The Great Road Trip: Atlanta

After we went tubing in Helen, we drove down to Atlanta to watch the Braves play the San Francisco Giants.

The Great Road Trip: Helen, Georgia

After arriving in Suwanee way past midnight, hugging and laughing and being silly, we crashed on every bed, couch, and air mattress available.

Our first adventure back home in Georgia was driving up to Helen and going tubing. Helen is a town that the locals have tried to make into a Swiss tourist attraction--a redneck version of Midway, Utah. Just skirting the edge of town is a small portion of the Chattahoochee River where they have tubing rides set up.

We piled Curtis/FaFa/Dad, Uncle Cedric, Uncle Craig, Aunt Jaclyn, Cousin Jarom, Cousin Cristen, and the two Haycocks into "Big Mama" and drove an hour Northeast to Helen. The complete trip is commonly referred to as "To Hel-en back".

The day was rather cool and overcast and the water was pretty cold. But keeping warm wasn't a problem since at least one of the eight family members was trying to chase after your tube and toss a large rock in or throw an even larger rock in your vicinity to splash cold river water on you or simply tip you out. I was the victim of a secret combination collaberated by Josh and FaFa. They ambushed me and threw me out of my tube, disrupting my peaceful float down "the Hooch". Soaking wet and freezing--I was mad. FaFa said that I got what I deserved but I don't seem to remember why....

After we all met up again, we joined Josh on his traditional visit to Granny's Famous Funnel Cakes. They're often the best part about visiting Helen.


You could say "Cool and the Gang."









Josh's cute face.


















Getting ready to head down the river.







Dad posing with "the Granny."




















Can't go wrong with a paper plate overshadowed by a large funnel cake of greasy goodness piled with syrupy strawberries and half a quart of whipped cream mountained on top.

The Great Road Trip: St. Louis

From Kearney, Nebraska at 2am to Suwanee, Georgia at 12am, Saint Louis was our mid-way stop.

The Great Road Trip

On Monday, July 20th, we embarked on the beginning leg of our Great Summer Road Trip--Provo to Salt Lake City. Cousin Jarom, Uncle Craig, Husband Josh, Sister Darcy, and Sister's Boyfriend Tim caravaned to Salt Lake to help Craig and Jaclyn unload into their new apartment. Once each room of their apartment was sufficiently stuffed with boxes and furniture we headed over to the local grocery store, grabbed food for lunch and snacks, and left port of call--beginning our 2,000 mile road trip across the country.

"The first transport is away. Hooray!" (Star Wars quote, used 7,921 times during the trip.)


We spent all of Monday driving I-80 through Wyoming to Kearney, Nebraska. Our drive was interrupted every 2-3 hours with a driver rotation at gas stations. And at each gas station a handful of us would hop out of the Suburban ("Big Mama") and the Geo ("Tiny Tim") and throw the football back and forth across the lot.

We stopped in the middle of the night at Kearney, Nebraska to see Roger Simpson. Roger graciously met us at the nearest gas station and led us to their new apartment where we brushed our teeth, napped on the couch, and chatted with the ever charming host. An hour later we moved on to the next official stop: Saint Louis.

Funniest part of the leg: All day Craig had been quoting the scary bad dwarf in Chronicles of Narnia--the part where the dwarf is talking to Edmund: "Do you want some num-nums?!" Craig was very good at using the same creepy voice. As we were turning into the gas station in Kearney the Suburban made this crazy grinding noise. The four of us awake listened intently, trying to figure out what was wrong with the car. "What was that noise?..." Craig woke up from the back of the car and creepily said, "It was the sound of my desire for the num-nums!" We all laughed and laughed and laughed.....wish I had the audio.

Change

I like change. Not the type that makes life-altering adjustments. I like the kind you find on the ground. The kind that transforms a black asphalt parking lot of ugliness to an enchanted treasure cove of delight and riches.

I began picking up change after Josh and I got married and the obsession grew quickly.
In an interview with BYU sports broadcaster Jarom Jordan, I explained that I began my career as a "changemonger" because it symbolized appreciating the little things. I appreciated money. Not in a selfish way--in a way that expressed that we all need to treasure, value, and save. My hope was that I'd be able to find enough change to pay off our future debts. With all the people who disregard change because they don't feel it has value, I wanted to stand up and care.

Each penny I find is a wonderful, unexpected shiny gem of excitement. It makes me really happy--like finding wrapped gifts lying all over the parking lot.

Finding change really, truly helps me enjoy each day I live. They're tangible pearls of good fortune.

On our road trip to Georgia this July I found a lot of change. Almost enough to do a load of wash at the laundromat. Here are a few places I found change:

numerous gas stations: $o.18












St. Louis arch: $0.01















Wrigley Field: $0.08


















the subway in Chicago: $0.12













the parking lot of the Winter Quarters Visitor's Center: $0.01






a pile of swept trash at Wal-Mart: $0.25

Here fishy fishy fishy.....

Last Thursday Josh and I finally went fishing. I say finally because I've had a fly fishing pole in my closet since the Christmas we got engaged--3 years ago. I've used it to occasionally to practice in the backyard, the driveway, and the local park. But no matter how many times I was taught where to position the pole, where to keep my hands and fingers, and how to cast the line--it didn't mean much at all until we got in the water.

Joshua's grandpa very generously paid for a hilarious guide and, by chance, a beautiful day along the Provo River in the canyon. With my neck-high waders, oversized boots, and very hot pink shirt I was ready to try my hand at fly fishing.

Joe, our guide, picked out the flies he thought the fish would be eating. Once we caught a fish, he pumped its stomach with this turkey baster-thing. Because the fish don't always swallow the bugs right away we were able to see exactly which bugs they were eating. Joe would change out our flies accordingly. Please don't ask what we fished with. Josh just told me what they were called and I didn't understand a word he said.

Joe had us fishing about 30 feet from each other. The poor guy would sprint wade to Josh when he caught a fish and then sprint wade back to me when I caught my flies on a rock. This was a repeated pattern for a good portion of the day.

I caught the first fish, well, minnow. I was actually rather proud of myself.


Taking the traditional picture.

Joe would set us up in the "perfect" spot (Joe really does know each perfect spot along the entire river) and point out the exact "lane" we needed to fish in. "You see that still area of water, they're waitin' for you right there..." I would always thank Joe for his help and then look back at the rushing water in front of me, wondering where on earth he had found still water in the middle of the river. With each cast I was just happy to have gotten it in the water and not in my hair or a tree.

Joe took us up and down and across the river. We found brown trout, rainbow trout, little snakes, minks, a horse, and a very dead sheep ("Shh...She's sleeping!"--Joe)

Joshua and I had a rather successful day. Together we caught about 20 fish. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

A Broken Vow

On the day that Josh and I were married, I silently snuck my own vow into the ceremony: Never Share The Same Toothbrush.

Okay, no more suspense about this post. Here's what happened....

When we left for our two week vacation we took our "manual" toothbrushes and decided to leave the electric toothbrush (with its separate heads) at home. Once we got back on Friday, I couldn't remember which head was mine. We had recently bought new heads and I couldn't remember if mine was my favorite color green on the right side (which has habitually been "my" side) or if it was my other favorite color blue on the left side. I decided that Josh had accidently mixed up the toothbrushes and used the blue head from the wrong side.

Josh left the house early the next morning before I'd woken up. As I went to brush my teeth for the day I found that he had not brushed his. The toothbrush head had not been changed. Strange...for a man who wants to be a dentist. But I concluded that he was probably too tired to switch the heads and just used his Crayola crayon toothbrush that Santa had included in his Christmas stocking.

As we got ready for bed that night I asked him why he hadn't used the electric toothbrush that morning. "No, I did", he said. "Oh, then you switched the heads for me afterwards?" "No", he said again. "But...Isn't that blue head mine?!" "Nope", he grinned.

"OH SICK!!!!!!"

the end.

Harry Potter at 12:09am

Yesterday we joined Ashley for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was the first time I'd been to see Harry Potter at midnight and, more importantly or as a result of, it was the first time I'd been in "the club." I'm a convert to "the club". People of "the club" have read all the books, know exactly what's going to happen (and sometimes complain when it doesn't), and simply go to watch because they love Harry. or Ron. or Hermione. maybe even Dudley.

Josh took me to see the first Harry Potter when we were in high school. We thought it was a very good kids movie. But then he read the books and converted instantly. I wasn't converted until I married Josh. A month after we got married the seventh and final Harry Potter book came out. We went to the midnight release at the BYU bookstore. We waited in line for hours, got sorted by the sorting hat (Josh into Grifindoor, of course, and I into Slytherin--the hat was running low on magic, I think), and bolted with everyone else to grab the book and plop down on the nearest piece of anything to indulge ourselves for the next 24 hours. Actually, I'd say that a good 30 hours of the next two days were spent reading the seventh book out loud. Reading the book to Josh was my way of showing that I loved him and accepted his fanaticism. But I had no qualms about reading the end of the book and teasing him with bits of information. It was maddening to him but very enjoyable for me.

All that to say, this was an important stepping stone in our relationship together with Harry Potter. We joined the snaking line outside of the Riverwoods movie theater, enjoying our doughnuts and playing fun games. Ashley--Josh's sister and convert catalyst, Josh, and I played UNO but with a Haycock sibling twist. Whenever someone called out UNO on someone else, they had to have a wizard duel by casting spells at each other. I got smoked. Once, Josh and Ashley threw spells at each other for a good five minutes. I only knew three spells. I think there were some made up spells, though, like "Bladdercus Explodicus" and Josh's infamous "Abada Cadabra".
Once 11:30pm hit everyone started standing up, getting anxious to rush the theater for the best seat. The three of us continued to kill time by challenging each other in the bubblewrap popping game and bowling on Josh's iTouch.
We were able to find great seats in our small theater. And our group of Harry Potter fans were wonderful. The movie was fabulous and beautiful and funny and (shh..) sad. But we had a great time sharing it within our Haycock club!

Josh talks in his sleep quite often...

Last night I was having a hard time falling asleep. I was quite awake when Josh rolled over, pointed his finger down and said, "See, I do have my feet under the covers." I was stumped because it had never really been a question before. "Did I ask you if your feet were under the covers?" He said yes. So, I figured, while we're at it, let's see what else we can get out of sleepy Josh.
"Josh, did you know that I'm pregnant?" (This is not true.)

"Yes."

Ha!

"Well, what do you want to name the baby?"

"Awesome."

Only if they turn out to be as cool as you, Josh.

Our Fourth of July

In my opinion, this has been the best 4th of July EVER! I think it was as American as you can get.

The night before, the Cousins had a s'mores roast in Whitney and Stetson's new backyard of their very own new house. We had the proud homeowners, me and Josh, Darcy and Tim, and Tim's sister Stephanie. It was a really fun night.

Saturday morning Josh and I went over to the fields behind Provo High School to watch the hot air balloons. We were too late to see them take off and too early to watch them land but it was neat to see them float all over the city. Later we met Whitney on University Avenue and 3rd North for the grand Provo Freedom Days Parade. We swung by the fabulous Provo Bakery and picked up the best glazed doughnuts I've ever had. Between the three of us (no one else would get out of bed for the parade) we indulged in quite a bit of sugar--which made up for the fact that no one would throw candy at us. The parade was as spectacular as ever--marching bands, pipe bands, good lookin' floats, college rivalry, and giant floating characters.

After the parade we met up with all the sleepyheads at the Robinson's place for a barbecue. We were lucky to have Tim there with his outstanding grill to fix up some fancy hamburgers, hotdogs, and Jamaican jerk chicken wings. This time we had a full count with Darcy and Tim, Jarom and Ashley, Whitney and Stetson, and the entertaining Lindsey Jordan. We all laughed, danced, listened to music, and told stories in the waning strip of shade in the backyard. Someone had the great idea of going to the pool at Lindsey's apartment complex so we cleaned up and took off.

Darcy and Tim couldn't join us at the Raintree complex but we had a blast. The seven of us had pool jumping contests . I, personally, thought that the High School Musical jump that Ashley and I did was the best. But Josh's bellyflop comes in a close second.
Once our toes were wrinkly, our faces were freckly, and our shoulders were sunburned we joined Darcy at Jarom's house to watch the greatest summer movie of all time: THE SANDLOT. It was especially fun to watch since it was filmed in Utah. I think it's the second most quoted movie in the Cousin crew, just behind That Thing You Do.

After the movie we split. Some people went to fight for a space outside the BYU stadium where SheDaisy and the Jonas Brothers were putting on a concert. Darcy, Josh, and I climbed up on the roof of the neighboring Apollo apartment complex to play games and watch the fireworks. We joined our friends from the ward, Cliff and Nicole Bergmann and Jill and Grant Ensign. The fireworks were only a couple of miles away and, from our view, they were right at eye level. It was beautiful! It would have been beautiful and relaxing had there not been rather luminous clouds and lightning rolling towards us. But it was a very colorful and exciting show.

And that was how we ended our perfect Fourth of July.