Peace Out Provo...

At the end of April we had to say "Peace out" to our beloved home beneath the Chiropractic Clinic in Provo and head out to where we will be for the summer...Burlington, NC. We had a wonderful road trip east which we had planned when we thought we were going to Illinois for the summer, and although it was going to take us the LONG way to North Carolina, we couldn't pass up our trip through some capitols and very important American landmarks.

We drove through the bleak state of Wyoming into South Dakota where our first stop was the incredible Mt Rushmore. We were impressed with the size of the presidents and all the hard work that went into this piece of mountain.

We stopped at World Famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. There are a million signs across the world pointing to this place in the world. (Word to the Wise: If you want to visit Wall Drug, beware of it's closing time, 7pm).

We stopped and played some croquet in Pierre (which the locals say Peer). Hallie slept all the way through her first game of family croquet. She was also a champ the whole trip in the car. She slept nearly the whole time! When we stopped to eat, she ate and went right back in her seat and was either quiet or fell asleep. We couldn't have asked for a better baby to travel with. We will see how she does when she is a little older on the ride home from the summer!

After Pierre, we made a few stops before reaching our next capitol. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD was first. This place is awesome. It is covered in 100% corn from the local farms. None of the corn is died and every year there is a different theme for the building which means all different pictures made of corn are put up. This has been going on since 1904.

Our next stop was the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN. He was huge, a lot bigger than he looks in our pictures.

Then on to the Mall of America or the Temple of Materialism as our friend Ron calls it. This place was HUGE! It had roller coasters and an aquarium. It had every kind of store you could think of. And it had a million stores that sold Minnesota paraphernalia. We walked around the whole thing. Didn't do much shopping, we just wanted to see what they had, and I'm pretty sure they had nearly everything but groceries.

We stayed in Minneaoplis with our friend Ron. He was an incredible host, letting us steal his bed and making us Saturday morning Roll-Ups. Thank you Ron!

We played a game in St. Paul where a handful of people were honoring war veterans by shooting off cannons. One of the guys we talked to knew all about different war memorials and museums across the country. You could tell he was very patriotic. We got a picture with him. After our game, Ashton and I were taking a picture while they were shooting off the cannons and I knew it was going to go off soon, but I totally jumped out of my skin when they fired one sooner than I had expected. I wish I could have seen it. I'll have to wait to watch the movies of my life in heaven.

Our last (fun) stops were in Wisconsin. We stopped at a cheese store and taste-tested all kinds of cheese: cranberry, pepperdew, fudge cheese, 12 year aged cheddar...all kinds. Then we played croquet in Madison or "Mad City" which was a lot bigger and more happening than we thought it would be. We were recommended a place called the Old Fashoined where we bought fried cheese curds...a popular treat among Wisconsinites.

All in all, it was a great trip. And now, here we are in North Carolina. It has been great to be here so far. The ward we are in is awesome. We are being well taken care off. Our first week here many people greeted us at church and even more came over to visit or invite us to different activities. We are lucky to be in such a great place. Plus, Burlington has shown us that chivalry is NOT dead. I have had men take my buggy back to the store when I was done shopping and men let me enter the room before themselves. Southern hospitality lives on!

Lots of people have asked us what we are going to do when the summer is over seeing this is Ashton's last year on contract with Pinnacle. Who really knows? Go on vacation to Europe? To say the least, we are just enjoying where we are right now and all things will work out to how they should be.