Mother's Day Weekend in Georgia

So for Mother's Day we drove to North Carolina to see Grandma Peggy, but we first stopped in Augusta and stayed with Ryan's parents......... The drive started out nice and smooth.........

The children in the back seat were happy.........

And relaxing.........

And enjoying the ride until.........

They remembered that dad's abilities for getting to a certain destination in half the estimated time were drawn from his time in Morocco, Puerto Rico, and Romania.........

The children feared for their lives.........

OH NO.........

But as fate would have it, they made it safe and sound (and two hours early). As Ryan's dad fired up the grill.........

The grandchildren played in the pool. Jonas chillin'.........

P-dawg riding the sting ray (equipped with squirt gun).........

CHEESE.........

Lydia stayed close to the steps and handrail.........

And sweet little Adam stayed close to his grandparents.........

His two front teeth.........

The men waited for supper to be ready.........

After dinner, Ryan and Lydia disappeared. We found them behind the couch in the living room with.........

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.... And all of their accessories.... THE END.

Okay, here are some video highlights. Enjoy!

Adam's handsome new Romanian vest.

Have you ever seen a baby birdy eat? Adam almost lives up to Lydia's same conduct at Jesse's rehearsal dinner. Almost.

Here are some gems. In this first one Jonas is explaining his army fortress, but it's Adam who makes this video great right in the last couple seconds. The kids lovingly nicknamed this little swing set "Donna's Park".

In the second, I was trying to get Adam to growl for me as he was doing just moments previous. While he was not very accommodating, Preston and Lydia were more than willing to oblige.

And lastly, we end with Preston's push ups, because after all he has MONKEY STRENGTH!

We are all excited for Travis to send what he can back home....Just don't scare Cali :?) (Does this make me Evil?)

Thanks to Jesse and Kelly we were well protected at the reception.

not again!

You knew we had to do it

NO BODY IS SAFE ANYMORE!!!

Florida Pictures

We liked this picture on mom's blog so much we decided it needed to be posted twice. Thank you Cami for the great opportunity. Love You!

Where are you Davy Crockett?

Oh Davy Crockett, not only did you tame the frontier, shoot a musket, and defend the Alamo, you were also a politician and a darn good one. You listened to the voice of the people, you recognised that federal money was not yours to spend, and your immortal words live on in Cali's tea party sign (her interpretation of them). We need you again Mr. Crockett. So tea party news. The Rexburg turnout was estimated at 15-20 people. We had well over a hundred show up throughout the two hours, but because of nasty weather, few stayed for the whole thing. I was one of maybe ten people that braved the 45 degrees, strong winds, and rain for the whole two hours. Had the weather been nicer we would definitely have had a much better turnout. Many of the elderly and couples with small children could not stay long.

This is the front part of Gideon's sandwich board he wore. Doreen, Phil, Shawn, Schuyler, and Ryken came to support the cause as well.

Okay, the gentlemen in the right part of the picture is my friend Mac. He's an Iraq war veteran and came with the American and Don't Tread on Me signs attached to a huge metal boom. He also held a sign that said, "Give us liberty not more debt." His daughter carried a sign with a piggy bank saying "Stay out of my piggy bank."

Shawn, Ryken, Cali, Doreen, and Gideon. Of course the news crews had to show up ten minutes before the protest actually started to show the dismal turnout. Had they arrived at 12:30 they would have seen the bridge packed.

So funny story about my signs. I spent an hour making a sign that said "Stop Spending Our Future!" with various colors, bubble letters and everything. The problem, it was just a regular paper sign. The winds were insane! About 25 minutes into the party, a gust of wind physically tore it from my hands and it flew into the water. I ran to K-Mart, bought the stiff cardboard signs, and rewrote the message as fast as I could. I also made another one that said "Spread Your Own Wealth!"

Some great sign slogans I saw:

"Next time read the DAMN BILL"

"100 senators must go"

"434 congressmen need to go" the man holding the sign said he wanted to keep one

"Have you already spent my kids $?"

"I've inherited $12 trillion...IN DEBT" (held by a toddler)

"Return to the Constitution"

"Cut Congress' Pay"

"Vote the S.O.B. out!" held by a very old veteran

There were also many American flags, four Don't Tread On Me flags, and two liberty flags. Many people held signs with quotes on them by various patriots, and several had signs that encouraged people to honk if they loved freedom, lower taxes, and the Constitution. One sign featured a fat uncle Sam with dollar signs across his bloated belly, and even "What Would Chuck Norris Do?" made an appearance.

News

The semester is officially over! I had 1 final on Tuesday and 4 yesterday and I am so happy to be done until the fall! I'll let y'all know about my grades once they're posted, I'm crossing my fingers for all A's. I know I got at least two.

For other news, on Tuesday I submitted my application to transfer to Brigham Young University - Hawaii. One more winter here in Idaho just might kill me. Although Hawaii has its challenges too.

There won't be any snow - darn. I won't be able to apply lotion to my hands and face 4 times a day - too bad. I'll have to breathe freely in all that humidity - sad. I can't do the pale my-skin-hasn't-seen-sunlight-in-eight-months look anymore - I'm going to miss that.

Yup, it's going to be rough but it's times like this when you just have to be corageous and tough it out.