Rogers Family Reunion

This post is almost a month overdue, but I really wanted to post these, I stole them all from Travis and Kristin's blog, thanks guys! The weekend before we left, we had a Rogers Family Reunion! It was great fun! (The above pic was taken after Jakob's baptism, go Jakob!)

Saturday morning all the babies did their stepping stones

Ethan and Jaxon

Maelie and Kyla "helping" Ethan open his birthday present

Brooke entertaining all the little ones

We had an adult only dinner on Saturday night at Red Robin, it was great fun!

Jaxon came with us and we were pretty desperate trying to keep him entertained!

Looking at this pic really makes me miss my mom. I love you, Mom. You are such a great grandma to these kids and I miss coming over to see you!



Kristin bought snowballs from Bahama Bucks and the kids had fun throwing them

We had a baby shower for Katrina on Saturday morning! Good thing, since little Zac was born the following Thursday (I think)! It was so fun being just us girls with no kids (and hubbies). We had a fabulous breakfast of french toast and fruit! YUM!

On Thursday afternoon, Kristin, Shannon, and I got a pedicure and then went to Bahama Bucks, it was fun and relaxing! I am the pink toes (it has been a month and they still look like that!), Kristin's are black and Shannon's are purple! love it!

Washington DC

Saturday morning, I got home from running and Jonas said, "Let's go to DC!" So we did! We drove down Saturday morning, about a 3.5 hour drive and saw the sites. Sunday we were lazy and then went to sacrament meeting, then the temple, and then drove back home. It was great to be able to go somewhere like that so spontaneously! And since we don't have any unpacking to do yet, why not???

I am a little worried about who might occupy this home in the near future!

The Lincoln Memorial was WOAH! Seriously, we took the elevator because of the stroller and you come out and walk into the statue chamber and it's HUGE and amazing! really cool! Just disregard me in this pic. :)

The WW2 monument was so cool (it's the pool with the fountains), you can even put your feet in the water! The girls got a little TOO into it and we got in trouble right after I took this picture. You can see the Washington monument in the back, I've always wanted to see that thing, it's even bigger than I thought!

and the DC temple is gorgeous! - oh, I got our church shoes mailed to us from our hotel in Nauvoo but we forgot to take them on this little trip so we are wearing flip flops and crocs again, hehe!

connected... but still no truck

Well, we have internet now since someone let us borrow their modem but our stuff is still in LA!!! Never use Budget van lines or Air One Moving!!! They tell me the truck will be heading out this week and they will call when it leaves, I am trying to not let my mind wander to places like, "what if it never comes??" People in our ward have been very nice to let us borrow stuff so we have some things, but I just want to get settled in our new home so that it actually feels like a home!!! Jonas started class today and he is thinking he will like the program. The kids have been adjusting really well and are liking it here, I am thankful for that.

We are liking our townhome complex. There are 2 parks right here in the complex. There are about 12 LDS families here as well. It is known as Little Utah or Mormon Ghetto #2! hehe!

This is the window in their playroom, everytime I look out that window, I think, "Oh, how lovely was the morning..." it is so green and pretty! This is right after I chopped Maelie's hair off! She begged me to do it! And she is wearing the hat she picked out from the dollar store on our first trip to the mall here.

Jaxon started solids last week. He is rolling like crazy and he is starting to scoot, anytime he sees something he wants out of reach, he can usually get it in his mouth right away!

more moving trip pix

Liberty Jail

Far West temple site

Shedd Aquarium

Elder Jaxon Nephi Stanford

Maelie at Carthage

little pioneer boy hehe

MORE pix!

Albuquerque temple - Kyla jumped off this wall right after this pic was taken - there was a BEE! Luckily I caught her!!!

Nauvoo

Independence temple site

Kirtland temple

Independence temple site with sea shell thing in the back

NK Whitney store in Kirtland - Kirtland was awesome! so beautiful there!

Kyla at Shedd Aquarium

Nauvoo temple

life in PA

Right now I am in a hotel parking lot getting wifi on the laptop and the battery could die any second! All of our stuff is still in CA waiting to get moved over!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!! A little bit annoying! K maybe A LOT!!!! We don't get internet until Monday but that's only if we get our stuff then because our modem is still in LA as well!!! Jonas starts class on Monday, it woulda been really nice to be settled by then! Sorry about the messy pics post, I'm a little rushed! I think we left our Sunday shoes in Nauvoo, they have disappeared! Jonas and I wore flip flops to church on Sunday and the girls wore their bright pink Dora crocs! haha, what a great first impression! Our ward is really awesome! We had FHE with a great fam last night! It is beautiful here - lots to figure out! The girls are doing really well with the adjustment and chaos, probably lots better than Jonas and I! Maelie has made lots of friends! Love to all!!!

PICTURES!!!

Jonas on the stilts in Nauvoo - pioneer games

we got diamond rings at the blacksmith in Nauvoo

cute little pioneer girls - they didn't wanna leave this place!!!

oxen ride!

Yeehaw! Kyla playing at the Independence Visitor's Center

cutie Jaxon

in front of Wilford Woodruff's home in Nauvoo... sad sad story, Maelie puked all over Wilford Woodruff's upstairs floor, I felt sooo bad! For Maelie and for the historic home!!

a cool spot, this is where the pioneer's crossed the Mississippi on their trek west.

an original sun stone from the Nauvoo temple

Jonas and Maelie in Brigham Young's house in Nauvoo

the fam at Carthage jail

Maelie and Kyla after the Shedd Aquarium... the Chicago skyscrapers and Lake Michigan!

Chicago temple, look how tired the fam looks :)

Jaxon's dirty face, he had been eating the steering wheel

the beautiful valley of Adam-ondi Ahman

Maelie got called up on stage during the Anna Amanda show in Nauvoo... she did so awesome, she shouted out her name to the audience!

Maelie and Kyla's favorite spot in Nauvoo, playing the pioneer games!

BRICKS in Nauvoo

see the little bunny we found in Nauvoo (top right corner)

Chicago, IL

Wow! We are now in Chicago! Saturday we went to Liberty Jail, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Haun's Mill. All these sites were very cool to see, my favorite was probably Far West. It was the temple site, it was so beautiful and peaceful there. The weather has been so beautiful our whole trip, always like 75* and not even any humidity that has bothered us like we heard about. Nauvoo was awesome! We so loved that beautiful little city! The Mississippi river is crazy huge!!! The Nauvoo temple is gorgeous! Carthage was quite the experience! Maelie and Kyla had fun in Nauvoo! Today we drove to Chicago and went to the Shedd Aquarium and saw Lake Michigan, that is the first great lake we have ever seen - so amazingly HUGE!!! It looks like the ocean!

what a beautiful little boy

I got a pic of my new nephew! Here he is! It's hard to beleive that he was born 8 weeks early!!!

Independence, MO

Here we are in Independence! We saw the weird sea shell lookin' Community of Christ temple and heard all about that church with absolutely no testimony involved, it was kinda weird. We saw the temple lot dedicated by Joseph Smith, that was very cool. And we went to the LDS visitor's center where the girls had a blast playing in the cabin and with the horse and wagon. Oh, and we also had 2 emotional break downs, 1 from Maelie and then 1 from Kyla... last night we stayed in Oklahoma City, amazing place! hehehe... the drive today was beautiful, so green! And when we went to find the OK city temple, we drove thru a flood! It was awesome! This part of the country is so different! I love all the green scenery out my window. Maelie hasn't been carsick since the first morning which is WONDERFUL!!! I have managed to get about 150 or so pages into Breaking Dawn, between feeding everyone in the car, changing DVD's, and breaking up fights. We are now watching the Olympic opening ceremonies.. tomorrow is the drive to Nauvoo, stopping at Liberty Jail, Far West, Haun's Mill, and Adam-ondi-Ahman. Better go before the girls tear the hotel room apart. pix will come later. Oh, and Jason and his wife Katrina are the parents of a baby boy born today on 8/8/8, about 8 weeks early at 5 pounds and 6 ounces, and that's all I know, someone please send me a pic! Good night!

Albuquerque, NM

We made it to our first stop! The kids did great! Maelie threw up twice and that was kinda rough and I felt real bad for her. But we are here in the hotel and everyone is doing fine. We are off to see the temple!

still here in AZ

We were supposed to leave yesterday for our moving trip across the country, first going thru San Antonio to see Jonas' little sister's family, but sad day, her kids are sick. So we are still at my parent's house in AZ. We are heading out tomorrow morning thru Albuquerque instead!

almost done packing and cleaning... halleluyah!

The truck is coming today! We are having a family reunion this weekend, my nephew is getting baptized, my brother's fam is in town, and we are heading out on Monday!!!

so grateful for good friends

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have such awesome friends! I had 5 of my good friends come over and clean my house this morning. I had another friend bring us lunch and another friend bring us dinner! And then, Jonas and I hadn't even really thought about it, but one of the friend's who helped us clean offered to watch our kids tonight so we can go on a last date before the move! I am so grateful right now, and a little sad to leave behind such amazing people! Thanks for all you have done today and I hope we always keep in touch!

Kyla

Kyla can be quite stong willed so I was worried about taking her to the dentist, but she was amazing! I was almost in shock! haha! She didn't talk at all, she was really quiet, it was kinda funny. But she kept smiling the whole time and did everything she was supposed to. She was so happy when she got all her little prizes at the end! Phew!

check ups

Yesterday I took Maelie to her first dentist appt and she did great! It was so cute to see her laying there on the big chair with her sunglasses on and her mouth wide open, I wish I had brought the camera. =) No cavities! I am taking Kyla to her first dentist appt in a bit, that should be interesting... Maelie also had her 4 year well check this morning and she did great. She had to get 5 shots! But then she got 5 suckers and 5 stickers and the good news is that those are her last shots until she's 10!!! YEAH!!! She is 38 pounds which I think is about the 75th percentile, where she has been since she was a baby. And I forgot her height! And she has perfect vision, it was funny because I was standing with her down the hallway and the nurse was asking her to look at the pictures and name them. Well, I couldn't tell what any of them were but Maelie knew them all!