On the Road

The day before we left we ate at our favorite pizza place Chili Willies

With our friends the Ladners.  

Hayden and Baby Benton.  Hayden and Kelton cought some frogs before we left too.  With the rains came the frogs!

Mississippi to Louisiana and then On to Texas!

A little stop at Sea World where Katie, Tiger, and Lola met up with us!

The kids were sooo excited.  I gave a little lecture on the cost of going to Sea World and how we did not want to spend all our money to get in and then have a lot of  whining.  They all committed to having good time and not whine.  Before we went in Hayden asked, "If we spend the money to go to Sea World are we going to be homeless, because if that is the case maybe we shouldn't go."  Love that boy!

Sea World has added a water park, very cool.

My big Boys

The kids loved this squirrel.  He would run up to people and take the food right out of there hands, and then go up into the tree to eat. 

Halle indulged in some popcorn whenever she was not tall enough to ride on the rides.

Yeah little Lola came!  Isn't she cute!!

Squinting into the sun for a picture

Snacking with Tiger and Katie.

So glad we have baby cousins to play big brother and sister to.

Lola was such a good sport to let us love and hug and hold on her the whole time.  We just couldn't get enough!

My kids really want a baby now.

So cool!  We loved Sea World.

Watching some shows!

Shamu!

From Texas, to New Mexico, to Arizona where we indulged in a Western delicacy : )

As we were going through El Paso we could see Mexico on the Left and United States on the Right.  It is amazing the difference.  We asked the kids which side they would like to live on.  It was unanimous, the U.S.  So grateful to be an American.

Finally we made it to Nevada.  Where we took another Dam picture!!

Onto Las Vegas where we met cute little Jesse for the first time!

We had so much fun playing with our cousins

Wrestle mania!

Uh oh Spider-man got hurt!

Nothing Dad can't solve!

More wrestling and video games with the Brodster!  This little guy is sooo smart.

Ryder having a little cereal.  Brent sitting in his now favorite chair.  Now I know why he was coveting one of these at Costco the other day.

The time went by way too fast!  The Dobbs let Brent stay with him for an extra 2 weeks while we went onto Idaho.  He gained a new appreciation for Mom's of little children.  He said every time he turned around Heather was changing a diaper, feeding someone, cleaning up, or putting someone down for a nap.  He had forgotten how much work it is to care for little ones.  He loved the easy part of playing with the kids and watching Ryder drink his healthy morning smoothie, which I hear he is quite funny.  He was also quite impressed with Tyson and Heather's amazing bed time routine.  So if your having trouble getting your kids to bed, I guess you should take some lessons from them.  Brent had put on a little weight as he was buying Cafe Rio chips and Tomatillo to eat with the Dobbs at night after they put the kids to bed. I think Heather told him to stop bringing home the Tomatillo : ) 

We then had a swim party with Brandi and the girls!

Brent found the leather chair again!

Tyson played the roll of cool lifeguard!

The kids played 

and played

and played

and never got tired!

Halle and Kara stayed the night with the Dobbs girls and had a blast!  There was lots of tears when the fun had to end!

Did I mention we love babies!

I can barely look at these pictures with out wanting to reach through the screen and kiss those cute little girls!

We went to a super cool park with everyone.  Cozy giving us a big smile before she goes down the slide!  Kara, Brody, and Teja on the climbing aparatus!

Heather and Jesse.

More PARK!!

We had such a great time with everyone.  We really did not want to leave.  Sometimes don't you wish you could slow the clock down.  It just feels like time is going by way too quickly.  We had such a good time traveling across the country together and seeing family along the way.  It made the 36hr drive so much better.  Did I mention I love family!

I was feeling a little bad about being on the road for Hayden's big 13th Birthday.  I thought we were going to miss it all together!
He such a good boy and a good example to his brother and sisters.  He tries hard to choose the right.  I know he thought we were just going to have to skip his birthday this year and he never even complained.  We are so grateful Hayden is a part of our family.

Thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Dan, Natalie, Caleb, George, Reggie, Joe, and Peyton it ended up being the best Birthday ever!!  He got an air soft gun from the Thorson/Kleven Clan and then Dan took him and all the boys out to the park to shoot each other with the air soft guns.  A boys dream: )  A girls nightmare: )

We love our cousins!

Cute girls so excited to see each other again.

George keeping Reggie from blowing on the cake!

Tres Leches made by Grandma and Natalie for his Birthday cake!  This is Hayden's favorite cake!

Grandma also made him a yummy home cooked meal of Turkey and Rice which we were so grateful for after eating hamburgers for a solid week.

He got a cool Nike outfit from Grandma and Grandpa and 20 cool gold coins from his Manny!

They also made him a big sign and put together a Treasure Hunt for him.  He felt so loved.  It was so nice to be home.  Kara said to me, "I love it here.  I love being home."