From Sea to Shining Sea...well, almost.

 We have done our fair share of driving this summer! We've had 2 oil changes in less than a month, and the last one was 100 miles late. YEAH! But before the road adventures began, we started the fun here at home.

So...get ready...here's a quick whirlwind of an update.

 

Hiking in Northern Iowa, swimming at the Reservoir with friends, and a visit to the City Park mini-theme park with friends (Caleb so brave to go in one of those ferris-wheel-style basket rides...with his dear friend M. Just now he started crying when I told him she had moved away...aww!)

For Father's Day we all gave Justin a dutch oven. On our first camping trip for the summer, he made us breakfast! It was so yummy and it totally looks hard core! The kids loved camping, too!

Then we drove 15 hours to Gatlinburg, TN. LONG drive, short visit, and then LONG drive home. BUT, it was great to see my whole family (this was the Hart family reunion), and to meet my new sister-in-law, Thaciana! She's such a gem and so sweet! She doesn't speak much English, and I don't speak Portuguese, but late night hot tubs parties cross all language barriers! It was so much fun! And the scenery was beautiful! After we made it back home...we continued on to Utah to see Justin's family (18 hours drive time)!

Once in Utah we had fun with the Bountiful Fourth of July Parade and then a visit to Hill Air Force Museum. So impressive, so much fun!

We even got to meet up with some good ol' friends!! I love reunions, friends and family alike! Good to see you folk!

Caleb LOVED his cousins, on both sides.On my side, A is rather rowdy...and Caleb is a shadow. He picked up a few tricks from him. On Justin's side, A (odd that it's the same letter, lol) is also very rowdy...enough to eat dry wall when he was younger. Caleb loved playing with him, but since they are 2 months apart, the squabbles only increased by the minute they were together! 

We were blessed to be able to attend cousin J's baptism, too! Such an exciting time for him! 

We also went shooting (I have decided I really like a .22 revolver...), but I don't have any pictures of it! You can't go to Utah without visiting Temple Square, and it was so pleasant to take Caleb and Mackenzie there. 

After about 10 days of action packed fun in Utah, we started our drive home. That included a slight detour to the Dinosaur Museum...but then we decided to go through Colorado instead of Wyoming (why torture ourselves anymore?), and that also allowed us to go through Manti, where we were sealed. It was lovely to see the Manti temple again!

And the lower right picture, of our car next to...yes, you see it right! it's Mater! A random real Mater somewhere in Southern Utah! And just to spice it up even more...

And that's the condensed update! More adventures to follow, to be sure!