32 hours cross country!

LONG POST! SORRY!

Finally I am going to blog about our trip home! We didn't end up getting out of Erie until about 7 PM on the 5th, due to some definitely unforeseen circumstances, but still wanted to get on the road that day. We only drove about 4 hours to the boarder of Ohio and Indiana. We got on the road early the next morning and made the 9 hour drive to Peavine Lane Pet Spa in Fort Madison IA, to drop the mutt off. Surprisingly the drive was not bad, except for some sore bums! We then stayed just across the river in Nauvoo IL for 3 days touring with my parents who met us there!

Seeing the sites
First off, I loved Nauvoo! That is saying a lot seeing how I toured it with a two year old. That is mostly thanks to a grandpa who conveniently needed to nap at the same time~ Ü

There is so much to see there. Many of the old homes are restored by both the LDS and Community of Christ which you are able to go through. They teach you about life back then and give you samples of food made then. Also there is the graves of many members of the Smith family, including Joseph, Hyrum and Emma. I enjoyed seeing all of those but would definitely say the Temple was the best. My dad and Phil went together and so me and my mom did the next day. It is SO beautiful. It is by far my favorite temple!
We stayed a few nights in The Nauvoo Inn. It was an amazing two room suite. It was great minus the surprise Phil found in his shoe one morning: the "pebble" didn't want to come out from hitting the shoe upside down so Phil reached in and pulled out a cricket! SICK! Boy am I glad that wasn't me!

We then stayed a few nights in the Motel Nauvoo suite. Which was huge! I kinda thought it was gonna be ghetto but it was great too! You can see in these pics the random things we found to keep K entertained.
WAGON RIDE AND TRAIL OF TEARS

We took an old Wagon ride around Nauvoo. Really fun, informational and free. K thought it was very entertaining. We walked the trail of tears which is the pathway the saints took as they left Nauvoo. It has a bunch of excerpts from peoples journals. The view looking back at the temple, must have been a hard sight to leave. The sign pic shows the names of people who died in route to SLC. We are related to the Lovells.
CARTHAGE JAIL

Cathage was really neat. My favorite part is that the jail had been made in to a house for several years but still maintained the original door with the bullet hole. Also the hole closest to the handle had been cut out after the murder as like a souvenir and was later returned to the church and put back in the door. CRAZY! There was a museum across the street from the jail that had this two headed calf displayed.
FARR WEST, LIBERTY JAIL, & INDEPENDENCE
Wednesday we made the 9 hour total trek to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Farr West, Liberty Jail and the Independence visitors center. There is only a plaque at Adam-Ondi-Ahman but it was beautiful, we however didn't get any pics. At Farr West it was neat to see the cornerstones for the temple and also read the plauqes that told about all the neat things that happened there. I just love to go to these places and picture their cute little towns and their day to day life happening. Liberty Jail was my favorite of all the sites we saw on this trip. They have a repluica built inside the visitors center. The audio and visual things we so well done, and I really enjoyed learning about the time Joseph Smith and the other men spent there. In Independence the vistor center is also great with many things dipicting what life was like back then. My mom and Dad'd best friends daughter was serving a mission there and they were able to see her, although we missed her by only a matter of moments.
We decided to head out that night around 9 but once again only made it about 4 hours before stopping(but a total of 13 hours in the car that day). Which left us for a great journey across Kansas and Colorado. We ended up driving about 17 hours that last day but were so glad to not have to get in the car again. K was excellent on the trip, although I think he is now scarred for life. Everytime we get in the car he says "I need to get out" I think he thinks it will never end!
He thought he needed a turn holding Koda. It was short lived.

Seriously...AGAIN?

Could it be is it true? Yes Koen has hand foot mouth AGAIN! Is he like prone to it or what? Seriously kill me now. I definitely think this is the worst thing for a kid to have, and I think any parent whose child has had it will agree. He is just flat out miserable and in pain. He has been SO cranky the last few days and I was seriously about to throw in the towel, or him out the window....haha only kidding. I kept thinking something MUST be wrong with him cause he is normally so happy. Today I noticed some sores on his bum, then later on his hands. When I saw those I was like "Ko are serious? Do you REALLY have hfm again? Open your mouth" Sure enough a big old sore on his lounge and little ones all over the inside of his lips. I guess we are on confinement again!Look closely and you can see the large one on his tongue and his hands below.

PS I swear I am like going to start carrying sanitizer wipes EVERYWHERE, and wiping down EVERYTHING. Really we don't have many friends and haven't been doing anything so there are VERY few places he could have got this. Probably that blasted shopping cart at Smiths.

Grams Birthday and the Scrapbook Expo

GRAMS BIRTHDAY!

My Aunt Dar had a little party for my Grammie's birthday last Sunday. It was fun to be home for only a few days and be able to see most of my mom side of the family. My mom, Sis in law and I also got to take her for lunch last Tuesday on her real birthday. Love ya gram.

I was pretty happy to actually get a pic with my gram cause I think the last one I have is from my wedding.
Me and Kin kin, my cuz
I came out to take a pic of Ko being all boy playing on the ground with some dump truck, but before I could get it, he stood up and said "cheese"

SCRAPBOOK EXPO
Last Friday and Saturday I went to the scrapbook expo with my sis and some of her friends. I think that was just what I needed. I kept telling Phil all week (during my break downs) that I wish my sister lived close so I could hang out with her. It was fun to spend most of the weekend with her and KID FREE! Thank you to Kirst, Mom and Prince Phillip for watching Ko so that I could go, I had a blast. (Kirst, mom told me Ko said for you "not to touch his privates" when you were changing his diaper, what a nerd, did you tell him to freakin go on the potty then?)
Sis and I competed in the ice cream eating contest. I would technically say only she was "competing" I took one bite and spit half of it out. She totally got jipped out of winning.
We also competed in the dance competition. We really wanted to win something, sure didn't.
Dancin away.
Tiff, me and Nae


I'm still trying to get my pic together to post from our trip home and tonight we are going to SYTYCD tour so I'll have more!

Mucho Family Pictures

I had one of my friends in Erie take our pictures before we moved. Thanks Michelle. She says she isn't that good but I think they turned out great, I love them! So yes Michelle you are good! :) I figured we better have some family pictures out at the beach, at least document that we lived in Erie, so that's were we headed. I uploaded A TON of them, and a lot of them are close to each other that is because I need you all to tell me which ones you like best!

The Goodbyes always come

So this is most deffinetly the last thing I should be doing right now, and I am sure Phil will be like "you blogged? Have you looked at our house?" haha. But I feel like I have a lot to blog about so I better get a start on it.

Well the day came and our HUGE ABF truch was parked in our driveway on Wed the 3rd. Phil had sent out an email for people to come help him that night and we were pleasantly surprised by the number we had. Wives of the following; Steve, Dan Hurst, Paul Dickinson, Casey, Dan Hodson, Dave Cain, and Matt Please give them the hugest thanks from the Olsen's! We are so grateful for their help, especially Matt and Dave Cain for staying for the long haul for a game of packing style tetris ;)

This was our house when the guys came to move! What a disaster! Thank you to the best friends, Laura and Lisa for helping me clean and Ash for helping with the kiddos!

Koen was definitely sad to see his mattress get packed away and kept crying "my bed" He laid on it until the very last minute!

What a great spot to eat snacks, Koda couldn't even get to him there!

Ko in the truck, pre packing it

He loved "his" big truck in our driveway. Here it is packed in tight, 8 feet!

And a big thank you to Laura and Lisa who threw a little goodbye party for us at the park(and everyone who came and brought something)! It was great to be able to see everyone and have a chance to mingle and say goodbye. Those few days before we left were definitely top 5 most stressful, lack of sleep, emotional and everything else. It was a great way to relax and spend some time with GREAT friends!

Andrea, Braden me and Ko. Obviously Ko was mouch more interested in my shirt than a pic

I didn't really realize until I just uploaded this pic that it is my best friends! I am so happy I got this! These are my day to day hang out and chat friends! I already miss you and kinda want to cry right now! Just have to state that I love Matt in the back and my ring looks bling bling. Brook, Kort, Me, Lis, and Laur

Ashley, Grady, Me, Sabine, and Jolene
Little shot out to Sabine (even though I think she boycotts blogs :) Thank you for bringing us food that day before we left and had nothing! Michelle you can pass the word along:)

The long lost couple

Ko and his friends. It is sad he asks for them all the time. I think he still thinks we are on vacation, so do I sometimes. I think it is easier that way. :)
Ko, Tess, Max, Addi, and Annie

I wish I could have gotten pics with everyone. I am glad we took the pic of most the girls at the Labor Day party. Suz I missed seeing you there and wanted to thank you for dinner the night you brought it! YUM! I have the best friends! Keep in touch!

PS Stay tuned for; New family pics, Trip home (Nauvoo, Independence, Farr West and Liberty), and more!

Happenings

Well I can not be a very good blogger amidst a mess that I still call my home. We are in boxes up to the windows and what is not boxed is a HUGE mess. The day has come and I can not believe it. Tomorrow our truck comes to haul all our stuff to our first home which we will once again call home. But we have been doing some fun things to ease the packing blues...

Went to Texas Roadhouse kid free with our best friends. What beats yummy food, and no one to entertain?

Jeff and Abby came down for the Labor day weekend and stayed at the Browns. We went over for dinner on Sunday. Koen ran in to the table and fell and bit through his lip, poor kid. We also went to Golden Corral for breakfast yesterday! YUM!

We spent all of Saturday packing, here is K and Elmo sitting on his "seat"

Koen taping up a box, you can obviously see how I do it! Ü
Yesterday we went to a friends house for a BBQ! The food was delicious, and the company couldn't be better! Thanks Karolee! K was OBSESSED (along with every other kid there) with this little train!
All the girls. Awe I will miss my friends. From left to right: Ashley, Lisa, Jen, Michelle, Emily, Sabine, Kortni, Deanne, Angalee, Alesha, Karolee, and Suzi.

Well so long for another week or two. Our internet goes down tomorrow and we are taking until the 12th to get to Utah. So until then...