St. Louis Part 2

I told you there would be a lot of pictures... I figured I better split these posts up so they aren't super overwhelming!  Columbia to Jackson It was amazing to sleep in a little bit after the long travel day we had. The first thing we did in the morning was visit with the Phillip's while cooking hamburgers and brats for lunch. We took our lunch to eat with Deanna at the High School. It was so fun to visit with that family and hear all kinds of stories about Brandon as a missionary. I love love love to hear how great of a missionary he was. There is no better feeling than knowing how awesome your husband is. He is truly a rockstar! After lunch we were sad to say goodbye but we had so many people and places to visit. We made our way to the University. We were kind of sad to find out that it was finals week when we were there. Campus was crawling with students! But it was still fun to walk around and pretend that we were students too. It would be so fun to go to a school like this one! 

After visiting campus, we made our 4 hour trip to Sikeston. We had to go to the famous Lambert's Cafe! It was so worth it! The reason it is famous is because of their throwed rolls. They have hot rolls straight form the oven, you raise your hand and they chuck them at you! Haha it was quite entertaining. Brandon took a neighbors roll to the face and it was so funny! My food came out on a giant skillet filled with food. We ate dinner with the Gentry's and Brother Thompson. These were some more families that Brandon absolutely loved from the mission.  I absolutely loved getting to know these people. They all have the kindest hearts. After stuffing our faces with way too much food, we were able to stay in the Gentry's mothers vacant home. It was nice to have a place to stay in Jackson, and we are so so grateful that they allowed us to! Another very long day and night, and we fell asleep as soon as we hit the pillow. 

Bee Day

This day was a big day for me. After we woke up, packed our things, and we met up with Brother Thompson again. First off, Brother Thompson is one of the most amazing men I have ever met! I could listed to his stories all day long. He is such a spiritual giant, and I could only ever dream of being as Christlike as he is. Seriously, this guy has a ticket straight to heaven! I wish you could all spend a couple hours with him and you would totally understand. Brother Thompson is the bee keeper of many bees. I am absolutely terrified of bees. Like, we could almost call it a phobia. Heck, it might be a phobia. Brandon has been dreaming up this day forever. He was so excited to get me to face my fear. I say face my fear because heaven knows I did not conquer it! But wow, what a cool experience! Brother Thompson was so patient and made sure I felt super comfortable. I of course was given the brand new bee suit so it was sure to keep the bees out. It may have been a 3X large suit but it worked its magic just like it was supposed to. I was as cool as a cucumber. It was so fun to learn about harvesting honey and to see the bees doing their job up close. Some bees had pollen still attached to their legs and it looked so cool. I learned that listening to bees is a huge part of the process. You can tell when the bees get louder they are more irritated. Brother Thompson decided that we should find the Queen Bee because it is pretty neat to listen to the bees protecting her. We finally found her and it was so neat! Did you know that the Queen Bee does not know how to feed herself? The other bees literally have to feed her or she will die. No wonder they call her the queen! 

You guys.. that suit is so big it looks like a dress. I looked so funny!

^^^ Can you spot the Queen??

^^^ That little sack is the queen's daughter. The queen is starting to lose her scent so the bees need a new queen. Once her daughter hatches, the bees will follow the stronger scent of the daughter and the bees will stop feeding the current queen and she will die. 

Unless I can walk around all the time in this giant bee suit, I still hate bees (I mostly hate wasps)... they are too freaky! But for reals, I am so glad I did this! That little guy stuck with me all the way back to the car. 

To see more of the vacation, click here!