Oh the places we'll go...

On a wild cross country trip,
We started on the Mississip;
The St Louis Arch was a go.
Cahokia mounds were so thorough.

Kansas City brought Independence,
As we visited Liberty Jail,
And were told the tail.
Of our prophet in remembrance.

Onward we drove,
To Council Bluffs where we learned,
Of our heritage that yearned,
For religious freedom.

Then the many stops:
Fort Atkinson, Fort Kearney, Ash Hollow, Fort Osage,
Jail and Courthouse Rocks, Scotts Bluff,
And back to Chimney Rock.
Fort Laramie, Fort Caspar,
We couldn't go any faster!

One Moore family reunion,
And on to Yellowstone.
The Grand Tetons we did roam,
With Jackson Hole, antlers and all.

Visiting family and friends
All along the way;
The Zent's and Wilcox,
Snell's and the Scott's,
Knighton's, et al en Utahts.

To California we came,
To come back again,
For a week of fun
With my sister, husband, and their daughters and sons.

Now in San Luis we do reside
For a month or 'til we decide,
To head back to Nashville,
Along the Southern trail.

Last post of 2008

Here's to my last post of 2008! What a great year it has been. It has brought some unexpected turns that have totally changed our lives. We have left amazing friends in a wonderful place and made awesome new friends in another wonderful place. We have all grown older and maybe a bit wiser. We have been able to reconnect with family we haven't seen in years. We were able to visit all members of our families throughout the year. What a blessing that has been!

A quick note on Christmas...it was WONDERFUL! The boys had a blast and loved everything they were given and had fun giving gifts to each other, too. We are currently in Maryland visiting Will's family and loving every moment we have here. His mom continues to look better and better and seems to be in pretty darn good spirits seeing as she's stuck in bed all day long. She's an amazing woman and has more strength than most of us thought possible. We are ready to ring in the New Year in about 15 minutes, so I'd better be done.

Here's to a new year of many new and wonderful adventures. Here's to TurnItUp Media taking off so our purpose in moving is complete. Here's to new pastures we haven't explored and wonderful people we haven't met quite yet. Here's to family, love, and as much peace as possible in this troubled world. We love you all and wish you all a very prosperous and joyful 2009!

Thanksgiving in Maryland

We had the privilege of visiting Will's family in Maryland for Thanksgiving. It was so great being there! I love only being 10 hours away! It's a little hop, skip, and jump to get there. His mom is looking so much better and is in pretty good spirits. She's at home, in bed, but at least at home! Michelle (Will's younger sister) is able to help take care of mom and does an excellent job at it, I might add! She is so patient and learns everything so quickly. I'm so grateful she is able to be there with mom during this difficult time. I do have to say that it's great how close almost all of Will's family is to his parents. His youngest sister, Kim, lives really close and is there most days, too. She's there with her beautiful baby girl, Baelee, which helps mom feel even happier. I love Will's family so much. I feel so lucky to have such loving and kind in-laws.

While we were there Rhonda, Will's older sister, had three children baptized...Maddie (8), Colby (9), and Heather (10). Maddie asked Will to baptize her, and he was thrilled for the opportunity. It was nice to see Mom up and around (in her wheelchair). I was able to give a little talk about the Holy Ghost, I think it went well. It was short and to the point, I do believe they listened through the whole thing. I was grateful to be included in the affair! I am so proud of those three amazing children for choosing to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know they have made a very important first step to making it to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

Some of the fun things...AKA "Guilt Trip"

Some of the fun things we did this summer...

The kids and I took off for Utah after the last day of school (yes I am crazy). We stopped in Primm that night and made it to Provo the next day. We were able to visit Uncle K.C. and Aunt Sarah a lot while we were there. Sarah was on the tail end of recooperation from her Leukemia, so we wheeled her around in a wheelchair and the kids loved every minute of it. The day we arrived in Provo, Will flew into SLC airport (surprising all family but me). I kept the news from the boys and K.C. and Sarah. It was great seeing their reaction when Will showed up at the park we took the kids to play before we parted ways that evening. :)



The day after we arrived we went to the Natural History Museum in Lehi, Utah. We had fun looking at all the artifacts and learning so much about so many things. The dinosaurs were a big hit!


Sunday took us to the Knighton's home since it was one of the few days Will would be there and we wanted to make sure we could all be together for at least a little while. We had a blast playing, talking, and especially singing! We had a battle between the men and the women. The women won with a huge lead! :) It was a great way to spend Father's Day!
Monday we went to Hogle Zoo. Will had never been and the kids hadn't gone in a long time, so it was the perfect time to go. K.C. and Sarah joined us on this outing, too, thank heavens. Sarah was a great tour guide! It was great being able to spend so much time with them. We were able to see the White Crocodile. Not to be confused with an Albino Crocodile...this one had a genetic defect that caused it to not have any pigment.








Tuesday we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It worked out to have the Knighton's join us there, but K.C. and Sarah weren't able to make it...Sarah had to get a blood transfusion to help her "numbers" go up. They were missed. :( Tammy has all the pictures from that day, so hopefully I'll have some soon.
Will took off, back to Tennessee, after our visit to Temple Square. He was greatly missed the rest of the vacation, but we didn't stop partying. More vacation and summer fun to come soon...maybe tomorrow.

Now we know why we moved here!

Well, we've made a very long treck and made it to Tennessee. If I never see another box I'll be the happiest woman in the world. Packing nearly killed me, or at least my back. It's so beautiful here and we're only 10 hours away from Will's family. We actually just got back last night from visiting them all in Maryland. Mom Whited is in the hospital trying to get better, but having a difficult time making it home. It sounds like our visit came just at the right time. She was supposed to go home on the 28th of August, but complications in her recovery caused a delay with no date set to go home at this point. She was feeling very down about the whole thing. I think it really helped when we surprised her the day before her birthday. She didn't know we were coming and we had the boys poke their heads into her hospital room. Her eyes grew as big as quarters. It was wonderful seeing her and all the rest of the family. I'm excited for our boys to finally get to know all their other cousins. This move came with a huge purpose...for us to be near Will's side of the family! As much as we miss my side of the family...it's worth the change.

Time Out for Women

Mom, Tracie, Emree and I all went to "Time Out for Women" put on by Deseret Book. It was amazing! Kenneth Cope was one of the musicians. There was also a group called "Mercy River" mercyrivermusic.com/index.html and a group from Nashville that go around the world singing their tribut to the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Pioneers. You can go here www.highwayrecords.com/joseph/ to check out what their group is all about.

They all touched my soul, but I'd have to say the most impressive of course was Kenneth Cope. You can visit his Myspace here www.myspace.com/kennethcopeofficial. I even got to get one of his CD's signed and got a hug from him. It was inspiring to listen to all the music. And the speakers were motivating, comforting, funny, and touching. Mary Ellen Edmunds was there and was funnier than all get out. She is so honest and shares real life dealings and is real. I loved being able to thank her for her words and was able to get a signature from her also.

Getting away was most amazing. It was so fun to be with Mom, Tracie and Emree. We were up until 2:30 am Friday night just talking and enjoying each other (Emree was asleep, thank goodness). It is cherished time I will never forget! William was awesome (and Brennan) for watching the boys and not ever calling me once while I was gone. I'd love to make a yearly thing out of it. It's so renewing and revitalizing. Next time we'll have to make sure ALL the women of the family can go (that's you Carrie and Sarah!) It would be great if at some point I could go out to Maryland and go with all of the women on the other side of my family!

I feel like a new woman and ready to face things with a better attitude, to not be so hard on myself, accept my follies and just continue to improve. I learned I had forgotten about myself, especially my Spiritual Self. I need to focus on me more often and not get so caught up in life. I need to enjoy each moment and stop rushing around all the time. My "self talk" is going to continue to improve. I'm going to talk myself through moments of stress to stop and look at the other person's point of view (especially my children's). I feel happy inside. My moments of frustration are more easily replaced with calm and compassion. Let's just say that I really needed a "Time Out" and I suggest one for everyone!!

DISNEYLAND

We went to Disneyland in July! It was everyone's first time except mine and the last time I went there I was 7 years old. What a magical experience. The boys loved it, we loved it, it was awesome. We were able to go into Disneyland for 4 days, but didn't hit California Adventure this time. We didn't have park hopper tickets and decided it wasn't worth losing a whole day at Disneyland. We rode every ride we wanted to, with the exception of "Finding Nemo" (4 hour wait) and "The Matterhorn" (2-3 hour wait). The other lines were short and crowds were sparce. The weather was beautiful and scenery was great. We couldn't have picked a better time to go, which was surprising since it was the middle of summer.

We got to see Mickey Mouse in private, both William and I really did feel like kids again. We somehow ended up in his house, not quite sure if that was where we were supposed to go to see him. We walked all the way to his farm, at the back of his house, and started watching a movie. We then realized we were minutes away from seeing Mickey Mouse, himself. What a magical experience. The boys still talk about Disneyland. In fact, tonight fireworks started going off a little ways away from the house (for some strange reason) and all the boys started saying, "It's at Disneyland!" Which was just so cute, especially when Logan started saying it, too.

Eyeore, Tigger, and Pooh Bear became very famous in the eyes of our boys. Their location was right in front of the exit of "Splash Mountain" which everyone loved but Ty, and Logan wasn't big enough to ride. With a "Switch Pass" for families with small children, there was a lot of waiting around for the other half of the family to finish up a ride. Seeing as we rode "Splash Mountain" a few times, we had a few opportunities to see these cuddly characters.

Tyler will never forget Pooh Bear taking off his hat and putting it on his own ear (meaning Pooh's ear).


"It's a Small World" was the ride that received the most riding from the Fleming Family. It was cool inside and very relaxing. From the advise of my wiser, older sister, we hit it either near closing or right after the parade in the afternoon. It was awesome! There was no line after we rode it a few times, so we just stayed on the boat and kept on riding through. The song inevitably stuck with us for a while, but that was okay since we were able to cool off a lot.

We stayed at a great hotel that had 2 queen beds and a queen hide-a-bed couch. Great space and awesome location. We walked across the street and entered the Disneyland walk, which is as close as you can get. Loved it! The pool was fun, too.

All-in-all, this was an unforgettable experience. None of us would trade it for anything. It was wonderful to be able to do something so unforgettable as a family. We haven't been able to do many things like this, and we appreciate being able to go. We grew closer and will always remember our magical time at Disneyland!

Camping in Sequoia National Park

We just returned from a wonderfully adventurous camping trip in Sequoia National Park. What a wonderful experience for all of us. We love camping! This time we were able to have Mom and Dad Scott join us. We were able to see so many beautiful things...bears, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, giant trees, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, deer, caves, etc.

In the Sequoias it is manditory to use bear boxes for all your food and anything that has a smell...our entire van had to fit into a box. J/K. All the car seats, food, toothpaste, deoderant, chapstick, lotion, wrappers, gum...really our car should have gone in. We were able to evade a bear intruder, but others at the camp ground were not as lucky (or i guess you could say as smart). Someone left all kinds of food items in their car and a bear broke into it. It's so sad that people who come into bear country can't be responsible and do their part, they end up ruining a bear for their laziness. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

Since we had two families, we got two camp sites and had two bear boxes...we used them both. I'm including a picture of the camp sites. It was a great camp ground. Off the beaten path, very quite, right by a river. Dad was able to filter river water for us to drink. Awesome!

Some of the things we were able to see were: Crystal Cave (WOW!), General Sherman Tree (Largest Tree in the World, most wood mass), General Grant Tree (3rd tallest tree in the world), Grizzly Falls (Beautiful!!), Tunnel Rock, some of the largest groupings of Sequoia Trees, a movie about Bears, amazing mountains and valleys, Bears, so many of God's wonderous works of art!

This is a picture from Crystal Cave, I was getting a picture of the crystal formation, but now I see a person in the formation. Wierd/Cool! Next is a picture of the boys and Grampa on a fallen branch from the General Sherman Tree...a BRANCH!!! Does that give you an idea of how massive these trees are? Dang!

This is the family in front of the General Grant Tree. I wish the picture could do justice for as huge as this tree is. General Grant also named it the National Christmas Tree in the early 1900s. Next is a picture of the 3 older boys climbing next to Grizzly Falls. Do you think they are excited?








And now we have Logan Chees'in it up with Grampa! This really is how he looks when he says, "Cheese".


Here's the boys enjoying the scenery while viewing from the van.




It's as if the boys are floating while viewing this beautiful canyon where two rivers meet in Kings Canyon National Park.


This is where you get to drive through two Sequioas on each side of the road also going both directions. It reminds you how small you really are in the scheme of things.
And a picture of our camp site the morning of our departure. Notice the big brown box to the right of the photo...that's one of the bear boxes.