Louisville, Kentucky - 4th of July Weekend, 2014 (continued)

 I just love these beautiful farms in Kentucky.  We drove for hours and saw so many beautiful farms.

 This is the lake behind the Baptist Church (Lakewood) where Jeff attended before moving to Vancouver.  It is lovely.

 Here's Jeff on Sunday morning before church started.

 This is the chapel.  It was my first time attending a Baptist church.

 They passed the sacrament - wafers for bread and grape juice.  They passed a plate similar to this one to collect checks and cash for tithing donation.  Then when we left, there was another plate similar to fast offerings for the needy.

 This is the front of the Baptist Church.

 We went to White Castle for little sliders.  They were really good.  I thought the little boxes they came in were really cute.  They were so cheap - 86 cents each but they are small so probably not that great of a deal like it seemed.

 Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.  We visited his birth place and this house (Knob Creek) where he stayed when he was 2 years old.  The family later moved to Indiana partly due to their disapproval of slavery.

 Hogensville has a statute of Lincoln in the center of town.

 This is a replica of the house where Abe Lincoln was born - 18 ft by 20 ft.  It was referred to as the Sinking Spring Farm.  

 More farms with hay in the background

 This is a picture of Jeff with his mom and dad (Pat and Jim).  Jeff's mom was so good to invite all the extended family over on July 6th so everyone could see Jeff.

 Jeff's parents are wonderful.  I felt so at home and had a great time visiting them.

 Me and Jeff in his parent's backyard

 This LDS temple is about 12 miles from Jeff's parent's house.  Jeff even lived near here before he moved to Vancouver.  He said he drove by it about once a week but never realized it was there.  It was beautiful.

I had a fantastic time in Kentucky.  I wish we could have stayed longer.  We had so much fun and I enjoyed every minute.  I hope I'll get a chance to go again.  Jeff also showed me around Jeffersontown where he lived.  I saw where he went to school and where he played at the parks.

Louisville, Kentucky - 4th of July Weekend, 2014

 Jeff took me to Louisville to meet his family over the 4th of July weekend.  This was my first time being in Kentucky.

 I was amazed that it reminded me of Pennsylvania so much.  We arrived on the 3rd of July.  These narrow, winding roads with all the trees and the rolling hills were so much like Pennsylvania.  This picture was taken on the way from the airport to Jeff's parent's house.

 We went sightseeing in Louisville on the 4th.  Our first stop was the Louisville Slugger Factory.  It was so interesting.  They wouldn't let us take pictures in the factory so this is my only picture in the front of the building.  This bat is 120 feet high and is a replica of the Babe Ruth bat.  This factory makes 1.8 million bats each year and supplies bats for the major leagues.  The wood for the bats comes from trees in Pennsylvania that are at least 80 years old.

 I'm not sure why but I was really excited to go to Churchill Downs.

 The museum was impressive.

 I learned that the women spend months selecting their hat to wear to the Kentucky Derby.

 This plate describes the Derby food and Kentucky food in general.  

 This is where the horses wait on the right for their time to run in the races.

 The races have been held since 1875.

 This is a picture at the University of Louisville.  Paja John's Pizza is headquartered in Louisville and we drove by that building on the way home.

 This is a picture of Jeff and his mom in front of the home of William and Lucy Clark Croghan.  It is named Locust Grove and was a stopping point for Lewis and Clark when they returned from their expedition to the Pacific Northwest.  This landmark is 55 acres of the original 694 acre farm.

 Some antiques inside the home

 For dinner Jeff took us to Claudia Sander's Dinner House in Shelbyville.  The food was unbelievably delicious.  The fried chicken and yeast rolls were my favorites.  Everything was so good.

 Here I am with the picture of Colonel Sanders and his wife Claudia in the background.  We also drove by the cemetery where he was buried.

 This is the outside of the restaurant that was opened in 1968.  I thought it was very impressive.

 This is the residence where they lived.  It is right in front of the restaurant.

 Kentucky has beautiful farms.  I was impressed by how nicely manicured they were.  Many of the farms had ponds.

 There were a lot of horse farms.

 Another beautiful farm

I also saw lots of hay in addition to the growing crops - corn, tobacco, soybeans, sorghum, etc.  The farms also reminded me of Pennsylvania.

Estacada Lake Kayaking - July 12, 2014

 Jeff and I went kayaking with a Meetup Group of about 20 kayakers.  I was the slowest kayaker which was frustrating for me and I felt a lot of pressure.  I enjoyed it more when it was just the two of us and I could enjoy it without feeling like I was slowing down the whole group.

The lake was beautiful and it was a hot day so it wiped me out.  We left at 8 am and returned at 3 pm.  Kayaking was from 10 to 2 and we went 5.5 miles.  (It felt like 20 miles.)

Road Trip - Day 2 (Roseville/Folsom, California) June 21, 2014

Jeff and I arrived in Roseville at 11 am and hung out with the family for the day.  It was so wonderful to be there.  All the cute kids came out to the car to greet us.  They make me feel so loved.  Benson and Spencer were so cute.

Pretty Paisley always so sweet!

The World Cup was on so Jason and Casey were a bit distracted at times.

I gave Ashley this baby blanket that I crocheted for her new baby that will be born next month.  We don't know the gender so that's the reason the blanket is yellow.  I'm pretty proud of my work for my first project.

Allison is just so adorable!

Weston and Paisley

Spencer, Benson and Weston were having fun.

I think they were acting like Ninja Turtles.

Cute Allison!

She was having so much fun.  She liked having me take pictures of her.

We went to ToysRUs and I let the kids each pick out one toy.  They put lots in this cart to choose from.  Then we went through it to see if the toys they wanted exceeded the budget or not so they could decide on one toy.  Audrey only got a lollipop but all the other kids got a toy of their choosing.  It was fun watching them.  They had such a good time.

Benson and Weston really wanted these bike helmets but Casey said, "no." 

Allison liked this car but it was over budget....

Cute Audrey...  She is so sweet.

Cute Paisley....

This is how it looked with everyone shopping!

Benson chose a Lego set and quickly put it together after we got home.

Jeff was tired and took a little nap.

Casey helped Benson with his Lego set while Dalton watched.

Jason's cute car

Here's a picture of my nephew Malcolm and his girlfriend Summer.  I just saw them briefly as they were busy.

Paisley played the piano for me.

We went to Folsom for dinner.  Jason barbecued and Ashley made a delicious dinner.

The kids were so cute eating outside.

Ashley's brownies were divine!

Dalton, Jenna, and Casey resting after dinner

Then the kids were dancing to music videos.  They were so cute.

Allison went into the bathroom and checked out all the toothbrushes and toothpaste which you can see on the sink beside her.

These pictures were taken in Roseville.  I was playing with Audrey and Allison.

Reading to Spencer

Reading to Audrey.  I love reading to the kids.

Playing with Dalton

Allison and Audrey were playing this game where they jumped off the arm of the couch and I would catch them.  They did that for a long time and we all had fun.  Jeff did a great job taking pictures to help me capture the fun memories of the day.  The day went so fast.  Jeff and I left for home that next morning about 7 a.m.