Lysky Lou in the Bayou: 2014

We left Provo at 4:18pm on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Headed south on I-15 toward the exit in Spanish Fork where we got on to US-6 E which later turned into I-70 E and basically stayed on that highway for about 6 hours....

Things we did in the car heading to Colorado:

Ate our Panda Express

Sean wrote some more thank you cards from the wedding

Listened to 3 CDs

Our wedding mix
A random mix that was my brother-in-law Kent's... I think?
can't remember. :P

Made up our own music

Sean beat boxing

Ate Easter candy

Stopped at a gas station near Price, UT

Saw the sunset

Looked for the Colorado state sign...NEVER saw it. We had our camera ready for 20 minutes because we were sure it was going to pop up around a corner. Never happened :(

I drove from Provo to Grand Junction area when we stopped a 2nd time to top off the gas and Sean switched spots with me.

· We watched the elevation change from 4,549ft (Provo, UT), to 5,627ft (Price, UT), 6,312ft (Gypsum, CO), 8,150ft (Vail, CO), 9,035ft (Silverthorne, CO), and somewhere in the Rocky Mountains we hit 11,000 ft!!!!

Sidenote: Elma, WA elevation is about 50ft and Lake Charles, Louisiana is a whopping 13ft above sea level! haha

Held our breath going through mega long tunnels!

We called our mom's and talked to them for a little bit

Talked to Sean's Mission President's wife, Sister Toombs, to let her know where we were at.

We were able to stay with them in their home in Westminster, CO for that first night. We were able to have breakfast with them as well and then headed on our tour of CO in 1 day! Talk about a jam-packed day full of fun and tons of Sean's mission memories from the 2 years he spent serving the Lord in the Denver North Spanish speaking mission :)

AND we talked... A LOT! :)

We loved the drive from Provo to Colorado.

However, since we left so late in the day, we saw the first half in daylight (desert looking areas of Utah, awesome rock formations, etc) but by the time we got to the Rockies and going through the mountains, it was dark :/ So sad.

All we could see were HUGE dark blobs in front of us. haha It even started to SNOW when we came out of one of the tunnels near Vail, CO.

I asked Sean if he knew what the temperature was outside and he guessed 41 degrees... it was 23!!! And snowing!

We finally arrived at the mission home in Westminster, CO at about 1:30am.

We talked to President Toombs for a good 45 minutes then finally went to bed.

We woke around 8am so we could shower quickly and get ready because Sister Toombs was making breakfast for us! Waffles, eggs/hash browns, and juice.

President Toombs told us funny stories about his days as a missionary with his wife in Sweden.

He told us another story that I'll never forget. So, President Toombs has his pilot license and Sister Toombs is deathly afraid of flying. One day, they were flying from Denver to Salt Lake City and the turbulence gets pretty bad going over the mountains. Well, Pres. Toombs is sitting near the back of the plane in the center seat with his arms folded lightly, resting comfortably. The man to his right is a rather large man and every time the plane hits turbulence, he lets out a scream. AH!.... Ah!....AHH! The woman to Pres. Toombs' left, his wife, has her head in the barf bag! Pres. Toombs didn't know where to turn so he could laugh because here he was, enjoying this flight, when, on either side, both people were freaking out!

We were all laughing at the breakfast table, Sister Toombs included :)

* Sister Toombs, if you are reading this, please correct the story! haha I tried to remember it to the best of my ability.

We were very blessed to have the opportunity to stay and visit with the Toombs Family because they will be released from their calling over the Denver North Mission this July.

They were so kind to let us stay with them and we will miss them!

*For those of you reading my blog and who do not know what a mission president is, you can read an article explaining everything into great detail about the service they do for the people in the area.
In short, "Each of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 400-plus mission presidents supervises and trains hundreds of the more than 80,000 missionaries assigned to a specific geographic area. Most mission presidents and their wives serve for three consecutive years"

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mission-president?cid=social_20140513_23825944

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April 24th -- Thursday

We left the Toombs Home around 11am.

We checked the oil and decided we would get our oil filter changed and the air filters checked as well.

We found a Jiffy Lube just a few blocks away and we were out in no time at all!

Sean hadn't been in Colorado for about a year and half but when you have lived somewhere for 2 years and drove up and down the roads every day like he did, you remember your area and surroundings. This being said, Sean knew exactly where to go and we never had to pull up the map while we were in Colorado! Except, one time. To find one family's home up north in Loveland.

(Sean had always had a hard time finding that house even when he did live there 2 years ago! haha)

Our travels for the day included:

Westminster

Downtown Denver

Aurora

Greeley

Loveland

These are all of the areas Sean served in except Denver he never went there.

Outside of mission boundaries for him.

Our first main site to see after Westminster was downtown Denver.

So many ... interesting.... things to see in that area. We had a blast! We saw the Bronco's Stadium, an amusement part that wasn't open yet, gorgeous BLUE Colorado skies, a "bear" looking into a building, and tons of people crowding the streets.

Looking over Beautiful Colorado on Federal Blvd.

Westminster!

A home in Westminster that Sean lived in

In Westminster, we visited a family! Two of the sons were home. Oscar R. and Pedro R.

We talked with them for just over an hour and Sean was able to catch up with them and we all told stories. SO much fun! Love those guys.

Denver is down yonder between our heads.... haha

The Bronco Stadium!---Sports Authority Field at Mile High

The "bear" I mentioned earlier

Havin some fun chillin in the car

In Denver, didn't have families to visit.

In Aurora, we went to visit another family but they were not home.

(Sean didn't have any of the families numbers,
so it was a matter of driving to their home to see if they were there or not.)

However, we did stop at a DELICIOUS shop called
Las Tortugas! (Turtles).

No, we didn't eat any turtles, but we did eat the most amazing sandwich!

Excited beyond words!!!

the menu

BEST SANDWICH EVER!

One of the places Sean lived in while in Aurora, CO.

We also saw the theater in Aurora where the movie theater shooting happened during the midnight showing of Dark Knight 2 summers ago. Sean was serving in that area and had just been transferred to Greeley a few days prior to the shooting. He actually knew one of the girls who was injured. She was in the neighboring theater room when a bullet came through the wall and brushed past her ear, barely hitting it. So scary! Glad she was safe and not harmed more than that.

In Greeley, we went to visit the Bugarin family but they were not home. She was the lady who told Sean when he was serving there that, "When you get married I want you to bring your wife here so I can teach her how to make real Mexican food." :)

--I can never remember for the life of me how to pronounce their last name.

Sean tells me, "Just think of 'blue-green' because it rhymes with Bugarin"-- haha

After we stopped by their home, we headed down the road another 10 minutes to the Searle family home. Both of their son's are away and living on their own so we got to visit with their parents. We chatted with them and told them our story of how we met for about an hour when they asked us, "Are you guys hungry? Do you have to be anywhere anytime soon?" We told them we had time to kill until 9pm (just over 2 hours). So they said, lets hop in the car and go to Texas Roadhouse! So, we went, we ate, and we were full. We were back to their home around 8:15pm. From there, we headed to the Andersen's home in Loveland.

We got to their home in Loveland just before 9pm. We unloaded a couple of bags and put our leftovers in their fridge. Sister Andersen (Brooke), wasn't yet home and left the door unlocked for us. Her husband was home watching The Voice. haha

We were talking with him for a bit when we heard the garage door open, close, then her door shut.

"AHH!!!!! Elder Seamons!! I mean, SEAN!!! I can't believe you are here!!!!!"

She is the sweetest woman ever. Love her.

She could not wait to meet me and to see her precious Elder Seamons. :)

She couldn't wait to rant and rave to her friends at church on Sunday how 'Elder Seamons and his wife stayed with them on Thursday night' haha.

Back track to when she walked in the door and after she screamed with excitement.
She had her hands full with ice cream and bacon.

The 2 best things ever!

She said, "Who wants ice cream?!" and "I hope you guys like bacon because I bought a whole bunch for breakfast!"

Her husband was very happy because he never gets food. Once the kids left the house, Brooke just kind of forgot to buy food like she normally had used to. haha So this was a royal feast for her husband. (He didn't starve by any means)

I dished up the ice cream while Sean told them how we met.

She asked when we would be leaving the next day and we told them 6am. She was like, "Oh really?? I thought maybe 10am or 11....Looks like I'll be up at 5am to get you some breakfast before you head out the door."

I taught her the bacon trick. Quick. Easy. No mess at all. (Either Katelyn or my mom's trick)

Turn oven to 400 degrees.

Get your cookie/baking sheet.

Put down a layer of tin foil.

Lay your bacon strips down on the foil.

Stick your sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes and TADA!

(Oven doesn't even have to be preheated!!)

Sure enough, the bacon trick worked and we had delicious, no mess, bacon with pancakes and orange juice for breakfast at 5:45am.

Hit the road at 6am.