First Half of Our Vacation in South Dakota!!

On our way out, I got to stop & spend some time with my favorite missionary companion/trainer, Sister Salvador! 

Or I guess it's now Sister Simmons, or I could use her first name Olimpia.  

Nah, it'll always be Salvador. 

She's living in Provo with her 3 boys that are super cute! She always cooks delicious food. 

This is where I get my good Lumpia cooking from. 

All our cute kiddos. 

Then we finally made it to South Dakota! 

Lots of bugs, humidity & cousins!!

 Quiet time reading books. We went to the library a couple times for story time, an Olympic games for kids, & to get a ton of books to keep us occupied! The library there was amazing! So clean & nice people that work there. No cranky librarians. 

 It was so much fun spending time with Kirsti! I got her all to myself that week. She endured me yacking at her & following her around wherever she went. 

It was very winding one particular day. 

Was hard for the little ones to walk straight. 

But it made for good kite flying weather!

The kids & Jared flew the kites pretty well. 

Everyone was tired all the time from all the excitement.

 Crying was all around. 

Cute Oliver loved posing for the camera. 

Ellie liked to copy Oliver. 

At the local Dairy Queen that is know nation wide. 

So tired........

What the kids did in the basement. 

Watching movies or playing the Wii. 

That was fine with us cause it meant we got some time to ourselves. 

Then we drove a little bit out of town to see J.B.'s bee farm & wax plant!

Honestly, it was more exciting than I expected. 

J.B. showing off with the bees. 

Kids messing around at the wax plant. 

Not the best smelling place ever. 

The population of this town was 40? Or maybe 50? 

This is the post office that serves the town. Smallest I've ever seen. I wonder what they do all day?

J.B.'s Grandpa started a tradition of always keeping ice cream in the freezer. 

We got to partake of it!

Then it was on to Sioux Falls! 

Everyone graciously waited while I visited some cute little quilt shops. 

And we got to see the falls! 

Throwing rocks. 

From on top of the observatory. 

Ellie's favorite spot while at Kirsti's. 

The best street name ever. 

 Charles & Ellie had fun playing/fighting the whole time. They were so cute!

Thanks for the visit Aunt Kirsti! We'll try to come out again soon!

Historic & Famous Sites We Visited

While driving through Nevada & Wyoming was "super" exciting. Just can't  get enough of counting dead dear on the side of the road. The amazing stuff in the middle of nowhere was just that. AMAZING!

We spent a bit of time at Martin's Cove. 

Pulled hand carts, totally not easy. 

They made prairie rings out of nails, watched a video about 

the Martin handcart company, saw some really old stuff 

ie. guns, clothes, chests, maps, luggage, etc. 

It was fun. 

Jared & I were forced to pull the kids around for a bit in a small covered wagon. 

I was feeling bad for horses at that moment. 

 Drove a little extra for "Devil's Rock." We decided to not go all the way up, just a stop on the side of the road. 

It's pretty cool for the inside of a volcano. At least we can say we've been there.....

Then it was on to Mt. Rushmore. It was smaller than we thought it would be. But pretty cool. 

I don't think I'll ever have a family picture with everyone looking at the camera. I won't even mention actually smiling at it. 

 They have a flag for each state. Here's to Cali! We also met the last dude alive that worked on the mountain. There was more stuff to do around the site than at it. A tourist could stay 2-3 days with stuff to do there. I'm such a sucker. Next time I want to stop at all these places. Shops, a HUGE slide park, a zoo, candy, you name it, something is there for everyone. To take your money that is.  

 Then to what most excited me. (Not anyone else)

 I love love love the Little House on The Prairie books! Not the lame show. But the books. I love reading everything out there about Laura. I think she is a great storyteller & explains the life of a pioneer so vividly. She does it so well I end up wanting to make my own butter, make a quilt by hand (yeah right), make my own bullets, & go camping. 

Kirsti was kind enough to take us there while in SD. Below are the kids on the tower over looking the homestead. 

 There were lots of fun things for the kids to do. 

A round about.

A teeter totter. 

A box of tiny rocks. What more could a kid ask for?

 For some reason, the kids loved this covered wagon a lot. They had me take picture after picture of them in it. 

Elles jacking Oliver's spot in the stroller. 

  

A pump & well. Super exciting to them!

Go Kirsti-wa! Push all those kids. 

The famous corner shelf with brown paper trim. I'm not sure if it's the original. Most likely not. 

And the hit of the day......LAUNDRY!! Everyone wanted to stay the longest at this spot. 

Apparently hand washing is a great activity. 

They fought over who got to do the soap, who got to ring it out, then went to pin  it on the clothes line. 

They were adorable. 

As for me, I looked at the equipment & thanked all technology 

that I have working machines to do these things for me. 

I do use my clothes line out back, but no matter how great Laura described boiling water, making soap, scrubbing clothes  & waiting for them to dry, I don't envy those parts of the books. 

 The lasso spot. 

With all the excitement, my girls found the golf cart to play on. Charly even started it up. 

I blamed the idiot that left their keys in the cart. 

 What made the trip worth the fees we had to pay were the unlimited pony rides. 

I'm the mom who begs her hubby to pay $10 per kid for a pony ride at the fair. 

I think it's so cool. 

Here, they all got several rides each. They loved it!

 Dressed up at the school house. 

Grant making rope. 

 It was so much looking at the place where a chunk of Laura's childhood lived out. Next time when I go back to SD, I'll travel the couple hours to the museum with more "real" Laura stuff. Till then, I'll re read all the books. 

Where's Jared you ask? He gladly waited in the car for more than 4 hours. He listened to a book & got some alone time. 

On the way back home we stopped at Independence Rock. Someday I'd like to climb it. But for now, sitting at the bottom for a family pic is enough. 

It was a lot of fun visiting these places. 
To see some of the country & it's history.