Laurel/Priest temple trip

Last night we had a Laurel and Priest baptism trip to the temple.  It is hard to go on a school night when the kids have so much homework and extra curricular activities.  I was really pleased with our turnout but wished all the kids could have gone.  Such a special time to be in the temple.  Hannah had found nine boy family names that needed baptisms and confirmations so Nathan took those name and he and his friend Rylan were able to do those baptisms.  The tradition for after the temple is stopping at Steak N Shake for food.  This time and the last time, it took well over an hour to get our food and be headed home.  I think we need a faster tradition, especially on a school night.  We got home just before 11:00 and many of the kids still had homework to do.  I know they will be blessed for being there somehow.  I loved being able to be in the temple with Nathan and see him do these ordinances for our distant relatives.

Deer vs car

This morning Nathan and Hannah left for seminary as usual and I started my at-home seminary study.  About 10 minutes after they left, I saw a call coming through from Nathan.  My heart stopped as I knew he should be driving and that something had happened.  Thankfully, they were ok.  They had hit a deer but he thought the car was drivable and that he could make it to seminary and school.  He said the deer had ran off.  I had him check the car one more time to make sure he felt it was ok to drive and he said he thought so.  The deer can be so scary and so dangerous.  They can pop out of the trees and you really can't do anything.  There are no shoulders on the sides of the road here so they were really blessed to have hit it in a spot where there was a little grassy area from a yard that they could pull off on to check things out and be out of the way of other cars.  Justin told him he would meet him at the church.  I think Nathan thought it was kind of like a badge of honor to hit the deer.  Everyone at the church had to look at the car.  Justin followed him to school and then he came home and picked me up and we took the car to the body shop.  We won't get it back for a couple of weeks.  Back to driving to seminary for me.  I have really been enjoying not having to go! 

 At first glance, it didn't seem like it was too bad but taking a closer look, it shifted the whole hood and there was a little more damage than we thought.  We will definitely use what we paid for insurance this year.

Destin, Florida

We decided we should take advantage of having a beach close and finally go and see it.  Justin had to be in Ohio for work Sunday through Wednesday so the kids and I picked him up from the airport Wednesday around 1 and we headed to Destin, Florida.  It is about a six-hour drive, unless there is an accident and traffic stops.

After 30-40 minutes of this, we were on our way again.  We had to drive across this really long bridge to get to Destin.  Isaac took this picture as my eyes were on the raod.  I don't like to drive over bridges.

We got to Destin and checked into our hotel.  We stayed at Embassy Suites.  To get to the beach, you walked across the street where the hotel had their own gate for beach access.  There was a restaurant called Surf Hut right across from the hotel as well so we walked over to that and put our name in to wait for a table.  The sun had just set.  We went out behind the restaurant and looked at the water and then had dinner.  Made me excited to see it in the sunlight!

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel around 8:30 and then walked over to the beach to play.  It was still really hot and didn't feel like fall.  The temps would be around 95 and it felt so humid.  We were glad we went early.  It was not crowded and so beautiful.  

Hannah and I had stopped by a a souvenir shop next door to the hotel to get sand buckets and when we got to the beach, Justin and Nathan were sitting in the water.  Their heads are the first two popping up in the picture.

Hannah wanted me to get a picture of her so she was out posing.

 Justin decided to tease her.  This picture cracks me up.

 Never too old for sand castles!

 I loved the sand! 

We stayed for about an hour and a half and then decided we wanted to get out of the sun and go explore more of Destin.  We stopped at the pool to shower the sand off and enjoy a quick dip.  The water temp was perfect and the pool was still shaded by the building which was nice.  Nathan headed up to shower instead of getting in.  Justin and I sat in the shade a little longer giving the other two time to shower and change.

We weren't really quite sure what to do next.  We stopped and had pizza for lunch.  I had all sorts of things we could do but the kids didn't really want to do any of them.  Instead of zoo or aquarium or go carts etc, the boys decided they wanted to go to Bass Pro Shop.  Definitely a touristy thing.  Ha.  They were in heaven.  Hannah and I walked through some other shops.  It was at a huge outdoor mall.  I bought a sweater, Hannah bought a dress.  Hannah also got a book.  Then, we met the boys when they were done.  They had gone to the Beef Jerkey stop and were sampling items there.  It was good to be inside during the hottest part of the day.

We then headed to Harborwalk Village.  There are restaurants and shops and you can pick different excursions to do or rent boats or ski jets and stuff there.  We decided to take a dolphin tour.  We went out on the boat at 5 pm and were out for two hours.  We went up and down the harbor and then out farther in the ocean.  The first half of the tour we saw a couple dolphins way out.  You really had to look hard because the caps on the water could all look like fins so it was hard to tell when it actually was.  The second half we saw lots of them really close to the boat.  I think we saw six at once at one point.  So fun to see.

 A lady threw Cheetos at a seagull and then a bunch swarmed the boat.  I just hoped they didn't poop on me! 

 The sun was setting and was so prety.

I tried to get Nathan to take a picture with me.  This is what I got.  So cooperative. 

 We ate at a smoothie place in the villiage and then headed back to the hotel.  It was a fun day!

The next day we went down the the Okaloosa Island Boardwalk.  There was a dolphin swimming very close by.

 The boardwalk was full of people fishing.  It was interesting to see them.  You could see the fish swimming the water was so clear.  Everyone that pulled one up said that they were just getting junk fish that day though, nothing that was good to eat.

The next stop the kids wanted to do was Barnes and Nobles Bookstore.  Well, Nathan and Hannah wanted to.  Isaac, not so much.  It would not be on my top choices of vacation things to do either.  They both got a book for the ride home.  We went and got ice cream and then headed back to the hotel to rest a bit.  We walked over to the souviner shop and everyone got something.  We then spent the evening at the beach and watched the sun go down.  The temps had cooled and there was a breeze that felt great.  Once again, the sunset was beautiful!

  

We ate breakfast Saturday morning and then headed for home.  It was such a nice little getaway and a great Fall Break!

Blanket's Creek Mountain Bike Park

Isaac has been asking to go the the mountain bike park for a month as he has been having a great time riding the trails in our neighborhood.  We finally went today.  I have never wanted to go on trails as I am afraid of crashing and don't like riding a bike that much.  We met Charlyce and Tyson and Wilson.  I borrowed Izzy's bike.  With the bikes loaded in the vans, we headed there.  I had Wilson and Isaac with me.  About half way there, Wilson realized he hadn't worn any shoes.  Really?  I called Charlyce  and she knew what I was going to say before I even said it.  Apparently, this is not the first time.  She kept going to get the front tires (which she had taken off to load) back on her bikes and I took Wilson to get his shoes.  It was a beautiful day.  

I took some laps around the parking lot to get used to the gears.

 We started on their beginner trail, Misquito Flats.  Isaac loved it!  I was reminded of what I already knew, I don't like to not be entirely in control and am not fearless.  I did ok though and it was fun.  The boys decided they wanted to do the longer intermediate trail, Dwelling.  Charlyce took them and I did the beginner trail again and felt much more comfortable.  They all had a great time and said Dwelling was intense but so much fun.

 They have a little practice area at the front of the park so the boys played around there a bit.  It was fun to watch Isaac doing something that he loves.  We need to get him a little bigger bike.  This was a hand-me-down from a friend in Vail.  If we have another bike, I wouldn't have to borrow one and could take him more often.  He would go every day.

We were all starving so we stopped at Cheesburger Bobby's for lunch on the way home.

Day one of Fall Break

Nathan was feeling up to going out of the house.  He was still swollen and looked like a chipmunk.  The kids all had different things they wanted to do.  We started at Ace Hardware for Hannah.  She wanted to get chalkboard paint for her room.  She somehow talked me into painting one of her walls with it.  Then, we went to Cherokee Gun and Pawn for Nathan.  He wanted to look at gun powder.  Next was Sixes Pitt Bycicle shop for Isaac.  He was looking at buying some biking gloves but ended up getting a new helmet as they didn't have a pair that fit him good.  The guy in the shop was really nice.  When he found out Isaac was buying the helmet with his own money, he gave him a discount and pointed out a good helmet to Isaac that would protect his head more and sold it to him at the same cost as one the one Isaac was looking at buying based on how much money he had.  I picked Dairy Queen so we stopped on the way home.  I gave Isaac his milkshake and got in the car and a bee followed me.  Isaac jumped out of his seat and ran out of the van throwing his milkshake in the van as he did so.  Nice.  I can't blame him for being scared after being stung twenty plus times all at once!  Here Hannah's new wall.  I told her if it was not for how hard she worked in art class, she would not have gotten me to agree.