Shining, Shimmering, Splendid,
Tell me, Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?
I can open your eyes,
Take you wonder by wonder....
Through my single years, I often wondered if a man existed who was capable of "opening my eyes," and "taking me wonder by wonder."
Then, I found him. And he DID show me the world, but not just in the sense that we saw physical places. He opened my eyes to myself, and my capabilities, and the possibilities life held for me, and for us.
This post, however, is all about the physical places. Otto is 30 years
old today, and so, we celebrate Otto, and 30, in 30 different ways.
This is #16: Places we have seen together.
#1: The Statue of Liberty: October 2009. One of the first trips we ever took together!
#2: The top of the Rockefeller Center. Same trip! Same sweatshirt/coats. Different scarf. :)
#3: Farmington, WA Our favorite place for Tailgate parties!
#4: Broadway! Together we have seen West Side Story, Lion King (both in NYC) Phantom of the Opera, Scarlett Pimpernel, Tale of Two Cities, Pirates of Penzance, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Les Miserables. We LOVE Broadway!
#5: McCall, Idaho. A beautiful stopping point in the mountains about 3 hours from Colfax. One of our favorite places to stop, walk around, get ice cream, and occasionally, sleep along side the road in the car when we were trying to pull all nighters. :)
#6: Phoenix, AZ: I thought it was a beautiful place, the first time he brought me here in October of 2009.
And now it's home to our family of FOUR in 2013!
#7: Seattle, WA: Otto's first time on the Space Needle! With sister Robin (Dailey) Perry, the week of Ben and Shayla Dailey's wedding. This was also the weekend we announced we were expecting Eli!
#8: Coeur'd'Alene Lake, Idaho. A popular family vacation spot! And one of the most beautiful places on earth!
#9: Lake Powell: Who doesn't love a good day on the boat??
#10: Wickenburg, AZ: Longest drive ever. Arrived at 3 am. It was no Marriott, but I slept better than I had ever slept in my life.
#11: Boise, ID: A frequent stop off on the way to Colfax. Where Eli had his first swimming experience!
#12: St George, UT. A frequent stop off on the way to Mesa, and the place I nearly got heat stroke building Grandpa's retaining wall!
It's also the place we took our first trip together:
#13: Kirksville, MO: Home of AT Still. And the University they named after him. Our FIRST Med school interview!!!
#14: Bear Lake, UT: Our first family reunion with Eli! (8 weeks old)
#15, 16, and 17, Oakland, Gridley, and Sacramento CA all in one trip! Eli's FIRST vacation and trip on a plane! For Josh and Amy Shill's wedding
#18: The beautiful wheat fields of Colfax, WA. One of our favorite places
#19: The St Louis Arch. The best hotel deal we have ever had, and the most stressful trip up the arch we could have imagined (after paying a tow truck and a taxi to take us to the airport immediately after spending 3 hours looking for the rental car keys.)
#20: Colville, WA for Zach Harper's baby blessing. He met my entire family and I hadn't even agreed to date him yet. Of course they loved him! But I still made him not be in this picture. Sorry about that...
#21: La Grande, OR: Our own personal bed and breakfast!!
#22: Puerto Vallarta: Our honeymoon! And for the life of me I can't remember where our honeymoon pictures are right now..... so this will have to serve as a reminder!!!
#23: Denver, CO: A getaway to celebrate 6 months of marriage!
#24: San Diego, CA: A getaway to celebrate 2 quarters down of med school!
#25: Milcreek canyon, SLC, UT: Utah is known for it's beautiful canyons, and we loved driving through them as a family while we lived there:
#26: Tuacahn Amphitheater, St. George, UT: We saw Aladdin, and we loved it!!
#27: Las Vegas: One of Otto's least favorite places, but we can say we have stayed there together.
#28: San Antonio, TX: A getaway for our 1 year anniversary! The River
walk was our favorite, but we also went to the Alamo, and took a trip to
Austin to see my cousin!
#29: Snowville, UT: We spent the longest 5 hours of our life at this cafe, debating whether or not to risk our lives driving through closed roads to get home. We risked our lives. But we made it home!!!
#30: Temple Square, SLC UT. Never did it look so beautiful to me as it did on this day!
We haven't seen close to all of the places we want to see. Someday when we aren't paying off student loans anymore, we will travel to more of the world together. But for now, we are content to just be living life, in all of it's shining, shimmering, splendor.
I love you Otto! Thanks for showing me the world!
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