And Back

Eventually we had enough fun and decided we would meander our way back to Ohio- ok, the Colonel refused to let us have any more time off! We really felt bad about missing Matt and Jordan's weddings!

We also didn't really meander back. A brief stop for lunch

Once we had to leave we were ready to move out. We made it back in three days.
We spent the next week and a half unloading our storage shed and finding places for all of it in our new house and waiting for our household goods to arrive from the Army. One load got caught in a flash downpour. It was the craziest thing, it came on so suddenly. Of course, that load included our piano. The piano really died then. We called a tuner and he said, "call the coroner." We took the serial number to a piano dealer and they told us it had been made in 1905. Wow, I really wanted to keep it then- it was an antique, but they also said the situation was hopeless. Poor piano. The piano movers hauled it away just the other day and we got ourselves a spiffy new baby grand. Now if only someone would play it! Hmmm.

There

While we were in the west, we went camping in Wyoming, saw Mom's college friends in Utah, renewed relationships with brother's and sisters and cousins, All the girl cousins on the Kress side Great Grandma Keck has a Wii- you go Grandma! She wasn't so happy that Sam beat her at bowling though! Party with the Kress cousins after Debbie Wright had a near fatal accident. That she is alive and walking is a miracle. Meeting Great Grandpa Baird and Grandma and Grandpa Keck in Utah along with Uncle Timmy. Beautiful Aunt Maria The whole gang was up there for once- including the new in-law to be, Jordan's fiance Curtis and Monica's BFF Kyle and the most important (to our pet deprived kids anyway) Eddie the war dog!
visited with Grandma's and Grandpa's in Utah and Grandma's and Grandpa's in Idaho and Grandma's and Grandpa's in the other part of Idaho, went to a wedding, The siblings- Maria, David, Tom, Mark, Joseph, and Robert
missed two weddings (one of which Emma was suppose to be a bridesmaid in- sorry Jordan), saw a Pioneer day celebration, Missionaries in a parade- only in Utah!
went to waterparks, got a whole day to ourselves at a swimming pool,rode tubes in freezing cold rivers, braved the rapids, celebrated birthdays, When asked what cake he wanted for his birthday Joseph said, "of course, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting says eat me Joseph." So we made sure that the cake said exactly that! The second cake had a J on it out of candles.hiked 50 miles in the Sawtooth Mountains (Rob and his brother Mark and his nephew Kade only!), and generally just had lots of fun. It was a full and fabulous month!

The Journey there, but not yet back

After leaving Virginia- with a little help from the missionaries- Thank you, Elders!, we headed to Wyoming via some interesting places. First we stopped in Ohio to drop off the truck and have it babysat, along with some plants at our friend the Gardners. We then headed onto Nauvoo, Illinios. We got there in time for the Independence day fireworks, that we saw outside in the parking lot of our hotel. The next day was spent in Nauvoo, but one day just isn't enough. We went to Carthage and then did one or two things in Nauvoo

before it was all closed down. My relative Patty Sessions (midwife on the Pioneer trek.) They had me sign a book about how I was related.
The next day we headed to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. It was beautiful and that was the first place we noticed the humidity had left! We actually finished a run without coming in sopping wet! The next day we headed to Sturgis, North Dakota. (One check off the bucket list for Rob- too bad he wasn't riding his bike into town, instead of the minivan! HaHaHa!) From there we went to Deadwood, the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. This is our dancing guide. Rob said he felt like tipping her when it was all done from all the dancing she was doing! A full day, don't you think. Well, Rob didn't think! So off we went at 4pm to drive the last 11 hours to the campsite in Wyoming. It was a good trip- though long. I am so glad we decided to stop and see so many fun sites on the way.