First of all I have been so busy with the drill team. I honestly didn't think it was going to take up this much of my time! I guess I better start in order so I don't confuse myself or anyone else.
ok... So Kyle and I got the opportunity to go to Lake Powell with his Uncle Paul and Aunt Nadine, their family, Kyle's parents and little sister and a few of the Craig Family friends. I have never been to Lake Powell and Kyle always talks about how it's probably one of his favorite vacations. Well honestly we had no plans for that vacation. One day Kyle's parents told us that they had gotten invited and Kyle was really bummed because we weren't. Well some plans changed and we were able to go! Kyle was so freakin' excited! He was like a little kid in a candy store! We were there the week of the 4th of July. I absolutely loved every second we were there! It's so beautiful and peaceful. It was so nice to not have to have any worries at all, no makeup, no getting in normal clothes (you wear your swimsuit all day long every day), no cellphone and most important NO WORK!! It also strengthend my testimony because of the beauty. Heavenly Father really does exisit and wants us to enjoy our lives by all the nature he puts around us. Also on the plus side we were stuck on a house boat with family even if we didn't want to. We got the chance to get to know Kyle's cousin's and their cute families. I can say that I absolutely love Kyle's cousin Michelle! She is such a crack up and seriously the best mom I have ever seen. I hope to be like her one day! We also got to know Paul and Nadine. I love those guys so much more because of the experience. They are the sweetest and most caring people ever. Anyway, I sort of learned how to Wakeboard! I wish I would have started at the beginning of the week so I could have mastered it but I was so scarred! Uncle Paul was patient enough to let me keep trying till I at least stood up for 10 seconds! Yay what a big accomplishment! Anyway, here are a few pics from that week of summer!
Next on the agenda was Drill Camp. We came home from Lake Powell on the 4th of July and I left for camp July 7. I took Berklee along so we didn't have to deal with a babysitter. Let me just tell you that I would never do that again! Not having Kyle there I felt like a single parent with no help whatsoever! Don't get me wrong I had a lot of fun being able to dance with the girls and spending time with my cousin who is the coach but it was just way to hard. It was definately a very long week and I couldn't wait to get back home to see Kyle! Sorry no pictures for that.
We were able to be home for the next couple weeks before we prepared to go to IOWA! I know you are all jealous... Kyle's sister and her husband live there. Kellen is going to medical school there and Mindy was due to have a baby on the 14th of August. So we went for a little bit of a vacation before the baby came. It was surprisingly fun! We flew into Omaha on thursday night.
Berklee's first airplane ride! She was the best baby anyone could ask for on a plane. She was so good at the airport and was entertaining a lot of people. When we boarded the plane she fell asleep! and slept the whole way there!
Friday the 7th Mindy drove to Omaha to meet us and to go to the zoo. It was an indoor zoo and really neat. Mine and Kyle's favorite part was the Bayou. It had a whole bunch a aligators and crocodiles.
After the zoo we went to Winter Quarters and got to learn about what the pioneers did while they were there.
We drove back to Iowa that night and went to one of Mindy and Kellen's favorite resturants. On Saturday we went to the Sweet Corn Festival. It's all you can eat corn for FREE! Since that's all there are in Iowa is corn field after corn field after corn field, I'm sure they weren't going to run out of corn. It was seriously the best corn I have ever had! On sunday we just went to church and there was a huge rain storm. The rain drop are so huge it's almost like a flash flood!
Monday we went to Nauvoo. I was looking forward to it pretty much the entire trip! I couldn't wait to learn about the prophet Joseph and his life. We started out by going to Carthage. What a beautiful place and such a strong spirit. It was such a neat experience to be where the prophet had been even though it was where he died. It made me gain even more respect for the pioneers. I definately could not have lived during that time!
After Carthage we headed to Nauvoo. We got the opportunity to go and do baptisms for the dead. The temple is so pretty inside! We weren't actually planning on it since we were only spending the day there and wanted to see other stuff but who wouldn't jump on the chance to go to the temple! It was such an amazing feeling! I honestly couldn't imagine all the hard times and tribulation the saints went thru. To build such a beautiful temple and then have to leave it. It breaks my heart just to think about it. I know that the people we did the work for were so happy that day! After the temple we went and saw the different things there, the black smith shop, Joseph's, Hyrum's, thier parents, and Emma's grave sites. I really enjoyed that as well. We got to learn a lot about the different pioneers that had come thru that were very important. We also went to the place where the saints tried to cross the missouri river or mississippi river.. I can't remember which one it is but it was still cool!
I'll have to do another post about Nauvoo another day when I'm not trying to cram everything into one.
We went swimming one of the days to a cute little swimming pool area that had water slides and stuff for kids. Rykker had a blast! and Berklee absolutely loved being in the water and splashing! We didn't stay very long because there is only so much you can do with little kids. On Wednesday we went to a little Dutch town called Pella. It had a real working windmill that we took a tour of. It was a fun little adventure and a super cute town. We were all just so exhausted because it was super hot and it took us awhile to get there but was well worth the drive.
I'll give you all time to catch up on all of this update since it was kind of big and finish our Iowa trip soon! Don't get me wrong we are still super busy so there is a lot more to come!
