Friday, August 28, 2009

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig

Well we are alive and surviving our first week of school here. We made it back from our long vacation and are all under the same roof again. Nathan had to spend a month of his residency taking classes in Washington D. C. , so I had him drive me out to Idaho so we could spend the time with family. My Mom was able to drive back with me which was a life saver. You're the best Mom. The next few entries are of our trip. Enjoy!

Leaving

We left for our trip on the 16 of July. We made it to Idaho in 3 days. Here are some pictures of our trip out.
We are on the road.
H slept a lot on the trip.



This is what we saw a lot of the last 2 day. Not much.


The Kids watched a lot of movies and colored, and slept.


It was a very uneventful drive out which was nice.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Idaho and Nathan's Family

We pulled into Sugar City late Saturday night. Sunday we went to church with Nathan's brother and family in Nathan's old ward. We walked to church since it was just a block from the house. On our way home we got caught in a downpour and got soaked.
Nathan's brother and family have had a goat the last 2 years. We happened to be there when they sold her. Milking Maybell one last time. E found this fun to watch and even milked the goat herself. On Monday we went to the spray park. There were a lot of cousins and it was fun to watch all the kids play. J and K gave up after a little bit and curled up in towels on the blanket and chair.



Nathan's oldest brother and family just got 2 goats. We had to go out and meet the goats.

Their neighbors have horses so K was able to watch them for awhile.





This is H and her cousin J. they are only a couple of months apart, but J and do everything that H can.

Cousin sleep over. It took them a LONG time to fall asleep. Nathan took the drill Sargent path to get them ready for bed. They couldn't stop laughing at him!

We were able to see a lot of G & G Shirley while we were there. They had all of us over more than once! They are wonderful people.

We were also able to visit shortly with our friends the Sewells. It's fun to see someone one year out of Residency.We also made it to the Gee family reunion or at least part of it. It was fun to see so much extended family!
We left on Friday the 24. Here are the kids ready to go!



Idaho and Grandpa and Grandma's house

We left Nathan in Boise to fly home and headed to my parents house on the 24. We were there for a week and a half. We were able to have some nice stay at home days there.
My Dad took E and J fishing a lot. This is E with her first fish! They loved going fishing! We also went out on the lake in the canoe and had fun.
Snack time at Grandma's house.
We took K to get her hair cut. She now has a cute summer bob.


The kids love wearing all of the dress ups.



Even my sisters got in on the action! (that is my wedding dress they are trying on).




We played at the park, had picnics, read books, watched movies, and built lego towers. We had so much fun at Grandma's house.

Logan UT

We headed to UT on the 5. We stayed the night with our good friend the Robertsons in Burley (we had so much fun seeing them again) and then headed on to Logan.
On Friday we went to Bear Lake. It was a little chili, but the kids still had a lot of fun. Even after sun screening all of us were burnt (no one else was though). I realised that night that I need help with my sun screening skills. I missed many spots on J's back. E didn't get the back of her legs. and H had a little on her shoulders. It was still fun though! H probably had about 3 mouthfuls of sand. She kept putting it in her mouth and then spitting it out.
H also LOVED walking around in the water. I took her around for awhile, then my Mom took her for a little while.

Saturday was a big extended family reunion on my Dad's side. It was a long day, but it was fun to see so much family and I hadn't see in long time.
H's cousin loved pushing her around in the stroller.

Saturday night we had a big party for my Mom's Mom. She is turning 90 in December so we had a big birthday bash. I was neat to hear all the stories from my aunts and uncles. We ended up leaving early because it had been a long day for my kids.
Sunday we drove down to Layton for my cousin's mission report then we headed on to Orem.



Orem UT

We stayed with my sister in Orem for a few days. We went on a small hike to these falls and waded in the FREEZING cold water. It was a perfect day for it. E, J, and their cousins sliding down the rock.
My Mom holding H. She didn't really like the cold water.


Cousins





My sister has this big window in her entry way. The kids loved to sit in it and play.


Thanksgiving point was having a $2 Tuesdays so we met up with a bunch of my family and went there. We made it to the petting zoo, Dinosaur Museum, and the gardens.
Meeting the horses before we took our wagon ride.
All the cousins in jail!

Riding a cow (too bad it was made of plastic).


I only have a few pictures of the Dinosaur Museum because my kids were too sacred to stand by anything. I at least got J to sit by me for this picture.
Only a few of us ventured back to the gardens that evening. They were beautiful and it was nice not to have all the kids.


Peeking through the door in the Secret Garden.


We had so much fun in Orem. The kids miss their cousins!

Our drive home.

We started back home on the 12. We made it as far as Kearney NE. After a few mishaps with the car we pulled into our hotel around 10pm and took the kids swimming so we could have a little fun.
The second day of our trip home it was H's 1st birthday. We celebrated by visiting Nauvoo IL. Here is H on her birthday. We also celebrated by getting some yummy homemade custard! Here is the beautiful Nauvoo Temple.
This is the home of Lucy Mack Smith. Mother of Joseph Smith. We only made it in one of the homes because a certain child of mine couldn't keep his hands off of everything :)


We did go to the brick yard. They should us how the bricks were made and gave everyone a small brick that says Nauvoo to take home.

By the third day of travel everyone was getting very tired. Here is K in her "zone". E took this picture for me.
We made it to Indianapolis to stay with my sister. After replacing the brakes on our van in the morning we made it there by 6pm. We had a big birthday party for all the birthdays in August (there were 4 there that had birthday's within a week). We were able to see my brother Bret and his family while we were there. It had been a while since we had seen them.


We were able to spend a little bit of time outside and E came in with this beautiful crown of Queen Anne's lace.
We finally pulled up to our house on the 15. One day shy of a month being gone. We had so much fun on our vacation, but we are so glad to be home!