PEAK 2015

We took the church youth group to PEAK 2015 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We drove the church vans, so it took us a couple of days to get there, but we had a great time!

The van we were driving

One of the vans broke down, so we spent some extra time at IHOP, waiting for it to get fixed.  The guys played 'Ninja' to pass the time.

Others tried to catch up on some sleep

Getting ready to hit the road again after catching a little nap. It was supposed to be a good nights' sleep, but it didn't seem quite long enough.

We hit a storm along the way as we went through Kansas.

Most of the time it was a beautiful drive

We got to eat at Chick-fil-A. We actually ate there a couple of times. It was wonderful! 

 We ran into an old friend, Mandy Holmes.  It was great to get to chat and catch up.

I finally got to try Culver's.

The services at PEAK were amazing!

Waiting for service to start

The girls showing off their PEAK shirts

At the lock-in.

Watching the basketball and volleyball games

Hi Cassie and Jaylynn!

Jim and Misty playing mini golf at the pizza party.

We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, before we headed home.  It was a scorcher of a day, but we had a great time!

Group pictures at Silver Dollar City

Did I mention it was extremely hot that day?

We love these to crazy people!

Oh, and did I mention it was hot that day?

Had to get a picture in front of the 'Pearson' sign.

On Sunday, we went to church at Bro. Wesley Jackson's church in Diggins, Missouri. Their church is beautiful!

What a great trip.  So glad we got to go!

Minot Bound

After days of packing, cleaning, arranging and then rearranging the U-Hauls multiple times, we finally hit the road, ready to start our new life in Minot, North Dakota.

This was my view for some 1,400-1,500 miles.  Dad Starr lead the convoy with the big U-Haul and trailer, Jesse followed in Dad's truck, Mom was behind Jesse, I was behind Mom, and Anthony was behind me with another U-Haul.

We were all going to switch off taking kids, so they didn't get bored, and we didn't lose our sanity with all the questioning on how much longer the trip would be.  That all changed when we ran out of room to put things, and three of the kids ended up riding with me, and one went with Granny.  Talon was my front seat passenger to start.  This was how exciting it was.  He got on his Nintendo DS, and didn't have much to say.

This was the view in my rear-view mirror.  The kids actually did really well.  There were only a couple of times that the kids got super fussy and wanted out of the car.  We stopped a few times to stretch, and let them get out whenever we fueled up.  I was never more happy that Natalie still takes naps and sleeps well in the car.  I was really hoping that Anthony and I would get to travel together, but we called each other often, and visited on our head sets.

We saw some of the most beautiful sunsets as we traveled across the country.

We hit some snow and snarly weather when we went through Montana.  At one time, it was difficult to see even a few feet in front of the car.

There was also some of the most beautiful scenery there.

I looked in my mirror, and Natalie was having a hard time holding it together.  She was consoling herself by snuggling her bear and her blankie. 

At another time, it was really quiet, and I looked back to see both of the kids sleeping with their blankets over their heads.  I guess it was just a little bright out for their liking.

We had fun listening to music and singing in the car.

A very welcomed sight... a sign that read "Welcome to North Dakota".  The trip was far from over, but at least the end was in sight!

It's always fun to find a place for four kids to sleep, when there is only one extra bed in the motel.  We figured out a system, and it worked well... we moved the bed against the wall and the two older kids slept on it.

The younger two slept on piles of blankets on the floor between the beds.

Problem solved!