Our Trip to the South

Ryan and I love to travel whenever possible. I love seeing new places and experiencing new cultures. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt the feeling of being homesick while on a vacation. I love trips, even if it's just for the weekend.

Ryan has a good friend named Keith and he and his wife Liz live in Mississippi. We have been wanting to visit them and see the beautiful South. So, we planned our quick weekend trip and made the very most of the 3 days we were there. Keith and Liz hosted us at their beautiful home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We arrived in Gulfport, Mississippi Friday evening where we got to see the beautiful white sand beach and we stopped by the Hard Rock Casino. Then on the way to Hattiesburg, we stopped at The Shed. When you think of a barbeque shack down in the bayou...yep, that's exactly what The Shed is. The food was delicious and the cultural experience was fun!

Saturday we spent most of the day sightseeing! Keith and Liz took us to lots of cool places. We got to see some beautiful Southern homes, a train station, downtown Hattiesburg, my favorite place- Treasure Hunt (a retail clearance store), antique shops, and of course, we ate lots of delicious food! One thing about the South is they sure know how to eat well. All of the food that we had was delicious. 

On Sunday morning we got up early to head down to New Orleans. After a 2 hour drive in the beautiful forest, we got there to do some sightseeing before the big game. We walked around New Orleans for a couple of hours and were sure to see Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. One of my favorite places was the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. It was the creepiest cemetery ever, with above ground tombs and Voodoo witches. It was so fun to experience the Southern culture there. The only thing that wasn't awesome was the humidity..yeah, we could have done without that. 

The highlight of the trip was the New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers game. Yep, we went! We were decked out in Saints apparel (Ryan surprised me with a shirt when we got there) because we had to have a true Saints fan experience. The game was so much fun! The whole experience of being at the Superdome with the crazy loud fans was pretty awesome for my first (and hopefully not my last) NFL game. The fans kept chanting something the whole game and it wasn't until after the game when we were stuck in the hallway with a million people chanting it that I could finally understand what they were saying: 

 "Who Dat Say'n They Gonna Beat Dem Saints"

Translation: Who's that saying they are going to beat the Saints?
That topped off our awesome day in New Orleans and then we headed back to Hattiesburg late that night. On Monday morning, we got up, packed our stuff and went to breakfast before heading back to the airport in Gulfport. We got to see a little bit of the town of Gulfport, and I was amazed that there is still a lot of devastation from Hurricane Katrina (almost 10 years ago). There are a lot of areas that people weren't able to rebuild. It was very sad to see. 

We had a great time on our first official trip as husband and wife (aside from our honeymoon of course). It was great to spend some time with Keith and Liz in their beautiful state. The South is beautiful, and I would love to visit there again. Here's to more traveling that Ryan and I hope to do together in the years to come. I sure love spending time with him.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

The Shed...it really was just a shed. But sooo good.

The Guys

The Gals

The awesome bathrooms at the Shed. 

Hattiesburg Train Station

Of course..Star Wars at an antique store

Dr. Radley at his office

Our tour of Southern Miss

Enjoying the Beignets from Cafe Du Monde

The Mississippi River

The French Market

Proof we went to Bourbon Street

The Food was so Delicious

At the Saints Game

"Who Dat Say'n They Gonna Beat Dem Saints"

Keith gave us a tour of Gulfport before our last stop at the airport

Honeymoonin'

7 Days of Mexico, Sunshine, Beautiful (warm) blue ocean, My best friend (and brand new husband), an All-inclusive resort, and All-you-can-drink Strawberry Pina Coladas (virgin of course)

Sounds pretty amazing, right?

Well, it was.

Our wedding and honeymoon was possibly the best week of my life to this point. After celebrating our big day with all of our family and friends, we headed off to sunny Mexico. I couldn't believe how beautiful the water was. The view from our balcony could have been on a postcard. 

We stayed at the Live Aqua Resort in Cancun. Wow...I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort before. It's awesome. Even though it was hurricane season, we really lucked out and had great weather all but one day. We ate so much, and just chilled and enjoyed the beautiful weather the whole time. The beach and pool-side waiters made it easy to sit at the pool or beach the ENTIRE day without moving a muscle. We got a lot of relaxing in, which was so nice after the stress of planning a wedding. My favorite was the day we rented a cabana and just chilled all day watching the ocean. 

One day we did an adventure tour where we visited Tulum, the ancient Mayan ruins. We spent a couple of hours there and got to see the ruins and the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Ever. Then the bus dropped us off at XelHa the rest of the day to play. Xelha is a natural adventure park--kinda. It was so neat and I really wish we could have taken more pics there, but we were in the water the whole time. We biked up to the entrance of a natural lazy river that we rode a big inner tube down. Along the way there was cliff jumping, a rope swing, and lots and lots of snorkeling spots. We loved it, it was so beautiful and would love to go back someday and spend more time snorkeling and exploring. 

We got to go para sailing over the ocean, which was neat, but made us both a little sick. The highlight for me was the night we got to release baby turtles into the ocean. I guess sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand and the resorts are responsible for digging them up and releasing them into the ocean when they hatch. We just happened to be there one night when they hatched, and we got to release teeny itty bitty sea turtles onto the sand and watch them run into the ocean. It was the cutest thing. I was so sad we couldn't take pictures because it would distract them and they'd follow the light from the flash. It felt like a scene from some romantic movie. haha.

The day before we left, a tropical storm came and practically flooded the resort. Tropical rain storms are really different from rain at home because its really warm rain and there's no lightning or anything. Just a lot of rain and wind. We thought we'd make the best of it and we went out and played in it. It was actually a nice break from the scorching sun and humidity.

It was so fun that I got to spend my first time visiting another country with my hot new husband. We enjoyed every minute of it, and even got to message back home to our family a few times thanks to Wi-Fi and iMessage. We broke a record and gained our Newlywed Weight within the first 7 days of being married. 

So, there ya go. Our honeymoon adventure in the beautiful Cancun, Mexico. Hope to go again someday with my handsome man.

Thankful...

It's November...Tis' the Season to be thankful. I have heard so many times from so many people that focusing on being thankful for what you have helps you to be a more humble and positive person. I have experienced the reality of this in my own life many times. With all the busy-ness associated with getting married, I feel like its been too long since I've actually written down all of the many things I am thankful for, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. I am still overwhelmed with the support and love Ryan and I received at our wedding. From so many people volunteering to help, to all the friends and family that came to celebrate with us on our wedding day, and I can't forget our amazing parents that put so much time (and $$) into making it the perfect day. Gosh, it's hard not to feel overwhelmed with gratitude. 

There are SO many things I am thankful for. I could write for days about everything, there's that much. But I feel overwhelmingly thankful for a few things in particular today...

#1 My Husband Ryan

I have so many things to say about this handsome guy. Let's just say God knew exactly what I needed, and (after patiently waiting), put him in my life 11 months ago. Ryan is my best friend and definitely my better half. It has been so cool to see my love for him grow stronger every day. He is so patient and easy going, the perfect balance for me-the most impatient person in the world. He is always focusing on the positive...what an amazing quality to have. He helps me to focus on the positive side of every situation and not let things get me down. He is one of the kindest people I have ever known. He is always thinking of others and what he can do to help them. That is one of the very first qualities I noticed in Ryan, he is constantly serving others. He is smart and goal-oriented, which helps him to be successful in all that he does. I have learned SO much from him in the time that we have been together. He really does help bring out the best in people, and I am so lucky to have such a great man by my side every day to help me to be at my best. Even though we are very different, we compliment each other so well. We have so much fun together and I have really enjoyed the 36 days that we have been married. I am so excited for the many adventures and years to come with him. Sometimes I wonder how I deserved to be blessed with such an amazing man. I thank Heavenly Father every day for saving him for me!

#2 God's Plan
I have always been a planner. Sometimes I even make plans to make plans. I always had a plan of how my life would go. And there have been times in my life that I thought I knew exactly what I needed at that particular time and how it fit into my life plan. I would pray to Heavenly Father to grant me my "wish" or to let my plan play out the way I thought it should.
Today I am especially thankful that Heavenly Father has a plan of his own for each of us. I am so thankful that he knows me and what I need better than I do. Heavenly Father heard my many many prayers asking to find the man of my dreams or to make a relationship work. Many times I felt disappointed or angry that it didn't work out the way I thought it should. But all that time, he wasn't ignoring me at all; he was actually preparing me and humbling me so that I would be ready for the blessings and plan that he had for me. I know that it wasn't a coincidence that Ryan and I met when we did. Heavenly Father carefully placed us in each other's lives exactly when we were ready. I look back on the last few years of my life, and it's overwhelming to see how much God had a hand in everything that has happened. I can see how much better his plan is than the one I had for myself. I am so very thankful that he was patient with my impatience and let me learn what I needed to. My plan was not to get married when I was 27, I wanted to be married much earlier. But I can't express how thankful I am that I did wait 'til I was 27, so that I could meet Ryan. He is the perfect man for me and I couldn't be more thankful. Anytime I get impatient and feel like God isn't making my plan go the way I think it should, I remind myself that there is a reason for EVERYTHING he does and doesn't do. Just trust him, and you will be happy in the end.

“The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him.”

That quote is by Joseph B. Wirthlin from one of my all time favorite conference talks, "Come What May and Love It" by Joseph B. Wirthlin. It's a great one. You can read it here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it