Life is a Highway

This last week Paul and I hit the road for the longest road trip I have ever taken, and finally made it here to Texas on Saturday. It may have been long and painful but we did have a lot of fun, and at times were very entertained. We love Texas! Here are some pictures of the trip!

There's always one person who has to go 20 miles and hour less than everyone else. Had to document our first traffic jam.


I just have to wonder who the poor sap is that had to put telephone poles in out in the middle of no where.


Random mounds all over near Lake Powell


Beautiful Southern Utah




On the road again


Colorado's Farmers


The New Mexico sunset


Chimney Rock


In New Mexico we stopped to eat and ran into Route 66!


"She likes me for my body!"


More Route 66








Our first look at Texas


I thought this was funny. Those Pecans must be real good.


Dallas


Definitely in Texas!


Maybe someday we will get there....Texas is massive!

Summer Nights

Over the last few weeks Paul and I have been enjoying our summer with each other. It has been the first time in two years that we have taken a break from school. Blogging has taken a back seat and we have spent every waking hour making the best of our summer. As Paul takes this time to recover his sleep from the last trip I figured I would start catching everyone up on the past few weeks.
A couple weeks ago we took a trip with Paul's parents to Salt Lake. There are a few random things that I wanted to see that I had never seen while passing through. First on our list was the cemetery.

Day 1

Among many others we visited the grave site of Porter Rockwell. He has always been one of my heroes. In the past I have been completely and utterly against graveyards; I had this phobia of walking over dead bodies when I was younger. I'm not going to lie and tell you that I am completely over that, but I will tell you that it was easier for me to connect with these people by being there at the cemetery.

Later we went to "This is the Place State Park" which I didn't even know existed before Paul's parents came along. I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were there but it was pretty cool to see things that were owned by the pioneers.





My favorite part was probably being able to see these quilts that were hundreds of years old. I couldn't get Paul to understand why someone would make the time to painfully sew something so intricate by hand. I only took a few pictures but they were all beautiful.








History has always been really intriguing to me so it was fun to make a connection with these people who made such a sacrifice to settle the Salt Lake Valley.

Day 2 to be continued at a later date.

Our Money Pit

I have to say that I am very familiar with a vehicle being an endless problem. I currently drive a 1984 pickup which has fewer things right with it than wrong. But that's not what I'm writing about. (I also had to deal with an Isuzu Rodeo when I got married, but that's another book that will never be written. I still twitch at night when I think about it.)
Recently I read a post on my sister-in-laws blog about a recent tire escapade and I laughed pretty hard. I too have sunk what seems like an endless amount of money into our "new" car. First of all, last winter was like driving on an ice rink with the "high performance all season tires" that it had. Yeah, lies. So we decided to get some soft composite winter tires. But hey, if your going to pay for mounting, balancing, dismounting, and re-balancing for every season you might as well buy a new set of rims. Right? They'll pay for themselves. That felt pretty good on the debit card.
So the winter goes by great. We put our "high performance all season tires" with our new rims on the car for summer driving. Low and behold, the tire bands had broken apart and were waiting for a pot hole to have a catastrophic failure (see picture above). I didn't want my wife to have that much excitement in her day, so I decided to go and see what it would take to get some new tires. Well as it turns out, it was only really bad on one tire, and since you can't just replace one when the others are half gone (yeah, you would think a tire should last a little longer that half it's life. However, the previous owner didn't see fit to grace us with the warranty on the said "high perfo....junk tires"). I didn't strike a gold mine in the back yard of my rental apartment over the winter, so I still was in the condition I was and the beginning of the winter, poor. Only more poor. So what does a guy do. I still didn't want my wife to have that much excitement on her way to school so I busted out my beaten debit card and only bought two new tires. Yes, the front are bad, but I have to put that on in the hands of the Lord. We are trying desperately to make it to the end of the summer to my internship. If we can just get there alive I will be so, oh so happy.
All you people out there battling with the preserve my life vs. fix my car...I feel your pain. If it were my car, I wouldn't care. I suck CO (carbon monoxide) from my broken exhaust on my truck to prove it. But that's another story. I hope I don't get too much brain damage. I try and drive with the window down. Winter was tough. My heater doesn't work either.
Paul

I'm a Survivor (Part 2)

Welcome to the "Days of Our Lives"
I literally feel like I have stepped into a soap opera. Each day I wake up thinking that I dreamed everything that happened to me the day before. Last week I woke up a few times wishing the day before had been a dream. I'm glad that at least school is coming to a close at the end of this week. One less thing to think or worry about. Yet even as I write these things I feel that I have no room to complain. Others would have a better reason to ask the question "Why me?"
While I have found my share of downs this semester, there have been a lot more ups, and I can say that I am grateful for the blessings that I do have. I have truly found comfort in the talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland posted previously. So if you're having one of those days just find comfort in the fact that someone else knows exactly what your going through, and he is there with you every step of the way.
Em

Easter Message

I'm sorry everyone I deleted this....having technical issues. You can find it on YouTube under "Elder Holland's Easter Message"

By Elder Jeffery R Holland, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
I am so grateful for my Savior today! I love him and am so grateful for his presence in my life. He is my constant.

My Love, My Valentine

During this last month was the blessed day of valentines. This year I heard people getting all up in arms about it being made up by the card companies, just another holiday for them recieve an abormally large sum of money. ( Which by the way could not be farther from the truth)

Yet I don't think one woman would deny an excuse to go out, get flowers, or even the occassional card from the one she loves.

So I'm going to dedicate this post to Paul. I honestly could say that no man could be more perfect. I wouldn't hesitate in saying that I got the better end of the deal. I still cannot believe that I married the little boy I met in my 9th grade math class. It still blows me away when I wake up next to him in the morning, and he still gives me butterflies when he walks into the room. Although the road here was a long one, I am so grateful to have him as mine! Our famous saying was always..."The best things in life are worth waiting for". I truly believe that, and I'm glad that I got what I was waiting for.

Goberment?

I was looking through Paul's mission photos and found this..... thought you all would enjoy it!



















Need I say more!