time and all eternity...

its so wonderful to believe in something. anything. no matter what it is, to put your whole heart into it, and just believe.


its different for all of us, which in my opinion makes it so special. jessica and jason after alot of hard work, reevaluation and determination, have set a goal and met it! how exciting for them to be able to embark on their new adventure together. they have decided to take out their endowments out and be sealed to one another, sometime in march, this year...





they are an example to each other, which is all you can really ask for right? someone who believes in you and compliments you. i have nothing but warm wishes and happy hopes for them! from the bottom of my heart, congratulations!

destination... Home

we drove all the way into gallup, new mexico the night before... and i was so glad i had decided to do that! it got us a huge chunk closer to arizona than we would have been. i think we got to the new mexicao, arizona border in about 30 minutes! instead of having to drive almost 300 miles from albuquerque! so today was going to be an easy day!



these were just some of our other lodging options! the blue spruce's sign i think is my favorite! it was pretty cool all the shops they had. the old down town area was pretty awesome! i think maybe cause its along route 66. because it really was a cool little town. i also noticed that they are the proud bottlers of shlitz fine malt liquor! hahahaha!







we stayed at the arrowhead motel... what a funny little hole that was! but it was clean and safe?! haha... it had beds, a shower, and internet... it could have been worse! the shower was goofy. couldnt decide if it wanted to be scalding, or freezing... and it had more water pressure than a fire hydrant! i swear it shot me across the bathtub! sooo funny!


our little hotel room had its quirqks for sure.. but it really was old. we kicked on the heat when we had gotten into the room, because this was the first we had seen snow since kentucky... and even then it wasnt much. so we were freezing! so it spurred and sputtered, and finally kicked on... kinda... we thought it was working a little, but deffinately not like it should be. so we bumped it up some more. by the time we were going to be we had it kicked all the way up to 80 and it was still kinda sputtering. we figured it wold work itself out, and just went to bed. well, we both woke up shivering... which is had to do to me! i might as well be a polar bear, so if im shivering, its cold! danielle comes and hops into bed with me, and we start to warm up. just in time for the alarm clock to go off! dang!


we drove through the painted desert national park as well as the petrified tree forrest. there were teepees, dinosaurs, all kinds of route 66 things and all kinds of fun stuff. we drove past a buffalo range, and a huge meteor crater in the earth. the grand canyon wasnt too far off either... we didnt stop, maybe next time!

flagstaff was uneventful as well. but it was super pretty all covered in snow! i liked how it started to fill in all the empty spaces. the trees were beautiful. there were a couple frozen ponds, and rivers. it was odd though. it wasnt very cold. when we stopped for gas, i just had on a t shirt.




once we got out of flagstaff the next little town was williams. what a cute little town! i would love to go back and see more of it someday. they had a really cool little main street with shops. and the grand canyon railroad runs through there. at christmas time they have an old steam engine that does polar express rides. it was sooo cool. most of it was covered in snow, but it was one of the prettiest places we had gone through. after we were past williams, the snow cleared, and we rolled the windows down. the sky was bright blue and full of fluffy clouds, and the temperature was perfect. i kept my window down for the rest of the trip!




and there it was, home sweet sandbox! we got into town around 4pm... we were so glad to be home! not that we didnt have an awesome time, but we just felt grubby! danielle had an itching issue! haha, i thought she was gonna jump out of her pants! but somehow it went away. i had such a good time, and being able to share that with her... she makes me smile on the inside and im just glad i had the chance to return the favor! i know she will be okay, she is so strong, and determined to make this a positive move. im happy for her and this new adventure.
theres nothing like coming home :)

good night moon

we got to new mexico just as the sun was setting.
we drove clear past albuquerque, into a little town called gallup. since the sun had set, we drove this far in the dark, so i have no idea what new mexico looks like. i am sooo sleepy! im excited to get going tomorrow and see what it looks like!
as we were driving, this was the emptiest stretch of the trip. it was super dark because there was no artificial light to mess up the night sky. i have never sen so many stars in my whole life! the sky was inky black and covered with stars. clusters of them, big shiney ones, and tons of little ones. it was unreal! i felt like i was in the bottom of a snow globe. it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen!

we have been driving since 9 this morning, and i drove till 1230 tonight! 15 and a half hours! holy crap! no wonder im exhausted! flagstaff, arizona will be the next city we will run into, and then we should be home sometime tomorrow... good night all, my sleepy little eye balls need to go to bed!

random roadside!

theres always cool stuff to see along the road, sometimes we get a picture of it, and sometimes we dont...




danielle keeps forgetting the gas cap! soo funny. she did it yesterday, and i didnt post any pictures, but she did it again today, so i told her i cant ignore it twice! two times she had to jump out and run around, screw it back on then jump back in the truck!

get it done!

we have been trying to play catch up, and make up for some lost time... we got into texas at about 315 this afternoon... and if anyone was hoping it was gonna get exciting has obviously never been on the I 40. ha!




this guy is advertising a 72 oz steak! that cow boy is nuts! really and truly, 72 OZ's! how insane! im pretty sure if you eat it all its free, but thats the whole side of the cow!




when we got to amarillo, we decided to get lunch, and stretch our legs a little bit. so we went to schlotzkys for a sandwich, and then got back onto the freeway... my sandwich was soo awesome, i didnt realize how hungry i was!



this was right next to the gas station, i thought it was hilarious! look at the top left corner of the van, the shark bit it! hahaha!



on they way out of amarillo i wanted to go to the cadillac graveyard. i have seen it several times on the travel channel that i love to watch. so i figured we would stop. i asked the lady at the gas station, and she said just go west on the 40, and just outside of town it will be on the south side of the road, you wont be able to miss it! and she was sure right! there it was in all its glory just as she had promised! we got off at exit 60, and went to go see what all the fuss was about!










danielle got it into her brain that she wanted to climb on top of a hay bail... she never has, and really really wanted to. so fortunately for us, there were some unguarded, unfenced ones, calling her name...





she yanked and pulled with all her might! after she struggled for a bit, and i had a good chuckle, i gave her a boost and helped her up. she giggled and said "i didnt know there were so big!" she had underestimated their size... the only ones she had ever seen were from the highway!











well, we being city girls, had no idea that there were stickers in the hay! oh, my gosh! they were stuck everywhere! danielle had it worse than i did, cause she had climbed up on the dang thing and had stickers in places they absolutely should not be! mine were all in my feet! it was terrible! the evil little stickers attacked us!







we ran back to the car and tried to get all the bastards out, but i think i still have some splinters stuck in my finger and feet! danielle was over on the side of the truck with her pants off trying to get them out of all her parts!! hahaha! what a terrible idea! haha! i donated my socks to the great state of texas, there was no way all those stickers were coming out!

oklahoma...

we actually got up and got going pretty early... i knew we were close to oklahoma, but i had no idea how close. we werent even on the freeway 10 minutes before we crossed the state line! oklahoma was so far the prettiest of the states, but thats like telling people "but shes really sweet" hahaha! the weather was perfect, but all in all, oklahoma was uneventful. mind you after yesterday morning, we welcomed the blah!

it was a little breezy once the scenery decided to flatten out. but we saw a bunch of really big hawks just drifting in the breeze. its so cool to watch them play, just cruising in the breeze. they werent flapping their wings or getting anywhere really. just floating free with out a care in the world, just drifting in the wind.

theres been a ton of cows... apparently angus bulls are going for $1000 bucks. sounds fair right?! haha, what do i know!, i just read the sign.






we saw this truck, and danielle thought it was going the wrong way! haha, so funny.





this was in oklahoma city... close, but not quite!

just cause...

caffeine high

so i figured out what makes danielle tick... you know like a time bomb. HA!
she is sooo cute. needs her coffee first thing. like most people do. but she really likes mc donalds iced ones the best... and she gets it jumbo sized with extra "liquid sugar". well then at the gas station, she grabbed 2 large rock stars. i fondly refer to them as her "tweeker drinks". AND! they were all gone by noon. no freaking wonder she is bouncing off the walls! i had no idea the amount of caffeine that girl puts into that tiny body!




and you all thought it was natural!

elvis has left the building!

it took us 15 minutes from graceland to get to arkansas. i had no idea we were that close... we were driving over this really cool bridge, and there it was!


the weather has really been beautiful! its a little chilly, but not far from perfect! the sky has been this beautiful blue, and filled with big fluffy clouds.


like i said, the sun has been out, so as it started to set tonight, i noticed a foot print on the front window... funny mind you till i realized that neither one of us had had bare feet, or our feet on the window... SICK! haha, so who ever left their icky foot funk on our window, please come and retrieve it!




we had stopped to get gas, and little rock was our next big city that we would be running into, we still had a while to go, so we stopped for a potty break, get gas and just stretch our legs... i got some cool pictures of a bunch of random things, while i was waiting fot the gas to be done pumping.... no worries, i was pulling out of the gas station! danielle is banned from having to manipulate tight spaces!









this thing looks safe right?! haha, not a chance... it totally reminds me of something out of a scary movie!

off we go.... again



we have been really blessed with some awesome sunsets! tonights was just as pretty as the one in nashville, just not nearly as pink!




we decided to call it a day, after 500 miles. which wasnt bad considering our rough start. so here we are in fort smith, arkansas. right on the oklahoma border. we had a nice dinner at chilis, and we are off to bed! we are hoping to get quite a bit more driving done tomorrow... we will see :)