Washington Trip Part 1

We mentioned that we went on a trip to Washington. It's time to catch you up on that. We left Rexburg on March 20th and drove with Jared's mom and step-dad to Kennewick, WA. We were nervous about how Allie would do on the long drive, but she did really well. I think we only stopped 3 times. During the drive, we listened to an audiobook. It was Nikki's first time listening to one, and, though it may only be because of the amazing book we listened to, she is now a convert. It is a wonderful way to travel. So what book did we listen to? It's called the Hunger Games. It really captivates you and we strongly recommend it. We could hardly wait to start the second book (it's a three book series, though the third doesn't come out until late August). We pulled a few late-nighters to finish the second one.

Once we got to Kennewick, we visited a lot of family. It was great seeing so many loved-ones that we had not seen for 7 months.

Here are some pictures of family members that we got to see.

Allie with Great Grandma and Grandpa Gale

The three of us with (Great) Grandma and Grandpa Gale

Our little family

Allie's cousin Shyla saying hello

Allie and Shyla at dinner

Shyla is such a cutie!

A family shot with four generations:

Nikki, Allie, Jared, Dick (Jared's step-dad), Terri (Jared's mom), Grandpa and Grandma Kauer, Jeni (Jared's sister), and Shyla

Allie and Jared with Jared's cousin Ben

Allie with Great Grandma and Grandpa Kauer


Our little family stopped by Columbia Park one day. They have a family fishing pond that we walked around. It was sunny, but there was a cold breeze. Allie stayed bundled up in the stroller. We had thought about feeding the ducks, but there were TONS of seagulls. We decided not to chance getting pooped on. But it was still a nice little outing. Here are a few pictures.

Allie by the Family Fishing Pond at Columbia Park

Mommy and Allie by the pond

Besides family, one of Allie's favorite parts of our stay in Kennewick was all the animals. Jared's mom has two cats, two dogs, chickens, and a cow. She loved to chase the cats around and watch the dogs through the back door. When it was warm enough, we went outside to show her the chickens and cow. She loved it. The following picture is one of our favorites of Allie from the trip.

Allie watching (and laughing at) Tasha, one of the dogs. Tasha kept jumping up and begging to come in. Allie just laughed and shook her head, "no" at her.

We had a wonderful time in Kennewick with Jared's family. We wish we could have had more time. It is amazing how fast time flew on both sides of the mountains. Our next post will share what we got to do when we got to Nikki's parents' house.