I have a hundred thousand words to say...

And a picture is worth a thousand a piece, right?  Cause I've just downloaded over 600 pictures from our summer vacation-cation-cation-cation.... We had a wonderful time and are sooo greatful to all who gave us beds to sleep on and love and food, etc.  It was exhausting but how grateful we are that our kids were able to build their relationships with so many of our family members!  Each part of our trip was so wonderful in it's own right and I could write a blog entry on each segment, alas, I'm SOOOOOOOOOO TIRED!!!  And for some reason no matter what my kids MUST wake me when I'm sleeping...  Anyway, I've got little brainpower and or time, so I've got to just lay it all out there.

After we moved out of our Chicago apartment, we flew straight to Las Vegas for Grandpa Clark's funeral in St. George. 

We got to spend the weekend at the Cabin near Sundance with Clives and some Clarks, too.  Cadence loves it there.

It's the only real way to enjoy nature--nude:

Cadence with Ruby at the burial in SLC

Cadence and Tyler got to work at the cabin staining the new table.

Since we were in Utah and had time to spare, we got to stay for a week with my family, where a happenstance pre-reunion was happening!  (all but Damian)  This is G and G Orton with all their grandchildren (to date).

There was perfect swimming weather, but every one of us got sick with some symptom or another, so we opted for the backyard pool.

As per (a very loved) tradition, Mignon and Mel took us to the Little Gym!

We had a lot of fun in Utah, and then we hopped in the car, watched Barbie/Nutcracker and Barbie/Swan Lake 14 kajillion times each, and drove to La Canada, to be with Gramps and Mamaw Clive. 

Mamaw had a list of fun things to do, so one day we went to a real farm!

Oh, by the way, Campbell broke her leg.

It happened a couple of days after arriving in So Cal, trampoline.  More details in another post.

John and I went and ate these burritos that were the size of newborns.  I thought I could finish.....

Mamaw and Gramps took us on a trip to San Diego (where it was COLD).

San Diego Zoo

Lego Land

After a week with the Clives, we jumped back into the car for more Barbie movies and made our way up to the Bay Area for the official Orton Family Reunion at Merica and Damian's new resort...uh, home.

Merica and Damian were kind enough to let us stay an extra 5 days while we awaited the Clive/Clark family reunion in Yosemite.   We loved getting to spend a little extra time with them.  Spencer took me to see Wicked in SF.  I loved it.  loved it.

Yosemite was so beautiful!  I can't believe that we'd never been there before.  I was really worn out and the kids were too, so I wasn't really looking forward to it at that point, but man, I am soo glad that we went!  It was great.

After Yosemite, we got to spend one more special day with Mamaw and Gramps, which they spent making our kids feel special.  They took the kids to see Toy Story 3 in the theater, then we all went to Chuck E Cheeses, where some pretty exciting presents were opened:

Oh, what fun!!!  And now we are here in Arkansas, we love our house, our neighbors are sooo great (uh, neighbor Valerie planted a garden for us--amazing, no?), and we are healthy and well.  More to come on the girls'birthdays, the new house, etc!