Football, need I say more...

Ben was very excited about this Saturday because it is the first Saturday that College Football starts. He woke up and was putting on a red shirt and then said, "nope I can't do that" (the Utes' color is red, and I have been married long enough to Ben to know that team doesn't get his support) so he put on a blue shirt in honor of his favorit BYU team. He even got Landon in on the football fever. We dressed our little guy in a very hot pajama outfit because it was the only football thing he had, but don't worry, after the photo we put him back in his comfy t-shirt and shorts. Ben is slightly disappointed that he won't get many of the BYU games broadcasted on the cable out here in Tennessee.

Ben starts graduate school

Ben gave the thumbs up sign as he headed out the door to his first day of graduate school at Middle Tennessee State University. (Okay, so I made him pose). He completed his first week of school and has determined that it is going to be a lot of work, especially a lot of reading. But Landon and I are behind him 100 percent. We love you, Honey!

We made it

Here's the trip in a nutshell....

Well, we're in Tennessee and all unpacked. It was a long three day drive, but Landon did pretty well. Thankfully he really liked the toy Grandma Davis got him which entertained him in between his naps. At first Landon loved being in his car seat, but that soon changed. As soon as we would put him in he would fuss. It was like he was saying, "Oh, no you don't. This means I am trapped here for hours!" We also found out he didn't like being in the car once it got dark. What we did like about driving was that the farther east we got the lower the price of gas was. Yipee for small blessings.

Because we couldn't move into our apartment right away, we did some sight seeing. We visited my brother Lee in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he is serving a mission. He and his companion, along with the family they are living with, made us breakfast. I made the mistake of calling him Lee instead of Elder Anderson, which I guess is a big no-no. Oh well. Elder Anderson and his companion Elder Call seemed to be doing well with each other. It was fun letting Lee see Landon because more than likely I won't see Lee at his "homecoming". I am so proud of Lee and what he is doing. (The flooding hit his area really hard, and I have some photos I will show later once I find them on the laptop.)

After visiting with Lee we went to Nauvoo for a really short trip (one hour). It was Ben's first time there and I was really glad to see the temple. Ironically, Ben's cousin Mike was there selling Living Scriptures during the pageant so we stopped in to say hi and show off the newest addition to our family. Nauvoo is so much fun, but it was so hot and we didn't have time to go into the individual buildings. We'll have to go back someday. There is a picture of Ben and Landon in front of John Taylor's house. That was the one building we toured.

We also stopped into visit Ben's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Denise. They were so nice to let us stay the night. Aunt Denise's cake was so yummy. The next day I got to visit my roommate from college who happened to live in Greensboro, NC just a 15 minute drive from Ben's Aunt and Uncle's house. Maurine lived with me my first year of school at BYU-Idaho. I never thought I'd ever make it out to North Carolina to see her! It was so much fun visiting with her and seeing the house that she and her husband have put so much work into. It looks great. Her kids, Bryant and Cora, are very cute. Below is a picture of her home.

Then we drove to Deep Run, North Carolina to stay a few days with Ben's grandparents. They were so nice to let us stay there and Grandpa made such a good breakfast for us. I was so glad I was able to meet most of the Davis side of the family because now I can put faces with names. I enjoyed meeting Ben's cousins too, they were very friendly.

And before heading back to Tennesse to move in we made a quick trip to Atlantic Beach. I have always been told that the Atlantic Ocean has nice sandy beaches and warmer water, and now I know that is true. We didn't swim, although the hot temperature sure made us wish we had. We did dip Landon's feet in the waves as they came ashore and at first he wasn't such a fan and cried a little, but then he got use to it.

Here are some photos and a video to watch his reaction to the water.