Float Preview

My parents invited us to go to the float preview for the Days of '47 parade. It was a lot of fun. The floats were pretty cool. This one was our favorite.

The float preview was much more that just seeing floats. There fun games, crafts and activities at each float station.

Total project mode

This is a familiar scene: a random stranger helping out Vienna. For just being able to speak in "uh's", she is very persuasive.

One of the crafts the girls made, a bracelet

We made sure to stop by Uncle Sam and Morgan's float. They had a space theme going on and some space helmets to try on

By far, the girls' favorite part of the evening was when the SLCC marching band came out and the girls got to march in a parade behind them.

Jordanelle Reservoir

A few days after I got back from my drive across the country, we went up to Jordanelle to put some miles on the new outdrive on the Greggor's boat with Jamey, Michelle, Jordan and Margaret.

The whole crew out on the lake minus Jordan.

All the kiddies.. along with my leg and Jordan's hunchback.

Captain Vienna!

Captain Cambry!

The girls didn't want to get all the way in the water because it was so cold. So Jamey was a good uncle and kicked with them on the back of the boat

Wells happily hanging out on the back too.

It was a good evening out on the lake.

The Drive

Our drive began at these great people's house, the Whites. We flew in to Raleigh Monday evening. Mike picked us up at the Airport and took us to the White's house where there was a delicious buffet of Hawaiian haystacks and so many great people there (the Nygaards, Meyers and John Pearson). Dinner was followed by Family Home Evening. I could feel the love in the room so much. I got a little teary-eyed to be honest (and I'm getting a little homesick for NC right now). We spent the night at the White's and left in the morning.

On the Road!

Richmond, VA

We stopped in one of Neal's old mission areas and ate lunch at one of his old favorite places to eat. It was delicious. 

Charleston, WV

Just across the Ohio River

We stopped in Colombus, OH that night and stayed with our Uncle John. We visited with him and our cousin, Shannon, and her family. It was good to see them. It was probably pretty close to 5 years since we had seen them.

We drove out to Nauvoo on Wednesday. It was beautiful and hot! 

We visited the Joseph Smith's red brick store.

In the upstairs of the red brick story was where some of the first temple ordinances were performed and the school of the prophets was held. Some many sacred things took place up here, you could just feel it. 

Classic, Neal getting sucked in by the books at the gift store. Ha!

We also saw the graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith.

We picked up this little hitchhiker along the way, poor butterfly.

Crossing the Mississippi, we're in the west now!

Jared and Jenn, our friends from North Carolina, moved out to Iowa. So, I took this road trip as a chance to visit them. It was so nice to see them.

 Jared, Jenn and I were chatting when we noticed the absence of the sing-song voice of Libby. We found her in the another room where she had roped Neal into reading her stories. What a good man!

We woke up early and were on the road by 5 AM and we drove until we got to SLC at 9 PM. We only stopped for gas. I wouldn't have made it without my Bro, Neal. He got us through West Virginia, Nebraska and part of Wyoming. Somehow, he wound up with the toughest parts of the drive. Thanks for keeping me company and sane in Wyoming, Bro!

The Rest of the FL Trip

We all woke up late on Sunday (except for Scott who delivered papers). After church, the girls had each of us take a turn telling stories. The story-teller would wear the crown and use the guitar from Chuck E. Cheese as the microphone. Here is Scott as the story-teller

Neal's turn

My turn.

We played some games after the stories. We played Doctor where Gabi, Caroline and Stella took turns curing me of my jumpy hands and wiggle lips. We did some dancing in the Kitchen. Caroline took this activity very seriously. I taught her a few dance moves (the little that I know). Her favorite was when I would twirl her out and on the way back in I would flip her. Gabi initially didn't want to flip, but after seeing Caroline and Stella do it a few times, she asked to do it. Still a little frightened, she let me flip her and loved it.

Neal with the whole crew minus Sandra and Ella

Me with the whole crew minus Sandra and Ella

And finally the newest member of the Sunshine Six Seven, Ella. She was just about a month old when we were there.

That evening, Sandra made a delicious dinner. We all chatted that evening. It was great to get to know Sandra better and visit with Scott.

After dinner, we played apples-to-apples with Isabelle and Sandra. We also played hide-n-seek with all of the girls. Isabelle knew all of the best hiding places and never got caught.

The next morning, we got all ready to go, but then got a phone call that our flight was cancelled. I frantically found some other flights that could get us to Raleigh that evening and it all worked out. This gave us some extra time with Scott and his family. While we were waiting to leave, the girls played "Jump" on the Wii. There was only one controller, but all of them played. Isabelle would control game, but Caroline, Gabi and Stella would run and jump along with the guy on the screen. It was great.

After that, we said our good-byes and pulled out. As we were driving away all of the girls came to the door and waved good-bye.

Caroline's Birthday Party

Saturday evening, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for Caroline's birthday party. At the same time, a huge southern storm unleashed itself. I'll definitely miss those southern storms. I was in the rain for about 10 seconds and was totally soaked. 

One of the benefits of this southern storm was that I got to see how kind Scott is to his girls and wife. He stopped the car up at the front and got out of his car with an umbrella and held it out and escorted Sandra each of his girls to door so that not a drop fell on them while he got soaked with me running in after he parked the cars. What a great guy!

Gabi had some serious fear of the animatronics. She ducked an hid behind tables so that they wouldn't see her.

Chuck E. Cheese came out to wish Caroline a happy birthday.

Gabi immediately slid under the table when Chuck E. came out.

 Photo with Chuck E. (Side Note: Does this creep anyone else out or is it just me? Some random stranger that I can't even see hugging and holding your child. I just hope that they do a good background check.)

Gabi worked up her courage and overcame her fear and got a photo with Chuck E.

Caroline got to go in the "Ticket Blaster" and she invited Gabi to come in with her.

The rest of the evening was spent playing games. It was fun to see their excitement and generosity. They would share tokens with each other and even random kids who would ask them.

Scott got in on the fun and really got into this virtual bowling game. Right after this pic, Scott wound up a big swing and hit the front of the game which launched the ball backwards.

Sunshine Seven Visit

On Friday, July 12th, I flew out with my brother Neal to visit my brother Scott, his wife, Sandra, and his 5 kids (nicknamed the sunshine seven). We hadn't seen Scott and his family for 5 years and were excited to see them. Unfortunately my flight got delayed 2 hours because of severe weather. I was already scheduled to fly into Miami at midnight, but that got pushed back to 2 AM. Neal was a flight ahead of me and had to wait in an airport for almost 5 hours. Poor guy. I called Scott and told him not to wait up for us, but when we pulled in at 3 AM, Scott was up to greet us and then left to deliver some papers. I was reminded through out this trip of my brother's great work ethic. He gives so much to his family and works so hard to make their lives better.

We woke up to cute little girls shyly walking by us sleeping in the front room to get to the kitchen. However, by the end of breakfast, we were best friends.

We spent the morning playing while Sandra got things ready for Caroline's birthday party which was on Wednesday, July 10th.

Here are a few things that we did:

Stella climbed up in her bedroom window seal and told us a story... a few times.

Then Gabi took a turn telling stories in the window seal.

After that we did some role-playing games. Most of them revolved around one of the girls having a baby like their Mommy just did. Of course, there had to be a Daddy (Neal or Me) and some sisters. Amazing how much kids look to their parents as examples!

We then pulled out some presents that we brought and that Mom and Dad sent with us. The girls loved them and played with them the rest of the morning.

With the notepads and pens that the girls were given, we played a game where one of us would write down three words that described us and we would have to figure out how they described them. I have some serious doubts about the validity of some of the words. For example, Gabi wrote quiet on one of her lists.... hmmm, you tell me if you think Gabi looks like a quiet person in this picture.

Sandra got the girls all ready for the birthday party and I took a few pictures of them before we left for the party at Chuck E. Cheese.

Stella - Age 3

She is a sweet girl with a shy side, but with Gabi around she has a bit more courage to come out of her shell (and she gets a bit more wound up). She carried around her blanket and would suck her thumb, still clutching the blanket with the sucking hand (It reminded me a lot of Cambry).

Some quotes:
At breakfast while patting her cereal with her spoon: "Shhh, I can't hear my patting."
After brushing her teeth: "Smell by breath, haaaa [breathes in my face]."
In a prayer: "I love Daddy, he loves me. Then Mommy had a baby and she comes out of her tummy..."

Gabrielle (Gabi) - Age 5

She is very friendly and energetic. She would come up with games and things to do. Even when she was afraid to do somethings she would try anyway.

Some quotes:
"You [me] look like my Dad and you [Neal] look like your Dad."
"I knew this day would come!" as she excitedly held up her prize at Chuck E. Cheese

Caroline - Age 7

The birthday girl! She is a quiet girl and is quite the romantic. She loved stories from me and Neal about our girlfriends (our wives). She was also very nurturing towards her younger sisters.

Some quotes:
"You're too much like kids to be adults" - to me and Neal
"You [me] look just like my Dad, but you're too skinny"

Caroline: "Can you tell me a story about your girlfriend?"
Me: "Do you want to know how I fell in love with my wife?"
Stella: "That sounds good and yummy."

 All three of the middle girls

Isabelle - Age 12

She is soft-spoken and patient with her little sisters. She was Mama's helper while we were there. Her younger sisters loved it when she would play with them.