212: out with the old..in with the new

Finally found a rug that I actually liked. This will actually be going in the kitchen dining area, but we will keep it in the family room until I can find the perfect one for this room {at the rate I'm at, that'll be in like 3 years!}

211: smells like geddie spirit

Channeling our inner Nirvana..

210: happy 38th to me!

Spa all day...party all night! Not a bad way to spend the day! Thanks to Jim for making it all possible. 38..like it or not, here I come!

209: cars 2

Had to get the kids out of the house while the cleaners were there. We decided to see Cars 2. It's getting more and more hard to find a movie they can all agree upon.

208: ouch

 Poor Jayden was given the short end of the stick when it came to teeth! His mouth was so crowded that they needed to pull 4 teeth. I sat in the waiting room and listened to him scream {like the scene out of Finding Nemo}. Fortunately for the dentist, there was no one else there to hear and be scared off. Jayden was not a happy camper and had a harder time with his mouth being numb then the pain of having them pulled. Once the Novocain wore off, he was outside playing as if nothing had happened and even had steak for dinner.

Look at the size of those roots! OUCH! One root broke off inside his mouth but the dentist couldn't get it without causing more damage. Jayden definitely scored with the tooth fairy tonight!

207: our treasure hunter

Jayden knew exactly what he wanted for his birthday..a metal detector. Not sure how he came up with that or where he saw one, but that's all he wanted and we obliged. He was so excited to take it to beach day and begin finding treasures. He was a little frustrated that the treasure didn't come easy, so some very sweet friends of mine, when he wasn't looking, threw some coins around our stuff. We encouraged him to give it one more try and low and behold, he began finding coins. The thrill and confidence on his face was absolutely priceless! At the end of the day he came up with $1.48, an army man, and a rock with metal flakes.

206: present from mom

Got a package from mom and dad today for my birthday! I know mom, your heart was in the right place, but I'm afraid if I, a 38 year old woman, wears this out in public, people might think I'm a pedophile or perv. I do love my 4 mormon boys, so I will wear it as my p.j. shirt in the confines of my own home! 

205: beautiful sunday night

The skies above Temecula were gorgeous tonight! It almost looked as if it might rain, but sadly, nothing!

204: happy 9th birthday jayden!

At 4:18 p.m. 9 years ago, a very joyful and happy little boy entered the world and joined our family. We are forever blessed by his presence in our lives! We are forever entertained with his creations and imagination! We love you Jayden! Happy Birthday buddy! 

203: day at the temple

Jim and I attended the wedding of our Bishops' daughter today. It was a beautiful sealing and a gorgeous day in San Diego!

202: blast from the past..

My 20th high school reunion is coming up in September and we were asked to scan and turn in any pictures we may have from our years at GHS. I finally got around to going through all my old scrapbooks and the memories came rushing back. I was one who loved high school..at least the social aspect. I think what I was laughing at the most was some of my outfits and styles. I do know that it was always important to me to be different! I think I succeeded most the time.

{kristen & I in Hawaii..doning the corn rows and friends at school, probably during lunch}

201: forever friends!!

I was so excited when I got the call from Becca telling me that her and her family would be in Newport for the week and that we should get together. I couldn't wait. Believe it or not, it had been 7 years since I last saw her. I was so excited..other than having 2 more kids than the last time, she hadn't changed a bit! It was like old times! Her parents, sister, and brother were there too so I got to see them all. It was a lovely reunion. It's only fitting that we were on the beach seeing as we use to spend so much of our time there in our youth!

200: scout camp

This is all I got from Jim's trip up to scout camp. I'm assured someone else up there took a lot of pictures, but I have yet to see them so this will have to suffice. Mind you, this was the 2nd day of camp. Skyler came home on Saturday in this exact same outfit. The shorts were a much dirtier white and there were quite a few more stains on the shirt. When asked about brushing his teeth, he excitedly answered, "we all only brushed 1 time!"..as if this was an awesome feat or something! BOYS??? I am seriously proud of Skyler though...he earned 11 1/2 merit badges. We're more than 1/2 way to eagle!

199: skyler's 1st year at scout camp

I was met with a little resistance this morning as far as a photo was concerned. 'Men don't take photos before camp', says Skyler. My response, 'then it's a good thing you're just a boy..now smile'! Sky will be gone for a full week. He is so excited, but I know deep down he will totally miss us. I'm just hoping he changes his underwear at least once {I packed 5 pairs but seriously, who am I kidding?} and at least brushes his teeth once a day! I won't be the least surprised if I only have to wash 1 outfit when he gets home either. 

198: facing trials with smiles

I was so excited to get back to teaching these incredible Young Women. I had missed them in my 3 week absence. As well as the candy handout {a must with any teenage class}, I also made them smile sticks..to help them face their trials with smiles. I didn't have my camera nor my phone, but I did have my ipad, so although it's not the best picture, it's a picture!

{can you believe that 6 girls were absent today..my class grew a lot the past couple of weeks while I was gone!}

197: it's not complete without the handout

Actually the highlight of today was that we went to see the last Harry Potter movie..but I forgot to take a picture. 

These are the handouts I worked on for my YW lesson on overcoming opposition. Found it at Sugardoodle. Seriously don't know what I'd do without that site. I attached these cute bag toppers to a bag of sour patch kids.."Don't let opposition leave a sour taste in your mouth".. on the back was the scripture found in D&C 29:39 about having to know the bitter before you can know the sweet.

196: i love america

The license plate game is a given on any Geddie roadtrip. I found this cute game last year at Home Goods and bought several to share with friends and family. Don't think for a minute that I didn't pack it up and take it on the airplane with us! It was constant entertainment and for some, frustration {Ryder couldn't understand why were seeing so many Missouri or Illinois and never seeing any Hawaii's}. We were only 4 states shy of clearing the entire board. Once we got home, and one of the first cars I saw was Connecticut, we quickly cleared the board and started over. It's a permanent fixture in our car now!

195: trying soccer again

Jayden has decided he wants to give soccer another try. Because he's taken a lengthy break, they needed him to get evaluated before the draft. Seriously..a draft in recreational soccer? With 2 in soccer and 1 in football, I have a feeling this is going to be a very long and busy fall.

194: back to reality

Vacations over..back to the books! It amazes me how quickly my kids forget the most simplest of academics endeavors. 

193: finally..the beach!

Aside from a few days in Kauai, I hadn't been to the beach all summer. I was going today even if it was cold. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually a nice day. The clouds did roll in towards the late afternoon, but the kids had a great time with friends and I enjoyed digging my feet in the warm sand.

192: free slurpees

In honor of it being July 11th, 7-11 was giving out free slurpees. Not one to miss something free we went. Unfortunately they had just ran out of their "free" size cups. Well you can't tell a car full of kids, that were so excited, that they can't have one, so I ended up buying them all regular sized ones. I wonder just how long 7-11 was "out" of free cups. I'm sure this was just a clever marketing tool. Next year we will hit it earlier in the day!

191: our last hours in st. louis

Day 9:

Today we are flying home! We've had a wonderful trip, but are so ready to go home. The heat was near unbearable those last couple of days with temperatures ranging from 95-100 with 90+% humidity. It felt like a wet furnace..if there is such a thing. How people live in this is beyond me!

The roof terrace of the Hyatt. It was so humid and hot outside that the lens on my camera kept fogging up every time I'd try to take a picture..and it was only 10:00 a.m. 

This is the last arch picture you will have to see.

 St. Louis Temple

Before heading to the airport, we wanted to check out the grounds of the St. Louis temple. We could really only handle 5 minutes outside of our very cold, air conditioned car. The heat was stifling. We couldn't wait to get home to our nice dry heat! If I'm going to deal with humidity, I want to deal with it in Hawaii!

After a long flight {with a stop in Albuquerque}, we were finally home. I almost needed a sweater with how cool San Diego was that evening. It was a nice welcome home!

190: traveling to the top of the arch

Day 8:

Who knew you could take a little pod to the top of the Gateway Arch? I never realized that until I started researching things to do on our trip. Us, along with all the rest of St. Louis seemed to have the same idea. Luckily we bypassed the ticket lines by purchasing them early online. It was almost as if you were getting on a ride at Disneyland. Each pod could carry 5 people. The doorway was no more than 4 feet tall so it was definitely not for those suffering from claustrophobia. It took 4 minutes to get to the top, 630 ft. At the top they had little windows to look out of. The view was incredible. The boys loved it. The ride was 3 minutes going down.

The old courthouse and city park

Busch Stadium

I'm telling you, there were so many different ways to take a picture of the arch..this was my shadow picture. I also got a reflection of the arch in the windows of the buildings across the street.

Following the ride to the top, we took a Riverboat cruise down the Mississippi on the Tom Sawyer. It was blasting hot outside! 

 I didn't make it in very many of the pictures and the ones I did make it in are not really my favorites, but my kids, when looking through our albums, need to know that I existed! It seems I'm always the one behind the lens.

After our riverboat cruise, we headed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was absolutely lovely there, but so dang hot! We tried to make the best of it but it was hard not to complain. We only had a couple of hours to explore all the beauty but found ourselves at the children's park in their water fountains. Even Jim and I were running through the water..at that point, we didn't care if we looked like white trash soaking wet in our clothes, at least we were cool!

 A cool labyrinth maze. I took this picture from the lookout hut above.

There were so many gorgeous flowers in the the climatron {a large glass building acting like a terrarium with various tropical foliage} 

189: hannibal, birthplace of mark twain

Day 7:

Leaving Keokuk, Iowa and driving down to St. Louis via Hannibal, Missouri, birthplace to Mark Twain.

 We took an hour long trolley ride through the sites of Hannibal. Hannibal was also home to the Unsinkable Molly Brown {from the Titanic}. 

 Statue of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer

Standing with the great Mark Twain atop a beautiful bluff overlooking the Mississippi.

Our final destination of our trip..St. Louis. Our hotel was right across the street from the arch, the gateway to the west.

 Our first experience of St. Louis was a police chase. We were standing at the crosswalk waiting to cross the street into gateway park when all of a sudden a man comes running over the hill right towards us. Closely behind him was a female officer and another officer in a little cart. They ran right past us and just about 15 feet from us she caught him and tazed him to the ground. The boys thought this was awesome. Quickly after he was tazed, they handcuffed him and another squad car pulled up aside them and put him inside. This incident was all cleaned up within minutes. It was done so quickly that one stops to wonder how often they have to do such things??

A very hot and bug filled walk through the park!

  I couldn't stop taking pictures of the arch. It was just magnificent to look at and every angle gave a different viewpoint. 

The streets of St. Louis were crowded and crazy because just a block away, a Cardinals game was about to begin. We found a TGIF's, ate a little dinner then retired early to our hotel room to watch 'Soul Surfer'..which by the way was an incredible story.

188: our last day in nauvoo

Day 6:

Our last day in Nauvoo. Today was my parents P-day {day off}, so they watched the kids while Jim and I did a session at the temple. The beauty within the walls of this temple is exquisite. It was so peaceful and calm..we wish we could have sat in there all day. 

This was a temple that Joseph Smith never saw completed. This statue represents his last look at the site as he and his brother rode to Carthage, where they would later be murdered. 

 We went for a little drive {1 hour} through Iowa to go out to dinner. We ended up in Bonapart, Iowa. There was not much in Bonapart, but somehow my parents had found this restaurant. The building was an old grain mill. The town was kind of eerie..it was like a ghost town with no one in sight. At any moment you felt like zombies might start walking down the street. We have found that in the midwest, everything shuts down by 5! 

 Outside the grain mill restaurant with Grandma and her boys.

The Iowan life appears to be very simple and very quiet! 

 We have Wal-mart, the Iowans have Helmart.

A rainbow in Iowa..I was impressed. We had one quick rain storm our entire week, but at least it left us this.

Our farewell sunset! We said our goodbyes to Nauvoo and G'ma & G'pa, which was very hard for the boys. We all had an amazing visit and an incredible time. Thanks mom for getting our tickets and seats and for planning great activities for us to do. Thanks for letting us overwhelm your apartment during the day, it was a perfect base camp and the best air conditioning I have ever felt!