The Move

 

Ok, so I know we moved a while ago. But we had a fun time getting from Utah to Tennessee in August. We drove for three days, listened to lots of music, ate lots of food, and saw lots of cows and corn.

All packed up.

We saw LOTS of these oil things.

Who knew there was a castle in the middle of the U.S.?

Yes, that is OUR last name! This by far was the coolest part of the trip, our road! We were just driving and looked up and we both said “What?!”. Then we got off the freeway and right back on so we could drive past it again to get a picture.

We went over some cool bridges.

Overall it was a really fun trip! We only had one tire blow out one time, so that was pretty good. Every time I see a Penske truck now though I say, “ Glad that’s not us!!”

Halloween

This year for Halloween we went as a beehive and bees (Chelsea) and a beekeeper (Dusty). We had a lot of fun at our ward party! We are the activities committee in our new ward so we got to help set up all the decorations and stuff. We had a little carnival with games, a door to door trunk or treat around the church and lots of fun music. The Elders thought it was awesome because they got to hear some Michael Jackson and Owl City. I knew there was a reason they came to these activities, just kidding!

Harpeth River

Last weekend we went with some friends from our ward on a boat trip down the Harpeth River.  We had fun looking at the fall colors and spotting blue herons. Afterwards we went to a new restaurant called The Stable where we tried catfish (for the first time ever!) and steak and biscuits.

Music City…

About a month ago we moved to Nashville, TN. We decided to start our own country band, Dusty on the guitar, Chelsea on vocals. Just Kidding! Dusty found a great job out here with a company called Hayward Baker. He works in an office with 2 other guys and has gotten to do lots of  fun things like go on site visits. Most of their projects are underground, their slogan is “You never see our best work...”.

Lets start from the beginning. In May Dusty had an interview with the company and in June we went out to spend a few days in Nashville to see if we liked it. We had no idea that they had just had a huge flood, one that supposedly comes once in 1,000 years. The places we went to were all cleaned up and we couldn’t even tell they had been full of water. Some places are still closed like the Grand Ole Opry and some historic buildings downtown, hopefully they will open up soon. There are about 11 families in our ward that are rebuilding their homes because they were close to the river. Here is a video of the flood which also gives you a great sense of the pride people take in Nashville.

 

Athens of the south:

Did you know there is a full size replica of the Parthenon here in Nashville? We didn’t! It’s pretty cool!

 

We have learned to plan all outdoor activities as though it WILL rain. We have been caught in many rainstorms. It’s sunny and then BAM! rain and lighting and dark clouds. Here we are driving on the freeway during one such rainstorm.

 

 

This is how Nashville looks, trees, trees, and more trees. It’s really green out here. Dare I say, as green as Oregon.

 

You thought Utah had a lot of church buildings, here is one of Nashville’s 800 church buildings.

 

 

We went to this museum called the Frist. They had a Chihuly exhibit going on which was pretty cool!

 

They give you a little sticker that you put on your shirt to show that you paid. Everyone puts them on this pole outside the museum, Dusty’s is there somewhere.

 

We spent about three days in Nashville. After that we went back to Logan, saw family and friends and then packed up our truck. More to come on these pre-Nashville events…

Grocery Bags

I found this neat tutorial a few days ago about fusing plastic grocery bags together to make reusable grocery bags. We had tons of plastic bags so I decided to go ahead and try it. It was so fun and easy. You stack 4 bags together and then put them between parchment paper and iron them until they stick together. Then you chop them into squares or rectangles and sew them into a reusable grocery bags. We tried it out at the store the other day and it didn't break, so that was good!

 

The bulbs we planted  in the fall have really started to grow. We are glad that the winter is most likely over for sure, and spring is here to stay!

It’s Been Awhile

 

 

The first signs of spring at the Walkenhorst house.

We stopped in Jackson for lunch on our way up to Billings.

We stopped by the Billings temple while we were in Billings.

 

This is a shot of downtown Billings.

I was going a little stir crazy from being stuck inside all winter so we took a winter hike up the Crimson Tide trail.

 

Snowmobiling up Smith & Morehouse over Christmas.

Kassie & Devan forgot that snowmobiles sink in deep powder.

We went snowshoeing around the reservoir after our turn snowmobiling.

Putting up Christmas lights.

 

This is the tree skirt my wonderful wife made.

And the delicious Christmas dinner she made for us.

Our second Christmas in our cozy little abode.

Chels does such a good job making sure I look good.

And looking pretty snazzy herself.