Welcome to Kansas City!

We finally made it! It's crazy that we have already been here over a month, so now I think it's time to post some pictures of our latest adventures. Be warned, there are a lot. I don't paticularly like blogging, so I'm doing a huge post so I'm covered for a little bit. We love living here so far; we live in the best neighborhood and are surrounded by the best people. Jeff has started school and he's doing great! But maybe I just think that because he's so optimistic and he hides his stress well. Anyways, life is good. Here are some pics...

We moved out of our home in Provo and stayed with my grandparents for a few weeks before we left. Jeff's parents were nice to let us keep all of our boxes in their garage. Once everything was boxed up and put together, we started to worry that the truck we rented woudn't be big enough. You never realize how much stuff you have until you move!!

We got one more camping trip in before we left, and it was probably the first time we've ever camped in warm weather. Every trip we have ever taken, I've turned in to a popcicle at night, so finally I told Jeff that I must have a zero degree sleeping bag. This was the first trip I used my new bag, and I slept on top of it the whole night because it was just too hot. Now we live in Missouri heat, and I don't think I'll ever want to use it again. Anyway...it was a great trip, we camped out right by the river, hiked, and made an awesome camp fire.

These pictures aren't going in order, but I don't know how to rearrange them. Before we left, we got one more night with our old friends Darcy and Erik. We love them and will miss them so much! I told Darcy I'd keep an eye out for a good-lookin, single, med student that she can marry. Then she can move out here and hang out with me. Jeff and Erik go way back to their mission days, and he's been a great friend to us.

I'm going to miss this girl! She's always been a great friend to me and I love her lots and lots! Come and visit Darcy! xoxo

Suprise! Apparently I inherited my mom's insane packing skills and was able to get our whole lives into this 12by8 trailer.

Off we go! I was a stress case the entire drive to Denver. We've never pulled anything before, so I was constantly hearing noises and imagining the worst case scenario. Jeff, being the wonderful husband that he is, went well under the speed limit to keep me sane. It took us around 10 hours to get to Denver. We never want to do that again that's for sure. But we were able to spend a fun fourth of July weekend with my family in Denver!

So jumping ahead a little bit...We sold most of our big furniture in order to make moving a little cheaper, so I've been on the hunt for some fun furniture to decorate our new house. P.S., don't expect any pictures of our house yet, it is pretty sad and empty looking since this is the only piece of furniture I have so far. Once I get a couch and get some stuff on the walls, I'll let you see it. Anyway, I got this dresser on craigslist for 20 bucks! The woman's daughter graffitied all over it with puff paint, so I have some major scraping and sanding to do. It was a fun project and it turned into this.....!

Good as new! The other day I was at a furniture store and saw the same exact dresser for $500! Not bad for 20 bucks! This dresser refinishing is inspired by my genius cousin Heather. Her projects have turned out way better than mine though, shes a pro.

This is the cool bridge Jeff passes everyday to get to school, it crosses the Missouri river and is really pretty a night when it's all lit up. Kansas City is a really fun city! I'll show more pictures soon.

Jeff's parents came into town for Jeff's white coat ceremony, and earlier that day we took them on a tour of Jeff's campus. Here's Jeff with his brother Joseph.

I was so bummed because I got the crumbiest pictures during the ceremony, but you can see him on the left end looking very handsome. The ceremony was really exciting!

Here's us on the front lawn. I'm so proud of him!

And another one...

Here he is, my cute medical student all coated up!

So if anyone ever comes to visit us, we will be sure to take you to Oklahome Joes. It has the wide reputation of being the best bbq in Kansas City. It's not the classiest place in the world (it's in a gas station), and the line usually goes out the door, but it is well worth it. Anyone who knows Jeff well knows that he's not the biggest fan of bbq, and I was sure it was going to take me all 4 years to get him to like it. But it only took 1 trip to this place to make him a true believer.

This is one of our favorite places in Kansas City. It's this great park where a civil war battle took place, and it is so pretty! The first time we came here I felt like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. The pictures seriously don't do it justice. There are tennis courts here, and fountains, and gardens, and a cute lake. Again, it anyone comes to visit us, we'll take you here.

Ok mom don't be scared! Last week we had the craziest storm I have ever been in. No tornado though don't worry. But apparently the winds reached 70mph and ripped down a lot of trees and other things. This is the yard of our friend's neighbors. They had this old oak tree that just snapped at the trunk!

In June we got to go on a trip to Hawaii with my family! It was Jeff's first time in Hawaii so it was extra exciting. Here's a picture of all 16 of us watching the sunset. Nothing better! We went with my grandparents, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins! They are the best people to go to Hawaii with! And Heather, I stole these pictures from your blog. I brought my camera, but I didn't even use it past the airport. I'm glad you and your mom are such good documenters!

Here we are on our snorkeling day. This was Jeff's favorite thing to do, he could have stayed out there all day.

Jeff has learned that when you go on vacation with the Willardsens, this is bound to happen. A lot. The resort staff called us "Camp Kaanapali." We liked the sound of that.

Here's Jeff, Collin, and Danny's heads!

We hiked through this pretty jungley area to get to the snorkeling cove. We felt like we were on the tv show, Lost.

Here's a view from the most amazing helicopter ride ever! The views we saw were incredible!

About 8 months before we went to Hawaii, my dad challenged all of us to make and accomplish a spiritual goal and a physical goal before we left for our trip. Anyone who achieved both he promised to take on a helicopter ride. Jeff and I had the goal to run a half marathon and read the Book of Mormon, and we were able to accomplish both! It was a great experience for us and the reward was well worth it! Thanks Dad!

We are loving our new city. There's so many great things about this place, and it has definitely surpassed our expectations. We are glad we moved out here a month before school started because we were able to explore and get to know the city a little bit before school began. Here are some of the things we love about Kansas City...

1. We love our neighbors and our new neighborhood. We have a little townhome surrounded by great people, most of which are in the same boat as us, dental or med students.
2. There are so many fun shops and restaurants: Back in UT, Jeff and I could never ever agree on places to eat, but here, there are sooooo many fun and unique places that we both want to try!
3. Kansas City is known as the city of fountains, and there are literally fountains everywhere! There are always live bands in the shopping centers and parks, and families playing with their kids in the fountains.
4. We love our ward! We feel really lucky to have such great people around us. We've both been given callings to serve the youth which we're really excited about. I'm sure we'll learn a lot and have a lot of fun with our new ward.
5. There are so many church history sites, we've only been out to Independence so far, but we plan on making the trip to Nauvoo as soon as we can, or whenever someone decides to come visit us! Also, the Kansas City temple will be dedicated next spring! It is so pretty!
6. It is so green here! It's so overwhelming that I haven't even really missed the mountains yet. Everything just seems to grow so easily here...except for my flowers that were officially pronounced dead last week. In July, we had a nasty heat wave, and they were just too newly planted to endure the intense heat. I'm blaming it on that instead of the fact that I've managed to kill every plant I've ever owned since we've been married. Oh well, maybe next year.
7. Call me crazy, but I actually love the humity. Notice I did not say the heat, the heat is ferocious. But we've had really mild weather this past week, and I love the feeling of walking outside early in the morning and feeling sticky, cool air. It makes my skin feel dreamy!!
8. This city is going to turn out the best doctor that ever lived! That's right, it will be Jeff.

We love and miss all of you, and we hope everyone has had a great summer! Come visit us soon!