Roadtrip IDAHO

It's Friday morning of the Memorial Day weekend, Bruce has the day off, and we have no plans at 8am. By 9:30am we are on the road, with no plans except to head towards Idaho, and stop wherever, and whenever we want.

First stop: Lava Hot Springs, and they don't call them HOT for nothing.


The pools were between 104' and 112'. A little too hot for the kids to truly enjoy, but they still had fun soaking their feet, and splashing around in them.


And the popsicles were devine!


That night we found a nice hotel in Pocatello, and swam the night away.


Day 2: We loaded up the van and headed in the direction of Rexburg. We were happily driving along, when we saw a sign that said Potato Museum next exit. So, since we were in the land of the POTATO, we had to stop.


We saw the World's largest Pringle

An entire wall of Potato mashers

some old Potato farming equipment

And a fun old train with bunnies running around under it.

The next thing we came across was a sign that the traveling TITANIC exhibit was at the Museum of Idaho, so we decided to go there. It was a really cool exhibit, with photos, movies, artifacts from the sunken ship, and lots of interesting stories of the people who were on the boat. As you enter they give each person a card with the name and other info, of a person who was on the Titanic. At the end of the exhibit there is a wall that tells you wether your person lived or died. We had 4 of our 6 people die. They also had a huge piece of an "Iceberg" at the end, that the kids could feel, so they could see how cold it was. The kids were really into it, and we all had a great time. Unfortunately the museum didn't allow photos, so this is as good as it gets.


Our next stop was in Rexburg to hit Bear World.


Where we saw lots of these


And a ton of these

So many, so, that at one time our car was surrounded by bears, with one pushing on our bumper, which totally freaked out Alex.


The baby bears were ADORABLE


Especially these ones.

Then we walked through the petting zoo, and fed all of these


While Halie, chased around some of these



And then we rode on some of these, which the kids loved!


And then we found a hotel in Rexburg, & swam the night away.

The next morning we loaded up and headed to Yellowstone. We had a great time walking along all the trails, enjoying the scenery, seeing the animals, and taking in the hot springs.


Bear kept stopping at every sign, to point out the letters and tell us what they were.


This is the happy bunch waiting for Old Faithful, which is not as faithful as it used to be.


And this is them 20 minutes later, still waiting, and get soaking wet in the rain.


But when she finally blew, it was worth the wait.


After a fun day, we headed back to Rexburg, found a hotel, and swam and swam and swam. The next morning we headed over to take a walk around the Rexburg Temple. It was beautiful, and we were able to have some spiritual time with our kids. I love, that my kids love to go see the Temples.


And then we headed home, after a most EXCELLENT adventure through Idaho. We had a blast, but we were all feeling just like Bear in this picture. Totally Exhausted!


YAY VACATION!!!

Passports

Bruce and I got our first ever Passports in the mail today. Hooray, we will actually be able to go on our cruise to Alaska next month. Yes, we are going away for a week, and leaving the kids at home. It's been a long time coming, and I can't wait to have 7 days of no whining kids. I will miss them, yes, but I'm sure Bruce will whine a little, just to keep them all fresh in my mind. Alaska here we come!

BFF's

A few weeks ago we were priveleged to have Bruce's best friend, his wife Audrey, and their sweet baby Mariana, come to stay with us for ten days. Bruce and Jay have been friends since Bruce was 5 years old, and if there is any one person in this world that I have to be jealous of, it's Jay. Bruce and Jay talk every day, sometimes multiple times a day. They are as gay as two heterosexual males could possibly be, and so alike, it's scary!


Jay & Audrey have 6 boys, and then were blessed with this sweet little girl. Bear is not a fan of babies, and usually wants nothing to do with them, but she loved Mariana. Just couldn't get enough of her.




Hope we see you guys again soon. Love you!!!!

Mother's Day 2009

I think that this has been my best Mother's Day ever! Beyond the nice family dinner here at our house with all my family, the cute presents, and "I love you's" from the kids, and all that Bruce always does for me, there was just the quiet underlying PEACE, of knowing that my children are all here, and our family is complete. If I could of picked the perfect family for me, I would of picked exactly what I have now, 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. And to now have that, leaves me very content, and feeling very blessed.

My loves, eating their Meatball subs on Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year I decided that I wanted to set some goals for myself, in hopes of becoming an even better mother for my kids. So here they are:

1) Hold and love each child every day, for as long as they will let me. The younger kids this happens automatically with, but as they get older I'm noticing that they climb on me a little less, so I'm going to encourage it a little more.

2) Be better at dating each child. I realized that this past year I made more time to date friends than I did my kids one on one. We had lots of dates, but need even more. I love to spend time with each child without the others. That's when you really get to know your kids, and their individual personalities blossom, when they are the only ones around.

This a picture of me that Hannah drew for Mother's Day. She always draws me with an afro, and I think that is just BEAUTIFUL! I love it!

3) Stop yelling!! We printed out signs for family home evening, had the kids color them, and taped one on the wall in each room. They have only been up since Monday, and have already made a huge difference.


4) Try to bring the Gospel into our home even more, by making it a happy, clean, and loving place to be. We do a pretty good job of this already (as is evidenced by the million kids hanging out here everyday), but there is always room for improvement.


Bruce, Alex, Hannah, Joshua, & Bear.........I love you to Infinity and Beyond! Thanks for teaching me how to be a mom, and for loving me through all my crazy moments!