Attempted Vacation pt.2

We came home along a slightly longer, but more scenic route.  We decided to drive through the night again so we could arrive at Mount Rushmore in the morning when the light hits it the best.  I admit to looking for Cary Grant the entire time we were there.  =)  But even though we didn't see him, it was fun seeing the monument in person.  Very impressive.

Emma enjoyed much more room on the return trip.  She could actually spread out on the back seat!  Much nicer.

The focus is not on her, but this is Emma trying to be a part of the monument.

Then we went to Badlands National Park.  This was fabulous!  So beautiful.  The most amazing part was when we first arrived.  You drive along and all around you as far as you can see is this wonderful prairie grass, like this:

Then suddenly and without warning, you come upon views like these:

I would love to go back when we have more time and do some hiking there.  Also maybe not in the middle of the summer. 

Emma's favorite thing there was seeing all the prairie dogs.  There were so many of them!
We heard them squeaking to each other.  Way too cute!

We drove further and found a place to stay overnight and were very ready to sleep.  The next day we finished our drive without any problems.

On our way, we wandered off the beaten path a little to visit Walnut Grove, MN to see some Laura Ingalls stuff.  On our way there we saw magnificent farmland.  Just amazing. 

Wading in Plum Creek

We finally arrived home late that night, after a long drive, including a quick stop to see our state capitol.  The building is really pretty lit up at night.  

At a rest stop Eric found this little frog and let Emma hold him.

I loved being with my family.  They are amazing.  I always have a good time with them.  Never enough of it though.  And it was wonderful getting together with some of my dear friends.  I hope to come back to visit again soon!

Our Best Attempt at a Family Vacation pt.1

The plan was to go visit my family sometime this past Spring, probably just Emma and me.  I just missed them all and wanted to go.  But by Christmas when we learned that 3 babies would be joining my family in May, June, and July, we decided to push our trip back until the summer so we could meet these new little ones.  I'm so glad we did!  I very nearly "borrowed" them all to bring home with me.  Unfortunately their stupid parents didn't like that idea very much.  Grrr.  But I loved seeing them all (and everyone else in the family, along with some of my dear friends) while we were in town.

I say this was an attempt at a vacation because Eric had to work much of the time we were there.  His job is nightmarishly busy right now, and had there not been an office branch where he could work he might not have been able to come.  Phew!  He did manage to have fun and visit with my family, but just not as much as he would have liked.  

We had a bunch of stuff to take to my sister, so we decided to drive rather than fly.  And because we're stupid we decided to try driving straight through without stopping, and just switch off drivers.  Um, yay!  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  My family didn't know we were doing that (why make them worry about us staying awake?), so we surprised them when we arrived earlier than expected.  Always a fun thing to do.  

Poor thing, didn't have as much space as she'd like on the way. 

My aunt and uncle have an apartment downtown where they stay whenever they're in town (they live in Hawaii), and they let us stay there while we were in town.  It was really nice having our own place and not feel like we were barging in on anyone in my family.  Eric was able to borrow a car to take to work, so we each had our own set of wheels which was very convenient.

Our view from one of the balconies.

Eric had yet to see the new mall downtown, so we went there with my sister and her daughters and just wandered around.  Emma found an Isabella doll (from Phineas and Ferb) at the Disney store and fell in love.  She couldn't wait to get it home to join the rest of the cast that she has.

Eliza just seemed to adore Eric the entire trip.  She couldn't seem to get enough of him.  He loved it!

Time out.  Here is my sister's new little girl who wasn't in any of the above pictures because she was asleep the entire time we were at the mall.  Can you believe this little face?  It's just not possible to get enough of this face!

Seriously!  It's not possible to get enough of this cute little face!

The evening we arrived in town my little brother's son (the last of the babies to come) was born.  He was a week overdue, and we were so excited to be there when he arrived!  We went to the hospital the next day to meet him.

This cutie is such a mellow little guy.  It was so fun to hold him and just stare at the perfection!

My older brother and family were out of town until Sunday when we all got together, and it was so wonderful to see all of them and meet his new son who was about 2 months old.  

I love the look on Emma's face here.  Luke was crying and she was like, "Uh, little help please."

Ice Cream time!

We just happened to be in town for the Pioneer Day parade.  I am not especially a parade person.  Never have been.  The idea of camping out overnight or standing around in the hot sun trying to see through the crowds just to see some goofy float pass by has never appealed to me, even as a kid.  But, since we were in town, and happened to be staying right along the parade route with a perfect view of everything from one of our balconies, Emma and I decided to just stay and see what the hype was about.  Meh.  I did enjoy cheering along with Emma any time the pooper scooper truck drove past picking up after the horses (not that they could hear us from where we were).  Emma thought that was particularly funny.  We enjoyed dinner that night at my brother's house followed by some fireworks.  

Luke was such a snuggly baby.  I think he napped with Eric for over an hour.  

"Playing" with some ants.  I think I should feel sorry for the ants.

Throwing a ball.  Classic summer activity.

We decided to have my nephew Timothy come stay with us one night.  We picked him up and went to IN-N-OUT for dinner.  Yum!  I love their shakes.  The kids had tons of fun together.

While hanging out on the balcony, we had such a fun talk.  These two were talking about what it would be like to live in a city instead of the burbs,  and it was so fun listening to them.  It was also revealed that Timothy kinda likes torturing his sister.  I think I could've guessed that.  =)  Just an older brother doing his job.

In the morning we took some fun pictures.  My camera has a fishbowl effect, and the kids loved it!

While in town, we all went to have some family pictures taken.  It was well over 100 degrees almost the entire time we were there, with the one exception of the day we went for pictures.  It rained a little that day.  Just our luck.  But the pictures turned out wonderful.  The weather held just long enough.  This photo session was an anniversary present to my parents (they celebrated their 40th anniversary in April this year).  This isn't why we came to town, but it just happened to work out perfectly.  We took many of our own pictures afterwards, and as usual, have way more fabulous pictures of Emma than I know what to do with.  She is just the most photogenic person I've ever known.  If you'll permit me a moment to brag, I just can't get over how gorgeous she is.  I have no idea how she could possibly be mine!  This is why I love that she loves taekwondo so much and is learning how to defend herself and to be able to beat the crap out of people.  

Don't my parents have cute grandkids!

We told the girls to try to scowl for this picture.  I love that Eliza couldn't really stop smiling.

And I love how much they love each other.

Here's my beauty!

Our second Sunday in town we decided to walk over to see Music and the Spoken Word with Emma.  It was nice staying so close we didn't need to drive and worry about parking.  Since you're not allowed in to see the Tabernacle Choir until you're 8 years old, Emma's never seen them live.  Eric and I went many times to their concerts and broadcasts during the years my dad was in the choir, but of course, Emma never went.  And technically she wasn't 8 yet, but I felt okay taking her a month early.  During the summer with all the tourists in town, they do the broadcast from the conference center rather than the tabernacle, so there were tons of seats.  Emma really liked it.  She thought it was cool being in the room where general conference is held and seeing the pulpit in person.  Her expression upon entering the room showed how impressed she was with the size of the place.  You just don't get a feel for that from watching on TV.  

After the broadcast we wandered around Temple Square and enjoyed the grounds.  It's always so beautiful there.

I sure love these two!

Sadly, the time always comes to leave and come home.  Emma was depressed all day.  She cried after saying goodbye to everyone.  She misses my family and her cousins so much.  It's absolutely the hardest thing about having moved.  We love it here, but it kills us that we can't see family whenever we want.

Don't I have a cute family though?

My Parents

My older brother and his family

My sister and crew.

And my little brother with his family.

This And That

I haven't taken the time to post anything recently because life has been too busy.  It's always busy, but lately it has seemed overwhelmingly so.  There have been some wonderful moments amidst the busy, and I have tried to capture some of them.  This post is random pictures of things from the past month.  I guess you could call this a hodgepodge post.  Oooh, that's fun to say!  Hodgepodge post.

Last day of 2nd Grade.  She was just so cute!  

I wanted to try braiding her hair and making a star.  I was going to do this for the 4th of July, but Emma decided before school ended that she wanted to get her hair cut.  Every time her hair gets long enough for me to start having some fun with it, she wants it cut.  Oh well.  But I decided before that happened I wanted to at least try this.  I think it turned out well.  It needs a little adjusting to be perfect, but I liked it. 

I made the Father's Day treats that we handed out to all the men at church.  I just made chocolate
mustache suckers, but I liked how they turned out.

I put these stickers on the back.

I grabbed this picture right before we got her hair cut.

And this is the after picture. 

She's had fun playing around with her hair at home.  She put it into the pig tales all by herself, which
I'm impressed with because that's difficult to do with it so short.

And then she decided she wanted to see how many clips she could fit on her head.  At least I
guess that's what she decided.  I can think of no other reason for this 'do'.

We've had lots of fun bowling lately.

I just love her bowling stance after she sends the ball down the lane.

Emma gave her very first family home evening lesson.  She decided to teach about
repentance and prayer, and told the story of Enos to help.  

She was so animated - it was so fun to watch and listen to!

It's not summer without swimming and time at the lake.  Emma loves the water.
Although she might like torturing Eric even more!

She didn't seem to like the sand he rubbed on his arm though.   Love her expression!

So life has continued, and we're enjoying all the extra time we have together.  It's always so fun having Emma home all the time in the summer.  There's nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my family.