ROAD TRIP WITH MY BESTIE!

This past week was DeGooyer Day.  Since all of our children live in Idaho, we traveled to them to celebrate.  Since Scott and I are officially empty nesters, we decided to stretch our two day drive to three and sight see on the way.  We drove through South Dakota and got to see so many fun things.  We also made a quick stop to see our Bettenhausens.  (Which I accidentally forgot to photograph.)  And another highlight was reading books together.  Check it out:

First we stopped at Sioux Falls.

There were some amazing statues.

My favorite was this one because it reminds me of one of my

favorite children's books: The Remarkable Farkle McBride.

Lovin' the flowers!  And this cute man!

Sioux Falls was beautiful!

The combination of rocks with grass surrounding the falls,

was incredible!

I loved this statue called "For Which We Stand."

On the road we saw some amazing metal art.

We stopped.  A solitary man displays his metal statues in a

huge field in the middle of nowhere.

We strolled through the art.

Some of it was fun.

Some of it was scarry.

And some of it was whimsicle.

It was unique, fun and worth the stop.

(Yes, the wind was insane.)

Loved the vultures.

This one had it out for Scott.

The dragons were incredible - and pretty big.

How random?!

This and the Trojan horse were the first things we saw from the road.

I'm standing in front of the statue to show perspective.

Scott found these red "creatures" fascinating.

I LOVE flowers!  And metal flowers never die.

They wouldn't fit in my kitchen though.

Using this hammer would be impossible.

The Trojan Horse

My favorite dragon.

Loved the whimsy of this art.

Then we went to the Corn Palace.

EVERYTHING was about corn!

These murals were HUGE... 

and completely made with corn and corn husks and wheat.

Each year the World's Only Corn Palace is redecorated.

The corn is cut in half length ways and nailed in place.

It costs about $130,000 each time.

We loved the domes.

And the murals were outside as well as inside.

I love this guy!

Also... this is INCREDIBLE.

Dignity is located at a rest stop.

She's beautiful in person.

Even the back is stunning.

Scott LOVES buffaloes.  He always has.

So we take pictures of them whenever we see them.

We also stopped to see the Bridal Falls.

We spent the night in Billings, MO.

So... of course, we had to stop to see the Billings Temple.

It's beautiful!

All temples are truly gorgeous!

Billings, MO

I LOVED the mountains right next to the temple.

This book was terrific.

I'd definitely recommend it.

We read it and we read:

Another great book that I read outoud.

All of us CAN do hard things!

I love road trips with my husband!  Can't wait to go on another one with him!  Next... DeGooyer Day!

ALL AMERICAN

Happy Independance Day!  We are grateful to live in such a wonderful land, and we have tried to instill that love to our daughters and their families.  I think we succeeded.  We all had so much fun!  And we all expressed our love of country to one another.  Here are the pics:

Scott's Patirotic Gnomes were the perfect backdrop for our picture.

Aren't the adorable?

These 3 cuties celebrated by "running" one mile.

Skittles didn't feel like running.

They also enjoyed celebrating with friends, BBQing and fireworks.

Skittles told me that he LOVED the fireworks.

These two decided to go kayaking and have a picnic.

They enjoyed BBQing with the Lillywhites too.

I think my grandson's sense of "style" might be a little questionable.

But I love his patriotism and how he says, "I love 'Merica!"

I love this man and his excitement over our independence.

And I love my new hat.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

CHERISH YESTERDAY, DREAM TOMORROW, LIVE TODAY

With my daughters living so far away now, it seemes that this mom and grandma is living through pictures.  I'm grateful Kiara Lea takes lots of pics!  And I'm delighted that I get occasional sweet pictures from Katia Rae too.  (Katia, feel free to send more.  Ha ha ha!)  Here are the loves of my life:

National Hamburger Day!

Scott always loves celebrating the wierd holidays!

I love this crazy, fun, wonderful husband of mine!

The caption with this photo said,
"Skittles picked up sticks for grandma and grandpa!"

Oh, be still my heart!

More sticks for grandma - and I love the yellow flowers behind the cute redhead!

Kiara and Cody are still painting together as a family!
And now they are including my favorite redhead!

Here's his art!

And another painting to show off!

Cody has more talent in his little finger than Po does in his poewrful kick!

And Kiara is enjoying all of the art her family accomplishes.

Not to be out done by the Lillywhites, Scott and I also painted.

Scott's are on teh left.  Mine are on the right.

Camping with Dad.

Kiara was super proud of her boy's fire!

Kiara and Cody enrolled Skittles in a soccer clinic.

He loved it!

He was a natural!

"This is for Grandma!  Cuz she loves flowers and yellow!"

Looking at acorns.

This kid has style!

Katia Rae turned 22!

She is an amazing young woman!

I'm so grateful to call her mine!

Isn't she adorable?!

This smile made my day!

These two boys, who I claim, couldn't find any ripe blackberries to pick yet.

So... this happened with the buckets.  Ha ha ha!

Boys are wierd!  Love ya, Jello and Jambalaya!

You probably can't tell, but this is my Colorado Girl!

I love and miss her so much!

I am blessed with all these wonderful kids (and incredible husband) in my life!  Thanks for the pictures!