Family Fun: The Novel

Swiffer Vac is still charging *see next post* so I'm back for round 2! Talk about a blogging spree! I never have this kind of time! I'm leaving for Georgetown this afternoon with Tabetha to meet her mom and sister and stay the night there before Amanda's baby shower tomorrow and then Jake and I will go to Houston and hang out with Jason before our flight leaves for Utah on Sunday morning...whew! Talk about travelers! We'll be in Utah for 2 weeks so we're pretty excited about everything...especially Dave & Natalies WEDDING!!! My great uncle has a really nice house up there that he rents out and has given it to Jake & I for a week as a wedding gift so that should be fun too....look for pictures soon!!

So after Alex got home it was time to move on to the next phase of our vacation. Jerry & Kathy came up to Sherman on Monday afternoon to pick us up on our way to the family reunion. We left on Tuesday and made it to Kansas City to pick up Jason who had flown in there. Jerry's Sequoia has a great GPS system that always gets us where we need to go....unless you accidentally punch in the wrong airport...

We were fairly certain this wasn't Jason's plane! To make a long story short we wound up at the East Kansas City Airport...a cropduster airport with just this one plane. Needless to say we were just a bit late picking up Jason. But we had a good laugh (at Jerry's expense...sorry!) and made it to the REAL airport. Lovely!

We made it to Liberty, MO the following day and visited Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith was held for about 4 months. It's a great place to stop if you're ever in the area and haven't been.

We made it to our destination, Lake Ozark where we had a condo on Lake of the Ozarks for a few days. We spent the first day shopping and swimming in the pool and just relaxing, something we all really needed I think. We even got to play Good Samaritans....we were right behind a guy who flew off the road (LITERALLY!) so we pulled over to help him and call an ambulance. Pretty scary! This is the side of the firetruck that blocked us in...I was too scared to take pictures...who does that?!

The next day we did a little more relaxing and shopping and then went to get our boat!!! We had rented a boat for the afternoon to go fishing and swimming out on the lake. We had a GREAT time, probably the best I've ever had on the lake so I say we make this an annual trip!

While looking for a secluded cove to fish in, Jason found a rope swing and just couldn't pass it up...it was hilarious! I think he did it like 3 times and I got a few videos that I'll have to post sometime....leave it to Jason!

Yes I even drove the boat! I thought I'd give Jerry a rest so I drove us around for a while. Yes, I'm an expert boat driver, something you probably didn't know about me. ;)

Oh and Jake and I picked out a few houses for us to buy one day....one day...

After our fun relaxation, we got back in the car to head to Nauvoo and meet the rest of the family. We walked around the town when we got there and around the beautiful temple...

We hit a few of the historical sites that day also, like this cute little bakery which has always been one of my favorites!!

We ate dinner with the family that night and hung out with the cousins while everyone else went to a play. I had a lot of fun getting to know Jake's wonderful family!

The next day we played....

And played.....I was hot tired and sick okay?!

And saw a few more of the historical sites....

We saw the pageant which basically tells the story of Nauvoo and was really amazing with a 600 people cast. I HIGHLY recommend it!

We said goodbye to everyone on Sunday and headed on our way home after a long but fun vacation. We stopped in Carthage of course and this is another site I would highly recommend. It's got amazing history and an even more amazing feel there as you realize this was the last place our prophet Joseph Smith was and where he died. Here's Jake and I...last picture of the trip!

We got home to a house full of people (which I love!) and my uncle Kevin surprised me by flying in from Missouri to see Alex. It was mine and Jake's one year anniversary and we had spent most of it in the car so we were pretty tired but we ate out with the family....thanks to Mom, Dad, Ross, Uncle Kevin, Marty, Janna, Hunter, Alicia, Alex, Grandma & Grandpa Wertz, Jessica, Dayne & Shawnee and Ashley for celebrating our anniversary with us!!

My mom had kept our wedding cake for us so of course we had to at least look at it on our anniversary! I even made Jake try a piece...

Loving the face babe!!! And I refused to let Jake put that cake all over my face on our wedding day...so as we know, compromise is key in a marriage. So here we are a year later, letting him get his way....

Beautiful, I know.

Well I was totally lazy with this post, and left out tons of fun things I'm sure, but I've got lots to do and so little time, so here's where stop for now! This pretty much catches me up on where we are now. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer...what little piece is left of it!