“Sawah Comin?”

“Sawah wake up!”

Goodness! This week has been absolutely amazing! I was not at a music festival if you can believe it! My first week off since June 8th!

I spent this week in Ohio with some amazing family. Thank you Ben, Dani, and Sadie-bug for hosting me! I felt at home, loved, and welcomed. When you’re traveling alone it is often difficult to find moments where you feel at home. This was a much needed break from the rush of my musical career.

Monday, I said my final goodbye to Brevard. Many friends and roommates had already said their goodbyes and left, but it was still bittersweet. The place I had called home for 7 weeks was finally no longer mine. However, we always move onwards and upwards with our adventures!

Finaly goodbyes were said to my family in South Carolina, and I was off! Thank you to Sam, Evelyn, and Aaron for taking me to the airport!

Now our story returns in Dayton, Ohio! Flights were delayed and hunger stirred, but I arrived at last! Monday was basically spent traveling. Tuesday, I slept for a majority of the day and got settled. Of course, I also played with Sadie! She is the cutest! What a ray of sunshine! I saw so much of my younger self in her as I watched her run around and play!

Wednesday evening, we went out for ice cream at Young’s Dairy. Now this isn’t like the BYU Creamery or some chain ice cream shop, think amusement park, but for ice cream and dairy. There was a petting zoo, carnival rides, factory tours, and a huge barn that held the ice cream, restaurant, and gift shops. Of course I had two different extremely rich chocolatey chocolate filled chocolate ice creams, and it was divine.

Thursday, we went to explore the National Air Force Museum. This place was MASSIVE!!! There were four huge hangers filled to the brim with aircrafts from all different eras of time. From the Wright brother’s first flights to presidential planes and beyond. While I could have spent all day there looking at all the artifacts, having a two-year-old with you shortens your time block. We still saw a good chunk of the museum and I am just in awe of how far technology has come. Part of me still doesn’t even understand how planes work, but I just pray I don’t crash! You’ll see some of my favorite planes in the pictures below. We all had our well deserved nap time and enjoyed lovely air-conditioned play time in the afternoon.

Friday, there was a program for kids in the area to come and have a free activity at the nature reserve. So we packed up and went to explore Bug Day! I came upstairs wearing my sun hat, and Sadie refused to leave the house without a matching hat of her own. She was glued to my side the entire day! We ended our adventures with a brief trip to the library after lunch to print out all my music for the upcoming festival. All I will say is double check your print list before hitting send so you don’t pay for an extra 37 pages…

In the evening Friday, Dani and I were able to drive out to the Columbus Ohio Temple and do an Endowment session. I love that my church is a global church and that wherever I go I can be surrounded by good. It is a little temple compared to the temples in Utah, but the spirit was just as strong. Sometimes the simpler things are, the easier they can be to understand. And of course, no temple trip would be complete without post-session ice cream. Dani took me to one of her favorite places, and I can attest, it was amazing.

While on this trip, I was introduced to two new shows that are amazing! The first was Lego Masters. It’s like a cooking show but with Legos! They are given a task and time to complete it, and whoever hits the home run wins! Definitely one I will watch again.

Saturday evening, we watched a movie called Musica. It was about a boy who turned the sounds he heard into music all inside his head! I feel like I do that sometimes, too. But he also had a puppet that told jokes and sang, and there were flying fish, a love triangle, and so much more! It is a must-watch comedy that will have you dying of laughter.

Saturday, we went on so many adventures! We started out by having something called pop-overs. Think German pancakes, but less eggy and made in muffin tins. We journeyed together to the 2nd Street Market, an indoor-outdoor farmer’s market type deal. I loved walking around, enjoying some samples, and exploring new forms of art!

Our next adventure took place at the Wright brothers’ historic bike shop and museum. What a cool place. Did you know that the Wright brothers began as bike manufacturers and printers? It wasn’t until one of the brothers got sick from drinking contaminated water that they decided to dive into the world of flight. It was at the shop we were at that they began to research those ideas. I love stepping into a piece of history!

One of my favorite parts of the day was being reunited with an old friend! One of my favorite restaurants as a child, Fazoli’s! When I was 12-13, all the Fazoli’s in Utah went out of business. It has been probably 10+ years since I have had those breadsticks! It was like walking down memory lane!

The afternoon was filled with more play time, breakfast for dinner, and after Sadie went to bed, a fire with s’mores. I have not had a chance all summer to have a fire with my favorite gooey treat, I am very grateful that Ben and Dani indulged me in my request for a treat. It was also fun to reminisce about how fast life moves. It wasn’t that long ago that we were all young, single, and basically kids at BYU. Now so many of us are married, have families, have moved out, are pursuing careers, and so much more.

Sunday was a very bittersweet day. We all went to church and it was so good. Sadie was all dressed up so cute! I ended up going with Dani to the Spanish Relief Society lesson since she was teaching. Now, three years of high school Spanish can get you pretty far, but not quite like native speakers. However, the spirit can speak to you in any language if you are open to listening. I was able to follow along, pick out words I recognized and learn new ones. It continues to circle back to my love of how simply beautiful and beautifully simple this gospel is.
I got to pick Sadie up from nursery and even through the bubbles, my bug came running! We enjoyed some ice cream and rootbeer floats out on the lawn afterwards. Do you ever wonder how small the music world is? I ran into a sister in this ward that was at BYU just before me and did music as her minor and sang with the BYU Singers! There is connection in everything!

After church we all took a nice long nap. The week has gone by so fast! It feels like it was just Monday and I was arriving! But alas, the packing of the suitcases had to begin. In between loads of laundry and throwing things in suitcases, Sadie and I watched Veggie Tales, colored, played matching games, and more. It was so hard to say goodnight after dinner. Ben made yummy homemade pizzas; it was awesome.

Trying to tell a 2-year-old that they won’t see you when they wake up in the morning is quite difficult and almost heartbreaking. I was so sad when I was trying to tell her I was going on an airplane. She would ask if she was coming with me and I would say no. She would ask me if I would wake up with her, and I would say no. I don’t think she really understood what was happening. But big hugs and songs later, she was off to bed. The rush for packing had begun, and off to bed I went because an early flight was ahead of me.

This week has gone by so fast, but I am grateful for every single moment! I am thankful for my family for letting me crash at their house and capture their daughter’s attention. I am grateful for the rest and space I had from my music. It has been rejuvenating and I am so ready to begin this next adventure!

So with that, I will bid you good night and shall write again next week with tales of colors, wild flowers, gaping blue river, and fairytale houses.

Until then,

Ciao!