The Road Well Traveled

okay, so i know it has been forever but here is the update on our long trip back home! The map shows how far we've been since april. It is astounding that in the first 5 months we have been married, we have driven over 8600 miles! and still love each other! This was truly meant to be. We've already blogged about a lot of the things that we've done, but here is a bunch of stuff between Maryland and Rexburg. There are a lot of more pictures if you click on the slideshow at the right -->
We had a ton of fun, and took our time with a stop in St. Louis and many gas stations with religious comments on the bathroom stalls. very interesting and kinda funny actually!

We left the ghetto east coast of Laurel, Maryland and started our journey from coast to coast back to Rexburg. We had "some" fun times this summer but were more excited to get back to the west coast where people wont give you the stink face and are friendly. We drove on the 70 back home and got to see some beautiful parts of the country!

First Stop:

Our first stop was in Terre Haute, Indiana. We only stayed the night but it was a super fun night. We decided to camp our way back because Matt had gotten an awesome tent for his birthday. We just stayed at a KOA but turns out we were the only one in a tent...everyone had trailers. Everyone was sitting outside their campers and just watching us as we set up our tent for the night. I wonder what they thought... "look at these youngins trying to set up a tent..so old school" "the cool thing now are campers, what are they thinking!" But we had an awesome relaxing night..we set up a fire and made smores!! they were so good..okay i could only handle one, but that one was so delicious!! the next morning we hit the road again.

Stop 1.5
We made a pit stop in St. Louis, Missouri to see the gateway arch. It was so cool! We walked around the park for a little while, took pictures and checked out the museum. We didn't go up because of the time constraint, and it was a little pricey. The Mississippi river is gross..

Of course we were goofing off.. Big chain holding a boat in place on the river

Side view of the arch


Stop Two:
We stopped the second night in Goodland Kansas right on the Colorado/Kansas border.. or Kanerado.. haha. Not much going on here except a bunch of wild sunflowers. I loved them.

Stop 2.5:
We traveled through Denver and ate some left over ribs from the night before somewhere west of Denver. They were still delicious the next day.

Pretty much the funniest graffiti I've ever seen

Back in the west:
We finally got back to Salt Lake and hung out with matt's family. His uncle Brent took us wakeboarding and we all tried out a little wake surfing. We got it down pretty well!

We also took a trip up to the Kennecott mine. I had never been there so it was a pretty cool!



After a few days in Utah it was back on the road to California! We stopped at the salt flats

My sassy pose.. Matt loves this picture..

(Matt has now taken over the blog)
We stopped in Lovelock NV to get gas. I don't really know why we took this picture.. but we'll always remember Lovelock because chelsea started feeling sick here and it kinda made her stay in CA less fun than it could've been.


CALIFORNIA!
We went in California to visit Chelsea's parents. It was a lot of fun and relaxing a relaxing 5 days near the end of our cross country tour. Most of the time we just hung out at home and ate our weight in whatever Tami cooked for us (which was whatever we wanted pretty much). It's a pretty good life at the Beckman house, except now my suit doesn't fit :). We did get out of the house a little bit though. We went to the beach one day, watched the mariners beat the A's :) and celebrated Chelsea's birthday. As part of her birthday, Chelsea's parents took us out to dinner in Walnut Creek, then to the musical Wicked in San Francisco. IT WAS AMAZING! The singers were awesome, and to me sounded at least as good as the CD if not better. Pretty nice that I got to share in the birthday treatment when it wasn't even my birthday! haha. It was amazing and was the perfect ending to a fun week in Danville.
We also picked up a couch that Chelsea's parents (well, Tami) said we could take off their hangs (Thanks again), and a scooter that was in their shed. Packing those into the truck was not very fun, but we packed it all in and it got here without any problems. Our apartment in Rexburg is on the 3rd floor and hauling that couch up here was quite a feat. It would have been all worth it, except that when we tried to get it passed the turn in our entry.. it wouldn't fit. We were (are) so disappointed! We were looking soo forward to having that couch in our living room. For the time being, however, my cousin Kyle and his wife Alli are the temporary recipient of Mom and Dad's generosity and our hard work. They did trade us a love seat that we are now using and is serving us well.
The scooter on the other hand has not disappointed! We did have to charge the battery so that the electric start would work again, but other than that, it was the best thing thats ever happened to finding a parking spot! Too bad the scooter season is quickly coming to an end. The last time I took it to school, I had to scrape the frost off the seat first. Oh well, I just can't wait till spring so we can cruise around on it again! Thanks again Mom and Dad Beckman! I think we tripled the number of miles on that scooter in the 3 weeks we were riding it.

Tami's beautiful smile!

WICKED!! GAlinda :)

That baby looks like Goldberg from The Mighty Ducks, I was
dying!


It's ok A's fans. You'll beat the M's next time :)

Our new apartment.. Was a little smaller than we
were used to, but it's nice!

Thats the end! Hope you enjoyed it!

IM WORKING ON A CATCH UP BLOG!

im thinking its going to be in parts because there is kind of a lot to catch up on! sorry for slacking.

coming soon...0ur trip back to the west coast..utah wakeboarding...birthday in california..baseball game...and the beginning of matts last semester!!


COMING SOOOONNNNNN!!

I wanna leave

So the days are winding down until we leave on Sunday! Oh my gosh I just want to leave! We head from here to Utah to see matts family and my grandparents, maybe throw in a wakeboarding trip with matts uncle and then we head off to the wonderful state of California! I have the worst anxiety right now...okay that was a little exaggerated but I'm feeling some anxiety to get out of here. I can't start packing until tomorrow which is killing me because I have time now to do it now. We only brought the things that we need so it's just easier to pack tomorrow. Oh well..I'll just watch some more Bones episodes! It's funny how that show can freak me out and prevent me from sleeping some nights, I just can't stop! Well I'm sure I could but it's pretty interesting so I deal with being scared and home alone! Don't worry I lock both of the dead bolts on the front door!
Although I haven't loved it out here we have made some good friends! Amy and Dallin. They are a young couple like Matt and I and are really funny! We have gone to dc with them a couple of times and bbq'd quite a bit!! Funniest story of Dallin...one night we were All so bored and decided to drive around to find something to do. Amy was craving ice cream with gummie bears and I had been wanting donuts like that whole week...and then we found dunkin' donuts with a baskin Robbins combo! So for some reason there was this huge pillar infront of a refrigerator. Dallin got amy's attention..."Hey Amy!" he then swings around trying to act all sexy and smacks right into the door of the refrigerator door that nailed his "subscapularis" area to be medical...if megan decides to read this i hope you are impressed. But then he starts saying "crap, crap crap...that really hurt." Oh the pains of trying to be sexy in a dunkin' donuts/baskin robbins! But Amy and Dallin kept us pretty entertained most nights! I hope we get to see them again in utah sometime! They helped us out this summer!!

ANywho.......ONLY ONE DAY LEFT! THATS ALLLLLLLLLLLL!! uno dia!

No Joke...Best day of the summer

this happened over a week ago but i finally got around to bloggin it! so after matt go back from his grandpa's funeral he decided to take the monday off. we really didnt start doing anything until around 6:30 when we were kind of deciding what to do and then all of a sudden matt thought of an Orioles baseball game in baltimore...he went to go look it up and low and behold they were playing the Oakland Athletics!

!

we didnt take this picture but i thought it was pretty funny!

it was great to finally be able to go to a game that wasnt on sunday and just relax

The A's were killing the O's. And it only got better. Some guy that worked for the stadium came up to where we were sitting and started to tell us that we needed to move up under the overhang because a huge lightening storm was headed our way. and thats when we say the huge wind gusts blowing trash all over the field. but somehow matt heard that it was from a ship of some kind like a cruise ship or something...i dont know...then it just started to pour rain!! it was awesome!

it was so much fun! they started to cover the field and i had never seen that done! it was pretty cool. It looked fun to be down in the rain! i started to freak out just a little bit becuase of how hard it was raining mixed with my white shirt! but we were under the over hang and only got misted!

It was coming down so hard and looked way cool with the lights!

Matt and i kept wondering if it was ever going to die down so we could make a run for the car. And it eventually came to a drizzle and we headed out of the stadium. once we were out of the gates and practically to our car we heard cheering and figured it was just the song or someone being goofy. so we kept walking.

We made it to a restaurant and saw the game. we first thought it was the recap but it really was live feed and we ended up missing the last 4 innings! kind of sad but we still had so much fun. but the fun doesnt just end at dinner...we watched a movie as well! We saw...im blanking on what we saw...............................oh yeah GI JOes!! i loved it. everyone said that it was super cheesey and one liners but i think thats what made the movie. We were laughing most of the time.

But it turned out to be one of the best days of the summer! everything was spur of the moment and i think thats what made it so fun!

P.S BEST NEWS OF THE WHOLE ENTIRE SUMMER!! ...

WE LEAVE THIS SUNDAY TO COME HOME!

Matt and i have had fun together this summer but we really werent enjoying our jobs and to be honest the east coast is just different... ive noticed that people are just rude, especially and restaurants! oh well back to the west coast where people are friendly!! we are so excited!

Nothing but Happy Memories

A week ago matt and i went to Rexburg for our friend Pauls wedding.. Him and Karma looked great and so happy together! we were so glad we were able to go, plus it was great to get away from work. We got back work a couple days and then matt found out that his grandpa had passed away and he was back to Provo for another weekend trip. So a wedding one weekend and then a funeral the next. Someone needs to have a baby next weekend and the whole cycle will be complete..a little out of order but complete none the less.

I only got to meet his grandpa once and he seemed like the greatest guy! I was so excited to meet him (especially since he was an old guy and i love old people) but he was just there in his kitchen with laundry all over the counter folding away. He had the biggest smile when he saw matt and megan. And after matt introduced me he gave me a big grizzly bear of a hug and i could tell that this guy had such a loving heart. So once the intro was done we ate some dove chocolates and started talking. Matt and i werent even officially engaged yet but we had our date set and everything and were trying to get him to come to the wedding. Subject changed and next thing we knew he had megan and matt were pounding away on the organ. He looked so proud of his grandkids! It was awesome. I just loved being there because there was nothing but happiness coming out of this guy. maybe i just caught him on a good day but this is how i will always remember Grandpa Sharp!

So I have been in maryland all by myself...i hate it! matt needs to come home pronto! I get done with work around 3 and then i fiddle around the apartment..recleaning, go to the gym for a little, of course eat, i made pumpkin bread for the first time...and i turned out great just so you know! I am prepared for thanksgiving! gobble gobble. but i just dont know what to do while he is gone. Before we got married i was always saying i wanted to be an old lonely cat lady. But now that we have been married for almost 4 months i cant stand living alone for one day now! Im so pathetic!! Im complaining about being home alone and he is in provo because he lost a grandparent...i need to stop complaining. So im done! But come home! ha

Wedding photos...3 months later!

Marriage is what bwings us togevah today...
we finally got our wedding photos!!!! here is the link if you want to check them out!! just use chelseaenator@gmail.com as the email address or you might be getting some updates on other weddings and whatnot! http://juliannwheeler.instaproofs.com/collection.php?event=136210#36742010

I loved them and i think they turned out great! i have a couple ugly shots but hey that happens right!!

ooooHHH sssaaayyy CCCAnn YOU ssseeeehhheeee..

Happy 4th O' July!
Matt luckily got off a little early on saturday just in time for some bbq by the pool and then dc for the night! It was a really fun day! Our first 4th of July together and cant wait to see what the next one throws at us... But we started out the celebration going down to the pool to cook some stuffed hamburgers and garlic asparagus. When we got down there both grills were being used. there was so much crammed on both grills that we decided to just bring our little george forman down and cook it there by the pool with our friends! we ended up almost finishing before anyone else even got their burgers on the grill! it was great and worked perfectly!

We then realized it was getting kind of late so we headed out to D.C with another couple, Rob and Kali Jaeger. we jumped right onto the train and then walked a little ways to the national mall to find our spot of grass right in the middle of the capitol building and the washington memorial. it was the perfect view!



notice anything strange about the PARK RANGER?
..maybe his riffle????

We saw a ton of crazy, awkward, funny, and stinky people! they had performances by barry mantelow and aretha franklin, some pleasure worshipers, and people chanting "OBAMA!" then singing the star spangeled banner. Matt and i went to the side to play a game of catch on sidelines but the game was ended pretty ubruptly when i squatted to catch a low ball and split my pants right in the crack! so we got some ice cream and sat down and watched all the people hurding to the matt until the fireworks show! there seriously were a million people there on the national mall strip. it was awesome to see how many people come from virginia, dc, and maryland to fill up the whole lawn area.

this is me mimicing the pleasure worshipers..i cant remember the actual religion but it was a lot of chanting and dancing.

Once it got dark enough, they turned on the capitol lights. it looked so cool because it basically glowed! perfect photo op!!

BOOM

BANG

AWWWWW

OOOOOHHHHHHH

The fireworks started out like any other finale and kept it up the whole way through until the actual finale! it was constant bright lights for like 5 minutes! Me thinks...it was the best 4th O' July firework show i have ever seen!!

And thats the show folks! happy fourth of jully!

Matts my new hair stylist!

Yep...Matt cut my hair and did a great job! i love it! thats really all there is to say! check out the pictures for more detail!! haha

Before..

AND AFTER!!

Thanks matt!

Called to Serve

So my brother is leaving on a mission and its super exciting because he is the first, and probably the only, one of our siblings to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am so proud that he is worthy to serve the lord in the Richmond, Virginia mission. I know he will make an amazing missionary and touch many hearts. He has such a loving and compassionate heart that has helped him to gain such a strong testimony of the gospel. He has the capacity  to do great things with the lord by his side and he knows that and isn't afraid to ask for help in times of need. I want him to know that I love him so much and I only wish I could visit him, since he is only about 2 1/2 hour drive away, but duty call and no need for distractions right! I cant wait to hear how much he matures and grows from him experiences. I love you Brover! P.S try not to get shot! haha just kidding.. but seriously

our last family photo before he reports 6/24/09

just some other silly photos... 

yes we are the goofy ones..i don't know how it happened but we are and will always be this goofy! 
"SUPRIZZZZZAAAAHHH!"

While the wife's away..

I..  stay up late and write a blog entry? yeah I guess so. We finally got the wireless to work, so thats what you get! Chelsea is in California seeing Alex one last time before he leaves on his mission to Richmond VA, and within approximately 2 hours of us here on the east coast. It's exciting to think back and to see what fun times are ahead for him. Things in Baltimore are just flowin right now. People on the east coast are definitely more up tight than on the west coast. Chelsea, me, and a couple other people we work with were at taco bell the other day, and I was really excited to go because I used to be a pretty regular regular at taco bell in rexburg and I hadn't eaten there in a while. So we get there and as I'm finishing up this lady walks in and we all kind of chuckled because she was GHETTO, gold teeth and all. Anyway, I stood up to refill my drink and my friend Gerriuh was waiting for his food, and I started to tell him how much I loved taco bell, just being goofy. This lady turns around and gives me the stink eye and says something like "Oh really? Good for you!" and I, thinking that she is just playing along with me, respond "Yeah! I'm extremely satisfied right now" and give her a thumbs up. Well she turns around and I head to my seat when she turns back around and yells across the restaurant, "You better keep your opinions to yourself and keep your mouth shut!" I was floored and got defensive. I had no idea what she was talking about. So we had a lovely exchange in front of everyone in taco bell, she said she that I made gestures toward her and didn't like my tone and was going to go get her cousin and nephew (to beat me up?) and whatever and left. Well me and Chelsea looked at each other and we decided that we might as well leave even though we really didn't think I was going to get my butt kicked for real. THE KICKER. I thought that she was upset because she thought I was hitting on her or something. Come to find out she had had her order messed up in the drive through and came in to complain. So she was already pissed off and thought that I was exaggerating how satisfied and happy I was, just to piss her off more. I never thought someone could get in so much trouble for enjoying a chalupa.

Other than that, huge storms, and sleeping through alarms; its been a boring week.

M&C