Mississippi!

The last leg of our journey to Mississippi was through Texas.

Had to stop for BBQ...delicious. Frank also loves BBQ ribs. Shocker!

We got to meet Baby Tate! The smallest baby I have ever held. Can't you tell Josh wants one of his very own? 

This was our first adventure since we've been here...a trip to the Baton Rouge Temple! It felt wonderful to be in civilization again. 

Our friend Chelsea has been here this summer, too, but left us for Idaho this week. I was so grateful to have her here and will miss her!!

We have had more critters in our house this summer than I have had in other houses my whole life. This was the second little gecko I found in the house. Although it's cute and tiny, I still don't want it living inside with me. 

There is a reservoir about an hour away that we went to explore yesterday. It was a nice break from the heat and now we want a boat....

legless goose!

And now I will be watching the Olympics for 2 weeks. OBSESSED. 

My First Other Half

Typically, people refer to their spouse as their other half. But long before Josh was around, I had already found my other half.
Now, don't get me wrong. Josh is the absolute perfect husband for me and there is absolutely no one better! But who I am today is in large part due to Lucy.

I was always a pretty shy little girl (ok, very shy-clinging to my mother's pant leg and refusing to talk to strangers until the age of oh, 9?). Then freshman year of high school a miracle happened. We found out that there was going to be a new girl in our seminary class from Japan. Imagine everyone's surprise when Lucy walked in-fair skinned and blonde haired-not quite what I was expecting. According to Lucy's memory, she followed me to the bathroom every morning after seminary until we became friends.
I had never had a friend like this before though. We literally did everything together and never got sick of being around each other. She helped me come out of my shell and become more comfortable with myself, probably because in part I knew she accepted me for who I really was. High school can be a pretty turbulent time, but I was blessed with an incredible best friend to help me through it. 

She makes hilarious faces.

She does hilarious things. 

Great dancer. (obviously). 

Beautiful!

This is in TX after she moved away from me :(

We basically owned BYU. or thought we did, anyway.

We like church and General Conference. 

 We like to feed each other. 

We like to work out. 

 

We like to explore new places.  

8.5 years later, Lucy is still my best friend. We have survived through lots of things that normally can cause people to drift apart--her move to Texas right before our senior year, multiple break ups and heartaches with bf's, a transition to college, her study abroad in Japan, my marriage, and her mission. But alas! She got home from her mission last week and I am happy to report, while everything has changed in life, nothing has changed between us. And that, my dear blog readers, is true friendship! 

I got to see her right off the plane!! 

So happy to be together again.

I thought I would dedicate a post to my truest, closest, longest, and absolute best {girl} friend. She's amazing!

Sweet Colorado

After Utah, we spent a week in Colorado. I was determined to make a fun adventure filled trip. This included hiking in Red Rocks...Josh had never been there before. 

Literally every person we walked by commented on Franklin's booties. Not only were they adorable, but they were practical and necessary because the poor pup burned his paws the week before. 

After hiking, we planned to camp on Cheyenne Mountain. As soon as we set the tent up, we saw these ominous clouds rolling in...

...quickly followed by 45 minutes of hail. It was insane. We waited it out in the tent, and as soon as there was a break, we headed to the nearest pet friendly Best Western, along with many other Jeep and motorcycle drivers. It wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't still lightning and our tent didn't get wet on the inside. 

Piles of hail still left in the morning. 

The next morning we went rafting through the royal gorge! Josh took a waterproof disposable camera that has pictures yet to be developed...maybe they'll make their appearance on the blog one day...

This was the picture Josh wanted to make sure I put in here...it's Albert Pujols, who makes like $20 million/year or something crazy. And we were so close to him! 

It was about 100 degrees, but I was SO HAPPY. 

Our last hurrah in Colorado was hiking Bergen Peak. 

View of Denver...

Franklin discovered his love of the Rocky Mountains for the first time...good thing, or we might have had to get rid of him. (jk, Frank. )

Hubbah hubbah!

Utah Reunion!

We got to spend a few glorious days reunited with Utah. I never thought I would say glorious and Utah in the same sentence, but that's how much we miss the mountains, the west, the eating establishments, etc, etc. 

Our first stop was the Great Salt Lake for a photo shoot for my sister's wedding. 

 It's so gorgeous there!! Frank wasn't too sure about the salty water. Pretty nasty. You're lucky you can't smell what I was smelling when this picture was taken. 

 Beautiful couple, beautiful day! 

 We were the lucky babysitters of these crazy kids and new siblings! They already seemed like BFFs.

After the wedding, we got to take A and J bowling and to ice cream. That's the joy of being aunt and uncle-spoiling your niece and nephew and not having to deal with the consequences! Just for the record, I won. 

I only cried once looking at these mountains, thinking of how much I would miss them. 

We got to visit with Josh's best friend and see their baby!

 Eating at J-Dawgs...mixed with apple beer, it still makes me sick and I still love to eat it despite this. At least that hasn't changed!

Favorite view on the road trip...

It was a great trip! As much as we miss it there, most of me is glad that we have moved on. I feel like we are progressing, even if it's hard sometimes!