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It has been VERY cold here in Moscow for the past week. Resulting in a several inches thick ice on the pond. You know you’re from the country when it gets cold and you drive the four wheeler out onto the pond! Oh Idaho…in some ways I suppose I’ve missed it.

So this year for Christmas, all I really want is my two front teeth. Seriously. I am having my fake teeth replaced because they are stained and people tell me I have stuff between my teeth all the time, and I don’t.
BUT apparently I’m not the only one that asked Santa for teeth…today my Mom noticed that Jonah has the beginnings of a tooth, bottom front right. You can’t actually see the tooth yet but there is a hole where it will soon appear…AAAAAAAH!

Thankful for Nick helping with Jonah and that Jonah was only sick for one day

Thankful for snuggling to keep warm

Thankful for crazy brothers


Thankful Nick could be home for Thanksgiving

Thankful Zoey got fixed for cheap…and thankful for her new home at Nicole’s house

Thankful for the funny faces Jonah makes when eating green peas

While at Pompey’s Pillar, some other visitors there set off the alarm by climbing over the fence with signs on it saying there was an alarm….I guess he didn’t believe it! Good thing the visitor’s center wasn’t open!

Thursday morning we got up and ate at the Cracker Barrel then drove out to Pompey’s pillar, 30 miles East of Billings. William Clark wrote his name in the rock of Pompey’s pillar. It is the only physical evidence of their journey. A few years ago when they had the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark they built a huge visitor’s center for Pompey’s pillar but apparently it’s only open in the summer. So we had to walk aways to get into the pillar cuz the gate was closed. It was cold and rainy but it still felt good to walk after all this car riding.


Then we headed off on the home stretch. The roads were pretty bad around Butte, there was a lot of snow and cars off the road here and there. It was especially scary when a car would pass us and the slush would splash up on us so that we couldn’t see for awhile….scary!

Right before lookout pass and the Idaho border we stopped at the 50,000 silver dollar bar. As the name implies they have 50,000 silver dollars all over the walls of the bar. It was kinda neat. People donate a dollar and get to put their name and date under it.

We rolled into Moscow Idaho at about 10 pm. It feels so strange to be here. Thank you Dad for a wonderful road trip and for helping get across the country with a baby and a dog!

We got up this morning and had to choose between two places to eat, we chose the “All American Restaraunt” where we were served by a strange girl that didn’t seem to friendly but then while waiting for our food she came out and asked to hold Jonah.

Then we headed up to see Mount Rushmore. It was much better in the day time. We did the presidential trail and rented a little recording you could listen to about Mount Rushmore. They carved it mostly using explosives. The artist, Gutzon Borglum, was 60 something when they started working on it and everyone thought he was crazy and didn’t want him to do it. But then they saw how awesome it was and they started to like it. He died a few weeks before the final dedication. They carved from 1927 to 1941 with a few injuries but surprisingly no fatalities…this really surprised me considering the equipment they were using to hang down the rock cliff and they were using explosives…pretty amazing no one died.

They have this really cool entry way as you walk up to Mount Rushmore. The place is set up for LOTS of people, apparently in the summer they get 3 million visitors in 3 months!!! We were glad to be there without any crowds. Plus our hotel was half the price of what they charge in the summer!

Since I had Nick’s camera with me I decided that Mount Rushmore was a good time to bust it out. So I practiced getting the settings right and took a few good shots. It was fun…but I definitely need more practice!

After Mount Rushmore we were on the road again, this time on our way to Pompey’s pillar, the only physical evidence of Lewis and Clarks journey near Billings MT. We made it to Billings and stayed at a Motel 6 where Zoey had her first accident…pretty good considering all the travel and unfamiliar places.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK! Sorry I can’t be with you this year but I am thinking of you!

We visited with Lee and Arlene and their kids Troy and Ashley and Troy’s daughter Catrin this morning. I hadn’t seen Ashley in at least 10 years so it was good to see her. We don’t get together with family much anymore these days so I got a picture to prove that we were all in one place!

Then we hit the road heading for Mount Rushmore! We stopped in Cheyenne where we ate at Silver Mine Subs. We made it this evening and we thought it would be really cool in the dark, but it was kind of hard to see so we stayed in Keystone SD, a tourist town for Mount Rushmore. The whole town was pretty much shut down except two hotels, two restaurants and a handful of gift shops. It was like a ghost town! Even up at Mount Rushmore, which was open until 10pm, there was no one to be seen, so we ignored the no dog signs and Zoey was a priveledged pup to see Mount Rushmore albeit in the dark.

Our next destination: Denver Colorado to see my Uncle Lee and Aunt Arlene. We ate lunch at a Mexican place called “O’Kelleys”, which seems like an Irish name to me but whatever. On the way to CO. we stopped in Gothenberg NE to see an original Pony Express station. As we got out of the car we could hear church bells ringing, I love church bells. The station reminded me of the homestead cabins we stayed in in Nauvoo.

We made it to Denver and spent the night at Lee and Arlene’s house.

Jonah had been getting a little constipated but that cleared up today.Other than that Jonah has done amazingly well. Zoey has pretty much slept through the whole trip. I am so glad they have both fared well so far!