the week we missed {7/6 - 7/10}

I never had time to blog about the week between 4th of July & the day we left for our Cross Country Adventures. {We are still trying to think of a fitting name for our vacation... any ideas?} So let's rewind, shall we?

I think Lisa & Lauren left on Monday, July 6th {right?} but we got to keep Jennifer, Ashlyn, and Thomas for a few more days. I can't really remember much for that day, just that after I put Kylie & Walter down for Quiet Time/Naps, we left Thomas in charge and the girls drove down the street to pick a few things up at Kohls. I took a chance and looked at some braziers and was SO excited to find TWO styles that fit and I liked. I have been looking for a whole YEAR for a new bra with no such luck, so I was pretty ecstatic. Nothing beats finding a good bra ;) I also went to town and picked up a few shirts so I would have something to wear on vacation. It was a good shopping day. Thank you, Thomas, for being such a good babysitter!

{Ashlyn was so nice to play ponies & littlest pet shop with the kids one morning!}

On Tuesday, I took the kids to playgroup and ran a few errands. That day, after I put them down for their naps, Jennifer and I went out for some pampering and got our hair done. I was pretty nervous because I had recommended my stylist lady to Jennifer, but both of our cuts came out WAY cute. Really. I also treated myself to a new bottle of nail polish and I am LOV.ING. the color - it's OPI Miami Beet {and what I used for my pedi in the car}. AND I got a new lip gloss that I love, too - Aveda Lip Shine in Juneberry. Yes. I spoiled myself that day ;)

When we got home from our pampering, I decided that I either needed to take a nap or do something "productive" and silly me decided to be productive. About 2 months ago, we bought some new caulk to redo our shower. It was all sicknast mold and it would NOT come clean, and I did not want it to fester when we were on vacation. So I decided that 2 days before we left on vacation would be the perfect time to start. DUH. It wasn't that bad - the hardest part was trying to figure out how to get the stupid caulk open. I had to wait for Darren to come home and poke with a wire clothes hanger. And removing the old caulk was pretty annoying as it was quite stubborn in some parts, but the new caulk went on v. easily and it looks SO GOOD. I am pretty proud of myself. I think it looks better now than what the builder did. Boo-yow!

{just the "after" picture - the "before" was too sicknast!}

As for WednesDAY, I am drawing a blank. I think this is the day that Jennifer and Ashlyn went for makeovers at the mall and I was very sad to miss. But I had work to do - I stayed home with the kids and cleaned out my newly caulked shower and the rest of the bathroom. In the afternoon, though, we did venture out to get Walter's hair cut. I think next time I won't go so short - I have been liking how he looks with longer locks, but I wanted something that would last through our vacation! Oh, and after that, we met Darren at Cici's for dinner.

pretty ladies --- Kylie & Me watching Walter get his haircut --- Jennifer & Me with our new 'dos!

Walter's BEFORE --- DURING --- and AFTER!

Walter throwing some gang signs while enjoying a cinnamon roll at Cici's
{the boy is a cinnamon roll MONSTER!}

Wednesday night, we had a lot of fun. First we did some after-dinner swimming. The was was F-F-F-FreeZING, so Jennifer and I didn't go in. we let the kids stay up WAY late just so we could do the sparklers we had bought for the 4th of July. It srsly doesn't get dark until like 10pm in Ohio. No joke. So the kids were up way past their bedtime, but it was way worth and and we had so much fun!

The kids jumping in with Ashlyn to catch them
Kylie --- this was Walter's very 1st time jumping in to ANYONE --- it looked like so much fun that Thomas {age 10!} had to try! LOL {click on that one so you can see the hilarious looks on both of their faces!}

Ashlyn & Kylie --- Walter making Ashlyn laugh


Brrrr... warming up in their towels!

{Fireworks show!}
Thomas, Jennifer, & Darren --- they started out with throwing Pop-Its --- Darren going over the fire safety rules


Lighting up the sparklers
{Fire in the hole!}


Jennifer got some really COOL pics of the kids' sparkler dances!
Kylie & Ashlyn


Walter & Thomas


It looked like so much fun that Darren couldn't resist! LOL

Thursday was a very busy day. There were mountains of laundry to do, and I still can't get over that Jennifer did it ALL. It was seriously a lifesaver! I had to run a few errands that day, and it also helped that I was able to go without the kids! I am so GLAD that Jennifer & the kids stayed to help - esp. cause I was super overwhelmed that day and NOT in a good mood! That night, Darren had scouts and I helped him out by planning their activity. I picked up {WAY too much} clay from Hobby Lobby and dropped it & Thomas off at the church with Darren. On the way home, we grabbed McDonalds for dinner and we were very tired and silly! And then that night, we stayed up way too late customizing Jennifer's blog for her. It took some tinkering, but I think it came out really good in the end!

And then, of course, on Friday, we all left and went our separate ways. Jennifer, Thomas, and Ashlyn set out before the sun was even up to make their trek back to Texas. And then I ran about a dozen errands {or so it seemed} in the morning, packed like a crazy lady, and we left our house at about 3pm, and eventually made it onto the freeway at about 4:30pm {after stops for gas & ice & food as we hadn't even eaten yet!}

the road trip in pictures

To make life easier, I finally decided to upgrade my storage for picasa :) I will probably fill it all up again just on this trip, alone, but oh well!

We pulled in to Darren's mom's house at about 4:30pm. As we were driving up her street, we couldn't believe that we had made it - we drove across the country! And I actually liked it better than flying! Thank goodness for Martha ;) We unloaded the car and then I changed and went to play basketball with my mom, sister, and aunt on their team at the Spectrum Club. I hadn't played in a VERY long time, but I survived the game! And it was just the 5 of us so I had NO sub. I was dying by the end. After we put the kids to bed, Darren picked me up a chocolate shake from In-N-Out and I felt much better after that!

Anyways, here is our road trip in pictures. Enjoy :)

{almost} all of the laundry that Jennifer washed & folded before we left. THANK YOU JENNIFER! --- loaded to the brim & ready to head out! --- Indiana sunset

Peoria, IL
jumping for joy to be out of the car!

the castle Best Western in Iowa City, IA --- Day 2 gifts: Colorforms! {Madagascar & Fancy Nancy}


When Walter got tired, he would wrap his blankie around his face and go to sleep


Don't worry, be happy --- chillaxin {pre-pedi} --- the happy driver


Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska
picnic dinner in the WalMart parking lot


early morning drive through Colorado
quite a few tunnels --- most of it was a bridge like this --- the Colorado River


Day 3 gifts: Disney Look & Find books (like Where's Waldo, but easier!)


Scenic Utah
{good scenery = no cell phone reception!}


St. George, UT
round 1 swimming - the indoor pool


the sicknast blessing in disguise ----------> UPGRADE!


round 2 swimming in the outdoor pool with a kiddie pool & waterfall



Day 4 Gifts: Lacing Cards!
{I totally remember doing these when I was a kid!}


what happens when you close your eyes for just 1 minute


Final Destination!
We made it to Grandpa & Grandmas House!


Favorite road signs along the way:
Kickapoo? No thanks! --- No Name... hm, was there really no name, or was THAT the name? We will never know --- Darren had to take a picture of the gun sign for one of his scouts who he knew would appreciate it!


I missed the one that informed us that we would have to pay a fine if we hit a road construction worker. Thank goodness for that warning! And the California Inspection stop was funny: We pull up and the inspector in our lane is eating an Otter Pop. He looks at our {Ohio} license plates and asks us where we came from... uh, duh. Then he asks us if we have any fruit (in-between licks of the otter pop) and we tell him we have bananas, and he says, "Oh. Bananas are OK!" and sends us merrily on our way. The whole thing struck us as funny... but then again, we had just spent 4 days in the car!


Total Miles Driven {according to Google Maps}: 2,275
Hours Driven {according to Google Maps}: 1 day, 10 hours
Actual Hours Driven: MORE than that thanks to construction & potty stops!
Total States Driven through: 10!
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California!
{I'm sad I missed the signs for half of them!}



Was it worth it? HECK YA!

are we there yet?

We were pretty tired yesterday after being in the car for 24+ hours, so we decided to stop in St. George for the night. We reserved a room at one of the 3 BW in St.G and were pleasantly surprised to find one for just $50 :). Although the whole reservation process was a pain in the butt because it seemed like the entire state of Utah had NO reception!

We had another frustration with our phones when we stopped for lunch. We googled the nearest Taco Bell and followed these wack-o directions just to find ourselves on this little dirt road called "Water Sewer Canal Rd" - appetizing! - in the middle of a bunch of farms. So we drove back to the freeway, grabbed Subway, and went merrily on our way just to pass the Taco Bell less than a mile away, off the following exit!

Anyways, St. George was HOT. We checked in at about 3pm and couldn't wait to jump in the pool! The kids were SO excited to swim, but they were very patient and let Darren & me take a quick power-nap first. Our {first} room was just down the hall from the indoor pool and we had a LOT of fun swimming. I can't believe how much of a little fish Walter is turning out to be! And Kylie is our little mermaid - she loves looking under the water with her goggles! Darren & I even worked off some energy by showcasing our mad handstand & cannonball skills for the kids {since when do cannonballs hurt so badly?}

So we took a break from swimming to get some dinner, and that's when I found it: a HUGE cockroach. nas-to-the-T! So Darren went up to the office and they switched us to a another room {upgrade!}. This one was the same size, but newly renovated and WAY nicer. It had a HUGE flat-panel TV and pretty comfy beds. AWESOME. So the sicknast cockroach was a blessing in {a very good} disguise!

We had dinner at Chili's and went back to swim some more before bed. Our new room was right next to the outdoor {heated} pool, complete with kiddie pool & waterfall. I wasn't going to swim at first, but the water was so perfect I went back up and changed. It was so much fun. That little Walter-bear is becoming a little daredevil and starting to jump in on his own, when we're not near enough to catch him. He always has arm swimmies on, but I will have to make sure and keep a close eye on him this summer!

The kids shared a bed again, but I had to lay between them til they fell asleep this time. Luckily, that didn't take very long!

We checked out at about 10am, and now we are just a mere 50 miles from Gma's house! Woohoo! I think I'm going to play basketball tonight on my mom's team with her, my sister, and my aunt! Can't promise I'll be any good since I haven't played since I was pregnant with Walter, but hopefully it will still be fun!

Sent from my iPhone

overachievers

The nice thing about driving is that you have the freedom to change
your plans! Yesterday was such a good day of driving that Darren
decided to keep going. We passed through our goal of North Platte, NE,
around 11pm and just kept on keepin' on, right into Colorado. We were
pretty disappointed that we were missing the scenic part of our drive,
since that was the reason why we took the longer, northern route, but
Darren was determined to get some driving done while the kids were
sleeping so we wouldn't have to keep stopping for potty breaks and to
get our wiggles out! So the kids fell asleep around 10pm, and I dozed
in and out of consciousness while Darren chatted with his mom, and
Damon even later. He finally pulled into a rest area around 3am {I've
given up on trying to keep time zones straight!} and took a 2 hour
power nap. We got up shortly after dawn, at around 5:45am, and
depending on how the kids {and we} do, we may either drive straight
thru to CA, or we may stop. Our only goal for the day is to make it
far enough to get some In-N-Out!

Anyways, rewind to yesterday. We breakfasted in Illinois, lunched in
Iowa, and dinnered in Nebraska! For lunch we decided that we couldn't
stomach another burger {ie McDonalds} so we decided to look for a KFC.
We found one in Iowa City, IA, and right as we drove up to it, I
noticed the awesome Best Western next door to it - it was the famous
castle Best Western! When we had mentioned to Lisa about our plans to
BW it across the country, she told us about the cool castle themed BW
in Iowa City - we had really wanted to stay there, but it wasn't
working with our travel plans. So we were do excited to stumble upon it!

After lunch, we gave the kids their Treasure o' the Day - a new movie
to watch "The Land Before Time"; and Kylie got a Fancy Nancy
Colorforms Fun Pocket and Walter got a Madagascar one.

Nebraska was v. flat and boring and straight. Our hi-light of the day
was when we stopped for dinner. We decided to have PB&J for dinner
because the thought of fast food made us sick. There were practically
no rest stops in NE, and the ones that they had were few and FAR
between, and mostly all closed! So we settled for looking for a
McDonalds in hopes of the kids playing on the playground. We got off
at this exit with a sign for McD's but it was really in the middle of
nowhere, and we had to drive like 5 miles to find it, and there was no
playground! So we turned around and went back to the Walmart we had
passed so we could walk the kids in the store and also pick up some
chips to go with our dinner. Then we moved the car to the back of the
parking lot and made and ate our PB&J dinner and ate it right there in
the middle of Nebraska in a Walmart parking lot, literally surrounded
by corn fields and American cars circa 1985. And I swear it was the
very same WalMart as the one where the girl gave birth in one in that
movie 'Where the Heart Is'.

Oh and I can't forget the McD's we stopped at earlier in the day
{yesterday} to let the kids play. Srsly white trash! There was this
party of dirty sticky kids and one of the kids very obv. PEED his
pants and his parents did NOTHING. SickNAST. After I saw that we
rounded up our kids and skidaddled. Ick!

My big accomplishment for the day, yesterday, was giving myself a
pedicure. Oh yeah! I almost forgot: to add to our white trash
dinner experience, when we went into Walmart I was only halfway
through my pedi so I had to go in the store with one painted and one
UNpainted foot!

{I just finished with my awe-inspiring and record-breaking 3 hour turn
behind the wheel. I know. I'm awesome.}

So now we are somewhere in UT and are pretty much decided that we will
stop in St. George, UT for the night, or possibly Las Vegas. So far,
UT has provided us with some beautiful views - MUCH better than
Nebraska!

Stats:
Miles traveled: 1655.1
Still to go: 557.4

Maybe I will be able to do another post of pics tonight since we're
stopping so early!

{I SO can't wait to take a shower!}

Sent from my iPhone

we be road trippin

The great Chips Across America Tour has begun! We packed up yesterday and got on the road at about 4:30 pm {beating our goal of 5pm}. We drove about 5.5 hours before calling it a night. Poor Darren only had about 3.5 hours of sleep the night before we left so he was dead tired, and I was up early since I was so worried Walter was going to leave the house in search for Jennifer, who had left at 4:30 that morning! I took a turn at the wheel bit was only able to contribute about 10 minutes of driving before we had to switch back because it started raining so hard - we got soaked just running around the car to switch seats!

{We are crossing into Iowa as I type! Cause, y'know, I'm SO blogging on my iPhone!}

Anyways, so we left Ohio, drove through Indiana, and stopped at Peoria, Illinois for the night. We are making good use of Best Western's deal of stay 2 nights and get the 3rd free. The last 5 miles of the night were excruciating as there was road construction and so the traffic was stop & go at a crawling pace. Ugh! But we made it all in one piece. The kids were so happy to be out of the car. I feel bad for the people below us because I let the kids run around the room and jump on the bed {I held Walter's hand while hd jumped!} while Darren grabbed what we needed out of the car.

We unpacked and went to bed. The kids were very good and shared a bed. I was freezing all night but I was too tired and confused to do anything about it. So I didn't sleep too well but Darren did so it's all good. We got up at about 7 am, showered, ate our free breakfast, made a stop at Target to buy the same Leapster fame I had just bought for Kylie so the kids would stop fighting over it, and got on the road again.

We are hoping to put in about 650 miles today, landing us in North Platte, NE for the night.

The kids are holding up well. {Actually Walter is starting to lose it, but hopefully lunch and a nap will solve that!}. We gave Walter his leapster when we left {they are on clearance right now at Target for $35!}. After lunch I will get a new surprise out of the Treasure Box. I stocked up on new activities before we left to keep the kids busy and most of all, happy!

Sent from my iPhone

4th of july weekend

{our annual pic on the stairs}

We had a very rainy 4th of July! But it was still a very FUN day. I got up and got to work on a double batch of Rice Krispie Treats to bring to our ward picnic. I tried to be festive and add red & blue sprinkles to the Treats, but it just made them look like brains. Yummy. We got to the picnic right as they were serving the food {we were only 1 hour late!} so we set up our blankets and got in line. Thank goodness that right before we left, we remembered it was BYOD&S - Bring Your Own Drinks & Supplies! There was a ton of food to choose from and I actually found something I liked - the chicken {supplied by the ward} and my Rice Krispie Treats {I think I had at least 6 squares!}

As we finished lunch, it started to sprinkle. The forecast for the day was rain, rain, rain! The kids had a ton of fun playing on the playground at the park. Darren noticed that all of the boys in his class & Webelos were up on the field starting up a game of baseball, so he went up to keep an eye on them. He claims that seeing his boys with bats in their hands made him nervous, but I think he just wanted to get in on the game. And of course, if he was going to play, I was! We convinced them to let a girl play and I went up to bat. My first 2 swings I totally whiffed it, but I hadn't swung a bat in 2-1/2 years, AND the bat was WAY too small and light, AND they were playing with a tennis ball! But on my 3rd swing, I hit a homerun and gained the respect of all the 10/11 yr old boys in our ward ;) Well, maybe that was true until I jumped up to catch a ball and then lost my balance and TOTALLY fell right on my butt! It was seriously funny!

{Ashlyn & Walter}

{Lauren & Kylie}

Going down the BIG slide!

Darren goes for the catch!

My homerun swing!


Thomas was my pinch runner


Our loyal fans
{Courtney, Kylie, and Lisa}

{Kylie, Courtney, and Jennifer}

After a while, it really started to rain so we packed up and headed home. Our original plan was to go to our township's 4th of July Festival later that night, but at the picnic we found out that the Festival was actually last weekend! Why have a 4th of July Festival the weekend before, when the 4th is actually on a Saturday?? lamespice. Anyways, it was totally raining so our plans would have been ruined. So we did what anybody would do and loaded up the cars and went to Benihana's for dinner. Usually, we are very happy with our Benihana - entertaining chef's and good food. This time, however, the chef was HORRIBLE - he didn't do a single trick! And he overcooked our food! He actually left my steak cooking on the grill, walked away to grab something he forgot, and then came back and served it - it was too well-done, even for me! Very disappointing.

Jennifer, Benihana Thomas & Benihana Walter


Benihana Kylie & Darren


{Lauren, Ashlyn, Jennifer, Thomas, & Walter}


{Me, Lisa, Kylie, and Darren}


Playing in the rain while waiting for Darren to get the car


"Taxi!"

When we got home we put the kids to bed. I was very sad that they were totally missing out on the fireworks because of the rain. They couldn't even do the sparklers I had bought because it was too wet! But after a while, the rain let up and our neighborhood started setting off a ton of fireworks. We are lucky since our yard backs up against the park, so we have a pretty unobstructed view and got to see a lot! Our neighbor actually put on a really good show! In-between booms, we started to hear someone calling our names and then we saw our friends {from our ward} walking over to watch the fireworks with us. Since Courtney was over, I went and woke Kylie up and she thought it was so fun that she got to be up so late, and outside with friend, and all the while she was in her PJs!

Fireworks from our neighbor!

{Lisa's camera -above- took much better pics than mine -below-}


Enjoying the show!


Kylie & Courtney in their PJs!

It turned out to be a pretty fun night so I think next year we will have an official Fireworks Viewing Party in our backyard {complete with Chocolate Costco Cake!}

After the fireworks, we all stayed up WAY too late. Poor Darren passed out before I even went upstairs for bed! I was having too much fun playing the Twilight Movie game with Lauren, Ashlyn, and Lisa! We were laughing so much! We should have recorded how silly we were being with that ridiculous game!

On Sunday, we all went to church again. Jennifer was so nice and filled in as the Primary Chorister, even though she is visiting! And she did a great job! Kylie loved that her Aunt was conducting the music :)

After church, too exhausted to cook, we had some Costco chicken salad & croissants, watermelon, and turkey-swiss roll-ups for dinner, and finished up that yummy Costco cake for dessert. Then Lisa and I got to work on our blogs. We had to fix the HTML code on both of our blogs {or maybe we did this on Saturday?} - her fonts & colors were messed up, and mine was missing the little navbar on the top. We were so proud of ourselves when we figured it out and fixed both of them! Without Darren's help! We also gave Lisa's blog a makeover. She went through all of the scrapbooking kits that I had downloaded for free during SYTYCD and found one she liked and got started. We took a break to walk our kids before bed, and then got back to work as soon as they were asleep. It took us a few hours of fooling around with the placement of things, trying to upload things to photobucket, and messing with the colors, but we finally finished and it is WAY CUTE. I like it better than my own, but I am trying to not be sad!

Studying the html code

Designing Lisa's blog - it was a group effort!

Her cute new banner
{I'm so proud of it!}


The finished product!

ooh-de-lally!

I am SO behind that I am going to have to do a Mega-Post-O-Fun!

I left off at the lunch break of our adventures on Monday, June 29th {one week ago!} So after we went to the waterpark at King's Island, we went home and had lunch. Walter fell asleep on the way home, so we decided to take our time eating. Some of the kids actually ran over for a quick swim at the pool. I woke Walter up after about an hour and then we headed back to King's Island to ride on some rollercoasters. We split off into 3 groups - Collin & Thomas went to ride some big rides, Lauren & Ashlyn & Jennifer went together for some big rides, and Lisa, Matthew, Michael, Kylie, Walter, and I headed over to the kids' area. Again, I was surprised with Walter. Last year, he wanted nothing to do with any of the faster rides, but this year he was all for it! Kylie LOVES the "middle-sized" rollercoaster that you have to be 40" to ride. They actually rode on it 2x in a row! Lisa took her boys on the "big" rollercoaster that you have to be 44" to ride, and I took my kids on the "little" rollercoaster, the carousel, and another little kiddie ride. Kylie was very brave and rode the little rollercoaster by herself so I could sit with Walter, and I couldn't believe how much Walter LOVED it this time! He actually cried when we didn't stop at it on our way out! We all met up at the front of the park at 7:30pm, and then we met Darren at Cici's for dinner!

Kiddie Swings


Crazy drivers

Lisa took the "big" kids on the 'Fairly Odd Coaster'...


... while Walter went for a drive


Swiper's Sweepers is ALWAYS a favorite
{the kids were totally busting up!}


Lisa was scared Kylie was going to slip out on this one-
she wouldn't let her wave hi to me!


My brave girl


Me & the Bear


Can you guess who got to ride on the coveted Zebra on the carousel?



Waiting to meet-up with the rest of our group {Michael, Lisa, Walter, Kylie, and Matthew}


The whole gang {Top - Lauren, Ashlyn, Lisa, Jennifer, Collin, Me Bottom - Matthew, Thomas, Michael, Kylie, and Walter}


it was a good day!

I can't believe we did ALL of that in just 1 day! But it was SO. MUCH. FUN! Too bad our next day wasn't as fun - at least not for me & the Walter-bear! I had my doubts about going back the next day, but decided that it would be better to go along than to sit at home all day with cranky kids. Kylie did fine, but Walter was being such a little whiny bear! He basically whined the ENTIRE day. Not fun! As for me, I only went on 1 ride that morning! And this was the day that I brought my camera, but forgot the battery! Oops. So all of the pics that were taken with my handy dandy iPhone!

We had to take a picture with the GIANT rubik's cube for Darren
{the kids' thought it was SO fun - they were in awe!}

Then we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower (1/3 scale to the real Eiffel Tower)
{the blue/orange coaster on the left is Vortex, the yellow/red one on the right is Diamondback, and you can see a little bit of The Beast behind Vortex}


Walter REALLY wanted to drive the "wiggly cars"
It took me about an hour to figure out it was this ride


This was the only ride I rode on during that day


'Plankton's Plunge' - it was like a mini Drop-Tower.
Walter LOVED it and laughed ever time it dropped. He even held his hands up!
{Matthew, Michael, Kylie, Ashlyn, Walter, Lauren}


Walter has never been interested in characters - they're fun to look at, but he had no desire to touch them.
But when he saw Scooby, he couldn't get up quickly enough to run and give him a big hug. Then he walked away and told us that he "said hi to the big dog!"

We met Darren at Red Robin's for dinner and then we moved the car seats around so Lisa could take our kids home and put them to bed {thanks, Lisa!} so that Darren & I could go back to King's Island with Jennifer, Thomas, Ashlyn, and Lauren. It was awesome because Darren used Lisa's ticket so he got to go for free! My luck with rides continued when the rollercoaster we were in line for broke, and then Jennifer & Darren decided to ride the scariest ride at the park: Delerium. I opted out of that one, so I watched Thomas go on a ride that he was already in line for, and then we walked over and watched Darren & Jennifer go on there ride. We split up in to pairs for the rest of the night so we could all go on the rides we wanted to. I FINALLY got to go on a ride and went on the new rollercoaster - DiamondBack {which I thought was just like Goliath at Magic Mtn., but not as smooth} - and then Darren & I went on The Beast {the longest wooden rollercoaster in the world!} That rollercoaster is SO painful and it actually feels like you are plummeting to your death. The park was closing after that, so Darren & I grabbed a funnel cake and made our way to the front of the park to meet up with everyone. The End.

Thomas is going on Drop Tower
{he's in seat #2}

There he goes!


Jennifer & Darren were crazy and went on Delirium
{they are sitting right to the kid in the orange shorts}


It swung back and forth, and it would spin at the same time.
No thanks!


Warning to hold on to your cell phone on Diamondback
{it's a box full of broken phones}


I was scared I would drop my phone so I made Darren hold it for me!


The Night Crew
{Darren, Me, Thomas, Jennifer, Ashlyn, and Lauren}

On Wednesday, July 1st, we all (minus Darren) had some yummy Penn Station for lunch and then went to see a movie. Collin & Thomas saw Transformers; Jennifer, Ashlyn, and Lauren saw My Sister's Keeper; and Lisa, Matthew, Collin, Me, Kylie, and Walter saw Ice Age 3 in 3D. We weren't too impressed with the 3D - Walter wouldn't even keep his glasses on! After our movies all ended, we went home for some Taco Salad a la Carrie, and then I left for a primary presidency meeting {I feel so important now!}

On Thursday, July 2nd, Lisa loaded up her boys and drove them to Gettysburg. The original plan was for her whole family to go, but the girls were having so much fun they didn't want to leave :) So Lisa made the 7 hour drive, camped overnight, and then drove back here. Meanwhile, back at the homestead, we had a day of rest. Jennifer took Thomas, Ashlyn, and Lauren to the mall, out to dinner, and Thomas went to Scouts with Darren. I stayed home with my kids so they could take some much needed naps!

On Friday, July 3rd, I headed out to run a bunch of errands and took Kylie with me. I had to stock up on some stuff from Target, Costco, and Kroger, so it was a lot of shopping and I was happy to not have Walter with us! He would NOT have lasted. Costco was a mad house, and it was a dangerous thing for me to go there alone. Because I went directly to the cake section and put a patriotically colored Chocolate Costco Cake with chocolate mousse into my cart. And I brought it home. And ate a lot of it. And now I'm sad it's gone. I was pretty dead after all of that shopping, but I still had to function and make some homemade pizzas for dinner - 8 of them! But it was worth it as they all turned out delicious! And my efforts were rewarded with Chocolate Costco Cake for dessert!

Carrie's Pizzeria

The Forced-Smile Picture

I will save the 4th for a separate post!