We went to South Dakota Kota Kota

First, a warning.

You are going to be getting a picture overload with all of these pictures, but I couldn't help it, it's hard to weed out so many pictures so I pretty much put all of them in, I loved them all! :)
May I just say this trip we took to South Dakota was by far the best trip yet. I loved spending 6 full days with my family that lives there. It was most definitely needed, for me mostly. I had the most amazing time. The talks I had with my sister Heather, for the incredible person she is, to hear all that she and her husband Brad endure each day, and to see how much good they have done and are doing. It is such a blessing to be able to see them doing the Lord's work. I admire her and Brad more than they will ever know...

I also LOVED the talks I had with my mom, to be able to spend such quality time with that wonderful lady changed my perspective on so many things. She wasn't feeling good alot of the time we were there but didn't let it affect her time with us, she went with us everywhere and still worked 2 full 14 hour days having such a great attitude about it. She is so unaware of all the impact she has made on so many lives, especially mine.

Justin my little brother, WOW that kid is incredible in everyway. Such a big help and soooo good with the kids. All of them absolutely LOVE their uncle Justin. He taught me so much about pure and simple love. He is 15 years old and is mature FAR beyond his years. For example, he has had a paper route since he was 9 years old. Crazy!! He mows lawns on the side of his other job that he works 5 days a week during the day, all while being the man of the house taking care of Mom and LoLo. What an inspiring brother I have!!

So..... here are all of the millions of picture I took of our trip... :)

Our first trip was to Cosmo's where the gravity pull is extremely weird and everything is slanted you would fall over if you tried standing up straight. Water runs up hill, and the tree's grow sideways because of the gravity pull, I love this place.

Next was Mount Rushmore or as LoLo used to call it Mountain Rushmore.
Me and Mom

On our drive around the Rushmore the brakes started burning so we pulled over for a while to let them cool while Justin and Nog played on the hill pushing big rocks over the edge for fun I guess. oh boys :)

All those black dots are Massive Buffalo

Driving by Donkeys that are practically inside the cars getting food

A buffalo just hanging out on the road

I was SOO scared feeding this Donkey its mouth felt really weird but I loved it!!!

Walking around the shops in Wall drug on our way to the Badlands

okay seriously this girl is the cutest and funnest little girl on this planet!! I took about a finidy pictures of her.

I LOVE her blue eyes

While we were waiting for a trolly to come pick us up and show is around town and to StoryBook Island, Log was teaching everyone how to make really loud squealing noises with a blade of grass. Heather's were the best and the loudest, he must have learned it from boy scouts.

And then it came...

This was Nogs favorite ship

And favorite drinking fountain

I love giraffe's!!! As you can see

This is a picture of me last year doing my famous pose....

And this year....

Nog replacing Mom's bathroom sink. What a handy little plumber he is.

A puzzle we did... we were up until 1:30 in the morning working on it, we were SO tired the next day.

Complete!!

Me and Mama hanging out by the pool,

Being big dorks

The kids asked me to take a picture of them every time they jumped in. I got some pretty sweet pictures.

Jazmine

Coconut for a snack

Wooow look at the muscles.

Penny after playing ball with us for an hour

Justin, Log, Kenzie, and Me went on a walk, this is Heather and Brads house, SOOO pretty.

Kenzie wouldn't let me or Nog hold her only Justin.

The Badlands....this place was unreal it's all made of up of dirt.

Ya, I took this picture, it's really no big deal.

This is Nogal

Haha this picture cracks me up!! I was laughing so hard Brad was just laying on the ground being totally serious using a CUP as his pillow. It was hilarious

I wanted to be just like him so I used a brush, it was really comfy.
In the mornings I went for a run with Justin and Nog, this is the path I ran on each time. Why can't Arizona look like this?

On the way back..

This is a picture of the house Mom, Me, Jay, Justin, and LoLo lived it. Me and Jay lived here for 2 years. Love it!And lastly 2 videos. First one, Justin is dancing with Penny and the Second, he is acting like a monkey and Penny is howling at him. I loved them :)

and P.S. There is another new post on the next page

My Mom

I wanted to write a separate entry just for my mama. This woman is absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! She inspires me to be better all the time. While we were there visiting I want to share just some of the little things she did for me that really impacted me….
Before we got there she got all my favorite foods, planning out each meal. I asked her if she could make us German Pancakes one of the morning we were there, to my surprise I woke up with them already made waiting for me to eat. While we were sleeping she woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning before she went to work at 6 and made us all her famous German Pancakes. What mom does that? We did puzzles together, while she sang to us. She took us everywhere, making sure Log got the full experience of South Dakota. She acted like a big dork with me. She read to us while spending hours in the car. She went everywhere we wanted to go without complaining even though she had been to all the same places about a million times now.
When we were younger she made up a song for all 9 of us and sang our own personal songs to us ALL of the time. I LOVED my song and I still do. She has always listened to me and been there for me when I couldn’t go a step further on my own, she carried me. She has always strengthened me with her testimony of the gospel. Growing up she would sing in church all the time and I remember thinking how beautiful she sounded and how incredibly lucky I was to have a mom who sings. She sang all of our names on the answering machine, people would call and tell us not to answer so they could hear our cute song. When I was in high school EVERY morning she would wake me up with a good morning song with breakfast in her hands and a glass of milk, what teenager gets breakfast in bed every morning? She gave me the car when she got a new one, the Nissan Altima and told me not to tell anyone. They all found out and have been jealous that I was the only child to be given a car which I still have now and is STILL running. It’s a miracle actually, that thing should not be running with all that it has been through, I call it my tithing car that’s the only way it still going like a champ. My mom taught me the importance and beauty of a sunset. She sang me to sleep. She laughs with me, she cries with me. Even though I don’t get to see her NEARLY enough as I want to. I still get goofy text from her and the best pictures too all the time! And when I do get to see her it makes me that much more aware and grateful for the time I do have to spend with her. I want to be the mother she has been to me to my children that I’ll have some day. I want to be the fun, goofy, uplifting, inspiring, happy Mom she has been to me all my life. I love her with ALL my heart and more. Thank you mama for who you are and who you teach me to be. You are my hero.