From West to East

We had a terrific trip back home. First we stayed in Evanston, WY with my sister where the weather was perfect. We wished we could have stayed there longer but the next day we were off on the road.

 You have 2 seconds to name this. :)

 The kids in front of Old Faithful just after it erupted.

 We had a nice walk around other geysers and hotsprings. The weather was gorgeous and the kids were in good moods.

 Kylie holding Makenna.

 Spencer was so good to push Kaitlyn around the whole walk. He is really good to her and makes her laugh a lot. He is especially helpful when the older girls and I are tired of taking care of her.

 This was a scene in the Bighorn National Forest after we'd climbed thousands of feet. Reminded me of Heidi. We were at the top of a huge mountain and then there was a beautiful valley up there with pretty little white flowers and lots of trees. It was only 63 degrees up there too. If the little girls weren't asleep in the car I would have stopped and soaked it all in. I love the mountains.

 Swimming in the hotel hot tub and pool in Rapid City, SD.

 Eating dinner of mac n cheese cups in the hotel before going to Mt. Rushmore.

Mt. Rushmore! Kaitlyn was trying my patience like never before so it wasn't all fun but I hope it was a good experience for the kids. I remember being impressed when I was little.

The next night we went to De Smet, SD where we saw the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites and the pageant, "The Long Winter." We've always loved her books so this was a treat for us.

 The next day we drove through Minnesota. Here we stopped at a rest stop and let the kids play a castle game they made up on the playground.

 That night we reached Nauvoo in time to do some pre-show activities like these stilts.

 Then we saw the Nauvoo Pageant, which was also fantastic.

 Someone driving by saw me taking a picture of my kids and insisted I get in it too, so this is a picture of all of us.

 Then I took a picture of just the kids close up.

 We went to church there on Sunday and saw some of the sites. I attended the temple Monday morning and then we saw a few more sites and rode in a covered wagon.

 Monday afternoon we went to Carthage Jail.

 That night we had a delicious dinner and fun FHE with second cousins in Missouri.

 Tuesday we saw the St. Louis Arch and went up in it. It was awesome! I'm glad we did it despite the long wait and hungry tummies.

 Tuesday night we stayed with my sister in Nashville and the next morning she took us to breakfast at Krispy Kreme. From there we made the final leg of our trip: 10 hours to our home in North Carolina.

 We arrived home at 7 to a house decorated for our arrival. Eight weeks!

Nathan also had a hot dinner waiting, probably the only time he cooked while we were gone. It was delicious: pasta, salad, and bread. It was also the only time he went to the store while we were gone. It sure was good to see him again.

So that's our trip home. It was awesome. I'm so glad we did it and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. We had a blast.