What did I learn on my THIRD cross-country move, you ask?

Digging into Ice Cream right out of the carton for one small ones' birthday on the road is super awesome!  And, they still make nice campgrounds with running water for under $10 a night!!  Thank you Glennwood, Iowa!!

 Inspiration Point in Nauvoo is inspirational.  I was inspired to take this cute picture.

Also learned that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred on June 27th.  I'm sure I've heard this before but it just didn't sink in the same way until we were here that day.  We were in Carthage the day before and Nauvoo the day of taking a tour of where their bodies are laid to rest.  

I learned that things can get a little silly in Nauvoo after a 12 hour ride in the car and a night of 3 inches of rain in tents that are supposedly waterproof.  Yes, you read right, we survived literally 3 inches (we checked) of rain in two separate storms in the same night while "sleeping" in tents and didn't get flooded out; but it did get a little drippy in the tents.  We were glad to have good tents as others without good tents were not so fortunate and got much more than a little drippy.

This is me just trying to take a fun, 'artistic' shot of the temple.  So, I'll talk about:  I learned more about our Garmin GPS, which is AWESOME!!  We've had it for about 2 years but I figured out how to find playgrounds, gas stations and rest areas along our route without having to go far off the freeway.  Also learned that Nebraska has the best rest areas for kids off of I-80.  Guess they had to make up for the scenery.  And Wyoming was so windy the sandwiches I was making for lunch practically, and once literally, blew out of my hands.  But we saw a cool lizard too and lots of pronghorn so not all my memories of Wyoming are bad.  I also learned that anything over 7 hours driving time is just too long in the car for me.  But I somehow managed to stay happy 11 of the 12 hours on our long day. Dont' ask about the other hour.....

 I'm the tallest of them all.  Aren't we cute?  Courtesy of little J and his state flash cards that he quizzed us with, I learned that Alabama is the Yellowhammer state and that the state bird is the Yellowhammer.  Yep, on a cross country move we had plenty of time to go through all the states, several times.  My best state?  Texas of course! with New Jersey and Utah as a close second.  Little J says I'm super awesome at those so he even quizzed me on the state motto of them.  i.e.  Utah's motto is Industry.  And today at Temple Square we saw the state seal with INDUSTRY written in the middle of it.  I learned once again that B is a super big helper and could camp the rest of her life and be happy.  And little A stays just as happy with 37+ hours in the car as she does at home.  She is just one happy little camper.  (haha)ha

We learned for ourselves just how good The Melt in Cleveland truly is.  Here's big J enjoying his grilled cheese with yumminess on top.  We still decided against getting Melt tattoo's, which we learned would give us a discount for life.  We enjoyed our day and a half in Cleveland!  Big J's sister and b-i-l are great hosts!  Thanks for the fun guys!!!

 We had fun with the Nauvoo temple pics.  Can you tell?  This is like the third one!!

Celebrating birthdays is the best.  This is little A's 4th of 5 celebrations.  She shared with her Auntie, who's is the day before.  And her Auntie made a yummy six layer cake--rainbow style.  We didn't get a pic of the open cake but it looked quite awesome with all its' layers!
What else did I learn?  No matter how you look at it 37+ hours is just 37+ hours.  We weren't getting here without spending 37+ hours in the car.  And if I'm tired while driving any of those hours a couple minutes outside the car does wonders, after I've tried snacking, gum chewing, music, games, etc. and it's just not keeping me awake.  And, snacking on a car ride is tricky with diabetes.  By the last few days I was getting smarter and making sure I had carrots, cheese sticks and nuts in the front of the car for my snacks instead of the usual crackers and granola bars that I typically snack on for car trips.  All in all, I learned once again that I can do hard things.  And perhaps, finally, I'm hoping this is the last cross country move we make.  I really think, for all the trouble and pain, it's been so amazing and delightful to see more of America from the road rather than just the sky.