Ghetto-Fabulous

Yesterday I made a short road trip to Tucson to help my BFF move back to Mesa after living in Tuscon for 4 years. I have made many road trips to this ghetto-fabulous(best word(s) to describe it) town and every time have had so much fun! This time was no different, I got there and we went out to eat at a mexican restaurant with the rudest waitress ever who seriously had issues with splitting a check 3 ways. We visited the walmart, spent some money I don't have, then headed back to Elspeth's (BFF) apartment for a serious 4 hour dance party! Found out I can seriously shake my butt just like Beyonce (almost)! Since all the other girls had already moved out of the apartment, the only furniture left was a sofa, a nightstand, and a picnic table and benches. I had to sleep on the floor which was concrete, but Elspeth did give me pillows off the sofa to put underneath me which helped my upper and lower half of my body just not my hips! This morning we packed all of her stuff (which was a TON!) into her mini-van and my Ford Escape. While packing these two guys wearing pretty decent clothes came to the dumpster at the apartment complex and started foraging for who knows what. One actually jumped inside the dumpster and went deep down in to find stuff. He came out with laundry detergent, soap, and a cooking pan and some other random things, they dug through that trash can for a LONG time! I came to the conclusion that they were probably going to make meth. Only in Tucson would you see this at 9 am on a friday. It was one of the funnier things I have ever seen in my life! The thing I love about road tripping it to Tucson is that you see and do the most random things that keep you entertained while you are here! Tucson is just so ghetto-fabulous in my mind!

LDS Church History Tour

This past week my 2 sisters, parents, and I were able to go on a Church History Tour. It started last wednesday on the 15th and we came home this wednesday on the 22nd. We flew into Rochester, New York to begin our tour. We met our tour guides there who just happened to be my old seminary teacher and his wife. Completely random! The next day we were off to Palmyra, New York. Our first stop was the Whitmer Farm, then we went and saw the Grandin Press Building where the Book of Mormon was published. I have such new respect for that book because of the process it went through to be published so it could be available to us and in all the different languages today. After this we headed out to the Smith Family Farm Village, here we were able to see the Smith Family Farm, the Sacred Grove and the Palmyra Temple. That night we visited the Hill Cumorah, went to the visitors center and watched the Pageant. It was a very good pageant but I like the Easter Pageant here in Mesa so much better, I always feel so much when I see that Pageant and I just didn't at the Hill Cumorah. The next day we were able to drive to see Niagara Falls which has nothing to do with Church History but it was a special treat for us! It is so amazing to see one of the natural wonders of the world! It is so beautiful! We were able to go on the Maid of the Mist and get up close to the Horseshoe falls, which goes from the United States to Canada in, well, a horseshoe shape. After we were done with Niagara Falls, we had to drive for about 3 hours to get to Ohio, where we stopped in an Amish town called MiddleField and ate dinner at an Amish restaurant. It was so weird to see horses and buggies on the same streets as car. I thought they were in their own secluded area away from modern technologies but they are in the middle of regular neighborhoods, that shows how naive I am. The next morning we went out to the Morley Farm, then off to Historic Kirtland. The church has done such a great job of restoring things that we had in the past for us to view and learn from now. We were able to go through the Kirtland Temple because the Community of Christ owns it now so they give tours. That night we headed back to the Morley Farm for a delicious bbq! Sunday came the next day and was another travel day, we flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Kansas City, Missouri. We than drove to Independence to see the temple lot and the visitor's center, also the Community of Christ church owns land here as well and they have a museum with some original artifacts from the 1800's in their temple. After this visit we made our way to Liberty Jail where we could go through the visitor's center. Monday we made our way to Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman and were met by Dr. Wayne Brickey who educated us more on these two amazing places! We had to travel another 4 hours to make it to Nauvoo, stopping along the way for lunch and bathroom breaks. We ate dinner in Nauvoo and were able to look at some shops. Our hotel that night was actually in Iowa and we had to drive across the Mississippis River to get to it. The next day was our last full day on the tour and was a free day of Nauvoo, our wonderful bus driver drove people back and forth from place to place all day! He was truly amazing! There is so much to do in Nauvoo and we loved it. We saw a few videos in the Visitor's Center, went on a wagon ride that takes you all over Historic Nauvoo. We went on a tour by the Community of Christ, they own the Joseph Smith Mansion House, the Homestead, and the Red Brick Store House. Our tour guide was fabulous! Lunch was at a cute cafe in new Nauvoo and then we headed back down to Historic Nauvoo to do some tours of some of the buildings. Brigham Young House, Heber C. Kimball House, The Bakery, and The Gunsmith Shop to name a few. We ate dinner up in New Nauvoo at the Hotel Nauvoo and had a delicious buffet! We then made it back down once again to Historic Nauvoo and saw Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo which was put on by the senior missionary couples, and after this was the Nauvoo Pageant. Me and my dad didn't see this because we stayed on the bus and rested, I was not feeling good and I think my dad was tired from all the walking he had been doing for past week. My 2 sisters and mother saw it and said it was very good. Our very last day of the tour we headed off to Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were murdered. It was a very interesting and moving to see this place where our first prophet was killed after he had done so much for our church and was always persecuted for it. Me and my family had to rent a car to get to the airport because our flight left way earlier than the rest of the people on the tour and they were stopping in Hannibal, MO to see the Mark Twain Historic Sight. We made it home safely and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity I had. I have a new found appreciation for our church and for the leaders of it. It has helped me believe in this church even more than I did before.

Here are some photos from our trip: In my parentals hotel room, it was literally in the middle of the room.
Whitmer Farm
Whitmer Farm
Eerie Canal

Walking back to the bus from the canal, haha

Smith Family Farm

Sacred Grove

Palmyra Temple

Hill Cumorah Stage

Niagara Falls

Maid of the Mist

American Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Amish people

In front of an Amish restaurant Historic Kirtland, Newel K. Whitney Store

Family photo in Kirtland

Kirtland Temple

Independence, Missouri

Reflections of Christ, this was my favorite picture

Liberty Jail

Far West

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

Hotel Nauvoo

Wagon ride

Nauvoo Temple

Wagon

Joseph Smith Mansion

Heber C. Kimball House

I liked this quote. "Patience is heavenly, obedience is noble, forgiveness is merciful, and exaltation is godly, and he that holds out faithful in the end shall in no wise lose his reward. A good man will endure all things to honor christ, and even dispose of the whole world. and all in it to save his soul."-Joseph Smith

Door at Carthage Jail with the bullet holes in them

Family in front of Carthage Jail

Cousins Wedding

On June 25th my cousin Kira Gilleo got married in the Mesa, AZ Temple. I am so excited for her to be married and I am so proud that she got married in the Temple. The wedding like I said was on June 25th and then the reception was that saturday in Kingman, AZ. So my parents, two sisters and me made our way to Kingman on friday afternoon and hung out with my favorite family The Gilleo's. The next day my family and I made the 45 minute drive to Laughlin, Nevada to do some gambling! This was my first time gambling since I turned 21. We played bingo and won absolutely nothing, which was a bummer. However my luck changed when we went to play the slots and my mom gave me 10 dollars and I won 50 bucks!! One of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me! I gave my mom 10 dollars back and got to keep 40 for myself! After that we headed back to Kingman and helped set up the reception at the church for that night. The reception was nice and lots of people from their town came to give their congratulations and my three boy cousins were such good sports the whole day! They had to basically put everything together and then be presentable that night for everyone! They didn't complain once! They didn't have a photographer at the reception so I took some pictures on my camera for them. I am not the best photographer but I tried!

So here are some pics from our trip to Kingman/Laughlin:

Kira and I at the temple ( I was the Maid of Honor)
Playing bingo in Laughlin
The parentals
The newlyweds

My parents at the reception in Kingman

The bridal party

My boy cousins, L-R: Ren, Trey, Me, Rod

The Gilleo's with their new brother in law

Centerpieces

I am dang proud of this picture!

The girl cousins

Kira and I at the reception

Aunt Marie and Kira

My daddy and I