DAAAAYYY 19!!!

Holy COW!!! 2 more days babe! I'm so excited! Right when I woke up this morning I was excited. It's getting so close, I can't wait!! I can't wait to see you, to feel you, to hold you, to hug you, to kiss you, to be with you, to to to have you back!!! YES!! I see the end, the finish line is just around the corner! YAY!

One of my favorite memories was when we went out to eat at that mexican restaurant in American Fork. I can't think of the name of it right now. But on the way down you asked me, "Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a blade of grass?" I was like....ummm....I have never really thought about that. :) And you went on, "well why wasn't I a blade of grass or a tree or a rock? I just wonder sometimes what it feels like to be something else.... everything has a spirit so I wonder what it would feel like???" That's not exactly what you said but it was something along those lines. I felt dumb because I never even think about some of the things you think about. I felt like I walk through life sometimes oblivious to my surroundings going with the flow....not even thinking about life. And you are probably the deepest thinker I know. I love it! So we talked about that and then had our dinner. I got completely stuffed and felt sick! This was around the time when we had been watching "Man VS Food" and so I was determined to eat everything on my plate and it made me feel like a FAT COW, bloaded and ready to explode! On the way home we started talking about how the way we talk is sometimes retarded, and some of the words we use are so repetitious and pointless....such as "like" ,"just", "so", "umm"... etc. But we went off on 'like'... like totally, we were like talking and like, there was like this funny thing that you like said.. :) We promised each other we would try and help each other to stop saying like so much. We got home and we continued to talk about it. You were sitting on the couch and I was kneeling on the floor leaning over the ottoman. It was so fun talking and having a conversation with you. I'm so glad we can talk about anything. I love our conversations! Another thing we talked about was how sometimes we'll end sentences with "so" or "but" just because we don't know what else to say or where we were going with it... haha! It was so funny, I remember laughing our heads off!! Oh I love you so much... I can't wait to have more of those conversations. I love you BABY! Can't wait to talk to you later today!!!

DAY 18

Saturday is upon us! Only a few more days! I can't wait to see you!!!!!!!!

I think we both share this one as our favorite(s)---all of the silly moments we have shared which still cause me to reflect on them with big smiles and laughter! From our "floor moment," to our "staircase moment," to all of the silly car moments and all of the crazy videos we've done-jazercise, PIRT...all of those moments spent with you HAVE to be some of my most favorite moments. I LOVE LOVE LOVE being with you so much. I love laughing with you; it seriously is one of the things I cherish the most about our relationship. Thank you for making me laugh; you are gifted at getting me out of any mood. I seriously can't imagine living without the sound of your laugh! I love it, it brings so much joy into my life! The most amazing gift you could have ever given me was laughter, and I know you will keep me laughing the rest of my life.

I adoringly love you!

DAY 17

It feels so good to be in love with you!!! Only a few more days, YAY YAY YAY!! I love every day when I get to put my wedding ring on and know that I am yours!! I'm married to the best woman in the world....I say that to myself as I slide my ring on. It's the best feeling to be loved by you, to be married to you, to know that we get to spend the rest of our lives together!

One of my FAVORITE memories was my Birthday!! WOW!! It was such an amazing day!! It was an ALL day event! You made me an amazing breakfast; french toast with coconut syrup, that yummy egg dish and potatoes...and a pina colada smoothie!! YUM! Then you made me sit on the couch and close my eyes as you brought in my present. "Ok you can open em!" A sweet black guitar!! I was so excited!! I had been wanting to get one for so long!! It was awesome! Then you surprised me by taking me to a spa for a pedicure and facial! I followed you in my car and was wondering where we were going and then we pulled into the spa parking lot and I just smiled! I felt a little weird getting a facial....but it felt really good! Then we sat next to each other and got pedicures and you got glitter toes! :) SO FUN! The day goes on!! We went and took a nap at my house and then we went into gateway and saw a movie...(i think we did anyway) I'm kind of confused now... did we see a movie or not..? I think we did and then we went and walked around temple square and saw the lights and acted totally silly together....singing and laughing!!! After that we went to the JSM building and had dinner on the top floor! It was so beautiful....looking out the huge glass windows and seeing the Temple right there! The food was amazing! We tried everything they had! Plate after plate....all the desserts, like 20 different cakes, eclairs, etc.... WOW!! i was sooooo STUFFED!! I felt sick! oooww...oooowwww...oowww!!!! We laughed so hard together as we pretended like we were going to stuff desserts in your purse and take them home! haha! :) It was so funny!! It was such an amazing day!! It seriously was the best birthday I'd had in YEARS!!! Thank you so much baby!!

Day 17

One of my favorite memories has to do with us and our videos--staying up all night right before our wedding and getting our video put together. I remember how stressed we were to get it done and yet everything totally came together perfectly! We were such a good team and we had so much fun using our creativity to produce something we both would enjoy for the rest of our lives.

Another time is when you helped me with my American Lit project-first staying up to help me get my handout prepared-driving to Kinko's before they closed to see if we could get a mock up--and then indulging me in my last minute idea to put together a video on Maya Angelou. You were so incredible at helping me and totally being there for me hours on end until we perfected it. AND then for you to come and support me as I actually presented it to my teacher and the class-it totally melted my heart to have you there supporting me. I am so grateful for all you do to show me that you love me, that I am most important to you, and for picking up on the things that mean a lot to me and always following through. I love you so much!

day 16

Finally we are less than a week away! This time next week I'll be waking up next to you. I'll probably be laying in bed next to you running my fingers through your hair, relaxing and loving the fact that you are right next to me. I can't wait!! I love you babes!

Another favorite memory of mine is when we first started communicating. I was in KC and I remember being so infatuated with you! I remember at the beginning just thinking I had met someone really beautiful and really cool. I didn't know where it would go but I loved the way you wrote and I loved all your pictures on your page. I loved that you had the drive to start your own business and I loved that you had been through a lot of different experiences in life. I loved that you had a big personality and I could tell you were a strong woman! I loved it! I remember showing Nate all your pictures and telling him about you and he was like, "she's hot! and she has her own business! that's cool...plus it sounds like she's had some experience with life...and you need someone with experience because of what you've been through." I was like, "Freak yeah! I'm going to marry her." :) He asked me if I was serious....that I thought I would and I told him I didn't really KNOW... but that you had everything that I had always been looking for in a companion. We hadn't even talked on the phone yet but I remember feeling such a special connection to you. Your sense of humor melted my heart. I was so happy that we got each other in that way. I loved our late night MSN chats. Seriously...the first time I really felt like I loved you was when you were in Georgia at Dre and Drews and it was around 2 am. We were chatting and the dogs woke up and were making all this noise and you decided to feed them.... and you know the whole conversation. You told me you over fed them and they're not supposed to eat too much because they are in dog shows and you're going to be screwed if Dre or Drew woke up!! I told you to pretend like you're asleep. Then we went through the scenario if one of the dogs were to get out and how Andrew would have to go out looking for them and he'd be yelling in German...oh and you told me the dogs only understood German so I was looking up German words for sit... ha ha... It was so funny!! I was laughing my head off laying in my bed typing back and forth with you! I remember after it was over...I laid in bed and I said to myself, " I love that girl!" Every day I couldn't wait to get home at night to chat with you. All day I'd be in Amanda land....totally trying to focus on work but in all reality I could've cared less about work. Every day I woke up so excited! I felt hope. I truly felt like I could marry you and felt such an amazing connection to you. I told everyone in my office about you. I was so happy! Every day I couldn't wait to have contact with you. I couldn't wait to check my e mail! I couldn't wait to text you! It was such a fun stage and I'm so grateful for those early memories! We had so many good conversations. I loved pretending about hanging out with you and asking you to come over, or go on a hike with me, or watch a movie, or cuddle....or reading your palm and giving you a kiss! :) So many fun conversations!!

Day 15

One memory I love is Halloween last year. I loved spending our first official holiday together-making hot cider, twisted breadsticks, yummy squash, chili, pumpkin seeds, carmel apples, and other goodies. I loved carving pumpkins at my place-laying newspaper on the floor and digging out all the yucky squishy orange stuff, and then carving a cat in mine and a skeleton in yours; putting them on the stairs leading down to my house, watching them lit up.

I remember asking you to try and find the movie "ickabod crane" and you searched and searched for it at different stores asking for the totally wrong movie-"ichy bod" :) haha. I loved laying with you on the couch watching Mr. Toad and hearing you laugh at how ridiculously silly and childish it was. I think at that moment I realized that you would be a great dad; that you could play off stuff like that and be totally cool with it (indulging me in my childhood traditions :). I loved spending the fall with you in Utah. I have so many wonderful memories of my little place in Springville with you. Crazy we almost moved in there together! :) That is so odd to imagine; I wonder how it would have been. That place will always be so special to me.

Memorial Weekend GP 2009

Being here with my family has been great. I am glad I got to see them this year :). I truly have the best family in the world. I love them so much! They make me laugh!

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures of my trip :( but here are a few of the Memorial Weekend. On Friday night we went to a park in GP that sits right on the rogue river and watched the firework display-always incredible! They had a fair going on with rides, and booths with all sorts of odd things to purchase :). I told Mike, before we really even conversed, I LOVED fairs, that they were "nostalgic" to me and that I wanted to go to a fair with him. Being at the fair made me miss him. Hopefully we can go to the one in Utah in the fall :). One must at a fair, besides riding some rides-FUNNEL CAKE!!! YUM!! I love it! Saturday we watched a two hour parade with everything from "Jesus belongs to Grants Pass" holy rollers, to hot rods. It was quite the spectacle. :) The kids got bags and bags of candy, thanks to uncle Jared (who btw you want to have with you at any and all parades) who cheered and supported everyone in the parade from the "candy girls," to "miss rooster." It is amazing how he can grab anyones attention :). That afternoon we visited Grandpa. Good ol' Grandpa, still hangin in there. God bless his heart for living this long without the love of his life. He is such an example to me! I love him so much! We then went and watched the boat nic races, which were incredibly deafening :). It is incredible the speed at which they can go in that length of time. 154 feet in 7 seconds going 144mph. INSANE! Sunday we were able to celebrate Alec and Shayna's birthday-best dinner ever (I told Shayna she needed to have her b-day every Sunday :). Jenn and Mom made slow cooked ribs, frog eye salad, deviled eggs, artichokes, asparagus with parmesan cheese, and Michelle made this yummy pretzel and butter crusted raspberry jello salad that was so good. It was such a good meal! After dinner Mike was able to be apart of the birthday singing, thanks to skype, and he entertained us for a time with Nika and with his funny faces :). WE LOVE MIKE!!! All of the kids loved seeing him, they think he is the funniest person :). Maile calls him "tootie fruity" now. :) We then played a game called "Boxers or Briefs." SO FUNNY and so much fun! I told Mike we have to get that game and play it with his family :). I laughed my head off.

Today is Monday, Memorial Day and I don't know what the plans are, but I am grateful to honor this day with my family and Mike.

How grateful we are for all of our troops serving right now and the dedication, loyalty and devotion they and their families have to making America the beautiful, free land that we are all so fortunate to call home. I am so grateful to live in this country; to celebrate all of our American traditions and to be married to such a wonderful man that is also extremely grateful for the heritage of this great country. God bless America!

Memorial Weekend

Memorial Weekend - making a free slideshow

day.....14!

We're getting there! Basically one week away!! YAY!! Babe thanks so much for that sweet note you took the time to hand write and mail to me! It melted my heart! And the chocolates are so yummy!!

the pictures were taken close to the time of the memory... :)

I have been thinking of so many favorite memories since yesterday. I have a gazillion! One that came to mind though was conference weekend in October. I had been home....what....3 weeks. It's crazy how comfortable we were together and how much we loved each other even back then. I remember I had been thinking a lot about marriage and I wanted to marry you. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. But I was a little nervous to bring it up. I had talked to my mom about it and I just knew you were 'the one'! I was so in love with you! Anyway, we sat on the couch and watched conference together. We had lots of blankets and it was so comforting sitting next to you. I think we took a nap together in between sessions....or was that when we went on our walk...? I loved our walk....we held hands and walked up the street quite a ways talking about our view points and the..."what would you do in this situation?" type of questions. This was the time when you asked me, "what would you do if I wrecked the car? Would you be more concerned about the car or about me? :) We talked about raising kids and family life. When we got back to the house we sat on the swing outside and finished our conversation swinging back and forth. I remember being amazed at all the similar view points we had. I felt like we had so many things in common. I loved that walk! I remember thinking to myself, "this is how it's going to be the rest of my life. taking walks with this amazing woman, sharing our dreams and goals, holding hands. i want to marry her so bad!" I got a glimpse of our future...and it felt so peaceful and so sweet. We went back inside and I'm unsure if conference was over or if we watched the last session. But then we cuddled and laid around together...talking and laughing. Later on was when I think we talked about getting married for the first time. It felt so good to tell you I wanted to marry you...and it was so exciting to discuss things together. You asked me when we would do it....I didn't know how you felt about everything or how fast you wanted things to go, so I said APRIL. :) Turns out we got married in December! Once I knew you were ok with moving fast...I was totally ready for it. I knew I wanted to be with you. I knew you were the one I wanted to marry...there was no reason to wait... Why wait, when you just know? Anyhow, thats one of my favorite memories. That whole day....the watching conference, the cuddling, the walk, the talking, the laughing and loving....and finally talking about getting married!

DAY 13

I woke up this morning and guess who I missed? YOU YOU YOU :). I love you soooooooooooo much! I know what you mean, I feel like I just keep repeating myself with every posting. So you know what we should do? Share a favorite memory :).

I miss when we returned from NYC to your house and I had to leave that night back to Springville. You were so freakin cute when you came outside and jumped inside the window of the passenger seat, telling me "okay let's go!" HAHA. And then as I drove down the drive way out onto the road, running and jumping on the hood of my car telling me "you can't leave, you can't leave!!" We were so crazy yelling at each other late that night in the streets-your neighbors probably thought we were freaks! I will never for get that moment. I felt so much love for you! I knew that you were my home and my place belonged with you "always and forever" (Singing that last part like Kip :). Our whole NY trip was amazing! All the great food, the boat cruise around manhattan, the things we saw together-experiencing a place I love together- riding the subway, meeting different people, walking the streets late at night, strolling through central park, eating hot dogs on the stree...such a fun trip. Thanks for taking me on the best date of my life!! Thanks for always loving me, cherishing our relationship and adoring me always!

I love you so much!

still 12 days...

This is what I wish we were doing today! Laying on the beach...kissing.

DAY 12

We've past the half way marker. We are now in single digits. 9 days left and I'll be counting 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,,,,,23 hours 22,21,......1 hour, 59 minutes, 58 minutes....30 minutes, 29 minutes, 28 minutes.....10 minutes,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1....... until I see your beautiful face! I just want you back. I love the way you make me feel. I feel safe around you. I feel okay around you. I feel not so awkward and dumb! You allow me to be a total GEEK and you still love me. In fact you can be a total GEEK with me and that's what I really LOVE! I don't know what to write because I feel like I have just been repeating myself over and over the last 12 days! I miss you like crazy, I want you back, I want to hug you, cuddle with you, kiss you, play with you, eat with you, pray with you, drive with you, laugh with you, cry with you..... You are such a huge part of me. You are ingrained in me. I need you! I'll be thinking about you all day! I'll be loving you every second!

Day 11

Life's a little less fulfilling and entertaining without you in it. I was able to go to a really great lunch yesterday with my parents at this new lodge on the rogue river. It was so beautiful and the food was amazing. Every second I wished you were there so see what I was seeing and to enjoy the day with me. Tonight I am going with my family to see the fire works and the annual Boat Nic show (no not the same as THE BOAT SHOW :). I am excited to actually do something now that I have been here two weeks (besides hanging out with Maile and going to Jaxons game which was super fun), although I am going to be missing you all night. It is funny, you look forward to a vacation, to traveling and doing stuff but if you are not with someone you love or have fun with it really isn't as great of a time. Do I sound like the whiny baby now? Maybe BUT who the freakin dippity do cares???? NOONE and if they do poop on them :).

I still love you, even through the hard days :).

DaY 10!!

Babe are you still in denial that Kris won?! CRAZY! I was laughing just thinking of you reacting to the results! haha!!! I said, "Amanda is gonna FREAK!" Anyway.....day 10! WOW! We are now tied with the other longest time we've been away from each other. We are basically half way there...yay!! I miss you like crazy! It's all the little things I miss the most. I miss brushing our teeth together at night....you always close your eyes as you brush! Then making funny faces at each other in the mirror and making each other laugh with a mouth full of tooth paste!! :) I miss when you climb in bed next to me at night after you've washed your face and put stuff on your lips and it always smells the same and your lips are always so soft and smooth. I love that smell. I miss watching you get ready. I miss watching TV with you. I miss cuddling. I miss eating together. I miss it all!!! There are so many things!! We truly are best friends! I knew really soon after we finally met in person that I could spend the rest of my life with you because I saw that I could have a best friend in you. I saw that I could totally be myself with you. I saw that I could give you my heart and you would take care of it. You make me so happy and make me feel so loved!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love you. I'm going to spray your perfume on my wrist so I can smell you and have you with me all day! :) LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! I just screamed that btw!

DAY 9

We are almost in the two digits :). Thanks for being the most amazing person in the world and sending me flowers!!! I can smell them when I go to sleep and wake up, they are right by my bed! You excel at keeping the love and romance alive in our marriage. The little things truly make life so much better. Thanks for the pictures, the chats, the phone calls, texts...for everything. I am so grateful to have found the person that makes me feel alive everyday, that makes me want to be a better woman.......You seriously bring so much happiness into my life. I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!

Glam Shots with Deb

Glam Shots By Debb - making a free slideshow

day 8

I LOVE YOU BABY!!!! I loved talking to you last night!! I love our life together! I love our relationship! I love being married to you!! So I called Deb and she said she could get me some glamour shots done....she even gave me a smokin deal...50% off!! (said in Kips voice) haha!! I'm going to post them for you so you can see what a tremendous job she did. :) I can't wait to hear your voice this morning when I call and I'm already looking forward to talking to you tonight!! yay!! I'm so glad we can have good conversation!! It's something I truly cherish. It's sunny and warm today! I want to go roller blading with you and then go have a picnic in the park. I want to just hang out and enjoy this beautiful weather with you!! I hope you have an amazing day! I love you with all my heart! I'll be thinking of you alllllllll DAY!


LOVE, MIKE

Downtown Charlotte

Downtown Charlotte - making a free slideshow

Day 7-ONE WEEK!!

You know what I can't wait for??? When we are able to post something TOGETHER-make the world laugh again :). I love our silliness. I love being able to totally be myself with you. I am so glad that you are able to not only accept my silliness but to also add to it 10 fold :). I LOVE all the moments we have together. I can't wait to talk to you tonight-favorite time of the day! :) I can't wait to share with you all the things I learned from my dad the other day--yes babe, DINOSAURS roamed the earth :). I love love love all of our late night conversations, speculating about so many things.

ON WEEK 2!!!! :) I love love love you!

Oh P.S. I love the song of the day "Love it all," by the Kooks. What a fun song :).

Oh and here are some pictures showing the moment I was describing the other day-going to Maile's dance lesson and me being "story mom" for all the kids before class :).

DAY 6

Sundays are one of my favorite days to spend with you. I got back from church and now I'm going to take a nap. I missed putting my arm around you in church. I missed rubbing your back and feeling you next to me in Sacrament meeting. And now I'm missing not having you here to lay next to, to take a nap with.

DAY 5

It's the same ol' thing-loving and missing you. It will probably be like this for 21 days :), but nevertheless I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

I had the craziest dream last night that we joined the army and during our training we had to practice getting all of the local villagers out of the area. We went from door to door convincing people they had to evacuate immediately or their lives would be in danger. HAHA. Where do these strange dreams come from??? I think it is interesting that in most of my dreams you are always with me doing some strange thing or another :)..... I miss you even asleep.

DAY 4-absence makes the heart grow fonder

So day 4....woke up this morning and still I feel as though a piece of me is missing. Still I feel alone and empty without you. I can't explain in words how much you mean to me and what a HUGE part of my life you are. You are the air I breathe, you are the first thing that I think about when my eyelids open in the morning, you are my princess!! I was born to tell you I love you! I'm aching to hold your beautiful face in my hands, stare into your eyes and see the love inside them. I'm aching to hold you right after we wake up in the morning. I'm aching to see your smile and to hear your laugh. There's always something we find to laugh about in the morning! :) The mornings seem to be the hardest for me, knowing that I have to go a whole day without you by my side. 18 days BABE! We're knocking the days down! Slowly but surely. I'm listening to "i found a reason" and thinking about how precious you are to me and all the tender moments we've shared and tears and welling up in my eyes. You are my everything and the saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" holds true. I appreciate and love you deeper and deeper with every passing day. I'm so happy to be married to you! HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY?! YOU ARE AMAZING! I'm such a baby. I'm a sucker for you!

I MISS YOU! I LOVE YOU! I NEED YOU!

Day 3-We're in the TEEN's :)

Thanks for the song this morning...Do you feel like screaming sometimes as he does? :) I love you babes. Thanks for making everything go calm and peaceful inside whenever I hear your voice. I love your voice!!! There is no better sound in the world! What can I say other than I love you like crazy!!

"Hey did you know California was like 119 degrees once?" That's what Jaxon asked me the other day :( haha.

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" "I don't know, why?" "So he could stand in the middle of the road." That was from Maile.

Oh and p.s. Yes we can make a promise to NEVER do this EVER again :)

DAY 2

Last night I woke up around 4 am...half asleep and confused I looked over and didn't find you laying next to me. It took a few seconds to realize and remember where you were. Once I remembered I was like, "UGHH! This sucks! I miss my baby!" I rolled over and eventually fell back to sleep. Then 2 or 3 hours later I woke up to Nika scratching her little mouses eyes out and attacking my feet. I pushed her off the bed but she kept jumping back up. I missed you not being there. I missed not seeing your dark brown hair spread across your pillow. I missed not seeing the shape of your body under neath the covers. I pulled your pillow close to me because it smells like you and I layed in bed for 20 minutes and pretended you were there with me. I'll be missing you all day today! Have a really really really good day! I LOVE YOU with all my heart. I carry your smile and laugh with me in my memory and whenever I miss you I picture your beautiful face smiling and laughing with me. LOVE YOU!

Day 1

To my "babes:" It's been less than 24 hours and I miss you like crazy. "How can I possibly do three weeks away from my best friend?" I thought as the plane was taxing the tarmac, my heart pounding, anxiety rushing through me....I never want to be away from you this long ever again....

I guess this will be a new, defining chapter in our already amazing love story...(can't wait to rip the chapter up and move on TOGETHER in the following chapters-hey maybe we should hold a bon fire and sing kumbia when I return :) haha).

Last minute picture: I will be holding onto the image of last night-- lying in bed next to you, laughing, talking, singing to each other, being silly...You always make me laugh, even in the worst of times. The rendition we found on the computer of "forever young," the one you added to the playlist on our blog "three weeks," (which totally melted my heart when listening to it...yes EVEN the Maile Cyrus song :) haha...every time I hear it I will think of you and me being total goofs-it is our song, just like "You don't know me" reminds me of our wedding)....ANYWAY-I will always remember our "last night," listening to 20 different renditions of that song and you telling me "I always want to stay young and fun with you forever." YOU ARE ADORABLE! I miss your adorable face and all of the adorable things that make Mike MIKE :) I miss the way you talk, I miss the way you look at me when I am talking about things that are so dumb and make no sense at all, I miss holding and kissing your hands....

FYI I am going to run and jump in your arms at the end of these three weeks, and you better twirl me around like you always do :)

Thinking of you always, loving you forever...Babes, your my bestest friend in the WORLD!

3 WEEKS

My Baby left me this morning!!! FOR 3 WEEKS!!! She went back to Oregon to visit her family. I'm happy that she gets to see her family and take a little vacation. It's going to be really weird without her around. We've never been apart for this long. I guess I'll hold on to the saying.."absence makes the heart grow fonder" or something along those lines??

To my BABY: I'm going to miss you like crazy! In fact...I already miss you like crazy. I hope you enjoy your trip. I'm glad you get the chance to spend some time with your family. You definitely deserve a vacation! You're such an amazing wife!! Thank you so much for all the treats and meals you made me yesterday. I'll have food to eat for DAYS and DAYS! I love you so much and will be thinking about you and missing you every second that you're gone. I'm going to miss falling asleep next to you with my arm around you feeling you breathing. I'm going to miss looking into your beautiful eyes. I'm going to miss your smiling face greeting me when I come home after work. I'm going to miss EVERYTHING about YOU!! Love you BABES!!

Miley Cyrus Sing Along!!

NC ROAD TRIP

NC Road Trip - making a free slideshow

ROAD TRIP

Our journey across the beautiful USA was a success! We had little or no mishaps, and Nika, although locked up in her carrier the whole way, was quite calm (thanks to the tranquilizers which saved us and her)!

We drove straight through Nebraska and Wyoming, deciding those are definitely the last states we’d consider living in. Our first REAL stop was St. Louis and Kansas City. I was able to see where Mike worked last summer and where we first started communicating. It was fun to see the path he walked on again and again, filled with excitement, when I called him for the first time. St Louis was awesome. We were able to see the famous landmark-the Gateway Arch- and tour around the area for a bit. We had dinner at Iron Barleys-Yummy little place nestled into a quiet neighborhood outside St. Louis. Mike had the famous Monte Cristo Dog (hot dog served open faced on a bun dressed with jam and cheese—it was amazingly good. I had a house special, which was also pretty tasty). We wanted to see a baseball game, Missouri was playing Chicago that day, but we didn’t have time.

Next stop-MEMPHIS. We LOVED Memphis and decided that the saying holds true-There is nothing like SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. Everyone we met was genuinely nice; it was wonderfully contagious. We had the best smoked ribs at a restaurant called Rendezvous, downtown Memphis. (Before we left Utah we gathered all the necessary food information from the show Man vs. Food and ate at the suggested restaurants a long the way). They served not only amazing ribs but the best smoked sausage I have ever had! YUM!!! Mike and I LOVE food!

The next morning we toured Graceland; saw where the King lived, ate, spent his last waking moments of life, and was buried. It was really cool to see all of the memorabilia in the house and take in the energy of one of the world’s greatest musicians.

Before leaving Memphis we ate lunch at Gus’s-BEST FRIED CHICKEN EVER!!! YUMMY!!! Words cannot describe how amazing the spice is on the chicken. We are both going to crave the food we’ve eaten. It was fun to experience Southern culture. Your meal is served with white bread, beans and coleslaw ☺. We were also able to walk down Beale Street-the place where Blues originated. It was amazing to see all the old buildings, to hear Blues being played throughout the city, and to see everything come alive.

Third stop- Nashville. We were able to tour the Grand Ole Opry museum and see the birthplace of country music! ☺. Despite not loving country it was really cool to see all the memorabilia and feel the history of one of the most popular genres of music. We also go to see The Hermitage, the property of our very late President Andrew Jackson. The grounds were stunning-it is so pretty in Tennessee.

A small tangent-this is just a plug for those traveling either the east coast or through the southern states, a great place to crash is Drury Inn Hotel-really good service, good rooms, affordable, really good breakfast included. ☺ Mike and I found out about it and ended up staying at four different Drury Inns along the way.

As we neared Charlotte we saw the Great Smoky Mountains and I TRIED to remember the song on the show we watched over and over as kids--Six Pack with Kenny Rogers, about Tennessee- I had to call dad who started singing the familiar tune to me “Rocky Top you’ll always be home sweet home to me, good ol’ Rocky Top, Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennesseeee”… ☺. Mike had the privilege of hearing me and my dad sing together. :) We also noticed there were some Civil War sites a long the way and so we stopped and toured through an old Civil War Cemetery and saw some of the landscape where the cannons went off and some of the battles were fought. I just love it back here, so much history and so much beauty!

We are officially living in Charlotte, been here about a week now. We experienced our first intense thunderstorm, which freaked Nika out ☺. She doesn’t know what to do, first she was drugged for 5 days, now she is in a totally new environment, and Mike and I have switched schedules on her-I’m home all the time and Mike is gone 6 days a week. ☺

We love it! The ward is awesome, the nature is gorgeous-lush and green, and the place we live in is quite nice-pool, work out facility, BBQ, clubhouse…it will be fun to make this our home for 4 months. I leave Mike on the 12th to go home to Oregon for three weeks-longest time we’ve been away from each other. We are going to miss each other like crazy. It is as I said to Mike “you aren’t just leaving one person you are leaving three-your companion, your lover, AND your friend. Mike and I have grown so much closer; we love spending every minute we can with each other. I love love love being married to my best friend; someone who makes me laugh like crazy, someone I can be myself around, someone who respects me, loves me, cherishes me and honors me, and someone that is as silly as I am which increases the silliness in our home 10 fold. I LOVE YOU BABE!!! Miss you like the dickens!