Again, I am not very good at keeping this blog updated! I feel like I am on this blogger website all the time, but it's to update Gabe's mission blog!
Quick update on Gabe - he's in his second area now! He got to Spain on September 2, 2024 and stayed in his first area (Aranjuez) until the middle of February! He started there with Elder Bright and then Elder Bright left after 12 weeks. Elder Olson arrived and moved in with him and they got to baptize Boyan, Smith, and Damaris. I think his highlight was teaching and baptizing Smith, who he called "elect" all the time. ;) Then, the same day that he got to go with Smith to the temple for the first time, he got on a train with all his bags and left Elder Olson and transferred down to the southeast coast to a place called Cartagena. He's been there about a month now with Elder Bradshaw. They seem to get along well, and they had their first baptism (a girl named Enma) on Sunday! Also, the man named Emmanuel that Gabe talked to on his train ride to Cartagena ended up getting in touch with his local elders and getting baptized on the same day! So Gabe considers that one kind of "his" baptism too. ;) I think Gabe's biggest concern right now is that summer is right around the corner and pretty soon the weather is going to get really HOT. He's worried he's going to be sweating all summer! His birthday is coming up in a few days, and so I'm busy trying to make a video for him with all his friends and family wishing him a happy birthday! (He celebrated at his zone conference, hence why he's wearing a birthday crown!)
So now about Caleb! Right now third trimester just started and Caleb is busy trying to do both track and tennis. The weather has been so snowy though, so their track meet today just got cancelled! He also went snowboarding a lot in the past couple months, but his snowboard rental is due back to Al's on April 1, and we are just waiting to see if there's one more big snowfall for his to go again this season or not. (He's already been probably 15 times.)
Also, Caleb went to the Sweetheart's Dance in February with a girl named Kenzi. I know her mom because she had subbed for me before. They had a lot of fun and were kinda dating even after the dance, but we just got back from a cruise and she's been busy with volleyball, so I think that might be cooling off.
Avery has still be doing weekly piano lessons with Claire on Mondays and she's been going to tumbling on Wednesday nights. Tuesday nights she usually goes to young women's, so those three things keep her at least a little busy after school. She also had her spring orchestra concert where she played the viola, but she didn't let me take any pictures. :( We also went to the orthodontist yesterday and scheduled her appointments to get her braces put on! She's going to start the process in May!
We recently returned home from our cruise with the Matthews! We flew out to Florida on Thursday, March 6 and first spent a few days with my dad and Melissa. We flew into Tampa and rented a car, and that first morning, Caleb and Josh met up with Johnny (Alex's husband) and did a little ocean fishing from about 8am - 1pm. Avery and I did a little shipping during that time! Then, we drove to North Port (about an hour) and stayed with my dad and Melissa for the rest of Friday, Saturday, and we left Sunday afternoon. We had a lot of fun going to Boca Grande beach, riding the golf cart, doing a scavenger hunt, and just hanging out.
On Sunday night, we drove to Miami (about 2.5 hours more) and stayed in a hotel. The Matthews (Jessica, Kyle, and Robby - not ALL of the Matthews) took a red eye flight and then came to our hotel at about 8:00am. We hung out there, ate breakfast, and then took a shuttle to the cruise ship. We boarded at about noon and then the fun began!
We really loved eating dinner in the nice dining room every night. Caleb and Robby went crazy ordering things (actually we all did), and it was just fun to chat at dinner. We spent the first day in the Bahamas, which was just okay (it was windy and we just took a bus tour around), then the second day on Coco Cay (the private island of Royal Caribbean - which was AWESOME), and then the third day was just a sea day. Coca Cay was definitely the high light of the trip. We paid extra to be able to go to the Thrill Park and do all the water slides. I loved that there was also good food everywhere you went, clean bathrooms, clean sand, and it was just overall really fun and really nice. It wasn't even that crowded. We went and laid out at the beach after the waterpark too. By about 4:00, we got back on the ship, but I wished we could've stayed there until sunset. It was so nice.
Another highlight was watching Caleb sing "Hit Me Baby One More Time" during karaoke night. He had the whole audience singing along and he did the worm at the end. It was really funny.
We flew back home on March 15, tanned and tired, and now we are back in snowy Rexburg. I am really ready for some spring weather! It's feeling like this year is going by fast because we are in the last trimester of school now and I know it won't be long before it's May and we are wrapping up this school year! We are trying to figure out some summer plans, but I am thinking our next big trip will be to Spain in 2026! I can't wait for that!
That's all for now! Here are some pictures!
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