Pictures galore

Well, I didn't post all 700 pictures, but I came close. It was a wonderful trip.

Traveling to Utah. The girls liked the plane better than Ryan. Bridal Veil Falls
JW & Alli doing dishes
Getting ready for family night
Nikki & Eliza

Bear & Wolf Discovery Center

A bald eagle with her baby

Geysers

This was a whole herd of bison that were trying to cross the road. Pretty neat.

Waiting for Old Faithful to blow!

This is cute, but I like the one Emma got of Nate better. :)

The best travelers

Lexi & Brenna

Beautiful!

Gosh, these things are big!

My poor sick, sunburnt baby enjoying the beauty.

She looks like a girl on a mission.

We got stuck in road construction, so Mike and Lydia jumped out of the car to get their feet wet in the freezing cold, rushing river where an elk could have jumped out the bush and gored them any minute. So we see who teaches Lydia to be so daring. :)

We were in the car A LOT. The girls took over 400 pictures to pass the time. Here's a little taste.

Sherrie as our singing time leader

Spencer and Jake had all the kids' attention with their puppet show.

Can you see the moose? I was happy she was on the other side of the river from us.

Spencer was so great hiking with his little posse of girl cousins. They love both Spencer and Nate.

Brenna and Luke were cute little buddies.
Kellee brought a whole bag of craft supplies, and I think the pipe cleaners were Hannah and Emma's favorites.


Dance party!

The Bass Gang

Hannah and Nikki LOVE Grandpa Robbins' trains. He has a whole room in his basement filled with tracks. It's really cool. Ryan loved them, too, but he wasn't allowed near them.

Provo's Freedom Festival Parade on the 4th

We had a lot of fun visiting with the Littles. JW & Gary told their sailing story that gets us laughing so hard it hurts.

Chuck & Eileen

It was so hard to get a picture of the babies together. Here's Ryan and Wyatt -- kind of.

And Baby Ammon is just the most easygoing kid I've ever seen. Love him!

Ryan is just about opposite. Love him too!

Jayden, Hannah, and Nikki put on the funniest little show for us. It was so creative and funny!

Wow, this is a special picture considering how much this baby loves his mama.

At the Robbins' family picnic

Whitney, Gabe, and Nikki

With Grandma Geneil.

The Robbins

Nate's nephew, Matt

Swim party!

It will be 10 years this September since Nate and I were married in the Mt. Timpanogas temple. His parents can see the temple from their doorstep. We tried to get some good pictures, but at the end of our trip it was kind of hard.

Back in NC, but the luggage took FOREVER to get out on the baggage claim. What troopers these kids are!

This is my naked baby because he blew out his diaper minutes before takeoff (Nate and I really don't fit in the airplane bathroom at the same time. It was pretty comical and gross trying to get things cleaned up), and no I didn't have an extra outfit in the carry-on. I had extra clothes for me and Nate, but not the baby. Really smart.

We're excited for our next vacation, but I'm glad there will be a couple of years for me to rest up and get ready for the next one. This one wore me out!

Happy Birthday, Nate

We love you, Dad, and can't wait for you to get home! Have a great one today!

Plumbers deserve a lot of money

My pictures won't upload right now because of some internal error, so instead of posting 100 pictures I'll write about my plumbing adventure this morning. We have the cheapest toilets in the world. They are always stopping up and needing to be plunged. And it's not my fault! About a month or so ago, the girls' bathroom got plugged and we haven't been able to use it since. I'll spare the details of that night, but let's just say that I plunged until I got blisters on my hands, and Nate was my hero sticking his arm in the toilet up to his elbows. Oh, we almost threw up. Anyway, we finally decided that we would have to call in some professional help on this one. Can you guess what the plumber pulled out of the toilet this morning? A washcloth. So, the question is did someone run out of toilet paper and reach for the closest thing available, or did it just fall in and nobody noticed, or did it fall in and someone didn't want to get it back out? A washcloth. It went straight into the trash can, and I'm very happy that tomorrow is garbage day.

While the Cat is Out ...

the mice can play! Or at least study for a final. Nate left on a business trip this morning. He used to do this a lot, but I'm really glad this is a rare thing. Our home is better with him in it. But I finally went through our trip pictures this evening and maybe I'll have the time and energy to post some this week. It has taken a while for us all to recover from vacation. I'm not sure I've made it yet. I must be getting old. But two weeks is a long time for a baby to be away from home and his routine. He has pretty much just wanted his mama to hold him this week. And since I'm still a vacationer in recovery, I'm going to bed.

Vacation.

Utah. Yellowstone. 2 weeks. Family. Fun. Friends. Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Grandpa Robbins' trains. Tennis. Bridal Veil Falls. Marshmallows over the campfire. Desserts! Road construction. Bald eagle. Herd of buffalo (they're really bison). Bear and wolf discovery center. Old Faithful. Smelly geysers. Waterfalls. Hikes -- sorry, it's just a walk Eliza. Moose. Chocolate eclair cake. Banana pudding. 1 extra bowl of banana pudding. Pictures. Dance party with Kellee. Puppet show with Spencer and Jake. M&M game. Cartwheel. Family Feud. Catch Phrase. Hannah & Emma with pipe cleaners. Fireworks. New babies. Late nights. Sleeping in. Robbins picnic and swim party. Old Maid and dominoes with Grandma Robbins. Airports and airplanes. Diaper blowout 5 minutes before takeoff. Naked baby for the rest of the night. Waiting for luggage until after midnight in the airport. Wake up early for the first day of school. Now it's time for a nap.

(I'll transfer the 700 pictures on my camera to the computer later and maybe remember some more good times we had.)