The LONG Journey- Hence, the long blog post

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Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, ARKANSAS! If Nate and I were a package that you were tracking for delivery, this would be the route you would have followed over the last few weeks; and it was all ground delivery too. No flying, only driving. Google maps and I estimate that we drove at least 3,318, yes that’s right, 3,318 miles throughout the course of this “little” jaunt of ours.

June 26^th was officially decreed the best day ever! It is anticipated that the events which transpired that day, namely our wedding, will forever alter the course of history. (That is, at least for us.) We were sealed in the Logan Temple by Grandpa Smith. Everyone there said it was such a miracle. (Not only that Nate finally got married, but that Grandpa Smith was healthy enough to perform the ceremony seeing as he had undergone brain surgery only weeks before.) It was a beautiful day, and we were immensely grateful for the love and support of all our family and friends.

There was another reception planned in Washington five days after our wedding, so we knew we’d have to honeymoon somewhere along the way between Utah and Washington. It was a tough decision between Burley, Idaho and the Oregon Coast but in the end, Oregon won out. In all seriousness, I’ve always wanted to go to the Oregon Coast, so I was quite pleased with our decision. We stayed in Cannon Beach and Astoria. We had surprisingly perfect weather the entire trip. We went to the beach, ate ice cream at the cheese factory, flew airplanes off the Astoria Column, rode a trolley, saw the house from the Goonies, and had a grand time.

We had some chill time with Nate’s family in Auburn and then with mine in Logan. We LOVE our families! Next, we went to Spanish Fork for Grandpa Smith’s funeral. He was one of the kindest, most considerate men I have ever known and he will surely be missed by so many. Then, Kyle and Shara had their baby so we went back to Logan to meet our first niece! She is absolutely adorable! I just knew that she was going to come early because she wanted to meet us before we disappeared into the abyss that Arkansas is. Thanks for making an early entrance Suzan!

The rest of the journey went something like this: Stopped in Wyoming to say goodbye to my brother Shane and Grandpa and Grandma Anderson; Spent the night in my hometown of Scottsbluff, Nebraska; Showed off all the sites to Nate including Discount Fireworks, the high school, Wal-Mart, and the Wonderful House which is the best Chinese restaurant; Drove and drove and drove some more; And then……. We finally arrived at our new home in Bentonville, Arkansas!

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And so ends the long journey. Stay tuned for pictures of the house and updates from our life. I promise the coming posts will not be quite so long so I hope this ridiculously lengthy post did not turn you off from future readings of the Nate and Laurel blog.