{my 23rd birthday}

I had a great birthday here in NC! Travis was in school all day long, but I spent most of it on the phone catching up with friends and family. Travis and I went to dinner, watched a movie and ate the most delicious cake in the world that Travis made for me {I have it every year for my birthday}. He did such a great job and it turned out perfect! My sister Ali who is serving a mission in Peru even sent me a birthday shout-out from the beach. I love birthdays---what a great time to celebrate and feel gratitude for the opportunity to be alive on this earth!

 

{life lately}

Travis starts school in two days, on Monday! So, thankfully, we have had a couple weeks to get settled and rest up for the five years ahead. They will be long and hard but they will most definitely be worth it.

We were both able to go with the missionaries to an inactive member's house and meet with him for lunch. He is blind and he is absolutely hilarious! We are hoping he'll accept our ride to church or to come over for dinner at our house sometime soon. His wife isn't a member so we want to meet her too. We were also able to go to a stake pioneer celebration breakfast and to the Raleigh temple. It is such a small temple compared to Provo...but it's all the same! The church is true wherever we are.

We have also had fun with friends in the area and are especially grateful to have met some great friends who live in the same buildings as us here at Baity Hill who are members of the church.

We went to meet our new set of Maternal Fetal Medicine OBGYNs yesterday too at UNC's Women's Hospital. We are going to be very well taken care of and we feel really good about the great doctors, equipment, and facilities there. And we live about a 30 second drive away! An induction will be scheduled for this baby when we reach 39 weeks on December 21st if I don't go into labor before then on my own. So we will have this baby before Christmas! And what a memorable Christmas it will be.

{our new home in Chapel Hill}

We have officially lived in our new home for one week! Things we love about Chapel Hill:

-SO many green trees, everywhere! It's hard to see what stores are ahead on the road because everything is covered in huge trees.

-Between Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh, you can pretty much get to any store imaginable.

-There is a temple and an airport in Raleigh.

-UNC is a BIG basketball college (which we already knew) but there are so many fun traditions here with it. Today we are going to check out their basketball museum on campus with Michael Jordan's stuff.

-The campus is beautiful, and Travis has about a 4 minute walk from our house to the business building.

-People are so nice here! We also love the accent going on and I'm guaranteeing I walk away in five years with a little twang back in my voice. Travis too even, haha!

-The church is the same wherever you go and with it comes an automatic support/friend group. It is amazing!

-We love our new home and wanted to document it; we have pictures of our old home in Provo and it will be fun someday to look back and compare. The second bedroom we have still needs to be organized and set up in the coming weeks. Right now it's full of empty boxes! We also have a washer and dryer and a big storage closet in the hallway and a walk-in closet in our bedroom! We are in heaven.

{the 44 hour drive}

When I think about how long we drove it makes me sick! But during the drive, it actually wasn't bad. I was definitely blessed to feel well along the way! We drove the first day to North Platte Nebraska, then drove to Fort Madison, Iowa (right next to Nauvoo) the next day. We stopped at Winter Quarters for a minute and then spent the whole next day in Carthage and Nauvoo. Travis had never been to any of these places, so it was fun to see them again with him!

We walked all around Carthage Jail and Nauvoo, ate at the great Nauvoo Hotel Buffet, and saw a great show put on by the young performing missionaries and the senior missionary couples.

We woke up the next morning and drove for 18 hours straight---yes 18 hours. I can't even believe it. But our excitement to get to Chapel Hill, mixed with a day before of rejuvenation in Nauvoo, and a huge storm while driving through West Virginia all helped us stay wide awake the whole time.

We stayed in a hotel in Chapel Hill Friday night, then moved in on Saturday morning. It was so great to have members of the Elders Quorum here to help us unload the Uhaul, along with Travis' friend from his mission. Our neighbors (members of the church) invited us over for dinner that night, and church the next day was great! We met a lot of fun people and had people drop by treats at our door a couple times after church. Southern hospitality never fails!

We LOVE our new home. As in, we can't stop talking about it mostly because it is the biggest upgrade I could imagine. It's more than double the size and everything is pretty much brand new. We now have a bathroom sink, a disposal, a dishwasher, an actual counter, a second bedroom, a coat closet, air conditioning...the list goes on and on! I can't wait to get it all organized and take pictures to document the difference. We are so grateful and excited to be here for the next five years!

{4th of July}

We had a fun day celebrating the 4th of July at the Provo Parade, pony rides around my cousin's grandparent's farm, snow cones, outdoor games, a BBQ, and watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks!

{camping}

We planned a Garlick cousin campout this past Monday and Tuesday up in American Fork Canyon; it was so fun! We had tin foil dinners, s'mores, got so scared by a stray dog, played speed UNO, saw a huge, dark black moose, and had a great breakfast! A lot of cousins came up just for Monday evening and then left later that night. Some of us stayed overnight though and it was really fun! Travis is a camping pro and he had all the essential things we needed, which made it all go smoothly!