Monday Memoirs - Texas/Ohio Trip - A Day Late

I recently had a two week vacation - I flew to Dallas (where my sister lives), drove to Cleveland (where my parents live), spent a week and a half there, drove back to Dallas, and flew home.

Here's a little gem that I found in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Arkansas. Classy.

This is my nephew, Nate, navigating us through Tennessee.

My parents live really close to Kirtland (actually in the Kirtland Stake), so Laurel, Emily, and I went on the tour of the Kirtland Temple. I got a really sweet Book of Mormon at their vistor's center that is printed in paragraph form rather than verses.

Pepper loved having the kids there, especially Aidan, because she got to catch all of their dropped food.

If you look closely, you can see that we braided my mom's hair. Good times.

We went to a few markets downtown (German, Spanish, Asian, and Italian). (The Italian had the best lasagna I've ever tasted - if you're in the Cleveland area, go to Gallucci's.)
Eli got this sweet hat at the Asian market.

It was so fun to see all four of the nephews hanging out and bonding with each other. Aidan even got a turn to hold Baby Westley.

I had to post at least one picture with me in it...

We went to the outlet malls one day with all of the kids. That was an adventure. At least they liked the ride. Well, Nate did. I think Eli cried. And Aidan was on the front, not in the seat.

Some other fun things we did while we were there:
-Watching Jeff play baseball - he's really good and plays multiple positions.
-Taking pictures of the grandkids with my parents.
-Going out to a "grown-up lunch" with Emily, Laurel, and my parents.
-Finding a frog in the planter.
-Watching Nate fly down the huge hill in the backyard on a toddler tricycle.
-Playing baseball with Nate and Jeff.
-Nate getting to drive Grandpa's "tractor" (riding lawnmower).
-Holding Baby Westley.
-Seeing The Proposal with Emily - really good!
-Blowing bubbles for the kids in the backyard.