Texas Trip

My sister, Ruth, lives in Houston and surprised me with an early Christmas present to come see her. It was a few days after Thanksgiving and for a week. It was nice weather and it was fun to spend so much time outside. I want to go back!! I am not kidding. At all. Especially right now that it is like 15 degrees outside. Nope, not kidding.

My mom went too so I had help on the plane and that was so nice. Livvy was good and was not a problem but Ella, on the other hand...well, she's crazy.

My sister and family have such a cute house and, for us, very big. It was fun for the girls to be able to play with her 4 kids. Her kids are a bit older but they were so good and patient with my girls. And my sister just KNOWS. I forget quickly about having babies and about the age I already did with my girls but my sister is so good with all ages and remembering what they need and like.

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the backyard. well, the trampoline, actually. I must have taken the other pics with my mom's camera and don't have them.



I don't know how I didn't get a photo of Livvy with their dogs because she was almost always with them but I have a couple of Ella with Buddy. She still doesn't say a ton of words but managed to say "Bud-dy" quickly. I felt bad for him being mauled by my kids the whole week.



Ella was so BUSY. She always had something to do or play with. She loves climbing and the stairs were no exception.


This is the only picture I have on my camera that has all her kids in one shot. They're watching TV after school.

So, in re-cap: we shopped almost every day and ate yummy food, etc. but most of all, the memories I have are being in her home and enjoying time with my sis and her cute family.

San Diego Trip

I'm a little late on this - and everything else in my life - right now. We did a family trip to San Diego last month. It was a good time to get away and a lot of fun. But honestly, I don't think we'll be doing anything like that soon. It was a super long road trip and even longer with two small kids! We broke up the trip by driving Wed. night to Vegas and sleeping over and then leaving for San Diego in the morning. It was still kindof late Thursday so we didn't do much. Friday we went to Sea World and Saturday we went to Tijuana. Sea World was a lot of fun. Ella was great. We carried her in the baby pack most of the day and she was content to see everything. Livvy had a hard time understanding that there was a lot to do there. She thought that if we left one attraction that we were leaving all-together. She finally caught on that we were just going to another cool thing.

Maybe you can't tell, but this is at the shark exibit. SO COOL! I think it's one of my favorite parts. Livvy's favorite was probably "Shamu" but I don't have any photos of that-just video.

I think we were looking at the penguins here. You can't tell on her face but she loved them.


They have a big community of penguins.

We tried to get a "family picture" but Ella is in her seat and unseen. Oh well.

We went to Tijuana the next day and experienced the huge line at the border. that is the thing that I remember most from the experience, since it took a couple hours to get out of Mexico after a few hours being there. Mostly Hyrum stocked up on a few things that he wanted. That night we ate Yum Yum doughnuts. I'm saying this because they were so good and Utah needs a good doughnut shop! Why do we not have one? And don't say Krispy Kremes. I like them but it's not the same. Oh yeah, and we ate at In & Out since it really is "in and out" there but not in Utah, since the people are still so fascinated with them.

We drove home the whole way in one day and that sucked. I don't recommend that but we just wanted to get home. I would worry about other passangers on a plane but we are flying next time we attempt to go somewhere.

This is a simple post. It is probably the trip for the year for us but I really didn't take many photos. Sometimes you just record your experiences in memories only.

St. George Trip

I already posted pictures on Facebook but I wanted to journal about the trip a little on here. So...I blogged earlier that we were going to St. George for Memorial Day weekend. We left Friday night and stayed till Sunday. We didn't stay till Monday because we wanted some free time at home too. Hyrum has a childhood friend who is actually his co-worker now who wanted to go somewhere fun but inexpensive and we did too so Hyrum (Hyrum's friend) and his wife, Ana and their 22-month old, Hyrum Jr. went with us in our car for a fun road trip to St. George. Hyrum, my husband, had served a few months of his mission down there and has a lot of good memories of the area, so he was ultra excited to go.

This is Livvy on the phone in our hotel room. Speaking of the room...it was really nice and big. I am really okay with doing cheap rooms because it's more about the trip but this was nice and that makes it a little more fun and comfortable.

We went to a dinosaur museum on Sat. morning. Hyrum Jr. (in this picture too) and Livvy enjoyed digging at the "fossils".

I think she's waving here.

They had a kid station to color over bumpy dinosaur pictures and create your own. The adults tried to look at the fossil tracks around the place but were rushed along by 2 toddlers. It was alright though because it wasn't a super impressive exhibit, just a few cool things.

I didn't take any more pictures the rest of the day even though I meant to. We went swimming in a really cool indoor pool. It was gigantic! There were areas for all ages. And since both of us couples still have toddlers that need their naps or they'll be super tired, we went back to the hotel for a nap and that was nice. Then later we went to dinner at a cool Mongolian BBQ. So good. Then we did some shopping at the outlets.

The kids are watching us pack up the car to leave on Sunday. Even though we left the hotel we planned a whole day of sight-seeing. You might wonder what we could possibly go see there but there were things that we wanted to do down there.

First we went to the Temple Visitors' Center. We had been there a few years ago, right after we got married, and there were some cool demonstrations but they have since changed that and so we were a little disappointed but we walked around a little. Livvy looks thrilled here.

Hyrum couldn't get Livvy to stand up. The two kids were so cute together. Hyrum Jr. is pretty mellow compared to Liv but they are good together.

The next stop was the Brigham Young Winter home. It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. A little summary of the home's purpose...

I don't have any story for the next few pictures since I was outside with Olivia but Hyrum took pictures and told me about them later. We each got pieces of the story.

This fireplace is actually made of wood. It looks like marble but there were so many talented Saints capable of such craftsmanship. This is just one of the many remarkable things made.

His dinning ware came from England. There's a "Y" on each piece dinnerware and it's gold. Unfortunately, they arrived after he died.

It's believed that he entertained visitors in this room. This isn't the original piano but is one of the time.

This was part of Brigham Young's room. He only used this house for a short time before he died but he was able to see the completion of the temple here.

This was his wife bed. Only one of his wives lived here with him (his first) and she wasn't able to have children.

This would have been like the bed that the wife's servant slept in.

Livvy was being so cute being carried around by her daddy. She was very affectionate.

This was the other part of Brigham Young and his wife's bedroom. It was pretty and the colors were quite modern for their time. Brigham Young picked out the colors for the entire home.

Livvy was checking out the rocks outside the home.

They grew cotton outside the home. In fact, that was much of the reason of going South. There was not cotton anywhere around there and he didn't want to be dependant on a resource that way so far away (in the Southern states).

This arch was on the side of the home towards the back.

From Pres. Young's home, we went to Santa Clara to Jacob Hamblin's home, or Ranch, you could say. There was a fort there years ago but it was destroyed, along with the home. So, they rebuilt, but this time, farther up from the river where flooding could reoccur.

She is climbing on chairs on the porch of the Hamblin home.

Jacob Hamblin was an incredible man. He was called by the prophet, Brigham Young, to come to this part of the state and gain a good relation with the Indian people. He was a very trustworthy man and the native people gained a huge trust in him. They were able to trade freely and it opened other doors for the church. Jacob Hamblin, his second wife, and his children (with his 1st wife) didn't remain in the area long before he was also called to go into other southern parts of Utah, into Arizona and New Mexico. I gained a testimony of the prophet calling the right people to the right places-where they needed to be.

We wanted to go to the Mountain Meadows Massacre area and become a little educated on it too. We took a different road. It was far off from the way home and added some time to the trip. We first went up a little trail on a large hill and it showed the valley below. They called it the Spanish Trail/California Road in this time. In reading little about it, I was disappointed in a people who were motivated by fear instead of inspired to do what they did.

This is the view from the hill at the place where the massacre actually started.

Another picture of the site but in actual distance and showing the valley below.

I don't know if you can make this bigger but if you can read it, do. It's a very brief and detail-lacking account. But it helps to educate as well.

We drove down to the massacre site and saw the memorial there.

Hyrum and I believe that that this is the piled rock that was used on one of the first memorials built. It was later dug up and remade.

This plaque explains the history of the monuments that have been erected for the memorial. The families of the guilty have put forth means to make sure that memorial is made for those lives lost and families destroyed.

This shows the meadows. It was actually a pretty area.

We got back on the road to head home but made a stop half way at Cove Fort. There really is nothing out there except for this. It was constructed to provide shelter for all the commuters going North at that time. There never has been enough water source there to support it and now it does not function as it did.

The tree we are next to is original and huge. I could imagine the kids climbing it's branches.

This is a "mormon couch." We saw many like it in the places we went to. This one was draped with buffalo hide.

This was the kitchen and dining area for those who lodged at Cove Fort. Meals were 35 cents. Half a bed was 25 cents/night to sleep in. They didn't know who they were going to sleep next to. Spouses were split up since more people could be lodged that way. There 1 mens and 1 womens rooms and a room for Brigham Young if he was passing through. If he was not there it could be used for other guests.

Livvy just left the big doors. It was a lot cooler there than it was in St. George so none of us were dressed appropriate for the climate. This picture shows the big doors and opening into the Fort.

This shows how big the fort doors are.

The big walls were erected to protect from potential danger from the native Americans. As it was, there never was danger or potential for it. The local Chief was actually a member of the church.

Pooped from all the traveling and taking a nap. She was not the only one, if you can see in back of her, everyone in the back seat was asleep too.

It was such a fun trip for all of us and so hard to come back. I am grateful for those times that we have to make memories and have fun. So, that about sums up this trip.

*Some of my stories may not be be perfectly correct, due to forgetfulness.*