To Syracuse!!! Our Trip Across the Country.

Greg and I had a great summer and had lots of fun and worked hard to renew our relationship one last time before moving across the country to Syracuse NY for school. We had decided to leave on Thursday the 4th, but we had not figured out what to do with our car situation. We owned 2 cars that would not make it to Syracuse and that most likely would have blown up the moment we got here. So Thursday, we agreed to get a new car, in UT and then tow it to NY. We found a 2004 Volvo cxi that will be good for kids, incase we ever have any, and good in the snow with its 4-wheel drive. Once we had the car and the budget truck was all packed up, we were ready to be on our way.
The first day of our travels we only got to about Cheyenne Wyoming. The truck was so full of stuff that it could barely make it up the hills going 30 mph. While we were headed up Parleys Canyon we were going about 25mph and I though to my self, “this is going to be a long trip.” Luckily, once the road flattened out, we were traveling about 60mph which was much more comforting. That night we slept in the back of our new car. It saved money but it was not the most comfortable bed ever.
The second day we met at Dave and Dahlias place in Omaha NE. The fed us dinner and we played games together for the last time for a while. It was cool seeing what they have done to there place, it was very nice.


Day 3 was to be Nauvoo. It seemed it took us forever to get there because there isn’t a main highway that goes down into that area of Illinois. We also get lost and finally bought a map which came in handy many times after that. We barely made it in time to make the last tour of the Carthage jail where Joseph Smith was martyred. It was very interesting seeing the jail as the tour guide told the story of Joseph’s last hours. There was a special spirit there that I will not forget.

This is the room that Joseph Smith spent his last hours in and the window he fell out of when he was shot and killed.

After the tour we went to see the Mississippi river while the sun was setting. Absolutely beautiful!

And then we parked someplace in Nauvoo for the night. We slept in the back of our new car that night to…but it was so miserable. It was sooo hot and humid even at night time and if we rolled the windows down the mesquitos would swarm in and we would get eaten alive. Not the best idea I guess. That night wasn’t worth saving a couple of bucks on a hotel room. Not at all!

Nauvoo was very interesting to walk through. Greg and I went on a carriage ride around the town while they told stories of the early saints, then we walked around some of the old restored houses in historic Nauvoo. We knew that there were LDS sites and RLDS sites in Nauvoo, but we didn’t realize that we had switched from LDS to RLDS when we walked in to the building where the first relief society was held. We should have caught on when they were selling stuff in the bottom floor of the building and when the lady at the register didn’t have a missionary badge on…but we didn’t. Greg picked up a bible with both the King James version and the Inspired version of Joseph smith side by side and started asking questions about it. As he was talking to the lady at the cash register he asked, “so the RLDS people could have added some bull-crap in the joseph smith version.” Suddenly the lady got all offended and said, “well for one thing, you are speaking with a member of the RLDS church!” oops! How embarrassing.

After enjoying Nauvoo, we drove to Chicago and enjoyed a Hampton inn. Yay. A shower and a comfortable bed.
In Chicago we ditched the budget truck and took our car into down town. We sent to the very top of the tallest building in the USA and the second tallest building in the world formerly called the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower. It was so high! It was like looking at the city from an airplane. So cool. Later that day we arrived in Cleveland OH and stayed with our friends from BYU Whitney and Danny Hall. It was also good to see them and to hang out for a while.

Day 6 we went to see the Kirkland Temple and the Whitney store. It was very interesting hearing the RLDS version of the history that took place there and seeing how there priesthood line is different than ours. The sites were also very cool to see.

Day 7 We went early in the morning to Niagara Falls. We had heard that the Canada side of the falls is way better, which it is, so we left the truck once again and amazingly got into Canada and back into the USA with only our drivers licenses, and a bit of time. The falls was so beautiful and really amazing. Its just memorizing watching tons and tons of water falling so rapidly. Wow!
That evening we made it to our new home in Syracuse. We had enough time to dig out our mattress and a few other things, and hit the hay, and thus end our exciting trip across the country with a new start and a new chapter of life in the great NY!

Best firends and family hanging out for one last time.

Madi and I got together and made chocolate strawberries, saw a movie and went out to the restaurant that serves the heirloom tomatoes that she grows at work! yum!

After going out to dinner with my family, we stopped at the park and all played on the toys, even mom and dad!

Then, right before we left, the Hall family got to gether for one last dinner together.

And mom, Rachel, and Melanie snuck a girls day in...Zupas and a shopping spree. We all got matching shirts. We figured we could all wear them the same day and no one would know since I will be in NY, Rachel at SUU and Melanie still in good old Manti.

Tahoe

Being at Tahoe with my family was the perfect get away before Greg and my big move! we were there for a whole week filled with adventure. Of course we had several beach day, we also went water skiing almost every morning, hiked to Angora Lakes where Greg jumped off a 50 foot cliff! went on the famous bike trail and ate lots and lots of yummy food! Greg and I made Kabobs for dinner. It was a hit!

Pickle ball was a new favorite game of ours. Lori discovered it and it was a huge hit! Greg and I made a good team...most of the time:)

Rachel, Melanie and I did pedicures and gliter toes! ooo aahhh.

Fire Sign with the family. What a Gang! I love you family!!!

Girls Day Out!

I think our husbands went to Moab with out us this weekend... But we were not about to let them have more fun than us! We went to park cityand rode the alpine slide and the alpine coaster. They were acctually really fun!

The next day we got together and had a bead party and had homemade Cafe Rio. mmmm. so good!

These are beaded binki holders. We got the idea from a baby shower gift we saw at Kristen's baby shower... But ofcourse our's were way cuter than anything you could buy at the mall.

Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood!

Greg got me Stadium of Fire tickets for me birthday back in march. He knew Carrie was my favorite country singer. We had seats right on the feild and the concert was amazing! It was so fun. Best forth of july ever!

Miami and Eastern Carribbian Cruise

We met our friends Dave and Dahlia in Miami and spent 3 days on Miami Beach. We played volley ball on the beach and ofcourse spent lots of time swimming in the warm Atlantic water. We also took some time to see the shops on Lincoln Rd.

Then we boarded the Carnival Liberty.

The first day was a ship day. We did all kinds of activities durring the day such as ping-pong turnaments, karaoke and miniature golf, then for dinner that night everyone on the ship dressed in formal wear and we had an elegant dinner and saw a singing and dancing show in the ships grand theater.

Dahlia and I singing Dancing Queen at the Karaoke event.

1st stop was a private beach in the Bahamas owned by the cruise ship. Isn't it beautiful?!! The ship served us a hawaiian BBQ on the island for lunch and we hiked over to see their sting ray pool.

2nd stop was St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. This was my favorite stop of the trip. We rented scooters and scooted to all of the different beaches there. we did some snorkling and fresh tropical smoothies. yum! I got to drive the scooter for a little bit, but when I couldn't remember to stay on the left side of the road, I quickly got booted to the back seat! phew!

Puerto Rico was our 3rd destination. We went to the only rain forest in US territory there and hiked to a waterfall. BEATIFUL! Then we were dropped off at the barricade which was huge!

Our last destination was Grand Turk, which sadly wasn't much. We took a golf cart all around the small island. There was supposedly a cool light house on the other side of the island, but when we got there, the light house was not much to see. We did however find some cool creatures while snorkling!