Gnashing our teeth to get to Nashville!

What's black and white and hasn't posted in forever?
Me.
Well, I suppose just the last part is true.
Anywho.
(That rhymed.)
ha.
Wow, I'm rusty.
... Moving on.

When people talk about their last semester of college, it's usually with excitement. They are moving on to new things; they have new jobs, new cars, new degrees to pursue, and so many other new and exciting ventures in their lives that they forget to mention the six month bout of pure busyness that the last semester of college can be.

Basically, the first half of the semester has felt like treading water with massive sandbags tied to our feet. We somehow manage to keep our heads above water--most of the time. I suppose we're just waiting for the graduation ceremony to throw us a life vest and pull us out.

Thankfully Spring Break granted us a brief reprieve from the torrent.

The good news was that this handsome guy with the bright smile made it to the second round of interviews for the Masters of Accounting program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He's kind of a big deal. :) Anyway, being a neat college and all, Vanderbilt paid for Ty to interview there. So, we were off to Nashville! Yee haw!

Incidentally, it takes about 10 hours from Manhattan, Kansas to get there. Being the extremely kind, charitable people that his Stelting grandparents are, they agreed to go with us to Nashville. We took their car, and they drove most of the way... with only a few close calls. ;) Most of our trip was full of great conversation, and beautiful views like the one of the arch above in St. Louis, and other parts were us looking for ways to occupy our time. For example, Ty, pretending to read a map so I could practice taking pictures of him. Hence the picture below.

After 12 hours, a state full of pot-holed interstate (Get your act together, Tennessee!!!), and a night in a hotel by a Latino Supermercado, we arrived!

I got to tour the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt, and the Accounting Program wined and dined Ty while he interviewed.

And, of course, we took advantage of the traditional sights Nashville has to offer.

Here's Ty and his grandparents at the Grand Ole Opry!

We poked some fun at the at&t building... doesn't it look kind of like batman?

Of course we enjoyed some fine dining, but alas, our time in Nashville had  to come to an end, so we packed up our bags and headed to Memphis. Memphis, Tennessee is a neat town split up by a river. We happened to be in West Memphis, which is actually in Arkansas. [Insert overused joke about Arkansas here.] Per Ty's request, we ate some Memphis Barbeque, which is allegedly famous. Per my request, I sang some bars of "Walking in Memphis" until, per Ty's request, I stopped.

However, Memphis was just a stop on our way to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit Ty's aunt, uncle, and cousins. They have a beautiful house on the outskirts of town with a sloping backyard that overlooks a wooded area. It was a great place to spend the night, especially with the great company. Sadly, we couldn't spend more than a night there, so we drove on... well, Grandpa Stelting drove on.

The next stop on our cross-country loop was a small town in Eastern Kansas to visit some Stelting cousins, Don and Pam. When we drove up to their house, I was taken aback. They have a stupendous country home set in rolling hills of waving gold grasses. I'm sure it would be about ten times as beautiful in the summer when everything is green.

We took advantage of the great location and the sunny day by exploring the "wilderness."

I'm not sure what Ty's doing here, but it's cute, so I thought I'd share. :)

And, while nothing can compare to a Western, Kansas sunset, this one was still beautiful. Poor Ty is stuck being my model until I can wrangle someone else into it, so Ty enjoyed the sunset, and I enjoyed having such a handsome model.

... and an athletic model. :)

After around 30 hours in a vehicle, we arrived in our simple apartment in Manhattan, Kansas, and man did it feel good to be back. We relaxed in our dining room, ate some homemade food, and played a round of Golf (the card game, not the actual game).

The next day, we were able to visit Ty's family in Southwest Kansas. Tami and Brian were great hosts as always. Tami provided great conversation, and Brian provided too much delicious double layer pizza. Suffice to say we were full and happy with our time there!

After what had seemed like forever, we drove up to my family's "ranch" in Western Kansas to this beautiful site:

My grandma Hoss with her walking stick enjoying a nice spring morning. You can't see it, but she was surrounded by pasture and new born calves. This sight brought up so many fond memories, and this picture makes me so nostalgic... so I'll interrupt some long spiel about how growing up in the country is the best thing ever and show you a picture of a cow instead. :)

Of course we spent plenty of time with the cattle, my parents, my siblings, my grandma, and even got to see my Aunt Maralee whom I hadn't seen in about a year.

I also made an interesting discovery. In addition to being an attractive dog, perfect pet, and a model pup, Papi was made for the country. I've shared some of the greatest pictures of my dog loving life in the country. Papi basically embodies how I felt about spring break, but in a much more attractive way. :)