Goates Girls Weekend

This past weekend I went on a grand road trip with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law; destination: Gillette, Wyoming. Some of you may not know, but Rob spent some formative years in Gillette when his family was living their for his dad's work. Gillette is located basically in the middle of nowhere. (No offense to any Gillette natives. But really, there's nothing around it.) We drove up because Rob's oldest brother's wife Jenell was there visiting her family with her cute kiddos. They've been living in Florida for school, and just moved to Texas, and I've never met them, so this was an exciting weekend. Here are my cute nieces and nephew:

Aubrey, Rebecca, and Mason. Cute little blondies. Becca wouldn't look at the camera because I brought her some bubbles and she was distracted. You can't really blame her though. Bubbles are golden to small children.

We only went for the weekend, and I unfortunately didn't do a very good job at taking pictures. My sisters-in-law are both really good at taking lots of pictures, so I'm planning on stealing some of theirs.

On Saturday, we went to...

Mt. Rushmore! Cool, eh? I've never ventured out to the Black Hills of South Dakota before (and probably never will again) so it was really cool to visit. It's about two-and-a-half hours away from Gillette, so we made the drive and I'm really glad we got to see it.

Little known fact about me: I love the presidents. My friend Suzanne and I used to always sit around and talk about which ones were our favorites. I'm particularly partial to the two men on the right: crazy ol' Teddy Roosevelt and of course Abraham Lincoln. So since I love learning about all the Chiefs of State, Mt. Rushmore was pretty awesome.

Me, Teresa, and Chelsea at the main observation area. There's also a cool trail you can do where you walk up a bit closer. It was a beautiful day too; not too hot but sunny and warm. Good thing we went Saturday too because Sunday and Monday the weather turned much hotter, and I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it anywhere near as much.

Here are all the sisters-in-law after church on Sunday. Me, Chelsea, Teresa, and Jenell. Chelsea and Jenell are both expecting too, and Teresa just got married in April, so it's a pretty exciting time for the Goates family. Rick and Jenell's older three were the only Goates grandkids to date, and now we're doubling the ranks all at once. Jenell is having a baby boy in August, I'm having a girl in September (not that you didn't already know that), and Chelsea finds out next week what her little bambino is and she's due in November, so it'll be a fun few months!

We had a really fun little trip and my mother-in-law was so great and generous. I wish I had a picture of her with us. I'm going to have to steal some soon so I can document the trip better. We also had the kids come swimming at our hotel pool, and it was so much fun. Those kids wore us right out but we loved playing with them. I wish they didn't live so far and that we could see them more often. Thanks to Mom Goates (and Dad Goates for making the arrangements and stocking the car with snacks) for such a great trip. I think we ought the make the Goates Girls Weekend an annual tradition.