When I first moved to South Carolina, I called my dad on the phone and told him about a recent experience I had at an AT&T store. He responded, "They have an AT&T store out there!?" Of course, he was joking (settle down, Southerners). But it's been a running joke ever since. Well, I am happy to report that my parents made it out to Charleston this summer and they got to see the AT&T store, along with many other things worth seeing!

As expected, I had made a list of everything we were going to do while my parents were here. So, we stayed very busy. I just didn't want them to miss out on anything! Good thing my parents are awesome and good sports and loved doing everything we had in store for them.

THURSDAY NIGHT. Arrival! Yay! I was SO excited to see my parents standing there at the curb of the airport. It took a little while to set in: My parents were in CHARLESTON. We stopped at the Mt. Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park under the Ravenel bridge to stretch out legs and see some awesome views. Then we went home (Stephanie's house) and grilled up some Hawaiian chicken and okra. 

FRIDAY. We started the day with a bus tour of Downtown. Very interesting and the best part: air conditioning! The tour ended with another tour of the Justin Manigault mansion. We quickly ate sandwiches in the car on our way to the next part of our day: Fort Sumter. We boarded a ferry and took in the Cooper River views as we made our way to the fort. I kept thinking it was SO hot and humid, but my parents didn't think it was bad at all! So I just let them think that for as long as they wanted ;) Dinner was Publix fried chicken (best around!). We were treated to a thunderstorm as well. Sweet! The South was very welcoming! 

SATURDAY. My dad's favorite day! We took our kayaks out to my friend Kim's dock on Jeremy Creek in McClellanville. She was kind enough to let my parents borrow the two kayaks she keeps there. Thanks, Kim! We made our way to the Intercoastal Waterway and were joined by a pod of dolphins. They were swimming right next to us! It was pretty amazing. We found a little island/sandbar out there, and stopped for some snacks and to stretch our legs. There were some pretty cool shells that we found. After kayaking, we stopped for lunch at TW Graham's. Delicious, as always. My dad was loving the fried clams. We all split my new favorite treat: Pawley's Island Pie. If you have not had it, you need to. It might change your life. It was every man for himself with the four of us and our forks trying to scrape the plate clean!

SUNDAY. Church. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to my parents, as expected ;) We walked through Palmetto Islands Park afterward. We got to see some people crabbing off one of the docks. We swung on the rocking chairs and climbed the observation tower. It was a great day.

MONDAY. Beach day! Even though we have beaches in California, I thought it would be fun for my parents to see a Southern beach. They really are pretty different--with the biggest difference being water temperature! I couldn't get dad out of the water! Haha. We read books, ate lunch, and spent a lot of time in the water. We ate at Melvin's for dinner and then rode bikes around Sullivan's Island. We got ice cream at Beardcats and my dad tried the famous "olive oil and sea salt" flavor. Not a fan. I stuck with chocolate, as always. 

TUESDAY. Bull's Island. We really loved the boat ride over to the island. Our guide gave us such neat information about the marshes and the plants (spartina grass!) and animals that live there. We saw lots of birds and another dolphin. Once on the island, we headed to the beach to explore the "boneyard." The island is eroding, and because of this, there are huge trees that have been "petrified" by the salt water on the beach. It was something I've never seen anywhere else. We decided to go exploring around the island after spending some time at the beach. Bad idea. The mosquitoes were terrible! You're thinking, "that's why you wear bug spray!" But let me tell you, the four of us went through an entire can of Off Deep Woods. The deeper into the forest we hiked, the more mosquitoes there seemed to be. Like, buzzing in your ears and swarming your face mosquitoes. After many squeals and obvious discontent, we turned around. Did I mention this was the mot humid day so far? Mosquitoes and humidity all in one shot!  It was a fun adventure, to say the least! For dinner that night, we met Nathan and Stacy at Hanks. My mom tried oysters...and liked them. It was seafood at its finest! 

WEDNESDAY. Boone Hall. My mom's favorite day! Lendrum grew up in the neighborhood right across the creek from this famous plantation, but we've just never gotten around to taking a tour! It was fascinating! and beautiful! We loved the Gullah performance. My dad got to participate and be the "tar baby" in the storytelling of Brer Rabbit. He was a natural ;) 

THURSDAY. Downtown. After doing laundry and a bit of housework (we had to make time for that between our fun adventures), we headed downtown again for some shopping. Let me rephrase: My mom wanted to shop...my dad was a good sport. We explored the market, sampled pralines, watched the cruise ship depart, and snagged a rocking chair bench at Waterfront Park. For dinner, we ate at Fleet Landing, where Lendrum, mom, and dad ALL got shrimp and grits. It was a little much...haha. And my parents were leaving the next morning so they couldn't just keep their leftovers for another night. So, we had A LOT of shrimp & grits in Stephanie's fridge. 

FRIDAY. :( :( :( SAD DAY! :( :( :( We all knew it would come eventually, but my parents had to leave. I dropped them off at the rental car place downtown and they started their next leg of their trip: Virginia to see my dad's mission buddy, then off to Prague! We still miss them so much. It was such a fun trip and I always love spending time with my parents. I love them so much. Until next time! 

HOLD ON. I've lived in South Carolina for almost TWO YEARS. I can't believe it! Everyone is always asking me how I like living here, so I've come up with my Top Ten as well as my Not Top Ten. Enjoy!

SOUTH CAROLINA TOP TEN

10. RESTAURANTS. Lendrum and I can't afford to eat at all the fancy restaurants here, but the few that we have tried have been delicious. We can now say that we have eaten the country's best macaroni and cheese (it's a real thing...like people voted and stuff). 

9. CHURCH FAMILY. I have loved serving and worshiping in the Mt. Pleasant ward! These are some of the very best people. I love working with the youth in the YW presidency. I love that our relief society has a book club and a supp club. I feel very welcome and so blessed!

8. TRAVEL. Being on the East Coast means that I have had the chance to travel to more states.  Lendrum and I have traveled to Washington DC, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It has been fun exploring this side of our country and we hope to continue to travel when we can.

7. DOG FRIENDLY. Seriously, everyone has a dog here! I am constantly gushing over someone else's pup. In South Carolina, dogs are pretty much allowed everywhere. They even have dog happy hour. You can see them at the beach, restaurants, downtown, and every morning and evening out walking.  

6. THINGS TO DO. There are always things to do here! Free movies in the park downtown, farmer's markets, arts festivals, plays, tours, museums, exploring, picking your own fruit, visiting the beach, shagging on the pier (still need to try that!)...the list goes on. I really love that I can have fun without spending a fortune.

5. THUNDERSTORMS. I have lived here for almost two years and let me tell you I never get tired of them. I turn off all the lights and watch out the window and listen to the pounding rain and clapping thunder. 

4.DOWNTOWN. I love history, which makes downtown Charleston so unique. I love taking walks through the charming streets and sampling the pralines. I love seeing the local art on market street. I love the live music on the weekends. 

3. BOILED PEANUTS. Love them. And I never thought I would. In fact, I crave them! 

2. NATURE. If you know me, you know that I am a nature lover. I love to be outside and I love animals. Since living here, I have been able to see all kinds of animals that I had never seen in the wild before. Gators, egrets, herons, dolphins, turtles, deer, possums (still creepy though), to name a few. And they're right in our backyard!

1. WATER. My favorite thing about living in Charleston has been being so close to so much water. The beach is here, along with several rivers, and dozens of tidal creeks and marsh. I don't have to travel far to be next to water here and for some reason, it just speaks to my soul. My favorite place to be is sitting on a dock looking over the water, or exploring the waterways in my kayak. And I love that I don't have to spend money to access this scenery. It's all right here. The awe and beauty of the water has never faded. And I don't expect it to. 

SOUTH CAROLINA NOT TOP TEN

10. BUGS. The worst. Spoiler Alert: I included this one twice because I hate them so much. More on this subject later. 

9. RESTAURANTS. Wait, didn't she already mention restaurants in the Top Ten? Well, yes I did. There are some amazing fancy, fine-dining places to eat here in Charleston. However, if I want to spend $10 on a meal that was a little nicer than fast food, I don't have many options here. I miss my Cafe Rio, and Zupa's. I feel like there aren't very many "in between" restaurants in Mt. Pleasant. It's either fast food or you pay $20/plate. I'm open to suggestions! 

8. MUSTARD BASED BBQ SAUCE. Ehh, it's okay. Not my favorite. 

7. NO REDVINES LICORICE. Nowhere to be found over here!

6. FAR AWAY. I miss my family and friends out West! Sometimes, I just feel really far away from them. And then I look at a map and remember that, well, I AM really far away. 

5. RENT $$. I am really missing our $650/month Utah rent! 

4. TRAFFIC. Disclaimer: not as terrible as California. However, if there is an accident on any of the bridges, you're doomed. 

3. HUMIDITY. Can't describe it. I remember asking Lendrum's grandfather (from SC, but lives in UT now) how long he thought it would take me to get used to the humidity. He thought about it for a second and then said, "Three years." I then asked him how long it took him to get used to the humidity even after living his whole life in the South. He paused again and then said, "Three years." I have thought about that conversation a lot over the past two years haha. His point: you don't really "get used" to the humidity. You just kind of learn to deal with it. The good news though: everyone else is dealing with it too. 

2. CCSD. I LOVE my job. However, I do not love my school district. My frustration with CCSD began way before the recent budget shortfall of 18 million dollars, but that doesn't help either. I came from an amazing, supportive, and highly motivated school district in Utah. It is really a shocking contrast to what I experience here in Charleston. But that's a whole different rant for another time. 

1. BUGS. MY NIGHTMARE. All of them. Cockroaches (sometimes referred to as "Palmetto Bugs" by well-meaning Southerners), spiders, gnats. But the very worst is the mosquito. Now, if you are my husband, then you have no such worries. You can go outside at any time of day without bug spray and return unharmed. I am not that kind of person. I will take my dog to the bathroom for 30 seconds and end up with a mosquito bite. I will walk to my car, open the door, accidentally let in a mosquito, and arrive at work 15 minutes later with clusters of bites on my legs because I wore a skirt. I will put on long pants, spray them with bugspray, go on a walk through the park, and end up with a mosquito bite under my pants. And my future babies will probably all have Zika virus. If I know I will be spending a small amount of time outdoors, I spray on that icky, stinky, bug spray and I hate it. But I hate getting bit even more, so I deal with it. 

So there you go! A few of my favorite and not-so-favorite things about living in South Carolina. I have loved exploring a new state with my fun and adventurous husband. Here's to many more fun years in the Palmetto State! 

It's the weekend before spring break ends, which means I am finally getting around to finishing (starting) the things on my to-do list! I am a task-oriented person, so what I should have done was write down "read book" and "beach" and "hang out in PJs until Noon" on my list. That way, I'd sure have a lot more accomplished in my mind! But you know what, it actually felt great to have a week to myself. Lendrum did not have spring break with me, so he spent most of his time at school or studying when he was home. Such is life when your husband is in med school. It's not all work and grime, though. We've had some pretty fun memories these past few months.

To start, let's go wayyyy back to Christmas in California with my family! I just love my family! I wish I could see them more than I do. We took some fun family photos with Julia's sister-in-law, who did an awesome job! We took a harbor tour of the San Diego bay, which was gorgeous. The best was getting to see the sun set on the water. On another night, we went to see the Christmas lights at the Mission Inn. There were so many lights! We took a million pics, but I'll just post one here, don't worry. As always, my dad cooked a feast for our Christmas meals. As always, we watched our fav Christmas movies (Christmas Vacation and The Santa Clause, nicknamed Fat Tummy Santa). Now I just have to wait until June, when my parents come visit us in Charleston!

Between Christmas and now, life has been pretty normal for us. I am still loving my job as a fourth grade teacher and Lendrum is loving the learning aspect of medical school. We really try to make time for us, and I am very appreciative of Lendrum working so hard during the week so that we can go out on the weekends.

Speaking of making time for us, we were very fortunate to be able to get away for a long weekend to Panama City Beach in Florida a couple weeks ago! We loved the view from our hotel room, being right on the beach. Nothing beats falling asleep to the sound of the ocean right outside your window. It was a much appreciated getaway! The weather was hit-or-miss (mostly miss) but we still took advantage of one warm and sunny day! It was great to just relax and read books on the beach, and if it rained, we just went back to our room and enjoyed the view from inside. I love to make my vacations into activity-filled marathons, but it was actually wonderful to chill out this time.

Finally, our biggest news: WE GOT A DOG. Yes! We adopted a sweet, five-year-old Boston Terrier from a rescue in Florida. We picked her up on our way back from PCB. We have been wanting to get a dog for a while now. Of course, I wanted a Boston because of my good memories with little Oreo! I mean, how can you not love those little smushed-faced, bug-eyed, tuxedo-wearing dogs?! Getting a Boston was serious business though. We had to fill out an application, complete a phone interview, and have a home visit before we made it onto the "approved adopter" list. Yes, a home visit- you read that correctly. Next, we had to be matched up with the perfect dog that fit our criteria (we don't have a yard, we are gone for a long period of time during the day, we don't have other dogs, etc, etc.). That landed us with our little Cocoa! She is a joy! One problem: she is socially awkward around other dogs. When we see another dog on our walks, I have to distract her to make sure we don't embarrass ourselves ;) We're working on it though. Besides that, she is nothing but smiles! She is potty trained, spayed, micro-chipped, and up to date on her vet records/shots. We are happy she has joined our family.

That's all for now! Hoping to post some more family pics from Christmas when I get a chance. Now back to enjoying the last few days of spring break.....