Vacation

So we went on vacation from Friday, June 26 and got home on Tuesday, July 7. It was a lot of fun to be able to see all of our family, but boy, was it a LONG trip. We had almost 3 full days of driving (about 71 hours!). We went up to western North Dakota for a family reunion on the Thompson side. Then we drove over to Boise, Idaho, for a family reunion on the Nelson (Daddy's mom) side. On our way back to Texas, we stopped in Utah and saw some family there. FYI: The pictures are really out of order, but they will all have captions so you know where they were taken.

Fireworks on the 4th of July in Idaho

More fireworks in Idaho

Teeny getting ready to do fireworks in Idaho

I know this one is blurry, but I thought it was a cute picture of Monster "eating" his birthday cake. We celebrated his and some cousins' birthdays on July 4th in Idaho.

Birthday cake fun--Doesn't everyone eat cake with their feet?

The cake before it was destroyed

The kids absolutely loved this little jeep. It's one of those electric driving ones. Usually, Teeny just rode in it, but this one time I let her try to drive. That was scary! She can push the petal quite well. It's the whole turning-the-wheel-so-you-don't-crash-and-run-over-people part that she has trouble with. (Idaho)

This was another popular toy. We had lots of practice sharing while we were on vacation--although, I'm not sure how much actually sank in... ;)

I do believe this little car was THE most desired toy of all the kids. It was the source of much contention while we were there. Uncle Steve found a pretty good way to appease a few kids at once--one kid driving, one in the back and one on top. They loved it!

Mommy, Aunt Leslie and Granny (Idaho--so were all the one's before this)

This was a random picture we took while we were driving because we thought it looked like faces.

In Utah we stopped to see Toby's sister and her family. It was her first time meeting Ty. Can't tell they're related, can you? ;)

All the kids

I thought this was a cute picture of the three younger girls.

Cheezers!

This is the Rexburg, Idaho Temple we saw while we were driving.

When we went through Billings, we decided to drive by the temple to show Teeny. We tell her stories about Princess Mommy and Prince Daddy getting married in the Billings Montana Temple.

Sweet sleeping baby and an unhappy big sister

Hanging out at Lake Sacajawea in North Dakota

Teeny and Mommy pretending to fish

Mommy and the kids at the lake

Cousin Michael and Teeny trying to row the boat

Daddy and Monster in the lake

Teeny had a blast playing and swimming in the water at the lake. I am so grateful that my children aren't afraid of the water.

Daddy playing some golf ball game in Grandma Clarice's backyard.

I'm sick of being in the car and am going insane! ;) And, this was only the first leg of the trip. Can you imagine what I looked like when I got home?

Car face

Monster got a lot of sleeping in on the trip--thank goodness!!

This is Teeny's frowny face.

The very first stop along our trip was just outside St. Louis, Missouri, where we picked up my nephew so that he could stay the summer with Papa and Nana.

So that pretty much sums up our vacation. I wish we would have taken more pictures, but we got some decent ones anyway. I guess we'll have to do better next time. We really had a great time seeing so much of our family and getting to know all of you better. We miss you already!