Our Vacation BEFORE Our Vacation

Yeah, I know we are crazy.... I mean who takes a MAJOR vacation before a MAJOR vacation... WE DO!!! BUT it was so much fun. We (and by we I mean Tyler) got a hair brained idea to head out Memorial Day Weekend and see the things that we haven't seen in our 2 1/2 years here in Wyoming. We rented an RV with our "vacation friends" (aren't you supposed to be rich to have vacation friends?) The Westbo's; William, Tiffany, Devon (7), Peyton(5), & Danial(1). We rented a 31 ft RV that had enough room for our two families. 9 people in an RV, sounds like it could be bad... but it sure was fun. We laughed and talked and the kids slept and watched movies. So it was worth it. We drove over 1600 miles in 4 days. We started on Friday bright and early and drove to Keystone, SD to see our President's in stone (Mt. Rushmore)... it was great! The weather was beautiful. We drove over to the Badlands... where we informed the kids if they were naughty they would have to stay since "that is where the bad kids stay". Then we made a quick stop at Wall Drug (if you ever make it to Wall, SD you will have to go to Wall Drug, so that you can understand WHY? we stoopped in). We bought some fudge there, saw a dinosaur, drank some free "sulfur" water, the kids rode a jackalope, and then we ate dinner and rode bikes in the parking lot. The next day we headed out for Devil's Tower... it was truly magnificent. The story the Native American's tell of how it was created was really interesting. We climbed up a hill and took some pics and then headed back down. TJ and Tyler saw a snake on their way down and thought that was cool. We continued our drive towards Yellowstone. We stopped for dinner in Lovell, WY and ate in a Stake Center parking lot while the kids rode their bikes. We spent the night about 25 miles outside of Yellowstone. We drove into Yellowstone in the morning and spent about 8 hours in Yellowstone. The longer we were there the weather turned cooler and rainy. We did see Old Faithful! It was as always spectacular. We spent the night in Dubois, WY... Just think the movie "Deliverance". Then Monday morning we headed home. We got into Cheyenne around 5pm. So it was a great trip and we had a lot of fun and made great memories. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

A far away view of Devil's Tower.

Danial and Elizabeth zonked during the ride.

Cheesy pic of Tyler and me at Mt. Rushmore.

TJ, Mommy, and Elizabeth in front of the RV.
You can see Washington's profile in the background.

Peyton, TJ, and Devon playing Memory and eating trail mix.

First Family Vacation

This year we decided to go to the beach for five days. We found an awesome deal at a resort on one of our favorite destinations (Isle of Palms, SC). We had a condo with a kitchen so we cooked almost all of our meals and saved quite a bit of cash that way. We had two bedrooms so the boys had their own room. This was great since we are movie fiends and watched two while we were at the beach! We were able to stay up late, watch the movies and not disturb the boys.

The first day we were there, it rained allllllllllll day! So it was mostly a bust. Then on Friday it was quite sunny. But we thought it was going to rain, so we planned a trip to Ft. Moultrie. We did that in the morning and tried to go to the beach in the afternoon. It was high tide and the boys did NOT like the water rushing up toward them so fast. They, in fact, ran away from the water. We tried to go in the pool but it was too cold (because it had been raining all week). So that was a bust.

Friday night, Jessica arrived and what a blessing! She spent Friday night with us and on Saturday morning we got up kind of early and all went to the beach again. Since the waves were more calm the boys were a little more OK with going near the water. They still didn't like the rushing up of the water. But they loved playing in the sand. So that was a couple of hours of fun. Scooping, digging, burying Aunt Jessica's legs. After naptime, we all dressed alike and headed back out to take some pictures. Again, the boys were petrified so walking in the surf was kind of a joke. We did get some pics snapped that turned out cute.

After that we took the boys to the park and they were in HOG HEAVEN! We had a lot of fun and learned a lot about family vacations. I hate that my expectations were so high. I wanted the boys to love the beach as much as I do..........since, as many of you know, the beach is my "happy place." Everyone I have told this to told me that their toddlers pretty much hated the beach the first time, too. So........there's always next year, right?

Alex and Ben at Ft. Moultrie.

A family picture on one of the turrets.

The boys wanted to walk up these steps to one of the big guns.

We're not sure what these numbers were for but I thought it would be cute to have the boys stand by the number 2 since they are twins and because they are 2. So.....the best laid plans, right? This was, seriously, BEST picture. How sad?

Saturday at the beach. Mommy and Alex posing.

Daddy took Ben to the water and he was scared. So he clung on to Daddy for dear life until they headed back to where we were all sitting.

Jessica took this pic of Alex and I just love it!

See....here's Ben actually walking. Notice how far they are from the water. This is about as close as he would get.

Alex....leaving his mark on this world. Well, Jessica left the mark.

And here's Ben's mark.
Playing in the sand with Aunt Jessica.
Ben liked pouring sand all over himself. He even ate some. Mmmmmmm...CRUNCHY!
Ahhhhh....love at the beach.
Big smile from Ben. Such a great shot!!!
A family photo.

Notice how all of these pics are with our backs facing the water. Again, boys soooooo scared of the water! Sweet pic of Daddy and Ben peeking through the boardwalk railing.
It looked like so much fun that Mommy and Alex decided to peek through, too.

Beautiful Baby B.

Such a handsome Baby A.

Walking up the boardwalk.

Lots of Twins

We had a zoodate with some girls from the UMOM Club. It was fun as usual. We even had a UPOP (Parent of Plenty....LOL!) with us. I have to admit....I'm the worst about taking pics of the animals. The kids are way more interesting!

Alex and Ben looking at the elephants. See early comment as to why there are no actual pictures of elephants!

Mason at the playground. Little USC fan. What an adoreable kid!

Jordan and Jared. Also looking at the elephants.

Addison in her super adoreable glasses. I wish Alex kept his on this well.
Not sure if this is Jordan or Jared. I'm gonna go with Jordan. Anyway...he's coming through the tunnel on the playground. Quite adventuresome!
I'm not sure who this kids belongs to. But he kept following us around this one exhibit!

And here's another stray that followed me home. I kept this one because he is sooooooooooo cute!

Biltmore

So there are a lot of things to update on. First, our little family went to the Biltmore a few weeks ago. It was an allllllllll day affair. It was a cool, rainy day and as it turns out.....the perfect kind of weather to tour the Biltmore! Since there is NO A/C! I mean come on! I know they have the money to update that much!

The main floor was great and we pushed the double stroller all around w/out any problems. But when we decided to go up we thought taking the stroller might not be a good idea. Plus we saw that other families had parked their strollers by the elevator so we decided to do that same. We did ok on the 2nd floor but floors 3 - 5. OH! We were just like, "GET IT OVER WITH PLEASE!"

It was amazing to see the decor and how big the rooms were (or weren't if you were up in the servants quarters). I was most in awe of how small the beds were. DUDE! If I'm in anything smaller than a queen I start to get claustrophobic!

So here are a few pics from our trip:

On the way there the boys were watching....ELMO! And Alex tried to hard to stay awake, but he fell asleep with his headphones on. So stinkin' cute!

The view when we first walked up to the house. Kind of ominous with the clouds. Reminded me of Hogwarts. With out the black/invisible pegasus drawn carriages and the wizards and what-not.You can't take pictures inside the house. I'm not sure why. But on the balcony we took quite a few. This was a great place to cool off and let the boys run up and down the porch. They LOVED it and cried when we left.
Clearly, Alex did not want to be in this picture.
I thought this was cute of the boys taking in the view from their height.

Such a little inquisitive mind. I wish I knew what he was thinking!

I'm pretty sure Ben is thinking, "I wonder if I jumped if Alex would come with me!"

We saw this couple getting their wedding pictures taken. It was a yucky day and I hated that she had that beautiful dress on in the rain! But I'm sure the pictures turned out great!

Here are some tulips we saw in the gardens. They were gorgeous! I'm not sure what these are but they were very pretty, too.

Cheyenne Busy Days

Elizabeth and TJ chilling in the kitchen after breakfast.

TJ was eating pizza at the picnic table and Elizabeth
wanted to sit at the table too... She ended up stealing
TJ's crust.

These are the chocolate covered strawberries
that my sweet husband got me for Mother's Day!

AND these are the flowers he got me
for Mother's Day!

So, we have been extra busy here as of late. I have been doing a little sewing, Tyler has been doing a bit of studying & testing, and the kids have been doing a LOT of growing. I wanted to post some pictures of some of the things that have kept us all so busy. We hope that you are all doing well. We still miss our S.C. family TONS! We are looking forward to being in FL which is kinda close to SC. I am so very excited to see KT, Jessica, and the boys. We will have some great fun, they will be here for part of Frontier Days! Yippee Kai Yay! Giddee-up Cowboys and Cowgirls.

Here are the dresses Tiffany and I made for our girls!

Here are the #1 shirts that I made for TJ
& Elizabeth to wear on their 1st birthday's.

This is our Clark Kent.

Elizabeth found a NEW place to play
in the kitchen.