Finally a New Post

Well ladies and gentlemen, we are alive! I haven't had time to update in three weeks which is an epic fail.

The first week of school Justin and I participated in the four-on-four tournament held on campus. It felt nice to be able to play rather than coordinate this semester. My team took 3rd place out of 20 teams! Justin's team wasn't that great, so too bad for him.

The following weekend Justin's club team played in the Daweena Tournament in Ogden. I went down with him to take pictures and video and cheer him on. Their team did okay...they lost their first two, but won the last two giving them 3rd place (out of six...meh). So, not the best day, but it was fun anyway!

I gave the RS lesson last Sunday. I talked about visiting teaching in terms of the degrees of glory: outer darkness (you don't even know who you teach and you don't care), telestial kingdom (you know who you teach and you think about doing it, but it doesn't happen) , terrestrial kingdom (you do it because you have to, it's your check off list, etc), and celestial kingdom (you're spiritually in tune and love the sisters). If you're at least thinking about it, that's better than being in rebellion! If you're doing it because you feel like you have to and it's your 'check off list,' well, that's better than not doing it at all! I think we should all have more tolerance for each other when it comes to home and visiting teaching. So we're not perfect--who cares? Let people try to be better.

This weekend I had a geology field trip to Utah. We looked at houses that have been destroyed by landslides. We learned about the soils in the Salt Lake Valley. We went to one street and after crossing a fence we saw a fresh landslide! A few classmates and I hiked down through the brush and jumped the river to get our pictures by it. It was an extremely long day, but I enjoyed the nice weather and sunshine.

Last week the highlight of the week was eating Pizza Hut with my parents and Chase and Rachel on Tuesday. I'm in a practical homemaking class that I LOVE. I made a pillow case and now I'm finishing an apron. I'll get those pictures up when I get my grade on Tuesday. I love sewing. I would love to make my own maxi dress...now I just need a $2000 sewing machine ;)

Relief Society has been so much easier this semester. I learned how to use MLS which is the church's software program for putting VT together. It is so much easier now! We have ward conference next week and I've been asked to speak. I'm one of those strange people that enjoys giving talks, so I'm looking forward to sharing.

Ultimate starts this week. We played in a showcase game to get people excited about playing and had a ton of fun. I'm coaching again with my best-frisbee-friend Jessica. I'm so excited to play again.

Other than that classes are going well. I'm half way through my two first-block classes, so that makes me very happy! My first test is this week with another geology field trip on Friday.

Today for Mother's Day our ward got all the women a rose and some Hershey's kisses. I'm very grateful to my mom and all she does for my family. She has such a fun personality and she's taught me the importance of being a good wife and mother. If I can be like her when I'm a mom, I will be a successful parent!

Photo description in order of appearance: 1 four on four lay out 2-8 Ogden tournament 9-11 geology field trip 12-16 showcase game *Jessica is my assistant who caught the disc on turf like a boss!

Seattle for Spring Break

After my Las Vegas excursion I met the rest of the Roses to spend some time with family in Puyallup and Silverdale. Justin picked me up from the airport and we stayed at Jon and Laura's house that night. They just had a baby girl, Clara Elisabeth Rose, so I got to see her the next morning. She is so precious! We headed to Justin's parents' house that afternoon to do some yard work. Jon Sr. put in a few new trees so we got to help with that and help put up wire to keep the deer away from his garden. He should just hire Chase to be his lookout and shoot the animals that come through. I hung out with Judy (mother in-law) while the men did other work on the roof.

The following day we went to Seattle to play. I got to use my birthday money and gift cards to get some new clothes. We went out to lunch with James and Joe (brothers in-law) at the Cheesecake Factory. I gave a homeless man my leftover sandwich. =] We walked through Pike Place and then headed back to Silverdale. I got some dang cute clothes so it was a fun trip for me! That night we watched the new James Bond movie, Sky Fall.

We headed back to Jon and Laura's house the next day to play some games and eat delicious food. The Beals aren't big into games (except for Rage and the occasional Guesstures) which I find very sad, so it's fun to have my other family to play games with. We went to bed early that night to prepare for the long ride home.

Saturday we drove all day and got back to Rexburg in just 11 hours. Justin and I saw The Host that night. I didn't think it was GREAT, but others really liked it so, whatever. That was pretty much our spring break. I've had two classes today so far. I'm taking a swimming class at 7:45 every Monday and Wednesday, and I just got out of Environmental Geology which is every day for two hours. Now it's time to head to Oceanography...I'm taking 18 credits this semester. Class plus ultimate, plus two jobs....it's going to be a crazy semester!

Las Vegas Excursion

A group of 18 students with two supervisors left for Las Vegas on Sunday morning. The purpose of this trip was to meet our mentor teachers for student teaching and become familiar with the school and housing options. We surprisingly left on Sunday which I thought was different considering we are BYU Idaho, but whatever. I was scheduled to meet my group at the Hart building at 10:10, so that meant I had time to go to ward council and relief society before we left for the airport. I had to get a ride to and from church because Justin was in Seattle. He and James (brother) left on Saturday morning at 5:30 to drive the 13 hours to Puyallup to visit Jon and Laura and the new baby Clara. So anyway, I met my group and we headed to Idaho Falls to catch our flight with Allegiant. This company is the one Justin has had two interviews with thus far, so it would be really exciting if he got this job. Anyway we flew to Las Vegas and the first thing we did was go to church. From there we ate dinner, had orientation at the hotel for our itineraries, and then we drove to the Las Vegas temple. It is east of town by one of the high schools and right under the mountain. That temple is seriously beautiful. I fell in love with it as we walked around it. The houses there are expensive, but Brother Cloward (supervisor) said that just down the hill you can get a nice house for $110,000. WHAT??? Exciting.

Monday morning we drove to our schools with the other student teachers. Only three of us headed to Schofield MS. Our driver was seriously an idiot. It's a miracle we didn't die. He was seriously so bad I could not handle it. He would change lanes without checking his blind spot every time. He cut off so many people and was completely oblivious. One time another driver honked at him and he had the audacity to complain, "why is he honking at me?" Umm, gee, I dunno... Maybe because you can't drive? Idiots.

I love the school I'm student teaching at. They split the grades up into separate halls. Sixth grade has its "sixth grade hall" where they have all their science, math, English, etc. classes. The seventh and either grade have the same thing so I love it because it prevents a lot of bullying between, say, 8th and 6th grade. I feel our school would've benefitted from something like that...oh wait, Chase and his cohorts were the biggest bullies in the 8th grade, and Keaton and his minions were their main targets...I will never forget the day they stuffed Edgar Alzate into the "lost and found" tub and threw him in the back of a pick up truck. Because of that the school now has a supervised "lunch line" that still exists today. You guys should be proud.

Anyway, I met my mentor teacher and, let me just be candid and say, I am not impressed. Yeah she's been teaching for 15 years, but she hasn't been doing it well. The whole day for every period students wasted the first fifteen minutes doing mindless vocabulary out of their glossaries. After that she explained a project for ten minutes, and then left them for the rest of the class time to complete their "packets" which was basically busy work while she sat at her desk and looked up things on google. When the class got out of hand, she would tell students to "shut it" and other belittling things that I was thinking, "If that were me, I'd be crying right now, and I'm a grown woman." Then again, I am notoriously known for allowing 12 year olds to terrorize me and an entire neighborhood of children....okay lesbehonest, I was the only one being terrorized, but still. Let's just say it will be an interesting student teaching experience. I plan on learning a lot about how to communicate effectively with someone I completely disagree with. Bring on the crucial conversations. With that said I was able to get tons of questions answered and I told her to give me candid feedback when I student teach because I'm learning to have tougher skin and I'm here to get better, so I think it really won't be too bad.

At 2:11 school gets out which I LOVE. If Justin and I were to ever live down there, the elementary school and high school are just a block away from the middle school, so I really like that. It's also by an area known as Henderson which has a good reputation. We picked up the student teachers at the elementary school and headed back to the hotel. We missed lunch because....I don't really know how, but we missed it, so I was ravenous. Luckily I had left over Chipotle, so I happily entered my room and ate it while watching some Netflix on my ipad. One of the student teachers called me and said they were going to Taco Bell so I thought I'd join to be social. When I met the group one of the girls, Lauren (brat) was like, "What's that?" all snotty which surprised me so I just said left over Chipotle and she replied, "don't you know we're going to Taco Bell?" Umm, yes I realize I was invited to go to Taco Bell with you who cares what I'm eating can I just eat my lunch in peace please? Freak! Stupid girl. Throughout the whole trip she gave me her attitude and I just wanted to say, "are we in high school or what?" I can't really explain it through a blog entry, and really only a female would understand, but I felt targeted the whole trip. Whatever. I'm married. So HA!

Monday night we attended a special FHE where we looked at the BYUI housing option and talked to the current student teachers. The BYUI housing is $850 per month. Holy! The plus side is I could bike to work if I wanted. The down side is they don't allow bikes (what?). Another plus is everything is included (Internet, cable, electrics, gas, furniture, etc.) and it comes with a washer and dryer...yeah for no more coins! But...I don't now. I'll won't think about that now...I'll think about it tomorrow (my mom has been quoting Scarlett O'Hara so why don't I?). At FHE we got to ask a bunch of questions which was nice and we got Krispy Kreme doughnuts after. That was my first experience with their doughnuts and I was impressed. That night some of the other married people and myself researched some other housing options by the school to look at the next day.

Tuesday morning we got up early to go to the district office to do our finger printing and get hooked up with the school district's system. This is awesome because they have a particular lesson plan writing tool, and as soon as I know what exactly I'll be teaching I can use that lesson plan template and create my lesson plans for student teaching the semester BEFORE I student teach in my methods class...heck yes! Of course they'll need tweaking, but that's a huge amount of work taken care of. That didn't take long, but it did take us until the end to realize we had left one of the girls at the hotel! The thing is it wasn't her fault. She asked this Brittney girl to make sure they waited for her....well she she didn't do her job because she got left behind and when we got back she was FURIOUS. She wouldn't speak a word to us the rest of the day. She's from Albania, so it was kind of funny to listen to her be really mad just because of her accent....ok that's terrible...oh well, it was still interesting.

After that we went apartment shopping. We didn't like the first place we looked at, but the next place I fell in love with. It's $600 a month and it has a washer and dryer inside, too. It has tennis courts and two pools...and it's three blocks from my school. I think it's a definite option. We didn't have time to look at much else which was too bad, but it is a start. I'm going to get into contact with some bishops in the area and get a feel for what else may be available.

We at at Jason's Deli for lunch which was so good! They paid for our lunch so that was nice. We headed to institute after that and played some ping pong and pool before we headed to the airport. We got through security super quickly and headed to Salt Lake City. I had a great time, especially with the supervisors. I played them both in ping pong and overall I enjoyed hanging out with them the most. We have really tremendous faculty at BYU Idaho. We flew into gate C7 at 7:15 and I boarded my flight to Seattle at 7:35 at gate C6... That could not have been more perfect. I wrote this blog entry on the plane to Seattle using their wifi...can you believe that? I can watch Netflix from 35,000 feet in the air! Seattle here I come!

Finals lame sauce

This week was so chill for Justin and Me. He had harder finals than me, but they were still not bad at all. I had the easiest work week and school week in existence putting in 40 hours and finishing all finals without a sweat. Although I may have sweat just a little Saturday as I did a last minute final that was due at 9 just a few hours before it closed...pressure! But, all the easiness allowed for some great quality time with Justin and other family. He and I were able to go to the temple together which we always love. We also went to Trisha's piano recital and listened to her students play. Hailey, Shae, and Cooper did so well! Hailey is just as good if not better than the other teenage girls.

We've had crazy Rexburg weather all week. It has been so windy and cold! I'm hoping summer comes soon because, let's get real, spring does NOT exist in Idaho.

Today I went to ward council, taught relief society, and then caught my carpool group to Idaho Falls for our Las Vegas excursion. There are 18 of us total, and all of us are meeting our mentor teachers, supervisors, and getting all the district paper work done now before student teaching. We're also looking at housing options. Today was a lot of travel, but we went to Chipotle for dinner and that was my first time and I loved it! We visited the Las Vegas temple and I'm in love. Why didn't I elope there??? Oh yeah, because I didn't know anything about what I wanted for a wedding when I got married. Now I wish I would have. Hello! Ha oh well. Who am I kidding? I had the best wedding and reception the Lost River Valley has ever seen. Booya! Anyway...

It's been a long day today and the next few days will be busy with Vegas thing and then a trip to Seattle. On the plane I sucked on life savers the whole time, took a decongestant, and sprayed nasal spray up my nose to try to prevent the horrid ear pain I experience when I fly. It wasn't too bad today, so I'm hoping my luck will continue for the next few days.

One cool thing before I end; in relief society today a girl came who hasn't been for a while for her "own personal reasons" and by the end of the lesson she declared she wanted to set the standard and get baptized and she said she was going to meet with the missionaries as soon as possible and she said she would also like to serve a mission. It was pretty crazy! You go girl! It was so awesome to see the way the spirit of the lesson about trials and the way they bring us closer to god and closer to where he wants us to be was touching her and how she felt the influence of the spirit grow stronger as the lesson progressed. You can just feel that it is right! I love the gospel of Christ and I'm so happy for the joy it brings to my life and to others. It's so exciting to see someone take a monumental step for themselves and for so many to come through her posterity. I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true church on the earth! Happy Sunday everyone. :)

Twin Falls and General Conference

Last weekend we went to our annual Twin Falls temple trip with my family. Justin and I drove Hailey down with us since Trisha and Travis couldn't make it. We didn't have our whole family this time, but it was very enjoyable!

We met Dad at the hotel and waited for Hart to roll it to get something to eat. We decided to grab something small to just hold us over until after we did some temple work. Lance did baptisms with some of the nieces and nephews and Dad, Hart, Jory, Justin, and I did a session. Thanks to Trisha's genealogy work we were able to do some family names, so that was cool! Our session was absolutely packed which was a neat feeling.

After we were done we decided we wanted some breakfast for dinner so we hit IHOP. I love breakfast for dinner! We really liked having some time with Dad and Hart and Jory. They were a lot of fun to visit with.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then watched the cousins play in the pool. Hart played with them and it was fun watching him throw the kids around in the water. After checking out we made our way to Shoshone Falls which is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Twin. The water was really low this year so they weren't booming like they were a few years ago, but I was happy that Justin could see them. We had lunch together at Chick fil A and a cow came through to greet us. Braden got his "autograph." =]

Autograph: 'moo'

Bulletin board at the hotel

Shoshone Falls

Justin and I headed back to Rexburg and got back in time to donate plasma. While Justin was at Priesthood session I decided to run the indoor track. I started out not knowing how much I wanted to do, and then ended up running three miles. When I got done I thought I was going to be sick! I felt terrible. Note to self--do not gorge yourself in Chick fil A and then run three miles. Ever. Again. I felt terrible the rest of the night.

Because of Twin Falls we missed all of Saturday's conference, but today we were able to catch both sessions. I loved Elder Clayton's talk on marriage and Elder Anderson's on missionary work. I liked Elder Anderson's because he emphasized ways for all members to be missionaries. The missionary age change has been huge, but that doesn't mean missionary work is just for full-time missionaries. I love how he said we can paint missionary work on our hearts when we don't have the missionary tag on our shirt. I also enjoyed the emphasis I felt on obedience from both President Monson and Elder Perry. "Obedience to law is liberty," is a true principle. I've already seen a meme with that phrase created on facebook. I think Elder Holland takes the cake every year. You can't help it when he starts wagging his finger at you!

Tonight Justin and I are having friends over for games. They've been good friends with us since we got married, and they're moving to Tennessee so we'll be sad to have them gone.

This week is finals week but it should be pretty chill for me. Justin has a pretty easy week as well. I get to go to Las Vegas again next week to see the school I student teach at including my mentor teacher and other administrators. I'll head straight to Seattle after that trip, so after this week Justin and I get to have some fun with family in Washington. Our sister in-law Laura just had a baby girl, Clara Elisabeth Rose, so we are excited to see the new baby.

Other than that we've been loving the spring weather. Justin and I have been getting up early to exercise  and playing ultimate at night. We'll try to keep these good habits going! That's all our news for now.

We turned 21!

My twin brother and I had our 21st birthday this week. He's on his mission now so we didn't celebrate together. Now that we're growing up we probably won't be celebrating together very often. Nevertheless, my sweet husband planned a great day with me. He originally planned surprise birthday party for me, but when I accidentally found out about it we made other plans.

My day started out with breakfast in bed, and for lunch we went to Costa Vida. Thanks to one of their text-deals, we got deep dish nachos and two drinks for $6. The nachos are so big you can split it with one person and be happy.

After that we zipped to Idaho Falls. My phone has had drama for a very long time, so we took it in to get fixed, and it was ready for pick up. Turns out the Best Buy Geeks say the Thunderbolt has had tons of issues, so I'm not alone in my frustration. When they turned on my phone, they realized it wasn't fixed, so they sent it back for repair. I told them they could just give me a new phone, I mean c'mon, it was my birthday! Ha, didn't work.

My Grandma Beal is on the verge of death. It's sad but true. I decided I wanted to see her on my birthday so Justin and I made a stop at Turtle and Crane and saw her. I was proud of her; she remembered Justin's name and his major and where he was from after only telling her once. She always thinks I'm Mitzi because she just can't comprehend that 'little Kelsey' is all grown up and married now! Me niether Grandma!

When we got home we skyped Justin's mom, Judy, and I finished some homework. Then we went out to sushi! I love sushi. I used to go at least once a semester, but I haven't been since my birthday last year, so it was a great treat! Trisha, James & his girlfriend (Justin's brother), and Scott and Christina (our married friends), joined us for the occasion. This was Justin's first time having sushi and he quite liked it. Poor Trisha being pregnant meant she couldn't have raw fish, but she had a 'cooked sushi roll' and quite liked it. I had a sampler plate which has all sorts of different kinds of sushi on it which is the best! Mmm I love it. From there we bought my favorite ice cream at Broulims (Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip!) and had Trisha at our house to eat some. 

Overall it was a fantastic day. I got to spend all day with Justin. The weather was sour but everything else was wonderful! Chase and Rachel brought me strawberry cheesecake the night before which I'm sad to say is now gone! It was so good! My mom, Jon & Judy, and Jon & Laura sent me gifts through the mail, and my husband got me (drumroll) an ipad! I was shocked. He got it for a great deal off Ebay and now he can use my laptop for his accounting classes since his laptop is broken. You'll have to click on the pictures to see the whole thing...we're trying to figure out doing blog posts off the ipad. 

That weekend we had friends over to play the 'Tripole" game Mitzi showed me a few months ago. Justin had a second interview with the company we are excited about in Las Vegas. My parents surprised us this week and took Justin and I along with Chase and Rachel out to lunch.

I did my RAD simulation this week. This is where we dress up in protective gear, and we have several "aggressors" attack us in various ways and we have to use our techniques to get away. They record it so you can watch after and see it all in real time. I did the simulation at Madison high school in the wrestling room. I had some sweet combinations, and my instructor said she's going to submit my video to the RAD Hall of Fame. Heck yes! It really was awesome. I want to do it again.


Justin has been busy coaching the club men's team. I've been stressed trying to get girls to commit. I think it will be better when the actual season starts in the spring. For now we've been in love with this beautiful 57 degree weather!

We are excited to have Easter dinner with Chase and Rachel tomorrow. I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I know that He lives, and that through His atonement, I can be forgiven of my sins and live again with Him. I'm grateful for a modern-day prophet whom Christ communicates with directly to lead His children during these troubled times. I'm so grateful for the holy temples that dot this good earth. The work we do there makes it possible for me to have an eternal family and to provide others the same blessing. Christ is my redeemer, and the Savior of the world. I know He lives!

Teaching, Rolls, and Ultimate

Pretty slow week last week. I don't mind. I have a very easy schedule this semester which I love! I have tons of online classes which leave my schedule nice and open for work so I'm also able to bring in the big bucks!

My dear friend Lauren came up this weekend to visit. She is leaving for Madrid, Spain for her mission on May 1st! It worked out wonderfully because Justin went down to Provo to play in another ultimate frisbee tournament, so I could play with her without neglecting my hubby. T-Rexburg did well in Provo. They played BYU, ISU, BSU, and a few Montana teams. Fun fun!

We ordered jerseys...What can we say? We love it!

Saturday Lauren and I hung out all afternoon going on bike rides, walks, and doing all we could to enjoy the beautiful weather. That night we had a fire out to Beaver Dick Park and roasted star bursts and marshmallows. One kid showed up and ended up complaining, "I hate married people!" Ha....haters gonna hate!

I made rolls on Saturday. I wanted to try Mitzi's rolls that she brought to the girl outing last week, and Justin was gone so I needed a distraction. I accidentally used double the butter...and it was a glorious mistake. These rolls were amazing! And they make a million so Justin and I have been enjoying them all week.

I also had a quarterly Relief Society training Saturday morning that was a really great experience. It's funny that I assume that because everyone's a member of the church they have the same (or similar) life I do. But we really have a plethora of people will different trials and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve and be a part of meeting people's needs.

All last week I taught at the middle school and I wrote all the lesson plans. On each evaluation our observers gave us tons of positive feedback so I feel very encouraged! I love teaching. I took pictures of what my students worked on this week. We did a 'renewable resource' activity that my teacher said she is going to tell her Ph.D. math friend about--score! I had a bowl of 30 star bursts with a class of 25 students. I told them they could take one, or none, or more than one, but that they should consider that after each round I would double the amount of starbursts left.
At first the kids went crazy and almost depleted the 'renewable resource' but after a few rounds they earned up to like 80 starbursts. One kid was so fun about it. There was always the boy who would take candy no matter what, and this other boy kept saying to him, "Stop taking the candy! It's for the greater good!" It was so cute. My teacher in the back was dying laughing. Granted they understand what a renewable resource is!

This group created a hydro-and-geothermal method to use a renewable resource in  Rexburg. The geothermal energy will melt the snow and they'll use the water for energy by building a dam. I'm so proud!

These guys decided solar energy in Rexburg will power everyone's TVs. 

Individually students created an innovation to replace a non-renewable resource with a renewable resource.

This airplane will have solar panels on it's wings! These kids are so smart.

These posters were around the room. Each has a resource on it (Nuclear energy, natural gas, fossil fuel, coal, diamond) and they had to answer specific questions about each resource.

I provided all the paper, pictures, and posters for them to do their projects and stations. I really loved teaching natural resources because it is easy to use earth science stuff to teach it. We had a lot of fun, and I'm excited to student teach in a year from now.

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend my sneaky sisters and I planned a surprise baby shower for Trisha. My sisters in-law, sisters, and mother gathered for (what I presume will become) our annual girl gathering. We had too much fun!

We all arrived Friday and stayed up late watching The Help, sewing hearts, and chat-chat-chatting! It was so fun to listen to everyone and to add my two-cents every once and a while.

That night when we all went to bed everyone pulled party gifts out of their cars and assembled the party. I did my duty keeping Trisha distracted in bed while everyone else got things ready.

Saturday morning I had some online homework left to do, but I was greeted after my assignment by crepes prepared by Jory! Nutella strawberry whip cream toasted almond crepe please? Delicious! Not to mention the ham & cheese crepes...yum!

After the ladies got ready we proceeded to open gifts. My mom, Mitzi, Rachel, and I pitched in and bought Trisha a date night complete with a Red Robin gift card and a gift card to Edward's Theater. She also got a voucher for free baby sitting by me and some make up. Rachel got her a baby seat cover that didn't get through the mail in time (blarg!) and Trisha got a ton of great baby clothes and diapers from everyone else. I spent some time that morning curling some of the sisters' hair with my wand curling iron. Fun fun!

We had Anna's fantastic soup for lunch and ate all afternoon. The highlight of the day was going to Family Dollar where I scored a great lamp and Mitzi and Rachel scored cute maxi skirts. Who knew??

We ate Christy's amazing sweet chile enchiladas that night and sewed some more. I think we sewed a total of over 30 hearts. These hearts were Jory's idea and they will all go to kids in hospitals. We watched Pitch Perfect and Rachel and I did our nails French tip! Most of the party crashed after that but Mitzi, Jory, and I watched Dan in Real Life. After cleaning up the house a little Mitzi and I were motivated to do one more movie, so we watched 27 Dresses. She hadn't seen it the whole way through before and due to our fatigue it made everything that much better! Thanks do daylight-savings-time, that put us to bed at 3 AM.

Sunday we had a tremendous church service! We had great talks in sacrament meeting about the atonement. Sunday school was also good, but Relief Society my mom taught the lesson and having all my sisters around made it so special! I cried the whole meeting.

After devouring my mom's Sunday dinner (not to be forgotten, thanks to Mitzi's tantrum!) we all took off. Trisha, Rachel, and I all drove together. That 90 minute drive is so pleasant when we are talking the whole time! I loved the weekend so much, but I was missing my husband so bad! Newlyweds...lol. Kuddos to Christy for putting the whole thing together, and Trisha for giving us a great reason to get together. Hooray for my mom for having 9 kids, two of which are my sisters giving me 5 amazing sisters-in-law. LOVE!