Part 2 : From TX to WA

My favorite was when Hyrum looked out the window seeing the sun shining through the clouds & exclaimed 'Mommy, Mommy look there's heaven!' He was really convinced that must be where heaven is.  Sure is pretty.

Whoever says driving through west Texas & New Mexico is ugly I am going to have to agree to disagree with ya'.  I thought it was gorgeous!  It's a different gorgeous than the Northwest but I loved the big open spaces & big blue skies & you appreciated the trees more because there weren't as many of them & the contrast in all the colors was beautiful.

 

I took an embarrassing amount of pictures of the kids in the car & the landscape. I might have gotten a bit bored.

One of our many hotel rooms

We drove from Austin to Clovis NM & the next night it was on to Monticello UT.  As soon as we crossed into Utah it started feeling like home & I was so excited to be back!

I had almost forgotten there are places on this earth that actually cool down in the evening in the summer.  You can stop sweating & maybe even wear a sweater. I love that.

We spent the night with my Dad's sister Becky in Idaho.  She was so sweet  to host us.  We had a yummy grill out in the backyard & went for a walk along the river.  I was able to see my cousin Melissa, her kids & my cousin Trevor as well.

The next night we stayed with one of my best friends Liz & her family in Oregon.  It was sooo fun to catch up with her & Mark & to watch our 9 (almost 10!) kids play so well together.

Biggest road trip ever part 1 : Texas

We've been planning a road trip to visit my parents in Washington state for over a year.  And we actually did it.  According to our car's computer we logged 110 hours in the car traveling about 6000 miles - whew!  We took over 1000 pictures & made lots of great memories.  We were surprised how well the kids did in the car & how well we all slept in the same room.

It was so fun to be out west again!  That's where home is for me. 

It worked out perfectly that our nephew Andrew was getting baptized right about when we wanted our trip to start so we drove Nana home & was able to be with my entire family for 1 fun day.

The whole crew at the San Antonio temple

Attempting a family picture

 

Andrew before his baptism

(our big boys love this kid!)

The original Turners =]

Andrew was so sweet with Emma & she loved the attention

Darlin' with #9 out of 10 grandchildren (8 being grandsons!)

While we were there we decided to bless Dallen.  He might go down in history as being one of the chunkiest, oldest babies to be blessed :-)  It was so nice that we could have both grandpa's & one brother in the circle.

 

Two more cute pictures of the sweetest baby ever

 

Nana comes to St. Louie

In the middle of July Nana flew into St. Louis so we drove up to meet her at the airport & stayed a day & a half.  Jeremy & I were able to have a nice date at the temple that evening.  The next morning we enjoyed playing at the turtle park before it got too unbearably hot.

 

We went to the arch.  I'm always amazed at the architecture.  We also drove by the condo building that I lived in as a nanny about 15 years ago.  15 years ago!!!  I am so old.  My little girls are in college & a senior in high school now.  I still think of them as 3 & 5 yrs old.

 

We did a fun FHE I adapted from one of my Primary lessons.  We talked about putting on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:13-17) & how taking the sword of the Spirit (& word of God) & the shield of faith will help us to stand strong against the evil influences of today.  I made cardboard shields & swords & the kids fought the bubbles at the end of the lesson.  They loved it.  I think it's a lesson we'll have to recycle at least once a year.  Hyrum was pretending the bubbles were bad guys & while swiping one of them he exclaims 'get ready to go to hell baby-bye bye'  Maybe I shouldn't but I thought that was hilarious.  I couldn't stop laughing about it later.

We did fireworks one night.  Well we did sparklers which is about as adventurous as I like to be with our own at home.  

Nana took each of the big boys on a special date.  I love that she does that when she comes. As always it was a blast to have her here! 

The above picture has a Harry Potterish feel to it don't you think?

At the end of Nana's week with us we packed up the car & we all drove down to Texas. And so began our biggest, longest road trip ever.  We took 1000 pictures on our 3 1/2 week vacation.  So there will be a lot of pictures in the next few posts :)

1st Grade!

We have a 1st grader in the house!!  I thought since I went through plenty of separation anxiety with kindergarten that I would be okay for each subsequent year but, uh, nope I really struggled again letting this kid go.  Summer WAS NOT long enough by any stretch.  Then miraculously about a week before school started I was all of a sudden excited for Hyrum.  He was excited too which made it easier & he has enjoyed it so far.  I think he really likes being on a schedule & routine with little jobs to do.  This summer I implemented regular chores & Hyrum liked it.  A lot of times I would find him doing extra things around the house like sweeping or wiping off the dining room chairs or organizing his closet.  And yes you guessed right he does not get those tendencies from his Mother.  Maybe from one of his grandma's though ;-)

 

Here he is playing the harmonica atop the construction site that is our side yard for the unforseeable future.  Oh & so cute he caught (& eventually let go) 2 grasshoppers that became his pets for a couple weeks.  He poked air holes in the box & we made a saran wrap window & he put new grass in there for them.  It almost made me rethink the pet thing....almost.

We love you Hyrum!