Day 1- Boston MA

We left Vegas last night at 11:00 and got into Boston this morning at 7:00 am so to say the least we are VERY tired! But we had a really great day. We didn't meet our tour until 5:00 tonight so we had all day to see Boston. We showed up with no plans for the day other than going to see Fenway Park. When we got there we found out there was a game today so we bought $20 tickets and went into the stadium. Once we got a hot dog and coke and marveled at how good our seats were for only $20 we realized the Red Sox were playing in Toronto today. Whatever was at the stadium wasn't Red Sox so we checked out the stadium and left. It was worth it though, way cool stadium! Really old, and pretty small compared to other stadiums but it felt like a really special place (as far as baseball history goes :)
We also drove to Harvard and drove thru the campus. Our camera was in our suitcase so we didn't get any pictures of it but it was cool.

Next we went to downtown Boston and walked around. We ate at the oldest restaurant in America and walked thru the Farmer's Market. We walked down to the harbor and sat down for a minute but it started to rain so we headed back to our car. By the time we got to our car it was a total down pour. We drove around for a minute but it was raining so hard, Travis pulled into a parking lot and we both fell asleep! We had only slept about 2 1/2 hours on the plane so we were exhausted. I wish we would have gotten a picture of it raining, it rained so hard for so long!
We went back to the airport, returned our rental car and headed to the terminal to meet our tour. We went down town Boston again, but this time actually found out what the places were we were looking at! It was really cool how Br. Gardner tied the gospel into the revolutionary stuff that happened here. I didn't know that Brigham Young and the other apostles were actually here in Boston when Joseph and Hyrum were murdered. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera still so we didn't get any pictures of the places we saw other than the food with my phone! What would a trip be for us if we didn't include food?? LOL! We went to Boston Common, the oldest cemetery in the US where 3 US presidents are buried, the site of the Boston Massacre, Bunker Hill, The Constitution ship, a building where several influential American Authors met and early american literature was printed, and several other things. I will be better with details tomorrow after I have had some sleep!

4th of July

We went to SLC for the 4th this year. Bay took us on a mini tour of what she did for girls camp. We got to see some really cool stuff! We went to the cemetery where President Hinckley, President Mckay, President Wilford Woodruff were buried. And, as we were looking around, we happened across one of my ancestor's, Seth Taft's headstone.


Next we went to the Family History Library which was really neat. Then to the Museum of Church History. There was really amazing things in there! One of their displays was I Am A Child of God, all about primary. I wish I could recreate some of the things they had in there for our primary! But there was alot of things from the pioneers as well as personal things of the prophets.
Saturday night we went to BYU to the Stadium of Fire. It was unbelievable!



Carrie Underwood sang the National Anthem. She did an unbelievable job!
We had done so much that day that by the time Carrie Underwood was on, Cole was asleep! But he did wake up in time for the Fireworks.

We also went up to Park City, but forgot the camera! We rode the alpine slides, ziplined, and they even have a "rollercoaster" up there now. It was beautiful and a ton of fun.
On the way back from Park City, Travis took us to Bingham Copper mine. It was pretty amazing, and we learned alot!



We hiked up Ensign peak that evening. It was a beautiful view and a fun hike! We got to experience at least a little of what Bay did for girls camp and we had such a great time!

The BEST chocolate cake ever

I recently bought a book called the Pioneer Woman Cookbook (or something like that). It is a written by a lady that started off just putting recipes on her blog with tons of pictures. One of her recipes is called "The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever" and so I decided I was going to try it. Now you have to know I have ate ALOT of chocolate cake in my life. I like chocolate cake but it takes alot to impress me. After this was out of the oven and frosted I figured I better try it before I feed it to everyone at Travis's company party tomorrow night. Well lets just say that it is going to be a miracle if this cake makes it to tomorrow night! It really is the best chocolate cake I have ever had!! Everyone should make this cuz it's amazing! Her website is thepioneerwoman.com, happy cooking :)

Summertime

We started off the summer by going to South Carlsbad Beach for a few days. It was tons of fun! I wore a jacket the entire time but the coolness didn't slow the kids down at all! Our friends the Horlacher's were the ones that had invited us and the kids all had a blast playing together. Plus our kids got to spend their first night in a tent, pitiful huh!

Baylee's first year at girls camp was this year. She is blessed to have Elise Noorda as her Young Women's president. This year our stake gave the wards an opportunity to plan their own girls camps and Elise planned a week up in Salt Lake. Baylee got to have the most amazing girls camp experience ever! They went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti on their way to SLC, did baptism for the dead at the Salt Lake Temple, went to the Church History Museum, Family History Museum, Relief Society Building, Joseph Smith Movie, hiked Ensign Peak, and a few other things that I can't even remember! She hasn't stopped talking about it since she got home. I am so grateful to her leaders, they are incredible ladies!

While Bay was at girls camp, it was my sister's week on her houseboat so the rest of us went to Lake Powell. We had so much fun! My sister and her family are so fun to be with and my nephews are so patient with my kids. Kade learned how to wakeboard and Tori got even better at wakeboarding. Travis didn't crash and get hurt this trip so that was a good thing :)

An Angel in our Family

We have been blessed with an angel in our lives. Mrs. Purcell has been our preschool teacher since Baylee was there 7 years ago! She is such an amazing lady and has made our family better by being a part of my children's life. After Cole's graduation yesterday I was taking the kids back to school and Kade said, "mom, Mrs. Purcell still loves me!" And all my kids feel the same way. She loves them and they know it. Thank you Kris for loving our kids! We love you and we are eternally grateful to have you a part of our lives. You truly are an angel to us!

NYC Girls Trip

Usually once a year all the girls in my family go on a girls trip. This year for Christmas mom had given us tickets to NYC for our girls trip. It was a crazy, chaotic time of year to go but we had an awesome time! We packed about everything possible into 2 days and really had a great time together.

Monday Night the Yankees were playing the Red Sox. We had gone to a play and Cindy and I really wanted to go to the game. But mom and Lanae aren't the biggest baseball fans. But in the end, Cindy, Bay and I went to the baseball game (probably the best game I have ever been to!) And mom, Tori, Lanae, Charlee, and Sami went to see Mary Poppins. I think it turned out good for everyone. The girls loved the play and we loved the game!

The girls first subway ride

Time Square! We walked a million miles in 2 day and everyone was really good sports about it! They didn't complain (hardly at all :)

This was at Battery Park. And as close to the Statue of Libery we could get.

We went to church on Sunday. Not actually, but we did go to the church on Sunday just as the singles ward was getting out. It is on the 3rd floor of the temple in Manhattan (or maybe 2nd floor, but you get the idea). There is nothing like seeing the Manhattan temple! Surrounded by skyscrapers and all of a sudden there is the Angel Moroni! I can't wait to go back and do a session in this temple!
We had very little time and so we wanted to do everything as quickly as possible. So we hired a pedi-bike to take us on a tour thru central park. Little did we know that it was the NYC AIDS Walk that day in Central Park. So about 5 minutes into our tour, our bikes get stopped because there was literally 50,000 people in the park for this walk. So our little biker tour guide, not wanting to lose our money, took us all the way up Madison Ave. and into the park about half way up. We can even say we walked in the NYC AIDS walk, but only about 2 minutes :)
We flew into JFK at about 10:30 at night. By the time we got to our hotel in mid Manhattan and put our stuff in our rooms it was way late and we were way hungry! Outside our hotel there was a food cart with a huge line. We thought if all these people were willing to stand on the street in the middle of the night to get this food, we should too! And Cindy said we shouldn't miss the experience :) We still aren't exactly sure what it was, the only thing we know for sure is that the little container of red sauce is SUPER hot!

Our Baby Is 12!

Wow, I would never have believed that 12 years could go so fast! Bay is an amazing girl, she is better than I would ever have imagined I would deserve as a mom. She was a perfect baby. I remember telling Travis when Bay was 14 months old, we should have another baby because she was so good it would be so easy. And she has always been easy. She is a peacemaker and loves everyone.

The older she gets the better she gets too. This year she has truly excelled. She is on Student Council, Intermediate Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, all accelerated classes, and National Junior Honor Society. She is smart, beautiful, and already has an incredible testimony of the Gospel. I don't know how I was so blessed to get to be her mom, but I am thankful every day for her and the amazing person she is.

I love you Bay, happy 12th birthday!!!