San Antonio, Texas Weekend!

Well sorry for the late post!  This last week has been crazy!  For starters, we moved out of the Asay's home!  We spent the last week packing up all of our stuff and left it at Josh's coworkers house thankfully or we would have had no place to keep our stuff for the rest of our time in Texas! 

Then off to San Antonio we went! I'll warn you once again there are a ton of pictures! Saturday was our Sea World day.  Josh & I love Sea World!  It was a blast!  Neither of us had been in years or to the one in San Antonio so it was quite the adventure.

Our favorite show was Clyde & Seamore the sea lions.  They were hilarious.  Before the show started they had some comedy entertainment where they dragged Josh and I into the show.  The comedian got Josh a little wet (:

I think I have mentioned this before but everywhere Josh and I go we get a deck of cards as our souvenir because we love to play games! Came extremely handy at Sea World while we waited for all the shows to start we played cards (:

After the Clyde show we went and saw the famous Shamu show front and center.  It was incredible we just can't imagine how in the world you train a killer whale!

Amazing! Really cool stage!

We also saw the pets ahoy show with all the dogs and cats.  Adorable!  Josh still tells me I can't have a puppy haha.

Turns out Sea World has amusement park rides I was not aware of this but here is my favorite ride we went on called Atlantis.  We got soaked it was refreshing!

We also were able to see sharks, dolphins and penguins.  

It was a beautiful day.... until about 6 o'clock when things took a turn for the worse.  Josh and I were so excited to go see the Clyde & Seamoore spoof night show so we got there early and I saved us seats while Josh picked us out dinner

guess who's is who's !

Right when he got back with the food it started pouring rain!! Lots of lightning and thunder and guess what that means.. shows cancelled ):  For a good hour and a half but lucky for us after some fun and games walking around everything turned back on before the park closed for the day!

More shows (:

Look close... they have this giant Sea Lion doing sit ups!!

It was a blast!  Sea world is so much fun.

Sunday Morning we went to church downtown.  What an incredible ward!  Great people!  Very small ward there were only 10 people in relief society!

After church we explored downtown San Antonio.  First we went to the gorgeous river walk!  It's full of shops, restaurants, people and beauty.  Great place to walk around and just take in the view.

Here's the little boats they drive all along the river.  So fun!

Husband & Wife along the river!

We had lunch at a little mexican place along the river we got to watch all the boats go by, wonderful little date.

After the River Walk we headed to the famous Alamo! A pivotal location in the Texas Revolution [we gotta catch up on the history if we are to call ourselves true Texans!].

Along with the Alamo we stood under the "6 Flags over Texas" to represent the 6 countries that have at some time had sovereignty over parts of Texas.  The countries are: Spain, France, America, Mexico, Republic of Texas and the Confederate states of America.  This is where the slogan came for the theme park six flags and many of the other attractions and malls in Texas.  Little bit of history for you!

Wonderful weekend once again.  We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to travel!  We sure have had fun as newlyweds exploring the world.  I flew home to Utah Sunday night and Josh went back to Dallas.  Now we have to be apart for 5 days!  Way too long!  I missed him as soon as I got on the plane but there was no place for me to go in Dallas!  Josh is staying with a friend from our ward while he finishes up his last few days at American.  He presents his final project tomorrow morning.  He is going to do wonderful I am so excited for him! (:

Beautiful Nauvoo.

This weekend we went to the beautiful city of Nauvoo, another church history sight.  We had a wonderful time!  We flew into Springfield, Illinois on a tiny plane that only sat 50!  It was so small from what we are use to!  While we were up in the sky we got to watch a lightning storm it was amazing!  Once we landed at an airport that actually made Salt Lake look small we drove a little less than 3 hours to Nauvoo.

  

We began our day in Nauvoo by walking down what is known as Parley street and hearing about the Trail of Hope.  Starting in February of 1846 a group of at least 13,000 mormons crossed into Iowa escaping persecution and eventually headed west to the Great Salt Lake Valley.  Thousands of other mormons soon followed.  They had to travel over 1,600 miles.  The stories we heard of early saints from their journals [journaling is important even today!] were incredible.  

These saints had such faith and courage and they followed the prophet.  The name of this trail use to be the Trail of Tears but a few years ago the prophet changed it because he believed it wasn't just a trail of sorry and tears but was a trail of faith and hope.  As you walk down Parley's street to the mississippi you can see Nauvoo temple towering behind you.  I can't imagine how hard it must have been to leave the temple behind before they had even completed it all.  The Lord blessed them with a tender mercy as they left, the Mississippi had frozen over [which has happened very few times since then] so they could just walk across with their supplies and wagons.  I imagine this was a hard tender mercy because I can only imagine how cold it must have been!

Here is where Parley's Street leads to the Mississippi.

Here is Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Joseph Smith had passed away before the
saints headed west but had drawn a map and seen their journey.

We explored the visitor center afterwards and got to the Christus statue. We have now seen the one in Palmyra, the one in Salt Lake, & Nauvoo.  They are all amazing!

We were able to make an appointment to do a session at the Nauvoo temple.  Josh's favorite temple and my it is incredible!  The outside has been redone to look just like the way the saints built it.  Along with the spiral staircase and part of the assembly hall inside.  It was amazing!  The temple is on a hill overlooking the Mississippi.

After the temple we explored all of the old houses and buildings the saints use to use.

Learning how the bricks were made!  Almost got our souvenir brick taken away
at the airport they thought it was a weapon apparently. 

Outside of Lucy Smith's home Joseph's mother. 

The Smith's backyard. 

The 70's hall.

Now it was Pageant time!  Before the pageant started they had a carnival where we got to play with all the old toys and get dinner.  It was a lot of fun Josh was having a blast. 

Us in front of the stage!

the beginning of the pageant!

The Pageant was fantastic!  They did a wonderful job.  The pageant tells the story of Joseph Smith and the building up of Nauvoo as a city.  It's crazy it's population use to rival Chicago!  At the end of the pageant you hear the voice of Gordon B. Hinkley when he dedicated the Nauvoo temple in 2002.  He calls this temple Joseph's temple and Salt Lake Brigham's temple.  They face each other like bookends with volumes of of journeys in the middle.

Sunday morning we went to church.  We went to the 8 am meeting and turns out it was the one all of the senior missionaries and elders and sisters go to.  There were SO MANY!  We learned these senior missionaries make up 20% of the senior missionary field!  They all had such sweet spirits.

After church we went and saw Joseph Simth's house by the Mississippi which is not actually currently owned by the LDS church.  We saw the graves of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma as well. 

And then sadly we had to say goodbye to Nauvoo!  Lucky for us we were able to visit Carthage on our way to the airport.  This is where our prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.  It is such a sad place but one full of inspiration.

the door the mob shot through.

The window Joseph fell from.

Carthage Jail

  

We had such a wonderful time in Nauvoo it is another city full of the spirit.  We have been so inspired by stories of courage and faith from the early saints. We must always remember Parley's street and those who made their journey of hope.  

One spoiled wife.

Well I was one spoiled girl yesterday!  I am taking a full load this semester of online classes and this week has been dreaded finals! Yesterday was my big plow through day with three big tests and a final portfolio.  Right when I was finishing up my third test I heard someone fiddling with the front door. Now you should know, I am a pansy, I get so spooked when I am home alone so the second I heard this I panicked!  They opened the screen door and I could hear them opening the front  door.I had no idea who it could be it was only 2 in the afternoon, Josh was at work and the Asay's weren't home.  And guess what?!It was my sweet husband coming home early to spend the afternoon with me!  He had a lunch with his team today and once it was over everyone was excused to go home.  Josh has a lot to do on his project he is always so busy but he decided to come home and surprise me just to be with me.  He deserves an award for world's best husband.  I was so excited [once my heart beat started slowing down from him scaring me half to death of course].  So we got to spend the afternoon together which never happens!

Did I mention he walked through the door with gorgeous flowers?
Every time he gives me flowers he tells me he has before given a
girls so many flowers in his whole life.  It's my favorite (:

He kept me company while I finished my test and then we spent all afternoon doing our favorite things together before our date night.  Tonight Josh and I went to the Dallas Temple.  It was beautiful! We are so very grateful that his internship has placed us so close to a temple.  Such a tender mercy!

After the temple Josh took me out to Braum's!  Braum's is an ice cream/food place that a woman we met at the airport once told us its her favorite.  Nothing will ever beat Nielson's in Utah or Leatheryby's but it was delicious and always fun to try new places.

Bear Lake Weekend

Sorry for the late post! But as most of you saw us this weekend you know we joined Josh's Hadley family trip to Bear Lake.  Josh and I both flew in on Friday to Salt Lake.  Our afternoon flight wasn't looking too good so I came in the morning and he ended up coming late that night.  We went and picked up our car from grandma Robert's house and made the trek to the cabin!  Even though it was it was a beautiful drive.

Saturday was a family day full of games and water.  Sadly we had some boat issues and rain but it still was a last and we got to ride the 4 wheelers around the beach.  We had a blast and got to have some of grandma and grandpa hadley's home grown corn.  Delicious!

Jake and Josh too cool for school!

Don't worry we had quite the drive home.. there were many cow crossings and
sheep dogs attacking and chasing the car.

Sunday we had the opportunity to go to Rian's farewell talk with Savannah and the family.  He did such a wonderful job and we send our love as he heads to Japan for two years.  He will be a great missionary!

Sunday night Josh went home ): and I stayed in Utah for a few days it was a lot of fun to see my friends and family!  I came home this afternoon and we had a great night we went once again to Topgolf.  We went with a friends from Josh's work.  Turns out there are more fun games to play with the targets and we grabbed some delicious pizza afterwards.  So happy to be reunited I missed my best friend!

Husband & Wife Best Friends for Life (:

Weekend Adventures.

Well this weekend did not go as planned but we had a lot of fun!  Friday night we had a game night with another couple in our ward the Drzayich's.  Turns out the guy served in the Ukraine with Matt.  Small world!  Anyways, really fun Friday night!

Saturday morning we were going to head to San Antonio but at the last minute [literally, as in 5:45 AM Saturday morning] we decided to stay in Dallas for the weekend.  So we were tourists in our own city and had a blast.

We spent our morning at TopGolf again this time just Josh and I.  It was hot!!  but still a lot of fun.  We love this twist on a driving range.  Josh has been brainstorming all day about how he could open his own.  If only!

Then we went on a little road trip to Rudy's Bar-B-Q.  I'd heard it was amazing so we decided to give it a try and boy it was delicious! Texas BBQ heaven.

To continue on the good food journey we went to this snow cone place I had heard of called Bahama Bucks.  This wasn't some side of the road snow cone shack, it was the real deal, a little shop by our house.  I am not exaggerating when I say these were the best snow cones we have had in our entire lives.  And they had board games to play while we eat which I thought was a blast!

Next we visited the library to check out movies for a movie night.  Josh claims he has never met someone who checks out so many books from the library as I do.  I'm in the process of convincing him we should read a book together, wish me luck (;

We stopped off at Kylde Warren Park on our way home.  This park is incredible.  It is being built on top of a freeway in the middle of down town.  They have a fountains to play in, board games to check out, outdoor games to check out [bocce ball, croquet etc] and a bunch of food trucks.  We played bocce ball until it closed and Josh took some time to play in the fountains.

So I actually took this photo of Josh after playing the fountain for my school
assignment and he's just cute so I had to put it on here (:

Not as exciting as a trip this weekend but we had a blast so I thought I would still give you all an update (: