It has definitely been a while since I posted, I had every intention of making my post a weekly or monthly thing but I am a slacker when it comes to these things so I will try again... TAKE TWO!
Since my last post I have been on a cross country road trip to Wyoming ( I promise that one day I WILL live there), had some detrimental losses in our family, celebrated a wedding anniversary, Christmas, and who knows what else... It's so very hard to keep up with everything when you work two jobs and have a busy life outside of work!
Let's start with the cross country road trip. This was our honeymoon (the OFFICIAL one!) I won't bore you with pictures of the road trip its self, but I will share a few. If I had more on my computer I would share more. We started in good ole North Carolina at 4 in the morning, and it took us about 30 hours to get there. We stopped in Kansas City our first night and arrived in Jackson Hole Wyoming at like 10 at night. The time changes threw us off but they were definitely in our favor. I strongly recommend road trips for couples especially newly weds. I'm not sure it would be so great with a car full of kids, but then again I could be wrong. The time that we spent together was so nice and we talked and enjoyed the scenery ( even if it was at 75-80 mph). I have never in my life seen such vast farmland. Being an agriculture lover myself I wanted to take pictures of EVERYTHING! From the land to the farm equipment everything was massive and in such larger quantities that you see here in North Carolina. Here are a few from of the states we drove through...
Illinois!
Gateway Arch in St. Louis Missouri!
Kansas!
Iowa!
Nebraska! ( Loved their sign for sure)
Wind Farms were everywhere especially when we entered Nebraska and it was really windy (of course). We thought it was so cool because we have a lot of solar farms here in North Carolina so seeing another source of generating power was awesome!
When we FINALLY reached Wyoming, I was beyond excited. I was never so glad to see a state sign than I was then. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. This was the farthest that either of us had ever been from NC. We were on our own Peewee's Big Adventure.
Sorry the picture quality is awful and the bugs and bug guts Oh my they were awful.
And the sky... Did I mention how beautiful it was?!?! Pictures just do not begin to do it justice. The clouds were so different than they are around here. It's weird, I don't really know how to explain it. I took soooo many pictures of the sky, but this is one of my favorites, even through the bug guts! :)
As we drove through Wyoming this reminded me of the Badlands that you would see in a western movie. These rock formations were totally cool.
This is Lake Jenny is Teton National Park. It was beautiful and the water was soooo clear you could stand on the rocks and see little fish swimming around your feet. I could have sat at this spot all day and just enjoyed my day. it was very relaxing.
We also visited Yellowstone but I have yet to put my own personal pictures on the computer. We got to see Old Faithful and the other geysers and hot springs. My favorite had to be the Morning Glory Pool. The colors were phenomenal! Here is a pic I found online.
This was one of the best times of my life and I am so very thankful for this opportunity. Jason (my husband) and I decided that we would definitely visit again. Even though we wish we were rich and could just up and move out there. It's just breathtakingly beautiful!
When we got back from Wyoming, as life started to get back to normal Jason's grandma had to have surgery and she ended up taking a turn for the worse and we lost her in August. She was such a special, beautiful woman and I loved her so much! I now have a wind chime tree in my front yard in remembrance of her and the love that she had for them. You never realize how much you take people and the time that you spend with them for granted until they are gone.
We grow as people and learn to adjust to loses, but it still hurts. I can say that experiencing a tragic loss can either bring you together as a couple or tear you apart. in our case I feel it only brought us closer. I was able to be there for Jason and his family during their time of need. While I was hurting too, I knew that I had to be strong. As life continues we found ourselves in the month of October and we were celebrating our 1st Anniversary as a married couple. Jason surprised me and took me to the Christmas Inn in Pigeon Forge for our Anniversary. It was so very special and I LOVED IT! You see, Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year as far as Holidays are concerned so I guess you could say I was in my own personal heaven! <3
They gave us an ornament! It was in our room when we arrived!
LOVE IT!!!
We ate a slice of our cake a year later, and surprisingly it tasted good.
Christmas came and it was a big one because I decided to host Christmas for most of the family ( I know, what was I thinking?!?!?) Well, it really wasn't that bad. Other than the frantic cleaning of the house! Hahaha. We fried a turkey in the deep fryer that I won in a Holiday contest on the radio and it was delish. A big reason behind hosting Christmas was that my grandma ( my dad's mom) has Alzheimer's and before it reaches advanced stages I want to create memories that we will have to cherish for the rest of our lives. Christmas was hard too, especially without Jason's grandma it just wasn't the same. I am so grateful that family plays such an influential part in our lives because they help make this life better to be in. Without their love and support sometimes life would really suck!
These are my fur babies Banjo and Remi at Christmas!
Well, since I've caught you up on basically the rest of 2013 I will leave it at that for now because trust me there's more to come. I hope that you enjoy reading this. Sorry for the overload of detail and pictures. I wish that I had documented our trip daily, that would have been amazing! Oh well...
Just let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes;
"Like branches on a tree we grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one".
Always,
Krista
