Our little Georgia and Florida Vacation!

It's been almost a month since we went on our post first year of MBA school vacation, and I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures.  We drove to Savannah, Georgia and spent a night there to break up the drive a bit.  We checked out Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's) restaurant and the food was really buttery and good, but not so healthy.   Rex was pretty good despite the fact he was the only child in the entire restaurant.

We walked along river street and enjoyed the shops

In front of our hotel in the historic district

The we hopped in the car for another 5 hour drive to Orlando

Josh's parents flew directly to Orlando and joined us for some seriously HOT and sticky days at the parks.  The first two days we spent at Magic Kingdom, and it was a blast for all of us.

After spending our first two days at Magic Kingdom, we spent the morning of our third day at Animal Kingdom which was really neat, but very crowded. 

Rex LOVED the jungle safari where we saw just about every animal he could think of.  His tag line for the rest of the day was, "lets go see more animals!"

Side note: See that Mickey Mouse airplane on a stick he has in his hand?  He found that at a gift shop at Magic Kingdom and Grandma bought it for him.  He didn't put it down the entire trip (yes, he slept with it) and continues to sleep with it.  It's almost replaced his comfort blanket, but not quite.  And when it runs out of batteries you'd better have one on hand and ready to go, he's not very patient.

We spent one half day at Epcot where I fell in love with the Nemo ride.  It was so cute, Rex loved it.  Josh and I thought we'd go on MISSION: Space which spins really fast and tilts to simulate the speed and gravitational forces of being in a space shuttle.  We should have heeded the warnings that said if you are prone to motion sickness, not to ride.  Josh was sick for a good 3-4 hours after riding.

After the half day at Epcot we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom for the last half of the day since it was our favorite.  Here's Rex "checking da map".  He has control issues.

It was such a fun trip, I'm so glad we were able to fit it in!  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Garner for coming out, it would not have been the same without you there.  Thanks for taking Rex and letting us do some adult rides together!  

We're going on a grave hunt...

And that's literally what we did last Monday for Memorial Day.  When we were considering moving to Charlotte for the summer my Mom mentioned to me that some of our ancestors were buried in a family cemetery somewhere just outside of Charlotte.  She also mentioned that the directions were vague and it could be tough to find.  We did a little digging and set out with an idea of the general direction.  We drove about 40 minutes east to a little town of Red Cross, NC and started knocking on some doors.  We finally found someone who knew of the little cemetery and we were able to find it!  What a find it was!  A tiny little cemetery, just off the side of the road, under a big beautiful tree, dedicated just to my grandmother's great-grandparents and their family, the Hathcocks.

We actually drove past it a couple times, it's easy to miss.

There are only 4 marked graves, and a number (probably around 10+) of unmarked graves as well.

 The grave of Lloyd (1809-1888) and Mary Hathcock (1811-1884) - my great-great-great grandparents

We drove about 10 minutes away to the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery to find a few more family member's graves.  We happened upon the grave of Joshua Christian Burroughs who is my grandmother's great-grandpa on the other side.  My mom had the information on where he died, but there was no information on which cemetery he was buried in.  We were able to fill in that information once we saw his grave with our own eyes!

And we found the graves of his parents as well (Burris became Burroughs in the 1850's for some reason - makes family history a little more interesting)

It was such a neat experience to drive through the farmland here in NC where my ancestors were cotton farmers back in the mid 1800's and imagine what life might have been like for them back then.  Much thanks to my great-great-grandmother, Eliza Jane Burroughs, who joined the church in North Carolina and moved West to Arizona to raise faithful children and grandchildren.

More Alder Family!

I took some more family photos for this good lookin' bunch just a couple days before we moved.  I was able to edit them and get the pics to the family before we left but there just wasn't time to blog about it.  Yes, we moved.  Just for the summer so Josh can do an internship.  We're in Charlotte, NC now which is only about 2.5 hours from Durham.  Enough about that...here's a few favorites from our very quick yet efficient shoot.

And just because he's cute and I had my camera handy...

Duke MBA LDSSA Beach Week

We spent the last week with some good friends in paradise (the Outer Banks).  It was hands down the best time I've had in a while.  So relaxing, yet a lot of fun!  Here are some pics from the trip.

The gang minus a few kids who went to bed early

 Daddy teaching Rex how to "surf"

 Playing kickball with the kids

And we're already counting down until next year...

Utah Girls Weekend

About a month ago my sisters and I met up in Utah to catch up with each other, my brother, and my parents who are serving a mission in Salt Lake City.  Here are a few pictures of the trip!

This is the 6th floor of the church administration building, where my parents spend all their time.  They organize files of digital documents for the church (I think it's about as exciting as it sounds).

 

 

From the top of the church administration building

Spent some time at temple square...

And we ate at all of our favorite restaurants...

We went to church at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

 We got to spend Sunday afternoon down at my grandma's house with my brother and his daughter, Sophie.  She is definitely one of the prettiest little girls I've ever seen.

Josh was such a champ to take Rex by himself all weekend and a big shout out to a few special friends who watched Rex so Josh could go to class!  It was a great trip!