Hunting Island

It's been so cold here. I know you are all thinking "well duh, it's winter" but our little southern blood can't handle the cold. The flu and other illnesses are making their rounds. I HATE when Brynn gets sick as I'm sure most of you mamas understand. So we've been laying low and kicking it at home to avoid the germs but the cabin fever is getting so real y'all. 

By Sunday Brad could tell I needed to get out of the house decided we would hop in the car and head to Hunting Island State Park. It was a little bit of a drive but we've kind of become pros at road trips. This time we spent our drive going through questions on the app "Gottman Card Decks" since we timed it so Brynn would nap the whole drive! We haven't gone through all the decks but we really like this app, and it's great for couples to get to know each other better. Absolutely recommend this app as a tool for building a better relationship with your spouse. 

The drive was so pretty and we were absolutely in love with Hunting Island and the light house there. Such a fun little day trip. We had fun walking along the beach with all the driftwood trees and Brynn loved collecting shells and rocks (she stashed some in her pockets that we discovered once we got home). This area got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Irma but we were still in awe of its beauty. The facilities there are so nice and clean and we are sad that we are just now discovering this gem. We will be returning!! 

curing the winter blues with a beach trip

Winter can be a rough season. However, I'm SO glad that we are in the south this winter instead of snowy Syracuse. The cold still gets old after awhile. A couple of Sundays ago it was a little warmer than usual and I was getting some serious cabin fever because it had been chilly and rainy all week. Brad had a lot of tests coming up but somehow I convinced him to take a little break and go walk on Folly Beach.

I'm a beach lover, always have been. Anyways, so as we were walking the beach we were looking in all the little tide pools we counted 15 starfish. YES you read that right, FIFTEEN starfish. They were all alive too and so beautiful. It was so neat, I was literally running to Brad every time I found another one saying "this is the BEST day ever!" I guess it doesn't take much to please me.  I wanted to take one (or a few if I'm being honest) home so badly but I controlled myself! This is probably the most random blog post but I just had to document it. I will probably never encounter 15 starfish again, especially not all in one day.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

So lately it has been insanity at our house. We have been busy planning our ward Christmas party, working our buns off, and taking finals. However, once we had a Saturday morning together we headed off to the same Christmas tree farm as last year and found us a perfect tree.

Brad makes every occasion seem special and magical. As we were driving down the curvy roads, watching the snow fall he demanded we put on Christmas music, because after all we were going to pick out a Christmas tree.

We walked through the Christmas tree farm and inspected every tree until we found the one that would be just right. Of course Brad was so good to me and let me snap some pictures! We cut the tree down, strapped it to the top of the car, and headed home.

Once we got it home we turned on the Christmas pandora station, lighted our Bath and Body works "'Tis the season" candle, and decorated that tree so that it shimmers and shines.

I absolutely love how a real Christmas tree smells and makes it really feel like the holidays. I grew up with lots of Christmas trees and nothing makes it feel more like Christmas than a tree and nativities!

Here's to Christmas break and catching up on lots of blogging!

How bout them apples?!

This past week has been stressful. I had two major breakdowns. Not like I'm proud to say it, but admitting it is the first step to recovery right?! I have bad anxiety because I like to plan EVERYTHING, and I stress way to easily. I'm trying to learn to let go, and leave it all in God's hands. He knows the big picture and I'm just seeing a microscopic part of it.

Anyways, Friday afternoon Brad got off early and we headed to the apple orchards on what seemed to be the perfect fall day. The fall breeze and the scent of apples seemed to be the perfect scene for a perfect day with my boy.

 I had such a wonderful time walking hand in hand with that handsome boy of mine down each of the aisles of trees. As we were walking through the orchards, I can't explain how good it felt to be laughing and forgetting about all the stressful things {work & school} life throws our way and just enjoying the company of one another.

I'm so grateful and excited that October is just around the corner. General Conference is this weekend and I'm thrilled. It seems like conference always comes at the perfect time! As fall is starting to come in full swing, I figure now is the perfect time to start to become a better person that I know I'm capable of. 

In other news this weekend we signed a lease for our next apartment for the next couple of months, and got another calling at church! With all that we have going on within the next few months this year will be over before we know it.

Happy Monday Friends! 

I don't know about you

But I'm feeling 22.

On the 29th I turned the magical age of 22. Not really magical but it was still such a fun day!
I luckily had the day off work and woke up to a vase of beautiful flowers, a sweet card, balloons, and yummy dove chocolates. I may have had one or two after breakfast! ;)

Birthday Flowers, Cake, Card, and Chocolates

Birthday Cake and Balloon

Brad got off early and we headed to the fair. I was SO excited! I grew up going to the fair every year with my family and I was looking forward to seeing how this one compared.We got lucky and Brad's company had tickets to get us in for free which was awesome! So really all we had to pay for was parking and the fair food (SO delicious but SO bad for you). We spent the day looking at the exhibits, watching shows, going to the circus, and my favorite going to the horse stables.

Hawaiian Ice at the Fair

My trooper of a husband, poor guy was sick and tired!

I really had such an awesome birthday. I'm so excited to see what 22 brings me! I'm hoping for big life accomplishments! Thank you to all of those who sent me birthday wishes! 

Love this Boy!

I have been such a slacker at blogging lately. Lots of things going on around here with school and work. I will be starting a new job on Tuesday and of course it happens the same week that midterms are going on. I will try to be better about keeping up with the good ole blog!

I hope everyone has an exciting Labor Day! We will be making our way down to Alexandria Bay to tour the Boldt Castle and I'm so excited! So expect a post with pictures to recap that fun adventure!

Isla Mujeres

Well it's been 5 days since we've been back from our one year anniversary getaway, so I guess it's about time to blog about it. To put it simply it was an "adventure" at some times and perfection the rest of the time.

I discovered on this trip that I am an anxious traveler, it really was no surprise at all though. I hate when things don't go the way I planned them going. Anyone who knows me well could tell you that. 

I don't want to dwell on all the crazy parts though because everything else was so amazing, and plus my hubby tells me the crazy parts make it an "adventure" and makes for better stories to tell our kids one day. 

But I will tell you this: 

On that first night when we walked in the door to a rose petal path, leading to two love birds on our bed, and a fruit and chocolate tray, "WOW" was all I could say. I was seriously speechless. This suite that we would be staying in for the next 4 days was bigger than our apartment.

And I will summarize what we did while we were there because if I wrote every single thing we did, this would be the longest post about a whole lot of the following:

For the next three days we spent our time laying out at the incredible white sand and clear water beach (I seriously couldn't get enough of it), hanging by the pool, enjoying beautiful sunsets, snorkeling, relaxing in the coolest cabanas, and most importantly enjoying our time together.

It was the perfect little getaway that came at the perfect time. Oh how we need that trip, a little break from work and school for the both of us. However, we're back to the real world and feeling refreshed.

"God Shows His Love By Giving Us Families"

This past week the baby sister came to visit me. Although it was a spur of the moment trip I'm so glad she came! Since I've been so homesick lately it was a nice little pick me up especially since I would have been sitting at home all by myself all week! While she was here we just had to go visit all the church history sites. So on Tuesday we headed to Palmyra, NY which is only about 45 minutes from our apartment. Within the first 15 minutes of the drive I felt like I had got stung on my arm and it was swelling and turning red, I look down and see a yellow jacket just chilling on my chest like its no big deal. Of course I start freaking out, so we pull over to a gas station, and Colby took care of me. Thank goodness she was there. Anyways...off topic sorry.

So the first thing we did was the Joseph Smith Farm. I had already been once before but it was still just as fun and uplifting as it was the first time. I liked how each tour guide tells their favorite stories about the history of the Joseph Smith Farm. Both times had totally different stories and I definitely learned new things. After we finished touring the Farm we went in the Sacred Grove. However, we didn't stay in there as long as I thought we would because the mosquitoes are bad because of all the rain we've been getting and since I had been stung by a yellow jacket earlier and Colby has hives due to an allergic reaction we decided it was best to not stay out too long.

After we finished up there we went and walked around the Palmyra Temple Grounds. It reminds we a lot of the Birmingham Temple where Brad and I were sealed (almost a year ago!) Then we were off to the LDS Bookstore (so I could get a picture of Christ for our apartment). After we got the picture we walked to go get pizza at this little whole in the wall pizza place, it was seriously the best pizza and it really hit the spot. Then of course we had to go get some ice cream and it was in this cute little shop that was run by elderly people. And let me tell you something Colby and I LOVE talking with elderly people, we probably could have stayed there all day. However, we had so much to do still.

Hill Cumorah was next. Although pageant is this upcoming weekend I still wanted to go and take Colby especially since I hadn't gone yet. We walked into the Visitors Center and I immediately could feel the spirit. We had a sister missionary take us around and we sat in front of the Christus Statue. I teared up a little but I held it in. It wasn't until we were taken into the theater to watch a short clip about how families are forever that I completely lost it.

I really wish I could find a link to that video because although it is so simple it is so beautiful. There were so many parts that the spirit was so strong in that room. The one part that stuck out to me was "God shows His love by giving us families." See I told you it was simple but yet this simple phrase spoke wonders to me. Our loving Heavenly Father knew what He was doing. He knew how much we would need our families for their love and support as we go through this test of life on Earth. We had families in Heaven before so why wouldn't we have them here. It may be because like I mentioned before I have been so homesick but I am just so grateful that my Heavenly Father loved and cared about me so much that He sent me to a wonderful family here on Earth that I know I can always count on to love and support me. After the video ended Colby and I drove to the top of the hill and had a wonderful heart to heart. I'm so grateful that we were able to go on a spiritually uplifting trip for the day.

Thanks for coming to visit me, Colby! Hopefully the North didn't treat you too bad!