UTAH ..... need I say more??

Our trip to Utah this summer was FanTastic .... once we finally got there! Me and the kids flew out about a week before Wes could and we had not 1 not 2 but 3 flight cancelations/changes! Luckily we were flying out of Erie our I would have really lost it as it was I only lost it a moderate amount ;-)

Once we got to the land of milk and honey we had a great time! (warning this post is going to be long with picture overload!) We had a lot on the agenda and our families had a lot going on too, so scheduling was not always perfect and things occasionally went down the drain or kids/Mom or Dad had a meltdown here and there. But how very lucky and blesses we are to have The BEST family to visit and the BEST cousins to play with that made all the travel and tiredness SO Very worth it! Wish we lived closer ...... one day soon I hope :-)

Here are some of the highlights and pictures of our trip! Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Staying at Bridget's House!

Rogers' big 8th birthday! What a kid!

Cousins, Water and Sunshine!

7 Peaks!

New Baby Marcos!

Fun With Friends!

Cousins! .........

Grandma May's House!

The Lion King! Amazing Show and SO much fun!

The Nephi Rodeo!

Watching Grandpa's Awesome Fireworks!!

Getting Spoiled at Trafalga!

BBQ with the Fam!

Fun Fishing!

Goodbye Wonderful Family and Friends, until next time ...... we had a Fantastic Time!

Palmyra Pagent

We decided last minute to jump in the car and go see the Palmyra Pageant, neither Wes nor I had seen it before so we buzzed over to Palmyra. It's about 3 hours from us so and we were excited to take the kids for some culture. We sat in the back on a blanket, sprayed ourselves down with bug spray and spread out the snacks. The kids loved it and Wes and I also though it was pretty cool. During the pageant towards the end Reagan had to go to the bathroom so I took her the short hike up to the flushing potties. I didn't realize that we were so close to the end of the pageant and while we were in the bathroom we heard all the thundering and lightning sounds and the earth quakes from Christ's Death, we started to hustle and then the beginning of His appearance to the people in America and we were scrambling to get out of the bathroom! Reagan started panicking saying "Mom we are missing it! Jesus is coming to American and we are missing it!" She was next to tears and I felt pretty bad, I kept thinking good thing it was only a show otherwise I would have really let her down! We ran out of the restroom in time to see the depiction of the Savior in America and the remnants from the floods and earthquakes. The lesson here was, know how long the show is and make sure you don't miss the important stuff for a potty break.

It was a really nice weekend even missing a bit of the show.

Ithaca, we Hardly Know Ye

Grandma, Niagara, Palmyra, The Sacred Grove, Ithaca and Brady's Graduation ...... WOW what a weekend! We were excited to cram a bunch of fun into as many days as possible! Grandma was coming out for Brady's graduation from Cornell and we got to go to Ithaca one last time :-( It's so beautiful there, but mostly we are missing having family close that we get to see once in a while! We took a bazillion pictures, but here is a collage of a few of them and the general idea of fun fun fun!

And one of our best family moments, taken just outside the Sacred Grove.

"It's the Milk Chocolate oh oh"

For those of you who have been to Hershey PA you know why I now have the singing cow song pop into my head now every time I think of chocolate or hershey. It's very catchy and who wouldn't remember a song sang by cows?

Wes just HAD to go to Hershey for an anesthesia conference, one of those education credit hour things for school and the rest of us of course HAD to go with him. It was a blast, really a fun place to visit especially since we got to go with not 1 but 3 great families that we consider great friends who were also there for the same reason as us ..... and that was the free mini sized Hershey's chocolate bars :-)

The amusement park was opened the Saturday we were there and the kids LOVED it! Reagan went on a ride that I didn't even want to look at! I got a pic. of her coming out of the gate at the end of the ride, pure shock! After that she was a little more "reserved" like her Mama when it came to rides. Both the boys enjoyed the rides a lot more than I expected them to, especially the rollers coaster they wanted to do that one again and again.

Dylan had a blast swimming in the hotel pool with his friends and got really brave jumping into the water from the pool deck. This was all thanks to the encouragement and example of his buddy Max, and of course the cheering of "Dylan, Dylan, Dylan" from Max's Mom Kortni! I was next to tears watching him actually ask for her to loudly cheer him on while he jumped into the pool with Max! What a great group of friends we have here, we are SO blessed.

And what a great trip this was ....... see ya Next Year Hershey!

Palmyra ..... 1 Flat Tire, 3 Tired Kids, and Lots of Grinding Gears

So we braved a trip to Palmyra on this past snowy Saturday. I was our Ward Temple trip and we decided we needed to make sure we got there this time! (the last couple of times we have had a sick kid or been out of town) After waking up early and loading up the car we thought we were set to go we were going to pick up a Sister in the Ward and hit the road. Wes walked in the house and announced that he'd discovered a flat tire on the van, and not a slow leak a nail in punctured flat tire. So we had to switch to Wes's car, much squishier and no room for the extra gal we were supposed to bring. After a few phone calls and rearranging all our "stuff" (kid paraphernalia) we were gassing up and on the road with our kids pack in the back seat like little sardines. 3 hours later we arrived at the Inn to help watch the kids of those doing the first session. Wes and I did a session later while other ward members watched our rambunctious kids. So very nice of them, we had some of the oldest and craziest kids there! We had a great time in the Temple, it was so nice to go together! I can't wait to go back in the Spring with the family and see more sites around town, when it's warm.

Me and the kids at the Sacred Grove & The kids in front of the Palmyra Temple

They had The Life of Christ bronze sculptures up in the visitors center. We were so glad we stopped by. We got see these these Kirtland this past spring and now again, they are so beautiful and worth the drive to see again! Dylan wanted his picture near the statue of Joseph Smith, he thought that was cool. He also loved all the buttons he could push and learn about the "warrior guys with painted faces" Helaman's army from the Book of Mormon. Reagan is between a sculpture depicting the Savior in his ministry, and another display of our living Prophet President Tomas S. Monson. She thought it was cool learning more about the translation of the Book of Mormon and seeing the first one ever printed on display.

On the way home we had some really snowy weather, and some 4wheel drive issues, hence the grinding gears title. We were on the shoulder with flashers going for almost an hour on the freeway going about 35mph. After some tears from the kids, and at least a dozen prayers we were blessed to find the car running perfectly just as we hit our exit. We didn't get home until midnight, who knows when the kids got to sleep, they were too excited for the snow! .... still a great day and very worth all the effort! I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple, and the opportunity we have to attend and feel The Spirit, while we are serving there!