A Cop Ahead

I went rogging this morning. I had just started when an elderly gent and his wife and I have a conversation that went something like this...

Gent: "That girl that just ran by told us that there is a cop ahead on the trail."
Me: "A cop?"
Gent: "Yeah, about 2 minutes into the trail. So watch out."
Me {slightly confused because why should I watch out for the cop? Am I going to get in trouble for running? Are they having issues with the construction workers and the patrons of the Capital Greenway Trail? Is there a crime scene up ahead?}: "Oh, ok."
Gent: smiles
Me: "Did you say a cop?"
Gent's wife: "A copperhead; a snake."

{light bulb}

Me: "OH! Thanks!"

I continue to rog, a little more vigilant now.

Me: ...breath in...breath out...breath in...breath out...run...run...run...

I haven't even gotten out of eyesight of this elderly coupe who are walking slowly behind me. I look down and notice I AM ABOUT TO RUN OVER A SNAKE WITH THE STROLLER!!!!! Actually I think I did get him a little because he was starting to move...and it was all very scary.

I swerve, get the hee ba dee jee ba dees and an excellent shot of adrenaline and continue to run much MORE vigilantly the rest of the run. I was also super jumpy and every time someone passed me I kind of jerked.

So that is my story of the cop ahead on the trail. It was really funny. In my defense I thought he would be spread out in a line and he was not. He was curled up in a circle. Bravo cop, bravo.

College Tours

While we are touring the United States for the first two-point-five years of our marriage, we thought we should visit potential colleges for Alyssa. We've been to Stanford (in utero), BYU, and now Duke! I'm sure it will help her in her college decision making process. I saw some pictures of Duke online and decided we should take a gander. It is about 1/2 hour northwest of where we live now. We went to the cathedral-like Duke Chapel and Sarah P. Duke Botanical Gardens. If anything the adventure got us out of the house on this muggy, overcast Saturday on which we slept in until 9:30 AM and provided an opportunity for genuine family bonding time.

Erik lost his arm in a tragic accident, but he's recovering well. He's also blind...

 Alyssa was modeling for me. She's mostly camera shy these days. I think she looks particularly brooding in the left picture.

Lily pads! I've never really seen them before. They look pretty amazing and they grow beautiful flowers (lilies?).

I put this picture up for 1 reason and, really, I mean it, 1 reason only: to make you laugh. You have to laugh when you see it! I look like...an elderly lady I know that I may or may not be related to...(name sake), feet starting to turn out, waistline entirely too high for fashion, and (not that this lady is) extremely wide. I don't think the angle was quite right but I really do look at this picture and just laugh, so I hope you will, too!

Finally, for dinner we had hoagies. Erik thought it was unusually large. And Alyssa is saying "Please don't make me eat that whole thing!" Mmm. It was a good hoagie, though. We even splurged and had real deli meat. mm mm mm!

Happy Saturday! 

There was a wedding...

We went to Utah 2 weeks ago and got back on Tuesday. There was a wedding, which I have almost 0 pictures of because I used Taylor's camera. Taylor and Krystalee got hitched in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. It was a beautifully hot day. I helped Taylor make his cake, which was awesome--especially after Solomon's Temple was added--but alas pictures are pending. We had a blast with all the Archibalds (minus) Elder Doug [ :( ]. It's saddening that we do not all live closer.

In the meantime, here are some other snaps of our adventure.

Alyssa likes the park. They tore down my asbestos infested elementary school and built a beautiful park. It has a splash pad and we splashed there...on probably the coldest day July had to offer. But it was still fun.

We attended the Days of '47 children's parade. The theme was something like building dreams in Zion. My favorite kids were the ones with jack hammers made out of soda pop bottles and pvc pipe! Alyssa was much more attentive than last year when she slept through the entire parade. 

There was dirt to be thrown! We loved being at a home where we could play outside whenever we wanted to! Alyssa particularly enjoyed the dirt and thankfully the cats don't use that garden for a litter box!

The shovels were also a big hit. Alyssa spent almost an hour pulling those shovels around the driveway. She can get so fixated on one thing and stay with it forever!

We also went to a float preview for the real Days of '47 parade. We enjoyed seeing the brightly colored, creative floats. Notice how Alyssa is not looking in any of these pictures. She would rather people watch and no mater what I did, I could not get her to look at me! The floats were beautiful and we are all looking forward to seeing Jesus in the parade, too!

(Thanks, Launa!)

There's a little snippet of what happened in Utah with Alyssa. It was so fun being there and a wonderful adventure with family, as always! 

Pure Joy

One for the money...

Two for the show....

Three to get ready....

And four to go!!!

Oh, yeah! And she's cute even when she's blurry.

The Music Capital of the World

Last week we vacationed in Nashville, TN. A year ago we drove through Nashville and dreamed of vacationing there one day. Last week it became reality. Despite the 110 + degree weather we had quite the terrific time. We went spelunking in Mammoth Cave (with a tour guide) and boating on a platoon {cook out and all}.  We watched Alyssa blow hot dog chunks out of her mouth all over Erik's shoulder at the local mall food court and we listened to Craig Campbell sing Family Man at the Grand Ole Opry. Did you know Nashville had a flood in 2010? A flood that put the mall out of commission for 2 years!?! And now it is in serious dry drought. The grass was dry and the air HOT!

Alyssa and Maria hanging out in the loft.

Nashville Visitor's Center and Hockey Arena

Music City! {We now have a renewed love for country music.}

DougDocta is throwing Erik the Villain off the GIANT locomotive.

Green Room at the Grand Ole Opry

GOO

We said good bye to Doug. He's now in the MTC, commiserating with Ben(?). And we said see ya later to everyone else because our next vacation is 2 sleeps away! We are going to the Land of Fire to watch Zion burn in all of its glory and also to celebrate a wedding and see a few friends and families. We are blessed to travel so much this summer and spend time with those we love. It is fun to share all of Alyssa's sillies with everyone. She changes so much everyday! One day we are begging her to fold her arms during a prayer and the next day she just does it without even asking an consistently continues to do it. 

Bye Doug!

For the 4th of July we went hiking and swimming and firework chasing. We also had a great time with some of the friends in the area and their kids. Alyssa is the only girl amidst the dashing young suitors...all of which are very dashing and young. She gets along quite well though and loves telling them "hi!" For breakfast we made a flag coffee cake. Can you tell? There are rice squares for the stars and cream cheeses for the stripes! We love the 4th!

Alyssa is more interested in eating it than the picture.