photo HEADER copy_zpsfiiptbhs.png

Monday, July 23, 2012

Cole Family Beach Trip

After being home for just two weeks, we packed up our car once again and headed to the beach! Most people have a second home at the lake, beach, or in the mountains. Our second home has become our car! However, I will hop in the car any day to go to the beach, and I was thrilled about our annual vacation with the Coles. I could not wait to get on the beach and sink my feet in the sand while watching the waves roll in! As always, we had a wonderful time even though it was not the best weather. The seaweed was the worst it had been in years, and we also had a few rainy days. That did not stop us from having fun though. Even when the sun was not shining, we still had a good time talking, reading, and just being together. Hardy really enjoyed the beach too, and he absolutely loved playing at the pool every morning with his grandfather. Thanks Coles for yet another great trip to the beach! I am already looking forward to next year!

Hardy enjoying peach 
ice cream at Durban Farms

Look at all those pretty peaches...
absolutely delicious!

Feet in the water...Dane and Hardy

Just taking a spin


CC, Hardy, and Dane

Family at Bayou Bill's 

Hardy loves the beach


Enjoying Aunt Nay Nay's nutty buddy bar


Feeding some to Aunt Nay Nay

Hardy and Aunt Nay Nay

Kyle, Hardy, and Me


Alexis, Whitney, Hardy, and Kyle

Can't handle his cuteness!




Strolling with Dada

Looking for snakes



Alexis, Hardy, and Whitney

Celebrating Kyle's 31st Birthday

These two make me smile!

Family...a little windy that day





Rocking on the porch at Cracker Barrel

Friday, July 13, 2012

Goodbye 20's, Hello THIRTY!

I can now say that I am officially an adult! Sure there are many qualifications for becoming an adult, but I would say turning 30 has to be one of them. Since the first of the year I have been counting down the months and days before turning the big 3-0! I just really was not looking forward to turning 30. I realize 30 is still so young, but when working with college students you really start to feel the significance of ten years! Well, turning 30 ended up being a fantastic day for me, and I honestly don't feel any different. I kicked off my birthday celebration at Bottle Tree enjoying breakfast with my mom and Carmen Rae. What a great start! The rest of the day was very laid back and enjoyable. Kyle had mentioned to me that we would be meeting our families for dinner, but little did I know that he had gathered all of my favorite people for dinner at Boure and to celebrate over cake later! So much fun and such a surprise! After being out west for a month, it was so fun to just be with all my friends and family! Thanks Kyle for a wonderful birthday celebration! It looks like 30 is going to be a great year for me after all!

Kyle, Hardy, Me, Hayley, and Keith


Corrie, Shannon, Me, Missy, and Carmen Rae

Kyle, Me, Thomas, and Kelly

Mom and Me

Hunter, Shannon, Me, Kyle, Corrie, and David

Hardy and Aunt Nay Nay

Kyle, Sarah, Me, and Nick

Missy and Me

CC, Hardy, and Nana

Hardy and Bull

Kyle and Me

My 30th Birthday Cake

Blowing out the candles

Kyle, Hardy, Me, Cyndi, and Dane

Laura, Me, Missy, and Corrie

Whitney, Kyle, Hardy, Me, Alexis, Cyndi, and Dane

Hardy, Me, Peggie, Bull, and Kyle

Alexis, Me, and Whitney 
with my fun teacup cake plate

Carmen Rae and Me

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

From Wyoming to Mississippi

DAY 1:  We packed up our bags, loaded the car, and started to head South last Saturday morning (June 30th). Our first day was a short drive...it's kind of sad that a five hour drive has become short to me, but we logged some long days in the car on this trip home! We first stopped in Salt Lake City and hit the local attractions. We drove through the University of Utah and checked out the campus. Then, we drove by the capital (very impressive), and we finished out our touring walking through Temple Square and viewing the Mormon Tabernacle. Our visit was brief, but we saw plenty. Although I would not want to visit this city for a long period of time, I was impressed with the cleanliness of it. A half a day was just perfect! From Salt Lake we drove to Provo, Utah. Not quite sure where that is...well neither was I, but it is the home of Brigham Young University. We drove through campus, and then went to see Bridal Veil Falls which is a waterfall that drops 607 feet into the Provo River. That evening we met a childhood friend of Nick's for dinner at Cafe Rio. After a month of food at the lodge, this Mexican food did not disappoint. The hand made tortillas = delicious!! From Provo we drove to St. George, Utah which was our final stop for the day. St. George is in the far southwestern part of the state and was the nearest city we could find to Zion National Park. One day down, 8 more to go! 

Leaving Jackson Hole...will definitely 
miss this beautiful city!

A few hours in to day 1 and 
we were already using suckers
to pass the time.

Utah State Capital

Salt Lake City Tabernacle

Kyle and Hardy at Bridal Veil Falls

Utah sunset through a wildfire

DAY 2: Well this day had a great start, but not so much the ending...more on that in a bit! We only had an hour drive from St. George to our first stop and first national park of the trip (we saw 7 national parks over the course of our drive south), Zion National Park.  Zion was Utah's first national park and it is filled with massive sandstone cliffs and canyons of cream, pink, and red. The park was insanely crowded that day so we opted to drive through most of it, and stop at the major attractions along the way. There was a 1.1 mile tunnel that we drove through and it once was the longest one in the U.S. From Zion we drove two hours to Bryce Canyon National Park. The major attraction of this park is Bryce Canyon, which actually is not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters. Bryce Canyon is filled with these geological structures called hoodoos that are red, orange, and white colored rocks. Check them out in the pictures below. They are pretty cool! We spent most of the afternoon at this park, and then we ventured on to Capitol Reef National Park. We arrived at this park pretty late, but while driving through we decided to make one stop and do a little exploring. This park is in the heart of red rock country which you will notice in the pictures below. We all were having a good time exploring and shooting some pictures until Kyle and I realized that I had locked the keys in the car. At this point it is dusk and we have no cell phone service. Thankfully we had two cars, so we left Nick and Big Hardy hiking, and drove to town (with Hardy in my lap) to get service. We called a towing service that said it would take them about an hour or so to get to us. Around 8:30 a man arrives that follows us into the park to our car, and in just about five minutes he unlocks our car. Apparently this happens several times a day, but you just don't want it to happen when you still have a 3 hour drive ahead of you and you have not eaten dinner. I will say that the guys handled it well, and after about an hour drive we found a Sonic and everybody was happy! We finally made it to Moab, Utah after 1:00 and we all crashed. Day 2 is finished....and all this with a one year old!

Zion National Park



Bryce Canyon National Park

Rainbow Point

Lil Hardy, Kyle, Big Hardy, and Nick

Kyle, Hardy, and Me

Kyle, Nick, and Hardy are the tiny
dots at the top of this rock. 
Yep, they climbed up there!

Thor's Hammer

Sunset Point

Natural Bridge

Hardy, Nick, Hardy, and Kyle 
at Bryce Point


Look at all the hoodoos!

Kyle, Hardy, and Me

Hardy and Kyle

Capitol Reef National Park



Moments before discovering 
the keys were locked in the car



Killing time while waiting 
on the locksmith...this little boy 
cracks me up!

DAY 3: Day 3 and 3 more parks! We began the day at Arches National Park which outside of the Grand Canyon was probably my favorite park of the trip. This park is known for preserving over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch. Definitely some sights to see here! After touring Arches, we went to Canyonlands National Park. The vastness of the canyons in this park are pretty spectacular, and I really enjoyed getting to see the well-known attraction, the Island in the Sky. We finished the day at Monument Valley which most people would recognize because most popular western movies and close to 100 movies have been filmed in this park including Forrest Gump, Back to the Future 3, and How the West Was Won.  In the words of critic Keith Phipps, "its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West." This park was a great way to end the day. The sun was setting and it was just like what you see in the pictures except we were actually living it. I guess the west did capture me a bit!


Tower of Babel

Balanced Rock

Kyle and Hardy

Cove Arch

Kyle, Me, and Hardy at Cove Arch

Turret Arch

Kyle and Hardy inside Cove Arch

Hardy at Cove Arch

Kyle, Hardy, and Me 
at North and South Window Arch

Kyle and Hardy at Turret Arch 

Kyle, Nick, and Big Hardy
in the arch

Canyonlands National Park
 Buck Canyon Overlook

Grand View Point Overlook: Island in the Sky

Green River Overlook

Kyle and Me at Green River Overlook

Monument Valley Park
Kyle and Hardy

Back to the Future Scene

Sunset over Monument Valley

DAY 4: THE GRAND CANYON!!! We spent the night in a hotel that was less than a mile from the park's entrance so that we could get there first thing in the morning. After a quick breakfast at Mickey D's, we entered the park. Of all the parks we saw, this one definitely takes the cake! I am not sure if it is because of it's popularity or just simply because of it's grandeur, but the Grand Canyon is hard to top. We first stopped at the visitor center to see what we shouldn't miss on our one day visit--some people spend a week in the park! Once we talked with a park ranger, it was decided that our best option would be to ride the bus and stop at the major viewpoints. Had we more time we could have done a short hike, but to me seeing the canyon stretch on for miles and miles was just as impressive. As you will notice in the pictures below, as far as your eye can see the canyon would continue on. It is amazing to think that the Father created something so vast, yet he calls us his Masterpiece! After spending the majority of the day in the canyon, we got back in the car and headed further south to Phoenix, Arizona. One state closer to home!  

Mather Point


Kyle, Hardy, and Me at Mather Point

Mather Point

Nick, Hardy, Kyle, and Hardy at Mather Point

Yavapai Point 
Nick, Hardy, and Kyle at Yavapai Point

Kyle taking it all in

Hopi Point

Kyle, Me, and Hardy at Hopi Point

Hopi Point

Kyle and I at Hopi Point

Hardy and Kyle at Hopi Point

Powell Point

Nick, Kyle, and Hardy at Powell Point

Overlooking Maricopa Point

DAY 5: Happy 4th of July! We started out our 4th celebrating America with a good old fashion breakfast at Denny's! We all were pretty wiped out from 3 days of park touring so we spent the afternoon enjoying some rest and relaxation, and then headed to downtown Phoenix for dinner and the Diamondbacks game. What better way to celebrate the 4th than at a major league baseball game! We ate dinner at Cooperstown which is Alice Cooper's restaurant and then headed to the game. Hardy had an absolute blast at the game, and he actually made it through all nine innings! The Diamondbacks stadium has a retractable roof which they opened at the end of the game for a spectacular fireworks show. Of course, we had to make one more stop on the way home at In-N-Out Burger for milkshakes! What a great 4th enjoyed by all!


Kyle and I outside 
the Diamondbacks stadium

Kyle and Hardy watching the game

Nick sure knows how to 
make Hardy laugh

Hardy loving the game

Happy 4th from The Coles

Proud to be an American!

Big Hardy and Lil Hardy


Fireworks

Hardy and Kyle watching the fireworks

DAY 6: Today we sadly parted ways with Nick and Hardy. We had so much fun with these guys and were glad they joined us for most of the trip home. They drove on to Dallas while we spent one more day in Phoenix. We kicked off our day at the Phoenix Zoo which opens at 7 am because it gets so hot so quickly. We did not arrive there quite that early, but did get there mid-morning. Hardy enjoyed strolling through the zoo and was very entertained by the monkeys. After lunch at P.F. Changs (yummy), Kyle was so nice to give me some time at the outlet mall which really did my soul some good. While I was not too thrilled about spending another day in Phoenix, I desperately needed a day that was not so rushed and with ten activities squeezed into the day. "Activity Kyle" was starting to wear me out! :) We finished the day at a local mexican restaurant that was very authentic and absolutely delicious! It was not crowded at all, and our waiter, Pepe, became a friend that night. He sat and talked with us for quite some time and quickly won over Hardy. Got to love the locals!

Hardy checking out the monkeys


Kyle and Hardy killing time while I shopped 

DAY 7: Phoenix, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico...only 9 hours in the car! After driving 2 hours, we made a stop at Saguaro National Park. I like to call this park the cactus park. Basically it was filled  a bunch of cacti of different shapes and sizes. Why wouldn't you visit a cactus park?!? After leaving the park, we basically drove 7 hours through the middle of nothing. Oh if you could have been a fly on the window of our car during that drive. Kyle and I had to throw some of the traffic laws out the window to keep our little man happy. He was definitely dancing to New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys in the front of the car while pressing all the buttons on the dash board. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! Upon arriving in Albuquerque we drove through the University of New Mexico, and then crashed at the hotel...only 2 more days!





Check out the height of that cactus!

A little prickly!



DAY 8: After packing up our bags and loading the car for the sixth time, we drove through Old Town Albuquerque and then headed to Santa Fe. Our time in Santa Fe was brief, but we did visit the oldest church in the U.S. and enjoy another authentic Mexican lunch downtown. Instead of chips and salsa, this restaurant served sopapillas and honey which Hardy really enjoyed. From Santa Fe we logged another 8 hours in the car to Oklahoma City. One more day!!


San Miguel Chapel

Lunch in downtown Santa Fe

Day 8 and Hardy is still smiling

Dinner at Cracker Barrell

DAY 9: 9 more hours and we are HOME SWEET HOME!! This day was spent in the car driving from Oklahoma City to Oxford. We had to make a stop in Memphis to pick up Emmy and enjoyed a good dinner with The Coles. It was so good to be back in the south and be with family...I even teared up when we first saw everyone. We pulled into Oxford around 10 on Sunday night and boy was I excited to be home! It is safe to say that the Cole family has conquered the west!

Together again at last: Hardy and Emmy