Our New Home

This is our new home (no matter how temporary, it is still our home- I've had to teach myself this). We will be here at until mid-July at least. The front room:

The walkway from the front room/front door:

The family room and kitchen:

I didn't get pictures of the rest of the house, but there is an unfinished basement (which is WONDERFUL for the kids to run around in), a guest room on the main floor, dining room (which we use as an office), and the upstairs bedrooms. We've enjoyed it and hope we can stay longer!

Valentines (yes, I'm behind)

Shane was wonderful on Valentine's Day. He made an EXCELLENT dinner- grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp! (making my mouth water just writing about it!) And as you can see he had lovely decor, including a beautiful orchid plant (which just last it's last petal- a month and 1/2 later). It was a fun Sunday. Handsome Cade ready for church.

Shane and I.

Cute little family I have!

The fun whole wheat Valentine's cake:) It was pretty good, but has more of a crumble texture than regular cake. Next time I won't make it so big.

Beautiful Winter

The stark contrast of life here in northern Michigan to Las Vegas is represented here in these postcard, picture perfect winter scene. Isn't it beautiful?! This are pictures looking out our front door and out the back door. Mind you, it was DEFINITELY COLD...and we are still adjusting to that, but it was beautiful. We arrived here in time to experience about 2 weeks of a true North Michigan winter. It was pleasant, even though we don't own a slow blower and Shane had to shovel our driveway almost every morning:) We'll definitely have to invest in one for next year...we'll see how we fair for an entire winter!?

We MADE IT! Finally.

Needless to say, we were all very grateful to make it to our destination!

Adelle was probably happier than anyone to get out of her seat! Look at that "crunchy" face, as Cade has dubbed it:) (she now has four top teeth)

Our first glimpse of Alpena.

The road to our home with a cute little covered bridge.

Almost there....

Shane and I treckin' along... We stopped at our old home in Nebraska to check it out for Mom and Dad. It was VERY nostalgic! Fun to reminisce, for sure. And, as tradition continues, we got a flat tire. Yes, they aren't very "exciting" anymore, honestly, they are getting old:) This one set us back about a day, but all-in-all we were very blessed that it was nothing more than a rear flat tire....and we were close to a walmart:)

Shane was a good sport about changing the tire in the FREEZING cold and wind! Fortunately, it didn't take too long and the kids stayed content in the car.
This made me laugh. This little guy got to sit shotgun the ENTIRE trip from LV to Alpena! HA! I was in the back with the kids most of the time, occasionally driving.
Oh, the love my Shane has for plants! Sadly, it did not make it, nor did any of our plants...it was the end of Shane's bonsai hobby. :(

PartVI- Day 2 & 3

Our second and third day were pretty good...until, well, you'll see. But we stopped at a train station- A REAL TRAIN STATION- to Cade's udder astonishment! He LOVED it to say the least. We didn't ride any train, just walked around and checked them out.

(yes, that was a no-make-up day...and a rough pervious night look:)

Stopped at the familiar Lincoln monument near Lincoln, NE.

Here we are int he car...fun times:) (well, mostly).

Goodbye Part V- On the Road

Our first day on the road was a smooth one. We stopped in Wyoming...(these pictures are out of order, but I can't seem to move them for some reason).
The end of the day- fun swimming! Our hotel as lovely- nice bed...Hampton Inn is the way to go.

We stopped at Little America- yummy icecream.

This is the official good-bye. Yep, it was sad. Don't like thinking about it...sniff, sniff.

Driving through Logan Canyon was BEAUTIFUL! This is a picture of coming down towards Bear Lake...if you can see, the lake was completely covered by a blanket of clouds. It was really neat in person.

Goodbye Part IV- Loganites

Ok, it's time to get this posted! We said good bye in Logan, and Jami and Mom came up at the same time...so it was SO great to see them again-though we had to say good bye again as well!
Jami was a good sport watching all the kids for us while we made one last trip to the temple (as we knew we wouldn't be able to make it as often here in MI- the closest one is 4.5 hours away). We were able to visit G'pa Stones. Doesn't he sparkle with joy!? What a wonderful spirit he has. Loved to see him. And I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of G'ma Stones with the kids!! I have really kicked myself for that slip-up! But she was great to see as well.

Cade enjoyed watching Grandma sew on her embrodery machine:) It has lots of buttons you know...Cade's favorite thing!

Our family (minus Adelle and adding cousin Addie), prior to Shane and I going to the temple.

I just thought that 4th North was GORGEOUS! It was all covered in a light covering of ice due to the inversion...and it was just magnificant...don't ya think? So Pretty, had to share.