Pirate Cruise

Nathan's mom came out for a quick visit before Nathan's deployment.  Yes, Nathan's currently deployed!  We were able to squeeze in a pirate cruise before they both left.

Water gun fight!

Watching the kids

The boys had to clean up!

Face paint!

Sword fighting

Pulling up the treasure

Kid pictures!

Generally I get the kids' pictures taken right around the three oldest's birthdays (May/June).  Since we moved to Florida I started taking their pictures.  They always get annoyed but I found that I can usually get away with it on Mother's day which also happens to be around that same time.  This year however it didn't happen.  I can't remember why but it didn't get done.  With school just around the corner I needed their pictures updated.  I mean McKinley was still 3-4 months old on my wall.  The kids of course complained, but we evenutally got it done.

Easton-11

Blair-9

Dyer-7

Blakely-4 (almost 5)

McKinley-1 (almost 18 months)

Brothers

Sisters

Kid fun

McKinley doesn't like to be left out!  She wants in on all the action.

We have foam noodles for when the kids want to light saber battle.

This was right after finishing the last Harry Potter book/movie!

We finally found Dyer a drum teacher.  This was after just two lessons!

Sometimes the littlest one gets into a pickle when they attempt to play with the older kids.

They have fun dressing her up like a little doll!

Valerie kept mixing Easton and Dyer up and claiming that they looked like twins so they decided one day to dress the same and take a picture to see if she could tell them apart!

They look like Siamese twins in this picture!

Church History Tour Days 14-16

Day 14: July 26th

Missouri

McKinley was not a happy camper!  She wanted to get down and walk.

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Liberty Jail (restored)

Honestly by the time we got here I think the kids were basically done with Church History sites.  They had heard most of the stories before so they weren't very interested anymore.  This was probably the stop where the kids were not on their best behavior.  Not horrible but definitely not great either!  I felt bad for the sister missionaries and those in our group but to the kids' credit they had been really good (minus McKinley) for the last 2 weeks!  That's a win in my book!  I think they were ready to get home!

Easton and Blakely

Visitors center in Independence, Missouri.

We got there about an hour before they were closing so we were pretty rushed.  They had a kids area that kept them entertained for a while.

Looking for the corner stones of the temple.

Last day of Church History sites.

Day 15: July 27th

Mississippi

We stopped at a Yogi Bear RV campground.  Before this trip neither Nathan or myself had even heard of them.  They seem really fun but unfortunately most of them you have to stay more than one night.  This one was an exception.

Day 16: July 28th

On our way home!

So sweet!

Are we home yet?!?  Are we home yet?!?

Yay!!! We're home!

She's basically naked because it was soooooo HOT back there!  For some reason the air was not working correctly in the back!

I think the trip as a whole was a success!  We all learned lots, we had fun in the process, and most importantly we all make it back ALIVE!!!

Church History Tour Days 10-13 (Nauvoo)

Day 10: July 22nd

Nauvoo, IL

Since it was Sunday we decided to take a trip to the temple before heading to church.  We took a picnic lunch.

Too bad we didn't get someone to take a family picture in front of the temple.

Nathan went to the Family History center to see if either of us had any family that owned property in Nauvoo.  He found out that my family did and so we took a walk down by the water to see if we could find it.

On the way we came across Joseph Smith's homestead.  We eventually took a tour on another day with the Community of Christ church since they own it, but we couldn't take any pictures inside.

Here are the graves of Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith Jr., and Emma Smith.  Apparently this was the third and final resting spot for Hyrum and Joseph.  Their bodies were hidden and moved two other times.

Joseph Smith's parents were also buried in the family cemetery.

We finally found the home we were looking for.  This story appears in the "Saints" book that just came out by the church.  They don't use Aaron's name but I know it's his boat.

I was doing some research to find out how I was related to Aaron.  In the process I couldn't figure out who Polly was at first.  I guess Aaron had more than one wife.  I came from a different wife but in the process I found out that Polly's maiden name was Kelsey!  That obviously intrigued me so I did further research.  Apparently Nathan is a very distant cousin of Polly.  Nathan came from one brother and she came from another.

After this we went to the trail of tears.

Day 11: July 23rd

Nathan walked over to the visitors center early in the morning to get tickets for the wagon ride (probably at least a mile each way).  When it was about 40 minutes until our time slot we all walked over to the visitors center.  However once we got there we couldn't figure out where the wagon ride started.  It turned out that it was about 1/2 mile back towards our camp.  Oops!  Needless to say by the time we got there we missed our time slot.  Luckily for us Mondays aren't that busy so we were able to eventually get on another wagon ride.

Nathan went back to the visitors center to get our stroller that we left there.  Someone told us that the wagon ride was just down the street a little bit.  We left it there thinking that it was a block or two away not 1/2 mile away.  Nathan got a lot of walking in that day!  While Nathan was getting the stroller I took the kids to a place that taught them how to make a bunch of things.  I can't remember what the building was called.

Candle making

When I was here as a child they actually let us dip candles but now they just explain the process of dipping candles.

The kids got to make their own rope!

Dyer

Blair

Blakely was a little upset that she didn't get to help make the rope.

Petting the horses

McKinley thought the horses were funny!

Wagon time!

Three oldest on one side

Two youngest with mom and dad.

Joseph Smith homestead

Mansion House 

Pottery

Walking on stilts

McKinley

Racing game

Wooden animals

Ring toss

Rope pulling

Stick pulling

Dress up

Cute pioneer kids

McKinley loved the dolls.  Some of them were almost as big as she was.

Day 12: July 24th

I think we took the Community of Christ tour of Joseph Smith's house, mansion house, and Brick Store this day.  Afterwards we headed to Carthage Jail.

Giving daddy loves.

The room where Hyrum and Joseph Smith were killed.

Window where Joseph Smith fell from after getting shot.

Falling asleep on the water bottle.

We also drove out to where the Morley's settlement was.  My family (Whiting's) lived on this settlement.

Day 13: July 25th

Nathan and I took turns going to the Nauvoo temple.  I went early in the morning before anyone was up.  While Nathan was in the temple the kids wanted to go back to the game area.  We made a couple detours along the way.

First up was the oxen ride.

Next the bakery again to get cookies!

After we went through a second time I felt bad because apparently they make tons of these cookies in the winter and freeze them for the tourist season.  Hopefully they had enough...

Since I took a picture of Blair with the cookies Blakely wanted her picture taken with the Gatorade.

Finally we made it to the game area.

Blair was totally in her element!

The girls even convinced Dyer to dress up. 

Blakely wanted to dance so Nathan took her out on the dance floor.

I think Blakely was a little disappointed when they changed the dance and she kept changing partners.

These two cracked me up because they refused to touch each other!  They just walked side by side until they had to change partners.

Sack race

Tug of war

Go Kelsey kids!

Super strong Kelsey kids!

Pulling Daddy!

Daddy's turn to pull!

McKinley LOVES to dance!

Another pageant!

I didn't get to see the whole thing because Blakely felt sick.  McKinley was tired so I brought her back with us too!  You should have saw me.  Blakely on my back in the carrier and McKinley in my arms.  In a way it balanced me out but by the time I got to the RV I was sweating, sore, and tired myself.  It was probably only about a 1/2 mile walk but the last part was a hill and I wasn't sure I was going to make it!  I was about to make Blakely walk up the hill but she was fast asleep on my back.  About halfway up the hill Blakely's flip flop fell off.  I almost left it but I managed to bend over slightly and grab it!