Sunny Florida

In January Ryan and I were invited to go on the TAC (Top Achiever's Club) 2012 trip with his wonderful company, Heritage Makers. It is an incentive trip for the consultants that work the hardest to build the business during the previous year. We were going as corporate staff... therefore a working vacation for us both... but I am not afraid of a little hard work, especially when it means a break from the routine of life (no cooking or making my bed for a week!). It was hard for me to leave my cute kiddos, but my amazing sister Lindsey came up from Arizona with her two boys to stay with our kids and she took great care of them (Sophia was calling her "Mom" by day two!). It was a great trip and it was so fun to meet all of the people that Ryan works with. HM has innovative and unique products that help preserve family memories... and it is a positive work environment for Ryan, which I love.

At the SLC airport, all of the corporate staff showed what their "vacation" would be like.

We had a day in Florida before we boarded the cruise ship...

...and spent the morning buying and assembling treats for the consultants.

Then... we got to spend the rest of the day with David and Katty and their son, David Joseph. A few months ago they moved near Miami and we were thrilled that Ft. Lauderdale was close enough for them to take a day and come spend it with us.

They took us to a beautiful beach in Hollywood, FL.

The water was cool ( it WAS January, so what am I complaining about?) but the sun felt nice and I loved being there.  I love the beach!

Ryan does not love the beach, but he was a sport and came anyway.

We saw all sorts of jellyfish like this one... I hadn't ever seen jellyfish like this before, but they were all over and most of them were really small and tangled in the seaweed. Katty got stung by one, but not one of us peed on her wound to make it better. The lifeguards had some vinegar and that made it feel better :).

There were lots of restaurants along the boardwalk, and we chose a place that made philly cheese steaks.

Good sandwiches!

After the beach we took Ryan back to the hotel (he got to do a little bit of airport shuttling for some of the consultants that were flying in) and David and Katty took me on a driving tour of Miami and Miami Beach. It is really a beautiful and clean city.

Leave it to David to know where to get the yummy treats... this bakery specialized in all kinds of Latin pastries. It was fun to eat some of the treats I had in Chile and to try some of the tasty things that David ate in Argentina when he was a missionary there.

He knew just what to order.

I can't remember the names of most of these, but my favorite was the alfajor (bottom left) which is a cookie sandwich with manjar (dulce de leche) in the middle and then covered in chocolate. I loved eating those on my mission... and this one did not disappoint!

One thing for sure is that the Cole kids can eat :).

We stopped for a bit at Miami Beach. I love the smell and the sounds and the peacefulness of being near the ocean.

It was so good to be with David and his family. I miss them!

Goodbye, ocean... till we meet again!

I also got to see where they live which was fun... love the palm trees.

After our day out we gathered with a few others from HM to eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp place... not my first choice (I don't like seafood...) but it was a fun atmosphere.

Great company, and they make a mean pear and berry salad.

Sunny Florida, I want to come and visit you again soon!