Lake Powell and My Birthday Boy

When we got home and saw baby Bryn and decided we could maybe take a little vacation before we jumped back into school, guess where Nate wanted to go?? LAKE POWELL. his favorite place on earth. He basically asked me if we could live there someday? I'm not sure I feel that good about it.

We camped this time, which made it an adventure. Tay Bug came and LOVED the water it was awesome. I'm sure he will be slalom skiing before I can. It was fun to get away and spend all day with Nate doing his favorite thing.

Grandma

Tay thought the tube was so relaxing..

and asleep

cutest

and then the real tubing began. Nate's on the back somewhere.

Today is Nate's birthday woohoo! Best Birthday ever. First day of school. poor guy, good thing we have family and friends to celebrate with! 

Nate got Kayaks for his birthday, pretty exciting! He was a happy boy

Tay loved Nate's present as much as Nate did!  

Happy first day of school/birthday breakfast!

Dinner with Whit and Dal tonight to top off the birthday celebrations. Happy Birthday to my favorite person ever! 

Driving across the Country to meet baby Bryn!

Nate and I cut our trip a little short with Ben and Megan because I was getting worried that little miss Brynlee was going to arrive without me ready to hold her and kiss her little cheeks. Whit had been having contractions for almost 2 weeks and I was getting stressed about it (imagine how she felt). Nate and I left the morning of Saturday August 11th to start our journey home.

We didn't even make it out of Pennsylvania before Nate got pulled over... he couldn't shake that New York driving. So that was pricey and he went a lot closer to the speed limit the rest of the time he drove.  I'm blaming the ticket on Blake, he jinxed us. Before we left he told Nate, "you better follow the laws or you with get pulled over and have to give the government some of your money." well said.

We finally finished driving through Pennsylvania.. it's a REALLY long state. We drove through a little corner of West Virginia and saw the biggest Cabela's in the world (at least that's what the sign said) and then made it into Ohio. While in Ohio I got a phone call from Whit. She acted super calm and proceeded to tell me that she just got an epidural and was dialted to a 4. I was so excited for her but I just couldn't stop crying, it was the weirdest mix of emotions, I just wanted to be there so bad. My mom kept me updated periodically and so did Dallin. Nate and I were thinking maybe we could make it if she had really long labor.. but I didn't want to wish that on her either. Mostly I just cried from Ohio.. through Indiana then to Illinois and then finally got control of my emotions in Missouri. Whitlie had her so quick! she only pushed for 30 minutes and then I was getting a bunch of pictures of my beautiful new niece Brynlee Angela Kauffman!! she weighed 6'7 and was 18 1/2 inches long and looks just like her mama.

Nate and I were supposed to spend the night in Missouri with my friend Carissa and her husband Chad but I just couldn't stop now. I wanted to see that sweet girl as soon as I could get there. We just kept driving and drove straight through. Nate and I drank Mountain Dew and took a couple power naps. Nebraska is the worst state ever! It's so flippin long! But we made it through. Then through Wyoming and into beautiful Utah that is full of smoke! I didn't even care I was just so excited to see that baby. It's a good thing I have a wonderful, understanding husband that put up with my crazy emotions on the way home. We made it home in 35 hours, took a quick shower, and went right to the hospital!

First Time seeing her and holding her in the hospital!!

Cute grandpa

basically I lived at Whit's for a good week or so because I couldn't leave her

Tummy time! look at her chicken legs!

naptime.. so sweet

This is my favorite. 

Look at that cute headband :) I put it on her, just couldn't resist. 

She is home now and off oxygen and just doing fabulous! We sure love her. 

Pennsylvania and Goodbye

Nate and I had our last city trip on the Tuesday before he finished work, and what would be better than the Temple, Magnolias and 5th ave. 

Nate finished his internship on Thursday August 9th. While he was working all week I was cleaning and packing.. it was a little overwhelming but I felt accomplished when we fit everything into the car Thursday night. 

 my many piles around the house

When I finally ventured upstairs Thursday afternoon the kids were so excited to show me the cards they made for me, the present they got for Nate (they told me about the one they got for me like a week before.. secrets are hard for kids ha) and then they took me out to see their chalk drawings. They wrote on the driveway where Nate usually parks. It was the cutest. 

They left these notes on the door for Nate so he wouldn't miss their art on the driveway :)

We miss them lots already. We skyped them yesterday, but it's just not the same. 

Friday morning we got up and got all ready to go- this day of driving was a piece of cake. We only drove to Philadelphia to play to with Ben and Megan! It was such a blast, Ben was our tour guide for the rest of the day.  

 Liberty Bell

City Hall

Our Tour Guide

 All the famous people buried at Christ's Church

Little Miss Betsy Ross

Terminal Market. So cool! It had everything you could ever imagine. The amish were there with homemade icecream and waffle cones, couldn't pass it up. 

 Nate couldn't resist. He loves sorry

 We loved every minute of our short trip here, fun sight seeing, a beautiful art museum, yummy thai food and best friends! We spent the night at Ben and Megan's and then started our long journey home at 5 am the next day. 

PepsiCo and Rhode Island

It's been a while. I finally got over my bronchitis (I know lame). Nate made me go to the doctor, which was probably for the best because I am feeling better. I just hate that I have to go tell a doctor, Hey guess what I can't stop coughing so I probably need a zpack and he says yep you do. It would save so much time (and money) if I could just get one myself... I guess I should consider medical school.

This Friday Nate worked half day so I met him at work around 1. We walked around the PepsiCo headquarters and ate lunchables on one of the picnic tables :) It was the best. Nate got me a vistors pass so that I was official and could go inside legally. He walked me around and showed me what he has been doing for the past 12 weeks. It was fun to meet a few coworkers and see what he has been up to! I even got to have a free drink.

This is our last weekend in New York/Connecticut. So it was our last babysitting adventure as well. We watched the kids while Dave and Lara had their last horrah. I'm sure we are going to have withdrawals. I sure love these kids. I hate goodbyes. Nate and I got each of the kids a giftcard to red mango and wrote them a card. We gave Dave and Lara and the kids their gifts on Sunday after dinner. It was like Christmas morning! They were thrilled! I got lots of hugs and thank you's and I love you's. Who knew a gift card could be so fun? I'm sure going to miss them.

We love them!

Not too happy about bedtime :) even Nate..

Saturday Nate and I got up and drove to Rhode Island. It was a short trip compared to our latest escapades. Only about two and a half hour drive. We first stopped in Bristol, RI. It was darling. The sign said, "Welcome to Bristol home of the oldest fourth of July Celebration." As you can imagine everything in the town was red, white and blue, including the lines painted on the road. We walked along the coast and window shopped for a little bit until we headed to Newport.

Red White and Blue! 

Newport was beautiful and fun. We started out at the Marble House Mansion. It was so cool to learn about the Vanderbilt's and see all the crazy things that went into this building. The mansions were gorgeous and fun to tour. We spent a lot of time looking around and decided we should get lunch. So we did. We ate at Brick Alley Pub, if you are ever in Rhode Island I would recommend it, google did us well. We walked around the shops in Newport that are right on the water. It was fun to just relax and enjoy. 

The Backyard

 shoppin

Then there was the Polo game. Lara and Dave talked about going to a polo game so Nate and I decided to try it out. It was awesome. It was like a big party. Basically people tailgate and BBQ and hang out all day just to see the game. Girls and Boys are on the team together and you just hit the ball with a mallet. My dad told me that me and meg (my brothers horse) will go into training when I get home. 

Last stop. The Cliff Walk. It's right on the cliff's next to the ocean with most of the mansions backyards against the walk so it was cool to see both sides. It was getting late so we enjoyed the walk for shorter than we would have liked but it was such a fun day! I love Rhode Island. I would definitely go back. 

trying to be like little mermaid... not quite the same effect. 

I can't believe we are down to 4 days left here. It seems like time went so fast (even though there were occasional long days). I'm ready to go home mostly because Whitlie is having contractions and has been for a few days. I don't want to miss that baby's entrance to the world. I can't wait to meet her. Now I just have to gear up for another 37 hour drive across the country...