Nauvoo

On our drive across the country (the road trip that just got longer.... grrrr..... Thank goodness for wonderful family that let us stay longer/adjust our schedules!) we stopped in Nauvoo, Illinois.  This was the last settlement of the Mormon Pioneers before they made the trek west to Salt Lake City, Utah. There's a wonderful spirit in the beautiful old city of Nauvoo.  The church does such a great job of making you feel like you're really there.  Aside from the countless bug bites we all received from watching the Pageant (which by the way is amazing,  tears were shed...) it was a wonderful little stop.  Obviously we didn't take many pictures other than by the Temple.  It's such a beautiful Temple, though, so I didn't think you'd mind a few pictures.

 Jeremy got to see the Mississippi River for the first time! He was really excited.  

(In other Jeremy news, he also saw his FIRST FIREFLY!!! Just last night.  He didn't seem too interested in catching them in jars... but hey I'm still a proud wifey, let me tell ya)

feeling good

We all have one of those songs that just makes us happy.  So happy that you maybe blast it in your room, dance to it in your underwear and sing your heart and soul out to your hairbrush, right? ....no...?  okay good... I never did that either... ha. But if I did do that in high school or something, I probably would have sang and danced to Michael Buble's "Feeling Good".  

Not sure why I'm telling you all this other than to tell you that regardless of the fact that we've been on the road for a whole five days now, we are FEELING GOOD!  Regardless of the fact that we have driven 35 hours with an eight month old we are FEELING GOOD! Regardless of the fact that we have three more days to go and 16 hours we are FEELING GOOD! Our time in the car has been filled with rationing out toys, opening our Road Trip Survival Guide that my mom was sweet enough to throw together for us.  Deep conversations about our life, our future and how we're going to make the most out of the next four years.  It's also been filled with candy, way too many munchies and screaming to our favorite songs at the top of our lungs trying to stay awake for that last 45 minutes of a drive.  Life is GOOD.  And if you have to drive across the entire country, why not do it with your two favorite people?!

Every day we feel more and more that the Lord wants us in Baltimore.  And we know we are being blessed for our obedience.  

{via}

And just because I can I'll leave you with another great song that pretty 

much applies to our life right now.  Hope you enjoy!

moving, growing, changing

Life is crazy my friends.  Crazy crazy crazy.  And during all that crazy life keeps moving moving moving.  It seems like Jeremy graduated and we got to Spokane last week.  Yet here we are packing up our stuff, saying our goodbyes and starting off on an adventure that is going to change our lives forever.  We're excited and scared and we pretty much have no idea what we're doing. But here we go.  

Madeline is on the move, too.  She's on the scoot-crawl-stand-walk-around-furniture move. It's hard to keep up with her these days.  I still can't believe it's been eight months. Eight months since we headed to the hospital.  Eight months since we held her for the first time.  Eight months since brought her home.  In my head she's still this little baby that can barely hold her head up.  It was just yesterday and yet it was so long ago.  I look back at pictures and think,"That's Madeline? That teeny, tiny baby is now pulling to a stand?"  Parenthood is a weird and oh so wonderful thing.  I've loved almost every minute of it. I'm glad we didn't wait to start our family. It was the right thing for us.

These past few weeks have been the most stressful of my entire life. Trying to find a place to live and trying to figure out how we're going to stretch a small sum of money to insure just about everything there is to insure on top of the whole need to eat thing.  I honestly don't know how we're going to do it.  These past few weeks have also been the most wonderful.  The most fulfilling and the happiest.  I feel myself growing and changing every day and sometimes I'm surprised by the wonderful person I'm becoming. It's sad to say goodbye to family and friends that we love so much.  But I have more faith and confidence than ever that we're going to where we're supposed to be.  The Lord has made it very obvious that He needs us in Baltimore.  I'm so excited to discover some of the great things He has in store for us.  

"For to be spiritually minded is life eternal." 2 Nephi 9:39 

I hope you have a happy Tuesday.  Whoever you are, wherever you are, I hope you're happy. I hope you count your blessings.  I hope you accomplish the things that you need to.  And I hope you love yourself today and always.