If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie, Then I Don't Want To Go

After missing our plane out of Nashville to Charlotte, not sleeping since thursday night (and it was saturday night), taking a Greyhound bus to Knoxville, meeting Grant's long time friend and having him drive us 3 hours to South Carolina, we finally made it to Enoree...

We pulled into 210 Service Dr. at 8:55 a.m. on Sunday morning to find Big Daddy Mitch in his robe still laying in bed (Grant's mom was gone for the weekend down celebrating LaPo's Birthday). He wasn't expecting us home for another 12 hours because Grant had neglected to tell him we were taking the bus. After a quick hug and introduction, Grant and I changed out of our fried bologna smelling clothes and brushed our teeth. We made it to church 10 minutes late, just in time to catch the infamous Ma-Ma before she went back to the nursery. Lack of sleep and church do not mix, Grant and I both didn't dare to close our eyes, not even during prayer, because we would have fallen asleep. After the final prayer, it seemed like every person in the church came over to see Grant and to meet his future wife. Out of all of those people, I really only remember one, Tom, the man who seemed abnormally tall. After church, we laid down for a much needed nap. Awakening only to the sound of a lamp falling...with Grant's guilty arm still resting on the now empty nightstand. As soon as we woke, Ma-Ma was there to pick us up because she had made us sunday dinner. I honestly had not eaten that much good food in my life. Upon returning, A golf cart ride was in order, but the rain prevented Mitch from giving me the whole tour....my heart was broken. After my first experience at "Little Cricket" (which wasn't as cool as Grant described it), we went to meet PaPa and Grandma (Grant's dad's parents), Papa, who was watch the PBR like usual, was impressed by my knowledge of farming and animals. Grandma showed me all of her pictures of her family in the house...Oh the house, I love that house. My favorite part of visiting his grandparents was when Grant and PaPa were talking about the Civil War and Grandma (who is from New York) interrupted them and said "Yeah, but who won the war?" and looked over and winked at me...it was a total Yankee connection. After many comments about all the weight Grant has lost and questions about Michigan crops we said our good byes. Returning back to the house, there was another member of the family eagerly awaiting...to take as many pictures of me and Grant as she could. Aunt Candy is probably one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met, she is genuinely a sweetheart. Then about the time we were ready to crash and sleep, Grant's mom finally showed up. I was happy to finally meet my future mother-in-law

After the first day, the days after that all seemed to blend together... We drove to Tennessee to visit the wedding chapel, drove to Charleston, met more family (who are all amazing and very nice people), got to see the places Grant had planned to ask me to marry him (but he couldn't wait until then), rode around with Mitch and got the history of Enoree while Grant was getting his hair cut, hung out with the Stewart clan, eat food I didn't know existed, see Palmetto trees, explore the U.S.S. Yorktown, getting asked for $17 dollars at a rest stop by a creepy man, getting an all day golf cart tour of the farm, losing my cell phone and having Grant smooch it into the mud, shooting "The Boy", having Mitch obsess about how small and pretty my hands are, playing with the baby goats and babe the pig, lovin' on "Boo-Boo" and "Ching-Ching," eating at Grant's favorite Mexican resturant with more of his family, but most of all I got to spend time with and learn more about my future husband.

So all in all...
I had never been called a Yankee so many times in my whole life.
I don't know how to fill a plate at a buffet...southern people love to eat.
A way to Mitch's heart is to shoot a gun accurately.
I'll never be able to understand Mitch....he has too many thoughts running through his head at once.
Northern South Carolina's landscape isn't much different than Southern Michigan.
Grits come with every meal you order at any resturant.
I don't want to ever move away from Wyoming


"All Because Two People Fell In Love"

The Things I Love About Wyoming

-Boys think they have to dress like cowboys to be cool
-Girls think they have to either dress like California or...just like the boys
-When people have sweet systems in their cars...P.S. you live in Wyoming
-The MS-13 tag on the billboard in Cody
-Everyone chews tobacco...even if they don't like it, its just the thing to do
-Mormans are everywhere!
-When little trucks haul huge amounts of hay in the bed and can barley move
-You better drive a diesel or you're not cool
-No one has a barn for their hay...they just leave it bailed in the field, because it never rains
-Driving 500 miles is a day trip
-A girl's life story: Graduate high school, get married, have kids all by the age of 19
-Everyone thinks they are ranchers, but the number one employer is Walmart
-Two types of people: the ones who know everything about nature and animals, or the ones that know nothing...no in between
-The wind never stops blowing...somewhere in the state there are 70 MPH winds right now
-Even the really prissy girls are really really rough
-The nearest mall is an hour an a half away
-When a town's population is less that it's altitude
-It's still in style to wear your pants up to your belly button
-The men are all under 6 foot, and the woman are built like tanks

No but really... What I really do love about living here
-People are very genuine
-Rodeo is a way of life...which is new to me
-The mountains...waking up to such beauty everyday is a blessing
-The sun is usually always shining which is abnormal to me, especially in the winter
-The lack of people
-Wide open spaces to do whatever you please
-Living in a town that actually cares about it's residents
-The friends I've made would do anything for anyone
-Be able to not spend a dime and have so much fun
-Most of all- I met the man of my dreams here


"No matter how hard you try, Lauren, You'll always be able to tell you're not from Wyoming...You don't fill out your jeans like the girls out here do and you're way too pretty" -Dad