Springfield

 This was an interesting week - last month, I organized a family reunion for the Pavlovskys with plans of meeting up in Estes Park at the YMCA at Rocky Mountain National Park. I took care of all the paperwork to reserve the rooms and put together an itinerary for everyone. When I signed the contract, I noticed that the only way we could get out of the contract was if it was an "act of God." Tuesday morning this week, Alex informed us of a historic winter storm headed to Colorado. We couldn't believe it! We all prayed so much about what we should do and with the high winds mixed with extreme winter weather, we knew it was best to cancel. The miracle of it all was that the YMCA agreed to refund all of our money - all of it!! I cried because I was looking forward to seeing my family, but I'm so grateful we were able to cancel the trip early and no one was put in danger because of the storm. Tuesday morning when I went to make breakfast for my family, I noticed this scripture printed on the egg carton. This scripture came to mind when I felt devastated about our trip being canceled. 

Wednesday night, the YW decorated cakes with the theme of "He is Risen." When I was first called into YW, there was only ONE YW! A new family recently moved in and now we have 9 active YW! Another miracle! 

The boys brought home some proofs of their Spring school pictures. I cut out the proofs and took these pictures as a memory because I didn't intended to pay for the pictures. 

With our original plans canceled, we decided to take a trip to Springfield, MO - 3 hours south of us. Aaron was there last month for work so he was familiar with the area. We had the best time being together. Three hours in the perfect distance for a road trip. We didn't have to stop and Adelaide slept the entire way. 

Our first stop:

Fantastic Caverns. 

We also drove by the world's largest fork haha.

We were all excited to stay at a hotel and swim! When Aaron and the kids walked down to the pool, they quickly returned back to our room and told me the pool is OUTSIDE. We talk often about being "flexible thinkers" and we decided since we couldn't swim, we'd watch a movie and eat ice cream instead. Braums was right across the street from our hotel. 

Everyone slept so well at the hotel. We had a delicious breakfast before heading to Bass Pro. We went to the aquarium and nature center. 

The kids drew a picture and then scanned it to join the other creatures on the screen. They jumped for joy when they found their creatures swimming around!

We spent 4 hours at Bass Pro and then grabbed a late lunch at Braums. Of course we had ice cream again. :) 

Here are some pictures from Aaron's phone as well:

We returned home Saturday evening and slept happily in our beds. 

We weren't planning on being at church today so we felt extra grateful to be able to attend.

Colorado did get hit with lots of snow today - Alex told us that their church was canceled and even part of the interstate was closed. Although I was sad about our Colorado trip being canceled, we ended up having a great weekend together. Alex and Bryan also signed a contract for a new house on Friday evening that they wouldn't have seen if we had been up in Estes Park. Heavenly Father really is in the details of our lives and this week reminded me that even if something doesn't work out as I want it to, Heavenly Father has something better in store for us.