Monthly Archives: January 2012

Well, today we’re back home now (although it feels good to be back in our own house after all that travel).  We left Texas yesterday and drove to Dallas to the temple there.  The freeways were incredibly hard to follow.  The signs aren’t posted until right before road splits, and I always seemed to be in the middle or far right when the road we needed split left, or in the far left when the road split right!  It took us a little bit to get up there, but overall I think we saw a more “scenic way” there!  🙂

After stopping at the temple (unfortunately the grounds were closed due to it being Monday), we started on our way again.  We decided that instead of going home the way we came, we’d drive over through Little Rock, then by Memphis, and up through Southern Illinois.  It mapped out to only be about 50 miles more and we thought it would be worth it to see something different.  🙂

When we got to Little Rock, we went to the Old Mill, what my web research said should not be missed when visiting the city.  It was very close to the freeway.  The kids complained at first about having to stop, but when we got there, they loved it!  It was an old rock mill nestled in a beautiful place along the river.  From the look of the place, it’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular places in town for family pictures, wedding pictures, etc.  Pictures can’t do it justice and we took a bunch!

By the time we finished there, it was getting dark and we really needed to hurry on so we could find a hotel in the Memphis area.  We still had a few hours to drive.  When asked if the kids liked the stop, the decision of the Old Mill was unanimous!  🙂

We kept driving across Arkansas to the Memphis area.  We couldn’t find any hotels we wanted to stay at there so we kept going north a little way until we found something and then we stopped for the night.  We had a great day spending time with each other (except the stress in Dallas on the freeways)!  🙂  The only negative was that every time we stopped, it kept getting colder and colder!  When we got up this morning for the 7-8 hour drive home, there was frost on our van and if it had feelings, I don’t think it would have been very happy!  🙂

We got home between 4 and 5 with plenty of time to unpack, start doing wash, and recoup from the trip.  The kids don’t have to go back to school until Monday, but unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow.  🙁  It was a GREAT vacation that we are glad we took.  At first, I think Angela was the only one who wanted to go (due to the excessive driving), but we all are very happy we went.  The 2200+ mile driving trip wasn’t too bad, and we saw a lot of things that were new for us!

Happy New Year everybody!!!  We are excited for a great up and coming 2012!

Today we slept in (church was at 11) and I especially enjoyed not having to go to any early morning meetings!  🙂  We ate breakfast and then got ready to go to church.  The kids were a little nervous to go to a different ward, but we assured them that everything would be OK and that they would survive!  🙂  We weren’t sure how Ben would react since not only were we away from home going to church, but this was his very first Sunday out of Nursery and in Sunbeams!  😐  Everyone did great, however!  Ben was a little whiny but we left him anyway, and the Sunbeam teacher was awesome with him and although he was still nervous about being there, he did great!  Zach thought he was really cool because he went to Primary with Nate and Tanner who are more than 2 years older than him!  🙂

After church, we came home and before everyone got undressed to lounge around for the day, we took family pictures.  They turned out really good and I think that this one will be our picture for 2012!  I love my new camera!

We couldn’t wait to change into comfy clothes and relax for the rest of the day.  We were all still pretty tired from the night before!  🙂  The boys played with Legos most of the afternoon, and all the kids played games together, went on an afternoon walk, and enjoyed the 70+ degree weather!  We have to go home tomorrow, and we’ll REALLY miss that!  We won’t have 70 degree weather for the next 4 months!