While in Utah...

It was so good to be with family again.  We hadn't seen them since Christmas!  Here's an overview of what went on while staying with the Moons:

Jaden spent lots and lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa.  He soaked up every ounce of attention!  Pretty sure he couldn't get enough of it:)

Grandma Moon

Grandpa Moon

Jaden also got to spend some time with his Great Grandma VO.

He met his Uncle Andrew for the first time ever!

We played in the kiddie pool A LOT.

Even got in a few water fights along the way...

(this was the last night we spent with my brother, Keith, before he left for his deployment in Iraq)

Jaden loved spending time with his cousins, Parker and Mailey.  It was fun going to Mailey's tea party birthday.  The little cutie is already two years old!  (and yes, I made both my boys wear tea party hats:)

Jaden showed his support of the car wash by cheering on Daddy and Gramps in his own little car:)

While playing frisbee (like always), we got a little crazy and tossed it up on the roof.  Cody climbed up there to save the day!  Pretty sure he resembles a monkey;)

Jaden LOVED all the new things to explore while at Grandmas.

We also spent a day with one of my besties, Jessica!  We went to the new Smoochies smoothie place in C-ville, then back to her house to catch up with her family.  So fun!  (yes, that is a giant pair of lips we're sitting on)

On a side note, we were very fortunate to stay out one of our good friend's parents' house in Boise on our way down to Utah.  They were so nice and made us feel right at home.  So for those of you who know Scott... check out his senior pic!  (p.s.  I had permission to post it:)

(I had to get a picture of Jaden snuggled up to his sleeping papa.  Apparently, he wants to be just like his Dad!:)

Well that sums up the Utah portion of our trip!  Still to come: Wyoming, 4th of July, and our drive home.

Day at the Gateway

We spent a day at Gateway Mall with my brother and his cute family while we were in Utah.  It was GREAT!  We had a picnic lunch by the fountains, went to the children's museum, and then met up later that night for dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

:picnic and water fountain show:

:the museum:

We would make great weathermen/news anchors... ha!:)

Here is a clip of mine and Andrew's news broadcast.  We also got a video of some of the fountain show.  Enjoy!

Thanks so much for letting us spend the day with you! You guys rock!

sEaTtLe

So visiting Seattle was nothing short of a.maz.ing.  Not only is it crazy cool in and of itself, but my sister and her fam live there too!  I hadn't seen her in a year, a YEAR!!!  So yeah... it was pretty awesome:) 

and the highlights...

Jaden met his Uncle Scott, Aunt Marianne, and his cousins (Logan and Jordynn) for the very first time.  They were great with him and he simply loved it. 

Logan rarely left Jaden's side and Jordynn is ALL about love.  She is not afraid to show the love either!:)  Look at her giving those big hugs to Jaden (upper left).  So cute!

Had a fantastic view of this baby (Mt. Rainier) from my sister's FRONT yard.  Umm... wow!

There is a lot to see in Seattle.  A lot.  So we had to check out at least a few of the main attractions.

This is the big troll man under the bridge.  Oh, and that's a Volkswagen bug in his hand.  Very random if you ask me.  It's called the Fremont Troll and is considered a beloved piece of artwork in the Fremont neighborhood. 

Had to see the Space Needle - a classic.  They took us to a great little place to get a view of the whole city and bay area.  Gorgeous!

Pike Place Market, of course!  We watched them toss a few fish around.  Stood in awe at the incredible amount of flower bouquets, the produce, jewelry, and other nick knacks for sale.

View of Puget Sound

Jaden loved all the fun things to look at.

We also celebrated Marianne's 25th birthday while we were there.  It was a lot of fun being part of her special day!  We made crepes for breakfast then went shopping and out to lunch at BJ's in the afternoon.  Best root beer ever!

That night, Scott planned and made a stellar dinner, we opened gifts, then had cake and ice cream!

The boys threw around the frisbee a bunch.

Jordynn is such a girly girl.  She LOVED wearing my bracelets and sunglasses all weekend.  Not to mention we had matching sandals!  She is just so darn cute!

This is a bunch of random pictues of the kiddlets.  I love the one of Jordynn playing with Jaden's baby toys.  She has his play phone in one hand, his bear in the other, and is using a Will Ferrell loofa as a purse on one arm.  Hilarious.

And this is how we got around all weekend.

We all fit in ONE car.  

3 car seats.  

4 adults.  

Awesome.

Great company.  Great weekend.  Thanks for having us!:)

Destination 2: Billings!

We felt very lucky to have the opportunity to stop and see Cody's uncles and their families on our way out west.  It's not every day we drive through Montana!  The first night we stayed with Lance and Malinda.  It was fun touring their beautiful home.  Malinda decorates like a rock star!  Seriously so cute!  It was also Carissa's 6th birthday, so the whole family got together for a barbecue to celebrate.  It was great catching up and watching Carissa open her gifts.  Having so many cousins around, she definitely got a lot of help!  It was adorable watching all the little ones interact with each other... they are all so cute and fun! 

The next day Carissa got together at the park with all her friends to celebrate as well.  They played 'pin the tail on the donkey', ate cake, and hit the pinata around a few times.  After everyone had a turn without hardly leaving a scratch on the pinata, they all coaxed Cody into giving it a whack.  After some pretty intense slams, and the plastic bat about snapping in two, we realized you just pull the string from the bottom and out comes all the candy!:)  Haha.  It was hilarious!

Jaden had tons of fun at the park playing with his second cousins and checking out the playground.  He swung on the swing set for the first time and seemed to really like it!  It was so darn cute.  He especially loved all the attention he was receiving from just about everyone!:)

The next night we stayed with Kert and Catherine.  They recently built their dream home so we just had to have the grand tour!  It was stunning!  I personally loved soaking in every detail.  The tour took almost two hours because I had to see and ask about everything!  Sweet Catherine wanted to make a special dessert to give us a taste of Montana, and that she did!  Get this: Montana Mud Pie made with "Stuck in a Rut" ice cream.  The recipe called for a different ice cream, but how perfect is that?!  It was super tasty.  She did a great job! 

Our last night there, everyone got pretty goofy and wanted to try out some new hairdos.  I think the guys got a bit on the crazy side, but the girls just had to top it!  Check it out!

Next stop: Seattle, WA!

Road Trip in Review: Destination 1

Wow, there is SOOO much to share about our 5-week road trip, I don't even know where to start!  We've been back three days now, and it feels almost surreal being back in our own environment.  We had a fantastic time with family and friends in the West, but it does feel good to finally pull our things out of the suitcase and just be HOME. 

In a nutshell, we drove from Indy to Seattle, then down to Utah and Wyoming.  And of course, back home to the Hoosier state.  That's a total of about 70 hours driving time, and close to 5,000 miles on the road!!!  Whoa.  Some may say, "What on earth were you thinking?!?"  Really, we don't know.  Other than we are CRAZY and we just love the craziness of it all!  Or you may be thinking, "Why not just take the good ol' I-80 and get to Utah/Wyoming (our home states) A.S.A.P.???   Logically, that does make sense.  However, when you've driven the I-80 back and forth as much as we have, it gets really old, really fast.  So we were in dire need for a change in scenery.  So why not crank it North a bit and take I-90?  That's exactly what we did and I am so glad we did!  It was great to see some amazing sights and areas of the U.S. we've never seen before, stop and see family we haven't seen in much too long, and just enjoy the newness of it all!  Seriously that highway has a lot to offer and is stinkin' gorgeous!  Especially when compared to the flat brownness of I-80 (i.e. Nebraska which is a twin to Kansas if you ask me... hence, why I-70 was also out of the picture).  Anyway, so once we decided on the interstate, we had to plan some fun stops along the way.  We narrowed it down to Mount Rushmore, family in Montana, and then my sister's home in Seattle.  We would then continue on to Grandma and Grandpa's homes.

So to sum up our crazy adventure: We left over a month ago... on June 7th to be exact. We made our first stop in Waterloo, Iowa to rest up before driving to Radip City, South Dakota the following day. Rapid City is just outside of Keystone where Mt. Rushmore is located.  Then it was on to Billings, Montana where a couple of Cody's uncles live with their families.  It was then off to Seattle to see my sister.  After a few days we headed down to Centerville with a rest-stop in Boise, Idaho along the way.  After a week or so we drove up to Green River, WY to see Cody's family.

I don't want to overwhelm you with all the details at once, so we'll just take it one destination at a time starting with Mt. Rushmore.  K, seriously cool!  It is so much better seeing it in person than in a magazine or on TV.  It's amazing, and we had a great time learning about it's history and checking out some of the other fun family attractions in town... like this...

Random, huh?  They also had a reptile museum, wax statue museum of all the presidents, bear/cub viewing park, golf courses, etc.  Who would have thought Keystone, SD had so much to offer?  Actually, we found out that the whole reason they made Mt. Rushmore was to get South Dakota on the map!  Well, it must have worked because we loved it (along with all the other zillions of tourists) and are definitley going back someday.  But anyway, on to the good stuff.  Check out the slideshow below for all of Mount Rushmore and it's splendor.

So did you know they are also in the process of building another sculpture from a mountain just down the road from Mt. Rushmore?  It's called Crazy Horse and features a famous Indian of the South Dakota region.  We didn't want to spend the $20 to check it out up-close so here is the best picture we could get.  They do have a museum though which I hear is worth the 20 bucks.

On a side note... we stayed at such a great hotel while there! It's owned by one of the nicest couples ever and they seriously make you feel right at home. We also enjoyed a stellar view of the nighttime city lights while relaxing in the hot tub.

So this is just how nice they are.  Have you ever read such a polite way of saying, "Don't steal our stuff because we will hunt you down and find you."

Well, that sums up our first destination.  More to come!