I'll be home for Christmas

Arizona is the most beautiful sight in the world after being away for almost a year. Especially if you're leaving the treacherous winter land for 70 degrees and warm sunshine. We left Christmas Eve after Dan got off work and headed for the homeland. Funny thing about traveling on Christmas Eve...everything closes around 7 or 8 pm. Even Burger King. No joke.

Lucky for us we pulled into St. George just in time to grab some food at Wal-Mart (Burger King was closed...ridiculous). There was literally a million people in that Wal-Mart. Holy cow last minute shoppers. We grabbed some fried chicken and a few lunchables, wolfed it down in the car, and got the heck out of dodge. We pulled into Phoenix around 1:30 in the morning.

We spent Christmas morning with my family, opened up presents, all that fun stuff. Dan got me an adorable watch (rose gold!! Go Dan!!!!), a Red purse, and a red coat!! Red was a big highlight this Christmas. It was so fun. Big highlight for Dan was the Oregon duck's shirt and a nice scarf. We also got a bunch of food storage stuff from both sets of parents and stuff for our emergency kits!! It's kind of funny that as you get older, practical gifts like food storage and emergency preparedness are super exciting gifts.

We drove down to Sierra Vista later in the afternoon and surprised Dan's parents (they thought we were not going to be there for a few more hours). It was really fun to spend some time in SV with family. We haven't seen Dan's parents in over a year and a half. Long time! We got to see some friends while we were there (Haymore's, Fenn's, Barkdull's) and also went to Thatcher for a day.

Pulling into that one horse town, I almost missed it. My heart aches for those simple and insanely fun times we had in Thatcher. It brings everything right back for me. Passing the movie theater where we had our "second" first date, the temple where we got engaged and I took out my endowments, and passing the college where we fell in love. Alright not that mushy, but you get the picture. I haven't been back to Thatcher since I drove away right before I got married.

Big highlight of the trip: PIMA BURRITOS!!! Oh my goodness. It's love in a tortilla. I'm drooling right now thinking about it.

We also went shooting, and I'm proud to say I've still got it! That's right. I can still shoot a clay pigeon with a shot gun. Hollah!!

And now here come's the photo dump!

"I'll be home for Christmas...if only in my dreams."

Looking forward to the future

I haven't been on here in quite awhile. In fact, I've all but completely neglected this blog, but I just can't apologize for it. I have been so busy with school and just life in general that even when the thought crosses my mind to blog, it's usually right before my head hits the pillow. And lets be honest, when that happens, I'm out like a light in 5 minutes flat. Really. I could probably hold a record in the fastest time to fall asleep.

In all seriousness though, I've been thinking a lot lately about my future. I graduate next year. NEXT YEAR!!! You have no idea how long I have been waiting to say the words "I graduate in December...THIS December." No more "next December." No more "2014." I can now say {almost} this year!!

Dan has been asking me what I am going to do after school, and to be frank, I haven't the slightest clue what I will do after school. It terrifies me. The dream has always been to graduate nursing school and to be a nurse. After that, I have no idea what I am going to do. When Dan asked me the other night what I was going to do after school, after a long conversation, I finally said:

I guess I'll have to find a new dream.

I don't know about you, but finding a new dream is down right scary. Especially when I have had this dream planned out to the "T" since I was 8 years old. You think I'm kidding about that last part, but sadly I'm not. So in the spirit of finding that new dream, I have been led to think a lot about what other goals I want to accomplish with my life, a more serious bucket list of sorts. Of course I have a bucket list going {refer to this post} but that's more trivial things...if you can call starting a clinic in Africa trivial.

Family. That's really what has been on my mind. I cannot wait to start my own little family one day. The thought is absolutely terrifying and I cannot imagine being entirely responsible for a new little life. I can't imagine the struggle it would be to bring that little life into this world. But when I see pictures like this, my heart aches for something that makes our family complete.

This is Dan holding our nephew Kason after he was born (almost 7 years ago!!). I just stumbled upon this picture and I cannot wait for that to be our baby he's holding.

I know for a lot of people it's not a huge deal. You want a family, then have baby! It's never been that simple for me though. I have a plan and a goal and a dream. And things for this dream have never gone according to plan. But I have 1 year left. I can do this. Power through, finish one dream, then move onto the next right?

I'll probably be over this in a few days, and realize how absolutely insane I would have to be to deliberately try to have a baby right now, especially as school winds down and I take the NCLEX. But it creeps into the back of my mind more than I care to admit. Maybe that's just Heavenly Father's way of reminding me what I really do want out of this life, consciously or subconsciously. For now, it's a good thing my awesome friend Kristi lives close and has an adorable baby!!

New dream: a family. 

Nauvoo: Day 3

Tuesday was a significantly busier day than Monday, and I did remember my camera that day. So this post will not be long and boring with no pictures. We started off our day in the Brigham Young home. If there was a house or a place that really made an impact on me, it was there. This was the sitting/living room inside Brigham Young's home.

 This is a cute little tea sit in the little girl's room. It wasn't necessarily from the original Brigham Young home, but it was from the period. It's adorable though!

We walked into a room off the side of the house. This was the room where the Twelve Apostles and the Church were organized to continue on after Joseph died. My grampa made a comment to all of us that in this room was where it happened for him. This was where he gained his strongest witness that the Church is true and that it is led and directed by Heavenly Father.

One of the Sisters who was giving us the tour told us to think about our ancestors. She told us that our ancestors are praying for us to stay strong and with the gospel. This one hit me pretty hard because I started to think about all these people on the other side that are rooting for me to stay strong and keep strengthening my testimony and faith. I thought about my Grampa and Gramma Mecham, I thought about Kam, I thought about Heber C. Kimball, and I also thought about Brigham and Joseph. I thought of all they have sacrificed in their own lives for the sake of the gospel and I thought of all the work they must be doing on the other side to continue to further the work of the Lord. It filled my heart with so much peace and joy to know that I have so so many people on my side pushing for me to do what is right. I also gained a realization that this gospel is true and it is led by Heavenly Father and nothing can take it from the earth again. 

This is the Twelve Apostles at the time that Joseph died. Three future prophets were among that Twelve.

One of the Sister's who was giving us the tour turned out to be Sister Russell. Long story short, she and her husband lived in Safford, AZ and he taught at EA. Come to find out that her husband (Elder Russell) was the public speaking teacher at EA, and Dan was one of his students. Dan was super excited about that and she let us know that he would be at the Jonathan Browning home later that day so Dan could see him. 

Brigham Young had built an outdoor cellar to keep food and other things in. It surprisingly was pretty cold in there. And my stinking little brother locked Chandler and I in there!! When he finally let us out, I told him (completely jokingly) that I didn't want to talk to him. Poor kid has such a guilty conscience that he kept trying to hug me and apologize! 

We went next to the printing shop. The Elder told us that the upper case was full of the capitalized letter and the lower case was full of the non-capitalized letters. He said that was where the names "upper" and "lower" cased letters came from-the early printing press.

This is the printing press that was used during the time. Ethan got to help demonstrate how the press actually worked. They had a demo of the Times and Seasons on the press to show how it worked. 

We then went next door to the John Taylor home. This home had one of the steeper staircases of all the homes we visited. I don't remember too much about it beyond that. On that note though, I cannot believe those pioneer women walked up and down such steep staircases with their long skirts and all! We were struggling to not trip and we were all in shorts/pants. Another place we went to was the Drug store-which had a ton of herbs to mix up for different remedies, fabric, sewing supplies, and even different housewares!

We stopped at the school house and were given a math and spelling lesson. Those benches were dreadfully uncomfortable to sit on. I really felt bad for those poor kids! We also finally met Sister Hatch! By complete accident even! She came into the room because she heard we were from Arizona and she said she was from Mesa. My mom talked to her for a bit, and it turns out the Hatch's knew my Gramma and Grampa Mecham from when my grandparents used to work at the temple (and when my Grampa was governor). We told her we were going to Rendezvous that night and she just laughed and said it would be fun and interesting. She told us that she and Elder Hatch were not actors or singers!

We finally made it to the Jonathan Browning home and Elder Russell was there. As soon as Dan walked in the door, Elder Russell immediately recognized him and gave him a huge hug! I think that was probably a trip highlight for Dan! Elder Russell was one of his favorite teachers at EA. He asked us if we were going to Rendezvous that night because he was going to be in the show, and we told him we were.

 

This was a display that was set up to show the different guns Jonathan Browning had made and different guns from the period as well.

We went to the family living center (the last stop of the day before dinner and then Rendezvous). We met an Elder who was from Canada (we picked it out immediately because he said "eh" after he talked). It turns out he knew my uncle Dennis (my dad's brother) from serving their missions together. We learned how to make barrels, and how to make rope! Your arm sure gets tired after spinning that wheel for a long time! But we did get to keep our rope and it stood up straight which meant it was good quality rope!! 

We also got to taste bread that had been made in these special ovens, and I cannot remember what they are called so if anyone knows, please comment and tell me! Basically the oven was a brick chamber with a fire built below and it had this fancy wood door to close the chamber where the bread/meal was cooking. We saw how they made candles in large quantities, and how they made their rugs from scrap pieces of fabric!

That night we went to Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo. Holy cow, what a hoot!! It was hilarious to watch and I loved every minute of it! After, we finally met Elder and Sister Skidmore too! 

Elder and Sister Skidmore made sure we were coming to Carthage and that they would love to be the ones to give us the tour of Carthage jail. 

{Elder and Sister Skidmore, Dan, Elder and Sister Russell}

And the moment we had all been waiting for, to see the stars of Rendezvous (okay not really), Elder and Sister Hatch!

{Caitlin, Rylee, Chandler, Elder and Sister Hatch, Dan, Me, Ethan}

It was so fun to see them. Elder Hatch was giving Caitlin a hard time because we had seen him quite a few times and each time he asked Caitlin where her fiance was! Tyler didn't meet up with us until Wednesday, and Elder Hatch gave Caitlin a hard time saying that Tyler wasn't real and she was just making it up. Funny funny!!

We talked to the Hatch's for quite a while after Rendezvous and Elder Hatch said some pretty hilarious things which I had to write down immediately so I wouldn't forget them

. 

Elder Hatch: I gave away 3 extra bricks (from the brickyard) one day and you would think I gave the gold plates away!

*All of us just laughed

Elder Hatch: I really got in trouble!

Elder Hatch: How many bricks did you get

Us: Oh lots!!

Elder Hatch: No don't say that!

Us: Oh...we only got 1.

Elder Hatch: Okay good- say that!

Elder Hatch: You have to stay an extra week if you call your spouse by their first name. We had 3 extra weeks by the time we walked out of the mission president's office.

Tuesday was a very long but very very funny day, mostly thanks to Elder Hatch. He has us rolling we were laughing so hard and some of the stuff he said! He kind of reminds me of what I picture Ethan will be like when he's an old man-goofy with funny stories!

And just for kicks: some other Nauvoo funnies that don't really fit on any particular day. So this one is as good as any.

Dan and I rode in the car with my grandparents for most of the time that we were in Nauvoo. We took to singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall...root beer of course.
Anyway, gramma thought we had said 99 bottles when we were already down to 95, so my Grampa, being the quick wit that he is, says "Gramma's too drunk to remember how many bottles we've had!"

We also sang Row row row your boat a few times and started singing it in a round. Well, leave it to us to get confused between which line in the song we're singing and replacing words, namely getting stream and dream confused. Don't ask me how.
Row row row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Nauvoo: Day 2

**Preface: I totally forgot our camera the first day we were in Nauvoo. So when my family gets around to swapping pictures, I'll try to put some in here!

The first place we stopped was the Heber C. Kimball home. This place is super special for my Gramma because he is her great great grandfather. It was a pretty cute little house to go through. I didn't take any pictures though. Fail. We did get to go onto this little balcony ledge that you are not technically allowed to go on, probably for safety reasons, but one of the Sisters who was giving the tour let us! She even went down to the street level and took our picture. It was a pretty neat thing to do!

The second place we stopped was the brickyard. I don't know why but I didn't take any pictures there. This was where we met Elder Hatch. More on him later. So we go into the little "classroom" where they teach you how they made bricks in Old Nauvoo. It was actually quite interesting and I learned a lot. There is quite a bit of iron in the soil in Nauvoo which gives the bricks their vibrate red color. In order to bake the bricks, they built a type of enclosure with all the bricks and put the fire underneath it. The bricks would bake for a few days, and then be left to cool for a few more days after. The bricks would be three different colors at the end of the baking process depending on their location during baking. The bricks that were closest to the fire were charred black. The ones in the middle were the beautiful, vibrant, and rusty red color. The ones on the outside were a lighter red, called a salmon brick because it did not get baked long enough.

 They would build the homes three-four layers thick on the outside with the bricks. The Elder who was telling us the stories about the bricks asked us to guess how many bricks were used on a single house. We all guess 4-5 thousand bricks. Ethan guessed 30,000. The Elder told us that Ethan was the only person who he had ever had come close to the correct number, which was 40,000. Love that genius brother of mine!! Then they gave each family a brick to take home to remember the Old Nauvoo brick yard. I have it sitting in our window sill along with a few other Nauvoo artifacts and it always reminds me of this lovely week we spent in Nauvoo.

Back to Elder Hatch. So, when you get to the brick yard, you ring a bell to let the Elders know that you're there. Elder Hatch and his companion (another Elder...I can't remember his name) came out and talked to us for a few minutes before we went inside the "classroom." We found out Elder Hatch was from Mesa, AZ. Super cool dude already just for being from that great state of Arizona. We found out that he used to drive the Wells Fargo stage coach in all the parades and stuff. He was pretty cool, and he told us to go take a wagon ride the next day (Tuesday) because he would be driving the wagon and we could see him. We also were asked probably a thousand times if we were going to go to Rendezvous while we were there. That got kind of annoying, not going to lie.

*Side note* We stopped at a lot of houses throughout the week...and I won't be able to remember them all, but I will definitely include the highlights. 

We stopped at the Sarah Granger home, which has an incredible view of the temple. She had a sweet little home, and she was instrumental in helping to organize the Relief Society. We also went to the shoe shop and learned how shoes were made back in the day! It was super cool and informative and it helped me to realize why people only had 1 or 2 pairs of shoes-those things were made to last for a LONG time, and were fit perfectly to your specific foot. We stopped at the tin shop and saw how hurricane lanterns were made, and also different size pans were made and sealed shut to prevent them from leaking. We also went to the blacksmith's shop and were each given "Prairie Diamonds." The wagon shop was right next door and we learned how the axle and wheels were made for the wagons to go across the plains. That part was pretty neat because it helped me to personally gain more appreciation for the sacrifices the pioneers made, leaving everything they had for the sake of the gospel. What faith they must have had.

We also went on the wagon ride which is drawn by two gigantic horses (I don't remember what kind they were off the top of my head) but they were big, and beautiful. Anyway, there was a family sitting in front of us, and the mom turns around (she's a young mom-late 20's) and asks Dan if he has a brother named Kameron. He said yes, and after she told us that she and Kam were in choraleers together at EA and they were good friends. I thought it was super cool and I'm sure Dan did too that 3000 miles away from Arizona, someone still recognized Dan and knew Kam. She told us to find her parents (who were serving their missions in Carthage) and say hi because they knew and loved Kam too. We told  her we definitely would. My mom leaned over after we were done talking and gave Dan a hard time because he ALWAYS knows someone wherever we go. It's one of my favorite things about him. I'm so glad it carried all the way to Nauvoo too :]

Monday night, Nauvoo turns into a ghost town. Everything closes up around 6 for family home evening. We grabbed some dinner at a BBQ joint (it was the only place open) and then walked down the street to get some custard for dessert. A bunch of sister missionaries came in and guess who we found!!!!

Sister Bekah Streeter! I didn't know if she was still serving her mission or if she was done already. We saw her a few more times during the week and it was super cool to see her again!!
We went home after, and likewise crashed and planned out the next day...it was going to be a busy one!

The CUTEST brother ever

My mom and my brother came up 2 weeks ago to help Caitlin move in and to go to a funeral. This cute little brother of mine has quite the knack for having a quick wit and making smart comments that, from his 11 year old mouth, are actually quite hilarious.

This picture is from our Nauvoo trip-we were across the Mississippi from Nauvoo in a town called Montrose, IA.

Dan took Ethan fishing when they were here. Ethan has been so excited to go fishing for so long and I always felt so bad because it just never happened when they have been here in the past. Thankfully, this time it happened!! Dan was telling me that on the first try, Ethan cast the line straight into a tree. Poor kid. They didn't have a lot of time (we had to go to my Gramma's house for dessert that night), but Dan was able to teach Ethan how to tie the hook on the line. I guess they had a good time--I hope they did! Ethan was on cloud 9 to say the least. I walked over to tell the boys we were leaving, and as they drove by me, Ethan sticks his head out the window as the following conversation happened:

E: Do you want a ride?

A: Yeah sure!

E: Too bad!!!
Little stinker butt. They drove the rest of the way to the house and made me walk! Rude. I gave Ethan a hard time about it, and he has such a guilty conscious! He kept telling me he was sorry and that he loved me. It was cute!

When they got ready to leave Monday morning, Ethan had his DVD player plugged in ready to go. The car charger for the DVD player makes a pretty loud whirring noise when it's plugged in. The next set of dialogue was the interchange between Ethan and my mom.

M: I don't know if I can listen to that again...

E: Don't you have headphones?

M: Are you serious?

E: *laughing*

Nauvoo trip-In front of Joseph and Emma's "Mansion House"

This was at the Westward Expansion Museum underneath the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.

 Favorite brother <3

Nauvoo: Day 1

This post, or rather series of posts, is LONG over due. If your really interested in reading it all, more power to you! These next few posts about Nauvoo are more for me to remember everything that happened...except that it was a MONTH AGO! So I need to get this written down pronto. So if you're in for the long haul of this week long trip, let's get started.

We left the lovely state of Utah around 530 in the morning and began this lovely trek to Nauvoo-a 19 hour trip we had decided to split up into 2 days. The destination on this first leg of the trip was Omaha, NE. Everything started without a hitch, until we started driving up Parley's canyon. This was the lovely view we had.

I was a little nervous to say the least. A traffic jam, up hill, driving a small little civic with only a 4 cylinder engine. Luckily, it only lasted about a mile or so then it was smooth sailings.  Caitlin was pretty much drugged out the entire drive on Dramamine. Poor thing gets so carsick and I could not find the "less drowsy" kind of Dramamine.

We got to Wyoming, and immediately set the cruise control to 5 mph over and I could NOT wait to get out of there. If you're wondering why, read the first part of the Yellowstone trip and you will understand my paranoia for Wyoming and their highway patrol officers. I made the comment to Dan after we had crossed state lines into Nebraska that I did not see a single police officer through the entire state! It was so crazy windy through all of Wyoming and Nebraska. Not my favorite at all.

So like I said, we drove through Wyoming, and made it into Nebraska!! My Grampa made sure to tell us a few days before to look for mile marker 1/Exit 1 for Kimball Nebraska. When he and my uncle were driving out to Cleveland, they had a tire blow out right there at mile marker 1. Long story short, he told us to take a picture as we drove by.

I was looking forward to driving through Nebraska to see all the corn fields! That is all Dan talks about whenever Nebraska comes up in conversation. He sold there one summer and he loved it. Well...there was no corn to speak up. Not even planted yet! I was so disappointed. The fields haven't even been plowed since last season. We did have this lovely view to drive into.

Fortunately, the storm was not bad at all and had little to no rain coming down. When we got into Omaha though, the clouds were so dense!!! We could not see the sky! And it was super cold! THAT I was not prepared for. It was freezing!!! And wet. We stayed at a Super 8 that night and lucky for us, the heater worked.

This was a super cool bridge we saw driving through Nebraska. Huge, bright, and colorful. Love it.

In the morning when we were leaving Omaha, we could not even see the sun because the cloud cover was so thick. It was pretty depressing to say the least. We crossed into Iowa and the state sign, you know that whole "welcome to blah blah blah...," well in Iowa it's on the freeway! I missed it. I was ticked-it had been my goal to get pictures of all the state signs (besides Wyoming...hate it). It literally took me the entire trip to finally get a picture of the stupid Iowa sign.

Iowa did redeem itself though. Iowa in a nutshell: hilly, green, farmland, beautiful. That's it. Now you've been to Iowa. I loved it though. There were huge barns and farm homes everywhere, but with so much space still in between the different homes. It was picturesque, like the kind of farms that get pictured in calendars. Anyway, it was love, and if it wasn't so far away from Arizona, I would consider moving there.

One of the highlights on this trip was seeing the Mississippi River. It's something I've always wanted to see. It did not disappoint.

This was right where we started to cross the river at Burlington. Caitlin and I both were so stoked to see it that Dan slowed down so we could take a million and a half pictures. There was no one else around, so the slow moving civic driving across the bridge was not a safety hazard! We drove through a few little towns before we got to Nauvoo, and it felt like you were getting transported back through time. The homes are old, haven't been restored on the outside and the towns have probably less than 500 people living in them. There was something serene about it though, and it almost put a quiet peace over the entire area.

We got to Nauvoo, checked into the hotel, and waited for everyone else to show up. When my grandparents arrived, we drove over to town and stopped at the temple and drove around the town a bit. We stopped every 5 minutes to get more pictures of the temple from different views.

It is a gorgeous view though, from all places. We drove down Parley Street which empties into the Mississippi River, and I stepped into the river! It was cold! But, I've been in the Mississippi. One more thing off the bucket list.

There was a huge rain storm heading in, and I have it on good authority that when it rains out there, it comes down in sheets. We headed back to the condo and crashed for the night.

This statue depicts the brothers beginning that fateful journey to Carthage. Not far from this location by the temple, Joseph, traveling by horseback, turned towards the unfinished temple and said, "This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trails that await them."

End of day 1 :]

Next up: Day 2-lots of houses, the brick yard, and meeting Elder Hatch!

AZ or BUST!

Wow...lost in the drafts. This is from September 2012.

This weekend Dan, Princess Caitlin and I hauled it down to Arizona for my sweet grandmother's funeral. It was such a wonderful experience, great to see family (and one awesome friend!) and celebrate the great life this classy lady led. Seriously, she's amazing.

But this adventure started some 600 + miles away in the little land of Utah. Caitlin wanted to take the first driving stretch and we all agreed she'd drive to St. George and Dan and I would split the last 6 hours. Well, she had a boy texting her, who will not be named [and is now her husband], and since texting/driving is not allowed, she was having me text him back. No big deal. WRONG. She quite literally dictated every spelling and punctuation mark to me. Freaking hilarious.

Here's an example:

A: Yes, period? [referring to the punctuation mark]

C: No, put yep!

A: One p, or two p's?

C: Who puts two p's after yep?!

And just a few other funny things she said...she slept most of the drive home, so the funnies only happened on the way down.

C: I like safety...and aggressive driving.

Enough said.

C: If there's no bathroom, there's no me!

This one quite literally killed me. We were talking about the time our dad had taken us to the daddy/daughter camp out, and of course they don't have indoor plumbing out in the boonies. Princess Caitlin doesn't do anything without indoor plumbing, and even the plumbing at Camp Lomia is questionable. So after explaining why in her 9 year old mind she could not use the outhouse, she came to the conclusion that she does in fact hate camping, and will never go camping without indoor plumbing. Then came the above statement.

That was Friday. We had the funeral on Saturday, and it really was a lovely service. In all honesty though, I am very glad we were able to make it. It was so nice to hear all these great things about her! You have to understand one thing about her: she is an intensely private person, and not one to go about talking about herself. That's just not who she was. But she was the most amazing person ever. I attribute my love of nuts (especially cashews) to her, because whenever we would visit them, she and my grandpa would always send each of us home with a little sandwich bag (not the kind with the ziploc, the kind that folds over) full of nuts.

We went to her house after the funeral to go through a few things and decide if we wanted any of her stuff. She had this awesome mirror hanging on her wall. It has this ornate rose/flower design going around the frame, and it's a nice long oval mirror. Instant love. INSTANT. And to make this even better, my dad had already asked for it a few years back, and said I could have it!! SCORE!!! So when I refinish it (the frame is in gold) I'll post a picture. Dan also got my grandpa's set of the Church History books. They were from 1945!! Definitely a treasure. He was so cute, he said "Now I have to get home and build our bookshelf!" and also reminded me that we're not sharing those with anyone!

We also found quite a few, okay a ton, of pictures around her house. So many old photos of she and my grandpa. They were adorable to say the least, and at the moment I can't find them. But, they will show up in a few weeks I'm sure and I'll have another photo dump to add to the posts.

I miss them so much every day. It's so weird to think I only have one set of grandparents now. I've had 2 for the majority of my life. I count myself very blessed in that arena. Each day, it makes me more grateful for the plan of salvation and my knowledge and testimony of it. I am so blessed to have one more person rooting for me on the other side and helping me along this crazy journey.

"Real" family

I was texting my sister in law yesterday, just a quick note to let her know I was thinking about her. What she sent back to me really made an impact. So Jami, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to write exactly what she wrote to me.

Thanks for loving us and loving Brad even though he isn't "real" family...:)

This didn't hit me right away (it was 4 am when I got it...time difference SUCKS!!), but when I read it again in my fully conscious state, it really hit me. I went around the rest of the day thinking about it, and because life is the way it is, it's taken me 4 days to blog about it. Better late than never, right?

I kept thinking about what "real" family means. After a good majority of the day being distracted in thought on this simple word, I finally decided what real family means to me.

Real family: the ones you surround yourself with, the people you love, and the ones who love you back. In my book, those are the only requirements.

Oblige me for a minute--I want to be honest.
I've never once had a second thought about Brad being family. Some of you may think No big deal. Why worry about that? Well, I've thought about it. It was a hard pill to swallow when we found out Jami was getting married. It was even harder when we found out she'd be moving to Germany. And I was really wrestling with it for quite a while. Here is this little family that I had grown to love so much, and a little boy (who's not so little anymore) that I had been watching once a week. It was rough because on the one hand my heart was breaking knowing that they wouldn't be just up the road anymore, but I was so so so happy for Jami to finally have someone in her life again, someone to take care of both of them. Someone to make them a family again.

When we were in the temple waiting for their sealing, I felt so much peace. I never knew Kam (Dan's brother, and Kason's dad), but I know he was there that day, and he was happy. Maybe that was just for Dan and I to feel, but nonetheless, it made that day that much more perfect. Jami was so happy, the happiest I'd ever seen her, and I knew that was because of Brad. I practically burst into tears seeing her after the sealing, but it was the happy tears. I'm so so grateful she let us be there and share that day with them.

I love Jami and Kason more than any words will ever be adequate or able to express. I love Brad as a part of my family because he's a part of their family. I don't know him that well, and honestly haven't really had a chance to talk to him, but I know he has a good heart and he is a good man. He is taking care of Kason and loving him and raising him. How awesome is that?! Major points in my book just for that. Not only does he love Jami, but he also loves Kason. I can't quite put it into words exactly what I'm thinking. It's more just a feeling. If there is anything I have ever learned in life it's that family is the most important thing. THE MOST IMPORTANT. The way I see things, Brad is and always has been family, and he always will.

Family: the greatest blessing I have ever received.

BUFFALOOOOO

Last week my momma and the kiddos and I met up with the fam and went to Yellowstone. It was quite the eventful trip to say the list. I got to check off quite a few "FIRSTS" from my list.

#1. I got my first speeding ticket...well first ticket...ever. It sucked. End of story.
But the best part about the whole thing...get this. My mom had been driving the whole time. We're four hours into this drive, and I decided to drive for the next couple hours and give her a break. I pulled out of the City Market, drove not even 200 yards, and there's lights behind me. I have no clue where the cop came from...at all. The second best part about it, I didn't even see a speed limit sign, until right before I pulled off the road to get out of the way. 58 in a 40. That blows. Way to go out with a bang. And let's just say that Dan and I are even...and he's definitely driving home from Colorado.

#2. I saw a buffalo on the side of the road!! Seriously! We saw quite a few actually, and an entire herd! It was so stinking cool! Andddd...one of the best parts about the buffalo was Princess Caitlin's reaction to them...Enjoy.

#3. Elk. We saw two huge bull elks just walking along through the field. Huge racks! HUGE! Dan.Would. Have. Died. They were that close, and so beautiful! We also saw a field full of cow elk too. Definitely cool!

#4. Lions, and tigers, and BEARS! Oh my! Yes, the only thing my mom wanted to see the entire time was a bear. Me...not so much. But saw one we did. Thank goodness it was only one. It was actually quite cute, and pretty small, which is unnerving because you just know the mama bear probably wasn't far behind.

The thing that killed me about all of this is that these animals are wild. And people were walking into the fields to get closer pictures! Seriously the only thing I could think of was how stupid they are! One of the workers at the little gift shops told us that just earlier in the week, a guy had to go to the hospital because he got too close to a buffalo and it attacked him. Sucks.

The trip was awesome! Photo overload to come in a few.

A few highlights I definitely don't want to forget.
Princess Caitlin: (while admiring the buffaloes on the side of the road) Look at those balls...
    (she said this entirely straight faced, and completely serious...I don't think she quite realized what she had       said!)

Princess Caitlin: (again while admiring the buffaloes) OH MY GOSH THEIR HUGE!!!!

4 hours into our drive from Denver to the cabin we stayed at in Idaho:
Momma: Ethan, do you have your seat belt on?
Ethan: Oh darn it!

Rylee: I'm starting to think we should sing like that feral child from the zoo. Maybe the buffalo will come to us! They'll be like 'I hear the call! And the people!

Ethan: Get out of the way trees!!
We were all taking pictures as we drove through Yellowstone to get to the cabin. Ethan was taking pictures with his ipod. It was hilarious. We were dying laughing because he was so upset that the trees kept getting in the way of his pictures.

Dan told us all a joke before we left, and it's quite stupid, but really freaking funny!
What did the buffalo say as his child was leaving for school?
Bison!
See...dumb, but funny!

So the aforementioned feral child that we met at the zoo...she was singing to the lions. Like high pitched opera singing. Terrible. But whatever. So we thought it would be funny to see if we could call the buffalo. I don't remember who decided to come up with it, but we rolled down the windows and shouted: BuffalOOOOOOOOO!
We were all laughing about it the entire trip, and would have random little outbursts throughout the trips.

So after I got my ticket, I cried. Yes I'm a girl, and it was the first one. Anyway...Chandler wanted to throw her gum away, but we didn't have anything for her to put it in, so I handed her my tissue.
Arielle: It's just a tear tissue.
Rylee: No. It's a SNOT tissue.
Ethan: OHH! That's the worst kind!

AND...some personal favs from the trip.  
Caution: PHOTO DUMPAGE.

Old Faithful.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Favorite Brother.

Upper/Lower Falls.

Elk.

Buffalo crossing the river.

Jackson Hole Arch.

Rainbow. Lower Falls.

Family. Greatest blessing ever.