We made it!

Whew! We have been off the blogging radar for awhile but we are now up and running again! We said goodbye to our friends in Virginia and 7 days, 12 states, and 2,400 miles later we arrived in Utah. The drive actually went really well. Everyone had their moments but overall the kids did great. I think that we prepped them well enough that it was going to be a long drive so they didn't expect to get to Utah too quickly.

We really enjoyed the time we had together as a family and we were able to see a lot of neat things along the way. Keep scrolling and you can follow our journey across the country!

Cabela's in West Virginia- This store is made for families
on road trips. It's just like a quick trip to the zoo
with air conditioning.

The National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio-
Here Rachel poses as an astronaut

Lydia in an F-16 cockpit

Carthage Jail in Illinois where the Prophet
Joseph Smith was killed

Nauvoo Illinois- The girls loved going on this
wagon ride around town.

Kenny and the kids in front of the
beautiful Nauvoo Temple

Winter Quarters, Nebraska- Many of the early pioneers
of our Church lived here for a winter. Many died here,
including some of our ancestors. In this picture our
girls dressed up like pioneers and took a shot at
pulling a handcart.

Winter Quarters Temple

Cabela's once again- this time at the mother store
in Sidney, Nebraska

Kenny was able to go to Martin's Cove in Eastern
Wyoming. I had already been here so I stayed at the
hotel and swam with the kids. The Martin and Willie
Handcart Companies took shelter here in the wintertime
in 1856. Many died here before help could arrive.

Kenny got rattled at by this poisonous guy on the trail. It's
good I wasn't with him because I would have flipped out.

Independence Rock is fairly close to Martin's Cove. Many
people headed west in the 1800's would carve their names here.

A sample of a carving

We couldn't drive through Wyoming without driving
past our old place in Kemmerer. Yes, Kenny and I
actually lived here during the summer of 2003. The
town really hasn't changed much since we left.

As you see the girls came out after the trip unscathed
and excited for their new life in Utah. Here they are in
front of our house on our first day back at church.

Wow, this has turned out to be a long post. In short, we had a great trip. Virginians- we miss you! Utahns- we're excited to see you again!