This past weekend we got to go down to Branson! My mom and dad didn’t even know we were coming! The Branson trip had been planned for the whole family since the beginning of this year. Justin and I were not going to be able to go because we couldn’t afford it. BUT about a month and a half ago my Aunt Patti called and had found a way for us to go!!! So Thursday at 6:30 pm we flew out of Flint (a bigger town about 45 minutes away) and got into Northwest Arkansas (by way of Atlanta) about 10:30 pm. Aunt Patti had her car there waiting for us and then we drove down to Fort Smith and stayed with my brother and sister in law. Then the next morning we stalked my dad after his meeting – waiting for him to leave and go home!!! When he finally went home we showed up and surprised them!! Dad was on the phone when we got there – so not much reaction from him but below is the video of mom when we surprised her.

We had a GREAT time and really hated to leave! Later I will post some pictures of the trip.
 
 
 
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One of the cutest places weve ever been to is a little town called Frankenmuth. It is a little german community about 15 minutes from Saginaw. They actually call it :Michigans Little Bavaria”. Our neighbor – Marge (who might just need a post all her own) kept asking us (with a very heavy northern accent) – “Have you been to Frankenmuth yet”? So we finally took the trip over there just a couple of weeks after we moved here. 

First stop was the Bavarian Inn. It’s a very authentic german restaurant – referred to us by Marge. It was so cute. The waiters and waitresses were all dressed up like the picture below. (Really they were!!!) I had chicken cordon bleu and Justin had some type of beef platter.
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After lunch we walked around downtown. Some pictures of Frankenmuth are below.
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And this was just ONE side of cheese! There were three sides!
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This is CHOCOLATE!!! This is at a fudge shop downtown.
 
 
Happy day after 4th of July day! We were sad not to be at the lake this year but thankful to get to see some fireworks – unlike last year! We started off the fourth by running around town doing errands. BUT to make it kinda special (since it was the 4th) we took Ellie with us. We tried to find her a new shirt to wear (because her old 4th of July shirt said Old Navy 2007) but everything was too small for her!! So frustrating. So she had to stay in her usual 4th getup of a red bandana collar (w/blue tag) and red, white, and blue lay.

We had also planned to make 4th of July cupcakes together. Homemade icing and all. It was SO much fun. Since we are so poor we have to think of creative (fee/cheap) things to do together. Like instead of going to the amusement park like we REALLY wanted to do. So cupcake decorating it was.

So after about 2 hours of cupcake decorating it was time for a traditional 4th of July meal. We had hot dogs (in the microwave though because we don’t have a grill) and baked beans. Oh and cupcakes for dessert. Baked beans are one of my new favorite foods. And they don’t even give me gas.

Then we packed our cooler bag (whoever got us that purple cooler bag – THANK YOU! We have gotten a lot of use out of it – its great!) and headed off to the fireworks. They started at 10:15 but we got there around 8:30. We took snacks and cards thinking we would need to be entertained since we were there so early. We were wrong. It was crazy out there. We were in a park type area by the river. So it was all grass and cars were everywhere. But these Michiganians are crazy. People think Arkansas is redneck. They need to come to Saginaw, MI. There were fireworks going off EVERWHERE. In the middle of cars (off of cars), in the GRASS, underneath powerlines, underneath trees. All kinds of fireworks – not just good ol sparklers. Speaking of sparklers, there was one point where this kid beside us lit FOUR sparklers at once – in his hand – and freaked out and just threw them in the grass – mid sparkling. I freaked a little. 

But the fireworks really were great. We were pleasantly surprised at how good they were. I hoped you all had a great 4th of July!!! Enjoy some of our pictures!
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Justins batch of cupcakes
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My batch of cupcakes
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Jenny and her dog Cosmo came with us. And Ellie of course!
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Notice all the smoke and FIRE around us?!
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Yes - I am wearing a sweatshirt!! It was about 65 degrees! IN JULY!!
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Trying to get Ellie to pose. She was more interested in giving me kisses (and people watching)
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Cant have a 4th of July post without a fireworks picture!
 
 
Our ride up here was LONG!! It took us about 14 hours – which we spread out in 2 days. We left my apartment in Little Rock on May 5th at 8:00 am. We had movers come and load up our moving truck the day before, meaning the only thing left in the apartment was our mattress. So we woke up at 6:00 and loaded the mattress up and then poor Justin had to hook the rental truck onto the car trailer. And then load the car onto the car trailer.

I say poor Justin because 1.) the trailer was very frustrating to deal with in an apartment community. and 2.)  because I am a horrible mover. You would think since weve moved 5 times in the last three years I would be a pro!  But NOPE! I get very attached to each place no matter how long Ive been there so the move is usually pretty emotional for me. And I never have a lot of patience when it comes to packing and loading.
Below are pictures throughout our day of moving…

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Justin underneath my car hooking it to the car trailer
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Can yall believe Justin drove this? I was very impressed!
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First stop - Missouri!
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Below are some videos I took while we were on our road trip. As you can tell – I got a little bored! Illinois was the worst. The speed limit was 55 mph on the interstate!!! And we had to go through some construction.
 
 
Im baaaaack!!!!! I have decided to start blogging again! Justin has been begging me since Christmas (seriously) to start writing again. So six months later…. Here I am! So let me give you a quick update….

Justin and I have been living in Saginaw, Michigan since the beginning of May. He is doing his Intro to Clinicals (5th Semester) here and will be done in August. When he is done we will stay in Michigan until he finds out where we will go for clinicals (Novemberish). Then HOPEFULLY we will be wherever that is for the next two years. 

Everyones number 1 question to us has been – So how do you like Michigan? Well – the weather is GREAT. Right now its in the mid 80’s with about 40% humidity. The people here are a lot nicer than we thought they would be but someone needs to teach them how to cook good BBQ and Mexican food. One thing that we love the most so far are all the free/cheap things to do on the weekends! I will post pictures and more on those later. 

The town we are in – Saginaw – has about 70,000 people. It has lots of little old houses and buildings and the area we are in (called the Tri City area – consisting of three towns close to each other) is called the armpit of Michigan. So as you can imagine by its nickname its not the nicest place ever but definitely better than Dominica or Miami (in our opinion). But if you really want to know what its like then come up here and see us!!! 

This week I will post more picture/videos about where we live, the trip up here, etc. so keep checking back!!