Hiking

We went hiking a couple of weeks ago and what we wanted to be a 2-3 mile hike ended up being almost 8 miles. The kids did pretty good for such a long hike with so many hills to climb, but we were all happy to be finished at the end. It was long, and my back and feet hurt bad when were done.

Also, I had forgotten how beautiful the mountains were and I feel like I have taken them for granted my whole life. Michigan is so pretty too, but where we lived was so flat and not a hill in sight. So now every time I look out the window I just can't believe how pretty it is! I love the mountains!

The kids wanted a picture on every rock they saw...













Trying to keep up with Dylan. He would be so tired and need a break, so we would stop and within 5 seconds he was bolting off again. Why can't I have that energy?...

Nate never has the camera, except this hike. I guess he got a little camera happy because I found a whole bunch of pictures of this side of me...

The lake at the end of the hike...

I didn't see this happen, but I am guessing Nate is standing out on that log while taking this picture...

What a fun day together!

We're Utahns now

Okay, so sorry for no update in a few weeks. We made it to Utah and things are good! The drive out went pretty good, considering a few episodes of sickness from each child and even a bath in the McDonald's sink.


We stopped in Nauvoo for a few days and that was so neat! I even got to see the Hardy's and visit with them. They are serving a mission in Nauvoo right now and they just love it! They were like my second parents when I was in high school and I am so glad I got to see them!

The first picture is of Carthage jail (in the background). I took this picture and then my batteries died. So this is all I go that day. The jail is in the background and it was a very neat experience to go inside. Notice Dylan with his bucket? He carried that thing everywhere he went on this trip. He was a little worried about barfing again and even though he was feeling better, the bucket still came with us everywhere.

I forgot to take a picture of the Nauvoo temple in the day, so here is a random shot I took while driving by it at night. It was so beautiful, especially the inside. Glad I got to go through it.

We took a wagon ride through the woods to inspiration point and it was really neat. The kids really wanted a picture with the horses, so here we go...

Nauvoo was just a really neat place. I loved it. They had lots of little performance things through out the day and then a big musical called "Sunset by the Mississippi" in the evening. Lots of fun performances for all! It was cute to see all the senior missionaries participate just as much as the young ones.

The "Trail of Hope" was a really neat thing to do. It is a trail where the pioneers walked on their way to cross the Mississippi and there were also plaques along the path with some of their stories written on them. Really neat. You end up at the same spot where they crossed the river after being kicked out of Nauvoo.

And then we made it to Utah. I am so happy to be here! I was so sad to leave Michigan and such wonderful people, but I can't express the amount of joy I feel in being finished with residency! Seriously. And you want to know why? Well, there a number of reasons. Most of which include actually having a husband around to enjoy life with!!!!! I can't believe how much more time I have with him and the time we have to do things together as a family, hence my lack of blogging. I know it won't always be like this, but it has just been right nice. Right nice for sure.

We have spent time boating with Nate's sister and her family. They have been so good to us. And having cousins that want to play and babysit all the time is just fine by me.

Here is Claire at Bear Lake on one of our boating adventures...

We went out again today to Hyrum Lake and had a ton of fun too. I love boating with the family, it's so fun.

On the weekend of the fourth we had Candace and Tanya (my sisters) come up and stay with us. I know our house wasn't quite in entertaining conditions yet, but it was so fun. We went to the parade...

enjoyed some little rides (I love Cassie in this picture. She is in the middle)...

Eat lots of treats and cotton candy...

Getting ready for fireworks...



Laughing at Jason as he tries to be a part of the fireworks show (and yes, we did fireworks at 8:30pm)...

And eating Cafe Rio with the fam. I am so glad they came and we could just visit and enjoy each others company.

Another exciting thing in our life is the purchase of our new mini-van. You can sort of see it in the background of the last picture. We love our Honda Odyssey! The green machine got dumped off at the wreck yard as we pulled out of Saginaw for good. And the sad part is...we only got $200 for it. Our steering wheel in our new van is worth more than that. Seriously people. What is this economy trying to do to us? First our house, then the van.... just kidding.

I have also been spending time with this wonderful girl and her family and enjoying every minute of it. She has waited 7 years for my return to Cache Valley and alas, here I am. And today is also her special day. Happy Birthday Jennifer!

I have more pictures to post of hiking and such, but that can wait until tomorrow. I hope.