Buffalos and Burros

Okay, the buffalos weren't nearly as fun as the burros.  We left this morning with plans to go to the Jewel Cave.  We thought we left in enough time to take the wildlife loop.  We probably would have made it if we didn't get stuck by the burros.  Three of my four kids loved it, so no harm done.

 Preston the Dog

 Here they come!  Michael & Lisa warned us to bring carrots.

 Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja had the best seat!

 I love this picture!

 Back to Jorja

 Good-bye Burros

 These two did not want us to pass.

Luckily we threw carrots to the side of the road to distract them.

The reason we were unable to go to Jewel Cave was we wanted to get to Reptile Gardens before they closed at 4:00.  We didn't think we would make it if we had to wait for the next tour at the cave.

 Preston

 Stephanie, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

 Yertle the Turtles!

 That's a LONG tail

 Stockton & Preston

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Maysen

Stephanie

 Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja

 Stockton

 Cheyenne

 She has lived here for 11 years

 She was wounded by a bullet

 Poor left wing

I really, really, really wanted to find the center of the United States. When Alaska and Hawaii were added to the country, this spot was determined as the geographical center of the United States.  We were so close, how could we not try to find it?  This spot is a little out of the way, so they made a monument in a nearby town. . . .although we could not find that one!  We drove 7.8 miles on this dirt road.

We found the barn on the right and were supposed to see a flag flying on the left.  There was no flag there, but we did find the flagpole.  The instructions said to "feel free to climb through the barbed wire fence". So we did.  Well, actually we hopped the gate next to the barbed wire.

 Stephanie

 You can barely make out the flagpole in this picture

 Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Stephanie

 Center of the Nation!

 Mike & Stephanie

 Preston

 Stockton ~ another perfect Windshield Geography location

 Stockton & Preston

 Maysen & Preston

 Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Mike

 The view at the center of the nation

 Stephanie & Mike

Luckily Mike didn't die next to this hay

Stephanie next to the cows wearing a cow shirt

 Now the drive back ~ I drove this part!

We stopped a little before the North Dakota border.  We had been cooking dinner and pulled off the side of the road to eat it.  It sure was pretty.

 Proof that we went to North Dakota!

Preston, Stephanie, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

 Preston, Stephanie, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

 Preston, Mike, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Preston then wanted to run across the street and take pictures in front of the South Dakota sign.  We didn't see any harm in that!

Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Stephanie, Stockton

 Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Mike, Stockton

We were only in North Dakota for about an hour before we made it to Montana.  I had Mike pull off so we could get another picture.  There wasn't much room on the side of the road, so it was a bit scary.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Stephanie & Preston

 I think this picture of Preston is funny.

We got the Jorja and Preston to sleep and drove for another hour before we stopped at a Walmart.  Mike and I ran in and got some milk and a few treats.  We slept in the parking lot here.  Long day!  Fun day!

Mt. Rushmore

We learned that the best time of day to see Mt. Rushmore was 9:00-12:00 in the morning.  That certainly isn't any trouble for our family. We drove down these teeny tiny tunnels and on these teeny tiny roads. In the motorhome.  The view was spectacular.  The drive was terrifying. I didn't get any great pictures of the view of the Black Hills. I was concentrating on not dying.  Even though I was in the passenger seat, I felt the need to concentrate.

Teeny tiny tunnel

 Teeny tiny road

We got our first glimpse of Mt. Rushmore as we were driving through our last tunnel.  It was so cool!  We tried to take a picture, but my little phone can not capture how amazing this was.  Especially since we didn't expect it at all.  Loved it!

Today was a perfect day to come here.  The weather was great.  There were hardly any crowds.  Josh's mom told me of their trip to Rushmore.  It was so cloudy they couldn't even see the mountain.  They had to stay an extra day to see it.  That was certainly not the case today. The sky was beautiful!

Apparently Thomas Jefferson invented ice-cream.  At least that is what the sign and shirt say.  Maysen got a shirt for Mr. Ochoa, her AP history teacher.  I also got one for Robyn, my visiting teacher.  She tells me all the time how Thomas Jefferson is her favorite president.  We also got ice-cream.  Stockton and Jorja got root beer floats with Thomas Jefferson's vanilla ice-cream recipe.

We walked through the Avenue of Flags to get to Mt. Rushmore.  Every state's flag is flying on their pillar telling when they were admitted to the United States.  We got pictures of everyone by the pillar of the state they were born in.

Stephanie & Mike ~ Utah

 Maysen & Stockton ~ Washington

 Eyes closed Jorja & Preston ~ Georgia

 I had to get another picture of Jorja by Georgia with her eyes opened!

 Preston wanted his picture taken in front of Utah

We finally made it to the lookout for Mt. Rushmore.  There is a small museum, a short film, seats to look at the mountain, a restaurant and several gift shops.  The weather was great and we were in no hurry, so it worked out nicely.

Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Stephanie, Maysen

 Stockton, Jorja, Preston

Stockton has to do this Windshield Geography assignment for his AP Geography class.  It is take a picture of himself next to some kind of geography.  I think this will work.

Stockton

 Mike enjoyed playing with the camera

 Stephanie & Preston, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

 Very bright, but you can see our eyes

 Now our eyes are in shadows.  One day we will spend the time

to figure out our camera.  Never seem to find the time.

 Mike, Preston, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

 Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Stockton

We walked up the presidential trail.  It wasn't long, but it was nice to have some kind of 'hike'.  The sculptor's studio was closed.  It has a scale model they used to carve Mt. Rushmore.  We were able to see George Washington in the window.  Mike took a picture of it and got Mt. Rushmore in the reflection.  He was trying to do that.  Maysen didn't think he could do it.  Mike was quite proud.

 George Washington's profile

 Stephanie & George Washington

Our next stop was Crazy Horse.  The monument is still being carved.  I can't believe one family is doing this.  When Mike and I were in France and touring cathedrals like Notre Dame, we talked about how crazy it was that people would work all their lives knowing they would not see the finished product.  You just don't see that kind of thing done today. I guess we were wrong.  Crazy Horse was started in 1947.  The sculptor (Korczak Ziolkowski) died in 1982 and seven of his children continue working on it.  He left detailed plans for them to use after his death. Wow.

Jorja, Stockton, Maysen, Preston @ Crazy Horse

Tonight the kids played on the playground, we had spaghetti and roasted peeps over the fire.  Mike showed me a perfect spot to roast a peep.  There was a little tunnel made of logs that my peep fit in.  I was concentrating so much on watching my peep that I didn't notice Mike blowing the fire right toward the spot he showed me!  All of a sudden my peep was on fire!  It surprised me and I pulled my stick out fast!  A little too fast as my poor peep's head was flung off; unfortunately for Mike it landed right on his head.  Flaming peep head.  Not what he was expecting.  He had to shower off the marshmallow goo out of his hair.

Devil's Gate

Mike woke up at 4:30 this morning.  He wanted to stop by the stake center before he headed to the temple to do baptisms.  The stake center was having problems with their internet last night.  He ended up just unplugging and plugging the Comcast box.  Although he had to do it because the box was up high, locked with a key.  He must have made it just fine to the temple because he was waiting for us when we arrived at 6:00.  The kids brought some Millburn family names my dad had given us awhile back.  We were the only ones doing baptisms the entire time we were there.  That has never happened before.  It was so nice.  Mike baptized Maysen and then confirmed her right outside the font.  They were both dripping wet.  He repeated this for Stockton and Jorja.  The girls each had five names.  Stockton had ten.  It was great not to be in a rush to get to school afterword.  Although we were in a bit of a rush to get on the road!  The picture below is blurry because Jorja has the HARDEST time keeping her eyes open for pictures.  The pictures that weren't blurry her eyes were all the way closed or part way closed and she looked ridiculous.  Maysen was in the car for the picture.

Stockton & Jorja

We left our house about 8:30.  We were about to pull out of the driveway when Jorja ran inside to get her hat.  She has been wearing this 'General RV' hat that she loves.  Weird, but it does look cute on her.  Jorja couldn't find it and came back worried she had left it at Target.  I called and sure enough it was there.  We stopped to get the hat.  It was kind of on the way.  I picked up some paper plates that we had forgotten, so that worked out well.

We stopped in Evanston to fill up on gas and propane.  the only problem was there was this giant motorhome towing a motorcycle and car in front of the propane tank.  The old man must have been a genius because he sat right by the propane tank smoking while it was being filled.  Mike was waiting patiently nearby.  When it was finished, the old couple went inside the store and shopped without moving their motorhome!  We had to wait fifteen minutes for them to come out and move it.  That was quite annoying.

I talked Mike into stopping at Little America so we could get 75 cent ice-cream cones.  I let Preston get an ice-cream cone souvenir coin.  I thought that was so funny!  Our next stop was Martin's Cove.  I didn't realize we were driving right by this.  We pulled over on a whim and looked around a bit.  We didn't have too much time to spend, but we went through the visitor's center and got to pull the handcarts a bit.

Preston

 Preston & Maysen

 Mike, eyes closed Jorja, Stockton

 Stephanie, Preston, Mike, Jorja, Stockton, Maysen

 Mike pulling Preston & eyes closed Jorja

The Devil's Gate looks pretty cool.  Especially in the spring time while driving in a motorhome.  We sure lead a spoiled life!

Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Mike

I drove the motorhome out of Martin's Cove!  I drove until Casper which was almost an hour away.  That is the longest I have driven that thing!  Mike cooked dinner while I was driving.  He made fajitas.  He has wanted to cook while driving for awhile.  He was surprised how unstable it is to do that.  I hope he had fun.  I think it was a nice break for him.  Mike had me pull into a left turn lane and then he hopped in the seat and took over.  I was grateful because it was kind of a tight turn to get into the gas station.

We made it to our campground just past 10:00.  The kids were all in jammies and asleep when we arrived.  Jorja and Preston were in the bunk beds.  Maysen and Stockton were in our bed.  Mike and I woke Maysen and Stockton and had them move to Fort Preston . . . the bed above the driver.  I am typing this up right now as everyone is asleep and Mike is working on something next to me.  So glad to be here.  Excited for tomorrow!

Packing

I spent today packing and doing laundry.  I gave the kids packing lists. For example, 4 shirts, 4 pants, 4 socks.  I gathered their items and brought them to the motorhome.  It is great packing in drawers instead of suitcases!  I got Stockton's clothes last.  When I got his, I noticed he only packed 2 pairs of socks.  I asked him why he didn't get four.  He insisted he did.  I guess he literally packed four socks, even though I obviously wanted him to pack four pairs of socks.  Mike and I then spent the next thirty minutes discussing if Stockton was being obnoxious/silly or if he just didn't understand.  Mike was certain that Stockton thought I meant 2 pairs of socks when I asked for 4 socks. Really?  Even after it was listed right behind 4 shirts and 4 pants?  Who automatically does division on a packing list. I guess Stockton does.  I live with an extremely literal family.

Dodgeball

Stockton was in charge of the Young Men's activity tonight.  He picked dodgeball.  He had talked to Brother Christensen a few weeks ago about getting the balls for the activity.  Stockton called him today.  He was in Hawaii.  Fun for them, but yikes for us!  I called someone who I thought might know how to get the stake dodge balls.  They said that the stake no longer has dodge balls because they kept losing them. Stockton was getting a little nervous about the activity.  He called Brother Hawkins to talk to him about it and found out that Brother Christensen gave the balls to Brother Staker before his trip.  Thank goodness!  Stockton had fun at the activity.  Sometimes he has such high expectations about dodgeball and it never goes like he hoped.  As I dropped him off I told him not to get frustrated if people weren't playing by the rules, just have fun anyway.

Aquarium

Today was the first day of our spring break!  We celebrated it by going to the aquarium.  Shannon was going to meet us there with Erica and Weston.  We were ready to go before they were, so we went ahead.  Yesterday we didn't plan a specific time and I forgot about scouts, so I was anxious to start early.  It worked out well.  We saw them there and we were able to spend as much time as we wanted.  Three of my four kids LOVED the aquarium.  Stockton was a very good sport.  He did not complain at all, even though I know this was not how he wanted to spend his spring break.  He is a great kid.

Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

We spent a lot of time in the penguin room.  Maysen loves penguins. She took a lot of videos of them.  We found signs with information about each penguin, we spent a lot of time figuring out which penguin was which.

Maysen & Jorja

 Preston

 Maysen

The kids loved watching the otters.  The workers hid fish around the room while the otters were out back.  When they let them in, we watched them go on a scavenger hunt.  Maysen got some good videos of the otters, but I'm too tired to wait for the videos to load.  She loved watching them.  We also spent a good deal of time in the rainforest area for Jorja.  She got to look at a lot of frogs.  Happy Porge. 

Jorja, Stockton & Preston, Maysen

Preston got his arm soaking wet trying to touch a sting ray.  I ended up getting him a shark shirt.  He loves it!  We watched a weird 4D movie. I slept through most of it, but I don't think I missed much.  I hurried home and got scouts ready.  Griffin was out of town, so we worked on stuff that Griffin had already passed off before Crew and Burke came into the den.  We got a lot done, so I was happy about that.

Today is Mike's mom's birthday.  She would have been 76 years old. That's weird.  We celebrated by getting Kentucky Fried Chicken and having a picnic at her grave.  She loved KFC.  Lisa and Michael met us there.  I should have gotten a picture of them!  At least Mike and Lisa together.  They brought beautiful flowers.  Obviously this picture was taken before they got there.  Shannon and Erica were pulling into the graveyard as we were leaving.  I wish it would have been a bit warmer for the picnic!

Jorja, Maysen, Stockton, Preston, Mike

 Preston & Mike

Happy Easter!

Today was great!  The kids woke up to Easter baskets.  They all had nice swimming goggles in them.  Stockton and Preston each had a swimming suit.  Lots of candy, of course.  Maysen and I made a lemon cake before conference.  (Too lemony for Maysen, but I loved it.)  Jorja and I made rolls in-between the sessions.  After conference was over we headed over to Steve and Shannon's house.  They had delicious ham, asparagus, salad, pie, deviled eggs and probably more food that I am forgetting.  I stuffed myself silly.  It was nice to have an Easter at home. I haven't had one of those since 2011!  Well, a couple of times we got home on Easter after a long trip.  Thank you Steve and Shannon for inviting us over.  We had a great time!

Josh's Ear

Today was the second day of Stockton's dive meet.  Nine dives on the 1-meter today.  Everything was going fine and dandy until Josh did a 21/2 pike during warmups.  He came out early, so it was more like a 21/4.  Huge belly flop.  The only problem was he realized it and tried to save the dive.  That caused him to rotate to the side just a tad and he landed on his ear.  He was in so much pain he had to pull out of the meet.  His balance was way off, so diving would not be a good idea.  He ended up having blood in his middle ear and a tear in his eardrum.  Not good.

I talked to Jonas mom today.  I showed her a picture I had of Stockton and Jonas back when they tied for 1st place at conference.  It is such a good picture of both of them.  Jonas now dives at the U, just like Stockton did.  He is in 8th grade.  She said it's frustrating because the high school divers dive, then there is little kids and Jonas is basically by himself.  That is just like it was when Stockton was there!  Too bad Jonas and Stockton never overlapped, that would have been great for both of them.

Jonas, Stockton, Gage

 Stockton, Gage, Jonas - with the U behind them

Mike took Jorja to her first softball practice.  Most of the girls on her team have never played before.  He said she liked it and did pretty well. When I came home from diving my dad was at our house.  Mike was teaching him how to move files from his laptop onto a hard drive.  My dad was worried that he lost everything.  Luckily he didn't, it will just take awhile to get to all his files.

We missed the morning session of conference, but were able to watch the afternoon session.  I love listening to conference.  I look forward to it for a long time.  I love that all of my kids watch it with us without complaining, even Preston.  Mike and Stockton watched the priesthood session in the movie room.  I heard bits and pieces of it.  The talk where how mission calls were assigned sounded interesting.  I'm going to have to watch that one later.

What the Platform?!?

Stockton had a diving competition at the U today.  He was supposed to dive at 10:00, which meant missing most of the day of school. Yesterday we found out they moved his competition to later in the day. He didn't need to miss any school.  He was very glad about that.  Plus, we were able to pick up Mike on the way.  Bonus! We were shocked when we arrived and we saw that Utah now has a 5-meter platform! We were just here a few months ago.  Man, Stockton would have loved this when he dove here!  (He used to practice two days a week up here.)

Stockton didn't do as well as he would have liked to at this competition, but he landed all his dives.  That was his goal.  He was really worried about having 9 dives on the 3-meter.  They have focused on the 1-meter for so long because of high school diving, it is hard to make the switch. It would be easier if he could pick any 9 dives, but he has to do two dives in each of the five categories.  One of the categories he can choose just one dive.  It also didn't help that Stockton wasn't feeling well at all. Yesterday he came home from diving and fell asleep on the couch at 8:00.  I'm glad he was able to dive today.  He did have fun playing on the 5-meter when the competition was over.

Stockton

We went to dinner with Josh's family.  Red Robin.  Josh has celiacs disease and he can get yummy gluten free food here.  That is nice that some restaurants help with allergies.

Too Late

I convinced Jorja to come shopping for swimsuits with me.  I HATE shopping, and my children are no different.  There is a small swimsuit shop that sells great suits.  I got Maysen a few last year and I love them. She has liked them too.  The shop is kind of near Stockton's diving. We dropped Stockton off and then made our way to the shop.  We walked in the door and were told they were closing in five minutes. Yikes!  We tried to be fast, but it just didn't work.  We struck out.  I know we need to go back, but did I mention how much I hate to shop?

Substitute

Jorja is pretty excited because Mr. Edmunds is going to be her substitute all week in science.  He is her favorite substitute.  She doesn't like her science teacher at all.  She lost credibility when she tried to convince the students that the tuba and trumpet were woodwind instruments.