Texas Trip

Last week Adyson and Kasey got back from their trip to Ft. Worth Texas to see cousin Heather's wedding. It was very nice, and the temple and ceremony were beautiful. I like the story the sealer related about Prophet Spencer W. Kimball and how he treated his wife and gave her a kiss every morning before work. When he got older and was in a wheelchair, he left one day with his escorts pushing him to the church office building. He got right before the front door and remembered he hadn't given his wife a kiss, so without a word they turned around the wheelchair and wheeled him back to the apartment, up the elevator, and when it opened there was Sister Kimball waiting and said, " I knew you wouldn't forget."
Kasey and Ady also got to go around with some of the family and ate some real Tex-Mex food. Grandma took everyone to the ice show in the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. It was quite the show of ice sculptures in a huge freezer. Ady, although she was inside my sweater and coat with me, I think was in shock at the cold and at about half way thru and was just starring straight ahead till we got out. I think she was just proving that she is a real Key West Conch. Finally, I left her with Grandma at the end and went back in to go down the ice slides in the ending room. I still haven't grown so old that I can resist the slides!

4 Generations of 1st Borns!!

Here is a picture of our first child Adyson, her dad, Adam, who is the first child of his mom, Cheryl, who is the first child of her dad, Waide, who is the first child in his family. Wow! That was a mouthful.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanting to give a holla out for Thanksgiving this year... things we are thankful for: Adyson, Kasey not being pregnant, being accepted to BYUH, being married to each other, having a great experience in Key West, our health....I'm sure i'm missing a few things but its a start. Anyway Happy Holidays and tommorow the Adam Van Tassells can finally start listening to Christmas music! (this is a funny story if you havent heard it you should call me and ask!)

Outdoors for Ady

Adyson loves the outdoors, here is a picture at the park in Snowbird.

Wake up call!!

So I have to share this cause its so cute and surprised me. I woke up the other day after Adam left for work and Adyson had taken his place in bed. I looked over and she was upright, which made me take a double take cause she can't sit or stand up by herself yet. Anyhow, she had some how wedged herself between the bed and the wall and was like she was up by herself. Anyway, the picture explains the proud look of "look what I did Mom!"

Our Blog

I have finally finished enough of a blog that I feel comfortable making it public. If this is your 1st visit it would probly be best to go to the bottom and work your way up, that way this will be in somewhat of an order. Feel free to post a comment and comeback and visit often. There is going to be more to come.

Independence

Our last stop before the long haul back was to Independence. We went to the Visitors Center and Liberty Jail. Look how thick the walls were in the picture-4 ft. So all in all it was a great 3 week trip. We were glad to see some of the family, esp now since we probly won't be making any trips back east from Hawaii; Its cool to see the church history sites, and get a lot more perspective of things, and just to spend time together with our little family.

St. Louis Arch

We were only a few hours from the arch, so we decided why not? We got to St. Louis late, and so we had to do the arch the next day. It's such an impressive structure. Plus on road trips, I'm happy whenever we have a reason to be out of the car.

Nauvoo

We didn't really have an itinerary after Minnesota, except to get back to Utah somehow. So the next few places were just spur of the moment trips. First we went to Nauvoo and Carthage. I told Adam I now understand why Brent would want to spend a whole week just in Nauvoo. It's a very beautiful place with lots of history. I told Adam about Prophet Hinkley inviting and walking down the road on that hot day like the pioneers had when they left. He hadn't heard that story yet. It was fun to be the one telling the story this time! :) Plus they gave us a pretty brick to take home!

Minnesota-Crane Lake

It always rains and gets cold everytime I'm in Minnesota. At least it wasn't that way the whole time. It was actually pretty good for October. Adam and I showed my parents where Adam worked as a hunting and fishing guide for the summers after college. It's also the place where we got engaged about 3 years before.(1st picture) We went fishing(2nd picture) and hiking and had some nice relaxation time in the cabin. It was fun to go back.

Chicago-Wicked!

Adam is still harassing me about making him drive all night to Chicago to make it to the broadway show Wicked. It was wonderful. Except according to Adam "It would be better if they didn't sing." I think he's starting to crack though, He's promised to go with me to a couple more productions that include singing. We'll see. We met my parents and Melanie and Ryan in Chicago. We had good time seeing the sights: The Sears Tower, The Parks, Broadway, and Downtown. We even visited the lego's store-which stimulated adams hobby once again. Thus that is what he got for his Anniversary present. Sidenote: Lego's is just one of adams 4 main hobbies- if anyone wants to buy him a present its so easy-Old Coins, Books, Legos, or Fishing stuff. Anyway, back to Chicago-We ate at the Cheesecake Factory for our first time(this is the picture of Ady asleep-she's pretty and pretty warn out by this point as you can probly guess. The other pic was by the "Bean" it is a cool mirror structure in the park. Thanks Mel and Ryan. Hope we can return the favor when you come to Hawaii.

Niagra Falls

On the second day in New York, our tour guides, Nat and Thayne, took us to Niagra Falls. This is Kasey's second most favorite part of the trip because she really like waterfalls. The mist was pretty strong that day, but the waterfalls were beautiful. We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride right up to under the falls. Thanks for a great time Nat and Thayne. Oh and by the way, congrats of finding out the gender of Adyson's cousin,(which I'm not putting in here for Rachel since she is set on being surprised-we'll see how long this one lasts!)so if you want to know you'll have to give them a call.

New York New York

After Disney and Universal theme parks we started our long road trip. Our next stop was to go see Natalie and Thayne in Buffalo. We had a great visit and on the 1st day there, we went to see Palmyra. The first picture is where the Book of Mormom was first printed. The second is of the Palmyra Temple. I don't know if you can tell but Adam and Ady are standing by the only window out of all the windows in temples in the world that is opaque. It's because you can look and see the sacred grove out of it. We also visited Joseph Smith's house and the Sacred Grove, which between dogding the rain and Adyson's crying really wasn't that sacred for us. oh well.

The Trip Begins!

First of all, we have to show the pictures of us when we went to Disneyland and Universal Studios. This was Kasey and Adyson's most favorite part of the trip.

The Dry Tortugas

Although I can't fathom why in the world the US would have a huge fort built out in the middle of the ocean, it is quite the structure to see. I guess it provided intimidation during the war so ships wouldn't go near and be deterred in their routes. The fort was amazing and it's supposed to be great snorkeling, but we were actually kind of disappointed with the snorkeling. Maybe it was a bad day, or we are just too spoiled having seen alot of ocean. Anyway our last tourist trip in Key West was well worth it, even though the Dubois and i got seasick on the 2 hour boat ride way out there.