Church & Costume Fittings

 Sunday morning had us dressed and off to Sacrament Meeting at Pageant Headquarters. The entire gym space gets filled with chairs and the amount of people that come fill all of those chairs and the bleachers behind. 

They have over a dozen young men passing the sacrament and Hyrum got asked to join them. With so many people in the building they start at the front and backs of rows and work their way towards each other. It's quite effective!

After church we went back to walk the temple grounds again and get a family picture in our Sunday best. With a crew this big there is always somebody blinking or looking away, but we captured the memory!

Lily just ran around singing for most of it!

 

 

A few of the kids asked for individual pictures in front of the temple and I was more than happy to snap those!

We also officially let people know that BABY NUMBER EIGHT will be joining us early in the New Year. We are so excited for this prayed for little one! There is such a story of faith behind this pregnancy as I've grown to trust more deeply in the Lord and the plan that he has for our family.

The afternoon brought us back to Pageant Headquarters for our scheduled costume fitting. Most of us were given two outfits for the Nauvoo Pageant (one dark and one light in color)  and one outfit for the British Pageant. 

 

The vests were reversible which makes costume changes  during the show a lot easier with little people! The kids thought it was so fun to get outfitted and check out how they looked in the mirror. The boys had to stand on the raised step so that their pants could be marked for adjustments to make sure everything fit proper.

 

I think their hats were my favorite!

 

These two were so stinkin' cute in their costumes!

 

Sawyers little pants for the British Pageant were also adorable and Mr. Stannix was rocking his new facial hair.

 

It was quite amazing that they were able to outfit all nine of us in such a short time! 

 

With markings made to hem pants and skirts, we took the things that fit well in two large laundry baskets with instructions to grab the rest of our stuff from the rack outside the room the following day. The kids were pretty happy!

Final Destination: Nauvoo, Illinois

This morning I woke to pictures from Mr. Stannix of our girl on an airplane. They were en route to meet us at the Cedar Rapids airport shortly after noon.

I had shared a bed with Lily and Sawyer to give Hyrum the other bed to himself so that his hand wouldn't get bumped. He was pretty sore when he woke up.

I opened the curtains to let in the morning light, cracked the door to the adjoining room to see if there was any signs of life, and began getting ready for our final day of driving. It didn't take long for the littles to start stirring, and soon we were all dressed and packed up and ready for breakfast.

A few of the kids enjoyed a bowl of cereal along with their chocolate milk from the night before, while others made waffles.

We hurried through potty breaks along the way and only stopped for gas when we needed it as we had a timeframe to keep. I enjoyed spotting these barn quilts on the buildings as we made our way to the airport.

Daddy and Camilla only had to wait about an hour (oops) for us to arrive, and then together, we all went out for a slow lunch at a nearby DQ as we were only a few hours away from our destination. Grampa watched the kids eat their ice cream while Mr. Stannix and I slipped next door to Walmart to grab groceries for the first few days of our stay in the Cabin. Every seat in the van was now full due to our two new arrivals, and the cooler was stuffed.

The kids were all very excited when we finally made it to our tiny, two bedroom cabin in Nauvoo. It was a cozy space to be sure.

We snapped a quick family photo (thanks Grampa) and then began unloading for our two week stay.

My Dad had done basically all of the driving over the past few days while I acted as co-pilot, tossing out treats and breaking up fights, so he was pretty tired when we arrived.

The cute little porch swing was a very popular place to hang out for all of the Stannix littles during the afternoon while the adults relaxed. 

In the late afternoon we took in the temple grounds just down the road from us. It was so beautiful! The kids loved being there and walking around and checking it all out.

I had to snap a picture of Hyrum and Joseph with Hyrum and Joseph on horses.

Lily was so happy to be reunited with her big sister again!!

After dinner, Mr. Stannix and I left the kids at the cabin and went down to the pageant area to see the last bit of the country fair and the Nauvoo Pageant. We wanted to see what we were getting ourselves into for the next couple of weeks.

The performance was incredible and left us feeling excited (and underqualified) for what lies ahead! We came back to the cabin late to find everyone sleeping soundly.

Sioux City Iowa

 Today was one of our shorter days with 6 hours planned on the road. It always turns out to be a few hours longer with all of the potty breaks and pit stops. 

The road side turnouts across South Dakota and Iowa were pretty impressive though!

The scenery was filled with a lot of farm land, much like home. After a few days of travel under their belts, the kids were finally starting to get used to the seating arrangements and routine. 

When we arrived at our hotel and the kids saw the pool from the lobby they could barely contain their excitement! It was decided that there would be swimming before dinner, and they swam for a very long time!

I was glad I had the foresight to pack Lily's life jacket. After swimming lessons this year, she has become quite the swimmer and was basically independent the entire time we were in the pool. She would climb in and out on her own and paddle and kick her way around. 

She could barely contain her giggles and her "Grampa! Watch this!" or "Mommy! Look at me!"

Hyrum was sweet enough to let Oliver use his goggles for the evening, which really made his night.

After expressing a bit of frustration over not being able to actually jump in and swim like his brothers were, Hyrum decided to make the best of it and wrapped his splint in a towel to keep it as dry as possible while he waded around the edge of the pool.

When they finally had their fill, we headed upstairs to our rooms to change and go out for dinner. Hyrum found himself feeling blue and one of the little boys noticed his eyes welling with tears and asked what was wrong, did his hand hurt? Hyrum told me a few minutes earlier that he was so so mad at himself for taking that jump on his dirtbike last week and frustrated with his broken hand (he was still on some extra strength tylonel at this point to manage the pain from his surgery). Through tears of my own I provided an explanation, "No buddy, his heart is sad because he can only watch everyone else have fun in the pool and he can't join in." I saw compassion flash across his little brothers face as he climbed on the bed next to Hyrum and asked what he could do to help make it better for Hyrum. A short time after we all wiped our tears, we went to McDonalds for dinner. After dinner, the big kids went back to the pool with Grampa while I put Sawyer and Lily to sleep. When they returned from the pool, I left the door cracked to our adjoining room and Hyrum and I snuck out to Walmart for a little while for some special time together. Just one more sleep until we see Daddy and Camilla!

Rapid City South Dakota

Our second travel day took us from Great Falls, Montana to Rapid City, South Dakota. We got an early start and began our day with breakfast at McDonalds. Everyone enjoyed a breakfast sandwich and smoothie. Sawyer wasn't so sure he would like the egg sandwich, but once he took his first bite, he gobbled the entire thing down. The biggest motivator for completing a long day of driving was that the kids were promised a pool at the next hotel.

A little while after getting on the road someone asked, "Where are we now?" I replied, "Judith Gap, Montana." Lily then said, "Wow, that's a long drive!" We laughed as it had only been a few hours into another eight hour travel day.

We took a pitstop part way through the day at Walmart for some odds and ends we needed to get. I found this cute purple dress and hung it in the cart to purchase for Lily. When we met up with Grampa and the two littles Lily exclaimed, "My NEW dress!" and ran to the cart. She had to put it on as soon as we got back to the van. 

While a lot of our pit stops were taken at nice roadside turnouts, some ended up being at random on the side of the road. I'm always grateful to have a bunch of boys when we have to road trip, if you know what I mean. Grampa was so great at taking Lily to stretch her legs, and she actually ended up being one of my best little travelers with hardly a complaint over the entire last few days. 

The pool at our travel lodge ended up being closed for maintenance and everyone was so bummed after spending the day looking forward to the outdoor pool and water slide. They made the best of it and the pizza and wings for dinner helped brighten their moods a little. Then they were off to bed with fingers crossed that the pool would be open in the morning as promised. 

 

Great Falls Montana

Today we loaded up the van and headed out for the first leg of our road trip. We were finally packed and ready around 10am. The kids asked for snacks and started fighting just ten minutes into our trip. It made me laugh (and cry inside a little). With Camilla at FSY this week, Mike stayed back to finish up work and the two of them will catch a flight on Saturday and we will meet up with them en route to Nauvoo. I am incredibly grateful for my Dad sacrificing his time and energy to accompany us on our four day journey. It would have been extremely difficult for me to stay awake for the long days ahead with six kids in tow all on my own. 

Our first pit stop was just over two hours in where we found a park to stretch our legs and have the lunch that I had packed in the cooler. 

Once everyone was full of sandwiches and had burned enough energy, we loaded up again in hopes of some littles napping for the next long stretch to Lethbridge. Dad drove while I doled out snacks and thankfully a few of the littles did indeed nap.

When we passed through Lethbridge a few of the kids woke and admired the train bridge and change in scenery that Southern Alberta has to offer. We pulled into a gas station for a potty break and then I drove again to coutts and through Montana to our first hotel. 

The border guard asked a lot of questions and had the kids answer when their name was called. He asked where their dad was and if we all lived in the same house. And then he pointed at Grampa in the passengers seat and said, "And who's this guy?" They all laughed, "That's our Grampa!" And with that, we were on our way!

When we arrived in Great Falls, we checked into our hotel and then went in search of food. The first restaurant had an hour wait, and the kids were starved. Boston Pizza turned us away due to not enough seating. So we settled on the Wendy's closer to our hotel. Everyone loves Wendy's, especially the spicy chicken burgers or Junior bacon cheeseburgers. After the chaos of ordering for eight, we grabbed a table to relax and enjoy the meal. Everyone was in good spirits after being in a car for over eight hours and I was so grateful for their smiles and willingness to get along!