Day trippers

Today we took off to gulfport, MS to the children's museum. First we went to Waffle House.
the food was actually pretty decent. I hadn't seen the Mississippi gulf coast in a while. It's still pretty sad just to see that everything's GONE, but they are re-building big time. I wanted to get some pictures of us on the beach but RIGHT when we left Waffle House it started pouring buckets.

Nauvoo Pageant

The pageant was wonderful. I can't even describe it. The music was awesome, I have to get the CD. This was the best part- when suddenly the REAL temple was lit up in the background, and President Hinckley's voice came over the speakers as he talked about the temple. Yep, I cried.

Our trip to Nauvoo,IL

Joshua is the Stake YM Pres. and they had a Youth trip to Nauvoo,Illinois. I was so happy to be able to tag along, I can't even begin to describe it. My AWESOME Mom offered to watch the kids for us so we could go. I can not even begin to thank her. It was such a spiritual experience for both of us. We had a wonderful time. I just can't wait to go back and bring Julian and Emily!!! They will LOVE that place.
These are some hilarious BEFORE and AFTER pictures:
Before the 16 and 1/2 hour bus ride:::: (don't we look fresh-faced and happy?) And the AFTER:::: Look closely for the differences, LOL. Josh doesn't look quite as worn out as I do. I got ZERO sleep on the bus!!! The trip should have been 14 hours but the driver got lost a few times. We showed up late, but it turned out fine.

Abram's Falls

This was just a wonderful time together as a family. We really enjoyed ourselves. Look at Emily's face!!!! LOL
Julian loved getting in the creeks!!

5 mile hike

We got up early the next morning and took off on a 5 mile hike (round trip) to Abram's Falls. That was a gorgeous hike! the trail was just stunning. I have so many pictures of it. Julian and Emily did an awesome job! They had their "Camelbacs" on, which are water-filled back packs with a straw attached to drink out of. Can you even believe this? So we're just walking along and there was a deer in the creek. She wasn't even the least bit concerned about us either. We stood and watched her for a little while til she ran off.
I stopped to look for rocks a few times on the way. I LOVE ROCKS. I brought Emily's back pack...it got heavier and heavier as I collected more and more rocks. I have enough for a small rock garden somewhere in my yard now. I'm excited about that.

Cade's Cove

Cade's Cove was definitely the highlight of our whole trip. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the whole world. We can't wait to go back. There were so many old, historical buildings to explore and read about. We got to learn all about the first settlers in the Smoky mountains. There's a camp ground there too, so we set up our tent then took off to look around.
There was a long road that you could just drive down and see the animals within arms' length!! We saw wild deer and turkey and even a black bear cub...but by the time we saw the cub it was getting dark and I couldn't get a good picture of him. He was up in a tree. He was so darn cute. There were SEVERAL old buildings right off of the road too, so you could park and go inside of them.

White water rafting

Here we ar in the back of the truck, all geared up for rafting. This crazy driver took us up the mountain and dropped us off with our raft. It was a self-guided trip! We had so much fun.
The man who dropped us off told us "Any time you come to an island in the river, choose the left"...We were singing "Choose the left" and laughing. Julian sat in front and was a good rower! Emily sat back and enjoyed the ride! She sang "row row row your boat...." to us while we paddled for about 3 hours straight. LOL
Josh sat in tha back and did the steering. We didn't fall out of the raft once even though lots of other people around us did!!!