This morning we woke up, got ready and went to church with my cousins. We helped them teach Sunday School for Kindergartners, aka Daniel and I playing and coloring with the children while my cousin Jessica taught the lesson. Haha. We only had three children in the class, all of whom were massively adorable and had precious names: Henry, Aleah and Maisey. Probably my favorite part was after our lesson on Elijah, we went to the “park” (an indoor play area with little plastic playground equipment) where Daniel played some sort of poisonous bug game with all three children. I’m not going to lie, but it is really sweet seeing how my husband gets along so well with children and they absolutely LOVE him! In fact, while we were coloring previously, Aleah just climbed into Daniels lap and they started coloring together. Soooo cute!
After Sunday school, we joined my cousins for service. It reminded me a lot of our church back home, so it felt just right! We liked it :) There was also a super adorable older gentleman in their band who was celebrating his 60 year old birthday! Everyone in the band wore bow ties in honor of his birthday. So precious. After church, we were once again treated to some new Mexican cuisine for lunch! This time we went to a place called owl café (OWLS!) and had the green chili burger (like I mentioned previously – chili’s are a big deal here!) and it was delicious! We giggled quite a bit as Jessica’s sister and her two children, Henry and Olive (such precious names) joined us and all three children were having an absolute ball slurping up spaghetti noodles and being adorable being belief. Not gonna lie, this morning in general made me really excited to have children and start a family with Daniel. While we are not planning to let this happen any time soon (we’re hoping to finish college first) we definitely look forward when that chapter of our lives comes around. Until then, we enjoy hanging out with other couples’ children.
After lunch, we packed up and said our goodbyes. I am so thankful for my cousins and all their hospitality! They definitely were so sweet and kind to us, and spoiled us rotten with food and love and a great experience in Albuquerque! The cool thing though, is that this isn’t really a goodbye! They will be joining us in Seattle, WA for a family reunion ish thing we are having up there! Definitely glad to see all my cousins at one time and to go whale watching! But that’s still not for a solid two more weeks ☺
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| My sweet family: Me, my cousin Nathan, their adorable son Maxwell, and sweet Jessica |
My precious husband was kind enough to not only wait at a park bench (talking to bored cops about our roadtrip adventure – yes, there are probably going to be more strangers that end up knowing about our trip than our friends – not really but I found it quite interesting that when we walked back out of the river, the cops warned me of alligators… I had to hold my breath not to laugh (because I never hang out with cops and don’t know if he is being serious or not). I told him I lived in Louisiana and have probably swum with gators before, and they just busted up and said they knew (having previously talked to Daniel). Haha. Talia and I took a few group photos together on my camera (I'll have to edit and upload them all - with the rest - later) and then it was sadly time for our goobyes. I was extremely thankful for the opportunity to meet Talia and experience my first instameet! She is an extremely sweet soul and I know that we are definitely going to stay in touch and see each other again soon.
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| Jumping for joy from the wonderful adventures of this afternoon |
We were on the round around 3 or so, and it was a 7 hour drive. We drove, talked, and really just enjoyed each others company. I would highly recommend for married couples to travel together, especially young. Not only do we not really have huge responsability that holds us back, but it is also really good for us to travel and just have a solid three weeks to spend together, enjoying the memories and experience together. I am absolutely loving it!
When we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon, it was pitch black dark and fairly late (past the quiet hours in the park). The cool thing was that since everything was closed, we totally passed the $25 entrance fee - which was a God thing! Taking Daniel's mums truck has been more gas money that we thought it would be, so every little bit we save makes a huge difference! Nevertheless we are very blessed. Upon arrival, we attempted to set up our cousin's 12 person tent... Which proved to be quiet the challenge! Not only were we in the dark, but we had never set up the tent before, and it was rather difficult! I've set up my fair share of tents and this one definitely provided challenges... So much so that our neighbors from across the way saw us struggling, and decided to help us out! If it wasn't for them, we probably would have ended up just sleeping in the truck or on top of the tent under the night sky. So that was a total blessing! God has provided an abundant amount of people (like angels) to just help us along our way this trip. These three girls from L.A. were definitely included! What made it even more obvious that it was God-ordained was that they were basically on the same roadtrip as us, only reverse! They were heading from California to Louisiana and making various stops and visits along the way! It was pretty crazy how we had come together, but again just further proof how God can work in any and all situation. We are blessed. And, sleeping in the Grand Canyon is amazing. I heart camping.
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| My cute husband trying to figure out how to set up the tent! |
