Adventures in the sun!

 Well this summer we did some major playing, which was much needed. We have been on a full out sprint for a pretty long time now, working to get to med school, surviving the first year and adding a baby to our family. We could have done some other things this summer but we figured hey, when is the next time in our lives that we are both going to have a whole summer off? Probably not til we're almost dead, and who knows maybe not even then. So what did we do, we drug a poor baby all over the country and partied. Pretty much ran her raged but she survived:) And I must say, for only being 8 months old she has been to a lot of states. (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Missouri and Montana. thats 13) At least she cant say we were bad parents and never took her anywhere right? But I guess she can say we were crazy even thinking about driving all of those places. But to tell you the truth, with a lot of babies I dont think we would but Nellena Rae is a champ. I dont know how we got so lucky to have such a good road trip baby but we did:)

See! There she is, she has got the road trip thing down.

So for the first of our many adventures we packed up and headed to Utah! It was a LONG drive, although I must admit it seemed much longer on the way home. It felt like Nebraska was growing as we were driving, we were pretty sold on that for a while. After many hours we finally arrived and the first thing we noticed was it was about 30 degrees colder then when we left home...haha oh well what can you say thats the Utah special. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Haskell for 3 weeks and boy did we cram a lot in those three weeks. This is kind of sad but I know im going to miss stuff that we did because there is this funny thing about having a baby, they steal your brain! Literally. Anyways so Ill do my best:) We did a lot of camping and four wheeling and lots of other stuff here some pics!

First we went with Grandpa and Kait to the copper mine and to one of our favorite places to camp in Provo. One of the only things we travel to odd country for, haha GO UTES:) Weird though, Tyler grew up in Utah and none of his family had been to the copper mine when I have been a few times. They live in a barn:) 

Nellena Rae finally got to be friends with Aunt Kait:)

Besides camping we did some shopping, celebrated my 22nd birthday and did a lot of hanging out with family. But then, more camping:) We took a little trip down to the dunes and even went and rode the Jet Skies.

She was a little not so happy about this trip, there was no more AC  in the motor home so it was just not good.
But it just makes me smile when she is mad:) I know im horrible but its just true.

Bay Watch Grandpa haha:)

So after lots of playing we continued with more playing in Idaho and Yellowstone. I had never been to Yellowstone before so it was a lot of fun. We saw some pretty crazy things while we were there. We did manage to see a Grizzly Bear but I must say my favorite thing was the momma and baby Buffalo taking their morning jog down the middle of the road. Then we drove and drove and listened to Tyler and Grandpa talk about all the fishing they wanted to do in the rivers.....blah! 

  

 Some of the pools looked so nice to just jump right in. It really was tempting, until Grandpa told us some people tried it and got their skin singed off! No thank you, my skin may be white but I still like it ok:) After lots of driving we made to our hotel which we were very grateful for since it was the last one in the park!

Even though we were thankful, Im not even going to lie it was seriously creepy. It had these long white hallways with these old school creepy hanging lights, it was straight out of a horror movie no lie. Then there was no AC again, always interesting with a baby. To top it off though the shower was the best. I have never experienced anything like it. It would literally go from ice cold to literally burn your skin off hot, so you had to learn the cycles quick. I personally think they pull the water straight from the geysers,  how else could it be so hot and so cold right? Needless to say not the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in but it was fun and im sure something we will never forget haha. We ended the trip with a few more sights then headed to Jackson whole for the Bar J show.

Oh and something I forgot, on our way to Jackson we stopped to eat, laughed at Grandma when she poured a whole pack of sugar in her mouth when she couldn't eat her nachos cause they were too hot. I have never seen anyone with such a sensitive mouth! But it made for a good laugh. Then we road the boat across Jennys Lake to hike up to the waterfall, it was the perfect hike, not hard just fun:)

Bar J was great, we had some good laughs, some lousy lemonade and just an all around good time. Poor Tyler didnt have such a great time though. He was in charge of putting Elle Rae to sleep, she always goes down better for him when we are on the go. But I guess we had just been on the go a little too long cause she never went down.....she screamed the whole time. He took her out so I could enjoy the show, what a good husband:) We finally did get her back to Great Grandmas and in the bed:) Whew. That was tricky. The next day we just relaxed and got packed up to go home. Then we woke up early the next morning, said our goodbyes and got on the road. Its always hard to say goodbye but we had a good long visit and a great time thanks to our family:) So like I said before this drive was much LONGER! I cant even talk about it just makes me sick to even think about. We finally did get home though but not to that clean home sweet home feeling everyone loves so much. Nope, our house was all in boxes. Time to move! No down time for us. The very next morning we woke up and starting moving all of our stuff across the parking lot into our new home that we love! But kind of weird to live out of a suit case for 3 weeks, then come home and still have everything packed up. We took a week to get settled in and recuperate from our trip and then whats that? 

Oh yes, off on another very long road trip to the dirty south:) 

Once again Elle Rae was a champ on the road, dang that girl surprises me sometimes she really is amazing. We had a long list when we got to Georgia and lots of plans, lots of down time too which was so nice. 

This was taken in no where Tennessee, amazing she was still this happy right? Anyways just have to show her off cause she blows me away. A few of the top things we wanted to do in Georgia were, swim a lot, white water, stone mountain, tube...you get the idea lots more fun stuff:) We started our trip off with the 4th though and I could not wait. We haven't been with my family for the 4th since before we got married and call me crazy but we have this fun little tradition that I just love! There's a little redneck theme park called Lake Wineposoaka on the border of Georgia and Tennessee. We have been going there every year since I was a baby so I could not wait to take Elle Rae. But it was HOT HOT HOT! 106 that day and with the humidity it was almost suicide but it made for a perfect day because there were no lines. They recently put a splash pad in, which without I'm not so sure the babies could have survived it. 

This is another part of the tradition, every year we all decorate shirts with our hand prints on the back and every year we stake our spot out in the birthday cake pavilion.  

Are they not the cutest together?! I just wish we lived by each other they would be  best
friends. They both got SO excited every time they saw each other, so cute.

 

We ended up just having to strip the kids down cause it was just too hot!

We actually went there the Saturday before the 4th so my brother Pat could come up and go with us so it was worth it to go early for that. On the actual 4th we went with Matt and Stephanie to Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta to watch the fireworks. It was a mad house, but a great show. Even though, my family thought I was crazy but I got this guy in trouble behind us smoking his weed. But hey, it was him and his wife and two little girls. I figure if you want to smoke around your kids whatever I guess but not around mine. So Momma bear took care of that:) Aside from that it was a great night.

After that we went to lots of our favorite places and ate, swam, had BBQ's and just lots of fun. We drove up to Helen in north GA to tube the Chattahoochee and had a ball. Tyler especially really liked it. Its the perfect river, we took the babies down on our laps. Its not too fast or crazy, more of a joy ride river but really fun with a big group so you can stop when you want, swim when you want, feed babies, let them take a nap....you get the idea. We of coarse had to go see the Laser show at Stone Mountian, gosh i love that. Just sit out on the grass listen to good music and see a good show how does it get any better than that? They updated the show now and we all thought they did a great job, it looks like in different parts that the mountain is falling, they did some pretty cool stuff i must say. 

Man she loves this pig, for sure her favorite toy:)

We of coarse did some shopping, little five points, underground, the square, Mall of Georgia....oh and how can I forget Wildmans in Kennesaw. This guy is a member of the KKK and has the craziest store, if your ever in Kennesaw its a must. Of coarse Tyler had to get one of their t-shirts haha. 

Other days we just goofed around and played....

Tyler wore Elle Rae's tube for his Kentucky Derby hat ha!

And at last we went to the beach....Ahhh:) The beach was amazing, if we somehow end up with a residency or job near the beach one day there will be no complaints from this girl. Everyday we packed a lunch, went to the beach, came back and jumped in the pool. Can it get any better than that? I think not, sign me up please:)

Just seeing these pictures makes me want to move today! 

These two had so much fun together!

Pool Time!

Playing with uncle Matt

After the beach, back in Georgia, we took a day adventure up to Red Top Mountain. Tyler liked jumping off the rock and doing the rope swing. I will admit I was too scared for the rope swing, i know I'm lame! I think who really liked it the most though was Colby.

As you can see we had a blast this summer. We both have awesome families and had so much fun with them. It was really hard to come home both times, but sadly, all good things must come to an end. Sometimes it is really hard to be so far from our families( especially when you and your baby are sick! Yuck!) but it has taught us that we are our own family and how to rely on each other. Thanks again to both our families for taking the time to have so much fun with us!