Our Trip to Idaho!

Holy sweet merciful heavens to Betsy - what a loooooong drive!! It was totally worth it. Here it is - the good, the bad, and the ugly of our drive. There are lots of good things about driving from Texas to Idaho. Money is saved. There are no embarrassing meltdowns on an airplane. The music can be turned up SUPER loud! The best things about our drive were THE KIDS. Both mine and Nicole's kids were great little travelers. Here they are at the very last stop we made on the way home. They look like little orphans - very sweet little orphans! Poor, half-naked Brenan. I forgot to change his diaper that morning before we left so by the time we stopped for lunch he was sopping wet. Poor little guy! I'm not a very good mom when I have the stomach flu!Which brings me to the BAD part of the drive. Nicole and I made quite the pair! She had a bruised (or broken!) tailbone and was hurting all over for the drive home and I had the stomach flu on our last traveling day. SO, the BAD of the drive was hurting bodies and throwing up in soda cups. Not fun. =)

New Mexico - The Land of Enchantment - takes the cake for the ugly part of our trip! Miles and miles of nothing but flat, brown earth and dry shrubbery. We took a different route home and it was much better. I'll never drive up the 281 through New Mexico again! It kind of look liked this - only worse. =)
I was a happy camper when we finally made it to Rexburg! Being with my family is such fun. Were a quirky bunch - but we have a good time! On Sunday we celebrated Logan's first birthday! This past year has FLOWN by! When Logan was born last year we were in AZ for Jordan and Marshall's wedding! Here he is, on his berfday!
On Monday we went shopping! We shopped till we dropped - actually until we ran out of stores. There aren't many options in Rexburg. BUT, they do have my favorite store ever. Maurices...how I love you. We went to a little place that sold handmade things and got ourselves all worked up about how much they were charging! SO, we decided we could make everything in the store ourselves. We went and bought stuff to make flower headbands and had a grand time putting those together. =) That night we played mafia and Curses. I smile every time I think of Brittney saying "you're always after me lucky charms!". =) Kensi was on the receiving end of a wet willy after she lied like a pro in Mafia. =) We tackled her and she was SHRIEKING and KICKING and making all sorts of noise. Well, one of the babies got my phone and dialed one of the ladies I visit teach. She heard Kensi screaming for a whole minute. I'm pretty sure she thought it was me being murdered or something! Good times. =) AND Brenan made friends with Grandpa!

On Tuesday we played the ugly face game. Kelyn has a few incredibly ugly pictures on her camera but she hasn't sent them to me yet so we will just have to vote on the few I have. Who do you think makes the ugliest face?

Joseph

Brittanie

Kensi
or Alyssa?Ugly faces in a group:

Dying laughing at ourselves because we are hilarious. =)

Okay, to help you get those images out of your head here is a cute one of us at the movie theater on our girls night/mini-bachelorette party for Amber! We went and saw When in Rome and it was oh so cute. =)
When it was over we danced in the front. Now that I know how much fun it is to do that I don't think I'll ever be able to see a movie on a girl's night out and NOT dance. I just don't get many opportunities to show off my sweet moves! It was awesome! =) Here we are in all of our glory!Thursday was a special day. Amber went through the Temple for the first time. Every time I looked at her I got teary eyed. It's crazy watching my little sisters grow up!

I'll tell you what isn't cool. Getting the giggles in the Temple. Not cool.

That night there was a lovely dinner for Amber and Kasey. The picture I took of them got messed up so you will have to wait until the wedding day part of the post to see the two of them and all of their cuteness! Here is one of mom and Amber:

Alyssa and Isaac:

Tessa and Addison:

Annie and Aron (how fun that we got to see them too!):

My sweet baby boy (the one time he was happy the whole night!):
Cute Kes:
And then I was chasing after Bren so I didn't get any more pictures. It was such a nice dinner. We watched their video and it was so fun to see pictures of them when they were little! I felt such tenderness for Amber as I remembered her as the little 9 (or was she 10?!) year old girl that I met in the Target parking lot for the first time. She was so sweet and linked her arm in mine and I knew that we would all be okay as a combined family. She and Kasey are just perfect for each other. Everyone had such amazing things to say about them. We are so happy to have Kasey in the family. =)
After the dinner we posed by the sister gift at Amber's apartment. We had so much fun!

Here is Kasey and Amber on their wedding day - don't they look fabulous? Look at them! Aren't they adorable? I love how they are ALWAYS laughing!

Anika didn't feel very good so she was not a happy camper while she waited outside!

Snuggling with their aunties:

The reception was great fun - especially after we dropped our kids off at home and then came back! We got to show off our dancing skills again! It was a blast dancing to Jay Sean's Down in my high heels! How cool did I feel?! Haha - actually I felt like a dweeb but had a blast anyway! We snapped a few pictures before the reception got under way. I only got whoever happened to be by me - I'm sad that a few of my siblings aren't in any of them!

Amber and Keslie:

Amber and Anika:
Me with the newlyweds! Kasey was laughing at a joke Amber's grandpa had just told!

Kensi, me, Joseph, Kelyn and Tessa:

Our special "sister rings"

Hannah and Kensi (and Aron peaking over the top!):

A picture of the newlyweds with the grandkids. Do you see Brenan? He is such a people person and just LOVES the camera! Haha!

Mom and Dad:Brenan and Me:
The beauty queens of America - Alyssa, Tessa, and Kensi:

Kelyn and Logan
Alyssa and Amber:
Joseph, Me, and Brenan:
Keslie, Alyssa, Me, and Brenan (sort of):
Keslie, Alyssa, Hannah, Kelyn, Logan, and Tessa:
On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa took pictures with the grandkids and then took them to The Dollar Tree for a treat. I found my Dad carrying Logan around in this shopping basket! He cracks me up!

Brenan bonded with his uncles. He LOVED Brandon and would chase after him and Brandon would grab him and throw him in the air. It was so cute!

Here he is with Uncle Joseph:

and playing with Uncle Brandon:
And here are a few pics of us on the last day. We had a blissful time! I was happy to come home and to see my husband but I'm so glad I was able to go and see Amber and Kasey be married and to spend so much quality time with my family. =)