Weekend Getaway

Jared and I left last Friday morning (8/20) and drove to Tunica Falls in the Clark Creek Natural Area, in southwest Mississippi, which is just 55 miles north of Baton Rouge. We got all ready for our hike and walked to the trail head and saw that we needed to pay $3. So Jared went back to the car to be honest and pay the fee and locked the key in the car. It was sitting right there on the front seat. Thankfully, the guy who lived just across the street from the trailhead was standing by the road, talking on his cell phone, and saw that we had locked ourselves out of the car and he offered to help. He was so nice, going back and forth from our car to his work shed to get stuff to help. We used crowbar to pry the top of the door open just enough to fit a hanger and an old car antenna through. They tried to push the unlock button on the key itself, then tried to push the unlock button on the door and were successful, after 30 min., in hitting the button on the key again. So we finally got in the car, got the money and started on our hike.

There are three waterfalls on the main trail and several others on longer, more primitive trails. We had just planned on doing those first three. We saw the first two waterfalls and somehow took the wrong trail trying to get the third one. We came to the stream and decided that, instead of going back up the trail, we'd take off our shoes and wade up the river to the third waterfall. Well, we hiked up the river quite a ways and got to a waterfall, which we discovered was not the one we were looking for, ha ha. There wasn't a trail to it, and we didn't want to walk all the back down the river, so we scaled the side of the ravine! I was terrified at some points but we finally made up the side (we're guessing it was a few hundred feet, and it was at quite a steep incline!). There were a couple of points that made me think I wouldn't be able to go up any further but there was no way I was gonna try to go down, either!

In one spot, there was a rock that was as tall as I am! I had to use some natural holes in it as footholds and, with the help of Jared pushing me up, I hoisted myself up there. SO SCARY! Then, I used a thick stick I found to help pull Jared up. One slip and we could have fallen and gotten really hurt or worse. There was also a spot near the top where Jared was climbing up and started to slip back but he threw one of his shoes to the side and grabbed onto a tree to save himself. I can laugh about it now but, in the moment, I thought for sure he was gonna fall to his death! We were pretty muddy by the time we made it to the top and I had mud caked in all of my fingernails and toenails from clawing and scraping at the earth and tree roots to climb up. It was our favorite part of the trip! :)

Here are some pics from the hike:

Waterfall #1:

Waterfall #2:Waterfall #5 (I think it's the 5th waterfall, we're not really sure which one we hiked up the river to):
After the hike:

After we got back to the trail head and cleaned up in the bathrooms, we drove to Natchez. By the time we got there and finished eating lunch, it was after 4:00, so all the antebellum home tours were over. We went to the visitor center and got some brochures, then drove around Natchez to a few of the homes and just took pictures. Here are some of them:

We then drove to Vicksburg, found a hotel room, and went and ate dinner. The next morning, we went to the National Military Park, which commemorates the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg during the Civil War. There's a 16-mile tour road with over 1,340 monuments, a restored Union gunboat, and National Cemetery along the way. We learned lots of interesting facts about the Civil War.

The Union soldier cemetary:

After leaving the park, we drove to the visitor center, where they gave us a map for a driving tour of the city. Along the way, we saw a sign for the Confederate soldier cemetery and decided to visit it:
We then followed the tour, stopping at several historical homes to take pictures. We next went back to the hotel room to freshen up and decide where to eat dinner; we decided on a casino buffet--it was good but not great. Jared liked the crab legs, though. Their frog legs were gross but the shrimp and crab cakes were good. We were exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel room! It was a hot, humid day and all of the sweating wiped us out.

The next morning, we went to church at the Vicksburg Ward, then drove 40 miles of the Natchez Trace to Natchez. We stopped at Mount Locust along the way:
Once we got to Natchez, we ate lunch and went and toured Longwood Plantation:
Then, we headed home and arrived at our home, where the temp inside the house was 95!!! The a/c had gone out the morning we left but we weren't sure that it was actually broken so we just left. It was apparently out all weekend. Poor Chloe (my cat) was in the house all weekend alone and hot. :( I could tell she was miserable when we got home. A friend of Jared's came over and looked at it and discovered that the relay was broken. He showed us how to get it to kick on. Thank goodness, because we called an a/c repair co. on Monday and they ordered the part but it still hasn't arrived so they aren't gonna fix it until this coming Monday now! Argh!!! At least we can get it to kick on to keep the house cool most of the time. Sometimes it will stay on for hours and sometimes it will only stay on for a few minutes and we have to keep going outside to get it started. I can't wait for it to be fixed.

Anyway, we had so much fun together on our trip. It was really nice to get away and spend time together. I hope we get to do it again soon.

I leave for Utah on Wed., 9/1! Woohoo! I get to see Jared's mom and two of his sisters and their families that first day. On 9/6, I leave with Kiki's family to go to Disneyland and my parents are meeting us there. We go back to Utah on the 11th and I will spend another week in Utah. On the 14th, I will get to go to the appt. to find out the sexes of the babies. I can't wait!!!! I invited Jared's mom and my two sisters to go with me (with permission from the birth mom, of course). It's gonna be so exciting! I am also looking forward to seeing friends and staying with Kiki and her family. I feel so lucky! I just wish Jared were going with me. He hates Disneyland, though, which is why I always go by myself with Kiki's family (this will be my third time going to DL with her). I will try to post pictures along the way so I don't have such long blog posts. :) TTFN!!!

July

July started with Jared going on a trip to Utah. One of our nephew's was blessed on the 4th and there was a family reunion. I had just gone to Utah in April and I'm going again in Sept., so I stayed home because I couldn't find any really cheap plane tickets. On the 3rd, Jared got to go to a July 4th pancake breakfast and parade with nieces, nephews, his mom, a sister, and grandpa and they went and saw fireworks that night; he had also gone to the family reunion at Grandpa Ted's house. On the 4th, he went to the baby blessing and get-together afterward, then went and visited my sister, Kiki, and her family for a bit. On the 5th, he went to lunch with some of his roommates from Ricks College. On the 6th, he went fishing with Grandpa Ted and Jason and caught lots of trout! On the 7th, Jared and two of his sisters' families, his mom, and brother camped out at Grandpa Lingmann's. On the 8th, he and Jason went to Utah Valley and visited Kiki and Nikki and went and played at Nickelcade. On the 9th, he hung out with his dad for a while, then started his drive home. His company needed a truck from Salt Lake City and, when they found out he would be in Utah, they asked him to drive it to Baton Rouge. So he left that Friday and got home on Sunday. It was a great trip for him. Some pics from his trip:

I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads my blogs knows this already but, if not:
Jared found while he was in Utah (on 7/2) that we were chosen to adopt. He finally told me on the 5th (my birthday)--he didn't tell me earlier because he was with family the whole weekend and didn't have a good opportunity to tell me. He got home on the 11th and on the 13th, the birth mom called and told us she had an ultra-sound that day and that it was twins! We were laughing and crying and speechless but OH SO HAPPY! The original due date was Feb. 8 but, since we now know it's twins, the due date will most likely be up to four weeks earlier. I will probably fly out to Utah the first week of January and wait for the babies to be born, then stay until the adoption is final. Jared will come as soon as he can after they are born and for the finalization of the adoption.

We had a hard time getting Jared's and my dad's schedules to line up so we weren't able to tell my family until 7/25 (we also told all of our other family that weekend). We got videos of us telling my family here in Louisiana and it was hilarious! Jared wore a t-shirt with the "we're adopting" from above and I wore the "2 peas in a pod" t-shirt. You can see them going nuts in these videos:




We told my sister, Kiki, about the adoption while Jared was in Utah (I was on Skype with her); we didn't get that on video but we did video me telling her about the twins:


On 7/15 I got to spend a few hours with just Brenna. We played on the marimba, colored, and took Praia for a walk by the pond. She's quite the cute, spunky little girl and chatters a lot!
I have to show off this apron that Kiki made and gave to me for my birthday. Isn't it awesome??? It's too pretty to wipe my hands on! :)
On the 22nd, I watched both Brenna and Belle for a few hours. We watched a movie (with popcorn and everything), colored and drew pictures, and played a lot.

This video is of Brenna holding a stuff cat that meows and hisses:

This one is her telling me how a wasp stung her arm. Does she not have the cutest voice ever???


Our 11th anniversary was on 7/23!!! We celebrated on the 24th by going to our ward Pioneer Day pancake breakfast, going shopping together, going to his boss' house (where we took the picture below) to tell his wife about the adoption, and going out to eat for dinner at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro.


Last weekend, my cousin, who is a Marine, was in town with his wife and new baby and I got to see them at a baby shower for them. It was fun seeing a couple of my cousins. They have really cute kids but it's still hard to believe how grown up all of my younger cousins are! It makes me feel old, ha ha. I'm the oldest grandchild, BTW.

August will seem very long, not just because of horrid heat and humidity down here--heat indexes up to the 120's!!!--but because we are on pins and needles waiting to find out the sexes of the babies. I'm also anxious for my trip to Utah, during which I'm going to Disneyland with Kiki and her family, lots of her in-laws, and my parents; I leave on Sept. 1. Lots of good stuff going on!!! :)

Win a Silhouette!

If you don't know what that is, it's a digital cutting machine and can do really awesome crafts!!! Go to Silhouette Giveaway at Sugardoodle to find out more.