Beach Volleyball

This past week we have dedicated to playing beach volleyball. Chad wants to enter the AVP tour next year (not really) but kind of! Its been perfect though because we got a heat wave here in California so the beach is at optimal conditions. We went to the beach everyday, twice a day and ended with a bang by spending 8 hrs at Manhattan Beach on Saturday. Its been a lot of fun playing with Chad, he has gotten pretty good. Here are my two favorite pictures of him playing volleyball.

Getting Caught Up!

I haven't blogged in what seems like forever, so tonight I told myself I needed to get caught up. Since so much has been going on I broke it up into two separate posts. Blogging is kind of tricky when its been so long, I hope to make our blog into a book so that is why I feel like I need to post what we do. I use this as an excuse not to journal (although I need to do that). But anyways the first post happened second and the second post happened first, if that makes sense! But I am going to get better at blogging, its hard though being on the road with no internet! Hopefully we will start to settle down soon!

Graduation and St. George

So we were in California for only a few days before we started our next trip- we are getting really good at being on the road these days! We headed up to St. George with Chad's mom Janice to see his Grandma Davenport. The trip seemed to go by so fast since we were used to such long days on the road. We spent our two year anniversery up here also (August 11) we went to Snow Canyon and hiked, then hung out at the pool and ended the night with a dinner at the Outback. Pretty low key but we have basically been on a vacation since we left Texas.

Then my parents picked us up on their way to Provo for my graduation at BYU. The ceremony was very good, I am glad that I ended up doing it. It was a debate since we weren't living in Utah anymore ( we aren't really living anywhere right now :) but we needed to get our truck so it worked out to do both at this time. Attending the cermony and having my name called made it feel like I really did it! Being at BYU was a great experience-definately different from what I had planned (nursing) but majoring in Home and Family Living has taught me great lessons about relationships and how to create a family based on good values and morals!

This next picture is the only other picture I took while we were up in the Provo/Salt Lake Area. This is Chad with our niece Claire. She really bonded with him while we were there, it was SO cute to see him with her.

From Salt Lake we went back to St. George, we really don't have a lot going on right now so we are just taking our time getting back to California! I had never been up to Pine Valley so we got sandwiches and headed up there for a picnic. Pine Valley is a escape from the heat in St. George, it is beautiful up there! This is me with Chad's mom and Grandma Davenport.

Up near Pine Valley is the Memorial for the Mountain Meadow Massacre, there is a nice memorial there. This was talked about a little in my graduation so it was interesting to see the site.

Tomorrow we will be heading back to California-we may make a stop along the way in Vegas to see some friends but I am excited to get back!

Goodbye Texas!

July 30: Chad put on a going away bbq for our last night in Tyler, Texas. We had Rudys bbq cater the food and Chad had prizes and games for the guys, overall a really good time.

July 31-August 1:From Tyler we went to Dallas and were able to meet up with some friends from college. We went to a fun Mexican restaurant Chuy's with my friend Kayley and her husband Scott-who also let us stay the night with them. It is so great to have made good friends where we can stop by at a moments notice and they make time for us! We also stop by one of Chad's friends from BYU-Idaho!

August 1: Then we headed down south just past Austin to float the river, which had to be one of the highlights of our trip! We took this picture after we floated down the river, when we started there were hundreds of people there. It was so relaxing! How it works is we rented tubes from a stand on the river, we then got in the river and floated for about 3 hours and then there is a bus that picks up and takes you back to where the car is parked.August 2: Next we went to San Antonio and saw the Alamo, it was really interesting to see it. We thought it would be out by itself but it is right downtown- it was cool to make an educational stop!

San Antonio has a riverwalk where there are a ton of fun restaurants! It is a fun atmosphere with great people watching (which is one of my favorite things to do).

August 2-3: We drove down to Corpus Christi-we thought it would be cool to visit the beaches in Texas, but unfortunately it was a let down. So if you are planning a trip there I would not recommend it, not too much to do.
This is where my pictures of our Texas Roadtrip end. From here we went to El Paso, which was very interesting. As you drive down the freeway one side is the US while the otherside is Mexico. It was pretty sketchy there! We found a waterpark and thought it would be fun to go for a few hours, it was fun to do but kind of ghetto. Basically just some fun memories!

August 4-5: Chad has a childhood friend that now lives with his wife in Phoenix, they let us stay with them, we stayed up late talking and reminicing (probably spelled that wrong). We liked Arizona, except for the extreme heat, it was 95 degrees at 9 0'clock in the morning!

August 5-6: Next stop: Wildomar, CA! We went to visit my family and had a great time! I did McKenna's make-up in the morning while Chad took Tanner out to play tennis. Later we took Landon out to the dairy to feed the animals and get his all time favorite chocolate milk. My mom made a great dinner, and my sisters had a few of their friends from BYU-I over for the weekend as well! Always a lot going on at the Wilsons!

Then for we headed to Torrance for the weekend where we spent the weekend at the AVP beach volleyball tournament, we got to see Kari Walsh play as well as the mens gold medal team Dalhauser and Rogers. My friend Lauren came up on Saturday to spend the day at the beach as well! Then on Sunday we had a bbq with Chads parents! It was such a good trip! It took us about 6 days to get to California spending 31 hrs on the road. I drove 3 hours-Chad likes to drive, he says he feels safer! We were glad to be back in California!

Louisiana Trip!

This past Saturday we decided to head over to the Louisiana Boardwalk! It is such a neat place, there are a TON of outlets and really cool restaraunts and it is all right on the river. The weather was beautiful, not super hot and humid like it has been, we had a great time being out together! Chad treated us all to dinner on the patio at Buffalo Wild Wings, which is a really popular place here. Its been really fun this summer to get out and see new places, Louisiana is only about 2 hrs away from us so it wasn't too bad of a trip, definately worth it!

They even had an aligator pond!

Taking some pictures along the river

The boys!

More pics of just the two of us

Chad, Kory, and Janet, the other wife out here

Tyler, the Turtle!

Ever since Chad moved to Tyler he has been eyeing the turtles in the swamp right by where we live. A few years ago he caught a turtle and he no longer has it, so he was determined to get a new one. We saw a little baby turtle no bigger than an inch and a half and knew this was the one for us. For 2 days Chad has tried to catch it with just his hands but it is too fast, so last night we went to Wal Mart and bought a net. This morning we went down and could not find the turtle, we killed some time at the pool and then went by again. This time one of the guys saw the turtle, Chad got into the swamp (which is SSSOOO gross) and after a few tries he got him! We didn't have an aquarium yet so we put him in a glass bowl for a few hours before we bought him his new home. It is a little sad because you could see how stressed he was in the bowl, and now all he does is hide. I really hope that he will warm up to us! So now I get to be a mom to a turtle, I guess that will have to do for now. Here are some pictures of the catch!

Proud Daddy!

The whole fam (joking)

Our recent trips!

Well we did it, put all of our stuff in storage, made a quick trip to California then drove from Utah to Texas. It was a LONG drive but it was nice to be with Chad. (This is probably going to sound like a daily log so bare with me!)

All of our stuff in storage

FOr Chads birthday we went to a Dodgers day game, it was really fun, we sat up in the nosebleeds with all the summer camp kids! I actually enjoyed being surrounded by all the kids, its funny to see how they just act and don't care how silly they look, very entertaining.

After the game we went to Grand Central Station in downtown LA, its a market with fresh fruit, and authentic Mexican food, Chad took the opportunity to partake of the Mexican food!

We then went to Santa Monica with Chad's parents to shop and eat at one of our favorite restaurants Houstons, we love the French Dip there! We definately crammed a lot in but that is what made his birthday so much fun!

The next day we went to Wildomar for Landon's birthday party! He called and invited me to his party and said "make sure you bring Chad!" He says the cutest things, while we were there he told me that when I'm done being married to Chad, he wants to marry me! I love this little boy! We got him a slip n slide for his birthday, he loved it, needed a little help sliding but he really enjoyed playing on it with Chad.

That night we went to the park and played volleyball, my family all LOVES to play and Chad has become a huge volleyball fan, I loved playing again!

We took a drive down the coast, started in Long Beach and ended up in San Clemente. In this picture we are at Huntington, we ate at BJs and I got a custom toe ring (its not that cool, it is just sized to your toe).

For the 4th Chad and I met up with my family and played beach volleyball for a couple hours, then we went back to his parents and had a bbq with them. I love that we are able to see both our families on the holidays!

Me and McKenna laying out on the beach!

My uncle, Chad, dad, and little brother Tanner talking about the Lakers, Im Sure! Well this was the end of our trip in California, we left early the next morning for our trip to Texas!

We stopped at this tourist restauraunt called The Big Texan, it was on the show Man vs. Food! Chad here is attempting the challenge, not really, didn't think that would be a good idea to eat 72 ozs of steak and then get back on the road for another 6 hrs!

Its been a little over a week since we got back to Tyler, TX and I have enjoyed it so far. I spend the majority of my day at the pool, reading, or working on my online cooking class I need to finish. Its pretty rough! After we are done in Texas we will go to California, then to Utah for graduation and then back to California, we are hoping home base will be in southern California! BOth of our families are there, the beach, volleyball, now I just need to secure a job and find a place-the easiest part right!