Mount Rushmore

On our way home from Utah Ryan asked if I wanted to take a detour and see Mount Rushmore. I said sure but was a little hesitant because I didn't know how much time it would tack onto our already long trip. It ended up just adding a few hours and was a fun little break in the long drive. We arrived around dinner time and let the kids run around a little and took some pictures and then we were back on our way. I've always wanted to see this landmark! I am glad we were able to make the stop!

Aunt Sherrie

I think everyone should have an Aunt like Aunt Sherrie! She is the best with kids. Many of Ryan's best childhood memories include Aunt Sherrie, hiking or doing some other fun thing with them. We headed to her house one morning while we were in Utah. She was nice enough to let us ride on her horse, Goldilocks. She owns ten horses, chickens, goats, a huge garden, and a hay loft. Which equals heaven in my kids books! We seriously could have spent days at her house. I am so thankful to have her in my life and for my kids to be able to know her too!

Lincoln has loved tractors ever since I can remember. He loved climbing up onto this one

All of the kids had fun feeding the goats

Reba and Lincoln became friends

The chicken laid an egg just before Reuben and Sherrie checked the coop.

National Arboretum

We visited the National Arboretum.   Our friends are both horticulturists so this was a must see for them.  While we normally would not put this on our list of must see, it was actually quite cool.  We are so glad we went.  

A large koi pond near the visitor's center which had HUGE fish. 

They had a large collection of cool bonsai trees. These are both over 100 years old.

Lincoln is just chillin' atop our friend.  What a life.

These pillars were in front of the capital when Lincoln was inaugurated, so naturally we had to get a picture of our Lincoln in front of them.

Last weekend my friend Rochelle and I went down to Louisville, Kentucky to meet her sister and her friend. It was such a fun weekend! Rochelle's sister, Missy had a Sentsy convention in Louisville. We all went to the first block of speakers. Missy stayed for the rest of the program, because she is a consultant and  the rest of us went shopping.

We stayed at an awesome Days Inn. The franchise owner's favorite color must be mustard yellow because EVERYTHING was that color. We thought it was pretty funny that our room had a safe but not a fridge, below is a picture of our safe. The laughs didn't stop when Rochelle had to put her whole body weight on the door to lock it at night. :)

We spied a Big Lots and decided to stop in. Of course we had to try out the hoo-la-hoops. 

We happened upon a Graeter's and just had to have their awesome ice cream.

I didn't get pictures but we found this AWESOME antique store that was HUGE! It was so fun to walk around in it. I was so excited to find boxes of shoe forms, which I have been on the look out for. I jumped twice though while at the store. First when I was looking at some stuff and out flew a real bird! And second when I rounded the corner into a room and there was an open coffin with a life size zombie person mannequin laying in it. (wasn't expecting that one!)

It was such a fun weekend with lots of fun memories! Thank you Rochelle, Missy and Yvette!

There's No Place Like HOME

We're back!  After staying at my parent's for the last month we arrived at home today.  Ryan did a rotation at a hospital in Tacoma, Washington for the month of July.  So, the kids and I stayed at my parents, which live right outside of D.C.  It was such a fun month, keep a look out for some posts coming soon!  It was a wonderful month and was SO fun to be able to be with my parents!!!  But I cannot explain how nice it is to have a husband home again and to know that he is not scheduled to leave anytime soon for another rotation!