Chapman

Well!  It sure has been a long time since we updated!  I can’t possibly update the entire month in one entry so I will just tell you all that we are living in PARADISE!!  Oh my goodness, it is AMAZING!!!  This is by far my favorite place I have ever lived!!!  We are living in Brandon (5 minutes from Tampa) Florida in these AMAZING apartments.  We are on the third floor (the highest) and our balcony opens out to the lake below.  Jace and I probably spend a good 3 or 4 hours every day on the balcony fishing, feeding the ducks, or feeding the GIANT turtles.  It is seriously something off a movie—it’s so beautiful!!!  We have two awesome pools, a workout room, and it is just gorgeous!  We live 45 minutes from the nicest beach in America—Caladesi.  Holy toldeo it is SO gorgeous.  Can you believe it?  The number one beach in all of AMERICA??!?!  It has WHITE sand (it looks like flour) and crystal blue water that is 82 degrees right now.  Later in the summer it is going to rise to 88 they say.  It is SO wonderful. 

Anyway, Jace is just growing and developing so much.  He has his own room and sleeps in his own bed.  He has distinct things he does every day that he knows he does, like feed the ducks, go to the park, go to the pool, eat oatmeal—he knows when it is time to do each of his things and he will run over, grab me by the hand and lead me to our specified activity; he is SO smart! 

There is SO much wildlife here.  I mean, just at our apartment, standing on our balcony, we can see three different species of duck, alligators, bass, tilapia, cranes, pelicans, and these other two super exotic HUGE birds that walk around but I don’t know what they are called—they look like gray flamingos to me.  There are also HUGE squirrels and lizards all over the place.  Jace LOVES the Squirrels and will watch them forever.  There was a duck nesting right outside our window, so Jace and I used to go down to her and feed her while she sat on her eggs.  Last week we went out to feed her but she and all her eggs were gone and we are really afraid someone took all her eggs!  We are not happy about it!

It is so much fun to be here with Kinsi and Jeff, Brooke and Steve and Davy.  We all go to church together (even though all of them should be going to the singles ward) and generally everyone comes over at night and chills.  It is so fun to be with family!  The biggest news of the summer is that Brooke and Steve got engaged!  I am SO excited for the wedding, which will take place in August.  Hooray!  I am just having a blast planning out the wedding with Brooke.  It is going to be a beached themed, casual, Hollister type wedding and it is going to be awesome.  Well, we will try to do a weekly update from here on out.  We have a second bedroom and bathroom so if any of you hear the call to paradise, come on out!  It is AMAZING!