Moving is bitter sweet

Officially we have less than 2 weeks before our move.  I know I haven't been on much to explain so let me take the time.

We went out to Utah in September of last year and we were given the opportunity to move out there.  By that I mean, we were offered a place to stay and an area and friends that need help. The spiritual aspects are going to amazing as well.  An area that doesn't see as much witness activity as we do here, and an older congregation to help as well. 

We said many prayers and we know that since we are going for the right reasons that Jehovah will keep blessing us.  Jay will be able to continue pioneering and Miss J wants to regular pioneer so much, so once we get stable, we will get her auxiliary pioneering for a bit and we hope that we can, as a family, be out there with vigor!

A change, yes.  Scary, a bit.  Exciting, absolutely!

I'll try to update more once we are not dealing with house showings and packing like we have for the past 2 months.  It's been very hectic and crazy and I'm looking forward to some stability and going in service with no worries of rushing home to get the dog from the house for a showing!

I'll post pictures when we are there.  We leave here the end of the month and arrive there before superbowl.  I guess that is something!! haha!!

Love you all!

Big News! Big Changes!

I have put off writing about this until we got the papers signed.  We have some big BIG changes occurring in our household.

To put it bluntly.. We are moving out of the east and into the west! It is going to be super exciting, super scary, super amazing.  A lot of things have had to happen first to make this happen.  A lot of prayers were said, a lot of changes are being made.  But we are happy to be able to go and help out in an area that needs our help.

I am hoping that my health will be a bit better there and I can get back on the pioneer list.  That is my goal! My girls are both hoping to pioneer as well, and Jay will stay on this list we pray!  That being said, we wouldn't be making this move if it was going to hinder our service to Jehovah.

We meet with the Realtor tomorrow to discuss the sale of our house.  We know that it will take some work to get it up, but hopefully not to much. 

Ah the changes of our life!!!  I will try to keep you up on how things are going.

Cross Country Trip Days 10,11,12,13 and HOME

Yes!!! We are home now.  After a 36 hour car ride.  Really it wasn't that bad, but enough to make you really tired.  The drive there wasn't so bad because we stopped often and stayed different places.

So the last few days we were in Utah, we were able to hang out with friends and family, bike ride (yes, I got my fat self on a bike for about 2 miles), visit national parks, go to a winery, eat..eat..eat!

I am sure I'll mix up my days, so I will say this... Wednesday I don't remember what we did. I think that was the day we all went bike riding. Now, it has been a while since I have been in HIGH elevation, I don't ride anyway, so I think 2 miles was pretty good. Jay happily did 6 miles a couple days after.

Thursday I was so happy to see my sister!! I wish it would have been longer but things happened.  We went to the Moab Diner for breakfast and had a yummy smothered and covered something!  I was apprehensive at first, but enjoyed it.  Then I sat with my sissy and got glared at by her cat! All because I invaded the office!! hehe! I wonder if little cat will ever forgive me.

My family and friends went to Arches and had some fun.  Jay took some really good pictures and I can't wait to be able to share them!!  After that we ate at the Moab Brewery for lunch.  Of course it was tasty as well.  Jay had some delicious beer.  After that we drove to the Castle Country Winery (I think is the name) and tasted and bought some wine.  I had a red that I actually liked. Normally it is all white wine for me.  Then we drove to Canyonlands for the sunset.  What happened next? Back to where we were all staying and had OKTOBER FEST! Real German sausages, pretzels, sweet mustard (which was really good), sauerkraut, and Spaten beer. I was soooo very nervous about all of that, but it was really good.  I didn't like the sauerkraut, but that was me.  The sausage was so filling that I could only have 1, and the pretzels tasted delicious!

Friday, what did we do Friday?  Oh yes, we went to Telluride, Colorado for the day.  We had some AMAZING Pizza, went on the Gondola, which I admit freaked me out, and all in all had a good time.  On the way back there was a beautiful sky that looked like it was on fire! We also saw an elk cow on the side of the road.

Saturday was that start of our trip home. We left about 4-4:15 am local time and got home about 2 pm Sunday local time. We hit some rain, but came across on interstate 40.  I am glad we did because had we come up through South Carolina we would have been stuck or have to back track because of the storms they had there that flooded the roads.  Here at the house we had 8.5 inches of rain.  I would have taken a picture, but I accidentally unplugged the weather thing.

So today, after the many loads of laundry, the unthawing of dinner, the cleaning out of the car... I am beat!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I will do more later!

My sissy got me this mug!!!

my new socks!

Telluride Colorado

Telluride, Co

Telluride, Co

Telluride, Co

Telluride, Co

My Jay!!

PIZZA

Gondola

Gondola

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest

Canyonlands

Canyonlands

Canyonlands

Canyonlands

Cross Country Trip Days 7,8,9

Sorry guys.  I should've at least said hi.  We are here in Utah.  It's been relaxing mostly.  The girls have been playing outside every day.  The weather is wonderful.  Ok, a little warm, but what can you expect?

Today we went for a little walk to a beautiful Canyon just minutes away from where we are staying.  A nice little (and I stress little) rain storm came in and dropped give rain drops on us, but it wasn't enough to do anything.  I got some pretty pictures out of it. 

We are expecting some more friends in today, which will make 11 of us here from all over.  Utah, Oregon, Germany and North Carolina. 

My Jay made BBQ for tonight.  Ribs, steak and salad... Well, we had to have something other than meat, right?

Anyway, here are the pictures!

Cross Country Trip Days 6 (again)

Las Vegas.  What can I say about that? I can say you get no pictures.  What a mess it is.
I ended up booking is a hotel in the ghetto.  False advertising like crazy.  They got a horrible review from us on Google and will also on Expedia.  That's all I'm going to say about that.
The strip.  Nudity was prevalent.  Okay, not full on, but enough.  The Pirates show in front of treasure Island is permanently closed, so I drug my family there for nothing but a stupid expensive buffet.  We saw the tail end of the water show at bilagio and went back to the dump of a hotel.  It's day 7 and we are headed away from here and to Utah. 

Cross Country Trip Days 4, 5, 6 (I think)

We are out of the Grand Canyon.  I am a little lost on days and times because we really didn't have much of a signal to brows the internet or check mail or anything like that.   Now mind you, I have NO complaints about that.  And yesterday I was telling Jay that I didn't know what day it was or anything. 

At the Grand Canyon it was just pure amazement.  I really cannot explain what we saw and did. We ended up staying an extra night due to some car issues. By car issues... the starter broke and so Jay had to drive an hour away to get it fixed.  Kinda blew our trip to the Sequoia National Forest, but that is okay, we got to see a lot of awesome things.

So the first day we set up and went and saw the sunset.  WOW!  The deer there were so friendly that you could walk right up to them.  No, we didn't touch them.  The sunset was beautiful, making us long for what the sunrise had in store.  That night we heard this crazy sound, the description of it would be like a donkey and a cow mooing (Jays description) at the same time.  (I will tell you in a minute what it is)  We saw a sky beyond compare.  You think of when Jehovah spoke to Abraham and told him to look up at the sky and count the stars and that is what his off spring would be... WOWOWOWOWOWWW! Once we got back to bed, because we woke up at 3 am to look at the sky, we heard coyotes in the distance.  That was funny because they were yipping all over the place.  It isn't like what you hear in movies folks, not always anyway.

The second day Jay and I got up to see the sunrise and was blown away.  The colors that came out, and the sun hitting it and the shadow play... Just striking! Again, no words can express.  Well this was the day that our car went pooey... So Jay had to go and get the repair done.  The girls and I stayed at the camp. While there, Miss C was sick so I think it was good that we had a low key day.  Just to let her relax and chill.  By sitting there, we were given a new camp stove and some salt and pepper, oil and the like.  The people were from France and they were done camping and wanted to give it way.  Yay! Yes, I will happily take your discards when they are that good! We did walk to the market and back.  On our way there (the first time) we saw Elk!!!! We saw either 3 or 4 cows with their calves.  I say 3 OR 4 because they were laying all over the place.  We did our little gift shop stop and on our way back to camp this man stopped us and told us to be careful, Miss J was on her bike, because there was a large male elk drinking water.  This was the "small" male, he had chased away the big one.  He happened to be a bit after our site, but not much, so I walked over and took pictures of him just drinking. It was amazing just seeing such a large majestic animal. Jay got home some time after that and he went for a de-stress bike ride before dinner.  Both days we cooked at the camp. We also ended up with 2 new chairs, which was good because one of ours broke, so we are still 1 up! Gotta love it.

Day three we were B.U.S.Y.  Jay and I went to see the sunrise again and then came back to have breakfast. We had to move campsites since the one we were at was booked for the night, so we did that while the girls did laundry.  After that we took the bus to different points along the rim and did a lot of hiking and site seeing.  It was just phenomenal seeing all the different parts.  I think the most amazing to me was 1) hearing the Colorado River raging from 5000 feet below us, and 2) seeing the vultures flying BELOW us!  There were 20-30 of them just flying.  We did see ravens chasing a falcon, or a falcon chasing ravens... which ever it was, because the falcon kept coming back for more, it was neat.  I'm trying to think what other wild life we saw.  We did see 1 condor, because as it was flying we could see the number tag on its wings.  We saw more elk on our way home. We ended up eating sandwiches because by the time we got back to camp it was dark.  It was a full moon as well and all the animals were making noises last night.  We heard more coyotes, more elk, and something I don't quite know what it was, but there are wild pigs out here, so maybe that was what it was.  It is also mating season, so a lot of noise.

Day four, or today. We packed up and low and behold, walking right close to our site was a HUGE elk male. I was astounded he was just sauntering by. There happened to be 2 bucks and a few cows around.  So more pictures! haha! We made it to Hoover dam and I walked along that taking pictures and video and then we made it to Las Vegas, had an in-n-out burger and checked into a dump of a hotel.  The ratings lied to me from 2 different sites.  This place is in the hood!!!!! Oh well, it is only for 1 night and then we will head to Utah for a couple days before headed back home. 

Now onto some pictures!!!!!!!! I know this is really what you have been waiting for!
Okay, looks like you will have to wait until I have a goodish internet signal... booooooo!!!

Cross Country Trip Day 3

Ahhhh, the beauty that is New Mexico.  I must say it has its own special beauty.  I know all states do, each one is beautiful in its own way.

So basically today was visiting family.  I was able to see some that I hadn't seen in a very long (YEARS) time. It was really nice. The first set we went to see, as we were leaving, we saw a roadrunner and I really wanted to take a picture of it.  I had never seen one alive before, only pictures or stuffed ones in museums. It was very cool.  So anyway, we stopped and Jay rolled down my window and, well, it never went back up again... what a mess!  We go to the next set of family and thankfully Jay and her father were able to fix it, it will never go down again, but the window is sealed!! I'm okay with that.  I don't know exactly what happened, only that Jay is my hero and fixed it.  Anyway, while he was doing that we went and searched for petrified wood! The girls had a blast and we were able to get some to bring home.

We had some "authentic" New Mexican food.  Apparently it is its own style of food. Jay I know enjoyed it. I did as well.  There was a candy making place right across the way, and so we had some fresh made candy from there and that was tasty! 

It did rain here and i loved that.  Just being able to watch the storm roll in was amazing! I heard the thunder, watched the clouds, watched the wall of rain.. Just amazing!

And that was my day, our day. I am still tired and hope to have another wonderful night sleep (a 2 hour nap didn't do much! hahaha) and then tomorrow we are off to the Grand Canyon.

Good Morning

Puffy Couds

here, there is a road runner somewhere

some yellow flower