Road Trips!

Well this past weekend Kip and I decided that we needed to take some special time to celebrate our womanhood and manhood separately. I had the opportunity to hitch a ride with a good friend of mine Megan up to Utah, and Kip got to get together with the guys from CAMCE (California Association of Mine and Cave Explorers)and go check out a few new mines out in a place called Trona, it's north of us!
Kip and I LOVE to take trips together and ALWAYS have the time of our lives but every once in a while it is fun to get a good girls or boys trip in there. I think it is healthy for our relationship :) SO that is exactly what we did last weekend and by the end of the weekend we came back to one another TOTALLY MISSING each other!
So since I am the Lady and the one doing this post ME FIRST :)
Megan and I set off for good ol' Salt Lake at noon on Thursday right after my doctors appointment (which went well, I saw little Brooke move for the first time on the outside!!! I have never seen my belly move like that without me doing it and it was the coolest thing ever!!! I was SO EXCITED and the doctor was in the room kinda like "yeah lady that's what happens when the baby gets bigger" but it was the FIRST TIME I SAW IT and I needed SOMEONE to celebrate it with :) so he got to be that someone). Anyway, we get on the road with a TON of snacks that we just HAD to get, and set off! The drive was not nearly as bad as I had remembered it being. We stopped in Victorville to get some Lunch (which was really too late) and ate at Jack in the Box. Then on the road again. I did so good at holding my pee too!!! Once in St. George we stopped at Cafe Rio for the best food EVER!!! I got the salad and Megan the burrito and she said it tasted good there but apparently she was not too much of a fan, I find out later :( I think it is because the Jack in the Box was too close to our dinner and that is what made her tummy not happy. I have to stick up for my Cafe Rio! Anyway we both got some heartburn from the excess chocolate, fast food, cafe rio and sitting FOREVER and had some stinky burps that I just had to make sure I remembered, by adding that into my story!
We finally got to Salt Lake at midnight Utah time. My friend Shannon picked me up and took me back to her beautiful condo that she bought and we stayed up till like 2am talking!
The next morning we had home made muffins and headed down to Provo to remember the good ol' days of living in Provo! In reality I do not have that great of an attitude of me LIVING in Utah after being there the 3 years I did. But as we drove around I remembered so many good times and bad times, it was really fun to look back on what felt like a lifetime ago! Here is all the places I lived in Provo!

BROOKVIEW

I moved here when I was 19 years old! Here I had a pretty good experience! It was the most Ghetto of the apartments in the ward which was lame but what can you do? I experienced home sickness for the first time there but did not do too bad! My room mate was WEIRD!! She was not even dating anyone and had her wedding ring drawn out, designed, and appraised, her wedding dress picked out (she worked in a store selling them), her reception location picked, colors picked....and strangely had a shrine of TAMPONS on her desk! SO WEIRD!!!

THE COLONY
I totally recommend this place to live, super fun and cool! Loved the ward and my roommate was the best cook ever! I did have a near death experience while living here. I had a bad accident while rappelling and somehow only ended up with a broken right arm. The broken right arm kinda put a damper on the summer with no swimming, sports, and all that stuff I am into! BUT I WAS ALIVE!!! This is when I meet Shannon and Marie who are now life time friends!

SPARKS II
I moved in here with my friends Shannon and Marie which was super fun! I do have some GREAT memories of living here but some of the worst times of my entire life took place while living in Sparks II. My Grandpa died unexpectedly, who I was SUPER close to which got me depressed, then I decided to snap out of my sadness and become a new happy person again. In that act I decided to dye my hair and had a HORRIBLE allergic reaction (if any of you saw one of my first posts ever on this blog you will have seen the result of that)! I became deeply deeply depressed and would not leave my room unless it was to work. That is when I meet some of the most AMAZING guys EVER!!! I have so much to thank them for and at that point in life they really were my saviors, thanks Ryan and Bryan!!! So this is where I meet Ryan( later on he introduced me to my husband after dating both my sisters :) )!

At this point I moved home to be with my family and I was planning on going on a mission! While home my sister who was my BEST FRIEND EVER decided to move up there to Utah to be with her boyfriend ;)

CENTENNIAL
Back up to Utah (something I said I would NEVER DO) to be with my little sister who had gotten dumped only days after moving up to be with her boyfriend! She needed her big sister to help her through this and called me asking if I would come up... 2 weeks later I was her roommate! Her and I had GREAT times together playing in the snow, on the ice, going to ward activities! Pretty dang good memories I will never forget! But here near the end we started growing apart :(

KING HENRY

Here my sister and I had an apartment to ourselves but were complete strangers... a sad time :( BUT I had the BEST singles ward I think I have ever had and also got to live in the same ward as Bryan again! Him and I grew super close as friends here and I had some seriously GREAT memories!!! This place was my favorite of all the places I lived in Provo! I meet Philip Niu, another life long friend while playing basketball here!

Still living in King Henry but a different apartment! I became roommates with Effie who is another life long friend and I had a really good time while living here! I really can't think of anything too bad that happened while I lived here, other than my car getting totaled while being parked in my work parking lot. But the BEST thing about living in this apartment is that I meet KIP when living here!!! These are the stairs leading up to my apartment which is the top one! This is where I saw Kip for the very first time! Where my life changed forever!!! Right here on these steps!! So I took my pregnant self back there and got a picture in front of the very steps where I saw my prince charming for the first time :) 2 weeks after I meet him I moved to Corona and have been with him ever since!

Ok so since this is FOREVER LONG, but good for my journal keeping!!! Here are the pictures of everyone I saw while up there!This probably will be the most pictures of my pregnant face you will see on this blog at one time ;)
Shannon and I at Gendolfo's (a MUST HAVE for both breakfast and lunch)!

Joy and I at Cafe Rio (another MUST HAVE)!

Shannon was there too!

I spent Saturday night and all of Sunday with these WONDERFUL people!!!!
The Olayan Family Darren, Mel, Kaika, Roko, Koa, & Kalia!!! We had a blast hanging out telling old stories! GOOD TIMES with the Olayan Clan!!! O and good eat's too!

Mel, Me, and Janel, love those girls!

The other Olayan family was also there pretty much most of the time I was over at Mel and Darrens house! Jai was at work but here is a picture with me with Janel, Keala, Maka, and Kai!
Wish I would have gotten a picture with Sadie and Curtis :( But I did get to see them and Sadie is the cutest thing ever and I love her to death and Curtis, wow, he is a man now, SO WIERD!!

I got to visit Becky and her little family, Lance was at work! Here I am with Becky, Lance III, Rylie, & Halle! I miss Becky's sweet and such a happy spirit!

This is me and Jamie one of my old managers from like 5 years ago, we ran into him while eating at Red Robin where we all used to work!

Me with Garrett one of my other managers that is still a manager there 5 years later! SO CRAZY!!!

All of us that used to work together forever ago! Mandy, Alicia, Garrett, Me, and Shannon! So strange to go back in time like that!


So all in all the trip was super duper fun!!! I can't wait to go back and visit them all again! I loved all the Utah food that I miss and had fun remembering the old times! Thanks Megan for inviting me on the trip, it was super duper fun!

Now for Kip's trip!!! This will not be long because I was not there and boys do not take as many pictures :)
Kip went to a town called Trona which is an old mining town. He rode up with a guy named Larry that he meet from CAMCE who also happens to be a member of our church! Kip and Larry totally hit it off and have a great time together! Larry is a Cop and Kip almost a full time Firefighter so that is cool and people feel safe with them around! Kip also enjoys knowing that there are a few people there with the priesthood and that have the spirit with them and know how to listen to it! But that does not stop them from doing some pretty crazy stuff! Kip told me stories of the places they went and the crazy latters they went up but of course they can not take pictures in moments like that (and glad they didn't)! So here are some of the cool ones from his trip! He had a total blast and is going back out there for another boys trip soon! I can't wait till I can go with him again!
This is where Kip and Larry sleept! Kip was totally impressed with Larry's camp set up, it's called the Wilder Nest, I guess it is part of the camper shell. COOL!!!

This is Kip, Rob, and Larry all members of CAMCE!

Kip exploring some crazy abandon building!

Kip and Larry exploring together!

Getting ready to go in, a sign like this just get's Kip excited because this means it is going to be FUN!!!

Finding cool old stuff like an old shovel!

Larry going down!

Exploring a level!

Going up a super steep ladder!!!

Kip being his crazy self!

Some of the old buildings!


And that's all folks!!! We are both home safe and sound and as happy as ever to be back together! Gotta love the Road Trips though!!!
Sorry for the Novel!