Dallas/Shreveport Spring Vacation

Before we left on our long drive to Dallas then Shreveport, we stopped at Mike's tire shop to get my car checked out, and Shalom had a little fun playing in the office with Daddy.

On our way to Louisiana, we stopped in Dallas to stay the night at Brent and Laura's house and then stayed until the afternoon the next day.

Shalom had SO much fun playing with Annabeth at the park!  I just wish we could've stayed longer.  This just shows that we need to make more trips to Dallas!!

Annabeth preferred to play dead instead smile...silly girl.

Shalom is already starting to dress like a thug!  Poor thing her pants were too big on her...skinny little legs!

First time on the swing and loved it!

I love how, after not seeing each other for a long time, they instantly rekindled their cousin friendship/love! 

Right after the park, we made the three hour trip to Shreveport, and as soon as we got in town I did Amy's Zumba class. Shalom was so happy to see her other cousins: Brooke, Rylan, and Ava. The next day, Amy had to sub a Zumba class at another fitness center, so we did that class and then afterwards made our pay to the alligator farm.

On the way to the gator farm!

the llamas!

Goats!

Such a happy girl at the gator park!

Feeding the yak!

They've come a long way...they used to have a love/hate relationship...

Now these two have the love/hate relationship!

Ava was so scared when she first saw the alligator!

They were all pretty excited to touch the alligator!

 

Shalom had so much fun jumping on the trampoline with her cousins, especially Rylan! They were too cute together! (I wasn't even there a day and I was already tired from the driving and then doing 2 Zumba classes; so luckily I was able to take a nap while Amy kept going like the energizer bunny. She brought the kids with her to a fitness center so a lady could video tape her doing some Zumba routine and then taught a Spin class. I gotta take a break some time! Right when Amy got back home we rushed to go out to eat with Scott's family.)

After dinner, went to see Sis. Wenk. It was so nice to visit with her! Every time I see her she goes on and on about how great Mike is and how I married a gem. She even jokes about how she'd rather have him live with her again rather than her own son (Mike lived at her house while we were dating and he was going to school). She was just so tickled that we came by with our kids, especially since she had never seen Eden much less knew I had another baby until after some time she was born. I admire her because she is such a strong, faithful woman.
 
The next day, I got to visit my friend, Becca, and her new baby boy, Drezden.  I couldn't believe the last time I saw her was when she just had her daughter who is 18 months now.  Wow!  After my visit with her, Amy, Tracey, and all our kids plus two of Nathan's went to Bossier Mall to visit the Easter bunny.  Rylan had been talking about the Easter bunny for two days and didn't want to disappoint.

Jackson is being a sweet older cousin and entertaining his younger cousins (Carson, Bryce, Rylan, and Shalom) with magic.

I couldn't believe how good everyone was!  Rylan was so sweet and wanted to sit next to "baby Eden."

Shalom had to give the Easter bunny a big hug!

Naturally, the kids found the arcade; so we gave in and let them play for  a while.

It's a good thing this ride and the other little rides were just a quarter!

After playing in the arcade for a while, we realized how pretty it was outside so we went to the Boardwalk and got some ice cream and let them run around for a little bit.

That Thursday night, I did another of Amy's Zumba class.  She tried to get me to do a song or two for the practice, but I was still nervous and not completely comfortable.  I just need to get over my fear.

Friday, we went to Mike's family's farm!  We (Amy and her kids, Scott and Bryce, my kids, and Jackson and Carson) had the whole place to ourselves!  Mike and Leilani were so sweet to let the kids pretty much do whatever they wanted.  He took each kid on a pony ride and showed Scott how to drive the cow train for the kids.

I am so glad we made it out there on Friday!  While we were playing at the farm, we helped Mike's family fill bunches of Easter eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt they were going to throw to the public on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun joking around with them!  I felt so bad that it rained the next day so they had to cancel the whole thing.  It just makes me glad that we came out there to the farm to visit them since we wouldn't have seen them on Saturday.

Shalom and Eden back again with Grandma!

Papa taking her on a pony ride!

Carson wanted to hold Eden on a ride around.  (Jackson had her the last ride.)

Brooke had to hold her too.  (Eden sure was loved by her cousins!)

Scott driving the kiddos around!

Playing with the tire horses!

Such a happy little girl!

We had such a fun time together!  It was so nice that we had the whole place to ourselves!

Gotta throw in a silly pic!

Friday night , all of my family went out to eat together at the Boardwalk!  I was glad that I got to see my parents even if it was just for a little bit.  (My mom had flown in from Utah to help her mom and relieve other family members from taking care of her 24/7.  She is expected to pass soon so she was able to share with us how special it was to be with her and for us to reflect on her life and the influence she has been to all of us.)

I'm so glad I was able to visit Amy and have Shalom play with her cousins!  I just wish we at least lived a little bit closer!

I love my dad!!  He is always so much fun!

So good to finally see my mom again!  Five months is way too long to not see each other!  Her wig is hilarious!

I can't wait to meet Scott and Tracey's baby when we come back in May!

Scott missed the memo with the silly faces!

The last day, I packed everything up, and most of us got together again for lunch. The cousins just love playing together. I don't know how many times Amy's kids kept saying "Baby Eden." It was so cute! They sure did show Eden a lot of love. Again, I wish we lived just a little closer to each other.

Trying to keep these kids together for one more picture is like herding butterflies!  ;)

 

I can't believe I made it straight through the whole 8 hours!!  The girls did surprisingly well.  If Shalom had to pee we just took the next exit and and went on the side of the road.  She did so good except for when I was pumping gas she couldn't hold it any longer and just went.  Oh well, what can you do?!  If Eden was hungry,  I reached my arm around and gave her a bottle or handed her little baby munchies.  I finally made it in at 11 p.m.  and still had energy to unload the car and wash 2 loads of clothes and her car seat cover.  Whew!  I finally was able to recover by Tuesday!  I am so thankful that nothing happened to the car and the no accidents occurred! 

This is what Shalom came home to!  Mike built it while we were gone.  She played with it as soon as we got home  that night.   Now, when she climbs up to the top she says, "Yo ho mateys away!" from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.