Monday: We took a drive along the Parkway to show Mama and Kylie its beauty. We stopped and toured Mabry Mill, the most photographed place on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We also stopped at a candy factory and the bookmobile. My mom left Tuesday so I'm glad she got to see these places even though it was raining.
Watching the waterwheel.
Tuesday: Missionary tags arrived in the mail!!
(For Spencer too but he doesn't like being photographed.)
Wednesday: Family temple trip. The little kids have never seen the Raleigh Temple so we crammed 11 of us in our 8 passenger van and made the 2.5 hour trip. It was great! They read in the car while I did baptisms with 6 of my children. Can't believe I have 6 kids old enough to attend the temple. Then I did sealings with my 3 oldest. It was a super special day.
Kaitlyn photobombing the 4 boys picture, but looking super cute.
Talea and Madalyn
My 6 girls!
The only picture we got with me in it today and it's blurry. Oh well, we all had wet baptism hair anyway.
Next we went to Duke Gardens where we had gone in 2015. It's fun going to all these places we thought we'd maybe never see again when we left NC. Field trips were always among our cherished memories so I'm glad we did them then and so happy we got to go back to so many this month.
Eating lunch.
Eating by himself on a rock and not wanting to get in the group picture. :)
Recreating the 2015 picture.
Duke added black bars on this Japanese bridge so the kids couldn't hang through like they did in 2015.
And now with all 10.
Not an exact recreation, but just a family photo on the bridge.
These steps were reconfigured and there was a new dedication plate on it with "2019" so we couldn't get the exact location. So they just all sat on the long bench instead of the steps. The whole gardens looked the same except the few places we wanted to do flashback pictures at. They were all slightly different!
Looking at the fish in the pond.
These stairs were also slightly different but the girls are just as sweet.
These 3 had fun recreating this one.
The whole trip was great. So glad it didn't rain on us and it was nice and cool for a late May day.
The cherries are ripe! A lot smaller than I thought and a bit sour too, so kinda disappointing, but oh well.
It rained Sunday afternoon, Monday and all day Tuesday from that storm on the right. Wednesday we had a wonderful break from the rain, perfect for going to the temple and Duke gardens as we had planned weeks ago, before the huge storm on the left came all day Thursday and Friday.
Thursday: Our storm is here complete with downpours and tornado warnings. It was pretty exciting, especially with Spencer here who loves storms.
Friday: A beautiful rainbow during a rainshower.
Saturday: Spencer's last day before getting set apart as a missionary. I love how he enjoys eating lunch on the porch.
We were invited to the Wait's house for ping pong, muhle rides, dinner and ice cream. They are the sweetest couple.
Kylie and Tilly playing magnetic dolls.
Kylie mowing while I tucked Tilly in.
Today: Last Sunday dinner with all 10 children. They're such a beautiful sight.
