Lexi's Baptism

Lexi turned 8 while we were on vacation. She very much wanted to be baptized at my parents cabin just outside of Yellowstone Park. My youngest sister was baptized here and so I thought this really wouldn't be very complicated.

We started making preparations and hit a wall when it came to getting official church permission. Apparently church policy has changed on lake and river baptisms where fonts are available. who knew?! After several phone calls and some reviewing of official policies we got the okay. I have fully accepted that Lexi will be our only child that gets this unique opportunity to be baptized at the cabin. It was a wonderful day, one I think everyone there will not forget.

Enjoy the photos!

In attendance, my side: Darryl & Vicki, Bryce, Alex & Michelle, Brett, Marc & Kelsey, Vanessa, Steffani.

In attendance, Jacob's side: Grandma & Grandpa Gee, Steve & Carolyn, Monica & Danny w/ Brock & Hallie, Emily w/ Aiden & Amy, Brinton

Of course the Hagerdon's were there, but they dont belong on a side, they have been adopted in.

Could you pick a more ideal place to be baptized? I think this is beautiful. Please make a note of Lexi's dress. My mom made this dress for my cousin Debby Kaye. Each of my sisters and I also wore this dress.

To prevent the dress from getting dirty we resorted to carrying Lexi between the cabin and the Lake. My brother Brett took the honors. Lexi was thrilled!

I don't think I have seen Lexi happier than she was on this day!

Ready to be Confirmed!

Lexi with Omi & Papa

Lexi with Grandma & Grandpa

Time for the party!! After the baptism everyone stayed to play on the Lake. We had a dutch oven cook out, swimming, tubing, wake boarding, and just playing in the sand. Such fun!!!

Eat up! Thanks Dad for manning the fire on such a hot day!

Lexi, Hannah, & Elizabeth waiting for thier tube ride!

At the end of the day it was just Kurt and Hallie that fell asleep from all the excitement. I never knew that riding in the boat is as lulling as a ride in the car!

Yellowstone

I think I have always considered Yellowstone my home-away-from-home. I was so excited to take Nicole and her family there on our trip. It was loads of fun to be the tour guide in a place I love so much. Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather so my normal photo frenzy was non existant. Here are just a few pics from Yellowstone.

Old Faithful!

This is the first time we have taken a half way decent picture of a bear in the park. It was just a cub but it was fun to be soooo close.

Hiking through Mammoth Springs. This is my favortite place in the park. I didn't take this pic, I wasn't feeling well enough to go, I wish you could see better what is behind them, it is amazing!

Yes, this is a snow drift, and yes it is the last weekend of June. This is not plowed snow, this is the actual depth of snow that had not yet melted. As we drove into the higher altitudes of the park we were thrilled to see snow and of course have a snow ball fight in shorts and t-shirts.

It is not uncommon to have snow, even new snow, during the summer in Yellowstone. I think the unpredicatble weather just makes it that much more fun.

Seeing the Sights! SLC Day 2

So here are a few pics of our fun on Day 2 in Salt Lake. This was an exhausting day and I was only present for the first half. My mom switched me places half way through the day so I could get to an appointment. My mom is a brave woman!!!

In front of the the SLC Temple. The kids were less than cooperative for photo ops.



A moment to treasure.......they are being soooo good. It was just a moment.

Asher and Kurt were so cute. The were fast friends, which surprised us since there is almost two years difference in their ages.

Emma and Elizabeth were glued together at the hip, I love this picture!

The kids are demonstrating how not to behave in the Tabernacle. Who took this?

Please forgive me Jenny but your face speaks for all us moms and how we were doing at this point! This was taken in the Beehive House!

Enjoying a ride in Heritage Park.

A team effort at the butter churn!

Heritage Park was a huge hit with everyone, unfortunately for me, it is what I missed.

Dino Day

We spent a few days in Utah as part of our vacation. We had a blast spending time with our friends, the Reynolds.

While visiting the Reynolds we:




....................Dug for dinasaurs.............






.....built a habitat.............

....hung out with t-Rex and.......................this thing..................

......Got eaten by a shark, and survived only to.......................

................................CRASH!!!

Shoshone Falls

On our journey from Boise to Pocatello we stopped at Shoshone Falls near Jerome. It was especially fun because we got to see friends from Cincinnati who were also in Idaho visiting family.

Kurt with Uncle Brett, who was hugely popular with the kids!
From right: Lexi, Nicole, Codie, Hannah, Katie (holding Deklan), Sydney, Me (holding Kurt), Elizabeth, and Reid
Katie and I used to talk about road tripping to Idaho, we never did it but we finally managed an Idaho rendezvous. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful locale!

Marc's Wedding

My brother Marc was what initiated the plans for our summer trip. He was married to Kelsey on June 30th. I have included a few pictures from the wedding and reception.

This picture cracked me up. These are the nieces and nephews that were in attendance. It was a great attempt for what turned out to be an impossible photo op. A fun tid-bit: Marc and Kelsey are both the eighth child in families of ten children, the potential for nieces and nephews is a bit overwhelming.
The Boise reception was a blast, it was in Kelsey's parents back yard. It turned out to be a great play time for all those nieces and nephews.

Reid with my sister Vanessa, so cute.

This will always be one favorite picture of mine. This is my four generation LoRee shot.

My Great Aunt LoRee, my mom Vicki LoRee, me Aliess LoRee and my little Alexis LoRee

Here's to.....Unexpected Adventures!

I know many of you have been waiting for updates from our trip, so here is the first. I am always up for a good adventure, but this is one I would have been just fine without. I want you all to know that I did check the weather before our trip, and I know the Lord was watching over us.

As we approached the evening of our first days drive we had planned on eating dinner and gassing the car in Lincoln Nebraska. As we approached our desired exit, we missed it! It was under construction and we aren't even sure if it was open. We thought, oh well, there will be another exit with services soon. An hour plus later we had not spotted another reasonable exit and my gas light was on. We got off the nearest exit that advertised gas. I payed a small fortune for gas and Nicole asked where the nearest place to eat was, thankfully just five miles up the freeway. We hopped on and took the next exit. We pulled up to the Holiday Inn which had an Applebees inside and headed in with six very hungry kids. I noticed a small group of people transfixed by whatever was on the large screen TV in the Lobby. I realize they are watching the carnage being wreaked by a storm. I turned and asked the woman next to me where we were in relationship to the storm. "It's directly west and heading straight at us". Well, we had about 40 minutes until its arrival so what else is there to do but eat.

After dinner we double checked the weather and decided that we were in as good a place to wait out the storm as we were going to find. I suggested to Nicole that we get an overnight bag from the car plus anything that would be difficult to replace, like cameras. She asked why and I told her I was worried we might lose the car in the storm. We were hearded into the storm shelter of the hotel with about 75-100 other people. It was actually a hallway that could be fully sealed on the ground floor. At this stage the kids were concerned and a couple even cried. It was Codie (Nicole's 8 year old) that asked if he could say a prayer. It was such a sweet prayer and his prayer was answered. We waited for about an hour for the storm to pass, we and the car were fine.

We decided to continue driving since it was still early evening and the storm was past us. We got on the freeway, spotted an over turned truck and trailer and then realized we were being hearded right back off the freeway, we hadn't even gone 5 miles. We were rerouted onto an old highway and learned that our shelter was within three miles of where a tornado had touched down. The freeway was shut down as a result of damage and overturned vehicles. We did see several signs off serious damage but I guess we were about 30 miles from where the worst of it had been.



Looking back I realize that it was no coincidence that we had missed our Linclon exit. Had we stopped there we would probably have been completely unaware of the storm and would have continued right into it. Instead we were stopped just in time to discover our danger. We did not forget to thank our Heavenly Father for his protection. I took this picture of some of the kids while we were in the shelter. I figure it was a memory and even though it was a bit unusual it was a moment that mattered.

For those who are interested in our exact location we stopped in York Nebraska, We were between 3-5 miles from Aurora, which had a tornado touch down. Kearney was about 30 miles west of us and it was hit the hardest.