My BEST-est B'DAY EVER! FOR REAL!

Looking at all these pictures from Miami and staring out the window right now to snow, cold, wind and more snow...  i have to pinch myself and say, 'Yes, this REALLY did happen like a few days ago'!! It wasn't a dream.  I have PROOF! 


MIAMI- that's where I spent my 27th birthday! Jason got a call from his boss a few weeks ago and was told he would be receiving an award 'Millionaires Club' award for saving the company 1 million dollars last year through continuous improvement projects.  He said he would need to go to Miami to get the award.  So a few hours later, his boss called back and told him he could bring ME!!!! That's the first time they've done something like that and we were VERY excited since it happened to be over my birthday! 


WHY was it the BEST birthday EVER? HEre's WHY:
#1- On the plane leaving for Miami (on my birthday) I was able to sit by this sweet, cute, girl (i mean she was my age probably) and have wonderful conversations and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon.  It's a long story and a very neat one, but I felt inspired right as we were rushing out the door to grab a Book of Mormon from a stack at my Mom's house.  So many little things like that happened and it was just another true testament that Heavenly Father answers our prayers (as I had prayed the night before to be able to be a missionary and a good example) and he will use us if we are willing and able! For once, I was.  It was SO SO SO special and an experience we don't that often living in Utah, but one I miss dearly from growing up in Kentucky.  So I felt SO wonderful after that and didn't care much of what happened the rest of the day... :-)


#2- Got to just RELAX.  Complete relaxation.  Read books.  Was treated by my hubby to a 3 hour SPA!! WOW!  Got a facial (which actually hurt, but man, I looked like I was glowing afterwards) and a body wrap (first time for that) and a massage (basically i fell asleep during it so that's how RELAXED i was). 


#3- Went running on the beach each morning with Jason and soaked it up (ha, ha no pun intended, but man were my clothes soakin from that humidity)!! 


#4- Ate yummy food (none of which I had to pay for which somehow made it taste so much better)! 


#5- HAD WONDERFUL AMAZING parents who watched my girls so I didn't have to stress over that! They took such good care of them and they had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa! Love THEM so much!!


#6- Went to see Blindside at the theaters and LOVED it!! SO see it, ok? 


#7- Got to LAY in the SUN in 80 degree weather and SWIM IN THE OCEAN!! My favorite thing ever! 


#8- Did I mention the weather? The sun? The sand? In DECEMBER? Seriously, go there and you'll see! Go in December cause i heard summers are HOT!


NEW THINGS I DID and LEARNED:
#1- If a hotel has a cheaper price, and it's a really, really, nice hotel... it's cause they're gonna nickel and dime you do death on everything else like CHAIRS (for the beach), water in the room, internet, parking (30 bucks a night) and including a 18 percent gratuity tax to EVERY bill.  But hey, it's ok , if someone else is payin!


#2- Taught Jason how to body surf (sort of)


#3- Fell more in love with my husband, if that's possible. 
       And missed my little girls like CRAZY. Every time i saw little kids, which was rare there, I would think of them and be sad.  I love them.


#4- My skin said, 'THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU" and was praising my name the minute we stepped outside and felt the HUMIDITY! ahhh, I don't think my skin has felt better, than when i was there. 


#5- Why does Utah have such wimpy malls? Oh my, the mall in Miami was SO huge had 3 floors and more stores that I could walk through in three hours. PLUS a HUGE area for kids to play in and fun activities! We have enough kids in Utah, you'd think we could get some REAL cute play places.  Come on people!


#6- Ran 4 miles in the sand which felt like 20 on a treadmill! Holy Schmoley I was soaking. 


#7-Would NEVER be a successful business traveler! Ahh... flying makes me tired and just takes all my energy! 

Lots of embarrassing swimsuit photos, but that's the only day we actually remembered to take out the camera! They had these awesome lounging couches to lay out on! ah, HEAVEN.

This was on Friday, the morning was a little gray and cloudy but the sun soon came out again! The ocean was right behind us and from our lounger on the pool we could look out and stare at the waves! 

This was our room. The hotel was VERY modern and the bed was super comfy! Nice down comforter and soft pillows.  We had a nice view of the ocean and the bay.  Guess what? The free little shampoo and condition and lotion was none other than.... AVEDA! Seriously? I was in shock and stocked up! 

The hotel lobby(bad picture, it doesn't do it justice) but it was huge and had loud techno music playing at night and a huge bar in the middle.  Crazy drinkers! WE can party just as well with NO alcohol!

See! This was at the mall.  It was this huge display for the holidays.  Had a real train the kids could ride around through Santa's village.  Had a pool in the back with HUGE fish in it and decorated houses... COME ON UTAH...

Ahhh... heaven.  Paradise.  My paradise.

From our lounger chairs on the pool deck we could over look the ocean... Jason was being funny and copied my feet poses.  It was hilarious! See, we laughed and had fun just sitting around and teasing each other... not another care in the world!