the barrons

the barrons

about us

We're from the Syracuse, NY, area and started dating when we went to BYU-Idaho for college. We were married December 2008 and have a daughter, Sophie. We will be welcoming a new baby in November 2013! We currently live in Mason, Ohio, near lots of family! Drew is working at Liberty Mutual Insurance as an Auto Claims Adjuster. Carissa is now a stay-at-home wife and momma! We know there's more in store for us in our future, and we say, "Come what may and love it!"
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29 August 2009

Idaho, Here We Come!

I can't believe it, but we packed our car as full as we could with everything we possessed. And, actually, we packed it the morning we left. We had everything ready, of course, but nothing was actually in the car until about 2 hours before we left.
We got to say good-bye to the little boys, Scott and Nathan, before they left for school that morning. Then my Dad procrastinated leaving for work until after we left. He (and I) needed a good send off. Mom said NO pictures of her, so that was that, but she got us (yes, Drew too) all emotional before we left. Go figure!
Once we were in our car and ready for the road, we headed off on our 8-day road trip across the country in our little teeny Chevy Cavalier.


We had some time, so we stopped in Palmyra before we left New York! We got some great pictures!




First (official) stop: Youngstown (Austintown), Ohio. We stayed with Grandma and PapPap Dumas and had a really good time playing cards and talking. Aunt Linda, Kevin, and Krista came over too! It was a blast!



Day 2: before leaving Austintown, we drove about a mile to see Dad's side of the family. Aunt Dawn had lunch ready for us! We visited for a couple of hours and ate lots of good food! Uncle Stan and Grandma Drogowski even came over for a quick "hello"!


Next stop: Once we were stuffed with food and Grandma sent us off with more snacks, we were headed to Zanesville, Ohio, to visit Julie's parents! Drew had never met this part of my family, and I was really anxious for them to meet each other. When we got to Gramma's, I think I started to cry. I hadn't been in their house for years, and the last time I had seen Gramma Stimpson was when she was in the hospital looking weak and sad. She looked amazing this time. She had color in her face, she wasn't bone thin anymore, and she was walking by herself again! When Grandpa came up the stairs he gave us his twinkling smile (I'm sure most of you know what I mean). I was so glad to see my grandparents in such good spirits and looking so healthy!
The Stimpsons took us to eat at Adornetto's, a place for the best Italian food in the area! It was a bit nostalgic; we always got Adornetto's pizza when we went to Gramma and Grandpa's! I was really glad that Drew got to meet these grandparents of mine. They mean a lot to me and have done so much to help our family since our families combined all those years ago.
The Stimpsons sent us off with their love and some leftover pizza, and we headed off to Cincinnati (Mason), Ohio!



Next stop: The Ackley's! We got in late and shared our leftovers and went to bed. The next day...



Day 3: A day with the Ackleys! For those who don't know who they are, DeAnn (or, Aunt Annie) Ackley is my step-mom's (Julie's) sister. Her family has grown up in the same faith as us and we are really close to them. Their kids are our ages too.
So, we were ready (already) for a day of no travelling. Aunt Annie was glad to help! She let us take our time waking up and getting ready for the day, and then we went to the coolest grocery store in Cincinnati: Jungle Jim's! This place has it ALL! Well, almost. Just about anything you have ever heard of being edible exists in this grocery warehouse! It's creatively decorated and laid out. Each nation has their own section of the store. So cool. Drew, having lived in Hong Kong for 2 years, knew exactly what he'd look for: durian (a really nasty prickly fruit), baalut (soft-boiled fertilized chicken eggs), and Philippine mangoes (the best kind around). Oh, and NutriSoy (THE brand of soy milk used in Hong Kong, since they don't use animal milk). Bad news: we didn't find ANY of that except for the mangoes. But they weren't fresh, they were dried. Oh well. We still found some good stuff. We got a few little treats in some of the nations that had the yummiest sweets! We also picked up some stuff for Chicken Curry and Egg Tarts (refer to "Theme Night Dinner" back in April)!
(We didn't do very well getting pictures of the Ackleys... Oops!)


Day 4: A day of travel! We made an early start to drive from the Cincinnati, OH, area to Kansas City, KS. It wasn't a terrible drive, but it was pretty long. We got into Kansas City in the evening and spent some time talking with Dave (my step-dad, Leslie-mom's hub) and my mom (Leslie) over a delicious dinner! After a long day of travelling, we were ready for bed.
Day 5: Another day with the Cases! It was so nice to sit back and relax while in KC. Mom took a few hours off from work and took Drew and me to see Harry Potter 6 at a theater designed after the Palazzo in Las Vegas. It was so great! Mom, Drew and I are all pretty big Harry Potter fans, so it was fun for us to see that movie again together. We had a great dinner that night--Mexican! Celeste and Aaron (her soon-to-be hub) and Christine came over to visit and eat. It was a good time! (By the way, it totally stunk, but I forgot my camera in the car while we were in KC....)
Day 6: A full day of travel. It was 16 hours from Kansas City to Kalin's (my sister's) in Saratoga Springs, Utah, so we split it up into two days with a stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming. One thing to say about the drive from KC to Wyoming: boring and windy!!! We finally got to the hotel, in the middle of nowhere Cheyenne, and bunkered down for the night.
Day 7: Another full day of travel, but this time we were headed for Kalin's in Utah! It took less time than we thought, which was nice, but (of course) the drive was still long. Luckily, I was with my favorite person in the whole world, so the drive wasn't boring! : ) Once we got to Kalin's, we had dinner and spent some time with her, Matt, and Dean, and I finally got to meet my little Addie (Kalin's adorable baby girl)!



Day 8: A full day with Kalin's family! It was such a nice day to relax. We didn't go anywhere until dinner time, when Kalin and Matt treated us to "el Pollo Loco", which was actually really yummy Mexican fast-food featuring only chicken. Drew and I got to spend more time with Kalin's little family, which was wonderful!




Day 9: It was time to leave Kalin's and head off to our little piece of heaven in Rexburg, Idaho! Luckily, the drive is only about 3 1/2 hours. We got to our complex, signed our contract, and received our keys to our first place together!!!


Once we were in, I needed to take pictures of our little place! We moved everything in from our packed car, and used our 72-hour kit food to make our first meal in our new home.



All in all, we're very excited to be in our new place; our first place together; our home! We really look forward to all the adventures we'll have here in Rexburg, and are excited to get involved in the community and Ward!

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