Nauvoo Vacation Day #4

Warning... prepare yourself for a very long post!

Day four of our vacation was actually our first full day in Nauvoo. We started the day off with a visit to my Grandpa Reber who was giving oxen rides that day.

The next thing we did was we went on a tour of Old Nauvoo. It was really good that this was one of the first things we did because it helped us to become a little familiar with the town and it also gave us a general idea of the different houses and buildings we wanted to make sure we went to before we left. We don't have a very good picture of the ride, so here is one photo we do have.

Our next stop was to visit my Grandma Reber who was in the Brigham Young home that day. It was very cool to be able to actually go inside houses like this and to see what they looked like and to learn a bit about how they lived. There were so many different stories told in each of the houses and buildings that I wish I could have some kind of book with all of that information in it, so that I can better remember all that I learned while I was there.

This was a map in the house that showed all of the places that were settled by the saints after they arrived in Salt Lake. If you look closely you can see Panaca!

The next stop we made had a bunch of games and activities for us to do that the saints would play in their free time. I wish I could put the video up of Hunter doing this because it is so funny, but it is too big.

Here is Dyllon and Dakota racing to get their bear to the top. Dyllon is a big cheater pants as you can see and was trying to take the easy way out. If I remember right Dakota still won. :) (Hmm.... is Dad picking his nose in this picture? Wouldn't doubt it!)

When Steve has some time I'm going to see if he can help me upload some videos. They are too fun to leave out. So check back later for some videos!

After a full day, Grandma and Grandpa took us to eat at a place called Hotel Nauvoo.
Here is Steve after about four very full plates of food!

Nauvoo Vacation Day #3

Hmm.... where to begin? Our train ride ended in Burlington Iowa where we picked up our two rental cars and headed to Nauvoo.On the way to pick up the rental cars my Dad spotted a Dairy Queen, so of course we had to stop and enjoy a dilly bar or two!So once we were in Nauvoo we found the vacation home where we would be spending the next few days. Dakota might say otherwise, but it was a really nice and roomy place to stay (thanks Mom for your hard work!) despite the spiders and ants. (Oh yeah, and the creepy light that would turn off and on in the middle of the night!) Here are a few photos of the place. The reason as to why Dakota didn't really like the place is because he was creeped out about the fact that the house was actually lived in by an old lady while it wasn't being rented. Every time we would walk inside the house Dakota would make a comment like, " Oh man, it smells like old lady" or "Great, we're back in the creepy old lady's house!" and "Why did she have to tell us that she lived here?!"Here is a picture of the view we had of the Mississippi river. Beautiful!

Nauvoo Vacation Day # 2

I wish that I could put on all of our videos along with all of our pictures, however that would be a serious overload! I will put on two videos that are my absolute favorites but that will not be until later. One video is of Jaycie.... and the other of a crazy lady! The first picture of Steve and I was just after we had slept a few hours on the train...if you couldn't tell my by face! Steve had already taken sooo many pictures at this point so I decided to pull a pouty face to let him know I was already sick of pictures!
Here is a picture of some town in Colorado. I think we lost track of all the places we made stops at. :)
These next few pictures don't really give justice to just how pretty the areas we went through were. In my opinion this area in Colorado made the long train ride and swollen ankles well worth the ride!
By the end of the day we were all very hungry and sick of having just snacks. We had about 30 minutes to spare when we made a stop in Denver Colorado. So the boys went to pick up ONE pizza at a place called Anthony's. The pizza was so big that I could only eat half of one piece!

Nauvoo Vacation Day # 1

To start our week long vacation off, Jaycie, Steve and I left Rexburg at 11:30 p.m. and headed to Salt Lake City. When we arrived there we met my family at Amtrak and we all got loaded onto the train where we were to begin our 30 hour long ride.

When we got on the train it was like 3:00 a.m. and everyone was sleeping. Dakota decided to explore a little and had put his tray down. However by doing that, it made a really loud noise and we were worried that the old people in front were going to be irritated. I think in this picture Dakota is trying his best to be quite and put the tray back up!

(Lots and Lots of pictures and stories to come!)

Graduation!

So even though I graduated almost two months ago I finally received my diploma in the mail last week! I was so excited! Now if only I could get myself to finish the paper work for my teaching license!

24 Weeks

The only reason I have a photo up here of me is because Steve has insisted we keep track of my baby bump. I think that I can hide the bump quite well because others that are due around the same time as me or even later are showing a lot more than I am. The bump is not very easy to see anyway in this picture probably because I am wearing black. Steve is already pestering me though, to take another picture, he thinks I have grown quite a bit in just a week. :) So here is my first baby bump at 24 weeks!
P.S. It has been so fun lately because now instead of just me being able to feel the baby move a few others have been able to too! Steve was able to feel the baby move for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I'd say he absolutely loved it! He had the BIGGEST grin on his face! Then just last night Parker (We're pretty sure that's what we are going to name this little guy) was moving around like crazy and Jaycie felt him move! I love it! Being able to see and feel my tummy move as he kicks makes the pregnancy even more real. I can hardly wait for him to come! Less than 15 weeks to go!

Birthdays

Steve and I recently celebrated our birthdays, mine being on the 26th of April and Steve's on the 4th of May. Being that our birthdays are so close together we decided to share our cake. I made an ice cream oreo cake. It had a layer of crushed oreo on the bottom, followed by a jar of chocolate, then a half gallon of peanut butter ice cream, then whipped topping with caramel and chocolate to top it off! (Very healthy I know...) We very much enjoyed our cake and so did those that came over to celebrate with us! Thank goodness Steve and I didn't have that whole cake to ourselves!