Week #3

These are the best pictures that I have taken in a long time. Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to introduce you to the men in my life. The little black dude on Travis' chest is Cancun, a new addition to our family who was a stray from work who no one wanted, in the back ground we have Morocco (aka Rocco) the lazy old man of the house, and then the handsome man in the middle is my dreamy husband (duh). These three always have me grinning for some reason whether they are playing together or separately. Each of them is a one of a kind. I am so grateful for each of them. 

The cats because they keep me sane until Travis and I are reunited when we are apart. And Travis because he keeps me sane when I feel the world has turned against me (which is everyday I swear). I love all three of them so much and for so many different reasons. What I would do with out them you ask? Well honestly I would be one really bored woman. Trust me these three are seriously entertaining.

Week #2

I will have to say this week was kinda hard to choose. There have been several things that I have blessed with. But I will have to say that with the things that have transpired this week I am really grateful for the friends that are here in Des Moines and the friends that are far away. My friends have been with me through the really tough times and through the really silly and fun times. I am so grateful that I have found friends that have been there for me and support Travis and I through school and all. Those of you that have helped me know who you are and I appreciate all your prayers and support. It has really been a tough year starting with the broken leg, Trav's training, the car accident and everything else that has gone on this year. So thank you to you all you mean the world to me. I love you all, your are all wonderful.

Labor Day Weekend

Travis here, it's been a while since I've done a post. Since this post is about my parents, I was put in charge of making it, and that's why it hasn't been put up for a couple of weeks. So, like I said, my parents came to visit for several days, including Labor Day. Kamala and I took off a couple days from school and work and toured church history sites and visitor centers with them. It was a pretty fun few days. Day One we went south, stopping and Adam-Ondi-Aman, Far West, and Independance.
Mom and Dad, standing in front of the valley. By the way, it was way cool driving around Dad's Hemi Magnum! :)
We hiked around a little bit at this site as well. (another side note: Kamala's homemade tie dye shirt from achievement days!)
The site of the Far West temple. The four corner stones are still there, and this plaque has some of the revelations in regard to Far West engraved on it.
I like to call this one 'Dishrag tower'.

The Christus in the Independence Visitor's Center. This was the coolest visitor's center I thought. They had some really cool replicas of printing presses (below), log cabins, and apparently all of the visitor centers are getting a special presentation on families that was really good.


The other great thing about the Independence center was that we had an awesome missionary guide. She was so inspiring and spiritual.

DAY 2: On day two, we drove East to Nauvoo, IL. We started the day with a session in the temple. That was very neat because it's the first time I've been in the temple with my parents since our wedding day. Then we wandered around Nauvoo a bit and saw some of the restored houses. The gunsmith's house was really neat. We did a quick trip over to Carthage, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we just walked around a bit. Then we zipped back to Nauvoo to watch the older couple missionaries do some skits in the historic civic hall. It made for a pretty long day, but it was very humbling to learn about all the saints went through, and their patience in dealing with adversity and trials.

DAY 3: On this day we just relaxed. We went to the park and played some frisbee, barbequed some steak, and Kamala made some of her favorite salads. We also played some tennis after. I didn't realize Dad was so good at tennis, he wore me out. And Kamala continues to get better at tennis each day. At the end of the day I pulled out the OMM table and gave everyone some treatments to fix everyone up after all the hours of sitting in the car and from playing hard. So, it was a really fun week, and I loved having my parents here. They continued their trek following the mormon trail all the way back to Utah, and then eventually got back to Montana.

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!!)