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.