The Nauvoo Trip was a great success and a lot of fun. It was my first family vacation with the Stephens and it was so fun getting to know them more and being apart of this great experience with them. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of the pioneers and the examples they are in my life. I loved learning more about the history of the Saints and the church. 

 

  Here we are at Farr West, such a beautiful, peaceful place

 Playing some pioneer games, Spencer won one round and then Daniel won the other two!

 We look like tropical skittles so I had to get a picture of us. we just finished watching Sunset on the Mississippi

 Up inside the Red Brick Store where the Relief Society was first established. The girls had our own mini relief society meeting here. It was a beautiful experience as Carole shared her testimony of the divine work of Women and the history of those sisters who gave up so much for the Lord. It truly was a testimony strengthener to me as well as I listened to her speak and the Spirit that was there filled my entire soul.

 I'm so happy and so grateful that I am married to this Good looking Man for Time and all Eternity!!

 Inside the Caves of Tom Sawyer in Hannibal

 Inside the Gateway Arch. It is 600 ft tall and we rode inside a tiny little elevator for 3 mins.

 The only blondes of the family:)

Summer Fun

This year up at the Uintah Mountains there weren't many fish, too many mosquitos, and cold cold nights but with all that I loved every minute we had to be up in one of God's greatest creations. I love the outdoors especially the mountains.. it seriously is gorgeous up there and the nights are amazing you can see every star in the Universe and i get to snuggy up close to my Man!

Here is the picture you've all been waiting for. A shot of my prego belly. My little mister had fun camping too. (i almost said his name) 

 This year I got to try something new and adventurous and exciting. Daniel taught me how to shoot a shotgun. I'll be honest I really wanted to do it but at the same time I didn't. I was scared of the loudness and that it would jerk back and hurt me.. I knew the shock would come and I was scared of that moment to happen. I kept hesitating and Dan kept urging me come on babe you can do it, I promise it doesn't hurt. Finally after about what seemed an hour I finally shot the gun. and like I said that moment of surprise of loudness and the force of the gun scared me right out of my pants. I stuck to the little pistol after that.. But then I did a few more times later when we took some of the kiddos.

 Isn't this a great WANTED POSTER!! BEWARE of Bandit lurking about the mountains!!

Daniel slaving away picking up firewood for the fire and he filled our trunk full of wood to build me a boat. No it was actually for his scout campout.



Daniel's Birthday was that week as well. It was fun even though he was at school all day studying his little brains out. Kelsi and I made his cake the night before. For his birthday I themed it to be a Few of his Favorite things and one of his favorite candy bars is Reece's so I made him a Reece's cake. It was really rich but I thought it was delicious. I put the cake in the freezer with a note on the outside don't you dare peek inside of me or else your dead. Then inside the freezer i taped Black construction paper and put food in front of the cake pans so he couldn't see what was inside with another note saying "I thought i told you not to peek!" He had a kick out of that. so he did try peeking the little sneak.

The following week Daniel went and took his boys to scout camp down at Moab. He had a lot of fun with the boys as well as them with him. He wore them right as they went biking throughout the wilderness.

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 Silly

Sillier

One Wedding, One Fun Trip

Howdy everybody, I have another exciting post to write about so I thought I would come back after 3 weeks.

One new adventure, two blistery feet (but strong as ever now), three awesome people exploring D.C., four types of transportation (plane, feet, metro, and car), five wonderful days spent w/the hubbs!! It was the first time Dan and I had flown together and it was really our very first trip together other than our honeymoon.

 no reflection pond.. I was quite depressed it wasn't there. it didn't look as pretty.

MAN i have a Darn Good Looking Husband

 George Washington stayed in this house. The dinner reception was nearby it.

 Chesapeake Bay! It was a beautiful reception.

Guess what President he is impersonating?

 The millions of tombstones of veterans.

 

The tomb of the unknown soldier that is guarded 24/7 by a soldier. We got to watch the changing of the guard which was really neat. 

BABY STEPHENS

After long weeks of anticipation, today was the day we found out the gender of our little miracle!! little baby could not sit still but we was very photogenic and cooperated the majority of the time. Of course it knew we were trying to figure out what gender it was and kept teasing us. The nurse was very sweet and took lots of pictures for us to take home. Sitting there watching the screen was amazing, to think a wee little one is inside of me...unbelievable! It did make it more real after seeing it move around.


 The picture on the side shows what gender

 Daniel and I both knew all along what it was going to be (daniel knew before we were married supposedly) I however at first thought it was a girl because 1. I could not picture myself with a boy 2. I had dreams it was girl 3. AND mainly I would get a lot of little adorable girls clothes from the girl I nanny. BUT deep down inside of me I knew it was a boy and especially through the ultra sound before we found out I knew it was and we are BOTH SUPER EXCITED!!! He can be the man of the house when daniel is gone and protect all his other future siblings, of course so Daxton can have a playmate and they'll be best of friends!!! :)

We do have a name picked out already.. It's a secret till he's Born!! Sorry but we like to keep things a surprise:)