1st Anniversary

One year ago on January 12th, I married my best friend in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.  I cannot believe that one whole year has already passed.  It has been a year of challenges but also a year of laughter and joy.  Ryan and I have definitely grown closer together as we have tried to work through our differences and have grown more in love with each other in the process. It has been a wonderful year!

This past weekend to celebrate our 1st year anniversary, we decided we wanted to take a quick trip out of town so Ryan took me to Midway, Utah and we stayed in the "Honeymoon Suite" at the Homestead Resort.  I had never been to the Homestead before and I loved it.  LOVED it! There is just something so peaceful and serene about being in the mountains - especially right after a fresh snowfall.  The minute we got there we both knew we wanted to stay longer than we had planned.  We were both sad to leave.  But it was an amazing getaway just the same.  We didn't do too much outdoors because it was nearly 0 degrees outside and we were freezing but our little cottage was quiet and so romantic. We had a jetted tub, a fireplace and a big screen TV. There really was no reason to go out.  :)

Here are a few pictures of our stay:

The deer were just chilling by our cottage and let us walk right up to them. It was awesome!

This is the Crater.  Apparently you can go swimming in there but we didn't have reservations nor did we think to pack our swimsuits.  So, just another reason why we'll have to go back sometime!

This is the cottage we stayed in.  It was SO cute and SO quiet! We were on the top floor and nobody was below us. We seriously could have stayed there for an entire week.

 The one and only picture we got of the two of us together - standing on our deck.

We had such a great time and were both sad to see the weekend come to a close.  It was the best first anniversary I could have asked for.  I can't wait for year #2!  :)

Family Vacation 2012 - Part III

I started with Part I so if you want to start at the beginning of the trip you'll need to begin two posts down and read backwards. :)

We left Illinois on the afternoon of Day eight and drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was about a 7 hour drive so we arrived in the evening and didn't do much else that day.

Day Nine:
We visited the Kanesvile Tabernacle in Council Bluffs. It was a quick trip, not much to see there but a visitor's center and a renovated tabernacle. This was where Brigham Young was officially sustained as the new prophet following the death of Joseph Smith.

From there we headed into Nebraska to Winter Quarters.

We took pictures of the temple, visited the Visitor's Center and wandered through the cemetery. I had a great-great-great grandpa (Thomas Butterfield, founder of Herriman) who traveled west with the saints and he spent about two years in Winter Quarters. So it was really fun for me to learn more about that place and what the saints did there.

One of the things I learned there, that I found most fascinating, was that the trip from Navuoo, IL to Winter Quarters, NE took the first group of saints about five months to make. It was incredibly muddy and one man recorded in his journal "only crossed one mud puddle today. It was six miles long!" The trip that distance should have taken 5 weeks but due to the mud, it took five months. It was later found out that while the saints were forging miles-long mud puddles to get to Winter Quarters, there were actually Indian Wars going on there at the time. So if they had arrived in 5 weeks as they should have, they could have been in terrible danger (right in the middle of these Indian Wars). So by some miracle, the mud slowed them down and allowed them to arrive at Winter Quarters after the Indian Wars ended. This story definitely taught me an important lesson: there are always blessings in trials.

Winter Quarters was the last "stop" on our trip. We left there around 1pm, grabbed some lunch and then started our journey home. We stopped again in Cheyenne, Wyoming over night and then the next day (Day 10) we made the final 7 hour stretch home. In the course of 10 days we spent about half of them in the car but it was still a lot of fun. I love road trips and it was even more fun to caravan with my family. We had between 23 and 29 of us (out of 36) on this trip so it was a big crowd but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything! The kids kept us entertained and even though it was exhausting and at least all of us had a break down at one point or another, we still had plenty of laughs.

Family Vacation 2012 - Part II

Day Five:
We left Independence early this day but before we made it to Illinois we stopped in a little town called Jamesport. It's an Amish town. We drove through their country, admiring their hard work and labor and then stopped in a little store (run by two Amish women) to buy some bread and other goods. They seemed little overwhelmed at first when we all walked in, but after most of us left, they began talking and talking with my sister-in-law and told her all about their livelihood. They've worked in that little store baking bread for 20 years. It used to be a real happening place but now everyone is moving out and there aren't a lot of people left. Some people refuse to leave their farms but they can't make a living that way so they weave baskets and then bring them to the store to sell them, just to earn a little extra money. It was sad and inspiring at the same time. I love learning about different cultures and beliefs so I was glad we made the stop in Jamesport, Missouri and bought several loaves of bread (at $2 a loaf) and learned a little more about the Amish. Oh, and for the record, they do drive horse and buggies but they aren't opposed to drinking Dr. Pepper (we found some in the cup holders in the buggies if you can tell in this picture).

We made it to Nauvoo, Illinois that evening and went to a play put on by some service missionaries for the LDS church. It was fun - though hot and muggy.

Days Six and Seven:

These three days we spent in Nauvoo. What a cute, quaint town! Some of the sites are owned by the LDS Church and others by the Community of Christ church so it was fun to tour all the old homes and buildings and learn a little more about the early saints. They were so industrious! I was absolutely amazed at some of the things they created to help them multi-task (like a baby rocker/butter churner for example)

I think my two favorite experiences from this part of the trip was 1) The Trail of Hope and 2) the Nauvoo Temple. The Trail of Hope is a trail people can walk down Parley's Street. Every few feet there is a plaque with a quote on it. These quotes all come from journals of the early saints and reading them really gave me a greater appreciation for their sacrifices. It was significant that this trail went down Parley's street which is the street the saints took when they left Nauvoo for good. I couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for them to spend four years building a community (everything built with their own hands) just to be asked to leave it all behind and walk away. When I got to the end of Parley's Street (the end of the trail) I turned around and looked back and it was almost as if I could see the saints in their loaded wagons walking towards me, leaving Nauvoo for the last time. That was probably the most spiritual experience I had. It was definitely one I hope to never forget.

This plaque made me pause. This particular day I had not been feeling well (cramps) and was being a complete baby about it. I read this sign and was immediately put to shame. If a woman can deliver a baby in a wagon after having just left her home and nearly all her possessions behind, then I can easily walk this trail with a few cramps. I am such a whimp!

We also did a session in the Nauvoo Temple. We didn't get to go into all the temples we visited, but we made a special effort to do this one. It was such a great experience as well. They even offered to take us down to see the baptistry (it's the biggest baptistry in any LDS Temple) and it was gorgeous! It was amazing how much time and effort went into re-recreating this temple to look EXACTLY like the original (the original was burned to the ground after the Saints fled Nauvoo). They even have the "Martyrdom line" on it - which is the line that shows how far the temple had been built up to the point of Joseph Smith's martyrdom.

Day Eight:
Our last stop before leaving Illinois was to Carthage to visit Carthage Jail. This was where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob. They were in the upper room of the jail (in the jailers bedroom, in fact) when an angry mob burst through and began firing guns. Hyrum tried to hold the bedroom door shut to keep them out and he ended up with a bullet right through his face. Joseph then ran for the window but was shot upon reaching it and ended up falling to the ground below. Both were dead within minutes. Two others (John Taylor and Willard Richards) in the room survived and were witnesses of the event until the day they died. This was a somber experience and Ryan pointed out how weird it felt to be standing by a bullet laden door and the window the prophet fell from smiling for pictures. It was weird, but...we did it anyway. Unfortunately I don't have any of those pictures (Ryan took them on his camera), but I have one of us standing outside the jail. The top window is the one Joseph fell from, landing just by the well.

Nauvoo was simply amazing. I would recommend a visit to Nauvoo for anyone interested in Church history (or American history, for that matter). We showed our pictures and told our stories to Ryan's dad (who isn't LDS) and he was just as fascinated as we were. There is a LOT of history here and I wouldn't pass up on this trip if the opportunity presents itself for you to go.

But the trip still didn't end here! More to come in part III.

Family Vacation 2012 - Part I

My family went on a big vacation this year! In the past we have gone to Disneyland, but this year in order to accommodate those living out of state we decided to do something different. My brother and his wife (they live in Texas) organized a trip for us to Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. I have always wanted to go there so I was super excited! We opted to go during the week of July 4th which was fabulous, expect for one thing: the heat. Several days were well over 100 degrees and with the heat index (heat + humidity) we were looking at about 113. We were never dry, always sticky and it was hard to breathe. I'll never complain about the dry heat again! Here are just some of the highlights:

Day One & Two: We drove. And drove. And drove. I won't say this was the worst part of the trip (the medal for that goes to the heat!) but it was definitely a LONG drive. We stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming our first night and then from there traveled on to Missouri.

By that point it was about a 19 hour drive, I believe. And that doesn't count stopping for meals and bathroom breaks. We spent 2 days in Independence though and that was a LOT of fun!

Day Three: we went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Haun's Mill and Far West.

There wasn't much to see at any of these places, other than a lot of land. But it is such pretty country there and if you know the stories of what occurred there with the early LDS saints then you can definitely feel a special spirit there. I am excited that the Church bought the Haun's Mill site from the Community of Christ church because now hopefully they will turn it into a nice historic site with more to see than just a little post that says "Haun's Mill". Far West has the temple site marked with the original cornerstones of the temple encased in glass. That temple never got built but it's amazing to see the cornerstones and the monument that now stands where the temple should have been.

Day Four:
We went to the Independence Visitor's Center and the Community of Christ temple. I swear, that temple looks like it came out of a science fiction movie, but it was very pretty.

We took a tour of it and that was also very interesting. We all walked out though feeling rather confused. Confused mainly over what they believe, exactly. Even the girl who took us on a tour couldn't tell us exactly. She just kept saying members believe certain things but "officially" they believe __________ (fill in the blank). They believe in Joseph Smith and consider him their prophet but they don't believe in the first vision. They profess to believe in Christ (hence the name "Community of Christ church) but he wasn't mentioned once during the entire tour. I personally felt very confused after walking out of there. It was a stark contrast between that and the LDS visitor's center, that's for sure! Definitely a unique experience.

Our last stop this day was to Liberty Jail and the Kansas City, Missouri Temple.

It was such a neat experience to visit all these historical sites and learn more about LDS Church history. It didn't end here though! The next morning, Tuesday July 3rd, we packed up, said goodbye to Independence and headed for Nauvoo, Illiois.

Updates and Stuff...

Hi Guys!

I have finally made my way back to the world of blogging (for a day, at least). I've put two other posts below this one (the first of my sister's wedding, the other of funny conversations with my nephew) so don't forget to scroll down and check them out!

Life has been a ton of fun lately. We've been so busy but still try and squeeze in a little fun. Saturday night we went with four other couples from our branch up to Silver Lake to roast up some hotdogs, eat some grub and take a leisurely stroll around the lake. It was so fun! Ryan took some pictures of the group on his camera but unfortunately I don't have them with me...sorry! :(

The adventure was a lot of fun for us. On July 3rd it will be two years ago that Ryan and I went there on our first "date". I say "date" because we weren't technically dating then...it was the first time we hung out. We decided to try and get up there every year on the anniversary of our first "date", but we won't be able to this year since we are going to be out of town. So when the invitation came to go up last Saturday, we could not pass it up. We absolutely love it up there!

In fact, here is a picture of it that I took two years ago:



And in other news...we'll be going on our second vacation as a married couple this coming weekend. We are going with my family (24 out of 33 of us) on a road trip to Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. We are all really looking forward to it. We'll be gone about 10 days, and in the car for four of those days so we're hoping we don't kill each other in the process. But hopefully when we get back, I'll have some more fabulous posts for you!

I apologize that my blog is still the same old design I've had for the past two years. I tried to update it this morning but the new blogger really drives me crazy. So until I find time to fiddle with it without it completely screwing up what I already have, you're stuck with this. :)

Ryan & Me: Chapter Twenty

The Honeymoon:

Ryan and I went to California for our Honeymoon! Probably not the most exotic place to go but it sure was fun! Our goal was to go somewhere where we wouldn't have to do a lot of driving or sight seeing. After planning a stressful wedding we wanted something where we could just have fun and enjoy each other. We actually flew out to California on Friday, the day after our wedding. After getting there we went to the hotel and basically crashed. We were so tired! The best part about our hotel though was that we could stand on our balcony and watch the fireworks at Disneyland every night we were there. Totally awesome!


Saturday morning we headed to Los Angeles. Part of the route we took there was on the Santa Monica Freeway. Holy smokes that freeway is nauseating! Both Ryan and I commented on how we felt like we were on a boat. The up and down motion of the road felt like we were riding waves and it nearly did me in. But we made it to the LA Temple without losing any of our breakfast and we did a session in the LA Temple and it was amazing! The temple is large and so beautiful! I loved the temple grounds! We weren't quite expecting so many people to be there though. Apparently it was a stake temple day and so we had to park almost a quarter mile away! It was crazy, but it was also very nice to see so many people there. After our session we spent some time taking pictures and then we headed back to the hotel. We took a different route on the way home so thankfully, no more sea sickness!


Later that night we went to the Medieval Times. Ryan and I both really enjoyed that! The food was delicious and the entertainment was pretty fun too!


Sunday we went to 11am church and then we decided to head to San Diego. It made for a very nice Sunday drive. If you ever have to do a lot of driving (LA or San Diego for example) my advice is to definitely do it on the weekends when there is no rush hour traffic. We made it to San Diego in record time (just over an hour) and we had a wonderful day there. We started off in Old Town San Diego where we went to the Mormon Battalion Visitor Center. Neither of us had ever been there and it was a lot of fun! I learned so much I never even knew about the Mormon Battalion.


After the Mormon Battalion we went and took a few pictures of the San Diego temple. we would have loved to have gone inside that temple as well but unfortunately the temples are closed on Sunday. We enjoyed touring the temple grounds though!


Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we spent at Disneyland and California Adventure! That was so much fun! Ryan had never been to either park before so it felt extra special to be there with him. We enjoyed both parks but I think California Adventure was our favorite only because it's geared more towards adults and the rides are awesome! We had no lines for most of the rides and ended up on Tower of Terror FIVE times! We couldn't get enough. :)





Wednesday morning before heading to Disneyland we drove out to Newport Beach and went to the Newport Beach Temple. It was another gorgeous temple, inside and out!


Our trip came to an end on Thursday. We checked out of our hotel at noon but since we didn't have to be to the airport until 3pm we decided to head back out to Newport Beach and visit the beach! It was deserted other than two or three surfers and a few runners which made it that much more fun for us! We took a ton of pictures and played in the sand. It was awesome!




It was such an amazing honeymoon and it was so sad to see it end. We got home Thursday night and spent the rest of the weekend moving me into his house and cleaning out my old place. It was so much work and I was ready for another honeymoon! In fact, I still am ready for another honeymoon. :)

Twelve Years Ago Today...

The other day, quite randomly, I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't it be fun to do a blog entry on a random day in your life from years past?" I thought it would be fun but never did anything with it. Then today while sitting in church, we had our entire sacrament meeting dedicated to Joseph Smith because today, June 27, was the exact day 166 years ago that he and his brother Hyrum were martyred in Carthage Jail. That once again got me thinking about my life. Where was I on this day 10 or 15 years ago? Well, seeing as I most likely had it written down somewhere, I went through my journals and found an entry from 1998. This is a good one so you all better get ready to do some reading!

The location was Grand Junction, CO - Country Jam, USA - and I was with my sister Valerie and her friend Becky. I do have pictures of this experience somewhere, but was unable to find them at the time of posting.

June 27, 1998

Saturday. Woah! Today was no normal day. First of all I was awake until close to 3am due to obnoxious drunk parties going on in near proximities. Curfew is at 2am and that only means they shut off the lights. People still blast their obnoxious music (funny how we are at Country Jam and all but country is being played) and blast their crude obscenities. I was plain disgusted but it was kind of funny to listen to drunk people talk. It was a new experience for me, that's for sure! :D We got out of bed at 8:30am and somewhat got ready for the day. We took off in the car to go find some breakfast a little after 9am and that is where our adventurous day really begins.

We were driving east on I-70. The speed limit was 75 so we were going that if not maybe 80. We were driving along when all of a sudden there was this knocking noise. We didn't know what it was but we were a little nervous. I don't exactly remember what we decided it was, but all of a sudden Becky swerved into the left lane and said, "Oh my gosh!" We then went flying back into the right lane and her hands had no control of the steering. We did a couple 360's into the right shoulder of the road, then we were clear off the road and down a small decline near some trees. We were screaming so bad. Everything flashed before my eyes and I thought for sure we were dead. Once the car stopped I looked at the window and all I saw was dirt so I had thought we flipped the car. I let out a loud scream and Becky & Valerie both said, "Camille are you alright?" I looked at me. No blood, no broken anything, so I said yes. We pulled out to get back onto the road but decided to check out the damage. We got out and noticed we had 3 blown tires. We weren't going anywhere. Come to find out, what really happened was Becky had swerved to miss a squirrel. Can you believe we almost died because of a stupid squirrel? DUH!

A few people stopped to offer help and one couple even went into town to call a tow truck. About 10 minutes later we saw two patrol cars come flying down the freeway. We thought they were after someone but no, they were coming for us. Someone had called in on a cell phone and said there had been a roll over on the freeway. We had a Ranger, two patrol cars, a fire truck and an ambulance all pulled up on the side of the road. Quite the audience, huh? You should have seen them all once they found out what caused the accident. The Ranger was the nicest. He asked us if we were okay and made sure our necks weren't stiff or anything. The cop was kind of rude. He walked up and said, "Let me give you a piece of advice. If it's smaller than your car, hit it and if you're going to hit it, aim for the butt because it can't walk backwards."

After 10-15 minutes they all left us. The cop said he would check back in 15 minutes to make sure a tow truck came. In the meantime, the original couple came back and said they had made a phone call and a truck should be on the way. ONE hour passed - no tow truck and no cop. Nice to know you can rely on a cop when you need one, huh? About 5-6 other people stopped to offer assistance though which I thought was really nice of them. Well, Becky called the police dispatch and told the lady we needed a tow truck. The lady asked where we were located and then laughed. She said, "Oh, hold on". So, it sounds like they all went back to the station and had a coffee break and told everyone how we swerved to miss a squirrel. After another 45 minutes a tow truck finally arrived and towed us to Big-O tire. It was about time too because two hours in a hot car is not fun! It took about 1/2 hour at Big-O to put four new tires on the car. Talk about an expensive trip for Becky. It was such a scarey experience. We still don't know how we managed to not flip the car*. Talk about heaven's blessings! I am just grateful I am alive because I could very easily be dead....

...We are all now tucked in bed. We are a little stiff from the accident but we're okay. Our shakiness is gone and we are back to normal. I doubt we'll get much sleep but we'll try anyway. It was a very crazy day and I am so thankful for my life and for Heavenly Father watching over me all the time. Goodnight.


*Side note: Apparently I didn't record this in my journal, but I remember someone (one of the cops, maybe?) telling us that based on how we spun off of the asphalt and onto the gravel at such high speeds, the change in friction should have caused our car to roll. He was quite surprised that it didn't and said that we were extremely lucky. That would probably explain why the person who called 911 about a rollover thought we had actually rolled the car.

**Oh, and in case anyone is curious, we did make it back for the afternoon portion of the concert which was amazing!

The Million Dollar Nap...

Did you guys hear about that lady in Michigan who fell asleep on a flight from Washington DC to Philadelphia? Well, if not you can read the story here, but I'll give a quick recap.

She fell asleep. The plane landed around midnight. She never woke up. A cleaning crew found her still asleep at 4am. Now she's suing the airline. For false imprisonment. And emotional distress.

I cannot stop laughing!! I understand that the flight attendants should have walked through the plane and made sure that everyone was off, but suing them for false imprisonment? Seriously? And what's all this about emotional distress? She was sound asleep! She had no idea she was even left on the plane until the cleaning crew woke her up, so how was she emotionally distressed by that situation? Surely she didn't miss a meeting or a family members wedding or anything else super important at four o'clock in the morning. Heck, she didn't even miss out on any sleep!

It kind of makes me ask myself what I would have done in her situation, and I think I would have gone back to sleep and told the crew to wake me up in two more hours.

But the all important question now is...

Will she win?

Oh the Terror!

Guess what! Guess what! I'm going on another vacation! As if Washington DC wasn't enough, my family is planning another getaway to Disneyland!

This has kind of become a little tradition for us. It started in 2005 when my sister and her family decided they were going to go to Disneyland. It didn't take long until a bunch of us invited ourselves to go with (perhaps some were invited, I don't really remember. I just remember that I invited myself). Before we knew it, there were 13 of us packed into two vehicles driving our little selves to the happiest place on earth. Two years later we did it again and now, we're planning our third trip!

I was telling a co-worker about this little tradition today and we got to talking about some of our favorite memories of Disneyland/California Adventure. I shared with her what I consider to be my favorite memory of all.

Now I'll share it with you.

When we went in on our trip in 2005, some of us wanted to go on the Tower of Terror. We tired and tried to get our dad to go on it with us but he was certain he'd have a heart attack or something. We eventually went on the ride without him, much to my disappointment. When we got off we went back and told him how much fun it was and that he absolutely had to go! Still, he refused. The next day we wanted to go again and during our weak attempts at trying to convince him to go with us this time, an old man with hair as white as snow was walking off the ride. Someone in my family said to my dad,

"See Dad, if he can do it then you can do it!" My dad took one look at that man and said,

"He didn't look like that when he got on the ride!"

We burst out laughing and then much to our surprise he relented and went on the ride with us. On this particular ride he sat by me and the two of us sat behind my sister and her four year old son who also wanted to go. The ride started, we all started screaming and for a brief second I glanced at my sister and noticed that she was clinging to her son for dear life!

When we went back in 2007, my dad made sure he got to go on that ride again. My sister? Not so much.

Virginia/Maryland Pictures

I should have posted these in the opposite order, but oh well. See later posts for additional pictures!


Mt. Vernon (George Washington's Estate) Virginia


The Potomac River (the Warf behind Washington's Mansion)




JFK's grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Virginia


Inner Harbor, Baltimore Maryland.



At the Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox game. Baltimore, Maryland.


Great Falls, Maryland

Pennsylvania Pictures...

Here are a few random pictures from Gettysburg, the Susquehanna River, and Scranton (for all you Office fans):




The next few pictures are from Philadelphia.


The Rocky statue and steps (from the movie).


Ugly picture of me, but this is The Liberty Bell


The room where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed! I wish I could have sat in George Washington's chair.


No trip to Philly is complete without a Philly cheesesteak!