4th of July Vacation!!

We had such an amazing 4th of July vacation at my grandparents cabin. I was able to have a week off and it felt so AMAZING!!!
We left Wednesday to go to the cabin. Just James and I and miss Hope!

We were able to spend two whole days just us 3 and Grandma and Grandpa Moore. It was so fun to some quality, quiet time with them. We watched Fiddler on the Roof and Gone with the Wind to name a couple. So Good! We also made very yummy food including homemade french bread and my Sausage Florentine Rigatoni. It calls for canned fire roasted tomatoes and we decided to fire roast our own tomatoes from Grandmas garden. It turned out perfectly, just more liquidy. So next time I will add some tomato paste to hopefully help thicken it up.
I didn't take that many pictures of all our fun food, and relaxing. But the best part about being at the cabin for the 4th of July is going to the fireworks show in Heber. The best fireworks ever!!

Here is Patty, Greg, Lainey, and Colby waiting for the show to start.

Megan and Hope playing with their DS.

Grandpa and GrandmaI love this picture because it is so hilarious that none of us are looking at the cabin.

Me, Mom, and Cindi
Cindi and Bob
Patty, Lainey, Emma, Ellie, and Carly I love these next pics of Dad and Heather.
So cute watching Galaxy Quest while waiting for the fireworks to start.
My sisters and I made some cute headbands for 4th of July and Heidi tie-dyed shirts for us. It was so fun and this was the only picture I got.
These were sure some amazing fireworks.
My new camera actually could take pictures of them and it was fun to figure out. This is what I got to do during the entire fireworks show. Hold sweet baby Ryder. He fell fast asleep right before it started and he did not wake up once. He shuddered after the first bang and then never stirred again. What a great sleeper! :)

Isn't he so sweet. I love this picture! :)

Colby straightened my hair on the last day I was at the cabin. Which was so nice to not have to do it for a couple days! I love having that done. Thanks Colby!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for having such a fun cabin for us to play and relax at. It was so wonderful spending time with family and relaxing. Love you!

Trip to Missouri

In February James and I headed out to Kirksville, Missouri.

We started out early on February 5th at 7:00 in the morning. We both had only flown one other time and we enjoyed the flight so much! It wasn't too long and even though we were with the end of the crowd to get seats we were able to sit by eachother and I got a window seat. I loved watching the changing landscape, but it wasn't too long until all I saw was white, white, white, and nothing else. This is my view outside my window. We were sitting right over the wing of the plane. We knew that we were about to land, but we couldn't see a thing. It was so white and snowy. Then all of a sudden there was the ground and we touched down perfectly. So perfect (I guess ~ I just haven't flown that much to have a comparison) that people started clapping. Way to go Pilot! :) And here is what we landed into:I just couldn't believe this beautiful white world in Kansas City. It is sooo different! I felt like we were completely in another world! We rented a car and started driving to Kirksville, MO where Amanda (James sister) and Andrew lived. On our way we stopped in Liberty, Mo and visited the Liberty jail. It is such a beautiful visitors center. The restoration of the jail is really amazing. The only thing that is original is the outer stone wall at the bottom.A picture from below where the bretheren stayed. I couldn't believe how long they were in this jail. What great men with such strong testimonies. The weather was pretty bad while we were in here and the power went out for a bit. The missionaries were so sweet there. They were so excited that we were going to be able to visit some more church sites later and gave us some tips. I am so glad we were able to stop at this historic site.

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We continued on our drive and arrived around 6:00 at night. Only getting a little turned around once when James decided he didn't want to listen to the navigater (ME)! :)

We were greeted by the cutest welcoming committee ever!

Hillary and Lily

LOTS of hugs to make up for!

Before Lily needed to go to bed we exchanged presents. There were some birthdays that had passed that we needed to make up for. Amanda had a birthday in January. Then I had a gift for new baby Evelyn...So I had to get something for Lily. Of course! :)

Andrew and sweet baby Evelynn Lily opening her present with mommys help

Playing with her new bookAmanda had a present for James birthday too which was a couple days earlier.

Amanda with a cute new outfit for Evie

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Fun times with Lily and Evelynn

We had such a wonderful time in Missouri. Both James and I still say it was one of our best vacations. We especially had such fun times with our two cute nieces. So here is some pictures of us together.

James and Lily cuddling on the couch

Hillary playing with Lilys hair

Lily did the funniest thing one day. I think I was getting breakfast or something in the kitchen and Lily came into play. She brought her baby dolls crib. Instead of putting her baby in it she decided she should hide from me in it. She was so funny with her loud giggles. When I showed Amanda these pictures later she said she had never done this before. Such a silly Lily! :)

Where did Lily go?I found you! Lets play again! I absolutly LOVED holding Evelynn All the time!

This is me and Evie taking a nap together. I had just woken up.

Oh I can't wait to hold this sweet baby again...

It was so fun every morning to see Lilys happy face and spend some relaxing time with her. I think that is why James and I just LOVED this vacation. It was so relaxing and sweet. We weren't running here and there. Just spending great time with family.

Cuddling and watching a movie, probably Finding Nemo! Lily listening to Uncle James music. So cute!
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These next pictures need a little explanation.

Whenever Lily needed a little distraction ... I would grab my camera and say lets take some pictures of Lily. She loved it. But my camera shines a blue light out right before it flashes and takes the picture. So it would blind us both and what we got were some funny pictures.

Enjoy our silliness!

1, 2, 3 SMILE!

So funny!

Ouch! Our eyes hurt!

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More time with EvieAnd lots of pictures of her cuteness!Even when she is crying I think she is soooo adorable!

Oh I really wish I was holding her now!

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This was how it looked every day! It really never stopped snowing. I LOVED IT!

It was so pretty! I loved the bite in the air. I loved how pretty it was. I loved the warm clothes. I love the snuggly blankets and cozy house. I think I could definatly live in the snow.

The only thing about it that I didn't like was the driving in the snow. It was way too scary!

So who knows?

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One day I did Lilys hair. It was so fun and so cute!

If I had realized how easy it was to distract her I would have done it every day.

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James was so good with Evie. He loved to help hold her, even though I didn't let him get too many chances.

And then they even fell asleep and took a nap together. So cute!

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Amanda and I had such a great time together.

We did lots of baking, not only dinners, but also chocolate chip cookies, scones, and bread.

We also started to put together this puzzle and watched lots of movies. One of the movies was Bleakhouse by Charles Dickens. It was 8 hours long. I loved it!

Even while doing the puzzle I just couldn't put little Evie down :)She was happy and so was I!

This was a nightly ritiual with these two. They also went and played basketball a couple times. I think James is starting to get ahold of that video game.

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One of the days we were there we decided to go to Nauvoo.

We were so glad we were able to go and see such historic amazing sites.
WE LOVED IT!!!

The snow just amazed me the entire time. I LOVED it!

I enjoyed it so much I didn't want to forget, so I took lots of pictures on the way to Nauvoo.

While we were driving I was able to catch the deer in the picture.

Snow and cow.

James thought I was crazy at this point. It might be true...

I aboslutly LOVE how this picture turned out.

BEAUTIFUL!!! This is the Mississippi River

First we went to the beautiful temple to take some pictures. It was snowing pretty good!

This is across the street from the temple. We didn't walk over to it because it was snowing ALOT!!Me in front of the temple. I love how you can see all the snow here. There was so much snow. And the flakes were a lot bigger here than in Missouri. Full temple pic with James

Up close and lots of snow!

Next we ran into the visitors center. This was outside the visitors center.

After walking around the visitors center. We went ot Durphy street. I braved the cold and got out and took a picture next to Durphy street. This was a relative of mine that lived in Nauvoo, even though it is spelled differently. My dad tells the story better, but it goes something like this: I think my great, great, ... uncle had a son and then his wife died and remarried. He had several children with his second wife. Him and his second wife were going to leave Nauvoo and head further west with the saints. His first son stayed behind and he wanted to be different than his step brothers and sisters so he changed his name to Durphy instead of his original name Durfee. And that is the story! So that is why it is spelled differently. We went to many of the little homes in Nauvoo.

This is the bakery. Such a cute little house

This is the Tin Shop front room.

This is where the sisters showed us how they made the different tin items they used then.We were the only ones here in Nauvoo this day.

Every little home we went to, the missionaries would say, "Yeah Visitors!" Which was so cute! Then they would ask us where we were from and we would say Arizona and they would then say, "Ohhhh." Like thats why your here today. You don't know any better. Because it is soooo cold and snowing a TON!

LOL! We has such a good time.

This is the blacksmith. He made us our very own very small horseshoe. Me Outside of the printing office with A LOT of snow around me and in my hair.

The printing office. I liked all the information and great facts they gave us here.The missionaries took our picture.

We also went to the Jonathon Browning home. This was James FAVORITE place in Nauvoo.

The Browning Home was one of the nicer homes.

This was the kitchen. I thought it was amazing and cute!This was a display of beautiful china in the home also.

This cradle not only rocked the baby but it also churned butter at the same time!

James and the Missionary looking and talking about all the guns in the cases. We were here the longest because of all the questions and comments james and the missionary had in common. So I got a little picture happy. . . . . . .

Picture of James

Picture of a case of gunsPicture of JamesPicture of another case of gunsPicture of James ~ one happy guy!Picture of the tools they used to make the barrel of the gunPicture of JamesThis is a machine gun used in WWII that was invented by the Brownings

This was the first house that the Brownings lived in before they built the bigger one that was shown (and pictured here) first.
This is outside the door to the Browning house

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After Nauvoo we drove over to Carthage Jail. It is about 20 - 3o minutes away from Nauvoo. It has a beautiful visitors center.

The statue outside the jail and visitors center

Me outside the window the Prophet Joseph Smith fell out of when he was shot and killed.
James, same place. As with Nauvoo we were the only ones there that day.

I thought I would end with the sweetest picture of Evelynn. Awwwweeeeee!

This was seriously the best vacation for James and I. Thank you Amanda and Andrew for such a wonderful time. We love you and your beatiful girls! :)