Week #1

I am totally stealing my friends idea from her blog but felt like I needed this to help me realize all me blessings and to appreciate life right now. I am really struggling with that right now due to the fact of some of the trials I am going through. So here goes my new goal. Every monday I am going to write down one thing or person that I am grateful for and why. I truly believe it will help me and plus you will be able to give comments if you like and see pictures I don't normally post.

So here goes,week #1. I am incredibly thankful for my wonderful best friend and husband of 4 years, Travis. Where to start, he truly is my everything. Travis is the best and strongest supporter a girl could ask for. No matter what my new crazy idea is he always supports me. He always seems to find a way to look at things in a positive way. If only I could follow his example. I also could not ask for a better partner in all our adventures. Travis is always up for something new. We have driven big 40 foot buses together and that is just the beginning.

Travis has even joined me during some of my lessons that I taught in Rexburg. Now you must understand, Trav has been horseback riding maybe a handful of times. Of course I will follow him to do whatever he wants to do as well. From snorkeling in the freezing water in Alaska, to Halibut fishing to Mt biking. Our adventures never seem to end and that is just how I like it. So here is to my sweetheart, the best husband, best supporter, best singer, best adventurer, best dancer, and above all the best best friend a girl could ask for. I love you with all my heart honey. I look forward to all the adventures that lay in front of us.

The Iowa State Fair 2008

So as many of you know I was not impressed with the Iowa State fair last year. Of course I was comparing it to the California State fair but that is my only comparison. However I was willing to give Iowa a second chance and see if it is really not that bad. So what we did is actually print off an itinerary so that we could see everything that was free. 

We actually found this booth that actually that took our picture and sent it to us via email. No strings attached or anything. Kinda cool to have that souvenir.

 

Our first stop of the morning was the Demolition Derby and Stunt show. It wasn't bad, not quite what I remembered from my small town days at home, but fun. There was two heats small and large cars with the addition of Daredevil stunts in between. He found anyway to have himself on fire, exploding cars, or just being lit on fire. No pictures of those though.

We did actually see the butter cow this year. They even had a sculpture of Shawn Johnson as well. What will people think of next!

Now the most amusing and Travis' favorite thing of the whole day was the battling robots. These are really cool! They were tearing things up, catching things on fire, exploding toilets and battling each other. They even let audience members drive a couple of the robots and battle. Yes ladies and gentlemen that is my med student husband driving that red battle robot. He was so proud that he got chosen. He actually beat his opponent and won a medal (its plastic). He was pretty pleased with himself.

Well that is all for pictures that we took. We did also see livestock shows of course (mostly cattle) and even saw a draft horse show. I was a little disappointed in that we had to pay to see that show. That is pretty uncommon at home to have to pay to watch and not participate. Oh well it was amusing. We didn't want to go on any rides this year, plus it was way too expensive to try. That night Def Leopard was playing, we didn't go to the concert but you could hear some of the songs from the midway. I will spare everyone with anymore of ranting about how they like to charge you for everything at this state fair. We really did enjoy ourselves and were happy we decided to come again this year.

New York, New York!!

So our summer was pretty eventful. I know that Travis told everyone about a part of his summer experiences. Now it is my turn to share the fun we had when we were reunited.

After two weeks of Travis relaxing and me working we headed off to Connecticut. We flew into Harford CT where Travis' best friends from high school came to pick us up. They live in Danbury CT, where Jim works as a Graphic Designer and his wife Erin is studying to be a lic. nurse. Erin had graduated from nursing school June of this year. We started our 10 day escapade by wandering around their town and camping in Rhode Island, body surfing in the Atlantic. That left both of us with a few bruises!

Us on the beach in Connecticut

We decided to go camping in Rhode Island and play in the Atlantic ocean. I was amazed at how warm the water was. I am sorry but all the beaches up and down the state of california I have been to growing up have all are FREEZING! This was a wonderful change. I could have stayed in the water all day, oh wait we did! Below are some of the pictures of the beaches we visited and the boys even started being pyromaniacs playing with fireworks at the campsite. 

Travis after taking a killer wave in Rhode Island. Notice the cocky grin on his face! 

After our two days in Rhode Island we headed off to the city where Jim and Erins friends let us stay in their apartment that they use during the week for work. I was awe struck with the city, the amount of people and the size of the buildings. We took a train from CT to the city which was tons of fun. Instead of going over the whole story I am just going to show you the best pictures and tell you about them.

On the train heading to the city. The guys played PSP video games most of the way.

Showing my reaction to seeing the inside of Grand Central Station.

This was the inside of the apartment that we stayed in while we were in the city. Where I am staying is where the bed is, no I am not standing up straight.

Waiting for the subway. Wow what a lot of people!

Our view of the Empire State building from the apartment roof.

Time Square...what else can I say....WOW!

We took the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. I felt like we were stuffed in like sardines in a can.

Erin and I did a lot of bag shopping. No we never got one, never found one we liked.

If you know Travis you'll know that he loves and misses Brazil. So when we found Little Brazil St. he was more than a little excited. It acutally didn't have that many Brazilian stores but he found one and you can see how happy he was. We did find more Brazilian shopes and resturants back in CT and visited those as well.

Yes we did get to go see a Broadway musical. It happened to be Phantom of the Opera. I had seen the Broadway touring company in San Francisco years and years ago, but Trav had never seen it. It is one of his favorite stories so it was neat to watch his reaction to the musical.

Us at the Manhattan temple. I thought that this was one to the temples without Moroni on top so we were surprised to see him standing there glistening in the sun. We did get to go inside but the building is so cool.

Starting our walk across the Brooklyn bridge. We didn't go all the way across because it was getting way too hot. It is so neat though. We read all about how it was built, it was even finished a hundred years from my birth year.

This is while we were visiting the Rainbow room. This is where NBC has its morning shows and fun stuff from their other shows as well. Kinda fun right?

Well that is a part of what went on this summer for us. There are a ton more pictures of New York but I only put on a few. We miss our friends horribly and can't wait to make another trip. Don't worry the rest of our summer adventures will follow soon.

Memories.....

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you remember about Travis or I, or both of us. It doesn't matter if you know us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about us, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

(Don't worry pictures from our summer adventures are coming!!)

Bobby Barth

Quick Update (more to come)
We survived the summer. We do have a different car now, no pics yet. I survived officer training. We had fun and survived in NYC. But since I don't have all of those pictures on this computer, and only 10 minutes between class, I'll just share a nifty story about my plane ride home. I ended up seated next to Bobby Barth of the classic rock band Blackfoot. You're probably like me and don't know the band or the man, but I did recognize some of his music from listening to the classic rock station while building houses in my previous career. Long story short, Bobby and I talked all the way back to Des Moines, he gave me a piece of his handmade Navajo indian jewelry to give to Kamala, and put us on the list of friends of the band to get into the concert free ($90 value). So we went to their show, along with Molley Hatchet and Black Sabbath and some other classic rock bands. TS

Update on Kamala

Well ladies and gentlemen I have survived. I know that some of you thought that this wasn't that long of a separation for Travis and I but it was. I have had a pretty traumatic month. Within the first week that Travis was gone I was involved in a minor car accident. Yep our car was totaled and we are now planning on buying a new one. It definitely made this month seem a lot longer. I was not injured too bad in the accident and I was well taken care of by close friends. After getting the check for our car and finding a chiropractor I finally started to mellow out. I have a wonderful friend that have made me feel loved and even let me borrow a car for the length of time it will take for Travis to come home and for us to find a replacement vehicle. I don't know what I would have done with out these wonderful people. You know who you are and I will forever be grateful to those of you who have been the shoulder to cry on, the listening ear and the home that was opened to me. So as the last week shows its appearance I will be counting down the days until I pick Travis up at the Des Moines airport. (Ok I have been counting down the days since he left) I have a full week and am very excited for it to be over. 

Just to show a little of what has gone on in the month Travis has been gone here are the following pictures.

Our wonderful 1996 Honda Civic that drove us faithfully from Kenai Alaska to West Des Moines Iowa

These last three pictures above are the flooding that was near our home in West Des Moines during the Floods of 08. These floods put like 83 out of the 99 counties in our state at Disaster level. Don't worry our home was fine.

My Military Hottie!!

So Travis wanted to buy a web cam before he left for training so we could talk to each other face to face that way we wouldn't be missing each other that bad. He was not aware that they would not be able to use their own computers while in Alabama. They aren't allowed to use commercial internet, so therefore no web cam. So what he did instead was send this picture so I could see him in uniform. Isn't he handsome? Now the story behind the hair cut is that he is not allowed to have his hair long enough to touch his ears so after a week he needed to cut it again. Yes I did cut it pretty short before he left his hair just grows super fast. So Travis and a couple of other guys borrowed someone's clippers and cut hair. He said to use a # 1 but there was some confusion on how far to go. He said all the way around but meant just the sides and the other guy thought he meant really everywhere with the #1. So this is what it turned out as. He says that it is nice and cool. Thats good since it is plenty hot there right now. I told him if I didn't know him so well you almost wouldn't be able to recognize him. He is still my hottie hubby though. Only 19 more days to go!!! Whahoo!!! I can hardly wait!