yup it's official, we like the beach. The water is so warm!

These are the Clearwater beach resorts.

This is down town Tampa

Day 4 and more

Day 4 we got up early and headed for Tampa. We only had a 6 hour drive ahead of us, on our way there I noticed on the map that there was a city named Hague so we pulled over for a quick picture. We rolled into Tampa around 2:00, we got our keys and moved in! We took video but can't figure out how to upload it to our computer! But we took lots of pictures. Florida is very green with lots of trees, the trees are very different here, kinda funky looking! I guess a better word would be tropical looking.

We have been here a whole week and one day now and we are still trying to settle in and get our apartment put together. Since we sold most of everything we own we had to go out and buy new things. Thank goodness for Ikea. We love their cheap furniture especially the Lack line, we got everything Lack design, it's especially cheap! We got our TV stand in the as is section and it happened to be lack too. We also like Wal-mart and thrift stores. The only thing that we haven't been able to find is a bed frame. They had tons in the Provo thrift store so we didn't think it would be hard to find them here, but so far no luck. We are still looking. In the midst of unpacking, shopping, orientation, getting new drivers licenses and certification classes, we made it to the beach. We went to Clearwater Beach and had a fun time! While at the beach we found out the Melinda is having two baby girls! We can't be more excited for her!

Day 3!

Sorry I am late getting this up, but Andy has been a computer hog! jk, we have just been really busy now that we are in Tampa, yes we made it safely.

More Day 2 Pictures.

Day 3 of our trip we drove from Illinois to Georgia. It was probably the prettiest drive of the whole trip. Tennesee is really gorgeous. We started a new book on tape, Timeline by Michael Crichton ( it is really good, we are still not done with it though, we listen to it as we unpack). We ate Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky and listened to country music (one song, Andy couldn't handle anymore) as we drove through Nashville. Chattanooga, TN was quite a sight. Very green and really pretty lakes, plus it is just fun to say, Chattanooga. . . Then we drove through Atlanta, GA. We drove right through the big city and then kept right on going. We didn't stop at any of the sights because we were starting to feel very anxious to get to Tampa.

Here is Nashville!

These pictures don't give Tennessee justice at all, but gives you a glimps at how pretty it was. It was hard to get good pictures just driving along.

And here is Atlanta, GA. We hit some traffic but not too bad. It is a big city, that is all I have to say about it. I know, not too exciting.

That night we stayed at McDonough GA. The next day we got up early and drove to Tampa.

This is a car we parked by, haha. You can't really tell from this picture but it had huge wheels and there is a sticker on the side window that says Police Intercepter, haha we weren't sure what that meant. Three huge black men got out wearing du rags.

Day 2!!!!!

On Day two of our trip, since we were driving through Missouri, we decided to see some church history sites. We woke up in Omaha feeling rested and drove a short three hours to Liberty, MO to see Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and five other men were held from December 1st to April 6 1839. I had been before when I was little and Andy had never been so it was really good to see. The missionaries at the visitor center referred to the jail as a Prison Temple, they said that although it was a horrible place with horrible conditions it was a spiritual experience where the spirit was present. It was there where Joseph Smith wrote sections 121, 122, and 123 in the Doctrine and Covenants. Some other facts that we learned were that while Joseph Smith and the other men were there the saints in Missouri were being heavily persecuted, including their own families, and they were not able to help them. They were kept in the basement of the jail that was only 6 feet tall and had two small windows that barely let any light in at all. The walls there were 4 feet thick which made it impossible to escape. The jail was so cold that it was later used as an ice cellar where they kept big blocks of ice even through the summer. Joseph Smith the third stayed the night there with his mother when he was 6 years old. Later when he was asked about his experience there he said that all he remembered from it was that it was a night of peace and singing.


From there we drove down to Independence, MO were there is a LDS visitors center. A sister missionary walked us through and told us a little more about the history in the state of MO. Our original plan was to just spend the whole day there but we realized that there wasn't a whole lot to see so we decided to drive on. We drove another five hours and spent the night in Fairview Heights, Illinois. We started to tell that we were not in Utah anymore. People had accents and we ate some good southern food at a restaurant by our hotel. Andy's burger had fried pickles on it. Yes, fried pickles. I had the best corn on the cob ever! It had the biggest and juiciest kernels ever!

Day 1 of our trip to Florida

Well we finally packed everything up and left Utah. Thankfully Andy and I have very supportive and loving parents, they helped the trip go a lot smoother. Andy's parents gave us their suburban and my parents flew up to Utah and spent a couple days helping me and Andy pack up and clean our apartment. We packed everything up and even got our bed to fit on the top of our car! I was very apprehensive to do so, I didn't want our mattress flying off the top of the car and killing someone on the road. But we got four ratchet ties, rope and bungee cords to tie it down. Hopefully we can get it off the car when we get to Tampa.

It was very bitter sweet leaving Provo. I have lived in Provo for the past 6 years and have made a lot of good memories and friends there. It was hard to leave our good friends and the bubble life we lived in but it's fun to start a new adventure.


These are pictures to show how stuffed the inside of our car is. Andy did a good job packing.

Day one of the trek was a 13 hour drive to Omaha, NE. We decided on Omaha because my good friend from college invited us to stay there in her home. She lives there now with her husband while he goes to pharmacy school. It was very nice of them to have us in their home. Wyoming was a very ugly state to drive through with horrible drivers, haha. Nebraska was a little better, a little more green and pretty, with much better drivers. We got into Omaha around 10:00 pm, it was a long day of driving but wasn't too bad with the help of a book on CD that we listened to the whole way.

2 years!

Andy and I celebrated out 2 year anniversary on Monday, August 3rd. I can't believe it has been two years, the time has flown by! I have the best husband ever!