Summer half gone

Here is a short update of our summer 

to start off the summer we lost Grandma Erwin, we went to the funeral in Star Valley.  We came home for a week and then went to Utah for Andrew's wedding.  We were home and we decided to send Levi to spend some time in Star Valley with his grandparents, he had so much fun.  While he was away Isaac had scout camp, so he was gone for a whole week which left Ashton home for a week as an only child he Loved every moment of it.  during all of the happenings  we decide to remodel out living room which took up a lot of time and energy along with all of the travel.  Over the 4th the Turner's decided that we needed to have a family reunion so we all got together at the farm house and and spent 4 days together, it was awesome and so much fun.  I had taken 2 weeks off of work so I could take the boys to Yellowstone and to see my little brother we had had a blast,  even though Dave was not able to come with us.  We saw bears, bison, elk and river otters.  My little brother is a river guide so he took us down the river we had so much fun Levi fell in, he had a blast.  We are home now and Ashton just had his 9th birthday which is crazy to think about he has grown up so fast. 

Africa

oops, I forgot to post but, I went to South Africa.
the trip was more than I can even begin to tell.  I was there just under a month and well I have learned a lot about myself while I was there. First of all I love to eat Alligator! but I hate Crocodile.  My skin loved the weather and the humidity. I learned that I am in face a really emotional Girl.

First we were in Cape Town,  this is a place that if I had all the money in the world I would retire and spend my days swimming with the sharks.

Off to Johannesburg where at the air port my purse got stolen luckily my money and all of my identifications was on my person. (thank you FLIP BELT)

We were picked up by one of the tour guides,  Rowan  and after a rather scary van drive we showed up at a bed and breakfast that was infested with birds...I am sure some people would have found this lovely, not myself or my mother. To Quote my mom "I hate birds"

We got our suit cases in our rooms and then we went to the cultural center where we learned about the tribes of South Africa. It was amazing

We got back to the bird place and slept woke up early and got ready to go to Pilanesberg to see the animals in their natural habitat that was amazing. After one more night at bird poop paradise we went to Amakulu, the game farm that we stayed at out side of Kimberly.  this was a long and scary drive again but we made it in one piece.

A Week at Amakulu we saw all the animals expect a leopard and a cape buffalo (mildly disappointing, but still).  My favorite day at Kimberly was when we went to the big cat rescue and I got to bet a cheetah and a lion cub! that was awesome!  we also went to the BIG HOLE diamond mine and bought some sparklies!

I fell in love with the people that were at Amakulu.  We spent many mornings and nights with Peter and Sam they really were awesome and Peter found me the snake I was looking for, my mom, Andy and Dan could have done with out that part but Richard and myself were pretty excited.

Our last Few days were with family friends in Johannesburg.  They were so Gracious to open their home to us.  They even made it a point to take us to many great places like the Monkey sanctuary.
My Favorite part of Joberg was the history of the Apartheid, we went to the Nelson Mandela museum and the day we went to Soweto. Very few times have I experienced such raw emotion.

that was my trip to Africa in a nut shell