The Cutest Old Man Ever!

Today Jack and I went on a hike above the temple here in Bountiful. It was a beautiful day and the hike was fantastic! Although, I have to admit, I am in way worse shape than I thought I was. As I was climbing cardiac hill (my nickname for the hike) I honestly thought my heart was going to stop! It was so much fun though. Once at the top, the view was absolutely breathtaking. You could see forever from up there. The mountains this year are extraordinarily green and so much more beautiful than usual.
On my way down the mountain, I could hear music playing pretty loudly. It had drums, string instruments, and a trumpet and was kind of like old jazz music. I just figured that it was a bunch of kids practicing for their band. Once I got to the parking lot, I found out where the music was coming from. There sitting in a little camp chair was this old man. The back of his mini van was open and there were four large speakers sitting there. He was playing a trumpet to the back drop of the other instruments. I walked up to him and told him how much I loved that kind of music. He immediately stood up and came over to talk to me. He had a hat on that indicated he was an air force pilot. He told me that he was 88 years old and retired air force pilot. He told me he had been to three different wars. He then proceeds to tell me that he was the only pilot in his group who didn't smoke or drink and that instead he used music for stress reduction. He told me that his trumpet he was playing was 70 years old. He told me his wife had severe dementia and didn't know him anymore and so for his stress reduction, he would come up to the mountains and blast his peaceful music and play the trumpet. It was so cute to run into him. What a sweet man! He was very talented and I truly enjoyed listening to him.

My cute new nephew Isacc

I am a proud aunt to a brand new baby boy. My sister Brooke had a c section yesterday and Isacc was born at around 2ish in the afternoon. Isn't he just the cutest little baby. I am so excited to see him. What a precious little boy!

Don't you just love modern technology

I just can't get away from AZ!!! Yup, that's me driving in the photo! The three things that make me the most angry about this $161 ticket from the city of Tempe is that #1, it happened on my very last day in AZ. #2, It happened on my way to drop off hundreds of dollars worth of stuff to the Salvation army. (No good deed goes unpunished). #3, there was no posted speed limit sign until after the camera. How fair is that?
So, Arizona's going away gift to me is a huge fine by way of the U.S. postal service. I am really bugged about this.

Sunrise in South Carolina

It is my last day here in beautiful South Carolina. It has been such a fun trip. Honestly one of my favorite places I have ever been. It is so beautiful here. It is a unique place to come to.

This morning we awakened bright and early so that we could go out and check out the sunrise. I thought It was very interesting how the sun rose over the hotels. It was fun to see.

Charleston, South Carolina

Today we took the drive south from Myrtle Beach to Charleston. It is a long drive, but it is a pretty drive. I guess I didn't realize how it is out here, but we had to cross several bridges to get to Charleston. They have all of these intercoastal waterways and so there are bridges everywhere. I was very surprised. We had a lot of fun in Charleston. It is a really cute city with fun houses and architecture. We went shopping in the farmers market that they have there. It was a lot of fun. They are famous for their sweet grass baskets that they weave. It is fascinating to watch them as they weave. It would be really hard work. But they are very good at it. We were also able to find other fun things local to the area. I found a really cute necklace that is made out of blown glass and is hand painted. I really love it. Afterwards, we went and took a walk around the area. They have a road here that is famous that is called Rainbow Row. We were able to take several pics of that area. It was really cute. On the way home from Charleston, we passed by the most beautiful lily pads on the side of the road. I don't know why I have an obsession with them, but I think that they are fantastic. Enjoy.

Fun in the Sun-So. Carolina

Today was so incredibly much fun! We started out by driving South of Myrtle Beach to a town called Georgetown. It was a fun drive and we were able to see some of the beauties of South Carolina. It really is beautiful here! The foilage is so thick on the sides of the road that the trees and grass literally come up to within twenty feet of the street. You would not want to walk through there, I am sure there are scary critters in there. But it makes for a nice drive. I'll bet it is fantastic here in the fall.

Georgetown is a really cute little town right on one of the intercoastal waterways. The houses here are so cute. We headed to the water where we were going to take a boat ride out to one of the uninhabited (by people....plenty of critters) little barrier islands. The caption of the boat was named Cap'n Rod and he was great! He was very entertaining and told tons of stories about the old plantations and other things as we went by. He gave us some of the history of So. Carolina and even showed us an old sunken civil war ship. On the way out to the island, we saw several baby dolphins swimming in the water. They were so fun to watch. They are one of my favorite animals. They were adorable. We also saw several different species of birds. He tried to find an alligator for us with no luck, darn. He kept talking about if the boat sank (why would you do that?) that the alligators would get us. That was very comforting.

Once on the island, we were able to go in search of seashells. They tout this tour as the best place to get sea shells. We were not disappointed! There were tons of conch shells, clam shells, and even some sand dollars. It was a lot of fun! This was a great tour! I am not normally a tour person, but this was fantastic. What a fun day.

Afterwards, we headed to our favorite place to get dinner here, Fire Island Grill. It is a fantastic little place that serves delicious meat, and even better sweet potato fries (the secret to the sweet potato fries is all the cinnamon and sugar they put on top of them....delicious). I got a rack of BBQ ribs. They were so yummy.

Alligators and Golf

Today was a lot of fun. This morning we went to a place called Alligator Adventure. It is a zoo for reptiles and other scary critters. It was really cool. The grounds were beautiful and were surrounded by trees and waterways. At the park, they first did an alligator feeding. Basically they brought out big pieces of chicken meat and fed the alligators. It was fun to see. The alligators were kind of jumping for the food. It was crazy! In the park they have the largest croc in the world. He was huge. You would not want to be left alone with him. They also have the worlds only albino alligator population. They were kindof cool looking.

Afterwards, we headed to Hawaiian Rumble miniature golf course to play a round of golf. We had a lot of fun. It was so incredibly hot though. I'll bet it was at least 90 with 95-100% humidity. It was sweltering. But it was a really fun course. We had a great time. The course had a hawaiian theme and so it had beautiful flowers, palm trees, and waterfalls flowing throughout. It was a fun thing to do. Of coarse I came in third place. What did you expect with the two competitive women that I went with? (: Golfing is definitely not my forte, but I did have the time of my life.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

My mom, aunt Sandy, and I headed for a fun filled vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Friday. It has been so incredibly much fun! We started out the day on saturday at an outlet mall. What could be better than an entire outlet mall full of sales? We had a good time there, but quickly became tired. So we decided to head back to our hotel and take a walk on the beach. The beach is beautiful and was absolutely fantastic. The sand is like flour. It is so fine and so soft. I love it! Plus they have dunes on the beach that have beach grass growing out of them. You know the photographer in me, I can't help but love to take pics of scenes like that. It was great! Also, something that surprised me about the water here, is that it is warm. I was all prepared to be frozen by the water and it was so nice and warm.We ate at a place called Islamoreda Fish Company for lunch. It was a fun place to eat with really yummy food. I actually ended up ordering Grilled chicken. You know how much I love seafood. We all went away happy about that place.

Today, we got up early and headed off to go to church. My mom had mapquested it beforehand and we just followed the directions that it gave us. They were not right. It was like a wild goose chase. We drove around for a while and then just gave up and went to lunch.

Today again we spent a lot of time on the beach. We just walked up and down the beach in the water looking for seashells and taking photos. It was very relaxing and very fun.

I am having an absolute blast on this trip. It has been so much fun and so relaxing. It is really beautiful here. I love the ocean. It is so nice to sit and watch the ocean and listen to the peaceful sounds. I love the ocean.