"I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, toto."

On Thursday we drove through the last little bit of Kansas and then made our way into Colorado. Dan's aunt, uncle, and cousin live near Colorado Springs, so we stopped and stayed with them. Here they are in front of their garden:

This is their house:

Here is just a glimpse of their property- they have 35 acres!:
Here is Tarzan, one of their horses:
And here is George, chained up because he wouldn't leave Tarzan alone. *Please note that all the other dogs were behaving and able to run around freely on the property. Poor George:


This is a rainbow that we were able to see that afternoon:
And here is the beautiful sunset we got to see:

We stayed the night and then spent most of Friday with them also. Dan's aunt took us to some beautiful places, but those pictures will have to wait til later.

Time to get back on the road!

On The Road Again

We just wrapped up the second day of driving on our trip to Vegas. So far we have gone through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and most of Kansas. On the way we saw lots of this:


And this:
This is what I see the most:But then there's always this:

And We're Off

Well Folks, after four months of being apart, we are finally back together and on our way to Vegas. We are driving in two cars and with four dogs. As we stop each night, I'll try to keep the posts up on where we are and how it's going.

Keep us in your prayers!

Simple reminders

"Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgressions of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Micah 7:18-19

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

Personally, I am extremely grateful that, "He delights in mercy," and "His compassions fail not."

Zoo: Part 2

Here are the rest of the zoo pictures. This first picture is of a spectacle bear. I thought his pose was cute......

In the bird house we were just in time to listen to the penguin keeper. He told us a lot of cool facts about penguins, and he also brought one out so we could see it and pet it. Fun fun fun. I love those adorable little birds.......

Mr. Rhino.....

A beautiful zebra....

And finally, here are various pictures of everybody on the train.......
One of my personal favorites.....

Still sleeping.....

Since everybody else in my family was paired off, my poor brother had to sit with me. You can tell from his expression that he was thrilled =)
Three peas in a pod....
And that folks, was our day at the zoo!

Zoo Pics Part 1

On Tuesday, my parents graciously took the whole clan (except Dan, who isn't up here yet) to the zoo. And by the whole clan I mean this group of folks:
This little guy didn't make it into the group shot, but here he is in his zoo outfit, complete with hat. By the way- this was his first trip to the zoo. Of course he mostly slept, but he either way he was good. =)
This is my oldest sister and her middle child

Our first stop was the cheetah run (very cool) but evidently I was so into the show that I forgot to take any pictures. O well. After the cheetahs we went to feed the giraffes.....

Then we went by the gorillas, who, in my opinion just looked bored.....
We rode the carousel (multiple times)......


We saw this momma tiger, but her babies weren't available for pictures at the time. Just take my word for it that they were adorable.

And that'll wrap it up for this post. I'll put the rest of the pictures up tomorrow.

Photo Fun

Just a few pictures from one of our fourth of July celebrations (yes, there was more than one).

All the kids and grand kids

Mom and Dad with the newest grand baby

The hosts of this particular party: Grandma and Grandpa

All the children (in birth order, I might add)

Oldest sister and her husband

Youngest sister and her husband

Back to Blogging

I'm back. Yep-there have been plenty of things going on since I last wrote, so I thought I'd take the time to catch everybody up.

Well, first things first- I finally got my car back and it's running great. *insert happy dance* What a relief to finally have it in my possession again. And now that Dan is trained to be an auto mechanic, he can take care of any problems from now on.

Speaking of Dan, he graduated from Tech school today. Now he's officially cross-trained from radar in vehicle maintenance. No more radar- EVER! He flies back to our home in North Carolina to finish up paperwork and then he'll be on his way up here to get me and the dogs and take us to Vegas. But wait- it feels like I just got here. It can't possibly be four months already! Where does the time go? Are you ready for us, Vicky? I'm sure once we invade your house you'll regret ever being friends with us. =)

Since I've been living here the past few months, I had some extra things that I needed to take back to North Carolina before the movers come. I planned a quick trip. A very quick trip. Quick, as in drive down 10 hours Monday, get all my work done on Tuesday, and then turn around and drive 10 hours to come back on Wednesday. My mom veryveryveryvery graciously agreed to go with me and help. When we pulled up to the house I almost cried at the sight of the yard. It.Was.Bad. So much for the new realtor making sure the yard was in good condition. HA! Who am I paying to do what again? Plus, our trash cans have been stolen, our hot water heater is no longer working (?) and our neighbor must have trimmed a tree, then dumped the cut, yes cut, branches in our yard. Le sigh. BUT- with my mother's help, we were able to get the entire yard cleaned up and take care of everything in the interior that I needed to finish. Thanks for the help, mom! I would have been there all week just working on the yard if you hadn't been there to pitch in. =)

We left early on Wednesday, a) so we could be back in time for church and b) because it was my dad's birthday. Since we'd been gone all day, I very much wanted to take my Dad out for dinner after church. It came together perfectly. The whole family came along. The food was good. Everybody had a great time. But of course that meant everybody was also there to witness the fact that I forgot my wallet in my luggage and my poor dad had to pay for his own birthday dinner. I know, I know.... Please don't leave me any comments about it. I'm already aware of anything you could possibly say. And please note that I did pay him back for the entire meal this morning. So there. *Note to self: always check for wallet before offering to take people out to dinner. It looks bad when you have to ask them to pay.

On a happier note, my sister in law and her husband are expecting their first baby. Congrats to them as they start their own little family. I know they're very excited and I look forward to another niece or nephew. The more the merrier!

Also, my newest nephew is doing spectacular. Or course I might be partial, but I think he's pretty much the cutest thing EVER! But you don't have to take my word for it. Take a look for yourself

Ahhhh.......lets just end on that note.