Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

New York


I was so excited when I realized that I could go to New York this summer to visit my mom's side of the family. I was even more excited when my brother in law consented to let me steal Lauren and Kent to come with me for a weekend. My mom was planning to be there for two weeks, so we decided to join her for my cousin Amy's graduation party and my cousin Katy's bridal shower. 

I haven't been on a plane in four years. The last time was when I came back from Korea to the US. So I was so excited get to fly again. We left on Thursday morning and caught our flight. We first flew to Denver, then to Washington DC, then to our destination in Syracuse, NY. 

We looked up all the tips to traveling with an almost 2 year old and I think he did very well. He was entertained by the take off and landing. He sat with his momma very well. He loved when they passed out juice. And on our flight to DC, which was the longest flight, he slept for two hours. Victory!

Our second flight, to DC, ended up a little bit late and we had a half hour to run (almost literally) to the other side of the airport and make our next flight. We had a strolled for the little guy and had to take elevators, because apparently, who ever designed this airport decided it would be awesome to make all flights arrive on one side of the airport and depart on the opposite side, while making you go up and down repeatedly to get there. We literally went on like 8 elevators, and some how made it to the flight with maybe 5 minutes to spare. I'm glad our luggage made it too. By the time we got to Syracuse we were exhausted. 

My uncle David gave us a ride out to our grandma's house where we were staying. He's such a nice guy. We had fun hearing about his job, the country side, and how you would see and hit deer with your car all the time if you lived out that way.
Aunt Betty and Grandma

Grandma's House

We made it to grandma's and promptly got ready for bed. It was 12am their time and 10pm ours, but we were tired.





Little guy woke up every morning around 7. The sun likes to shine bright, even though it was only 5am our time. We woke up friday morning and ate breakfast Dunkin' Donuts style and got ready to go for the day. We visited my Grandpa Amos's grave. Then we decided to make the ride to the Sacred Grove and to Hill Cumorah, very special places to our church's history. We had been there before, but we were pretty young and didn't remember much, so we were excited to go again.

Lowy took a bite of everyone's donuts
We went to the visitor center for the Hill Cumorah and then drove up the hill to the monument and took a few pictures. It was so beautiful and green there. We drove down the road a little ways to the Sacred Grove and to the Farm House that Joseph Smith and his family lived at during the time of the first vision and him growing up. Such a humble house and a sweet feeling standing where the family had lived. We walked around with a missionary who told us about the history and then she left us to have time in the Grove to walk around and take in the beauty.




I recited the first vision for my family in Korean. I would have done it in English, but I know it better in Korean. :) It was great to be there knowing what I know about the church and how much God loves us. It was a special moment. We walked around and were happy. It was beautiful.



We went home that night and ate dinner at my Aunt Donna's house. My grandma, Great Aunt Betty, my Cousin Patrick and his wife and son, and Aunt Beth and Cousin Emily and her boyfriend joined us. It was fun seeing people I hadn't seen in 12 years! I can't believe it had been that long. Kent liked seeing their tractors and running down the hill. Their house is on a beautiful piece of land. It's so green. The whole town is just gorgeous. 




We usually went to sleep around 10 o'clock and got up at 7. Saturday morning we went to a farmer's market in town by Colgate College. It was really fun to walk around and see all the different booths and things for sale. We saw some Amish people. That was a first. It was interesting to me to notice the differences between a market in New York and a market in Utah. In Utah there would have been gaggles of children and strollers and a lot of very well dressed mom's toting a couple children each to the boutiques with baby onesies and hair bows and baby bracelets. In New York, there were only a handful of children, no baby bracelets or onesie shops, and a lot more different people. It was refreshing to be somewhere different. I think sometimes its just good to get outside of Utah and just experience a different group of people and town.






We played with Parker at a park for a little bit and then headed back to Grandma's and then hit the road to Aunt Phyllis's house. It was an hour and a half ride through little towns with pretty houses. We ended up counting how many cemeteries we passed. We passed 13 of them! Woah! Lots of dead people.












Amy's party was nice. She's gorgeous. We had fun talking and seeing family that we hadn't seen for 12 years. We ate some yummy food and had fun chasing Kent all over the yard and trying to convince him to stay in the back yard and not run out into the street. It was a hot day, so we got tired after the party. We left and headed back to Grandma's house.

Before going home we ate dinner at a restaurant called VJ's and got a couple pizzas and ate way too much. It was so good. We ended up eating it for the next few days too. 

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to make the trip back to Phyllis's house to attend Katy's bridal shower. We got ready and decided to leave early because the house was getting hot. We Utahans are not used to any kind of humidity. We made it to the party and got to talk with our family again. I really enjoyed being with them. I wish we lived closer and I hope I can visit more often. The party was hot again, but we at good food again, played some fun games and watched Katy open her presents. Lauren chased Kent for the first half of the party and I chased him for the last half. That kid is so cute and so active. All over the place. 

We drove home after taking a bunch of pictures together and headed up to Donna and David's house for a bon fire. The fire was HUGE and it was so hot to sit anywhere near it. We ended up having to back up our chairs quite a bit away, but it was very nice sitting there watching the fire roar against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside. 

We went to sleep that night with fans on us and slept pretty well.

On Monday we packed up our stuff and got ready to go to the airport for our 12:30 flight. We stopped for some bagels and to see a few shops and then made it to the airport and checked our bags and waited for our flight. 

Our flight was delayed with no definite idea of when it would actually leave. The east coast was having thunderstorms all over and it was really frustrating waiting with a screaming child. Luckily he found some kids to entertain him and chase him all over, so that saved us. Finally, after 6 hours of waiting, we figured out that we could no longer make our connecting flight and would end up being stuck in Washington DC if we went out that night. So I opted to have us stay an extra day and leave on Tuesday instead. So we called Mom and she picked us up. We ate some dinner and returned to Grandma's house for the night.

Tuesday morning we tried again. We made it to the airport and found out our flight was delayed again, but it ended up only leaving a half hour late. We finally got into the plane and left New York, heading to Chicago. When we walked into the Chicago airport there were SO many seas of people. It was crazy. We ate at the Chili's restaurant at the airport and had a big lunch. Then We found a little kiddie play place that totally saved us, and Kent played for two hours. Our flight to SLC was changed quite a few times. At first just the terminal, then it kept getting pushed back an hour and another hour until it was 3 hours delayed and we had again spent 5 to 6 hours waiting around for this flight. When we got on that last play I could have clicked my heals, I was so excited to be done with traveling. Three hours later we were in SLC and were able to find our luggage from the day previously and head home!

It was a long trip back home, but the trip was great and we had such a good weekend. Little buddy did so well on the plane. And Lauren did well too. (Being pregnant and having a kid sit on her lap was  interesting at times.) 
I'm glad we're back. I'm glad Kent isn't going to scratch me with his razor toe nails anymore. But it was fun and I'm so glad to have seen everyone!

I have lots more pictures, but it's a pain putting them up. But rest assured, Aunt Beth, you're making the book this year! ;)


Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Sacred Grove


On Friday, June 21st, I visited the Sacred Grove with my mom, my sister, and my nephew.

The first time I visited the Sacred Grove was when I was 14 years old. The same age that Joseph Smith was when he went into the grove to pray and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. 

I've thought back on my experience quite a bit through the last 12 years. I had always wished that it had meant more to me. I remember walking around the trees and thinking, "Wow, God was here once." It was beautiful and so peaceful, and you can't help but whisper when you're walking around because you can just feel the sacredness of the spot. I didn't have any big spiritual experience, I didn't cry, I didn't sit and ponder life. It was a really good experience, don't get me wrong, but part of me always thought that I should have had a bigger spiritual experience. 

As I grew up and learned, my testimony of this church has formed and it's changed my life. So many life experiences have taught me that God loves everyone of us, Jesus Christ did live and died for us and lives again, the true church was restored on this earth through his prophet, Joseph Smith, and we continue to have prophets and apostles on this earth to lead us just as in Bible times. I know these things because of life and experiences I've had.

When I was a missionary in Korea I spent every day teaching these truths to people in a foreign language, trying so hard to convey my love for the gospel to God's children. I always thought that if I could revisit the Sacred Grove, this time I would feel everything I wanted to feel that first time and it would be the most amazing experience of my life.

So, on Friday, June 21st, as we pulled up to the Sacred Grove and walked into the trees, I thought for sure a spiritual awakening would fall on me like a ton of bricks and I would be so overcome with everything that maybe I'd cry or something. 

But as I walked through I felt the same feelings I felt when I was younger. "Wow, God was here once." The beauty and peace that was there was overwhelming. We whispered the entire time we were walking through. It was so quiet that we could hear the birds singing and the breeze blowing the leaves on the trees. There were pretty butterflies. It was like the whole grove knew that it was a sacred spot and even the trees were grateful that they were able to grow on that soil. 



We took pictures of "pillars of light." I even recited the "First Vision" in Korean for my family. I always wanted to do that since I memorized that in the MTC. We smiled as we watched youth groups studying their scriptures and writing in their journals. It was perfectly peaceful.



I didn't have that huge spiritual downpour of enlightenment that I thought would come. But it was just like the first time I read the Book of Mormon. When I got down on my knees and asked God if the book was true, before I could even listen for an answer I felt my answer. I felt, "You KNOW it's true Mindy. Why do you even need to ask?" 

So as I walked into the Grove and started to ask God for the affirmation of the truth of the First Vision, instead of the emotional spiritual experience I was looking for, I just felt it. I felt, "You KNOW it's true Mindy. You don't need anything more."



I didn't have a huge spiritual experience, but as I've learned throughout life, I didn't need a huge experience to solidify what I already knew to be true. Because I already know it! I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that he helped bring the restored church to the earth. I've known this since before I was 14 and before I was a missionary and before I walked in the sacred grove a few days ago. I knew this all to be true. 

I think more than anything I just felt so grateful to know all of this. To really KNOW all of this and not just believe it or think it might be true. But to know and to live life with this knowledge and comfort of God's plan for me and for everyone. 

I'm so glad we were able to visit the Sacred Grove. If anything, it just helped me remember what I know because of Joseph Smith's first vision and how incredible it is that because of that one event, I am able to be with my family for eternity and once again live with God again.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Summer Adventures Part One


I haven't really blogged lately.
I've been having a great summer so far. In fact, the other day I realized that it was almost July and I kind of got a little bit of anxiety realizing that the summer is going really fast and that it will be over before I know it! Luckily I've been doing some fun things!

Annalie and I went to the redwood forest. Luckily I wrote about that trip. I would have forgotten a lot about that. I finally am able to add pictures so here's a few.









I went camping with Lynsie, Annalie, Brittni, and her dogs in Southern Utah the last weekend of April. We went to Sand Hallow Reservoir and had a blast. We tried out my huge new tent, spent some quality time in the sun, and played in the water. I was still in the throws of my stress fracture, and my right leg started swelling quite a bit during the trip. That was unfortunate. But we had fun. We had camp fires, we played some games, and had a good time being friends again. We went in my baby little car and somehow we fit everything in the car. It was quite the Tetris game, but we did it. I am so glad Lynsie and Brittni came. I love them so so much.



I went fishing with my brother and brother in law on memorial day. We woke up at 5:30 and were out on the water from 6 until 2 or so. We fished at a park in Highland, at Vivian park at the handicapped park, and then at Deer Creek. They caught two fish at Vivian park and nothing else. But I had fun reading and floating on my boat for a while. I sure love being in the sun.

I had 10 days off at the end of May. I was originally planning on attending a wedding that week, but it was postponed, so I had a bunch of time off. I ended up going to Bryce Canyon National Park with my mom and my dad. We camped for two nights, spent time by the fire, in the little lake on my boat, and trying to warm up in our tent because it got pretty cold. My dad ran in a race. It was a fun weekend. The campsite we were at was perfect. Hardly any people, forest, by a lake, and peaceful. I would definitely go back again.


My latest adventure was to New York to visit my mom's side of the family. I'll write about that one in more detail. I was excited to go on an airplane somewhere. I went with my sister and her little son to meet up with my mom. Super fun times.

I can't believe that June is over in a few days. I still have a few things left on my summer to do list and I am really excited about doing them. I just hope summer lasts long enough to do them all!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mother's Day

A few days ago I went grocery shopping with my sister and her little boy. About three minutes in he started to fuss and whine about being in the cart so we let him walk along side. He was so happy for a while, laughing when he would run in circles, touching the cold freezers, running up ahead and then getting scared when he realized he had wandered from mom. 
Eventually he started screaming for no apparent reason. The look of embarrassment on my sister's face when she realized that she was "that mom" with that screaming kid in the store was priceless. I just smiled, knowing in a few months she will have yet another screaming child.
I hope she realizes what an amazing mom she is. She didn't yell, didn't hit, and didn't lose control. A few lookers on gave us strange looks. But I also hope she recognized the look of jealousy she got from the cashier. The cashier kept saying things like, "These are the best days." And although I'm sure Lauren took it sarcastically, I really think that the lady meant it. She looked longingly at Lauren's stage of life and smiled.
 Yes, it's exhausting, the kid can get annoying, and it seems ridiculous that a trip to the store turns into a full on world war 3, but I admire my sister. She's a fantastic mom. 

The other day I went to the park with my sister in law and her two adorable handfuls. First off, I admire the skill it takes to get two kids to the park almost everyday to play. Her little boy is full of life and energy and climbs on everything in the jungle gym. Her tiny little girl walks all over the place. It's nearly running for how fast she goes. It's hard to keep up!
There came a point when little buddy started flinging bark chips and sister started copying him. Natalie took him aside for a time out to teach him that he couldn't do those things. He wailed and hollered and then was given permission to play again and he went right back to flinging those bark chips. Over and over again Natalie patiently took him aside and through his crying explained why he couldn't do it. 
My favorite part was when he got up, checked to see if mom was looking, and then started flinging the chips again. His mom said, "Camden!" His eyes got huge and he started sprinting up the play place. 
I laughed. He's so cute. I can't begin to tell you how patient of a mother I think she is. I'm sure sometimes she wonders if the time out thing is worth it or if explaining things to him will really make a difference, but she never gives up trying. She's amazing.

I'm always amazed at my mother. There is not a more selfless person on the planet in my eyes. She'd give up anything and everything for all of us. 
I thought this week about how my mother has a personal relationship with each of her children. She has 6 of us, and I'm sure we all secretly feel like we're her favorite. (Even though we joke that Jon is the golden child.)
Last week, my mom made it a point to go to dinner with Kevin and Davy, all the way in Orem. She spends countless hours with me and my sister, jumps at the chance to babysit her grand kids, and tries her hardest to help my younger brothers get a life. 
She's willing to revolve her life around Connor's schedule, shares cars, loses sleep over us, and prays for us. 
She's the best mom in the world, and I'm so lucky she's mine.

I'm so grateful for the examples of motherhood I have in my life. I hope that if I ever have children, I can be a little bit as amazing as these three are.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Family Trip


Well, now that It's been a few months, I thought I'd tell y'all about my family trip to Santa Cruz/San Francisco!
 

We talked my dad into renting a van for the occasion, the best idea we had. Mom, Dad, Ryan, Connor, and I were in the van and riding in style. I got the back seat. Captains chairs, in the middle, went to the boys. We started out driving on Tuesday in the morning and drove to Reno.
I actually read a book on the way. Chronicles of Narnia. Quite an accomplishment for me since I hate reading.



At first glance this picture is adorable.
But what really happened was that
Dad wanted to hold the Old Lady's
hand while crossing the street.
We got to Reno, and quickly figured out that unless you were there to get drunk or gamble, there was not much to do there. We walked around a little bit. Met up with family, ate dinner at a buffet, and got our rooms at Harrah's. Lowy, Kevin, Jon, and little Kent met up with us late that night. I got to share a room with Lowy, Jon, and Kent. Jon likes to sleep in his underwear and yell "Mindy, don't look!!" haha.
We got up, got ready, and went to Denny's for breakfast as a family. So much fun. I have the best family in the world.
We got back in the car and drove on to California. Ryan drove for part of it and didn't even kill us.
One of the funniest parts of driving was how fancy our van was. Two tvs, plugs for an X-box, dvd player, satellite radio. Lots of buttons and fancy things. Well, at one point we were driving in front of Lauren and Jon and my dad says, "Should I deploy the tacks?" As he reaches for a button, my mom says, "Don't! There's a baby in there!" We erupted in laughter for a long long time.
We made it to Santa Cruz and drove to our KOA cabin.
Our first view of the beach.
That cabin was made for 6 people to stay in it. And even that was pushing it. Of course, there were 9 of us! It was interesting, to say the least, to fit us all in there when we didn't have all of the beds out.
The bathroom was as big as
this mirror. True story.
We met up with family and tried to make some plans for the next few days. We drove down to the beach and got to play in the sand and watch the ocean for a little while.
I love the ocean. There is something so peaceful and calming about it. The sand is nice and soft and warm, the ocean makes soothing noises, the waves lap against you. The water was freezing! But we ran around and Kent got his first experience with the sand. He loved it.
We went back, ate dinner, and made a campfire.



Dad and Kevin had a "jiffy pop"
competition. Kevin won.
So cute.
Something I totally love about our family is that we all have gotten to the point where we like to go to sleep early, around 9pm, and wake up early. Around 6. It was great that we all ran on the same internal clock.
Mom and Dad got the master bed, Lowy and Jon were on the fold out bed, and kevin and ryan got the bunkbeds. Connor and I had air mattresses on the floor, underneath the kitchen table. We had to move some chairs outside to make room for us.
We found out really soon just how severe Connor's snoring problem has gotten. It was awful. We were miserable trying to get to sleep. Around 11 or so, Jon got up out of bed, told Lauren he was going to sleep in the car, and as he was leaving he said, "Connor, you suck!" SO funny.
We did get some sleep. Connor said he slept really well. We gave him a really hard time about it all day. We kept saying, "Every time I yawn today, Connor, I'm going to hit you!" We ended up taking a vote and he spent the next two nights sleeping in the car. Mom and Dad were a little mad that we banished him like that, but we did not feel bad one bit. He snores like crazy.
The next day was our Santa Cruz day. We spent the morning taking a ride on a train through the redwoods. It wwas a lot of fun. I love spending time with my family. Most of my cousins and aunts and uncles got into the caboose of the train. We were funny and loud. It was a pretty ride. At some points the train would go really slow and we thought we were going to get stuck on the hills, but it went well.
We drove down to the boardwalk afterwards and put on our swimsuits and played at the beach. The water was freezing cold, but it looked like too much fun, so me, Ryan, and Connor went into the water and played for a long while. We eventually got out and ended up burying Connor, Ryan, and Jon in the sand. Kent had a blast crawling all over the sand and playing.
After playing and getting some sun, we walked along the shops at the boardwalk. I bought a sweatshirt. We ate deep fried oreos and twinkies.
We went back to the KOA and went into the pool for a while to wash out some of the sand we had up in our crevices. Haha. We took showers, had another fire, and spent a while with our cousins talking and laughing about the gipsies that were in a campsite up the hill. "Gipsied!" was the quote of the trip, said by Kevin. Our cousins got a kick out of that. They also got a kick out of how the Crocketts turned in for the night at 9 again.
Friday was San Francisco day! The day we had planned months before and were so stoked about. We left the KOA and drove up to the city for a few hours. Ryan drove like a champ. We made it to the city and eventually found this shady parking garage. (Oh yeah, we didn't have enough seats for everyone, so we made Connor lay down in the trunk of the van! hahaha.) The parking garage was full, but the attendant let us park, telling us to leave the keys so he could move it out of the way of other cars if he needed to. It sounded a little weird, but they do that in Korea all the time, so we did it. Ryan accidentally made the car alarm go off in the garage. Talk about LOUD! ha. We left the garage and walked to the pier.
ALCATRAZ was next! Oh my goodness, I still can't get over how amazing of an experience Alcatraz was. Quite possibly the best thing I've ever seen. Riding the boat over was fun. It was a cold morning, so we were all sporting our sweaters and jackets. We made it to the island and after a brief orientation, we walked up to the cell house and got our walkmans for the audio tour.
It was amazing. It was so awesome to see where prisoners so many years ago lived. And I guess I've never really known anything about prisons, so to be able to see it first hand and imagine what it must have been like was incredible. I loved the stories of the inmates and the escape attempts. I loved seeing the bullet holes in the ground and the pictures of the scary people. I loved walking into the cells and imagining the loneliness of solitary confinement. The tour led us all over the cell blocks and outside to the exercise yard and up to the cafeteria. My family loved it all as well. Kevin said, "Don't you kind of want to root for the prisoners and want them to escape?" So true. It was such a neat experience.
We walked around a little bit more and then headed back to San Francisco on the boat.
Hunger struck. We took out our little map and decided to go up to Pier 39 and fisherman's wharf to find some food. We ended up eating at this amazing little place with some great chowder and sourdough bread bowls. So yummy. We then decided to make the trek to Ghiradelli square so we could get some chocolate. We just didn't really realize how far of a walk that would be.
We saw some pretty cool stuff on the way. A guy painted gold like a statue, street performers, bands, weirdos, markets. I love walking in the city with tons of people. Reminds me of Korea.
We finally made it after walking for what seemed like forever. The shop was PACKED with people. We each ordered an icecream and waited. It was delish. Kevin wanted to steal the cups they came in. But we didn't. We walked on a back street back to the parking garage. Grand total was 4 miles walked. Doesn't sound too bad unless you add in that we had a baby (or two....) in the group.
Our car was there and not stolen! Jon drove us home. I got to say, I don't know how anyone did vacations without google maps on a smart phone. I gave directions the entire trip to all of the drivers, even my dad. We did use the map that Mom insisted on buying and bringing a time or two, but my good old iPhone saved us.
Packed car. Connor in the trunk! Ha.
We got home that night and ate a family dinner with all of the extended family. I smiled and nodded like I could relate when my cousins talked about their kids and husbands. And I talked with the younger cousins who are still single and haven't popped out a kid yet. And it was fun. We took a few pictures, and then, in good old Crockett fashion, we were in bed around 9 or so.
Saturday morning we woke up and had to watch Lowy, Jon, Kevin, and Kent pack up. It was sad to see them go. We still had a lot of fun without them, but it would have been way more fun if they stuck around too.
The rest of us decided to go berry picking at a local field. It was a cold and overcast morning. I think I wore a long skirt and a sweatshirt. COLD. We picked blackberries and strawberries. I think we would have picked for hours and hours had we not had to have paid for what we picked. It was fun to pick them and they tasted AMAZING! We stopped by the shop and had some strawberry rhubarb pie. That was also amazing.
After that, we made our way to the beach to get in some more hours of quality beach time. It was still really cold and muggy out when we got there. I spent a good deal of time just digging and looking for shells. Cousin Jenny came with us too. She and Ryan took a nap. Connor and I ended up taking a long walk on the beach. It was so peaceful.
THEN the sun came out! And all of a sudden the beach and the waves and the water were so irresistible! We walked back to our spot quickly and run up to the car to grab our suits and suit up!
Ryan, Connor, and I then entered the (FREEZING COLD) water and stayed there for about 3 hours. It felt like 15 minutes! It was a blast. We had a boogie board and after that broke (ha) we body surfed the waves, yelling and screaming! Our favorite thing to say was "SHEE-HAW!" Don't ask. Also, my personal favorite, "Son of a beach!" haha.
We yelled and screamed and ate a bunch of sand and salt water and finally decided to get out. We packed up our stuff and left the beach. What a wonderful day.
Sunburned.
We snuck back into the KOA we were at and hurried to use the gipsies' showers. That was nice to be able to shower. We got back in the car and drove a few hours to Stockton and stayed the night there. On the way we stopped at the Garlic fest and had some pizza at a local joint. It was amazing pizza. Cloves of garlic on the pizza. YUM.
As we sat, waterlogged and tired in our hotel room that night, Ryan and I started to prank call Mom and Dad's room. Then Ryan ordered a chocolate shake. And Dad said, "Sure." and gave us his credit card to go out and find some chocolate shakes! Woot woot! We got some at burger king.
After a Sunday morning continental breakfast, we headed back into the car and drove over to Yosemite National Park. It was crowded. And hot. And we were sun burned. I'm sure Dad wasn't too happy that we were all just lazy and tired and didn't want to do much. He was willing to let us rent horses or go hike or go on a boat or something. But we were lame. We did stop at a gorgeous lake and sat there having lunch. Dad kept daring Ryan to swim out to the middle of the lake and tell a "Columbus" joke to them. (What bus killed thousands of native Americans? Columbus.) Ha.
I ended up having to pee, so we had to leave the lake and drive on.
Mom and Dad and Half Dome
We drove for what seemed like forever and almost stopped at a super creepy town for the night. Instead, we kept driving and stayed in Eli, NV. Quite an interesting place too.
Monday morning we got up and drove home. Good times.

Took this by using the timer on Mom's
camera. Impressive.













This trip was so fun. SO FUN. I loved almost every moment of it. (I did not like Connor's snoring.)







Dad and Ryan, in adjoining hotel rooms,
doing the same thing. 


I love my family. All of them. I have the best parents ever, the funnest siblings. They were the best part of this trip. The only thing missing from this perfect trip was Davy, Nat, Camden, and Alli. Other than that, perfect! Loved it.