The second leg of our trip.....St George/Pine Valley

So after spending a week in California with my mom (mention #13) and my sister, instead of heading home we decided to drive anohter 12 hours down to St. George to see my dad and his wife and my grandparents. It had been since we moved that we had seen great Grandma and Grandpa Reber in Pine Valley. We drove through Las Vegas and went by our old house. The girls insisted that we stop to see some of their friends that lived a couple houses down so we did. I didn't pull my camera out though unfortunately.


We went swimming in St. George the first day at a really fun pool but I didn't pull my camera out! Darnnit! Then we headed up to the cabin in Pine Valley.



The first morning we were there, the girls woke up super early and were ready to help with EVERYTHING! So they were out in the garden picking vegetables with grandpa....

....and feeding the fishes......
...and cleaning up the yard.....

....and filling all the bird feeders. They had so much fun!

Then we spent some time, listening to grandpas journal,

hanging out on the hammock....

.....exoploring the yard (especially looking for snakes)....

...and going on a little hike.

We also played on the sport court with cousins, swam in the little blow up pool, swam in the hot tub, jumped on the trampoline, rode the rhino looking for deer, played in the little playhouse and on the swingset. The girls had a ball and Josey really hit it off with her second cousin Laney. I didn't get a picture though!

We also just enjoyed hanging out and watching movies. This is Maddy and my cousins son Luke (who Lilly LOVED playing with and they had lots of fun together. They were soon boyfriend and girlfriend) and my other cousins daughter Christi.

Nighttime didn't go so well here. I felt really bad becuase the second night we were here literally slept in 7 different beds.....in one night.....it is a long story but I will just say that it was a long night and a long morning making all those beds.
Then we went back down to St. George and my dad took us up to "Crystal Mountain". It is a deposit of some sort of stone that I can't remember the name of but they look like crystals and my girls each filled a bag full. They were very heavy bags.....that I had to lug all the way home with us.

Everytime I turned around Josey was 10 miles away exploring some other part of the area so I didn't get a good picture of her.

See there she is again.

For some reason Lilly has decided to make weird faces in every picture.....I don't know.

I wish that Lillly didn't look crossed-eyed in this picture because I think it would be a favorite of my girls.

It was a long way to go and I don't know when we will make it back down there but we had so much fun and we were really glad that we did it.

The third leg of our trip.....Provo/Salt Lake

After spending some time in St. George we headed north to see my sister Sam and her husband Bryan, and my brother Jeff and his wife Missy and our cousins Caitlyn and Jeffy. Unfortunately I didn't think to get my camera out once.....not even once to take any pictures with my family. I don't know why?! I am sure my mom is dissappointed (mention #14)So sorry about that but we had so much fun staying in Sam and Bryan's little apartment. Thanks for playing with my kids Bryan especially the zip line, they won't forget that soon! And thanks for going to dinner with us Jeff and Missy even though it was late and you were exhausted and just moved, but we loved seeing you!



Then we headed up to our old friends the Jones in Salt Lake. We had so much fun seeing them. It is funny how kids can just pick up right where they left off even though they haven't seen each other for over 2 years. It's funny how you can have friends as adults that you can do that with as well! Thanks for everything Jess and Brian! Especially the yummy homecooked food! They were so hospitable to us and Jessica is due next week! I am waiting to hear!!







All the kids eating lunch.Maddy and Abby.

Josey and Claire

And Lilly and Sam, who seriously could be brother and sister they oddly look alike.

Jess and I took the kids to their family fun center where the kids roller skated for hours! It was great because you can roller skate or ride a scooter or a bike! So for our little ones that maybe aren't the greatest skaters, they entertained themselves on the scooters. It was great!
On our way out the door.

Sam was actually a little irritated that he had to sit next to Lilly. He had a big crush on Josey and followed her everywhere, told me he thought she was pretty, and even tried to kiss her!

The four girlies, I wish we lived closer!

The Final Leg.....Murtaugh

So after more than two weeks of travelling we made it Idaho to see Grandma and Grandpa Moyes. We always love to visit Murtaugh because it is always so quiet and peaceful and girls have lots and lots of space to play. I always think how lucky Dustin and his brothers were to grow up here everytime I come back because it just seems like a little boys heaven!

I sort of boycotted doing ANYTHING that first day we were there because I was finally exhausted and not feeling well. So the girls had to entertain themselves with grandmas help. Maddy took the camera outside and had a photo shoot with Josey, Lilly and our cute cousin Ava.

Right after this shot, Lilly experienced her first bee sting.....or two. She got stung twice on her little foot and was NOT happy about it. Luckily grandma ran and sprayed her foot with WD-40 and I think it made it not quite as traumatic for her. She didn't seem afraid to go back outside or to walk in the same place where she got stung.

Grandpa happened to be thrashing some wheat (did I use the farm lingo right?) that day and was so kind to take all the girls an rides in the big combine. Luckily it is loud in there so I am not sure grandpa had to listen to all their insesant talking. Don't get me wrong, I am sure they are talking the whole time (after spending 48 hours in the car with them I am SURE of this) but at least he probably didn't really have to HEAR it. Unfortunately I wasn't there when Maddy and Josey had their rides so I will have to get those pictures from grandma. But I went with Lilly because I thought for sure she would want me to go with her. I WAS WRONG! We both climbed up the side of the combine and I asked her if she wanted me to come with her or ride by herself and she said by herself. So I climbed back down! She rode with grandpa for probably an hour! And loved it! She wanted to go back out later!

There was a nice horse over by the field so of course the girls were obsessed!

While Lilly was on the combine we took Maddy and Josey over to the shop and walked through Dustin's old childhood home. This is a picture of the girls in Dustin's old bedroom.....we think.....grandma wasn't quite sure.

That night grandma got all the fixings for smores and she and the girls headed out for a campfire. I stayed inside for a while until I couldn't stand the thought that they were all having fun out there without me so I joined them.

The next day we met Aunt Andrea at the jump house in Twin Falls. The girls ran and jumped to their hearts content. Can you spot the girl in this picture?

I am sad that I didn't really get a good picture of Lilly and Ava together. Lilly kept calling her her best friend. They got along really well! I so wish we lived closer.

My camera decides on it's own when it wants to be blurry or not....sorry.

Cute little cousin Brooklyn.

One happy little Lilly.
A very excited Joselyn.

And Maddy acting crazy.

And finally a very pooped Joselyn.

Then we spent some time hanging out at Aunt Andreas house and having fun making yet more messes. And then we headed over to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Baum. Unfortunately my camera decided to be blurry again so I will have to get some better pictures from grandma?

Maddy's favorite part......the crazy dog named chi-chi.

Picking apricots (or pickapots as Lilly calls them) with grandma Baum.

We had such a relaxing fun stay in Murtaugh as always and we were really glad that we got to make it through. I wish it hadn't been on the last leg of our big journey or we would have definitely stayed longer. I needed to get home. I was just getting sicker and more exhausted every day we were gone and finally just needed to be home! I was sad that we didn't stop to see a few more of out Aunt and Uncle and cousins in Boise (I am really sorry!) but honestly I don't think anyone wanted to be around me or my kids at this point. I will say it again.....we really needed to get home! We will make another trip down and next time start in Idaho!

It was a fun adventure for me and the girls. We already miss everyone and everywhere we went I would think I wish I lived HERE. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!

mother (mention #15) mom (mention #16) mommy (mention #17) mama (mention #18) mamacita (mention #19) Is that better mom? (mention #20)