Next Stop, Yellowstone

It had been 8 years since Zach and I had been to Yellowstone so we decided that we would spend a couple of nights there before heading to my mom and dad's. I was so excited to show the kids Old Faithful and all the stinky pots. I remember going as a kid and thought that it was a pretty cool place. I wanted to share that with my kids. Well, It didn't really turn out the way I had hoped. We went to get a camp site at Grant Village, the campground I stayed in as a kid, and it was completely full. We then went to some other campgrounds and it was the same thing. FULL!!! It decided to rain on us for most of the day and so it was hard to walk around to all the sites. I really wanted to see the Upper and Lower Fall but that didn't happen. We were able to see Old Faithful and a few of the hot pots surrounding Old Faithful. We did see some buffalo, not as many as I had expected, and we did see some elk but they were quite a bit off the road so it was hard for the kids to see them. We finally decided to go to West Yellowstone and see if we could find a campground that wasn't FULL. We finally found one and started to put up the tent when it decided to rain. I was soaked, Zach was soaked, the tent was soaked and it was suppose to be cold that night. I knew we were all going to freeze. I was so mad that I went and sat in the car with the kids. Zach came in and asked who I was mad at and I said, "the rain". He just laughed at me and then said that we could just pack up and head to my parents. I couldn't decide what to do because there was still so much we hadn't seen yet and I didn't want the kids to miss out on anything, so we asked the kids what they wanted to do. Stay and sleep and freeze or go to grandma and grandpa's house. Well of course they said they wanted to go see grandma and grandpa. So we packed up and left. I called my dad as we were headed out of town and asked if it would be ok to come a couple days early and of course he said, "talk to the boss" so I sweet talked mom into letting us come early. Let's just say it didn't take much sweet talking. We arrived in Ogden about 12am. The kids were so happy to be there and frankly so was I. Even though we didn't get to see all the sights, It was still a great road trip!!!

Waterfall

I can't remember the name of this waterfall, but it sure was beautiful. As we were driving we could here the crash of the water. We could hear it but we couldn't see it. As we drove around the curve there was the little visitor center and it was just a hop skip and a jump to the waterfall. It wasn't a planned stop but I'm sure glad we did. That's what is so great about driving. If there is something that we want to see and spend a little bit more time at we could. If we saw all there was to see in a short period of time then we just moved onto the next stop. What a great way to travel.

Devil's Tower

On our way to Utah we also saw Devil's Tower. As we were driving all of a sudden this huge rock just jumps out at you and the closer you get to it the bigger it gets. It was an amazing sight. We took a hike all the way around it. The kids loved to climb on the rocks and chase the butterflies. We even saw a guy climbing it. He looked like a little ant. It was so beautiful.

Mount Rushmore

Our second stop was Mount Rushmore. We stayed in a campsite in this beautiful canyon the night before we went to the park. We woke up to a deer just 2 feet away from the door of the tent. I thought it was going to come on in. After we cleaned up camp we went to see Mount Rushmore. What a beautiful park!!! We took a hike just below the mountain and were able to see if from several different views. Jacob skinned a buffalo skin and the kids played in tepee's. We saw all there was to see so we decided to drive over to the Crazy Horse Monument. It was more money than we wanted to pay to get in to the park so we just drove by and took pictures.

The Bad Lands, South Dakota

We decided that our vacations are always planned around just seeing family and so we never really get to have an actual vacation. So this year we decided to take the scenic route out to Utah. Our first stop was The Bad Lands, South Dakota. The kids loved this stop. They had a blast climbing to their hearts content. We drove around the park and stopped along the way so that the kids could get out and climb. The Bad Lands were really cool. We saw tons of prarie dogs along the side of the road so of course the kids had to stop and see every single one. MaKayla wanted to catch one to bring it home. I told her, "Good Luck!!!" As we were leaving we realized that we had only seen a tiny portion of the park. We could have spent the whole day there and still not see it all. It was amazing!!!

Family Fun

My counsin Danielle and her cute family have lived 4 1/2 hours away from us in Indiana for the last 2 years, yet we have never been able to get together to see each other. She finally called us last month and said that they were comming to Michigan to go to the beach and wondered if we were going to be around. Of course I made sure we were going to be there so I could finally meet her adorable girls. They came up and we had Sunday dinner together and then for the next couple of days we did nothing but play. We went to the beach, watched the musical fountains in Grand Haven and picked strawberries, well actually Danielle and I picked and the rest of them wimped out on us and sat in the air conditioned van. Wimps!!!! We had a great time and we both wondered what took us so long to get together. We are so glad that they came and we got to spend time with them. Let's do it again real soon!!!!


MaKayla and Allie


Allie and MaKayla


Abby


Brinley


Abby and Brinley


I stole this picture collage from Danielle's blog. Thanks girl it's way cute!!!

The Flood

As I was leaving girls camp I got a phone call from Zach telling me that there was a huge storm in Holland and that there was water over all the roads. At first I thought he was just exaggerating but as we drove closer and closer to Holland we got hit with it. It was so bad I could barely see to drive. Eventually it passed and we continued home. We then got a phone call that my Bro in law's power was out and the sump pump doesn't work without power. We then proceeded to call around to see if anyone had a generator and finally found one. As we continued to get closer to my Bro-in-law's house the roads were awful. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get to their house because of all the rain and some of the roads were under water. We finally made it and found that their basement was taking on water and so we loaded up their 5 kids and took them to our house to stay while the men stayed and moved all the furniture to the upstairs level. This was around midnight on June 19th. Lucky for us my house had power and didn't have any flooding. However these are pictures of my backyard and the lake that made it's home there for a bit. My plants were under water and we had water about 4 feet away from our house. Holland recieved 7 1/2 inches of rain in 2 hours and there was flooding everywhere. Roads were out and some even collapsed and tons of houses flooded. Boy were we lucky!!!

Cub Game

The Cubs are always fun to watch play and what's even better is when they win. We had a crappy experience last time we went to a Cub's game so I was just hoping it wouldn't be bad. So on June 18th Zach, Jesse, Jacob and I decided to try it agian. We had great seats in the upper deck but we were on the frount row and didn't have anyone in front of us. We also were able to see an amazing game. CUBS WIN!!!!!

The Clutz Gene Hits Again!!!

Theses pictures were taken the day of.




This picture was taken a few days after the game.

I was asked to be an alternate on a softball team of a friend of mine and they asked if I could play last night. I have been wanting to play for a while and jumped at the chance. Zach helped by throwing the ball around and I also went to the batting cages for some practice. We got to the game and the other players were warming up when all of a sudden I notice that the 1st baseman was throwing the ball to me. I put out my glove to catch it and it hit it and bounce right into my eye. What luck!!! I shook it off and continued to play. After a couple of innings I touched my eye and was shocked that it had swollen to the size of a golf ball. Thank goodness for bangs and sunglasses or else everyone would have seen it. We lost but we were playing the best team in the league and our team had 4 alternates playing. I still had a great time and would love to play again. Next time I will make sure that I pay closer attention to where the ball is.

I Love The Beach!!!

The beach is the best thing about living here in Holland Michigan. It is so nice to walk in the sand and squish the sand between your toes. However I hate the sound it makes when you walk in it. It gives me the chills. Anyway, Sunday, Ryan and Emily were going to the beach so we decided to tag along. It was a pretty nice day and we were tired of being stuck in the house. When we got there we told the kids that they could get their feet wet but of course they came up with several excuses why they got wet. MaKayla's famous excuse was "I fell in". I actually saw her dive into the lake. I think that she forgot that she wasn't wearing her swimming suit. We had a great time but as we were leaving the kids decided that they were cold and Ryan and Emily's kids and Abigail whined all the way back to the car. What began as a great little outing turned into a whinefest. We still had a great time enjoying the view.

Abigail's Pre-school Field Trip

This year we did a co-op preschool with some moms from church. We would each take turns teaching in our homes. It was really fun for Abby. She really learned alot and also got to be with her friends. These are picturs of a field trip we took to the Zoo. They all had a great time.

OOOPS!!! I forgot Easter

The Family. OOPPS I almost cut MaKayla out of the pic. Sorry Sweetie.


Coloring Eggs


Abigail and her stash


MaKayla and her stash


Jacob and his loot

My beautiful kids. I am so lucky!!!

We had a great Easter this year. I thought that it would be our last one with the twins still in the dark about the Easter bunny but they still believe. Jacob was the first one to wake up and he came up the stairs and caught me with the egg carton wandering around the family room. I of course made up a silly excuse and he bought it. We waited for Abigail to wake up because you really don't want to wake her if you don't have to because she can be a real bitty. It always seems like there is one egg that goes missing each year. We had to look pretty hard for the last one, but finally found it. I wonder if it grows legs and hides itself sometimes. We went to church and then came home and took family pictures. We took a lot of them but the only one that everyone looked good in is the one where MaKayla is almost cut out of the picture. But it is better than the other ones. Sometimes I think my kids are possesed when it come to picture time. We hope everyone had a great Easter.