Mike and I just got home from one of our funnest vacations ever! We were gone for 2 1/2 weeks, and had such a great time. We were able to visit lots of family and see some beautiful parts of the country that we had never seen before. I really wanted to get a GPS before we went, but Mike had a map, and was convinced that was all he needed. He was right, we made it all the way to Georgia and home, without getting totally lost. He did a great job of being our GPS!!!!! Jeff checked out our van before we went and said it looked like it would make it, and we had no problems at all, thanks Jeff!!!! We put 5033 miles on the van, so it was a real trouper, I guess with it's new front end paint job, it felt like a new car.
We left early Friday morning June 3, and drove to Albuquerque where we had a fun visit with Mike's Aunt JoAnne and Uncle LaVelle. We spent the night with them and then left about 4:00 am for Dallas. We arrived at the Thiot's at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Robynn and Dick had planned a fun Pre Blessing Day BBQ in their back yard. This is my first glimps of adorable little Penny, who we have come to see get blessed on Sunday.
Tatia is such a cute mom, it is fun to see her in action!
Anyone that has been to the Thiot's house, knows what a great hostess Robynn is. She makes you feel so at home, and welcome in her beautiful home.
She had tables set up outside, but it was so hot, they brought the chairs inside and we all ate in her house. She had a table all ready for the tiny girls to eat at.
Jake's family was in town for the blessing so they were at the BBQ. Kara, Skyler's girlfriend and her family were at the party too.
Robynn and Dick had a delicious BBQ meal catered for about 28 people! The food was amazing!
Robynn had 2 swimming pools filled up and the kids had a great time swimming
Sunday June 5, was a very special day in our Family. Penny Elaine Grange was blessed in Robynn and Dick's ward by her dad Jake. He gave her a beautiful blessing. Afterwards, we went to the Thiots for another delicious meal. What a great day
Sunday night we met Mark and Jayna over at Stephanie and Andrew's house. We had a fun visit with their sweet family. Henry or Hank as they sometimes call him, is their only grandchild and the apple of EVERYONE's eye!
He is soooooo cute! We loved getting better acquainted with him.
On Monday we rode the Dart train with Mark and Jayna to Dallas.
Mark took us to see some of the walls he had plastered in town. He does amazing work! Then they took us out to lunch at the Blue Mesa that he had also plastered.
We went to the Arboretum and saw all the beautiful flowers and trees. It was really hot, so we didn't stay too long.
Tues. we went to Tatia's house and had a fun visit with them. Robynn is LOVING having Tatia and her family so close by.
They have the cutest house, and have decorated Penny's nursery so darling.
On Thurs. morning, we left Dallas and headed to New Orleans. It was the scenic route to Georgia, but Mike thought as long as we were heading East, we should take a little southern detour, and see New Orleans. We spent a couple of days there, the first night we went to a Jazz concert in this really pretty park. Luckily, it was inside, because it was VERY HOT!!! We took a cruise down the Mississippi River on this Steam Boat. We had lunch on the boat and enjoyed seeing and hearing about all the sights.
This is a picture in front of a really old cathedral. We went inside and got to see all the cool stained glass windows and statues.
This guy was standing in the street pretending to be a statue. He stood in the same position forever, and it was HOT outside!
They have a flea market that has lots of little booths with all kinds of crazy stuff.
We went on a trolley ride around the city, and saw lots of beautiful southern mansions.
Our last night in New Orleans, we went to the City Diner, that had amazing Po Boy sandwiches! Our home teacher Mo, is from New Orleans, and said that we had to try one of them while we were there. He was right, they were delicious!!!
We left New Orleans early Saturday morning, the drive was beautiful. It is so green there it was hard to believe it was real. We drove along the coastline and enjoyed seeing the ocean as we drove.
We arrived at Jordan and Jamie's apartment Saturday afternoon. It was so good to see them! We got to go to church with them on Sunday, and loved their ward. Everyone was so nice, and several people came up to us and told us how much they enjoyed having them in their ward. Sunday night we went over to some of their friends house to play games. It was lots of fun!!!
Monday morning, we noticed the pool right outside their apartment was empty, so we put on our suits and headed over for a swim. The weather was wonderful while we were in Georgia. They had been in a drought for quite a while, so the humidity was very low, and even though it was hot, it wasn't bad at all.
June 13th was Lani and Lexi's birthday. To celebrate, Jamie threw a birthday bash for Lexi, (we were thinking of you too Lani) Jamie baked all kinds of different shapes that she put together to make the most adorable doggie birthday cake you ever saw.
Lexi patiently watched Jamie make her birthday cake. Anyone that checks out Jamie and Jordan's blog, knows what an amazing pup Lexi is! She does all kinds of tricks one of our favorites is when they play hide and seek with her. Jordan takes her leash and pretends to hide it in several different places. She sits patiently and watches every move he makes. Then he finally puts it down somewhere, and she retraces all the places he went and then to the final place and picks it up and brings it to him. We really do have a smart little grandpup!
Here is Lexi with some of her friends that came to the party. There were about 7 couples with their kids or dogs that came. They grilled hot dogs and everyone brought a side dish to go with it. Jamie had darling party favors for all the dogs and kids, they all had something to do with dogs.
Isn't this the cutest cake ever!!!! Jamie did such a great job of it. What an amazing cake decorator we have in our family.
On Tues. morning, we all got in our van and headed to Savannah. It was a 4 hour drive but well worth it. We got to stay at a VERY NICE Hilton Hotel where Jordan gets all kinds of perks, because he travels so much. Delicious breakfasts, and dinners were included each day, YUMMY! Savannah is a BEAUTIFUL city!!!! There are parks every 2-3 blocks throughout the entire city, not with swings and slides, just beautiful trees, flowers, fountains, and benches.
There were magnolia trees with HUGE flowers on them! I have never seen anything like them.
We enjoyed walking through lots of the beautiful parks during our time in Savannah.
The last time Jamie and Jordan were in Savannah, they discovered this fun restaurant that they wanted us to be sure and go to. It is located on Tybee Island, about 20 minutes from Savanah. The Crab Shack had delicious food and the atmosphere was awesome!
The restaurant was built totally around the trees and landscaping, and it was right on the beach.
At the Crab Shack, they had live alligators, and LOTS of them.
The beach was beautiful, we really had fun with Jamie and Jordan, they are so cute!
We swam for a couple of hours and the water was soooooo warm! We headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep and then went back to Savannah Thurs. morning to see a few more of the sights. There were lots of fun shops to check out. Thurs. afternoon we returned to Albany (Al-Binny as the locals call it)
Friday morning we left Jordan and Jamie's at about 5:00 and drove all the way to Dallas. Mike had forgotten his suit at Mark and Jayna's house, so we stopped by to pick it up and spent the night with them.
Saturday morning we headed off to Abilene Texas to visit Sterling and his family, about a 3 hour drive. We had a fun visit with them, and had planned on staying overnight and going to church with them on Sunday, and leaving Monday, but about 4:00 in the afternoon, decided that we were ready to be home, so we headed out.
We were not exactly sure how to get back to the freeway, so Sterling hopped on his sweet new motorcycle and gave us an escort.
We drove to Tucumcarri New Mexico Saturday night, and stayed at the Route 66 motel. We got up about 5:00 and headed for home Sunday morning. Although we LOVED all the beautiful green trees along the roads in the south we welcomed the sight of the colorful mountains of Spanish Fork Canyon. We arrived home about 6:00 Sunday night. What a long but very fun trip!!!!
After a good nights sleep, the first thing we did was blow up our new swimming pool and invite the girls over for a swim. Boy did they have fun!!!! It's good to be back home!!!!
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