September

My camera's battery died in August and I forgot to bring the charger with me so September the next month I have documented memories of.  I wish I had August because filled with family, fun, swimming, and tons more!

September started with packing and driving to Boise to fly to Oregon.

The kids were excited to get some ice cream and see their cousins for a few hours before getting on the plane the next morning.

We flew to Oregon and was able to hang out with my great childhood friend Chelsea.  It was fun going to a street fair and we got to have some good hawaiian food along with sno cones.  Our next stop was My Dad's where the kids got to play blocks with My Step Mom and "swim" in the hot tub.  

We then rented a car and drove to Southern Oregon to go to my friend from middle school Kayla and Scott's wedding.  It was so much fun seeing the amazing wedding and catching up with old friends.

The next day my Mom and I drove to Cresent City, California to see my cousins and aunt and uncle.  It was fun for the kids to finally see the ocean and run through the waves with their Grammy. 

Luke didn't like the feel of the sand on his knees so he bear crawled everywhere. hahah

We also got to see my friend from Highschool Alex and her cute son Isaiah.  The kids had a blast hanging out and being silly.  It was great to be able to catch up since the last time we saw each other was when she was pregnant with Isaiah.  

Blind Obedience

So I need to rant a little bit.

It has been a while since I have been asked if "Oh you don't do that because it is against your religion?"

When I was younger I said "yeah" But now that I am a little older I really dislike that quesiton.  And I REALLY dislike having to answer it with a simple "yes"

There is SO MUCH MORE to "against my religion"

My answer is: yes my church says no, but I have made the decision personally and spiritually.  But how do you answer a question like this without sounding self righteous?

If there is something I am "told not to do" I hope you know me well enough that I would actually study it out personally and spiritually and then make the decision that I know and believe is right for ME.

I don't do this to judge others because who I am to do that.  I do it because it is a personal decision that is between me and my God.

So to avoid sounding to preachy, I will end this tyraid.

June in Philly

June Started and ended great.  I did a lot with friends and then said goodbye to some.  I did some traveling fun with friends and here are the pictures

 On a trip to NYC we saw an anorexic Cookie Monster and Elmo

 Then jumped on the free Stanton Island Fary

 Saw the Statue of Liberty from a far.  She was still pretty amazing

Saw the FAMOUS dog that skateboards around New Jersey, and evidently New York.

 Walked around and saw this sign that made me chuckle until I realized that it was up because we were by the Twin Towers Memorial (and then I understood why it was there).

 The awesome ladies I went with

Later in the Month

 One of the very few times they were willing to not only pose for a picture but also hug each other (without it turning into a wrestling match).

 

 We went to the Raspberry Festival with our friends Kay and Dalyn Montgomery.  (not pictured Marley and Luke)

 We got to see Dad for a few minutes after he got home from rotations

 And spent some quality time with him

:)

 The kids and I met some friends at a few splash parks around the city.  It was really fun until Luke burnt his feet on the hot pavement...

 I watched a friends kids while she packed her house getting ready to move to Utah.  We sure miss these kids. (the boy sitting next to Devy is who she claims she is going to marry when she is in college)

I guess I will rewind to the NYC trip since I am not going to take the hour that it will to move these pictures up...

 We also visited a random Ireland field in the middle of the city (it wasn't random since it was a Ireland starvation memorial)

 And then we went to the BEST place ever to get a burger and fries.  Seriously though, I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I was eating these fries.  (And yes I did not get the irony of this pictures until now)

 We of course had to so see Time Square

 And yes we had to go into the Toys R Us... I think we stayed the longest in here...

 After walking around for an hour looking for it, we finally found 30 Rock so that I could take a pic for the hubsters

My awesome friend Kay also got us into the Natural History Museum where we got to see a bunch of stuffed and real animals, plus watched some butterflies break out of their cocoons.

We then ended the month playing in the fire hydrant on our block.  And yes this was a regular occurance and yes everyone did it.

July

This summer has been kind of crazy.  We have been getting ready to move and then coming to terms with the fact that we wont be seeing Lance until March.  We are excited to start a new journey and sad to say goodbye to Lance.

This month I hit my 5 month mark and found out we are having a baby boy! So excited!

THis month we celebrated the 4th by going to a ridiculously long parade, celebrated Luke's birthday, packed up the house, sold our cat, visited my Grandparents, Mom, Aunt Donna in Utah and good friend Shilo, and moved to Wyoming.

 My Grandpa was trying to fix his tractor all week so we spent a lot of time sitting outside and watching, we also got to ride the 4 wheeler around the farm and take pretty pictures of cows and such.  My kids got to pretend they were ranchers and help moved hoses to water the grass for the cows. Devy got a little tired and took a nap on the couch afterwards... hahaha

It was so much fun seeing Shilo and getting some face to face girl talk in!

Changes and baby

 I guess I needed  Change again.  I have wanted to dye my hair black for a long time but just didn't have the gumption to do it.  So 2 months ago I finally bought the dang dye and last Tuesday I bit he bullet and had Lance (My amazing hubby and hair dyer) do this to my hair!

 I seriously feel like I am bigger everyday but these pictures beg to differ.  This is 14 weeks along.

This is 12 ish weeks along.

April and Spring Break

This past month has been pretty eventful.  We had fun during spring break spending time with Lance.  We are trying to soak up all we can before July comes and we wont see him again until February.

 Welcome April!  The weather has been crazy nice ranging from 55-85 Degrees.

Easter

 Of course we had Easter; and you cant have Easter without an egg hunt...

 Or dying eggs

 The night before was when I went to the ER for my ovarian cyst so we didn't get their baskets made.  So.. I did my best and used what I had for their baskets. They didn't seem to care.

 I also dyed my hair brown..

Dental Visits

 Devy and Luke had dentist appointments as well.  Luke looks ecstatic...

 Devy was a great patient and didn't cry even once

Amish Country and Intercourse...

 We took a tour of an Amish farm and learned a lot.  For example: The Amish started because a group of people thought the world was too corrupt and so they decided to be opposite and not part of the "world"

Therefore they wont use electricity becuase that means their houses will be "hooked up" to city lines and therefore part of the world. But they DO use gas power. Like that iron in the pic above.  It is litearally powered by gasoline! they also have gas powered generators outside of their homes so they can have electricity in their homes. Some even use solar power.

 Part of the farm

 While on this tour, we felt VERY out of place since we were the only family of about 12 that were NOT Jewish Orthodox.  They were super nice however when Lance was standing with the kids looking at a horse and mule he heard two men talking to each other say "so does anyone know the difference between hay and grass? ANyone? Anyone?"

Lance then turned to see that they were staring at him (he had a very bushy beard and was wearing a shirt that had BYU-Idahon printed on it) and realized that they were talking to him.  So, if you know Lance at all you will think this is funny since 1st of all, he did know the answer; 2nd of all he answered their question very awkwardly.

While driving around we found a a township called Intercourse and we had to be the immature 12-year-olds we really are and send some pictures to our friends from our phones.  

It was a good time.

Washington DC

 The next day we decided to hit DC.  So we went to the temple to see the grounds (which the Temple is NOT in DC but in MARYLAND and is about an hour away from the tourist stuff) 

 We made it to Downtown DC with only about 3 hours to tour (until they closed)

Devy got to practice her mad photography skills so Lance and I could actually get a picture together.

 We went to the Native American History Museum.  This is completely covered in TINY beads inside AND out.

We then hit up the Natural History Museum.

 By the time this museum closed the kids were VERY done touring so we headed home.  When we go to the car we realized we left the front window down... We were VERY lucky/blessed nothing was taken.

Atlantic City

Saturday we went to New Jersey to the beach.  It was the warmest day of the week and we wanted to play on the beach and shop at the outlets.

 I still cant go into the ocean or rivers since my surgery scar hasn't completely closed. So, he took them into the freezing water.

 Someone had dug two holes in the sand the previous day which gave us the idea of burying our kids in the sand... Luke was not okay with it so he only let Lance bury his feet.  But Devy was a good sport.

Then it got cold and the kids just dug in the sand for a while.

All in all it was a great spring break.