Makes Me Wanna Take a Back Road

The hubster and I spent Memorial Day weekend with his family up in Driggs, Idaho at the Buxton Farm, on Buxton Lane, just over Buxton bridge. After the long car ride through the middle of nowhere, you enter the beautiful valley, overlooked by the Tetons.

This is one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I've been to: no crowds, no hustle and bustle, no traffic, no shopping malls. Just friendly waves from passers by, dirt roads, acres upon acres of farmland, and one stoplight. Just ONE.

I love this place. This is where generations of Buxtons have worked the land over with their hands, planting and harvesting potatoes, barley, hay, you name it. I love hearing all the stories about the hardships and the fun times. I'm grateful for the farm in Driggs. My part-cowboy, part-politician split-personality husband (love him so much!) spent his summers working side by side Granpda and Grandma Buxton, repairing fences, branding calves, plowing fields, moving pipe. He learned how to work and how to work HARD. Getting up with the sun and working all day until sundown. Without spending his summers up there, my husband would most likely be like too many people's husbands: lazy and afraid to get his hands dirty! (HAHAHAHA JK, but for reals)

There is a beautiful simplicity up in that Teton Valley that I have come to love. To be cliche, people stop to smell the roses there. And that fresh, mountain air does a lotta good for the soul! That trip was just what I needed: a break from the busy and complicated world we live in. Nothing better than a ride up the canyon on a four-wheeler, campfires and mallows, and making more memories with family.

We miss you, Grandpa Buxton! It just isn't the same up here without you...

Makes me wanna take a back road...

See ya in the fall, Driggs!

CRUISIN

I have LOTS of catching up to do. You'd think that with all my extra time now that school is over, I would be able to keep up my blog... not sure what I end up doing with that spare time HA!

From May 6th through the 10th, me and the rest of the Miles clan were aboard the Carnival Inspiration, heading to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico.

I decided cruising is my new favorite way to vacation. When else do you get to enjoy a completely care-free trip? No need to plan or prepare meals, worry about everyone being entertained, etc. It was seriously the best! We are already looking forward to going on another one in a few years.

You've been warned: picture overload!

Pedis with the sistas the Saturday before the cruise!

Waiting anxiously at the airport to get to Long Beach

Took this picture simply because of the PURPLE blossoms on the trees. 

I've never seen a purple tree like that!

Made it on board the Inspiration after HOURS of long lines.

First stop: Catalina Island - isn't it beautiful?! We were sad the sun wasn't out. Almost our entire cruise was cloudy, windy, and even rainy!

Found this little guy trying to sunbathe in Catalina. I think he was just as disappointed as we were HA!

Loved the little towel animals every day!

So Call Me Maybe! - Superstar Karaoke (with a live band)

Next stop: Ensenada, Mexico. Hola!

Colton just had to buy this obnoxious sonbrero... isn't it lovely?

Ole!

These little kiddos were EVERYWHERE! They would tap on your arm or back and try to sell you little things. We tried to tell them we didn't have anymore money and they pointed to Colt's pocket and said, "Mucho money!"

Quite the shirt, eh? Colton wouldn't buy it...

Hard to believe that something this big actually floats! Crazy!

And then it's back on board for some long-awaited basking in the sun:

and then it got really windy... again.

My favorite part: 24 hr. ice cream cones!

Pretty view from the back of the boat. And of course we had to get one of these:

We had one last little bit of sun!

Sad to see it come to an end... but we had a GREAT time! 

The hardest part was coming back to this:

No more delicious, fancy meals waiting for us :( 

Colton attempted to make a towel animal - turned out swell!

Thank you to David and Cindy for taking us on our very first cruise. Can't wait to do it again!

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Last weekend was a weekend I had been looking forward to for months: General Conference!

General Conference weekend is always a fun and busy one for our family. Because my father-in-law works for the church, we have the awesome opportunity to attend sessions each time. I'm so grateful for that opportunity; being in the conference center is something special - I hope everyone can experience it at least once! The spirit is strongly present the minute you walk in that dedicated building.

My favorite part about attending sessions of conference (other than the messages shared) is watching the general authorities interact with each other. They are really funny people! They give each other 'broseph' hugs, fist bump, high five, sing the hymns jubilantly, sometimes doze off a little, or pat their wives on the head as they walk past them. I get a glimpse of who they really are, what they are really like, how each of their personalities differ. Some of them even mingle down in the floor section in front of the podium before the session starts - this time, I got to meet Elder Oaks and shake his hand! We got really lucky and got to sit on the 6th row for one session. THE 6TH ROW!!! Amazing.

Here's the view from the 6th row:

It was truly an incredible experience to literally sit at the feet of the apostles of Jesus Christ for a few hours. We were close enough to see the intensity in their faces, the warmth in their smiles and eyes, and the quiver in their jaw as they testify of their Savior's love for us with deep conviction.

A few of my favorite quotes:

"Imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him but He deals with it. So should we." 

- Jeffrey R. Holland

We all need to remember that we are surrounded by imperfect people, and we ourselves are imperfect. We are all just trying to get through life and be happy. A lot of the stress and anxiety we experience is caused by imperfect people making imperfect choices. We can remember that they aren't perfect; we can recognize that we can quit worrying or stressing over things that are outside of our control.

"Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice, but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places." 

- Dallin H. Oaks

and

"We must not pick and choose which commandments we think are important to keep but acknowledge all of God's commandments." 

- L. Tom Perry

The gospel is not a buffet; we can't pick out parts of the gospel that we want to live and leave others out because we aren't interested in them. We need to consistently live all parts of the gospel in order to be true disciples of Christ. It take commitment; it takes discipline; it takes effort. But by living all of the commandments and all aspects of the gospel, we show we are committed to our Savior and show our love and gratitude for Him. 

I was happy and grateful to have my mom and sisters come to a session with us. Afterwards, we did some shopping at the fabulous City Creek while Colton was at Priesthood. Thanks for a fun ladies night, girls!

WE LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!

LOVE

This post is a little late... But I do want to express my love and gratitude for the amazing people around me!

To me, Valentines Day is not just a holiday for husbands and wives, engaged couples, or boyfriends/girlfriends. To me, it is a holiday to celebrate your loved ones, your family, your friends. Of course Colton and I celebrated our love for each other. But we also took the time to express to our family members that we are lucky to have them in our lives and be loved by such wonderful people! Funny texts were sent to siblings, cards to parents, and phone calls to grandparents.

I have always had such a great example of celebrating this holiday: my mother. To her, this holiday meant an opportunity to do a little extra to show her kids how much she loves being our mom. She started a tradition when I was young of getting us heart shaped frosted sugar cookies from kneaders or cutlers, writing us each a special note, and making us a DVD of the past year's adventures with all of our funny pictures and memories. When I moved away to college, I really missed being home on Valentines because my mom always made it fun for us.

Well, this year my parents were so so sweet. They spent their holiday driving down to Provo to help me out with some car troubles (I had slid into a curb and bent a rim and my daddy came down with a new one and got it put on). And my amazing mom shows up with those delicious sugar cookies, one for me and one for Colton. This probably seems like such a tiny little thing to other people, but to me it meant the world. It meant my mother was thinking of us and remembering us! She was so sweet to bring us those cookies and I am so grateful that my dad came down to fix my car. I'm sure they could've thought of a lot of things to do that would've been more fun. I LOVE my parents. And mom's cookies were scrumptious!

And of course my husband spoiled me. I surprised him at work with THIS awesome thing and a photo calendar for his desk:

When I got home from work, I walked into our house and Colton handed me this dying and wilting carnation. I am not a fan of carnations! And I was thinking, "Seriously?! A dead carnation?!" But I kept my mouth shut and smiled sweetly and tried to be grateful. Colton then blindfolded me and drove me all around before pulling in to one of my favorite restaurants- Bombay House! Yum! And even though we had to wait an hour to be seated and another half hour to get our food, it was well worth the wait! I love me some chicken tiki masala :)

After dinner, we walked out to the car and opened the door to find THIS amazing surprise:

My sweet husband duped me into thinking he was lame sauce and only got me a freakin carnation so that the surprise of a dozen beautiful red roses was even better! And with the roses, he gave me 12 notes with 12 reasons why he loves me. What a sweetie!

I had a wonderful Valentines Day! I have so many people that love and appreciate me in my life and I am so glad. The purpose of this life is to be happy and I couldn't be happy without all of the loves in my life!