Play Date with the Guys

 Before school started I had the kids over to play for the day. I had frozen chalk ice cubes for them to draw on the sidewalk with in the sunny day. Little did I know it really didn't come off very well. I would say it was a pinterest fail but the kids sure had fun. Then we just spent some time playing in the yard. I tried to do some weeding while they played but that didn't work out so great.

Once it started getting pretty darn hot we went in and played with the marble works. Definatley a favorite even for me.

I had to snap this pic for a contest we are having at work to show the spray bottle that cleans glasses off in a creative way!

A very fun day that was followed by a big ol nap for Grammy.

New Toy

Well it's certainly not a toy but Mendis got a new AR-15:

 He had to go up to the Mesa and sight it in asap. He was pretty excited about the whole thing. Can't say that I blame him because it is quite the gun!

August Happenings

We got home from our fabulous road trip and got settled back into life a bit. We had a wedding to plan and football games to go to and life as usual. While we were settling into our life Jeff & Rachel were busy moving into theirs. It was time to start law school and get settled into Washington DC for them.

It was back to school for everyone, Hayden and Christina and even Rees.

Friday August 9th

Our last big day of driving! We got through Denver during rush hour ok and made it up the mountain to Buffalo Bills Grave. We almost always stop there to have a look back at where we have been or see where we will soon be going.It's an amazing view from up there:

 We loaded back up and drove through the Colorado mountains most of the day. We drive through Vail and alot of beautiful little towns with ski resorts everywhere. We looked forward all day to going through the Eisenhower tunnel. It is massive. Miles and miles long and one of our favorite things is going through tunnels honking all the way. Unfortunately Megan had fallen asleep just before the tunnel and I am sorry to say she missed the whole thing! Hayden said here comes the tunnel but he didn't make sure she was up and around and she slept through it. We didn't see any where to turn around and go through again or we would have. So Megan here's what you missed:

 But she didn't miss this:

 We had hours and hours of construction! Seriously it was crazy. We were stop and go all afternoon. The Glenwood Springs area is beautiful and we hardly cared because we sat in it so long we were over it!

We decided to drive up through Price on the way to Provo because we had never actually been there. It was a desolate long drive to Price. We should have gotten some advice on where to eat before we went from people in the know because we ended up at Pizza Hut, not the best choice apparently. The drive through the canyon from Price to Provo was beautiful but it was getting dark so fast we didn't get to see alot of it. So we finally got to Provo that night and set up camp at Christina's house for the night. The next day we headed home dropping Hayden and Megan and our van off in St George. We were sure we were going to get charged for the two incidents we incurred on the trip but we didn't. Dad smacked into the bumper in Nauvoo and there was a small scratch. The windshield got a chip in all the construction too. Nope best deal ever.

So our family Odyssey to Nauvoo had come to an end. We were sad to see it all end. It was an amazing trip that we just loved. We had so much fun together and look forward to another good time with our family in the future. Hayden and Megan got engaged, Jeff and Rachel moved to DC and Ashley and Benjy were brave enough to load up all their kids and join us. Christina is always up for an adventure and loves road trips even with us. All my sisters and their families and my Mom and Dad worked together to make this happen for our whole family! We have the best family ever and we hope we can do another great trip together someday!

Thursday August 8

Since we were in Kansas City we decided to go check out Independence Missouri while we were so close. We toured the Community Of Christ Temple and the LDS visitor's center and the Temple Lot. The "temple was basically just a church but it was a good tour that helped answer some questions. We were especially interested in the museum in basement and we had to take the tour to get to that so it worked out fine. After we toured their temple we went to our visitor's center and ran into Carolyn's family. That was a fun surprise. We saw some photographic displays and then left them to go across the street to the Temple lot itself.

 Not surprising the lot it still just a big green field. It still seems strange that's it's in the middle of the city. I think the Church of Christ owns it now.

The LDS Visitor's center

 So we said our goodbyes to Missouri and hit the road again. It was time to quit avoiding it and get to driving. We had to get to Denver that night and we did pretty good arriving in time for dinner. Too bad we discovered on the way if we had just gotten up and started driving we would have made it in time for the Denver Bronco's game. That's ok since it was supposedly packed and probably saved us a boat load of money anyway not going!

Flat lands!

Storm rolling in ...again!

 

Lots and lots of driving today and most of it was through stormy weather or grey skies. We of course loved it but I will admit to watching the skies very carefully for any tornado activity. We had a nice dinner at Outback down the street from our hotel and hit the hay after a work out. Actual working out for everyone but me who was doing some laundry for Hayden. My own style of working out.

Wednesday August 7

We knew we had to go see the Arch while we were so close to St Louis. It's a must see so we headed straight there after breakfast.

 It's so big you can't fit it all in one frame of a picture. It's pretty darn impressive. The line to get in was long because they were doing a thorough security check. We were okay with that. There was also a wait to get up there so that was lots of time to get nice and nervous about the whole idea of going up there.

 As you can see the elevator pods were pretty tiny. It's a miracle we all fit inside together really. They ratchet up and over and you can hear it so that's a little creepy. It is a four minute ride up and a three and a half minute down. Sounds quick but it is NOT especially when you are all jammed in there freaking out. Some more than others! There were stairs up the final bit and suddenly there you are up on top of the world.

Heading up!

The view is amazing of course!

 When you are up there you can feel the sway of the arch. It gives up to 9 inches in each direction so that's 18 inches total. Kinda makes you sick thinking about it but feeling that is worse. Hayden said he got motion sick. I think a few of us were just pretty worked about the whole thing and secretly glad when we got to the bottom. Others not so secretly!

We have perfected the selfie!

 

 

 

So heading down was a bit quicker but just as exciting!

After we did the arch it was time to hit the road and start going west.

 We were bummed we didn't get to a Cardinal's game but since we have done that we opted for the Ram's camp instead this time. SO next time we will go to a game!

St Louis Temple

 

 The weather started to turn ugly that afternoon. We were hoping to make good time to Kansas City and do some things but ...

No matter what the weather is like a person's gotta eat!

 We asked around and found out about Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City so we were all over that. We tried to hook up with Ciara (Leatham) for dinner since they live close but that didn't work out. So the storm was crazy. Thunder and Lightning everywhere. Like right on top of us when we were checking into our hotel close! SO after dinner we took the surface streets because it was raining so hard you could hardly see at times and decided to checkout the city. What we saw of it was beautiful. Of course we tried our best to avoid the ghetto so who knows but it was a nice city. Would have like to spend more time there.

Don't you love it!

Tuesday August 6

It was time to leave Nauvoo. First we had to say our good byes to everyone that was still in Nauvoo with us. The worst was saying goodbye to Jeff & Rachel as they went on to Washington DC. It was so great to spend time with them before they went off to law school.

We stopped at Carthage so Megan could see it and take the tour. Everyone has to do that once for sure.

The window where Joseph Smith was shot and fell.

It's always amazing to see the bullet hole in the door.

On the way down to St Louis we went through Hannibal for a few minutes to look around. This time we didn't take the tour because time was short.

 We looked around and enjoyed the antique shops all along the street for a few minutes before painting Tom Sawyer's fence.

We wished we had more time there but we had big plans for the evening. So we headed straight down to St Louis so we could go to the Ram's football camp. We have gone to two other pro camps and we really like going. They without a doubt are a well oiled machine.

 The guys were in heaven no doubt. It was even fun for us girls especially with the free chips and salsa AND shopping in the gear tent. Fun times.

 At one point in the practice they had the linemen push each other up the hill where we were sitting. That was pretty fun to watch.

Two players ran up to get a couple of beers right after practice...unbelivable. So Hayden and Megan got their picture with them right behind them to document it. Crazy!!

The guys were dazzled by all the photo ops!

One last selfie for the road!