Day 2: Lots of Driving and Beginning of Nauvoo

Day 2 was our super long driving day. We had stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota the night before and realized that one of Kory's areas from his mission was on the way if we just added 20 minutes to our trip. This was the best decision ever. It was so fun to drive through one of his areas in Minnesota and hear his stores about different haunts he had there. Unfortunately since it was such short notice nobody was home that we tried to stop and see.

That afternoon we arrived in Nauvoo, we had just enough time to make a couple stops before everything closed up.

This is in Wilford Woodruffs Home. That is Wilford Woodruffs actual glasses and hat box. Kory and I about to head across the Mississippi with our handcart.

Then we ate at the YUMMIEST restaurant ever. It was a buffet of really delicious home cooked food. WOW! We were both amazed. Unfortunately no pictures of the delicious food, we were too busy stuffing our bellies. Later that night we went to one of the funnest outdoor shows.I had to throw this in. This is what happens to your windshield when you drive along the Mississippi at dusk. In case you can't tell these are bugs. They were huge! We literally could barely see out of our window.

Trip Across Country: Day One

As most of you know we recently took a trip across country. I have been planning this road trip since before we got married. My parents live in Maryland and I have always wanted to see all the church sites. Easy solution? It took some convincing for Kory to go along with it, but after much insistence we had it all planned.

The first night we stayed in a truck stop in Rawlins, WY. I don't know why but this seemed like such a mature thing to do. Ha Ha. Saying that seems funny but I really did feel that way, roughin' it on the road. We left there bright and early the next morning to stop at our first main sight. Mt. Rushmore. Along the way we passed Martin's Cove, Kory has never seen Martins Cove and since this was a church history tour it made perfect sense for a pit stop.

Mt. Rushmore was cool. It was not as large as I expected it to be. I was expecting those faces to take up a lot more room then they did but very cool all the same.

Summer Projects

It has been forever! Kory and I have been soooo busy! Remember awhile back when I mentioned I needed projects for Kory, well, don't you worry! He has been keeping us very busy and still has a mile long list to go! Hopefully I don't bore you out of your minds as I take you through our past few months!

I have been begging to put in a fence since we moved in. Behind our house are some railroad tracks that not the nicest kids use as their path. It wouldn't be such a bad thing except for some reason they all have thought our yard is part of the path. I have yelled at these scary kids numerous times but they keep doing it, dropping garbage on their way. Kory did NOT want a fence. The boy is from wide open spaces in Idaho! He did not want to feel closed in. Finally after 2 1/2 years of living here we reached a compromise. We would fence in enough of the yard to keep people out but leave enough open that he can still look out every morning. I know this makes no sense. Here are some pictures:

My man, digging a post hole.

One side of the fence

I had to put the gate, even though it is blurry because it alone took us as long as that whole other side.

I thought after finishing the fence we could take a little break. Of course not! Kory wanted to build a shed. We have also wanted to build one of these since moving in and just haven't had the time or money. We started browsing all of the pre-fab sheds Home Depot and Lowes have to offer until we had seen enough to make up our own. I told Kory the biggest the shed could go was 8' x 10', well I had to work the day he and his dad built the frame and came home to 12' x 12'!!!!!! Grrr. Oh well, he put a nice loft for storage in there, we can finally have an extra freezer, and he has a place to work.

Kory's parents were so nice to come and help build it.

Before the final touches.

Ta-da! There will still be 3 little windows in between the front trim pieces but that is down the road.

And last, but not least, by popular demand, our date night wall. A month or so ago Kory and I could not decide what to do for our date night. It was nearing the end of the month, we still had date money in the budget but could not think of anything fun. Kory finally suggested I come up with a project or something we could work on together in the house, it could be anything I wanted to fix up or add as long as we could work on it together.

My sister-in-law Krystal had just done a cool collage of pictures on her wall and I had always wanted to do one myself. We went to the dollar store and picked out some frames then picked out and ordered our pictures. We came home and spray painted our frames red underneath, then black on top, sand papered the edges a bit and designed our layout. It took a few days for our pictures to come in and it was seriously just like Christmas when they did! I love the way it turned out.

Goodbye to Justice!

Now that I am sure I have you all hooked by my title I shall explain. Justice was our car. Named by my brother after I told him I could think of no name that would do my car justice-get it? This car was the first car I ever actually owned. It was the first proof of my independence. I got Justice shortly after moving away to college and felt so responsible making payments every month. 7 years later and at 160,000 miles Justice bit the dust. Ahhh. What a good lookin' car!

Since I am documenting the cars wonderful existence I suppose I should also document her demise. Please skip ahead if you're not up for some reading.

Kory and I were on the way to Ogden one night when, halfway through the canyon we noticed the car was all the way on hot. Kory immediately put the car in neutral and we were able to coast to Brigham where we figured we would just fill up the antifreeze and be on our way. Our luck was not with us as we opened the antifreeze holder (I honestly don't know if there is a name for that, Kory will be so embarrassed when he reads this!) and noticed it was full.
After a quick call to Kory's dad and a couple of ideas of what it could be we decided to forgo Ogden and head back to Logan...very, very slowly. We were able to go about a mile before the car would overheat and then we would have to pull over for about 10 minutes to let it cool down. Oh, did I mention the heater wasn't working either? Keep in mind that this was in the middle of February on a not so warm night! I honestly started considering how I would cope if my toes fell off. Luckily we did have a blanket in the trunk. After the HOUR and a HALF drive from Brigham to Logan we had to decide if the car was worth fixing or if we were going to be putting more money into it than it was worth.
Long story short, after taking it to the mechanic and telling him not to really dig but give us his best idea we were told he thought if he took it all apart he would find that "combustion gases were entering our cooling system" translation being: much more to fix it then the car is worth. :-( I guess from 1999-2003 Hyundai made a thinner engine cast causing this to happen. Since we had just put new tires and a new windshield on the car we figured we would try and sell it for a low number and someone could either use it for parts or fix it up. Within 5 minutes of putting the car on KSL we had 22 missed calls and by the time Kory got home from work, 35. WOW! Needless to say we sold it that same day to a mechanic who thought he could fix it up. Goodbye Justice!

I always thought car shopping would be so fun but when you NEED a car in a short amount of time it can be sooo stressful. Luckily we found the car that spoke to us and love it! (I told Kory I was waiting for a car that spoke to me, he told me it wouldn't happen, but alas, it did!)
For those of you who were so completely bored by this post, so sorry. I'll try and do something much more thrilling than cars next time.

Hawaii!

About a year or so ago, we were talking with my sister-in-law Kami and her husband Stephen and decided we should celebrate with a trip when Kory and Stephen graduated from college. They graduated this past December which meant time for celebration! Hawaii was chosen as our destination and February for the time so we could get out of the winter for a little bit.

We decided to go to Oahu. We were also lucky enough to convince Kory's parents and little sister Karli to tag along. Stephen found us a great little house right off the ocean to rent. Our backyard was literally the beach, it was BEAUTIFUL! I know you would rather see pictures than read me rattling on and on so, here you go! Please enjoy a teeny snippet of our vacation!!

Our Backyard.We never knew this is how pineapples grow! This is a field on the side of the road.

Pearl Harbor (below)
1st: Part of the Arizona that sits above water.
2nd: Kory with the Mississippi(?) in the background.
3rd: You can look at the Arizona from this area.Sea Turtle on the beach-"basking"
Sea turtle in the ocean.
We of course took a morning for the beautiful Laie temple.
I just had to throw this picture in because really? how cute!

I couldn't resist a picture of Kory "surfing" the waves.
This is obviously just a small picture of our vacation, I wish I could show you all the pictures but I think you would get bored after awhile. It was such a blast and soooo warm!

I Need A Vacation!

I just looked up the temperature for outside. It said it was 23 degrees. I said to Buster (yes, I regularly talk to my dog) "Oh good, it is fairly warm today!" WHAT!!!! Am I going crazy?!? 23 degrees is fairly warm? This winter is polluting my brain. I think I need a trip to somewhere tropical. Yes, that is an excellent idea. I think I will go to HAWAII! See ya in a couple weeks with lots of pictures!

Ideas Needed

Help! I need ideas! Since Kory graduated in December I am going crazy! He has so much spare time on his hands now and is going crazy for projects. In the month of January alone he has: Designed and made curtains for our bedroom. Attached hardware to our entire kitchen.

Finished staining the beautiful crib my dad built. (no, not an announcement but maybe baby call can come now that the crib is finished?)

And helped me make this baby blanket for my sister. These are just a few of the things he has done and only in the month of January! I am fast running out of ideas and projects to keep him from going crazy! Anyone? Help!