Mom's Trip

A couple of pictures of life lately.

The frog Dallas found outside our door.

Amaya made this in Primary. I thought it was so cute!

Dallas and Oaklie are such twinners. Both of them have to have their feet our while they sleep. One morning I woke up early and they were both asleep with their blankets over their heads and their feet out. I think they look like dead bodies at the morgue. 

A couple weeks ago we had a family picnic at Petersburg Battleground. I forgot my camera so these pictures are from Dallas' phone. 

We caught a little sun the other day at our complex's pool.

88,888 miles in Dallas' car!

I went to check on Oaklie during naptime and found her reading her "kibbers" (scriptures). 

Last week my mom came out and stayed with us for a week! After a rocky drive up to DC and back to get her (Crazy traffic! Crazy weather!) we had an awesome week full of shopping and sightseeing. On Saturday we drove out and visited Berkeley Plantation. 

Everything has gotten so green and pretty here! 

We couldn't take pictures in the house but the grounds were stunning. We had a picnic and walked around and took pictures for over an hour.

This brick pavilion marks the location of the first Thanksgiving in 1619. Berkeley was also the birthplace of one of our presidents and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The song, "Taps" was also composed here during the Civil War when Union troops occupied the grounds.

Dallas is such a good dad to our little girls. Oaklie was crying but I wasn't sure why. All I heard was Dallas saying, "It's okay. There can be two Doras. It's okay to have two Doras!" Apparently on our walk, Amaya and Oaklie were playing Dora the Explorer and Amaya said that Oaklie had to be Boots because there can only be one. Oaklie was obviously very upset. After a quick pep talk she was on her way.

A cannonball from the Civil War

Amaya wanted to take this stick home. Yeah right! 

Amaya was so excited when she found a buttercup!

The James River. Rivers out here are much wider and slower than rivers in Idaho!

Dallas taught the girls how to skip rocks. When Oaklie threw her rock she said, "Fy away!" 

This is a picture of where my dad should be. We missed you Dad!

Tuesday I had my "surgical procedure". No biopsy this time because my surgeon saw nothing suspicious! So thankful to be cancer free! My original cancer check was pushed back because we got the stomach flu, so I rescheduled it for while my mom was here. Dallas can't take any time off work right now because he is in training classes all day that he can't miss. My mom was planning on coming with me to the hospital and hanging out with the kids, but Amaya caught a croup sounding cough the day before and we couldn't take her to the hospital. Thankfully my husband's classmates pulled some strings so Dallas could take me. It was so wonderful to wake up to his face!

Our next trip was out to Petersburg Battlefield. 

And then to Shirley Plantation. While we were touring the plantation (day after my hospital trip) the hospital called to check on me and left a message. "I hope you aren't answering because you are staying home and resting..." Oops. 

I couldn't take pictures in the house, but I took some of the kitchen outbuilding. 

Oaklie showing off her battle scars. The poor girl kept tripping and skinning her knees.

Our last tour before finishing off the trip with some retail therapy was to the Museum of the Confederacy. I didn't take a lot of pictures because we've been there before, but here are a couple.

Something I didn't notice before--The Confederate Medal of Honor. Interesting!

We read one of the quotes from Confederate soldiers' letters home. "I have not seen a gal in so long a time that I would not know what to do with myself if I were to meet one though I recon I could learn before I left her." I thought that was pretty funny. 

We miss you already Nana!