Sweet memories

We had a great visit with my Dad.  It had been years since we had seen him.  It was a great time for reacquainting.

Over looking the Valley

Touching base of El Capitan with Grandpa

I love the expression

Great one...

perfect sisters

playing it cool

hanging out in a tree stump (beware of the burn marks)

Well lit trees

It was hot and grandpa out hiked us all.  It was great to spend time in such a beautiful place with people that I care about.

2014 update...

As you may have noticed, I stopped posting and therefore "catching up".  In case you are wondering what's been happening...
Here's the recap-

Step one:  Remove cabinets between kitchen and family room

Step two: remove wallpaper (that's what I did on my birthday)

Step three: Remove the soffit between kitchen and family room

Central hub off all wiring revealed!  Brie loved turning on the lights... great fear of electrocution.

Step four- remove the tile (jackhammer required)

I took off for CA

This was my Sunday worship-  It was so beautiful!

Step five:  Rewire and remove oven*

And that brings us up to date... well see how long we are with out an oven.  

*Above is my special treat on the counter- a warming drawer (wanted to have one but they are quite expensive... found this one marked down on craigslist and can't wait to use it!)

Best Road Trip Ever... begins

I have always wanted to take the kids on an all American road trip...

My mom has become too weak for back to back days in the car, now that she is in an assisted living place we could finally sprout our wings...

Then we found out we were having another visit from Mr. Stork... but I wasn't going to let that stop our first chance at a family summer adventure...

We decided to visit some church history sites and our good friends in Pennsylvania.

 

Day one took us to Missouri- a great campground with the tent loop all to ourselves( I guess no one else wants to tent camp in heat and humidity)

Day two we visited Liberty Jail (my favorite place) and learned how even in the worst of times, God is ever mindful of us and our needs... and even when others are mean and rotten, we can still show respect to others "Good afternoon Gentlemen" 

Day three and four were spent in Nauvoo and Carthage it was the middle of a massive heat wave... but we still had a great time (except for Josh who ran away)

 

Sweet American Baby.  We stayed at the BEST campground.  They had a place for me to wash bottles and even lent us a fan to try and battle the heat at night... we did sweat a lot, but it wasn't too bad.  The kids loved the fireflies at night and Aaron caught a toad.

This trip had many firsts:  Cardinal sighting

Mimicking the photo I have of Brie holding a newborn Amanda at the Temple open house with Josh... 10 years ago.

Touching tribute to the Joseph and Hyrum... brothers forever.

"Just Plain Anna Amanda" wonderful kids play... very well done

We watched fireworks in Carthage... It was a great hometown celebration!

Vist from Friends

We had some long time friends visit.  They are the kind of people who wouldn't want to impose... so we didn't tell them about our little arrival.  It had been so long since we had had a chance see them, we didn't want to miss it.  We had a wonderful time catching up.

(Andrew is just so skinny in this picture... it was about the time when I started to think something might be wrong.  And was it ever!  At birth he weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz.  at ten days he was down to 6 lbs. 4 oz.  Breastfeeding was just not going to work for this old cow this time around.  Hormone levels were off, and the cause wasn't tracked down in time.  I supplemented for a few months, but was done with the pumping, storing, herbs, vitamins, etc. after two months.  Besides, he never liked warm milk...)

* I know I said I was going to catch up quickly... but that was before the 100 year flood wipe out our road and sent us all scrambling.

Boys in Drag

I know they are dark... but these boys were hilarious.

What are dress up clothes for?

 

Bliss

I love sleeping babies!

Ari's Early B-day

Ari wanted to celebrate his b-day with Grandma... so here it is a month early