Amazing trip part 2!

Life is so full of little miracles and joys if we open our eyes to them.  My eyes are being opened.  I have loved being a hands on mom, exploring and playing with my kids and all around enjoying them.  I have loved being a hands free mom.  Turning my phone off and leaving it in the car or at the house while we explore.  I am realizing how blessed I am.  I am getting ahead of myself though, so let me back up and recap day...well whatever day we are on now...We got to Evanston just in time to get ready, shower and head to church.  It was fun to see my brother teach and hear my sister-in-law bear her testimony.  What a sweet family unit!  The kids had a BLAST playing with their cousin.

 I love this photo  This is Emery's drawing of Maryn.  I love the chalk on Em's bum and the busy sweet girls enjoying their artwork and cousin time.

 My sweet super talented amazing sister Audrey.  I'm so glad she and Tim are an eternal unit.  They are amazing together!

 Tim teaching Liam the secrets of slacklining.

 Morgan really let down his hair and took some time to max and relax.  It's pretty rare that I see him reading and relaxing.  What a great site!

 We hung with Tim and Audrey for a few days and then boogied up to Salt Lake to see some history sites.  We went to the tabernacle and took the tour, then went to the visitor's center on Temple Square.  It was fun, but the kids had tasted freedom for a few days and Em and Colin were not really in the right mood.  We decided that lunch might help, so we picked up lunch for the kids, ate and then tried the Beehive House.  WIN WIN!!!  The beehive house was perfect.  The kids enjoyed the tour and were really happy to purchase some Lion House goodies afterward.  The drive to Pocatello was great!

 Last time Liam was at the Salt Lake Temple was just about a year after Nic and Christy were married.  We came to see the Music and the Spoken Word with Val and Spence.  I was super pregnant with Isabelle.  So fun.  He has grown so much...Actually now that I think about it, I guess we were here for another wedding a few years later, but we won't discuss that one right now...

 MY eternal family!  I love these wonderful people!

 Lovely ladies enjoying their treats by the lovely flowers.  Emery picked a creme soda and a cookie, Isa got some orange juice and Liam a Sasparilla and chocolate cream pie.  OH the SUGAR in these kids systems. OI!

Next stop....AUNT SUZY'S!!!!  Wahoo! Pocatello, wedding, new cousins and LOTS of fun!

Our amazing trip!

This summer is going to be amazing!  I am loving our trip!  We are in Idaho now, but I feel like it would be fun to recap our journey here.   We started our in St Louis.  The last time I stopped in St Louis.  I had only two kids.  Liam and Isa.  It was winter and Isa could barely walk by  herself much less in her little pink snow suit.  I will find the photos and share them once I scan them in.  It was fun to visit with the kiddos old enough to enjoy it.

 We were going to camp out that night, but there were tornado reports and so we decided to call President and Sister Horne and ask if we could camp on their floor.  They were more than willing to put us up.  It was fun to see their property and spend a morning with them They are wonderful people!  I only regret not getting a photo with them!
Day two we went to Independence, the Kansas City Temple, and Liberty Jail. I have wanted to see the church history sites for as long as I can remember.  It was so neat to share these sweet sites with my kids and take little moments to bear my testimony to them...

 This picture makes me laugh.  It was a LONG way to run and try to set the camera in place.

 The kids loved the commercials.  Colin slept through pretty much the whole tour.

 I set a goal the beginning of the year to take family photos once a month.  I have totally failed at that but I am making up for it on this trip.  Aren't those clouds AMAZING!!!!
The spirit at the Independence Visitor's center was truly wonderful.  I am so grateful for my roots and for those who sacrificed so much for what they knew to be true!
Day 3 we stayed the night in Omaha Nebraska.  I had no idea there was a Winter Quarters visitors center.  It was another wonderful place to visit.  It was interactive and again I felt such gratitude for those who journeyed and literally walked the trail we now drove so easily.  It was humbling to think about those saints and what they went through.  This visitors center helped that come to life for my kids.

Emery LOVED packing the wagon and it gave me time to listen a little.

 Winter Quarters Temple  What a beautiful temple and site.  This was a particularly neat center.  They have a gravestone of a young mother.  She came to winter quarters pregnant with twins having buried her son.  The winter was harsh and her twins did not survive.  She too became ill and wrote in her journal her desire for her family to continue on to Zion.  This sweet mother died as well.  Her family did go on to Zion and three of the sisters serving there in the Winter Quarters Mission were from her posterity.  I still feel emotional when I think of this sweet mother.  I spoke to Sister Williams a sister serving there with her husband who has traced her line to this mother.  I felt joy knowing that this sisters roots ran deep in the gospel and the sacrifice of this young mother was not for naught.  What a beautiful story and what a great experience here.

We decided to travel from Omaha straight through the night to Evanston where we stayed with Tim and Audrey.  I love my family and it is so good to be with them again.  I'll end here and post the next leg of the trip soon!