LEAVING OUR SWEET HOME ALABAMA & GATLINBURG, TN

After our month in Utah, we flew home to Alabama once more (so sad!). After packing up, cleaning, and saying our final goodbye's, we began our drive to Pennsylvania. It was surreal and sad leaving Birmingham; I remember tearing up as we pulled out of the city, looking over all the places we loved. That place and time was so good for us! We established some truly life long friends, grew together, G excelled in graduate school and I completed my undergrad, and we experienced a place and culture that we instantly grew to love. Alabama will always be home to us, that's the beautiful thing. Heck, I even picked up "y'all" when I told my family before we moved to Alabama that if I ever did start saying that to slap me. That right there proves my love for Bama! Also, #RollTide.

Luckily for us, we had planned to meet some family in Gatlinburg, TN for a few days on our journey. We had so much fun with the Dahle's and were in awe of the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains!

I LOVE BYU

As I mentioned earlier, I finally graduated from BYU in May!!! (Well, technically I finished my last class in May and graduated in June.) I really felt so accomplished, mostly because it was so hard to finish online. But also because I got my bachelor's degree and that is something to be proud of, for me anyways! It only felt appropriate that I took my last final ever on BYU soil where it all began for me. (Side note: Gordy just said out of nowhere, "You know what I want, I want to be the mockinjay. Alright, G.) I know that a lot of people feel a sense of pride and loyalty to their alma matter, and I feel that right along with them. BYU was the perfect college experience for me. I learned and grew in all the ways I hoped. I'm someone who has always enjoyed school and learning, but BYU felt different for me. I studied things I'm passionate about and the whole campus has this feel that just by being there you're improving yourself. I'm a big fan.

Perhaps the highlight of my BYU career was going on my study abroad to Jerusalem.  I will be forever changed from this! It was a busy semester full of 15 credits; daily adventures in the Old City; weekly field trips all over Israel; trips to Turkey, Jordan, and Galilee; delicious food; amazing cultures; incredible professors who taught me so many truths; literal lifelong friends; and pretty much a big party for 4 months straight. I have so many memories that I could literally write about for years, but I'll spare you those. Except for this: in the informal talent show I licked my elbow. I practiced for weeks and had a friend coach me. You heard me, that really happened.

Thanks BYU for helping me reach my dreams and plan new ones. Go Cougs!!!

MAY IN UTAH: PART III

Since G graduated at the end of April and didn't start work until July, we decided that we would be crazy if we didn't take advantage of our time off and visit  family for a while! We ended up going for the entire month of May, and I'm really glad that we did, especially because I think our visits out there are going to lessen greatly now that G has begun his career. But that's okay because I keep telling myself that people can come visit us too! 

During the last part of our Utah trip, we celebrated G's Nana's (great grandma's) 105th birthday (can you believe it?!) and went to a cousin's baby shower where it was fun to visit with extended family. We also explored Antelope Island, which I had never been to before, but it was sure beautiful! We saw a few deer, antelope, tons of buffalo, lots of pretty birds, and a few coyotes too! We also walked through the Payson, UT Temple Open House and OH MY it's a beautiful temple! I love seeing the different architecture and decorations throughout each temple, and I especially love the feelings inside. There is no greater peace that I have found than within the walls of a temple.  (Click here and scroll down to "Blessings of Temples" if you are curious what I'm talking about.) Although I didn't get any pictures of us at the temple because of the crazy rain storm, we had a lovely time and I'm so glad that we went!

You can bet that we made another trip up to the ranch too! That place is just magical and houses so many good memories for us.  We came back a little earlier than our family to go see my SIL Lisa and her baby who were in town from California! It was so much fun to visit with them because we never get to see them!! We take whatever time we can and we just love them so much! For memorial day we had a big BBQ at my parents with my Brewer cousins! It was so much fun to visit with everyone and to celebrate Memorial Day together the best way we know how...eating! ;) We also had a good game of croquet and some crazy trampoline jumping. And I decided my mom is officially the cutest ever when I saw her leading 6 tiny grandbabies/grandcousins around the backyard and through the tall flowers on their "treasure hunt." There is no one like her! It made me remember how awesome she was throughout my childhood when she constantly played and explored with us. I love that woman dearly!

We took a few pool days and played at the Provo Rec Center with our nieces, went to dinner with some Jru friends, filmed a project for my last class ever at BYU and I also took my last final ever! I thought it was pretty neat that I got to end my college experience where I started it, despite having been finishing school online on the other side of the country for the past while. By the time I rushed home, my score had been uploaded (I passed!), so G and I celebrated with some Graham Canyon ice cream at the creamery on 9th! Woohoo!! I still can't believe that I'm finished, but at the same time it feels so so good. I am proud of myself for what I've accomplished and I'm so grateful for the institution that provided me so many opportunities to learn and so much growth. #gocougs!

We had such a great time in Utah. It's always a big struggle for us to balance family and friends and everything else that is always going on (thanks for being patient with us), but we still had a good time! It's funny though, because even though we go "home" to visit our families, we always talk about how it doesn't feel like home for us right now. It feels very familiar and lovely, but you know that feeling when you get home from vacation and feel so good walking into your home? You get excited and just feel so good to be back and like that place missed you too? That's how we felt leaving Utah and arriving in Pennsylvania.  That's how we always felt leaving Utah and going home to Alabama. I am really grateful for these feelings that reaffirm to me that we are where we need to be. I'm also so glad that we have felt at home so quickly in these places! It is still a bit strange to wrap our heads around it every time it happens in Utah, though. Life is so much fun and meant for adventuring and I can't help but smile when I think we're doing just that.

^^ My mom is a saint for pushing G and his bum ankle (dang tendinitis!) around at Target! haha. He's such a big kid and always keeps us laughing. After he decided to get his own motorized shopping cart, he kept trying to run us over or play hide and seek. haha. ^^

^^ G worked alllll day knocking over dead trees and chopping them up so that he could make a giant burn pile and have some fun. The pile ended up slightly bigger than what he told his dad it would be, and the explosion it made when it lit up was quite the experience! Boys will be boys? ^^

My Sammy and Jerusalem pals.

Took a celebratory graduation picture with the Y in the background after my last final...

and visited this wonderful family that I used to nanny. No better family! I love them so.

 ^^ Still shot from my filming for my last class at BYU! ^^

 ^^ This is my niece, and I know I'm biased and think that all of my nieces are the cutest in the world, but aren't they really?! ^^

We loved all of our family time and our fun month in Utah!