Welcome Baby

We are excited to announce the arrival of

William David Harper

Born August 29, 2009 at 12:09 a.m.

7 lbs, 20 inches

Here are a few pictures of the new little guy!

Thanks to Aunt Karen who came to stay with the kids overnight while William made his entrance.

Welcome to the world! We are so excited to have you in our family!

New House

I have had some requests to post pictures of our new house. However, I have held off, because I feel a little funny about putting up pictures of our house in such a public place. Since this blog isn't private (although I am still considering going private) anyone can see it. And since we now live in a fairly small town, I feel like anyone could find us.

So, if you would like to see a couple of pictures of our new house, leave me a comment (and your email if I don't have it) and I will send you an email with some pictures. Don't worry, I won't post the comments, so random people won't have your email.

15 Years

It's been a great 15 years! Happy Anniversary! (Picture taken in the Sacred Grove in July 2009)

We're here!

I'm still not done posting about our cross-country trip, but I thought I would let you all know we are here in Washington and busy getting settled into our new house. The movers came on Tuesday, and we have been busy unpacking ever since. We love our new home, but it is always hard to find places for everything. We've made trips to Home Depot or Target at least once a day and we still have boxes everywhere and rooms that we haven't even touched.

The kids have been busy building a fort out of moving boxes and playing with frogs that they have caught and are keeping in the sprinkler systems spaces. However, they are getting stir crazy and sick of each other and are anxious to make some new friends. We are looking forward to going to church tomorrow and starting soccer practices next week, and hopefully making some new friends in the process.

After a month on the road, it is nice to be "home." Hopefully it will feel like home soon.

Martin's Cove, Wyoming

Thursday, July 12 we left Casper and drove to Martin's Cove, Wyoming.

Martin's Cove is near Devil's Gate and the site of a visitor center about the handcart pioneers. It is truly in the middle of nowhere.
Devil's Gate, Wyoming

First we went through the visitor's center and learned about the pioneers' amazing experiences as they crossed the plains with handcarts and then got stuck in an early snowfall near Martin's Cove. So many of them died. Their stories of courage during such an awful experience were truly awe inspiring. Then it was our turn to be pioneers. We got to pick a handcart and we were off. The kids thought it was great fun at first--I even got to ride for a while.

But as the journey wore on, everyone got tired and they decided that maybe our air conditioned van with comfy seats and a DVD player was a really great way to travel across the country.

Eventually I got out and walked too--it got to be so jolty in the handcart I could see why so many woman went into premature labor on the trail. I decided it was in everyone's best interest not to re-enact that particular event.

We left Martin's Cove in the early afternoon and drove the rest of the way to Blackfoot, Idaho that evening. We were so happy to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Mt. Rushmore

After we left Badlands, we drove to Rapid City, South Dakota where we spent the night. We stayed at a fun hotel that had an indoor water park and had fun playing for a few hours.

The next morning we got up and drove out to Mt. Rushmore. It is an amazing site.

We took a hike on the presidential trail and saw the monument from all different angles.

We also went to the sculptors museum and watched a movie on the making of Mt. Rushmore. After a few hours there, we were off again. We drove through the rest of South Dakota and through much of Wyoming, until we got to Casper where we stayed for the night.

Badlands National Park

Tuesday we drove to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It was a beautiful day, with a breathtaking blue sky and fantastic views of the scenery.



We spent a few hours hiking and exploring.

The kids loved climbing all over the rocks and we stayed much longer than we intended. Mostly I just stood around and took pictures. But it was tons of fun.

Winter Quarters, Nebraska

Monday was mostly spent driving. We did make a brief stop in Winter Quarters, Nebraska (in Omaha) to see the pioneer visitor center. It was a very nice visitor center which told the story of the pioneers' journey across the country.

Winter Quarters was the name of the settlement where the pioneers stayed over the first winter after they left Nauvoo. They built cabins and planted crops, and then left them to journey west. Later others would come to harvest the crops and live in the cabins for the next winter. I was amazed at the selflessness of these pioneers to do so much work when they knew they would never benefit from it--it was all for others coming after them.The kids also got to practice "packing" their wagons for the journey across the plains.We also stopped briefly by the Winter Quarters temple.

After we left the visitor center, we had a picnic at a nearby park and then drove for the rest of the evening until Chamberlain, South Dakota.