Family Closeness: Part 1

As I previously mentioned, we recently took a semi-impromptu road trip to Minnesota to visit Ray's family and pick up a piece of equipment for Ray. So we all hopped in Ray's truck. It is a 4 door vehicle, but one of the older kids had to sit in the middle-front the.entire.trip. We were all about the family closeness.

So we were in the car for a LONG time, like around 48 hours total. It was about 5 total days. In the car. Wow. Anyhow, I didn't have a whole lot of time to take pictures so I took a bunch of shots out the window. Here you go, my passenger seat photo essay!

So it was a really long drive, but the whole time I just thought about how amazing the sky was. It was so big and blue and beautiful. Here is a shot of the beautiful clouds of eastern Wyoming.

Grace hanging out in the front seat. You get creative when you are in the car for a long time and do stuff like draw on your feet ;)

Does she look like she is in a stupor? You would be too if you had been strapped in a car seat for that long!

Eastern Montana

Somewhere in eastern Wyoming, just us and the cows.

Grace did a little bit of this, too.

Pit stop in Wyoming, you improvise when you are out in the middle of nowhere and besides, there were no construction workers in sight!

I loved this old truck.

We saw lots of corn!

Not Maggie's shining moment, but can you blame her?

Some cool tee pee structure at a rest area in South Dakota

Um, what can I say?

We saw lots of these.

I'm thinking Shasta ad! It was so windy in North Dakota. We got about 6 mpg, yikes!, pulling that trailer in the wind.

We saw lots of hay bales.

Quaint little barn in North Dakota.

North Dakota, who knew?

And holy cow, we saw a whole lot of these orange construction poles. Miles.and.miles. of them. Ugh.

Part 2 coming soon! Promise the next pics will actually have people in them!

The Crazy (emphasis on crazy) Good Life

So, the last few weeks have been crazy busy for us. We have all the regular business start up duties to attend to (and that list grows more every.single.day. I had no idea, for reals). We went down to Cascade for the 4th of July weekend, got back on Monday the 5th, and left for a semi-impromptu road trip to Minnesota on Thursday the 8th. That road trip was business related, we went to pick up a large piece of equipment that required towing. Soooo, all 6 of us drove to the land of 10,000 lakes in Ray's truck. We were all about the family closeness, literally. It was a whirlwind of a trip that we ALL took so we could visit Ray's family that we don't get to see very often. I will thoroughly document as soon as I have time (has anyone seen my time?!). Anyway, in between the time we got back from Cascade and left for Minnesota we took a trip to Silverwood Amusement Park to celebrate my friend Misty's birthday (we let the kids tag along ;) ). Naomi had been throwing up the night before we went so Ray stayed home with her while I took the 3 olders. We had such a great time!! We stayed until the park closed. The kids really had the time of their lives!

I just had my little point and shoot camera, but here you go!

Gabe and Elliot in the airplanes

The carousel, last ride of the day!

I just wish you could see Gabe and Elliot's faces in this shot! (they are in the front) They could not get enough of the mini-roller coaster! Elliot still talks about it!

Gabe and Elliot

Clara and Maggie

Grace and some random girl :)

Maggie's picture of Gabe :)

Misty, me and Lee after our ride on Thunder Canyon. You can't really tell but Misty and I were completely SOAKED!! Lee somehow managed to stay dry (??)

Awwww...

Aria, Grace, Elliot and Maggie

Crazy Maggie :)

We had a great time!! We also went to the awesome water park but I didn't get any pictures because I spent the whole time frantically trying to keep my eyes on all of my kids!! We only lost Elliot a few times (I wish I was kidding), but the weather was great and we had some great company. Can't wait to do it again next year!!

The Land of the Free

Independence Day is probably my favorite holiday of the year. I unashamedly love America. It truly is the land of the free, the home of the brave. I love having a holiday surrounded with activities that help me feel especially patriotic and thankful for the divinely inspired country in which I was privileged to be born. And I love singing patriotic hymns at church, we should do that more often!

We spent a relaxing Independence Day weekend in beautiful Cascade again this year. Once again, Cascade did not disappoint! There is something so special about a small town 4th of July.

Expectantly awaiting the candy to be thrown...

What can I say? I'm a sucker for old guys on old tractors!

Amen.

The Black Rhino adorned with the American flag...classic.

Love these three little Americans

It was so cold when we watched fireworks on Saturday night, but so worth it.

Elliot kept yelling "I love fireworks!" After the show was over he stood up and enthusiastically said, "That was AWESOME!". Well said, Elliot.

Holy Cow, if you have never been to Cascade, Idaho I highly recommend it. It is so beautiful.

Grace petting Moosie...

Grace and Elliot flipping on to the Love Sac

Bubbles, always a classic!

And I will leave you with a picture of this beauty!