One long blog entry...whew!

So, I guess it has been a while since I last blogged. We took a trip to Wyoming to see my family for a couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun and the weather was much cooler there, of course! The kids had a lot of fun with grandma and grandpa and playing with the kids next door.

All in all, traveling with our three kids wasn't that bad. The older two did great; they watched movies and pretty much ate their way to Wyoming (with travel snacks galore). Noah, however, proved to be a little more difficult. He did not want to stay in his car seat and he let us know by screaming off and on throughout the trip. I was really grateful that we were able to go. As far as the car ride goes, my favorite part included the many versions of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" that the kids came up with. I found out that Old MacDonald has a lot of stuff. Anything from a cow to a butt (Joshua's favorite) to a pirate. There's nothing like hearing Jessica singing... "Old MacDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-o. And on that farm he had a pirate, e-i-e-i-o. With a aaaaaaaaargh here, and an aaaaargh there. Here an aaaargh, there an aaaaargh, everwhere an aaaaaargh...." I thought it was totally classic. I love the off the wall and unprovoked things that kids say and come up with.

On our way home, we stopped off at Martin's Cove. Joe has an ancestor that was part of those pioneers. He really wanted to stop and pull the handcart and the whole shebang. When we stopped the weather was great; not too sunny and only a few clouds in the sky. One of the missionaries informed us that it was five miles total (2 mi. of handcarting and around 3 mi. of walking) and that there was a 50% chance of rain that afternoon. Immediately my head shot up to the sky. Huh? Is he talking about that little grey cloud over there? Hmmm...we should be fine, but we better get moving. Of course, the covered handcarts were all taken. Anyway, we set off for grand adventure. It was a lot of fun I thought, and Joshua even fell asleep in the handcart! We dropped off the handcart after the 1 mi. mark and prepared for the hike. Once we started hiking it started to sprinkle. "Well, that's okay, just so long as it doesn't downpour. It's Wyoming, just wait five minutes and the weather will change, right?" Yes, but not to our liking. It was a nice hike though and beautiful and I enjoyed pondering, praying, and singing hymns to myself.

As you can imagine, the sprinkles only lasted for a little while and then it started to rain. Almost all of us are in shorts and t-shirts and Joe and Jessica are wearing flip flops and sandals (Joe does all activities in his flip-flops, you get used to it). It is of course, a lightning storm. Joe assures the missionaries at the top of the hill that we still want to finish the loop and that we don't need to get picked up. Onward ho! It starts to rain hard, Noah is screaming because he doesn't want to get wet, and the other two kids are freaked out by the frequent, booming thunder. As a side note, I like thunderstorms, from inside my house that is. Not looking down a path and seeing the lightning strike further down the path in front of us. Needless to say, we scurried along, praying continually, the kids kept screaming and...it started to hail. And hail it did! Only pea-sized, but combined with the wind it was a little scary for the kids!

We made it back to the place where we could pick up our handcart again and by then the rain had subsided. The Lord had answered our prayers. We sang some hymns with the kids and they weren't so frightened anymore. When we picked up our handcart, we asked the missionaries who we should thank for this extra real life experience? They just laughed and on we went. It hailed again and Joe pulled us all in the handcart through the mud back to the base area and visitor center. Our handcart trek was over! Whew! Here are some pictures of our fun experiences:





in Grandpa's chair
Snoozing in the car, I couldn't fit Joshua in, but he was snoozing too!
My favorite spot that I like to visit, Red Canyon, just outside of South Pass.


I know the brown pool water looks gross, but it is just water from the river. It only took a few minutes before my mom remembered which water nozzle pumped out the clean water, and we changed the pool water. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics in the clean water.
before the rain...after the rain...