-Good by "Y" friends-
These are the ladies I saw almost every day of my Virginia life because they worked out at the YMCA. I'm going to miss them a lot! In fact I joined Gold's gym here and I'm already sad because it's soooo big and I know I won't ever get to meet people like this again :(
These were some of Jackson's favorite friends from the YMCA.
One last trip to the Strawberry Patch.
-The Big Gala-
We all dressed up for the big dinner for graduates where they reminisced and a few received awards. The dinner was pretty chaotic, but Jared won TWO awards!! It was actually funny because my mom and dad made sure it was okay that they leave early and wouldn't miss anything. It was a suprise for everyone, especially Jared. Way to go Jar!!!!! Hope you like your new big screen and GPS :)
-The Main Event-
This is where Jared gets to dress up like he's going to party at Hogwarts. I'm so proud of him for graduating!!! He's worked so hard the past 8 years and I've been really blessed to have such a dedicated husband. Jared is the first person in his family to finish college and he certainly went above and beyond. I didn't think we'd be as emotional as we all were, but it was a pretty nice event.
-THE BIG MOVE-
This was a really looong process. I really don't like moving. Even though I'm anxious to buy our own house, I hope we can stay in my parents rental for a while because I DREAD thinking about doing this again. At least next time we won't be leaving our whole lives behind. Thanks Gramdma Suzie for helping us and making sure we were well fed.
-Driving 2,000+ miles part 1-
I think the best thing Jared and I have ever done for our marriage was bought a GPS. We love this thing. We drove all the way across the country without ever stopping to look at a map. We got off the beaten path a few times but it was okay because the majic box would just tell us it's recalculating and we'd be right back on track. Here is what we saw when we really got off the beaten path. I have to say the Amish are really cool.
-Driving part 2-
Our second day we were able to stop in Kirtland to see some church sites and we ran into none other than my sweet cousin Megan. She's on a full time mission and was just transfered to the visitor's center a week before we drove through and was able to give us a personal tour of the town. She's doing really well and is as cute as ever.
-Driving part 2b-
We drove into Cleveland where they have an AWESOME farmers market. Too bad we were just driving through because the produce there was fantastic! It was hard for me to resist buying bags of fruits and veggies. Jared was able to try some of their brawtworst. He heard about it from Chef Simon, the newest Iron Chef. I personally like polish dogs better, but it was worth tasting.
People ask me how Tanner has to much energy....
-Driving part 3-
We were torn between trying to get into Chicago to try a restaurant our friend Joey recommended or seeing Notre Dame. We opted for Notre Dame. Except we drove around St. Mary's School thinking it was Notre Dame for a while until we started noticing how very Feminine everything was. We got a sweet picture of Jared in front of a nice Virgin Mary making a fighting Irish face though. So it wasn't a complete waste of time.
Here's take two with the fighting Irish face.
-Little troopers-
Jackson and Tanner couldn't've been better on the drive. They were soo good. Hooray! I'm sure it had all to do with the wonderful children they are and not the ice cream and marshmellows we bribed them with.
-Driving part 4-
It's pretty sad when you're driving somewhere and the biggest draw to a state is a place called the corn palace. Of course we had to see what it was about. I have to admit it WAS the best palace I've ever seen made of corn.
-Driving part 5-
Funny how somethings can be so cute and nasty all at the same time.
-Driving part 6-
The hightlight of our trip was Mt. Rushmore.
It was everything we dreamed it would be. At least in crappy dreams where you drive 5 hours out of your way to see something really cool and it's completely covered in fog.
-Driving part 6b-
To add to our fantastic morning of seeing Mount Rushmore, I got my first ticket in 9 years. The cop made me go sit in his car and shut the door while he told me what i did wrong and how he was letting me off easy by only giving me an $89.00 ticket instead of $189.00 ticket. What a sweetheart. THEN about 25 minutes later I got pulled over AGAIN and another cop tried to tell me I was speeding so I said very calmly "NO WAY!!!! I was NOT speeding, I was being SOOOO careful!!!!!" So he let me off with a written warning, whatever that means. Boo on South Dakota for having tons of fog and cops.
-Barely survived-
We took a small detour to Colorado Springs to visit Jamie and that guy that follows her around. We got into Colorado Springs late Friday night when Jamie decided the tornado weather we drove through didn't shake me up bad enough so she decided to take me up "The Incline" early early (yes I meant to put that twice) Saturday morning. It was exactly what it sounds like. A vertical Incline 2,000 feet up a mountain. I thought it would be fun until one of Jamies friends told me how a guy last year ended up in the hospital because he wasn't acclimated and he got altitude sickness. Luckily, I survived...at least until the next day when I couldn't get out of bed because my legs were experiencing rigamortis.
This is just a part of it, it kept going and going and going....
-Austin's Rock-
Jamie and Brian offered to take the kids Saturday night because it was our 5th Anniversary. We went over to see the Garden of the Gods, got a swimsuit for our cruise, and grabbed some sushi. THANKS guys for watching the little rugrats!!
-Austin's Rock part 2-
After Jared earned his stay at the Austin Inn, we stopped over at the zoo. It was fun because it was up in the mountains. I think the best part was feeding the giraffes. Tanner was pretty brave.
-The home stretch-
The last day we drove throught the beautiful Rockies, I guess John Denver was right after all.
-This is going on FOREVER!!!!-
And FINALLY, Thank you Dad for driving this huge monster all the way across the country and only wrecking it a little!! We couldn've done it without you.
Good Bye Virginia *sniff* *sniff* Hopefully it won't take me as long to post our cruise and our new house.....
