Happy Birthday Jeff!

Today is Jeff's Birthday. We always have quite the week of celebrating, because our birthdays are 6 days apart.

If honor of our birthdays, we enjoyed a weekend getaway to Manti. My niece Shelly came to stay with the kids and we left on Friday, and came home Sunday night. It was great. A much needed break. We loved going to a small town, and having that peaceful, slow paced atmosphere. As much as I love living in/near a big city, there's nothing like a small town. We love just driving around from small town to small town, and walking down Main Street and checking out all the little shops.We stayed at the Yardley Inn & Spa, a little bed & breakfast. It was so nice, and the owners were extremely consciencious of the guest, making sure everyone was comfortable and their needs were met.
This is definitely on our list of places we must return to before too very long. It was great to have a conversation with my husband and not hear little people yelling at me for things, or wanting to interject their own conversations.
It was also nice not to have to load/unload kids everywhere we went. I didn't have to pack snacks, carry a diaper bag, push a stroller, put hairbows in little ponytails, or listen to a temper tantrum all weekend! Talk about luxury!
The other thing we loved, and the main reason we picked Manti, was to attend the Temple. I have admired the Manti Temple since I was very young. My sister Dayna had a large picture of it hanging in her room, and I've always thought it was beautiful. Now I know the inside is even more magnificent. It is a definite favorite of ours now, and we can't wait to return again.

So tonight I decided to have a little (tiny crowd) surprise birthday party for Jeff. Coming off of a weekend away, it was quite little, and not as put together as I would have liked it, but it worked out to be a fun time. It was a "sports" theme, so he had a football balloon, and a baseball balloon. I quickly made these cake pops into basketballs and baseballs. My friend picked up these baseball candles (that's what's stuck on top of the cake balls - it's a little hard to figure out why they're double decker!) that went along with the theme perfectly.
And we had a baseball pinata. All the kids took their turn. It had to be in our basement because A) It was snowing outside, B) It was freezing outside, C) Even if it wasn't snowing or freezing outside, we have no tree or deck from which we could hang it from.
And the birthday boy got to take the final swings to break it open. I think he needs to get back on a softball team, check out that form!Happy Birthday Jeff! Thanks for a fabulous weekend, a fun day, and fantastic 10+ years of being together! Love you!

Storybook Island

This was probably my favorite activity in South Dakota. We went on our last day there with just my Dad, DeLyn, Dianne. It has gotten so much better since I was little. It is free and will always be free. The girls were so excited they were literally running from one thing to the next and I had a hard time keeping up.Bella & The Cat in the Hat

Reed cannot get enough of those puppies!

Even the drinking fountains are cute! Reed's new fascination - cars. He now can make his way to the front seat

of the van and LOVES pushing, pulling and turning.

Back to my roots

The whale and Yogi Bear were two of my favorites when I was little.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater was DeLyn's. She and Bella are in the pumpkin shell.

Crazy Horse

So before going to Mt. Rushmore, we went to Crazy Horse. I personally was not a fan. First of all, it cost us $27 for our car to go through and you could see it before going in the gate. Second of all it wasn't even finished, not even close. Why did we go then you ask? Because we were the last car in our group to go through and couldn't not pay, everyone else was inside already.

I was so disappointed I didn't even take a photo of it. I had to scan this one off the pamphlet.

Mt. Rushmore was only $10 to go through, and was FINISHED! It only took 16 years to sculpt, and Crazy Horse has already taken 60. With that said, here are the photos.

This is what it is supposed to look like when completed. Perhaps in about a thousand years.

Mount Rushmore

A trip to South Dakota just would not be complete without seeing Mt. Rushmore. It is amazing and I absolutely love going there. We had dinner there and saw the lighting ceremony.

I love these cute cousins Jane, Bella, & Carter.

Family Shots

Here are some fun family shots we took while up there.

All 6 girls were in attendance, and the one of my four brothers that was able to make it. From left to right: DeLyn, Dianne, Darla, Dean, Dayna, myself, and Debbie (in front).

This and Dean & Debbie's cute family. The last time we saw them was in 2002, when Bella was just a couple of months old. We could not have been more excited that they were there. My adorable nieces and nephew are so sweet, well mannered, and I love them to pieces. It was great catching up with them and getting to know each other's children.Dayna, myself, DeLyn & Di getting "squeezed"!

I think Sofie hung out with her boy cousins a little too much - she got way too excited about this cap gun!My dad always says that when he holds a baby, they have to "just sit". He doesn't do the tossing in the air or playing around. The funny thing is that when he holds Reed, he just chills out and doesn't wiggle and squirm. I guess Reed was sitting still enough that Dad could fall asleep!
My cute Abraham family. I miss so much living close to them and seeing their little ones grow up. Bella could not have been happier than spending so much time with Jane. I also loved getting my "baby fix" by holding Baby Kate.

Orr Family Reunion 2008

The reason we went to South Dakota was for my dad's family reunion. He is one of 6 children, and they were all in attendance. There were a total of 115 of us in attendance. There were lots of great activites, food, and conversations with cousins and aunts and uncles. We had a great time.

Here are the "ORRiginal Orrs. From left to right: Dean, Duane (my dad), Vel, Jay, Ora Lee, and Larry.We had a photo shoot one morning and every family had a different color reunion shirt. Our's was light blue. Here's Mom with Jane, Sofie & Bella.

There were 7 out of the 10 kids in attendance from my immediate family. It was great to see everyone and spend time together. I just hope it's not another 14 years before we have another reunion for my dad's family!

If you haven't been to the "Black Hills", you need to put it on your "bucket list". It is such dense beautiful forest and the it's amazing what unadulterated air smells like. We had fabulous accommodations is a "cabin" that was more of a luxury home, including a hot tub and playhouse for the kids in back. There was a golf course on the property, as well as a lake for fishing. Jeff enjoyed running and fishing in the mornings. (I enjoyed sleeping in!)

As my brother-in-law Mike put it, the Orr's are famous for playing hard all day, and staying up all night. We did not go to bed until 2 or 3 every morning because we love to talk, laugh and reminisce. This would be why I've been SO tired since returning home.

Bear Country U.S.A.

So, between catching up on my sleep, doing laundry, cleaning house, grocery shopping, and celebrating the 24th today, I'm going to try and finish my vacation posts.

Our next stop was Bear Country. It's basically the best zoo ever invented for small children. You drive through it and so the kids can get out of their car seats and see all kinds of animals up close. They loved it. I loved not having to deal with a stroller or kids running wild!

At the end you can park the car and walk around a little bit to see the baby bears.

And we all got tattoos - even my mom!

Reptile Gardens

We had so much fun on our vacation. I will start with our trip to Reptile Gardens. The last time I went, I was about Bella's age. It was fun to relive my memories of the trip, and enjoy it with my children.

I have a photo of me riding a tortoise 30 years ago. We asked the attendant how old the three tortoises were, and come to find out, they are the same ones that were here then. You can't ride them now but the kids still thought it was great to get up close.

Some of the cousins with Aunt Debbie

Watch out for those snakes - they'll get ya when you least expect it!

This just looks so creepy to me. Thank goodness there was a fence in between us. FYI - they can't see directly in front or behind them. (Not that I would like to get close enough to them to put it to the test.)It cracked me up that Sofie was completely unfazed by petting the baby alligator. They had to put electrical tape around the mouth!

We had a ball!