Kirtland and the Nursery

Last week Cameron had a few days off from work during the week so we decided we should make the quick trip out to Kirtland. We have been wanting to go since we moved here, but we moved in the middle of winter so that wasn't a good time and then we just never found a good day to go. We wanted to go at least once before the baby was born so we picked one of the cooler(still high 80's and high humidity) days and headed out early in the morning hoping to beat most of the heat. It is really not a bad drive from our house. I think it took about 45 minutes to get there. We got there around 9 and started with a tour of the church-owned sites which include the Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney Home, Newel K Whitney Store and John Johnson Inn and then we headed over to the temple and took a tour there as well.

This was really cool. The couple giving the tour said that most of the furniture and things in the house were just time pieces, but not actual artifacts from the houses, but this table was the actual table in one of the upper rooms of the Newel K. Whitney store. This was where Joseph Smith did tons of translating and received many revelations.

The School of the prophets room. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined.

Us sitting in the front of the room. President Monson was just here recently and taught several missionaries in that room as well. We thought that was cool.

The Whitney home

Newel K. Whitney Store

Looking out from the saw mill. It was really pretty there

The saw mill

The temple

The tour of the temple was really cool and informative. We were able to walk through the first two floors and around the grounds.

Both tours were very well done and had some interesting stories. We are excited to have scoped it out so we can take family there when they come visit!

Since we only have two weeks (or less) until the baby comes we wanted to make sure the nursery was all put together and in order. We had ordered several things online and were waiting for those to come in the mail until we could completely assemble each thing and put it all together how we wanted in the room. We were surprised when we got literally 5 huge packages on our doorstep in one day, so we decided that was the day to sit down and put it all together. I am glad it is finally all done and we're ready to bring the little guy home.

The Nusrery

The crib and the jungle animal appliques we found on clearance at target. We had fun putting those up and they actually match the bedding set really well for buying them at different times and places.

Closer up of the wall. Cameron really enjoys the monkey...if you can't tell it has a hat on and is juggling. (: I told him our child will grow up thinking that's what monkeys do and will be so confused when he sees them for real in a zoo or something.

The crib and bedding. It is an ABC jungle animals set that my parents bought for us. The fitted sheet has ABC's on it and everything else has the animals with the name of each animal on it as well. It is very cute.

The other part of the applique set on the opposite wall. Also, the rocker and little table with the lamp. We actually already had the table and lamp from when we were first married. We had them in our bedroom in Rexburg, but don't really need them here and thought they looked cute and would be useful in the baby's room.

The last corner of the room. This is the dresser/changing table(with the diaper bag on it in this picture). Then there is a Baby's First Year calendar hanging on the wall.

We really like how the room turned out in the end. We weren't quite sure what look we were going for at first except that we were for sure on a budget and we wanted to keep it gender neutral so we can use everything again even if we have a girl next time. I think we did pretty well with both keeping it low-budget(but looking nice) and cute/neutral colors and patterns.

Awesome Trip Home

I spent a good portion of the month of June home in Spokane. Cameron and I were originally only going for 10 days since we would both be working, but since I was not working anymore we quickly changed my flight plans so that I left 10 days earlier than Cameron. We hated being apart for that long, but I was going crazy just hanging around our house when I could be hanging out with family at home. It worked out pretty well since Cameron had to work a ton in order to get the time off. I flew home on June 8th and he stayed and worked until he flew into Spokane on June 17th. While I was there before Cameron came, I was given a great baby shower by two of my aunts. It was a ton of fun and we had a great turnout. I also got to spend a lot of time just hanging out, running errands, going to lunch etc with my mom which was fun. I saw my sister play softball, visited other family and just got to relax and be home.

The cake at the baby shower. It was so cute and matched all the cups, plates, napkins etc. I thought I had a picture of the whole food table, but we had cake, a delicious vegetable pizza, and my favorite...fruit pizza. It was all really good and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Part of the room during the shower. I will have to get more pictures from everyone else because most of the ones I have are blurry. Thanks so much to everyone who came and helped!

Cameron came and a couple days after that we were off to his family's reunion on the Oregon coast. It would not be a typical family vacation with us along if we did not have some car problems( refer to both our family vacations last summer). We got a couple hours into the supposed-to-be 8 hour road trip when the car that Cameron, Scott and I were in got a flat tire. We pulled over and called the other car full of people who came back and waited for us to get it changed. We drove with the spare until the next town and stopped to have a new tire put on. This wasn't too much of an inconvenience since it was about lunch time anyway. We grabbed some lunch and some frozen yogurt, got the new tire and were on our way just an hour or so behind schedule.

Scott getting ready to put on the spare

Not sure

Cameron showing how close his dad came to hitting us when he pulled over to "help" (;

Ready to go!

We got back on the road for a few more hours when we needed to stop for Cameron's dad to make a business call. We stopped at a little park and all got out while he made the call. on the way out of town we made a really quick stop at a store to get a couple things and were on our way again. Well, we didn't even make it out of town before the suburban(the OTHER car, not the one who had already had the flat tire) stalled right in the middle of the intersection. Some random nice people came and helped push it to the other side of the street and into a parking lot. After sitting for a minute, it started and sounded fine so we thought it was just some fuke thing. We got back on the road long enough to make it about two hundred yards down the freeway before it died again. They tried to get off at the nearest exit, but it was an uphill exit and it couldn't make it all the way off!

The boys jumped out to try to push it the rest of the way UP the ramp. Not happening.

Trying to figure out what to do next

Still thinking and trying to get it started again.

It finally started again, but this time we didn't want to risk getting back on the freeway. We drove to the nearest car dealership to see if they could tell what was wrong. After looking at it, they said the fuel pump was out and needed to be replaced, but they were closing so they couldn't even start it till the next morning and it would take several hours. This was BAD news because the family reunion had already started and family pictures were scheduled to be taken early the next morning. While Cameron's parents decided what to do, we all camped out at the dealership. The idea was thrown out that they should just buy a new car since they weren't going to have any kids at home and they had wanted to sell the suburban anyway. So, for the next 3-4 hours all the kids camped out at the dealership trying to keep ourselves occupied while the parents shopped around for a new vehicle. They went to several different dealerships and talked through several other possibilities, but in the end they ended up buying a new Yukon. By this time it was about 9 so we stopped at a good mexican restaurant, ate quickly and got back on the road.

Hanging out at a table in the car dealership

Hanging out outside the car dealership... Katelyn was SUCH a patient baby through it all.

the new Yukon

Once back on the road things were going smoothly and we were just hours from our destination when not once, but TWICE (within 10 minutes of each other by the way)they were pulled over in the Yukon for having a tail light out! They didn't get a ticket either time, but it slowed us down a bit more and by that time it was around midnight and we were all very anxious to just get to bed. We pulled into the beach house around 1am and went straight to bed. It was a ROUGH(but humorous) first day of the vacation, but we were there and ready to have fun with the family.The next three days were spent with fun activities including hanging out at the beach, beach soccer, going crabbing, swimming, playing four square,going mini-golfing, playing lots of games, watching world cup, great food and just spending time with family. It was a TON of fun and Cameron and I are already looking forward to the next one in two years!

The two beach houses that we were in for the week. That's the ocean you can see through the two houses.

One of many meals

The line to get into the four square game. They are all wearing black shirts and jeans because this was shortly after family pictures were taken.

Scott in action

The room Cameron and I stayed in. The houses were huge and really nice.

The beach soccer game. Several casualties, but they all say it was worth it.

Cameron at the batting cage

Tyler at the batting cage

Nicole and Cameron Mini-golfing

Sean, Nicole and Tyler

Gathering to play Family Feud

The view of the ocean out the windows of one of the houses

Some good relaxing going on

Making sand mermaids out of Hannah and Hayley

My REALLY REALLY swollen feet out on the beach

Family Feud!

Teams on Family Feud

One of the head-to-head questions in the family feud game.

"Name a mission served by a member of the green family"

Scott

Crabbing

Cameron's photography skills

Scott licking the starfish

The loot!

Melia, Cory, Stefani

Eating the crabs

Loading up on the last day

Scott and Cameron

The boys

Tyler,Scott, Sean, and Cameron
Looking over the bridge where we stopped for a picnic on our way to visit more family in Eugene,OR.
The place we stopped to eat. Great seafood

Nicole and I
Me and Cameron
A lighthouse we stopped to check out
Everyone on the way up to see the lighthouse
We went on a little hike to see some really cool waterfalls.

I stuck my swollen feet in the FREEZING water to see if it helped
Cameron's photography skills again

Nicole and Katelyn on the hike

Brothers and their wives
The cousins

Cameron and I both had an awesome time in Spokane and on the coast. It was great to be with family and get to see everyone before the baby comes. We were sad to come back to Cleveland, but also glad to be back in our own routine and at our own house, in our own bed etc. Now we are just spending these last few weeks before my due date getting everything ready. I made several lists on the plane ride back of things we still need to buy or do before he comes. Cameron is back to work so I am just trying to get some of those things done. I think we are going to try to make a trip out to Kirtland sometime this week, so I will post on that if we make it out there!