OUR CRAZY ROAD TRIP!

Birmingham.....Chicago.....Rochester....Pennsylvania....Chapel Hill.....Birmingham

I was skimming through my pictures and realized that I never blogged about this huge trip we took! And this simply cannot be forgotten.  This was the craziest road trip, but so much fun!! G left for Chicago for the annual ACHE conference while I stayed and worked for another week. about 3 hours into his drive, I walked into our bedroom to see his garment bag full of suits hanging on the wall. NOOOOO. So I drove to meet him half way and he finally got to Chicago way later than planned! He had a great time at the conference, networked a lot, at some yummy food, and took some great classes.  He also got to see some of our closest friends from Alabama which I was super jealous about! Maybe next year I'll just have to tag along. ;) Special thanks to the McMinn's for letting me come sleepover so I didn't have to be alone and sad.  haha. 

I flew into Chicago and we ate lunch with two of my cousins--Chicago deep dish pizza, of course! Soon after, we hit the road and began our long drive to Rochester.  The worst part of the entire trip was paying $30 on the toll road just to get through Ohio! Seriously Ohio, not cool.  We finally made it to Rochester at 2:30 am and surprised Spencer for his birthday!!! We had a blast with the Cravens and talked nonstop about how awesome it was going to be to live so close to each other! We also explored this abandoned subway station that was way cool but also super creepy. If we went any further into the tunnel I'm positive we would have died. hahaha.

^^ Spencer is in medical school and was taking us on a tour of the hospital and showed us this display. Some probably think it's creepy, but I thought it was so neat! ^^

^^ We went to the Rochester farmer's market and 

got some of their spice donuts which were YUM! ^^

We drove down to Pennsylvania and began our 5-day house hunting trip! I was SO excited to finally see this town and hospital that G had been telling me about since his interview in October. And let me just tell you....we loved it.  We totally fell in love with it! I especially loved meeting the other fellows, G's boss, and all of our welcoming ward members! We had a bit of a crazy time in PA searching for a house because the market up there is insane. The first day we looked at 18 homes and by that evening, 15 of them were sold.  What!? Every day was like this! We got outbid three times on different homes, so every day we had to start back at square one.  It was an emotionally exhausting time, but then our realtor found the perfect house for us and we immediately jumped on it. They accepted our offer right then and good thing too because we were already on our way out of town and didn't have time to see any more homes! 

^^ The home buying process is a doozy! ^^

^^ We got a new niece and loved all the pics since we weren't in the same state. 

Sweet little Eliza! She's so cute!^^

Then we drove down to North Carolina to spend the weekend with our siblings and nieces. Those girls are sooo cute and we just had so much fun playing with them. We went on an Easter egg hunt, met our niece for the first time, went to the life and science museum, and celebrated Natalie's birthday. It's always hard to leave them, but we finished our drive back to Birmingham which completed our huge road trip! 

^^ G is such a fun uncle and was wheeling these girls around the store so much that they were squealing and laughing so hard! It was the cutest thing. ^^

^^ CHICKEN AND WAFFLES YUMMM. seriously so good. ^^ 

I've always loved road trips because I grew up doing them multiple times a year. Since we've been dating, G and I have been on many road trips together. I love the quality and quantity of time you get to spend with each other and it's like you can just talk and talk and talk for hours. Not to mention that seeing so many different parts of the country is pretty amazing! When I drive, I feel like I see so much more of this blessed USA and I just love that. They're the best, in my opinion! 

MARDI GRAS

When you live in the South, you have to celebrate Mardi Gras...right? ;) We we were back in New Orleans in November (this post) we bought a King Cake in a box so that we could make it with friends this year. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this box mix, but it was delicious! And we found that you can order these mixes on Amazon so you can bet that we will be doing that each year! We have to keep up our Southern traditions!! :)

When our friends showed up, they each admitted that they had no idea what king cake was, but anything with the word "cake" in it had to be worthwhile, right? haha. I'm so glad they came! And Bryndel got the baby so it looks like she'll be hosting next year! ;) We played some games and ate some king cake and celebrated Mardi Gras in our own style! 

 ^^ Not pictured is the flour mix pouch which I had already dumped into the bowl. ^^

 ^^ The Lytles and Johnsons with us. Great friends! G always tries to tickle me in pictures haha.^^

SOME THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM CHOPPING MY LOCKS

As mentioned previously in this post, I chopped my hair off just after Christmas! I had been planning on doing it for months so I couldn't wait when the day finally arrived!!! I mostly had to get Gordy on board for a few months because he loved my mane.  Yep, you read that right.  He referred to my hair like a horse's mane.  Actually I think he especially liked my "mane" because it was the same color as his horse Bond's...and quite literally.  While we were dating he always told me that he would marry someone when he loved her more than his horse. True cowboy right there! Well, I felt incredibly lucky when he proposed because I knew he must love me a whole lot! And then one day I was brushing Bond's mane and someone snapped a pic and wow you couldn't tell where my hair began and Bond's ended! And that's when it hit me....G married me because I reminded him of his horse. ;) 

But back to my haircut...I've learned quite a few things in retrospect. This sounds so silly to be learning lessons from a simple haircut but I did! So I want to write them down and remember them.

1. People get oddly attached to other people's hair. haha. I remember growing up how some of my friends moms wouldn't let their daughters get haircuts and I thought that was crazy.  I can't count the number of people who said, "No, you can't cut your hair!" when I told them my plans.  Why can't I? It's not like it won't grow back...it's already grown 2 inches since I cut it 2 months ago...
2. With short hair (and mine wasn't even that short, just in comparison to how long it was before) you all of a sudden have nothing to hide behind.  I never even felt like I was "hiding" behind anything until it was gone.  But once it was gone, I felt so vulnerable and self-aware.  This has been a great wake-up call for me.  Now I feel like everywhere I go I present this "Hi, it's me, Brielle" person rather than a curtain of hair. It's beyond refreshing.
3. Going along with that, all of a sudden people notice your facial features more than your hair. People keep saying to me, "You look so young with shorter hair!" And I think to myself, "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that my face actually looks the same.  The difference is that with my long hair you noticed my hair and now that it's gone you are actually looking at my face and features.  And yes, I'm 22....do you expect me to look 30 for some reason?"  I guess because I was never that attached to my hair, I appreciate people noticing things about me other than my hair.  Do you ever get the same compliment over and over and soon start to wonder if there is anything more that people realize about you?  Or sometimes I feel like compliments that I give and take are centered so much around physical things and not balanced by emotional or personal things or attributes that really matter.  I think a balance of these compliments is necessary, and that both are good. This has taught me to be a lot more genuine with my compliments.
4. People are generally super supportive after the fact! And I so appreciated everyone's positive feedback! Thank you!
5. That quote above is real. Looking back, I think part of the reason I was wanting so badly to cut my hair was because I am ready for a change of pace.  With college graduation and moving to a different state soon, I am excited to start something new and to work and move forward from my life experiences so far.  I feel in many ways that I am ready to become and to work on the woman that I want to be, instead of only holding onto the traits and qualities I've developed so far.  I don't know.  I don't really feel like I'm ready to change my life in any drastic ways (besides graduating and moving which I guess are pretty big, haha), but I've just really been struck lately with the importance of continually changing and growing and becoming.  I think this is huge in life and I'm feeling motivated to become.
6. I really really loved doing something that I could give as an anonymous Christmas gift.  I think I want to start incorporating that into G and mine's traditions.  I was so freeing to know that I helped someone, but I don't need to know any more details than that. Service is just everything and it softens the heart! 

In case you were wondering, I have loved my haircut! It's definitely an adjustment (I can almost put my hair in a top knot without the back slipping out!), but I don't regret it at all. Life is just fun! I especially loved bundling up in my coat and giving our families a "gift" that had my ponytail in it and seeing them process and react! Priceless! 

Some before and after pics:

^^ Gordy was more nervous than I was at the salon! haha! I felt like I

 had my personal paparazzi. He is a cutie. 

Oh, ps Salon K in Provo, UT is absolutely fabulous! I highly recommend it! ^^

^^ IS THIS REAL LIFE?! I can't even believe it and it was my own hair! ^^

CHRISTMAS 2014

Due to work schedules and everything, we flew into Utah on Christmas Eve! We actually loved it. We got to spend the holiday with the people that we love but then we got to enjoy our time with them after Christmas because we weren't running around with our heads cut off trying to buy presents.  It was so great! We sure have a lot of love for those families of ours.

Our Christmas break was filled with:

• Christmas Eve party at the Walkers! We even made it into the video via facetime. Thanks Abby!
• "The Cajun Night Before Christmas" a definite hit and new tradition! 
• sibling sleepover on Christmas Eve in the basement...who snored? Also, traditional stair pic complete with bed head and sleepy eyes. A classic!
• games and more games!!! Coup, Sequence, Pandemic, Settlers, Rook, Scotland Yard, Pit, Pretty Pretty Princess, etc.
• York's homecoming
• meeting 2 new nieces (sweet little girls McKenzie and Lucy)
• sledding
• building an Olaf
• saw "The Imitation Game"
• meeting the boyfriend...teasing the lovebirds (we're such awesome older siblings haha)
• skyping with Elder Kern in Chile!
• eating lots of yummy food 
• (NN)NYE celebration with Cravens and Clawsons (YOU try holding a 1 lb weight in the air for longer than 3 minutes! decorating shirts...)
• seeing Kami post mission (so great!) & lots of other dear friends
• breakfast at Alicia's with the babes before she went back to China
• reminding Katie's baby I'm going to be the favorite aunt ;) (another niece due this month!) 
• Looking through all of York's pictures and seeing all of his trinkets and hearing all about his last two years.  Missions are wonderful and we are so proud of him.
• Cafe Rio (a MUST while in Utah)
• Jazz Game!
• breakfast with my Sammy
• giving Ashlyn the cutest cowgirl dress-up (now she doesn't have to refer to her leopard fedora as her "yeehaw" hat)
• chopping my locks! and donating them...a Christmas gift to me and someone else.
• meeting up with Brandon and Lisa and their girls for lunch at Zaxby's in Atlanta! Loved spending time with them however short it was! (That's what happens when you live 2,000 miles apart!)
• feeling loved and spoiled by our families and friends

I'm so mad at myself for not taking my camera out more (especially with the Evans) but sometimes you are just busy and forget to document the moments you are having.  Hopefully next time I will be better about that! Now for a plethora of pictures (you've been warned)!

^^ One of my favorite things about 2014 was teaching these amazing kids! I love them SO much and have loved seeing them get baptized this year! ugh and their adorable Christmas outfits kill me! Also, my heart would kind of skip a beat every time they called me 

"Sister Evans!" because I love having that title so much! Being a wife is wonderful. ^^

^^ Christmas Sunday best. :) ^^

^^ When I walked outside I caught my breath because it was the 

perfect Christmas morning with all of this fresh snow! Cue: I"m dreaming of a white Christmas...^^

^^ I love the missionary tan line! ^^

^^ She wanted to go down with me, and when we sat down on the sled at the top of the hill she turned to me and said, "I think I"m going to close my eyes now." and my heart just melted at this honest, excited, and slightly nervous little girl! ^^

^^Shout out to Meg who took all of these great pics! ^^

^^ I sure love them! ^^

^^ Dad trying to be taller than York! haha! ^^

^^ MIND BLOWING how long my hair was!! ^^

^^ Notice G's creepy stache! He had a full beard at the start of the night and kept disappearing to shave it off in sections. He keeps me laughing! ^^