A Week in Carolina

Last week, I went to visit my parents in South Carolina.  It was so nice to hang out with them, go shopping with my mom, and feel like I actually had a bit of a summer break.  I flew in late Wednesday night.  Thursday, I slept in, then Mom and I went to run a few errands.  We grabbed some lunch at McCallisters, then picked up fresh peaches and black berries from a local farmer's stand.  I had requested a meal of squash, lima beans, and black eyed peas, so we also got fresh squash and tomatoes.  As per my request, we also got pedicures.  While we were doing that, Mom decided she wanted a manicure, and got me one, too!

Our Pedi's!

My yummy vegetable dinner!

Friday, Mom and I went shopping.  Of course, we didn't take any pictures, but we found some cute clothes!  Saturday, all three of us drove to Georgia to visit my Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle.  We had  a really good visit with my Aunt Kacky, then had lunch at Olive Garden.  Bambudder (as we call my Grandmother) had gone to the hospital Friday night, so they met us at Olive Garden after she got to check out (she's doing fine).  After, we went Bambudder's house to visit for a little bit before heading back.  I wanted to be in church on Sunday to see everyone from the ward.  I got to see a couple of my high school buddies there.  I even cheated a little and went to the Young Single Adult class, which consisted of about six people.  Even without a teacher we had a really good discussion about Job.

Bambudder and Me

 At the restaurant:

Monday, Mom and I had Krispy Kreme Donuts for breakfast.  Yum!  On our way over and as we got back, it was raining like crazy!  I tried to capture the rain in these pictures.

One of our cats has been having stomach problems, so we took him to the vet.  While we were waiting for the vet, Demon wanted to find somewhere to hide.

 We did some more shopping on Monday, and that evening we went to one of my SC restaurant requests: Genghis Grill, a Mongolian grill. It was Mom's birthday, so it was also for her birthday celebration.

Tuesday, Mom and I stayed at the house and watched movies, then Wednesday Mom had to go back to work, and I had to pack.  I did get to say hello to some of my teachers and Mom's coworkers that I'm friends with, which was also fun.  By the time I left, I was ready to see my husband, but at the same time, the visit with my parents was too short.  I'll have to go visit again, soon :)

Night, I mean, um, Afternoon, at the Museum!

Friday, Peter and I went to the York County Museum.  I had remembered going when I was younger and thought it would be fun to pay it a visit again with Peter to see how much it had changed.  Some of the same animals were there, but they had moved the exhibits and little.

When we first arrived, the lady at the front desk was trying to give someone directions to the nearest post office, but she asked if we were there for the planetarium.  She said the show was about to start and we could go on in and then pay when we left, which was really nice of her.   Peter said the planetarium was his favorite part because it was the most interesting.  We actually ended up having the whole planetarium to ourselves lol.  The guy who worked the planetarium showed us what the night sky looks like here right now and then started to tell us the rules of the planetarium so he could start the show.  He goes, "If you leave in the middle you can't come back in...and...that's all I'm going to tell y'all cuz you're the only ones in here and I don't really care what you do."  I thought that was kinda funny. 

We then went into the hands-on exhibit, where we think the worker must have been bored because he immediately began telling us about the exhibit as soon as we walked in the room (it was a slow day at the museum haha).  They had a couple of permanent exhibits that were pretty close to what I remembered, but their new exhibit was about the Piedmont area during the Ice Age.

I remember seeing this elephant when I was younger

Peter said Cougars don't look like this.
"Cougars wear blue with a big 'Y' on their chest!"
I rolled my eyes at him.

This exhibit showed nocturnal creatures of SC.
It was kinda like a life-size "I-Spy" game.
 (this is a picture of the key)

 Apparently this is what ground sloths looked like during the Ice Age
(I immediately thought of Sid the Sloth, but this guy is huge!)

After the museum, we went to Olive Garden.  After ordering their 2 for $25 deal, we decided that next time we would just get their endless soup, salad, and bread sticks and maybe a dessert.  Not that the food wasn't good, we just weren't able to eat much of it after our very tasty soup, salad, and bread sticks lol.  I also got a strawberry smoothie that was very good.  It was a fun little date.

I Love to See the Temple

Peter and I made a trip down to the temple last night.  We have been meaning to go all summer while we were out here, especially since this is the temple we were sealed in.  Well, we finally made it last night! 

We wanted to get in early, so we just snapped a quick self-portrait
with the temple behind us before going in.

Took this pic as we were leaving.
The Temple is always so pretty lit up at night!

It was awesome to attend again the Temple where we were sealed.

You've Got a Friend in Me, and I've Got One in You <3

This evening, Peter and I went to visit one of my very best friends from my church Youth group when I was in high school.  I had so much fun visiting with her, her hubby, her sweet little boy, and her cute dog!  It was kinda funny.  She and I spoke on the phone this afternoon to arrange the time and everything, and the conversation was kind of stiff.  She texted me after and said she had been distracted because her drink had spilled.  I haven't seen her in a very long time, except for the few moments we visited with her at my wedding reception (she very sweetly missed a family gathering to be there, and I'm so glad!), so I was a little (very slightly) concerned we wouldn't have much to talk about this evening.  How silly of me!  We continued texting for a bit this afternoon, and when Peter and I got there, we talked about anything and everything.  It was so much fun.  We caught up on what we and our husbands were doing; we also talked about how fast her little siblings were growing up (crazy!), about pets, about kids, about school and work, sleeping habits, whatever!  She also showed me her cute jungle nursery, which she had painted herself!  Talking with her made me remember being in youth, going to dances, going to her house, and having her over.  We had so much fun back then!  One crazy thing about life: you don't always realize how much fun you're having during any given period of your life until you look back on it and realize all the fun you had.  We did some reminiscing but intermixed it with talking about our current lives.  I really, really enjoyed talking with her, sharing her and her family with my husband, and sharing him with them.  She texted me after we left and told me how much fun she had had visiting with us, too, and I was glad she had enjoyed it as much as I did.  She is one of those people who has always made me feel loved, and she has touched my life more than I think she knows.  Love you, girl!

New Friends

This summer I've been an intern at CoSaint Insurance, a small, independent insurance agency.  This was our last week, so today they had a party for the three interns.  The interns, our bosses, and guests all went to Strike City for some bowling.  It was really fun to be able to introduce everyone to Peter and visit with everybody in a less formal setting.  The bowling alley was really cool, too.  The bowling area was somewhat darkened, and the alleys were lit and had large televisions at the end.  Employees served us sodas and a little buffet of snack foods: a vegetable tray, chips and salsa, buffalo wings, and these little chicken kabobs in some sort of peanut sauce.  It was all very good.  The employees also entered our names into the score keepers for us; it was very nice.  There was some variation in the amount of skill present in our game.  Some of us were very skilled, and other of us......were less skilled (I was one of the not so skilled, and Peter was more in the upper range lol).  However, I think all of us enjoyed it, whatever skills we had.

Thanks so much to CoSaint Insurance for letting me be a part of your team this summer.  I learned a lot about what it takes to build a business and what role technology plays in that.  I also learned more about myself.  Thank you for being kind and helping me learn.  Good luck, and keep in touch!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!

A Merry Little Christmas

We had an awesome Christmas this year! Santa did an excellent job, as did Mom and Dad!!!

And J-man got to experience his first Christmas! He's pretty good at opening up the presents, especially with a little help from Mom!

But sometimes he likes the paper more than what's inside!

All that present-opening makes little boys tired! But Mom makes a great pillow!

Time to open some more gifts!

JT thinks his Dad is pretty fun!

How did I get this bow on my head?

And to add to the fun of Christmas, we got snow!

Night Sky

Okay, I don't know how well you can see it in these pictures, but this sky is really cool. Mom went to take the dogs out, and she goes "Y'all should see this sky. It's funny looking!" So Dad and I came outside to see. There were all these fluffy, kinda broken up clouds with bits of dark blue sky peeking through, and the moon was right in the middle of this circle that framed it almost perfectly. It's neat!

Halloween Fun!

Last night, my sister and I went to YSA Fall Festival! It was pretty fun. The best part was getting to dress up!

The usual self-portrait:

We got our faces painted!

And we carved pumpkins! This one was actually carved by someone else, but I thought it was really creative :)

Here is K with her pumpkin! She drew the spider free-hand onto the pumpkin, and then carved it!

I just carved a face!

When we got home, we put candles in them to see them all lit up!