Oregon trip Day 6

Today is the big day!

The reason we all we crazy enough to road trip cross country.

Brynn-bear's baptism.

In our faith, Latter Day Saints follow Christ's example by being baptized by immersion in water and then receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We also believe children are unable to commit sin (are born pure) and are redeemed through Christ's mercy should they die before they are baptized- which, in our religion, is the age of 8.

“Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin” (Moro. 8:8).

We believe that by the age of 8, children can understand the difference between right and wrong, become accountable for their choices, and therefore have need for repentance. Or in other words, we are baptized in the name if Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins.

(picture pulled from the web so you get an idea)

Those who are baptized enter into a covenant with God to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end. We remember and recommit to this covenant every Sunday when we take the sacrament during our church service.

I didn't take any pictures of the event, or at the family get together afterward.

I was feeling really overwhelmed.

I was so proud of Brynn for making the choice to be baptized, so there's those emotions.

I had been traveling for a week with little kids and no husband and missing him, so there's those emotions.

It was so touching to have my entire family there to show our love and support to this little girl on her special day.

But really it was an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for Preston (Brynn's step dad, married Rochelle last year) and his family who stepped in to this little girl's life and loved her completely. If a father is a worthy, active member of the church and has been ordained with the priesthood (the power and authority of God), he is able to baptize his child. So on this Saturday, it was Preston baptizing Brynn. A mix of emotions that it wasn't Mike up there baptizing his daughter, but again, so much gratitude that Preston was. That Rochelle and Preston have continue strong in their faith, and helped my sweet niece's faith to grow.

Divorce is hard.

Even for aunts.

I gave Preston and Rochelle teary hugs afterward and tried to express my gratitude to Preston and his parents individually, but I have never been good at expressing the truest feelings of my heart.

I am grateful that Brynn (and Caden) have a dad in their life every day.

Of course, I am sad that isn't Mike with them every day.

Of course.

But I am so glad that Preston loves these kids and has happily taken on this responsibility.

I make it sound so formal, and, again, am botching an effort to express how I really feel- just know that I love my family. And that has grown to include Preston and his family now.

After a fun cupcake family get together with those closest to Preston and Rochelle at a local park (again, no pictures! ah! My brain was on another planet.) We drove over to the coast to spend the next 3 days together.

We arrived.

Claimed bedrooms.

Changed clothes.

And hit the beach.

The water was cold.

Colder than Lake Michigan.

(that's sayin' something)

But a few still braved the cold

There was a lot of this...

and this...

and this...

this...

Family- a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children,

considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family.

Family.... so much more than that

Oregon Trip Day 4

We woke up after a cold night in the Montana mountains.

Dad got breakfast going.

We got the kids dressed.

Jackson and Andy played cars out on the picnic table.

Perfection.

We all piled in to B & E's van to drive up to the cavern entrance "just up the hill".

hahaha.

After 15 minutes of roller coaster worthy twists, turns, and steep inclines, we reached the top.

Lewis and Clark Caverns is named after the explorers Lewis and Clark (obvi) since the cavern overlooks over 50 miles of the trail from the Lewis and Clark Expedition along the Jefferson River, although Lewis and Clark never saw the cavern.

I relied on Erica again for photos because this place was a better adventure than the last caves with a lake ,

a slide- yes, we all (including pregnant SIL) had to sit down and slide down the limestone floor at one point,

and paths that I couldn't describe any better than "tricky" as there was not a good place to put your hand or foot for balance.

At one point the tour guide was telling a very dramatic story of a cave worker who snuck in to the cave at night alone, with a lantern (it was a long time ago), to steal some of the best rock formations. He slipped and dropped his lantern and was left in complete darkness for 3 days until the other workers found him. By then, he was crazy. Literally. Anyway, during the story, right when she said he dropped his lantern, she shut off the lights in the cave for dramatic impact, for it would have been completely dark with absolutely no hint of light- so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. Unfortunately for our tour group, Jackson, Andy, Nate and Lauren all had their own flashlights. When the tour guide hit the lights, Jackson's flashlight was on. Ben hurried to cover it, just for Andy to turn his on! Then Nate, the Lauren. I kid you not. Ben apologized to the group who muffled laughter. We felt bad for killing the moment, but couldn't help but laugh too.

Cute pictures of the kids all together in the exit tunnel leading out of the cave to come, from Erica.

After that, we broke camp and continued West.

A couple of cute stories that happened on the drive the day before it had rained coming out of Yellowstone. When it stopped, we saw a complete rainbow! (one of the many rainbows we saw on the trip- Andy was always the one to eye-spy them). As we drove past "the end of the rainbow" grandpa gave the boys each a gold coin because we made it to the end of the rainbow. With smiles on their faces, the turned their coins over and over again studying them. Isn't he a great grandpa?

I am not sure when it started, but at some point in the trip, my mom was dozing off and Andy exclaimed, " We got a nodder!" a classic line from the movie Cars (see here). I know you won't believe me, but he probably said it two thousand times on the trip after that. Any time there was a lull in conversation Andy would exclaim, "We GOTTA NODDER!" And since it usually provoked laughter, he would said it again and again and again.

My parents, bless their hearts, never once complained (at least to me) about traveling with my kids. The only minutes on silence was when both boys were asleep at the same time- which was not often. Andy felt the need to fill the air with singing, commentating the drive, point out anything he saw interesting, ask if he could climb on every mountain he saw, play in every river, lake, pond or puddle, eat at every Old Mc Donalds.... you get the idea. Every time I answered his inquiry with "no"... (which was every time he ask a question), it would go like this:

Mom! Look at that mountain! Should we go there? Should we go there, Mom? Can we climb it?

- No, not today. Maybe next trip.

Maybe next time?

- Yeah

Maybe tomorrow?

-No

Maybe later?

-Yeah.

Mom! Look! A river! A river, Mom! Should we go there? Should we go there, Mom? Can we play in it?

- No, not today.

Maybe next time?

-Yeah

Maybe tomorrow?

-No

Maybe later?

-Yeah

.. and so on. I tried to change my answers to discourage this such as, we need to get to our next campsite or maybe when we go on a trip with dad, or you're too little climb a mountain, maybe when you are older, etc. It didn't matter my answers, the questions still followed the same order. The. entire. drive. But since it comes out of this adorable face

I let it slide.

This night I had not booked a campsite, but printed off a couple of different options along the route. The first one we checked out was... um.... how do I say this... it wasn't that it was run-down, it was just never get good in the first place. We didn't even pull in. We scooped the loop and headed back out of town. The next place was right off of the interstate and was by far the worst place we stayed with trucks pulling in and out all night. We survived knowing the next night we would be in Portland and in a hotel! Woo hoo!

Oregon Trip Day 3

Morning of Day 3

Day two we had hoped to camp in Yellowstone, but when I was making reservations, all soft sided RVs or popout spots were spoken for. The bear are extremely active this year and many camp sites were sticking to a "hard sided only" RV vehicles. So, I I found a place out of "bear country" who allowed tent sided pop outs that had a playground and booked it.

The kids and I played soccer on the grass and played on the playground while the guys hooked up the camper and Mom got dinner started. Mmmmm a cheese burger never tasted so good!

In the morning we got up early and finished the drive to Yellowstone.

This is the day Andy still talks about. He says, " Member that time we stopped and ate in the camper and got out and there were big animals (buffalo) but we can't touch them. And we drove and got out and saw some big animals (carribou) . Yeah. That was fun."

Right before driving through the Yellowstone gates a black bear ran in front of Ben's van just in front of us. I could hear him (in my in mind) saying, "You guys see that?!" Much of the forest on the east side of the park has been destroyed by the forest fire. I remember hearing about it, but it is overwhelming to see in person. Heartbreaking.

Our first stop was Yellowstone Lake.

My mom just kept saying,"this lake is HUGE!"

But, as we live on Lake Michigan, my kids didn't even bat an eye, they just got down to business.

Throwing rocks.

Collecting sticks.

Getting wet.

Let me take a minute to say how wonderful it is to pull a camper while traveling with little kids. Though the beds pop out, the camper itself, is "ready to go" at all times.

Fooooooor example, we are on a stretch of highway and a 2 year old has to go potty.

Pull over and go in the camper.

Or we are starving, but still have another few hours to go before we get to our campsite for the night. Pull over and eat in the camper.

bathroom.

fridge.

freezer.

microwave.

oven.

stove.

sink.

table.

benches.

All at immediate access.

It was heavenly.

My only concern now is that on our next road trip, Andy will expect to be able to "pull over! I need to poop in the camper!"

We stopped for lunch just on the other side of Fishing Bridge (where, despite the name, you can't actually fish from) because there was a buffalo sitting on the hill. Erica snapped a couple of pictures of him (that I will steal). We guessed there were more up on the hill and found a good place to climb up. We were right. But did not venture closer as more people die from buffalo attacks than bear attacks each year.

My dad is coming up the hill behind Ben- you can just spot his head. I know his thinking: He was thinking he better go over and stand by Ben (who was closer than we were) in case the buffalo charges and he can jump in the way to block Jackson/distract the buffalo, etc. That's just how my dad thinks and that was the reason I had my "danger" thoughts up in the woods with the turkey. He is incredibly protective of his kids and grandkids. I can't write all of the examples, but he is always gently making suggestions for the safety of the kids. He is very aware of them. I think it's sweet and thoughtful instead of crazy and overprotective:) I know you're reading this! I love you, dad!

From buffaloes we viewed the fountain paint pots, geysers, mud pots, Old Faithful and other geothermic wonders. Again, I deferred to Erica for photos. Here she is snapping one of this geyser in Yellowstone Lake.

We did not make reservations for Night 3, as we didn't know what time we would leave Yellowstone/ how far we would drive that night. Dad bought an atlas at a gas station about an hour west of the park and eye-spied Lewis and Clark Caverns and Campground.

Picking this place off of a map, we had no idea what to expect. It was my favorite campground all trip. It had a great playground, shower houses, fire pits, picnic tables, GRASS!

Erica and I took the kids to the playground while Dad, Ben and Nate set up shop and Mom got dinner started. This had become our routine and it worked so smoothly.

This was the first night I felt like we just "hung out".

Night 1 we returned late from Mt. Rushmore and went straight to bed.

Night 2 we got to bed early so we could get up early for Yellowstone.

Night 3, we didn't need to worry about the morning, we were staying there to go to the caverns. We could just relax. We made s'mores. played on the playground until dark. And sat around talking by the fire.

this was why I wanted to come on this trip.

Perfection.

.