A Vacation of "Firsts"

This past weekend, I was able to go to a family reunion with my husband and his family and it was all a vacation of firsts. Just about all of it was things I've never experienced before! ***Warning...lots of pictures! And writing!*** Here are all of the fun things I did for the first time.

First time traveling to Nebraska

We went and stayed at Fort Robinson. It's about an hour away from Lusk, so almost to the border of Wyoming. Fort Robinson is where the army barracks for the civil war are. It was pretty darn cool!
We got to stay in one of the barracks, so there were bunk beds, but there were also a couple rooms with queen size beds. There was also the mess hall where the soldiers actually ate. Eating at the mess hall leads me to another first.

Eating Buffalo!
Yep, there was buffalo written all over the menu. I decided to be brave and try it. There aren't many opportunities to do that here in Utah. It was...interesting. Very dry, but good. I'd be willing to try it again. Now onto the next "first".

Taking a Jeep ride up to the Fort Robinson Buttes

This was a little scary for me. I didn't expect to be off roading up all these hills to the top of these mountains (well,they aren't really mountains...Nebraska doesn't have any mountains). It felt like I was at the top of the mountain though. I was the only one holding on for dear life riding up. It's not like we were inside a vehicle. We were out in the open air. It was the most beautiful drive though and it really was a lot of fun. We saw lots of wild sheep up there. There was even a butte they call Turtle butte because it looks like a turtle, or at least it's supposed to. Up at the top, we were able to get out and walk into a space enclosed by a chain link fence. I wasn't going to dare let Jace down though. I'm sure he would have been able to escape knowing him.






Owning a pet bunny

Okay, so I didn't really own a pet bunny, but we had a little one that lived outside our cabin at Fort Robinson. It was the cutest thing and Jace loved it! He would run outside and go to its hole looking for it telling it to come back out. Just take a look for yourself!

Going to Mount Rushmore!
Mount Rushmore was only a couple hours away from where we stayed, so of course we had to drive up there. It was nothing like I expected it. I didn't realize how small it is and how far away it really is. It was so great to see though and I'm so glad I got to see something like that! While we were there, we enjoyed the yummiest icecream I've about ever had. We also went to the gift shop and got to actually meet one of the carvers of Mount Rushmore. He was able to sign a book for us and we were able to get a picture taken with him. His name was Nick Clifford. I'm definitely going to be going back there someday.

Driving through a herd of buffalo

That's right. After going to Mount Rushmore, we went to Custer State Park. There was a wildlife trail that we decided to go check out. They warned us we would probably see buffalo on this drive since it was later in the evening. But BOY did we see buffalo. We did not expect them to be all over the road and to get to drive right through the middle of all of them. It was a little frightening because we had our windows down. I thought they were going to run right into us. They must be used to all of the people though because they didn't seem to care that we were there at all. I could have reached my hand out the window and touch one if I really wanted to, but who wants to take a risk like that? Those things are quite large!

Seeing both ends of a rainbow

I wasn't able to get pictures of this. We had this crazy lightning storm one night while we were in the mess hall eating dinner. The lights kept going out while we were eating. But the sight after the storm was so amazing! There was an actual double rainbow. I've never seen that before. Not only that, but you could see both ends. That doesn't happen in Utah because of the mountains and the big cities. We tried to get pictures, but our camera just couldn't pick it up. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Seeing Needles Canyon

There was another place in Custer State Park called Needles Canyon. I was very worried that it just wouldn't be worth going up because the drive was uphill and took a really long time to get to. Jace was getting ornery and we were all tired from being on the road so long already that day. But the drive was so worth it. The views were amazing and we were able to hang out at the top for awhile and run around and take pictures. On the drive up, we went through several one-way tunnels. Jace loved them because before you could go through, you had to stop and honk the horn so that somebody from the other end wouldn't accidentally go through at the same time as you.

Anyways, I know there was a lot of other stuff that I did for the first time, but those are some of the big highlights. Nebraska was really so much fun and I wouldn't mind going back at all! I look forward to taking more trips there with my hubby since his grandma and grandpa are from there. His plan is to move there someday, and to be honest, I don't think I'd mind it as well. It was just so peaceful and it's so great to hear of his family history there and to hear about his grandpa's stories from there. I know this post ended up being really scrambled with the writing and the pictures, but I made it the best I could so that it didn't seem so long. And just to end, here's an awesome family picture we got up in the canyons.

Gardner Village

Last week, my friend, Sarah and I, decided to take our kiddoes to Gardner Village. They have a small petting zoo this time of year and I thought Jace would just love it. So, we headed there and as I suspected, Jace loved it. I don't recall having ever been to a petting zoo, so it was fun for me too. Jace was fearless. He would push animals out of his way and walk over them. No fear from my boy. I guess perhaps it comes from being raised with 2 dogs in the house.


I broke down and bought Jace one of the animal backpacks that also doubles as a leash. I love this picture because you can see the cute lion on Jace's back.


This was one of those times that Jace was completely fearless. He walked into a small space and this huge goat was back there. Well, Jace wasn't going to take it being in his way, so he literally pushed it out of his way. Poor goat.



I think Jace liked petting the big sheep more than the baby lambs because of their wool.


Of course, you can't go to the petting zoo without letting him ride the horsey. He absolutely loved being on the horsey, but about halfway through the ride, he started screaming that he was all done and wanted off. I think he just wanted to go see all the other horseys and ride them all.

After the petting zoo, we ate lunch and went to a few stores. Mostly we just let the kids run around together. It was Gardner Village's 30th Birthday, so they had a big truck with a cake and stuff on it. Sarah's little girl, Dagny, wanted a picture up by the cake, so I put Jace up with her. Well, Jace didn't want his picture and that made Dangy upset, so instead of a smiling picture, we got a picture of both kids pouting.





Oh funny funny kids. Gotta love em though. It definitely proved to be a fun day that day though and the weather was absolutely perfect. We'll definitely have to do it again.

What Mommy Doesn't Know...

Sometimes Jace just gets into trouble that I just don't know about until I turn on my camera and run into a few random pictures.





I sit and stare at these pictures wondering what they are and when in the world I took them. Perhaps Lance took them? Then I look a little further into the camera pictures and I find some pictures of the culprit.





And I just laugh my head off! How can I get mad at that? Just way too funny!

I Know

I have the most musical little boy. He just loves to sing and the thing is, he still jabbers quite a bit, but he definitely can carry a tune. His favorite song of all time is "Have you Ever Seen the Rain" by Credence Clearwater Revival, or as Jace likes to call it, "I Know". we listen to the song about 50 times a day. Today, while in his highchair, he decided to start singing it on his own, so I caught a little bit of it on my cell phone. Now that he has video of himself singing it, I think we'll be listening to his version a lot more.




Okay, so I lied. I just showed the videos to my husband and he didn't even know what Jace was doing in them. So maybe he's really not singing in tune, but that's because he's not singing to the music. He's singing it solo. You'll just have to take my word that he really can carry a tune.

We call him trouble

So, Jace has been a stinker lately. He's been doing things that he has never done before. Such as this...


After breakfast this morning, he climbed up on the kitchen table.

Then, later in the day I was making some yummy strawberry freezer jam. I went into the bathroom to find this...


I counted a total of 12 things in the toilet including tilex, shampoo, bubble bath, a toy boat, a book, toilet paper, etc. At least he didn't try to flush it. Silly kid.

Anyways....so, last week, we had family pictures done with Lance's family. We all pitched in and got pictures done for his grandma's birthday that is almost 90 years old. Sad to say, none of them looked great. Between all the little kids and Jace screaming, there wasn't one picture with everyone looking at the camera. Here are a couple good shots they did get of Jace when he wasn't looking.


This is a picture of Jace taking off running and Lance running after him. It turned to be a good picture though if you ask me.


Just another cute picture they caught of him running. This kid was not happy at this photo session unless he could run.


This picture could have been really cute if they would have angled us differently. Oh well....what can you do? So, yeah...no group pictures and it was mainly because of Jace. It seems like in every picture, somebody was looking at him or laughing at him (mainly me). We have still yet to get a really good family picture. If there are any photographers that can perform magic and make my 2-year-old smile, then we could use you. Trust me, it's not an easy task.

So, Easter is now over. Crazy! Time flew by. Can't believe it's already the first week of April, and get this, it's snowing outside! For Easter, of course we did egg dying the day before. It didn't prove to be easy with a toddler. He wanted to put the egg in the dye himself. He didn't want help. Of course, we didn't let him do it himself to avoid a stained table, so he was mad at us the whole time.


Here's daddy helping show Jace how to color on the egg and put it in the dye.

On Easter morning, we gave Jace his own little Easter basket. He was pretty excited about it. He only looked at it for a minute though and then went on to other things.


We got him a lawn mower too with his basket and thought he would be so excited about it. Right now though, he could care less. Oh well.

After conference, we headed out to West Valley so that Jace could do an egg hunt at Grandma Rowley's.


He got into it for a little while. After only a few eggs though, he was done. All he could care about was that he was outside which meant he had space to run! Have you picked up yet that Jace likes to run? And he's not a slow kid either. I can barely keep up with him (but I also have the excuse of a bad foot. Ever since I broke it 2 years ago, I'm not very quick on my feet).

After eating dinner and everything with the Rowley's, we headed over with my family and played an egg game and the kids got Easter baskets.


I'm so mean. I made him stand with me for a picture, but he wasn't happy about it!


He was funny. In his basket, he got 2 motorcycles. He also got the bunny mask. He wouldn't wear it on his eyes, so he pushed them up on his forehead and wore them there the rest of the night.

So yeah, Rowley's are doing pretty well. Just living the life with our crazy troublesome 2-year-old, but loving every minute with him! Hope everyone else had a nice conference and Easter weekend as well.

Girls, girls, girls....

Jace has had a busy week with friends. On Monday, he got invited to his first Birthday party. Of course, it was for a 4-year-old girl in our ward, but we went anyways. The whole theme of the party was princesses. There were princess games and songs and decorations. There was even dressup, oh boy! It was okay though because there were boys there too and boy dressups. The first thing in the dressup that Jace went for was the necklaces. Someone has to teach my son right! Of course, Jace could have cared less about anyone being there. As long as there was food and running space, he was completely happy. Anyways, I have to laugh at this picture because he's sitting at a table surrounded by girls with a princess tablecloth and he is not happy! It wasn't about the girls. It was about the food not being there yet.

On a side note, someone just asked me what ended up happening with our car. The insurance ended up totalling it (hooray)! and we got a nice white 2006 Nissan Altima to replace it. We love it so far. And we got a warranty on it that lasts us like 6 years I think. We're really wishing we would have had a warranty with the Jeep because we only had it for 3 years and it caused us more problems than you can imagine. Then, of course, the Jeep gave us one last hoorah when the radiator went out the week before it was totalled. Oh well...what can you do.

I know I don't blog often. I guess our lives are uneventful. Jace is growing like a weed. I was looking at him playing with some other kids today and I couldn't believe how tall he is! Then, I picked him up to change his bum and he felt like a tank. When did he grow? He's just changing daily. He's talking so much more. He still loves cars. He's happy as long as he has cars or trucks to play with. The other day, I held up 2 options of a drink. One wrapper was blue and the other red and when I asked him which one he wanted, he told me blue. I'm just so surprised as to how he comes up with these things! It amazes me. He just comes up with them out of nowhere. Like the day I told him to say thank you and he said you're welcome...Ahhh...I love him! Anyways, I'll try to be better about taking pictures and posting more often! We're still alive!

Trials make Me Stronger

This past week has been one pretty crazy week. To start off, a week ago last Friday, our car had some problems coming in to Salt Lake to go to work. We knew we needed a new radiator because of a very minor leak in it, but it began to worsen, so we finally had to take it in. So, as you can imagine, we paid quite a chunk of money to replace the radiator and a few minor repairs that needed to be done. I was happy as a clown having a new and improved Jeep and having heat that worked like it should and just everything like that. It was like I had a new car!

Then, less than a week later, everything changed. I was driving into work with Jace heading over to my mom's house to drop him off. I went to turn left into the neighborhood making sure that the cars heading the opposite direction had completely stopped. When I went to make the turn, a girl driving in the shoulder slammed into me. Yeah, not fun at all. Luckily, Jace and I were in a Jeep, so we were okay, but that doesn't mean both of us weren't scared out of our minds. Luckily, it was the passenger side that was hit and both Jace and I were on the driver's side. So, our poor Jeep that we just got fixed a week ago is looking pretty yucky now. We have no idea yet if it's totaled or if it's fixable. We have no idea what will happen with the insurance because the other driver made up her own version of what happened and I know it's to cover her butt. I guess we'll see what the insurance decides on. Anyways, it's over now for right now and hopefully we'll know more tomorrow about what will happen with our Jeep.


Here's what the other car looked like after hitting me.


And here's my poor Jeep. How sad. The pictures don't even do justice of how banged up the Jeep really is. The doors were completely knocked out of place. One of the windows popped out a little. It even cracked the metal in one spot.

I just want to say how incredibly blessed I feel right now. I know without a doubt that the Lord is watching over our family. We've had a lot of trials, but we've been able to overcome them and I'm so grateful to know that. My little brother just went through the very same accident like a week ago and he was able to walk away from it just fine. I can't even express how incredibly lucky I feel that Jace and I are fine and that nothing worse happened to us. I just think back since Lance and I got married and we really are blessed. That first year we were married, Lance's appendix ruptured and he went a week with it like that without knowing that's what it was. I'm so lucky that didn't kill him. The next year, I fell down the stairs carrying Jace. I came out of that with like 4 or 5 broken bones in my foot, one of them being broken into several pieces. I'm lucky Jace didn't get hurt being as young as he was. Our basement has flooded several times since we moved in and hopefully this year, we can fix the problem for good. But each time it happened, we were able to catch it before it caused too much damage. We've had our share of car problems and all that stuff. I'm not mentioning this stuff to make anyone feel bad for us. I'm mentioning it to say that our family is so blessed. We've had our trials and each one we've been able to overcome as difficult as they are. Sometimes we wonder why we were meant to move to where we are, but we know that we are supposed to be here for some reason. Maybe it's to have these trials and learn and grow from them. I don't know, but we know we're here for some reason.

I just want to brag about my wonderful husband now. The day after my accident, my husband surprised me at work with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. I know it was for Valentine's Day, but it just brightened my day having them brought to me at work. My husband is not the average guy. He doesn't order the typical roses for Valentine's Day. He likes to do a variety and I just love that he likes to be original and honestly, I love the variety of flowers.


I know it's not the best picture, but I couldn't get it to load from my camera, so it had to be taken with my cell phone.

I love my husband so much. He's always been supportive of me and my decisions. I suffer from anxiety and he's always been there to help me through it and calm me down. When I was in my accident, he only cared about me and Jace. He didn't care what damage was done to the Jeep or how much it might cost us. He really proved to me that Jace and I are more important than any material object. I'm so grateful to have a husband that works so hard for our family and goes to school at the same time. He's so funny and can bring a smile to my face any day of the week. He has his quirkiness about him like making up his own songs and talking to himself. He's so knowledgeable on any topic you bring up with him. I just love everything about him. Happy Valentine's Day Sweetie! I love you so much!