After 2,532 miles we are home. We decided somewhat last minute to go to my family reunion in North Carolina. Our first travel day was too long. Lee had been at scout camp for three days, an hour in the wrong for driving to North Carolina. I woke up at 1:35am, but didn't get off till about 2:30 am. Clark did great waking up so early. He loves traveling when it's dark out. I have asked him why and he just says, "because it's cool!" He woke right up, put on his flip flops and went out the door. I said something about having to get the other kids--I was dreading making so many trips back and forth just to load the van. Clark went back inside and a couple minutes later out walk Cal and Shanna. Nice! Clark saved me two trips. I just had to get Haley, Elden and the odds and ends. Anyway, after a really long drive, we arrived at my parents 24 hours later at 1:30am. We missed the beach day, but made it for the reunion.

Sam was in charge of the food the day of the reunion. For breakfast we had ice cream, spaghetti and garlic bread. Lunch consisted of biscuits and gravy, cheesy eggs and bacon. We had sack lunches for dinner: sandwiches, chips, fruit snacks and juice.

July 3rd Family meeting and kid games


Yes, my brother let them on the roof












Some of the girl cousins...Lee is in the picture so Shanna would be in the picture

After lunch Lee blessed Elden and Matt blessed Hyrum. It was great to have the baby blessings together and to have so much of my family there to participate! Hyrum was due two days before Elden.




Lee, Elden and my dad

With my wonderful parents

Adding in Matt, Deb and Hyrum



Lena and Mike took some fun baby pictures for us



A sweet boy from Heaven, wrapped in his blanket from great-grandma Lena

I love Elden's expression: Mom, this is embarrassing.



That afternoon we had a pie eating contest! It wouldn't be a Bartholomew reunion without one! The kids went first.



The ladies competed


The guys too




That evening we took our sack lunches to a park in Garner to listen to the Raleigh Symphony and watch fireworks. It was SO fun!!! HUNDREDS of people were there too. We lost one of the girls' flip flops on our walk back to the van. We all sat together. I loved standing for the National Anthem. It was a great 4th of July celebration on the 3rd.

Uncle Sam is extremely popular.


Shanna and Haley kept playing with the star balloon tied to my camp chair--it belonged to the group sitting behind us. They gave it to us because the girls liked it so much.


Aunt Deborah brought glow sticks. The kids LOVED them!












Me and Lois on Sunday July 5th

Me and Steph also on Sunday. I should have gotten some pictures with my other sisters and sisters-in-law!

It was so wonderful seeing everyone. I wish we lived closer to family!

After the reunion and a few days at my parent's house, we drove on down and saw my good friend Kelly and her family. They used to be my neighbors. It was so great to see her. Her kids were so excited to show me their house. I wish we were still neighbors! It would have been fun to see Susie and Melissa and my friends from the Clayton Ward on our trip too, but it was just too short. I am bad at over-scheduling (comes from my mission days I think), so I tried not to over schedule.

After a yummy dinner at Kelly's we headed up to Maryland to see the Heits. The Bunkers were there too. We had a fun day of going to an AWESOME park, eating pizza, going to an Asian market and watching How to Marry a Millionaire. The Asian market was SO FUN! So many interesting things there. And if anyone is in need of FABULOUS egg rolls or homemade donuts that rival Krispy Kreme, visit the Heits. They'll hook you up with homemade goods to LIVE for!

Lois was so sweet and babysat ALL of our kids for us. We went to the temple on Friday and then to the commissary. Thanks Lois! And Nathan, you MUST go to the DC Temple. It's incredible!


We should have taken more pictures while in Maryland. Haley, Shanna and Reed.

When we got home Saturday night our garden spots looked liked they took a vacation to the Amazon. Or maybe it was all the good watering our neighbor did for us.

When we left a week and a half ago we didn't see any squash or zucchini growing. This is what we found when we got back. There are a couple more, but we will let them grow for a few more days. The boys and I made zucchini bread on Sunday. Well, muffins actually. I need to buy a bread pan. YUM! Thanks dad for the garden!

A flower from our front flower bed.

It was a great trip. Monday we got everything back to normal. Good thing I left the house clean before the trip. Whenever we get home, it seems like unloading and unpacking our stuff makes a huge mess. On this trip I took one suitcase for the whole family. I packed three casual outfits for everyone, one set of Sunday clothes and all of our shoes. We wore comfy/pajama type clothes for traveling, so those were the pajamas. I was trying to bring as little as possible. Overall it worked. Next time though I need to bring two sets of pj's for everyone, not just one. That is not all I brought--I had two back packs. One was a diaper bag, the other for bathroom stuff; plus everyone had their pillows and blankets. So it was still a full van along with a car topper, but at least there weren't two suitcases, just one.

So if you're still reading, here are a couple of stories from the trip. On the way to the Heit's I stopped at a McDonald's and got Lee and I some ice cream and Shanna some french fries. She was awake and I wanted her to stay content, thus the french fries. A few miles from Lois' I hear this soft gagging sound. It took me a few seconds to wake him up. I told him to check on Shanna. Lee leaned over to the back seat and started saying her name really loud. Shanna will suck on her food and for long periods of time too. I guess she fell asleep with food in her mouth and started choking on it. Thankfully, she threw it all up, and was just fine. We were really blessed. Shanna didn't make a peep during this whole ordeal. Even after she threw up. Lee almost threw up when he took her out of her car seat. Thankfully Lois has a washer and dryer and Lee was able to clean off the car seat that night and wash the covering. Thanks Lee!!!

On the way home the following conversation happened:
Ruth: We're going to eat at McDonald's
Clark: Yea! I want chicken nuggets, a juice box, and apple slices.
Ruth: Sorry, Clark you can only get two things, not three.
Clark: "(non-descript complaining)"...
Ruth: No Clark, just two!
Clark: That's not a Happy Meal, that's a Sad Meal!

Clark is so funny. Lately he has been telling me random things that have happened in his life one or two years ago. Last summer when we were at Lois' in Maryland, we also went to the temple and Clark was very sad when we left and started crying. So, last week at Lois' I told him we were going to the temple and he was going to stay with Lois. He then asked me, "Mom why was I crying when you went to the temple last time we were at Lois'?" What is even more funny is that Lee didn't remember that we went to the DC temple last summer.

On Monday we got a letter from the school informing us that if Clark does an IQ test, he may be able to be in the Learning Enrichment and Acceleration Program, LEAP. I think that we are going to go ahead and do it. Either way, it was flattering to get the letter recommending him to the program!

Well, once again, I am up later than I should be. But I wanted to update my blog and late at night is a good time to do it, if not the only time. One more little tidbit. We submitted another loan payment today! We found out that this will pay off a loan AND that we have only one more loan left to pay on! Then we will be completely debt free (for a couple years anyway till we buy a house.)