Still I Fly

Thursday, July 31, 2014
                                       

Oh, I LOVE this song!
Especially around 3:13... oohhh chills.
And, I just found out it's from the new planes movie.
Ha, I kinda love that.

Anyhow, I might be missing the entire point of this song but goodness it fills me with so much inspiration, and hope, and courage and.... who knew a song from a Disney movie could do that?
The beginning, when it says "There's a time in your life, When the world is on you side." 
and then continues to say... "You might not feel it, you might not see it, but it surrounds you like a light, makes you stronger for the fight."
Yeah, that part made my heart sink a little.
Remember when you were little... when your elementary school teacher told you that you could be anything in the world if you just put your mind to it?
When you dreamed of being an astronaut, a firefighter, the president, a pop star, even a superhero? (or in my case a garbage MAN... well that's beside the point and I was like 2 so it doesn't count)
Oh, those were the days.
But, it got me thinking... that time in your life, when everyone is encouraging you and when they really are "on your side" it sure does make you a little stronger for the "fight" later on.

We all have our own trials whether they are big or small, but they sure have a way of digging in deep and causing everything to seem a little tougher than it should be.
For example, I'm trying desperately to learn how to drive our only, stick shift, car.
Ugh.
My first go at it failed miserably and got me feeling pretty darn discouraged.
I literally thought I was incapable of driving that car.
I let it get to me and had Hunter drive me everywhere I needed to go because I was too scared to try again.
We do love doing everything together, but there were days he realllyy didn't want to go to Target or it really would've just been more convenient if he didn't have to go completely out of his way to pick me up from work. 
Yet somehow, I wouldn't get in that car and try again.
Then one day, I felt strong. 
I wanted to try again.
So I did.
And, I didn't fail miserably!
I drove through the neighborhood and felt so proud of myself.
A few days later Hunter had an idea that I should try driving to work, on real streets, with... stoplights.
I agreed, but that didn't stop me from feeling sick to my stomach thinking I was going to somehow crash.
It was a pretty smooth ride, until I got to a big intersection.
I was turning left and I was the first car in the line.
I freaked out and stalled the car right as the light turned green.
I panicked and almost started crying as I looked at Hunter "what do I do?"
By the time I was all situated to go again the light was red and the cars behind me were honking... and angry. 
I said a quick little prayer before the light turned green again and this time I was on my way without any trouble at all.  
I wouldn't say I'm a pro at this point... at all.
But, I've managed to go a couple places fairly close without stalling this week!
I don't know what snapped in me that day I got the urge to give it another go, but I do think it's a little bit of that courage coming out I gained as a little girl when mommy and daddy and so many others were always on my side. 

What I'm trying to get at with my silly little stick shift story that's probably having some of you that learned on a manual car laughing, is that little hiccups will always come. 
But they also will go, if we let them.
Dig a little deeper when the going gets tough and remember the confidence you had when you really had the whole wide world at your fingertips.
I struggle, and I struggle often but... 
Still I Fly

All my love,
Aleigh Joy 

(p.s I'm so grateful for Hunter's patience in teaching me. I sure love that man.)



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A Much Needed Trip Back Home

Monday, July 28, 2014
Last night I got maybe an hour of sleep.
I was so frustrated that I got up and paced the kitchen... thinking maybe that would make me tired? 
I don't know. It sounded like a good plan at 3 a.m.
I was just starting to doze off when I heard Hunter's alarm go off.
you have got to be kidding me.
Somehow, I still got into work today right on time.
I had to use all my might not to show up in basketball shorts, slippers, and a t-shirt.
I still wore a not-so-t-shirt-ish t-shirt and sweats.
It took at least 15 minutes for two kids to show up.
It took at least and hour for only two more to show up.
And it then only took an hour more for my boss to tell me I could go home!
Hallelujah.

I figured this would be a good opportunity to catch up on our trip back home!
I must say, I love that we both have the same hometown.
I truly do not despise Utah. 
In fact, I kinda like it.
Because of that, Hunter and I decided we might actually be able to end up somewhere other than San Diego when we're older and have figured out where we want life to take us.
I mean, if we can have fun and make friends here, we could do that in say, South Carolina... right? (No we are not really thinking about living there, it just kinda came to my mind ha)
Welllll... then we drove into good 'ol San Marcos.
And, my heart felt full.
I could smell the ocean air, palm trees were right out my window, and of course... Jack in the Box!
San Diego is home.
It always will be, even if we do end up somewhere else for unknown reasons at this time. 
But for now, we are enjoying Utah and we are trying to make the most of our adventure in this home away from home :)

Here's some snaps from our visit with family.






















All my love,
Aleigh Joy

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Our Belated Honeymoon

Thursday, July 17, 2014
Hey guess what!
We finally went on our honeymoon because Hunter got a two week break from football!
Upon deciding what to do for our honeymoon, a cruise was definitely first in the options but we were bummed when we saw the prices compared to the budget we set for ourselves. 
We're also pretty young in comparison to when the rest of the world gets married so renting a car wasn't even in our options, making traveling a bit harder than we had anticipated.
We decided to wait a little longer to see if the cruise prices would change, and sure enough they did!
Like, by $400!
We sure would've been bummed if we booked it earlier. 
Once it was all said and done and the cruise was booked, the countdown began!
Luckily California has a few ports for cruise ships and both of our families are from there so we were also able to make it into a nice vacation visiting family. 
It was our first time visiting home since being married so you can only imagine how excited we were to see family and friends.
Every few days we would check the app on my phone with the countdown and get that much more excited!
A week before we left, we packed a ginormous suitcase full of enough clothes for two weeks plus 3 other bags. Two of which may have been strictly mine... (Woops. I've always been an over packer)

We seriously had SO much fun on our cruise and I totally recommend a honeymoon cruise to everybody!
It was so nice having all of our meals paid for upfront AND my football playing husband could eat anything he wanted at any time he wanted. Score!
We loved going to the sit down dinners and ordering new and interesting things. Like chilled strawberry soup... Like what? Yeah it was incredible. 
We had some really cool shows including a comedy show that I almost peed my pants listening to. 
I was super worried that I would get sea sick, but it really wasn't bad!
I just got food sick. aka I ate WAY too much.
We got off the ship at both ports and found some seriously good deals on the fun things we were able to do.
On Catalina Island we walked around for a while then rented a double kayak where we found our own little private beach to park the boat and relax. 
Later we laid out and relaxed by the water.
When we got to Ensenada, Mexico we had no clue what to do.
I of course, wanted to do something super cool while we were there despite prices, but had no idea what there even was to do. We got in line to look at our different options when a super nice couple in front of us persuaded us to do the zip-lining excursion with them. 
Also, the husband of that couple just so happened to be a Boise State coach. aka one of the teams Hunter will be playing this year. HA! What are the odds!
We got on the tour bus that took us all around the city and then over to the zip line course. 
We got to go on 5 awesome zip lines and 5 suspension bridges.
I realllllyyyy wish I had pictures to share from this experience! But, I totally would've dropped my camera on those bridges. 
Think Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones style bridges above a forest and all that is holding you on those bridges is your balance and 2 carabiners. Yeah it was a bit scary but SO fun!
After that, we went to a taco shack where we had the Best street tacos of our lives. 
We then walked around the little street "shops" and made our way to La Bufadora  which was a really cool site to see.
By the end of the day we were so worn out and exhausted that we almost fell asleep in the bus.
Overall, it was a really great honeymoon and I'm so so glad we did it :)

























 All my love,
Aleigh Joy


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