Think Different; Think Rachel!: The Other Half of My Heart

We managed to make it up to Utah one last time before school started back up. When I was a kid, I LOVED going to Utah and we went there every summer. Then, I went through a phase where I hated it and even stayed home when my parents and brother went. Now, I'm at a phase in life where I jump at any opportunity to go there. My sister lives there and now my little brother, his wife, and their new baby boy live there. So, I kinda feel like half of my heart lives there. The other half, of course, lives near me in SoCal. We got to Utah on Friday afternoon, picked up Diane in Salt Lake and drove back down to Provo, where Daniel and Tyisa live. Everything seemed normal and Tyisa didn't seem to be in labor or in any distress at all. We left around 8:30 pm and drove back to Diane's where we were staying. Around 8 am, we got a text from Daniel announcing the birth of Daniel Benjamin Lanford Wheeler Jr. Apparently, not long after we left, Tyisa spiked a fever and they went into the hospital to have it checked out. While the doctors were deciding whether to induce, her water broke and the rest is history! We drove down to the hospital and visited with Daniel, Tyisa, and got to meet sweet Baby Danny. I love my other 4 nephews so much and am always amazed at how that love just expands with every new addition. If I love my nephews this much (all of them), I can't even imagine how it must feel to be a parent and experience the amount of love one would have for their own child. I'm so grateful for this little boy!

Isn't he perfect?

We wanted to make sure Daniel and Tyisa had plenty of time with just their new little family, so we didn't spend tons of time at the hospital, but we did get to visit everyday.

One of the nights we were in Salt Lake, I decided that I wanted to take a walk, so I walked down to Temple Square. It was around 10 pm, so everything was closed, but I did get to look at the beautiful buildings and see some of the sculptures that I never really pay much attention to.

Temple Square is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I know of.

We also went to see Harry Potter again. Diane hadn't seen it yet, so we had lunch at the Gateway and saw the movie at the theater there. After the movie, we got frozen yogurt. On our way out, we stopped in at Clark Planetarium and looked around. Then we headed back to Diane's where we chilled for the rest of the night.

The next day, we had the opportunity to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Just as all temples are, it was very beautiful!

Now that I have been through this temple, there are only 2 completed temples in the entire state of Utah that I have not been in: Monticello and Vernal. Vernal is special to me because it used to be the old tabernacle that my grandpa attended church in as a child. So, I want to get to that one in the near future, for sure!

The following day was Diane's birthday. So, we met up with Daniel and Tyisa in Provo and went to Brick Oven Pizza for dinner in between Daniel's classes.

Here's the birthday girl being sung to! They made her stand on the chair! lol After the restaurant, we went to the creamery to buy ice cream and then took it to Daniel's and Tyisa's apartment for brownies and ice cream. I was a first-timer with the creamery ice cream...mmmmm.

Afterwards we headed down to St. George on the way home. I was the one driving and had great adventures driving through amazingly beautiful lightning and rain. It kinda matched my mood going home. As I mentioned, I feel like half of my heart is in Utah, so it's always bittersweet when we leave. It makes me so grateful that even though we live far from each other now, we'll all, someday, spend eternity with each other. I can't imagine life on earth without ever seeing my family, let alone the prospect of not being with them for eternity. Fortunately, what happened here: