"the cowboy state"

the rodeo

yellowstone

tetons and bighorn mountains

jackson hole

dude ranches

wide open spaces

sitting bull and buffalo bill

the Old West

indian paintbrush

bison and antelope

teepees

the cowboy state

I boarded the SLC aiport and 1.5 hours later landed in Cody, Wyoming! A spot that has always rang curiosity in my ears. The sweetheart bought me a ticket to come out and see him and officially meet...
WYOMING!

the lone ski lift

Below is Meadowlark Lake where we had ourselves a little picnic and I fell in love with cherry's.

                             

where'd he go?

We drove up the mountains quite high and then hiked to one of his favorite places. It was a beautiful view! I was so busy taking pictures when I turned around he was gone. Then he yelled from above and there he was. That boy had me stressin'!

jackson

He is the prettiest golden retriever and such a good, friendly dog. He doesn't ever bark and is so well trained. He liked to join us on our travels.

a dear moment

We drove past a cemetery that was packed with antelope! Interesting fact I learned: There are more antelope than people in Wyoming!

rumors

There are [3] restaurants in this small town. This one is so appropriately named (:

It was kinda cute and fun, just a local sports bar and grill. And he's eating steak yet again!

Don't interrupt a man while he's trying to eat his meat.

teepees

i love them! and they have them all around. and you can even rent them and bunk there for the night, which was immediately added to my must do's.

wind river canyon

this was the prettiest drive. i fell in love with wyoming over and over again. this is the boulder he likes to climb and read on top. did i mention how brave he is...

 population 50

i made him stop on our drive when i saw this here town of OTTO, pop. 50! i couldn't believe it. he just smiled and said, "just wait a little longer up the road till we get to Shell, pop. 8."

famous malts

on our way back to his house we stopped by "Dirty Sally's" to get a world's famous chocolate malt. It was yummmmmmy. This part of town near Ten Sleep looked so Western, I loved it. I asked, "how did this place get it's name?" His reply, "It used to be a brothel." Eeee!

Cabin in Ten Sleep

There is a cute little town called Ten Sleep. Story goes that from Worland to get to Ten Sleep it took 10 nights (sleeps) to get there on foot. I loved this little place, it definitely stole my heart. We saw a momma and baby moose just right near the cabin too! The cabin and town was fun to visit for a few hours. 

grizzly

I realize that I just may be the only female on this planet who finds hunters attractive and wants heads adorning my walls. So when he brought me into the den to show me the gun collection and rugs, I gasped! To the left a black bear, to the right, an Alaskan grizzly. My favorite part, he caught the brown bear at age 12 and the black bear at 15.

I'm pretty sure I took off my training wheels at 12 and wore my bike without a helmet for the first time at 15... 

ribeye time

This boy sure knows how to cook a mean steak. And we devoured, 2 nights in a row! It's no secret I can't (don't) cook, so I sure got lucky! (;

the old barn

While he was cooking he told me to run off with Jackson and go explore the land. So off we went and I loved it all. I adored this old memory. I got to sit on one of the tractors and look at ALL the many, many, deer prancing through the fields as the sun was setting. What a place!

  

fields of gold

The little deer were leaping and prancing and dancing and bouncing and gliding through the fields. It's a blurry shot, but I caught 2 on this picture. But there were tons and tons.

graceful doe.

I never knew how graceful a deer was until I was able to see so many up close.

 Loved it.

peace.

No city noises, just the delicate sounds of nature.

So inviting.

through the window

I came back to see him in the kitchen getting dinner all prepped and ready.

Quite darling, isn't it?

Back in February, I wrote a post about the fifty nifty US states. And this is what I had to say about WYOMING:

√ 50] Wyoming-------------------------------------------

Last the best for all the game. Wyoming is the state that my dreams are made of. Sure, I know I said Alaska gave me butterflies, Virginia was the best, but WYOMING- is my dream.

 WHY Wyoming?

One of my favorite places in all the US is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yellowstone is up there too. There is just nothing that beats it. I love the country, I love cowboys, I love buffalo, I love the outdoors, what more could a girl want. Wyoming is pretty much the spot where every teacher wants to work, they pay good $$ there.

Call me crazy but I sure am in love with Wyoming.

  Funny how I wrote that then getting myself a Wyoming boy bred and fed!

Can't wait to go back! 

sha la la la la la my my oh my!

This may be my most eventful post, ever.

So I'll make it short and sweet.

somewhere in between my dreamy date at La Caille in April...

my best-conversation-'he-could-be-a-keeper' date in May...

my adventureous 12 hour fishing date in June...

and my dream Jackson Hole lovin' date on the 4th of July...

I found myself a really great guy.
and I'm pretty smitten.
(:

(Wish I could say I have more pictures of us to offer, but this is all we've taken)

tales of a 4th grade something

I have been so MIA for this entire summer and these 3-month late blog posts updates are going to explain why.

Back in May my principal called with some good news! I interviewed for the 4th grade position (at the same school) with 3 other interviewers by the name of "Brittany" and waited, and waited for what seemed like hours and found out I was the new 4th grade teacher!

Due to the 200 new Kindergartners that have swamped our school, we had to switch to year-round. So for all you year-round veterans, I am B track. So far I am really liking it!

I have 22 great students who I could never love more. All but 3 I taught last year in Music so it was a pretty fun reunion! My kids are always making me laugh and school is my favorite time of the day!

Here's a peek inside Ms. Brassell's classroom. Our theme is the Wild West or Frontier since we are studying Utah History in Social Studies.

Outlaw of the Week. I pull a stick and that student gets to be the famous Outlaw. I took all there pictures in handcuffs, mustaches, cowboys hats or the Davy Crockett coon hat. It was fun. They basically get to be the star student or teachers pet and get a $100,000 reward at the end of the week. That's right, a 100 grand candy bar. (: They also get letters from each of the students and myself made into a book to keep forever and ever. (I still have mine!)

The checkers is a good brain game the kids love and though you can't tell its a giant checkers board set from Cracker Barrell.

The holy Silent Ball. The kids are OBSESSED with this game and ask if they can play it atleast twice a day. Teachers are so smart to make the most desired game in the world, silent. (;

The Tattle Monster. Because these 4th graders are always tattling about something! So now they get to write it on a slip of paper and put it in the mouth where teacher gets to check it later. It's all about validation.

The Birthday Chart. It's a bit blurry, but they are presents with bows and ribbons and a tag of the name and date on it. No February or March bdays in this class.

The Teepee! The kids love the teepee! Two students get to read in it during AR time, something they look forward to each day.

Another shot of the classroom.

School started July 25th and we were in for 6 weeks and have had the past 3 weeks off. That's kinda how year round works. I am so ready to get back and start teaching, I miss my kids! I start back next week. I'll have to post some of the projects we have done.

We were on TV last week! KSL came and interviewed our principal and talked about our new school lunch program. My kids made sure they got to be on TV so you can see them here waving all over the place. Pretty fun!

I also got to be on the front page of the newspaper with my Korean intern for the first day back to school. She was teaching us how to write our names in Korean.

 Wish I could say the picture of me was as flattering as the whole aspect of it...

Either way school is cool and it's time I go work on some more lesson plans.

Toodaloo!

tour de nauvoo

 

I experienced the trip of a lifetime being able to go on a church history tour back in the beginning of July. I went with my family when I was 14 and we were able to tour Kirtland and Palmyra which I didn't get to do this time around, and I'll never forget that trip with my family. However, this one was different because of the study and research I have done over the past years that have made it all the more impressionable and meaningful.

 

I went with my YSA ward and it was a 4 day trip (ON A BUS RIDE) through 8 states! What a journey and a weight-gainer too...!  Good thing I have such an incredible Bishopric and ward friends who made the hours and hours and days and days of sitting on a packed bus ride well worth the trip. Not to mention the extremely GREAT food, and the movies that helped me get through the ride. I think I was the only one on the bus ride bawling (and even watching for that matter) through all 3 Work and the Glorys!  Heaven knows my seat-mate was ready for a change.

 

The bus ride was... ehhh for the most part enjoyable. Just the last stretch when you're ready for this trips end and your seat partner, who you just met, has the light on at 3am because she's reading Pride and Prejudice for the THIRD time that trip and keeps poking you throughout the night as your trying to find a comfortable spot on your 180 degree vertical window to tell you how Mr. Darcy just did the sweetest thing, surprise squeels and screams that make you jump out of your trousers, Miss America Pageant fanning hands of ready-set tears that are leaking out as she exclaims her heartfelt emotions to your zombie-ridden-sleep-deprived self and then ever so dearly falls asleep on your stomach-lap area after reapplying a fresh coat of deoderant, with a beautiful, timely snore...facing up at you. 

 I exaggerate not.  

 

Needless to say, even the best trips always need to come to an end. And no better end than a new best friend perched on your lap as the bus pulls safely into the church lot after having broke down 3 times for an hour each during the night with the only AC being the movements of 150 unwashed, BO and stinky fragrant bodies moving to readjust their never-going-to-be-comfortable-...ever selves.

 

But I promise you, it still was the best trip!

Now, enough with the words, let's get to the pictures!

 

We were able to see 3 temples and 2 temple sites. It is a goal of mine to see every temple in the US and so far I've done 28/72... so I still have a lot more to cover. We were able to visit the Far West, Temple site and the Independence Missouri, Temple site, walk around Winter Quarters, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri Temples, and actually do work inside the beautiful Nauvoo, Illinois Temple. What a great memory!

 

Winter Quarters, Nebraska Temple

Kansas City, Missouri Temple

Nauvoo, Illinois Temple

 

Adom-Ondi-Ahman, Independence Missouri

 

 

We were able to go to some very remarkable sites. First Carthage Jail, which was my personal favorite.

 

The Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. The top window where Joseph fell out of.

The actual door in the Carthage Jail and the bullet hole that killed Hyrum.

The Liberty Jail where Joseph was imprisoned for months and received the revelation in D&C 121.

 

Independence, Missouri where the temple will be built.

 

 

Then we spent the remainder of our time in NAUVOO!

 

and these cute old folks (missionary couples) welcomed us all with the cutest little musical

"High Hopes and Riverboats".

 I have never wanted to be an old married missionary couple more!

 

Visitor Center in Nauvoo. Albanian Book of Mormon shoutout for Rachel. The crazy mess of hair is due to the massive amt of humidity!

The Smith's Mansion House

 

Front side of the Mansion House (owned by the Community of Christ Church)

The Smith Family Gravesite (Hyrum, Joseph, and Emma)

 

All Is Well, All Is Well

Prairie Diamond. The boys would propose to the ladies with one of these nails heated up and bent into a ring. The company was called Diamond, thus the Diamond, and the proposing was on the prairie... the trek to SLC.

 

Oh, I miss the trees!!!!

Aunt Annie's Custard! The best custard out there, with some great friends.

 

Annie's Custard round 2, midnight run.

A real slab of the rock that was used for the original Nauvoo Temple and now used as a stairway into one the Ol' Nauvoo Giftshops.

 

"Always remember to look up."

 

Another cemetary for many of the saints.

Joseph Smith would sit here (in the Old Red Brick Store) and look out this window to the Mississippi River. It is said that this was his very favorite view, and I'm seeing why.

"In life they were not divided, and in death there were not separated."

Statue of Joseph and Hyrum at sunset infront of the Nauvoo Temple.

 

Temple at dusk.

Last night in beautiful Nauvoo.

 

A gorgeous sunset.

The Nauvoo Pageant. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! (:

 

Last glance of the temple as we drove off.

 

The Nauvoo trip was a great highlight of my summer! I am so thankful I was able to go. It truly was an unforgettable experience and I sure hope I am able to go back soon. If I had to choose one temple that meant the most to me or was my favorite I would choose Nauvoo.

 

The best experience I had on the trip was choosing to sit by myself with just my thoughts, all alone, during the Nauvoo Pagaent while fireflies were lighting up my night sky. To feel the Spirit so closely. Lay back on the grass and look up at the temple. Listen to the secadas and crickets and the powerful music ring through the night.