First Southern Road Trip...

Steve and I took our first road trip since we've been here in South Carolina. My mom was visiting my sister and her family in Florida so we decided to meet up for the weekend in Tennessee, where a lot of my dad's family lives. Growing up in Alabama, we spent all of our holiday's and most of our summers there together. Although things have changed over the years, it was great to see my uncle, aunts and cousins that I haven't seen for a long time. I was glad Steve was able to meet them too. Here are some pictures of our trip.

On Thursday, we went up to the mountains, had a picnic and the kids played in the water.
The kids had a great time in the water. They even found a little "waterslide" in the rocks so they were all excited about that.
Uncle Lloyd took us on a "quiet walk". He was our tour guide. We weren't very quiet though.Steve and I on our "quiet" walkAunt Nancy, Aunt Judy and mom

My grandparents passed away a number of years ago, however, their house is still there with some of the their things still in it. The girls had driven by it a few days before, but I wanted to take Steve by so he could see where I would run and play with my cousins. As you can imagine it's not in the best of shape since it has been sitting there for years without much care, but I thought I would share these pictures anyways, mostly for my family that hasn't seen it in a long time.The light post
The front of the house
The back patio... for some reason, my grandparents put their garbage cans in the ground... kind of interesting, but I guess it was a space saver.The downstairs patio, we used to ride the big wheel all the way down the sidewalk from the upstairs patio to the one below, and there was mint that grew along the house to the right of this picture.

There used to be a huge pine tree and a willow tree back there that I think all of the grandchildren made forts under at one time or another.

Heads Carolina, Tails California...

I guess you could say our coin landed on heads... Well, at least the school coin did. As most of you know we recently moved to South Carolina so Steve could attend Clemson University to get his Master's Degree in Real Estate Development. We will be here for the next 2 years and as hard as it was to say good-bye to our family and our home in California, we are excited for the opportunity that has been made available to us. We are looking forward to living in the south, where I spent the first 14 years of my life. We live in a small country town, surrounded by beautiful trees. It's definitely an adjustment, but a welcome one. We have already met a few young couples whose husbands are in the same program as Steve. We all live in the same apartment complex very close to each other. The other two wives are both expecting their first child as well, so it is nice to know that there are other people going through some of the same things as us.

We are pretty much all settled, just a couple more boxes I need to find places for, and then we will be settled, at least until we have to start getting serious about the baby gear. In all the craziness of packing up our house and getting it all ready to ship, I'm sad to say that I didn't take one picture of the process!! I decided to try to make up for that. Here are a few pictures of the moving process from this end. I'll post more as we continue to get settled.

Our new home...

The moving truck...

Some of our things still in the truck...

I felt bad for Steve because in the state that I'm in, 6 months pregnant and unable to lift or really move much, he had to do a lot of the lifting. We did have a lot of help from one of the other students and the elder's quorum later that night. It was a long and tiring day and he was a trooper!!

Clemson Dinner

A few nights before we left for Clemson, Steve's parents and sister-in-law, with the help of others, put together a great little party for us for family and a few close friends. Everything was decked out in orange and purple, Clemson's colors. Unfortunately, I don't own any orange or true purple yet, so I wasn't really showing my spirit in that way, but I have been informed that that will change very soon and orange and purple will be added to my wardrobe. It was great to have everyone together one last time before we left. At one point everyone went around the table and said a little bit about Steve and me. As you can imagine I was crying after the first person, which continued all around the table, but it was neat to hear other people's stories and comments about us, even stories that we had forgotten about. Thank you, thank you to everyone that came and helped with the dinner!! It was a great night. We missed all those that couldn't be there!! Here are a few pictures from the event.

The cute invitation... Thanks, Kelly!!


The adult table

Steve, Sam, Max, Chase, Me, Kate and Abby

Steve and I with Bill and Kelly and their family

3 cute little girls

Baby Shower

A couple weeks ago one of my best friends, Trisha, came up from LA to host a baby shower for me. I know it is early (I'm not due until November) but since we are moving across the country, we had to do it before we leave. It was wonderful! Trisha and a few other friends and family, did so much for it. It was great to have so many of our close family and friends there to help celebrate. However, we sure did miss the ones that weren't able to be there. Thank you to everyone that helped in some way or another and those that came as well! I really appreciate everything!!

Here are a few pictures from the shower. I feel badly, because we didn't get many pictures of me with people, and I wished we had.

The cute favors with homemade "Double Doozies" inside

Pictures of Me and Steve as babies. Steve's mom actually gave me a sailor outfit just like the one he is wearing in this picture. I can't wait to see our baby boy in it.

Cupcakes. The color theme was green and white. I love this picture, so I had to post it. It looks so professional.

Mom, Jennifer and I

Abby and Kate and I

Trisha and I

(Sorry about the technical difficulties with the last 2 pictures)

Trythall Family Reunion

We spent the first week in July in Utah for the Trythall family reunion. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Steve and I drove out there and arrived on Saturday morning. We were able to meet one of my best friends, Suzy, for lunch. It was great to see her and her daughter, Allie. Steve's mom, as well as his brother Tom and his wife Tara and their family flew in that day also. We stayed at the Residence Inn near Cottonwood Canyon. Most everyone didn't arrive until Monday, so on Sunday we had a great time at Temple Square with Steve's mom and Tom and Tara and the girls. It had been a while since I had been to Temple Square so it was fun to walk around and do a few tours. The weather was perfect for it too.

The rest of the week was spent doing different day trips around the Salt Lake area, from Logan to Provo. One day we took a big bus and went up to the Logan area. We learned about some Trythall Family Heritage. It was fun for everyone to be together on the bus and visit while we traveled. Wednesday we did a tour of Welfare Square. It was amazing to see all that the church does to help those in need. Thursday Steve and I went down to Provo for a little bit. We drove by some of our old apartments and went to the BYU bookstore. Then we met up with one of Steve's good friends (Jacob) for lunch at Thanksgiving Point. While the guys went to hit a few balls, I shopped around at a few stores. Steve had been dying to go golfing with his brothers while he was there, so it was even better that he was able to go with Jacob one day and his brother Tom the next day.

Friday was the 4th of July. One of my favorite days of the year. We went up to Heritage Park in Salt lake where the "This is the place" monument is. I had actually never been there, so I enjoyed seeing it and touring the little village they have set up there. Later that night, a few of us were anxious to go see some fireworks, because what is the 4th of July without fireworks? Anyways, so we drove to a park not too far away to hopefully be able to see some. It was a good night until we got stuck in traffic for 2 hours afterwards - that we could have done without!! But it was a good way to end a great trip. There were many other fun things mixed in the activities as well, however, I'm sure most of this is more than you wanted to hear in the first place. Sorry it's so long in detail.

We owe a lot to Mom and Dad Trythall for putting it all together and making it all possible. The reunion was wonderful and will forever be remembered. Thank you, thank you for everything Mom and Dad!!

**Unfortunately, my camera broke on the trip, so I can't get to most of my pictures at the moment. But here is one that I thought was pretty cute**

Steve and Tom at Temple Square

BOY oh BOY... we're having a...

BOY !!!

we are so excited to welcome in a new baby boy into our family!! I have to admit, I was pretty much convinced that it was a girl, so when the ultrasound tech said boy, I was a little surprised. I am really excited about having a boy. I can't wait to hold him and watch him grow and see what sports he will play. I know Steve is very excited as well. And now the hunt begins for the cute boy things!! This must be the year of the boys, my sister in law had a boy in April, Steve's sister and sister in law just had boys and Steve's other sister in law will be having a boy in August. The one break up of the boys is that my sister in law Emily is having a girl in September. We are so excited for all the little cousins that he will have his age to play with!! Now the real hunt begins... cute boy things!! Feel free to send some ideas my way... Hope you are all doing great!! I know we are!!