Kempe world tour....

Okay, so maybe its just a USA tour but still we have had quite a tour! We started the tour in Memphis Tenn. home of Elvis and the blues! We were both born and raised there, went to the same church, even lived in the same neighborhood and had some of the same childhood friends, but for whatever reason, we never met until he had come home from the army visiting from Louisiana. I grew up saying Id leave Memphis so off I went with my diamond ring and my red head in tow! The Bayou was calling our names :)

We were there for about a year. Beau had made me so mad, cant remember why but im certain it had something to do with the fact that he didnt think our 750sqft apartment was the right place for a mastiff! Well I had gone 3 full days without speaking to him (my current record) and he tried to trip me up. "I hope you like the cold cause we are moving to alaska". Lol still not cracking cause that man is making up lies just to make me speak right? WRONG , so there i was just learning to enjoy alligator and boudin when i found myself dragging my 5yo and 2mo from New Orleans to Alaska and yes it was my bright idea to drive! big mistake

Sure we saw the entire u.s. and then some. We drove all the way up to WA, hopped on a barge with our SUV cause i am way to cute to drive a minivan right? those are for old people! I swear we were on that barge for 2 years, but really i think it was just a week. It stopped everywhere along the coast of alaska and somewhere along the way I fell in love with the islands of Sitka and ketchikan (google em, fabulous tucked away places but good luck getting there lol).

After a days drive through the Yukon, we were there! Anchorage alaska, btw did you know the border doesnt open till 9am. Neither does anything else in Haines alaska, so never ever never get off a barge at 5am. Sure you can see the border guys in their houses right there but you will wait! Its ok though, gave me plenty of time to fig out what the heck that white stuff was on the ground in april???

I learned to love moose, concieved a baby girl, figured out i love to tube down a hill but skiing is not so much my thing. I made some fabulous friends who inspired me to homeschool, began my walk with Christ (i was saved but took me 15yrs to start walking) and survived a 16mo deployment followed by the conception of a post-deployment baby that couldnt wait to get out of AK.......so off we went. I packed up my sakura bloom and my very first didy (yep you got it, carrie taught me to babywear in ak too) and headed straight for Arizona. Made a quick detour in disneyland but that was just my inner princess bustin out :)

Once we settled in arizona I have learned to live life without grass. I now know wind can be hot and that it rains in the dessert. They call it monsoon, it never stops, until one day it does and you never hear from her again , till next year that is :) I finally had that post-deployment baby, lost a baby and had another. I discovered something profound, I LOVE DOGS, big ones! I learned with big dogs and 5 kids you mop daily, and you love it or it will make you miserable. I explored my first caves and saw my first petroglyphs. I became a sunday school teacher and the Lord gave me my very first real church family. We survived our first broken bone and our parker introduced us to the wonderful world or wrestling and orthodontics! I have had an amazing time, but alas, the tour must continue! so Colorado here we come....I seems that God likes us near mountains because we have had them in our backyard the last 2 places and we will be meeting the Rockies soon.

we are gonna check out the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas and we might even drag a couple of old folks along for the ride this summer :) we have tough grandparents, they have been training since Christmas!

In the future we hope to snag a tour in New England. Its the only part of america we havent seen. Maybe we can even swing some time in Europe. Who knows what the future holds but one thing is for sure.....you better watch out, we could be coming to a town near you :)