Arkansas: Part One

Well, let's just say I took a LOT of pictures (somewhere close to four hundred) and if that is any indication of how our children will be documented there will never be a shortage of pictures. We just had too much fun with everyone and I love learning more about my new camera. Being the coolest aunt and uncle I know, Daniel and I came prepared with gifts for the girls to help them warm up to us. Before I could even get ready the first morning we were all playing with Bella's new princess puzzle book and Hannah's Tangled Look-and-Find book. Here is what we did the first half of the week:

We put together the puzzle book at least a dozen times.
We found Rapunzel and her friends. Hannah was surprisingly good at finding things I thought were hard.


Monday:



We checked out downtown Bentonville. Erin and Jason took us to the Station for lunch for some delicious burgers. We saw Waltons Five and Dime, the beginning of the Wal-Mart empire.

Our plans were to play outside, but it rained on our parade. So we went bowling instead!

We had dinner at a BBQ joint called the Whole Hog. That was some dang good southern bbq! Even the leftovers the next day made my stomach smile.

Tuesday:

With an extra pair of hands around, Erin decide we should try to snap some family photos. I had no idea that getting three wiggly girls to smile at the camera at the same time. Erin and Jason are quite the comedic pair when trying to make the girls smile big for the camera. At the,very least, they had Daniel and I laughing.

Here are a couple I thought turned out alright:

Wednesday: My Birthday!

For my first birthday away from my side of the family, we sure had an excellent day. Erin made some delicious waffles for breakfast and later we packed up a picnic and headed out to a little place called Blowing Springs. Its a cool little spring that makes the Arkansas heat quite pleasant. Then made our way back home to make some birthday cupcakes! Well, Erin made the cupcakes and the girls and I scooped batter and iced the finished product. I was very surprised when a package arrived at Erin's door for me! I only knew one person who would go out of their way to make sure I had something from them on my birthday: my spectacular mom. :) She sent me a box of decadent chocolate covered strawberries and creamy cheesecakes. Possibly the best package I have ever received.

Then we packed up for dinner and a little nature walk. The Walton Family has donated millions of dollars to create a premier American Art museum right in Bentonville. It is surround by beautiful gardens and exciting hiking and biking trails. We walked out to the observation deck to check out the progress of the museum (due to be finished in November). The hike ended up being a little sweatier than any of us anticipated, but it was gorgeous! After we all cooled down, we went to Bella Napoli for dinner. Holy delicious homemade Italian food! Sooo good. We ended the night with a chick flick. That's my kinda birthday

Can you see the bike made out of branches?

Did I forget to mention that per my nieces request, I had a Barbie birthday? Complete with matching cups and plates, pink balloons and streamers, and pink iced cupcakes.

That's right. It was one rad birthday.

Our Evaluation: Northwest Arkansas

When we told people we were spending our summer vacation fund on a trip to the exotic land of Arkansas, most people drew up the mental picture of someone like this guy:

Or some other character from the people of Wal-mart website. However, we found Northwest Arkansas to be quite the contrary. Our intent was to visit Daniel's sister, Erin, and her family while also checking out possible internships/future jobs for Daniel the potential accountant. For me, I came to the shocking realization that I actually wanted to live somewhere other than Idaho. Of course other places always sound nice in comparison to Idaho, especially during the winter, but no where has ever captured my attention enough for me to honestly want to pack up and move.

Here is our collection of thoughts on why we found Arkansas (of all places) so agreeable:

1. Perfect blend of southern charm and the normality of the Midwest. People are so dang nice there!

2. Job Opportunities: go ahead--name a company--chances are they have an office there.

3. Woo Pig Sooey! Lovin' the undying love for the U of Arkansas Razorbacks. It would be great to attend a university with real sports.

4. Food: we are self-proclaimed foodies and the Bentonville area (and well, 80% of the country) offer every type of food not found in Rexburg-particularly BBQ- that are just divine!

5. Close to some of the cutest nieces you've ever seen. And their equally cool parents.

6. Weather! I love me some heat! Idaho's deep, dark, endless winters really hold no special place in my heart. Long summers and beautiful autumns and springs sound much more enticing.

7. Outdoor fun: Idaho does have endless supply of outdoor extracurriculars, but NWA provides a heavier dosage of things Daniel and I actually enjoy: hiking, biking, and many more tennis facilities than Idaho.

8. Job Opportunities: {for me} Crystal Bridges Museum, I have my eye on you. Check it out here.

9. This kind of goes with weather, but humidity. Sigh, I am a constant companion to my lotion, and the humidity allows my skin some much needed moisture.

10. Finally, diversity. Let's just say we want out of the "jello belt" or "mormon bubble" just for sanity's sake.

There ya go, if you aren't convinced by now I don't know what to tell you. Of course Arkansas is lacking a few things: namely my parents, but give me some time, I could convince them to move out there too. :)

Now please enjoy our trip via pictures.

Chambers Family Reunion

Daniel's mom's side of the family had a reunion the last weekend in July. We headed down to Park City and Wasatch National Park for the festivities. We were especially excited that two of Daniel's sisters were going to be able to make it.

Initially we planned on camping all three nights....but we were kinda wimps. Two of the nights we ended up in the extra bed in Marci and Alan's hotel room. I cherish my sleep greatly so it was definitely worth the additional thirty minutes drive between the reunion and the hotel. We were able to hit up the outlet malls for some shopping and dined on some delightful meals.

Reunion day we met up with everyone and basically hung out for several hours. And that's truly the beauty of family reunions--whether you have one every summer or once a lifetime you can stick dozens of people together and expect to have a great day simply passing the time. There were lots of kids so they kept themselves entertained with waterguns and balloons. The older kids played cards and the oldest kids played the most intense game of Pit I've ever seen. There was lots of screaming and occasional accusations of cheating, but that's typical family fun. We played a family trivia game that was quite cute, and very informative for someone such as myself (so new to the fam). Dinner was delicious and dessert was just divine--dutch oven cakes and ice cream. Hugs and kisses and everyone parted ways. Until next time....

Grandma Jensen even made it up from Richfield to see some of her many, many great grandchildren she hardly gets to see. She is always fun to talk to. She and Colter enjoyed dessert together.
Norma, Brent {Lara's Husband}, and Alan {Marci's Husband}

My and Daniel's new love. Our nephew Calvin captured our hearts. How can you resist that face? Calvin particularly became fond of Uncle Daniel.

The Chambers Siblings
Loretta, David, Rhonda, & Norma

Chambers Goofy Picture

The before-mentioned Pit Game. I now see where Daniel gets his competitive drive.

A little game of bean bag toss.

Alan & Andy

Everyone was very impressed that Daniel put Calvin to sleep

A rather interesting game of Bonzana {more commonly referred to as the Bean Game at our house}. It was quite fun.

My attempt at playing badmitton with a bunch of young boys. Basically I watched them swing and miss eighteen times in a row only to finally make contact and knock it clear into the trees. You have to admire the heart of these kids though. They were persistant and positive the entire time. I, on the other hand, may have been less so, but it sure was entertaining.

**Love this baby**

**Love this boy**

With her dad's assistance, Ally was very successful at luring the geese nearer and nearer to herself with leftover sandwich pieces.

Great weather the whole time we were there.

Thanks to everyone who made the reunion possible. It was so great to meet all these news faces and people I had only heard of. I am very blessed to have a great extended family in addition to my own. Park City was just beautiful, and we would do it again in a heartbeat. We'll get our own hotel room this time. Tents....well...they're tents. :)

This weekend we are off to see more nieces! Yay! We leave for Arkansas on Saturday and we will be out there for a week. Thank goodness those insane three digit temperatures have cooled down out there...

Graduation Photos

Voila>Some Graduation Photos:

My beloved Ricks building: where I studied all of my history and political science class. I probably spent 80% of my college career here. Many naps were taken on the comfy couches, and occasionally, on the floor.

Just after receiving my "diploma"--The real one has yet to come. I was happy to see some of my favorite teachers at graduation: Bro. Lewis {Early American, Far East, and Modern China}, Bro. Pigott {Renaissance & Reformation, Africa, French Revolution/Napoleon), Bro. Johansen {Constitutional History, Technical Writing}, Sis. Passe-Carlus {French}.

I love this picture of us, but I think my eyes are half closed. Any friends with exceptional photoshop skills....Here is your next project.

Hello World!!

Congratulations to me! :) I am officially certified to sit around and talk smartly about history. Graduation was excellent. I think that most people lost interest in the speaker about halfway through, but it still felt like this was a much more significant event than graduating high school. I am excited for future prospects and what lies ahead for Daniel and me.

Let us recap this past semester that I so poorly documented:

• Daniel's 24th birthday! For his birthday he got a new smashing suit from his parents, a little shopping money, and lots of little goodies from me. (a bobblehead of a Red Sox player, decals for the car, movies, and.....a fish tank). Oh the fish tank, we were just shopping in Wal-Mart and walked by the fish. Daniel decided he really wanted to be a fish parent. So piece by piece we have assembled our own little ecosystem, but it has not come without its trials. We slowly built up to ten fish and then had a sudden epidemic. Over several days we lost five fish. Not fun. Currently we have a fish that disappeared while we were at a family reunion, he is no where to be found. Anyways, for Daniel's birthday we went out to lunch, the Museum of Idaho's bodies exhibit, a movie, and to my parent's house for a bbq. It was an extra fun weekend.


• School! Lots and lots of school. I enjoyed my last semester. I took a tennis class for six weeks and absolutely loved it. This was my first time going to school during the summer. Not my favorite. Daniel did well too. We are currently in the market for an internship for him for this January. It's going to be fun.....wherever we go.


• And... that's all.

Nothing too exciting or adventurous, just doing our thing. We have done many more exciting things since school got out, and pictures to come.

Still Here...

We are still alive, promise.

I even know I still have a blog.

I still check everyone else's.

And I get mad when there isn't something new and interesting to read.

So you can be mad at me.

We have actually been doing stuff this semester.

But its almost over.

That means finals.

Which for me, means my final finals.

Also, it means I still won't have a "real" post up for a while.

Hope this keeps you in suspense.