Journey to the Sun

Our spring break started out a lot like our winter break this year.

I'd say we got a good 6 inches of snow if not more during the 2 day storm. We are hoping that this is the last time we will need to use a snowblower this year. :-)

We delayed our departure to the sunny south a day to miss traveling in the inclement weather. On Wednesday morning we were packed and hit the road just after 10 a.m.

Yep, sunny skies and warmer temperatures greeted us upon arrival.  Adam has 3 sisters (with 15 kids between them), 1 brother and parents in the area so there is never a shortage of action and/or cousins.

Even though Britton has aged out of some of the activities I appreciate the fact that he still plays with the younger cousins and tries to have fun. I recognize this is rare when it comes to 14 year old boys, which makes it that much more remarkable.  Of course the little cousins adore him for it.  

We have kind of hit a familiar routine during our trips to the south.  We usually go to a park, go on a hike, do a little swimming and get together at Bethany's house for a birthday party.  Her birthday is on April 2nd and it seems we are always around when the big day rolls around.

Britton at the swimming pool at the rec center.  

We are sad to lose the ability to swim in G.G.'s HOA pool as the sale of her home was finalized while we were in town.  We really missed not having her around, we always loved to visit her during our spring break

Britton playing soccer with younger cousins.

Adam and his Dad at Bethany's house after the Priesthood session of conference.

The kids had a big dance party upstairs.  Bethany doesn't mess around when it comes to a party, they had the dance ball on hand and a lot of dance music on deck. 

So Uncle Ben has some serious balloon making skills and spoiled the kids with his creations.

Check out Spiderman and a cute little owl he made for Jenna.

Britton and Jameson had balloon swords and even balloon shields.  It was a spectacle and frankly I've never seen anything like it.

We watched conference at Adam's parents house on Saturday.  Our plan was to leave after the first session of conference on Sunday and listen to the last session in the car.  You can imagine I was more than a little excited when on Sunday morning President Monson announced that a temple would be built in Belem Brazil.  It has been 17 years since I served my mission in Belem and the members still have to travel 3 days on a bus to get to the nearest temple.  In some areas they have to add another 3 days on a boat just to get to the bus!  A temple in Belem is huge for these members and is an indication of the growth of the church in the area.  When I left my mission there were 3 stakes in Belem and 5 stakes total in the entire mission, now they have 10 stakes in Belem alone. That is awesome.  Of course my facebook page was on fire with the news all day long. A lot of celebration is going on.

A quick family picture before we got in the car for the trip home.

The snow was all gone when we pulled into our driveway.  Yeah!  On Monday morning it was back to life, back to reality. Always a little tough, but somehow we got through it.