Four States in Four Hours

Our week mainly consisted of our new routine of Jaden studying for his Security Plus certification exam, me working, making dinner together as we listened to our Harry Potter audio book and then settling down and watching a few episodes of Downton Abbey as the nightly cloudburst hit. I don’t know if that routine ages us or what but we’re loving it so no regrets for me!

The highlight of the week was driving into Cincinnati with our friends for the weekend and going to a Quinn XCII concert. Our friends Amanda and Tanner are out here from Weber as well. Amanda comes from a military family so she’s lived all over the globe but they both met in Alaska and that’s where Tanner’s parents still live so we call them our Alaskan friends. They are super fun and we have enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know them better especially as we drove across four states in four hours to get to Cincy.

The best part is that we didn’t really even realize that we’d be passing through a different state until all of the sudden there was a Welcome to West Virginia sign. Of course we had to turn on “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and sing along as we drove through hills and hollers of West Virginia because how could you not?! While we were still about an hour and a half outside of the city the boys both decided that if they didn’t have food before the concert they weren’t going to be able to make it; so Tanner got on Yelp and found the most random deli that exists in Ohio I’m quite sure. It was called Main Street deli and even though we were all starving the sandwiches and wraps didn’t disappoint and they were HUGE! Jaden asked this cute old guy behind the counter what he recommended and he asked him, “Well, how hungry are ya?” To which Jaden replied, “Pretty hungry!” So the guy suggested “The Sarge” which was basically a wall of meat on two slices of bread. It was pretty funny to watch him eat it (I swear his jaw dislocated like a snake). The people that ran the deli were so nice we were the only ones there at the time so we got to chat with the family and heard how the owner was working as a DJ and decided with his wife to buy the building on the corner and turn it into a deli. So there you go… DJ turned deli man, quite a story. After leaving there, our GPS took us probably the most random roundabout way to get back to the freeway, we wound our way down all sorts of country roads laughing about how lost we’d be without Apple Maps and enjoying the quaint farmhouses and rows and rows of corn fields we’d forgotten we’d missed after our 27 hour road trip just a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

We finally made it to the freeway and about 15 minutes outside of the city we passed under a sign that said “Welcome to Kentucky.” Of course we had to film a quick video and send it to Bridger. We figured out we were only 2 hours away from where he is currently serving in Richmond, KY.

The concert was at 4:30 which is a super strange time but it was part of a Kroger health festival event and it was free admission so beggars can’t be choosers. We pulled off the freeway at 4:45 and then took another 15 minutes to find get to where the concert was and another 15 to find parking. By the time we walked to the event space we were just hoping and praying that Quinn would have had opening acts and we didn’t come all that way to miss the concert. Lucky for us he still hadn’t come out yet so we shuffled in with the crowd and were able to see his portion of the concert start to finish. And it was awesome, definitely worth the drive and the adventure of getting there!

Amanda’s parents are currently living outside of the military base in Dayton Ohio so her mom and brother met us at the concert and then took us out to dinner after at the Five Guys across the river in Kentucky. Then we piled back in the car and drove to their home where we spent the night. We loved meeting the Huntzingers and loved even more the fact that Amanda’s dad grew up with one of Jaden’s best friend’s dad in Kaysville, UT! It was fun to swap stories with them and get to know them all better. By the time we left the next afternoon we felt like we had gained a family away from family. They must’ve felt the same because they bought us tickets to come with them to a Blue October concert when they come to Pittsburgh in October.

 

We honestly just feel so blessed to be out here and to have the blessing of built in friends that have amazing families we get to enjoy. We miss our own families to be sure… but it is kind of cool to experience the way that you can build a family support network out of friends when you aren’t near your own family. It has been so fun to get to know everyone as we explore Pittsburgh and the surrounding states back here in the East.

After we got home Saturday night we stopped at the local Handels ice cream and met up with one of the other couples for ice cream and then a movie night at Amanda & Tanner’s where we watched A Quiet Place 2. I think we are determined to not only find the best restaurants in Pittsburgh but also the best ice cream places. We tried a place earlier in the week called Millie’s and it is the best so far but we’re confident we can find a place that’s even better. Jaden took time to draft a list from the blog "Discover the Burgh" of the best restaurants and dessert places in Pittsburgh. We’re going to slowly make our way through the list so that if/when people come to visit we’ll know the best places to take them. We’re determined to learn this city and find the hidden gem places to visit and eat at.

Finally another thing worth noting was from Sunday. It was stake conference so we drove into Plum, PA to the stake building and attended conference there. Most of the meeting was dedicated to the calling of a new stake presidency so there were departing testimonies and new testimonies of the incoming leaders but at the very end the area seventy that presided at the Pittsburgh temple groundbreaking got up and spoke and I thought his remarks were the most noteworthy. His main topic was the importance of prayer but one of the points that he emphasized that was the most impactful to me was when he shared an experience of inviting a youth group at a previous conference years ago to take time after they pray to stay on their knees and listen. He said he promised them that if they would take the time and do that that they would hear the voice of the Lord speak to them through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. He shared that weeks after making that invitation and promise a mother of one of the children called him in tears thanking him for initiating an experience her young daughter had where she learned that prayer was real and that Heavenly Father was really there and really knew her. He then made us that same promise again and invited us to pray and to listen. It was a good reminder to me to self reflect and examine my current habits of prayer and identify how I can improve those habits and add in more time to ponder and listen after I end my prayer. My grandma was recently ill and my mom shared with me that while she was staying at her home taking care of her she noticed my grandma took the time to kneel and pray and read her scriptures. I know there is power in prayer and that no matter if we are young like that girl in the area seventy’s story or not quite as young like my grandma we all have access to the peace and understanding that only prayer can bring.

All in all another great week back East! Here's a list of our peaches, pits and lessons learned. 

Peaches:

• Millie's homemade ice cream. The ice cream is good but the waffle cones are even better I normally don't get my ice cream in a cone but Millie's converted me!
• Talking with Bridger on Facebook messenger and watching open his birthday present we sent to him
  
• Nightly rain storms
• Made yummy tacos for dinner one night
• Our wall grids came so we can have a place to put pictures of our family and Jaden’s notes for school
• Found a video that reminded me so much of Jade because it said “when food is your love language” and shows a guy looking completely blissful eating his food and then claps and points to the sky in praise, it’s so dang funny
• Seeing a bunny in our front yard
  
• Still finding notes from when mom visited in random places like under our knife block 
• Seeing many beautiful churches and cathedrals and homes on our drives around town
  
• Good friends
• Finding a random deli in the middle of Ohio
• Quinn XCII’s concert was awesome
• Looking down at the concert and seeing cans of corn and stew by our feet, guess it was because it was a Kroger foods event, just extra funny because of all of our corn jokes from our roadtrips
  
• Meeting the Huntzinger family
• Car sing-a-longs
• Good stake conference
• Sweet experience with prayer

 

 

 

 

 

Pits:

• Tripping a breaker and thinking the power was out. Maintenance guy came to tell me that the breaker was “half tripped…” rookie mistake on my part
• My indoor palm tree has a frond turning brown already, I really want to be a plant mom but I don't know what I'm doing wrong 
• The pipe below our kitchen sink came undone and water went all over the place while we were doing dishes. We had put a little tub underneath for storage and think it knocked the pipe loose so although it caused the problem it also helped collect a lot of the water streaming out of the pipe. Luckily we've got Youtube and were able to fix the issue and it works like a charm now
  
• Thinking we might miss the concert
• Got the dates mixed up and missed the broadcast of the Pittsburgh temple groundbreaking
• Missing events at home like friend’s baby showers and family hangouts and dinners
• Trying Tanner’s one wheel skateboard and realizing I have zero balance, meanwhile Jaden is a pro within five minutes
  
• Feeling sick after eating a bunch of junk food on our trip 
  
• Coming home to our hotter than Hades apartment because we turned off all of our window a/c units when we left for the weekend
• There aren't any Well's Fargo banks out here so we had to open a new bank account just so we can get quarters for our laundry
• We have a washer and dryer in the basement but you have to pay $1.50 per load, looks like we'll be air drying everything for the next two years! 

 

Lessons Learned:

• Family can be found no matter where you go
• Prayer is real and taking time to listen after is powerful
• Half-tripped breakers have the same effect as a full tripped breaker