Martins Cove

I feel like through out our medical school journey we have somewhat

followed the pioneers path but in an air conditioned vehicle.

Starting in Iowa (Nauvoo, and Winter quarters) then trekking

our way to Independence Rock and Martins Cove, Wyoming.

Then landing in Utah as our home stretch to being done with

medical school.

It has been really neat to be so close to many of theses

great church history sites along our way. We have taken

full advantage of them being close. So on our way out of 

Casper with ALL of our stuff in tow we stopped at Martins Cove. 

We toured the visitor center and watched a movie.

Unfortunately, they weren't taking people out to the cove

that day unless you wanted to walk to it. And with the kids

and our time frame we really didn't have the time to walk out there.

But we did push around the hand carts. They are A LOT harder

than you think. They have this little circular trail that you can take 

them on and Addie made it the whole way with her little cart.

She got tired, but finished the course. So Tyler and I put the kids

in a big cart and together pushed them along the course. It's not as

easy as it might seem. And this was on a cut out flat trail. Lets

just say I wanted to cry for what those pioneers had to go through.

I can't even imagine having to pull and push one of those through

the snow with all my belongings on it. I'm so grateful for the faith

of those great pioneers and the many hardships they went through.

Move #3...Destination: Utah

Two days after we got back from Iowa we moved.

Crazy? Ya, you could say that. This time we were headed

to Southern Utah. A 10 hour drive that turned into 17 hours due to

our awesome budget truck that topped out at 70 mph going down hills, with an average of 60 mph on a straight away, and a whopping 35 mph going up hills!! (and there are quite a few hills along our route) It made for a very long trip, however,

we arrived safely with no break downs or problems. And for that we are very grateful.

We are also very grateful for those who came to help us move. We couldn't have done

it ourselves.  And for those who let us stay with them while

we were in transition.

As much as we hate to move, there are many other factors that

make moving around worth it. My favorite being the awesome

people you meet along the way that become your dearest friends.

For us we were fortunate enough to meet and become close friends

with the Rupp family. They are an amazing family.

Addie and Trey absolutely loved going to their house

and spending time with them. We all loved spending time

with them and their boys.

They too came to help us move on that HOT hot day in July and

convinced us we needed to take a break and cool off in the pool

with them. I'm so glad we did. It was our last time to get together

with them before we were to take off for Utah the next morning. 

Good times that we will forever cherish! Thanks for being

apart of lives! We will miss you lots.

{Good ol' Iowa}

As if we hadn't been on the road enough lately....

Why not throw in an 11 hr. drive to Iowa?

Yes a week after the kids and I got back to Casper from Utah we loaded

up the van with ourselves and 3 of our favorite people and headed

out to Iowa.

(but that week in between...we spent packing up our whole house!

so fun, I know!)

It was a pleasant drive and all 3 kids did very well.

We rolled in late Sunday night but woke up Monday

morning ready to hit up the zoo with our friends,

Rykker, Brigham, and Mindy Stromberg.

After a year of being apart, Addie and Rykker reunited

like they had seen eachother yesterday! They had so much

fun exploring the zoo together and the new Dinosaur

exhibit they had there. They were side by side the whole time.

We saw lots of fun animals and we even got

to ride the zoo train. Trey thought riding the train

was heaven. He was grinning ear to ear the whole ride.

And the other kids loved it too. Thanks again Mindy

Rykker and Brigham for inviting us to the zoo.

Next stop on the list:

PELLA!!!

And when I say list I mean list. Addie had a list

of places we had to go when we were in Iowa.

The zoo being one of them and Pella being another.

She loves pella. And who wouldn't love this sweet

little dutch town full of dutch charm.

The morning started out stormy and rainy so I was hesitant

to make the 45 min drive. But Addie convinced me we

should still go. Well, as it turned out we had beautiful

sunny weather the whole 2 1/2 hours we were there!

And you can't go to Pella without having a treat from

the awesome Jaarsma Bakery. Dutch pastries of all

sorts and chocolate and nuts galore! The kids

always go for the brightly colored frosted

sugar cookies.

I have yet to go to Pella when the Tulip festival is going on.

The town is covered in beautiful tulips and i'm dying to

see it. Maybe at Ty's graduation we'll be able to see them!

You also can't go to pella and not watch the

Klokenshpel. This is Addies favorite part.

The clock goes of every odd hour and plays a 10 min

chime/song and little figurines that come out at the windows

below the clock. Each figure represents some sort

the Pella history. Yet another great trip to Pella!

And no more than 5 min after getting on the road to

head back to Des Moines it started to

DOWN POUR rain, and not just sprinkles. I mean

the classic Midwest down pour! I miss that kind of rain....

We couldn't have picked a more beautiful time of year

to go to Iowa. Yes it was hot and sticky because of the

humidity, but it was also so GREEN and lush. With

wild flowers everywhere!! I miss the tall green cornfields

and flowers that grow where ever and all over!

Our trip was short and sweet. After 4 fun days of being back

in Des Moines, IA we made the 11 hr. trek back to Casper.

Ty was amazing as usual and drove the entire way home.

I got to sit back and watch the MILLIONS of bugs splatter

on our windshield...yes those are all bugs on our windshield in

that picture...not rain. Our windshield was covered inch to inch

with bug splats! But even more fun was the rain/lightning storm we drove

through at about midnight. The lightning was amazing and lit up the

entire sky around us. I love lightning storms and they don't get much

better than in the Mid West!

We had such a great time in Iowa. It made me miss it so much

and all our great friends that are there. A huge thanks to

one of those good friends for letting us stay at their house

while we were there! And a thanks to Ty's school for making

him come back to do some mandatory testing at the school so

we could come back and visit. So I guess in reality, the kids

and I were the ones that really had fun...while Tyler was

being tested everyday and studying more every night.

Although, he did manage to go out shopping with us at all our

favorite places for an entire afternoon!! And believe it or not

we ALL had a fun time shopping...yes even Tyler!!