Home again home again

In the last four weeks we have been in 15 states: Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, and Colorado. We put just over 6,000 miles on our car and spent over 40 hours total driving (not including sightseeing driving, just cross country driving). It was an amazing trip and we had so much fun seeing this great country that we live in! Now we are home and back to normal. Laundry is done, the car is unpacked and scrubbed down, fridge is full of groceries, and we all got to sleep in our own beds! It was an incredible, once in a lifetime trip!

Now I think we will just stay here for awhile!

Almost home!

Today was a much prettier drive than yesterday. And we are only 200 miles from home. It was tempting to just stay on the road and get home, but it is already 10:00 and we don't want to be driving down Parley's Canyon and falling asleep! So we are in Vernal tonight and home tomorrow! So here are today's pics.Continuing the staduim tour again. . .Mile High Stadium. Oh and I took a whole bunch of really cool pictures of Denver, Colorado and then realized that my camera didn't even have a card in it. Oh well. The pictures will just have to be in my memory.
It has been three weeks since we saw real mountains. They only have "hills" back east. Of course, they would say that we don't have real rivers here! What we call a river wouldn't even be a creek out there.

So into the Rocky Mountains we went. Beautiful scenery. First stop was Vail, Colorado. Oh man is that place above my pay grade! It makes Park City look a little small.

We stopped at the Aspen Gardens (cuz it's free!). We loved walking around looking at all the flowers. I was having fun taking pictures! I think when I grow up I will be a photographer. Here are some of my pics. I think they are pretty good!


























Driving through the canyon, we went through several tunnels. My kids love tunnels so this pic is for them! This tunnel was about 3 miles long.

We followed the Colorado River most of the way through the canyon. Just like rivers in Utah, this river is running really high. I don't think trees usually grow right in the middle of the river!

We planned to stop at this park and BBQ our dinner. Just when dinner finished cooking, it started to downpour! So here is our very wet picnic. It didn't rain long, just long enough to get us soaked (and our food, too!)

This place is called Kenney Reservoir. It is about 45 minutes from the Utah border. They have a little picnic area here and a "kind of" campground. Man if this was in Utah it would have campgrounds and picnic areas all over! Apparently this place hasn't been "discovered" yet. It was nice and quiet with only a couple boats out on it.

We have never been so happy to see a billboard!! Only about 3.5-4 hours in the car and then I am not going anywhere for a LONG time.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...Oh man, we still are!

Spent most of today driving across Kansas. We say so much . . . nothing. I thought Wyoming was boring. Kansas comes in a very close second, if not tied. Here is . . nothing.
And some more . . .nothing.
This one is some cool . . . nothing.

We did manage to run into a little museum in the middle of all the nothing. It was called Fort Hays Museum. They filmed part of Dances with Wolves here. Don't we look just like Kevin Costner?

As we left Kansas (finally) and moved into Colorado, we ran into this. Kinda scary approaching this big wall of storm! Dean was hoping for a tornado, but thank goodness he didn't get his wish.

There was so much lightning! We would see bolts like this about every 2 seconds all across the sky. It was our entertainment for the day!

Now we drive through Colorado, then tomorrow HOME!!

It's a long, long, (long, long, long) road

So so tired of driving and living in hotels! Almost there. Two more hotels and then I can sleep in my own bed.

After leaving Nauvoo, we drove into Hannibal, MO, where Mark Twain once lived. We thought about going into the Mark Twain caves, but they wanted too much money for it. So we just drove around and looked at the town. Look who we drove past driving around town: Mark Twain! This guy was just strolling down the street.

Then it was on to St. Louis. The archway is kinda cool. It is really very large when you get close to it! Never did figure out what it's for. Anybody know?




St. Louis Temple. It's funny how in Utah we are used to seeing a church or a temple everywhere we go. On our travels, we didn't see those things as much. So driving past one is a little exciting! Feels like home!


Went to my first major league baseball game. St Louis Cardinals vs the Cincinatti Reds. Yes, the same Reds that we were cheering for from the riverboat in Kentucky. So now we had to cheer against them! It was a fun game to watch and the guy at the hotel helped us get pretty decent seats for cheap. Only downside - the humidity was so high you could see it - kind of like fog. And when the humidity is high it doesn't cool down when the sun goes down like it does in the desert! Oh man it was so hot! And then it went into extra innings - four extra innings to be exact!

Continuing our stadium tour - Kansas City Chiefs!






Not much to see in Kansas, but we did catch a beautiful sunset!





Today - on to Colorado!

Nauvoo

We have spent a lot of time the last few weeks seeing places that I have heard about my whole life. It has been a neat experience to be in places where the church has its roots. To walk in places where Joseph Smith walked. Being here opens my mind to a whole new understanding of the things that went on and the things those people has to sacrifice in order to build the church.

The last few days we spent in Nauvoo. It was pageant time, so it was a little crowded. I think I would have enjoyed it more during off season when it would be more peaceful. But then I would have missed the pageant! We arrived in Nauvoo on July 4th. First thing we did after getting settled was to go see the show Rendevous and I really hope I spelled that right. Thanks Marcia for getting us tickets because there weren't any left by the time we got there! So do you see any of your friends in this picture? Everyone knows Marcia here!
Next we went over the river into Iowa to watch them shoot fireworks over the Mississippi. That was fun to watch!

The next morning we were up early so we could get a wagon ride through town. I loved the senior missionaries as they gave us the low down on the town. Now we knew what places we wanted to hit up! Although we enjoyed walking around and looking so much, it wasn't until we were done that we realized that we hadn't taken many pictures! Oh well.

Later that night we went to the pageant. We lucked out and got really good seats. This pageant is incredible. I LOVED it. I understand why so many people want to come and watch it. Of course, I forgot my camera so I had to settle for phone pictures. They aren't the best, but they will do. I love this temple. It stands as a powerful testimony to the saints and all their sacrifices. I think they must have rejoiced to see this temple rise again after they had to leave it so many years ago. Such a strong spirit here. I am grateful to know that because of temples we can have our families forever! And we will see again those who we have lost.

This is my favorite statue. In fact, I had to buy a little one to have in my house. It is Joseph and Hyrum Smith standing together. They stood together in life and in death. Such amazing brothers. I hope my two boys can learn from their example to stand together and build each other up.

Now the sad part of our journey. This is Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum were murdered by a mob in 1844. What a dark and sad place. The jailer here was actually kind to them and he let them stay in the bedroom most of the time.

This is the door that was kicked in by the mob. It is the original door. You can still see the bullet hole from the bullet that killed Hyrum Smith.

And this is the window that Joseph fell out of after he was shot. Two great men lost their lives here because they refused to deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were amazing men and my testimony of their purpose has grown just by being here in these places.

Lindsie asked me to get this picture. This is where Joseph, Emma and Hyrum Smith are buried in Nauvoo.

I miss Pennsylvania!!!!!!

We had such an amazing time in Pennsylvania with Dean's family. It was really hard to say goodbye. But all good things must end I guess. It was especially hard to leave my babies behind, but we decided before we left that we would fly the children home with Grandma and Dean and I would make the drive home alone. They were SO SO great on the 10 day drive out, we decided not to push our luck! So they get to spend a little more time in PA, then some time in Idaho and they will get home the day after we do! Lucky ducks!

So here are a few pics from our last day or so in PA. I WANT TO GO BACK!!! Here are my Civil War Soldiers. We went to so many historical places, particularly about the Civil War, so they were really into it. Uncle Dean's backyard is a forest, so what better place to play soldier? It was so funny to watch. They had a blast.


We found this fun park that looked like a giant wood fort. So many places to climb! We didn't have time to stay long, but they loved it.

Covered wooden bridge. Not many left back here, but we found this one. It creaks and groans a lot when you drive over it! YIKES!




Hunting for crawdads in Sherman Creek. The "creeks" out here are bigger than our rivers!









Lindsie caught one, then that was enough. They are kinda creapy little things!





Didn't take long for it to turn into a big water fight!






Aunt Helen made us "Thanksgiving dinner" complete with all the trimings! It was nummy!

Hi. I'm Dean. This is my cousin Dean. That's my uncle Dean. And this here is my son Dean. Yeah, it got confusing when anyone would call out "Hey Dean!!"
The whole fam. Man we miss you Uncle Dean, Aunt Helen and Deanie. We miss Grandma and the kids too! And we have only been gone 2 days!

Long Drive Home Day 1

Now comes the time to leave Pennsylvania. We have had a great time, but I guess it's time to head home.




First stop, Pittsburgh. Lots of bridges here in "Three Rivers."



This one is for all you Steelers Fans. Heinz Stadium! They had a concert going on when we were here so there was no where to pull over and park. Our pictures just had to be drive bys!

This one is for Rebecca. Do you recognize this city? This is where we spent last night: Columbus, OH.




We weren't here very long, but we did enjoy a firework show from our 10th floor hotel window!