Our Vacation

So this last week we all packed up to go see our families. Don and I both had family reunions this last week.  It was fun seeing our families again, but I'm not going to lie I think we were both very ready to come back home and be in our own beds! :)  We had a lot of unexpected things happen while we were gone...

1. Lincoln got hand, foot and mouth disease.  I felt so bad for him, the blisters/sores looked so painful! It really didn't seem to bother him though, apart from the one night when we were up with him all night because he had a fever.

 He really didn't get that many on his hands and mouth. He isn't contagious or anything because the rash has already gone away.

2. Don came down with the flu.  Poor Don, I  felt so bad for him...it is NOT fun being in someone else's home when you don't feel well.

3. My grandpa passed away unexpectedly. I love my Grandpa! Don and I felt so blessed that we were visiting and could be a part of the funeral.  My Grandpa served in WW2, and because of his service to our country they did a 21 gun salute.  I have never been to a funeral of someone who served in the army. It was amazing! It was already emotional, but being there for something like that was so special...I felt so blessed.

4. Elder Perry, a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, came to my old home ward. The name of our ward is the 'Perry Ward', his family was some of the first settlers to the Ririe, ID area. I've met him before and I think he is such a neat man.  I love so many of his talks.  One of my favorite quotes from him is...
"If we will build righteous traditions in our families, the light of the gospel can grow ever brighter in the lives of our children from generation to generation. We can look forward to that glorious day when we will all be united together as eternal family units to reap the everlasting joy promised by our Eternal Father for His righteous children.” 

Alright....now for everything else we did!

I rode on a jet ski for my very first time!! It was so fun, I told Don that in the future...we will have to own some! :) We took Jackson for a ride on one, he seemed to enjoy it!

Later Don and I went out on the jet ski's ourselves. Don says I'm crazy...he thinks I'm an adrenaline junky.  Maybe he's right because things got a little crazy.  I was going as fast I could, we were hitting a bunch of good wakes and I was laughing hysterically...but before we knew it, we were both thrown of. Haha, it was so fun. And believe it or not, Don still went out on the lake with me again! :) I wish we could have gotten our wreck on camera!

Jackson had so much fun playing with his cousins.

 I don't think Jackson truly appreciated the floating trampoline....crazy kid!

 Lincoln fell asleep in the swing while Don and I played on the water! :)

After we visited Don's family, we went and visited mine. He got spoiled with a lot of good food. I don't makes sweets very often, so Jackson thinks it's pretty special when he gets them. I thought these pictures were priceless! Messy, messy, messy!!

 haha...can't get enough!

 Um, dad, I'm all out....get me some more!!!!

No? Fine, I'll just pick it off my plate.

 There's some I can't get off...I guess I'll have to lick it.   In case you were wondering, the plate looked like it had never been used when he finished! :)

So after seeing him eat his chocolate cake we changed our minds about him looking like Slughorn in the future. We now believe he will look like Bruce off of Matilda... (see below the resemblance.)

My sweet sister Rachelle, used her birthday money to buy fireworks for the reunion...all the kids but Jackson seemed to love them...he is still terrified of the fire! Thanks Chelle...it was so fun!

If Jackson was nowhere to be found, all we had to do was look in the garage on the lawn mower....that's where he spent his spare time! :)

He also loved to swing with his teddy bear.  Sweet boy! :)

On our way home we stopped at a rest area and found this birds nest, with a bunch of babies in it! I thought it was pretty neat....I'm not going to lie though, they were pretty ugly! :)

We had a good time, it was so nice to see our families again. We miss them so much here in WA.