Road Trip and Family Fun (Warning Long Post)

First off I want to say the following post was started over a month ago and I am just now putting it on my blog, so somethings are out of date. But for those who are interested you can read up on what has been going on in our lives for a time. 9-30-12

Stewart has two family medicine rotations in August and September; one in Greeley, Colorado and one in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Since Stewart will need his car over the next two months we decided instead of flying home to Idaho we would road trip it out west to visit family and attend my sister Emily’s wedding before Stewart needed to start his rotations. We left early Friday morning at 1:00am and drove 18 hours the first day hoping that Sophie would sleep most of it. We stopped in St. Joseph, MO. and spent the night, all our rear ends were tired of sitting in the car. The next day we got up and started at it again, driving through Nebraska and most of Wyoming. We ended up stopping in Rock Springs, WY. After 12 hours of driving. The next day being Sunday we got up and started driving for a few hours, making a stop in Cokeville, WY. to go to church, and then continuing our drive to Pocatello, Idaho. We got to Stewart's Grandparents home at 1:30ish, we were all so excited to be done with our three day cross country road trip.

 At a rest stop, just stretching and getting our wiggles out.

Sophie and Ya Ya hanging out in the back seat (she is an amazing traveler)

We spent the first part of the week in Pocatello with Stewart’s family. It was fun to see everyone including Stewart’s Aunt Nancy and her kids which whom we have not seen since we moved to WV three years ago. We took a short trip to visit Stewart dad and sister Tasia at band camp. Sophie loved being up at the camp seeing/listening to all the band stuff going on. It was also good for me to see a little of the culture Stewart was brought up in… things make a little more since now.

Sophie and her Grandma North

Cousin Blaz

Cousin Sammy, He does not look excited to be at band camp... but trust me he is.

Fun Family Picture

Three Generation picture

Grandma Leslie doing what grandmas do best, letting her granddaughter get all wet and muddy in the small stream at band camp.

My sister Margie came and picked me up at the Hudson’s home on Wednesday morning so I could help with all the wedding hoopla that needed to happen before Emily and Ben got married on Friday. I left Stewart and Sophie behind. Me leaving Sophie was a strange feeling; I have never been away from Sophie before. While I did miss her I must say it was nice not to have to keep track of her or entertain her for a day. While I was doing wedding plans with my family, Stewart and Sophie were busy enjoying time with the North’s. They went to Ross Park and joined up with Danny’s band group after their three day band camp was completed and went swimming. I am glad Stewart got to spend time with his family, and that we made it to Idaho sooner then we were thinking so I could spend time with them as well.

Swimming with all the band camp students at Ross Park

More fun in the swimming pool at Ross Park

The first time Stewart and I met or even saw in person Emily’s Husband Ben was in the sealing room at the Twin Falls LDS Temple. Because of busy schedules Ben was unable to get together with us so we could meet him before his and Emily’s wedding. I remember seeing them come in and thinking, well if I don’t like him it is too late to tell Emily to dump him because he is going to be family before we can even introduce ourselves. Good thing Ben is a great guy and treats my sister like a queen. Emily and Ben’s wedding was beautiful they made a cute bride and groom.

Mr and Mrs. Ben Anderson

The Lovely Bride and her Niece

Grandma and Sophie (Sophie was tired of all picture taking)

Grandpa and Sophie (she is happy because we gave her a treat... good ol' bribery)

Family picture outside the Twin Falls Temple

Sophie waiting while the Bride and Groom took pictures

Aunt Margie and Sophie

AT THE OPEN HOUSE THE NEXT EVENING AUG 4th

Uncle Ben and Sophie before the open house started  (Sophie fell instantly in love with her Uncle Ben from the moment Emily Started talking about marrying him... so cute) PS: Ben did get all dressed up, we went way early so I could do Emily's hair that is this was taken shortly after we arrived. 

Grandma, Sophie and Grandpa

Three generation picture

Looking back over all the pictures we took during Ben and Emily's wedding I regret to say I did not take one picture with Sophie and her Aunt Katie... so very sorry and sad about this.

After the reception Stewart and I took Sophie back to my parent’s home to put both him and Sophie to bed. When we got home however the power was out making things a little interesting trying to situate all our extended family members who were staying the night with us as well. I had to call the church and ask where the flashlights were and where my mom wanted everyone to sleep. It was more drama then we wanted coming home after a night of partying. We did get it all worked out and the power came on 20 mins after we got home.

Because Stewart had to start his first addition rotation in Greeley Colorado on Monday, he got up Saturday morning and made preparations to leave Bruneau and start his trek back the direction we just came from. Before he left my dad came in and told Stewart that the two back tires on his care were just about wore out and needed replaced ASAP. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, and besides that we had someone in WV look them over and tell us they were in great shape and would be fine to get us to Idaho and back… hmmmmmm. Anyway, after making a phone call we sent Stewart in to Mt. Home to replace the tires and then head on his way to Greeley. It was sad to see him drive away, knowing that the next time we would be together as a family would be in October after his rotations in Greeley and Cheyenne, WY were completed(He is driving back even as I post this... I am getting increasingly giddy with excitement with each passing hour).

Sophie and I stayed in Bruneau with my family for a few weeks before flying back to West Virginia on the 21^st of August. It was nice to pass some of the time without Stewart around with family. We had lots of fun visiting with my sisters and parents. One of our fun outings as a family (or all that could make it) was to go to the Boise Zoo. I have not been there since grade school so it was fun to go again. Sophie LOVED it! I think her favorite was the Butterfly exhibit or the carousal. When we left the butterfly exhibit they have you walk into a room with mirrors to check to see if there are any butterflies on your person so they can keep all their butterflies from escaping.  It turned out that after we left I had one butterfly that hitched a ride on my backpack (aka diaper bag) all the way to the petting zoo, before we noticed it and took it back to the exhibit. It had its chance to fly away and be free, but it never moved until we took it back “home”.

The Group at the Zoo (minus me because I was taking the picture)

Sophie and a Penguin, she had fun walking like a penguin after we saw them.

Sophie got to ride the carousal, she could not make up her mind what animal to ride we switched three times before she settled on the Lion. 

This is a sloth bear... he looked like he was doped up on something when we saw him.

Petting and feeding the sheep, and goats at the petting zoo area

Aunt Emily and Sophie being silly

 My oldest sister Katie teaches Kindergarten in Wendell, Idaho. While we were visiting she was informed that she was being moved to teach fourth grade, with only TWO WEEKS before school started. So needless to say she was slightly overwhelmed. My mom, Sophie and I went and helped Katie organize her classroom and help her put up 6 new bulletin boards. It was a lot of work but I am sure it helped alleviate some of the stress of being moved from kindergarten to fourth grade two weeks before kids started rolling in from summer vacation. 

Without planning or trying to work it in, I ended up being in Idaho for our Hegerhorst family reunion. Since it was held in Hagerman, Idaho only 20 minutes from my sister Katie’s home we opted to sleep at her home and drive to Hagerman for the festivities.  Because the reunion started at 8pm on Friday night I decided to hang back while my Mom and Katie went, so Sophie could get to bed at a decent time. Instead we ended up taking a mini field trip to the Gooding, ID fair to see all the livestock with Sophie’s beloved Uncle Ben and Aunt Emily. It was fun to see Ben and Sophie together, I think she has him wrapped around her finger, or maybe it is the other way around. Ben was so patient with Sophie and let her pet many of the animals several times. I think we all had a fun time, but I am sure Sophie and her Uncle Ben had the most fun of us all.

Petting "Bob" the pig with Uncle Bens help

And now Sophie is petting a cow

The next day for our family reunion we went and visited the local fish hatchery with a Sturgeon pond and then the dinosaur exhibit. We also ate yummy food and had a great time visiting and catching up with one another. The reunion finished up shortly after lunch so all those who needed to get home could do so, while other who were in no hurry to leave went swimming a the local hot pools nearby. I am glad it worked out that I could see so many of my Hegerhorst cousins, aunts and uncles whom I have not seen in about four years. It was a lot of fun catching up with all they are doing. Hope we don’t have to wait so long until we can all get together again.

These are the only two pictures I took at the Reunion

Grandma, my Aunt Elaine, Sophie and my cousins daughter Bethany I love how they are all holding hands linked together. 

Bethany, Sophie, Grandma, and Bethany's older sister Brin

One last thing I want to mention about our trip out west is my dads creative us of his “A-frame”. I called my dad up a few months before we headed out to Idaho and told him Sophie wanted a swing to play on while she was visiting. He said he would think about it, but every time I asked him about it after that he had made no attempt to fill the request. So I did not think much of it, but my dad being the creative man that he is made Sophie a swing. He took his A-frame used to help lift engines out of cars or move other heavy things around his shop and hung an old swing he had on hand for just this occasion, off of it. It worked great and Sophie loved it. She asked to go swing on it several times a day. Thanks Dad for being so creative and fulfilling our request. 

I regrettably did not get a picture of her swinging on the beloved swing, but here are some other pictures of our time in Bruneau.

Harvesting the corn and preparing it for the freezer (This is a yearly project in my family, I don't remember a year we did not do corn growing up. It was fun to introduce Sophie to it, she was a big helper. 

Sophie helping Aunt Katie put the corn in the freezer

Sophie has Grandpa wrapped around her little finger because she got him to play the piano together. My dad  did not do this kind of stuff with us growing up, but it is neat to see him playing with Sophie.

Dad had the vet come so Sophie and I went down to visit them for a while.  Sophie enjoyed  played in the manger and by the time we left she was stinky and very dirty!

Sophie Sharing her animal crackers with Rupert, I think she had a few and fed the rest of them to Rupert. 

And after this very long post I will finish it off by saying, Sophie and I flew back to West Virginia on the 21^st of August. We had an uneventful flight home; everything went smoothly just as I had prayed it would go. We had some friends from our Beckley Ward came and pick us up at the airport, we got home to find our home just as we had left it. It was great to be with family and of course to see Emily and Ben get married. Thanks for all the fun times and great memories... until next time. HUGS!

Sophie favorite thing to do while flying back to WV was to pull the window shade up and push it down. I only let her do it for a few minutes while people were settling in before take off, it was annoying. 

Not even two and she has flown on an airplane 4 times. Guess that one reason why She is a great traveler. 

2012 Blueberry Picking

About a week ago a few friends and I went Blueberry picking, at a berry farm not far from Beckley. We had a lot of fun, and I was able to pick two small buckets full for us to enjoy. Sophie had a lot of fun picking berries, she was so excited to show me how many berries she picked every 5 minutes. She also saw a mommy spider and some bugs, which she could hardly wait to tell Stewart about when he got home later that day. I will miss this resource when we move for residency, I love the fresh inexpensive blueberries you can pick this time of year. YUM! My friend Rebecca took these pictures for me because I forgot my camera at home. Enjoy! 

Wow! Mom that is a lot of blueberries.

(Sophie and her Friend Calvin Ratliff)

What do you mean there's no blueberries over here... that's one right there.

Stewart’s Board Step 2

July 13^th, Stewart took his second board exam for medical school in Roanoke Virginia. He originally signed up to take the test with a classmate of his but a few weeks before his classmate decided he wanted more time to prepare and rescheduled his test for a later date. So instead of going alone, Stewart invited Sophie and me to tag a long. I was not big on the idea of us going along, since I knew Sophie and I would have to find something to do while he took his 8+ hour test; but in the end we decided to go and play at the mall.

We went up the night before and found a hotel near by the testing center and then went and scouted out the mall and a place to eat. Sophie loved sleeping in her very own full sized bed. I think she was still awake when Stewart and I feel asleep. The next day Sophie and I dropped Stewart off at this test, we then went back to our hotel had some breakfast and then got ready for our awesome (very long) day at the mall. We spent most of the day at the mall, mostly in Barns and Noble reading books or the children’s play area. By 3pm we were both tuckered out so we left the mall and found a park and took a nap. Afterwards we played at the park until finally Stewart called us and told us he was done. YIPPY!!!! We celebrated by going out to eat and then driving home to WV.

Stewart feels confident about his test although we won’t know how he did for a month or so. I personally am proud of him it took a lot of will power for Stewart to keep studying while Sophie and I were having fun at home without him. Congrats Stewart for getting past this hurdle on your way to becoming a Doctor. We are so lucky to have you as the man of our house. Loves!

PS. Stewart and I finally started year number four of med school, we graduate May 25, 2013. Woot Woot!!!!

Here are some pictures of Sophie having fun playing in the children's play area, she is growing up so much... 21 months old. 

PPS: Thanks for all those who left comments in my previous post. I am glad to know someone reads our blog. Your words are encouraging, thanks.

Where Have We Been?

That is a good question; I took a brake from the blog because I was mad at blogger. I don’t know if any of you tried to view the videos on the blog, but they won’t work, except for a few minutes after I load them. So after many attempts and reloading them several times I gave up and walked away. I am back now, but probably won’t try to post a video for a while yet. Besides I don’t think people actually read this blog, so we were not missed much anyway. But for our family’s journal sake I will update this blog and let all who read know what we have been doing since the last post.

June

- I sent my Young Women off to Girls camp; they had a lot of fun. Before they left we designed a ward camp T-shirt with a pirate theme and a flag to go with the shirts. Sadly I did not take a picture of the shirts or the flag, but they were awesome. I got to go up one day and visit the YW while they were at camp. I think they had a great time, and so did I.

- Stewart, Sophie and I went to the Columbus temple (that is our temple district and a 4 hours drive for us). We worked it out so that we could meet up with my cousin Mitch and his family. It was great to see them; we did a child swap so that both couples could go through a session together. It was good to see Mitch and Cassie and catch up with them. After the sessions we were going to go out to eat but Stewart was feeling sick so we decided to get on the road and head home before he got worse. I ended up having to drive his car which is a standard and has no cruse control; something I told him I would never do if he bought that car. I ate my words and did okay getting us home. It was a nice trip however and I am glad we did it. 

- We took a fieldtrip one Sunday afternoon to a friend’s small farm. We had a friend from church invite us to come out to there farm so Sophie could see the baby goats, bunnies, chickens, and puppies. We had a great time out there; they live in the backwoods of West Virginia in a town named Odd. We actually followed the family to their home otherwise we would have never found it on our own. Sophie loved the baby animals and has asked about them a lot since our field-trip. 

- We made a water trampoline! I saw this neat idea on Pinterest and thought it would looked doable so I found some painters plastic and our duct tape and went to work. Sophie loved jumping on it once she got used to it. It was a perfect fun activity for an extra warm sunny afternoon. Here is the link to the website where I found the idea:clumsycrafter.com

- On June 29 a derecho (fancy word for a type of fast-moving thunder storm) ripped trees and power lines down from Illinois to the East coast, sometimes cutting a swath 500 miles wide!  We were sitting at home on a Friday evening chatting with some guests we’d invited over for dinner.  The weather went from calm and sunny to the fiercest winds and rain I’ve ever seen in about 30 minutes.  Our power went out in the middle of the storm, but we didn’t think much of it, we expected things would be back to normal by morning.  The next morning I was out running some errands and I noticed that nobody had power.  Several miles away I found a few gas stations with power, but there were sometimes up to 20 cars waiting in line for each pump.  I was able to catch some news broadcasts on the radio and learned just how wide-spread the damage was.  Luckily our power was back on in just under 24 hours.  But we have friends who still don’t have power.  It has been 9 days of near record-breaking heat.  It’s been a trial for many people in the area.  Stewart and I have been pleased to be able to loan out our fridge space, the use of our washer/dryer, our electric plug-ins, and our cool basement to friends in need.

July Thus Far

- We had a great low key 4^th of July. In the morning we decided to go to a near by lake (Lake Stephens) to play on beach and in the water before it got to crowded. Sophie loves playing in the sand and sitting on the waters edge where the tide from the boats washes up on her. I did not want to get wet so I worked on my tan while Stewart and Sophie played in the water and had fun. We came home around noon and had lunch, and then we took a nap. Later that evening we set off a few fireworks of our own and then we watched the firework show put on by the City of Beckley. Our house is not to far from where they set the fireworks off so we just sat on our lawn and enjoyed the show. This was Sophie’s first year she got to stay up and see the fireworks, she loved them! She thought they looked like flowers and would yell pretty flowers after each one lit the sky.