Idaho

Well, it is certainly easier traveling WITH my husband. Gage slept through two of the three flights to Idaho (he was awake for the LONG three hr flight), and he didn't sleep for even a moment on any of the three flights home, but he did sleep through both layovers in his stroller. However, considering he IS only one, he did great! The very last flight was rough, but that WAS his tenth flight in the past three weeks, and it was only an hour of fussiness (and "some" screaming)... All in all, I can't complain.

Our visit was SO fun! Aaron and Selena just finished building a beautiful house! They were GREAT hosts, and took us to see all the "sites" in the area, and there were A LOT of beautiful ones! Claire is absolutely gorgeous, and it was certainly a pleasure to meet her (Gage especially thought so)! He learned to "love on" her quite easily and frequently.

Shoshone Falls-the "Niagra"
of the West-awesome!

Can you find Josh and Gage?

Evan, Rese, and me

Rese was glued to me, and Evan was glued to Josh, and we loved every second of that! Josh and I respect so much the way these children are being reared. They are SO well behaved, and that says a lot for their parents! Kudos, Aaron and Selena!

A surprisingly successful pic of the kids.

Gage was mesmerized by every "site." One evening we went to the races, but Gage made it all of five minutes, and the noise started to scare him, so Selena and I got our money back and went home to watch a movie (though we both fell asleep before the movie was playing five minutes, as a result of the exhaustion of motherhood:)--it WAS only 9pm!

I didn't take a TON of pictures, like I normally would--mostly because my camera's battery was low the whole time, and I forgot the charger, but it probably worked out better. I got a few shots of most everything we did, and spent more time "enjoying" the moments, rather than "capturing" them.

We spent one afternoon, swimming in a pool that was fed by natural hot springs. That was a lot of fun!

The girls and their babies... Aaron's sister in law, Jess joined us with her baby girl, Kara, who is just a week younger than Claire (that will surely make for a very convenient play mate).

Gage LOVES swimming!

The last evening we were there, we packed up all the kiddos and loaded all their "stuff" in the back of Aaron's truck, complete with a grill, food, blankets, chairs-the whole works, and drove to a remote lake in the middle of a dessert to enjoy the simple beauty of this part of the world. The boys fished, and we had a great time! Idaho is the opposite of North Carolina in most ways, and although Josh and I are both self-proclaimed "city folk," we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the other side of the country and the beauty out there!

Gage and Daddy enjoying the view...

love at first sight!

Gage loves any excuse to be DIRTY!

The most beautiful "site"(Claire)!

Michigan!

Gage and I had an "eventful" trip to Michigan. In short, I decided to stand by for earlier flights, and between that decision, weather delays, and ATLANTA, I ended up stuck in Atlanta's airport for eight hours with a one year old.

Our visit, however, was wonderful! We spent the weekend with Gage's cousins--Stephen, Chae, Preston, and the newest addition, Ava (who is absolutely GORGEOUS)! Trisha, Kim, and I took all five kids to the Saginaw Children's Zoo on Friday, visited with grandparents that evening, including Gage's Great Grandma Kelsey, who will be 92 in November.

Our attempt at a picture of all the kiddos

Precious Ava FINALLY in my arms!

Gage LOVED the carousel at the zoo!

Saturday morning, my brother David and Chae took Gage and me to see the property they recently bought at Higgins Lake. We walked through the model of their house they plan to build, walked around their property (which is complete with sand dunes! Gage was a fan of THAT!), spent a little time at the beach, and had a nice lunch together at a local diner before we headed back.

Beautiful, CLEAR lake!

Getting messy with Chae...

Gage's aunts threw Gage a birthday party in Kim's backyard on Saturday evening, which was a lot of fun. Once again, Gage slept for the first hour of his party, and then he enjoyed lots of fun with the kiddos outside. The party was complete with lots of yummy food, pool fun, cake, presents, and a campfire with s'mores! We enjoyed church on Sunday with everyone and another visit with Great Grandma on Sunday evening.

Choking hazard?!

Preston loving on Gage-yes, they matched:)


Sweet Great Grandma Kelsey...seriously Gage and Preston?

Monday was filled with more airport/plane frustration. Our first flight was delayed, which caused us to miss our connecting flight home, so Gage and I ended up in a hotel in Atlanta with very little luggage, three diapers, and one cup of milk. Nothing was in walking distance of the hotel, so we managed with that. I wore him out the best I could with makeshift toys (a phone book, pizza box, and stroller:), and we both were asleep by 8pm. Gage was up from 4-6am, but we made it back to the airport by 8am, fought our way through security, had a peaceful flight home (thank God the aircraft was only half full), and made it back home by about noon.

Pizza at the hotel (no other options)... and the socks were to keep his feet clean! I hate hotels.

I would love to say it will be a LONG time before we attempt flying again, but we are heading out again Thursday to visit our friends, Aaron and Selena Walker in Idaho and meet their newest addition, Claire! We are VERY excited about this trip! We haven't seen them since we went to Disney with them over a year ago (I was pregnant). Josh is going with us this time though, so I am confident, it will be smoother traveling with an extra set of hands! Please pray for us!!