Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Outer Banks With Baylie - October 2022

In October, I had an OPTAVIA retreat in the Outer Banks, NC. Baylie had some days off school because of hurricane warnings so she decided to join me. (Yes, we headed to Outer Banks despite hurricane warnings...)
Baylie is a great travel buddy. 
Of course, we stopped at Bucc-ee's to use the bathroom. It's a must.
That place is amazing. We got dinner while we were there.
While there, we ran into a group of search and rescue volunteers from Virginia that were on their way to Florida to do hurricane relief.
The hurricane wasn't headed towards the Outer Banks, but the wind was still bad and the road was completely covered with sand. It reminded me of driving in snowy weather in Utah.
When we finally arrived at the Air B and B we were sharing with Heidi and her daughter, we were pretty exhausted. 
Baylie took the top bunk.
The next morning, we met the rest of the team at another house where we were having our meetings. It was on the beach and so nice.
It was so great seeing all my OPTAVIA friends. Fellow OPTAVIA coaches are so much fun to be with. 
Carolina beaches are the best. They are beautiful and are like something from a novel or movie.
Me and my girl.
While we were having our meetings, the rain came down and flooded the streets to the point I couldn't get my car out of the neighborhood!
I waded through the street to confirm that it was too deep for my car. We had to go in Kevin's truck until the next day when the water had receded enough for me to get out.
We went to see the famous Hatteras Light Station.

Iconic.
Even in black and white.
Check this out! So awesome!
I found this house fascinating. 
Hatteras Island is very picturesque.
I met some new coaches on this trip. Kelli Calcutt and Cory Schaefer were two of them. We enjoyed hanging out with them.
We had to go to two different stores to get matching sweatshirts only to discover later that they didn't actually match!
Baylie in black and white.
This picture makes me think of DaVinci's Last Supper.
With Maria Yost, Kelli, and Cory.
Kelli, Maria and Greg Yost. Greg is a crack up.
The whole team with kids.
I really love these people.
Back: Monique Bennett, Kelly & Kevin Rogerson, Autumn Needs, Kelli Calcutt , Me, and Maria & Greg Yost
Front: Holly Hiller, Heidi Wideman, and Cory Schaefer

After a fun-filled few days, it was time to head back home.
We decided to stop and see the Bodie Island Lighthouse.
I'm glad I decided to go and Heidi was sweet enough to cover the cost of the lodging. I'm especially glad I decided to take Baylie with me. We had a wonderful time.
Jalen was excited with the taffy we brought him.
I mean, really. Check out that view!

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Reptile Show - August 2022

I'm officially 23 blog posts behind. Mercy! So let's catch up.

My friend and coaching mentor, Tianna Johnson, is also a reptile expert. She sometimes works traveling reptile shows and in August, she came to Columbia for a show. We took advantage of the opportunity to get together. I had never been to a reptile show and wanted to check it out. What an adventure! (This is out of order, but if you look at the pictures of the BYU game in Florida, we met up with Tianna there as well.)

Me and Tianna

The show was held at the Kiwanis building not far from our home. It was packed with all kinds of reptiles and gear. David came with me and we had never seen anything like it.

I can't remember the names of all the different kinds of reptiles.

Mole rats
S
Facing
It was a fascinating place!