Memorial Day Weekend

Well this weekend we decided that since we haven't been up to see my brother and his family in Idaho Falls that we make that trip. We didn't know how it would go with Austin since he hasn't ever been very far from home but surprisingly he did very well. We drove up there on Friday night after Shelby's softball game and got there about 10:00pm. Then on Saturday we went up to Virginia City and Nevada City in Montana. They are "ghost towns" and we spent the day looking around and enjoying the scenery.

They had these weird fish all over up there.

This is the kids with our nieces, Aimee and Michelle and nephew, Colton.

Posing with the Indian Chief. Austin's hiding.

They had a few people up there playing the part.

The guy looks happy to have his picture taken, don't you think?

We rode a train from Virginia City to Nevada City where we went through an old music hall with old player pianos and organs that still worked which was very amazing because some of them were VERY old. We also went through the old houses and businesses that they had turned into a "museum".

On the train.

In the music hall.

This was in a two-story home there that had to be almost a mansion for back then. It was so pretty. We talked to a guy that worked there because there was just a different feeling about the house and he said that in the morning the workers will go in and straighten up and by the next day the beds are all messed up. Now they have it so that you can't go in the bedrooms, you can only look through the doorways. So they think there's a little girl's ghost that lives there. I swear you could feel it when you went in there. Not scary but just a little creepy.

Notice the fire hydrant...sort of adds to the ambiance, don't you think

(although I don't blame them)?

We rode the train back to Virginia City and then drove back to Nevada City so that we could pan for gold and garnets. That was very fun. We didn't strike the mother load but we got some. It was just nice to say that we got to do it.

We got a few specks of gold although you can't really see it in the picture.

My brother, Jeff, was so nice to watch Austin while we picked out the garnets in our pan.

We love you Uncle Jeff!

Then we drove back to Idaho Falls. We just relaxed on Sunday and then came home on Monday after playing Guitar Hero. It was a great weekend and Kaylee didn't want to leave because she had so much fun.

This is Aunt Julie, caught by surprise!

Aimee and Colton!

Michelle didn't want me to take her picture but I insisted!

Isn't she cute?

On our way home we stopped just outside of Idaho Falls at a place called Hell's Half Acre where there's volcanic rock in the middle of sagebrush and desert. It's always been something that we've wanted to do but we've just never stopped. There is a trail there that you can walk around and learn about how it was formed. It was kind of neat. Shelby was miserable while we were there because her allergies started while walking around there but it was very cool to see.

Needless to say it was pretty much a weekend of driving (3 hours up to Idaho, 3 hours to Montana, 3 hours back to Idaho and then 3 hours back to Utah) but WE CAN'T WAIT UNTIL OUR NEXT VISIT. Thanks guys for making a memorable trip for us. We love you!