We've Moved!

Benj and I picked up and moved to Louisiana last Friday, but we just arrived yesterday. I haven't mentioned it before because we wanted to surprise his mom. So I wanted to catch y'all up on the latest and on our awesome road trip to our "summer home" in Louisiana. A few weeks ago we were talking about how we wanted to lose some weight. In joking Benj mentioned that if he spent the summer working with his dad, he'd lose weight for sure. (They work outside and are walking constantly). Then, we just started talking about it more seriously. Since we are newlyweds and aren't established anywhere yet, and since we have to move to Bountiful for my schooling anyway, we decided that if we wanted to go, this is the time to do it. It also seemed like a great opportunity for me to spend time with the Kings so that we can all get to know each other a little better. Thus, our adventure began. Within about a week, we decided to move and packed our apartment up.

I thought this picture was funny because Benj looks like a young bachelor that doesn't own furniture and eats right out of the pot.

P helped us move our bed into storage, which we greatly appreciated. So, we camped out in the living room on a palette of blankets. It was actually kind of fun.

Here we are. Even though we were in our apartment we kind of felt homeless, because we didn't really have anything to sit on, to eat with, to cook with, etc. since it was all in storage.

We began our journey on Saturday, May 10. We left Salt Lake around 11:30 and drove south to Price. We had the all-time worst Subway experience in Price, Utah. First, it was way busy, so the line took a long time to get through. The "sandwich artists" never smiled at customers and were often just chatting amongst themselves. Then, Benj ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. However, since the wait was so long, they let his chicken get cold-kind of unappetizing. Then just to top it all off. A young mother came in with a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old and a new baby. All seemed well, until the mom picked up the 4-year-old by the arms, held him up and shook him abruptly and started yelling at him right there in the store. Not only did she yell, she threw out the "F bomb" about five times on this cute little kid. We were shocked and absolutely dismayed. Looking back, we wish we had said something. Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if you saw a mom clearly not treating her kid right?

From Price we moved onto Moab, into Colorado for about 10 minutes and into New Mexico where we went to the Four Corners monument. It is the only point in the US where you can stand in one spot and be in four states at the same time. It was really cool to just walk around the circle and know that you were crossing state lines.

Here I am with one limb in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah!

Sorry, I forgot to rotate this pic of Benj and me on the spot where the states all meet.
The guy who took our picture was a way nice cowboy from Alabama (who looked like an older Tim McGraw). He was very talkative and probably would have told us his life story if we'd offered to listen long enough. But he did manage to offer Benji a great piece of advice while I was away. He told Benj to bring me back to the monument around 3 in the morning, lay me down, and then tell me "you just got laid in four states at once". Ha Ha He's kind of a crazy guy, but we'll never forget Ivan at Four Corners.

After that, we drove on to Gallup NM and decided to turn in for the night. We looked at the Best Western and the Super 8 Motel, but they only had rooms for $75 and up, which was a little much for us to just lay our heads down for a few hours. So, we checked out the locally owned Economy Inn. I was a little hesitant, but it was well lit, and the room was really clean. Plus we got the room for only $35! It was definitely no Hampton Inn, but it worked great for us.

DAY 2:

I thought this looked kind of funny. Benj is driving with his leg on the dash! Obviously Benj is using cruise control.

I think the slogan on the bag is awesome. :)

Day 2: we drove 430 miles through very windy, desert. Not very scenic after the first 10 miles. We stopped for lunch at this New Mexico original, Blake's LOTABURGER. It was a cool diner, and the burgers were pretty good.

Once we got into Texas we drove through Amarillo. Of course we listened to George Strait's "Amarillo By Morning" over and over. Benj pointed out the neat way they write Amarillo on the overpasses. (they use cowboy boots for the L's).

In Quanah, Texas my dad opened up a pizza shop. I had no idea dad! Is this funding the new remodel? I think the name was inspired by what Benj calls my dad.

Day 3:

Next we drove to Houston to visit with my Aunt and cousins (sorry we didn't get to see Ricky Roo). I've only been to their home when I was about eight, so I was really excited. It was great to hang out with them! We love you, Hughes! See you in August!

We also got to visit The Jones'. On our way we passed by this place, I thought it looked pretty cool. Of course we broke out in a chorus of the famous nursery rhyme that inspired the name of this farm.

Cabe, Di and Addy took us to an awesome BBQ place for dinner.

They were so gracious and let us stay the night. Addy is soooooooooo cute! I think she was more worried about eating the fruit snacks we gave her than smiling for our blog. :)
DAY 4:

Finally! Here we are in Louisiana.

Very fitting, the welcoming committee was a big ant pile (I almost stepped in), this sweet snapping turtle and some mosquito hogs (dragon flies).

On our way to Walker, we passed through Rayne, Louisiana. This town is all about frogs apparently. They have frog murals on a lot of their buildings and frogs on their government signs. In fact it is the self-proclaimed frog capitol of the world. This sign caught my eye. As you can see I was a little confused.

Mrs. Cindee wasn't home when we arrived, but when she got home, she was very surprised to see our car and to hear that we are staying all summer! Soon, phone calls started rolling in from all the siblings. They were way surprised and very excited! Just what we were going for.