Road Trip

Let the road trip begin!

From Vegas we headed north. We wanted to go that route so we could have a short reunion with Jeremy's siblings at Brad and Joanali's house in St. George, UT.

(First State: California, Second State: Nevada)

Third State: Arizona

I've never driven through that part of the country. It was fun to see the geographical changes as we drove across the United States.  

Fourth State: Utah

We arrived on Thursday evening, and Friday Joanali and the kids showed us around St. George before everyone else arrived. 

First stop: Brigham Young's Winter Home

I love these kinds of things! It's so rad to see where people actually lived and what things used to look like. It was a pretty sweet tour.

After a picnic lunch with Brad at a park, we went to check out the St. George Temple. It was so beautiful! 

The Hope Family arrived Friday evening just in time for homemade pizza and a movie.

I had to snap this picture of Jeremy reading to the older boys...none of the little kids are anywhere to be found but these three boys were hooked to the story. :) 

Michael and Anna arrived Saturday morning and we headed out to do some more site seeing. 

We took a tour of the historical Jacob Hamblin Home.

We also hit up a splash park, rode on some sweet "plasma cars" and enjoyed fireworks to celebrate Pioneer Day.

The Group

Daniel was my little buddy throughout the weekend which I loved!!

He has some sweet dance moves that he was trying to teach me. :)

Fireworks by Brad

And sparklers for everyone!

Don't let this picture deceive...he was hauling down that hill!

Uncle Jeremy trying to keep up.

Love my sister-in-laws! 

Of course at any family gathering a photo shoot is a requirement. 

Totally random start as we were gathering all the kids but I love this...me holding Leila and Daniel holding his baby. :) 

Grandkids 

All the kids and grandkids minus Tyler 

Siblings 

I'm so glad that we were all able to have some time together before we make the big move to NC. It was such a fun weekend and a big thanks for Brad and Joanali for hosting!

It was sad to leave but Monday morning we had to head out to Colorado; our next stop on the trip. 

 Luckily for us, Leila slept pretty well for most of the first day.

Jeremy and I are suckers for scenery so we couldn't help taking pictures of all the beautiful places along the way. 

Fifth State: Colorado

Beautiful Colorado. Scenery definitely makes the drive better!

We're pretty famous...We saw a Mt. Evans and an Evansville!

We were so grateful to get to stay with the Martin Family and can't thank them enough for their hospitality. It was way too short but a blast spending time with all these cousins!

 

Day Two

We were on I-70 forever!

Sixth State: Kansas

We missed the state sign for Kansas, but this picture should suffice! Not much scenery here!

I did my best to entertain Leila. I think she was pretty confused of why she was always in the same place, and it eventually started to get to her, but for the most part she was a trooper.

And eventually all the books and songs and toys wore her out.

 

Seventh State: Missouri

We also missed the Missouri sign so this will have to count as our "Welcome to Missouri" sign. We slept in Kansas City this night so that the next morning we could do a little church history touring.

 

Day Three:

We didn't have much time since we really needed to get on the road, but we couldn't pass up visiting Liberty Jail and the Independence visitor's center/temple site.

This was such an amazing experience to be where the Prophet had been and the spirit there was really strong. The sister missionaries were so great and one sang a hymn while we were there. I am so glad that we made this stop as it reminded us of how grateful and blessed we are to be members of this church and have the knowledge that we do. So much was sacrificed by so many people so that we could have this and I was humbled by this reminder.

 

We were running out of time and weren't going to stay long at the visitor's center but ended up doing this whole missionary lead tour. It was really awesome though.

Back on the road for another day. It was already past noon so it was going to be a LONG day.

St. Louis Arch

Eighth State: Illinois

Ninth State: Indiana

Leila was seriously tuckered out after today and was ready for bed by the time we made it to New Albany. Thank heavens for a nice place to stay!

Day Four: At this point we were all ready to just get to North Carolina! Thank goodness it was a pretty drive!

Tenth State: Kentucky
After this state sign we noticed a pattern...people out here are really proud to claim Lincoln in any way possible. "The Land of Lincoln", "Lincoln's Boyhood Home", "Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln". He was kind of a big deal! :)

Who knew Kentucky was so pretty?

Eleventh State: West Virginia

Twelfth State: Virginia
The more we drove east the more trees surrounded us. West Virginia and Virginia were like forests!

Finally, state number thirteen...North Carolina! We made it! We drove straight to Tisha's to rest up for moving day the next day. It was really such a fun trip but we were so thankful to be out of the car. Of course we had to drive to Chapel Hill the next day and Leila was not happy to go back in her car seat so I think we will be taking a break from the car for a little while. So happy to be in our new home!