We're Baaack!!!

After a month of traveling, we are finally home for good! Each trip has been great, but I am excited to get back into normal life. I never thought I would say this, but I am excited to get back to the gym (probably because that's where I see all my friends), sleep in my own bed, stop eating junk food, clean my own house and have some peace and quiet.

I hope that I can do this trip justice because I am not a great writer, but I will try. The pictures will help.  We left super early Saturday morning to begin our journey. That same day, we made it to South Dakota. Our plan was to camp but there was a torentel downpour as we arrived so I begged Travis to stay at a hotel. He said it is fun to camp in the rain so we stuck with our original plan. It was super dark and I was grumpy so Travis went looking for a campsite without my help. He found a spot as the rain let up and we pitched our tent. As we were brushing our teeth, it began to rain again so we ran back to our tent. It rained all night. Not just a drizzle, but a downpour! It was relaxing to fall asleep to, but I thought we were going to float away. The floor of our tent felt like a waterbed because of the river of water running under it. Miraculously, nothing inside the tent got wet.

Travis cleaning mud off the tarp in a huge puddle.

The next morning, we decided to check out the area.  Like Travis had told me the night before, our campsite was beautiful.  We explored it a little before heading out.

On the way to Mount Rushmore, we drove through this old western town.  I loved all the old style shops and buffalo lining the streets.

We drove around a little and found some really cool places.  There was beautiful scenery, cool overlooks and tunnels.  

This is the highest I got!

Travis' favorite was this area with rocks (suprise, suprise).  There were caves and formations.  It shouldn't come as a suprise to you, but Travis started climbing on everything.  At times it made me nervous.  As we were leaving, he saw some rock climbers so he went and talked to them.  He was asking about the routes and ratings.  The guy said, "People don't come here to have fun, they come here to get scared."  Apparently the routes are pretty tough.

You can see the difference in how adventurous we are. 

 

He loves climbing up high!

 

I stay closer to the ground!

 

This is my favorite picture of the day! (this is when I got nervous!)

After playing on the rock playground, we continued to drive and enjoy the scenery.  We went on the wildlife loop because it is advertised that you can see buffalo.  As we were driving, I saw one but didn't get a picture in time.  I was dissapointed because I had no idea what was in store for us.  As we continued driving, we saw about 50 buffalo in a field.  I took tons of pictures.  As I was taking these pictures, I realized that we were being overtaken by these buffalo.  They were on both sides as well as in front and behind us.  It was pretty crazy.  They were so big and so close to us.  We had to wait for them to move before we could go on.  It was so cool!

 

This was the biggest one!

  

The flowers make this picture!

 

Further along the drive, we had wild donkeys come up to our car.  We were able to feed them.  We also saw antelope and prarie dog holes.  It was pretty cool.

Travis trying to get a kiss!

 Feeding the wild donkey.

After our drive, we went to Mount Rushmore.  It was impressive, but I don't know if it was worth the money to go to the lookout.  The views from the road were almost just as good...and free.  We also drove by Crazy Horse, but didn't pay to go to the lookout.

First view of Mount Rushmore!

To sum it all up, it was way nicer than I thought it would be.  I just imagined desert with Mount Rushmore in the middle of it.  It had great campsites, beautiful scenery, lakes, and wildlife.  I would definitely recommend going if you are in the area.

On the Road Again

The month of July has been busy to say the least. I will have slept in my own bed just 7 days all month! The days that I have actually been home for have been filled with things to do. I am loving all these trips, but I am ready to stop living in a suitcase.

This time, we are headed to Utah. We planned on leaving yesterday but Travis got held up at work really late. Instead, we went to bed early-ish and left super early (3:30am).

We are stopping at Mount Rushmore so our route is different than normal and we get to go through states I haven't been to before. Today we have driven through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Pretty impressive huh?

It has been an easy ride so I can't complain too much. I will make sure to post pictures from the trip later. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Celebration

I got home from girls camp on Saturday completely exhausted!  Of course I fell asleep even with Travis begging to go out and do something.  He seriously had some great ideas but I was just pooped!  After a good night's sleep, we got up and went to church on Sunday.  He cooked (with my help) a delicious Sunday dinner of steak, granny corn, mashed potatoes and bread.

I decided to go to bed early again to finish catching up on my beauty sleep.  I was already in bed when Travis called me from the other room.  I asked what he needed and he said he needed some help and to please come.  I drug myself out of bed and went to the kitchen where he was.  I saw him standing at the kitchen table with 2 dozen roses and a box of chocolate (I don't know where he had it stashed without me seeing it).  He said Happy Anniversary and told me how much he loved me (it was super cute and mushy, but I will spare you the details).  He then told me that he loved me even more now and wanted to show his love.  He reached down and pulled out a ring box.  He got me a wedding band!

 Just a little back story...My engagement ring didn't come with a band because there are little peek-a-boo diamonds on the side.  When we got married, together we decided not to get one.  Since then, I changed my mind because people sometimes still ask when I am getting married.  I mentioned it to him a few times but we decided that it isn't in our budget right now and it is not really a priority.  That being said, now you understand how excited I was to get it!  It is absolutely perfect!  He did a great job picking out a band to match my ring.

Also, if you know our engagement story, you will remember that he finally proposed to me at the end of the night by calling me from the other room after I was ready for bed.  It was a great way to remind me of that special time and how much we have grown since then.  I definitely got the better end of the stick!  I sure love him!

Girls Camp

Every one nice and clean and well rested before we left!

We got home from North Carolina on Sunday evening. That meant I only had Monday to unpack, do laundry, put together camp handouts/decorations, get a few things from the store and pack. It was a crazy day! Not to mention that I was sick and it was our 1year anniversary. Because of everything going on, I told Travis I loved him just as much but I wasn't going to plan anything that day. He agreed and we celebrated by going out to dinner. We ran into the Froehlich's there and ate with them. I love them!
Tuesday I got up early and headed over to the church to meet the girls. We drove to Hiram, Ohio. It is about 45 minutes from Kirtland. Monday was pretty much spent just setting up the tents, getting organized and then an evening filled with skits and a fireside.

This year's theme was "Daughter of a King" so our campsite decided to go with Cowgirl and Indian Princesses.  The cowgirl hat has a tiara! 

Wednesday the girls spent some time passing off for their certifications. We then went over to a huge lake to hang out. The girls went swimming, cliff jumped and hung out on the beach. It was really fun. Once again our evening was spent with skits and another fireside.

Emily, Kyleigh and Olivia

Erin, Paige and Casey

 

Emily and Cristina

Thursday we went back to the same area to do a hike/service project. The whole time I kept thinking of Travis. There were all sorts of trails, caves, waterfalls and rocks to climb on. I would like to go back to explore more.  After getting back to camp, we cleaned up and headed over to the Kirtland temple. It was my first time going. It was so neat to go on the tour and realize that we were in the same place the Joseph Smith was many years ago. There was so much hustory there. I would like to go back here with Travis too. I didn't get to visit all the other sites there. After the tour, we had a fireside in the temple. Kris was asked to go up and bear her testimony. It was so spiritual. It was the highlight of the week. After, we saw a pageant showing the history of the town, pioneers, and sacrifices of building the temple.

Olivia, Nelani and Kyleigh

 

Our second year girls minus Stephanie

  

Kyleigh and Emily

Friday the girls went canoeing. I got to try out a kayak. I loved it! After getting back to camp, the girls went on a tour through the woods. They were lead down a trail to different stations. Each station they had to complete a task to earn a bead. After it was over, they got to make a bracelet. It was neat. Then each ward had a testimony meeting. This was my other favorite part. I loved hearing the girls share their their spiritual experiences. It was awesome!

All the girls and leaders at the Kirtland Temple

So, I not only survived the week,but I had a lot of fun!

Vacation Catch Up!

After being gone for so long, it is time for catch up.  I need to catch up on my laundry/house cleaning.  I need to catch up with my friends.  And I need to catch up on blog posts.  I am hoping I remember everything.  Part of the reason I have a blog is to record things for me to look back at because I am not good at keeping a journal.  So, here we go.  Be prepared for a long post!

After visiting my grandparents, Travis, Nathan and I drove down to Emerald Isle.  We have been going to Emerald Isle for family reunions since I was a baby.  There are only two years that I have ever missed (2000 because of band camp and 2011 because of our honeymoon).  I love going there for many reasons.  First, because it is the rare time that everyone is together (aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, parents, etc.).  Second, because it is low stress.  We all kind of just do what we want.  There is no set plan or agenda to stress about.  Third, because it is a nice, uncrowded family beach.

 After arriving on Sunday, everyone just hung out and talked inside.  As we were preparing to go to the Coomb's house (we are too big for Slingshot now, so there were 3 houses this year) for dinner, we walked outside to a black sky.  It was crazy!  You could literally see the clouds and storm rolling in!  Travis, Nathan, Andrew and myself were all planning on biking over since it was only a couple blocks down the road.  As we were riding, we could feel the wind getting stronger and there were lots of cold pockets.  I felt like I was on the Wizard of Oz.  Everyone arrived safely, but we were soon stuck inside due to the powerful winds and rain.  The doors of the house were bowing in it was so strong.  I thought it was kind of fun being in the storm.
 Some of my little cousins after the storm

On Tuesday (I think), Travis and I went with the Coombs' family to see the Cape Lookout lighthouse.  We drove out to Harker's Island then took a ferry over to the lighthouse.  We did not get to go in but it was really pretty.  This was my first time seeing a light house so close.  Everyone played on the beach for a while before heading back.  On the drive home, Travis and I stopped in Morehead City to do some window shopping.  

 

 

On Wednesday, Travis, Nathan and I went kite surfing.  This was the highlight of the trip.  Something I really like about Travis is how adventurous he is.  I love that no matter where we are, he finds something new and fun for us to try.  I was a little hesitant at first, but I am so glad we went.  I had so much fun.  We started out on a 3 meter trainer kite.  They taught us how to control the kite and pull ourselves up using the kite's power.  After learning how to control it (which is harder than you would think) we went in the water.  We basically did the same thing as when we were standing, but this time we used the kite to pull us along in the water.  After mastering that, we were moved to the big kites.  I think they were 7 meters.  These big kites were powerful!  As I was using the kite to pull me up, it pulled me a couple feet off the ground even with our trainer holding on to me.  We went in the water with the big kites, but our time ran up before we were able to try it with the boards.  I am ok with that because I probably would have crashed on the board.  Travis loved it and wants to go back next year to learn how to use the board.  Apparently it is one of the fastest growing adventure sports.  The guy was telling us that people use kites with skateboard and snowboards too.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures doing this.  Nathan used his GoPro camera to record it all, but it is long and not super exciting so just imagine that this is me!  :)

On Friday, Travis' sister Courtney and her family came to visit.  We pretty much just hung out on the beach with them and went to the aquarium.  I was so glad that they were able to come.  Travis has a really big family so I still feel like I am getting to know all of them!
We took some family pictures of them, but did not get any with them.  

 All the other days, we hung out on the beach, played in the ocean, played goofy golf and had a bocce ball tournament.  It started to storm so we couldn't finish all the brackets, but I am pretty sure Travis and I would have won!  We had one game left to determine that we were the champions.

It was a great trip and so good to see everyone.  Maybe next year Lindsay will be able to join us!

1 Year Anniversary!

I have so many posts to catch up on from our vacation, but I couldn't go today without acknowledging that it is our 1 year anniversary!  One year ago, I married the perfect man for me.  While I still remember the silly little things that didn't go as planned, the thing I remember most is sitting across the alter from Travis in the temple.  I remember feeling so excited that we wouldn't have to say goodbye again after being long distance for 9 months.  I remember the feeling of peace that the spirit brought.  I remember all my family and best friends being there to support us.  I remember how happy I was.

 Now, one year later, I think I am even happier than I was that day.  This year has shown me how much Travis does love me and sacrifice for me.  He has taught me what true love really is.  I am reminded every day how lucky I am to be married to such a wonderful guy.  Not only does he put up with me and my shenanigans, but he supports me and loves me through it all (and it goes both ways, I put up with his crazy shenanigans too!).

As I have been getting ready for girls camp, I came across this quote by President Uchtdorf:
Isn’t it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of “once upon a time,” complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

I am reminded of all the things this life brings and the happily ever after that will soon come.

The South

We started our vacation with a trip to Goldsboro, NC to visit my Granny and Papaw. Growing up, that is what we always did when we had days off. I like that it hasn't changed much since then. We still look for the brown fence around base to indicate that we are close and we eat Granny's southern cookin'!

The past couple of times, Granny has been trying to teach me some cooking tips. Travis would be in heaven if I cooked like Granny. She makes yummy food and fixes a big meal every day (usually twice a day).

You can't make a trip to the south without partaking of the fresh produce. That is why this time she showed me how to store corn.

Travis and Papaw shucked it then Granny and I silked it. She showed us how to cut it off the cob and get the juice out and then cook and store it.

It was a short but good visit with them. I am glad we live closer again so that we can see them more than once every couple years.