to talk to every day to know that we still have a special connection. This is NOT all of them as we are missing a few. But this who came on our short getaway to Florida. 

We all flew into Tampa, met up at the hotel where these ladies stayed the night before and went to lunch at Panera before driving our rented car to Siesta Key.

Roxanna (from CA), Erin (from UT), Emily (from CA), me and Tami (from AZ).

We rented a condo close to the beach and relished the warm sunny weather by the ocean!

Seafood place for dinner with a lot of chatter-chatter-chatter.

And more beach time the following day.

The last time we got together for real was in London in 2015. Check our my post here. And we had a bigger group that time. This time, it was also very nice because with a smaller group we could talk even more about fun and important stuff and everyone in the group would listen:) 

We went kayaking for a few hours at the lido through the mangrove forest. Here we are kayaking through the lido to get to the actual “mangrove island”.

It was actually really cool! 

Lots of wild insects and crazy branches.

It’s hard to pinpoint what else we did besides talk, eat and relax. Mostly talk. And snack. 

We are all so different and our lives are taking us in such different directions but it’s so fun to have that common background of having at least two years together in Japan. We have 23 children among all of us.

Here are a dentist’s wife, a pilot’s wife, a pediatric dentist’s wife, a retired JAG’s/lawyer's wife and a doctor’s wife. 

We went to church on Sunday for Sacrament meeting and then drove through Myakka River State Park and saw a couple of alligators in the water. It’s a place famous for having alligators just wandering around the park. 

It was wonderful to get these beautiful ladies together. We must do it soon again, and with more friends too! It was rejuvenating and uplifting to spend a weekend away with such fun and supporting girlfriends!

Lyana. 

Family Pictures 2019

Today I am going with the easiest blog post ever! It’s a picture post! 

I always breath a sigh of relief when our family photo shoot is over... It’s so fun and exciting but at the same time a bit stressful. I don’t consider myself a creative person, and for me the hardest thing is to find clothing to wear (I am sure I am not alone in this). This was the first time we got family pictures taken in two years. Perhaps the next time we will do them right before Katya leaves for college...

So here are a few of our favorites.

This is the picture hanging at Robert’s new dental office at Bass and Watson.

All close and personal!

I love this one! 

They couldn’t be more different, but they are BROTHERS!

And some candid pictures for memory's sake. 

Oh yeah, a funny one here too. 

Waiting their turn...

Katya. 

We used a bunch of these for her acting headshots.

Hello, Alex! 

And this is what Mark looked some of the time...a bit camera-shy?

Typical Mark.

Oh yes! I love getting our couple pictures done! Don’t care how they come out, it’s just so wonderful to get the two of us. 

We are still growing up together;)

‘

And my favorite picture of Robert from this session. This kindness in his bright blue eyes is so pure and comforting. We love him to pieces!

Until next time!
Lyana.

Hanging Out At The Hanging Rock State Park

Maybe I should start writing more posts like this.

Pictures and a tiny caption to save time. Because the amount I blog has significantly decreased. 

Or maybe just no caption at all as it’s self-explanatory. 

Some pictures are just breathtaking without any comments. 

Others do need me to elaborate because clearly we are not at home. 

This is the boys hanging out at the Hanging Rock State Park, two hours drive from us. 

And Katya hanging out as well.

And sitting on another tree because that’s what Katya loves to do--climb trees--always has (always will??).

Nature hikes do wonders for our family. 

Yeah, at first people complain about having to drive somewhere and feeling like they are missing out on friends but then they actually do enjoy being together without any distractions. 

Was this the most gorgeous hike we have ever been on? Nope! BUT who cares? It was beautiful and peaceful and that is what matters. 

I DID go on this hike but just realized that I am in none of these pictures 😥. Will be better next time!

Lyana.