Out West - Wyoming

We drove through Yellowstone to get to my parent's old stomping grounds in Wyoming. Aaron and I both grew up going to Yellowstone, but with somewhat different experiences. Aaron's family went there to go fishing, take pictures for his Dad's artwork, and just enjoy Yellowstone. For my family Yellowstone was never a destination, it was just the best way to get to Burlington, WY. So, we usually only stopped when needed, and my memories of Yellowstone will always include my mom's very annoyed remarks toward the people who stopped to look at the wildlife (specifically those who stop in the road to look at the wildlife). Either way, we both have fond memories of this great place and enjoy talking about our childhood memories while driving through. 

 At Yellowstone Lake
(As a little side note - Aubree did end up having Lyme Disease. Luckily we caught it early enough that one round of antibiotics did the trick and hopefully we won't be dealing with any long term side effects.)

I am so completely grateful for the beauty of this earth and to have all my senses to enjoy it with and to have this family of mine to share it with.

 At the Old Faithful Hotel

 One memory I have of driving through Yellowstone with my family is the story of the lost spectacles. We made a quick stop for my dad to use the bathroom at one of those outhouse type things. When my dad came out of the bathroom his glasses weren't on him. He told us that his glasses had dropped down the hole and that he would need Ryan to get them. He told Ryan that he would hold him by the ankles and lower him down into the hole. Of course Ryan was not excited about this idea and quickly suggested that he hold either Stephanie or me by the ankles because we were smaller and would fit better. After some begging and arguing over who would do it, my Dad laughed and pulled his glasses out of his shirt pocket. (Nice one Dad! I wish we would have thought to ask him HOW they dropped down the hole...)

 We made it to Cody, WY where we met my Dad's brother and his family and my Grandpa and his wife at a rental cabin. (Unfortunately Aubree, Ellie and I got the stomach bug while here, which held on through some of our time in Utah.)

Aaron and some of the guys went fishing

 Grandpa and many of his great-grandkids

 Grandpa and many of his grandkids (all of his biological grandkids)

 Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Larry

Grandpa, his sister, and Grandma Midge (grandpa's wife)

 Me, Aubree, Ryan and Stuart

It was so good to see all of my siblings (even if it was for only one night). Also that night my Dad and Larry stayed up and told some of us a bunch of stories from their youth - so wonderful and funny!

 Potluck lunch at the church's pavilion in Burlington. It was nice to see cousins and Aunts and Uncles on my Mom's side and of course my Grandma Henderson. She is such a sweet and hard working lady. (On Sunday morning before church she had a homemade strawberry pie ready as a breakfast dessert.) I LOVE Burlington! So many wonderful childhood memories. And the people in Burlington are such amazing, down-to-earth, hardworking people. I'm proud to have roots here and share heritage with many of the people here.

 Dad, Alan and Larry

 Paddle boating in a little reservoir near Burlington

And last but not least, we finally got to meet our newest cousin, Kate! What a cutie!

Out West - Idaho

We started our vacation out west by waking up at 4am to get to the airport in time for our morning flight. We got to the airport in plenty of time, got seated on the plane (as well as every other passenger on the full flight), and then the pilot gets on the intercom to tell us that the flight is cancelled due to some problems with the aircraft. We ended up having to split up on different flights - Aubree and I together, and Aaron with Carly and Ellie - and hang out at the airport for several more hours before heading out. Kind of a pain, but luckily we weren't in any big hurry and we were all safe.

Aubree and I landed in SLC first and rode the trax to Temple Square to meet Kathy. I just love that place!

 Seeing Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Leon - love!

 Aaron was invited to be a guest teacher for one of his old landscaping teachers at BYU-I, so I wandered around campus, amazed at all the changes. Here is the sky walk from the library to the MC and this little terraced area - all new to me. And the Manwaring Center is totally changed around! The  Nordic Landing is no longer there. It's where Aaron and I would meet for lunch every day when we were first dating (before I started cooking lunch for him everyday). Part of me feels a little homesick for the places where so many memories were made, but mostly they are awesome improvements.

 Some things haven't changed, like this cute little boy enjoying his books right outside the library. I LOVE this statue - (just need it with a little girl).


 Holly planned and decorated for a super cute Mad Hatter tea party. Such yummy food and so fun!

 Holly made these little candy mushrooms from scratch. They looked totally real!

 Meeting baby Ryder for the first time. Aubree especially couldn't get enough of him.

 We got to be IN the Menan, ID parade with the South family. The Souths are so awesome and always willing to have others join them - the more the merrier.

Also on the 4th we made a trip to Kelly Canyon and "the Tree" with the Wakefield's (who have their initials carved on the tree as well).

The Wakefield Family - so glad to have these guys as friends. 

 The Parson Family

 After we hiked to the clearing and sat down on some logs we had the kids tell their versions of the coffin date. That was pretty fun. It is so wonderful to go to this beautiful spot where our story began. And especially to be there with such great life-long friends (Curt and Aaron were high school buddies and Shawna and I have been friends since elementary years.)

 Leon and Kathy's grandkids - all together for the first time in like 5 years!

With the Souths in Jackson Hole

We ended our time in Idaho with a trip to the South Reunion Center in Island Park. It is a huge dome cabin with 10 bedrooms and a circular loft with single beds all around. The kids have a blast just running around and around the loft upstairs and being with lots of little cousins. Justin and Nissa-Lynn planned the reunion this year and it was a party every day - Nissa is such a great planner!

And again, we enjoyed canoeing down the beautiful Snake River. 

The sights and sounds and smells of this place could never get old!

Sometimes when we're here, we're just so inspired by the beauty and the love that we have for this great state that we break into the Idaho state song - the tune is beautiful (and we're awesome singers, so it sounds way good). ;)

And here we have Idaho,
Winning her way to fame.
Silver and Gold in the sunlight blaze,
And romance lies in her name.
Singing, we're singing of you;
Ah! proudly too, all our lives through,
We'll go singing, singing of you,
Singing of Idaho!

Summer Fun (and not so fun)

We're only one week into summer vacation and already we've had lots of fun. (And a lot more coming too!)

But first let's get the not-so-fun out of the way. The last week of school Aubree had a really bad fever all week long. There were no other symptoms until the third day, when we noticed this rash around her ear. It was really hot to the touch and extremely sensitive. So, I took her to the doctor thinking we may have a case of Lyme Disease. (If I were to choose the number one thing - and possibly the only thing aside from being far away from family - I hate about New England, it would be ticks that carry Lyme Disease.) So, the doctor checks her out and gives her antibiotics for cellulitis (a bacterial skin infection) and the paperwork to get tested for Lyme.

 Here she is after the blood draw for the Lyme test - poor sweetie.

We still don't have the results for the Lyme test, but the antibiotics for cellulitis made all the difference and she is back to normal. (The first dose of antibiotics cost us a lot of sweat and tears and about 30 minutes, but she's gotten very brave at taking her medicine.)

Next not-so-fun item to get out of the way. Three days ago I slipped and fell down a few stairs at our house and I've injured my tailbone. You never realize how connected every part of our body is until a part of it is damaged - it hurts to push or pull with my arms, bend, cough, sneeze, and it especially hurts at night when I'm trying to sleep. I'm a little bit nervous about our trip out west that's coming up - a lot of sitting in planes and cars...
(Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my backside to illustrate this portion of the post.) ;)

Okay, now for the fun stuff.
Miss Mary is the cross-walk lady at the intersection closest to our house. She became my friend and I always looked forward to seeing her each day. On Friday she invited all her cross-walkers to come to her house and enjoy her pool. We had such a great time!

 Isabelle, Aubree, Miss Mary, Carly, Ellie, Samantha, and Simron

After Aubree learned to ride her two-wheeler, Miss Mary gave her these streamers for her bike handles.

We went to the Chorus of Westerly Summer Pops concert in the park last Saturday. There are about 25,000 people at the park for a wonderful concert. They did a sing-along with the audience to a medley of the Sound of Music songs. At the very end the whole audience sings the national anthem with fireworks going off and the Newport artillery firing. It brings out my American pride and gives me the chills!

Now that our mornings are a bit more relaxed, we actually have the time to really get our zones done each day and so the house has actually been cleaner since the girls have been out of school.

An evening at Misquamicut beach with the Garrett's and Jensen's.

Right now we are at our "vacation home" (the West's home) in Mystic. The girls absolutely LOVE being here. (Pictures coming up in a future blog post.)

Festival Farm

There is a cute little farm not too far away called Festival Farm. They have several farm animals, including two new baby pygmy goats that are to-die-for-adorable!!! We went there a couple weeks ago and the girls each got to take a pony ride:

And just to see how far these two girls have come, check out this post - Carly and Ellie horseback riding.

Here's a funny story that happened while at the farm (told in Aaron's voice):
While at the farm, Carly asked me (Aaron) to hold her hand and run as fast as I could. I said, that's probably not a good idea because I'll pull you over. Carly said that I wouldn't pull her over and that she would run right alongside me. I gave in and grabbed her hand to start running. We took off and I wasn't running very fast and she said to run faster so I sped up. Next thing I know, Carly tripped over my feet and tumbled to the ground. I quickly stopped and turned around to see if she was all right. I asked her if she was okay and she didn't answer me. I walked closer to her and she picked her head up and with a look of terror in her eyes just stared at me, not making a sound. I then asked her if she got the wind knocked out of her. Again, no verbal response - just a look of extreme horror. Then, out of nowhere, a low bugle/moan squeezed its way out of Carly's throat. I picked her up and she still couldn't speak - just moan. I cradled her on my lap telling her it would be okay and that soon she would be able to breath again. (I couldn't help but laugh a little as she made her groaning sounds.) Finally, she took in a big gulp of air but could only manage to continue groaning for a few more seconds. Eventually her breathing returned to normal and she started laughing. Poor little critter was terrified.
Here we are laughing like crazy as we retell the story to Mom, Ellie and Aubree:

Aubree Is a Two-wheeler Now

The Sisters took some Family Pictures