Welcome to South Dakota!

This past week we went to Custer, South Dakota for the Norton Family Reunion. Yes. Random, right? To be completely honest I was super NOT thrilled to go on this vacation but so far I have been pleasantly surprised how fun it has been!

We flew in to Rapid City, SD on Friday and met up with Kristin's family and Natalie and her girls to eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse. YUM! Then we checked into our hotel for the night. The next morning we went miniature golfing at Pirates Cove while the moms got groceries for the week. I got two hole-in-ones! But sadly lost to Jake, my dad, and Brynn. We had fun cheering each other on and trying to figure out the best way to accomplish our goals. Then it was time to pick up G&G Norton and head to the lodge in Custer State Park. The lodge is beautiful! For pictures on the website see here. When everyone else arrived we got pizza in the town of Custer had a surprise birthday party for my grandma's 70th birthday!

Sunday we got up early and drove almost an hour to the little town of Hot Springs to attend a very small branch. We felt really bad because it took us longer to get out there than we thought so we walked in right before the sacrament prayer. This little branch of about 20 people were not expecting a surplus of 23 people! They quickly got more bread and water and they were just so excited to see so many visitors. This is what I love about little branches. They always have such a happy, positive attitude about everything. On the way home we went through a wildlife road and saw buffalo, wild turkeys, and wild donkeys. The donkeys were coming up to our windows begging for food! We got out of the car and were able to pet them. After lunch that day, Jake and I decided to go on a walk to see if we could find a hiking trail. About 15 minutes into our little walk, with no success, my mom texted Jake to say that the boys were going to play baseball and ask us when we were coming back. We headed back to the lodge and as soon as we got to the front door my aunt Kristin pulled me inside and said bye to Jake. All the girls in the family were seated in a circle in the family room...it was a surprise Bridal Shower! I was not expecting this at all! We played some fun games and I opened presents. The cousins were very serious about making me a tissue paper dress! My mom had taped Jake answering some questions about me, him, and our relationship and I had to see if I could get the same answers. Every time I got one wrong I had to put a gumball in my mouth...these things were HUGE! I may or may not have done horribly...but some of them I am going to blame on Jake for getting them wrong! He he ;) Needless to say I had a lot of gumballs in my mouth...so many that I was gagging! I had so much fun and was so grateful for my awesome extended family for making me feel so special!

On Monday we again woke up early to ride on the 1880 Train on the Black Hills Central Railroad. It was about an hour ride and basically we were glad that we had only paid to go the one way to Keystone. There wasn't really much to see! Next up we went to Big Thunder Gold Mine and took a tour of a mine that took two men 40 years to go through about 600 feet of rock. They only made about $220 from gold in that whole 40 years! It was pretty interesting to see how they accomplished this task. After the mine we went to Bear Country USA. We drove through the grounds and the bears would walk right in front of our car! It was so cool and definitely my favorite part of the day! We also got to see little baby bears which were adorable! That night we had a surprise 50th Anniversary party for my grandparents. Yes, ANOTHER surprise party! We got to watch some video of my mom's siblings when they were little which was really fun.

Tuesday we took a tour through Jewel Cave. It is a national monument and is completely natural. It is currently the 2nd longest cave in the world and about 3 miles are discovered every year! It was amazing! We then went to the Cosmos. There were some pretty trippy illusions that none of us could explain! Our final destination for the day was Reptile Gardens. We went to a bird show, snake show, and alligator show. They were all pretty cool but it was super hot and humid today! We all had fun though and now everyone is exhausted. I think the adults are happy...early bedtime! :)