Kellee/Rachel Reunion

My best friend Kellee flew out to see me last week! We first became roommates over 5 years ago (whaaaaat?!). This trip included lots and lots of shopping, food and watching The Office.  Luke was out of town for the week, so it was just us girls.

Of course, a trip of seeing each other wouldn't be complete without at photo shoot! We had the best lighting along the beautiful creek that Luke and I run along. Enjoy the pics!

And a few shots of the amazing scenery

Pumpkin Season

I. Love. Fall.  Growing up, there were probably a dozen pumpkin patches to choose from each fall season.  Here in Alabama, I was just so grateful there was one.  Luke and I went to a farm in Harpersville, AL.  It had your typical corn maze, pumpkin patch, hay bale ride, and fall treats.  But there was something there you would not expect at a pumpkin patch: A cival war reinactment.  That was definitely a first for me.

This trip to a pumpkin patch was special.  Luke and I met exactly four years before on that day at a ward activity to a pumpkin patch.  It was special that four years later, we were married, thousands of miles from where we met, enjoying picking a pumpkin.

When we took our pumpkins home, we also had a lot of fun decorating and carving them!

We attended our church's trunk-or-treat event.  We decided to participate with the trunking and decorated our trunk.  We were very please by the kinds of things we could purchase at the Dollar Store (always a winner) and had fun making a cob web with spiders in our trunk with other spooky things including a spooky light and music from our phones.  All that mattered to us was that our Sumbeams (3-4 year-old) students loved looking at our trunk, and were definite fans of the Minion pumpkin.  They were like 100% of why Luke carved a Minion.

Luke and I went dressed as Peter Pan and his shadow.  Fun fact: I was all dressed up as Tinker Bell (Yes, we recycled our costumes from the Disneyland race) and 5 minutes before we left, decided to make a costume change. But it was a hit!

Georgia!

A few weeks ago, Luke and I headed out to the Atlanta suburb of Grayson, where Luke grew up.  A family friend was having a wedding reception, so we headed out and met Luke's mom and step-dad who came down from Virginia. We had a great weekend together.

I picked up Luke from the Atlanta airport.  He was gone on a business trip, and so it worked out that he was flying through ATL anyways. Grayson is a beautiful town. I had been to the house that Luke's family lived in in high school, but I had never seen the home he lived in until age 14 that was a couple of towns over.   We went to see the house, and I must say that it was one of the literally 3 times that I have seen Luke be sentimental (I am extremely sentimental, so he balances me out).  The home was beautiful.  We also hiked through some woods by his house to find a hidden waterfall he would always play in as a kid with his dad and siblings.  This was not a planned hike, so we did it in Luke's business clothes and my not-for-hiking clothes.  But it was very fun and absolutely beautiful!

   

The next morning, we went for a run at Tribble Mill where Luke would always run with his XC and track team in high school.  Laura came with us on a very rainy run.

That afternoon, Luke and I headed to Stone Mountain.  I have heard story after story from Luke about Stone Mountain.  His family would go often.  But you don't really appriciate it until you are there.  The Atlanta region is pretty flat.  But suddenly, there is this GIANT piece of granite that just sticks out of the ground. We had a lot of fun hiking it.  This time, at least I was prepared to hike. I kept telling Luke that it was going to rain again and that he needed to bring his rain jacket.  Of course, I did not listen.  So as we hiked back down the mountain as it poured and poured, I had a smug grin on my face as Luke cold and soaked, while I was warm and dry :)

Parent Visit to the South!

Last week we had a wonderful time with my parents who flew out to Birmingham to be with us.  They have always made it their goal to visit us in each of our locations, and we are so grateful that we do! My mom flew out a few days before my dad.  It was great to go on walks and of course go shopping with her.

My dad took a red-eye to Birmingham, and from the moment we picked him up from the airport, we were busy showing my parents the south! We headed down to the little town of Sylacauga where Luke works.  It is about an hour south of Birmingham, and far enough away from a city that you really can get the true southern experience.  The town is full of manufacturing plants, and that is what brings Luke out there each day. 

Luke was able to give us a tour of the plant, and he and my dad talked business the whole time.  I’ve gotten to tour a couple of the plants Luke has worked at (some do not allow visitors), and each time I am more and more impressed.  A million different parts and hundreds of hands working in unison (well, that is the goal) to make a product.

While still in Sylacauga, Luke showed us a well know BBQ place for lunch named Faye's Bar-B-Que.  It was about as southern as it gets.  This little old lady owns and runs the place.  She was the sweetest and cutest thing I have ever seen.

We've been lucky that my aunt and uncle also with in Birmingham.  It's been great to live near them and my cousins.  We're especially lucky to have my uncle serving as our bishop. We went to my aunt and uncle’s home where we celebrated my cousin Anna’s 15^th birthday! The entire time we sang the happy birthday song, I was just in disbelief that she is 15!!

On the Saturday of their visit, we took a little day trip to Atlanta! Luke and I hadn’t been since we were engaged (Luke grew up in a suburb of Atlanta and his family has since moved away). My dad had only been to Atlanta a handful of times for business and my mom had never been.  It was a beautiful day to see all of the highlights of such a great city!

We wrapped up with a fun hike through the hills to see the mines of Birmingham, including a tree house!

Kentucky!

For Labor Day Weekend, Luke and I headed north to Kentucky to spend time with Luke's sister, Holly, and her husband and three boys.  Luke's mom, Laura, also joined us for a great weekend! This is my third time to Kentucky, and it was hot, but beautiful as always.   Holly and Eric took us to a neat concert in a cave (who ever thought that was a thing?). It was so fun of course there was amazing BBQ to be eaten there.  Thomas, our oldest nephew, also received the priesthood as he just turned 12.  It was very special to be apart of the special weekend.  Thank you to Holly and Eric for hosting a wonderful weekend!

Elder Zwingli's Homecoming

I recently got back from a great trip to Washington State to see my family. My brother was returning from his LDS mission in Budapest, Hungary.  Due to corporate meetings in Cleveland and just work in general, Luke was not about to come out, but he was so good to let me go and spend time with my family for two whole weeks! For one of the weeks he was on a business trip anyways, so at least he had a change of pace too while I was gone.

Seeing my brother was great! Funny how after being around him for only 2 hours, it was as if he had never left.  There was still some adjusting for him, like any returned missionary.  But the adjustment I never thought he'd have was the economical adjustment.  Hungary is a part of Europe. My family and I use to live in Switzerland, which is a part of Europe.  When we lived in Switzerland, our standard of living was higher than here in the US (when we lived there, it was the highest standard in the world), and must of the rest of Europe is like that.  What I did not know however, was that's only Western Europe.  Eastern Europe is another story.  Alex told stories of families with very humble lives, families packed into tiny apartments and having no luxury items.  They are a people that had hardened when they were under communist rule, and are still shaking it off. Alex loved them and taught them of Christ, but really struggled to leave them.  As such, my family and I were very understanding when he would drop everything to Skype with someone in Hungary.

We did a lot those two weeks! We had my grandparents and my grandma come into town for Alex's homecoming.  Time spent with them included relaxing, Downtown Portland, walks and spending time with my cousins that already live in the area.

After the extended family left, it was so special to have time just the four of us.  Although I missed Luke greatly, it was great to just be us four like how it use to always be. Who knows when that will happen again.  We had a great week of hiking, the Oregon Coast, The Portland Temple and Columbia River Picnics.

I had a great trip to see my family, but needless to say, Luke and I were very happy to be together again.