3,850 Miles

Summer vacation 2012:

7 states

2 Canadian provinces

3,850 miles

13 days

9 different sleeping locations

Eating 5,000 calories per day

Staying up late visiting with family and friends

Then getting up early to drive to our next great adventure!

Pretend we have the signs for Washington and Oregon.

 A very cool volcano in the middle of Oregon.  Carly was afraid the whole time we were there that the volcano was going to erupt any minute.

 The Semon family in their piece of dirt that will become their house by Christmas.  We got to see their beautiful house they are renting - I mean they are squatters in:)  Hanna didn't give up until she charmed Ella into liking her. Ella doesn't love just anyone.  Thanks to Aunt Sharon for the cute travel treat bags! We told everyone the rest of the trip what a nice place Medford is.

Nunns at the Medford, Oregon Temple

 On to California with a tour of the Redwood Forest and lunch at the beach.

Next to visit Grandpa Rod and Grandma Sharon in Napa, California

This is the winery where Grandma Sharon works as a hostess/tour guide.  It is a beautiful place.  We had a special tour, even though we don't know anything about wine.

A day in San Francisco

Carly with Nemo and Dorie

This is my Grandpa Rod, my Dad's Dad.  He turned 89 on July 5.  He is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and although he didn't totally knew who we were, he still has a sense of humor.  He liked to just sit and watch us while we were at his house.  When it was time for us to leave, he said, "I wish you didn't have to go."  I asked him for his words of advice for us...

Be Good and Do the Right Thing.

Luckily the timing worked out for us to be in Logan for the sealing of Jameson to Hilary and Adam.  Hilary is my quality roommate from college.  Jameson's adoption was final the morning of the sealing.  All of my cool roommates were able to come to the temple.  We haven't all been together since our trip to Hawaii 2 years ago.  We were roommates at Utah State University 17 years ago.

A visit to Grandpa Reeve, my Mom's Dad.  He knew all of our names.  We helped him fix his cell phone and his squeaky recliner.  He is a good grandpa.  His words of advice...

Be Good.

Some pre-family reunion visiting with my sisters.  We got to meet Rachelle's 3 foster kids for the first time.  They are great!

Carly loves to hold Lola, Jeanette's cute baby.

Brigham City Temple - The open house starts in a couple weeks.

Our adopted grandparents, Steve and Karma Albiston.

Waite Family Fun Days
Raft River, Idaho
A family who has a beautiful home and yard in the middle of their farmland has set up a great place that they let families and friends come to play on.  They have 2 water slides, a zip line, volleyball nets, sandbox, etc.  It was a good fun time.

 I wish I had a picture of the Thousand Pounds of Fun.  All of the brother-in-laws and my brother went down the water slide at the same time on one tube.  Luckily no one even got hurt.  They tried another stunt with putting Austin and Matt and 12 kids on a tube at the same time.  Their speed was a little faster than they expected so they did hit the end barrier and people went flying.  Again, no serious injuries.

We even got a little roping in with our friends, the Pitchfords, in Montpelier, Idaho.

Austin roping with Kade, our future son-in-law.   Just kidding, Jill.  Although  it would be a great match....

Welcome back to Cardston. less than an hour after a major hailstorm with baseball size hail that damaged hundreds of cars, houses, camp trailers, crops, etc.  We feel extremely blessed that it didn't damage our cars, Grandpa's trucks, or Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The white stuff on the road is hail.

The hail that was in our yard when we got home.  

Time to Catch Up

Before we begin our summer adventures, it is time to do an update.

We enjoyed a warm day in Taber watching Jill and Hanna play in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.  It was a fun day. The girls played hard.  Jill's team won 1st place and Hanna's team was 2nd.  

We sat in the rain for a few hours to watch a super fun Primary Stick Horse Rodeo.

 Hanna and Lucy were in swim club all of June.  They swam 4 days a week and learned a ton and got in really good shape.  They had fun at the swim meet on the last day of swim club.

Carly and Lucy watching Hanna swim.

Hanna wore a green swim cap so it was easy for us to pick her out of the crowd.

Austin's job at the swim meet... "Swimmers up. Swimmers take your mark. Bang."

Lucy wore orange goggles so it was easy to find her.

Jill got her braces off!!

We had a fun time at the Cardston Kids Marathon!

 

Enjoying a beautiful sunset....

 Jill received the Top Grade 7 Student Honors.  Good job, Jill.

 

 Austin, Jill and I ready to head out for our Moroni's Quest adventure of 4 days of camping and one of the most amazing spiritual experiences I have ever had.  More to come....
Thanks to Grandma Carol and Aunt Diana for coming to hang out with Lucy, Hanna and Carly.

Battle at the Bridge

Jill and Hanna both played in a basketball tournament this weekend in Lethbridge.
We watched 7 games this weekend. 
We love basketball!

 Jill's team won 1st Place!

 Hanna's team got 2nd Place in their age group. This was the first time most of these girls had ever really played a game.  They only had 3 practices, so they did pretty darn good.

Thanks to Coach Nunn! 

In Memory of Roxy

We were just leaving the school in Lethbridge after 5 basketball games that Jill and Hanna played in.  Our friend, Dixie, called and said that Roxy had been hit and killed on the highway.
Horrible news.
We came home and Austin buried her in the front of our house in the trees.
Hanna had a rough few days. I have never cried over a pet before.

Back to the beginning...
Hanna has always wanted every animal she saw...pigs, chickens, dogs, deer, bears, bearded dragons, etc.  She asked for a dog since she could talk and we kept waiting until we had our own house.  Finally, we had our own house in Hyrum and Austin promised Hanna a dog if she would read every day for 6 months.

Les found us a great dog in Wyoming.  Les brought us Roxy, a border collie, red heeler cross in May 2009.

Roxy was the best dog.
Her favorite thing in the whole world was to play fetch - with balls, sprinklers, snow falling, snow we were shoveling, etc.
She came and greeted us every time we went outside or got home.
Hanna tried to train her to be a sled dog. She would tie her up with a horse halter and tie her to the sled and then throw a ball so Roxy would go and get it.  Roxy only pulled until she got to the ball.
She loved kids and kids loved her.

We will miss her!

Lots of dogs have gotten hit living so close to the highway.  Also because we are on the highway, lots of people drive by - at least 6 people have commented to us that they saw a dog on the highway and wondered if it was ours that had been killed.

More Track and Field

Hanna's Track and Field at Westwind Divisonals in Raymond, Alberta:
1st place in 200 meters
3rd place in 100 meters
1st place in 4x100 relay - They even broke the record!

Hanna is in black with blue shorts on the right. She won this heat of the 100 meters.

Lucy also had a Grade 1 Track and Field Day.  It is a casual, fun day where all the kids participate in all of the events (50 meters, 100 meters, high jump, ball throw & long jump).

Lucy was one of the few kids who knew how to do the long jump. Thank goodness for watching big sisters!

Mrs. Romeril's Grade 1 Class