Good Ol' Carolina Hospitality

Today, I am writing this post in a cute guest house on a Carribean island called Vieques, Puerto Rico. You'll hear more about that later because I need to tell you about our trip to the Carolinas.

Two weeks ago, on our way to Puerto Rico, we had an extended lay-over trip in Charlotte, North Carolina- for 3 days!! We couldn't resist the opportunity to stay with our best married friends, The Beachamps. (reminder- Jeremy and Ryan became good friends while being RA's at BYU. After Ryan and Chelsea got married, they moved into our apt complex where the 4 of us developed a life-long friendship).

Being with the Beachamps in North and South Carolina was SO much fun. Chelsea and Ryan are such great examples to us. They are so strong in the gospel. They pray together, talk kindly to each other and just bouie us up all the time! As soon as we got there, I was so uplifted by being with them and in their home. I was really sad when the time came so quickly for us to go!

We got to meet their new baby son, Elijah, who is almost 6 months old! He is such a sweet, happy baby with a tender, aware disposition. Oh my goodness, he is so cute! Jeremy and I had a lot of fun playing with him. One day, he was just cooing "eh" for hours and smacking his lips and laughing at himself, having a ball. He is really long and lean like his parents, and he has the most honest eyes. And cute rolls of skin in the funniest places! We tried taking Elijah home with us, but Chelsea would not allow it!

During our visit, we were spoiled with Carolina hospitality. Chelsea and Ryan took us to see two Revolutionary War sights- Cowpens was one of them. I was in heaven! Everything was lush, green, humid and full of history. Beautiful, educational, and humbling- although we look pretty proud in this picture, I promise we were very awed and amazed by the battles and sacrifices that were made to establish our wonderful country. We even had a moment of silence to remember them.

We ate at a real Southern BBQ place with friendly, funny people. All four of us tried Cheerwine for the first time. (don't worry folks! it's non-alcoholic) It's like rootbear but with a cherry flavor. We also had hushpuppies (I didn't even know they existed!) and red cole slaw.

The NASCAR family fun center was a blast. We went go-carting in pretend nascars!! Chelsea got way into it, which was funny since she had a traumatic experience go-carting when she was younger. But she got over that real fast!

Church was awesome. Just to sit next to the Beachamps again during the sacrament service again was cool. Chelsea taught a wonderful lesson in Relief Society for the ladies, and I got to hold Elijah the whole time. We ate Calzone that afternoon with the missionaries and played games, watched Elijah's birth video (amazing!), walked through the house that Ryan and Chelsea are building (how cool is that!?) and talked and talked and laughed and talked all night... while Ryan fell asleep on the floor. Poor guy.

We (at least me) really liked being in the green and humid Carolinas. It is way more humid in the Carolinas than it is down here in Puerto Rico- even including the rainforrest. And I loved it! We also enjoyed how everyone in North and South Carolina was so nice and friendly, esp at the airport! That's the nicest airport experience I've ever had! We can't wait to go there again...or maybe even live there someday! Who knows?