Day 2 Columbus, Ohio to Nauvoo, Illinios

We had some dark skies as we drove towards Nauvoo

Megan behind the wheel.  Thanks Megan for taking a turn driving.

This mirror was so nice to have.  It let us keep an eye on him and it kept him entertained as he talked and laughed at himself.

More dark skies and fields and barns.

We made it to Nauvoo in the evening and headed to town to get dinner and walk around the temple.

A family picture.  It was a little bit colder than North Carolina. Oh and we missed the tornado by one day.  It touched down in the town that we lived in and did a lot of damage.  I'm so glad we weren't there.

Kade checking out the horse statue

Nauvoo temple at night.  To find out more about the purpose of temples click here

 Sunday Day 3 Nauvoo, Illinois

Megan and Kade on the swing outside our cabin.

Sunday after church  we headed down to historic Nauvoo.  It is so fun to learn about church history and to see the place we have heard about so much about.  Above is a picture of Brigham Young's house.

Brigham Young's root cellar.  So cool that it is all still standing.

The tin shop.

The Browning Family's house and shop.  This was Jesse's favorite spot because it is the Browning family that created the Browning guns.

Family picture in front of the Browning home.

Kade liked Aunt Megan's hat.

I guess the sun was too bright.

April 15th Day 1

Last family picture in front of our house.  Sad but exciting

Megan my sister in law happened to be on spring break and was so wonderful and drove with us across country.  This was our lunch stop for day 1 at Pilot Mtn in North Carolina.

A view from the parking lot

Kade checking out the scene.  It cracks me up that his pants are size 6-9 months while his onsies and shirts are 12-18 months.  My child has no legs...I guess he didn't get my genes.

Watching and talking to Aunt Megan

Pilot Mtn

We made it all the way to Columbus, Ohio our first day to stay with my sister in law Emily and her family.  Here is Kade with his cousin Brinly.  They didn't want to look at the camera at the same time. 

Kade liked all of Brinly's books and toys

It was a long day but fun to see family.  Thanks Lund's for letting us stay with you guys!

Coeur d'alene

Yesterday we arrived in Coeur d'Alene and it has been great. After freezing in Yellowstone we are now basking in the sunshine.  It is beautiful here.  My dad's friend Steve and his family used to live here so I called him to find out where we should go hiking.  Yesterday we walked on the floating boardwalk and then took a little hike on Hobb's hill.  It was beautiful and oh its so nice to be in the mountains.

Ah and here is a horrible picture of me from our hike today up Mineral Ridge.  It was beautiful and I took lots of pictures but those will be uploaded when we get to Washington.  Only one more day on the road and then we will be at Ft. Lewis.  Then we will get to go around and explore our new home.  We are so excited!!

Quick trip update

We have been on the road now for almost a week and it feels like it has been forever and then again it feels like it has gone by super fast.  I am so grateful for my sister in law Megan for driving with me she has been a life saver.  We have made it through one book on tape now called City of Bones.  Listening to a book makes the drive so much easier.  Kade has done amazing on this trip he is such a great traveler wow I have no complaints.  I'll have to video tape him talking and singing to himself in his seat as he reads his books its sooo funny.

I'll add pictures once we get to Washington and hopefully my laptop will keep working.  It has not been a good week for electronics.  I left my phone in Ohio and then my laptop went nuts.  I am thankful that I had my old cell phone to use because that is what I am now using.

Yesterday we went to Mt Rushmore and today and tomorrow we will be in Yellowstone!  Its cold and snowing here but we are determined to go see old faithful tomorrow.  Then it is off to Washington for us!

Kade again

I had a photo shoot last week and Jesse and Kade came along since it was Jesse's friend.  It was a little chilly but still nice and Kade loves to be outside its so fun.  I can't have Kade come along and I not take a few pictures of him.  I absolutely love his jacket I think i love the colors of it and it has little robots on it.

Chillin in the stroller with his legs propped up...wat a hard life

He has a new love...any stuffed animal

This pictures cracks me up. His tongue is always hanging out.

swimming, whinning and a new tooth

We have been going swimming once a week for months now and its a lot of fun.  It an indoor pool and its beach entry so the kids can run around on their own.  Now that Kade is crawling he is all over the place and has no fear.  Of course when I bring my camera out he just sits there.  I will miss our swim dates when we leave, we really have a lot of fun even if the water is too cold or we don't stay too long it is still fun to get out of the house and play with firends.

There are normally about 3-4 other moms that go with their kids and this is one of the boys we go with.  Kade loves to play with him.

Isn't he a cutie!



Trying to get some fun pictures of Kade, he didn't want anything to do with the camera.



The weather has been super nice lately so we have spent a good amount of time outside watching the chickens.  We have to enjoy them while we can since they will be moving to a new home soon.  I don't think taking chickens across the country would be that fun.

You can kind of see Kade's top 2 teeth in this picture.

Grandma Kathy these next few pictures are for you.  I think Kade is leading the music in these pictures.  He does it all the time and its so funny.

He is very serious about this I mean look at that face.

Sometimes its both hands

I have been seeing to much of this grumpy face lately.  Well come to find out that he had a 3rd tooth come in on the bottom so I guess he deserves to be grumpy and whinny and oh man I'm over it!

The only good thing about this grumpy face is I could capture a picture of his top two teeth. He has had them for awhile now but most the time I can't see them.  I guess they are finally getting big enough.  And yes he has a pretty big gap between the top two as well.

WASHINGTON

This is so no one feels left out and says I didn't tell them oh and saves me a million phone calls.  We are officially moving to Washington State!!  Well we were pretty sure that is where we were going but this morning Jesse got his orders so the moving processes has started.  It is super exciting and also kind of sad at the same time.  I will miss my friends here and well that's about it.  Actually I guess I will miss the warm beaches as well, I will miss that a lot.  Boo to cold water but there are so many positives in moving to Washington.  Wow we are so excited.  Better get started on organizing and cleaning.