Two New States for Brody

Brody was lucky enough to visit two new states on his trip to Nauvoo. He made me drive across the Mississippi to visit Iowa (we were there for about 10 minutes) but we touched the Mississippi with our toes. We found this old historical fort and park conveniently just across the river.

As I said before we flew in Milwaukee, WI so when we drove back to the airport Brody wanted to walk around the city for a bit. He also wanted to visit the Northwestern Mutual campus. He is currently doing his internship for Northwestern so he was excited to see their buildings.



We also walked down to the water (Lake Michigan) and saw a cool museum. There were about 10 weddings going on at the time so I'm sure we crashed many pictures!

We finally boarded our plane home after this! It was a fun trip!!

Woffinden Family Reunion

Last week was our much awaited Nauvoo trip! The trip entailed flying from SLC the whole way to Milwaukee, WI renting a car, driving 5 hours to the middle of nowhere Illinois and then staying in a large historic building with 20 some people (my entire immediate family, minus some in-laws) Sounds crazy, but it was actually really fun! Brody even survived it. It was a super short trip, with too much traveling, but the whole thing was fun!

We did have to suffer through 100 degree weather with horrible humidity. We were basically dripping the whole time. But that was the major downside of the trip.

When we arrived to Nauvoo, we were able to go straight to the pageant. They told us at the beginning that it was a tear jerker. I was impressed with myself the whole time, thinking "wow I haven't cried yet, I'm so good" well I spoke too soon. I ended the pageant basically bawling. It was super touching to listen to stories of the pioneers and of the prophet Joseph!
I also got to see my old roommated Meghan who is currently on a mission there! It was so fun to catch up, brought back tons of good memories of living in LA.

Snow cones before the start of the pageant!

After the pagent we all crashed in bed. We had an early start the next day. We were going on a hand cart trek and wow did I need the rest! So I went on a trek when I was 14 for youth conference. I had a ton of fun and don't remember any manual labor. Maybe my memory has dimmed or we were just on the cushiest trail ever, because this handcart trek was no picnic.
As you can see in pictures, by the first 5 minutes we were all covered in mud and tired. We unanimously decided to just go 1 mile instead of 3! It was definitely an experience to remember!

We spent the rest of the trip sight seeing . I never realized how much their is to do in Nauvoo. There are a ton of historical houses and shows and plays and pioneer activities. We went on a oxen ride a nd the rest of the family went on a wagon ride through out town.

At Carthage Jail. That's my nephew Connor in the back.

Cute houses in Nauvoo.

Our wedding cake topper! My mom drove it the whole way out from PA. We shared the cake with our family (just a couple weeks early for our first anniversary celebration) A real romantic night with 20+ members of my family!

We got a chance to go to the temple while we were there! It was really beautiful!

So that was the majority of our family reunion. My parents are enjoying their mission there. They wear pioneer clothes, do tours and appear in shows. Sadly, we didn't get to see a show where my parents actually have parts, but we saw them perform none the less.

I will add the rest of our trip later. This post is getting too long.

Lake Powell and the 4th!

Last week we had the chance to go to Lake Powell with Brody's dad and family! I was extremely excited to get out for my first real vacation of summer 2010! I was also excited to improve my tan :)

Here we are on the way down in the car!

I actually took a lot pictures on this trip! I documented well for once. We spent 4 days on the water. We laid out, tubed, wake boarded, explored and drank tons of water!

Here I am, excited for the first day of boating.


Token picture of B and I.

Lake Powell has some great scenery. Brody loves the red rock that encircle the massive lake. And it is massive. I don't know of any other lake that you can go for 2 hours and still not even come close to the other side!

Here, Brody is showing off his skills!

It is famed that Brody was once a great wake boarder. His old age and inactivity has caught up to him a bit though. He was way sore after these tricks. I, on the other hand, did not grow up boating and have an unnecessary fear of anything water. I decided to be brave on this trip though and attempt to do more on a wake board than just riding behind the boat. I attempted to swerve back and forth. The first time I did, I was met with disaster. I totally face planted and knocked my head against the water. So much for that. Later I exited the wake, but then crashed when I tried to come back in the middle! So much for becoming a talented wake boarder. I guess I try again next year!

Here is our little camp site. It was scorching hot the whole time so sleeping was a little hard. We did have some great meals cooked by Brody's dad. I guess I am ok with the whole camping thing, just as long as I don't see the bugs and we have restrooms (which we did have). It was fun to just be outdoors, since I spend my whole life in Provo in an office.


One of our exploring expeditions led us here! We had to swim through part of the lake, through a swamp of trees and then climb up the hill shown above. I wish I had a picture of the forest that we waded through. I felt like Rambo. I slipped on a rock and got my token Lake Powell injury. No one else seems to hurt themselves every year that we go!

These are the ancient drawings on the side of the rocks. Its kinda cool to think people actually lived there thousands of years ago.

The little houses they built are still intact. It was a really cool thing to see. It was worth me swimming with my camera held above my head just so I could get some good pictures. Swimming with just one arm is quite difficult (just in case you didn't know)



So since we were there for the 4th, we got to watch a firework show! The fireworks weren't the best I'd ever seen, but it was fun to watch them shoot up over the water.

And finally to the last day of our trip. The last day we rode on the boat for 2 whole hours to get to this place and then 2 hours back. It is called San Juan and they go there to get glassy water, perfect for wake boarding. The funny thing was, Brody had been complaining about choppy water the whole time, but somehow when we found perfect water, he was too sore to wake board. Sad day.

We were tired of the sun at that point and were burning, hence the Tshirt.

So that was our boating trip! We head to Nauvoo to spend time with the Woffinden clan next week. It is Brody's first time staying with my whole family for an extended period of time. I'm excited to see how he does!

Total Eclipse of My Nonloving Twilight Heart

So, I've been gone for awhile without computer access. It was actually really nice to be away from my computer and phone for so long.

But before I left on my vacation I was lucky enough to go to the midnight showing of Eclipse with Pam. Actually she kinda forced me to attend. I am not that much of a Twilight lover to join the masses of people to watch the movies at the first moment possible.


It was my first midnight showing that I ever attended though, so we had some fun with it. We had a great time waiting in line for hours (3 to be exact). We met some great friends. (two BYU freshman boys who fell in love with us and talked to us the entire time until we left them to sit by ourselves in the movie theater)

Our freshman lover- we actually found out randomly that I had once gone on a double date with his older brother! Oh the small world of Provo!

We also took some time to make some Edward and Jacob tattoos! (We felt left out that we didn't have any Twilight memorabilia)
Pam hearts vampires

I'm on Jacob's team!

We were finally let into the theater after our long wait and I had to try to stay awake for another 2 1/2 hours! Overall it was a fun night!!

Here's the front half of the line- the picture does not do it justice and I just noticed how Pam ruined the picture! grr