The Nashville Trip

I got back Tuesday night from Nashville. We had spent the night in Des Moines and so went 1100 miles on Tuesday so I could start school on Wednesday. I can't tell you how nice my friend Jackie is. She and her husband Sam let us use their brand new truck for the trip and she made the trek with me. We had a great time but also worked very hard. We bought a house load of furniture at a second hand store and it took us three pick up loads to get it all back to the apartment. We had planned on going to Tammy's house, but had to scrap that because it took us longer than we thought to get the apartment all furnished and ready to go. It is really beautiful in Nashville. Very hilly and green. We plan on going to see them every year that they are there. We hope to see some civil war battlefields and a plantation next time we go.

Preston's cool new bed

 

Nashville is beautiful. This is the view from Dave's balcony.

 

not a trip for whimps. You go up the arch with four other people in this little capsule.

 

A view of the Arch from our hotel room. We went to the top!

 

Jackie and I had to add duct tape when the tarp started shredding in Nebraska

 

Sam and Thompsons getting the tarp on Dave's stuff

 

Happy and Sad

We had our last hurrah today. I will leave tomorrow to start the drive to Tennessee, so tonight was the last time we would all be together for dinner for a long time. We ordered out from Cafe Rio and went to a park to eat. It was great fun, as you can see from the pictures. We feel so blessed to have been able to enjoy each others company as we lived together the last year and a half. Our house will sure seem empty and lonely. We are already planning on spending next spring break in Nashville. I don't kn0w how families handle having kids living all over the country. I will spend the next five years praying that David gets a job fairly close to home. I can't stand having my kids so far away.

More of the park

The cousins will sure miss each other.
Susanne will hate me for this one, but we ALL got into the fun.
Preston decided to look at the camera just as the timer was going off. It would have been cute...?
Such a nice Uncle Mark. We missed the picture of Preston doing the same thing. 

New try at family pictures

In our front yard

Our favorite one from the park
We did have a good time!
Everyone played 

Our annual Moosehorn trip

Every summer we try to go to the Uintas. Our favorite spot is Moosehorn campground (so named because of the shape of the lake). Ya-ping didn't come but everyone came for at least a little while. John, Rick's brother, joined us with two of his children. He had never been up there so it was fun to share with him. We had a lot of rain the first day and a half but the second day and a half was beautiful.

The Thinker 

We watched the mountain goats in the morning. Rick has a great spotting scope 

Is that a boat or a trampoline? 

Dave and Preston stayed one day

 

Me and Allie in our little boat