The Bahamas with Ma & Pa Nelson

...we love living 15 minutes from a cruise port :) We were lucky enough to start our school year off with a visit from Ty's parents and a fabulous weekend Bahamas cruise. We loved all the one-on-one time and had an awesome mini-vacation relaxing on the cruise ship, eating scrumptious meals and enjoying each others company.

Utah the Beautiful

What a beautiful place! It's easy for me to love Utah when snow and cold aren't keeping me captive inside! We had an extraordinary time enjoying the mountains, fly fishing, the red rock deserts and boating. We love our families and are grateful for the time we had with them!

Coral Pink Sand Dunes-- a side trip on the way to Lake Powell. Well worth the short drive.

Lake Powell -No better place to celebrate the 4th of July. Ty still rocks on his wake board! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of his crazy flips. My camera is too slow!

Fly fishing- Don't ask who caught more fish ;)

Grandma's Day at Secret Lake

Girl Time at the Beach

A few days after school ended (Ty was in Utah starting his dermatology rotation) my sister Jenny and her two girls, Madelaine and Liberty came out for some girl time!!! We had a blast staying up late, watching movies, doing pedicures, shopping, eating out and going to the beach EVERY day! The four of us flew back to Utah together so I could join Ty for his 6 week rotation.

Hollywood Beach bike ride

Fun at the pool

Madelaine loves her Auntie Sara

Liberty the little swimmer

Miami beauty queen

Cute family

School's out for Summer!

School ended the first week in June- I can't even begin to appreciate what a great school year I had! My students were an absolute pleasure to teach. They made life very easy for me, and although some days left me scratching my head in confusion at the cultural differences, all in all they kept me laughing. I hope my seniors went on to do good things with their lives.

This is one of my favorite students. Her name is Pollyanna Ferdinand. She told me that her Mom named her after some "happy white girl from an old movie." He he he, it made me giggle.Diligent students at work.

The blog has been lost and forgotten! I guess sometimes life just gets going so fast-- I haven't really stopped at any one event and thought, "this would make a good blog post" --something, out of the ordinary, extra fun, unique or otherwise worthy of your interest. (all good "blog posting criteria")

We are doing exceptionally well here in sunny Florida! Enjoying the last of the nice weather before the summer-sticky sets in.

Here are a few things that have happened since our last post in DECEMBER-- my goodness! I'm embarrassed, has it really been that long?

• We enjoyed a white Christmas and two weeks with family and friends in Utah
• Tyler completed his ER rotation- LOVED all the drama and the exciting long hours. I loved hearing the stories-- but was not such a fan of those long hours
• Tyler completed his Pediatrics rotation- had a blast with the adorable Black and Hispanic kids
• Tyler completed his OBGYN rotation- caught some babies on their way out :)
• I had a sweet twist of fate with two of the classes I was teaching. In January at the semester change I was given two new classes of ACT preparation! They have turned out to be so fun, and the best part of it all- I traded one of my most noisy, loud and otherwise unruly classes for a bunch of kids getting ready to go to college- Ahhh, much better! Teaching is still going really well!

Mom and Dad Cook visited for an awesome week long SPRING BREAK!!! Ty had to continue on with his rotations each day but we enjoyed our time with him in the evenings!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in Atlanta. Tyler's brother (Casey) and wife (Karin), and their three adorable kids were gracious enough to host us for a few days! It was so fun to be with family. Karin cooked an amazing Thanksgiving dinner- we got to enjoy some real fall weather and play with the kids! They are so fun!

Atlanta has an amazing aquarium and a fun place called Stone Mountain which was all decked out for Christmas! Complete with a train ride through the Christmas light scenes!

We had a great time!