4th of July and road trip to Seattle

We dog sat for the first time for cousin Rebecca's dog and the kids loved it!

Fireworks in the cul-de-sac with neighbors a couple of days before the fourth.

An awesome cul-de-sac game of bump (I think that's the name of the basketball game they were playing)... in the dark.

Lots of family over and lots of silly faces

:)

Cute cousins and great friends...we wish they lived closer but are grateful we got to see them a lot this summer

Cute siblings

Happy kid doing fireworks

Celebrating independence day at aunt Marties with some friends from Seattle who stopped by to stay the night with us while they were driving through St Louis

Andrew loved being out lighting the big fireworks with all the teenagers.

Andrew had fun with swim team again this summer.

Hannah worked hard at her first year of being on the team.

Daniel and I celebrated our 14th anniversary with a date to the arch.

I'm so grateful to be married to him!

And the trip begins! We drove to Kansas City the first day, went to Liberty Jail with cousins, and stayed they night at their house before beginning our long journey.

And we're off

I mapped out playgrounds along the way so we could stop and stretch and eat the meals we brought. The kids told me I did a good job at picking out fun places :).

We love road trips. There was some squabbling but overall everyone did great.

Dinner in the rockies

Rinsing the dishes in the stream

Andrew had fun sticking that little guy on the outside of the car window. When one limb came loose he would fix it and so he never flew away.

We stayed the night at a hotel in the rockies and enjoyed playing for a little while at a park in the mountains the next day.

A picture of the desert

Climbing the red rocks in Utah.  I heard a rattlesnake from a bush when we got there so everyone was slightly freaked out and we didn't stay long. We never saw it but we did end up seeing one at Johnsons shut-ins when we got back to Missouri.  Our first rattlesnake encounters.

We saw some friends who used to live down the street from where we are now while we were playing at a park in Utah.  They moved to California and were also in Utah visiting. What are the chances?

We stayed at Daniel's cousin Zeb's house in Utah and had a lot of fun with cousins.

Zeb taught Andrew to solve the 2x2 rubix cube.

Hiking to Cecret Lake with our friends from Seattle, the Ellis', who moved to Utah.  There were so many wildflowers.  It was beautiful!

Do you see the moose in this picture?  We heard there were moose in the mountains and I actually prayed I would see one.  While we were walking down I got a funny pain in my knee and called out to Daniel who was a little ways ahead.  Everyone stopped and while they were standing there they looked around and saw the moose.  We would have missed it if they didn't stop right there.  They called out moose and I went running and my knee was totally fine.  I'm grateful for answered prayers!

We loved spending time with the Ellis'.

After a couple of days off in Utah we got back on the road to drive the rest of the way to Seattle.

Our final stop. I think this was in Oregon. It was really hot so we didn't stay and play long.