Last Week In Iowa

After Ben's last day of work, we packed up our cars and headed off to Ben's parents' home for our last week in Iowa. The week was filled with food, croquet, and family bonding. We had loads of fun!  As mentioned in the last blog post, I made sure to take some pictures of us with our croquet mallets/balls. The competition was pretty stiff.  Kristin and Gary (Ben's parents) put up a good fight and Ben's brother, Jared, joined in on a few games too.  We haven't even been gone a week and we miss playing with them!

Another of our favorite things to do while at the Wenzel home is eat sweet corn.  It wasn't quite ready when we were there for the 4th of July, so we were happy to see the local farmer's sign out saying it was ready to buy.  Sweet corn combined with home grown tomatoes and cucumbers and bbq pulled pork made for the perfect meal! I regret not eating more corn or bringing some with us when we moved.  Live and learn, live and learn.

One of the highlights of this trip was taking family pictures (I say that with sincerity and a bit of sarcasm, is that possible?)  I was more than happy to take pictures but the Wenzel boys were not as enthusiastic.  Luckily the session was quick and painless and it will be fun to see them once they are done.  I'll try to post a few contingent on how good I look, just kidding, I'll try and post them once we get them.

After spending a week with Ben's family, we headed off into the darkness on Thursday (literally, we left by 5:45am) and started our journey to Utah.  If you are interested in what the road trip looks like, please refer to one of the previous travel posts.  It is nothing exciting.  We drove for 13.5 hours the first day and 4.5 hours the second.  We brought 2 cars with us, which meant that neither of us got breaks from driving, but we made it safely and exhausted.  We got to Provo, UT on Friday, moved into our apartment, and crazily unpacked our cars.  Then, with the help of our wonderful cousins, we unpacked our storage unit.  Afterwards, we drove to visit my sister and her family and then headed back to our apartment to straighten up our belongings so our furniture could be delivered on Monday.  The next morning we loaded one of our cars again and headed to CA where we currently are visiting my parents. 29 hours in 3 days...I don't recommend that to anyone, but I do recommend visiting family! The drives have been well worth it. 

Ben will start his last semester at BYU in a couple weeks, and we are excited for what the future holds. Hopefully it holds a full time job for him and babies for me...just kidding on the babies.  Hopefully it holds jobs for both of us and an apartment with air conditioning! (We lack air conditioning in Provo and it's a little depressing.) Make sure to check our blog in about a week! I'll be posting about our adventures with my family, including but not limited to, white water rafting, El Tejaban, and pool side lounging.  I love California!

XOXO, Kristen

Goodbye My Lover

Goodbye My Lover. Can anyone name who sings that song? For those of you who can't, it's James Blunt.  Remember: You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful to me... That guy. Sadly, I'm a fan of his.  I'm not sure what I like about him or his songs, but I'll admit I'm listening to him on YouTube as I write this little blog post.  (Disclaimer, I have never actually watched the music videos so if they are inappropriate I'm sorry...and if the lyrics are inappropriate, I'm sorry again...maybe I should listen to something else...)  I was trying to think about what to title this blog post and was thinking about saying goodbye to our wonderful friends in Iowa as we get ready to move this week. Then I thought of this song.  Poor Ben has to put up with my ramblings, which have increased recently, along with my poor memory. OKAY, on to the post.  I'll post a few things from each month in hopes of making up for not blogging since May.


JUNE

Ben golfed a lot this summer.  I'm not a huge fan of golfing, but I enjoy being outside and watching him have fun.

We also spent time exploring the area and went to the John Deere Pavilion where you can learn about the history of John Deere.  

We went to eat at a place called The Machine Shed, pretty good, but mostly I loved the atmosphere. Very farm-esque.

We also checked out the local farmers market, which I absolutely loved.  There were even samples of fruit with chili powder and salt, it took me back to spending time at our neighbors house when I was in elementary school and junior high. 

JULY

We spent the 4th of July at Ben's parents' house and it was so much fun.  We spent our days outside, doing yard work and enjoying the weather, we made s'mores, caught lightening bugs, and enjoyed spending time together. (We also played croquet, which we loved! I didn't get any pictures though, maybe this next week we will play again)

We also decided to buy a mattress! We currently don't own one, so we were excited to start looking for one.  We slept on a full sized bed for the first 8 months of our marriage and a queen sized bed for the past 4 months.  After testing tons of beds, we finally decided on a super comfy king sized bed.  We are thrilled to be sleeping with more room and hopefully we will both sleep a little better.

At the end of July, we decided to go to Nauvoo, IL, to see the Nauvoo temple and pageant.  We drove down on a Friday and stayed the night so we could walk around on Saturday.  It was lots of fun to go away for a day and learn more about the history of the early Latter Day Saints.  We stopped at a yummy fudge shop and a nice man in the pageant gave us 2nd row seats for the pageant! One of the souvenirs we brought home from Nauvoo was The Family A Proclamation To The World, carved on a huge piece of wood!

Click here to read the Proclamation

AUGUST

We are moving this Friday and can't believe how quickly the summer has gone by.  Ben will finish his internship on Friday and we will leave that same day to spend a few days with his parents before we go visit my parents and then head back to BYU.  Ben has one more semester until he graduates and we are hopeful that he will get a full time job with John Deere, in which case we will be headed back to Iowa in January.  Lots of moving for this family.  I have decided to not unpack when we get back to Provo in order to make the moving process in January a little easier.  Who needs decorations on their Wymount Terrace cinder block walls anyway? We have really loved Iowa and it has been so fun for us to grow closer in a new place.  A little less than 2 weeks until we celebrate being marred for a year and we are so excited for what the future has in store.  

Until next time!

Kristen