Surprise!!!

What a wonderful day it has been!  I woke up in a slightly grumpy mood. Not horribly grumpy, just not really in the best mood.  After a few minutes of being awake, making pancakes for Zack and me, and cleaning up breakfast, Zack told me to get ready for the day. I asked him why, and he said don't worry about it!  After a little prodding, I finally jumped into the shower.  Then I got ready and had no idea what to wear.  After some complaining and some "kind encouragement" from me, Zack chose what clothes I should wear. Some jean shorts and a plain purple shirt and flip flops. He gave nothing away. Then we got into the car, and he drove us...... wait for it........


To the Zoo!!!!!  Yes, there is a zoo in South Bend! It was so exciting!!! I have the sweetest husband ever who likes to surprise his childish wife with a trip to the Zoo. Oh, and thats not to mention the part of how he sneakily packed us lunches and waters to eat while we were there. He is so sweet!  How lucky am I??  All in all it was a wonderful day! Well, I know it is annoying to hear people droll on about how wonderful their life, so I will stop bragging and get on with the pictures!

This funny tiny little monkey looks like an old man does he not??

So happy at the Zoo together!!

This is an Amur Leapord. I just want to say, I guessed right, Zack guessed wrong. :)

OOh these were cool! I never realized Kangaroos can't really walk... they only jump! Sounds tiring to me!

I was a little shocked to see prarie dogs in a zoo!!! Go to Southern Utah and golf and you will see them everywhere!!

I think this is my first time seeing one of these in real life!

This was another first for me!! I mean, I have seen a mexican Zebra, but as it turns out, a mexican Zebra is just a donkey painted to look like a Zebra. These were real ones! Smaller than I expected though.

This is a monkey's booty! It looks like a big callous. I wonder if that is because they sit on hard uncomfortable surfaces too much?

Same monkey but from a less flattering angle ;)

A LION!!!!!!  This was really really cool!!!

Stopped for lunch!!! It was such a good day!

We were growling like tigers! In front of the Zoo!

Zack growling like a tiger, I missed the memo on this one because I was so excited for my surprise!

And the tiger we were pretending to be!

They were cuddling! It was cute!

Lessons learned.

Well. Let me tell you. Driving almost 2000 miles with a truck an trailer with your husband... You learn a lot. Please let me list for you some of the things we learned.
1. ALWAYS check your tire pressure before a long drive.
2. PSI listed on your tire is to be measured when tires are cold, or in other words, when you have not been driving. The PSI goes up when you drive, so there is no need to let air out if you measure and they are high after driving for a while.
3. As a car, NEVER get gas in a diesel fill up point. Save those for trucks.
4. It is VERY hard to maneuver a truck and trailer to get in and out of gas stations.
5. Aspen, CO is absolutely beautiful!
6. Driving through the rocky's is not nearly as scary as people tell you. It's just beautiful!
7. There are really long tunnels to drive through on this drive. Very hard to hold your breath through te whole thing. (however I am please to announce I did the longest one ever and only cheated with one small breath! )
8. NEVER stop in Davenport. Especially if you need diesel. Their signs are not accurate. (either that or zack and I are slow but I am choosing to believe the first option)
9. Budget trucks do not have iPod hook ups or cd player or anything, just am/fm radio For. The. Whole. Drive... Awesome.
10. iPhone's can just randomly die on you. And not turn back on. Ever. Not my favorite feeling.
11. I you make a wrong turn in a 24 foot truck with a trailer, good luck making a U turn! Not really something you should attempt.

We had quite a few near disasters on our trip. From flat tires to almost running out of gas and not being able too find a place to fill up, to phones dying. We were very blessed to not come across any actual disasters. And honestly the most important lesson we learned is, well, Miley Cyrus says it perfectly, Life's what you make it. So let's make it rock! While we had frustrating moments and at times we felt like we would never get to our new place, we got here! Safely! And along the way we got to see some good friends and family. And if that's not enough, Zack and I got to spend a lot of time together, just talking and getting to know each other again. After 4 months of being apart, it was much needed time. So going back to Miley's quote, we could focus on the stressful times and be distraught about leaving family and friends behind, or we could make this move rock for us! So I choose rock. We are making life rock here in South Bend, IN. Pictures will be soon to follow of our new place and apartment!
Til next time!

The beautiful drive!

Here are some of the pictures we took along the drive. See how beautiful it was?! And this is excluding the pictures we took going through Colorado which was definitely the prettiest part! But ere is the second half of our drive. So great to spend the time on the road together!

On the road!

Well we are officially out of Utah!! We had a very scary experience. Well at least I did. I'm just playin on my phone when all of a sudden Zack hit the brakes and went off the side of the road! I was very nervous! However he just saw this sign and wanted to take pictures of us leaving Utah. Such a sentimental man I have! And how grateful because it was a great fun memory to have! Here are the pictures!!






On a real note.... We really did have a scary experience. As i tell this story remember this: we have no experience pulling a trailer period, but this is what we are driving.




A giant basically a semi, and a car on a trailer. We were driving in construction and all of a sudden there is a cone in the middle of the highway! The construction is down to one lane so there is nowhere to go but off the road! So we did. Then we had to get back on the road. As we tried to do so we felt the whole trailer start to fishtail. Lucky for me Zack is a great driver and able to recover it all. But we both thought we were gonna flip for sure!! But we were blessed to be safe! Til next time!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Spanish Fork,United States

Starting Anew

Well I have attempted this whole blog thing once before and I failed miserably. I never seemed to update our website. However, with us moving across the country I have decided that I will turn over a new leaf and start a new blog so that all who are far away can keep up on our lives! I am not promising that this will be interesting, but it is going to be a little reflection of our lives, so that all those who want to stay in touch and know all about our lives can.

As we are waiting to take off, we have realized how much our family means to us.  We are really going to miss our sweet kids and siblings and parents.  At times we wonder how we will make it along without you all.  Luckily, however, when one of us is having a little nervous breakdown, the other has been head over heels excited to leave so we are able to straighten each other out and remind the other of why it will all be ok.  First of all, we are so lucky to have each other.  When times are rough for me, Zack is always there to pick me back up, and when he is having a hard day... wait, never mind, Zack never has hard days.  He is the most positive hard working, happy, attractive man that ever walked on the planet.  (he does occasionally have a hard day, and I do my very best to be positive and help him through his struggles too).  We also have a ton of support from home, which I'm sure we will rely on.  However, most importantly, we know that we have the support of our Heavenly Father.  It is not by chance that we met each other, then met the Bensons, who talked Zack into applying to Notre Dame, and then that he was accepted.  I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing us for this time for a while now, and we are ready to accept the challenge!  We know that we will be in for a great journey this next year as we learn to rely solely on each other while living about 2,000 miles away from our family.

I will be a nanny for a family with one little girl, Molly until October when her mother has another baby, and then I will have a 2 year old and a brand new baby to look after  This is a blessing in itself. I will be able to provide for our monthly needs and maybe even put a little tiny bit into savings.  It is more than we could have hoped for as I will be able to complete my student teaching while the mother is on maternity leave.  It could not have been planned any better. We are very fortunate.

Zack of course is going to be very busy with school.  He is thinking he might want to get a job in the fall after the crazy summer semester, but I'm not sure that will really be an option with how intense the program is.  I guess we will have to wait and see how the summer goes!


Anyways, tomorrow we will have our "last supper" with the Ellsworth side of the family, head back up to Cedar City, pack a bit, then wake up early to go to Provo to pick up the moving truck, bring it back and fill it with all of our stuff, sleep, then Tuesday we will be on our way to South Bend! We are very excited!


That being said, I am going to get some sleep.  In the mean time, I will try to upload some pictures into this post to make it less boring!