Busy, Busy, Crazy Busy

Well with the soon to be arrival of this little girl to our family, we wanted to do some things before we were constricted to being home for a while. Update on this pregnancy... Went to the Dr. this last Tuesday and everything is looking really good. I am dilated to a 3 and have been having contractions quite a bit the last few days but am hoping to make it a little longer but am set up for induction the 21st, which is the Monday before Thanksgiving and reality is setting in and I am getting really excited to meet this little girl.
We went on a 5 day trip back east, we flew into Moline, Ill. which is the home for John Deere tractors, so we stayed at a hotel right on the Mississippi River and headed over to the John Deere Museum, went from there to Nauvoo for 2 days and stayed with Forest cousin Jamie, who is so awesome and her family were great hosts and it was a blast getting to know them. We went from there to Branson, Missouri and spent a few days there and it was so fun. I didn't realize how family oriented that place is but we would definately go back. We didn't do much there but went on a thing called the DUCK tour which I recommend to anyone that goes there. They are these boats on wheels and they actually take you into the lake there and on a tour around Branson. From there we went to Wichita, Kansas and flew home out of there. We did a ton of driving but it was such a fun family trip.
A couple of weeks ago we went to Blythe, CA with my little sister Lindsay to visit my Ganny and Poppy (my mom's mom and dad) and she isn't too far from Mexico so we headed there one day and just relaxed the rest of the time.
Also, Branson turned 2 on the 16th of October and we had a great Circus Party for him that I'll have to post pics of later. He is getting to be such a big boy now. He is officially out of the crib, especially because he climbs out of his crib now and that has been challenging but easier everyday and he definately knows something is happening with this new baby on the way because he is usually such a daddy's boy but has been clinging so much to me the last few weeks so it should be interesting to see how he takes this addition. He is talking so so much and gets more fun everyday.
Anyway, lots of pictures below but a lit more to come.

Algadones, Mexico

View of Branson, Missouri on our Duck Tour

Nauvoo
Wagon tour around Nauvoo

Nauvoo Temple

Mississippi River
Right here is where the Saints crossed the river when they were forced by mob out of Nauvoo for religious persecution

A sample of one of the ferries that the saints crossed the Mississippi River

Pioneer Games
Branson had so much fun here, they played games that pioneer children played long ago

Love This Pic
They had an opportunity to dress up as Pioneer Children

John Deere Museum
This museum was free and they had old and new tractors and Branson was able to climb up in all of them and he loved it

Helicopter Ride in Branson, Missouri
Forest has always wanted to go on a helicopter ride and saw a chance while we were in Branson, Missouri so he was going to go alone but the pilot said he couldn't just take one passenger so he would take all of us for the price of one. I was really scared but it was really cool.

Duck Tour

A crazy restaurant in Branson, Missouri that cracked us up

This is the restaurant where they are famous for throwing hot rolls at you while you are at dinner. Branson slept through the whole thing but me and Forest had a lot of fun there.

This entire trip Branson wanted to drive everywhere we went so we kind of developed a nickname of Ricky Bobby from Taladega Nights. That is all this kid wants to do.

Branson's first commercial airplane ride. On the way over Forest was so so sick so I had Branson alone and he wasn't very happy on the 3 hour flight but on the way home when Forest was there and feeling a lot better Branson slept almost the entire way home.